Red Cross Volunteers Speak Out After Two Disasters

Volunteers are speaking out after two different weekend disasters. A tornado and a fire have kept the Red Cross and its partners in response mode, at the same time.

Volunteers make up nine out of every 10 people in the Red Cross’s entire work force. They are the front line of defense in disasters of all kinds, including an apartment fire in Lexington over the weekend and a tornado 60 miles away.

One assistant shares what it is like bridging the gap between heartbreak and hope.

State Emergency Management Officials say 32 homes and three South Carolina schools were damaged. Power has been restored to most of the 17-hundred customers who were stuck in the dark, Monday night. Meanwhile,midlands companies continue to donate thousands to relief efforts.

Meksika Körfezi’nde büyük felaket

ABD’nin Louisiana eyaleti açıklarında geçen hafta bir petrol platformunun patlaması çevre felaketine dönüştü. Günde 1000 varil petrol Meksika Körfezi’ne akıyor.

Sızan petrolün temizlenmesine yönelik çalışmalar ise kötü hava koşulları yüzünden askıya alındı. Bir petrol şirketinin arama çalışmaları için kiraladığı “Deepwater Horizon” adlı platform, patlamanın ardından 36 saat yandıktan sonra sulara gömülmüştü.

Şirket deniz ve hava araçlarının yanı sıra robot denizaltı da kullanarak sızıntıyı durdurmaya çalışıyor.Kuyunun kapakları kapatılabilirse sızıntının engellenmesi mümkün olabilecek. Robot denizaltıların bunu başarıp başaramayacağı bugün akşam saatlerinde belli olacak.

Petrol platformunun deniz seviyesinin 1.5 kilometre altında olması işleri zorlaştırıyor.Ancak BP’nin yaptığı hesaba göre, halen günde 1000 varil petrol Meksika Körfezi’ne akıyor.

Dalgaların petrolün kıyıya ulaşmasını engellenmesi ümit ediliyor.Sahilin yanı sıra doğal yaşamın da zarar görmesinden endişe ediliyor.

China quake kills 589, injures thousands

A rapid series of strong earthquakes hit a mountainous and impoverished area of China’s Qinghai province early Wednesday, killing 589 people, state-run media said, quoting local quake relief headquarters.

At least 10,000 others were injured, the Xinhua news agency reported, and many victims, including school children, were buried under debris. Rescuers were struggling to clear debris with their hands and save those trapped below.

A 6.9-magnitude earthquake, as measured by the U.S. Geological Survey, struck at 7:49 a.m. local time (7:49 p.m. ET Tuesday), when many citizens were still at home and schools were beginning the day. The USGS also recorded several strong aftershocks — one of magnitude 5.8 — all within hours of the initial quake.

The epicenter was in remote and rugged terrain, about 150 miles (240 kilometers) northwest of Qamdo, Tibet. Qinghai borders the autonomous regions of Tibet and Xingjiang and the provinces of Gansu and Sichuan.

Karsum Nyima, deputy director of news at local Yushu TV, told Xinhua that most of the houses in the area were made of wood with earthen walls. He said some had come tumbling down, including a Buddhist pagoda in a park.

The temblors “have toppled houses, temples, gas stations and electric poles, triggered landslides, damaged roads, cut power supplies and disrupted telecommunications,” Xinhua said. “A reservoir was also cracked, where workers are trying to prevent the outflow of water.”

Çin 6.9’luk depremle sarsıldı

Çin’in kuzeybatısındaki Çinghay eyaletinde meydana gelen 6.9 büyüklüğündeki depremde ölü sayısı 400’e yükseldi On bin kişinin yaralandığı depremde binlerce insan da enkaz altında. Çin’in fakir bölgesini vuran depremde halk kerpiç evlerin kurbanı oldu.

Tibet sınırındaki Çinghay eyaletindeki depremin TSİ 02.49’da ve yerin 10 kilometre altında meydana geldiği bildirildi.

Çok sayıda ev, okul ve iş yerinin yıkıldığı depremde şu ana kadar 400 kişinin cesedine ulaşıldı. Yetkililer, 10 bin kişinin de yaralandığını açıkladı.

Çok sayıda kişinin enkaz altında kaldığı bildirilen ve Amerikan Jeolojik Araştırma kurumuna göre 6.9, Çinli yetkililere göre ise 7.1 büyüklüğündeki depremin ardından büyüklüğü 6.3’e kadar bulunan üç artçı sarsıntı da meydana geldi.

Çin devlet televizyonu, kurtarma ekiplerinin Çinghay’da enkaz altındakilere ulaşma çalışmalarını sürdürdüğünü bildirdi.

At least 100 killed in India-Bangladesh storm

At least 100 people have died in a powerful storm that hit a district on the border of the Indian state of West Bengal and Bangladesh, officials say.

The state’s civil defence minister Srikumar Mukherji has left for the Uttar Dinajpur district, where the devastation was huge.

Mr Mukherji is personally overseeing relief operations.

He told the BBC that bodies were being found in the rubble of 50,000 houses that collapsed or were damaged.

Hundreds of people have been admitted to hospital with severe injuries as wind speeds rose to 160km/h.

Blown away

“Most of the victims were buried under the collapsed walls of their homes,” Mr Mukherji said. The BBC’s Subir Bhaumik in Calcutta says that the worst damage was reported from Raiganj, Islampur, Karandighi, Kaliaganj and Hemtabad areas of West Bengal.

Our correspondent says that the storm was followed by heavy rains that further added to the woes of villagers whose housetops had earlier been blown away.

