#300 killed in Afghanistan earthquake

[soon-palestine]

An international charity with extensive experience in providing emergency aid in wars, famines and earthquakes throughout the Middle East and in Afghanistan is being forced to pay $5,000 a truck to a company linked to Egypt’s General Intelligence Service (GIS) to get aid into Gaza.

The charity, which does not want to be named to avoid obstruction to its relief efforts in Gaza, spoke to Middle East Eye in outrage at having to pay what it openly describes as a bribe to a state-linked agent.

A spokesman for the charity said: “We have worked around the world in times of war, earthquakes and other disasters, but we have never been treated like this by a state who is profiteering from the dispatch of humanitarian goods. It’s draining a lot of our resources and the bribe being paid is per truck.”

The charity said the money is being paid in the form of a “management fee” to a company affiliated with the Sons of Sinai, a construction and contracting firm owned by the Sinai businessman, Ibrahim al-Organi, and part of his Organi Group. He heads the Tarabin tribe in the Sinai desert bordering Israel and owns a company that is a joint venture with two companies owned by the GIS.

The Organi Group is alleged in media reports to be the ultimate beneficiary of a lucrative sale of “fast-track” permits for Palestinians wishing to escape from Israel's war on the Gaza Strip.

An investigation carried out by the Organized Crime and Corruption Reporting Project (OCCRP) and independent Egyptian website, Saheeh Masr, found that intermediaries were selling exit permits at prices ranging from $4,500 to $10,000 for Palestinians and $650 to $1,200 for Egyptians.

As desperation in Gaza has increased, the price for a passage out of the enclave has gone up to $10,000 per person, Al-Araby Al-Jadeed reported recently. The price for commercial traffic going into Gaza charged by companies owned by Organi is $9,000 a truck, although the cost of the fare charged by truckers is commonly just $300 a load.

A spokesperson for Unrwa, the UN agency for Palestinian refugees providing vital support in Gaza, told Middle East Eye it is not paying fees to transfer aid into the enclave from Egypt.

Bleak situation

The charity’s statement to MEE is the first concrete evidence of Egypt or Egyptian government-linked parties demanding a cut from the humanitarian aid going into Gaza, which already is subject to weeklong delays incurred by Israel.

Earlier this month, James Heappey, the British minister of state for the armed forces, said that over 150 tonnes of humanitarian aid delivered to Egypt by the Foreign Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) is waiting to be transferred into Gaza.

The humanitarian situation in Gaza is bleak. More than 26,000 Palestinians have been killed since the war broke out in October, and on Sunday, a UN expert said famine in the enclave was “inevitable”.

Last week, Middle East Eye spoke to five families from Gaza who all confirmed that they had paid fees in the thousands, mostly in US dollars or Euros, to mediators who then facilitated their exit from Gaza.

Besan, a Palestinian who arranged for her mother to leave Gaza, said of her Suez-based mediator: “He told us that he works with Egyptian security and that he would pull strings to put our mother’s name on the list.”

Egypt denied it is profiteering from this trade at the Rafah border. In a statement published on 10 January, the head of Egypt’s State Information Service, Diaa Rashwan, rejected the “unfounded allegations” that additional fees are being imposed on Palestinians at the crossing.

A parallel “fast-track” system for getting through Rafah has been in place for years, with Gaza-based agents demanding several thousand dollars for quick passage. But this market has boomed since Israel’s ground attack started and the desperation of internally displaced Palestinians has grown.

One of the companies allegedly involved in the trade is Hala Consulting and Tourism, an Egyptian travel agency. This is one of eight companies operating under Organi’s chief arm, the Organi Group.

Another company in the same group is Misr Sinai, a joint venture with the Egyptian defence ministry’s industrial conglomerate, the National Services Projects Organisation (NSPO)

Organi said in an interview with Youm7 in 2014 that the NSPO owned 51 percent of Misr Sinai’s shares, in partnership with two companies owned by the GIS. “As you can see, all state entities are in this company. This gives us an advantage,” Organi said in the interview.

Denying responsibility

Organi’s companies first surfaced in 2014 when Egyptian President Abdel Fattah el-Sisi announced an initiative to rebuild houses destroyed in Gaza by Israel’s Operation Protective Edge. The Organi Group was named as one of the beneficiaries.

Hala Company for Consulting and Tourism Services was relaunched in 2021 to “exclusively undertake the transportation of travellers to and from the Gaza Strip”.

At that time, the cross-border traffic managed by Hala was described by Egyptian sources speaking to Al-Araby Al-Jadeed in 2021 as part of a response by Cairo to “a major demand of the Palestinian factions regarding facilitating travel through the Rafah crossing to alleviate the suffering of the Palestinians”.

'If I am the reason for not letting a loaf of bread into Gaza, how could I face God?' - Abdel Fattah el-Sisi

Egypt has denied profiteering from the crossing at Rafah and from being responsible for the long tailbacks of lorries carrying humanitarian aid at the Egyptian side of the border.

During its defence against charges of committing genocide in Gaza, in a case brought to the International Court of Justice earlier this month, Israel’s defence team accused Cairo of being responsible for preventing the entry of humanitarian aid into the enclave.  

Speaking in Somalia, Sisi accused Israel of holding up the trucks on the Gaza side of the Rafah border.

He said: “If I am the reason for not letting a loaf of bread into Gaza, how could I face God?”

MEE asked Egypt’s State Information Service to comment on the charity’s claim that it had to pay $5,000 a truck to agents linked to the General Intelligence Service, but they failed to reply by the time of publication.

Middle East Eye has also asked the Organi Group and Sons of Sinai for comment.

[bigcircle-smallworld]

Novel Natural Disasters Under a Changing Climate

A large billboard falls onto a gas station due to an extreme storm in Mumbai, India. Prashant Waydande/Reuters

Related to our discussions of climate change and the global south, recent natural disasters across the globe in recent days have highlighted the devastating impact of climate change on vulnerable communities, while countries like the U.S. continue to put out exorbant emissions rates.

In Mumbai, India, heavy rains and gusty winds led to the collapse of a massive billboard, resulting in the deaths of at least four people and injuring 61 others. The incident underscored the city's susceptibility to rain-related accidents during the monsoon season, a phenomenon exacerbated by climate change.

Meanwhile, in Indonesia's Sumatra island, monsoon rains triggered flash floods and cold lava mudslides from Mount Marapi, claiming the lives of at least 41 people and leaving several others missing. The disaster serves as a grim reminder of the unpredictable and deadly consequences of extreme weather events in volcanic regions. The volcanic activity, exacerbated by heavy rains, unleashed torrents of cold lava and mud, engulfing villages and displacing thousands of residents. The region's vulnerability to such disasters underscores the need for robust disaster preparedness measures and sustainable land management practices.

In Afghanistan, flash flooding ravaged northern provinces, killing over 300 people and displacing thousands more. The humanitarian emergency compounds the country's existing challenges, including recent earthquakes and previous flooding, underscoring the interconnectedness of climate-related disasters and their compounding effects on vulnerable populations. The devastation wrought by the floods has left communities grappling with loss and displacement, further exacerbating the country's humanitarian crisis. Urgent international assistance is needed to support relief efforts and help affected communities rebuild their lives.

A horse stands on a rooftop in Brazil's flooded Rio Grande do Sul region. TV Globo

In southern Brazil, relentless rainstorms have caused more flooding, displacing over 1.9 million people and claiming at least 113 lives. The region, already grappling with the aftermath of other floods, faces threats of further disruption as meteorologists predict more heavy rain. The record rainfall, exacerbated by climate change and the El Niño weather phenomenon, has overwhelmed infrastructure and left communities reeling. As the frequency and intensity of extreme weather events continue to rise, concerted efforts are needed to address the root causes of climate change and build resilience in vulnerable communities.

[xtruss]

We Know Where The Next Big Earthquakes Will Happen — But Not When

Scientists Have Drastically Improved Our Understanding of Seismic Events. Here are Eight Things to Know.

— By Umair Irfan | April 5, 2024

A building lurches in Taiwan after a Magnitude 7.4 Earthquake Rocked the Island. Sam Yeh/AFP Via Getty Images

Earthquakes Can Strike When and Where We Least Expect Them — as residents in the New York City and New Jersey area discovered on Friday morning, when an estimated magnitude 4.8 quake hit at 10:23 am Eastern time.

