Tag: QUAK

After quake, Syrian schools silent as teachers, students perish

[ad_1]

JANDARIS, Syria, Feb 12 (Reuters) – An eerie silence lay over the courtyard of Ramadan al-Suleiman’s nursery in northern Syria on Sunday as he picked his way through smashed cinderblocks, twisted metal and broken plastic swings.

The modest nursery in the town of Jandaris – about 70 km (44 miles) from the city of Aleppo – once hosted 100 toddlers, whose dusty pictures now lay strewn among the debris caused by Monday’s devastating earthquake. Some of those children and teachers would not be coming back, Suleiman said.

“We lost two of the female teachers from the important cadres at the school. We lost seven or eight students that we know of,” he told Reuters.

They were among more than 2,600 people reported so far to have died in the earthquake in opposition-held parts of northern Syria. More than 3,500 were killed across Syria in total and nearly 30,000 in Turkey.

Children’s education in Syria was already hard hit by the war that has raged since 2011. For years, schools would regularly shut because of fighting, mortar fire by rebel groups or air strikes by the Syrian government or Russia.

Latest Updates

View 2 more stories

The earthquake destroyed more than 115 schools in Syria and damaged hundreds more, according to a United Nations update published Saturday.

More than 100 others were being used as makeshift shelters to host thousands displaced by the earthquake, which brought apartment blocks and even tiny rural homes crashing down on residents’ heads.

Suleiman has been trying to track down some of the nursery children from whose families he has not heard.

“I went around to buildings where I know some of the students live – and 90% of them were destroyed. There are some pupils that I suspect are dead because we cannot reach their families at all,” he said.

Jandaris was particularly devastated, with many concrete buildings pulverised.

Rescuers across Syria, including in the north, have been pulling young children out from under the rubble – some of them miraculously alive even almost a week after the quake, but orphaned.

Others did not make it.

Mohammad Hassan said he still doesn’t know what happened to his seven-year-old daughter Lafeen’s friends and classmates.

“We asked around and discovered that one of her teachers died, may God bless her soul,” Hassan told Reuters as Lafeen played quietly in his lap.

“She is shocked, she asks me to go see if something happened to the kindergarten. I’m telling her nothing happened and I will take you there once it reopens.”

Reporting by Khalil Ashawi; Writing by Maya Gebeily
Editing by Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

February 13, 2023
Turkey orders arrests over collapsed buildings in earthquake
[ad_1]
Government vows meticulous probe into those responsible

Nearly 25,000 buildings collapsed or badly damaged

Opposition has accused government of not enforcing regulations

Erdogan says opposition lies to besmirch government

One developer arrested as he prepared to fly from Turkey
ISTANBUL, Feb 12 (Reuters) – Turkey vowed on Sunday to investigate thoroughly anyone suspected of responsibility for the collapse of buildings in the country’s devastating earthquakes nearly one week ago and has already ordered the detention of 113 suspects.

Vice President Fuat Oktay said overnight that 131 suspects had so far been identified as responsible for the collapse of some of the thousands of buildings flattened in the 10 provinces affected by the tremors early last Monday.

“Detention orders have been issued for 113 of them,” Oktay told reporters in a briefing at the disaster management coordination centre in Ankara.

“We will follow this up meticulously until the necessary judicial process is concluded, especially for buildings that suffered heavy damage and buildings that caused deaths and injuries.”

He said the justice ministry had established earthquake crimes investigation bureaus in the quake zone provinces to investigate deaths and injuries.

Latest Updates

View 2 more stories

Environment Minister Murat Kurum said that 24,921 buildings across the region had collapsed or were heavily damaged in the quake, based on assessments of more than 170,000 buildings.

Rescuers were still looking for survivors in the earthquake rubble six days after the disaster, which hit parts of Syria and Turkey. The death toll has exceeded 28,000 and is expected to rise further.

Opposition parties have accused President Tayyip Erdogan’s government of not enforcing building regulations, and of mis-spending special taxes levied after the last major earthquake in 1999 in order to make buildings more resistant to quakes.

[1/7] Rescuers carry survivor Muzeyyen Ofkeli in the aftermath of a deadly earthquake, in Hatay, Turkey February 12, 2023. REUTERS/Kemal Aslan

Erdogan has said the opposition just tells lies and spreads slander to besmirch the government, obstructing investment instead of facing up to corruption in the opposition-run municipalities.

In the 10 years to 2022, Turkey slipped 47 places in Transparency International’s Corruption Perception Index to 101, having been as high as 54 out of 174 countries in 2012.

State prosecutors in Adana ordered the detention of 62 people in an investigation into collapsed buildings, while prosecutors sought the arrest of 33 people in Diyarbakir for the same reason, state-owned Anadolu news agency reported.

It said eight people had been detained in Sanliurfa and four in Osmaniye in connection with destroyed buildings believed to have faults, such as columns being removed.

Police detained the developer of one residential complex which collapsed in Antakya at Istanbul Airport as he prepared to board a plane for Montenegro on Friday evening and he was formally arrested on Saturday, according to Anadolu.

The upmarket 12-storey residential complex was completed a decade ago and contained 249 apartments. There was no information on the casualties in that building.

The arrested man told prosecutors he did not know why the complex collapsed and that his desire to go to Montenegro was unrelated, Anadolu reported.