Most of Uttar Dinajpur district is without power because electricity poles collapsed after trees uprooted by the storm fell on them.

US government ‘abused rights’ of Hurricane Katrina victims

The US government and states have violated the human rights of victims of Hurricane Katrina, Amnesty International claimed today.

Its report Un-Natural Disaster says housing, health and policing policies have stopped poor communities rebuilding and returning to their homes since the 2005 hurricane, in which about 1,800 people died.

The White House denied the claims and Louisiana and Mississippi officials said they had gone to great lengths to help people recover from Katrina.

In the US a former New Orleans policeman faces eight years in prison after pleading guilty to conspiring to obstruct justice over a police cover-up during the hurricane.

Michael Hunter, 33, told federal authorities he saw a fellow officer shoot and kick unarmed, wounded civilians on a bridge in Katrina’s aftermath.

Hunter’s account of the shootings contradicts a police report that said civilians shot at officers on Danziger Bridge before the police opened fire, killing two people and wounding four others.

Hunter told a court he shouted “cease fire” after a sergeant with an assault rifle and other officers opened fire on a group of civilians who took cover behind a concrete barrier on the bridge.

Tüm Yöneticiler O Uçaktaydı

Rusya’da Cumartesi günü düşen uçakta 61 yaşında hayatını kaybeden Polonya Devlet Başkanı Leh Kaçinski, Avrupa’nın en tartışmalı liderlerinden birisiydi.

Kaçinski, Soğuk Savaş döneminde özellikle 1970’lerde komünizm karşıtı ve demokrasi yanlısı bir aktivist olarak ün kazandı. Komünist yönetim tarafından rejim düşmanı olarak ilan edilmesinin ardından yasadışı bir örgütlenme olan “Dayanışma” hareketine katıldı.

Polonya devlet başkanı, dünyada değişim rüzgarlarının estiği ve komünizmin sallanmaya başladığı 1980’lerin ikinci yarısında ülkenin efsanevi lideri Leh Walesa’nın danışmanlığını yaptı. Kaçinski, komünizmden demokrasiye geçişte Polonya’nın önemli isimlerinden biri haline geldi.

Aralık 1990’da devlet başkanı olan Walesa, Kaçinski’yi de Güvenlik Bakanlığı’na aday gösterdi. Ancak dönemin başbakanıyla yaşadığı uzlaşmazlık nedeniyle 1992 yılında görevden alındı.

Özelikle yolsuzluğa karşı mücadelesi nedeniyle halk arasında popüler olan Kaçinski, Adalet Bakanlığı gibi çeşitli görevlerde bulundu. 2001 yılında ikiziyle birlikte Hak ve Adalet Partisi’ni kurdu.

Yüzde 54 oyla devlet başkanı seçildiği 2005 yılına kadar Varşova belediye başkanlığı yapan Kaçinski, Avrupa’nın en tartışmalı liderlerinden biri haline geldi. Bir dönem ikizi Yaroslav Kaçinski de ülkenin başbakanlığı görevini yürütmüştü.

ALMANYA KARŞITLIĞIYLA ÜNLÜ

Polish president Lech Kaczynski killed in plane crash

The Polish president and his wife were killed in a plane crash this morning, according to Russian officials.

President Lech Kaczynski and his wife Maria were on board a flight which crashed at 10.56 Moscow time (0656GMT) near Smolensk airport.

Russian media is reporting that all 132 passengers were killed.

The Kaczynski’s were travelling with several senior government figures on a trip to mark the 70th anniversary of the Katyn forest massacre, in which thousands of Poles were executed by Soviet secret police.

Smolensk governor Sergei Anufriev made a statement to state news channel Rossiya-24 about an hour after the crash saying that there no survivors.

He said: “As it was preparing for landing, the Polish president’s aircraft did not make it to the landing strip.”

“According to preliminary reports, it got caught up in the tops of trees, fell to the ground and broke up into pieces. There are no survivors in that crash.”

The head of Russia’s top investigative body, Sergei Markin, said there were a total of 132 people on the plane.

The Polish Foreign Ministry has confirmed that Lech Kaczynski and his wife were on board the Tu-154 plane, flying from Moscow to Smolensk.

Deadly Flash Floods Paralyze Rio De Janeiro

Heavy rains and flash floods overnight left at least 32 people dead in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro early Tuesday, paralyzing transportation and causing the city’s mayor to cancel all classes and urge people not to leave their homes.

Some 9 inches of rain drenched downtown Rio in a relentless storm that shut down airports, metro stations and major highways and bridges.

Although the rainfall had eased by early Tuesday, city and state officials warned that hillsides would become vulnerable to mudslides if it continued much longer.

Television coverage showed people abandoning cars along flooded highways and seeking to escape up stairs to overpasses or along railroad tracks. In some areas water was cascading down hillsides. Buses were stopped on underpasses, with water reaching almost above their tires.

ÇEVREMİZ SALLANIYOR

Afet ve Acil Durum Yönetimi Başkanlığı, Deprem Dairesi Başkanlığı verilerine göre 01/04/2010 tarihinde saat 20.55’de Afyon-Sultandağı’nda 3.2 büyüklüğünde, 04/04/2010’da saat 01.32’de Konya-Cihanbeyli’de 3.1 büyüklüğünde ve yine aynı gün saat 02.54’de Afyon-Bolvadin’de 3.4 büyüklüğünde deprem meydana geldi. Depremlerde can ve mal kaybına neden olmadığı ancak halk arasında tedirginlik yarattığı gözlendi.