HELP RED CROSS AND UNICEF HELP VICTIMS OF NATURAL DISASTERS

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON THE 13 AND 14 FEBRUARY 2010

 

'We Are the World' debuts, worldwide airing set

 

(02/13/2010 | 01:53 PM - GMA News.TV)LOS ANGELES –

 

The revamped "We Are the World" made its world premiere Friday during NBC's coverage of the opening ceremonies of the Winter Olympics, and a simultaneous worldwide screening of the full, seven-minute version of the music video is planned for Saturday.

 

The worldwide simulcast on 53 domestic and international channels is planned for 2 p.m. (1900 GMT) Eastern time.

 

A three-minute version of the video aired Friday. Filmed by Oscar winner Paul Haggis, the video shows images of devastation from the island nation after the January 12 earthquake that has claimed more than 200,000 lives.

 

It also shows some of the 85 artists who gathered in Los Angeles earlier this month to re-record the 1985 charity anthem.

 

Teen sensation Justin Bieber opens the song. Also featured are Jennifer Hudson and Nicole Scherzinger, Sugarland singer Jennifer Nettles, Barbra Streisand, Celine Dion and Fergie. Josh Groban, LL Cool J, Nick Jonas, Lil Wayne (and his auto-tune), Jeff Bridges, Kanye West, Miley Cyrus and Haitian-American singer Wyclef Jean also get screen time.

 

Michael Jackson, who co-wrote the original hit with Lionel Richie, is shown in a clip from the original music video. In the new version, Jackson, wearing his trademark 1980s pseudomilitary regalia, sings alongside his sister, Janet Jackson.

 

Richie and fellow producer Quincy Jones introduced the song Friday via video, saying money raised by its sales will provide food, shelter and medicine for the Haitian people.

 

Fans can download "We Are the World 25 for Haiti" online now. All proceeds will benefit earthquake recovery efforts in Haiti.

- AP

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/8515255.stm

 

Page last updated at 19:00 GMT, Sunday, 14 February 2010

 

Haiti charity single tops UK chart

 

Hurts music video

 

Everybody Hurts, recorded to help Haiti's earthquake victims, has sold more than 453,000 copies in its first week to go straight to number one.

 

The record has notched up the biggest first week sales of any charity track this century, the Official UK Charts Company (OCC) has confirmed.

 

The REM cover features a host of stars including Leona Lewis, Kylie Minogue, Robbie Williams and Take That.

 

The recording of the Helping Haiti song was organised by Simon Cowell.

 

'Huge record'

 

Proceeds will be split between the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) and The Sun newspaper's Helping Haiti campaign.

 

The song moves ahead of The X Factor Finalist's version of Hero as the charity song selling the most copies in its first week of release since 2000.

Westlife's Uptown Girl, released in aid of Comic Relief, falls back to third place.

The OCC's Martin Talbot said: "The public have clearly taken the plight of the Haitian people to heart - this record is huge."

 

HMV spokesman Gennaro Castaldo added: "It's already the biggest seller of the year so far, and is now likely to go on to be the number one single of 2010."

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8510900.stm

 

Page last updated at 13:07 GMT, Sunday, 14 February 2010

 

Why did so many people die in Haiti's quake?

 

By Lucy Rodgers, BBC News

 

The devastating earthquakes that hit China on 12 May 2008 (strength on Richter scale = 7.9), Italy on 6 April 2009 (strength on Richter scale = 6.3) and Haiti one month ago (strength on Richter scale = 7.0) all measured above 6.0 and took many lives. But why was the human cost so much greater for Haiti?

 

When Pete Garratt, Red Cross head of disaster relief, received an alert on 12 January indicating a large quake had hit Haiti near its capital Port-au-Prince, he instantly recognised the seriousness of the emergency.

"I knew that meant deaths and injuries," he says.

 

The reason he predicted the effects of the quake would be so grave, Mr Garratt explains, is that there are a number of critical factors, learned through years of experience, that contribute to the scale of devastation following such big shifts of the earth's crust.

 

One is, perhaps obviously, the size of the quake, but also how near it is to the surface, the density of the population near its epicentre, as well as whether there are any heavily urbanised areas nearby. These all indicate a higher death toll - and were all features of the Haiti quake.

 

Number of deaths, injuries and homeless in China, Italy and Haiti:

China: 87,476 deaths; 360,000 injuried and 1.5 million homeless

Italy: 295 deaths, 2,000 injuried and 0.24 million homeless

Haiti: 230,000 deaths *), 300,000 injuried and 5 million homeless.

*) estimated. Source: EM-DAT, Red Cross, Chinese government, Haitian Government, EERI

 

But poverty also plays its role, Mr Garratt explains, as it exacerbates a country's or region's vulnerability to such disasters.

 

In places such as Haiti, where 72.1% of the population live on less than $2 a day, and in cities like Port-au-Prince, where many are housed in poor and densely-packed shantytowns and badly-constructed buildings, the devastation is always expected to be greater.

 

"These countries have less money to put into buildings and there is less governance ensuring building codes are followed," Mr Garratt explains.

"Corruption can also be an issue, and so even when there are government structures to ensure building codes are followed, there are bribes that enable people to take short cuts.

 

"Put simply - there are the technical elements of the earthquake and then the social elements on top of that."

 

Therefore, the fact that the Haiti quake hit close to a poorly-constructed, large urban area was crucial in reducing people's chances of survival.

 

In China 1 in every 595 affected died.

In Italy 1 in every 190 affected died.

In China 1 in every 15 affected died.

Source: EM-DAT; UN, Haitian government.

 

"In Italy it was one town, and a few surrounding villages - not a large urban area. And in China, although it affected a large area and big towns, it was not a city," says Mr Garratt.

"In Haiti, in a big city like Port-au-Prince, with so many structures coming down, this means more rubble will kill more people."

The resulting scale of destruction - of infrastructure, of government and other official organisations - also made it much more difficult to respond once the earthquake hit and had an impact on the number of people rescued from the rubble.

 

Number of people rescued

China 66,649, Italy 150 and in Haiti 211 (estimated)

Source: UN, Italian government, chinese government.

 

1 in every 690 affected rescued in China

1 in every 373 affected rescued in Italy

1 in every 16,588 affected rescued in Haiti

Source: UN, Italian government, chinese government and EM-DAT.

 

Haiti, unlike China and Italy, simply did not have the resources to act quickly, and it took time to get outside help in.

 

"The Chinese government was able to mobilise a very military response. Although some parts were hard to reach initially," says Mr Garratt. "The resources they had were very impressive.

 

"The problem in Haiti was the airport was only half-functioning and you had one road route that took a day to traverse."

 

The dense urban environment in Port-au-Prince also made it a difficult place for rescue teams to work once they were there, he says. "You could say that the resulting congestion in large cities meant there was less room for manoeuvre.

 

"But there were an enormous number of search and rescue teams there and considering the difficulties getting there, they did a good job."

 

However, the statistics on rescues may not necessarily reflect the true number of victims freed in and around Port-au-Prince, he warns. "The majority of people are pulled out of the rubble by their neighbours."

 

LESSONS LEARNED

The Red Cross, which had teams dealing with the aftermath of the China, Italy and Haiti earthquakes, believes aid agencies learn lessons from every disaster, although each - like Haiti - poses fresh questions.

"We are always getting better," says Mr Garratt. "But what is a challenge is that there is always something new."

One of the problems in Port-au-Prince is the lack of space, he adds, as well as a constantly shifting and mobile population.

The task now for such organisations is to help the people of Haiti get back on their feet, given the inevitable crippling economic cost of such a quake.

 

Economic cost ($b billions)

China: 85 billion, Italy 2.5 billion and Haiti estimated at several billion.

 

And as the Red Cross and others admit, their success in responding to the Haiti emergency will be judged not just on the first weeks of emergency aid, but on whether communities are left more resilient and better equipped when the next disaster strikes.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 15 FEBRUARY 2010

 

HAITI BANS CONSTRUCTION USING QUARRY SAND

 

(02/15/2010 | 09:47 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Haiti's government is banning a commonly used sand from structural construction in an attempt to improve building safety.

 

The public works ministry issued a notice Sunday warning that the use of "La Boule"-type white quarry sand to make concrete for structural elements would be punishable under Haiti's penal code and recommends using river sand. - It is not clear how the edict will be enforced.

 

Poor construction is blamed for the collapse of many buildings in the Jan. 12 earthquake that killed more than 200,000 people.

 

The mountains around Port-au-Prince are scarred with the white caverns left by extraction of the loose white sand. Bricks made with the poorly mixed cement are brittle and break off at the touch.

- AP

 

 

US FORCES SCALE BACK HAITI RELIEF ROLE

 

(02/15/2010 | 11:12 AM - GMA News-TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — The biggest US military surge since Iraq and Afghanistan is scaling back a month after the troops arrived in haste to aid victims of Haiti's catastrophic quake.

 

Great gray ships have been leaving behind Haiti's battered shores as thousands of American troops pack up their tents. The mission, however, is far from over.

 

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the US will be in Haiti for the long haul, although troop strength is down to 13,000 from a Feb. 1 peak of 20,000. Those who remain will accompany Haitians in an arduous struggle toward recovery.

 

Within a broad international relief effort, US forces have provided some of the most visible support to a nation whose government and infrastructure were nearly wiped out in less than a minute on Jan. 12.

 

They have shored up the capital's quake-damaged port to operate at several times its pre-quake tonnage, while acting as a security and logistics mainstay for UN food distributions. Military choppers have delivered life-sustaining relief to isolated villages.

 

The flow of injured quake victims to the USNS Comfort hospital ship has eased, but the need for medical facilities remains overwhelming in Port-au-Prince.

 

"We're pretty saturated. This is the chokepoint," said Air Force Maj. John Mansuy of St. Clairsville, Ohio, the operating room nurse in a tented, full-service unit with zipper doors and a positive air flow to keep out choking dust that blankets a landfill in the teeming Cite Soleil slum.

 

His medical team takes in people strapped to stretchers — with fractures, open wounds and other life-threatening maladies — before rushing them offshore to the Comfort.

 

The Haiti aid operation, costing the Pentagon $234 million and counting, has added a new strain to an already overtaxed military. About seven in 10 members of the Cite Soleil's modern-day MASH unit are veterans of the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan — and many are scheduled to return there.

 

US Southern Command chief Gen. Douglas Fraser would not specify during a weekend visit what US troop levels would be in the coming months.

 

"Remember that the capability and the capacity the United States military brought in was for immediate relief," he told reporters.

 

The U.S. military already is turning certain tasks back over to the Haitians, such as daytime air-traffic control at Port-au-Prince's damaged international airport, where commercial flights are expected to resume by Friday.

 

The Haitians have generally greeted the Americans with warmth and appreciation, despite language barriers in the Creole- and French-speaking Caribbean nation.

 

One day at the gates of the collapsed Hotel Montana, a group of Haitian children greeted soldiers with the 82nd Airborne with a rendition of Michael Jackson's moonwalk. The soldiers replied with a moonwalk of their own. "Hey, you're good!" one of the kids shouted.

 

"No one is scared of them. They aren't aggressive, they wave hello. They have a peaceful attitude," said Jacques Michilet, 31, who lost his home and is raising two daughters in roadside shack.

 

Like many impoverished Haitians, Michilet doesn't just want the soldiers to stay: He said he wants his country taken out of the hands of its current business and political leaders and annexed by the United States.

 

US forces have not always been so welcome in their long history of intervention in Haiti.

 

A Marine-led occupation from 1915 to 1934 is widely seen among Haitians as a high water mark of US imperialism. Troops returned repeatedly, paving the way in 1994 for President Jean-Bertrand Aristide's return to power — and then quelling widespread violence in 2004 after Aristide flew into exile aboard a US plane.

 

Critics say American perception of Haiti as an innately violent place drove the troops to focus unduly on security, at the expense of some humanitarian aid.

 

Patrick Elie, a former Haitian defense minister now helping restructure the country's dismantled security forces, said the US troops have done good but were too focused on security initially.

 

"The foreign countries that came to our aid fell victim to their own propaganda," Elie said. "They were afraid of a monster that never existed except in their own fantasies ... that Haitians are bloodthirsty savages."

 

After the disaster, there were isolated street fights and killings of looters by security guards, and some gang violence in slums driven by leaders who escaped from prison. But the capital has been largely calm and orderly as Haitians organize themselves from the ground up.

 

On Sunday, volunteers with whistles directed traffic around fallen buildings and rubble in the hard-hit Bel Air slum. Uniformed scouts routed cars around singing church parades — a toned-down substitute for this year's missed Carnival season.

 

Still, US military analyst Loren Thompson of the Lexington Institute said the security precautions were warranted.

 

"Desperate people do desperate things," he said. "It would be dangerous and probably counterproductive to put U.S. civilians on the ground there without military forces to ensure order."

