Wednesday 18 January 2012

'Missing' cruise ship woman found alive in Germany

Officials say a German woman who was listed among the missing from the cruise ship grounding off Italy has been located alive in Germany, bringing the number of people still unaccounted for to 21.

The Grosseto prefect's office says Gertrud Goergens identified herself to police. Her name was removed from the official list of missing late on Wednesday.

Italian authorities released the names of the missing on Wednesday as the search for passengers and crew aboard the Costa Concordia was suspended because the ship shifted slightly from its perch on rocks off the Tuscan island of Giglio.

So far eleven bodies have been recovered; 21 people remain unaccounted for.

6:30 AM Thursday Jan 19, 2012

http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10779696&ref=rss

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UN: 2010 among deadliest years for disasters, urges better preparedness

24 January 2011 – 2010 was one of the deadliest years for natural disasters in the past two decades and unless better preparations are put in place now, many more disasters can be expected in years to come, the UN’s top disaster reduction official said today.

Some 373 natural disasters claimed the lives of more than 296,800 people last year, affecting nearly 208 million and costing nearly $110 billion, according to annual data compiled by the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters (CRED) of the Université catholique de Louvain in Belgium, and supported by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR), the UN body charged with helping coordinate efforts to achieve substantive reduction in disaster losses and build resilient nations and communities.

“These figures are bad, but could be seen as benign in years to come,” said the head of UNISDR and Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon’s Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction, Margareta Wahlström. “Unless we act now, we will see more and more disasters due to unplanned urbanization and environmental degradation. And weather-related disasters are sure to rise in the future, due to factors that include climate change.”

According to the data, the 12 January earthquake in Haiti killed more than 222,500 people, while the Russian summer heat wave caused about 56,000 fatalities – making 2010 the year with the highest disaster-related casualties in at least two decades.

Currently, moderate to strong La Niña conditions are well-established in the equatorial Pacific Ocean, and are likely to continue until the first quarter of this year, according to the El Niño/La Niña update issued recently by the UN World Meteorological Organization, the data notes. El Niño is a large-scale warming of water in the Equatorial Pacific Ocean every three to five years and can last up to 18 months, while La Niña refers to the large-scale cooling of the ocean temperatures in the same region.

La Niña is thought to be linked to the floods and landslides that occurred in Colombia last year, and more recently the floods in Queensland, Australia, triggered by rains that began in late December.

“It’s critical for local governments, city leaders and their partners to incorporate climate change adaptation in urban planning,” Ms. Wahlström said, stressing that disaster risk reduction was no longer optional. “What we call ‘disaster risk reduction’ – and what some are calling ‘risk mitigation’ or ‘risk management’ – is a strategic and technical tool for helping national and local governments to fulfil their responsibilities to citizens.”

According to CRED’s data, for the first time, the Americas became the world’s worst affected continents in terms of fatalities, with 75 per cent of total deaths caused by the earthquake in Haiti. Europe was the region with the second highest number of deaths, with the heat wave in Russia accounting for nearly a fifth of 2010’s total fatalities. Other extreme climate events in Europe included Storm Xynthia last February, floods in France in June and the extreme winter conditions all over Europe throughout December.

Asia experienced fewer disaster-related deaths with 4.7 per cent of total fatalities, but remained the region most prone to natural disasters. An estimated 89 per cent of the total number of people affected by natural disasters last year resided in Asia.

Five of the ten most deadly disasters occurred in China, Pakistan, and Indonesia. Earthquakes killed almost 3,000 people in China in April and 530 people in Indonesia in October. Between May and August, floods killed more than 1,500 people in China, and another 1,765 were killed by mudslides, landslides or rock fall triggered by heavy rainfall and floods in August. Nearly 2,000 people were killed by the massive floods in Pakistan.

Floods and landslides during the summer in China are estimated to have cost $18 billion in losses, while flood-related destruction in Pakistan was estimated at $9.5 billion. The Haiti earthquake caused damage worth $8 billion, according to the CRED data. The costliest event in 2010, however, was the earthquake in Chile in February, with damages valued at $30 billion.

The other two years when natural disasters caused higher losses were 2005, when damages from Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Wilma alone amounted to $139 billion; and 2008, when the earthquake in Sichuan, China, caused $86 billion worth of damages, a figure than brought the total losses for that year to about $200 billion.

http://www.un.org/apps/news/story.asp?NewsID=37357&Cr=disaster+reduction&Cr1

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Missing Cruise Ship Passengers Are Named

The names of 27 passengers and crew still missing after the cruise ship disaster off Italy's coast have been released by authorities.

Eleven people are confirmed to have died after the vast liner was holed on rocks near the island of Giglio off the Tuscan coast last Friday.

The death toll almost doubled on Tuesday after five more bodies were pulled from the stricken Costa Concordia.

Authorities have now released details of the people still missing.
Some 13 Germans among the 24 passengers still missing are named as: Elisabeth Bauer, Horst Galle, Christina Mathi Ganz, Norbert Josef Ganz, Gertrud Goergens, Gabriele Grube, Egon Hoer, Margarethe Neth, Inge Schall, Siglinde Stumpf, Brunhild Werp, Josef Werp and Margrit Schroeter.
Five are Italian and have been named as Dayana Arlotti, William M Arlotti, Maria Dintrono, Maria Grazia Trecarichi, and Luisa Antonia Virzi.

Another four are French - Michael M Blemand, Jeanne Gannard, Pierre Gregoire, and Mylene Litzler - and the remaining two, Barbara Heil and Gerald Heil, are from the US.