The quake’s epicenter was in Lebanon, New Jersey, some 50 miles west of Manhattan, though shaking was reportedly felt as far south as Philadelphia and as far north as Boston. As of late Friday morning, there were no reports of serious damage.

Earthquakes on the East Coast are rare, but not unheard of. On August 23, 2011, a magnitude 5.8 quake struck nearly Mineral, Virginia, causing an estimated $200 to $300 million in damages. That quake occurred in the Central Virginia Seismic Zone.

In part because seismic waves can travel further in East Coast sediment than along the much more seismically-active West Coast, and because the region is so densely populated, scientists at the US Geological Survey estimated that the 2011 quake was likely felt by more people than any other quake in North American history.

Around the world, quakes remain a potent, deadly threat. The largest earthquakes in nearly 25 years rocked Taiwan on Wednesday morning, killing at least nine people and injuring hundreds more. The magnitude 7.4 quake led to a series of aftershocks, the largest of which reached magnitude 6.4. A series of earthquakes reaching magnitude 6.3 struck Afghanistan last year, leading to more than 2,400 deaths. A magnitude 6.8 earthquake rocked Morocco last September, the largest earthquake to hit the country in at least 120 years. Officials reported that it killed more than 2,900 people.

The Mediterranean region is also seismically active, according to the US Geological Survey, though such strong earthquakes are rare in North Africa. Quakes are more common in places like Turkey, where two major fault lines cross and trigger shocks on a regular basis. A huge magnitude 7.8 earthquake rattled across Turkey and Syria in 2023 and another quake with a magnitude of 7.5 rocked the region a few hours later. The quakes killed more than 50,000 people and toppled more than 5,600 buildings in the region.

While scientists have drastically improved their understanding of where earthquakes are likely to occur, forecasting when one will occur is still impractical. The rumbling earth can easily catch people off-guard, worsening the ensuing death and destruction.

In light of the recent disasters, here’s a refresher on earthquakes, along with some of the latest science on measuring and predicting them.

1) The Basics On What Causes Earthquakes

An earthquake occurs when massive blocks of the earth’s crust suddenly move past each other. These blocks, called tectonic plates, lie on top of the earth’s mantle, a layer that behaves like a very slow-moving liquid over millions of years.

That means tectonic plates jostle each other over time. They can also slide on top of each other, a phenomenon called subduction. The places on the planet where one plate meets another are the most prone to earthquakes. The specific surfaces where parcels of earth slip past each other are called faults. As plates move, pressure builds up across their boundaries, while friction holds them in place. When the former overwhelms the latter, the earth shakes as the pent-up energy dissipates.

Scientists understand these kinds of earthquakes well, which include those stemming from the San Andreas Fault in California and the East Anatolian Fault in Turkey. However, earthquakes can also occur within tectonic plates, as pressure along their edges cause deformations in the middle. These risks are harder to detect and measure.

“Our understanding of these within-plate earthquakes is not as good,” said Stanford University geophysics professor Greg Beroza. An earthquake within a tectonic plate has fewer telltale signs than those that occur at fault lines, he added.

2) The Richter Scale Isn’t The Only Measurement Game in Town Anymore

The Richter scale, developed by Charles Richter in 1935 to measure quakes in Southern California, has fallen out of fashion.

It uses a logarithmic scale, rather than a linear scale, to account for the fact that there is such a huge difference between the tiniest tremors and tower-toppling temblors. On a logarithmic scale, a magnitude 7 earthquake is 10 times more intense than a magnitude 6 and 100 times more intense than a magnitude 5.

The Richter scale is actually measuring the peak amplitude of seismic waves, making it an indirect estimate of the earthquake itself. So if an earthquake is like a rock dropped in a pond, the Richter scale is measuring the height of the largest wave, not the size of the rock nor the extent of the ripples.

And in the case of an earthquake, the ripples aren’t traveling through a homogenous medium like water, but through solid rock that comes in different shapes, sizes, densities, and arrangements. Solid rock also supports multiple kinds of waves. (Some geologic structures can dampen big earthquakes while others can amplify lesser tremors.)

While Richter’s scale, calibrated to Southern California, was useful to compare earthquakes at the time, it provides an incomplete picture of risks and loses accuracy for stronger events. It also misses some of the nuances of other earthquake-prone regions in the world, and it isn’t all that useful for people trying to build structures to withstand them.

“We can’t use that in our design calculations,” said Steven McCabe, leader of the earthquake engineering group at the National Institute of Standards and Technology. “We deal in displacements.”

Displacement, or how much the ground actually moves, is one alternative way to describe earthquakes. Another is the moment magnitude scale. It accounts for multiple types of seismic waves, drawing on more precise instruments and better computing to provide a reliable measuring stick to compare seismic events.

When you hear about an earthquake’s magnitude in the news — like Turkey’s recent magnitude 7.8 quake — moment magnitude is usually the scale being used.

But this is still a proxy for the size of the earthquake. And with only indirect measurements, it can take up to a year to decipher the scale of an event, like the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake, said Marine Denolle, an earthquake researcher at Harvard University.

“We prefer to use peak ground acceleration,” she said. This is a metric that measures how the speed and direction of the ground changes and has proven the most useful for engineers.

So, yes, earthquake scales have gotten a lot more complicated and specific over time. But that’s also helped scientists and engineers take much more precise measurements — which makes a big difference in planning for them.

3) We Can’t Really Anticipate Them All That Well

Predicting earthquakes is a touchy issue for scientists, in part because it has long been a game of con artists and pseudoscientists who claim to be able to forecast earthquakes. (Their declarations have, of course, withered under scrutiny.)

Scientists do have a good sense of where earthquakes could happen. Using historical records and geologic measurements, they can highlight potential seismic hot spots and the kinds of tremors they face. (You can check out the US Geological Survey’s interactive map of fault lines and NOAA’s interactive map of seismic events.)

As for when quakes will hit, that’s still murky.

“Lots of seismologists have worked on that problem for many decades. We’re not predicting earthquakes in the short term,” said Beroza. “That requires us to know all kinds of information we don’t have.”

It’s difficult to figure out when an earthquake will occur, since the forces that cause them happen slowly over a vast area but are dispersed rapidly over a narrow region. What’s amazing is that forces built up across continents over millions of years can hammer cities in minutes.

Forecasting earthquakes would require high-resolution measurements deep underground over the course of decades, if not longer, coupled with sophisticated simulations. And even then, it’s unlikely to yield an hour’s worth of lead time. So there are ultimately too many variables at play and too few tools to analyze them in a meaningful way.

Some research shows that foreshocks can precede a larger earthquake, but it’s difficult to distinguish them from the hundreds of smaller earthquakes that occur on a regular basis.

On shorter time scales, texts and tweets can actually race ahead of seismic waves. In the 2011 Tohoku earthquake in Japan, for example, warnings from near the epicenter reached Tokyo 232 miles away, buying residents about a minute of warning time.

Many countries are now setting up warning systems to harness modern electronic communications to detect tremors and transmit alerts ahead of shaking ground, buying a few precious minutes to seek shelter.

Meanwhile, after a large earthquake, aftershocks often rock the afflicted region. “If we just had a big one, we know there will be smaller ones soon,” Denolle said.

When it comes to prediction, researchers understandably want to make sure they don’t overpromise and underdeliver, especially when thousands of lives and billions of dollars in damages are at stake. But even this caution has had consequences.

In 2012, six Italian scientists were sentenced to six years in prison for accurately saying the risks of a large earthquake in the town of L’Aquila were low after a small cluster of earthquakes struck the region in 2009. Six days after the scientists convened to assess the risk, a large quake struck and killed 309 people. Those convictions were later overturned and the ordeal has become a case study for how scientists convey uncertainty and risk to the public.

4) Sorry, Your Pets Can’t Predict Earthquakes Either

Reports of animals acting strange ahead of earthquakes date back to ancient Greece. But a useful pattern remains elusive. Feathered and furry forecasters emerge every time there’s an earthquake and there’s a cute animal to photograph, but this phenomenon is largely confirmation bias. Animals do weird things (by our standards) all the time and we don’t attach any significance to them until an earthquake happens.

