Survivor who lost 8 members of his family still hunting for father

Nine bodies, which include the corpses of five minor girls, have been lying unclaimed in the morgues of Thane Civil Hospital and Chhattrapati Shivaji Maharaj Hospital (CSM) since they were brought out of the debris of the building collapse in Mumbra.

The identity of the victims is still to be revealed, as nobody has identified them as their relatives. However, Relatives, who are hunting for their kin, have said seven people are still missing. One such relative is Aamir Shaikh, who has been searching for his 64-year-old father.

Shaikh lost eight of his family members when the building collapsed. “I managed to find the bodies of my wife, seven-month-old son, nephews, niece and my mother-in-law, but my father has not been traced,” he said.

Shaikh owned a flat and a shop in the ill-fated building. “I was in my shop on the ground floor when my niece pointed a crack on the wall. I realised something was wrong and pushed my niece and a customer out, but was trapped under the debris. I was rescued and brought out after nine hours. During this period, I called my brother several times. He then informed the fire brigade that I was alive and they came looking for me. When I was pulled out, Irealised I had lost nine members of my family,” he said.

Like Shaikh, many others are still looking for their family members - some of which could be lying at the hospitals. Hospital sources say that the unclaimed bodies could be of those who may have lost all their family members.

The sources add that the bodies are beyond any recognition, making them difficult to identify.

There are six unclaimed bodies at Thane Civil Hospital and three at CSM Hospital in Kalwa. The corpses of two men, two women and two girls have been lying at Thane, while three girls lie unidentified at the Kalwa Hospital. Several people have come to identify these bodies, but none of them have been claimed.

Aunt from Karnataka to adopt ‘miracle’ baby

The eight-month-old, who lost her parents and had no one who could recognise her, in the Mumbra building collapse, will be adopted by her aunt, who lives in Karnataka.

Sources at CSM Hospital Kalwa said a social activist, who came to know that parents were looking to adopt the baby, met officials on Monday. He said the baby’s name is Zoya and her aunt, who lived in Karnataka, would be arriving in the city soon to take her back.

The official has asked the hospital sources not to hand over the baby to any children’s institutions or social activists, as she had a family where she could go.

Zoya was rescued from debris around five hours after the collapse, but she was safe while her mother in whose lap she was found had died. She was termed the ‘miracle baby’ by the media.

Tuesday 8 April 2013

http://www.mumbaimirror.com/article/2/2013040920130409085230765cc0b13e7/Survivor-who-lost-8-members-of-his-family-still-hunting-for-father.html

Quake near Iran nuclear plant kills at least 20

A powerful earthquake has struck near Iran's Gulf port city of Bushehr, killing at least 20 people and injuring 650 but leaving Iran's only nuclear power plant intact, officials say.

Shocks from the quake were felt across the Gulf in Bahrain, Kuwait, Qatar and the United Arab Emirates, provoking panic and the brief evacuation of some office towers, residents and media said.

At least 20 bodies had been taken to the morgue in the city of Khormoj, an unnamed hospital official told Iranian state news agency IRNA.

Khormoj, east of provincial capital Bushehr, is about 35km from Kaki.

Bushehr provincial Governor Fereydoon Hasanvand said at least 650 people needed medical help.

There were no immediate details on where the casualties occurred, but the head of Iran's Red Crescent rescue corps, Mahmoud Mozafar, said it appeared at least one village near Khormoj had been razed.

Media reports said search and rescue teams had been sent to the area, where telephones and electricity had been cut.

Meanwhile, Hasanvand told state television "no damage at all has been caused" to the nuclear plant.

The facility's chief engineer, Mahmoud Jafari, told Arabic-language Al-Alam television "no operational or security protocols were breached".

The 6.1 magnitude quake hit at 4.22pm (2152 AEST) with a depth of 12 kilometres, in the area of Kaki, nearly 90km southeast of Bushehr, the Iran Seismological Centre said.

The agency has so far reported more than a dozen after shocks, the strongest at 5.3 magnitude.

The US Geological Survey ranked the quake at a more powerful 6.3 magnitude.

In Dubai, hundreds of kilometres down the Gulf from Bushehr and home to the world's tallest building, Burj Khalifa, local media reported that several high-rise buildings were briefly evacuated.

"Chandeliers were shaking," tweeted one resident.

Iran sits astride several major fault lines and is prone to frequent earthquakes.

A double earthquake struck northwest Iran last August, killing more than 300 people.

