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Turkey and Syria earthquake updates: death toll passes 21,000 as rescue efforts enter fourth night – latest news

An injured man is rescued from under rubble 87 hours after earthquakes hit in Turkey. Follow the latest news and live updates from the Turkey-Syria earthquake. Photograph: Anadolu Agency/Getty Images
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Death toll in Turkey alone is now more than 17,000 following Monday’s earthquake

Death toll rises to more than 21,000

The death toll from Monday’s earthquake on both sides of the border in Turkey and Syria is now more than 21,000.

Officials and medics said 17,674 people had died in Turkey and 3,377 in Syria from Monday’s 7.8-magnitude tremor, bringing the confirmed total to 21,051, Agency France Presse reports.

It comes after the White Helmets said on Twitter, that at least 2,030 people have been killed with more than 2,950 injured. Earlier on Thursday the death toll in the rebel-held area was 1,900.

21.24 GMT

Associated Press has this heart-rending dispatch about the situation facing orphaned Syrian babies and children whose parents were killed in the earthquake:

A Syrian baby girl whose mother gave birth to her while trapped under the rubble of their home during this week’s devastating earthquake now has a name: Aya, Arabic for “a sign from God.” With her parents and all her siblings killed, her great-uncle will take her in.

Aya is one of untold numbers of orphans left by Monday’s 7.8-magnitude quake, which killed more than 20,000 people in northern Syria and southeastern Turkey. The pre-dawn quake brought down thousands of apartment buildings on residents as they were roused from sleep, so entire families often perished.

In most cases, relatives take in orphaned children, doctors and experts say. But those surviving relatives are also dealing with the wreckage of their own lives and families. In the continued chaos days after the quake, with the dead and a dwindling number of survivors still being found, doctors say it’s impossible to say how many children lost their parents.

At one hospital in north-west Syria, a red-haired 7-year-old girl, Jana al-Abdo, asked repeatedly where her parents were after she was brought in, said Dr Khalil Alsfouk, who was treating her. “We later found out she was the only one who survived among her entire family,” he said.

In the case of the newborn Aya, her father’s uncle, Salah al-Badran, will take her in once she is released from the hospital.

But his own house was also destroyed in the north-west Syrian town of Jindires. He and his family managed to escape the one-story building, but now the household of 11 people are living in a tent, he told the Associated Press.

“After the earthquake, there’s no one able to live in his house or building. Only 10% of the buildings here are safe to live in and the rest are unlivable,” he said, communicating via voice messages.

Rescue workers in Jindires discovered Aya on Monday afternoon, more than 10 hours after the quake hit, as they were digging through the wreckage of the five-story apartment building where her parents lived.

Buried under the concrete, the baby was still connected by her umbilical cord to her mother, Afraa Abu Hadiya, who was dead, along with her husband and four other children. The baby was rushed to a hospital in the nearby town of Afrin.

Abu Hadiya probably gave birth to the girl and then died a few hours before they were discovered, said Dr Hani Maarouf at Cihan hospital in Afrin.

“We named her Aya, so we could stop calling her a new-born baby,” said Maarouf. Her condition is improving by the day and there was no damage to her spine, as initially feared, he said.

The UN children’s agency, Unicef, said it has been monitoring children whose parents are missing or killed, providing food, clothes and medicine and coordinating with hospitals to track down extended family members who might be able to care for them.

In Turkey, the ministry of family and social services appealed to potential foster families to submit applications. It said children whose families or relatives could not be found were currently being taken care of in state institutions. Staff were assessing their needs and placing them with registered foster families, the ministry said.

Updated at 21.28 GMT

21.04 GMT

The US secretary of state, Antony Blinken, has spoken to Turkey’s finance minister, Mevlüt Çavuşoğlu, about how the US can provide assistance in Turkey and Syria.

US state department spokesperson Ned Price said the US would continue to demand unhindered humanitarian access to Syria and urged Bashar al-Assad’s government to immediately allow aid through all border crossings.

“This was primarily an effort to garner from our Turkish allies what they would like to see from the United States,” Price told reporters, adding that the US expects it will have more to say on aid to Turkey soon.

