Latest news with #CoordinationofHumanitarianAffairs
Saba Yemen
02-05-2025
- Politics
- Saba Yemen
Settlers Attack Citizens' Vehicles South of Nablus
Occupied Quds - (Saba): Zionist settlers attacked Palestinian vehicles south of Nablus, in the occupied West Bank, on Friday. Local sources reported in media statements that settlers attacked citizens' vehicles and threw stones at them on the road near the Yitzhar settlement, built on Palestinian land south of Nablus. It is noteworthy that settlers have established 60 settlement outposts in the West Bank since October 7, 2023, including 51 outposts in 2024, according to data issued by the Wall and Settlement Resistance Commission. According to a report issued by the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), 386 attacks by the Zionist enemy and its settlers were recorded during the month of March 2025, including raids, arrests, land confiscation, and injuries caused by live and rubber bullets. Whatsapp Telegram Email Print more of (International)
CBC
30-03-2025
- General
- CBC
Aid rushes into Myanmar as earthquake's death toll continues to rise
Social Sharing Emergency aid has streamed into Southeast Asia in the two days since a massive earthquake struck Myanmar and Thailand. Relief efforts are focused on Myanmar, where the estimated death toll rose to 1,644 by Sunday. The number of dead from Friday's 7.7 magnitude quake is expected to increase. The number of injured was 3,408, while the estimated number of missing rose to 139 on Sunday. The earthquake's epicentre was near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city with 1.5 million people. In neighbouring Thailand, the death toll from the quake rose to 17. While food, medicine and other vital supplies have reached Myanmar, a report issued Saturday by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said rescue efforts have been hampered by a severe shortage of medical supplies including trauma kits, blood bags, anesthetics, assistive devices, essential medicine and tents to house health workers. "We fear it may be weeks before we understand the full extent of destruction caused by this earthquake," said Mohammed Riyas, the Myanmar director of the International Rescue Committee (IRC). Myanmar man pulled alive from wreckage In badly hit Naypyidaw, Myanmar's third-largest city, a man who had been trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building for around 40 hours was pulled out alive by rescue teams from Singapore and Myanmar on Sunday, Myanmar's army-run TV reported. According to fire officials, the man had been trapped underneath a collapsed three-storey building and was extracted using "cutting and breaking equipment" to tear through the concrete. He remains in stable condition and has been taken to a local hospital. In Thailand, search efforts by rescue workers and K-9 units continued Sunday in the capital Bangkok at the scene of an under-construction tower that collapsed in the quake. A mother of a missing construction worker was seen deeply distraught as she watched the search mission on Sunday, and repeatedly shouted out for her daughter's name. At least 78 people remain trapped under the debris of the collapsed building, but the conditions of the rubble pile and the unstable structure are hindering rescue efforts. "The area in which we could work on is very limited due to metal debris and sharp edges. It is also hard for us to try and get inside so we had to try to find (ways inside) from around the edges, or where the dogs can get into", said a police K-9 unit officer at the scene. On Sunday, a convoy of 17 Chinese cargo trucks carrying critical shelter and medical supplies was expected to reach Mandalay. China said it has sent more than 135 rescue personnel and experts along with supplies like medical kits, generators, earthquake detectors and drones while pledging around $13.8 million US in emergency aid. Hong Kong on Saturday dispatched 51 search-and-rescue personnel including firefighters and ambulance personnel as well as two search-and-rescue dogs. The group brought eight tonnes of equipment, including life detectors and an automatic satellite tracking antenna system, according to a statement on the Hong Kong government's website. Russia's Emergencies Ministry said it had flown in 120 rescuers and supplies to Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, and Russia's Health Ministry said Moscow had sent a medical team that includes specialists in infectious diseases, resuscitation, traumatology and psychology, as well as search and rescue teams with canine units and devices that can search in rubble up to 4.5 metres deep. WATCH | Searching for survivors in Myanmar, Thailand: Rescue crews scour rubble for survivors after Myanmar quake 15 hours ago Duration 3:15 Rescue crews in Myanmar and Thailand are working tirelessly to attempt to pull survivors from rubble after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake rocked the region on Friday. The death toll has already exceeded 1,600 and authorities expect it to continue to rise. Two Indian C-17 military transport aircraft on Saturday brought in a field hospital unit and some 120 personnel who travelled north to Mandalay to establish a 60-bed emergency treatment centre, the country's Foreign Ministry said. India previously said it planned to send five aircrafts and four ships with relief supplies along with rescue and medical teams. Aid agencies contributing The UN humanitarian affairs office said it has mobilized with other groups and $5 million US has been allocated from a Central Emergency Response Fund for "life-saving assistance." The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies released $2.2 million US in emergency funds to support the organization's work in Myanmar, Jagan Chapagain, the organization's secretary general and CEO, said in a social media post Sunday. WATCH | Quake brought down skyscraper under construction: A powerful earthquake rocked Southeast Asia on Friday, killing several people, bringing down a skyscraper under construction in Bangkok and toppling buildings in neighbouring Myanmar, where the ruling junta declared a state of emergency in some areas. Cara Bragg, the Yangon-based manager of Catholic Relief Services in Myanmar, said relief efforts have largely consisted of local volunteers trying to find loved ones. Despite the influx of countries sending search and rescue teams, "hospitals are really struggling to cope with the influx of injured people, there's a shortage of medical supplies, and people are struggling to find food and clean water," Bragg said.
