Sichuan 2008: A disaster on an immense scale

Sunday 12 May 2013 marks the fifth anniversary of the 2008 Sichuan earthquake.

In terms of the energy released, the Magnitude 7.9 earthquake that struck Sichuan province in China in May 2008 was not a record-setter. But the destruction it wrought, and the number of people it affected, certainly make it a stand-out event, writes James Daniell from the Earthquake Report website.

The impact of the Sichuan quake was not only felt through the death toll and significant economic loss but also in terms of the sheer number of people affected.

It was mid-afternoon, when school and university classes were being taught, office workers had returned to their desks from lunch, and the Sichuan working day was in full swing.

Eighty kilometres away (50 miles) from the 7.6-million-person megacity of Chengdu, 19km under the Earth, the fault began to rupture. The fault broke over a length of 240km.

Nothing could have prepared the people of Sichuan and the neighbouring provinces for the onset of over two minutes of shaking.

Poor infrastructure

The mud-brick houses, and even reinforced concrete buildings near the fault-break, stood no chance and were damaged immediately, many also collapsing.

Schools were unfortunately also not built to withstand such an earthquake, with many collapsed classrooms contributing to the deaths of thousands of children.

The scenes of death and destruction as well as the massive recovery effort needed prompted, for the first time in recent history, a request by China for international assistance.

But in the last few years, we have seen many damaging earthquakes - L'Aquila 2009, Haiti and Chile in 2010, Japan and New Zealand in 2011. Why must we remember Sichuan and why was it so significant?

The earthquake in terms of economic losses was the second highest in absolute numbers in history, very close to that of Japan's Tohoku earthquake. It eclipsed significantly the Kobe and American Northridge earthquakes when taking into account the prices of goods in China and that of other nations.

This earthquake had the highest homeless count in history with at least 4,800,000 people requiring shelter due to their houses being destroyed, with some estimates being as high as 10 million people needing shelter after the quake.

More than five million rooms (around 1.5 million houses) were destroyed, and over 21 million rooms were damaged (around 6 million houses). This is more than the number of houses that are in the entire country of Australia.

This homeless total dwarfed also the numbers seen in Haiti and in other historical quakes.

The destruction of houses via shaking, and the landslides contributed to one of the highest death tolls (7th) in the last 100 years worldwide. The 87,000 fatalities and over 370,000 injuries left a lasting impact on families throughout the province.

Important lessons

Memorials will be held over the coming days in memory of this cruel event.

It should serve not only as a memorial to those who were lost in the Sichuan event, but also as a reminder that building better for earthquakes can save lives and money.

In the recent Sichuan earthquake in Ya'an on 20 April, it was reported that none of the buildings built since the Sichuan earthquakes collapsed.

Many that experienced a similar level of shaking as the 2008 event suffered much less damage. This seems to indicate the Chinese government and people are working hard to reduce the number of fatalities in possible future earthquakes through better building codes and implementation.

According to the UN, Asia is the world's most disaster-prone region.

In the last decade, most disaster deaths in the region were caused by earthquakes (68%), while economic losses were also mainly due to this disaster type (United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction, 2012).

The recent factory collapse in Bangladesh without earthquake shaking reminds us of the vulnerability of some of the Asian building stock.

As we remember those lost from this event as well as the Sichuan 2008 event upon this fifth anniversary, let these reminders be the catalyst for improving building standards and striving for a world with safer buildings through earthquake-resistant building practices and reductions in corruption.

Thursday 9 May 2013

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-22398684

Himachal bus accident toll rises to 40, govt orders probe

The death toll in Wednesday’s bus accident on the Kullu-Mandi national highway climbed to 40 on Thursday with the recovery of four more bodies while another four persons succumbed to their injuries.

The ill-fated private bus, which plunged into Beas river after skidding off the road, was carrying about 70 passengers.

Eyewitnesses said that the mishap occurred as the driver lost control of the vehicle while talking on his mobile phone.

The driver, who jumped off the bus before it hit the water and fled the scene, was arrested by Kullu police this morning, a release here said.

Thirteen injured persons are currently undergoing treatment at a hospital in Kullu, where the condition of five of them was stated to be critical.

Police said that 35 victims have been identified with 20 of them being women.

Meanwhile, the state government has ordered a magisterial probe into the accident.

DGP Kamal Kumar too has sent a team headed by AIG Rajesh Dharmani along with traffic and railway police to take over the investigation into the mishap, which occurred some 250-km away from the state capital.

The passengers of the over-crowded bus were on their way to attend a three-day local festival at Ani.

Efforts by rescuers to reach the wreckage of the bus in order to pull out bodies and look for survivors was hampered by the turbulent waters of the river in this area.

