WARSAW, Poland — One autopsy report describes organs that had been removed years before. Another adds 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) to a short man, making no mention of bones disfigured by childhood polio. One family doubts whether an autopsy was performed at all.
Polish investigators have exhumed the remains of three of the 96 Poles killed in the 2010 plane crash in Russia that killed President Lech Kaczynski due to flaws in the initial autopsies performed by Russian officials.
The need for the new autopsies has added to suspicions held by some Poles that the Russians were, at best, sloppy in their handling of the crash aftermath, and, at worst, trying to cover something up. Russian authorities say any inaccuracies result from the fragmented state of the bodies after the crash.
Two of the 96 bodies were exhumed this week in Poland, following a first such exhumation August. Victims' families and officials say other victims also have reports riddled with mistakes, and prosecutors say more exhumations are possible.
"There were discrepancies. Evidence gathered in Poland differed from information in the Russian documentation," said Col. Zbigniew Rzepa, spokesman for the chief military prosecutor's office. "We had to carry out the exhumations to clarify all the doubts."
Surviving relatives of the three have been enraged by the faulty autopsy reports, which have added to their private grief. Many also fault the Polish government of Prime Minister Donald Tusk for not being firmer with Russia in demanding greater transparency. This comes amid a sense of indignation that key evidence in the crash - black boxes, the plane wreckage and the late Polish president's satellite phone - remain in Russian hands.
At one extreme, the flawed autopsies and the sense that Russians are not being fully transparent have encouraged Polish conspiracy theories claiming Russian leaders might have played a role in the downing of Kaczynski's plane, which crashed in fog after clipping a tree at an airport near Smolensk, Russia, on April 10, 2010.
An official Polish report blamed the fog, pilot error and poor guidance from Russian air traffic controllers.
But Antoni Macierewicz, a conservative lawmaker who heads a parliamentary commission trying to clarify the reasons for the crash, said Friday that he doesn't believe the official Polish explanation and that other theories need to be explored.
Suspicions center on the fact the plane, a Tupolev-154, was Russian built. Some Poles don't believe that the plane could have crashed just by clipping a tree, and find it strange that there were no survivors when it was already so close to the ground when it crashed.
"A lack of openness creates conspiracy theories," said Michael Baden, an American forensic pathologist who has advised some of the victims' families. "You can't investigate a major catastrophe in secret."
Andrei Kovalyov, the head of the Russian Center for Forensic Expertise, which conducted the autopsies, said genetic research and inspections of the bodies were performed to international standard.
"Any discrepancies, if they exist, are likely rooted not in badly performed autopsies but the fact that the bodies were fragmented," Kovalyov said. "When remains of the numerous victims get mixed up inside the cabin there can be problems regarding the attribution of body parts."
Many Poles easily accept the Russian explanation and see no need for the exhumations, feeling that it doesn't change the larger picture of the tragedy.
Tusk, the prime minister, said it's hard to expect perfect reports given "what state the bodies were in after the crash."
The first victim to be exhumed, the late conservative lawmaker Zbigniew Wassermann, had an autopsy report that was largely incorrect, and described organs that had been surgically removed years before, Macierewicz said.
For instance, the 60-year-old had only a part of his liver left, but his report described it as being the entire healthy liver of a young man, Macierewicz said.
"The document from the Russian autopsy was taken out of the blue," said Wassermann's daughter, Malgorzata Wassermann. "It disagreed with the facts: It described things that did not exist and did not describe things that were there."
His new autopsy, carried out in August, corrected the record but did not change the larger conclusions about the cause of his death, said Col. Ireneusz Szelag, a spokesman for prosecutors.
Another lawmaker, Przemyslaw Gosiewski, was exhumed on Monday. The Russian autopsy report described him as 1.8 meters tall (5 foot 9), when in fact he was 20 centimeters (nearly 8 inches) shorter, according to the law firm representing the family.
The report also failed to mention bone defects resulting from childhood polio.
"Glaring irregularities in the documentation mean there can't be certainty if an autopsy was even carried out," said Rafal Rogalski, the Gosiewski family lawyer.
In the case of the third exhumation, family members of Janusz Kurtyka, the head of a state historical institute, doubt that an autopsy was performed because they saw no marks on his body indicating a post-mortem, Szelag said.
Andrzej Melak, the brother of another victim, Stefan Melak, told the parliamentary commission Friday that the Russian documentation was 25 centimeters off in describing his brother's height.
Melak said he felt at a loss, and criticized the Polish government for not demanding more from Russia. "I don't know what to do," he said. "Our government doesn't care about Polish citizens."
Families are also angry because the new autopsies have been perfomed by state experts and they are not allowed to do their own.
Lech Kaczynski was a deeply patriotic leader who was skeptical of Russia, a historic foe that invaded Poland's eastern half during World War II and controlled the country during the Cold War. Most of the people traveling with him were political allies who shared his views, so it's no surprise their families would voice distrust in Russia after the crash.
The presidential delegation was traveling to honor 22,000 Polish officers murdered by Josef Stalin's secret police at the start of World War II in the Katyn forest and other locations. That symbolism only added to the national grief and to the suspicions.
Friday, March 23, 2012 - Tacoma, WA
Read more here: http://www.thenewstribune.com/2012/03/23/2078704/poland-exhumes-some-2010-plane.html#storylink=cpy
Friday, 23 March 2012
Victims in Mexico mass graves could be ID'd with new software from Spain
MIERES, SPAIN -- A new tool developed in Spain may help authorities in Mexico identify hundreds of human skeletal remains suspected of being the victims of organized crime.