“On any given day, there will be hundreds of pets doing things they’ve never done before and have never done afterward,” Beroza said. Bottom line: Don’t wait for weird animal behavior to signal that an earthquake is coming.

5) Some Earthquakes are Definitely Human-made

The gargantuan expansion of hydraulic fracturing across the United States has left an earthquake epidemic in its wake. It’s not the actual fracturing of shale rock that leads to tremors, but the injection of millions of gallons of wastewater underground.

Scientists say the injected water makes it easier for rocks to slide past each other. “When you inject fluid, you lubricate faults,” Denolle said.

US Geological Survey map of natural and induced earthquake risk in 2017. USGS

The US Geological Survey calls these “induced earthquakes” and reported that in Oklahoma, the number of earthquakes surged to 2,500 in 2014, 4,000 in 2015, and 2,500 in 2016.

“The decline in 2016 may be due in part to injection restrictions implemented by the state officials,” the USGS wrote in a release. “Of the earthquakes last year, 21 were greater than magnitude 4.0 and three were greater than magnitude 5.0.”

This is up from an average of two earthquakes per year of magnitude 2.7 or greater between 1980 and 2000. (“Natural” earthquakes, on the other hand, are not becoming more frequent, according to Beroza.)

Humans are causing earthquakes another way, too: Rapidly drawing water from underground reservoirs has also been shown to cause quakes in cities like Jakarta, Denolle said.

6) Climate Change Could Have a Tiny Effect on Earthquakes

In general, scientists haven’t measured any effect on earthquakes from climate change. But they’re not ruling out the possibility.

As average temperatures rise, massive ice sheets are melting, shifting billions of tons of water from exposed land into the ocean and allowing land masses to rebound. That global rebalancing could have seismic consequences, but signals haven’t emerged yet.

“What might occur is enough ice melts that could unload the crust,” Beroza said, but added there is no evidence for this, nor for which parts of the world will reveal a signal. Denolle agreed that this could be a mechanism, but if there is any impact from climate change on earthquakes, she says she suspects it will be very small.

7) We’ve Gotten Better at Reducing Earthquake Risks and Saving Lives

About 90 percent of the world’s earthquakes occur in the Ring of Fire, the region around the Pacific Ocean running through places like the Philippines, Japan, Alaska, California, Mexico, and Chile. The ring is also home to three-quarters of all active volcanoes.

Most of the planet’s earthquakes occur along the Pacific rim in a region known as the Ring of Fire. Javier Zarracina/Vox

Mexico is an especially interesting case study. The country sits on top of three tectonic plates, making it seismically active. In 1985, an earthquake struck the capital, killing more than 10,000. Denolle noted that the geology of the region makes it so that tremors from nearby areas are channeled toward Mexico City, making any seismic activity a threat.

The Mexican capital is built on the site of the ancient Aztec city of Tenochtitlan, an island in the middle of a lake. The dry lakebed that is now the foundation of the modern metropolis amplifies shaking from earthquakes.

The 1985 earthquake originated closer to the surface, and the seismic waves it produced had a relatively long time between peaks and valleys. This low-frequency vibration sends skyscrapers swaying, according to Denolle. “The recent earthquakes were deeper, so they had a higher frequency,” she said.

The biggest factor in preventing deaths from earthquakes is building codes. Designing buildings to move with the earth while remaining standing can save thousands of lives, but putting them into practice can be expensive and frequently becomes a political issue.

“Ultimately, that information has got to get implemented, and you can pretty much get that implemented in new construction,” McCabe said. “The trickier problem is existing buildings and older stock.”

Earthquake-prone countries know this well: Japan has been aggressive about updating its building codes regularly to withstand earthquakes. The revised standards have in part fueled Japan’s construction boom despite its declining population.

Mexico has also raised standards for new construction. Laws enacted after the 1985 earthquake required builders to account for the soft lakebed soil in the capital and tolerate some degree of movement.

Meanwhile, Iran has gone through several versions of its national building standards for earthquake resilience. And Alaska has been developing earthquake damage mitigation strategies and response plans for years.

But codes are not always enforced, and the new rules only apply to new buildings. A school that collapsed in a 2017 Mexico City earthquake apparently was an older building that was not earthquake-resistant. And because the more recent earthquakes in Mexico shook the ground in a different way, even some of the buildings that survived the 1985 earthquake collapsed after tremors in 2017.

In countries like Iran, there is a wide gulf between how buildings are constructed in cities versus the countryside. More than a quarter of the country’s population lives in rural areas, where homes are built using traditional materials like mud bricks and stone rather than reinforced concrete and steel. This is a big part of why casualties are so high when earthquakes strike remote parts of the country.

The biggest risks fall to countries that don’t have a major earthquake in living memory and therefore haven’t prepared for them, or don’t have the resources to do so. A lack of a unified building code led to many of the more than 150,000 deaths in Haiti stemming from the 2010 magnitude 7.0 earthquake.

8) The Big One Really is Coming to the United States (Someday)

The really big one you keep hearing about is real.

The New Yorker won a Pulitzer Prize in 2015 for its reporting on the potential for a massive earthquake that would rock the Pacific Northwest — “the worst natural disaster in the history of North America,” which would impact 7 million people and span a region covering 140,000 square miles.

The potential quake could reach a magnitude between 8.7 and 9.2, bigger than the largest expected earthquake from the San Andreas Fault, which scientists expect to top out at magnitude 8.2.

Large earthquakes are also in store for Japan, New Zealand, and other parts of the Ring of Fire. We don’t know when these earthquakes will rock us; we just have a rough estimate of the average time between them, which changes from region to region.

“In the business, we’ve been talking about that [Pacific Northwest] scenario for decades,” Beroza said. “I wouldn’t say we’re overdue, but it could happen at any time.”

“It is a threat,” echoed Denolle. “We forget about this threat because we have not had an earthquake there for a while.” “A while” means more than 300 years.

So while California has long been steeling itself for big earthquakes with building codes and disaster planning, the Pacific Northwest may be caught off guard, though the author of the New Yorker piece, Kathryn Schulz, helpfully provided a guide to prepare.

— Umair Irfan is a correspondent at Vox writing about climate change, Covid-19, and energy policy. Irfan is also a regular contributor to the radio program Science Friday. Prior to Vox, he was a reporter for ClimateWire at E&E News.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.14 (after 1940)

1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway, preceding a larger force which will arrive two days later. 1941 – World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk, Libya. 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued at 20 million pounds. 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroys the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes. 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours. 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new President of Togo, a title he will hold for the next 38 years. 1978 – Tbilisi demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. 1979 – The Progressive Alliance of Liberia stages a protest, without a permit, against an increase in rice prices proposed by the government, with clashes between protestors and the police resulting in over 70 deaths and over 500 injuries. 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight. 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded, each weighing 1 kilogram (2.2 lb), fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President following its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. 1994 – In a friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two U.S. Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two U.S. Army helicopters, killing 26 people. 1997 – Pai Hsiao-yen, daughter of Taiwanese artiste Pai Bing-bing is kidnapped on her way to school, preceding her murder. 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed. 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history. 2002 – Venezuelan president Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military. 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%. 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner MS Achille Lauro in 1985. 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County. 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in the Jama Masjid mosque in Delhi injure 13 people. 2014 – Two bombs detonate at a bus station in Nyanya, Nigeria, killing at least 88 people and injuring hundreds. Boko Haram claims responsibility. 2014 – Boko Haram abducts 276 girls from a school in Chibok, Nigeria. 2016 – The foreshock of a major earthquake occurs in Kumamoto, Japan. 2022 – Russian invasion of Ukraine: The Russian warship Moskva sinks. 2023 – The Jupiter Icy Moons Explorer (JUICE) is launched by the European Space Agency.

