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Showing posts with label haiti. Show all posts
Showing posts with label haiti. Show all posts
Saturday, January 01, 2011
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Wednesday, December 22, 2010
Image via WikipediaThe Kiwi Riverman Post wishes all our readers the compliments of the season despite natural disasters and inclement weather...The Kiwi Riverman Post wishes all our readers a most happy Christmas in 2010 and New Year 2011.
It has been a very difficult year around the world politically, economically and socially as well. There have been a number of natural catastrophies, including a massive 7.1 earthquake in New Zealand which caused a lot of damage around Christchurch City and around the surrounding area, but lacked any loss of life, compared to the earthquake of similar size in Haiti which caused hundreds of thousands of deaths, injured and homeless people. The Christchurch earthquake has been the most expensive natural disaster in history - costing New Zealand NZ$5 billion in damage and estimated rebuilding.
There was another volcanic eruption in Indonesia which caused severe damage and hundreds of deaths and injuries, and four explosions in a coalmine near Greymouth on the West Coast of New Zealand's South Island which initially trapped, and killed 29 miners there; after toxic gases ignited, and continue to burn unabated, and entomb the miners below. There have been other reported disasters around the world but these two are in our part of Asia Pacific and have special significance for our peoples.
Christmas will not be a happy time for many New Zealand families this year. We must also have some sympathy and feeling for the people of Britain and Europe who are enduring arctic-like weather at present which is keeping aircraft on the ground because of the snow-storms and icy conditions..
We can only hope the New Year will see some improvement in the weather and fortunes of all involved.
So happy Christmas and New Year again.
Tuesday, October 19, 2010
Image via Wikipedia Christchurch rocked by another powerful aftershock - locals nerves frayed... Christchurch, New Zealand, rocked by another powerful aftershock - locals nerves frayed. Lastest figures in excess of 2000 now.
By Peter Petterson
First Published at Qondio:
Late this morning, New Zealand time, 11-35am or thereabouts, the South Island city of Christchurch, New Zealand's second biggest, was rocked by another aftershock of 5.0 on the Richter scale. There have now been 1900 aftershocks since the initial 7.1 earthquake rocked and ravaged the city of the plains and the surrounding area of North Canterbury, towns and rural townships.
The initial earthquake was of the same force as the one that hit Haiti some months ago, killing tens of thousands and injuring hundreds of thousands and ravaging the country. The most remarkable thing about the NZ quake was the lack of deaths caused through the actual quake and only a couple of serious injuries. A number of people have died of heart attacks which may be attributed to the earthquake.
Four hours before and after the quake and there could have been considerable loss of life downtown at bars, restaurants and cafes, and later as early shoppers hit town. Good fortune protected the New Zealand city.
During the last few weeks a lot of cleaning up around the city has been done, making slightly damaged houses liveable and safe. Inspections of schools were made, and hundreds of buildings inspected and graded according to condition - green for continued use and repair, and red for those that will have to be demolished for safety reasons.
Insurance assessors have also been busy assessing damaged houses in the city and environs. The Earthquake Commission pays up to $100,000 for each individual property with insurance companies picking up the costs above that figure.
But the 1900 aftershocks have in many cases damaged buildings and houses that were not damaged in the initial earthquake.
Some buildings that could not be repaired or strengthened have started to be demolished for public safety reasons, including one iconic building over 100 years old. 150,000 buildings and houses have been damaged to some degree, with about 200 having to be demolished, and twenty properties unfit for rebuilding.
A few hundred homes in the eastern suburbs have been without sewerage and have had limited water supplies since the EQ - chemical toilets have been placed outside every third house in some streets, and washing has had to be done down at the local mall and laundrette. Sewerage may not be replaced until 2011 in some streets.
There is no doubt tha many of the people of Christchurch and surrounding areas are becoming shell-shocked by the continuing aftershocks, which are in effect earthquakes in their own right. Comparisons are now being made with the effects of the London blitz in the early days of WW2.
I have never heard of so many aftershocks after an earthquake which may continue for months to come. A few people who were able to have left Christchurch with their families, but everybody else will not have such luxury. Life goe on for the suffering Christchurch and Canterbury people.
Saturday, October 02, 2010
Image via Wikipedia Have the Gods got something in for New Zealand's South Island?
OPINION: First published at Fortitude
by peter petterson
Many, if not all, readers would have heard or read about the extremely destructive 7.1 earthquake that struck Christchurch and the surrounding Canterbury district nearly three weeks ago. Actually there are many people around the globe who think New Zealand is part of Australia anyway. Well, this is not designed as a geographical guide but more as a factual newspiece expanding on what you may or may not know about this mind-numbing earthquake that has been repeated by a total of 1200 aftershocks which occur everyday and night since. Yes, I did say 1200 aftershocks! I've never heard of so many after an earthquake, have you?
