Unusual rise in piano sales linked to earthquake

The number of pianos, other than electronic pianos, sold in the country last year totaled 18,164, up 11 percent from the previous year, marking the first rise in 17 years, according to an instrument manufacturing association in Shizuoka Prefecture.

The Hamamatsu-based association, which takes statistics of domestic piano sales and production, said piano sales increased as a result of robust demand for replacements after many pianos were destroyed or damaged in the Great East Japan Earthquake.

Piano sales in 1992, when the association started taking such statistics, stood at 113,500. However, sales began to drop since 1995, with only 16,356 sold in 2010. The association said the slump was due to a low birthrate and an increase in the number of people buying low-priced and high-quality electronic pianos.

Asked about the recent surge in piano sales, an official of Kawai Musical Instruments Mfg. Co. in Hamamatsu said, "Piano sales in Sendai and other disaster-hit areas [in 2011] exceeded those of the previous year because of replacement demand after many pianos were destroyed by the disaster."

An official of Yamaha Corp., another major musical instrument manufacturer in the city, said customers shifted into the piano market as the production of electronic organs and other electronic musical instruments fell because makers of parts for such products were damaged in the disaster.

The Sendai Nagamachi Mall branch of Shimamura Music, a musical instrument retailer, which closed temporarily after it was damaged in the disaster, said there has been a significant increase in the number of customers who bought pianos since it reopened in May.

By the end of January, piano sales at the store had tripled compared to usual years. Most customers bought new pianos because their pianos were lost or damaged by the disaster, the store said.
(Feb. 10, 2012)

http://www.yomiuri.co.jp/dy/national/T120209005943.htm

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‘Politicking’ in relief distribution slammed

GUIHULNGAN CITY, Negros Oriental—The parish priest of a Negros Oriental town ravaged by earthquake and landslides has deplored politicking in the distribution of assistance to victims.
Fr. Felipe Luis Ferolina of the San Sebastian parish in La Libertad town also lambasted those who took advantage of the disaster for personal gain.

He cited business owners who significantly increased the prices of their products after the calamity stuck.

“This is an emergency. Instead of taking advantage, we must be united in helping and sharing what we have,” Ferolina told the Inquirer.

La Libertad, along with Guihulngan City, was the worst hit in the 6.9-magnitude earthquake and landslides that struck Central Visayas on February 6.

The death toll in the disaster was 41 as of 2 p.m. Sunday. Fifty-six residents remained missing—18 in Barangay (village) Planas in Guihulngan and 38 in Barangay Solonggon in La Libertad.
Ferolina said “politics came into play” in the distribution of food packs citing those with stickers with the name of politicians. The practice came to the priest’s attention from accounts of evacuees and other victims. But he clarified that the stickers were not of officials of La Libertad.

Negros Oriental Governor Roel Degamo has come under fire after food packs distributed to victims had stickers that read: “DSWD Magdegamo Rescue.” Degamo has explained that the markings in the food packs were meant to inform the public that the provincial government was doing its job.

Delays
Some victims in Guihulngan City complained of the delay in the delivery of food assistance and the concentration of distribution of the goods in the house of Mayor Ernesto Reyes in the city proper.

One victim of a village spoke to the Inquirer on condition of anonymity that relief assistance arrived in their barangay Friday evening or four days after the earthquake struck.
“We learned that the relief goods were already at the mayor’s house but it didn’t reach us until Friday,” the victim said.

Reyes denied that he was controlling the distribution of relief assistance.
“Anyone or any group can distribute their assistance to the victims. You can confirm that with media organizations and other donor groups,” Reyes told the Inquirer. He said the assistance was channeled to barangay officials and since Thursday, these have also been given directly to the victims. “There are some people who are spreading wrong information including those that I have received cash when in fact these were bottled water and rice. They just want to ruin me,” Reyes said. He, however, declined to identify them.

The Bagong Alyansang Makabayan (Bayan) urged local officials not to politicize the distribution of relief goods after receiving complaints from residents about the delay.
“Spare the victims of the earthquake from politics, prioritize the people,” said Christian Tuayon, secretary general of Bayan in Negros. He called on government agencies and the private sector to deliver the aid directly to the people so relief goods wouldn’t go through politicians.

Landslide
On Saturday night, around 200 evacuees in Barangay Tinayunan Beach in Guihulngan were again evacuated in military trucks after the Mines and Geosciences Bureau (MGB) issued a landslide alert in the village.

MGB team leader Abraham Lucero Jr., said in a letter to Tinayunan Beach village chief Monica Aranas that the landslide susceptibility rating in the area was “high.”

9:42 pm | Sunday, February 12th, 2012

http://newsinfo.inquirer.net/144389/%E2%80%98politicking%E2%80%99-in-relief-distribution-slammed

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Reaching Out To Save Lives - Haredi Rescue Group Builds Interfaith Cooperation

ZICHRON YAAKOV, ISRAEL — The image of Israel’s Haredim has taken a public battering over the past few months, particularly over the issue of discriminatory conduct toward women, which even a few Haredi groups have disavowed. But in an unusual act of outreach, some of these ultra-Orthodox Jews have recently found an original way of engaging with people outside their own closed religious world: cooperating to save lives.

Leaders of ZAKA, an Israeli medical and rescue organization best known for its work in the aftermath of suicide bombings, has launched a program that seeks to work with Muslim and Christian counterparts on emergency rescues.

In January, ZAKA announced its own interfaith platform. It came just as tensions between religious and secular society were boiling over the issue of gender segregation. At the tensions’ peak, some Haredim rioted in the town of Beit Shemesh, even donning death camp outfits to dramatize their own sense of victimhood. Against this backdrop, ZAKA has assembled two dozen of Israel’s most respected religious leaders — from Chief Rabbi Yona Metzger to Muafak Tarif, head of Israel’s Druze community, and Mohamad Kiwan, who leads an association of imams in Israel — to sign a declaration committing themselves to a shared humanitarian vision.

The the declaration, signed on January 4 in Zichron Yaakov, reasons that because man is created in God’s image, people of all religions are obliged to “respect each and every person as he is, and to educate and transmit values and messages of peace.” On a practical level, this means that ZAKA will increase minority involvement — with outreach programs like a first aid course for Arab women — and increase the number of volunteers from Israel’s non-Jewish communities.

ZAKA’s chairman, Yehuda Meshi-Zahav, who himself was once a leader in the anti-Zionist fringes of the Haredi world, told the Forward that this new initiative represents a more sustainable form of interfaith relations than dialogue. “Every dialogue without actual action doesn’t have a future,” he said. Greek Melkite priest Touma Haddad, a signatory to the declaration, commented, “Sometimes talking is just not enough.”