[rudrjobdesk]

Over 900 killed in Afghanistan after massive earthquake in eastern region

Over 900 killed in Afghanistan after massive earthquake in eastern region

At least 900 people were killed and hundreds were injured after an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 jolted Afghanistan on Wednesday. The quake struck about 44 km from the city of Khost (Photo: Twitter) HIGHLIGHTS Over 900 people have been killed as earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan Hundreds of people were injured and the death toll is likely to rise The quake struck about 44 km from the city of…

[zvaigzdelasas]

22 Jun 22

[everydayafghanistan]

Wali Zaman, 54, (1) was plunged from the first floor to the ground floor as he slept when an earthquake that has killed at least 1,000 people struck his village of Meyma in southeastern Afghanistan on Wednesday, June 22, 2022. He was buried beneath the rubble of his home before he had time to realise what was happening. “I thought the whole world had collapsed and there was no one to help me. I started praying to Allah because I thought I was dying,” said Wali Zaman. “After a while I was able to move my hand a little bit and shift the rubble. I saw some light and could hear voices. I shouted for help. I could hardly breathe.” He lay there for around two hours before villagers were able to free him from the crumbled wreck of the house he had built with his own hands 20 years ago. Injured, he could only sit limply and watch as others pulled his family members out. Not all survived. (2) Wali Zaman sits beside the graves of the six family members, including his wife, and very young niece and grandson, who were killed during the earthquake. The 5.9 magnitude earthquake hit at around 1am Wednesday morning. Amid the thick dust and the pitch black of the early hours, people had no choice but to use their bare hands to dig loved ones out of the rubble. Nader Gul, 35, (3) pulled his wife and two sons from the wreckage of their home. All three were dead by the time he reached them. His other three sons survived. “We were all asleep. I was jolted awake when rubble landed on me. I just started to run,” he said. “I told my sons who were okay to wait out of the way. I spent the next couple of hours desperately trying to find the rest of my family. By the time I reached them, it was too late.” Almost 300 people have been killed and some 350 wounded in Meyma, according to residents. They said 500 homes have been completely destroyed across the wider district of Gayan, while 900 have been damaged. It is the deadliest earthquake to hit Afghanistan in two decades. Gayan is just one of a number of districts that have been hit across the southeastern #Khost and #Paktika provinces. #Afghanistan Photo & text by Charlie Faulkner @charlie.faulk. (at Gayan, Paktika, Afghanistan) https://www.instagram.com/p/CfML493p5MG/?igshid=NGJjMDIxMWI=

[newstfionline]

Sunday, August 22, 2021

US keeps ban on nonessential border crossings to slow COVID (AP) The U.S. government on Friday extended a ban on nonessential travel along the borders with Canada and Mexico to slow the spread of COVID-19 despite increasing pressure to lift the restriction. U.S. border communities that are dependent on shoppers from Mexico and Canada and their political representatives have urged the Biden administration to lift the ban. In addition, Canada recently began letting fully vaccinated U.S. citizens enter the country. But the Department of Homeland Security said in a tweet Friday that the restrictions on nonessential travel were still needed to minimize the spread of COVID-19 and the delta variant. It extended the ban until at least Sept. 21. The travel restrictions have been in place since early in the pandemic in March 2020 and repeatedly extended while allowing commercial traffic and essential crossings to continue.

Booming business at dollar stores shows the widening gulf between haves and have-nots during pandemic (Washington Post) Kyle Dishman can’t afford to shop at the local grocery store anymore. Instead he goes to Dollar General, where he can make $40 stretch into a week’s worth of groceries and the occasional can of motor oil for his Chrysler 300. He sticks with pasta, frozen pizza and canned vegetables, fully aware that “any food you can buy for only $1 is not the greatest for you.” But Dishman says prices have gone up so much that he’s started rationing his food. A growing number of Americans are relying on dollar stores for everyday needs, especially groceries, as the coronavirus pandemic drags into its 18th month. Chains such as Dollar General and Dollar Tree are reporting blockbuster sales and profits, and proliferating so quickly that some U.S. cities want to limit their growth. Foot traffic at Dollar General is up 32 percent from pre-pandemic levels, far outpacing the 3 percent increase at Walmart. Analysts say the explosive rise of dollar stores is yet another example of how the pandemic has reshaped the economy and widened the gulf between the wealthiest and poorest Americans. “It’s a striking disparity: In this country, there is now dollar-store land and there is Whole Foods land,” said Stacy Mitchell, co-director of the Institute for Local Self-Reliance (ILSR), a nonprofit advocacy group. “And if you live in Whole Foods land, it’s very hard for people to understand just how desperate circumstances are for the rest of the country.”

More Americans now say government should take steps to restrict false information online than in 2018 (Pew Research Center) Amid rising concerns over misinformation, Americans are now a bit more open to the idea of the U.S. government taking steps to restrict false information online. Roughly half of U.S. adults (48%) say the government should take steps to restrict such misinformation, even if it means losing some freedom to access and publish content. That is up from 39% three years ago, with Democrats driving much of the increase. Meanwhile, a majority of the public continues to favor technology companies taking steps to restrict online misinformation.

Hurricane Grace hits Mexico's Gulf coast, weakens; 8 killed (AP) Hurricane Grace hit Mexico’s Gulf shore as a major Category 3 storm before weakening on Saturday, drenching coastal and inland areas in its second landfall in the country in two days. At least eight people died, authorities said. The storm had lost power while crossing over the Yucatan Peninsula on Thursday, swirling through Mexico’s main tourist strip, but it rapidly drew in power from the relatively warm Gulf of Mexico before reaching the Mexican coast again late Friday. At least eight people, including children, died and three were missing after mudslides and flooding, said Cuitláhuac García, governor of Mexico’s Veracruz state. García said 330,000 people lost power in the storm but it was gradually being restored.

Haitian quake victims rush aid sites, take food and supplies (AP) Haitians left hungry and homeless by a devastating earthquake swarmed relief trucks and in some cases stole desperately needed goods Friday as leaders of the poor Caribbean nation struggled to coordinate aid and avoid a repeat of their chaotic response to a similar tragedy 11 years ago. The attacks on relief shipments illustrate the rising frustration of those left homeless after the Aug. 14 magnitude 7.2 earthquake, which killed nearly 2,200 people, injured more than 12,000 and destroyed or damaged more than 100,000 homes. The frustration over the pace of aid has been rising for days and has been illustrated by the growing number of people crowding together at aid distribution sites. But Friday was the first time there was such widespread stealing.

UNICEF warns millions of Lebanese face water shortages (Reuters) More than 4 million people in Lebanon could face a critical shortage of water or be cut off completely in the coming days, UNICEF warned, due to a severe fuel crisis. Lebanon, with a population of 6 million, is at a low point in a two-year financial meltdown, with a lack of fuel oil and gasoline meaning extensive blackouts and long lines at the few gas stations still operating. “Vital facilities such as hospitals and health centres have been without access to safe water due to electricity shortages, putting lives at risk,” UNICEF Executive Director Henrietta Fore said in a statement. “If four million people are forced to resort to unsafe and costly sources of water, public health and hygiene will be compromised, and Lebanon could see an increase in waterborne diseases, in addition to the surge in COVID-19 cases,” she said, urging the formation of a new government to tackle the crisis.

Ethiopia's Tigray crisis: US accuses Abiy's government of blocking aid (BBC) The US international development agency has blamed the Ethiopian government for a shortage of humanitarian aid in the country's conflict-torn Tigray region. USAID accused the government of "obstructing" access to Tigray, as it warned that food aid was set to run out this week for the first time. Hundreds of thousands of people are at risk of famine amid the conflict between government and rebel forces. USAID called on the Ethiopian government to "immediately allow humanitarian assistance". It noted that aid trucks have been unable to leave the town of Semera in the neighbouring Afar region—currently the only accessible land route into Tigray. About 100 trucks of aid are needed in Tigray each day, yet just 320 have managed to reach the region since the end of June, a UN spokesman told the BBC. "At least two important aid organizations have already run out of food," said Saviano Abreu from the UN humanitarian agency, Ocha. "Without urgent and unimpeded food assistance, there will be an imminent threat to the lives of over 400,000 people in Tigray already in famine-like conditions and over 1.8 million people now in emergency levels of hunger could slide into starvation," he said.