 

A 9,000-strong Brazilian-led UN peacekeeping force has been in place since 2004 to help Haiti contain gang violence and maintain basic order.

 

Earlier this month, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive defended the size of the American military presence when confronted by wary Haitian senators. He said the government's acceptance of the US military force boiled down to "a reality of capacity, of power, of proximity, of logistics."

 

Half of the 13,000 current US troops in Haiti are on the ground, with the others offshore on hospital boats or handling deliveries and logistics.

 

Many Haitians said they are most grateful for the US troops providing security during food distributions, a life-and-death matter for most of the 1.2 million made homeless by the quake. The US said it has helped deliver food to 160,000 people a day, but meals remain scarce and food has been diverted or stolen because of inadequate protection.

 

Far smaller contingents of Canadian, French, Italian, South Korean and Japanese troops are also in Haiti, and European Union engineering units are expected in coming weeks to help build temporary shelters.

 

But the American contingent is the one that Haitians worry about losing in their greatest time of need. Told that some US troops are leaving, 29-year-old rooster trainer Watson Geranson grew worried.

 

"Haiti needs help, we had a catastrophe," he said as a US Humvee rumbled by a new shantytown of quake refugees, where signs were posted pleading for food. "I don't see why they should go."

- AP

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN SOUTH-EAST ASIA ON 16 FEBRUARY 2010

 

4.8-MAGNITUDE QUAKE STRIKES OFF ILOCOS

 

(02/16/2010 | 05:37 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

A 4.8-magnitude earthquake struck off Ilocos Norte and was felt in some areas in northern Luzon Tuesday afternoon, state seismologists said.

 

The 2:49 p.m. quake was felt at Intensity II in Pasuquin town and Laoag City in Ilocos Norte, a bulletin from the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said.

 

According to the Phivolcs, Intensity II means the quake was felt by a few individuals at rest indoors, hanging objects swing slightly, and still water in containers oscillates noticeably.

 

The quake's epicenter was traced northeast of Laoag City. No aftershocks are expected.

 

- Johanna Camille Sisante/JV, GMANews

 

 

CAGAYAN UNDER STATE OF CALAMITY DUE TO EL NIÑO

 

(2/16/2010 | 10:37 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

SANTIAGO CITY, Isabela – Cagayan province in northern Luzon has been placed under state of calamity to mitigate the impact of the El Niño phenomenon on its farmlands.

 

 

German ARD Text: EARTHQUAKE IN EAST INDONESIA

 

Tuesday morning, East Indonesia was struck by a magnitude 6.2 earthquake, according to USGS. According to the Indonesian authorities the strenght of the earthquake was magnitude 6.8 on the Richter scale. The epicentre was 295 km north-west of Tanimbar - a group of islands - in a depth of 130 km. There is no reason to fear a tsunami, and there are no reports of injured or material damage.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 16 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Danish TV2:

 

SCHOOL COLLAPSES DUE TO HAITIAN HEAVY RAINS

3 children died when a school in North Haiti collapsed during heavy rains in the city of Cap-Haitién. According to the Haitian authorities the heavy rains and a minor earthquake in the night to Monday may have caused the school collapse. - It is now more than a month since Haiti was struck by the devastating magnitude 7.0 (on the Richter scale) earthquake that killed more than 200,000 Haitians.

 

 

Swedish SVT text:

CHILDREN IN HAITI KILLED IN RAVAGED SCHOOL

A landslide in Northern Haiti ravaged parts of a school and killed 4 school children, while 2 children were injured. 4 days of heavy rains triggered the landslide in Cap-Haitian, said the Haitian government's spokesman on Monday. The northern part of Haiti was not much affected by the consequences of the earthquake on 12 January 2010. Cap-Haitian lies at the Atlantic coast in North Haiti about 25 miles from the destroyed capital Port-au-Prince.

 

 

Swedish SVT text:

THE AMERICAN BAPTISTS - INVESTIGATIONS INSTITUTED.

10 American baptists are charged with attempting to take Haitian children out of Haiti illegally. El Salvador has instituted an investigation in relation to the missionaries' legal adviser in Haiti who is suspected of being the leader of a sex trafficking syndicate involving children and girls from Central America and the Caribbean. The Haitian examining magistate says that the Americans will not be released until the investigations have been completed.

 

 

German ZDF Text:

HAITI: CHILDREN RESCUED FROM PRESUMED HUMAN TRAFFICKERS

5 weeks after the devastating earthquake on 12 January 2010, children are still being smuggled out of the poor country. This week-end 22 Haitian children were rescued by border police from the Dominican Republic. The 6 kidnappers were Haitian and have been arrested. The Haitian government fear that children whose parents might still be alive are taken out of the country.

 

 

BBC WORLD NEWS:

CANADA BUILDS HAITI GOVERNMENT HEADQUARTERS

The Canadian prime minister Stephen Harper announced at the start of his 2-day visit that Canada would spend Canadian $12m (£7.3m) on a temporary base after the earthquake destroyed many government offices. The base made of prefabricated modules and inflatable shelters is to house key ministeries for up to a year. CANADA is the second biggest donor to Haiti after the USA.

[nancyk58]

FEARS OF ANOTHER QUAKE BECOME NEW HAITI BOOGEYMAN

 

(2/16/2010 | 09:00 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Hundreds of houses that survived Haiti's killer quake still stand empty even as quake victims desperate for shelter crowd the streets. The reason is fear: Nobody is quite sure they can withstand another quake.

 

At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered through Haiti's shattered capital since a Jan. 12 quake killed more than 200,000 people. They have toppled weakened buildings faster than demolition crews can get to them, sending up new clouds of choking dust. On Monday, three children were killed when a school collapsed in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. It wasn't clear what caused the collapse, which occurred after a late-night tremor and heavy rains.

 

"I tried sleeping in the house for a night, but an aftershock came and I ran outside," said Louise Lafonte, 36, who beds down with her family of five in a tent beside her seemingly intact concrete house. "I'm not going inside until the ground calms down."

 

That may be awhile. Seismologists say more, damaging aftershocks are likely and there's even a chance of another large quake following quickly after the initial catastrophe in the capital of 3 million people.

 

In 1751, a large quake hit the island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. About a month later, another one destroyed Port-au-Prince.

 

A magnitude-7.4 quake that killed more than 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999 was followed three months later by another of magnitude-7.2 only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the initial epicenter.

 

"There are many other examples like that of two significant earthquakes following each other," said Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University who said he warned the Haitian government two years ago that the country was vulnerable to a major quake.

 

The prospect of another quake is on the minds of planners trying to rebuild the country and on those trying to prevent more deaths.

 

U.N. inspectors have advised people to stay away from dozens of structures. On Jan. 26, four people were trapped when a building collapsed on them, and on Feb. 9, a magnitude-4.0 aftershock shook loose debris at a shattered supermarket, trapping several more.

 

"One of the problems with aftershocks is that lot of buildings are already damaged, so aftershocks can punch above their weight," said Brian Baptie, a seismologist with the British Geological Survey in Edinburgh, Scotland.

 

Even Haiti's President Rene Preval is scared to sleep inside. He said he was staying with friends until he could move to an earthquake-resistant structure. Days after the quake, he said he was considering sleeping in a tent.

 

"Like you, I am nervous to be under cement," Preval said in an interview with AP Television News. "Nobody can say when exactly this fault will erupt again."

 

On Monday, Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper said his country will spend up to $12 million to build Haiti's government a temporary base to replace official buildings damaged in the quake.

 

Seismologists say Port-au-Prince was particularly vulnerable due to its population density and shoddy construction.

 

Haiti's government on Sunday banned the use of quarry sand in structures, although it is not clear how it will enforce the ban. Engineers say the limestone quarry sand produces brittle concrete easily damaged by quakes.

 

The US Geological Survey estimated at the end of January that there was a 90-percent likelihood of at least one more magnitude-5 quake in the coming month, a 15 percent likelihood of one of magnitude-6 or greater, and a 2 percent possibility of a shock as great, or bigger, than the Jan. 12 quake.

 

At least 15 of the aftershocks near the original epicenter have registered at least magnitude-5.

 

Scientists say the impact of the quake last month may spread far wider.

 

A magnitude-5.8 earthquake struck off the Cayman Islands two days after the Haiti quake. Last week, a magnitude-5.4 quake jolted eastern Cuba. And Montserrat's volcano, more than 1,000 kilometers (600 miles) to the east, shot ash some 15 kilometers (nine miles) into the sky during one of its most dramatic events since a 1997 eruption that drove away half the Caribbean island's population.

 

"These events we're seeing might be because of the passage of seismic waves — what we call dynamic triggering — that shake already damaged fault lines in places like Cuba," Calais said. "The same type of thing could be happening in Montserrat, but it's very difficult to tell."

 

Strong quakes relieve stress along fault lines, but that stress is often shifted elsewhere.

 

Last month's earthquake occurred along the east-west Enriquillo Fault, where two pieces of earth's crust slide by each other in opposite directions like a zipper. Surprisingly, aftershocks haven't clustered on the Enriquillo, but along what appears to be a previously unidentified separate fault.

 

Arthur Lerner-Lam of the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory in New York said there is a heightened risk of quakes for some time because strong temblors force the Earth to rearrange itself.

 

Estimating where a major quake may strike is an imprecise science anywhere — and especially in Haiti, which lacks seismometers and has never logged histories of temblors.

 

That sort of historical record is critical for scientists like Calais, who is advising Haiti's government and the U.N. and is trying to develop an earthquake hazard map that can be used to mitigate risks for the reconstruction effort.

 

"We're half-blind when it comes to Haiti," Calais said. - AP

 

 

HAITI PRESIDENT: 3 YEARS NEEDED TO MOVE RUBBLE

 

(02/16/2010 | 07:44 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – It will take three long years to clear the rubble left by Haiti's devastating earthquake, said President Rene Preval who admitted even he's still afraid to sleep under concrete in case another quake strikes.

 

In a rare exclusive sit-down interview, Preval told Associated Press Television News on Monday that Haiti faces a long reconstruction process that will result in fewer people living in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

 

"It will take 1,000 trucks moving rubble for 1,000 days, so that's three years. And until we move out rubble, we cannot really build," Preval said.

 

Sitting in the airport police station that serves as the country's temporary government headquarters, Preval calmly laid out the difficulties of rebuilding an impoverished country amid aftershocks and the threat of more earthquakes.

 

He said the government has destroyed some hastily rebuilt structures in the capital, but he said that until alternative housing plans can be completed, the government's ability to regulate reconstruction will be limited.

 

Asked about residents' assertions that local corruption has interfered with the international aid effort, he replied: "It is possible that there have been irregularities."

 

"However," he said, "I should point out that the government isn't the direct manager of most of this humanitarian assistance."

 

He referred further questions to relief organizations and local and international governments engaged in food distribution.

 

International aid groups have taken pains to at least make Haiti's government the titular head of the relief. But district mayor's offices in Port-au-Prince have been put in control of some food coupon distribution, and some irregularities have been reported.

 

The president, whose five year term is scheduled to end next year, has rarely spoken publicly with his own people in the weeks since a magnitude-7 earthquake pummeled Haiti's capital city on Jan. 12.

 

More than 200,000 people were killed. The presidential palace and his own private residence were destroyed, as were most government buildings and the headquarters of a 9,000-member U.N. peacekeeping force that guarantees his security.

 

Since then, Preval said Monday, he has been staying with friends until a "light, earthquake-proof" structure can be built to replace his home.

 

"Like you, I am nervous to be under cement," he said.

 

Canadian Prime Minister Stephen Harper on Monday said his country will spend up to $12 million to build Haiti's government a temporary base to replace official buildings damaged in the quake.

 

Despite Haitians' desperate need for shelter, many abandoned houses that survived the quake still stand empty because nobody is quite sure they can withstand another quake.

 

At least 54 aftershocks have shuddered through Haiti's shattered capital since Jan. 12. They have toppled weakened buildings faster than demolition crews can get to them, sending up new clouds of choking dust. On Monday, three children were killed when a school collapsed in the northern city of Cap-Haitien. It wasn't clear what caused the collapse, which occurred after a late-night tremor and heavy rains.

 

"I tried sleeping in the house for a night, but an aftershock came and I ran outside," said Louise Lafonte, 36, who beds down with her family of five in a tent beside her seemingly intact concrete house. "I'm not going inside until the ground calms down."

 

That may be awhile. Seismologists say more, damaging aftershocks are likely and there's even a chance of another large quake following quickly after the initial catastrophe in the capital of 3 million people.

 

In 1751, a large quake hit the island that Haiti shares with the Dominican Republic. About a month later, another one destroyed Port-au-Prince.

 

A magnitude-7.4 quake that killed more than 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999 was followed three months later by another of magnitude-7.2 only 100 kilometers (60 miles) from the initial epicenter.

