There is currently no technique that could have helped Nepal predict when the recent earthquake would strike. AP/PA/Niranjan Shrestha
theconversation – Can earthquakes ever be predicted? This question is timely after the magnitude 7.8 earthquake that struck Nepal recently. If authorities had more warning that the earthquake was coming, they may have been able to save more lives.
While Nepal is a documented area of previous seismic activity, at the moment there is no technique that provides predictions of sufficient clarity to allow for evacuations at short notice. So if we cannot predict these events now, are there avenues of research to provide useful predictions in the future?
The key word here is “useful”. It is possible to make long-term forecasts about future earthquake activity, partly by using the past record of earthquakes as a guide. There is no reason to believe that a region of the Earth is going to behave differently in the next few thousands of years from its pattern over the same range back in time. In the short term, seismologists can draw on data from recording stations, with records going back roughly 40 years on a global scale. Tiếp tục đọc “Why it is so hard to predict where and when earthquakes will strike”→
The death toll from the earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “more than double”, according to a United Nations emergency relief coordinator.
Martin Griffiths, speaking to Sky News on Saturday, said he expected tens of thousands more deaths.
At least 24,596 people have been confirmed dead after the 7.8 magnitude earthquake struck southern Turkey and north-western Syria on Monday, with multiple aftershocks.
Griffiths said: “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble, but I’m sure it will double or more,” said Griffiths.
“That’s terrifying. This is nature striking back in a really harsh way.
“It’s deeply shocking … the idea that these mountains of rubble still hold people, some of them still alive.
“We haven’t really begun to count the number of dead.”
He said that a 72-hour period after a disaster was usually the “golden period” for rescues, which had now expired, but that survivors were still being pulled out of the rubble.
“It must be incredibly difficult to decide when to stop this rescue phase,” he said.
Griffiths said he was launching a three-month operation for Turkey and Syria to help pay for the costs of operations there.
Griffiths also told Reuters he hoped in Syria aid would go to both government and opposition-held areas, but that things with this regard were “not clear yet”.
Earlier on Saturday, Stéphane Dujarric, the spokesperson for the UN secretary-general, António Guterres, told BBC Radio 4’s Today programme that negotiations were continuing to gain access to more areas in Syria and called for “solidarity” in the relief effort.
He said: “Our message is clear, it’s time to put all politics aside. Just focus on the men, women and children who desperately need help in Syria and in southern Turkey.
“Wherever we work, we have to work with the authorities in charge. That’s just the way that UN humanitarian aid is structured. So in the rebel-held territories, we work with the authorities there; in the government-held areas, we work with the government.”
Responding to criticism of the UN’s response to the urgent need in Syria after the earthquake, he added:
“I think if I was standing in the middle of devastation and my community had been hit, I would be unhappy and I would be critical because aid never comes quickly enough. But I can tell you that the UN stands with the people of Syria, whether they live in rebel territories, whether they live in government-held territories.”
Why is earthquake aid to Syria so slow? | Start Here
Al Jazeera English – 10 thg 2, 2023
The earthquakes in southern Turkey and northern Syria have left millions of people in desperate need of help. But getting aid to people in Syria is particularly complicated. #AJStartHere explains why.
1. Syria longs for international aid amid earthquake devastation
Al Jazeera English – 8 thg 2, 2023
The scale of the destruction in the aftermath of the earthquake that hit swaths of Turkey and Syria on Monday has been unprecedented, even for residents of the war-torn country.
On the Syrian side, the area affected by the 7.8-magnitude quake and its aftershocks is divided between government-controlled territory and the country’s last opposition-held pocket of land, encircled by Russian-backed government forces.
The UN says damaged roads, a lack of equipment and tough winter conditions are hampering efforts to find survivors in Syria.
People from the collective ‘Kyivska Kolyada’ ride in the train after singing Christmas carols and collect money for the Ukrainian army at a metro station in Kyiv, Ukraine, 25 December 2022. 2022 is the first year Orthodox churches were allowed to hold a Christmas prayer service on 24 December. Traditionally, the Orthodox church celebrates Christmas on 6 January. [EPA-EFE/OLEG PETRASYUK]
Russian forces bombarded scores of towns in Ukraine on Christmas Day as Russian President Vladimir Putin said he was open to negotiations, a stance Washington has dismissed as posturing because of continued Russian attacks.
Russia on Sunday launched more than 10 rocket attacks on the Kupiansk district in the Kharkiv region, shelled more than 25 towns along the Kupiansk-Lyman frontline, and in Zaporizhzhia hit nearly 20 towns, said Ukraine’s top military command.
Russia’s defence ministry said on Sunday that it had killed about 60 Ukrainian servicemen the previous day along the Kupiansk-Lyman line of contact and destroyed numerous pieces of Ukrainian military equipment.
Reuters was not able to independently verify the reports.
Putin’s 24 February invasion of Ukraine – which Moscow calls a “special military operation” – has triggered the biggest European conflict since World War Two and confrontation between Moscow and the West since the 1962 Cuban Missile Crisis.