The European Centre of Soft Computing, based in Mieres, plans to send its new software Skull2Face later this year to several states in northern Mexico and other countries.
"We have been in talks with officials of Chihuahua state about the possibility of using this software to help them identify the skeletal remains of men and women," said Sergio Damas, one of the principal researchers of the software developed by the center and the University of Granada. "Officials from other states in Mexico also are interested in acquiring five to 10 sets of the software system."
The price for the software has not been determined.
Earlier in March, 25 experts from around the world met in Mieres to learn more about Skull2Face software, which its creators say will revolutionize forensic investigations.
Inmaculada Aleman, a forensic anthropologist who also worked on the project, said the software can be used by police, anthropologists and forensic experts to compare a skull with a person's photograph. A match will aid investigators in making a positive identification, which is often the first step in determining whether someone died violently by accident or suicide, or was the victim of a murder.
Chihuahua officials recently announced that they had 51 sets of remains of females sitting in the Juárez morgue, some dating to the mid-1990s, that have not been identified. In a few cases during the past 15 years, only human skulls were discovered in various parts of the city and its vicinity.
The drug cartel wars and related violence across Mexico have also produced mass graves of men and women, including immigrants from Central America who traveled through Mexico before they disappeared.
The software takes cranio facial superimposition, a century-old forensic identification technique, to a new level by making it less costly and less time-consuming to identify someone from skeletal remains. Such an analysis that used to take hours or longer can now be done in two to four minutes.
"We were inundated with calls from interested parties soon after we received the patent for the software," said Damas, who has a Ph.D. in computer science.
The process involves applying an overlay of a person's photograph over a three-dimensional graphic of a human skull. It evaluates many markers used by forensic experts to determine whether there is a match or, in some cases, to exclude an erroneous identification. The program can also be used to produce an approximate image of a person from a skull.
Damas and Aleman said investigators run into problems whenever more than one body is discovered in a mass grave because the bones and DNA of one person can get mixed up with those of others. Decomposition also makes it difficult to identify a person from skeletal remains.
Before using the Skull2Face software, investigators still must conduct the usual preliminary work of assigning characteristics such as age, gender and height. That enables the software operators to make modifications, for example, when the only photograph available is from an ID card or is very dated.
In Spain, advocacy organizations and some officials are interested in seeing whether the software can be used to identify hundreds of Spaniards who were killed during the Spanish civil war and buried in mass graves. The renowned poet Federico García Lorca is among those who might have been tossed into a clandestine grave with others.
Cranial facial superimposition techniques have also been used in the past, using artist renderings and photographs, to attempt to identify Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri and victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, according to an article in ICM Inc., by Damas, Aleman and four other experts titled, "Forensic identification by computer-aided cranial facial superimposition: A survey."
Damas and Aleman, who demonstrated how the process works, said another feature of the software enables investigators in one place to consult and compare notes with experts in other places.
The software will be made available to all outlets by the end of summer.
03/21/2012
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_20218372/new-software-may-help-id-victims
The European Centre of Soft Computing, based in Mieres, plans to send its new software Skull2Face later this year to several states in northern Mexico and other countries.
"We have been in talks with officials of Chihuahua state about the possibility of using this software to help them identify the skeletal remains of men and women," said Sergio Damas, one of the principal researchers of the software developed by the center and the University of Granada. "Officials from other states in Mexico also are interested in acquiring five to 10 sets of the software system."
The price for the software has not been determined.
Earlier in March, 25 experts from around the world met in Mieres to learn more about Skull2Face software, which its creators say will revolutionize forensic investigations.
Inmaculada Aleman, a forensic anthropologist who also worked on the project, said the software can be used by police, anthropologists and forensic experts to compare a skull with a person's photograph. A match will aid investigators in making a positive identification, which is often the first step in determining whether someone died violently by accident or suicide, or was the victim of a murder.
Chihuahua officials recently announced that they had 51 sets of remains of females sitting in the Juárez morgue, some dating to the mid-1990s, that have not been identified. In a few cases during the past 15 years, only human skulls were discovered in various parts of the city and its vicinity.
The drug cartel wars and related violence across Mexico have also produced mass graves of men and women, including immigrants from Central America who traveled through Mexico before they disappeared.
The software takes cranio facial superimposition, a century-old forensic identification technique, to a new level by making it less costly and less time-consuming to identify someone from skeletal remains. Such an analysis that used to take hours or longer can now be done in two to four minutes.
"We were inundated with calls from interested parties soon after we received the patent for the software," said Damas, who has a Ph.D. in computer science.
The process involves applying an overlay of a person's photograph over a three-dimensional graphic of a human skull. It evaluates many markers used by forensic experts to determine whether there is a match or, in some cases, to exclude an erroneous identification. The program can also be used to produce an approximate image of a person from a skull.
Damas and Aleman said investigators run into problems whenever more than one body is discovered in a mass grave because the bones and DNA of one person can get mixed up with those of others. Decomposition also makes it difficult to identify a person from skeletal remains.
Before using the Skull2Face software, investigators still must conduct the usual preliminary work of assigning characteristics such as age, gender and height. That enables the software operators to make modifications, for example, when the only photograph available is from an ID card or is very dated.
In Spain, advocacy organizations and some officials are interested in seeing whether the software can be used to identify hundreds of Spaniards who were killed during the Spanish civil war and buried in mass graves. The renowned poet Federico García Lorca is among those who might have been tossed into a clandestine grave with others.
