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November 5th, 2007

Pakistan: Media, Reactions and the Emergency

lingua → pt

A guide to understanding the state of emergency in Pakistan, has now been posted courtesy of The Emergency Times, which gives us another interesting perspective:

Well, for starters, the entire constitution has been put in abeyance (read suspended). This is more synonymous to a martial law, which is not provided for in the Constitution and is in fact a serious violation of Article 6 of the Constitution which makes any person who “subverts or attempts or conspires to subvert the Constitution by use of force or show of force or by other unconstitutional means guilty of high treason”.

All things Pakistan, admits that the extremism and violence has gone out of hand while society is deeply divided with religion having been high-jacked and is now routinely used to incite violence, however none of this is a justification for a suspension of the Constitution and for the declaration of emergency;

all this is damning evidence of government failure .

Pakistan is now over 52 hours into the state of emergency that was declared late on Saturday night, and given a media blackout which is in-effect, GEO News has responded by making the audio stream of its transmissions available online. Although cell phone services and internet access are still up and running, some bloggers like Alien, fear that this may change tomorrow:

All international news channels and local cable news channels are down. Only PTV State News is on the air. So far we still have Internet access and mobile phones but this might change tomorrow as the reaction to the emergency hits full throttle.

On the subject of cell phone jamming, during the early hours of the emergency, some news agencies were reporting that mobile phones were being jammed and SMS services had been suspended, however given our experiences with disaster relief communications, we now know that despite heavy interferences to cell phone reception, text messaging does work and in the event that Pakistan's cell phone carriers start enforcing mobile jamming, this will not effect SMS services since it has proven to be ineffective in the past due to cheap devices having been implemented and the fact that most of these devices and systems been banned by the PTA (Pakistan Telecommunications Authority) earlier this year via an official telecoms regulation to various institutions that were asked to remove them in a deadline which ended on 30th Jan, 2007.

A SMS 2 Blog (and blog 2 SMS) informational service is now in the process of being set up to allow those who wish to report news and happenings on the ground at Help-Pakistan, details of which will be posted shortly.

It is a case of the Taliban versus Pakistan at Pakspectator where Ghazala blogs that ‘Pakistan is himself eroding his own country and Pakistan is himself attack his own people‘:

Why don't we talk with our people in Waziristan and Swat and elsewhere? Why bomb them out? People in Pakistan feel the same way, as they feel in Waziristan and Swat, and so they better get prepared to bomb the whole of Pakistan.

One of the bloggers who are worried about events that may happen after the announcement of Musharaff's mini martial law is Bilal who stresses that Pakistan is at the brink of a political meltdown, while Monday's trading on the Karachi Stock Exchange saw Pakistan's biggest one-day decline (via BBC News) as a result of the emergency with economists fearing the loss of long-term investments into the country spelling out the nation's financial meltdown.

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May 31st, 2006

Indonesia: Java Quake Help Wiki Needs Online Volunteers

Angelo Embuldeniya · 04:13 ·

In response to the Java Quake of 27th May, 2006, the World Wide Help Group have set up the Java Quake Help Wiki and since it was set up, in the past 24 hours they are coordinating disaster relief operations with major aid agencies and relief teams on the ground. There's also a team working with them in setting up sms relay communications into affected areas based on the previous relief efforts in the region.

The wiki has the basic design and structure in place but they URGENTLY NEED online volunteers to help out with the wiki in terms of the following tasks:

1. Move relevant content from TsunamiHelp & the South Asia QuakeHelp Blog)
2. Scrape info from the blogs covering the quake on tehnorati and post it under relevant sections on the wiki
3 Post translations from the HelpJogja blog to the wiki (via Andy Carvin's link: toggletext.com)
4. Remove irrelevant info
5. Add static info on the main page
6) spread the word out about the wiki

…….etc.

The group have been and are in touch with ICRC, TSF & IFRC and are receiving important information such as assessments directly from them which shows that they recognize their relief efforts on the blog and wiki. Additionally, they are being provided with 24/7 info updates from aid workers and their teams in the field and are also blogging at World Wide Help. A couple of NGOs have requested them to coordinate and communicate with them in publishing their situational repors on the wiki.

