natural catastrophe

If the sh** hits the fan, they are ready for it

Team Observers — Wed, 10 Mar 2010 18:56:00 +0100

Global economic meltdown, mass natural disasters, pandemics... Whatever the apocalyptic scenario, "preppers" are ready for it. Lamps made from potatoes, toilet paper from cloth, toothpaste from glycerin and... lots of Spam.

It's no surprise that the trend, known as "survivalism", was born in the United States, where the principle of self-reliance is one of the founding values of society. Convinced that disaster could strike when we least expect it, the most prudent of US citizens are preparing for the worst.

One self-described "prepper" explains the reason for his lifestyle change to emergency "survivalism" on his website: "In May of last year, I had an epiphany: bad times lay ahead. I accurately predicted the current financial crisis back then, and with my new-found knowledge, I don't see much hope for recovery any time soon. I've learned that our "global economy" is nothing more than a great Ponzi/pyramid scheme, and I've come to realise that the only way to insulate one's self from the collapse of that scheme is to prepare for self reliant living."

"Preppers" use the Web to share warnings, tips and do-it-yourself instructions for making everything from toothpaste to cloth female hygiene pads.

Most see owning a gun to defend their stockpile as a natural part of being prepared, and are staunch advocates of the right to bear arms. Women "preppers" are experts at stockpiling year-long supplies of food, and come up with ingenious recipes for cooking with anything canned, frozen or dehydrated.

A prepper demonstrates how she stores two year's worth of food. Posted on YouTube by foodstoragedeals.

Zambian capital uninhabitable after floods

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 02 Mar 2010 12:13:40 +0100

Lusaka has been submerged in floodwater for the past two weeks, leaving hundreds of homes uninhabitable. Six townships in the capital are affected. Last Thursday (Feb. 25), 73 families, or 430 people, were moved to temporary accommodation. In total 150 families are asking for a permanent solution.

These photos were taken by Raymond Mwanza, or Mr Zinthambo, near his home in a suburb of Lusaka on Feb. 27. On Tuesday (March 2), he and his family were still awaiting news of accommodation, and also looking themselves for a housing solution.

"The longest four minutes of my life"

Team Observers — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 22:59:30 +0100

Early Saturday morning, at 3:34am, a massive earthquake of magnitude 8.8 struck off the Chilean coast. At that exact moment, Carlos, one of our Observers from Chile, was asleep at his girlfriend's family home in Talca, Maule, one of the regions hardest hit by the quake.

Carlos, 23, spoke to the Observers team in Paris by Facebook chat on Monday morning. It was 6:30 in the morning in Talca. He, his girlfriend and her family were huddled in the dark in the doorway of their home, where they now spend their nights in fear of a new aftershock that would force them to run outside. Carlos couldn't sleep, so he logged on to Facebook.

Atlantic storm Xynthia leaves seaside towns in shock

Team Observers — Mon, 01 Mar 2010 17:33:29 +0100

Desolation row. The port of La Rochelle after the storm. Photo: Eliane and Gérard Roi.

A powerful storm with hurricane-force winds battered France over the weekend, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes without power and killing 47 people.

The Atlantic coast was particularly hard hit, with fatal flash floods, caused by a combination of broken dams, rapidly rising tides and overflowing riverbeds. Thirty-three people died in the coastal region of Vendée alone, and another six in the southern region of Charente-Maritime.

Half a million people were still without electricity on Monday morning. It may take several days for power to be re-established in the zones most badly affected by the storm.

Contact with Haiti residents: rubble, bribes and petrol queues

Sophie Team Observers — Mon, 18 Jan 2010 19:16:08 +0100

Photo posted on the Red Cross Facebook page.

Six days after the earthquake, little contact has been made with residents of Port-au-prince, where communication remains almost impossible. We managed to talk via webcam to residents of a suburb of the capital, who had contacted FRANCE 24 by email.

“Internet is the only way of communicating right now”

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 13 Jan 2010 12:18:18 +0100

The violent earthquake that hit Haiti at 5pm (local time) yesterday turned Port-au-Prince into a disaster zone. Despite the communication blackout which ensued, we managed to reach Carel Pedre, a resident of the capital, by webcam. He describes the panic-stricken city.