At 7.1 on the Richter Scale this earthquake was identical in destructive force to the one in Haiti mamy months ago that killed tens of thousands, injured scores of thousands and probably made a million homeless for some period of time. What was the difference?
New Zealand is a first world country with extremely high standards of building, has a small spread out population — Christchurch, which is New Zealand's second largest city, has only 400,000 at the most, including its environs. But the saving grace of Christchurch during this shocking earthquake was the time — 4-35am. A few hours earlier and thousands would have been caught in restaurants, cafes, bars and on the streets; and a few hours later the early shoppers would have been caught in malls, shops, cafes and also on the streets.
The authorities, both local and central government agencies moved extremely quickly to support the victims of the earthquake. The prime minister, John Key and some of his ministers were down in Christchurch by the Sunday morning to see at first hand the results of this shocking earthquake and what should be done initially to help the local council's support of the victims. Nobody was killed, though there have been some fatal heart attacks which could be attributed to the earthquake, and only a few were seriously injured. One middle aged man was hit by a collapsing chimney that came through his bedroom ceiling and was seriously injured; and remains in a critical condition nearly three weeks later.
Finacial support has been given to help residents in the first few weeks, and companies with less than twenty employees were given wage subsidies later in the first week, for the first month to get their business operational and to help the local economy get back into gear.
Experts moved into action on the Monday morning examining damaged buildings in the city's CBD and then out into the residential areas both within the central city, suburbs and the outlying areas. Welfare centres were set up in schools, an indoor stadium and at Addington Raceway for homeless and those unable to go back to their homes for a variety of reasons, including the lack of sewerage, running water, and for psychological reasons caused by the repetitive aftershocks which were like minor earthquakes on their own.
Christchurch looked like a bombsight initially with the wreckage of buildings scattered throughout the streets of the city, making them extremely difficult to travel through. Within days it soon became obvious just how much damage had been caused, roughly how many buildings would be condemned and need to be destroyed for safety reasons. Red stickers were placed on condemned buildings and homes, and green stickers for those that could be saved and repaired. Insurance assessors were quickly involved in doing their particular tasks within the first few days. In New Zealand the state Earthquake Commission pays for the first $100,000 of individual damage caused by earthquakes.
Cleaning up the streets, repairing sewerage and water mains and ensuring the homeless were taken care of in the welfare centres was the first priority in the days after the earthquake. And the aftershocks continued day and night creating psychological torture for the residents of Christchurch and out in the rural districts. While many streets showed evidence of the destructive force of this huge earthquake, out in the countryside the faultline looked as though bulldozers had carved up the earth for miles and miles lifting flat and even paddocks into untidy piles of earth in some places. The faultline had been there for 16,000 years and nobody had been aware of its existence.
The early estimates of two billion dollars in damage and estimated reconstruction, had doubled to four billion within a week — about three billion in American dollars. This is undoubtably New Zealand's worst civil disaster in monetary terms. The lack of fatalities and serious injuries are in fact incredible. Slowly but surely life has resumed, most children are back to school, and people are going back to work as their employers get their businesses back into operation. Life is not normal, of course, but the city is breathing some life again, and hopes are rising and the people are becoming positive once again. There are still many people who are homeless in the city, and a few hundred in the eastern suburbs who still do not have sewerage and running water — they are still using chemical toilets and have to wash at the local mall.
But they often say things go in threes. The day following the earthquake, at Fox Glacier a few hundred miles southwest of Christchurch, a small plane crashed on takeoff killing all nine onboard.
Just last weekend New Zealand was hit by a polar-like storm with snowstorms in the deep south being the worst in decades. In Invercargill city the local indoor stadium and some other buildings, were totally destroyed by the heavy snow, and out in the rural area farmers have lost a million newborn lambs. Throughout the rest of the country galeforce winds and rain caused considerable damage to homes and property. One would have to seriously consider that the South Island was on the receiving end of some retributive Karma force. Or perhaps somebody forgot to pay their bills?
As I close, quite safe and remote here in Wellington some 220 miles north of Christchurch, incidently my home town, I hear that the aftershocks are continuing, albeit less frequent and a little milder. My extended family members have been quite safe down south, and don't appear to have much damge caused to their homes, and have not suffered any personal injuries, apart from those psychologically.
