politics | Entries tagged with issues: environment: natural disaster

UN security council to consider climate change peacekeeping

A special meeting of the United Nations security council is due to consider whether to expand its mission to keep the peace in an era of climate change.

Small island states, which could disappear beneath rising seas, are pushing the security council to intervene to combat the threat to their existence.

There has been talk, meanwhile, of a new environmental peacekeeping force – green helmets – which could step into conflicts caused by shrinking resources.

The UN secretary general, Ban Ki-Moon, is expected to address the meeting on Wednesday.

But Germany, which called the meeting, has warned it is premature to expect the council to take the plunge into green peacemaking or even adopt climate change as one of its key areas of concern.

"It is too early to seriously think about council action on climate change. This is clearly not on the agenda," Germany's ambassador to the UN, Peter Wittig, wrote in the Huffington Post.

"A good first step would be to acknowledge the realities of climate change and its inherent implications to international peace and security," he wrote.

Bringing the security council up to speed on climate change could be a challenge, however.

The Pentagon and other military establishments have long recognised climate change as a "threat multiplier" with the potential to escalate existing conflicts, and create new disputes as food, water, and arable land become increasingly scarce.

Wittig seems to agree, noting that UN peacekeepers have long intervened in areas beyond traditional conflicts.

"Repainting blue helmets into green might be a strong signal - but would dealing with the consequences of climate change - say in precarious regions - be really very different from the tasks the blue helmets already perform today?" he wrote.MORE

the_future_modernes

Millions May Soon Be Fleeing the Floodwaters

OSLO, Jun 9, 2011 (IPS) - Mass migration will inevitably be part of human adaptation to climate change, experts agree, since parts of the world will become uninhabitable in the coming decades.

Last year, 38 million people were displaced by climate-related disasters such as the flooding in Pakistan and China.

"Human displacement due to climate change is happening now. There is no need to debate it," Jonas Gahr Støre, Norway's minister of foreign affairs, told over 200 delegates attending the Nansen Conference on Climate Change and Displacement in the 21st Century in Oslo Jun. 6-7.

Governments and the humanitarian community need to understand this fact - and that it will get much worse in the coming decades, Støre said. MORE

la_vie_noire

Via

parlance.

Haitian Mayor's Office Vows to Destroy All Refugee Camps, Launches Violent Campaign.

On May 23 and 25, police in the Delmas district of Port-au-Prince destroyed camps which sheltered people who were otherwise homeless since the earthquake. Police and other municipal workers beat and arrested residents, and physically threatened the lives of a human rights lawyer and an advocate who had come to investigate. The mayor of Delmas announced that this is part of a new campaign to evict internally displaced persons [IDPs] from public spaces.

Those whose lodging was destroyed were amongst the million-plus people who have lived for 16 months under tents, lean-to’s of shredded tarps, or whatever repurposed materials they could scrounge, from blankets to tin. Neither the Haitian government nor the international community has offered any large-scale resettlement options.

the_future_modernes

I, for one, have been thoroughly confused about what to report about the ongoing nuclear crisis and dealing-with-other-aftereffects-of-the-tsumani-and-earthquake in Japan. I have seen lots of articles arguing across the spectrum that Western news articles have been very sensationalistic over the nuclear disaster and have ignored the tsunami victims and that Japanese news articles have been playing it down. So I had adopted a hands-off approach to the whole thing until some confusion cleared.