Cranial facial superimposition techniques have also been used in the past, using artist renderings and photographs, to attempt to identify Italian poet and philosopher Dante Alighieri and victims of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, according to an article in ICM Inc., by Damas, Aleman and four other experts titled, "Forensic identification by computer-aided cranial facial superimposition: A survey."
Damas and Aleman, who demonstrated how the process works, said another feature of the software enables investigators in one place to consult and compare notes with experts in other places.
The software will be made available to all outlets by the end of summer.
03/21/2012
http://www.elpasotimes.com/news/ci_20218372/new-software-may-help-id-victims
Chixoy Dam-Rio Negro Massacres: Justice Delayed 30 years and Counting
As part of an all night Mayan ceremony (March 13-14, 2012), a Mayan priest reads off, page after page, the names of each and every one of the close to 450 Mayan Achi children, women and men from the remote village of Rio Negro, victims of the 1982 "Rio Negro massacres."
Along with a delegation of Americans and Canadians, I have come here to spend the night and participate in commemoration activities on the 30th anniversary of the March 13, 1982 massacre of 177 children and women, this being the second of four large scale massacres in 1982 carried out in conjunction with the Chixoy Dam "development" project.
PROFITS & IMPUNITY FOR THE WORLD BANK & INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
From 1975-1985, the World Bank (WB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) spear-headed this "development" project, investing 100s of millions of dollars into the Guatemalan military regimes of those years. The 1982 Rio Negro massacres (February 12, March 13, May 14, September 18) were planned and carried out by the military regime, forcing local "civil defense patrols" to do most of the brutal killing, so as to forcibly (and obviously illegally) evict the Rio Negro villagers, and some 25 other remote villages up-river from where the Chixoy Dam wall was built. The massacres were, in effect, the eviction of the Rio Negro village and sent a message to all other villages that if they did not clear out, ... !
Early in the evening, Juan de Dios (on the left) and Carlos Chen help prepare the monument, altar and place of the commemoration. This is the very spot where the bodies of 177 children and women were dumped by the soldiers and patrollers after brutally killing them (strangling some, smashing children against the rocks, beating some to death, raping young women and girls before killing them, etc).
Since 1993, Carlos Chen has been at the forefront of courageous and tireless efforts for truth, memory and justice. In 1993, the original exhumation team (the EAFG) carried out a mass grave exhumation at this site. Carlos lost his first wife (pregnant at the time) and two young children in the massacre that took place at this spot. Since 2005, Juan de Dios has spearheaded, with Carlos, the Chixoy Dam reparations and justice campaign, with the group COCAHICH (Coordinator of Chixoy Dam harmed communities).
Just after mid-night, a Mayan priest initiates the Mayan ceremony part of the commemoration activities that will continue until 6am. Through the night, hundreds of surviving family and community members (young and old) of the victims of the Rio Negro massacres cry and talk with their dead loved ones, talk, eat and laugh, commemorating the names and lives of the victims of the Chixoy Dam "development" project.
"No more violence against humanity."
In early 1983, the Chixoy Dam basin was filled and the dam soon after began to operate. Years later, the Guatemalan regimes paid back the loans plus interest to the WB and IDB - both made profits.
To date, the WB and IDB publicly deny any responsibility for the brutal repression and illegal forced evictions; no justice has been done for the Rio Negro massacres; no reparations or compensation have been made to the 32 Mayan villages that suffered, in various degrees, the harms and violations caused by the Chixoy dam project. Today, most of the survivors live in various conditions of poverty and extreme poverty.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
http://rightsaction.org/action-content/chixoy-dam-rio-negro-massacres-justice-delayed-30-years-and-counting
Along with a delegation of Americans and Canadians, I have come here to spend the night and participate in commemoration activities on the 30th anniversary of the March 13, 1982 massacre of 177 children and women, this being the second of four large scale massacres in 1982 carried out in conjunction with the Chixoy Dam "development" project.
PROFITS & IMPUNITY FOR THE WORLD BANK & INTER-AMERICAN DEVELOPMENT BANK
From 1975-1985, the World Bank (WB) and Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) spear-headed this "development" project, investing 100s of millions of dollars into the Guatemalan military regimes of those years. The 1982 Rio Negro massacres (February 12, March 13, May 14, September 18) were planned and carried out by the military regime, forcing local "civil defense patrols" to do most of the brutal killing, so as to forcibly (and obviously illegally) evict the Rio Negro villagers, and some 25 other remote villages up-river from where the Chixoy Dam wall was built. The massacres were, in effect, the eviction of the Rio Negro village and sent a message to all other villages that if they did not clear out, ... !
Early in the evening, Juan de Dios (on the left) and Carlos Chen help prepare the monument, altar and place of the commemoration. This is the very spot where the bodies of 177 children and women were dumped by the soldiers and patrollers after brutally killing them (strangling some, smashing children against the rocks, beating some to death, raping young women and girls before killing them, etc).
Since 1993, Carlos Chen has been at the forefront of courageous and tireless efforts for truth, memory and justice. In 1993, the original exhumation team (the EAFG) carried out a mass grave exhumation at this site. Carlos lost his first wife (pregnant at the time) and two young children in the massacre that took place at this spot. Since 2005, Juan de Dios has spearheaded, with Carlos, the Chixoy Dam reparations and justice campaign, with the group COCAHICH (Coordinator of Chixoy Dam harmed communities).
Just after mid-night, a Mayan priest initiates the Mayan ceremony part of the commemoration activities that will continue until 6am. Through the night, hundreds of surviving family and community members (young and old) of the victims of the Rio Negro massacres cry and talk with their dead loved ones, talk, eat and laugh, commemorating the names and lives of the victims of the Chixoy Dam "development" project.