It only took a minute to destroy numerous districts of the capital. There's currently no electricity, opportunists have taken to looting, and President René Préval was, at some point, taken for dead. (Haiti's ambassador to Mexico has since confirmed the president is alive and well.)

Reaching contacts there is proving very difficult. Telephone antennae have been toppled, leaving "Internet the only way of communicating", as told to us by local resident Carel Pedre at 3am this morning (local time).

Carel lives close to Pétionville, in the hills above Port-au-Prince. Carel says that there is little means of communication and that he has yet to see a single rescuer. As it's impossible to contact relatives and friends; the level of panic in the area is rising.

Olympic Sochi port destroyed in storm

Sophie Team Observers — Wed, 16 Dec 2009 16:38:55 +0100

The Russian city of Sochi, set to host the Olympic Winter Games in 2014, was hit by a violent storm earlier this week, destroying a half-finished port, under construction for the specific purpose of serving the delivery of materials for the games.

Along with the pier itself, building equipment including cranes, a drilling installation and a diesel power unit were washed away by the waves. A capsized diving boat used for pier construction was retrieved on the morning of Dec. 15, but the three crewmen onboard were not found. Rescuers are continuing to search for the missing men.

Video posted on Liveleak .

Was the catastrophe in Jeddah avoidable?

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 08 Dec 2009 17:23:26 +0100

The Um Al-Kheir complex in a western suburb of Jeddah. Photo published on the Facebook page "Catastrophe in Jeddah".

The torrential rains that engulfed Jeddah on November 25 killed 108 people and caused 2 billion dollars worth of damages. City residents are convinced that the Saudi authorities are partly responsible for the tragedy.

The day after the downpour, the Web was inundated with images of the aftermath. Not only was their town turned upside-down, but they saw the resulting death toll climb throughout the day. On Nov. 30, King Abdullah announced that the family of each victim would receive one million riyals (€177,000) in compensation, and that an investigation into who was responsible for damages would be launched.

Our Observer in Jeddah explains why he believes the catastrophe was inevitable.

The Um Al-Kheir complex; image posted here.

Haj pilgrims tested by deadly downpours

Sophie Team Observers — Fri, 27 Nov 2009 14:32:43 +0100

The hundreds of thousands of tunic-clad pilgrims who made their way to Mount Arafat for the annual Haj today are lucky to be alive after surviving torrential rains which cost the lives of at least people.

The Saudi authorities, already faced with the onset of the H1N1 virus in the midst of the pilgrimage, said that they would "control the situation". Local residents were asked not to leave their homes. But in just one day, four people in Mecca and at least 44 in Jeddah were killed. Today, local media are reporting 83 dead.

After the storm

Sophie Team Observers — Tue, 06 Oct 2009 10:19:38 +0200

The Philippine capital, Manila, the worst-hit victim of Typhoon Ketsana, was devastated by the storm's arrival on September 26. Ten days after the crisis began, the metropolis remains in ruins. One of our Observers there, exchange student Martin Poletiek, sent us this account and photos from Tatalon, a poor district of the capital. This information has not been verified by FRANCE 24.

The government can hardly help all the refugees — there are almost two million of them. The current death toll is around 400 — and rising, according to Gilberto Teodoro, the defence secretary. Around 320,000 people have taken refuge in schools, education centres, churches.

Tatalon (a district of Quezon City, itself a region of Metro Manila) is one of the poorest communities in the area. Most people live in hovels and don't own the land.

The 30,000 inhabitants had to evacuate after water levels rose to three metres and sparked the risk of fires from electric cables.

95 percent of the people here had their houses damaged or destroyed.

They have received no help, even a week after the storm. NGOs and the local authorities are overwhelmed by the events. We were the first to discover the devastation in this area. People begged us for rice.

They lost everything they owned, and what's left of it is now forming piles of rubbish up to two metres high in the streets.

Sanitary conditions are getting increasingly worse. The threat of an epidemic is rising.

Photos taken by Martin's fellow students, Edern Le Bris and Abigael Cheung. See more on their website.