This is what I've seen so far:

TSUNAMI AND EARTHQUAKE SURVIVORS

Al Jazeera People & Power - Aftermath of a disaster

People & Power looks at Miyako's citizens that survived Japan's devastating earthquake.

and Search for Japan tsunami victims continues: Thousands of troops conduct searches, with less than half those killed in disaster thought to have been found

( Read more... )

Meantime Death toll reaches 13,116 from great quake, tsunami in Japan

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NHK adds up the dead and missing and adds the prefectures that have confirmed their dead so far: 26,848 dead or missing in March 11th disaster

( Read more... )

While sharp aftershocks that are pretty much mini-earthquakes in their own right keep killing people: Death toll from Japan aftershock rises to 3

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And another that seems to have happened on Monday, April 11, left this result:Strong aftershock kills 4

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Tsunami survivors move into temporary homes

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NUCLEAR CRISIS

Radiation from Fukushima 10 pct that of Chernobyl-Japan official

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Because 7 is the highest number on the map, and its apparently based on Chernobyl's clusterfuck, raising the situation to 7 elides the situation. There is one hell of a difference between Chernobyl and TEPCO's (the company who runs the plants) disaster, yet a pile of Western journalists are behaving as if they are the same thing. NO Forbes, it's NOT as bad as Chernobyl!!

That being said, the situation is really serious: (via:

ontd_political) Japan raises nuke accident severity level to highest 7 from 5

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April 11 TEPCO president apologizes, one month later

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Here's an article focusing on the people who are on the frontlines trying to stop the leaks and clean up the mess.Heroes and realists found among the brave 'Fukushima 700'

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from

ontd_political Embattled TEPCO now facing a harsh public backlash Note the expressions of remorse. Some of that from the US lords of the universe and BP would be nice don'cha think? also: TEPCO and the Japanese gov't: BFFs no more

ECONOMY

Disaster devastates Japan farmland:Tsunami leaves behind toxic chemicals, making huge swathes of arable land unusable.

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via

ontd_political japan tag

Japan's 1st quake reconstruction budget, plus tourism is down lots and lots

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

In December last year, the Cancun climate change conference took place. Its taken me this long to be able to write about it because I've been so pissed at the way so many stronger countries proceeded to be selfish shortsighted assholes and committed the entire planet to runaway climate change. Now that I can look at the issue without heading off into paroxyms of RAGE, here are the links:

THE BEGINNING:

April 2010 Native Peoples Reject Market Mechanisms

( Read more... )

OCt 15, 2010 Climate Talks Tank, Global South Sinks Further

( Read more... )

Lost in Cancun

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Don't Look to South Africa for Leadership

( Read more... )Because sending us headfirst into more extreme weather leading famine and death will be SO helpful with poverty alleviation.

UGANDA:Carbon Finance May Not Benefit Forest Communities

( Read more... )

WikiLeaks: US Manipulated Climate Agreement

( Read more... )

DURING THE SUMMIT

Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Full Coverage

Alan Lissner's Cancun Photo and Video Montage

Groups Protest U.N. Climate Summit for Shutting out Civil Society

Cancún Betrayal: UNFCCC Unmasked as WTO of the Sky - IEN Statement on COP16 Outcome

GRASSROOTS CLIMATE JUSTICE IN CANCUN PART I

GRASSROOTS CLIMATE JUSTICE IN CANCUN PART II MORE articles at the Grassroots Global Justice Alliance Page

MIGRANT DIARIES BLOGPOSTS
CJ from the USA

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For Life, Environment & Justice

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Closing out COP 16, Closing out Migrant Diaries

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Dispatch From Cancun: Developing Paradise in the Suicide Capital If you have triggers, you might want to skip this one.

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Battle in Cancun:The Fight for Climate Justice in the Streets, Encampments and Halls of Power

( Read more... )

Protesters Say "No" to Climate Market in Cancun

The short-cuts that the United Nations system is offering companies to profit from strategies against global warming were the target of loud protests on the Day of Action for Climate Justice.

Two separate demonstrations, of thousands of people each, were held Tuesday as the climate change summit that ends Friday in the southeastern Mexican resort town of Cancún enters the final stretch.

One of the protesters’ slogans, "País petrolero, el pueblo sin dinero" (In this oil-producing country, people have no money), referring to Mexico, underscored the main cause of the heating up of the planet: the burning of fossil fuels, a question that has been practically sidelined in the talks at the 16th Conference of Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP16). MORE

the_future_modernes

LIBERIA

Liberia: "We're Already At War..."