"No more violence against humanity."
In early 1983, the Chixoy Dam basin was filled and the dam soon after began to operate. Years later, the Guatemalan regimes paid back the loans plus interest to the WB and IDB - both made profits.
To date, the WB and IDB publicly deny any responsibility for the brutal repression and illegal forced evictions; no justice has been done for the Rio Negro massacres; no reparations or compensation have been made to the 32 Mayan villages that suffered, in various degrees, the harms and violations caused by the Chixoy dam project. Today, most of the survivors live in various conditions of poverty and extreme poverty.
Thursday, March 22, 2012
http://rightsaction.org/action-content/chixoy-dam-rio-negro-massacres-justice-delayed-30-years-and-counting
Srebrenica: Three More Bodies Found
The Bosnian Institute for Missing Persons recovered the remains of three war victims from a mass grave near the village of Suceska, in Srebrenica municipality.
According to information from the Institute for Missing Persons, the remains are probably those of men killed in July 1995 in Srebrenica.
The remains were transported to the Commemorative Center in Tuzla for analysis and identification.
On the same day, the remains of another victim were found near Sanski Most in northwestern Bosnia.
The Bosnian state prosecution, which has national responsibility for exhumations, said that the remains would be sent to the Sejkovaca mortuary for identification.
Representatives of the Institute for Missing Persons and police officers from both Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the exhumations in Srebrenica and Sanski Most.
According to available information, at the end of the conflict in Bosnia an estimated 30,000 people were reported as missing. The remains of two thirds have been found, and around 10,000 people are still missing from the Bosnian conflict.
Thu 22 March 2012
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/remains-of-war-victims-recovered
According to information from the Institute for Missing Persons, the remains are probably those of men killed in July 1995 in Srebrenica.
The remains were transported to the Commemorative Center in Tuzla for analysis and identification.
On the same day, the remains of another victim were found near Sanski Most in northwestern Bosnia.
The Bosnian state prosecution, which has national responsibility for exhumations, said that the remains would be sent to the Sejkovaca mortuary for identification.
Representatives of the Institute for Missing Persons and police officers from both Republika Srpska and the Federation of Bosnia and Herzegovina participated in the exhumations in Srebrenica and Sanski Most.
According to available information, at the end of the conflict in Bosnia an estimated 30,000 people were reported as missing. The remains of two thirds have been found, and around 10,000 people are still missing from the Bosnian conflict.
Thu 22 March 2012
http://www.balkaninsight.com/en/article/remains-of-war-victims-recovered
Mexicans criticised for removing bones from archaeological site
San Cristobal de Las Casas (Mexico), March 15 (IANS/EFE) Mexican authorities’ decision to remove human skeletons from an archaeological site in the southern state of Chiapas resulted in the loss of “invaluable” anthropological information, experts said.
“We obviously understand the haste, the importance given (to the find by) the state Attorney General’s Office considering the fight against drug trafficking,” Emiliano Gallaga, who represents the National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, in Chiapas, told EFE.
Chiapas authorities, who had initially assumed the bones were the remains of victims of organized crime, informed INAH of the discovery but only after the material had been collected, Gallaga said.
The state government announced March 9 the discovery of 167 human skeletons in a cave thanks to “intelligence work” directed by the Chiapas AG’s office, whose experts erroneously calculated that the human remains were about 50 years old.
Gallaga said that in the process of removing the skeletons authorities had altered the context of the archaeological site, located in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa.
“The archaeological context has already been altered and so obviously a lot of information has already been lost. All we can do now is go to the site, see how many of the artifacts were removed, how much damage was done to the archaeological context and remove as much as possible from the context that hasn’t been touched,” he added.
INAH anthropologist Javier Montes de Paz said the institute has already taken over investigations at the site “and we’ve already determined these are pre-Columbian remains and it’s confirmed these are human remains of individuals who lived around 1,000 years ago”.
Analysis of the skeletons, discovered at a cave that Mayan Indians used for ceremonial purposes, has begun at the state AG’s office’s headquarters, he said.
“The evidence that led us to determine the chronology was the practice of intentional cranial deformation,” the expert said, who noted that the remains found at the site have the “tabular erect type of deformed skull”.
Discoveries of mass graves containing victims of drug-related violence have become commonplace in Mexico, where some 50,000 people have been killed in cartel turf wars and the gangs’ clashes with security forces since late 2006.
A total of 332 bodies have been found in clandestine graves over the past year in the northwestern state of Durango, including 50 corpses discovered in December and January in 14 mass graves in Durango city, Lerdo, Santiago Papasquiaro, Cuencame and San Juan del Rio.
Thu Mar 15 2012 04:30:24 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) by IANS
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/mexicans-criticised-for-removing-bones-from-archaeological-site_100604676.html
“We obviously understand the haste, the importance given (to the find by) the state Attorney General’s Office considering the fight against drug trafficking,” Emiliano Gallaga, who represents the National Institute of Anthropology and History, or INAH, in Chiapas, told EFE.
Chiapas authorities, who had initially assumed the bones were the remains of victims of organized crime, informed INAH of the discovery but only after the material had been collected, Gallaga said.
The state government announced March 9 the discovery of 167 human skeletons in a cave thanks to “intelligence work” directed by the Chiapas AG’s office, whose experts erroneously calculated that the human remains were about 50 years old.
Gallaga said that in the process of removing the skeletons authorities had altered the context of the archaeological site, located in the municipality of Frontera Comalapa.