Christchurchites are anticipating some better nights' sleep in coming weeks. And nobody will begrudge these hearty souls!
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- You: New Zealand: 7.0 earthquake reduces buildings to rubble in Christchurch (telegraph.co.uk)
- You: Earthquake strikes New Zealand (guardian.co.uk)
- New Zealand Earthquake In Christchurch [Video] (realestateradiousa.com)
- Earthquake strikes New Zealand's South Island (guardian.co.uk)
- New Zealand Earthquake 2010: Strong Quake Shakes Christchurch (huffingtonpost.com)
- New Zealand braced for quake aftershocks (channel4.com)
- no more cars, train travel instead - Christchurch, South Island, New Zealand (travelpod.com)
- Massive 7.4 earthquake rattles New Zealand (ibnlive.in.com)
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- Christchurch hit by aftershocks (bbc.co.uk)
Saturday, January 30, 2010
Haiti is undoubtably the poorest country in the world - deliberate policies of IMF, World Bank, and Multinationals made it so...
Working together and on behalf of the United States, Great Britain, France, and other western countries, a conglomerate of multinational banks has imposed economic, social, and political policies on Haiti deliberately intended to keep the nation poor, according to a Jan. 2010 report by Richard Kim of National Public Radio.
“Haiti's vulnerability to natural disasters, its food shortages, poverty, deforestation and lack of infrastructure, are not accidental. To say that it is the poorest nation in the Western hemisphere is to miss the point; Haiti was made poor … by the IMF and the World Bank,” Kim said.
Historically, Haiti was once a slave colony of France before a revolt in 1804 led to the nation’s independence. However, as a condition of their freedom, the liberated Haitians agreed to pay 150 million francs in reparations to their former slave owners in France to prevent embargos against Haiti. “In order to do that, they borrowed millions from French banks and then from the US and Germany ... (B)y 1900, Haiti was spending 80 percent of its national budget on repayments,” Kim said.
It took Haiti 122 years to pay off the total compounded debt of 90 million francs—valued at more than $21 billion in 2003 dollars—which was not settled until 1947, Kim said.
Building a Global Economy After World War II
Enter the International Monetary Fund (IMF), the International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (the World Bank), and the Inter-American Development Bank (IDB).
The IMF and the World Bank emerged from international negotiations held in Bretton Woods, New Hampshire, following the end of Word War II in 1944.
“The IMF was originally charged with providing a stable monetary system that would promote world trade, while the (World Bank) was founded to aid in the reconstruction of Western Europe,” according to a 2002 World Bank Report from the Solidarity Center.
By comparison, the Inter-American Development Bank, also headquartered in Washington, D.C., was founded in 1959 to support energy, transportation, telecommunications, agriculture, urban development and health care projects. The IDB—the largest multilateral lender in the Americas—has provided $140 billion in loans and grants to governments and private corporations in 26 Latin American and Caribbean nations, according to a report by Food and Water Watch.
“IDB investments are approved by its shareholders, the 21 member nations that provide funds. With 30 percent of the shares, the United States is the bank’s largest single shareholder. Collectively, the borrowing nations hold just over 50 percent of the voting power. The United States owns three times as many shares as the next-largest individual shareholders, Argentina and Brazil. It makes the US the most influential member country and awards the United States executive veto power over IDB decisions,” reported Food and Water Watch.
Although the International Monetary Fund, World Bank, and Inter-American Development Bank may outwardly appear to be three different lending institutions, they are all controlled by the same multinational corporations, according to a 2009 article by Will Petrik of the Council on Hemispheric Affairs.
“(T)he power structure of these financial institutions is quite similar, and their lending policies have traditionally been informed by neoliberal ideology. Inevitably, the social, economic and political contracts these banks imposed on recipient nations also have been quite similar from country to country in the region,” Petrik said.
Haiti first borrowed money from the international development banks during the 1980s, according to a 1993 report from the National Labor Committee titled "Haiti After the Coup: Sweatshops or Real Development?"
Economic After-Shocks of Natural Disaster
Following the massive earthquake that struck the island on Jan. 12, the IMF has approved a $100 million loan to Haiti--to be added to the country’s current $165 million debt to the bank.
However, in order to get the new funds, the Haitian government must raise prices for electricity, refuse pay increases to all public employees except those making minimum wage, and keep inflation low. “In other words, in the face of this latest tragedy, the IMF is still using crisis and debt as leverage to compel neoliberal reforms,” Kim said.
“A 2008 report from the Center for International Policy points out that in 2003, Haiti spent $57.4 million to service its debt, while total foreign assistance for education, health care and other services was a mere $39.21 million,” Kim said.