In Kabul, a fearful wait for US to deliver on evacuation vow (AP) Tens of thousands of people in Afghanistan waited nervously on Saturday to see whether the United States would deliver on President Joe Biden’s new pledge to evacuate all Americans and all Afghans who aided the war effort. Biden faces growing criticism as videos depict pandemonium and occasional violence outside the airport, and as vulnerable Afghans who fear the Taliban’s retaliation send desperate pleas not to be left behind. The Gulf nation of Bahrain on Saturday announced it was allowing flights to use its transit facilities for the evacuation, an option that should ease pressure after the U.S. faced issues Friday with its facilities at Al-Udeid Air Base in Qatar rapidly filling up. The backlog forced flights from the Kabul international airport to stop for several hours. The United Arab Emirates, meanwhile, said it would host up to 5,000 Afghans “prior to their departure to other countries.” So far, 13 countries have agreed to host at-risk Afghans at least temporarily, U.S. Secretary of State Antony Blinken said. Another 12 have agreed to serve as transit points for evacuees, including Americans and others. But the growing question for many other Afghans is, where will they finally call home? Already, European leaders who fear a repeat of the 2015 migration crisis are signaling that fleeing Afghans who didn’t help Western forces during the war should stay in neighboring countries instead. The desperate scenes of people clinging to aircraft taking off from Kabul’s airport have only deepened Europe’s anxiety.

Taliban took Afghanistan but face cash squeeze (AP) The Taliban face a frontal challenge in cementing control of Afghanistan: Money. Despite their dominant military blitz over the past week, the Taliban lack access to billions of dollars from their central bank and the International Monetary Fund that would keep the country running during a turbulent shakeup. Those funds are largely controlled by the U.S. and international institutions, a possible leverage point as tense evacuations proceed from the airport in the capital of Kabul. Tens of thousands of people remain to be evacuated ahead of the United States’ Aug. 31 deadline to withdraw its troops from the country. But the Taliban also do not currently have institutional structures to receive the money—a sign of the challenges it might confront as it tries to govern an economy that has urbanized and tripled in size since they were last in power two decades ago. The shortfall could lead to an economic crisis that would only fuel a deeper humanitarian one for the roughly 36 million Afghans expected to stay in the country.

The Taliban is flaunting captured U.S. weapons that may be worth billions. Can it use them? (Washington Post) As the Taliban swept into power across Afghanistan, it captured many millions, perhaps billions, of dollars worth of U.S. military equipment that had once belonged to Afghan forces. Footage from areas captured by the militant group shows bedraggled but celebratory fighters in control of U.S.-made guns, armored vehicles and even Blackhawk helicopters and drones. Beyond the flashy hardware, experts are also concerned that the extremist group would now be in charge of sophisticated technology, including biometric devices used by the U.S. military to identify Afghans who assisted Americans and allies. It’s an impressive haul for a group that was once dismissed as a band of rural Luddites when it emerged in the 1990s. But despite its austere interpretations of Islam and rejection of much of modern society, the Taliban has shown flexibility when it comes to technology. It is already active on the Internet and social media. And its fighters are no strangers to U.S. military equipment. “The Taliban have already been using sophisticated military equipment that they have captured from Afghan national security forces in recent years,” said Robert Crews, an expert on Afghanistan at Stanford University. “They have used everything from night vision goggles and scopes to sniper rifles and armored vehicles and artillery.”

Battered Airlines Owed Billions as Governments Withhold Cash (Bloomberg) Airlines are owed almost $1 billion across 20 countries as governments seek to hang on to hard currency, depriving the industry of vital cash at a time when travel has been devastated by the coronavirus crisis. Figures published by the International Air Transport Association show that Venezuela is withholding a further $4 billion that’s been outstanding for years and may be permanently lost to carriers. Lebanon, Bangladesh, Nigeria and Zimbabwe are the worst offenders among other states, accounting for 60% of the $963 million deficit, according to IATA.

[timesofocean]

Over 1,000 killed, 1,600 injured as earthquake jolts Afghanistan

New Post has been published on https://www.timesofocean.com/over-1000-killed-1600-injured-as-earthquake-jolts-afghanistan/

Over 1,000 killed, 1,600 injured as earthquake jolts Afghanistan

Kabul (The Times Groupe)- More than 1,000 people have died and nearly 1,600 have been injured in a deadly earthquake in eastern Afghanistan, officials said on Wednesday. paktika

“More than 1000 people were killed and over 1500 others injured in Paktika province,” the Head of Information and Culture Department of the province told state-run Bakhtar News Agency.

As rescue operations continue in the Gayan and Barmal districts of the province in Afghanistan, the death toll could rise.

Currently, 29 people have died and 95 have been injured in Khost province, bringing the total number of deaths to 1029 and 1,595 injuries.

After last night’s magnitude 6.1 earthquake, hundreds of houses were destroyed in Paktika and Khost provinces.

At least 218 people have been killed and more than 300 injured in Giani district alone, according to Maulvi Sharafuddin Muslim, deputy minister of state for disaster management.

Khost and Paktika, two eastern border provinces, were shook by earthquakes last night, causing massive damage.

The death toll could rise as dozens of people are in critical condition, according to Afghan officials.

“I have tragic reports from my native Paktika province, where hundreds of people are killed and wounded in the devastating earthquakes. The homes are destroyed, and people are under the rubbles,” Khalid Zadran, a police spokesman in the capital Kabul, said in a tweet.

“Aid teams from Kabul have reached the area and rescue work is underway. All aid organizations should direct their aid to Paktika,” he added.

Quake-hit areas have also requested immediate assistance from Taliban officials.

Last night’s devastating earthquake was captured in videos and photos circulating on social media.

[zeamex]

Nearly 300 killed after strong earthquake hits Afghanistan | News

Nearly 300 killed after strong earthquake hits Afghanistan | News

DEVELOPING STORYDEVELOPING STORY, Death toll likely to go up after magnitude 5.9 earthquake rocks remote parts of eastern Afghanistan and neighbouring Pakistan. At least 280 people have been killed and more than 200 others injured after a powerful earthquake hit remote parts of southeastern Afghanistan, the country’s disaster management authority says. Most of the confirmed deaths were in the…

[thisdaynews]

Breaking:Iran's Nuclear power sites hit by 4.9 magnitude earthquake

New Post has been published on https://thebiafrastar.com/breakingirans-nuclear-power-sites-hit-by-4-9-magnitude-earthquake/

Breaking:Iran's Nuclear power sites hit by 4.9 magnitude earthquake

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An earthquake has struck close to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

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According to the United States Geological Survey, the 4.9 magnitude quake struck 30 miles from Bushehr – the home of the country’s nuclear programme.

It was not linked to tensions between Iran and the US, which saw Iran target US bases with ballistic missiles .

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The earthquake had a depth of six miles, and is believed to have been felt in Afghanistan.

It is not known if anyone was injured in the incident – the latest in a string of earthquakes in the region.

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There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

It is the second time in two weeks that an earthquake had hit the region, with a 5.1 magnitude quake on Boxing Day.

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In November five people were killed and 300 injured in an earthquake 35 miles from the town of Hastrud in north-western Iran.

Today’s quake happened at 2.20am GMT, just hours after a Ukranian passenger jet crashed shortly after taking off from Tehran’s airport.

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The flight was moving at a ground speed of 316 mph but tracking stopped six minutes after takeoff.

Distressing footage released by ISNA news agency in Iran appeared to show the plane bursting into flames before it hit the ground.

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Rescue teams were dispatched to the site but state television has said that all people on board the flight were killed.

[brookstonalmanac]

