natural catastrophe

Burmese comedian Zarganar paying a high price for straight talk

Sophie — Thu, 26 Jun 2008 19:02:07 +0200

Three weeks after his arrest on June 4, a Burmese comedian known as "Zarganar" remains in an interrogation centre in Rangoon. The junta has as yet given any explanation as to why they arrested Zarganar, but it is assumed that his critical attitude towards the government in the aftermath of the Nargis cyclone has something to do with it.

The Burmese comedian, film director and political activist has already been detained three times in the past 20 years. He is an avid and outspoken activist, and his comedy often contains references to the ruling regime. Last year he brought attention to himself by handing out food to the protesting monks in September's clashes.

This time, he was arrested after carrying out a humanitarian aid project that brought together some 400 writers, artists and activists to deliver aid to victims of the cyclone that struck almost two months ago. When asked by the media about his reasons, the comedian spoke openly. He told them that the government wasn't doing anything to help. It has now been three weeks since the 47-year-old was arrested, when ten policemen turned up at his home without warning at 10 pm.

When I grow up I want to be a storm chaser…

Sophie — Tue, 17 Jun 2008 11:15:54 +0200

Photo: Miguel Angel Fariña on Flickr.

Bungee jumping is so past-it in Arizona. If you want a real thrill, then get in your car and follow that tornado.

While other children were dreaming of becoming footballers and firemen, Reed was getting excited about perilous weather forecasts. Twenty years later, he's carved his name out of the trade. Reed is now a successful storm chaser. He lives for and from extreme weather conditions, selling close-up images to the press and taking thrill-seeking tourists on tornado-trails (which cost around USD$2000 per week). And thanks to the particularly turbulent climate conditions of recent times, this season is proving profitable...

Aid relief tents selling for €120 as refugees go unsheltered

Sophie — Wed, 28 May 2008 17:38:52 +0200

Tents that were supposed to be given out to victims left homeless after the devastating earthquake of May 12 have been discovered in unaffected, wealthy areas of the epicentre city of Chengdu, Sichuan province - and, according to web users, they are selling for 1,300RMB (€120). With refugees left unsheltered, protests have broken out over the apparent corruption.

These images were originally published on the Chengdu All-search site. They disappeared - censured? - but later reappeared here.

Rescue

Julien — Mon, 26 May 2008 14:03:35 +0200

These photos were taken in Qing Chuan, a city in the province of Sichuan which was very affected by the earthquake. A few minutes after the quake of May 12, residents of a building organize themselves to evacuate the children.

These photos were originally published on the Chinese internet site 6park, which also details the earthquake’s death and destruction toll on this city:

- 4,300 dead

- 16,000 wounded

- 30% of homes completely destroyed

- 65% of homes left uninhabitable

According to a Beijing spokesperson, the quake left 65,000 dead throughout the country. But this total is not confirmed yet.

The day before the earthquake

Sophie — Thu, 22 May 2008 16:14:02 +0200

Chinese web users have been moved by these images. They were taken by a school teacher called Tang in Beichuan in a town near the epicentre, one day before the earthquake. The day after, the school collapsed, and two-thirds of the town's residents were killed.

In the midst of thousands of photos of dead bodies and destruction that have flooded the Internet in the past few days, these are possibly the hardest to bear. They have already been viewed by 120,000 people and provoked over 1600 comments.

The teacher who posted the photos on her blog left a message a few days after the earthquake to reassure web users that she and her pupils were safe and well. We don't know how many of the school's other students were killed in the earthquake.

Amateur video of the earthquake, 20 seconds after the tremor

Sophie — Tue, 20 May 2008 16:41:30 +0200

This video was filmed in the seconds that followed the earthquake in Beichuan, a town near the epicentre. The footage was shot in a theatre where a group of children were putting on a performance. It's 2pm (China time) on the twelfth of May. The ground is still shaking and the walls are collapsing around those still alive.

Red Cross aid packs sold in markets in Rangoon

Sophie — Thu, 15 May 2008 12:46:26 +0200

The online journal Mizzima has just published this photo showing boxes of products emblazoned with the Red Cross logo piled up at a Rangoon market stall ready for sale. Is international aid funding the country's military officials?

Mizzima News, a Burmese information site based in India, says that its correspondents in the country found foreign branded noodles, biscuits, dried meats, tents and mosquito nets in several markets in the capital. According to the site, these are the same products that had been distributed to zones wrecked by the cyclone, which came from foreign aid packages sent by various countries including Thailand, China, the USA and Japan.

Kio, one of our Observers for Burma, confirms to us that products intended for humanitarian aid relief are being sold in markets all over the country. It's impossible to know how the goods got there, but Kio reminds us that each delivery of aid goes through the junta. According to him, the products would have been sold-off by Burmese regime officials.

How not to get crushed to death in an earthquake

Sophie — Wed, 14 May 2008 12:58:45 +0200

Following the death of over 14,800 people in the huge earthquake that devastated China on Monday, a Chinese web-user is circulating an email with pictures of quake ruins to illustrate where to hide, and more importantly, where not to. The instructions are entitled "Where should you hide during an earthquake? Not where you were taught!"

Did toads predict the earthquake?

Julien — Tue, 13 May 2008 12:56:23 +0200

According to recent estimates, the earthquake that hit China on Monday could leave 10,000 people dead. Web users are saying that the catastrophe could have been avoided, if only they had listened to the toads.

Two days before the quake thousands of toads suddenly decided to move across a bridge in Taizhou, a town in the Jiangsu province (see photos). Chinese web users are wondering why the local authorities didn't relate the event to the imminence of an earthquake, and why scientists didn't take notice of the bizarre disappearance of a lake in Enshi, in the Hubei province, on April 26 (see photos).

A seismologist tells us that the Chinese have long relied on the behaviour of animals to predict earthquakes. Although there's no scientific study to back up the farmers' claims, the idea that toads sensed the earthquake should not be ruled out.

Bound and braced for the winds

Julien — Mon, 12 May 2008 14:44:04 +0200

One of our Burmese observers sent us this image, taken in the Irrawaddy Delta region a few days after the devastating Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma’s low-lying coastal regions on May 3. He explains why the bodies of these three children are bound together at the wrist - apparently to prevent them from being whipped away by the cyclone.

Western diplomats quoted by the AFP news service today talk about a death toll of around 100,000 people. Kio, our Burmese Observer based in neighbouring Thailand, denounces the lethargy of the ever-suspicious Burmese military junta, which has only allowed a trickle of international aid into the country. Kio is concerned about the risk of epidemics, as corpse-riddled waters contaminate the region’s water supplies. Burmese bloggers are publishing grim photographs of corpses (here and here). The Observers is publishing just one of these images to give an idea of the extent of the damage wrecked by the cyclone. This photo of three tiny, bound children provides some idea of the horrors many Burmese parents must have experienced in the panic-stricken moments before the full impact of Nargis. Apparently, the parents - or loved ones – of these children had the time to tie them together in a desperate attempt to prevent them from being carried away by the winds. But it was not enough to save them.