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West Africa: Ghana Shares Cocoa Know-How With Liberia

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Liberia: Government Moves to Tackle Reproductive Health Issues As Liberia Observes International Women's Day

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INDIA

President Patil comes to footballer's rescue

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Sportswoman thanks Prez for help

( Read more... ) President stresses rural sanitation drive ( Read more... )

Taj in danger from dry Yamuna, delegation tells president

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ZIMBABWE

via:delux_vivens

Zimbabwe’s blood diamonds

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LITHUANIA

AP interview: Lithuania's 'Steel Magnolia' defends maverick approach to foreign policy

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Discussing nuclear energy (in Lithuania and the wider Baltic region in the wake of Fukushima. Also, Sweden is dropping its traditionally neutral stance in affairs of war.

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Grybauskaite: EU should arouse women desire to learn to use information technologies and seek careers in this field ( Read more... ) 2009 Dalia Grybauskaite: Lithuania’s ‘Iron Lady’ ( Read more... )

COSTA RICA

Costa Rica creates 2.47 million acre marine park

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the_future_modernes

BAHRAIN and SAUDI ARABIA

Saudi soldiers sent into Bahrain
Saudi troops and police from UAE deployed to Gulf neighbour to help protect government facilities after weeks of unrest.

Hundreds of Saudi troops have entered Bahrain to help protect government facilities there amid escalating protests against the government.

Bahrain television on Monday broadcast images of troops in armoured cars entering the Gulf state via the 26km causeway that connects the kingdom to Saudi Arabia.

The arrival of the troops follows a request to members of the Gulf Co-Operation Council (GCC) from Bahrain, whose Sunni rulers have faced weeks of protests and growing pressure from a majority Shia population to institute political reforms.

The United Arab Emirates has also sent about 500 police to Bahrain, according to Abdullah bin Zayed Al-Nahyan, the Emirati foreign minister.

The US, which counts both Bahrain and Saudi Arabia among its allies, has called for restraint, but has refrained from saying whether it supports the move to deploy troops.MORE

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

Had issues with DW and this ended up unfinished in my journal instead. Sorry!

JAPAN

Footage of Japan's devastating tsunami

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

Japan Orders Evacuation Near 2nd Nuclear Plant

WASHINGTON — Japanese officials issued broad evacuation orders on Saturday for people living near two nuclear power plants whose cooling systems broke down as a result of the earthquake. The officials warned that small amounts of radioactive material were likely to leak from the plants.

The power plants, known as Daiichi and Daini and operated by Tokyo Electric Power, experienced critical failures of the cooling systems after the plants were shut down, as they were during the quake.

About 45,000 people were affected by the evacuation order at the Daiichi plant, where those living within a six-mile radius were told to leave. The evacuation of the second plant was for a one-mile radius because “there is no sign that radiation has been emitted outside,” an official said.MORE

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

azuirehas links and commentary including ways to help.

Massive tsunami devastates Japan

Coastline swamped and hundreds dead as biggest quake in centuries sends wave crashing ashore and puts Pacific on alert.

Hundreds of people are dead after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Japan, triggering a devastating 10-metre-high tsunami along parts of the country's northeastern coastline.

The massive 8.9-magnitude earthquake struck on Friday afternoon local time, creating gigantic waves which swept away cars, boats, homes and people as the surging water overwhelmed coastal barriers.

Widespread fires burned out of control and Japan's nuclear industry was on alert as reactors shut down automatically as a safety precaution. Millions are reported to be without electricity, airports are closed and public transport in Tokyo and other cities has come to a halt as Japan reels amid the twin devastations.

Police said 200 to 300 bodies have been found in the northeastern coastal city of Sendai where hundreds of buildings have collapsed. Japan's NHK television said the victims appeared to have drowned. Police said another 88 were confirmed killed and 349 were missing.