Yahoo
30-03-2025
- General
- Yahoo
Satellite images reveal scope of destruction from Myanmar's devasting earthquake
MANDALAY, Myanmar – Before-and-after satellite imagery is revealing the widespread destruction caused by a powerful 7.7-magnitude earthquake, which is believed to have killed thousands across Myanmar and neighboring Thailand. The quake, which struck near Mandalay, Myanmar's second-largest city, on Friday, was felt hundreds of miles away and impacted tens of millions of residents throughout Southeast Asia. Satellite imagery from Maxar Technologies, a Colorado-based company, showed the devastation, with homes destroyed, bridges collapsed and religious sites turned into ruins. According to estimates from the United States Geological Survey, the event marked the most destructive earthquake in Myanmar in over 100 years and the deadliest since a series of earthquakes struck Syria and Turkey in 2023, killing at least 150,000. Bangkok Skyscraper Collapses During 7.7 Earthquake Search and rescue efforts were launched immediately after the earthquake, but authorities have reported slowdowns due to damaged infrastructure. "Supply infrastructure and communication towers were severely impacted, electricity and water services were disrupted, including in the Yangon Region. Landline, mobile, and internet networks remain unstable. Damage to the Yangon-Nay Pyi Taw-Mandalay expressway caused service disruptions, with cracks and surface distortions halting highway buses," the United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a preliminary report. Countries and organizations, including the European Union and Malaysia, have pledged support for the affected region, with search teams from China and India already on the ground, searching for victims trapped in the debris. Seismologists noted that the region's soft soil likely amplified the effects of the seismic waves, making structures particularly vulnerable along the Sagaing Fault. While Myanmar has experienced earthquakes in the past, the recent 7.7-magnitude quake is the greatest event in recent history. Potentially complicating relief efforts are ongoing internal hostilities, which showed few signs of abating in the days after the natural disaster. 7 Facts About Earthquakes According to the U.S. State Department, the country of more than 54 million people has been embroiled in a civil war, with various factions controlling certain regions. "Since the military seized power on February 1, 2021, at least 5,350 civilians have been killed, and more than 3.3 million displaced. Over half the population is living below the poverty line, mainly due to violence perpetrated by the national armed forces," the U.N.'s human rights office previously stated. Significant damage from the quake was also reported in China and Thailand, where video captured the collapse of a 33-story building under construction in Bangkok, potentially killing dozens of workers. The region is bracing for weeks of significant aftershocks, though seismologists say the likelihood of a tremor surpassing the intensity of the original quake is extremely article source: Satellite images reveal scope of destruction from Myanmar's devasting earthquake
Yahoo
11-03-2025
- Politics
- Yahoo
Praying for peace in Congo
GOSHEN — As fights in the Democratic Republic of the Congo escalate, Elkhart County residents are protesting for peace. Alma and Evra Tshisola, of Elkhart, put together a small protest at the Elkhart County Courthouse in Goshen on Saturday afternoon, with the crowd in attendance sharing information and hymns asking the American people for mercy and support. 'Congo is not in the news as they should be,' Alma said. 'They are facing a genocide for more than 30-plus years. Violence has escalated in the past couple of months and this needs to be known by everybody. We need to stand as fellow humans against this genocide and occupation.' Since January, Congo's government said that at least 7,000 people have died in the fighting and the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says at least 600,000 have been displaced. Armies across Africa have fought with Congo since the 1990s, but mostly withdrew in 2003 after a peace deal was made. Small rebel groups continued to clash in North Kivu but M23 remained inactive until 2022 when the full-blown conflict began. Evra said the M23 rebels took control of Goma, a Congo-Rwanda border town of mixed nationalities back in January. Since then, M23 has taken Bukavu in Sout Kivu and expanded to North Kivu, expressing intent to seize power of DRC's capitol, Kinshasa in a coup. Evra moved to the United States around 10 years ago and most of his family still resides in Congo. 'It's just scary because you don't know where this thing's going to go,' he said. 'Right now, the rebels are just taking city-by-city and approaching the capitol. It's scary having family there because we don't know what's going to happen. They live in fear. Today they can be fine, but they don't know what's going to happen tomorrow.' Eastern Congo is home to resources including coltan, cobalt, copper and lithium, and according to the Tshisola, the resources are a primary cause of the war and the lack of support the country is receiving. 'Congo has a lot of resources that contribute to the making of phones, computers, electrocars — cobalt is the main one,' Alma said. 'This issue is very complex, because Congo is hugely rich in these resources, everybody wants a piece of it, so Rwanda is carrying out this genocide in Congo so they can get a piece of these resources and they can sell it to all the U.S., the European nations. It's founded in the the baseline of the resources, funding this genocide because everybody wants a piece of it.' 'You know, when there's more resources taken from a country we try to hide it so that other people don't hear about it,' Evra said. 'They try to put it under the table.' Alma reminded Evra that the governments supporting Rwanda also impact the situation surrounding Congo and its minerals. 'The European countries, America, (are) supporting Rwanda,' Evra explained. 'They are supplying them and making this war going on. When you tell people about this they are just surprised because they don't know about it.' The M23 rebel group has claimed it has hopes to take over the Congolese government, but Evra said the truth is that the rebel group is also being exploited for its passion. 'I think the other piece of it is because Congo cannot give in an easy way, that's why they're going through, to the Rwandan government, so they can get it easily,' Evra added. 'Since they cannot come straight to Congo to get the resources, they are using Rwanda.' Alma said the goal is to end the genocide. 'We know that the natural resources, they're going to be used no matter what,' she said. 'But we want the resources to be used in a just and respectable way so the people of Congo can flourish and succeed and be in peace. This genocide it makes no sense.'
