The Chinese government has almost given up hope of finding any more survivors under the rubbles a couple of weeks after the devastating earthquake hit the country. “We are moving into reconstruction and rehabilitation” one Chinese official says, but the danger is far from over. Since the initial tremor several powerful aftershocks have ravaged the areas damaging more structures and unnerving more of the already traumatized residents. The government has announced that the hardest hit areas may not be rebuilt due to such massive destruction on infrastructure. Most buildings were leveled (sadly mostly schools) which claimed most lives along with landslides and other damaged structures.
The country is receiving aid from all over the world but danger form blocked waterways that were plugged when millions of tons of rock and earth fell from mountains is growing. Recent rains have prompted several low lying areas to be evacuated due to fears of massive flooding as heavy rains come. The military has stepped up efforts in dislodging the blockaded streams and rivers, sometimes even using dynamite to clear debris to allow them to drain. Once enough water has drained, they would resort to heavy machinery to remove and restore the previous size of these waterways to ensure that flooding is controlled.
The many charitable institutions in China fear most are the many bodies still left under the rubble that used to be homes and schools which have the potential of causing disease and other health risks. Indeed some cases of waterborne and insect borne diseases have been reported but the Chinese say they have it all under control. The most urgent need is for temporary shelter for as the rains come and eventually winter, shelter is the most important need. Questions from furious parents are arising and they say they will continue to pursue answers to questions as to why schools were the ones most damaged by the quake and often times the only ones that completely collapsed with surrounding buildings only suffering minor damages. The world has taken the call and is sending all they can to the affected areas. Recovery operations are underway but with so much destruction, not all of the missing would surely be found. For any donations please contact the International Committee of the Red Cross or the Red Crescent so you get to help the suffering people of China as they try to get back on the road do recovery.
Categories: Analysis, Environmental, News | Tags: China Earthquake, China's Recovery, Sichuan
The term denotes the slow influx of aid and donations form countries that used to be generous enough to send billions of dollars to countries that have been devastated by disasters like the recent catastrophes in Myanmar and China. The government has sent aid but for most of the private individuals who used to give a buck or two to help people rebuild their lives, donations are relatively small compared to other disasters on record. Maybe its the recent financial crunch that has many either fearing the loss of their jobs in the coming months or maybe just that they are quite fed up with the situation as in Myanmar with the government committing crimes against humanity by refusing to help their own residents. They initially refused to accept aid from Western nations saying they had the capacity to do it on their own, but as the obvious became apparent and they finally let some aid in the officials of the Military Junta began to stockpile imported aid for their own sending rotten stores to their citizens.
This is a sad yet true story for even the most generous people do have to deal with their own financial woes. China, which has spent billions of dollars in developing and constructing new structures (airport, athletic venues and other such Olympic aimed infrastructures), has appealed for aid from the outside world countering their previous denial for aid. Myanmar which showcases everything as normal even with the rest of the world saying and knowing it isn’t is truly hypocrisy in the highest levels. With thousands of corpses lining rivers and villages, and with no immediate sanitary way of dealing with them the threat of epidemics is high and possible.
People will continue to give like they have always done in the human tragedies of past but world wide economic slowdown may make it more difficult for those who give and receive aid. People are also frustrated that even with the billions in aid being sent to areas and people in need, their government’s themselves fail to take up the cause of helping their own. The world is filled with compassionate and caring individuals that allow us to remain human, compassionate and ever helpful.
A reality that has to be accepted is that these people will have to do the healing by themselves and that is by far the only certainty in this disaster plagued world. The resilience of humans has amazed us in all of the world’s disasters from then till now, let us just hope we as a part of the human race continue to help each other in spite of political, ideological and other differences.
Categories: Analysis, Disaster Relief, Environmental, Events, News | Tags: aid, charity, China, Myanmar, natural-disasters
The high costs of ethanol production and pressure from environmental agencies have forced some lucrative companies to go elsewhere in their drive to produce more grain for the production of ethanol. Ethanol, the major ingredient of E85 biofuels used by Flex Fuel vehicles which can run on mixes and even pure ethanol is now gaining more and more in the area of demand with the price of oil hovering at the 100 USD mark. The Amazon Rainforest and some other Southern American countries are bearing the brunt of the greed of certain individuals and corporations who want to avoid the heavy price for pollution, relocating to countries with little or even no environmental control policies that aim to prevent pollution and control industry’s impact on the fragile environment.