Any help from all of you for the organization and management of content on the wiki is most appreciated. If you're interested in lending a hand please head over to the wiki or drop them a line to javaquake AT worldwidehelp DOT info

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May 9th, 2006

Extensive Flooding in Suriname

Angelo Embuldeniya · 20:07 · Americas

HEAVY FLOODING has affected more than 157 villages in Suriname over the past 48 hours and 15,000 people have been displaced already. “Operation Falawatra” (Operation “Low Tide”), the government's aid operation currently being carried out by the national army and police, has been hampered because of continued torrential rainfall, and the situation is deteriorating further. Several hours ago, the President of Suriname issued a state of emergency and at the time was expected to request international assistance. Up to the time of writing this had not been done, however, despite several relief teams having placed aid and personnel on standby.

Since most of the information available is in Dutch and as there is minimal coverage by the mainstream media regarding the situation in Suriname, the World Wide Help Group have been blogging around the clock, after having made contact with people on the ground. Volunteers are also helping translate information from live broadcasts from Dutch into English.

Maya Matawlie, who's been doing an amazing job of reporting from the ground in Suriname says that:

“the National Coordination Center for Disaster Relief (NCCR) is the central point for the disaster relief in Suriname, NCCR is also known as the relief crisis center and their evacuation plan is being executed from the airstrips of the villages of Djumu and Godo Olo. In these villages relief camps have been set up and the army is already in the area. The size of the disaster and the amount of help that will be needed is not apparent yet. According to the statistics there are approximately 15,000 people living in the upper Suriname-river area and about 9000 people in the upper Tapanahony area. The villages that have suffered the most damage are : Botopasi, Pikin Slee and Asindonhopo. The newsflash that several children have perished is being denied by the Minister of Regional Development”.

(more…)

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March 25th, 2006

11 Quakes Hit Southern Iran

Angelo Embuldeniya · 20:57 · Middle East & North Africa

Early Saturday morning (at approximately 07 GMT), an earthquake with a magnitude of 5.8, struck in Southern Iran, as measured by the USGS. With the given depth of 44 km there were no fatalities expected, but it was said that a few people could have been injured. At the time it was argued that if the depth were incorrect, and the earthquake were at a depth of 10km, then 0 to 100 fatalities might be expected. There are only 5 villages within 15 km of the quake's epicenter and no sizable town in the proximity. Later in the day, IRNA confirmed the magnitude of the quake via Reuters as measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale and having hit Iran's southern province of Hormuzgan but initally there were no reports of casualties or damage. IRNA said the quake shook areas near the Gulf island of Qeshm off Iran's south coast. Qeshm is the biggest island in the Gulf and is a free-trade zone with a population of about 120,000.

At about 14 GMT, an aid agency on the ground which was monitoring the situation cited reports released by the local Government & Red Crescent and stated that there wasn't a death toll at the time but some buildings had been damaged and it appeared that the epicentre was in the sea. Later in the evening, after inter-agency statements, the aid monitor filed the following report:

11 earthquakes have hit the Hormozgan province between the first quake today morning till 13:52 GMT with magnitudes of 5.4 to 3.1 on Richter scale. The government officials and IRCS have not reported any casualties but few deaths and considerable damage in the area is expected. No confirmation of the possible dimension of damages in the area has provided but according to the media, communications was partly cut off. The earthquakes occurred in the Fin district of Hormozgan province near the Hormoz strait at the Persian Gulf. Fortunately the epicenter of the strongest hit was inside the ocean which has reduced the effects. Since the majority of affected people were aware of the disaster, they were able to take the necessary safety precautions. Basic relief assistance is currently being provided by the local IRCS while the local authorities are assessing the situation. The total population of Fin district is 39,000 and consists of 3 towns and 210 villages.

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March 1st, 2006

Americas

Rob Mercatante has a four part series (1, 2, 3, 4) as to why he believes former members of the Guatemalan army shouldn't be hired as a supplemental police force.