Thousands of people living near a nuclear plant in Fukushima prefecture were ordered to evacuate after the reactor developing a cooling fault. Officials said the move was a precaution and there was no evidence of leaking radiation.

Meanwhile, countries around the Pacific basin are on tsunami alert amid warnings that a wall of water could completely wash over low-lying islands.MORE

Why Japan is prone to earthquakes

Al Jazeera's senior meteorologist Steff Gaulter gives insight into why earthquakes and tsunamis strike the island nation of Japan:

To put the effects of the latest earthquake in Japan in context, it could help to compare it to other recent quakes: the Haiti earthquake was 7.0 magnitude; the Chile one was 8.8 and the New Zealand one was 6.3.

"So, this as an 8.9, bigger than any of those. It is the seventh-most powerful earthquake that has ever been recorded. So we are talking about a massive earthquake there.

The reason for this activity is because of where Japan is situated, on the joint of four different plates.

"So we have got the Pacific plate and the Philippine plate to the east; and to the west, we have got the North America plate and the Eurasian plate. And what is happening is that the Philippine plate and the Pacific plate are heading towards the west; they are going underneath the other two plates and that is what is causing all the problems.MORE

Video too at link

From California to Chile, residents prepare for waves

Nicaragua: The government issued a green alert for the Pacific area, which makes up 427 coastal kilometers and is home to 100,000 people early this morning. The Chief of Civil Defense, Mario Perezcassar mobilized units to the area, though he has not yet ordered evacuation.
(More on TIME.com: See stunning video of the Japan quake)
Ecuador: President Rafael Correa declared a national emergency and ordered evacuation of the entire coastal region as well as the Galápagos Islands, taking a “better safe than sorry” approach. “If nothing happens, then that's great, but we can't take any risks,” Correa told reporters. Ecuador's heavy crude oil pipeline operator suspended oil shipments.
Colombia: Issued an alert, though no evacuation was ordered. Luz Amanda Pulido, the director of the National System for Disaster Attention and Prevention had a higher alert for the four Pacific coastal regions of Chocó, Valle del Cauca, Cauca and Nariño.

MORE

the_future_modernes

Deaths reported in China quake see map at link

At least 25 killed and more than 250 injured in earthquake near border with Myanmar.
The epicentre of the 5.4-magnitude quake, which struck at 12:58pm (0458 GMT), was located about 225km west-southwest of Dali in Yunnan province, the US Geological Survey (USGS) reported on Thursday.
China Central Television said the quake hit while many people, including students, were home for a customary midday rest. The report said at least two students were among those killed, but didn't give details.
The state broadcaster showed several buildings with concrete foundations that had cracked and buckled.
On Friday, tremors from a separate quake off Japan's Pacific coast could be felt in Beijing, Al Jazeera's Melissa Chan reported. No injuries or damage was immediately reported in China from the massive quake, which has devastated much of northeastern Japan.
CCTV reported that about 100 armed police, firefighters and soldiers were using three excavators to try to rescue a man and a girl trapped inside a four-story building that had partially collapsed in Thursday's quake.MORE

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

On wednesday: 7.9 earthquake hits japan

Japan was struck by a magnitude 7.9 earthquake off its northeastern coast Friday, shaking buildings in Tokyo for several minutes and prompting a tsunami warning.

Japan's meteorological agency warned that a tsunami as high as 20 feet (6 meters) could strike the coast near Miyagi prefecture, closest to the epicenter. Smaller tsunamis of up to 50 centimeters reached some coastal communities, the agency said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said a tsunami warning was in effect for Japan, Russia, Marcus Island and the Northern Marianas. A tsunami watch has been issued for Guam, Taiwan, the Philippines, Indonesia and U.S. state of Hawaii.MORE

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

NEW ZEALAND

Death toll stands at 166, missing list fluctuates

The confirmed death toll from the Christchurch earthquake remains at 166 and 41 victims have now been named .
The number of bodies recovered was unchanged over Sunday night.
Police said this morning that about 200 remain missing from the earthquake almost two weeks ago, but the occasional name is still being added to the list by overseas families worried about family members in New Zealand.MORE

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

New Zealand earthquake: Depth and location key

It is in the nature of earthquakes that they tend to cluster in space and time.