Looking a little out of place in his Haredi clothes and side curls, Meshi-Zahav has spent the weeks since the declaration touring Arab villages, asking sheiks to support it by encouraging their followers to become ZAKA volunteers. Though the effect has not yet led to an increase in participation, he expects that it will do so over the next few months.

ZAKA already has 350 volunteers from Israel’s minority religions, who serve alongside the organization’s 1,150 Haredi volunteers and 350 non-Haredi Jews. When many of them gathered for the January interfaith declaration, the warm embraces and intimate conversations among them were testament to strong friendships formed over shared — and sometimes harrowing — experiences. Haredim chaired the proceedings, the Christians who provided the hall for the evening did the (strictly kosher) catering and a Muslim volunteer took photographs. “It’s the same God and the same values that make us volunteer together,” said Salach Badir, a volunteer from the Arab city of Kfar Kassem, which is located near Tel Aviv.

ZAKA was established in 1995 by Meshi-Zahav, who until a few years prior was known as the public face of the Eida Haredit, one of the most hard-line and extremist Haredi groups. He established ZAKA (the Hebrew acronym for Disaster Victim Identification) primarily to pick up body parts that were strewn about at the scene of terrorist attacks. ZAKA’s yellow-jacketed volunteers became a common sight on news reports from Israeli bomb scenes.

ZAKA expanded to provide medical and search-and-rescue services, and established an international unit that has helped after disasters occurred in Haiti, Japan and elsewhere. Its domestic operation relies on volunteers who, tapping into networks for Israel’s state emergency services, can often be first on the scene.

Since setting up ZAKA, Meshi-Zahav’s ideology has mellowed — to the extent that he is now a vocal critic of the extremist camp to which he once belonged. “I believe that as long as we in the Haredi community do not stand up and reject the actions of those extremists who are now tarring the reputation of the wider ultra-Orthodox community, we condone their unacceptable behavior with our silence,” he told the Forward in relation to the recent violence. On his Facebook page he has even likened Haredi extremists to “terrorists.”

As ZAKA expanded, its volunteer base grew beyond the Haredi community. It attracted Jews of all religious stripes, as well as people of every other religion. Volunteering became especially popular in outlying Bedouin villages. With ZAKA training, individuals can provide quick responses for their community and for others nearby, while state emergency services can take some time to arrive. In one of ZAKA’s newest programs, Haredi and Muslim volunteers have started running a course in accident prevention and first aid for women in Arab towns.

With its new declaration, ZAKA resolves to capitalize on the interfaith aspect of its work and “have ZAKA volunteers as opinion formers within their communities, working to encourage co-existence, helping and assisting others and instilling values of peace and co-existence.”
The declaration acknowledges that the imperative of various religions to “honor the living and the dead” has attracted many of ZAKA’s volunteers and should be capitalized on to increase ZAKA’s membership and further promote this interfaith ideal. It says that “with more and more volunteers working together, the barriers will come down, people’s outlook on life changes, and we become more united, focused and better people, bringing closer the prospect of peace.”

Badir said that barriers have already come down in his community — the first to run the women’s course, which he facilitated. Badir said that when he first volunteered with Haredim, “some people thought it was strange, but now it’s totally accepted.”

12 February 2012

Read more: http://www.forward.com/articles/151040/#ixzz1mCdytvmr

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Remains of another 9/11 victim identified

Remains of another 9/11 victim have been identified.

The New York City Chief Medical Examiner's Office announced Friday that it had identified remains of Karol Ann Keasler.

She was 42 when she died in the terrorist attack a decade ago. She worked in the World Trade Center at investment bank Keefe, Bruyette & Woods Inc.

The new identification was made when officials retested remains gathered during the initial recovery efforts.

More than 2,750 people were reported missing in the attack on the twin towers. The newest identification brings the number of victims to have some portion of their remains identified to 1,633.

Another 1,120 never had any remains recovered.

February 10, 2012

Read more: http://www.nypost.com/p/news/local/remains_of_another_victim_identified_m8MxMu1JaBElCI5Qx0DiDJ#ixzz1mCd77Oge

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Archaeologists find the bodies of 21 tragic World War One German soldiers in perfectly preserved trenches where they were buried alive by an Allied shell

The bodies of 21 German soldiers entombed in a perfectly preserved World War One shelter have been discovered 94 years after they were killed.

The men were part of a larger group of 34 who were buried alive when a huge Allied shell exploded above the tunnel in 1918, causing it to cave in.

Thirteen bodies were recovered from the underground shelter, but the remaining men had to be left under a mountain of mud as it was too dangerous to retrieve them.

Nearly a century later, French archaeologists stumbled upon the mass grave on the former Western Front in eastern France during excavation work for a road building project.

The bodies of 21 German soldiers entombed in a perfectly preserved First World War shelter have been discovered in France 94 years after they were killed inside the buried shelter parts of the tunnel remain intact.

Three beds, a bottle and a helmet have been preserved in the shelter

The soldiers were buried alive in mud inside the underground shelter (left) which contained items including beds, a bottle and a helmet (right)

Some 7.5million men lost their lives on the Western Front during World War One.

The front was opened when the German army invaded Luxembourg and Belgium in 1914 and then moved into the industrial regions in northern France.

In September of that year, this advance was halted, and slightly reversed, at the Battle Of Marne.

It was then that both sides dug vast networks of trenches that ran all the way from the North Sea to the Swiss border with France.

This line of tunnels remained unaltered, give or take a mile here and a mile there, for most of the four-year conflict.

By 1917, after years of deadlock that saw millions of soldiers killed for zero gain on either side, new military technology including poison gas, tanks and planes was deployed on the front.

Thanks to these techniques, the Allies slowly advanced throughout 1918 until the war's end in November.

Many of the skeletal remains were found in the same positions the men had been in at the time of the collapse, prompting experts to liken the scene to Pompeii.

A number of the soldiers were discovered sitting upright on a bench, one was lying in his bed and another was in the foetal position having been thrown down a flight of stairs.

As well as the bodies, poignant personal effects such as boots, helmets, weapons, wine bottles, spectacles, wallets, pipes, cigarette cases and pocket books were also found.

Even the skeleton of a goat was found, assumed to be a source of fresh milk for the soldiers.

Archaeologists believe the items have been so well-preserved because hardly any air, water or lights had penetrated the trench.

The 300ft-long tunnel was located 18ft beneath the surface near the small town of Carspach in the Alsace region of France.

Michael Landolt, the archaeologist leading the dig, said: 'It's a bit like Pompeii. Everything collapsed in seconds and is just the way it was at the time.

