The Malaysian Insider :: World |
| New Zealand to fall silent in quake memorial, toll rises Posted: 28 Feb 2011 07:22 PM PST  Rescue workers from around the world observe a two minute silence at 12.51 p.m. to mark the moment a week ago when an earthquake hit the city, at Cathedral Square in Christchurch on March 1, 2011. — Reuters pic The country has been asked to observe two minutes silence at 12.51 p.m. (11:51 British time) the exact moment a week ago when the magnitude 6.3 quake struck, levelling buildings and sending masonry and bricks onto streets filled with lunchtime shoppers and office workers. "I expect this to be a very emotional day," said local mayor Bob Parker. "We will all get out of our motorcars, we will all stand outside our buildings, we will stand in the streets, gather in small groups, in communities around the city, and we will all observe that silence." Rescue workers have toiled day and night since the quake looking for survivors, but have found no-one since last Wednesday and conceded it is unlikely anyone else will be found alive. Police have said the final death toll will probably be around 240, making it the country's second worst natural disaster. INQUIRY INTO BUILDINGS SAFETY Prime Minister John Key has said there will be an inquiry into how buildings in the city hit by last September's force 7.1 quake were passed as safe for use. "This is an event which has claimed the lives of many, many people so we need to provide some answers...both within the buildings where there's been wide loss of life (and) the wider issues around the adequacy of the building code," Key told reporters. Concern had been raised about the condition of the 25-year-old Canterbury Television Building, which housed a language school and where nearly half the confirmed dead were killed. A local council building official has said the CTV building and another site of many casualties, the Pyne Gould building, had been inspected and cleared as safe, but the strength of the quake was well above building standards. The overall cost of the February 22 and the September 4 quakes combined has been put at about NZ$20 billion (RM45.88 billion), with the second, more destructive, earthquake costing about three-quarters of the total. The government has said it expects to borrow more in the short term. A package of emergency support measures for businesses and workers affected by the quake has been announced "It will be the recovery of business that gives the city the greatest opportunity to rebuild itself, so it was a necessary package and it is probably the first of what will be ongoing support," Earthquake Recovery minister Gerry Brownlee said. BACK TO LIFE Shops and cafes have begun reopening in less affected areas, including the first cinema, with limited bus and postal services. Power supplies have been restored to 85 per cent of the city with a 41-tonne transformer to be installed later today to help get electricity to the worst affected areas, where 10,000 homes have been marked as uninhabitable. About two-thirds of the city has water but large areas still need to be supplied by tankers, and people are relying on portable toilets for sanitation. Thousands of people have fled the city, and some have said they will never return. "We have had enough. We want to go to Australia. Enough is enough," said Gary Johnson, standing with his wife Lisa and two children, aged 4 and 6, beside their smashed house in the suburb of Avonside. Expatriate New Zealanders around the world have rallied to the city. In Britain, a group from the Christchurch area said they would meet for "a pint, a curry and a cry." Those on social networking site Facebook have changed profile pictures to black and red — Christchurch's colours — in sympathy with the city, with some living in the United States holding fundraisers. — Reuters
|
| Oman protests spread, road to port blocked Posted: 28 Feb 2011 06:02 PM PST  Smoke is seen as Omani protesters gather during demonstrations in the northern industrial town of Sohar in Oman on February 28, 2011. — Reuters pic A doctor said six people had been killed in clashes between stone-throwing protesters and police on Sunday in the northern industrial town of Sohar. Oman's health minister said one person had been killed and 20 wounded. Hundreds of protesters blocked access to an industrial area that includes the port, a refinery and aluminium factory. A port spokeswoman said exports of refined oil products of about 160,000 barrels per day (bpd) from the port were unaffected. "We want to see the benefit of our oil wealth distributed evenly," one protester yelled over a loudhailer near the port. "We want to see a scale-down of expatriates in Oman so more jobs can be created for Omanis." Peaceful protests spread to other cities, with hundreds gathering outside a state complex in the capital Muscat and elsewhere. The unrest in Sohar, Oman's main industrial centre, was a rare outbreak of discontent in the normally sleepy sultanate ruled by Sultan Qaboos bin Said for four decades, and follows a wave of pro-democracy protests across the Arab world. The sultan, trying to calm tensions, on Sunday promised 50,000 jobs, unemployment benefits of US$390 (RM1,190)a month and to study widening the power of a quasi-parliamentary advisory council. While hundreds of demonstrators blocked roads near the port, hundreds more were at the main Globe Roundabout, angry after police opened fire on Sunday at protesters. Police fired tear gas as around 200 protesters near a police building, which demonstrators had set fire to a day earlier. Graffiti scrawled on a statue said: "The people are hungry." Another message read: "No to oppression of the people." "There are no jobs, there's no freedom of opinion. The people are tired and people want money. People want to end corruption," said Ali al-Mazroui, 30, who is unemployed. "We want a change of constitution, an elected government, and ministers standing in the way of development to go," said Zakaria Mharmi, a doctor at Sultan Qaboos Hospital. "We are also calling for the police not to repeat the violence they demonstrated on Sunday," said Mharmi, who was among around 250 protesters outside the Shura Council building. "Protesters must be peaceful. They are not serving our cause if they are violent." LOOTING IN SOHAR In Sohar, looters earlier rushed in to scavenge a smouldering supermarket set alight by protesters. Two government buildings were also set ablaze on Sunday. One woman stacked up singed cartons of eggs, powdered milk, orange juice and cream cheese in the store, while others walked over shattered glass pushing trolleys loaded with food out of the door. The security forces were absent. "There is no security. I want to live. It's normal," said 28-year-old Youssef, who is unemployed, as he left the market carrying 10 bottles of juice. The unrest pushed Oman's main stock index 4.9 per cent to a seven-month low, its biggest drop in over two years. Sultan Qaboos, who exercises absolute power in a country where political parties are banned, shuffled his cabinet on Saturday, a week after a small protest in the capital Muscat gave the first hint that Arab discontent could reach Oman. Mostly wealthy Gulf Arab countries have stepped up reforms to appease their populations following popular unrest that toppled the leaders of Tunisia and Egypt and is threatening Libyan leader Muammar Gaddafi's grip on power. Oman is a non-OPEC oil exporter which pumps around 850,000 bpd, and has strong military and political ties to Washington. Sultan Qaboos appoints the cabinet and in 1992 introduced an elected advisory Shura Council. Protesters have demanded the council be given legislative powers and on Sunday Qaboos ordered a committee to study increasing its authority. —Reuters
|
| You are subscribed to email updates from The Malaysian Insider :: World To stop receiving these emails, you may unsubscribe now. | Email delivery powered by Google |
| Google Inc., 20 West Kinzie, Chicago IL USA 60610 | |
Tiada ulasan:
Catat Ulasan