And Tuesday's damaging tremor in Christchurch is almost certainly related to the much more energetic event that hit the region last September.

But whereas last year's quake caused relatively little damage and no deaths, the natural disaster that struck the city on 22 February looks set to go down in the record books as one of the most catastrophic in New Zealand's history.

The critical difference on this occasion is that the ground broke almost directly under the country's second city, and at shallow depth.

Christchurch would have been subjected to intense shaking. Masonry collapse was widespread, even in a city where earthquake building regulations are among the strictest in the world.

Seismologists began to record the biggest tremor, a magnitude 6.3, on their equipment at 12:51 and 43 seconds local time (23:51:43 GMT) - right in the middle of Christchurch's day.

The focus, the point in the Earth where the rocks first rupture, was a mere 5km (3 miles) below the surface.

Contrast this with September's magnitude 7.0 event; its epicentre occurred some 40km west of the city and at a depth of 10km, and it continued to rupture mainly away from the major built-up areas.

MORE

*blink* New Zealand was hit with an earthquake last year? *searches* The previous earthquake in Sept 2010 gave only injuries, but cost up to $2 billion

Much less lucky this time: Quake rocks New Zealand city: PM confirms at least 65 dead after 6.3 magnitude earthquake hits Christchurch for the second time in five months.

John Key, New Zealand prime minister, has said the death toll from the 6.3-magnitude earthquake that struck the city of Christchurch has risen to at least 65. The death toll from Tuesday's earthquake is expected to rise with hundreds of people still reported trapped in buildings on what the prime minister said "may be New Zealand's darkest day".

Key said eight or nine buildings had collapsed. And the spire of the iconic stone Christchurch Cathedral toppled into a central city square.

Bob Parker, Christchurch mayor, declared a state of emergency and ordered people to evacuate the city center.

Video footage showed some multi-storey buildings collapsed in on themselves, while walls of some others collapsed into the streets.
MORE

Toyama [Japan] Group Caught in NZ Quake — Ministry

A group of Japanese students and teachers are believed to be trapped in the rubble of a school that collapsed when New Zealand’s second-largest city Christchurch was hit by an earthquake Tuesday, according to Japan’s foreign ministry.MORE

Christchurch earthquake causes ice to break off New Zealand's largest glacier

CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand — The earthquake that struck Christchurch has caused some 30 million tons of ice to break off from New Zealand's biggest glacier.

Tour guides at the Tasman Glacier in the Southern Alps say the quake caused the ice to "calve" from the glacier, forming icebergs in the terminal lake.MORE

The Guardian Christchurch Earthquake Live Blog

As night falls in Christchurch this is the situation so far.

• 65 people are confirmed dead and more deaths are expected as rescuers comb through the rubble in Christchurch's centre after a 6.3-magnitude shock hit the city during lunch hour

• Emergency crews are working through the night to reach the 100 to 200 people thought to still be trapped inside collapsed buildings

• Tourists were said to have been in the tower of Christchurch Cathedral when it collapsed, and they are feared dead.

• Power and water supplies have been cut off within most of the city, with an evacuation from the city centre being ordered

• Towns outside Christchurch closer to the centre of the earthquake are also said to be devastated MORE

New Zealand Herald:Latest updates: Christchurch earthquake (+ map)

About half of Christchurch remains without power following today's magnitude 6.3 quake, and lines company Orion Energy is warning it will take several days to make repairs.

Up to 80 percent of customers lost power when the quake hit just before 1pm and Orion had managed to restore it to some.

``We have found serious damage to both major cables and substations in the New Brighton and Dallington areas,'' Orion Energy chief executive Roger Sutton said.MORE

Our thoughts are with the stricken nation at this time.