Events 4.14

43 BC – Battle of Forum Gallorum between the forces of Mark Antony, and legions loyal to the Roman Senate under the overall command of consul Gaius Pansa. AD 69 – Vitellius, commander of the Rhine armies, defeats Emperor Otho in the Battle of Bedriacum to take power over Rome. 966 – After his marriage to the Christian Doubravka of Bohemia, the pagan ruler of the Polans, Mieszko I, converts to Christianity, an event considered to be the founding of the Polish state. 972 – Co-Emperor Otto II, a son of Otto I (the Great), marries the Byzantine princess Theophanu. She is crowned empress by Pope John XIII at Rome. 1294 – Temür, grandson of Kublai, is elected Khagan of the Mongols and Emperor of the Yuan dynasty with the reigning titles Oljeitu and Chengzong. 1471 – In England, the Yorkists under Edward IV defeat the Lancastrians under the Earl of Warwick at the Battle of Barnet; the Earl is killed and Edward IV resumes the throne. 1561 – A celestial phenomenon is reported over Nuremberg, described as an aerial battle. 1639 – Imperial forces are defeated by the Swedes at the Battle of Chemnitz. The Swedish victory prolongs the Thirty Years' War and allows them to advance into Bohemia. 1699 – Khalsa: The Sikh religion was formalised as the Khalsa – the brotherhood of Warrior-Saints – by Guru Gobind Singh in northern India, in accordance with the Nanakshahi calendar. 1775 – The first abolition society in North America is established. The Society for the Relief of Free Negroes Unlawfully Held in Bondage is organized in Philadelphia by Benjamin Franklin and Benjamin Rush. 1816 – Bussa, a slave in British-ruled Barbados, leads a slave rebellion. For this, he is remembered as the first national hero of Barbados. 1849 – Hungary declares itself independent of Austria with Lajos Kossuth as its leader. 1865 – U.S. President Abraham Lincoln is shot in Ford's Theatre by John Wilkes Booth; Lincoln lives till the following day. 1865 – U.S. Secretary of State William H. Seward and his family are attacked at home by Lewis Powell. 1881 – The Four Dead in Five Seconds Gunfight is fought in El Paso, Texas. 1890 – The Pan-American Union is founded by the First International Conference of American States in Washington, D.C. 1894 – The first ever commercial motion picture house opens in New York City, United States, using ten Kinetoscopes, a device for peep-show viewing of films. 1900 – The Exposition Universelle begins. 1906 – The Azusa Street Revival opens and will launch Pentecostalism as a worldwide movement. 1908 – Hauser Dam, a steel dam on the Missouri River in Montana, U.S., fails, sending a surge of water 25 to 30 feet (7.6 to 9.1 m) high downstream. 1909 – A massacre is organized by the Ottoman Empire against the Armenian population of Cilicia. 1912 – The British passenger liner RMS Titanic hits an iceberg in the North Atlantic at 23:40 (sinks morning of April 15th). 1928 – The Bremen, a German Junkers W 33 type aircraft, reaches Greenly Island, Canada - the first successful transatlantic aeroplane flight from east to west. 1931 – The Spanish Cortes deposes King Alfonso XIII and proclaims the Second Spanish Republic. 1935 – The Black Sunday dust storm, considered one of the worst storms of the Dust Bowl, swept across the Oklahoma and Texas panhandles and neighboring areas. 1940 – World War II: Royal Marines land in Namsos, Norway in preparation for a larger force to arrive two days later. 1941 – World War II: German and Italian forces attack Tobruk in Libya. 1944 – Bombay explosion: A massive explosion in Bombay harbor kills 300 and causes economic damage valued then at 20 million pounds. 1945 – Razing of Friesoythe: The 4th Canadian (Armoured) Division deliberately destroyed the German town of Friesoythe on the orders of Major General Christopher Vokes. 1958 – The Soviet satellite Sputnik 2 falls from orbit after a mission duration of 162 days. This was the first spacecraft to carry a living animal, a female dog named Laika, who likely lived only a few hours. 1967 – Gnassingbé Eyadéma overthrows President of Togo Nicolas Grunitzky and installs himself as the new president, a title he would hold for the next 38 years. 1978 – Tbilisi Demonstrations: Thousands of Georgians demonstrate against Soviet attempts to change the constitutional status of the Georgian language. 1981 – STS-1: The first operational Space Shuttle, Columbia completes its first test flight. 1986 – The heaviest hailstones ever recorded (1 kilogram (2.2 lb)) fall on the Gopalganj district of Bangladesh, killing 92. 1988 – The USS Samuel B. Roberts strikes a mine in the Persian Gulf during Operation Earnest Will. 1988 – In a United Nations ceremony in Geneva, Switzerland, the Soviet Union signs an agreement pledging to withdraw its troops from Afghanistan. 1991 – The Republic of Georgia introduces the post of President after its declaration of independence from the Soviet Union. 1994 – In a U.S. friendly fire incident during Operation Provide Comfort in northern Iraq, two United States Air Force aircraft mistakenly shoot-down two United States Army helicopters, killing 26 people. 1999 – NATO mistakenly bombs a convoy of ethnic Albanian refugees. Yugoslav officials say 75 people were killed. 1999 – A severe hailstorm strikes Sydney, Australia causing A$2.3 billion in insured damages, the most costly natural disaster in Australian history. 2002 – Venezuelan President Hugo Chávez returns to office two days after being ousted and arrested by the country's military. 2003 – The Human Genome Project is completed with 99% of the human genome sequenced to an accuracy of 99.99%. 2003 – U.S. troops in Baghdad capture Abu Abbas, leader of the Palestinian group that killed an American on the hijacked cruise liner the MS Achille Lauro in 1985. 2005 – The Oregon Supreme Court nullifies marriage licenses issued to same-sex couples a year earlier by Multnomah County. 2006 – Twin blasts triggered by crude bombs during Asr prayer in Jama Masjid, Delhi injure 13 people. 2010 – Nearly 2,700 are killed in a magnitude 6.9 earthquake in the Yushu Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture. 2014 – Twin bomb blasts in Abuja, Nigeria, kill at least 75 people and injures 141 others. 2014 – Two hundred seventy-six schoolgirls are abducted by Boko Haram in Chibok, Nigeria. 2016 – In Japan, the foreshock of Kumamoto earthquakes occurs.

[rudrjobdesk]

At least 300 people killed after strong earthquake hits Afghanistan

At least 300 people killed after strong earthquake hits Afghanistan

At least 300 people were killed after an earthquake struck eastern Afghanistan early Wednesday, officials said. Taliban spokesman Bilal Karimi told NBC News that more than 300 people had died while “hundreds” of others were injured in the magnitude 6 earthquake. “The situation is quite critical. Hundreds of houses are collapsed and we expect heavy human losses and serious damage to the…

[jobsearchtips02]

How big was the explosion that devastated Beirut?

A helicopter puts out a fire at the scene of an explosion at the port of Lebanon’s capital Beirut on August 4, 2020.

(Photo by STR/AFP via Getty Images

A warehouse area at a port in Beirut, the capital of Lebanon, exploded Tuesday, causing high numbers of casualties and extensive damage.

The explosion is under investigation, a focal point of which is thousands of tons of ammonium nitrate, a highly-explosive material, improperly stored in the area.

Weapons experts told Insider they estimated the explosive yield of the deadly blast to be several hundred tons of TNT equivalent, making it at least a couple of orders of magnitude more powerful than the so-called “Mother of All Bombs.”

Visit Business Insider’s homepage for more stories.

An explosion at a port in Beirut brought destruction to the Lebanese capital Tuesday, damaging buildings, killing more than a hundred people, and injuring thousands of others. People recorded videos showing the blast wave and a towering red cloud that some compared to a nuclear weapon’s mushroom cloud.

The exact cause of the blast is unclear, but the focus of an investigation is a warehouse improperly storing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate.

The blast registered as a magnitude 3.3 earthquake, and the effects of the explosion were felt miles away from the blast site. Experts told Insider that the blast likely had an explosive yield of several hundred tons of TNT equivalent.

—Nader Itayim | ‌‌نادر ایتیّم (@ncitayim) August 4, 2020

Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear and conventional weapons expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, estimated the yield to be “between 200 and 500 tons, looking at blast damage, the shockwave, seismic signals and the size of the crater.”

—Emmanuelle Saliba (@_esaliba) August 5, 2020

That much explosive power is at least two orders of magnitude greater than the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (nicknamed the “Mother of All Bombs”), the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal with a blast yield of around 11 tons.

The weapon was first used in combat in April 2017 against the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

The explosion in Beirut was so powerful that some observers feared the city had experienced a nuclear detonation of some sort, a fear exacerbated by the mushroom cloud towering over the blast site after the explosion.

The governor of Beirut compared Tuesday’s horrific explosion to the atomic bombs that devastated the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

“In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale,” he said.

A general view shows the damage at the site of Tuesday’s blast in Beirut’s port area, Lebanon August 5, 2020

Mohamed Azakir/Reuters

With an explosive yield of a few hundred tons, the Beirut blast would have been dozens of times less powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, which had an estimated yield of about 15 kilotons.

The explosive power would, however, be comparable to the lowest yield B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which is believed to have an explosive yield of around 300 tons.

Some experts have estimated the explosive yield for what happened in Beirut to be one to two kilotons, which would make the blast potentially more powerful than some of the smaller US tactical nukes.

“The comparison ends there,” Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weaponry expert with the Federation of American Scientists who pointed Insider to unofficial blast yield estimates of a few hundred tons, said of comparing the explosion in Beirut to a nuclear blast.