The Amazon Rainforest is considered to be the last most biologically diverse area on earth which is now under pressure from international conglomerates for the production of corn and soy for use in ethanol production. Corruption in these normally developing countries makes it easier for unscrupulous individuals to get permission from government personnel who are under their payroll to clear and plant crops for export overseas. These industries use the term economic opportunities for the locals whom they employ (which is actually due to cheaper labor) in their fields and the benefits to the economy (which is only for the short-term goals) for forest land is not suitable for cultivation due to it’s poor soil quality. The poor soil necessitates the heavy use of fertilizers and pesticides to allow crops to produce more grain which in turn washes into the rivers and streams. The normal flow of nitrogen from forests and other wild lands are naturally controlled by organisms which live in them but too much leaves them ineffective thus allowing the residue to end up in our seas. Too much nitrogen in the sea stimulates algae to bloom uncontrollably eating up most of the oxygen in the water that is vital for a healthy water ecosystem. The reefs and fish die off or move on to better habitat leaving coastal areas void of life. The reefs do recover but it takes time (decades actually) but continued cycles of algal blooming will result in permanent dead-spots/areas in our coastal areas if the root of the problem is not addressed promptly.
Categories: Analysis, Environmental, News, Wildlife | Tags: Corruption, Environmental Impacts, Green Fuels, Not so Green Fuels
The solar guy wins and the tree guy looses which is good for both but raises a moral question of who has preference over who? Both have legal environmental issues that they have tried to address and they have both done their parts in being as environmentally friendly. The courts were baffled with the said law which is now sure to get an upgrade for trees are more important in our efforts to improve air quality. Solar panels on the other hand are secondary band aid solutions and are assets which could be moved to new locations whilst the trees can be only moved by cutting them down. The solar guy wins and the tree guy has to cut down some of his trees to give way to solar guy’s need of ray’s but who’s right? This highlights the need for review of outdated laws which may or may not impact the environment as a whole and gives credence to outrageous defense by corporate lawyers in the event of environmental disasters. Many of them could have been avoided if only people have listened and done their part.
Why me, is a question many of us ask, well, you want to live and continue living? Do you want to eat, see your children grow up and many other questions to which we all know the answer to. It is time to pay attention and take part and to take a stand for something.” You have to believe in something for without it, you are nothing”.
You decide nature or man’s band-aid efforts to correct years of neglect?
Categories: Analysis, Environmental, Laws | Tags: environment, Fossil Fuel, Power Generation, Solar Energy, Trees
I had come upon a feature on CNN regarding the problems associated with some of the solutions that have been deemed as alleviating some of the pressures we exert on nature. Solar power has the ability to provide power off the grid (power that does not come from power plants that burn fossil fuel) and even sending some into it but the feature showed a clash of two neighbors regarding the trees that are natures own climate control experts and the next door neighbor who has an extensive installation of solar panels that have become blocked fro the sun due to the growing trees. As the story goes, the two neighbors have been at war with each other in attempts to protect each other’s interests one on the solar generation side and the other on the tree’s side.
As the argument goes, neighbor a planted several red woods in his backyard a few years ahead of his next door neighbor who installs and generates power using solar energy. As the years progress, each has done his own little part in contributing to the ever-growing pollution problem due to the burning of fossil fuel, one having trees that filter air and provide shade the other having power generation that does not pollute. The time came when the solar panels became overshadowed by the red woods which lowers their efficiency and does not maximize their power generation potentials. The neighbors go as far as the courts to find a little known law that was passed a few decades back that states solar power generation has the right to overcome shade and can have a court remove obstructions in certain cases.
Categories: Analysis, Environmental, Laws, Volunteering | Tags: environment, Fossil Fuel, Power Generation, Solar Energy, Trees
The Chinese government has almost given up hope of finding any more survivors under the rubbles a couple of weeks after the devastating earthquake hit the country. “We are moving into reconstruction and rehabilitation” one Chinese official says, but the danger is far from over. Since the initial tremor several powerful aftershocks have ravaged the areas damaging more structures and unnerving more of the already traumatized residents. The government has announced that the hardest hit areas may not be rebuilt due to such massive destruction on infrastructure. Most buildings were leveled (sadly mostly schools) which claimed most lives along with landslides and other damaged structures.