“The archaeological context has already been altered and so obviously a lot of information has already been lost. All we can do now is go to the site, see how many of the artifacts were removed, how much damage was done to the archaeological context and remove as much as possible from the context that hasn’t been touched,” he added.
INAH anthropologist Javier Montes de Paz said the institute has already taken over investigations at the site “and we’ve already determined these are pre-Columbian remains and it’s confirmed these are human remains of individuals who lived around 1,000 years ago”.
Analysis of the skeletons, discovered at a cave that Mayan Indians used for ceremonial purposes, has begun at the state AG’s office’s headquarters, he said.
“The evidence that led us to determine the chronology was the practice of intentional cranial deformation,” the expert said, who noted that the remains found at the site have the “tabular erect type of deformed skull”.
Discoveries of mass graves containing victims of drug-related violence have become commonplace in Mexico, where some 50,000 people have been killed in cartel turf wars and the gangs’ clashes with security forces since late 2006.
A total of 332 bodies have been found in clandestine graves over the past year in the northwestern state of Durango, including 50 corpses discovered in December and January in 14 mass graves in Durango city, Lerdo, Santiago Papasquiaro, Cuencame and San Juan del Rio.
Thu Mar 15 2012 04:30:24 GMT+0000 (GMT Standard Time) by IANS
http://www.thaindian.com/newsportal/sci-tech/mexicans-criticised-for-removing-bones-from-archaeological-site_100604676.html
Yingxiu rises from the ashes
We arrived in Yingxiu town on a chilly early spring day full of misty rain, when snow still covered the tops of the surrounding mountains.
From the distance, the town looked like it was from a fairy tale, though from close up it appeared to be carefully planned, with new villa-style residences lining the Yuzi River. It certainly didn't look like I expected one of the hardest hit towns in the 2008 quake to appear.
It lost the majority of its population of 12,000. Its traffic and communications were cut off. And dangerous landslides and bad weather initially prevented rescuers from arriving.
Four years after the devastation, locals' hearts appear to have healed, and traces of the quake are hard to find unless local guides show you around.
Several sites that were affected by the earthquake have, however, been preserved as memorial sites, including the ruins of the primary school, where hundreds of students died.
This approach has been duplicated in other seriously damaged towns and counties, like Beichuan and Hanwang, which we visited over the following two days.
The thing is, the source of their pain has turned into a source of income.
At Niumiangou village, for example, villagers who were formerly farmers have turned into tour guides or sell souvenirs related to the quake.
At one site, there is a mass grave on a slope where chrysanthemums and other dedications memorialize the victims.
Picking up a small flower by the wayside, our guide Yang Yunqing placed it on the ground where he believes his wife was buried.
After his wife was killed in the quake, Yang worked ceaselessly on a voluntary basis to help others.
Yang repeatedly says the survivors should carry on as normal. His optimism impressed me.
At the end of 2011, all the town's remaining residents had moved into new three-story houses. The government subsidized two-thrids of the houses' cost.
Her new home has given comfort to 39-year-old Cai Zhongyu. She still remembers the two years she stayed with her husband in a tent and a portable shelter.
After losing her eldest daughter in the quake, Cai gave birth to a son in 2010. She and her husband named their son Qingsheng, which translates as "celebrating rebirth", to signal that life goes on, even after disaster.
I learned that many people who lost their children during the quake have given birth to another child, as the local government encouraged them to.
It's good to see folks have gradually taken back their lives after overcoming the quake and bereavement.
22 March 2012
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2012-03/22/content_14887333.htm
From the distance, the town looked like it was from a fairy tale, though from close up it appeared to be carefully planned, with new villa-style residences lining the Yuzi River. It certainly didn't look like I expected one of the hardest hit towns in the 2008 quake to appear.
It lost the majority of its population of 12,000. Its traffic and communications were cut off. And dangerous landslides and bad weather initially prevented rescuers from arriving.
Four years after the devastation, locals' hearts appear to have healed, and traces of the quake are hard to find unless local guides show you around.
Several sites that were affected by the earthquake have, however, been preserved as memorial sites, including the ruins of the primary school, where hundreds of students died.
This approach has been duplicated in other seriously damaged towns and counties, like Beichuan and Hanwang, which we visited over the following two days.
The thing is, the source of their pain has turned into a source of income.
At Niumiangou village, for example, villagers who were formerly farmers have turned into tour guides or sell souvenirs related to the quake.
At one site, there is a mass grave on a slope where chrysanthemums and other dedications memorialize the victims.
Picking up a small flower by the wayside, our guide Yang Yunqing placed it on the ground where he believes his wife was buried.
After his wife was killed in the quake, Yang worked ceaselessly on a voluntary basis to help others.
Yang repeatedly says the survivors should carry on as normal. His optimism impressed me.
At the end of 2011, all the town's remaining residents had moved into new three-story houses. The government subsidized two-thrids of the houses' cost.
Her new home has given comfort to 39-year-old Cai Zhongyu. She still remembers the two years she stayed with her husband in a tent and a portable shelter.
After losing her eldest daughter in the quake, Cai gave birth to a son in 2010. She and her husband named their son Qingsheng, which translates as "celebrating rebirth", to signal that life goes on, even after disaster.
I learned that many people who lost their children during the quake have given birth to another child, as the local government encouraged them to.
It's good to see folks have gradually taken back their lives after overcoming the quake and bereavement.
22 March 2012
http://www.chinadaily.com.cn/life/2012-03/22/content_14887333.htm
Dutch soldiers find suspected WWII mass grave in dunes
TILBURG, the Netherlands (BNO NEWS) — Dutch soldiers have possibly found a mass grave which may contain the bodies of up to fifteen people who were executed by German police during World War II, the government announced on Wednesday.
