New Year Brings Economic Aftershocks

Hideo Sato, 47, and his family escaped to this snowy city 200 km from the radiation emitting Fuksuhima power plant that was struck by a massive earthquake-driven tsunami on Mar. 11

By Suvendrini Kakuchi | Inter-Press Service | Jan 1, 2012

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Forests Provide Cover for Recovery

In the wake of the massive tsunami that devastated the Tohoku region in March, Japan has witnessed a sharp rise in wood imports for temporary housing units and other recovery projects

By Suvendrini Kakuchi | IPS | Oct 25, 2011

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India flood victims still suffering

By Amarnath Tewary (in Birpur, Bihar), BBC News, 9 January 2009

Only now have efforts begun to make the embankment protecting Birpur more effective (Pics: Prashant Ravi)

Mohammed Shahzada's sprawling house in the town of Birpur on the Indian border with Nepal was the proud landmark of the locality.

Built in 1975 at the cost of 2.5m rupees ($51,589) the building and its high-rise boundary walls were an object of envy for the neighbours.

Today his house is still a distinctive landmark, but for different reasons.

It has become the most glaring example of the destruction and devastation caused by flooding that wreaked havoc in five districts of Bihar in August last year.

'National calamity'

Today, Mohammed Shahzada's house resembles a bombed house in a war zone.

"It was like the tsunami. The current in the flood water was so strong that we saw many concrete structures collapse like feeble houses of cards"- Arvind Kumar Ram

In pictures: Birpur's flood misery

The boundary walls have vanished, the front portion of the house has collapsed and the thick walls have got deep cracks.

The destruction has left the 54-year-old musical entrepreneur economically and physically shattered. His family of 10 is now confined to the back portion of the house, eking out an existence amid the piles of masonry.

"All of my life savings and my ancestral property has been washed away in the flood. We cannot make up again," he told the BBC.

Birpur was the first town in India to face the full onslaught of the flood and Mr Shahzada's property was among the first to be deluged as waters from the River Kosi unleashed their force after entering the country from Nepal.

Millions of people were displaced, hundreds lost their lives in one of the worst floods in recent memory in Bihar. The Indian prime minister described it as a "national calamity" while the Bihar chief minister said it was a "catastrophe".

The Kosi is known as the "river of sorrow" in India for its destructive nature - in 1965 a 34km (21 mile) long embankment was built to prevent disasters like this from happening on the Indian side.

But ever since its construction, the embankment has been poorly maintained.

'Everything lost'

The waters of this swirling Himalayan river breached its banks near Kusaha village in Nepal before changing its course and inundating Birpur late in the evening of 18 August.

Many people's homes still remain inundated by water

"It was like the tsunami. The current in the flood water was so strong that we saw many concrete structures collapse like feeble houses of cards," said Arvind Kumar Ram, whose house also bears testimony to the scale of the destruction.

A small time businessman, Mr Ram is trying hard to cope with life and loss after the flood waters receded. His house also could not withstand the force of the water and collapsed on one side.

Other victims are all too easy to find. The roof of Radha Krishna Chaudhury's concrete house collapsed as if it had been bombed.

Living alone in what is left of its shattered structure, Mr Chaudhury, a tea stall owner, put the names of his missing family members on two white sheets and pasted them on both sides of the door.

"Many times I would repeat the names… but what's the use of repeating them again and again?" he asked. "I know nothing will be done and life has now no meaning for me… everything has been lost."

Mr Chaudhury - in his 60s - only survived the destruction by taking refuge on the roof of the house and living for four days without food and water.

'Worse than hell'

There are few buildings in Birpur and surrounding villages that have emerged unscathed.

Even the nine-metre walls of the town's jail sank in the deluge - allowing 27 prisoners to escape out of the 79 being held inside.

Other government buildings were equally devastated. In total, about 50,000 people in the town have had to cope with six to eight feet (1.8 to 2.4 metres) of flood water for well over three months.

For too long the embankment has been neglected

"It was life worse than hell," said local motel owner, Kameshwar Yadav.

Many of those affected have lost family members, property, pets and other life savings in the ravaged town. Some have lost everything except themselves.

Yet life is gradually returning to normal in spite of the difficulties. People are trying hard to come to terms with the daily grind of their lives.

"Now we want to come out of that nightmare. After all, life goes on. It has to," said Mohammed Shahzada.

Some 14km away at "ground zero"- where the embankment was first breached - there is hectic activity as thousands of workers, contractors and engineers strive to repair the damaged structure. They labour round the clock to meet the deadline of 31 March 2009.

"Out of the 1,700m breach we've already plugged in 1,200m of the embankment and we'll finish the work within our deadline," said Shyam Nandan Prasad, chief engineer of the project, told the BBC.

Meanwhile the state government continues to provide relief to flood victims who are still displaced and is now embarking on a second round of relief distribution.

"We've demanded thousands of dollars from the central government for relief and rehabilitation purposes which we're yet to receive," said Bihar Chief Minister Nitish Kumar.

"Still, we'll do whatever we can do best for the flood victims," he pledged.