'Here, as in Pompeii, we found the bodies as they were at the moment of their death. Some of the men were found in sitting positions on a bench, others lying down. One was projected down a flight of wooden stairs and was found in a foetal position.

'The collapsed shelter was filled with soil. The items were very well-preserved because of the absence of air and light and water.

'Metal objects were rusty, wood was in good condition and we found some pages of newspapers that were still readable. Leather was in good condition as well, still supple.

'The items will be taken to a laboratory, cleaned and examined.'

French engineers stumbled upon the mass grave on the former Western Front near the town of Carspach in the Alsace region of eastern France during excavation work for a road building project

A drinks cup and the remains of a rifle that have survived almost intact for a century. Archaeologists believe the items have been so well-preserved because hardly any air, water or lights penetrated the trench

A drinks cup and the remains of a rifle that have survived almost intact for a century. Archaeologists believe the items have been so well-preserved because hardly any air, water or lights penetrated the trench

A German newspaper from 1918 lies partly preserved inside the shelter with a large hammer possibly used to help dig the tunnel

Archaeologists also uncovered the wooden sides, floors and stairways of the shelter.

The dead soldiers were part of the 6th Company, 94th Reserve Infantry Regiment.

Their names are all known - they include Musketeer Martin Heidrich, 20, Private Harry Bierkamp, 22, and Lieutenant August Hutten, 37, whose names are inscribed on a memorial in the nearby German war cemetery of Illfurth.

The bodies have been handed over to the German War Graves Commission but unless relatives can be found and they request the remains to be repatriated, it is planned that the men will be buried at Illfurth.

The underground tunnel was big enough to shelter 500 men and had 16 exits.

It would have been equipped with heating, telephone connections, electricity, beds and a pipe to pump out water.

The French attacked the shelter on March 18, 1918 with aerial mines that penetrated the ground and blasted in the side wall of the shelter in two points.

It is estimated that over 165,000 Commonwealth soldiers are still unaccounted for on the Western Front.

See article for more images of the excvated trench..

10 Febr 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2099187/Bodies-21-German-soldiers-buried-alive-WW1-trench-perfectly-preserved-94-years-later.html#ixzz1lzipSYS1

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21st International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences, 23-27 September 2012, Tasmania

On behalf of the 2012 Organising Committee, we are delighted to invite you to participate in the 21st International Symposium on the Forensic Sciences of the Australian and New Zealand Forensic Science Society (ANZFSS), to be held in Hobart from 23 to 27 September 2012 at The Hotel Grand Chancellor, Tasmania

More info: http://www.anzfss2012.com.au/

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The XX files: The hunt for victims of Guatemala's 36-year war

The discovery of a vast hidden archive may finally bring closure to those whose relatives 'disappeared' after being detained by the police or military.

Alejandra Garcia's most treasured memento of her father is a faded, black-and-white photo from 1984. A handsome 27-year-old, in jeans and a check shirt, he grins contentedly while holding his wife, Nineth, who in turn is cradling their newly born first child.

Not long after the portrait was taken, Alejandra's father, Fernando, disappeared. On 18 February, he failed to turn up to a celebration at the family home in Guatemala City. Nineth spent days frantically searching the local streets. But he was never seen again.

At the time, Guatemala was in the throes of a 36-year civil war which ranks as one of the most brutal conflicts of the 20th century. More than 200,000 people died, from a population which at the start of hostilities was about four million. Roughly 80 per cent of the casualties were suspected left-wing dissidents. Many were executed, without trial, by soldiers or police officers loyal to the country's ruling military junta.

Fernando Garcia, a student activist whose only crime was taking part in several demonstrations against the government, was one such victim. In the days after his disappearance, witnesses came forward to claim he had been snatched off the streets by men who appeared to be out-of-uniform police officers. Then he was bundled into an unmarked pick-up truck and driven away.

It has been 28 years since Fernando went missing, and almost 16 years since peace accords which turned Guatemala into a functioning, if somewhat troubled, democracy. But Alejandra and her family are only now on the verge of nailing those responsible. Hector Bol de la Cruz, the country's former police chief, is about to face a belated trial for ordering his detention and apparent killing.

The charges against Bol de la Cruz, now 71, represents a landmark moment in Guatemala's long-running effort to draw a line under its past. In a country which remains hobbled by corruption, with a track record of treating dishonest officials with impunity, he becomes the first police chief to ever be prosecuted for his actions.

"I think about how my dad would feel," Alejandra said, with regard to Bol de la Cruz's imminent trial. "He would be happy to finally see a little bit of justice in this country."

The forthcoming prosecution stems from a remarkable detective story which began by accident in 2005, when investigators looking into an explosion at a dilapidated munitions dump near Guatemala City stumbled upon a series of vaults holding a vast collection of official documents and photographs.

The paperwork alone ran to about 80 million pages. Much of it had been soaked by rainwater from leaky windows. But it soon became clear that it represented a large portion of the National Police Force's official archives relating to the civil war.

This was a surprising and potentially game-changing discovery. During the 1996 peace process, the National Police Force had angrily denied the existence of a formal record of its operations. Since the hidden archive suggested otherwise, human rights groups in 2005 began the laborious process of sifting through the paperwork for clues that might help bring about prosecutions.

Seven years on, their work is starting to bear fruit, with records being cross-checked with evidence from the cemetery where security forces often dumped bodies in mass graves, identifying them as "XX". So far, families of some 45,000 of the "disappeared" have asked for information which might relate to their loved ones. Searching for it is gradually becoming easier, thanks to an online database created by the University of Texas at Austin, which currently holds about 12 million of the documents.

Although some of the war's victims were guerrillas killed in combat, many were civilians put to death for simply being suspected of harbouring sympathy for the revolutionaries. The exact circumstances of their deaths are now starting to emerge.

Fernando Garcia is a case in point. Shortly after he went missing, Bol de la Cruz claimed to know nothing of his disappearance. But documents from the archives reveal that in early 1984, he signed a letter praising a senior officer called Jorge Gomez for ordering the arrest of "subversive criminals" on 18 February, in the exact location where Mr Garcia went missing.

Records show that Mr Gomez ordered a patrol car with four officers to monitor the street where Mr Garcia vanished. Those arrested were never seen again. Two of the policemen were prosecuted in 2010, and sentenced to 40 years in prison, largely thanks to the archive; the others have been declared fugitives.

Human rights groups now hope the archive can be used to establish that knowledge of unlawful killings ran to the top of Guatemala's police force. "These documents have been fundamental," said Alejandra Garcia, now a 29-year-old attorney.