“The pressure wave would be much faster because the energy release from a uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction is much faster than the energy release from a chemical explosion,” he said, further explaining that there would have also been intense radiation, which includes both the prompt radiation from the explosion and the fallout from detonating a nuclear weapon on the ground.

Kingston Reif, a disarmament and threat reduction expert at the Arms Control Association, told Insider that while the explosive yield of the Beirut explosion might be comparable to that of some US nuclear weapons, “this does not at all mean that the explosion would have felt like the detonation of the lowest yield B61 variant.”

He argued that a “nuclear explosion would have been far worse, as it would include more extreme thermal and also radiation effects,” adding that “nuclear weapons are not just another weapon for a reason.”

The ammonium nitrate suspected of triggering the massive explosion that caused widespread destruction for miles and left more than 100 people dead and as many as 5,000 injured was confiscated from a cargo ship several years ago, according to Lebanese officials.

The substance, a common fertilizer, is a highly-explosive material that has been involved in a number of devastating explosions.

For example, a massive 2015 explosion in Tianjin, China that killed more than 160 people, including 99 firefighters, and damaged over 300 buildings was partially caused by 800 tons of ammonium nitrate, and the 1947 Texas City explosion that killed over 500 people involved the detonation of 2,300 tons of the substance.

The destruction in Beirut has left over 300,000 people homeless at a time when the country is struggling both financially and politically.

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Beirut Lebanon Explosion

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from Job Search Tips https://jobsearchtips.net/how-big-was-the-explosion-that-devastated-beirut/

[sciencespies]

Beirut's Devastating Explosion Equivalent to Several Hundred Tons of TNT, Experts Say

https://sciencespies.com/physics/beiruts-devastating-explosion-equivalent-to-several-hundred-tons-of-tnt-experts-say/

Beirut's Devastating Explosion Equivalent to Several Hundred Tons of TNT, Experts Say

An explosion at a port in Beirut brought destruction to the Lebanese capital Tuesday, damaging buildings, killing more than a hundred people, and injuring thousands of others.

People recorded videos showing the blast wave and a towering red cloud that some compared to a nuclear weapon’s mushroom cloud.

The exact cause of the blast is unclear, but the focus of an investigation is a warehouse improperly storing 2,750 tons of ammonium nitrate.

The blast registered as a magnitude 3.3 earthquake, and the effects of the explosion were felt miles away from the blast site. Experts told Insider that the blast likely had an explosive yield of several hundred tons of TNT equivalent.

Footage of the massive explosion at #Beirut port a short while ago. It’s truly frightening. #Lebanon pic.twitter.com/OZ0hZ5SwlC

— Nader Itayim | ‌‌نادر ایتیّم (@ncitayim) August 4, 2020

Jeffrey Lewis, a nuclear and conventional weapons expert at the Middlebury Institute of International Studies in California, estimated the yield to be “between 200 and 500 tons, looking at blast damage, the shockwave, seismic signals and the size of the crater.”

This video appears to have been shot from the lower rooftop of the Beirut Port Silos.

This would confirm that the initial blast came from within warehouse 12 and not the silos. https://t.co/I81EkvAihe

— Emmanuelle Saliba 🧐 (@_esaliba) August 4, 2020

That much explosive power is at least two orders of magnitude greater than the GBU-43/B Massive Ordnance Air Blast (nicknamed the “Mother of All Bombs”), the most powerful non-nuclear weapon in the US arsenal with a blast yield of around 11 tons.

The weapon was first used in combat in April 2017 against the Islamic State in Afghanistan.

The explosion in Beirut was so powerful that some observers feared the city had experienced a nuclear detonation of some sort, a fear exacerbated by the mushroom cloud towering over the blast site after the explosion.

The governor of Beirut compared Tuesday’s horrific explosion to the atomic bombs that devastated the Japanese cities Hiroshima and Nagasaki during World War II.

“In my life, I haven’t seen destruction on this scale,” he said.

With an explosive yield of a few hundred tons, the Beirut blast would have been dozens of times less powerful than the atomic bomb that devastated Hiroshima, which had an estimated yield of about 15 kilotons.

The explosive power would, however, be comparable to the lowest yield B61 nuclear gravity bomb, which is believed to have an explosive yield of around 300 tons.

Some experts have estimated the explosive yield for what happened in Beirut to be one to two kilotons, which would make the blast potentially more powerful than some of the smaller US tactical nukes.

“The comparison ends there,” Hans Kristensen, a nuclear weaponry expert with the Federation of American Scientists who pointed Insider to unofficial blast yield estimates of a few hundred tons, said of comparing the explosion in Beirut to a nuclear blast.

“The pressure wave would be much faster because the energy release from a uncontrolled nuclear chain reaction is much faster than the energy release from a chemical explosion,” he said, further explaining that there would have also been intense radiation, which includes both the prompt radiation from the explosion and the fallout from detonating a nuclear weapon on the ground.

Kingston Rief, a disarmament and threat reduction expert at the Arms Control Association, told Insider that while the explosive yield of the Beirut explosion might be comparable to that of some US nuclear weapons, “this does not at all mean that the explosion would have felt like the detonation of the lowest yield B61 variant.”

He argued that a “nuclear explosion would have been far worse, as it would include more extreme thermal and also radiation effects,” adding that “nuclear weapons are not just another weapon for a reason.”

The ammonium nitrate suspected of triggering the massive explosion that caused widespread destruction for miles and left more than 100 people dead and as many as 5,000 injured was confiscated from a cargo ship several years ago, according to Lebanese officials.

The substance, a common fertiliser, is a highly-explosive material that has been involved in a number of devastating explosions.

For example, a massive 2015 explosion in Tianjin, China that killed more than 160 people, including 99 firefighters, and damaged over 300 buildings was partially caused by 800 tons of ammonium nitrate, and the 1947 Texas City explosion that killed over 500 people involved the detonation of 2,300 tons of the substance.

The destruction in Beirut has left over 300,000 people homeless at a time when the country is struggling both financially and politically.

This article was originally published by Business Insider.

More from Business Insider:

#Physics

[newstfionline]

Saturday, September 25, 2021

Biden Assembles the Quad (Foreign Policy) U.S. President Joe Biden is on a mission to project an image of unity and cohesion with three of the world’s largest economies today as he hosts the leaders of Australia, India, and Japan for a meeting of the Quadrilateral Security Dialogue—the Quad—at the White House. The summit, the first in-person gathering for the group since the onset of the coronavirus pandemic, caps a busy few days of Asia-focused diplomacy for the White House following the agreement of the AUKUS defense pact with Australia and the United Kingdom last week. That focus is underlined by additional one-on-one meetings Biden holds today with Indian Prime Minister Narendra Modi and Japanese Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga. The summit is expected to conclude with the announcement of several initiatives designed to deepen relations between the four countries including student exchanges alongside plans to counter China’s domination of key industries like semiconductors and 5G networks. China’s reaction to the meeting has echoed the tone it took with AUKUS. Asked about the Quad summit last week, Foreign Ministry Spokesperson Zhao Lijian decried “exclusive ‘cliques’ targeting other countries” and said the group was “doomed to fail.”

Expensive garbage cans (Mission Local) San Francisco is years into an extremely expensive process of buying new garbage cans, with July seeing the Board of Supervisors vote to spend $427,500 on 15 prototypes for the three possible models of new trash can, with a per-trashcan price tag of $12,000 to $20,000 each. At the end of the day, San Francisco plans to buy 3,300 of the cans, and while the initial goal was to buy $1,000 cans, it’s looking like they might end up paying $5,000 a can. All told, the city will have to spend $6.6 million to $16.5 million on the misbegotten project, the brainchild of a disgraced former city official facing charges of fraud and lying to a federal agent. What’s wild is there are plenty of off-the-shelf models they could have gone with, from the $3,900 Bigbelly to New York’s $632 can, Los Angeles’ $449.51 can, D.C.’s $987 can or even Portland’s $1,851 can.

