Thursday 1 August 2013

7 bodies retrieved from SW China landslide


Seven bodies have been retrieved by Thursday afternoon from a landslide in southwest China's Yunnan Province that left 12 people missing on Saturday, local authorities said.

A search is continuing at the site for the five people who remain missing, according to the publicity department of Yongshan County.

The landslide occurred at around 5 p.m. on Saturday on Huangping Village, Huanghua Township of Yongshan County.

About 120,000 cubic meters of mud, rocks and debris tumbled into the Jinsha River, which triggered huge waves and caused damage in Kahaluo Township, Leibo County of the neighboring Sichuan Province, according to the department.

Four of the missing people are natives of Yunnan, and the other eight are from Sichuan, the department said.

Geological disasters have been frequently reported around China this summer due to heavy rain.

Thursday 1 August 2013

http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/90882/8349725.html

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Minneapolis bridge collapse: Remnants available to victims


Six years ago on Aug. 1, the collapse of the Interstate 35W bridge became a frightening part of Minneapolis history. Now, the survivors and family members of victims have a chance to own a piece of the structure.

Free of charge, those who endured the experience and loved ones of those who did not survive it are now eligible to own a portion of the fallen span.

The plan released on Wednesday by the Minnesota Department of Transportation calls for distributing pieces to the victims now that the National Transportation Safety Board has completed its investigation and the final lawsuits with Jacob's Engineering have been settled.

Most Minnesotans remember where they were when the bridge went down, and few can forget the images from that hot August night.

"I just remember cars. I was in a parking lot of cars," recalled Lindsay Walz, collapse survivor. "I remember being completely flabbergasted as to how there were people standing by their cars as if the tires had just been glued to the cement."

Walz was in the middle of the bridge when it plunged 10 stories into the Mississippi River.

"When I turned around, I saw smoke in the air and saw a slab of cement in the river," she remembered.

The resulting investigation marked the first time many had heard of a "gusset plate" and how it caused the catastrophic failure that killed 13 people and injured 145 others.

Since the NTSB completed its review into the disaster, the most critical pieces of evidence have been housed in a special storage facility.

"I initially just wanted to be able to be in the room and scream at it, but I couldn't get permission for that," Walz admitted. "So, I'll take a piece and get my anger out of it. I don't know, get something out of it."

MnDOT will not let survivors into the storage facility, but Kevin Gutknecht told FOX 9 News the agency felt the victims and their loved ones deserved a chance to have the first go at the fragments.

"I can understand why somebody might want something to remind them because clearly, that had to be a life-changing event," he said.

Walz's life certainly was changed. The collapse left her with a broken back and post-traumatic stress.

"After the collapse, I wasn't able to feel much," she said. "I was kind of a robot, numb to the world whether it was good or bad."

Since then, Walz has discovered painting and art therapy as part of her healing. She also used some of her bridge settlement as seed money to start a youth center called Courageous Hearts.

"I really considered it a way for me to kind of pay it forward," she explained. "I couldn't pay it back, but I could pay it forward."

So far, between 30 and 40 people have reserved pieces, as well as institutions like the Minnesota Historical Society, the City of Minneapolis, the University of St. Thomas and the University of Minnesota's engineering school. Whatever isn't claimed by Thanksgiving will be sold for scrap -- all 9 million pounds.

Thursday 1 August 2013

http://www.myfoxtwincities.com/story/22984751/bridge-collapse-remnants-available-to-victims

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Dark tourism brings light to disaster zones


Before the huge tsunami virtually wiped it off the map in 2011, Rikuzentakata's pristine beach and luxuriant pine forests were a well-worn stop on Japan's tourist trail.

Now the visitors are coming back, but this time they want to see the devastation and the monuments to those who died, the latest example of a phenomenon dubbed "dark tourism" where holidaymakers pay to witness the aftermath of others' misery.

"You can't really get a sense how huge the tsunami was unless you actually come here and see," said Akira Shindo, 15, from New York, on a recent tour of part of Japan's devastated northeast coast.

More than 18,000 people were killed when a 9.0-magnitude undersea quake sent huge waves barrelling into Japan.

Whole communities were destroyed, buildings turned into matchwood and acres of prime land left unfarmable when a furious sea smashed ashore.

In Rikuzentakata, a forest of 70,000 pine trees that had protected the city from ocean winds for 300 years was swept away.

Just one tree -- the "miracle pine" -- survived the ravages of nature. It has undergone 150 million yen ($1.5 million) of reinforcement to prop it up and has now become a must-see spot for visitors to the area.

"The tree was the tallest, 27 metres- (89 feet-) high, and the two storey-building behind it prevented the wave from sweeping it away," said Mitsuko Morinaga, a 62-year-old volunteer who takes tourists around her devastated home town.