“We fulfilled all procedures set out in legislation,” he was quoted by Anadolu as saying in his statement. “All licenses were obtained.”

Additional reporting by Dominic Evans,
Writing by Daren Butler;
Editing by Ece Toksabay and Raissa Kasolowsky

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.
[ad_2]

Source link
February 13, 2023
Thousands on alert in Indonesia’s Java after Mt. Semeru eruption

[ad_1]

JAKARTA, Dec 5 (Reuters) – Thousands of residents in Indonesia’s East Java were on high alert on Monday after a violent eruption at the island’s tallest volcano prompted authorities to impose an 8-kilometer no-go zone and forced evacuations of entire villages.

The provincial search and rescue agency deployed teams to the worst-affected areas near Mount Semeru to assess damage, with low rainfall giving some reprieve, Tholib Vatelehan, a Basarnas spokesperson, told Reuters.

“Yesterday, the rainfall level was high, causing all the material from the top of the mountain to come down. But today, so far, there’s no rain, so its relatively safe,” he said.

No casualties have been reported and there has not been any immediate disruption to air travel.

The 3,676-metre volcano erupted at 2.46pm local time on Sunday (0746GMT). Footage shot by local residents showed Mt. Semeru spewing a giant cloud of grey ash high above its crater, which later engulfed the mountain and surrounding rice paddy fields, roads and bridges, and turned the sky black. A video shared by the Environment Ministry on Twitter showed a pyroclastic flow of lava, rocks and hot gases gushing down the mountainside.

People fled the eruption on motorcycles, with almost 2,500 people forced to evacuate, authorities said.

Indonesia’s volcanology and geological hazard mitigation agency on Sunday raised the alert level for Mt. Semeru to the highest level. The agency also issued a warning to residents not to approach within 8 km (5 miles) of the summit, or 500 metres of riversides due to risks of lava flows.

Semeru erupted last year killing more than 50 people and displacing thousands more.

The eruption, some 640 km (400 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, follows a series of earthquakes in the west of Java, including one last month that killed more than 300 people.

An archipelago of 270 million that sits along the Pacific Ring of Fire, Indonesia is one of the most disaster-prone nations on earth.

With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the largest population globally living in close range to a volcano, including 8.6 million within 10km (6.2 miles).

Reporting by Ananda Teresia; Writing by Kate Lamb; Editing by Kanupriya Kapoor

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 4, 2022
Indonesia evacuates villagers as volcano erupts on Java island

[ad_1]

JAKARTA, Dec 4 (Reuters) – A volcano erupted in Indonesia on Sunday spewing a cloud of ash 15 km into the sky and forcing the evacuation of nearly 2,000 people, authorities said, as they issued their highest warning for the area in the east of Java island.

There were no immediate reports of any casualties from the eruption of the Semeru volcano and Indonesia’s transport ministry said that there was no impact on air travel but notices had been sent to two regional airports for vigilance.

“Most roads have been closed since this morning and now it is raining volcanic ash and it has covered the view of the mountain,” community volunteer Bayu Deny Alfianto told Reuters by telephone from near the volcano.

Semeru, the tallest mountain on Java, erupted last year killing more than 50 people and displacing thousands.

Indonesia’s disaster mitigation agency (BNPB) said 1,979 people had been moved to 11 shelters and authorities had distributed masks to residents. The eruption began at 2:46 a.m. (1946 GMT on Saturday) and rescue, search and evacuation efforts were going on.

The volcano’s plume of ash reached a height of 50,000 feet (15 km), said Japan’s Meteorology Agency, which had initially been on alert for the possibility that the volcano could trigger a tsunami. It later ruled that out.

The eruption, some 640 km (400 miles) east of the capital, Jakarta, follows a series of earthquakes in the west of Java, including one last month that killed more than 300 people.

[1/7] Mount Semeru volcano spews volcanic ash during an eruption as seen from Candipuro in Lumajang, East Java province, Indonesia, December 4, 2022, in this photo taken by Antara Foto. Antara Foto/Iwan/ via REUTERS

Indonesia’s Center for Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation, PVMBG, raised the level of volcanic activity to its highest level and warned residents not to approach within 8 km (5 miles) of Semeru’s eruption centre.

Hot ash clouds had drifted nearly 12 miles (19 km) from the centre of eruption, it said.

PVMBG chief Hendra Gunawan said a bigger volume of magma could have built up compared with previous eruptions of the volcano, in 2021 and 2020, which could mean greater danger for a bigger area.

“Semeru’s hot clouds could reach further and at a distance where there are many residences,” he said.

In a video sent to Reuters by police in the area, villagers were seen moving away from the slopes of the volcano, some with belongings stacked on motor bikes. A damaged bridge was covered in volcanic ash.

With 142 volcanoes, Indonesia has the world’s largest population living close range to volcano, with 8.6 million people within 10 km (6 miles) of one.

The deadly late-November quake that hit in West Java was 5.6 magnitude but at a shallow depth. A 6.1 quake struck at a deeper depth on Saturday sending people running from buildings but it did not cause major damage or casualties.

Reporting by Stefanno Sulaiman and Angie Teo in Jakarta; Additional reporting by Tetsushi Kajimoto in Tokyo; Editing by William Mallard and Lincoln Feast

Our Standards: The Thomson Reuters Trust Principles.

[ad_2]

Source link

December 4, 2022