Lawyers for Bol de la Cruz, who ran the force from 1983-1985, are currently trying to prevent one of the judges in the 2010 trial from presiding over his case. The former police chief continues to protest his innocence.

If cases like this begin to stick, then it could prove awkward for senior figures in government. In November, the country elected as its new president Otto Perez Molina, a retired, right-leaning general who served during the civil war as head of military intelligence.

Molina has always denied any involvement in war crimes and has publicly stated he will do nothing to impede any prosecutions related to the era. But rumours about his past persist. One case the President will no doubt be keeping a close eye on is the murder trial of Efrain Rios Montt, who (backed by the Cold War-era US) was the country's leader during 1982 and 1983, when some of the worst atrocities of the civil war were committed.

Last month, it emerged that Montt will be tried for genocide and crimes against humanity for allegedly ordering his army to massacre indigenous Mayans suspected of supporting left-wing guerrillas. Prosecutors accuse Montt of "planning, designing and overseeing the military counter-insurgency plans against the indigenous population," and say they have documents to prove it. Lawyers for the former president deny responsibility, saying he was "never on the battlefield".

Molina, as a senior officer in the army, very much was on the battlefield during Montt's reign, however. Only time will tell whether his name will crop up in this, or any of the wave of other trials related to Guatemala's bloodiest era.

Timeline: In the wars

1960 Guatemala's brutal 36-year civil war begins as battles between left-wing guerrillas and government military forces escalate.

1982 A military coup sees General Efrain Rios Montt installed as dictator. He is overthrown in another coup led by General Mejia Victores and an amnesty for guerrillas is declared.

1984 Fernando Garcia, a 27-year-old student activist, disappears on 18 February. He is never seen again. In 2012, former police chief Hector Bol de la Cruz stands trial for masterminding the kidnapping.

1989 Civil-war death toll reaches 100,000 and 40,000 are missing.

1993 President Jorge Serrano Elias resigns after his authoritarian measures spark protests.

1996 Alvaro Arzu is elected president. He purges senior military officers and signs an agreement with the rebels, finally ending the civil war.

1999 Security forces were behind 93 per cent of all civil-war atrocities, according to a UN-backed report.

2004 The state pays $3.5m to victims of civil war, after admitting guilt in several human-rights crimes.

2006 A Spanish judge issues an arrest warrant for Montt.

2009 An ex-paramilitary officer is the first to be jailed for civilian disappearances during the civil war.

2012 A court rules that Montt will face trial on charges of genocide and crimes against humanity.

Friday 10 February 2012
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/the-xx-files-the-hunt-for-victims-of-guatemalas-36year-war-6699789.html

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Duikers 'redden' teddybeer uit cruiseschip [in Dutch]

Teddy beer saved from Costa Concordia cruiseship. Demonstrates the sentimental value of personal effects in disasters..

ISOLA DEL GIGLIO - Duikers van de Italiaanse brandweer zijn opnieuw het half gezonken cruiseschip Costa Concordia ingegaan om een teddybeer te 'redden'. Een jongen had het knuffelbeest op de noodlottige vrijdag 13 januari in zijn hut achtergelaten.

Sindsdien bleef het jongetje uit Verona naar de teddybeer vragen als hij moest gaan slapen. De jongen en het knuffelbeest waren onafscheidelijk sinds hij zijn moeder had verloren.

De halfwees en zijn vader werden na de ramp opgevangen door een gezin op het eiland Isola del Giglio. De vader had het in een bedankmail ook erover hoe het jongetje zijn knuffel miste. Het gezin stapte naar de burgemeester van Isola del Giglio. Die vond deze week snel duikers bereid om nog eens af te dalen in het cruiseschip, dagen nadat de zoektocht naar vermisten was gestaakt. De teddybeer is inmiddels onderweg naar Verona, aldus Italiaanse media donderdag.

09 February 2012

http://www.telegraaf.nl/buitenland/11481042/__Beer_gered_uit_cruiseschip__.html?sn=binnenland,buitenland

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Experts identify critical factors in CTV collapse

Intense ground shaking, non-ductile columns and the asymmetrical layout of shear walls were the critical factors contributing to the collapse of the CTV building during the 22 February 2011 Christchurch earthquake, a Department of Building and Housing technical investigation has found.

The Government ordered the investigation in March 2011, along with investigations into the failure of the Pyne Gould Corporation, Forsyth Barr, and Hotel Grand Chancellor buildings, following the 22 February 2011 6.3 magnitude earthquake, which claimed the lives of 184 people, including 115 in the CTV building.

The Department of Building and Housing established a group of leading engineering consultants to conduct the investigations, which were peer reviewed by an expert review panel, chaired by construction law expert Sherwyn Williams.

The comprehensive investigations included eye witness accounts, photographs, site examinations, sampling and testing of materials, structural analysis and testing of various hypotheses using established engineering models.

The investigation into the 1986 CTV building was conducted by Hyland Consultants and StructureSmith.

Three critical factors were found that contributed to the building’s collapse:
1. Intense horizontal ground shaking.
2. Lack of ductility in the columns, making them brittle.
3. Asymmetrical layout of the shear walls, making the building twist during the earthquake, placing extra strain on the columns.
4.
The ductility of the columns (and strength) and the asymmetrical layout of the shear walls were found to have not met the building standards of the day (1986).

Other factors that may have contributed to the CTV collapse included:
• Low concrete strengths in some of the critical columns.
• Exceptionally high vertical ground movement.
• Possible interaction of columns and concrete spandrel panels (on the external face of the building), making the columns less flexible.
• Separation of floor slabs from the north core of the building.
• Structural influence of the concrete masonry walls, making lower floors more rigid than upper floors, which placed additional stress on the upper columns during the earthquake
Although it is not possible to be definitive on the sequence of the building’s collapse, the common denominator in all collapse scenarios identified by the Expert Panel was the failure of one or more columns on the east face of the building. This is consistent with eye-witness accounts of the building during the earthquake.

Current building requirements are more stringent now than in the 1980s when the CTV building was constructed. Standards have progressively improved over time as more is understood about how buildings respond in earthquakes.

Department of Building and Housing Chief Executive, Katrina Bach, said the Department has already taken action on some of the Expert Panel’s recommendations, and will implement the others working with the building and construction sector and local government over the coming months and years.

“The findings of the investigations and the learnings from 22 February will make a difference to the way the buildings are designed and constructed in the future – both in New Zealand and internationally.”

Ms Bach said the technical investigation would inform the Canterbury Earthquakes Royal Commission of Inquiry.