Çavuşoğlu gave specifics about Turkey’s needs, Price said, according to Reuters. He added that Washington “will do everything we possibly can to fulfil the needs that the Turks have put forward”.

Price said US helicopters were helping rescue personnel reach difficult-to-access areas and said Washington was pre-positioning relief equipment it hoped would join the recovery efforts.

The US is providing a disaster assistance response team of about 200 people, including two urban search and rescue teams.

Paramedics, emergency responders, hazardous material technicians and others had already arrived, Price said.

Washington is also sending concrete breakers, generators, medical supplies, tents, water and water purification systems, he added.

20.31 GMT

Our reporter Ruth Michaelson has written this from Istanbul, on how the perceived slow response by Turkey has affected the standing of Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan:

The gleaming black sedan wound through the epicentre of Turkey’s deadly earthquake in the town of Pazarcık.

Recep Tayyip Erdoğan’s car glistened in the sunlight as the Turkish president passed citizens burning fires to keep warm in the freezing cold among towering piles of rubble that were once their homes.

Erdoğan limited his interactions with the public in Pazarcık, instead driving directly to the local police headquarters to discuss the aftermath of the multiple massive tremors that left a trail of destruction over 10 Turkish provinces and across northern Syria, trapping people underneath collapsed buildings and killing more than 20,000.

When he did stop to speak briefly to the area’s shattered and distraught residents, it was to double down on the notion that the quake was solely responsible for the devastation, rather than poorly constructed buildings linked to corruption, or a rescue response beset by delays.

“What happens, happens, this is part of fate’s plan,” he told one person in Pazarcık, echoing his statements just months earlier after a deadly mining disaster at a state-run coalmine, where the president blamed “fate’s design”, for an explosion that left at least 41 dead.

During a speech in nearby Kahramanmaraş, Erdoğan also lashed out at “provocateurs” who criticised rescue efforts, adding: “Of course, there are shortcomings. The conditions are clear to see. It’s not possible to be ready for a disaster like this.”

Read more:

‘What happens, happens’: how Erdoğan’s earthquake response tarnished his brandRead more

Updated at 21.31 GMT

20.21 GMT

World Health Organization head Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus is on his way to Syria, where the WHO is part of the response.

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20.18 GMT

World Bank to provide $1.78bn to Turkey for recovery effort

The World Bank announced it will provide Turkey with $1.78bn (£1.47bn) in aid to Turkey to help relief and recovery efforts.

The body’s president David Malpass said: “We are providing immediate assistance and preparing a rapid assessment of the urgent and massive needs on the ground.

“This will identify priority areas for the country’s recovery and reconstruction as we prepare operations to support those needs.”

It comes as Agency France Presse reported on Thursday that the US will provide $85m (£70.1m) in aid for Turkey and Syria.

Immediate assistance of $780m (£643m) will be offered via Contingent Emergency Response Components from two existing projects in Turkey, said the bank.

“The assistance will be used for rebuilding basic infrastructure at the municipal level,” it added.

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20.07 GMT

The death toll has risen again in north-west Syria, as the country’s civil defence group – the White Helmets – said that more than 2,000 people have now died in the region.

On Twitter, they said that at least 2,030 people have been killed with more than 2,950 injured. Earlier on Thursday the death toll in the rebel-held area was 1,900.

The number of people killed overall topped 20,000 earlier on Thursday, after updated totals from Turkey’s disaster and emergency body.

Updated at 20.22 GMT

20.02 GMT

Greece has set aside a historic rivalry to send thousands of tents, beds and blankets to help those left homeless by the earthquake.

The government in Athens plans to provide 80 tonnes of assistance such as blankets, beds, tents and medical supplies, its civil protection ministry said. Commercial flights carrying boxes with part of the aid landed at the Turkish airport of Adana early on Thursday, with the operation expected to conclude by Friday, according to Reuters.

“We have brought medicines, medical supplies and essentials to relieve a bit the pain of quake-afflicted people,” said the Greek civil protection minister, Christos Stylianides, who escorted the aid to Adana. “It’s time we all show our feelings of humanism.”

