Friday 14 June 2013

Documenting the Undocumented


One hot early morning last July, archaeologist Jason De León and his team were collecting artifacts in an empty stretch of the Sonoran Desert in southern Arizona. The study area, about 55 miles south of Tucson and 40 miles north of the Mexican border, is traversed by hundreds of thousands of undocumented migrants every year. Since early 2009, De León has been cataloging the objects — water bottles, diapers, knock-off Nikes, rosaries — that the migrants leave behind on the brutal journey. But on this particular morning, his team stumbled on what he’d been dreading since day one: a dead body.

De León, 36, is one of National Geographic’s Emerging Explorers, and he described his Undocumented Migration Project yesterday to a packed auditorium at NG headquarters in Washington D.C. Most of what we hear about immigration comes from the perspective of law enforcement — think Border Wars — or pandering politicians. De León is using the migrants’ discarded possessions to tell their side of the story. “This is American history in the making,” he said, “and we can use the tools of archaeology to systematically record these steps.”

Since 2000, U.S. authorities in Tucson have made 4.5 million captures of undocumented migrants (a number that includes multiple captures of the same person). De León has interviewed hundreds of these hikers and become good friends with two: Miguel and Victor*.

He met the men in the summer of 2009 when visiting a migrant shelter in the border town of Nogales, Mexico. Miguel and Victor hadn’t known each other long. They met in a detention center in Tucson, caught after living illegally for 20-odd years in the United States. After being sent back to Nogales, they tried to trek back into the U.S. together, failed, and again wound up in Nogales. They were working in the shelter for a few weeks to pay for their stay; then they’d attempt to cross the border yet again.

De León spent a few weeks at the shelter, getting to know the two men over many hands of poker. Miguel and Victor talked optimistically about the future, promising De León that after they made it back to their home in Tucson, they’d invite him over to grill and catch up. They’d be drinking beers, but since De León was so young, they teased, he’d have apple juice.

De León went shopping with the men to get supplies for their trip. In towns like Nogales and nearby Altar, the local economy depends on migrants. Store shelves are lined with bottles of water and electrolyte juice, camouflage gear, hiking boots, first-aid kits. Altar’s baseball team is called the Coyotes, a nod to the Spanish euphemism for smugglers.

Victor bought a few garlic cloves for his backpack to ward off wild animals. De León wrote a good-bye message in marker on the inside flap: “Don’t forget you owe me an apple juice.”

De León walked with Victor and Miguel to the Western edge of town, right up to an ominous, dark tunnel that ran underneath a highway overpass. On the other side of the tunnel was the desert and, if they were lucky, a way back home. De León cried as he watched the backs of his new friends disappear.

There was a good chance, he knew, that he’d never see them again. But about three weeks later, he got a phone call from Victor. “We’re in Tucson and we’ve got your apple juice,” he said.

For the first few years of his project, De León focused on cataloging the many objects left by migrants out in the desert. It’s a fascinating collection of things both banal (bottles, paper scraps) and unique (one of his favorites is an “illegal alien card” showing a green-faced alien and an Area 51 logo on it). Sometimes these objects are found alone — a t-shirt here, a backpack there. But De León has also found “migrant stations” with huge piles of clothes and trash. Unlike traditional archaeology that’s focused on the distant past, he calls his work “the archaeology of 10 minutes ago, literally”.

More recently he’s gotten into forensics. Since 1998, some 5,600 bodies have been found on the U.S.-Mexico border. That’s thought to be a wild underestimate of the migrants who die on the trip, but no one knows much about how a dead body fares in those conditions.

After consulting with forensic experts, De León learned that pig carcasses are often used as proxies of human flesh. So last summer his team dressed a dead pig in typical migrant clothes, placed it in the middle of the desert, and set up motion cameras to watch. For the first two weeks the animal decomposed naturally. Then the vultures came. Within 24 hours, most of the pig and its clothes had disappeared, including ID cards the researchers had stuffed in the pockets.



De León felt uncomfortable with the brutality of that experiment, but was reminded of its purpose just two weeks later, when he found the body of a middle-aged woman face down on the desert floor. He covered her in a colorful blanket he had found nearby. Then he waited with his team for seven hours until the Tucson sheriff came to pick her up.