Seventeen of the passengers were rescued by rafters as the site of the accident at Jhiri is a popular river rafting spot.

Kullu Deputy Commissioner Sharab Negi, who did not rule out the possibility that some passengers might have been washed away in the waters of the Beas, said search operations were on along the banks of the river.

The DGP has directed the inspector general of police (traffic) and railways to issue guidelines for field officers that they may adopt measures which would prevent recurrence of such accidents.

Thursday 9 May 2013

http://zeenews.india.com/news/himachal-pradesh/himachal-bus-accident-toll-rises-to-40-govt-orders-probe_847420.html

5 bodies found on Mayon; Thai climber rescued

Search and recovery teams retrieved yesterday the remains of four European tourists and their Filipino guide killed in the Mayon volcano explosion last Wednesday, but treacherous terrain and erratic weather hampered efforts to bring the bodies to a safe clearing.

“As of this time, our teams are still about two hours’ walk away from Camp 1. They could not go faster than careful walk due to the very rugged and slippery terrain,” Raffy Alejandro, Bicol director of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD) told The STAR.

Thirty-five-year-old Thai national Boonchai Jattupornong, earlier reported missing, was found alive but weakened by injuries.

Camp 1 is situated at 1,500 meters of the volcano. Mayon is 2,464 meters high.

The recovery team, comprising 60 Army soldiers, found the remains of the trekkers at the 1,800 meter level.

The explosion, called phreatic by scientists, triggered an avalanche of hot boulders that buried German tourists Joanne Edosa, Roland Pietieze and Furian Stelter, and Spaniard Farah Frances who resided in Germany. Also killed was Filipino guide Jerome Berin.

A phreatic explosion occurs when a volcano’s molten rock comes in contact with water. There was heavy rain near the volcano summit on the night before the explosion.

Alejandro said it was unsafe for helicopters to land at Camp 2, which has uneven and unstable terrain.

“So we need to bring the bodies down to Camp 1 for the helicopter pick them up,” he said.

Capt. Vibar Crisostomo, spokesman for the Army’s 901st Brigade, said that rescuers found two female and two male bodies at around 6:22 a.m. yesterday at a place called the Rabbit’s Ear, located at about 1,800 meters elevation.

He said two of the fatalities – a male and a female – were in an embrace when found.

“Our rescuers failed to hold back their tears upon seeing the nearly mangled bodies of the victims,” Crisostomo said.

He said it took recovery teams about seven hours to reach the location of the victims.

Crisostomo said it took five men to carry a body down the steep and slippery slopes.

‘Unreasonably raised’ issues

Albay Gov. Joey Salceda said he would first ensure that survivors of the tragedy are attended to and the remains of the victims recovered before addressing Malacañang’s demand for explanation.

“We will confront these questions without having to demoralize our 72-man rescue team and so many other people who are risking their lives on the slopes of Mayon,” he said. “Our entire attention and efforts have been focused on rescuing the injured rather than answer issues being unreasonably raised, posed by Malacañang. If it is President Aquino, he would have texted me first,” he said.

Earlier, deputy presidential spokesperson Abigail Valte said the President was seeking an explanation on the tragedy.

“That’s what the President ordered to ask – the parameters of the danger zone. And as far as our information has yielded, even if the local government restricts tourist activities there, they have to seek permission because there are guides that just go up without asking permission,” Valte said on Tuesday.

He said the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) had already answered the question when it said that there was “zero alert” before the explosion.

Salceda said the six-kilometer permanent danger zone (PDZ) essentially covers areas around the volcano where human habitation is prohibited. He also said he has never issued any permit to climb Mayon.

“Moreover, none of these tour guide operators or those 27 now affected have ever, ever sought our permission or given notice of their climb,” he said.

“Since becoming governor, I have not permitted or signed any permit for even a single climb to the crater of Mayon,” he said.

He said tour operators would rather deal with the Department of Tourism (DOT) than with Albay Provincial Security and Emergency Management Office for activities in Mayon.

“In our country, some wanted a policy debate on DRR (disaster relief and response) while 12 people were on the brink of death without immediate medical attention and five families abroad were grieving, waiting to get a last look at their lost sons and daughters,” he said.

He said four Thai mountaineers had expressed satisfaction with the progress of the search and recovery efforts. Their conversation with Salceda took place before the rescue of their companion.

“They are very satisfied with the rescue and the medical treatment. But they are worried about their missing friend,” Salceda said. Still alert 0 Meanwhile, Phivolcs kept its zero alert level for Mayon yesterday even after recording two rockfalls in the past 24 hours. “Seismic parameters remain within background levels and indicate no increase in overall volcanic activity,” Phivolcs said, explaining the zero alert level.

An Alert Level 0 means “no magmatic eruption is imminent.”