Haiti currently owes the Inter-American Development Bank about 13 percent of its annual gross domestic product (GDP), reported Dan Beeton of the Global Policy Forum. $429 million of the country’s current debt of $891 million—which accumulated from 2004 onward—is held by IDB. Haiti is scheduled to make $10 million in payments to IDB next year, Kim said.
Recently, the IMF and the World Bank forgave about $1.2 billion of Haiti’s debt. Before the debt cancellation, the Haitian government was paying $1 million a week to service the loans, according to a report released June 23, 2008, by the Robert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert F. KennedyRobert F. Kennedy Memorial Center, Partners In Health, and the Center of Human Rights and Justice.
“Massive debt has precluded spending on desperately needed infrastructure projects. In 2003, for example, Haiti’s debt service was $57.4 million; the Haitian government’s combined budget for education, health care, environment, and transportation was $39.21 million. Meanwhile, the Haitian people continued to endure crushing poverty, which has been exacerbated by the failure to disburse the IDB loans,” reported Tom Spoth in 2008.
Coerced Globalist Policies
In order to receive loans from the IMF, World Bank, or the Inter-American Development Bank, debtor nations are required to implement a variety of neoliberal social, economic, and political policies—including forced downsizing and privatization of state-owned industries, higher interest rates, and cuts in social spending.
These "strict conditionalities" established by the IMF, known as Structural Adjustment Policies (SAPs), “gave the IMF enormous influence over domestic economic policies in borrowing nations, as it was essentially the 'gatekeeper' for access to foreign credit. The SAPs included implementing fiscal austerity (including public social spending cuts), higher interest rates, the privatization of state owned industries, and rapid liberalization of capital and commercial markets,” Petrik said.
On Sept. 8, 1995, Haitian Prime Minister Smarck Michel announced Haiti’s continued commitment to privatize nine state-owned companies—including Haiti’s flour mill, a cement factory, its air and seaports, telephone exchanges, and electricity. The forced privatization was one of the conditions to receive $170 million in structural adjustment loans from the IMF, World Bank, IDB, and European Union—part of a five-year, $1.2-billion aid program, reported Inter-Press Service in 1995.
“The support of the international financial institutions for economic reform and progress in countries around the world has always been conditioned on measures to ensure that the money is able to be put to good use and is not simply wasted,’’ said Al GoreAl GoreAl GoreAl GoreAl Gore during a visit to Haiti in October 1995 as vice president under Bill ClintonBill ClintonBill ClintonBill ClintonBill Clinton, reported Dan Coughlin of Inter Press Service on Oct. 16, 1995.
Gore’s visit coincided with the arrival of UN Secretary General Boutros Boutros Ghali to discuss the continuation of a UN presence in Haiti scheduled to end February 1996. At the time of Boutros Boutros Ghali’s visit, the UN had a military force of 6,000 on the ground in Haiti, plus a team of observers, Coughlin said.
Acknowledgements: Ken Boyte
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Saturday, January 16, 2010
A story from Haiti - Haiti earthquake survivors get more food and water...
PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti – Precious water, food and early glimmers of hope began reaching parched and hungry earthquake survivors Saturday on the streets of the ruined Haitian capital, but the island's despair threatened to spark a frenzy in places.
"People are so desperate for food that they are going crazy," said accountant Henry Ounche, standing in a crowd of hundreds who fought one another as U.S. military helicopters clattered overhead carrying aid.
Across the hilly, steamy city, people choked on the stench of death, and hope faded by the hour for finding many more victims alive in the rubble, four days after Tuesday's catastrophic earthquake.
Still, here and there, the murmur of buried victims spurred rescue crews on, even as aftershocks threatened to finish off crumbling buildings.
"No one's alive in there," a woman sobbed outside the wrecked Montana Hotel.
But hope wouldn't die. "We can hear a survivor!" search crew chief Alexander Luque of Namibia later reported. His men dug on.
Nobody knew how many were dead. In a fresh estimate, the Pan American Health Organization said 50,000 to 100,000 people perished in the quake. Haiti's prime minister, Jean-Max Bellerive, told The Associated Press that 100,000 would "seem to be the minimum." Truckloads of corpses were being trundled to mass graves.
A U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman declared the quake the worst disaster the international organization has ever faced, since so much government and U.N. capacity in the country was demolished. In that way, Elisabeth Byrs said in Geneva, it's worse than the cataclysmic Asian tsunami of 2004: "Everything is damaged."
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Acknowledgements: Associated Press
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