Greece and Turkey have been at odds for decades over a range of issues, from territorial rights in the Aegean Sea to ethnically-split Cyprus and migration, and tensions had rekindled recently.

However the Greek prime minister, Kyriakos Mitsotakis, called Turkish president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, on Monday to offer his condolences over the lives lost.

Updated at 20.05 GMT

18.19 GMT

More than 20,000 people confirmed to have died in earthquake

The death toll from the earthquake has now risen above 20,000, after Turkey’s Disaster and Emergency Management Presidency body published its latest update on the amount of people who have died.

AFAD said the death toll in Turkey is now 17,134, Reuters reports.

It would make an increase from the total announced by Turkey’s president Recep Tayyip Erdoğan on Thursday afternoon, which stood at 16,546.

State media in Syria said the death toll in government-held areas had risen to 1,347, up from 1,262.

Earlier, the White Helmets civil defence group said 1,930 had been reported dead in rebel-held areas in the north-west of the country. It brings the overall total to 20,411.

Experts have said the casualty figures are expected to continue to rise in the coming days.

17.47 GMT

The UK prime minister, Rishi Sunak, has visited a donation centre in central London set up by students from University College London’s Turkish society.

He helped pack items, as well as donating hats, scarves and blankets. The items will be sent to Turkey and Syria in the next few days.

Updated at 17.55 GMT

17.05 GMT

Summary

Rachel Hall

Rachel Hall

It’s now 8pm in Turkey and Syria. Here’s the summary of the key developments from the afternoon and early evening:

  • The combined death toll in Turkey and Syria from Monday’s devastating earthquake rose to at least 19,823, after Turkey’s president, Recep Tayyip Erdoğan, announced that 16,546 had died, while state media in Syria reported that the death toll in government-held areas had risen to 1,347. Earlier, the White Helmets civil defence group said 1,930 had been reported dead in rebel-held areas in the north-west of the country.
  • At least 28,044 people have been evacuated from Kahramanmaraş, one of the southern Turkish provinces hardest hit by Monday’s earthquake, including 23,437 by air and 4,607 by road and rail, Turkey’s disaster management agency said.
  • Rescuers continued to pull people who have been trapped for days out of the rubble, including a young girl trapped for three days.
  • Turkey announced that it had received pledges of aid from 95 countries and 16 international organisations since Monday, and 6,479 rescue workers from 56 countries were already active in the 10 provinces affected by the quake, with teams from 19 more countries set to be in place within 24 hours.
  • France announced €12m in emergency post-earthquake aid to Syrians, with the aid to be disbursed “through non-governmental organisations and the UN in all regions affected”, while Germany said it would increase humanitarian assistance in Syria by €26m.
  • Turkey’s disaster management agency, AHAD, said it has recorded almost 650 aftershocks since two earthquakes – 7.8 and 7.6 in magnitude – struck, making rescue efforts even more difficult and dangerous as emergency teams comb through severely weakened buildings.
  • A Reuters report shed light on how hundreds of thousands of people made homeless by the quake are being housed in banks of tents erected in stadiums and shattered city centres, while Mediterranean and Aegean beach resorts outside the quake zone are opening up hotel rooms for evacuees.
  • The UN will dispatch its aid chief, Martin Griffiths, to Gaziantep, in Turkey, and Aleppo and Damascus, in Syria, this weekend to assess how the UN can best step up support, according to UN secretary-general, António Guterres, who also urged the Syrian government to allow aid-access to the country’s rebel-held north-west.

If you would like to donate in support of the rescue effort, lots of charities are desperately seeking extra funds to provide urgently needed medical and humanitarian assistance in Turkey and Syria. You can find out how to donate to the Disasters Emergency Committee – coordinating the response on behalf of 14 UK charities – here, or another list of charities accepting donations is here.

Thanks for following the blog. I’m handing over to my colleague Harry Taylor who will keep you updated for the next few hours.

Updated at 17.21 GMT

17.00 GMT

Ukrainian rescue experts involved in the war effort are bringing their skills to the devastation in Turkey to search flattened buildings for survivors, erect tents and offer first aid.