 

"There are many other examples like that of two significant earthquakes following each other," said Eric Calais, a geophysicist at Purdue University who said he warned the Haitian government two years ago that the country was vulnerable to a major quake.

 

The prospect of another quake is on the minds of planners trying to rebuild the country and on those trying to prevent more deaths.

 

U.N. inspectors have advised people to stay away from dozens of structures.

 

The U.S. Geological Survey estimated at the end of January that there was a 90-percent likelihood of at least one more magnitude-5 quake in the coming month, a 15 percent likelihood of one of magnitude-6 or greater, and a 2 percent possibility of a shock as great, or bigger, than the Jan. 12 quake. - AP

 

E-mail scams exploiting Haiti earthquake generosity (16.2.10) By Razua Iqbal, BBC News

Criminal gangs have been cashing in on the Haiti earthquake by seeking funds for bogus charities via millions of spam e-mails, a BBC investigation has learned.

The Haiti earthquake led to millions of pounds being raised to help people with next to nothing who, literally overnight, found they had even less.

But alongside genuine appeals and donations, something more sinister started to emerge.

Within days, scam e-mails began appearing on the internet. Some had what looked like logos from genuine charities.

One said it was from the British Red Cross, but was traced to a computer in Nigeria; another used the Unicef logo, but was nothing to do with them.

Our investigation focused on two e-mails. One was from a charity called Help the World, which is not registered with the Charity Commission.

There was a mobile number on the e-mail which we rang. A man responded and told us how the funds they were raising were being used.

He told us: "We are repairing the centre of the disaster in Haiti. We focus on the schools in Haiti. We have to let the children have their future back, you know without education there's no future."

None of this was true. Scam e-mails tend to list only mobile numbers, which a bona fide charity would steer clear of.

We checked with the Charity Commission, who have no record of Help the World.

However, unusually for such e-mails, there was a London address which we checked out. It turned out to be a jazz and blues bar.

A second group we investigated called itself the M E Foundation and was also not registered with the Charity Commission.

In the e-mails, a Mr David Isco Iker was said to be running the charity. I asked him how they were getting their donations and what they were using the money for.

He said: "We get mostly phone donations... mostly for food, medical supplies."

This was all also untrue. Unsolicited, the M E Foundation sent us photographs of the Haiti projects they said they were involved with.

One showed rows of white tents with a logo on each one. We discovered the camp belonged to the well established Cambridge-based charity, SOS Children.

Chief executive of SOS Children, Andrew Cates, told us the picture was one of theirs, cut and pasted from their website, and not from Haiti, but from the Pakistani earthquake a few years ago.

He said: "The problem is it's not just about exploiting a donor or a charity, really they're exploiting the victims. Because they're taking money people want to give to the victims of these natural disasters and they're stealing it.

"So I don't feel that they're robbing me, I feel that they're taking from the mouths of children we're trying to help and that is something which is very difficult not to get angry about."

Research from the Office of Fair Trading shows that last year, around two million people were conned out of cash via scam e-mails of various kinds.

But given the scale and nature of the Haiti tragedy, there is something quite different about this cyber crime.

Richard Hurley from Cifas, the UK's fraud prevention service, said: "They're very sophisticated and with that sophistication goes a large level of a very insidious nature which deliberately preys on your feelings for those innocent victims and your desire to help them.

"So it's making use of human suffering and the best in human nature at the same time simply for commercial profit."

The evidence against the M E Foundation was piling up. Their listed address in London turned out to be a newsagents which had been there for 20 years.

The newsagent said he was offended to learn that people were stealing money from others and using his address as a cover.

The other address listed for the M E Foundation was in Malaga, so we went there to try to talk to the people involved. We told our contact in Spain we would send our donation for the charity via courier.

The address given to us was in a run-down area of Malaga, and our courier waited for the contact. It all happened in a flash.

Our courier spoke to the man, in Spanish, very briefly. He clearly identified himself as the man I had spoken to.

However, as soon as the BBC team appeared with a camera and a microphone, he fled, shedding his coat, flip flops, and fake ID.

 

HOW TO AVOID SCAMS

Make sure emails are genuine. If you have any concerns about a request for donations that appears to come from a charity, contact the charity directly

Ask for a charity collector's identification and the charity's name and registration number

Check if a charity is on the public register of charities at http://www.charitycommission.gov.uk

If you think you have been targeted, report it to the police or contact the Charity Commission

If you want to donate to a particular charity online, visit the charity's website

Source: Charity Commission

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 17 FEBRUARY 2010

 

DANISH TV2 TEXT:

AIR TRAFFIC TO HAITI AGAIN VERY SOON

American Airlines will reopen its air traffic between Miami and Port-au-Prince by the end of this week. From March 2010 there will be air traffic between Haiti - Puerto Rico - the Dominican Republic. This will represent a milestone in the rebuilding efforts. When the commercial flights have been resumed, we can reunite people with their dear ones and offer reliable transport, says Vice President of the American Airlines, Peter Dolara. American Airlines is the first airline to resume commercial flights / air traffic to Haiti.

 

 

DANISH TV2 TEXT: REBUILDING HAITI COSTS AS MANY AS 13.9 BILLION DOLLARS

The rebuilding and reconstruction of schools, houses, ministeries, roads and other infrastructure will amount to between 8.1 and 13.9 billion dollars.

 

SWEDISH SVT TEXT: REBUILDING HAITI COSTS AS MANY AS 13.9 BILLION DOLLARS

This is an estimate made by the InterAmerican Development Bank. The earthquake on 12 January 2010 was not only one of the worst / most destructive natural disasters in modern time when it comes to loss of human lives - it was also the most expensive. At least 217,000 people died in the earthquake according to an official estimate. The capital Port-au-Prince is now largely in ruins.

 

 

INTER-AMERICAN DEVT. BANK STUDY: QUAKE DAMAGE TWICE VALUE OF HAITI ECONOMY

 

(02/17/2010 | 09:14 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Damage from Haiti's catastrophic Jan. 12 earthquake may be twice the value of the country's annual economy, Latin America's main development bank said Tuesday.

 

A report by three Inter-American Development Bank economists found last month's earthquake to be more devastating than the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami was for Indonesia, and five times deadlier than the 1972 earthquake that leveled Nicaragua's capital.

 

"It is the most destructive (natural disaster) a country has ever experienced when measured in terms of the number of people killed as a share of the country's population," the report says — killing one in every 50 Haitians.

 

Economists Eduardo Cavallo, Andrew Powell and Oscar Becerra estimated the magnitude-7 quake wrought damage worth between $8.1 billion and $13.9 billion.

 

Haiti produced only $7 billion worth of goods and services in 2008, according to the World Bank.

 

"This is just an assessment of damage; it gives no indication of the amount of money to get the country back as if nothing had happened," Cavallo told The Associated Press by phone.

 

He said an ongoing assessment will be needed to determine the total amount Haiti needs to rebuild.

 

The authors used statistical models based on data compiled from about 2,000 natural disasters since 1970 — taking into account estimated death tolls, levels of economic development and other factors — and they caution the study is preliminary.

 

They came up with a wide range of potential estimates, including one as low as $4.1 billion.

 

But because there is so little precedent for a disaster this size — killing more than 200,000 people and striking directly at the heart of the country's political and economic center — Cavallo said they believe the final figure will be closer to their highest estimates.

 

That is devastating news for a country whose economy was faltering before the disaster and is the Western Hemisphere's smallest per capita.

 

The Dominican Republic, which shares the island of Hispaniola with Haiti and has a similarly sized population, had a $46 billion economy in 2008.

 

Disasters on the scale of Haiti's quake tend to induce long-term poverty that is difficult to reverse.

 

In many of the countries studied after their disasters, the authors found, personal wealth remained 30 percent lower 10 years after the events even with large amounts of international aid.

- AP

[nancyk58]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/business/8519773.stm

 

THE OECD SAYS AID TO AFRICA WILL FALL WELL BELOW TARGETS :( :cry:

 

AID TO POORER COUNTRIES WILL MISS TARGETS, SAYS OECD :(

 

Aid to developing countries from richer nations will fail to hit aid targets set five years ago at the Gleneagles summit, a study has suggested.

 

Total aid will be $107bn (£68bn) in 2010 against 2005 pledges of $128bn, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development has forecast.

 

Many countries will hit their targets, the OECD added, but others, including Greece and Italy, will not.

 

Aid agency OXFAM described such "broken promises" as "a scandal".

 

"Rich countries have no excuse for failing to deliver the aid increases they promised five years ago at Gleneagles," said Max Lawson at Oxfam.

 

The missing $21bn could pay for every child [in the world] to go to school and could save the lives of two million of the poorest mothers and children."

 

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown echoed Oxfam's view when he said: "I do not believe there can be any excuse for denying money promised to the poorest people on our planet."

 

Africa will suffer the biggest shortfall in aid, the OECD said. The continent is likely to receive just $12bn of the $25bn pledged.

 

MISSING TARGETS

 

In 2005, 15 countries committed to give a minimum of 0.51% of their national income in 2010 to developing nations.

 

Some have honoured these commitments, with SWEDEN and LUXEMBOURG set to

donate 1% of their income this year.

 

The OECD said other countries set to reach the target were DENMARK (0.83%), the NETHERLANDS (0.8%), BELGIUM (0.7%), the UK (0.56%), FINLAND (0.55%), IRELAND (0.52%) and SPAIN (0.51%).

 

The countries that are not are FRANCE (0.46%), GERMANY (0.4%), AUSTRIA (0.37%), PORTUGAL (0.34%), GREECE (0.21%) and ITALY (0.2%). :(

 

Other countries made varying commitments and most, including the US, CANADA , AUSTRALIA and NEW ZEALAND, will meet them, the OECD said.

 

POVERTY SUMMIT

 

The chairman of the Development Assistance Committee of donor countries, Eckhard Deutscher, said that although aid had increased strongly, "UNDERPERFORMANCE by [some members], notably Austria, FRANCE, GERMANY, Greece, Italy, Japan and Portugal means overall aid will still fall considerably short of what was promised".

 

"These commitments were made and confirmed repeatedly by heads of governments and it is essential that they be met to the full extent."

Of the $21bn shortfall for 2010, the OECD said $17bn was due to countries giving less than they had pledged, with $4bn down to lower-than-expected national incomes.

 

Despite the shortfall, aid to developing economies will reach record levels in dollar terms, after increasing by more than a third since 2004, the group added.

 

Mr Brown said he would work with the European Union and the Canadian presidency of the G8 group of leading economies to put in place a NEW SYSTEM that would make it much harder for countries to break aid promises in the future.

 

He added that the UK was "pushing hard" for a GLOBAL POVERTY SUMMIT IN NEW YORK later this year to set aid targets for the next five years.

 

 

HAITI-related news on 17 February 2010 in previous post

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 18 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Swedish SV2: 8 OF 10 US MISSIONARIES HAVE BEEN RELEASED AND HAVE LEFT HAITI.

They landed early this morning (Swedish time) in Miami airport. The female leader of the group and another woman have not been released, but are held back for further questioning.

 

Swedish SV2:

FRENCH FINANCIAL AID TO HAITI.

France has pledged to give 366 million EURO - including 58 million EURO from debts that have been written off - to the earthquake-ravaged Haiti according to President Nicolas Sarkozy, who is the first French president to visit the former French colony since Haiti became independent in 1804. President Sarkozy saw the destroyed capital Port-au-Prince from a helicopter and visited a field camp hospital established by French relief workers.

 

 

US MISSIONARIES FREED FROM HAITI ARRIVE IN MIAMI

 

(02/18/2010 | 02:20 PM – GMA News.TV)

 

MIAMI - Eight American missionaries freed by a Haitian judge landed in Miami early Thursday, nearly three weeks after the group was charged with kidnapping for trying to take 33 children out of the quake-stricken country.

 

Lt. Kenneth Scholz with the US Southern Command said a U.S. Airforce C-130 cargo plane carrying the Americans landed just after midnight (0500 GMT) at Miami International Airport. The group still hadn't emerged from customs as of early Thursday.

 

The group's swift departure from Haiti began a day earlier when Judge Bernard Saint-Vil said eight of the 10 missionaries were free to leave without bail because parents of the children had testified they voluntarily gave their children to the missionaries believing the Americans would give them a better life.

"The parents gave their kids away voluntarily," Saint-Vil said in explaining his decision.

 

He said, however, that he still wanted to question the group's leader, Laura Silsby, and her former nanny, Charisa Coulter, because they had visited Haiti prior to the quake to inquire about obtaining orphans.

 

Hours later, just after dusk, the bedraggled, sweat-stained group of eight walked out of the Haitian jail escorted by US diplomats.

 

They waited until they were safely inside a white embassy van before some flashed smiles and gave a thumbs up to reporters.

 

Their plane took off from Port-au-Prince shortly thereafter as a group of reporters watched.