After she was gone, De León’s students built her a shrine, as is the custom for deceased migrants. They decorated it with a sundry collection of religious objects bought at a local store. Some researchers pray before a shrine to a dead migrant. In the foreground, the blanket that covered her body. Photo by Jason De León.

Some researchers pray before a shrine to Marisol. In the foreground, the blanket that had covered her body.

De León, too, was moved by the experience. Over the next few weeks, he got in touch with various authorities and found out that a fingerprint analysis had identified her as Marisol, a 41-year-old mother of three from Ecuador. She had been on her way to meet family in New York.

Then De León did the hardest thing he’s ever had to do. He called her family.

He struggled, he told us, to find something positive to say.

“I picked up the phone and I said, ‘I’m the person who found Marisol. And I just wanted to let you know that we sat with her for a long time, that we waited. We sat with her before the birds could get to her.’”

Friday 14 June 2013

http://phenomena.nationalgeographic.com/2013/06/13/documenting-the-undocumented/

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Hunt for suspected Sri Lankan asylum boat called off


Australian authorities have abandoned the search for a boat bound for the Cocos Island carrying about 30 people.

The Australian Maritime Safety Authority announced it had called off a three-day search for the boat, believed to have sailed direct from Sri Lanka.

The boat, first spotted on Wednesday last week, was seen motoring under its own steam 480km northwest of Cocos Islands and 3500km northwest of Perth. When it failed to arrive at Cocos, Customs and Border Protection sent a RAAF plane to look for it. The boat was not found and the operation referred to AMSA, which began a larger sea and air search on Sunday, scouring the waters northwest of Cocos and Keeling Islands.

The perils faced by asylum-seekers were underscored last week when a boat carrying at least 55 asylum-seekers was lost at sea, with all on board drowned. The bodies of some of those killed were later seen floating in the sea.

Sri Lankan community sources said they knew nothing about the boat and navy operations commander N. Attygalle said he did not believe the missing boat had Sri Lankans on board.

"So far there's no evidence to suggest it's Sri Lankan and if it is we believe it must have left from Indonesia," he said. "If they had left from Sri Lanka, then by this time we should have received some calls (about missing people). But as far as the navy and coastguard are concerned we haven't received any information (about the missing boat)."

However, it would be highly unusual for a boat spotted nearly 500km northwest of Cocos to have sailed from Indonesia.

Sri Lanka's navy and coastguard have been recovering bodies from their own marine disaster last weekend after a storm off the coast of Galle and the capital Colombo in which more than 50 fishermen drowned.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/national-affairs/immigration/hunt-for-suspected-sri-lankan-asylum-boat-called-off/story-fn9hm1gu-1226663475666

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Ferry with more than 50 on board capsizes off Philippines


A major rescue operation is underway off the Philippines coast after a roll-on, roll-off ferry capsized with more than 50 people on board.

At least two people have died and 13 are still missing.

A further 42 people have been rescued.

The Coast Guard, the Philippines Navy and local fishermen are continuing a rescue operation for the remaining passengers and crew.

Philippines coast guard spokesman, Armand Balilo, told Radio Australia the ship sent a distress signal three hours after it sailed from the central province of Albay, en route to nearby Masbate province.

The vessel was reportedly carrying 57 passengers and crew, as well as two trucks and two buses on board.

The Coast Guard says it will look into possible overloading as a reason for the capsizing of the vessel.

Regional civil defence chief, Raffy Alejandro, says one of the bodies found was of a 58-year-old woman.

The ferry, MV Our Lady of Carmel, was travelling between Pio Duran in Albay enroute to Aroroy, Masbate.

Mr Alejandro says the cause of the sinking has not yet been determined.

However, the ship's captain, who was among those rescued, has said the vessel may have been unbalanced by the passenger buses and trucks it was carrying.

"He said it happened so quickly. It just went down in the darkness," Mr Alejandro said.

He said the waters and weather were calm.

The vessel was a roll-on, roll-off ferry commonly used in the Philippines to transport people, vehicles and cargo throughout the archipelago of more than 7,100 islands.

