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Chile has been shaken by a midnight (06:34 GMT) earthquake that measured 8.8 on the Richter scale, say geologists in the US and China, who have upgraded their measurements of it. The earthquake was 1,000 times more powerful than the one that struck Haiti in January, experts said on CNN. The quake hit central Chile, 100km north of the city of Concepcion, and 350 from Santiago, the capital. The Chinese Earthquake Administration says it occurred at and “the epicenter was 35.8 degrees south latitude and 72.7 degrees west longitude, with a depth of 33 kilometers.” Sixty-four people are reported dead but numbers are expected to rise.
The airport in Santiago, which was was shaken for 90 minutes, is closed until further notice and according to the BBC, “Tsunami warnings have been issued for Hawaii, Australia, New Zealand and Pacific island nations. Alerts were also earlier issued for Antarctica and Central America.”
Reuters updates and background
Links to other sites: BBC, New York Times, Sydney Morning Herald, Xinhua
Geneva, Switzerland (GenevaLunch) – Eight countries in Central Asia and the Caucasus and five in Southeast Asia are implementing early warning systems to protect against weather-related events, according to the World Meteorological Organization (WMO). Today 14 October is International Day for Disaster Reduction, and the agency is highlighting how early warning and disaster risk reduction can save many lives when extreme weather strikes. Similar projects were introduced in seven southeast European countries in 2007.
These national and regional cooperation projects are part of a concerted programme that relies on technical expertise and funding provided by the WMO, the World Bank, UNDP and the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (UNISDR).
“Natural hazards are a part of life. But natural hazards only become disasters when people’s lives and livlihoods are swept away…” (Kofi Annan, World Disaster Reduction Day, 2003)
Churches in Samoa were packed Sunday with mourners remembering the more than 170 people who died in the tsunami that swept in following an 8.3 earthquake 29 September. About half of those who died are expected to be buried in mass graves. Entire villages were wiped out by the massive wave.
A tsunami washed over the Southern Pacific islands of Samoa early 30 September leaving at least a hundred people dead and many more injured. Six-metre high waves flooded up to 1.5 km inland, washing away entire villages in low-lying areas on both of the main islands of Samoa and American Samoa, a US dependency. The tsunami was triggered by an earthquake measuring 8.3 on the Richter scale about 30 km underground and only 190km off the coast. A tsunami warning went out immediately but officials said there was practically no time to heed the warning. BBC, Reuters
In the Philippines, hundreds of thousands of exhausted survivors from the weekend’s torrential rains and floods have swamped shelters in churches, schools and gymnasiums. Relief officials say they cannot keep up. Agriculture ministry officials estimated that tropical storm Ketsana, known as Ondoy in the Philippines, had destroyed more than $60 million worth of income-generating crops. The storm has continued moving west, causing death and destruction in Vietnam and Cambodia. BBC, Manila Times
[with UN TV video] Geneva, Switzerland and Bonn, Germany (GenevaLunch) – Eighteen United Nations and non-UN aid agencies 8 June issued a joint statement arguing for “humanitarian impacts” to be included in the new climate change protocol. A December meeting in Copenhagen, Denmark of ministers from around the world will seek to replace the Kyoto Protocol, adopted in 1997. A new agreement must “set out a workable approach to help the world counter the impacts of extreme weather events and environmental degradation on vulnerable communities,” the Inter-Agency Standing Committee argues.