The Dutch Ministry of Defense said a group of soldiers discovered two suspected graves last week while searching the Loonse and Drunense Dunes, a national park located between the cities of Tilburg, Waalwijk and Den Bosch, with ground-penetrating radar. It is believed up to fifteen people may be buried there.
“After an afternoon of intensive research, soldiers from the 41st Armored Engineer Battalion discovered two disturbances on the radar,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday. “This indicates the soil is different in composition in these locations. Around it they detected barbed wire and they found ammunition and a mortar.”
The search was part of an exercise but focused on the story of Rien Broeders who previously provided information to the War Aftercare Department of the Netherlands Red Cross. The area in the Loonse and Drunense Dunes is known to have been used as a shooting range by German forces during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Broeders, who was at the time a young boy and lived in the area, would regularly visit the shooting range to collect shells after German soldiers had left. He knew the German soldiers had dug two pits, surrounded by barbed wire, where they could take shelter in the event of a threat.
But when Broeders returned after the war, he discovered the pits had been closed.
According to information from the Foundation for Information World War Two (STIWOT), most of the victims are likely resistance fighters who were executed by the Nazi’s Order Police in May 1944. Fourteen men, between the ages of 22 and 34, were taken from their cells at Haaren prison and brought to the dunes where they were executed.
According to STIWOT, at least 28 shots were heard in the area before the men were buried at an unknown location in the dunes. Two searches in July 1946 and January 1974 failed to find the graves, and the search has been hampered by the dunes which continuously change in shape.
Local broadcaster Omroep Brabant said five of those executed had been accused of direct and indirect involvement in connection with the robbery of a distribution center in Bergen op Zoom in March 1944. They were also accused of setting a German storage facility on fire in January 1944 and possessing weapons and ammunition.
21 March 2012
http://earththreats.com/2012/03/dutch-soldiers-find-suspected-wwii-mass-grave-in-dunes/
The Dutch Ministry of Defense said a group of soldiers discovered two suspected graves last week while searching the Loonse and Drunense Dunes, a national park located between the cities of Tilburg, Waalwijk and Den Bosch, with ground-penetrating radar. It is believed up to fifteen people may be buried there.
“After an afternoon of intensive research, soldiers from the 41st Armored Engineer Battalion discovered two disturbances on the radar,” the Ministry of Defense said in a statement on Wednesday. “This indicates the soil is different in composition in these locations. Around it they detected barbed wire and they found ammunition and a mortar.”
The search was part of an exercise but focused on the story of Rien Broeders who previously provided information to the War Aftercare Department of the Netherlands Red Cross. The area in the Loonse and Drunense Dunes is known to have been used as a shooting range by German forces during the Nazi occupation of the Netherlands.
Broeders, who was at the time a young boy and lived in the area, would regularly visit the shooting range to collect shells after German soldiers had left. He knew the German soldiers had dug two pits, surrounded by barbed wire, where they could take shelter in the event of a threat.
But when Broeders returned after the war, he discovered the pits had been closed.
According to information from the Foundation for Information World War Two (STIWOT), most of the victims are likely resistance fighters who were executed by the Nazi’s Order Police in May 1944. Fourteen men, between the ages of 22 and 34, were taken from their cells at Haaren prison and brought to the dunes where they were executed.
According to STIWOT, at least 28 shots were heard in the area before the men were buried at an unknown location in the dunes. Two searches in July 1946 and January 1974 failed to find the graves, and the search has been hampered by the dunes which continuously change in shape.
Local broadcaster Omroep Brabant said five of those executed had been accused of direct and indirect involvement in connection with the robbery of a distribution center in Bergen op Zoom in March 1944. They were also accused of setting a German storage facility on fire in January 1944 and possessing weapons and ammunition.
21 March 2012
http://earththreats.com/2012/03/dutch-soldiers-find-suspected-wwii-mass-grave-in-dunes/
Costa Concordia Disaster: 5 More Bodies Found In Cruise Wreckage
GIGLIO, Italy -- Search crews in Italy have found five more bodies in the wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship, which struck a reef off an Italian island in January.
The development on Thursday raises to 30 the number of bodies found. Two people remain missing and are presumed dead.
The Italian Civil Protection agency coordinating search operations said the bodies were all found in spaces between the hull and the seabed off the Tuscan island of Giglio. Since the Jan. 13 capsizing, the Concordia has been lying on its side, half submerged in water near Giglio's port. It was not clear when the bodies would be removed.
THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.
GIGLIO, Italy (AP) – Searchers on Thursday found three bodies under the hull of the shipwrecked Costa Concordia cruise ship that capsized off an Italian island in January, an official said, raising the number of bodies found so far to 28 and leaving four still missing.
Civil Protection agency chief Franco Gabrielli did not give details on the sex or ages of the victims. He told reporters on the island that the three bodies were spotted when divers were working to set up a kind of robot to search otherwise inaccessible parts of the wreck.
The bodies were seen "in the spaces between the hull and the seabed," he said. It was not clear when they could be removed.
All of the other bodies had been found inside the ship, except for three found in the sea near the ship in the first hours after the accident. The remaining missing are presumed dead.
The ship hit a rocky reef, took on water and turned over just outside the port of the tiny island of Giglio off Tuscany on Jan. 13. Divers and searchers have been combing the half-submerged ship, from passenger cabins to elevators to the decks where many of the 4,200 passengers and crew gathered during the delayed and frantic evacuation. Many jumped into the sea when lifeboats were unable to be launched because of the ship's tilt.