Sea accidents are common in the Philippines due to poor safety standards and overloading.

The world's deadliest peacetime maritime disaster occurred near Manila in 1987 when a ferry laden with Christmas holidaymakers collided with a small oil tanker, killing more than 4,000 people.

In 2008, a huge ferry capsized during a typhoon off the central island of Sibuyan, leaving almost 800 dead.

Mr Alejandro said he was hopeful Friday's death toll would not rise drastically, partly because the captain said most passengers were wearing life jackets.

"We expect many more will be rescued. We were able to respond quickly," he said.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://www.abc.net.au/news/2013-06-14/an-ferry-reportedly-sinks-of-philippines/4753774

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Four drown, 40 missing in West Bengal boat disaster


At least four persons, including a woman drowned, and more than 40 others were missing after a boat capsized in the Ganga River in West Bengal's Malda district on Friday.

Officials said a country boat carrying about 60 passengers, mostly daily labourers, capsized after it left Dharampur bank towards the char (riverine) island at 7.30 AM.

Four bodies, including that of a woman, have been fished out by the rescuers who are mostly locals, while eight persons were rescued.

Nearly 40 others are still missing

Senior district and police officials are camping on the spot and supervising rescue operations.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://zeenews.india.com/news/nation/four-drown-40-missing-in-wb-boat-disaster_854935.html

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Bus crash kills 12 pilgrims, injures 34 in Saudi Arabia


A bus carrying Jordanian Umrah pilgrims overturned on Thursday afternoon killing 12 and injuring 34 others on the Madinah-Makkah Road after Al-Jumoom Bridge towards Makkah.

The pilgrims were set to perform the Umra (lesser pilgrimage).

Capt. Humood Al-Bugumi, Traffic Police Duty Officer; Maj. Hilal Al-Qurashi, Director of Eastern Accidents; Lt. Col. Salman Al-Mutairi, Director of the Accidents Section with supervision and follow up by Col. Salman Al-Jumay’i, Director of Makkah Traffic Department, were at the scene of the accident.

Col. Al-Jumay’i issued directives to his staff to mobilize all efforts. The injured were rushed to King Abdul Aziz Hospital in Al-Zaher district, besides Hera, Al-Noor and Al-Shisha hospitals as well as hospitals in Jeddah.

The bodies of the 12 dead pilgrims were taken to the morgues of Makkah hospitals. Investigations are still going on to determine the cause of the accident.

King orders transferring bodies of Jordanian pilgrims died in Saudi Arabia

His Majesty King Abdullah II on Thursday instructed the government to transfer bodies of Jordanian pilgrims who died in a tragic road accident in Saudi Arabia.

The King also instructed the government to transfer the injured to Jordanian hospitals to receives medical treatment.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://www.saudigazette.com.sa/index.cfm?method=home.regcon&contentid=20130614169777

http://www.petra.gov.jo/Public_News/Nws_NewsDetails.aspx?Site_Id=1&lang=2&NewsID=114564&CatID=13&Type=Home>ype=1

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Zimbabwe: Living next to the dead


In other cultures it is unheard of but in some societies it is the normal practice to bury your beloved ones just next to the homestead. Some areas have, however, designated certain areas to bury the dead depending on relations. Other places have burial sites or graveyards at the church yards where members of a certain denomination bury their own.

In cities and other urban settings, a specific area, usually situated far away from residential areas is set aside for burial purposes for the dearly departed.

However, the unavailability of land coupled with the hunger for more land to settle the ever growing urban populace has forced residents to cast away all about taboos and build their houses next to the graveyards.

Residents of the sprouting Harare suburb of Stoneridge are, however, unperturbed "living next to the dead."

Social commentators and urban town planners noted that the practice is not commendable.

They, however, conceded that most of these residents have been forced by pressure to have their own homes to build next to the graveyard.

Most people who have built their houses near the Granville Cemetery are uncomfortable talking to strangers after fighting many battles with authorities to keep their "homes".

However, those who opened up, especially the women who dominate the community, are not worried about living a few metres from the burial site.