 

Silas Thompson, 19, of Twin Falls, Idaho, plopped into the back seat, breathing heavily and beaming with relief. He'd accompanied his father Paul, a pastor, on the mission not knowing that Silsby had not obtained the proper papers, said his US-based lawyer, Caleb Stegall.

 

The missionaries were charged with child kidnapping for trying to take 33 Haitian children to the Dominican Republic on Jan. 29 without Haitian adoption certificates.

 

Their detentions came just as aid officials were urging a halt to short-cut adoptions in the wake of the earthquake and, before their release, Haiti's No. 2 justice official, Claudy Gassent, informed them of the judge's decision but said he also gave them a lecture. - They know they broke the law," he said.

 

The missionaries say they were on a do-it-youself "rescue mission" to take child quake victims to a hastily prepared orphanage in the Dominican Republic, denying the trafficking charge.

 

Silsby originally said they were taking only orphaned and abandoned children, but The Associated Press determined that at least 20 were handed over willingly by their parents, who said the Baptists had promised to educate them and let their parents visit.

 

Saint-Vil said he did not release Silsby, 47, or Coulter, 24, because of their previous activities in Haiti during a December visit.

 

Silsby hastily enlisted the rest of the group after the quake.

 

Coulter, of Boise, Idaho, is diabetic and the judge signed an order Wednesday afternoon authorizing her hospitalization. - AP

 

--------------------------

 

QUAKE ROCKS CHINA-RUSSIA-NORTH KOREA BORDER REGION

 

(02/18/2010 | 11:03 AM – GMA News.TV)

 

BEIJING – An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.8 struck Thursday morning in the region where China, Russia and North Korea meet, the US Geological Survey reported.

 

The temblor hit about 9:15 a.m., and office towers in Beijing swayed slightly for about a minute.

 

The USGS said the quake was centered on the Russian coast along the sea of Japan, 61 miles (98 kilometers) west-southwest of Vladivostok, Russia and about 70 miles (110 kilometers) east from Yanji city in northeast China's Jilin province.

 

A man at the Jilin province earthquake bureau said the agency was trying to get more information and did not have any immediate details.

- AP

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 19 FEBRUARY 2010

 

German ZDF Text:

UN LAUNCHED A BILLION APPEAL FOR HAITI'S VICTIMS

The United Nations launched a new appeal Thursday for $1.44 billion to help the 3 million Haitians, 1/3 of the Haitian population, affected by last month's devastating earthquake. It is UN's largest appeal ever for a natural disaster. One third of the money goes to food supplies. Haiti must prepare for the rainy season which is expected to begin in May followed by the hurricane season. More than 200,000 Haitians died in the devastating earthquake on 12 January 2010.

 

Swedish SVT Text:

UN LAUNCHES ITS LARGEST APPEAL EVER - FOR HAITI

The United Nations launched a new appeal Thursday for $1.44 billion. The amount requested is higher than for any of the previous humanitarian relief efforts and more than for the tsunami disaster in Southeast Asia. More than 1.2 million people are estimated to be homeless in Haiti, and their situation will worsen when the rainy season begins. There exists an urgent need for tents, water and food before the rainy season begins. "Pledge less and give it - and do it sooner rather than later", said UN's special envoy Bill Clinton according to BBC.

 

Danish Text TV: UN LAUNCHED A $1.44 BILLION APPEAL IN HUMANITARIAN AID FOR HAITI

It is UN's largest appeal ever. A large part of the money will go to the creation of tolerable conditions of living such as shelter for more than 1 million homeless in Haiti. Heavy rain showers in Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince have already caused difficult conditions of life for the many homeless Haitians. Relief workers are battling against the clock to find enough tarpaulins to Haitians living on the streets. Many homeless are digging small ditches to prevent water from entering their shelters.

 

UN APPEALS FOR NEARLY $1.5 BILLION FOR HAITI

 

(2/19/2010 | 10:08 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

UNITED NATIONS — The United Nations launched a new appeal Thursday for nearly $1.5 billion to help the 3 million Haitians affected by last month's devastating earthquake, its largest appeal ever for a natural disaster.The appeal, covering needs in 2010, is more than double the UN's initial request on Jan. 15 for $562 million to help quake victims for six months.

 

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and his special envoy for Haiti, former US President Bill Clinton, launched the $1.44 billion appeal at a meeting with diplomats from many of the 191 other UN member states.

 

"Before last month's disaster we had a plan for Haiti's long-term development and reconstruction," Ban said. "Our challenge today is to reformulate that plan to help Haitians build back better."

 

With the rainy season approaching, he said, the top priority is to provide shelter, sanitation and humanitarian assistance.

 

Clinton told the diplomats the appeal is important to begin long-term rebuilding but first the world must help millions of Haitians living day-to-day and facing many problems: Will their children get diarrhea and die because of contaminated water in camps for the displaced? Will their tents be blown away when the hurricane season starts? Will they have enough food?

 

"We have to move them from living day-to-day to where people are living month-to-month," he said, and that means building some shelters that can withstand hurricanes, scaling up cash-for-work programs to get young people who are reviving gangs into jobs, and reopening schools.

 

Donors have already pledged $673 million, said Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. That means $768 million is still needed, she said.

 

Clinton told potential donors "it is very important not to have courtesy commitments." "If you can't give what you wish you could, pledge less and give it — and do it sooner rather than later," he said, promising that all donations will be tracked on a Web site in a transparent way.

 

According to the UN, the size of the revised appeal — covering about 30 percent of Haiti's population — reflects the scale of the catastrophe caused by the Jan. 12 quake that killed over 200,000 people.

 

More than 1.2 million Haitians need emergency shelter and urgent santitation facilities, at least 2 million need food, and some 500,000 people who fled Port-au-Prince and other badly affected cities also need help, the UN said.

 

The new appeal also seeks funds to revive agriculture, provide emergency telecommunications, manage camps for the displaced, improve nutrition and start early recovery programs including cash-for-work.

 

Although emergency humanitarian relief efforts will have to continue for many months, UN humanitarian chief John Holmes said, "we have to be engaged in Haiti for the long haul, for life-saving relief as well as reconstruction."

 

"We need a shelter surge and a sanitation surge to go along with the food surge that happened over the last couple of weeks," he told reporters.

 

Haiti's UN Ambassador Leo Merores echoed the urgent need for shelter with the approaching rainy season.

 

The largest UN appeal for a natural disaster before Haiti was the 2005 request for $1.41 billion for the Asian tsunami that struck a dozen countries around the Indian Ocean rim and left 230,000 people dead. - AP

 

 

UN CALLS FOR COORDINATED HAITI RELIEF EFFORTS

 

(2/19/2010 | 12:21 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

UNITED NATIONS — The UN humanitarian chief called Thursday for improved coordination of relief efforts to tackle the massive challenges in Haiti a month after the devastating earthquake, from a lack of shelter to rubble removal.

 

John Holmes was commenting on an e-mail he sent to United Nations staff that, according to a Washington Post report, said that an uneven response to the Jan. 12 quake "is leading others to doubt our ability to deliver."

 

The paper quoted Holmes as saying he was disappointed that several of the "clusters" assigned to coordinate delivery of aid have not yet assessed needs or developed plans to respond.

 

"We've achieved a lot in the first month in particular in areas like water and food and health ... ," he told reporters. "But we recognize that we have a lot further to go."

 

The UN, in major emergencies, divides responsibility for key needs like shelter, water and sanitation, health care and education to 12 different "clusters" in which UN and independent relief agencies coordinate disaster response so efforts aren't duplicated and aid reaches those most in need.

 

Critics of the cluster setups in Haiti have complained that too much time is wasted on meetings that could be better spent getting help into the field.

 

Holmes disputed the negative characterization of the e-mail, saying that would "disrespect" hundreds of people working for the UN, nongovernmental organizations and the Red Cross and Red Crescent working in Haiti "in incredibly difficult conditions and actually doing a very good job."

 

"We are just getting towards realizing the full scale of this catastrophe and what we have to do to address it," Holmes said.

 

"We need a shelter surge and a sanitation surge to go along with the food surge that happened over the last couple of weeks," he said. "Rubble removal is a massive challenge and then we have to get on to early recovery and education and agriculture, cash-for-work and all those kind of areas."

 

Holmes said he was making a technical point about "the kind of trust and leadership support that's needed rather than saying we're failing in some way."

 

"What I'm trying to say is there's still a huge amount to do. We need to have the proper cluster coordination resources to do that — which will go well beyond what are needed in any ordinary disaster," he said.

- AP

[nancyk58]

The Berlinger Philharmoniker to give benefit concert for Haiti - live on the WEB SATURDAY 20.2.10 at 8pm GMT +1

 

www.Unicef.org

 

UNICEF: THE BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER TO GIVE BENEFIT CONCERT FOR HAITI – LIVE on the WEB

 

NEW YORK/GENEVA/BERLIN 18 February 2010 - UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador The Berliner Philharmoniker, conducted by Sir Simon Rattle and featuring pianist Mitsuko Uchida are dedicating a concert on SATURDAY, 20 FEBRUARY (8:00 p.m. GMT +1) to the victims of the earthquake in Haiti. All proceeds from the concert and the Digital Concert Hall webcast will be donated to UNICEF’s emergency assistance for children in Haiti.

 

Classical music fans all over the world can watch the concert online live in the Digital Concert Hall at http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de.

 

BERLINER PHILHARMONIKER

Sir Simon Rattle Conductor

Mitsuko Uchida Piano

 

PROGRAMME:

György Ligeti

San Francisco Polyphony

Ludwig van Beethoven

Piano Concerto No. 4 in G major

Jean Sibelius

Symphony No. 2

 

"We are giving the concert on the 20 February to raise money for the catastrophe in Haiti," said Sir Simon Rattle, asking people to watch the concert (which is sold out in the Philharmonie) live in the Digital Concert Hall. "As the proceeds from every online ticket will go directly to UNICEF, please join us, enjoy the concert and help us at the same time."

 

The Berliner Philharmoniker has been an international UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador since 2007.

 

The orchestra’s Berlin concerts are broadcast live at http://www.berliner-philharmoniker.de and are available in a video archive within a few days.

 

 

BACKGROUND on the concert:

Round table discussion on YouTube with Sir Simon Rattle, Mitsuko Uchida, Sabine Christiansen (UNICEF Goodwill Ambassador), Emmanuel Pahud and Pamela Rosenberg (General Manager of the Berliner Philharmoniker).

 

 

A video message from Sir Simon Rattle:

http://dch.berliner-philharmoniker.de/#/en/liveconcerts/2010/2/t295/

 

For further information, please contact:

 

Veronique Taveau, UNICEF Geneva, 011 41 22 909 5716 e-mail: [email protected]

 

Kate Donovan, UNICEF New York, + 212 326 7452 e-mail: [email protected]

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 20 FEBRUARY 2010

 

TV2 TTV (Danish text-TV):

EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS FIGHTING OVER SHELTER

 

Survivors of the devastating earthquake on 12 January 2010 are fighting over plastic materials enabling them to build a shelter from the rain. When relief workers were distributing material enabling the survivors to build shelters at the Ministry of Cultural Affairs in Port-au-Prince, fights broke out among the inhabitants of an impromptu tent village. The police had to intervene to stop the disturbance. Outside of Plaza Hotel a group of men threatened each other with bits of rubble while discussing who was the owner of a tarpaulin.

[nancyk58]

NEWS FROM THE PHILIPPINES ON 20 FEBRUARY 2010

 

40° C WEATHER POSSIBLE DUE TO El NIÑO —PAGASA

 

(02/20/2010 | 07:48 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

With the El Niño phenomenon threatening to make the coming summer season hotter, state weather forecasters are not discounting 40-degree Celsius weather in some parts of the country.

 

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the temperatures in Metro Manila alone will likely go up to a sweltering 36 to 37 degrees Celsius.

 

“We will observe other areas of the country such as Northern Luzon," Pagasa weather bureau head Nathaniel Cruz said in an interview on dzRH radio on Saturday, when asked about the possibility of 40-degree weather in summer.

 

"In Metro Manila, the weather could go up to 36 or 37 degrees. That is enough to feel very hot," he said. The hottest temperature recorded in the Philippines was in Tuguegarao in Cagayan province on April 29, 1912. On that day, the temperature there reached 108 degrees Fahrenheit or 42.2 degrees Celsius, according to the Weather Explained website.

 

“El Niño is in its final stages but the effects are being felt in the Philippines only now. In Luzon particularly, we are about to feel the LACK OF RAIN," he said.

 

He added the LACK OF RAIN is expected to persist along with HOT WEATHER from March to June.

 

“Summer has not set in but the northeast monsoon has started to weaken. We expect the weather to get hotter in March and April, and especially hot in May," he said.