CBS New Zeland Earthquake pics Building damage only should be safe to view.

the_future_modernes

Sri Lanka has also been having some BAAADDDDDD issues with flooding in the last several months.

* Over 2,200 people displaced again by floods and landslides in Sri Lanka

Feb 02, Colombo: While Sri Lanka's north central and eastern parts are struggling to return to normalcy after the recent floods that wreaked havoc in the region another round of heavy rains have set back the recovery efforts.

Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Center (DMC) has reported that 2,271 people from 636 families have been displaced due to the adverse weather conditions experienced in the country currently.

A total of 2,862 people from 738 families have been affected by the heavy rains and landslides in several parts of the country.

Two deaths, a child from Vavuniya and another from Ambawaka on the Badulla-Nuwara Eliya road, have also been reported.

Nearly half of the displaced, 1,011 are in Trincomalee District while another 945 have been displaced in Vavuniya district. The displaced have been given shelter in 11 welfare camps set up by the government in the two districts.MORE

This comes after the worst flood in the country's history earlier this year:

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

Climate Change in Australia's cyclone uptick?

Catastrophic Weather Events Are Becoming the New Normal -- Are You Ready for Life on Our Planet Circa 2011?

Welcome to our planet, circa 2011--a planet that, like some unruly adolescent, has decided to test the boundaries. For two centuries now we've been burning coal and oil and gas and thus pouring carbon into the atmosphere; for two decades now we've been ignoring the increasingly impassioned pleas of scientists that this is a Bad Idea. And now we're getting pinched.

Oh, there have been snowstorms before, and cyclones--our planet has always produced extreme events. But by definition extreme events are supposed to be rare, and all of a sudden they're not. In 2010 nineteen nations set new all-time temperature records (itself a record!) and when the mercury hit 128 in early June along the Indus, the entire continent of Asia set a new all-time temperature mark. Russia caught on fire; Pakistan drowned. Munich Re, the biggest insurance company on earth, summed up the annus horribilis last month with this clinical phrase: "the high number of weather-related natural catastrophes and record temperatures both globally and in different regions of the world provide further indications of advancing climate change."

( Read more... )

the_future_modernes

So Australia has been having a bad couple of months. They've been dealing with floods of Biblical proportions recently, brought on by the La Nina phenomenon, which some scientists think was climate changed enhanced:

A series of floods hit Australia, beginning in December 2010, primarily in the state ofQueensland including its capital city, Brisbane. The floods forced the evacuation of thousands of people from towns and cities.^[2] At least 70 towns and over 200,000 people were affected.^[2]Damage initially was estimated at around A$1 billion.^[3] The estimated reduction in Australia's GDP is about A$30 billion.^[1]
...

( Read more... )

Holy HELL!

effex

Hello!

the_future_modernes asked me to repost this:

* The flooding in Australia is still bad, bad, bad. Both the Australian Red Cross and the Queensland Government homepage are good places to donate (via

copperbadge).

* There's also flooding in Brazil, the Philippines, Malaysia, Thailand and Sri Lanka. And Columbia is still recovering from flooding in early December. Googling gets me the Brazilian Red Cross (in Portuguese), the Philippine Red Cross, the Malaysian Red Crescent, the Thai Red Cross, the Sri Lanka Red Cross, and the Columbian Red Cross (in Spanish). Anyone know of other repudiable organizations?

la_vie_noire

Where Is The Relief Money for Haiti?

The story of the recovery that hasn’t happened in Haiti is at last partially a tale of the money the developed world said it would give, but didn’t. In the immediate aftermath of last year’s earthquake there was a worldwide outpouring of support.

( Cut for transcribed ColorLines graphic )

la_vie_noire

OAS Diplomat's Words Rattle Haiti’s Occupation Regime

The diplomat traces the 200-year history of foreign subjugation of Haiti. He draws a line of continuity to the present. “The world has never known how to treat Haiti, so it has ignored it.”
He says the country has lived a “low intensity war” since 1986, the year of the overthrow of the Duvalier tyranny. “We want to turn Haiti into a capitalist country, an export platform for the U.S. market, it’s absurd. Haiti must return to what it is, that is to say, a predominantly agricultural country still fundamentally imbued with customary law.”