© MMIX

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Powerful earthquake strikes Indonesia's Papua, kills three - 4th Update

The Earth Times, Sun, 04 Jan 2009

Jakarta - A series of powerful earthquakes on Sunday morning rattled the eastern Indonesian province of West Papua, cutting off powerline, killing at least three people and injuring dozens of others, officials said. The quake, which hit at a shallow depth of 10 kilometres, struck at 4:43 am (1943 GMT Saturday), about 135 kilometres north-west of Manokwari, the provincial capital of West Papua, the BMG said.

A series of aftershocks followed the quake, sparking a panic among residents and deterring them from returning to their homes.

A more powerful aftershock, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, with its epicentre on land about 76 kilometres north-west of Manokwari, struck about two hours later but triggered no tsunami, said Fauzi, a BMG official in Jakarta.

Thousands of residents including children and the elderly could be seen thronging the roads of the blacked-out Manokwari town, and they remained outdoors even after the tsunami warning was lifted, local police officials said.

Two three-story hotels, the Mutiara and Kalidingin, collapsed following the second quake, officials said.

An official at Manokwari general hospital said one person had died and 26 others were injured, two of them in intensive care.

"We also received reports from the field that two other persons were still trapped under the rubble after Mutiara Hotel collapsed," the official who identified himself as Roni said by telephone.

In addition, another three people were pulled alive from the rubble at Mutiara Hotel, reported detik.com online news portal.

A number of damaged buildings and homes were reported in Sorong district town but no reports of casualties.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, sits on the Pacific "Ring of Fire," the edge of a tectonic plate prone to seismic upheaval.

A major earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck in December 2004, leaving more than 170,000 people dead or missing in Indonesia's Aceh province and around 500,000 homeless.

© 2009 www.earthtimes.org, The Earth Times, All Rights Reserved

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At least three dead in Indonesian quakes

7.6-magnitude temblor collapses hotel; small tsunamis reported in Japan

in MSNBC News, Jan. 3, 2009 

JAKARTA, Indonesia - A series of powerful earthquakes at dawn killed at least three people and injured dozens more in remote eastern Indonesia on Sunday, cutting power lines and badly damaging buildings.

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck at 4:43 a.m. local time about 85 miles from Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was followed by 10 aftershocks and a second major 7.3-magnitude tremor that sent small tsunamis into Japan's southeast coast, but there were no reports of damage there.

In Indonesia three bodies were found including a 10-year-old girl, hospital director Hengky Tewu told The Associated Press.

"Her head was crushed. We have our ambulances picking up two more," he said. Another 19 patients at the hospital were treated for broken bones, cuts, crushed fingers and other injuries.

Papua police chief Maj. Gen. Bagus Ekodanto said he received reports that a hotel and rice warehouse had been "destroyed," but he did not know if anyone had died.

Attempts were under way to search for possible victims.

Several stories of the Mutiara Hotel in the main city Manokwari collapsed, said Ina, a nurse at a navy hospital treating 20 quake patients. Like many Indonesians she goes by a single name.

Electricity went off and people in the coastal city of 167,000 fled their homes in the dark, fearing a tsunami, said Hasim Rumatiga, a local health official. The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency issued a tsunami alert, but it was revoked within an hour after it was determined the epicenter was on land.

Japan's Meteorological Agency said tsunamis of 4 inches to 16 inches in height splashed ashore in towns along the coast. It also warned that bigger tsunamis were possible later. Television broadcasts of the coastal areas showed calm beaches and cars driving as normal on roads near the ocean.

The damage in Indonesia was still be being assessed.

"My son's head was wounded when a cabinet fell on him," said Ferry Dau, a father of two who said the walls in his house were cracked. "It was very strong and scary. The power and phones went dead after the utility lines fell down."

Rahmat Priyono, a supervisor at the National Earthquake Center, said there was no immediate information on casualties or damage. "But since the epicenters were on land, they have a potential to cause significant damage."

Relief agency World Vision Indonesia was flying in 2,000 emergency provision kits, including canned food, blankets and basic medical supplies, said spokeswoman Katarina Hardono.

Papua, about 1,830 miles east of the capital Jakarta, is some of the nation's least developed territory. A low-level insurgency has simmered in the resource-rich region for years and it is off limits to foreign reporters.

Indonesia straddles a chain of fault lines and volcanoes known as the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and is prone to seismic activity. A huge quake off western Indonesia caused the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed about 230,000 people, more than half of them in Sumatra.

Copyright 2008 The Associated Press. All rights reserved.

© 2008 Microsoft

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Series of powerful quakes rock eastern Indonesia

National Examiner, Jan 3, 2009 6:55 PM

JAKARTA, Indonesia (Map, News) - A series of powerful earthquakes in remote eastern Indonesia cut power lines, damaged buldings and sent panicked residents running out of their homes Sunday, officials and witnesses said.

A 7.6-magnitude quake struck at 2:43 a.m. local time about 85 miles from Manokwari, Papua, at a depth of 22 miles, the U.S. Geological Agency said.

Indonesian radio broadcaster El Shinta cited two witnesses who said a hotel in the city of Manokwari, the provincial capital, had been flattened and other buildings significantly damaged.

The Indonesian Meteorology and Seismology Agency issued a tsunami alert but it was revoked within an hour after it was determined the epicenter was on land.

© 2008 Copyright Examiner.com. All Rights Reserved

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