The solemn mood at the graveside where families come to bury their beloved after every 45 minutes as the residents continue with their chores and it seems the grieving families, while casting a few glances at the "strange" settlement.

During our visit to Stoneridge, especially along the 40 or so houses lined up along the Granville Cemetery Extension, the residents are wary of any vehicle they do not know or associate with.

Some of the people shy away from strangers.

Women leave their chores as soon as they do not trust you. They would rather sneak back into their half-built structures in case these strangers ask them strange questions while they are afraid of authorities who threatened to evict them from the land.

Just in the graveyard at a place that looks like an area reserved for small children, kids from the area have set aside space for a small football pitch and do not seem to be bothered when their plastic ball is hit on to the graves.

People with relatives buried at this portion of graveyard have not bothered or are still to erect tombstones while some graves seem to have since been abandoned and are not maintained.

"I have been living here for the past year and life is as normal as it can be. The graves do not bother us at all because it is normal especially for some of us who come from areas where a graveyard can be next to the houses. Isu tinoviga vanhu kuchikuva," said a man who was carrying sawdust for his garden field and identified himself as Jonnie.

"I am even planning to build a bigger house when I get enough money for the project but at the moment I am glad I have a place I can call my own and life goes," he said.

At one home built directly opposite the fast approaching graves, the family has built a tuckshop.

Here there is a small cat with broken hind legs and as it drags itself towards the strangers, one is reminded of a scene from a horror movie.

The mind has its own ways of imagining things and this cat is surely a lost soul from the graveyard.

The tuckshop owner, feeling that she could have some ready customers, quickly opens up.

"This cat just wonders around the community and it does not really belong to any one. We are not even scared of it because it is an innocent animal that is seeking food from the residents."

But how do they feel living next to a graveyard?

"It was a bit strange in the first days but we can afford to sleep peacefully every night. These are just graves for dead people and they do not really have anything against residents. They are dead people, they do not pose any danger to us," she said.

Another woman was not sure how they ended up getting the stand.

"My husband should give you that information because he is the one that did all the running around so that we have this place. I am happy that I have a place I can call mine," she said. While the area has no running water, residents want the authorities to work on the roads first so that they start building their houses in an orderly manner.

"As you can see people are just building haphazardly but if there are roads we can start building the houses properly. We believe this place has been demarcated properly and people can build their proper houses but we are just going to wait for the relevant authorities to give us the go ahead," said another resident.

Social commentator and award-winning TV show host Amai Rebecca Chisamba had no kind words for these residents.

She believes building next to a cemetery is against the African culture.

"In our culture, we should have equal for both the living and the dead. It does not matter that those graves do not have souls in them although they hold the remains of our loved ones, hence the respect that should be afforded to them," she said.

Amai Chisamba conceded that social and economic pressures have forced many to build such structures next to graves adding that the practice was in total disrespect for the dead.

"There are cultures where people have graves next to their homesteads but these are not for strangers. It is unheard of in our culture to look at a stranger's grave. Yes, people some people bury their relatives next to homesteads but you cannot build a house next to a strangers' grave.

"The people who have graves next to their homesteads do it so that they can take care of them including periodically putting flowers and cleaning the graveyard. But the situation is different and some of these graves in the urban areas where people just dump the dead bodies and nobody checks on them," she said.

However, Professor Claude Gumbucha Mararike believes building houses near graves or a graveyard had no social or spiritual effect on the residents.

"It is not like they have built their houses on the graves. There would never be any problems for the people as long as they do not tamper with the graves and even unscrupulous people temper with the graves the residents would not be affected in any way," he said.

He cited as an example the cemetery near Rufaro Stadium.

"That cemetery is right next to the police station and there are people staying next to that graveyard and we have never heard of any stories about people who have had problems because of the graves," he said.

The University of Zimbabwe lecturer, however, conceded that people are scared of graves.

"Makuva anongotyisawo kana aine mhepo dzavo (Graves are scary in our tradition if they are associated with spiritual matters). We are scared of graves especially when they are associated with strangers and in our culture the dead are awoken through witchcraft but under normal circumstances there are no social or spiritual consequences for people with homes built near a cemetery," he said.