“Copies of the Expert Panel report have been provided to the Police and the Institution of Professional Engineers New Zealand for their consideration and action as appropriate.”

Ms Bach said she expected Territorial Authorities (councils) to take close notice of the reports as they developed there own programmes of work to address earthquake risks.

She also encouraged property owners and building users to seek information about the standard of their buildings.

To view the final reports visit http://www.dbh.govt.nz/canterbury-earthquake-technical-investigation

09 February 2012
http://www.dbh.govt.nz/news-2012-canterbury-earthquake-investigation

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Philippines earthquake toll rises as dig continues for landslide casualties

Rescuers have found no further survivors among dozens of people buried by landslides on a central Philippine island after an earthquake. The death toll has climbed to 15, with more than 70 people missing.

Houses flattened in remote villages on Negros island that have been cut off by fallen bridges and damaged roads

The 6.9-magnitude earthquake on Monday also collapsed bridges and damaged roads on Negros island. Soldiers and firefighters had to hike into mountains to reach remote villages. Most of the confirmed deaths were in Planas village, a part of Guihulngan town, where about 30 houses were flattened.

The Guihulngan mayor, Ernesto Reyes, said crews were using earthmoving equipment in the search for casualties.

The damage may be worse than officials first realised because the quake cut off communications to some villages, Reyes said. "We have no water and power because electric posts were toppled. Many of our roads were damaged, including bridges, and stores are closed. We're isolated."

In the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, an unknown number of people were trapped under about 100 houses.

The president, Benigno Aquino, sent air force helicopters and navy and coastguard vessels to the aid of rescuers, some of whom had been digging with picks and shovels. Workers were clearing roads and fixing and bridges to bring in equipment, food and medicine.

The undersea quake was centred 44 miles north of Dumaguete, capital of Negros Oriental province, about 400 miles south-east of the nation's capital, Manila.

The Negros Oriental police chief, Edward Carranza, said at least 73 people remained missing in the province.

The casualties could top a 2004 quake on Mindoro Island, south of Manila, in which 78 people died, about half of them in a quake-triggered tsunami. A local tsunami alert was issued following Monday's quake but was soon cancelled.

Reyes said 13 residents died and at least 29 remained missing in the landslide in Planas, where an army platoon was digging for survivors. Meanwhile the landslide had blocked a mountain river that was threatening to back up and swamp houses along its banks. Residents had been told to leave.

guardian.co.uk, Tuesday 7 February 2012 05.08 GMT

http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2012/feb/07/philippines-earthquake-toll-landslide

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Philippine quake kills 43, dozens missing

Rescuers in the Philippines are digging through rubble with shovels and their bare hands after a powerful earthquake triggered landslides, collapsed homes and killed dozens of people.

The 6.8-magnitude quake hit a narrow strait between the heavily populated islands of Negros and Cebu around lunchtime on Monday with more than 200 aftershocks, some nearly as strong, causing further panic throughout the day.

Local military chiefs said 43 people were confirmed killed but officials warned the death toll may rise.

Dozens of others are feared injured or are missing with landslides having blocked roads for rescuers in mountainous areas.

"Heavy equipment we've requested from the provincial government has not arrived yet, because the roads and bridges are impassable," said Senior Inspector Alvin Futalan, police chief of Guihulngan town on Negros that was among the most heavily damaged.

"We are using our hands and shovels to search in the rubble," he told AFP.

Thirty-nine people were reported killed in Guihulngan, a coastal city of 100,000 people flanked by mountains that was close to the quake's epicentre.

The city's public market, courthouse and private homes in the area had collapsed or were damaged, while landslides buried some houses completely, according to Futalan.

He said the city's overwhelmed 42-man police rescue squad had been joined by hundreds of army troops and volunteers in clearing debris as they raced against time to find people still believed missing.

"The army (troops) had to walk about 50km from the last stop reachable by vehicle to reach us," Futalan said.

Guihulngan is about 90km to the north of Dumaguete, the capital of Negros Oriental province that covers the southeastern edge of Negros where the worst impacts of the quake were felt.

With rescuers still to reach remote hinterland communities, Negros Oriental governor Roel Degamo said he feared there could be more unreported casualties.

"Sadly, we expect the death could still rise," Degamo told AFP.

Degamo said telephone communications in some parts were also cut off, leaving information from remote regions unobtainable.

He said the public was still in a state of shock and fearful of returning to their homes after dozens of aftershocks.

"We've also had to stop our search efforts from time to time and run to safety because of the aftershocks," he said.

Cebu, the Philippines' second biggest city with 2.3 million residents and a popular tourist destination, was 50km from the epicentre and shook violently during the initial tremor but no deaths were reported there.

The Philippines sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" - a belt around the Pacific Ocean where friction between shifting tectonic plates causes frequent earthquakes and volcanic activity.

February 7, 2012 - 12:14PM

http://news.smh.com.au/breaking-news-world/philippine-quake-kills-43-dozens-missing-20120207-1r297.html

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Lahore Building Collapse: Death Toll Set To Rise

Two more bodies have been pulled from the rubble of a factory that collapsed in Pakistan, raising the death toll to 17.

The three-storey building in Lahore, which used to manufacture veterinary medicines, was destroyed after a suspected boiler and gas cylinder explosion.

Rescue workers have spent the night digging through the debris with their bare hands, hammers, axes and chisels.

"We hope to clear most of the rubble by tonight," rescue chief Rizwan Naseer said.

He added that workers were digging tunnels under the rubble to pull out more injured and dead bodies.

"It is a very slow and difficult operation," he said.
"We have to be very careful because it involves human lives."

At least 13 people have been pulled out alive and 17 bodies found - that of 11 women, three young girls and three boys between the ages of 12 and 16.

The death toll is expected to rise further with dozens of people still believed to be trapped under the concrete mass.

Police said the factory was illegal. Local residents said it had been shut down twice since 2008, but that the owners re-opened the premises each time.

"The owners violated the court orders and broke the seals," administration official Ahad Cheema said.

The accident at the Orient Labs (Private) Limited factory, in the Multan Road area of the city, has highlighted poor safety procedures among Pakistani manufacturers and the use of child labour.

9:23am UK, Tuesday February 07, 2012

http://news.sky.com/home/world-news/article/16164654

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17 dead, 13 rescued after migrant boat capsizes

SABANA DE LA MAR, Dominican Republic (AP) — Rescuers scouring the white-capped waters off the Dominican Republic's coast have found 17 bodies and 13 survivors from a boat overloaded with migrants that capsized almost two days ago, officials said.

The boat carrying about 70 migrants from the Dominican Republic to the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico capsized before dawn Saturday morning and rescuers said hopes were fading for finding more survivors as search efforts were suspended because of darkness late Sunday.