February 24th, 2006

Hurricane Katrina: Rethinking Disaster Relief Response

Angelo Embuldeniya · 09:52 · Americas

Hurricane Katrina was third major hurricane and first Category 5 hurricane of the 2005 Atlantic hurricane season. The storm surge from Katrina caused catastrophic damage along the coastlines of Louisiana, Mississippi, and Alabama while the hurricane is estimated to be responsible for $75 billion in damages, making it the costliest hurricane in United States history and the deadliest U.S. hurricane with a death toll of over 1,418 people since the 1928 Okeechobee Hurricane. Yesterday, the White House released their own findings of the disaster's relief response and related reccomendations in a 228-page report titled “The Federal Response to Hurricane Katrina: Lessons Learned“.

Several news agencies online have published various view points on the White House Katrina report such as the International Herald Tribune who stated that “the report recommends a more active role in handling major disasters for the Department of Defense but does not give details on how such changes might be made”, Reuters AlertNet commented “the 217-page report acknowledged inadequate preparation for the storm but it did not single out anyone for blame” while an article in the New York Times said that “the report indirectly echoed frequent criticism that the Homeland Security Department was too focused on possible terrorist strikes”. BBC News found that most reccomendations in the report “focus on the need for communication between government departments, federal agencies and relief organisations” and the online edition of TIME answered the question of whether the report says anything which hadn't been said before by stressing that it (report) “is hell-bent on looking forward as this happens to be politically convenient”.

I've gone through the 228-page report but I noticed that much of Main Stream Media have failed to give readers and viewers a realistic picture of the reccomendations stated in the report yet and so I decided to focus upon some of the reccomendations by asking the various people and organizations who were involved with Katrina relief efforts on what they thought of the reccomendations featured in the White House Report and their suggestions on disaster relief response on the whole. This blog posting is the first of a 4-part series on Hurricane Katrina: Rethinking Disaster Relief Response where I will be featuring interviews with Skype Journal, a telecom engineer from New Jersey, a paramedic at Ambulance Service of Manchester, a lawyer from Suburban Chicago and Internet2.

On page 104, Reccomendation#37 in Appendix A of the White House's Katrina Report, Communications has been identified as a critical challenge during disaster response where it is said that inadequate situational awareness during the response to Hurricane Katrina resulted in decision makers relying on incorrect and incomplete information. Now in order to restore operability and achieve interoperability, the report has found that there is a strong need for rapidly deployable, interoperable, commercial, off-the-shelf equipment that can provide a framework for connectivity among Federal, State, and local authorities.

So I asked the editor of Skype Journal, Philip Wolff, whether he agreed with the statement that although available technologies can provide short-term operability and support long-term interoperability for emergency responders, the DHS (Department of Homeland Security) should consider commercial, off-the-shelf solutions in order to keep pace with technology changes. I also asked him what are the other alternatives that the DHS should consider which can be implemented and here is what he had to say:

“I generally agree, but I think there are several other points which are important. First, by all means gear up; take your credit card to the store and pack up, understanding that your gear will be obsolete every nine months. Next, look at how policy changes may create entirely new capabilities”.

(more…)

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February 22nd, 2006

Philippines: Landslide and rescue efforts

Angelo Embuldeniya · 16:06 · East Asia

The IFRC (International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies) confirmed last Friday afternoon, that an entire village had been buried by a major landslide in the central Philippines following heavy rains. The landslide hit Guinsaugon village in the town of St Bernard on the southern part of the island of Leyte. The Philippine Red Cross responded by flying in a C-130 with response teams, body bags, trauma kits, emergency kits, communication equipment and food. International support is been mobilized as assessment is coming from the field.

Lanslide in Eastern Visayas

The first situation map of the area affected was produced by the OCHA Regional office at Bangkok in Thailand. UNOSAT then requested the International Charter on Space and Major Disasters to be triggered. A few hours later, their request was accepted by the Charter and UNOSAT began to supply satellite imagery derived maps of the situtation starting with a pre-disaster overview zoom of the potentialy affected area in Saint Bernard and more have been made available over the past few days with others in the making. Please go here for further updates on relief mapping efforts.