However, some commentators believe that Pioneer Cemetery near Rufaro Stadium was for white people only but has also been associated with uncorroborated stories.

Professor Mararike, nevertheless, said it was unhygienic for the residents to start building boreholes on the same land where water could flow from the graveyard.

"It is unfortunate that these people do not have proper amenities such as running water and resort to boreholes which could be unsafe," he said.

"Have you ever heard of the ghost of a pretty woman who crosses the bridge from Mupedzanhamo Market into the graveyard? You have to make sure that you hit that woman with your car or else you will be involved in an accident," a vendor near the cemetery said.

She, however, could not refer to any confirmed reports to such an incident.

Other residents, however, implored urban planners to identify more land especially on farms surrounding the city for residential stands.

"These people are desperate and Government cannot evict them from these stands because it will be a humanitarian disaster. The fact that these people have been forced to leave in this area shows how desperate people are for land to build their houses.

"What needs to be done is to identify proper land to resettle these residents.

"They also need proper infrastructure so that they are safe in times of disasters such as the cholera epidemic that once hit most parts of Harare and other centres," a worker at a sand quarry, Tonderai Chikaha, said.

Government recently ordered people staying on undesignated land to stop building permanent structures so that the stands can be properly demarcated.

However, Local Government, Rural and Urban Development Minister Ignatius Chombo said people who have started building their structures on these areas not to be evicted while their residence status is determined.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://allafrica.com/stories/201306130619.html

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In wake of tragedy, Bangladesh plans to train volunteer rescue workers


The rescue and recovery efforts following April's garment factory disaster in Bangladesh brought stories of selfless heroism, as volunteers risked their lives to help those trapped in the rubble. More than 1,100 workers died in what is now being described as the country's worst industrial disaster.

Unfortunately, some of the stories did not have a happy ending. Despite their courage, volunteers were hampered by lack of training and shortcomings in the emergency response procedures.

In one case that haunted the nation, rescuers laboured for 110 hours in an effort to save garment worker Shahina Akhter. Their efforts were undone when a fire broke out at the site. Akhter died and many of those were badly injured.

Among them was Mohammad Ejajuddin Ahmed Kaykobad, who suffered burns to 55% of his body. Flown to Singapore for treatment on the orders of Prime Minister Sheikh Hasina, the brave engineer and father of two succumbed to his wounds on May 4th.

Even as the nation expresses its gratitude to the volunteers who risked life and limb, calls are mounting for Bangladesh to improve its disaster response capabilities, including through better training.

"We thank all the rescue workers for their passionate support in the rescue work. Without their help, we could not have saved all these lives," Fire Service Civil Defence Directorate's (FSCDD) head of training, planning and development, Mohammad Zihadul Islam, told Khabar South Asia. He underlined, however, that if the volunteers had had proper training, more lives could have been saved in less time.

The FSCDD, he said, now plans to launch an emergency response training programme for volunteers, focused on urban disasters such as building collapses.

"We are waiting on the completion of a course plan for training to these volunteers. After we finalise it, we will publicly summon them through newspaper advertisements to take part in that training programme," Islam explained.

The FSCDD has undertaken similar ventures in the past. Following the 2010 Nimtali fire in old Dhaka in which at least 129 people, mostly women and children, were killed, the agency set out to train youth volunteers in responding to devastating blazes. The department has trained about 18,000 volunteers since then. "That programme is still going on in full swing," Islam noted.

Theatre activist Asma Akhter Liza was one of thousands who poured to the garment factory district after the Rana Plaza building collapsed on April 24th, risking their own lives and suffering trauma themselves in their efforts to help others.

Liza saved 17 workers and recovered numerous dead bodies, she told Khabar.

"The sight of the dead bodies affected me mentally. I was treated at Enam Medical College and Hospital in Savar for a day before returning to rescue others a day later," she said.

Liza welcomed the training initiative.

"Kaykobad had to give his life because he did not have any proper training in such rescue efforts. Other rescue workers also faced hazards. Such trainings will help us plan and co-ordinate resources and efforts better with government departments," she said.

Friday 14 June 2013

http://khabarsouthasia.com/en_GB/articles/apwi/articles/features/2013/06/14/feature-01

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