Noting that nearly half of Haiti’s people—4 million—live abroad, Seitenfus says he does not pine for a return to a quaint rural past as a solution to Haiti’s present crisis. But he believes that the foreign intervention runs contrary to the country’s interests and needs. “The problem is socio-economic. When the level of unemployment is 80%, it is unacceptable to deploy a stabilization mission. There is nothing to stabilize and everything to build.”

When the interview turns to questions of aid and earthquake relief, Seitenfus drops a bomb in declaring, “If there is proof of the failure of international aid, it is Haiti.” Charity and aid to Haiti have enfeebled the Haitian state.

[...]

In Haiti, “We must build roads, hydroelectric dams, assist in building government structures, including a judiciary system.”

“The UN says it is not mandated to do that,” he laments. “It’s mandate in Haiti is to maintain the peace of the graveyard.”

His prophetic words may no longer grace the offices of the OAS in Haiti. But they have given voice to countless Haitians still living in the miserable conditions of the camps of internally displaced or still waiting for the promised “reconstruction.”

They will not wait forever. They will continue to assert their rights. The longer the elites of Haiti and the world fail to offer a vision for the future of the country, the more certain become social explosions through which the people reassert their dignity and their rightful claim to social justice.

silveradept

A massive forest fire in Israel is being fought with assistance from the international community.

"HAIFA, Israel – Foreign firefighters and aircraft poured into Israel Friday in an unprecedented wave of international assistance as the country battled a huge forest fire that has killed at least 41 people and displaced thousands....

...Some 100 firefighters from Bulgaria arrived as well as fire extinguishing planes and crews from Greece and Britain, Israeli officials said. More aid was on its way from the United States, Russia, Egypt, Cyprus, Jordan, Spain, Azerbaijan, Romania and Turkey — which put aside tensions over Israel's deadly raid on a Turkish Gaza-bound flotilla in May to lend a hand."

(Fox News reporting.)

Big fire. Really big fire. Hopefully under control and put out by now.

la_vie_noire

Cholera Outbreak Worsens in Haiti.

Yes, experts predicted the likely outbreak of deadly disease not long after the earthquake, yet infrastructure in preparation for the outbreak was still lacking when it hit. Indeed, as of two months ago, a mere 2% of the earthquake debris has been cleared; I’m unsure if more recent figures are available, but it’s doubtful that two months managed to magically accomplish what nine months did not. With this being the case, it’s less than shocking that there is also a severe lack of working toilets and uncontaminated water.

If you have money to spare, Partners in Health is an on the ground organization in Haiti that takes a community-based approach to providing free health care. They have been responding to the cholera outbreak by treating patients both at special treatment centers and in their communities, distributing soap and water purification supplies, educating communities on prevention, building showers, and working towards long-term water security in Haiti. You can support Partners in Health’s efforts to respond to the cholera outbreak and save lives by donating here.

the_future_modernes

Icelandic Volcano's ash cloud causes flight chaos across Europe

Tens of thousands of people across northern Europe have faced flight disruptions after a dangerous ash cloud from a volcano eruption in Iceland billowed throughout the region's skies.

Airports across UK, Ireland, Norway, Holland and Finland have closed down their airspaces, cancelling all flights.

Al Jazeera's Emma Hayward reports.

From the BBC

The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.

Prof Bill McGuire, professor at the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, said it was not "particularly unusual" for ash from Icelandic eruptions to reach the UK.

"Such a large eruption... would have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more.

"In relation to the current eruption, it is worth noting that the last eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull lasted more than 12 months." MORE

the_future_modernes

Remember the Goldstone Report? Remeber Abbas' incomprehensible request to avoid voting on the report as soon as it was released in the UN? Well then.