In December 2010, a big quake struck the southern city of Bam, killing 31,000.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

http://www.theaustralian.com.au/news/breaking-news/quake-near-iran-nuclear-plant-kills-20/story-fn3dxix6-1226616901309

Aroor: Poor disaster management delays rescue

The site where the St. Augustine’s Church collapsed at Aroor on Monday could not have been more chaotic, a testimony to how ill-equipped Ernakulam and Alappuzha districts were in dealing with such a disaster.

According to standard disaster management protocol, an accident of this magnitude warranted a specialised Collapsed Structure Search and Rescue (CSSR) team, comprising personnel proficient in entering disaster sites and carrying out rescue operations. But no such team was part of the rescue operations on Monday.

A building collapse called for the same disaster management measures followed in the case of an earthquake.

At Aroor, no measures were put in place to manage crowds, with people milling around the site of the collapsed structures, hampering search and rescue operations. Continuous requests by the church authorities, through public announcement system, asking people to leave the site fell on deaf ears. More people kept coming after learning of the accident through television channels.

Police had a tough time making way for ambulances and fire tenders to the accident site. Though the police closed the church gates, a large number of people had already entered the premises. People also kept clicking images of the disaster on their mobile phones.

Local volunteers stepped in to keep the crowd away by cordoning off the area with ropes.

Even warnings about the threat of another collapse during the rescue operations did not drive the people away.

The disaster also drew attention to the absence of hand-held specialised equipment to break into concrete structures. One of the victims could be seen trapped under a fallen structure but could not be pulled out for want of proper equipment. The medical team was unable to administer first aid to him.

Lacunae

The use of excavators, as witnessed at the site, posed a real danger of bringing down the existing structures as well. The accident once again highlighted the lacunae in structural safety, said S. Suresh, a structural consultant in the city. The existing building rules and norms did not insist on the presence or approval of a structural engineer while the building was under construction.

It had to be scientifically examined whether the temporary structure erected for the concrete work would support the construction load, including weight of wet cement, equipment used and the number of workers in action, Mr. Suresh said.

The Kerala Municipal Building Rules put the onus of ensuring safety of the structure on the owner and consultant.

The municipal body’s role ended with the approval of the building plan, he said, adding that the rules had to be changed. The Department of Fire and Rescue Services is also ill-equipped to meet an emergency of this scale.

The Ernakulam, Alappuzha and Kottayam divisions, which were involved in the rescue operations, face severe staff shortage.

Ill-equipped

The personnel also lacked knowledge about the rescue procedure to be adopted during a building collapse.

Department sources pointed out that such operations could not be carried out without cranes to remove the rubble. The force also lacked life detector sensors that could pick up signals from possible survivors.

They suggested that state-of-the-art equipment fitted with thermal cameras should be inserted into the wreckage after making holes to locate survivors and extricate them with gas cutters.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

http://www.thehindu.com/news/cities/Kochi/poor-disaster-management-delays-rescue/article4595673.ece

Pakistan among top ten natural-disaster-hit countries

Senate Standing Committee on Climate Change on Monday apprised that Pakistan is ranked among top ten countries worst hit by impacts of climate change in shape of severe floods, torrential rains, rise in temperature and cyclones. The Committee highlighted vulnerability of the country due to increased frequency and intensity of natural disasters in the country, which are being caused due to changing and unpredictable weather patterns.

The committee met here under the chair of Senator Dr Saeeda Iqbal who emphasised to work together with civil society organisations to mitigate these impacts and help vulnerable communities, to better adapt to changing weather patterns. While briefing, Director Resource Centre Akhtar Hameed Khan said Pakistan is among the most vulnerable countries facing climate risks and mechanisms need to be devised for greener, more resilient options for growth and sustainable development.

"Pakistan's contribution to global warming is negligible but it is one of the top ten most affected countries", he said. Chairperson Senator Dr Saeeda Iqbal said "We must pursue sustainable economic growth by appropriately addressing the challenges of climate change and integrate climate change policy with other interlaced national policies".

While briefing about the activities of Pakistan Poverty Alleviation Fund (PPAF) Senior Group Head (PPAF) Zafar Pervez Sabri said " We strengthen the institutional capacity of civil society organisations, and support the creation of organisations of the poor, that can work together to alleviate poverty". PPAF ensures that public services for poor communities are available and adhere to identified quality standards, he said.

"We focus on pro-poor gender sensitive adaptation while also promoting mitigation to the extent possible in a cost effective manner to ensure water, food and energy security of the country in the face of challenge posed by climate change", he told committee. Speakers of the committee emphasised that facilitating an effective use of the opportunities, particularly financial, available both nationally and internationally, is critical for fostering the development of appropriate economic incentives to encourage public and private sector investment in adaptation measures and promoting conservation of natural resources.