"Tomorrow the sea will start to return the bodies," said Jeffrey Pimentel, head of firefighters at Sabana del Mar, 95 miles (150 kilometers) northeast of Santo Domingo.

Luis Castro, intelligence director of the Dominican Navy, said the bodies of 12 men and five women have been found. Thirteen survivors were rescued. The suspected captain of the smuggler's boat has been detained, he said.

Castro said that rescue efforts would resume Monday morning, but "it is difficult for anyone to survive two days swimming" under a burning sun.

Survivors said dozens of people plunged into the water when the boat, known as a "yola," capsized. Passengers grabbed at anything that might help keep them afloat.

The illegal migrants apparently were all Dominicans, but authorities could not rule out that a few Cubans or Haitians might also have been on the boat.

The U.S. Coast Guard, which had helped Dominican rescuers by sea and air since mid-Saturday, suspended its search at noon Sunday "after Dominican authorities said they no longer needed our assistance," said Guard spokesman Ricardo Castrodad in Puerto Rico.

Arismendy Manzueta, a 28-year-old farmer from the northern town of La Jagua who survived the journey, said the hopes of better economic prospects in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico made him risk his life aboard the overloaded boat. Puerto Rico is a common destination for Dominican migrants.

"Things are very bad here. A person works and works and never has nothing," Manzueta said in a public hospital in Sabana de la Mar.

Manzueta said he did not tell his wife, who sat by his hospital bed, that he would try to sneak into the relatively wealthy Puerto Rico.

Maria Sobeida Guzman, a 28-year-old mother of three who also survived the journey, said she paid just over $1,000 for the illegal trip to Puerto Rico, where a cousin promised to get her a job giving manicures.

"What is one going to do? A person wants to improve," said an exhausted Guzman from her hospital bed.

Guzman said there was no warning when the boat overturned and began to break apart in the pre-dawn darkness. She remembered swimming for the shore with every bit of strength she had.

Another survivor, Luis Cortorreal, a 31-year-old painter who swam for six hours until he made it to land, said there were at least 10 women on the overloaded boat, including a pregnant woman he is convinced sank beneath the waves.

Survivors told the northern region's public prosecutor Fremy Reyes that the boat overturned about four hours after setting sail Friday just before midnight.

On Sunday, taxi driver Nicolas Moreno joined several other people congregated on Sabana de la Mar's main beach hoping for word about a missing loved one. Moreno said he believes that two close friends left on the doomed smuggler's boat.

"They wanted a better life for their children," Moreno said.

Thousands of poor Dominicans try to reach Puerto Rico in open boats that are ill-suited to the treacherous journey across the 160-mile (260-kilometer) Mona Passage. Many Haitian and Cuban migrants also regularly risk their lives trying to cross the often-stormy passage.

Associated Press writer David McFadden in Kingston, Jamaica contributed to this report.

Sunday, February 05, 2012

http://hosted2.ap.org/COGRA/APWorldNews/Article_2012-02-05-CB-Dominican-Migrant-Deaths/id-ae440626f5534cdabde5c97e0716637a

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Deaths in makeshift boat sinking rise to 19, search suspended

Sabana de la Mar, Dominican Republic.- Authorities found another body that of a woman and now total seven recovered Sunday, from a makeshift boat headed to Puerto Rico which sank Saturday in Samaná Bay, where 18 found thus far after the 11 yesterday.

Navy regional command Captain Héctor Ramon Méndez said a US Coast Guard cutter Capella, two speedboats and two rescue craft are in the zone, joined by six boats crewed by volunteer fishermen.

Six women and 12 men are confirmed dead and the search for the rest of the undetermined number of missing has been suspension until tomorrow, the official said.

Some of the 19 survivors are being taken to the Sabana de la Mar Navy Station as suspects while others were taken to the town’s hospital, with various injuries and first and second degree burns, he Navy said in a statement.

Daniel Cepeda, one of the as yet undetermined number of survivors, said he paid 30,000 pesos (around 770 dollars) for the failed trip across the Monsa Passage.

6 February 2012

http://www.dominicantoday.com/dr/local/2012/2/5/42556/Deaths-in-makeshift-boat-sinking-rise-to-19-search-suspended-Update

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Boat capsizes off Libya coast: 15 dead

Tripoli - At least 15 Somali migrants were killed and 40 left missing after their boat capsized off the coast of Libya this week, the Somali ambassador to Tripoli said on Saturday.

"Fifteen bodies, including one child and 12 women, were recovered off the coast of Misrata after their boat sank," ambassador Abdelghami Wais told AFP, adding the bodies were found on Wednesday on the shore of the western port city.

The boat had been carrying 55 Somalis, Wais said, and the other passengers were still missing. "I've just returned from Misrata after the burials," the envoy said.

The International Organisation of Migration, contacted by AFP, said it was unaware of the accident.

Libya has for decades been a destination and a transit country to European shores for hundreds of thousands of African migrants seeking jobs and a better life.

The ousted regime of slain dictator Muammar Gaddafi used the issue to exert pressure on Europe and asked for €5bn from the European Union last year to stem the flow of illegals.

'Border guard'

The new rulers of the North African country have adopted a different approach, with Interior Minister Fawzi Abdelali saying Libya will not be the "border guard" for Europe.

Citing "enormous problems" for Libya caused by the influx of thousands of migrants, Abdelali called upon Europe and neighbouring countries to help deal with the flow.

He specifically asked for assistance to rehabilitate 19 detention centres and with a system of border surveillance.

On January 19, interior ministry spokesperson General Abdelmonem al-Tunsi told AFP that illegal immigration had resumed since the end of the anti-Gaddafi revolt.

He said thousands of people from unrest-swept Syria were also entering through the Massad terminal on the border with Egypt, apart from Africans infiltrating through the southern borders.

Tunsi said that on January 10 the authorities intercepted 260 such illegal migrants who were aided by three Libyans armed with Kalashnikovs.

He said the flood of illegal immigrants began at the end of the conflict as the country's borders were not fully guarded.

When the anti-Gaddafi revolt erupted in February, tens of thousands of illegal immigrants fled Libya and few dared venture into the North African nation while fighting against Gaddafi's forces raged last year.

AFP - 2012-01-28 19:00
http://www.news24.com/Africa/News/Boat-capsizes-off-Libya-coast-15-dead-20120128

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Magnitude 6.8 quake in Philippines kills 13, buries homes

MANILA, Philippines — Rescuers dig with picks and shovels trying to reach dozens of people trapped under houses collapsed by a strong earthquake Monday that shook a central Philippine island and set off landslides.