There are still three crew members who have not been found, who have been identified as Italian Girolamo Giuseppe, Russel Terence Rebello from India and Erika Fani Soriamolina of Peru.
Crew member Sandor Feher, from Hungary, has been officially named as one of the victims to have died inside the vessel.

The search for the missing was suspended earlier in the day after the vessel moved slightly.
When it resumes, attention will focus mainly on the restaurant on deck four at the back of the Concordia where the bodies of four men and a woman all aged between 50 and 60 years old were found on Tuesday.

It is feared the bodies of the rest of the missing passengers and crew are trapped there.

5:30pm UK, Wednesday January 18, 2012

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16151746

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Facebook group dedicated to finding the missing.

https://www.facebook.com/groups/232027703542759/?notif_t=group_activity

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List of the missing - Costa Concordia

(18 January 2012) - http://www.prefettura.it/grosseto/news/1416158.htm

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Relatives seek the missing

Many of the families and friends of those who remain missing from the stricken Costa Concordia have joined the search for their loved ones.

Some have headed to Italy, feeling they can do more on the ground, while others are resorting to social networks such as Facebook and Twitter to spread the word and assist in any way they can.

The hull of the luxury ship, which was carrying 4,200 people, was ripped open when it hit rocks late on Friday, just hours after leaving the port of Civitavecchia for a week-long Mediterranean cruise.
Mylene Litzler Mylene Litzler was taken on the cruise as a birthday present

Officials have not yet confirmed the names of the dead although bodies have been found.

Meanwhile, a list of those missing which was posted on an Italy interior ministry site, is now being circulated online, yet still needs to be updated to reflect reports that at least of one of those missing - a German - has apparently been found safe at home.

Elodie Humenny, a friend of Mylene Litzler and Michael Blemand, two of the four French people still on the missing list, says she still has hope.
Her father is trying to keep a cool head, as long as there is no news there is still hope”

She told the BBC she had known the couple for two years after meeting Ms Litzler at the sports shop both had worked at.

She said she was shocked when she had heard what had happened to the ship and immediately tried to do what she could to find her friends.

"I set up a Facebook page and put their parents in touch with the television news programmes.

"Now we are trying to distribute my friends' photos all over France.

"We're also trying to get all the witness statements we can from people who might have been with them on the boat."

She said the couple had gone on the cruise to mark Mylene's birthday.

"It had been planned for quite a while and wasn't too expensive," she said.
Michael Blemand Michael Blemand's parents want more information about what has happened

She wants to try to find out as much information as possible about their last-known movements.

She said: "Last night I managed to get in touch with close friends of some people who were on the boat, but they hadn't seen Mika or Mylene, so everything remains pretty vague. We're still waiting for more information."

Mylene and Mika's families are planning to fly to Italy today.

Ms Humenny said: "I think Mylene's mother is in a really difficult state - they are very, very close. I think her father is trying to keep a cool head, because as long as there is no news there is still hope.

"They're finding it hard to get news, so I think that's why they're going to Italy. In any case we, their close friends, are giving them support and we're just holding onto what we have."

Responding to reports that some survivors were planning to take legal action over the evacuation and conditions on board during the tragedy, she said all talk of a lawsuit would have to wait until they had further news on her friends.

"We have talked to the parents about this; we've given them the number of the lawyer who is dealing with this. So if they want to sue it's their decision," she said.

Kevin Rebello is also another person waiting anxiously for news.

He flew to Giglio, in Italy, to try to find his brother Russel, and told the BBC he wasn't planning to return home to their distraught parents unless his brother was with him.
Dyana Arlotti (front left), girl missing after Costa Concordia accident Five-year-old Dyana Arlotti (front left) is still missing after the accident

He said the Indian national had worked on the Costa Concordia as a waiter and has been with the company for five years.

Mr Rebello said: "The last I heard of him he was in November while he was waiting for a short transit. When he comes to Italy, he gives me a buzz and we speak for a few minutes until he leaves.

"He was supposed to be on board the Costa Concordia from 15 October just working continuously. They work for eight months and get a two-month break."

"I'm also concerned about the other families going through the same thing - how did this happen?"

Hungarian violinist Sandor Feher's family have also flown out to the island.

The 38-year-old's cousin, Eva, told the BBC she was desperate for people to help search for the talented musician.

Other family members have joined a Facebook group dedicated to finding the missing.

The creator of the group, Gabi Bottfai, explained why she set it up: "It was because we are searching for Sandor.

"We are trying to get any information about his stay; trying to find survivors who might have seen him and the others.

"Even the search teams have been asking us about where Sandor was seen last, so they can concentrate on those areas. This is the same situation with the friends and family of the others.

"We have to share this information; especially if it will help save somebody."

Marco Castro in Miami said he was worried about Peruvian crew member Erika Soria, whom he had met and made friends with while on the Costa Concordia.
Erika Soria in front of the Costa Concordia Marco Castro fears for his friend Erika Soria but says he still has some hope left

He told the BBC: "I left the cruise on the Monday and the accident was on the Friday.

"My friends and I are very concerned as we had developed a strong friendship with Erika. Erika even spent New Year's Eve with us as she felt we were just like her family.

"I cannot believe that she is still missing; she is so charming and such a nice person.

"I have been trying to keep an eye on the news and am trying to contact her room-mate Roxanne to find out more. I am so worried."

18 January 2012 Last updated at 14:02
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/16607424

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