Philippines Lanslide Feb 2006

In terms of rescue efforts, a 24/7 operations centre is supporting the coordination efforts at capital level while the President of the Philippines has been calling for Emergency Meetings occasionally. On the ground, two Battalion Commanders led the relief effort at the mudslide area. At the time there were a total of approximately 250 soldiers on the ground, with 11 officers in leading positions while one battalion commanding officer focuses on retrieval, the second one on the relief operation, with a focus on survivors and established evacuation centres.

Military Search And Rescue Team

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January 17th, 2006

The Netherlands: Different Set of 30 H5N1 Strains Generated in Tree Format

Angelo Embuldeniya · 01:35 · Western Europe

Rudi Cilibrasi, a contributor to the Avian Flu Help blog and a Machine Learning researcher in the Netherlands wrote CompLearn which is an open-source data mining toolkit and is using it for H5N1 analysis. He has generated a different set of 30 H5N1 strains in tree format (PDF version / PostScript version), using CompLearn, which demonstrates that the avian flu virus is mutating into a closer H2H strand which is surely a cause for concern. According to Rudi, the numbers around the edges are all very low indicating that all the viruses are pretty closely related except for the “k2″ subtree that includes duckShandong0932004, duckYokohamaaq102003, and the others off to the right past “k0″. You can see that it is bordered by high numbers and there are several high numbers within the subtree itself suggesting a fit that is not very close, perhaps genetically.

This suggests there may have been more intermediate steps that we might explore using different hypothetical subsets of 15-50 virii to see what the most-likely phylogeny leading up to them is. But the “k10″ subtree confirms an earlier comment by Dr. Niman that the Mongolian and Novobirisk strains are very closely related. The “k11″ subtree suggests that there was a transmission of virus between Korea and Japan with those very low numbers. Overall the S(T) score of 0.990241 means that the computer believes it has figured out the structure nearly perfectly. Now it's our job to figure out why.

(more…)

2 comments · »»

November 21st, 2005

Pakistan: Damage to Pakistani Nuclear Facilities because of Quake

Angelo Embuldeniya · 09:52 · South Asia

Hours after the earthquake in Pakistan, the QuakeHelp team received many emails (such as this one) from readers voicing their concern about the safety of Pakistan's Kahuta Nuclear Facility which was located just 100km away from the quake's epicentre. The following report has been double-checked by various sources and it has been confirmed that there has been damage to the Nuclear Facilities in affected areas (Kahuta is located much closer to the epicentre that the areas mentioned below):

There is fifteen to twenty per cent damage to Pakistani nuclear facilities and storage sites in the Northern Areas, especially in Skardu and Chitral, and the local population faces the risk of contamination, but a curfew has been imposed, and they are being actively prevented by the authorities from leaving the area. Because of the serious damage to the nuclear facilities in the Northern Areas, the Pakistan government has turned away international relief teams, prevented Indian Army relief work and Indian Air Force supply drops, and withdrawn the consent for Israeli assistance, fearing that Mossad agents would be infiltrated who would destroy the atomic establishments.

While Western sources did not say that reactors had been damaged in the 8 October earthquake, they confirmed that missile silos had developed cracks, and storage facilities had taken a hit, and since the epicentre is likely to be seismically active for another two years, they expressed fear of further collapse of the nuclear establishments. To prevent leak of this massive nuclear destruction, Pakistan both bottled up the local population by imposing curfew, and did not permit international inspection of the disaster-hit areas.

Source: NewsInsight via the South Asia QuakeHelp Blog

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November 1st, 2005

Pakistan: Google Earth Dynamic Overlay - Made Public

Angelo Embuldeniya · 12:23 · South Asia

Anne Wright and Randy Sargent of the Global Connections Project have been working hard to get out dynamic overlays of the affected quake areas in Pakistan. (A dynamic overlay is one that automatically substitutes higher resolution imagery as you zoom in and so is much easier to work with.) Randy and Anne wrote a couple of hours ago to say that the new dynamic overlays are ready: (more…)

2 comments · »»