Despite Putin’s latest offer to negotiate, there is no end in sight to the 10-month conflict.
“We are ready to negotiate with everyone involved about acceptable solutions, but that is up to them – we are not the ones refusing to negotiate, they are,” Putin told Rossiya 1 state television in an interview broadcast on Sunday.
An adviser to Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy said Putin needed to return to reality and acknowledge it was Russia that did not want talks.
“Russia single-handedly attacked Ukraine and is killing citizens,” the adviser, Mykhailo Podolyak, tweeted. “Russia doesn’t want negotiations, but tries to avoid responsibility.”
Russian attacks on power stations have left millions without electricity, and Zelenskyy said Moscow would aim to make the last few days of 2022 dark and difficult.
“Russia has lost everything it could this year. … I know darkness will not prevent us from leading the occupiers to new defeats. But we have to be ready for any scenario,” he said in an evening video address on Christmas Day.
Ukraine has traditionally not celebrated Christmas on 25 December, but 7 January, the same as Russia. However, this year some Orthodox Ukrainians decided to celebrate the holiday on 25 December and Ukrainian officials, starting with Zelenskyy and Ukraine’s prime minister, issued Christmas wishes on Sunday.
The Kremlin says it will fight until all its territorial aims are achieved, while Kyiv says it will not rest until every Russian soldier is ejected from the country.
Asked if the geopolitical conflict with the West was approaching a dangerous level, Putin on Sunday said: “I don’t think it’s so dangerous.”
Kyiv and the West say Putin has no justification for what they cast as an imperial-style war of occupation.
Blasts at Engels airbase
Blasts were heard at Russia’s Engels air base, hundreds of kilometres (miles) from the Ukraine frontlines, Ukrainian and Russian media reported on Monday.
Russia’s governor of Saratov region, home to the Engels air-base, said law enforcement agencies were checking information about “an incident at a military facility”.
“There were no emergencies in residential areas of the (Engels) city,” Roman Busargin, the governor of the region, said on the Telegram messaging app. “Civil infrastructure facilities were not damaged.”
The air base, near the city of Saratov, about 730 km (450 miles) southeast of Moscow, was hit on 5 December in what Russia said were Ukrainian drone attacks on two Russian air bases that day. The strikes dealt Moscow a major reputational blow and raised questions about why its defences failed, analysts said.
Ukraine has never publicly claimed responsibility for attacks inside Russia, but has said, however, that such incidents are “karma” for Russia’s invasion.
epa10363106 Pro-government supporters, including families of killed Iranian soldiers, protest against the UN and western countries in front of the United Nation office in Tehran, Iran, 13 December 2022. EPA-EFE/ABEDIN TAHERKENAREH
2022 has been a year where high-profile international cases of violence against women, such as in Iran, Ukraine, and Afghanistan, have made headlines, but this is just part of a trend that permeates every aspect of society, according to United Nations (UN) officials interviewed by EURACTIV.
UN Women Brussels Director Dagmar Schumacher and the UN’s Director in Brussels Camilla Bruckner sat down with EURACTIV to discuss progress in Europe and the situation for women outside of the Union following the 16 Days of Activism against Gender-Based Violence.
A map shows the location of an earthquake epicenter in Kon Tum Province (red star), April 18, 2022. Photo courtesy of the Institute of GeophysicsRecent earthquakes in the Central Highlands are a cause for concern, says the Institute of Geophysics, calling for extensive studies and research to ascertain causes and draw up response plans.
In a report released Wednesday, it said that the earthquakes that occurred from March 2021 to April 2022, with magnitudes of 1.6 to 4.5 on the Richter scale in Kon Plong District, Kon Tum Province and other nearby areas were not “severe” but there was a need to evaluate risks and dangers.
“To ascertain the causes of the earthquakes and to have a foundation for predicting seismic trends and earthquakes’ intensity in the future so that the risk of damage to residential structures and hydropower plants can be evaluated, there needs to be surveys and research on Kon Tum and neighboring areas’ geological characteristics,” the Voice of Vietnam cited the report as saying.
[1/3] The logo of Swiss bank Credit Suisse is seen at its headquarters in Zurich, Switzerland October 4, 2022. REUTERS/Arnd Wiegmann
This content was produced in Russia where the law restricts coverage of Russian military operations in Ukraine
MOSCOW, Oct 26 (Reuters) – Russia on Wednesday banned dealings in the shares or share capital of 45 banks or banking units, all either owned by parties in countries that Russia terms “unfriendly” or owned through foreign capital.
Western countries and allies, including Japan, have piled financial restrictions on Russia since it sent troops into Ukraine in late February. Moscow retaliated with obstacles for Western businesses and their allies leaving Russia, and in some cases seized their assets.