Migrant camp shrinks on US border as Haitians removed (AP) Haitian migrants waited to learn their fate at a Texas border encampment whose size was dramatically diminished from the almost 15,000 who gathered there just days ago in an effort to seek humanitarian protection in the U.S. but now face expulsion. The administration recently extended protections for more than 100,000 Haitians already in the U.S.—many of whom left their homeland after its devastating 2010 earthquake—citing security concerns and social unrest in the Western Hemisphere’s poorest country. But it doesn’t apply to new arrivals. Homeland Security said nearly 2,000 Haitians have been rapidly expelled on flights since Sunday under pandemic powers that deny people the chance to seek asylum. About 3,900 were being processed for possible return to Haiti or placement in U.S. immigration court proceedings. Others have been released in the U.S. with notices to appear in court or report to immigration authorities. Thousands have returned to Mexico. Authorities expect the camp will be empty in about two days, according to a U.S. official with direct knowledge who was not authorized to speak publicly.

Sub snub just one symptom of longtime French unease with US (AP) Liberty and Fraternity, yes. Equality, not so much. Born of a revolution fought for liberty, ties between the United States and its oldest ally, France, have long been fraternal, but they’ve also been marked by deep French unease over their equality. French concerns about being the junior partner in the relationship boiled over last week when the U.S., Britain and Australia announced a new security initiative for the Indo-Pacific, aimed at countering a rising China. The AUKUS agreement scuttled a multibillion-dollar submarine deal that France had with Australia, but, more alarmingly for the French, pointedly ignored them, reinforcing a sense of insecurity that has haunted Paris since the end of World War II. France has long bristled at what it sees as Anglo-Saxon arrogance on the global stage and has not been shy about rallying resistance to perceptions of British- and German-speaking dominance in matters ranging from commerce to conflict. Thus the latest affront, AUKUS, resulted in an explosion of ire, with the French loudly protesting and recalling their ambassadors to the U.S. and Australia while shunning the British in an overt manifestation of centuries of rivalry.

German millionaires rush assets to Switzerland ahead of election (Reuters) A potential lurch to the left in Germany’s election on Sunday is scaring millionaires into moving assets into Switzerland, bankers and tax lawyers say. If the centre-left Social Democrats (SPD), hard-left Linke and environmentalist Greens come to power, the reintroduction of a wealth tax and a tightening of inheritance tax could be on the political agenda. “For the super-rich, this is red hot,” said a German-based tax lawyer with extensive Swiss operations. “Entrepreneurial families are highly alarmed.” The move shows how many rich people still see Switzerland as an attractive place to park wealth, despite its efforts to abolish its image as a billionaires’ safe haven. No country has more offshore assets than Switzerland and inflows accelerated in 2020, to the benefit of big banks such as UBS, Credit Suisse and Julius Baer. Geopolitical tensions and fears of the COVID-19 pandemic’s economic fallout made Switzerland’s political stability attractive.

Evergrande’s missed payment (Foreign Policy) Chinese property giant Evergrande appeared to miss a deadline to pay interest on part of its mammoth debt on Thursday, prompting fears that the company could soon default, causing ripple effects across the global financial system. Writing in Wednesday’s China Brief, FP’s James Palmer outlined the tricky politics at play for Chinese authorities. “The company appears to be doomed,” Palmer writes. “The question that remains is how much of the Chinese economy it will take down with it, and whether its fate is a symptom of much bigger problems.”

Korean War peace treaty “premature” (Foreign Policy) North Korea has again rejected a call for a formal end to the Korean war, which ended with an armistice agreement in 1953. South Korean President Moon Jae-in made the overture in his address to the U.N. General Assembly on Tuesday, but on Friday, North Korea’s Vice Foreign Minister Ri Thae Son said any talk of a peace treaty would be premature so long as “the U.S. hostile policy is not shifted.” North Korea has so far ignored U.S. negotiation efforts, although Moon speculated that the country “is still weighing options while keeping the door open for talks,” citing the relatively low-level provocations Pyongyang has tried since Biden became president.

Taliban official: Strict punishment, executions will return (AP) One of the founders of the Taliban and the chief enforcer of its harsh interpretation of Islamic law when they last ruled Afghanistan said the hard-line movement will once again carry out executions and amputations of hands, though perhaps not in public. In an interview with The Associated Press, Mullah Nooruddin Turabi dismissed outrage over the Taliban’s executions in the past, which sometimes took place in front of crowds at a stadium, and he warned the world against interfering with Afghanistan’s new rulers. “Everyone criticized us for the punishments in the stadium, but we have never said anything about their laws and their punishments,” Turabi told The Associated Press, speaking in Kabul. “No one will tell us what our laws should be. We will follow Islam and we will make our laws on the Quran.” Since the Taliban overran Kabul on Aug. 15 and seized control of the country, Afghans and the world have been watching to see whether they will re-create their harsh rule of the late 1990s. Turabi’s comments pointed to how the group’s leaders remain entrenched in a deeply conservative, hard-line worldview, even if they are embracing technological changes, like video and mobile phones.

Putting a Disturbingly Low Price On Life (BBC, Guardian, National Army Museum, The Conversation) There has been renewed focus on civilian deaths in Afghanistan following the U.S. military’s admission that an August 29 drone strike, intended for ISIS-K fighters, instead killed 10 civilians, including seven children. According to data collected by Action on Armed Violence (AOAV), a London-based charity conducting research and advocacy on the incidence and impact of global armed violence, UK forces are linked to the deaths of nearly 300 Afghan civilians. Through a series of Freedom of Information requests, AOVA was able to obtain Ministry of Defense compensation logs revealing a total of £688,000 was paid out by the UK military for incidents involving 289 deaths, among them 86 children, between 2006 and 2014. The average amount paid was £2,380.      One of the most serious incidents listed in the logs is the award of £4,233.60 to a family following the deaths of four children, who were mistakenly shot and killed in December 2009. Some payments were less than a few hundred pounds. In February 2008, one family received £104.17 for a confirmed fatality and property damage in Helmand province. The author of the research said reading the files was difficult: “The banality of the language means hundreds of tragic deaths, including dozens of children, read more like an inventory.” AOAV estimates 20,390 civilians were killed or injured by international and Afghan forces during the two-decade-long conflict. This is just one-third of the number killed by the Taliban and other insurgents. 453 British soldiers died in combat operations between 2001 and October 2014. During the entire 20-year engagement from 2001 to 2021, 2,455 U.S. service members lost their lives, including the 13 killed by ISIS-K in the Kabul airport attack August 26, 2021; 20,740 American military personnel were injured.

Hezbollah flexes its muscles in Lebanon and provides free Iranian fuel (Washington Post) Lebanon’s new government got off to an inauspicious start this week. As parliamentarians gathered to approve the cabinet lineup, the electricity went out—a common occurrence these days—and the chamber was plunged into darkness. To the rescue came Hezbollah, the militant Shiite movement designated by the United States as a terrorist organization that is also a political party here. Lawmaker Ibrahim Musawi swiftly procured two generators from the organization’s offices. Eventually, the electricity came back on and the generators were no longer needed. But the episode provided a fresh opportunity for Hezbollah to remind the Lebanese who wields real power in their steadily collapsing country. Days earlier, Hezbollah had flaunted its clout by trucking Iranian diesel fuel into Lebanon to help alleviate chronic fuel shortages that have left people without public electricity sometimes for up to 24 hours a day. The amount of fuel imported—just 33,000 tons—was meager compared with Lebanon’s vast needs and was only enough to last the generator-dependent country for a few days. But Hezbollah has milked the opportunity to portray itself as a savior, making the fuel available free to hospitals, charitable institutions, emergency services, municipalities and other institutions that have had services crippled by the lack of electricity.

Jailbreak shines light on mass incarceration of Palestinians (AP) The cinematic escape of six prisoners who tunneled out of an Israeli penitentiary earlier this month shone a light on Israel’s mass incarceration of Palestinians, one of the many bitter fruits of the conflict. Hundreds of thousands of Palestinians have passed through a military justice system designed for what Israel still portrays as a temporary occupation, but that is now well into its sixth decade and critics say is firmly cemented. Nearly every Palestinian has a loved one who has been locked up in that system at some point, and imprisonment is widely seen as one of the most painful aspects of life under Israeli rule. The saga of the six, who were eventually recaptured, also underscored the irreconcilable views Israelis and Palestinians hold about the prisoners and, more broadly, what constitutes legitimate resistance to occupation. Israel classifies nearly every act of opposition to its military rule as a criminal offense, while many Palestinians see those acts as resistance and those engaged in them as heroes.