Reuters reports:

Oleksandr Khorunzhyi, a spokesperson for the State Emergency Service of Ukraine, said:

There is a war in our country, but we understand that we have to help, and this aid is mutual. There is no other way to do it.

This work goes on constantly, we have prepared people who take part in such operations.

Kyiv has sent 88 people to Turkey to help with the disaster, including specialists in search and rescue operations, doctors, dog handlers and firefighters.

The Ukrainian team built tents near the Turkish city of Antakya close to the Syrian border to provide emergency shelter and set up generators for those left homeless by the earthquake.

Updated at 17.34 GMT

16.46 GMT

Reuters has a devastating report shedding light on the tragedy that is unfolding in north-west Syria:

Rescuers working by torchlight pulled three-year-old Tariq Haidar from the rubble 42 hours after a devastating earthquake destroyed his family home in the Syrian town of Jandaris.

Orphaned by the earthquake that hit Syria and Turkey in the dead of night on Monday, Haidar was brought to a hospital where doctors were forced to amputate his left leg. They are trying to save his right.

Malek Qasida, a nurse caring for him, said:

As soon as he woke up, and saw us in front of him, he asked: ‘Where is Miral?’. We asked: ‘Who is Miral?’. He said: ‘My sister, she was sleeping next to me but she wasn’t answering me’.

They pulled out his father and two of his siblings before him, dead.

There are hundreds of children still under the rubble.

The bodies of his mother and a third sibling were recovered from the rubble later, people in the area said. His removal from the wreckage was the latest in a series of eye-catching rescues caught on camera in the areas in Syria and Turkey hit by the earthquake.

Jandaris was severely damaged by the quake, which has killed at least 1,930 people in rebel-held north-west Syria, according to rescue workers. The Syrian government says the toll in its part of the fractured country is 1,347.

The Syrian civil defence, the rescue service in the north-west, said on Thursday many families remained under the rubble.

Posted in Earthquake, Featured, International, Local, Regional0 Comments

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Power outages and damage reported after 5.4 earthquake hits southern Puerto Rico

Associated Press Published – May 2, 2020 – reprint

by Danica Coto

SAN JUAN, Puerto Rico— A 5.4-magnitude earthquake hit near southern Puerto Rico on Saturday, briefly knocking out power and jolting many from their beds on an island where some people still remain in shelters from previous quakes earlier this year.

There were no immediate reports of casualties.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake hit at a shallow depth of 5.6 miles near the city of Ponce and the towns of Guanica and Guayanilla, where hundreds of homes were destroyed by a quake in early January that killed one person and caused millions of dollars in damage.

Reports of damage were still trickling in on Saturday, with at least one second-story balcony crashing in the southern city of Ponce, spokeswoman Inés Rivera told The Associated Press. Meanwhile, cracks in homes were reported in Guayanilla.

“Everything shook really hard,” spokesman Danny Hernández said by phone.

A police officer, wearing a protective face mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, removes debris caused by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Saturday, May 2, 2020. The quake hit near southern Puerto Rico, jolting many from their beds on an island where some people still remain in shelters from previous quakes earlier this year. Carlos Giusti, AP

Meanwhile, in Guánica, Mayor Santos Seda told the AP that no major damage has been reported so far, but noted that between five to 10 people remain in a shelter since the 6.4-magnitude quake that hit in January.

“Thank God everyone is OK,” he said. “The infrastructure is already weak.”

From January: 950 earthquakes have hit Puerto Rico so far this year. Why? Blame it on an ‘earthquake swarm’

Several aftershocks hit Puerto Rico’s southern region, including a 4.9-magnitude one.

Víctor Huérfano, director of Puerto Rico’s Seismic Network, said in a phone interview that while it’s understandable many people are afraid and surprised by the most recent earthquake, it’s not unusual given the seismic activity that began in the region in late December.

“In the long run, it’s decreasing, but you can have peaks,” he said, adding that he expects strong aftershocks to continue.

The earthquake struck as Puerto Ricans are ordered to remain home as part of a two-month lockdown to help curb coronavirus cases. Gov. Wanda Vázquez tweeted that rescue crews were fanning out across the area and that she would shortly be traveling there to meet with those affected in person. 