The list followed a decree issued on Aug. 5 by President Vladimir Putin banning dealings in stakes in the financial and energy sectors owned by parties in “unfriendly” countries unless specific permission was given. read more read more
Citi, the largest Wall Street bank to have a presence in Russia with an exposure of $8 billion, plans to wind down nearly all of the institutional banking services as it is unable to sell the business amid the recent sanctions-related laws. read more read more read more
Pramila Patten, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General on Sexual Violence in Conflict, at a Security Council meeting in New York in 2018.Xinhua/ShutterstockCNN —
Russia is using rape and sexual violence as part of its “military strategy” in Ukraine, a UN envoy said this week.
The claim follows data released by a panel of UN experts recently that verified “more than a hundred cases” of rape or sexual assault incidents reported in Ukraine since February.
“When you hear women testify about Russian soldiers equipped with Viagra, it’s clearly a military strategy,” Pramila Patten, UN Special Representative on Sexual Violence in Conflict, said in an interview with AFP on Thursday.
Đà Nẵng vừa trải qua trận lụt lịch sử. Nhiều người dân Thành phố phải thốt lên rằng, đây là trận ngập lụt chưa từng thấy. Vậy, trận ngập lụt kinh hoàng này đến từ những nguyên nhân nào?
WHEN AEDES AEGYPTI MOSQUITOES CARRY NATURAL BACTERIA CALLED WOLBACHIA, THEY REDUCE THE MOSQUITOES’ ABILITY TO TRANSMIT VIRUSES LIKE DENGUE, ZIKA, CHIKUNGUNYA AND YELLOW FEVER. FIND OUT HOW.
Mosquitoes pick up viruses by biting infected people. When they bite again, they can transmit the virus to the next person. This is how mosquito-borne diseases spread.
Mosquitoes do not naturally carry viruses – they can only get them from infected people.
Since only female mosquitoes bite humans, only female mosquitoes can transmit viruses.
The Aedes aegypti mosquito is the main transmitter of dengue, Zika, chikungunya and yellow fever viruses.
Aedes aegypti mosquitoes originated in Africa, but they have spread through tropical and subtropical regions around the world.
LĐ – VƯƠNG TRẦN – Thứ hai, 12/09/2022 12:16 (GMT+7)
5 năm qua, toàn quốc xảy ra 17.055 vụ cháy làm chết 433 người, bị thương 790 người, thiệt hại tài sản ước tính trên 7 nghìn tỉ đồng và trên 7.500 ha rừng. Nguyên nhân chủ yếu là do sự cố về hệ thống, sự cố về thiết bị điện, chiếm khoảng 45%.
Hơn 17.000 vụ cháy, 433 người thiệt mạng
Tại Hội nghị về công tác phòng cháy, chữa cháy và sơ kết 5 năm thực hiện Nghị định 83/2017/NĐ-CP quy định công tác cứu nạn, cứu hộ của lực lượng phòng cháy, chữa cháy diễn ra sáng nay (12.9), Thiếu tướng Nguyễn Văn Long – Thứ trưởng Bộ Công an đã có báo cáo đánh giá về công tác này trong 5 năm qua.
Thiếu tướng Nguyễn Văn Long, Thứ trưởng Bộ Công an báo cáo đánh giá công tác phòng cháy, chữa cháy. Ảnh: Nhật Bắc
DJ Khải Định là người cuối cùng được cứu khỏi đám cháy tòa nhà ITC 15 năm trước – thảm họa cướp đi sinh mạng 60 người.
Hai người đàn ông sống cách nhau chỉ một con phố ở Sài Gòn.
Họ gặp nhau trong khoảnh khắc định mệnh, giữa lằn ranh sống – chết. Chia tay, không một lần gặp lại, không ai biết tên ai, suốt quãng thời gian đó họ tự hỏi rằng người kia tên gì, ở đâu, giờ sống ra sao.
Đúng 15 năm sau lần chạm mặt ấy, hai người cùng đến tòa soạn VnExpress theo lời hẹn. Họ không biết sự có mặt của nhau, ngồi ở hai căn phòng, cùng hồi tưởng những gì diễn ra trong buổi chiều hôm đó. Giữa họ, không chỉ là một cuộc gặp gỡ, mà còn là những ký ức về một thảm họa, với rất nhiều mất mát, đau thương và suy ngẫm.
In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Latvia issued a decree that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes must be destroyed by November 15. This included the Soviet victory monument erected in 1985.
A controversial Soviet-era monument in the Latvian capital was brought down, despite protests from the Baltic state’s ethnic Russian minority to keep it.
Police officers and the press watch as the 80-meter high obelisk is torn down in Latvia’s capital Riga
A concrete obelisk topped with Soviet stars, which was the centerpiece of a monument commemorating the Red Army’s victory over Nazi Germany, was demolished in Latvia’s capital, Riga, on Thursday.
Two diggers with pneumatic hammers brought the 79-meter (261-foot) obelisk down to the applause of numerous onlookers. A number of large-scale bronze statues had already been removed from the monument in the preceding days.
In view of the Russian invasion of Ukraine, Latvia issued a decree that all objects glorifying totalitarian regimes must be destroyed by November 15. This included the Soviet victory monument erected in 1985.
CVD 