 

—LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

PINAY KILLED IN HAITY QUAKE FINALLY HOME

 

(02/20/2010 | 07:35 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

After a one-day delay, the remains of a Filipino woman killed in last month’s magnitude-7 quake in Haiti finally arrived home early Saturday.

 

Radio dzBB’s Manny Vargas reported that the family of Mary Grace Fabian waited for the remains to arrive on a Philippine Airlines PR-103 flight from Los Angeles.

 

“We love you Grace Fabian," read the placards they brought with them while they waited at the Ninoy Aquino International Airport (NAIA).

 

Dolores Fabian, Mary Grace’s mother, said they plan to bury her in Las Piñas City this Monday. In the meantime, they said they would bring the remains to Rizal Funeral Homes in Pasay City.

 

For its part, the Overseas Workers Welfare Administration said it is checking its records to see if Fabian is an OWWA member and entitled to benefits and livelihood assistance.

 

“I have to check our records if she is a member....," OWWA head Carmelita Dimzon said.

 

The repatriation of Fabian’s remains were delayed for a day due to some glitches.

 

Fabian’s body was pulled out of the collapsed Caribbean Supermarket at 11 a.m. of February 7 in Haiti, or midnight of Feb. 7 in Manila.

 

Lowel Lalican, the husband of Geraldine Lalican, another OFW still trapped under the rubble of the supermarket, identified the remains. Fabian, an employee of the Caribbean Supermarket, was identified through her uniform, hair and necklace.

 

Fabian’s Haiti-based sister Rosalyn had initially instructed that the remains be interred at the National Cemetery in Port-au-Prince. But the DFA said Fabian’s family in the Philippines requested that her remains be repatriated.

- LBG, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 20 FEBRUARY 2010

 

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/domrepublic_52775.html

 

UNICEF AND DOMINICAN PARTNERS PROTECT UNACCOMPANIED HAITIAN CHILDREN

 

By Jennifer Bakody

 

JIMANI, Dominican Republic, 16 February 2010 – Born and raised in Port-au-Prince, Haiti, 13-year-old Loveson has such a small frame that he could easily pass for 9 or 10. Outside the makeshift UN headquarters here, 5 km from the Dominican Republic’s border with Haiti, he plays with a plush Tiger hand puppet and a toy cell phone.

 

Under the circumstances, Loveson is understandably shy. But when asked how he’s feeling, he smiles. “I have all these people around me,” he says quietly in his native Creole. “Everyone is looking after me now.”

 

Over the past month, Loveson has been through a lot. On 12 January, the earthquake that struck the Haitian capital and other densely populated areas levelled his family’s home. While Loveson managed to escape immediate harm, by all accounts his relatives inside did not.

 

Alone and scared, Loveson somehow found his way to the border. In the chaos, he crossed into the Dominican Republic, where a local family first took him in before bringing him to UNICEF’s offices in Jimani.

 

A SAFE ENVIRONMENT

UNICEF Dominican Republic staff member Moyra Tames has been working with Loveson ever since. The first priority was “that his basic needs were met and that he was examined, fed and placed in a SAFE ENVIRONMENT, under supervision,” she says.

 

Ms. Tames immediately arranged for Loveson to be sheltered with one of UNICEF’s partners on the ground. She made sure he had access to safe water, soap and other essential items.

 

Loveson also has been introduced to a professional psycho-social counsellor to help him begin dealing with a kind of trauma that even adults aren’t equipped to handle.

 

MONITORING, SUPPORT AND PROTECTION

Meanwhile, UNICEF and its partners have been supporting efforts by the Dominican National Council for Children and Adolescents to locate Loveson’s closest surviving relatives and return him home to their care.

His case isn’t unique. UNICEF has been following cases of unaccompanied Haitian minors in the Dominican Republic since shortly after the earthquake struck. Each case requires close monitoring; each child needs life-saving support and protection.

 

As for Loveson, he’s retaining his ready smile and has even made a new friend – a boy his own age who lives in Jimani but comes from Haiti. They spend most of their days outside, racing around amongst the busy aid workers and calling out each other’s names. By meal time, they’ve expended a lot of energy. And like most teen-aged boys, they have very healthy appetites.

 

Updated: 17 February 2010

 

'Baby tents' offer Haitian mothers a safe place to breastfeed

 

 

http://www.unicef.org/infobycountry/haiti_52806.html

 

A FATHER'S ACCOUNT OF THE EARTHQUAKE AND ITS AFTERMATH

 

By Jennifer Bakody

 

FOND PARISIEN, Haiti, 19 February 2010 – Dieuveil Marcelin Aristide and his 12-year-old son Lemark are encamped in a small tent with a dozen other strangers located some 50 kilometers from their former home in Port-au-Prince.

On 12 January, Lemark was doing homework when the earthquake struck and the walls of his bedroom collapsed around him.

"A concrete block fell onto my legs," he recalled. "I couldn't move and I was in pain."

 

Mr. Aristide was rocking Lemark's baby brother in the living room. They, too, became trapped. Disoriented and barely able to breathe in the dust, he saw a ray of light through the darkness—a ray of light that led him from the rubble to a hole in an outside WALL.

 

The baby was lowered through the hole first. In time, with help from his neighbours, Mr. Aristide was able to escape. It took four more hours, however, to chip away at the heavy block wedged into Lemark's lower body. A Haitian pastor drove Lemark and his father to the border town of Fond Parisien where Lemark received life-saving care. Despite suffering great pain, Lemark's recovery has progressed steadily. He is now recuperating in a full pelvic cast.

 

GRATEFUL TO BE ALIVE

The Aristide family is grateful to be alive. They praise the authorities and international volunteers for the care they have received. The family of four – mother, father and two sons – were reunited briefly at the 'Love A Child' Christian-missionary camp in Fond Parisien, Haiti. Lemark's mother and brother have since returned to Port-au-Prince, where they have no fixed address.

 

"We have nothing," said Mr. Aristide. "We're in the street, left to fend for ourselves, because everything we had has been destroyed. So, well, there's just God now, who's going to help us. He'll guide us, because we believe in Him."

 

ESSENTIAL AID

Nearly FORTY PER CENT of all Haitians are BELOW FOURTEEN YEARS of age. That is why UNICEF is urgently WORKING WITH GOVERNMENTS AND PARTNERS at this camp and on both sides of the border to PROVIDE ESSENTIAL AID and SAFE WATER TO CHILDREN and their CAREGIVERS. UNICEF will continue to ASSIST PEOPLE like the Aristides in their efforts to BUILD BACK BETTER.

 

Lemark hopes to become an engineer one day. Prior to the earthquake, he was planning on finishing his secondary education and continuing to university. Today, Lemark looks forward to one day returning to school.

 

Updated: 19 February 2010

[nancyk58]

UPDATE OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 21 FEBRUARY 2010

 

ALL 33 HAITIAN ‘ORPHANS’ WITH BAPTISTS HAD PARENTS

 

(02/21/2010 | 11:14 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — There is not one orphan among the 33 children that a US Baptist group tried to take from Haiti in a do-it-yourself rescue mission following a devastating earthquake, the Associated Press has found.

 

In the rubble-riddled Citron slum where 13 of the children lived, parents who gave their children away confirmed Saturday that each one of the youngsters had living parents.

 

Their testimony echoed that of parents in the mountain town of Callabas, outside of Port-au-Prince, who told the AP on Feb. 3 that desperation and blind faith led them to hand over 20 children to the religious Americans who promised them a better life.

 

Now the Citron parents worry they may never see their children again.

 

One Citron mother who gave up all four of her children, including a 3-month-old, is locked in a trance-like state but sometimes erupts into fits of hysteria.

 

Her husband and other parents said they relinquished their children to the U.S. missionaries because they were promised safekeeping across the border in a newly established orphanage in the Dominican Republic.

 

Their stories contradict the missionaries' still-jailed leader, Laura Silsby, who told the AP the day after her arrest that the children were either orphans or came from distant relatives.

 

"She should have told the truth," said Jean Alex Viellard, a 25-year-old law student from Citron who otherwise expressed admiration for the missionaries.

 

He took them cookies, candies and oranges during their nearly three weeks of detention before eight of the 10 were released Wednesday on their own recognizance and flew home to the United States.

 

Silsby, 40, and her assistant, Charisa Coulter, 24, remain jailed as the investigating judge interviews officials at the orphanages the two visited prior to the devastating Jan. 12 quake.

 

The judge flew to the neighboring Dominican Republic on Saturday. The two are to appear in court again Tuesday.

 

As they left the jail and boarded a U.S. Embassy van, the freed Baptists waved and thanked Viellard, who later called them "great people who were doing good for Haiti." The Americans, most from an Idaho church group, were charged with child kidnapping for trying to remove the children without the proper documents to the Dominican Republic in the post-quake chaos.

 

Silsby had been working since last summer to create an orphanage. After the quake, she hastily organized a self-styled "rescue mission," enlisting missionaries from Idaho, Texas and Kansas.

 

She was led to Citron by Pastor Jean Sainvil, an Atlanta, Georgia-based Haitian minister who recruited the 13 children in the slum. Sainvil had been a frequent visitor to the neighborhood of unpaved streets and simple cement homes even before more than half of the houses collapsed in the quake.

 

"The pastor said that with all the bodies decomposing in the rubble there were going to be epidemics, and the kids were going to get sick," said Regilus Chesnel, a 39-year-old stone mason.

 

Chesnel's wife, 33-year-old Bertho Magonie, said her husband persuaded her to give away their children — ages 12, 7, 3, and 1 — and a 10-year-old nephew living with them because their house had collapsed and the kids were sick.

 

"They were vomiting. They had fevers, diarrhea and headaches," she said, leaning against the wall of the grimy two-room hovel the couple shares.

 

In a telephone interview from the United States on Saturday, Sainvil confirmed the Chesnels' story. He said a collapsed building adjacent to where the children lived held six or seven corpses.

 

He said he first met Silsby on Jan. 27 in the town of Ouanaminthe on the Haiti-Dominican border and agreed to help her collect children for a 150-bed orphanage the Americans were establishing near the beach resort of Cabarete in the Dominican Republic.

 

Sainvil, a former orphan who says his nondenominational Haiti Sharing Jesus Ministry has 25 churches in the countryside, said the two agreed to meet again in Port-au-Prince on Feb. 13 to get more children.

 

The day after he met Silsby, Sainvil collected the 13 children from Citron. A day after that, the missionaries' bus was halted at the Dominican border and they were arrested. Sainvil, meanwhile, became sick with vomiting and diarrhea and decided to fly back to the U.S. on a military transport plane, he said.

He denied leaving out of fear he might be arrested. "I wasn't doing anything wrong," he said.

 

Sainvil said what Silsby was doing did not constitute adoption "because the parents had the right to go visit their children or take them back when their situation changed." The pastor said his deeds are often misunderstood by people in the developed world who don't realize that more than half of the 380,000 children in Haiti's orphanages are not orphans. Many have parents who — even before the quake — were simply unable to care for them.

 

The problem is that some of the "orphans" end up as sex slaves or become domestics who work for food and shelter — and sometimes school. Fearing more such abuse of children after the quake, Haiti's government banned all adoptions except those approved before the disaster.

 

Sainvil said he went to Citron for children because he knew people there were desperate: He had been sleeping under tarps with them. Food was barely trickling in, medical care was just becoming available and hundreds of decomposing bodies were buried beneath the neighborhood's collapsed homes.

 

Under one of the blue tarps sheltering the Chesnels' homeless neighbors, 27-year-old Maletid Desilien lay Saturday on a bed of two soiled rugs. Only her eyes peered out from under a bedsheet.

"She has been like that ever since someone told her she will never get the kids back," said her husband, Dieulifanne Desilien, who works in a T-shirt factory.

 

That was eight days ago. Most of the time she lies catatonic, he said, warning a reporter not to go near because she periodically has fits.

 

"She would get up, take her clothes off and run around pulling her hair out," Desilien, 40, said of his wife. "She would jump up from sleep and say, 'Bring me my kids.'" He said she only calms down and is able to sleep after speaking by phone with her children, who are at an orphanage in the capital run by the Austrian-based SOS Children's Villages charity.

 

The day they arrived, orphanage officials said, the Desiliens' 3-month-old daughter, Koestey, was so dehydrated she had to be hospitalized. The other children are ages 7, 6 and 4. Their father — but not their mother — has visited them.

 

Desilien said a police commander has assured him that he will get the children back. The Social Welfare ministry, however, has yet to decide whether some or all of the 33 children will be returned to their parents.

 

"My wife is sick so I have to find a way to get the children back," Deselien said.

- AP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

UPDATE OF THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES ON 21 FEBRUARY 2010

 

German ARDtext: WATER SHORTAGE IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

The Philippines suffer from shortage of water. The government has appealed to the population to consume less water. The water level in one of the most vital dams is disturbingly low. "If we do not economize on water, then we'll face serious problems", a presidential spokesman warned. The period of drought has already caused failing crops to the value of 50 million EURO. The drought could last until July, the Ministry of Agriculture warned. Back in October 2009 several devastating typhoons had flooded parts of the Philippines.