Diskin to Abbas: Defer UN vote on Goldstone or face 'second Gaza

The request by Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas to the United Nations Human Rights Council last year to postpone the vote on the Goldstone report followed a particularly tense meeting with the head of the Shin Bet security service, Haaretz has learned. At the October meeting in Ramallah, Shin Bet chief Yuval Diskin told Abbas that if he did not ask for a deferral of the vote on the critical report on last year's military operation, Israel would turn the West Bank into a "second Gaza."MORE

Also: MIDEAST: Israel Jails Palestinian Peace Activists and MIDEAST: Sale of Land to Israel Threatens to Split Church

This is going to end well.

HAITI-DOMINICAN REPUBLIC: Sisters in Catastrophe

BRAZIL: 'Colonisation Made Us Poor,' Say Indigenous Peoples

U.S.: 200,000 undocumented Haitians to seek legal status

Haiti hit by another earthquake

Millions view solar eclipse

Azerbaijan: 20th anniversary of Baku pogrom and Black January

Camara backs Guinea's interim ruler

Clashes near Nigerian city of Jos

Kenya protest turns deadly

Caucasus: Society, sex and the dating game

Poland Has Three Preliminary LOT Bids, May Get More

Frost has killing effects on Colombia's Rose Exports

Huge link list of stories about Muslim women

Profile

Discussion of All Things Political

January 2013

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Syndicate

Page Summary

the_future_modernes - Climate peace keepers?
the_future_modernes - migration due to global warming.
la_vie_noire - (no subject)
the_future_modernes - Japan: tsunami and nuclear crisis
the_future_modernes - COP 16: The Cancun Betrayal
the_future_modernes - Women political leaders in the news
the_future_modernes - Living in interesting times
the_future_modernes - The 5th biggest earthquake in the world and other news...
the_future_modernes - Night.mare. fuel.
the_future_modernes - So the tsunami and earthquake have fucked up japan pretty badly
the_future_modernes - 5.4 Earthquake in China, 25 dead, over 1000 buildings down
the_future_modernes - earthquakes hits japan eta: and another one triggers a tsunami
the_future_modernes - News Update.
the_future_modernes - New Zealand's second largest city Christchurch hit by powerful earthquake 6.3 on the Richter scale
the_future_modernes - Bad Weather Coming...Sri Lanka Floods
the_future_modernes - Bad weather coming...Yasi makes landfall @ category 5, no injuries or deaths reported
the_future_modernes - Monster Cyclone Yasi, which is almost size of USA, to hit Australia on Wednesday UPDATED
effex - Floods worldwide
la_vie_noire - (no subject)
la_vie_noire - (no subject)
silveradept - Giant fire in Israel - International aid helping combat the blaze.
la_vie_noire - (no subject)
the_future_modernes - Volcano continues to affect Europe
the_future_modernes - Volcano
the_future_modernes - Story come to light

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Discussion of All Things Political

Entries tagged with issues: environment: natural disaster

Climate peace keepers?

migration due to global warming.

(no subject)

Japan: tsunami and nuclear crisis

COP 16: The Cancun Betrayal

Women political leaders in the news

Living in interesting times

The 5th biggest earthquake in the world and other news...

Night.mare. fuel.

So the tsunami and earthquake have fucked up japan pretty badly

5.4 Earthquake in China, 25 dead, over 1000 buildings down

earthquakes hits japan eta: and another one triggers a tsunami

News Update.

New Zealand's second largest city Christchurch hit by powerful earthquake 6.3 on the Richter scale

Bad Weather Coming...Sri Lanka Floods

Bad weather coming...Yasi makes landfall @ category 5, no injuries or deaths reported

Monster Cyclone Yasi, which is almost size of USA, to hit Australia on Wednesday UPDATED

Floods worldwide

(no subject)

(no subject)

Giant fire in Israel - International aid helping combat the blaze.

(no subject)

Volcano continues to affect Europe

Volcano

Story come to light

Profile

January 2013

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