A police officer, wearing a protective face mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, walks past debris caused by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Saturday, May 2, 2020. The quake hit near southern Puerto Rico, jolting many from their beds on an island where some people still remain in shelters from previous quakes earlier this year. Carlos Giusti, AP

“If your infrastructure is damaged, you must leave with your face mask on and your emergency backpack,” she said as she urged people to remain calm.

But nerves are already frayed in many parts of the island as Puerto Rico continues to recover from Hurricane Maria, a string of strong earthquakes and the coronavirus.

Silvestre Alicea, a 67-year-old man who moved back to Puerto Rico from New York upon retiring, lost his home in January’s earthquake and is still living with his sister in Guanica. 

“This is unreal,” he said, adding that some neighbors have left the area to stay with relatives elsewhere and that many, including a security guard who worked all night, are now sitting nervously in their balconies. “He hasn’t slept.”

Alicea, however, said he decided to knock down a couple of breadfruits from a nearby tree as the aftershocks continue: “I’m taking it easy. There’s nothing else you can do.” 

A resident, wearing a protective face mask as a precaution against the spread of the new coronavirus, makes photos of the damage caused by a 5.4-magnitude earthquake, in Ponce, Puerto Rico, Saturday, May 2, 2020. The quake hit near southern Puerto Rico, jolting many from their beds on an island where some people still remain in shelters from previous quakes earlier this year. Carlos Giusti

Posted in Business/Economy/Banking, Earthquake, Environment, International, Local, News, Regional, Travel0 Comments

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5.0 quake hits southern Puerto Rico amid ongoing tremors

A 5.0 magnitude earthquake hit southern Puerto Rico on Saturday at a shallow depth, raising concerns about unstable infrastructure in a region that has been hit by quakes every day for nearly a month.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake occurred at a depth of eight miles (13 kilometres) around the southern coastal town of Guayanilla, located close to the epicenters of most of the recent earthquakes. “We felt it really hard,” town spokesman Danny Hernandez told The Associated Press, saying authorities were patrolling the area to investigate any potential damage.

The newest quake comes a day after hundreds of people in the island’s southern region were evacuated from earthquake shelters that flooded after heavy rains hit the U.S. territory. In the coastal city of Ponce alone, more than 350 people on Friday were moved back into a school that served as the initial shelter when the ground first began shaking, Angel Vazquez, the city’s emergency management director, told the AP.

He said no damage was immediately reported in Ponce, but that crews were out inspecting buildings in areas affected by a 6.4 magnitude quake that hit Jan. 7, killing one person and damaging hundreds of homes. A 5.9 aftershock that hit the same area on Jan. 11 caused further damage. The ground in southern Puerto Rico first began shaking on Dec. 28, and while experts say several local faults are to blame, they are still analyzing data to determine why the earthquakes continue.

U.S. President Donald Trump has approved a major disaster declaration for more than dozen municipalities in Puerto Rico following earthquakes that officials say have caused more than $200 million in damage.

The number of 4,000 people representing nearly the recently declared population of Montserrat, remain in shelters.

Posted in Business/Economy/Banking, Earthquake, Environment, International, Local, News, Regional, TOURISM0 Comments

5.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Caribbean islands

5.2 magnitude earthquake jolts Caribbean islands

Jan 8, 2020

An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.2 rocked several Caribbean countries on Wednesday as regional countries were being urged to continue monitoring the situation in Puerto Rico where two strong quakes have been blamed for the death of one man and damage to several buildings in that country.

 The Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre at the University of the West Indies said that the quake occurred at 10: 01 local time and was located Latitude: 15.18N; Longitude: 61.22W and at a depth of 123 kilometres.

The centre said that the quake was felt 23 km southeast of Roseau in Dominica as well as 66 km north, northwest of Fort-de-France, the capital of the French island of Martinique and 124 km south, southeast of Point-à-Pitre, the capital of Guadeloupe.

 It said there were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and the Barbados-based Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) Wednesday joined the centre in urging Caribbean countries to monitor the situation in Puerto Rico.