[nancyk58]

Help Red Cross and Unicef help victims of natural disasters - news on 22.2.10

 

UPDATE OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 22 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Swedish SVTtext + Danish TV2 TTV:

HAITI DEATH TOLL COULD REACH 300,000

According to Haiti's President Réné Préval, the death toll may rise to 300,000 when including those buried underneath the rubble. More than 200,000 bodies were picked up in the streets. This figure does not include those still buried underneath the rubble. The death toll could be as high as 300,000. President Préval said this at a meeting in Mexico with American leaders. According to the Inter-American Development Bank, it may cost 14 billion dollars to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake on 12 January 2010.

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV:

HAITI DEATH TOLL COULD REACH 300,000

The figure may be as high as 300,000, and if so, then the earthquake in Haiti is one of the most lethal natural disasters in recent times. The tsunami in the Indian Ocean in 2004 cost more than 200,000 human lives.

 

Danish TV2 TTV:

BABY DOC's MILLIONS MAY GO TO HAITI

The equivalent of DKK 48 million may be underway to Haiti's distressed and needy victims of the devastating earthquake. The money comes from ex-dictator Jean-Claude Duvalier - better known as Baby Doc - who ruled Haiti from 1971 to 1986 and who lives in France. Duvalier has previously said that he will donate the many millions to his countrymen. The fortune is however frozen in the Swiss bank UBS. The government in Switzerland will change that by means of a new act. This can be read in the Danish newspaper "POLITIKEN".

 

 

HAITI LEADER SAYS QUAKE TOLL COULD REACH 300,000

(02/22/2010 | 09:55 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

PLAYA DEL CARMEN, Mexico — The president of Haiti said Sunday the death toll from his country's earthquake could reach 300,000 once all the bodies are recovered from wrecked buildings.

 

Speaking after arriving in Mexico for regional meetings that will include discussion of Haitian aid needs, Preval gave no indication of how he reached the figure.

 

"You have seen the pictures, you know the numbers, more than 200,000 bodies picked up in the streets, counting those that are still underneath the rubble, perhaps we could arrive at 300,000 deaths," Preval said at a meeting between Mexican officials and the countries of the Caribbean trade bloc.

 

Haiti's government has placed the death toll at between 170,000 and 230,000. It depends on which official is talking and none have explained in detail the methodology used to arrive at the numbers.

 

The country's chief epidemiologist has said he believes the government is making a lot of estimates.

 

Preval will also attend the Unity Summit of Latin American and Caribbean nations convened by the Rio Group starting Monday. Aid for Haiti in the wake of the devastating Jan. 12 earthquake is expected to be discussed.

 

Arriving Sunday aboard a Mexican government plane, Preval thanked Mexico for all the aid it has sent to his country since the quake. - "I want to thank the Mexican people with all my heart," he said. - AP

[nancyk58]

US STUDY: WARMING TO BRING STRONGER HURRICANES 22.2.10

 

UPDATE OF THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES ON 22 FEBRUARY 2010

 

US STUDY: WARMING TO BRING STRONGER HURRICANES

 

(02/22/2010 | 08:55 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

WASHINGTON – Top researchers now agree that the world is likely to get STRONGER but FEWER HURRICANES in the FUTURE because of GLOBAL WARMING, seeming to settle a scientific debate on the subject. But they say there's not enough evidence yet to tell whether that effect has already begun.

 

Since just before Hurricane Katrina hit Louisiana and Mississippi in 2005, dueling scientific papers have clashed about whether global warming is worsening hurricanes and will do so in the future. The new study seems to split the difference. A special World Meteorological Organization panel of 10 experts in both hurricanes and climate change — including leading scientists from both sides — came up with a CONCENSUS, which is published online Sunday in the journal Nature Geoscience.

 

"We've really come a long way in the last two years about our knowledge of the hurricane and climate issue," said study co-author Chris Landsea, a National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration top hurricane researcher.

 

The technical term for these storms are tropical cyclones; in the Atlantic they get called hurricanes, elsewhere typhoons.

 

The study offers projections for tropical cyclones worldwide by the end of this century, and some experts said the bad news outweighs the good. Overall strength of storms as measured in wind speed would rise by 2 to 11 percent, but there would be between 6 and 34 percent fewer storms in number. Essentially, there would be fewer weak and moderate storms and more of the big damaging ones, which also are projected to be stronger due to warming.

 

An 11 percent increase in WIND SPEED translates to roughly a 60 percent increase in DAMAGE, said study co-author Kerry Emanuel, a professor of meteorology at MIT.

 

The storms also would carry more RAIN, another indicator of DAMAGE, said lead author Tom Knutson, a research meteorologist at NOAA.

 

Knutson said the new study, which looks at worldwide projections, doesn't make clear whether global warming will lead to more or less hurricane damage on balance. But he pointed to a study he co-authored last month that looked at just the Atlantic hurricane basin and predicted that global warming would trigger a 28 percent INCREASE IN DAMAGE NEAR THE US despite fewer storms.

 

That study suggests category 4 and 5 Atlantic hurricanes — those with winds more than 130 mph — would nearly double by the end of the century. On average, a category 4 or stronger hurricane hits the United States about once every seven years, mostly in Florida or Texas. Recent category 4 or 5 storms include 2004's Charley and 1992's Andrew, but not Katrina which made landfall as a strong category 3.

 

Outside experts praised the work. The study does a good job of summarizing the current understanding of storms and warming, said Chunzai Wang, a researcher with NOAA who had no role in the study.

 

James Lee Witt, former director of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, said the study "should be a stern and stark warning that America needs to be better prepared and protected from the devastation that these kinds of hurricanes produce."

 

The issue of hurricanes and global warming splashed onto front pages in the summer of 2005 when MIT's Emanuel published a paper in Nature saying hurricane destruction has increased since the mid-1970s because of global warming, adding it would only get worse.

 

Several weeks later Hurricane Katrina struck, killing 1,500 people and the 2005 hurricane season was the busiest on record with 28 named storms and seven major hurricanes. But then other scientists led by Landsea disputed the conclusions that storms were already increasing in number or intensity.

 

Now Landsea and Emanuel are co-authors on the same paper with Knutson.

 

In 2007, the authoritative Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change said it was "more likely than not" that man-made greenhouse gases had already altered storm activity, but the authors of the new paper said more recent evidence muddies the issue.

 

"The evidence is not strong enough that we could make some kind of statement" along those lines, Knutson said. It doesn't mean the IPCC report was wrong; it was just based on science done by 2006 and recent research has changed a bit, said Knutson and the other researchers.

 

Lately, the IPCC series of reports on warming has been criticized for errors. Emanuel said the international climate panel gave "an accurate summary of science that existed at that point." - AP

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES ON 23 FEBRUARY 2010

 

PHIVOLCS: MILD PREDAWN QUAKES ROCK EASTERN VISAYAS

 

(02/23/2010 | 08:33 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

At least two predawn quakes rocked parts of Eastern Visayas Tuesday, but state seismologists said no damage to property or aftershock was expected.

 

Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) seismologist Dante Soneja said the first quake was recorded at Intensity III at 4:48 a.m.

 

"The quake occurred near Ormoc City. It was felt at Intensity III in Ormoc City and Cananga, Leyte," Soneja said on dzBB radio.

 

He said the quake was tectonic in origin, and its epicenter was initially traced to 17 km northeast of Ormoc City.

 

Soneja said a second quake occurred at 5:18 a.m., and was felt at Intensity II in Ormoc City and Cananga, Leyte. But he said an aftershock was not likely, since an Intensity III quake is too weak to generate one.

 

RSJ, GMANews

 

 

FOUND NO NEWS ABOUT THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON THE FILIPINO GMA News.TV OR ON TEXT-TV IN DENMARK, SWEDEN, GERMANY AND ENGLAND.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 24 FEBRUARY 2010

 

German ZDF Text:

UN's DEATH TOLL ESTIMATE ABOVE 222,000 IN EARTHQUAKE IN HAITI

Now 6 weeks have passed since the devastating earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010. According to the latest estimate by the Haitian civil defense authority, the death toll in the earthquake on 12 January is 222,517, and this figure has been communicated by OCHA = The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Port-au-Prince. Haiti's President Réné Préval has said that the government expects the death toll to be up to 300,000. According to the UN, 226,408 people died in the tsunami in Asia in 2004.

 

Swedish SVT Text: MORE DEAD IN HAITI THAN IN THE TSUNAMI

The official death toll after the earth quake in Haiti on 12 January continues to rise. The number of deaths have reached 222,517 according to the UN referring to Haiti's civil defense authority. This is 5,000 more than a week ago. The new figure means that the quake in Haiti cost more human lives than the tsunami disaster in the Pacific in 2004 when about 220,000 people died. The death toll is expected to rise to more than 300,000 according to Haiti's President Réne Préval.

----------------------------------------

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN INDONESIA ON 24 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Swedish SVT Text: MANY FEARED DEAD AFTER LANDSLIDE IN INDONESIA

More than 70 are feared dead in a landslide in South of Indonesia's capital Jakarta. According to a police spokesman 7 dead bodies have been recovered. 64 persons are believed to be buried underground. The landslide was triggered by heavy rain. Landslides are normal in the area during the rainy season. More than 300 rescuers are now looking for those missing. The chance of finding survivors is almost non-existent.

 

Danish TV2 Text: 70 FEARED BURIED IN LANDSLIDE IN INDONESIA

An enormous landslide on the Indonesian island of JAVA has so far cost 7 human lives. More than 70 are feared killed, because 64 persons have not yet been found according to local authorities. "The landslide is very deep and right now the chance of finding survivors is almost non-existent, says a spokesman for the local police.

The landslide hit a tea plantation in the village of Ciwidey South of the capital Jakarta not far away from the city Bandung. About 35 houses were swept away and crushed by the landslide.

 

Danish DR1Text-TV: MORE THAN 70 FEARED KILLED IN INDONESIA

There has been an enormous landslide on the Indonesian island of JAVA, and more than 70 are feared killed. More than 300 rescuers with excavators have been sent to the area. The accident has been triggered by several days of heavy rain causing enormous floods in the region.

 

 

TOLL TO RISE IN DEADLY INDONESIA LANDSLIDE

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8533400.stm

 

Up to 70 people are feared dead after being trapped under piles of mud when a landslide hit a village near the Indonesian city of Bandung.

 

Heavy rain forced rescue efforts to stop for the night but they resumed after lifting equipment arrived.

 

Before that, villagers tried to dig victims out with their bare hands. At least 16 people are known to be dead in Tuesday's landslide, which buried the village in the Ciwidey district on the Java island after days of rain.

 

TREE PLANTATION

About 600 villagers have been moved to makeshift tents amid fears of further landslides because of the bad weather.

 

Rescuers - helped by police and soldiers - have dug out 16 bodies on Wednesday.

National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono said another 15 people had been injured, two of whom had been admitted to hospital.

"The landslide is very deep. At this point, the chance of pulling out victims alive is slim," said West Java police spokesman Dade Ahmad.

 

About 500 rescuers, including officers from the Brimob special police force, are searching for victims buried on the tea plantation near Ciwidey village, about 35km (22 miles) southwest of Bandung city.

 

"We have six sniffer dogs on site and rescuers are digging manually using hoes and light cutting equipment to reach victims," Mr Ahmad added.

Indonesian Vice-President Boediono and several ministers are expected to visit the disaster area.

 

This region has been seeing particularly heavy rains for the time of year, with scores of people escaping from their homes to safety.

 

Landslides are common in Indonesia, where years of deforestation can often leave hillsides vulnerable to collapse.

 

According to environmentalists, tropical downpours can quickly soak hills stripped of vegetation which had held the soil in place.

 

 

46 FEARED DEAD IN LANDSLIDE IN INDONESIA

 

(02/24/2010 | 08:36 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

CIWIDEY, Indonesia – Rescuers used heavy digging equipment Wednesday to move tons of dislodged clay strewn with splintered remnants of upended houses after a mudslide on Indonesia's main island of Java buried dozens, leaving at least 46 dead or missing, officials said.

 

Officials had earlier said 72 had probably died but later revised the figure down. At least 17 bodies have been pulled from the rubble, but many more are believed trapped.

 

"It seems there is no possibility of anyone among those 46 surviving," said National Disaster Management Agency spokesman Priyadi Kardono. The true toll could be higher.

 

Days of heavy rain prompted the landslide Tuesday at a mountainous tea plantation near the village of Tenjoljaya in Ciwidey district of West Java province.

 

Some village houses and plantation buildings survived unscathed above where terraced rows of tea plants cleaved off the hillside and slid to a plain below.

