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Malawi seeks food aid for quake victims
Blantyre (AFP) Dec 21, 2009 Malawi on Monday launched an emergency appeal for food and tents for victims of a strong weekend earthquake that left three dead and about 300 injured in the northern part of the country. "We immediately needfamily tents, blankets, plastic sheets, maize flour and other items so that families are not separated," Lilian Ng'oma, commissioner for the government's disaster management department, said in a statement. Up to 4,676 people have been displaced and 1,110 houses destroyed after a series of quakes over the last two weeks in the uranium-mining Karonga district. Sunday's quake registered at least 6.0 on the Richter scale, the largest since the tremors began two weeks ago, geologists said. "We are asking well-wishers including donors, religious organisations, business people and individuals to come forward with assistance," Ng'oma said. "We will appreciate any assistance rendered," she added. Ng'oma said her department was also looking for "big tents to keep pupils in schools" after scores of classroom blocks collapsed and others developedcracks. She said she hoped that President Bingu wa Mutharika, who visited the victims last week, would "soon declare the area a disaster." Malawi has recorded the quake at 6.2, while the US Geological Survey put it at 6.0. It struck at 1:19 am Sunday (2319 GMT Saturday). Gasten Macheka, commissioner for the district which borders Tanzania, said the three dead included a child crushed by falling bricks, and two adults. Eighty-one people have been admitted to the district hospital. Macheka said the quake destroyed several buildings in the district, which is being mined for uranium by Australian firm Paladin. Scores of other people have been injured, including residents who were inside a school dormitory when its walls collapsed. Over 200,000 people have been urged to evacuate their homes in the district, which lies in the earthquake-prone East African Rift Valley. This stretchesfrom the Red Sea through Ethiopia, Kenya, Uganda, Tanzania and Mozambique. Geologists say the region is an area of seismic activity because of the existing extensivestructural fractureswhich are points where tremors can be generated. This month's quakes are the biggest to hit Malawi in 20 years. Share This Article With Planet Earth
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Eight dead in China school stampede: state mediaBeijing (AFP) Dec 8, 2009 Eight students were killed and 26 others injured in a stampede down a narrow stairway at a middle school in central China, state media reported on Tuesday. The incident occurred Monday night in the city of Xiangxiang in Hunan province as students at Yucai Middle School, a private boarding school, rushed down stairs after an evening study session, Xinhua news agency reported. ... read more |
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