At least 13 people were killed and 40 are believed missing, most of them along the shore near the epicenter of the 6.8-magnitude quake that struck in a narrow strait just off Negros Island.

In the mountain village of Planas, 9 miles (15 kilometers) from coastal Guihulngan town in Negros Oriental province, as many as 30 houses were buried with at least 40 residents believed trapped, said Gov. Roel Degamo.

“Their situation is bad because if you are covered by landslide for one hour, two hours, how can you breathe?” Mayor Ernesto Reyes said. “But we just hope for the best, that there are still survivors.”

Army troops and police were deployed to help in the rescue.

At least 10 people were confirmed dead in Guihulngan, including students at a college and an elementary school and others in a town market that collapsed, Reyes said. About 100 were injured.

The quake, which hit at 11:49 a.m. (0349 GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We’re now getting shovels and chain saws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” Besario told The Associated Press by phone. Three key bridges in the town cracked and were no longer passable, he said.

Food and medicines were waiting in the provincial capital of Dumaguete, but the aid could not reach the villages in need because of damaged roads and bridges.

“There is a Canadian and an Indian doctor who are here for an earlier scheduled medical mission and it’s good that they are helping us,” said Reyes. “They have some medicines with them but that may not be enough.”

Nine bridges were damaged in Negros Oriental, including four that were not passable, said Gov. Degamo. The worst damage was concentrated in the province’s mountainous northern portion, he said.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands. Huge waves washed out five bamboo and wooden cottages from a beach resort in La Libertad, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle. Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, malls and offices.

Two people died in another town close to the epicenter, Tayasan, including a child when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defense.

Another child was killed in a church when a wall collapsed during a funeral in Negros Oriental’s Jimalalud town, Mayor Reynaldo Tuanda said.

Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told AP by phone that aftershocks were preventing people from returning to their homes.

“We are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it’s dangerous,” Silvosa said. “I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell.”

A three-story office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but occupants escaped.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the temblor damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and canceled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it’s shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered 44 miles (72 kilometers) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46 kilometers). The area is about 400 miles (650 kilometers) southeast of the capital, Manila.

The Philippines is in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

Associated Press, Updated: Monday, February 6

http://www.washingtonpost.com/world/asia-pacific/magnitude-68-earthquake-shakes-central-philippines-no-immediate-reports-of-casualties/2012/02/05/gIQAXDdxsQ_story.html

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At least five dead after Philippines earthquake

At least five people were killed today when a strong earthquake shook the central Philippines, destroying buildings and triggering landslides which buried dozens of houses, trapping residents.

The 6.8-magnitude quake, in a narrow strait just off Negros Island, caused a landslide in Guihulngan, a city of about 180,000 people in Negros Oriental province. As many as 30 houses were buried and at least 29 people were missing, Mayor Ernesto Reyes said.

Mr Reyes said four people died there, including a student at a college and two others in an elementary school. Another person died in the collapse of a town market.

The quake, which hit at 11.49am local time (3.49am GMT), triggered another landslide in the mountain village of Solongon in La Libertad town, also in Negros Oriental. An unknown number of people were trapped, said La Libertad police chief inspector Eric Arrol Besario.

“We're now getting shovels and chainsaws to start a rescue because there were people trapped inside. Some of them were yelling for help earlier,” he told The Associated Press by phone.

Three key bridges in the town suffered cracks and were no longer passable, he added.

Philippine seismologists briefly issued a tsunami alert for the central islands.

Five bamboo and wooden cottages were washed out from a beach resort in La Libertad by huge waves, but there were no reports of injuries, said police Superintendent Ernesto Tagle.

Elsewhere along the coast, people rushed out of schools, shopping centres and offices.

The epicentre was closest to Tayasan, a coastal town of about 32,000 people flanked by mountains in Negros Oriental province. A child there died when a concrete fence of a house collapsed, said Benito Ramos, head of the Office of Civil Defence.

“So far one dead, but we could not yet account for the damage to buildings,” Tayasan police officer Alfred Vicente Silvosa told The AP by phone. He said there were still aftershocks “so we are outside, at the town plaza. We cannot inspect buildings yet because it's dangerous.”

“I felt the building shaking, so I rushed out of the building. Our computers, shelves, plates, the cupboards, water dispenser all fell,” he said.

A three-storey office building also collapsed in La Libertad, but the occupants managed to run out.

Negros Oriental police chief Edward Carranza said the quake damaged many houses in Guihulngan and he ordered his men to help displaced residents find shelter.

Officials in some areas suspended work and cancelled classes. Power and telecommunications were knocked out in several places.

Mr Carranza said police rushed out of his building when the quake struck. “All my personnel ran out fearing our building would collapse,” he said.

“Now it's shaking again,” he said as an aftershock hit. “My keychain is dancing.”

The US Geological Survey said the quake was centred 44 miles (72km) north of Dumaguete city on Negros and hit at a depth of 29 miles (46km). The area is about 400 miles (650km) south-east of the capital, Manila.

President Benigno Aquino III's spokesman said authorities did not force people to evacuate but implored those along the shore to be vigilant. The coast guard grounded all vessels while the tsunami alert was in effect.

A shopping centre in San Carlos city in neighbouring Negros Occidental province was damaged when its windows were shattered by the shaking, said civil defence chief Mr Ramos.

The quake was also felt in Cebu, where it lasted about 30 seconds.

The Philippines is located in the Pacific “Ring of Fire” where earthquakes and volcanic activity are common. A 7.7-magnitude quake killed nearly 2,000 people in Luzon in 1990.

AP - Monday 06 February 2012

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/at-least-five-dead-after-philippines-earthquake-6579629.html

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Chicago morgue 'lost mother's body for 14 months' while stuffed beyond capacity

The family of a missing Chicago woman whose body took over a year for a morgue to admit identification is suing behind claims they lost her among a pile of bodies stuffed over capacity.

The body of Carmelita Johnson, 47, was recovered from a South Shore beach over 14 months ago but her family claim they were never notified by the Cook County medical examiner's office but instead tipped off by a police detective.

'It's devastating,' Ms Johnson's daughter Leslie Jackson told NBC Chicago this month.'A lot of things could have been prevented. We don't know the cause of death, but if the [Medical Examiner's] office had done their jobs, we could've had some type of closure,' she said.

The suit follows leaks by morgue staff of photos showing hundreds of bodies stacked, some rotting for over a year in the facility, while a cooler stored nearly 500 others despite a capacity of 300, according to an anonymous source speaking to the Chicago Tribune.