Near the pine tree, dozens of excavators and dump trucks work busily, processing piles of debris or clearing land for new homes.

"Reconstruction is under way, but evacuees have to wait at least three years before their new houses will be built on the hillside," Morinaga said.

Travel agent Shuichi Matsuda, who organised the tour for 24 people, said he set it up because he "wanted to prevent the memory of the disaster from fading".

Everyone AFP spoke to on the tour of Rikuzentakata expressed horror at the suffering of people whose lives were torn apart by the tragedy.

But disaster zones undoubtedly draw their fair share of ghoulish sightseers.

Seven years after Hurricane Katrina devastated the United States city of New Orleans, residents of one hard-hit area became so fed up with the hordes of gawking tourists feasting on their misery that they got the city to ban tour buses.

A hand-painted sign on one street corner summed up their frustration in dripping black paint: "Tourist -- shame on you. Driving by without stopping. Paying to see my pain. 1,600 died here."

Lauren Cason, a spokeswoman for the city's tourism board said visitors were welcome to New Orleans, but residents wanted them to see the positive side.

"What we try to highlight is the comeback story and that the city is now thriving," she told AFP.

While the bigger buses are gone, the voyeurs are not.

Two of the city's more than 30 tour operators still offer limited "Katrina" tours and a fair number of the Big Easy's nine million annual visitors also opt to take a taxi or rent a car to see the remaining wreckage.

Respectful tourism please

Residents in Christchurch, New Zealand, where 185 people died in a February 2011 earthquake that flattened the downtown area, have grown accustomed to buses disgorging camera-wielding visitors at sites such as the ruins of the Anglican cathedral, once the symbol of the city.

Shelagh Ferguson and Alex Coats, marketing researchers at New Zealand's Otago University, last month published a study on the dark tourism phenomenon which found locals accepted such interest was inevitable, but wanted strict controls to prevent stirring more trauma in a community where memories of the disaster remain raw.

The locals resented "rubbernecking" in suburbs where people are still rebuilding their homes two-and-a-half years on. But they had no problem with tours taking in sites in Christchurch's central business district where mass fatalities occurred, provided they were respectful and avoided sensationalism.

The study, carried out using in-depth focus groups, said as memories of the quake faded outside Christchurch, disaster tours served to remind incoming visitors about its victims and what the city had endured.

"We found that residents understood the fascination that death and disaster might exert over visitors and should not be ignored as confrontation with death allows for catharsis, acceptance and a means of grieving" it concluded.

On a very practical level, tourists spend money -- often at a time when a devastated area desperately needs jobs and investment to get back on its feet.

Akira Oikawa, who sells fish, seaweed and other processed marine products, said the post-disaster day-trippers to Rikuzentakata and the nearby area were helping to make up the shortfall.

"We are grateful for tourists visiting here and buying local products, as we saw a drop in the number of tourists after the disaster," he said.

"But it's hurtful when people ask casually about how many people died," he added. "We appreciate a little bit of empathy."

Thursday 1 August 2013

http://www.mysinchew.com/node/89434

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In memory of those missing since Iraq''s 1990 invasion of Kuwait


More than 20 years have passed since Iraq's occupation of Kuwait and the fate of hundreds of Kuwaitis and other nationals remains unknown.

Abducted by Iraqi forces, who invaded the country on August 2, 1990, efforts by Kuwait and the international community have failed to establish the whereabouts of these missing persons.

Out of around 600 people only 236 remains have, thus far, been found and identified.

The families of those still missing yearn to lay their loved ones to rest.

Thursday 1 August 2013

http://www.kuna.net.kw/ArticleDetails.aspx?id=2326078&language=en

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India: Photos of missing persons, unidentified dead bodies to be displayed at rural police headquarters


The crime branches of the all the nine police commissionerates and 33 rural police across the state will be displaying photos of missing persons and unidentified dead bodies at a photo gallery at the Nashik Rural police headquarters, Adgaon, at 10 am on Friday, August 2.

Director General of police Sanjeev Dayal has given directives to gather photos of all missing persons and unidentified dead bodies and display them at various police commissionrates and rural police stations.

Besides taking care of the large number of unidentified dead bodies, the police are also finding it difficult to trace the increasing number of missing persons' reports, including children, from across the state that have been filed at various police stations. Most dead bodies belong to cases of deaths in accidents and murders.

Officials from the Nashik Rural police said that along with around 250 photos of missing persons and unidentified bodies with the rural police, more pictures will be brought by crime officials of various district police and police commissionerates throughout the state to be displayed at the photo gallery.

The police have appealed to the relatives of missing persons to be present at the rural police headquarters on Friday to identify missing member(s) of their family.

Thursday 1 August 2013

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/city/nashik/Photos-of-missing-persons-unidentified-dead-bodies-to-be-displayed-at-rural-police-headquarters/articleshow/21516343.cms

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