 

Scores of houses as well as the plantation office and warehouse were rolled and crushed as they slid down the hillside with a swath of top soil and mud hundreds of yards (meters) wide.

 

Around 600 terrified survivors fled their hillside homes for tents on safer ground, fearing more of the mountainside would collapse under the continuing soaking rain, Kardono said.

 

Soldiers carried victims in orange body bags back up the hill through the tea plants to be identified. By late Wednesday, 17 bodies had been recovered, Kardono said.

 

Many of the victims were plantation laborers who lived in huts on the plantation.

Most of the recovered bodies of men, women and a child were dug up from the residential area.

 

Villagers unearthed the first victims late Tuesday using farm tools and bare hands.

 

More than 100 soldiers, policemen, and Red Cross volunteers joined the search effort on Wednesday supported by two excavators. But the search was postponed Wednesday afternoon due to heavy rain.

 

Vice President Boediono, who like many Indonesians goes by only one name, visited the site Wednesday, accompanied by several government ministers.

 

Landslides are a common hazard in Indonesia during the current latter weeks of the monsoon season.

- AP

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

NO FILIPINO VICTIM IN PORTUGAL FLOODS - DFA

 

(02/24/2010 | 07:27 PM - GMA News.TV)

 

There was no Filipino casualty in the FLASH FLOODS and MUDSLIDES that swept MADEIRA Island in PORTUGAL last February 20, the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) said Wednesday.

 

Citing a report from Philippine Ambassador to Lisbon Teresa Barsana, the DFA said there is no record of Filipinos living in the Madeira area.

 

“Nevertheless, if there are Filipinos who are in need of assistance, the Embassy is ready to help them," Barsana said in an article on the DFA Web site.

 

The DFA also cited reports from Philippine honorary consul Manuel Pinhiero that no Filipino has so far asked for assistance due to the floods.

 

The DFA cited news reports showing the DEATH TOLL from the FLASH FLOODS and MUDSLIDES on MADEIRA Island continued to rise, with officials saying at least 42 people had died.

 

At least eight villages remained out of reach as of February 21.

 

Portuguese authorities began rushing aid to the tourist island off the African coast Saturday night, dispatching a Navy frigate and preparing a Hercules C-130 transport plane loaded with rescue teams, divers, and equipment to clear blocked roads, replace destroyed bridges, and repair downed power and telephone lines.

 

Portuguese Prime Minister José Sócrates flew to the Madeira, about 900 kilometers southwest of the Portuguese mainland, late Saturday to meet with regional government officials, pledging Lisbon’s full support.

 

- KBK, GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

I found two interesting articles about Haiti, but not being Red Cross- or Unicef-related I have posted these articles in the threads: Aid for Haiti, Haiti earthquake - Chris' message and Updates of the situation in Southeast Asia and Haiti.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA ON 26 - 27 FEBRUARY 2010

 

THE PHILIPPINES

 

MAGNITUDE-5.3 QUAKE ROCKS GENERAL SANTOS CITY

 

(02/27/2010 | 07:00 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

A magnitude-5.3 quake rocked General Santos City shortly after midnight Friday, with state seismologists warning of possible aftershocks.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake was recorded at 12:18 a.m., with the epicenter at 76 km southeast of General Santos City in the southern Philippines.

 

It said the quake was tectonic and was felt at Intensity IV in General Santos City.

 

While Phivolcs said no damage was expected, it said aftershocks were possible.

 

The United States Geological Survey added the epicenter was 75 km east-southeast of General Santos City; 140 km south of Davao; 1,110 km south-southeast of Manila; or 2,490 km east-northeast of Jakarta, Indonesia.

 

— LBG, GMANews

 

 

STRONG EARTHQUAKE, TSUNAMI WARNING IN SOUTH JAPAN

 

(02/27/2010 | 07:18 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

TOKYO – A magnitude 6.9 earthquake hit off Japan's southern coast early Saturday, shaking Okinawa and nearby islands, where a tsunami warning was briefly issued, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

 

The quake occurred off the coast of the island of Okinawa at a depth of 6.2 miles (10 kilometers) at 5:31 a.m. Saturday (2031 GMT Friday), the agency said.

 

There have been no reports of major damage or casualties so far, except for reports of ruptured water pipes in two locations, Okinawa police official Noritomi Kikuzato said.

 

The Meteorological Agency had initially predicted a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) near the Okinawan coast, warning nearby residents to stay away from the coastline. The agency later lifted the warning within two hours after observing only a small swelling of tide.

 

Ryota Ueno, a town official in the Nishihara district of Okinawa, said, "I was fast asleep when the quake hit, and I jumped out of bed. It felt like the shaking lasted forever."

 

There was no major damage in his house, and he then rushed to the town office to meet up with his colleagues and stand by in case of reports of damage from residents, Ueno told a telephone interview with public broadcaster NHK.

 

So far, only one resident in the town reported a ruptured water pipe, but no other damage reported, he said.

 

Masaaki Nakasone, another official at he Nanjo town, said his house shook violently but all furniture and other objects stayed intact.

 

"First there was a vertical shaking, then the house swayed sideways," Nakasone said.

 

Okinawa is about 1,000 miles (1,600 kilometers) southwest of Tokyo.

 

Japan is one of the world's most earthquake-prone countries. In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 quake in the western port city of Kobe killed 6,400 people.

 

- AP

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN THE PHILIPPINES ON 27 FEBRUARY 2010

 

For emergencies and reports on tsunami, contact the Philippine Red Cross at 527-0000 local 143

 

 

GENERAL SANTOS AND JAPAN QUAKES

 

Two separate earthquakes, both with relatively strong magnitudes, preceded the quake in Chile.

 

A magnitude-5.3 earthquake hit MINDANAO at 12:18 a.m. of Saturday, with the epicenter first traced 76 km southeast of GENERAL SANTOS CITY.

 

It was felt at Intensity IV in General Santos City, with no reported damage and aftershocks, Phivolcs said in an advisory.

 

Four hours after the southern Philippine quake, another one with a 6.9 magnitude rocked Japan's southern coast at about 5:31 a.m. local time (4:31 a.m. in Manila).

 

Apart from damaged water pipes in some areas in Okinawa, there were no reports of major structural damage or casualties, according to The Associated Press.

 

Phivolcs initially issued a Tsunami Alert Level at 4:46 a.m. but lifted it shortly after.

 

"When no observations are still reported for the next two hours, local authorities and the public can assume this minor threat has passed," Phivolcs said in its advisory earlier in the day.

 

- With Nikka Corsino/JV/TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

MAGNITUDE-8.8 CHILE QUAKE TRIGGERS RP TSUNAMI ALERT 1

 

(MARK D. MERUEÑAS, GMANews.TV - 02/27/2010 | 06:33 PM)

 

(Update 2 - 10:00 p.m.) State seismologists on Saturday afternoon hoisted a TSUNAMI ALERT LEVEL 1 in the Philippines after a powerful 8.8-magnitude EARTHQUAKE hit south-central CHILE on the other side of the Pacific Ocean at 3:34 a.m. Saturday (2:34 p.m. Saturday in Manila).

 

Reports said that the Philippine Embassy officials and staff in the capital city of Santiago were all safe. Meanwhile, the Philippine Red Cross has alerted its chapters and volunteers to monitor coastal areas.

 

In an interview on ABS-CBN, Renato Solidum, director of the Philippine Institute for Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs), said that if the Chile earthquake did generate tsunami waves powerful enough to cross the Pacific, they may be expected to hit Philippine coastlines sometime between 1:30 p.m. and 2 p.m. on Sunday.

 

The powerful quake rocked SOUTH-CENTRAL CHILE, KILLING at least 78 PEOPLE based on initial reports and also setting off a TSUNAMI as high as 1.29 METERS off the Pacific Ocean, according to Chilean officials.

 

Solidum said they are closely monitoring the situation on this side of the Pacific rim to determine if the tsunami triggered off Chile would reach Philippine shores.

 

"We are monitoring if the tsunami will reach the Philippines. But as a precautionary measure, we are raising a TSUNAMI ALERT LEVEL 1," said Solidum.

 

He said the Phivolcs was prompted to raise the alert at about 3:10 p.m. Saturday based on a lesson learned from a more powerful 9.5-magnitude EARTHQUAKE IN MAY 1960 that also hit CHILE. (See Wikipedia article on the 1960 Valdivia earthquake)

 

The resulting tsunami made it to the Philippine coastlines more than 24 hours after the earthquake struck the South American nation, Solidum said over radio dzBB.

 

Accounts by villagers in Samar and Surigao provinces—the areas in the country most affected by that tsunami—claimed that the huge wall of water reached as high as six meters, he added.

 

The Phivolcs official, however, clarified that a Tsunami Alert Level 1 does not yet mean people living near the country's Pacific coastlines are advised to evacuate to higher ground. - "We just have to wait for further information," he said.

 

Solidum stressed that evacuations are only necessary once a Tsunami Alert Level 3 has been raised. He advised people, especially those living in the eastern part of the Philippines, to be on the alert for any further announcements from Phivolcs.

 

In its latest advisory, Phivolcs identified 19 areas along the east coast of the Philippines as AREAS OF CONCERN:

 

Batanes Group of Islands

Cagayan

Ilocos Norte

Isabela

Quezon

Aurora

Camarines Norte

Camarines Sur

Albay

Catanduanes

Sorsogon

Northern Samar

Eastern Samar

Leyte

Southern Leyte

Surigao del Norte

Surigao del Sur

Davao Oriental

Davao del Sur

 

"While no evacuation order is in effect, communities along these coasts are advised to prepare for possible evacuation," Phivolcs said.

 

The earthquake in Chile happened at 3:34 a.m. local time (2:34 p.m. Saturday in Manila) and lasted for a minute and a half. Power and communication lines remained down in Chile's capital of Santiago, The Associated Press reported.

 

RP Embassy staff are safe

 

Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) spokesperson Ed Malaya said the six fatalities initially reported did not include a Filipino, according to a separate radio dzMM report.

 

In another texted message from Malaya on Saturday evening, he assured the public that the DFA was able to communicate with Minister Narciso Castaneda of the Philippine Embassy in Chile, who in turn reported that Ambassador Puyat Reyes and the rest of the embassy staff members are safe.

 

Castañeda's report said that Ambassador Reyes' residence in the capital city of Santiago sustained some damage, but otherwise no one was hurt among his household. He added that electricity is down in his district.

 

Malaya said that as per DFA records, there are 89 Filipinos residing or working in Chile. A check with the POEA website showed that there were 158 Filipinos working in Chile as of December 2008.

 

- With Nikka Corsino/JV/TJD, GMANews.TV

 

 

ASIA BRACES FOR TSUNAMI AFTER CHILE QUAKE

 

(ERIC TALMADGE, Associated Press Writer - 02/28/2010 | 12:30 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

TOKYO — Wide swaths of the south Pacific, Asia and Australia braced for a tsunami after a devastating earthquake hit the coast of Chile on Saturday.

 

Officials in Japan and Australia warned a TSUNAMI from the earthquake was likely to hit ASIAN, AUSTRALIAN and NEW ZEALAND SHORES WITHIN 24 HOURS. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a TSUNAMI WARNING that included the PHILIPPINES, TAIWAN, INDONESIA, and many island nations in the Pacific. A lower-level advisory that a tsunami was possible was issued for northern Pacific locations, including the U.S. West Coast and Alaska.

 

"Sea-level readings confirm that a tsunami has been generated which could cause widespread damage," the center said in a bulletin after the magnitude-8.8 quake. "Authorities should take appropriate action to respond to this threat."

 

The center noted that the first waves after a quake are not necessarily the largest and said tsunami wave heights are difficult to predict because they can vary significantly along a coast due to the local topography.

 

Earthquakes across the Pacific have had deadly effects on Asia in the past.

 

A TSUNAMI after a magnitude-9.5 QUAKE that struck CHILE IN 1960, THE LARGEST EARTHQUAKE EVER RECORDED, KILLED about 140 PEOPLE in JAPAN, 61 in HAWAII and 32 in the PHILIPPINES. That tsunami was about 3.3 to 13 feet (one to four meters) in height, Japan's Meteorological Agency said.

 

The tsunami from Saturday's quake was likely to be much smaller because the quake itself was not as strong.

 

Japanese public broadcaster NHK quoted earthquake experts as saying the tsunami would likely be tens of centimeters (inches) high and reach Japan in about 22 hours. A tsunami of 28 centimeters (11 inches) was recorded after a magnitude-8.4 earthquake near Chile in 2001.

 

The Meteorological Agency said it was still investigating the likelihood of a tsunami from the magnitude-8.8 quake and did not issue a formal coastal warning.