 CDEMA further urged countries said to be guided by the established protocols outlined in their respective tsunami and coastal hazard plans

Posted in Climate/Weather, Earthquake, International, Local, News, Regional, TOURISM0 Comments

Earthquake rattles three Caribbean islands

Earthquake rattles three Caribbean islands

by staff writer

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Oct 7, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.1 rattled three Caribbean islands early Monday, but there have been no reports of injuries or damage, the Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the St. Augustine campus of the University of the West Indies (UWI).

SRC said that the quake occurred at 6.23 am (local time) and was felt in St. Lucia, Dominica and the French-island of Martinique.

It said that the quake was located Latitude: 14.61N, Longitude: 60.43W and at a depth of 20 kilometers (km).

The quake was felt 72 km east of Fort-de-France, Martinique, 88 km north east of Castries, St. Lucia and 131 km south east of Roseau, the Dominica capital.

Posted in CARICOM, Climate/Weather, Earthquake, Local, News, OECS, Regional0 Comments

Earthquake rattles two Caribbean countries

Earthquake rattles two Caribbean countries

by staff writer

PORT OF SPAIN, Trinidad, Sept 9, CMC – An earthquake with a magnitude of 4.2 rocked Trinidad and Tobago and Grenada on Monday, but there were no reports of injuries or damage, the Trinidad-based Seismic Research Centre (SRC) of the University of the West Indies (UI) has said.

It said that the quake, which occurred at 6.45 am (local time) was located Latitude: 11.13N, Longitude: 62.30W and at a depth of 84 kilometers (km).

The quake was felt 102 km north west of Port of Spain, Trinidad and Tobago and 119 km south west of St. George’s in Grenada.

The SRC said it was also felt 115 km north east of Carúpano, Venezuela

Posted in Business/Economy/Banking, Climate/Weather, Earthquake, Environment, Legal, Local, News, Regional, TOURISM0 Comments

LiveScience logo

An Even Larger Quake Just Rocked Southern California. Experts Say the Fault System Is Growing.

By Tia Ghose, Associate Editor

July 6, 2019

An Even Larger Quake Just Rocked Southern California. Experts Say the Fault System Is Growing.
Late Friday (July 5), a magnitude-7.1 quake struck near the town of Ridgecrest, California, just a day after the same region experienced a magnitude-6.4 quake. Experts say the fault system is growing and even more quakes are likely in the coming days. Credit: USGS

Another, even more powerful earthquake rocked Southern California on Friday (July 5). The temblor, which struck not far from the town of Ridgecrest in the Mojave Desert, registered as a magnitude 7.1, which is larger than the one that rocked the same general region on Thursday (July 4), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. That quake, a magnitude 6.4, was the largest to strike Southern California in 20 years, and was felt as far as Los Angeles.

Today’s monster quake caused injuries, fires and rockslides, and left more than 3,000 people without power. Shaking was felt as far away San Jose, about 260 miles (418 kilometers) from Ridgecrest, the Los Angeles Times reported.

Since the magnitude-6.4 quake on Thursday, more than 1,000 aftershocks have struck the area, CBS News reported. So Friday’s powerful ground-shaking was not a complete surprise.

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In fact, seismologists warned earlier Friday that additional quakes were likely in the next week, and said there was a 9% chance of a quake larger than Thursday’s temblor striking the area, Live Science reported. Seismologists now think that the fault system responsible for the quakes is growing, and residents of Ridgecrest and the nearby desert town of Trona can’t breathe easy just yet. Aftershocks to this quake, which is now considered a “foreshock,” are very likely, experts said.

“There’s a 5% chance that this could be followed by an even larger quake,” USGS seismologist Robert Graves said at a news conference on Friday, as reported by the LA Times.

Originally published on Live Science.

Posted in Climate/Weather, Earthquake, International, Local, News, Science/Technology0 Comments

EU launches fund to assist Caribbean countries

EU launches fund to assist Caribbean countries

by staff writer

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, CMC – The European Union has launched a Euro 28 million (One Euro=US$1.29 cents) Regional Climate Resilience Building Facility that will provide financial resources for technical assistance, disaster insurance and resilient investment facilitation.