Even before the latest bodies were found, eight removed in recent weeks were awaiting official identification. Weeks in the water badly decomposed the remains, and forensic authorities have used DNA sampling to try to identify them.
Among those listed missing or unidentified are a crew member from India and several passengers, including an elderly U.S. couple and others from Italy and Germany.
The Concordia capsized in a protected sea sanctuary, and salvage teams have been removing fuel since Feb. 12 in hopes of sparing the pristine waters from pollution. Costa Crociere SpA., the Italian cruise company, and Italian officials said fuel removal was expected to be completed by Friday evening.
Occasional bad weather and choppy seas have at times forced suspension of both the search for bodies and the fuel removal.
The operation to remove the wrecked Concordia itself could take as long as 12 months. Bids for the job are being evaluated.
The Concordia's Italian captain is under house arrest near Naples. Capt. Francesco Schettino is under investigation for alleged manslaughter, causing a shipwreck and abandoning ship during the evacuation. Schettino has denied wrongdoing and claimed that the reef wasn't marked on charts.
Investigators are probing allegations that Schettino deliberately came too close to the island as part of a publicity stunt for the cruise line. Costa Crociere officials have distanced themselves from Schettino.
03/22/12 03:18 PM ET
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2012/03/22/costa-concordia-bodies-found-wreck_n_1373631.html
Memorial wall to be constructed for ‘Sendong’ victims
A MEMORIAL wall is set to be constructed at the Gaston Park to remember those who perished at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011.
On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.
A MEMORIAL wall is set to be constructed at the Gaston Park to remember those who perished at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011.
On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.
The marker, which measures eight feet tall and 12 feet wide, will be engraved with the names of those who died in the flash flood based on the list of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).
Based on the NDRRMC list, at least 674 persons have been reported died during the tragedy.
However, of the number, only 459 were in the master list who have already been identified.
Once the list is updated, the JCI would also update the engraved names on the wall.
Jean Tulang, JCI member and project chair, said they conceptualized the project in January in the hope to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Tulang said the project also hopes to honor the donors and benefactors, the gallant rescuers, the resilience of the survivors and the conviction of Kagay-anons to rebuild their lives.
“Because in a way, something deep inside us also died when our relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors died,” she said.
Tulang said during the one-year anniversary of ‘Sendong’ tragedy, JCI Bai Lawanen hopes to gather the families of those who died and other sectors at the memorial wall as a way of remembering them.
Mayor Vicente Emano graced Friday’s groundbreaking and lowering of capsule.
“This will also reflect to the world that people are working together and it makes a difference in making the city go back to be a city in bloom, blossom and in boom,” Emano said.
Families of the victims and other sectors will be invited during the unveiling of the marker once it is finished.
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 24, 2012.
On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.
A MEMORIAL wall is set to be constructed at the Gaston Park to remember those who perished at the height of Tropical Storm Sendong in December 2011.
On Friday, groundbreaking of the marker was conducted by JCI Bai Lawanen, the project’s proponent.
The marker, which measures eight feet tall and 12 feet wide, will be engraved with the names of those who died in the flash flood based on the list of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Management Council (NDRRMC).
Based on the NDRRMC list, at least 674 persons have been reported died during the tragedy.
However, of the number, only 459 were in the master list who have already been identified.
Once the list is updated, the JCI would also update the engraved names on the wall.
Jean Tulang, JCI member and project chair, said they conceptualized the project in January in the hope to remember those who lost their lives in the tragedy.
Tulang said the project also hopes to honor the donors and benefactors, the gallant rescuers, the resilience of the survivors and the conviction of Kagay-anons to rebuild their lives.
“Because in a way, something deep inside us also died when our relatives, friends, co-workers and neighbors died,” she said.
Tulang said during the one-year anniversary of ‘Sendong’ tragedy, JCI Bai Lawanen hopes to gather the families of those who died and other sectors at the memorial wall as a way of remembering them.
Mayor Vicente Emano graced Friday’s groundbreaking and lowering of capsule.
“This will also reflect to the world that people are working together and it makes a difference in making the city go back to be a city in bloom, blossom and in boom,” Emano said.
Families of the victims and other sectors will be invited during the unveiling of the marker once it is finished.
Published in the Sun.Star Cagayan de Oro newspaper on March 24, 2012.
German cruise ship victim identified
The body of a victim recovered from the semi-submerged cruise liner Costa Concordia a month ago was officially identified Friday as German tourist Margarethe Neth, Italian officials said.
Neth's body was found on February 22 along with seven others that were identified a week ago, the prefecture in Grosetto, which has jurisdiction over the island where the ship crashed, said in a statement.
Five other bodies were found in the ship's wreckage on Thursday but it will take divers a few days to recover them before they can be identified.
The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,229 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off Giglio island in Tuscany and keeled over on the night of January 13, killing 32 people. So far 30 bodies have been found but two are still missing.
Meanwhile, salvage workers who began pumping 2,400 tonnes of fuel oil from the ship's tanks on February 12 have finally finished the operation, the Costa Crociere company said in a statement.
The statement said all the fuel had been pumped out apart from "minor traces impossible to remove from the reservoir walls (which were) such small quantities that they present no real hazard to the environment."
Italian prosecutors have placed the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, under investigation for the disaster.
Dozens of survivors have launched lawsuits against cruise line Costa and its US parent company Carnival Corp. in France, Germany and the United States.
Costa has offered uninjured passengers 11,000 euros ($14,500) each plus expenses as compensation.
