Saturday, February 27, 2010
NEWS REPORT – 4th February 2008
Earthquakes kills 39 and left hundreds injured!
Democratic Republic of Congo, Africa
The Lake Kivu earthquake shook the South Kivu area on the border of the Democratic Republic of Congo and Rwanda, the Western Rift of the East African rift system. The epicentre was 20 kilometres north of Bukavu at Lake Kivu in Democratic Republic of Congo. The earthquake struck
on Sunday, February 3, 2008 at 9:35 am (local time).
The countries which experienced the 5.9 magnitude measured on the moment magnitude scale according to the United States Geological Survey include Rwanda, Burundi, Democratic Republic of Congo and Kenya.
The Rwanda Flag
The Burundi Flag
The Congo Flag
The Kenya Flag
At the earthquake's latitude, the Africa and Somalia plates are spreading apart at a rate of about four millimeters per year. The earthquake occurred near Lake Kivu, the basin of which was created by normal faulting similar to that which produced the February 3 earthquake.
The total casualties of the earthquake included 39 dead and approximately 349 injured as at press time.
This earthquake had either damaged or destroyed many houses and buildings, leaving the victims of the earthquake homeless and devastated over the loss of their families. Overall, the impact of this earthquake was considerably great, causing extreme damage and widespread to the country. In total, 16 churches, 12 schools and 2,488 homes had been damaged and 304 households made
homeless. Total economic losses estimated was said to exceed 100 million dollars!
The International Committee of the Red Cross has provided logistic support to the Red Cross branch of South Kivu. Médecins Sans Frontières Netherlands and UNICEF had also provided medical support – mostly medicines to enable health centres in Bukavu and Kabare to provide better assistance to affected people.
Also, volunteers of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Action were mobilized in the early hours to evacuate injured victims to medical centres.
Mennonite Central Committee had provided $10,000 in emergency material assistance to help shelter and care for 100 women and children affected by the earthquakes in Democratic Republic of Congo.
The government and natural councils of Congo also planned to use the money to provide victims including women and children with clothing, blankets, mattresses and plastic sheeting. In addition, there would be a training for the women and children where they would be taught about reducing their vulnerability to diseases, and they will be aided in trauma recovery.
Reflections…
I feel that such natural disasters cannot be avoided, but we can do our best to mitigate the potential damages and, after the event, alleviate the pain suffered . One of the ways is to have an effective public warning system to alert the citizens of the impending catastrophe. The citizens would be evacuated in a systematic and orderly manner to shelters and safe areas where they would receive the necessary treatment. With this system, less lives would be lost when escaping as they had been informed and forewarned, allowing them to have more time to evacuate to safety.
The government should also employ experts such as seismologists and geologists to conduct research on the movement of the earth crustal plates relevant to their country and investigate the nature and distribution of earthquake activities. This will further enhance the effectiveness of the early warning system since the people living in the more earthquake-prone areas will be prepared for such catastrophes.
The pictures above show that many agencies and committees are trying their best to help the unfortunate victims see the light of hope and start their lives again. Also, volunteers play their part by rebuilding building structures and homes to let the people of Congo live their lives in peace. All the hard work they had put in was worth to see the smile of the victims there.
Bibliography
http://planetearth.nerc.ac.uk/multimedia/story.aspx?id=385 – sound recordings of crustal plates movements
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2008_Lake_Kivu_earthquake - website
http://www.ifrc.org/docs/appeals/08/MDRCD003.pdf - Newspaper report
http://www.nationalgeographic.com/ - suggested good reading for earthquakes
Reported by: Ng Tsin Ying, Claris
Sec 1 Loyalty
Love,
[claris]
(2:07 AM)
Wednesday, February 3, 2010
Yup, i'm in the computer lab now:)
lalalalallallalalalalallallalallla:D
Love,
[claris]
(7:31 PM)