 

Australia, meanwhile, was put on a tsunami watch./COLOR]

 

The Joint Australian Tsunami Warning Center issued a warning for a "potential tsunami threat" to New South Wales state, Queensland state, Lord Howe Island and Norfolk Island. Any potential wave would not hit Australia until Sunday morning local time, it said.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology issued a low-level alert saying people should await further notice of a possible tsunami. It did not recommend evacuations.

 

The earthquake that struck early Saturday in central Chile shook the capital for a minute and a half.

 

—AP

 

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN HAITI ON 27 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Swedish SVT Text (page 134):

 

THE FUTURE OF THE HOMELESS BEING PLANNED IN HAITI

Haiti's prime minister has consented to a plan to try to make the homeless leave the temporary camps and return to where they came from.The new strategy is triggered by concerns for the serious situation Haiti is facing with 1.2 million homeless and the imminent rainy season. According to the UN the camps must be emptied due to the lack of latrins and because the camps are situated in the areas threatened by floods. It has been very difficult to move people because many homes have been ravaged.

 

Danish TV2 News / Live brings the same news. The reason why the government asks people in the temporary camps to "go home" and "leave the camps" is the fear of outbreak of diseases such as cholera when the rainy season begins. There are also concerns for contaminated water resources.

[nancyk58]

POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE STRIKES OFF JAPAN ISLAND OF OKINAWA

 

Page last updated at 00:10 GMT, Saturday, 27 February 2010

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8540063.stm

 

A POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE has struck in the PACIFIC OCEAN, about 80km (50 miles) off the southern Japanese island of OKINAWA.

 

A tsunami warning was initially issued, but later lifted. There are no reports of major damage or casualties.

 

The Japan Meteorological Agency gave the strength as 6.9 while the US Geological Survey put it at 7.3.

 

Japan is often hit by earthquakes. In 1995, a magnitude-7.2 QUAKE in the port city of KOBE KILLED 6,400 people.

 

The latest tremor occurred at 05:31 on Saturday (20:31 GMT on Friday).

 

BBC News website reader Ivan Brackin, who lives on Yoron Island, said it was the biggest quake he had felt in his 40 years in Japan but there had been no visible effects in his area.

 

"We're 30 yards [metres] from the sea and no sign of a tsunami," he said.

"I woke up to violent shudders that lasted about six seconds then a pause followed by a couple of sharp jumps. Jumpers are the most dangerous so that sent me under the desk."

[nancyk58]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/quake_tsunami

 

Tsunami warning center cancels alert for Hawaii

 

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center has canceled its tsunami warning for Hawaii, with the state apparently escaping the roiling waves unscathed.

 

Gov. Linda Lingle says no damage has been reported in any county. Tidal surges were observed Saturday along the coasts but did not roar ashore. She's calling it "a great day now that it's over."

 

 

CHILE STRUCK BY ONE OF THE STRONGEST EARTHQUAKES EVER

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/lt_chile_earthquake

 

By ROBERTO CANDIA and EVA VERGARA, Associated Press Writers Roberto Candia And Eva Vergara, Associated Press Writers – 44 mins ago

 

TALCA, Chile – One of the largest earthquakes ever recorded tore apart houses, bridges and highways in central Chile on Saturday and sent a tsunami racing halfway around the world. Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about as if shaken by a giant, and authorities said at least 214 people were dead.

 

The magnitude-8.8 QUAKE was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil — 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east. The full extent of damage remained unclear as scores of AFTERSHOCKS — one nearly as powerful as Haiti's devastating Jan. 12 earthquake — shuddered across the DISASTER-PRONE ANDEAN NATION.

 

President Michelle Bachelet declared a "STATE OF CATASTROPHE" in central Chile but said the government has not asked for assistance from other countries. If it does, President Barack Obama said, the United States "will be there." Around the world, leaders echoed his sentiment.

 

In Chile, newly built apartment buildings slumped and fell. Flames devoured a prison. Millions of people fled into streets darkened by the failure of power lines. The collapse of bridges tossed and crushed cars and trucks, and complicated efforts to reach quake-damaged areas by road.

 

At least 214 PEOPLE were KILLED, according to Interior Minister Edmundo Perez Yoma, and officials said about 1.5 million homes suffered at least some damage.

 

In Talca, just 65 miles (105 kilometers) from the epicenter, people sleeping in bed suddenly felt like they were flying through major airplane turbulence as their belongings cascaded around them from the shuddering walls at 3:34 a.m. (1:34 a.m. EST, 0634 GMT).

 

A deafening roar rose from the convulsing earth as buildings groaned and clattered. The sound of screams was confused with the crash of plates and windows.

 

Then the earth stilled, silence returned and a smell of moist dust rose in the streets, where stunned survivors took refuge.

 

A journalist emerging into the darkened street scattered with downed power lines saw a man, some of his own bones apparently broken, weeping and caressing the hand of a woman who had died in the collapse of a cafe. Two other victims lay dead a few feet (meters) away.

Also near the epicenter was CONCEPCION, one of the country's largest cities, where a 15-story building collapsed, leaving a few floors intact.

 

"I was on the 8th floor and all of a sudden I was down here," said Fernando Abarzua, marveling that he escaped with no major injuries. He said a relative was still trapped in the rubble six hours after the quake, "but he keeps shouting, saying he's OK."

 

Chilean state television reported that 209 inmates escaped from prison in the city of Chillan, near the epicenter, after a fire broke out.

 

In the capital of Santiago, 200 miles (325 kilometers) to the northeast, a car dangled from a collapsed overpass, the national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.

 

While most modern buildings survived, a bell tower collapsed on the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church and several hospitals were evacuated due to damage.

 

Santiago's airport was closed, with smashed windows, partially collapsed ceilings and destroyed pedestrian walkways in the passenger terminals. The capital's subway was shut as well, and transportation was further limited because hundreds of buses were stuck behind a damaged bridge.

 

Chile's main seaport, in Valparaiso about 75 miles (120 kilometers) from Santiago, was ordered closed while damage was assessed. The state-run Codelco, the world's largest copper producer, shut two of its mines, the newspaper La Tercera reported.

 

The jolt set off a TSUNAMI that swamped San Juan Bautista village on Robinson Crusoe Island off Chile, KILLING AT LEAST FIVE PEOPLE and LEAVING 11 MISSING, said Guillermo de la Masa, head of the government emergency bureau for the Valparaiso region. He said the huge waves also damaged several government buildings on the island.

 

It then raced across the Pacific, setting off alarm sirens in Hawaii, Polynesia and Tonga and prompting warnings across all 53 nations ringing the vast ocean.

 

Tsunami waves washed across Hawaii, where little damage was reported. The U.S. Navy moved a half-dozen vessels out of Pearl Harbor as a precaution, Navy spokesman Lt. Myers Vasquez said. Shore-side Hilo International Airport was closed. In CALIFORNIA, officials said a 3-foot (1-meter) surge in Ventura Harbor pulled loose several navigational buoys.

 

About 13 million people live in the area where shaking was strong to severe, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. USGS geophysicist Robert Williams said the Chilean quake was hundreds of times more powerful than Haiti's magnitude-7 quake, though it was deeper and cost far fewer lives.

 

More than 50 AFTERSHOCKS topped magnitude 5, including one of magnitude 6.9.

 

The largest earthquake ever recorded struck the same area of Chile on May 22, 1960. The magnitude-9.5 quake killed 1,655 people and left 2 million homeless. It caused a tsunami that killed people in Hawaii, Japan and the Philippines and caused damage along the west coast of the United States.

 

Saturday's quake matched a 1906 temblor off the Ecuadorean coast as the seventh-strongest ever recorded in the world.

 

Associated Press writer Roberto Candia reported this story from Talca and Eva Vergara from Santiago. AP writers Eduardo Gallardo in Santiago and Sandy Kozel in Washington contributed to this report.

 

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/quake_tsunami

 

 

A coldplayer posted this: "The quake also shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, 900 miles (1,400 kilometers) away on the Atlantic side of South America." - In that case, maybe the boys would have felt the earthquake as well.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE AND ARTICLES IN RELATION TO CHILE EARTHQUAKE ON 28 FEBRUARY 2O1O

 

BBC WORLD NEWS:

 

CHILE QUAKE AFFECTS TWO MILLION, SAYS PRESIDENT BACHELET

 

Two million people have been affected by the massive earthquake that struck central Chile on Saturday, President Michelle Bachelet has said.

 

In a TV address, she said the forces of nature were testing the nation.

 

So far at least 300 people have been confirmed killed in the earthquake that struck in the early hours of Saturday.

 

The 8.8 quake - one of the biggest ever - triggered a tsunami that has been sweeping across the Pacific, although waves were not as high as predicted. "The forces of nature have badly affected our country," Ms Bachelet said.

 

"And once again they've put to the test our ability to deal with adversity and get back on our feet. And we are examining every way to restore all the basic services in the country. But there's still a lot to do.

 

Ms Bachelet added that she had declared a state of catastrophe in six regions.

Chile is vulnerable to earthquakes, being situated on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where the Pacific and South American plates meet.

 

The earthquake struck at 06:34 GMT, 115km (70 miles) north-east of the city of Concepcion and 325km south-west of the capital Santiago at a depth of about 35km. It is the biggest to hit Chile in 50 years.

 

Widespread damage to roads and buildings has been reported in many areas, including the capital where a chemical plant caught fire.

 

Electricity, water and phone lines have been cut.

 

At least 85 people died in the region of Maule alone, journalists there reported.

Many deaths were also reported in the regions of Santiago, O'Higgins, Biobio, Araucania and Valparaiso.

 

TV pictures showed a major bridge at Concepcion had collapsed into the Biobio river.

 

Rescue teams are struggling to reach Concepcion because of damage to infrastructure, national media reported.

 

In Santiago, where at least 13 people were killed, several buildings collapsed - including a car park.

 

A fire at a chemical plant in the outskirts of the capital forced the evacuation of the neighbourhood.

 

Santiago international airport's terminal was damaged and will be closed for at least 72 hours, officials said. Flights are being diverted to Mendoza in Argentina.

 

A tsunami triggered by the earthquake struck the Juan Fernandez island group off the Chilean coast and local media say five people died there with several others missing.

 

As the tsunami radiated across the Pacific, Japan warned that a wave of 3m (10ft) or higher could hit the Pacific coast of its northernmost island of Hokkaido at about 1300 local time (0400 GMT).

 

In French Polynesia, waves 6ft (1.8m) high swept ashore, but there were no immediate reports of damage.

 

Hawaii later lifted its tsunami warning after waves measuring just under 1m (3ft) high struck but caused no damage.

 

The US Geological Survey (USGS) said tsunami effects had been observed at Valparaiso, west of Santiago, with a wave height of 1.69m above normal sea level.

 

The USGS also recorded at least eight aftershocks, the largest of 6.9 magnitude at 0801 GMT.

 

In Washington, President Barack Obama said the US was ready to help if the Chilean government required it.

 

CHILE SUFFERED THE BIGGEST EARTHQUAKE OF THE 20th CENTURY when a 9.5 magnitude QUAKE STRUCK the city of VALDIVIA in 1960, KILLING 1,655 PEOPLE.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN SOUTHEAST ASIA ON 28 FEBRUARY 2010

 

Danish TV2: Tsunami alert now lifted

 

Danish TV2: 320,000 people were evacuated in Japan. There have been up to 120 cm high tidal waves in Japan. The Eastern part of Russia was hit by waves, but the waves were not so violent as feared.

 

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UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN CHILE AFTER THE AFTERSHOCK / THE TSUNAMI 28.2.10

 

Danish DR1: 115 POWERFUL AFTERHOCKS IN CHILE

1.5 million houses and buildings have been destroyed. There are no reports of people killed due to powerful aftershocks. The USGS encourages the people living in the most affected areas to sleep outdoors and not in extremely damaged buildings.

 

Swedish SVT Text: More than 400 dead in the earthquake in Chile. More than 2 million affected by the earthquake. 115 powerful aftershocks with magnitudes between 4.9 and 6.9 on the Richter scale according to US Geological Surveys (USGS).

 

Swedish SVT Text: THE TOWN OR CITY OF CURICÓ IN RUINS.

Curicó south of the capital Santiago dates back to 17xx. 90% of the Curicó’s historical buildings have been levelled corresponding to 60% of Curicó according to a reporter from Radio Estacion Uno de Curicó. As many as 50 people died in the province.

 

Swedish SVT Text and Danish DR1 and TV2:

Hundred people captured under the rubble of a 14-storey or 15-storey building (collapsed apartment block) in Concepcion situated in southern Chile which suffered severe damage in the quake. Concepcion’s mayor criticizes Chile’s government for a too slow response to Saturday’s disaster.

 

Swedish SVT Text: The situation in the coastal town of Constitucion between Concepcion and Santiago / Valparaiso is unknown. There have been rumours of the situation there being critical after being hit by “an 8 m tall wave according to Tercera.