Fri, 23 Mar 2012
http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6023567
Neth's body was found on February 22 along with seven others that were identified a week ago, the prefecture in Grosetto, which has jurisdiction over the island where the ship crashed, said in a statement.
Five other bodies were found in the ship's wreckage on Thursday but it will take divers a few days to recover them before they can be identified.
The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,229 passengers and crew when it struck rocks off Giglio island in Tuscany and keeled over on the night of January 13, killing 32 people. So far 30 bodies have been found but two are still missing.
Meanwhile, salvage workers who began pumping 2,400 tonnes of fuel oil from the ship's tanks on February 12 have finally finished the operation, the Costa Crociere company said in a statement.
The statement said all the fuel had been pumped out apart from "minor traces impossible to remove from the reservoir walls (which were) such small quantities that they present no real hazard to the environment."
Italian prosecutors have placed the ship's captain, Francesco Schettino, and first officer, Ciro Ambrosio, under investigation for the disaster.
Dozens of survivors have launched lawsuits against cruise line Costa and its US parent company Carnival Corp. in France, Germany and the United States.
Costa has offered uninjured passengers 11,000 euros ($14,500) each plus expenses as compensation.
Fri, 23 Mar 2012
http://news.ph.msn.com/business/article.aspx?cp-documentid=6023567
Mass funeral for Middle Eastern victims of motorboat sinking
53 dead immigrants from the Middle East were victims of the Barokah motorboat that sank in the Prigi sea, Trenggalek, East Java, and will be buried in general cemetery sites in Putat Jaya.
53 dead immigrants from the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan) victims of Barokah motor boat that sank in the waters Prigi, Trenggalek, East Java, Indonesia on December 17, 2011 which then will be buried on Saturday, March 23, 2012 in General Cemeteries Sites Putat Jaya, Surabaya.
Funeral procession conducted by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) East Java Police at Bhayangkara Police Hospital , A. Yani street, Surabaya since 5 am (23/03/2012).
Most of the bodies are located in East Java Police Bhayangkara Hospital since 22 December 2011 ago have been identified by the East Java Police DVI team. 31 bodies of migrants who aim to Australia has been taken by the families of the victims from the Middle East. 19 bodies handled by the Bali Police.
Preparation begins with the provision of funeral grave clothes on each body. Once given the identification number, put the bodies in a coffin and set in the courtyard the East Java Police Hospital before officially dispatched by the Head of East Java Police Medical Health Department, Kombespol dr. Budiono, MARS. The plan remains will be buried Friday afternoon (03/23/2012) at 13.00 in the General Cemetery Putat Jaya, Surabaya.
http://www.demotix.com/news/1120171/mass-funeral-middle-eastern-victims-motorboat-sinking
Mass funeral for Middle Eastern victims of motorboat sinking
53 dead immigrants from the Middle East were victims of the Barokah motorboat that sank in the Prigi sea, Trenggalek, East Java, and will be buried in general cemetery sites in Putat Jaya.
53 dead immigrants from the Middle East (Iran, Iraq, Afghanistan) victims of Barokah motor boat that sank in the waters Prigi, Trenggalek, East Java, Indonesia on December 17, 2011 which then will be buried on Saturday, March 23, 2012 in General Cemeteries Sites Putat Jaya, Surabaya.
Funeral procession conducted by the Disaster Victim Identification (DVI) East Java Police at Bhayangkara Police Hospital , A. Yani street, Surabaya since 5 am (23/03/2012).
Most of the bodies are located in East Java Police Bhayangkara Hospital since 22 December 2011 ago have been identified by the East Java Police DVI team. 31 bodies of migrants who aim to Australia has been taken by the families of the victims from the Middle East. 19 bodies handled by the Bali Police.
Preparation begins with the provision of funeral grave clothes on each body. Once given the identification number, put the bodies in a coffin and set in the courtyard the East Java Police Hospital before officially dispatched by the Head of East Java Police Medical Health Department, Kombespol dr. Budiono, MARS. The plan remains will be buried Friday afternoon (03/23/2012) at 13.00 in the General Cemetery Putat Jaya, Surabaya.
http://www.demotix.com/news/1120171/mass-funeral-middle-eastern-victims-motorboat-sinking
Costa Concordia: Five more bodies found
More than two months after the cruise ship Costa Concordia capsized off the Italian coast, a team searching the wreck has found five more bodies.
Italian authorities say they were found outside the ship, in a small space between the wreck and the sea bed.
Altogether 30 bodies have now been found since the vessel ran aground off the island of Giglio on 13 January.
The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 passengers and crew when its hull was torn open by rocks.
Civil Protection Agency chief Franco Gabrielli did not give any details on the sex or ages of the latest victims to be found.
Two people remain missing and are presumed dead.
Eight more bodies were found in late February, but forensic authorities are still working on formally identifying them.
A crew member from India and passengers from the US, Italy and Germany are reported to be among those as yet unaccounted for.
22 March 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17472345
Italian authorities say they were found outside the ship, in a small space between the wreck and the sea bed.
Altogether 30 bodies have now been found since the vessel ran aground off the island of Giglio on 13 January.
The Costa Concordia was carrying 4,200 passengers and crew when its hull was torn open by rocks.
Civil Protection Agency chief Franco Gabrielli did not give any details on the sex or ages of the latest victims to be found.
Two people remain missing and are presumed dead.
Eight more bodies were found in late February, but forensic authorities are still working on formally identifying them.
A crew member from India and passengers from the US, Italy and Germany are reported to be among those as yet unaccounted for.
22 March 2012
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-17472345