The county's chief Medical Examiner Dr Nancy Jones claims the figures to be too high while admitting struggle within their office to house the bodies.
'Our morgue population fluctuates every single day, and this particular incident was an anomaly that occurred because last summer the state cut public funding for indigent burials,' she told the Chicago Tribune last month.

The Cook County Medical Examiner's office has admitted their facility was over capacity prior to this year but they are working diligently to find proper locations for their hundreds of bodies

With this leaked photo by a morgue employee come reports of 400-500 bodies stacked inhumanly in the facility meant for a maximum of 300. That cut ruled that families who could not afford funeral services for their deceased would have those bodies automatically donated to science.

But until they could be buried or used at the state's intention, they reportedly stacked up, with Ms Johnson's body included, whose family says they never learned the cause of her death.
'I've been as disturbed and ... discouraged and disappointed by information that has come to my attention about the medical examiner’s office,' Cook County Board President Toni Preckwinkle said at a news conference in January according to the Chicago Sun-Times.
'I expect people to lose their jobs,' she said.

Painful wait: The family of the missing woman say they were only tipped off of her body's location in the morgue by a police detective, having not known what happened to her for over a year

Among the office's physical stack of controversies to come to light was a 2011 report of mass burials taking place in a Cook county cemetery, including one case of 26 babies found in a single wooden box together with other unidentified limbs and bones.

The practice of mass burial for the unidentified is a standard one for Cook County however.
Sheriff Tom Dart said he's working to change that saying the practice impedes criminal investigations as the bodies simply disappear from record.
'There is no grid system. You couldn't find people if you wanted to find them,' Mr Dart said at a news conference early last year according to CBS.
'From a law enforcement we were disturbed,' Mr Dart said, 'from a human standpoint we were absolutely appalled.'

Prior to Ms Johnson's disappearance in January of 2010 she told family she was concerned for her safety after ending a rocky relationship.
'My mother was in a very abusive relationship,' her daughter told UPI. 'He would make threats that he was going to kill her.'
While working on the missing persons case for Ms Jackson's mother, Chicago Police Detective Pamela Childs took DNA samples from her family, including her dental records according to the family.

Mass burial: A photo of a wooden coffin holding the bodies of 26 babies was reported last February of 2011 leading to police arguments of mass burials of those without identification impeding criminal investigations

With cuts in state funds for indigent burials, the practice of mass graves is a standard practice but one that can easily mask a loved one's body, like Ms Johnson's, who was missing to the family for over a year

Police told the Chicago Tribune that in contrast they were told that dental records didn't exist for Ms Johnson, hindering the investigation and her body's identification.
Ultimately the detective's work was what informed the family of her body's recovery and not the medical examiners office.

'I’m very upset and angry that it took this long to identify my mother’s body,' Ms Jackson told the Tribune. 'Whether it was good or bad, I just wanted to know ... we have some closure, but we have unanswered questions,' she said.

The details of the family's suit have not been released while only saying they hope justice will be be served and the chief medical examiner, Dr Jones, will step down from her position.

5th February 2012

Read more: http://www.dailymail.co.uk/news/article-2096759/Chicago-morgue-lost-mothers-body-14-months-stuffed-capacity.html#ixzz1lYNQQEZs

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DNA profiling centre to be launched at AFMC

Lt Gen H Kakaria,Director General, Armed Forces Medical Services, will launch the DNA profiling centre at the AFMC on February 8 on the sidelines of the four-day 60th armed forces medical conference, which will begin in the city on February 7.

Presently, the identity of dead armed forces personnel is established by examining personal belongings on the body, studying the identification marks, comparing photographs and others. However, these methods become futile when there is extensive mutilation, disfigurement and decomposition of the body, officers said.

Such accidents happen when personnel are employed in hazardous tasks like bomb disposal, flying fighter planes, research in explosive materials as well as troops deployed in militancy-infested areas. Following such catastrophes, DNA profiling of the available body parts is the only fool-proof scientific method of establishing identity.

This conclave is an unique feature in the calendar of events of the Armed Forces as it brings together officers from all specialties to discuss, deliberate and disseminate new ideas. As the AFMC enters into golden jubilee year of its undergraduate wing, the highlight of this years conference is the 50th meeting of the Armed Forces Medical Research Committee (AFMRC) — the apex body which guides research in the medical services of the Armed Forces.

Express News Service - 5 February 2012

http://m.indianexpress.com/news/dna-profiling-centre-to-be-launched-at-afmc/908410/

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NBI tags four more unidentified bodies of Typhoon Sendong victims

OZAMIZ CITY, Misamis Occidental, Feb. 5 (PIA) – At least four (4) additional unidentified dead bodies have been tagged by the National Bureau of Investigation (NBI) in Iligan City, last Feb. 1, this year.

This brings to 1,292, the total dead bodies of Typhoon Sendong victims, of which only 923 have been identified and accounted for by the Regional Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (RDRRMC), region 10, as of the period.

Regional Director Ana Caňeda of the Office of Civil Defense (OCD), region 10 and Chairperson of the RDRRMC-10, said the total figure already include the dead bodies recovered from the following areas: Cagayan de Oro City (CDO), 657, Iligan City, 490, and Manticao and El Salvador towns of Misamis Oriental, 80, Bukidnon province, 45, Zambaonga area, 9, municipality of Lopez Jaena and Jimenez in Misamis Occidental and from the Misamis Oriental area, 5.

The suicide case involving a 33-year old male inside the evacuation center at the City Central School in Cagayan de Oro, last Jan. 6, was not included in the list of the dead since the death was by non-natural cause,

She said the number of injured was also noted at 1,977, that is: 1,799 from Iligan City, 168 from CDO, nine (9) from Bukidnon and one (1) from Misamis Oriental.

Latest data gathered by RDRRMC-10, also show that there are now 194 barangays in the entire region that were affected by Typhoon Sendong, the highest number of which is 115 from eight (8) towns in Misamis Oriental including CDO.

This was followed by Bukidnon, with 41 barangays from Valencia City and seven (7) towns of Bukidnon and Iligan City with 30 barangays.

Meanwhile, the Dead Victim Identification (DVI) Cluster of the Post Sendong Operations Center, headed by the NBI, reported that they have gathered a total of 947 DNA specimens, i.e., 521 from CDO and 426 from Iligan City, as of Jan. 25, this year.

It also gathered a total of 747 ante mortem data and processed and buried a total of 358 unidentified bodies, from CDO and Iligan Cities, as of the period. (PIA-10 Mis. Occ.)

Sunday 5th of February 2012

http://www.pia.gov.ph/news/index.php?article=1451328426836

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