But Phivolcs said climbers and Mayon visitors should remain alert for steam-driven explosions.

The DOT in Bicol also warned tourists and climbers against entering the PDZ.

“The public is strongly reminded of refraining from entry into the six-kilometer radius permanent danger zone due to the perennial threat of sudden steam-driven eruptions and rockfalls from the upper and middle slopes of the volcano,” Phivolcs said in an advisory.

Thursday 9 May 2013

http://www.philstar.com/headlines/2013/05/09/939988/5-bodies-found-mayon-thai-climber-rescued

Eight dead in Bangladeshi garment factory fire

A fire at a garment factory killed at least eight people Thursday in the latest disaster to hit Bangladesh's textile industry, still reeling from the deaths of more than 900 people in a building collapse.

The cause of the fire was not known but authorities said it broke out during the night on the third floor of an 11-storey building housing two garment factories in the capital's Darussalam district.

The owner of the Tung Hai sweater factory was among the victims, but there were no workers among the casualties as there was no overnight production, police and fire service officials said.

"It was a big fire but we managed to confine it on one floor," Mahbubur Rahman, operations director of the nation's fire service department, told AFP.

He said the victims died of suffocation after rushing into a stairwell and becoming overwhelmed by "toxic smoke from burnt acrylic clothing".

Local police chief Khalilur Rahman told AFP the fire killed "eight people including the owner, his four staff, a senior police officer, and a low-level police official".

"We have identities of seven people. But we have not identified the eighth," he added.

The fire comes as recovery teams are still finding bodies in the ruins of the nine-storey Rana Plaza garment factory complex that caved in on April 24 while some 3,000 garment workers were on shift.

More than 100 more bodies were recovered overnight, bringing the overall death toll to 912, according to the army.

Brigadier General Siddiqul Alam Sikder, who is overseeing the recovery operation at the site, told AFP that he hoped to wrap up work on Friday and then leave commercial cranes and bulldozers to shift the remaining rubble.

"We've only still got to search the basement," said Sikder.

"Most of the bodies are now like skeletons as they are so badly decomposed," he added.

Bangladesh is the world's second-largest apparel maker and the $20 billion industry is a key driver of the impoverished country's economy, accounting for up to 80 percent of Bangladesh's annual exports last year.

But it has a shocking safety record and Western retailers have been making threats to pull out of the country unless the authorities can come up with a credible programme to raise standards. Disney has already done so.

The government announced on Wednesday that it had ordered the closure of 18 garment plants, days after it promised to give "the highest consideration" to safety after talks with the International Labour Organization.

Fire is a common problem in the 4,500 garment factories in Bangladesh, with many operations based in badly constructed buildings with substandard wiring.

In November at least 111 people died after a fire engulfed the Tazreen Fashion factory outside Dhaka, in the worst blaze in the history of the country's garment industry.

And in January eight people died in another factory blaze, including two underage workers as they were making clothing for Spanish retailer Inditex, the parent group of the popular Zara brand.

Around 700 people have been killed in garment factory fires in the country since 2006, according to the Amsterdam-based Clean Clothes Campaign activist group.

Western retailers have criticised the factories for not ensuring worker safety, but major brands continue to place orders and critics say they turn a blind eye to the endemic problems.

Two senior US officials spoke Wednesday with American companies that buy garments from Bangladesh and encouraged them to relay concerns about factory conditions to the Dhaka government.

"Both the United States and Bangladesh have a shared interest in ensuring that the growth of Bangladesh's export sector does not come at the expense of safe and healthy working conditions or fundamental labor rights," said a statement from the State Department.

Thursday 9 May 2013

http://www.google.com/hostednews/afp/article/ALeqM5ixjoGLjYj8u22rtcH3TN9nlHA0hw?docId=CNG.8bf8a333733aa0c4e7702cc77d8118ef.331

Bodies of Serbs exhumed from Croatian cemetery

The work of finding Serbian victims of the Croatian War of Independence continues, with 56 bodies exhumed in a Zadar cemetery.

The effort began more than a decade ago, the Serbian news agency Tanjug reported. The six-day exhumation in the Zadar city cemetery ended Friday.

Zadar is a city of about 75,000 on the Dalmatian coast northwest of Split.

The bodies will be returned to their families for reburial, officials said.

All the dead were killed in Operation Storm, a Croatian offensive in August 1995 that effectively ended the war. About 2,000 Serbs were killed and thousands more expelled from Croatia in a move Serbia describes as ethnic cleansing.

Thursday 9 May 2013

http://www.upi.com/Top_News/World-News/2013/05/08/Bodies-of-Serbs-exhumed-from-Croatian-cemetery/UPI-46911368036457/?spt=hs&or=tn