The facility is the largest grant-funded resilience building project in the Caribbean to date and will be implemented by the World Bank and the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility (CCRIF).

EU Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere

“What we want from this programme is to address real needs. For this, governments and partner entities will have to define clear priorities, without which a targeted implementation is not possible,” said EU Ambassador, Daniela Tramacere, at the weeklong Understanding Risk (UR) Caribbean Conference that is organized by the World Bank in partnership with the Barbados government, the Caribbean Disaster Emergency Management Agency (CDEMA) and the EU.

The EU diplomat said the action should have as its ultimate objective, the genuine interest of Caribbean citizens translated in terms of resilience building at community and individual levels.

The technical assistance aims to strengthen the capacity of public institutions and civil society organisations which are capable of protecting citizens from disasters. The support to the Caribbean Catastrophe Risk Insurance Facility will help countries cope and recover better from the effects of extreme weather events.

“The support to resilient investment will stimulate the private sector to better adapt businesses and jobs to the priority needs of countries and citizens,” she added.

The Regional Resilience Building Facility is one of the many resilience programmes being financed by the EU in the Caribbean. Additional support for countries to build societal resilience by encouraging the transition to green economies and progress towards a sustainable economic path is being provided by various other EU programmes.

The EU said it is also partnering with regional governments and institutions on climate adaptation and ecosystem resilience and on hydrological meteorological data gathering.

Earlier this week, Canada also announced the  launch a CAD$20 million (One Canada dollar=US$0.74 cents) Canada-Caribbean Resilience Facility initiative to help regional countries better prepare for and respond to natural disasters.

“This initiative is being undertaken with Canada’s Caribbean support as a direct response to the lessons learned following the devastating hurricanes in the Caribbean in 2017 that have impacted our neighbouring countries so severely,” says Marie Legault, High Commissioner of Canada to Barbados and the OECS.

Posted in Business/Economy/Banking, Climate/Weather, Earthquake, Environment, Hurricane, International, Local, News, Regional, TOURISM0 Comments

Earthquake - 29cK6NanDe

4.7 Earthquake affects islands near Atlantic Ocean, Caribbean Sea

Via – Loop TT

The preliminary details are as follows:

The University of the West Indies Seismic Research Centre (UWI-SRC) has recorded a 4.7 magnitude earthquake near Antigua and Barbuda, Saint Kitts and Nevis and Guadeloupe.

DATE AND TIME:
2019-03-21 04:12 am (Local Time)
2019-03-21 08:12 (UTC)

MAGNITUDE:
4.7

LOCATION:
Latitude: 18.81N
Longitude: 60.41W
Depth: 10 km

NEARBY CITIES:
247 km NE of Saint John’s, Antigua and Barbuda
308 km NE of Basseterre, Saint Kitts and Nevis
310 km NE of Point-à-Pitre, Guadeloupe

If you felt this earthquake, please tell us (http://uwiseismic.com/EarthquakeFeedback.aspx)

DISCLAIMER: this event has NOT been reviewed by an analyst. It was automatically located by a seismological computational system, therefore, it is a PRELIMINARY result and this may vary when new additional data are processed.

Posted in Climate/Weather, Earthquake, International, Local, News, OECS, Regional0 Comments

Magnitude 3.4 earthquake felt in several islands

Magnitude 3.4 earthquake felt in several islands

by STAFF WRITER

BRIDGETOWN, Barbados, Jan. 13, CMC – Several countries in the region were rocked by a magnitude 3.4 earthquake early Sunday.

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) reports that at 7:29 a.m. (local time) the tremor affected the British Virgin Islands, Dominica, St. Martin, Sint Maarten, Guadeloupe, Montserrat, Puerto Rico, St. Kitts Nevis, US Virgin Islands, Antigua and Barbuda, Anguilla and St. Barthelemy.

The USGS reports that the earthquake was located 78 kilometres NNE of Road Town in British Virgin Islands, with a depth of 88.0 kilometres.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

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Posted in Business/Economy/Banking, Climate/Weather, Earthquake, International, Local, Regional0 Comments

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