An editorial in the Dawn on Tuesday said that away from the din of politics and the immediacy of militant strife, a disaster of enormous proportions is silently evolving in the Hindu Kush-Himalayan mountains up north, one that could in time impact the length and breadth of Pakistan.

"The peaks are home to some 15,000 glaciers which, as a result of rising temperatures, are retreating at an alarming rate of almost 40 to 60 metres a decade, leaving behind glacial lakes in their wake," it said.

The daily warned that 52 such lakes, an inherently unstable phenomenon that can trigger devastating flash floods, have been classified as dangerous to human settlements.

Parts of Gilgit-Baltistan and Chitral have already suffered floods on this count in 2010.

"The melting of the glaciers will also ultimately lead to a rise in sea levels, threatening coastal areas and cities such as Karachi," it said, while referring to a meeting to review the progress of a four-year project between the government and international organisations to deal with the fallout of climate change in Pakistan.

It stressed that by most estimates, "Pakistan will be one of the countries hardest hit by climate change".

"It is therefore encouraging that the government is taking steps such as setting up meteorological observatories at sites vulnerable to glacial lake outburst floods and the planned establishment of automated weather stations in the area which should lead to improved data collection, an essential requirement for a well-calibrated response."

Tuesday 9 April 2013

http://www.brecorder.com/general-news/172/1172969/

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/home/environment/global-warming/Pakistan-to-be-hardest-hit-by-climate-change-Dawn/articleshow/19455281.cms

Nigeria: Mass burial for victims of Benin accident

Arrangements have been concluded to bury en masse victims of last Friday’s fatal auto accident that occurred at about 1.30 pm at Igbogui village, located on the Benin-Ore-Lagos expressway.

Authorities of the University of Benin Teaching Hospital (UBTH), disclosed this on Monday.

While sympathising with relatives of the accident victims, a brief statement signed by the Hospital’s Public Relations Officer, Mrs. Kehinde Ibitoye, said “the management is left with no option, because the bodies were burnt beyond recognition.

The statement noted that it was “not in the best interest of the Hospital and its immediate environs to continue to keep such bodies.”

Over 60 persons were burnt beyond recognition when an articulated truck belonging to a cement company, fully loaded with cement (with registration number GA 71 XA),collided with an a tanker fully laden with petrol, which in turn, ran into a luxury bus marked “The Young Shall Grow,” said to be fully loaded with passengers.

Tongues of fire from the oil tanker consumed the luxury bus before spreading to other vehicles parked along the road and nearby buildings.

Two brothers who were said to be sleeping inside one of the burnt buildings when the accident occurred, also died.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

http://pmnewsnigeria.com/2013/04/08/nigeria-mass-burial-for-victims-of-weekend-tragic-accident/

Nigeria bus crash kills 20

A speeding and overloaded bus crashed into a truck parked by a road in northern Nigeria on Monday, killing 20 passengers, an official and a hospital source told AFP.

The bus had set off from Nigeria's second city of Kano and was headed to Potiskum, the commercial capital of Yobe state.

Potiskum has been attacked repeatedly by Boko Haram Islamists, and the insurgency has forced state officials to impose a dusk-to-dawn curfew in several areas.

The bus was reportedly speeding towards the city in order to beat the curfew when it crashed at roughly 5:00 pm (1600 GMT).

"A commercial bus carrying 22 passengers ran into a stationary truck" just outside Potiskum, said Sani Umar, an official with the state drivers union, noting that the vehicle was intended to carry just 17 people.

"The truck somersaulted several times on impact. ...We evacuated 20 dead bodies from the bus, with two seriously injured," he added.

He described speeding as the "likely cause," as drivers typically increase their speed as the curfew approaches to avoid being barred from entering the city when the military shuts off access at 6:00 pm.

A doctor at the Potiskum General Hospital, who was not authorised to speak to journalists, told AFP that 20 dead bodies had been brought in from the accident site.

Osuman Masari of the Federal Road Safety Commission in Yobe state said he had "received information about a ghastly motor accident outside Potiskum this evening involving a commuter bus."

"We don't have details at the moment because we don't have people on the ground," he added.

Road safety officials were forced to withdraw from the area following a spate of attacks blamed on Boko Haram, he said.

The Islamists have killed hundreds of people across northern Nigeria since 2009.

Parts of several states targeted by the insurgents have been placed under curfew.

Nigeria's roads are among the most dangerous in the world.

Badly maintained vehicles, poor roads and widespread reckless driving conspire to kill thousands in motor accidents across Africa's most populous country each year.

Tuesday 9 April 2013

http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/afp/130408/nigeria-bus-crash-kills-20