National Mirror www.nationalmirroronline.net
Thursday, October 17, 2013
World News
53
Death toll in Philippines quake now 144
A
government official said the death toll from the 7.2-magnitude earthquake that hit the Philippines has risen to 144. Civil Defence Director Eduardo del Rosario said yesterday that another 291 people are injured. The central island of Bohol, a popular tourist area, was hit hardest by Tuesday morning’s quake, with widespread damage to houses and historic churches. A day after the quake, Bohol Gov. Edgardo Chatto said that all towns in need had been reached, although landslides and damaged bridges were slowing down road travel. The quake happened at 08:12 (00:12 GMT) on a national holiday. The US Geological Survey said it struck below the island of
Bohol, where officials reported most casualties. People were also killed in the province of Cebu. Historic churches were among the many damaged buildings, and stampedes were reported in two cities. At least 69 of those confirmed dead were from Bohol, according to reports citing disaster management officials. Fifteen people are known to have been killed in Cebu, and another was reported dead on the neighbouring island of Siquijor. Dozens of others are also being treated for injuries. Search and rescue operations are being conducted, with rescuers finding themselves hampered by damaged roads. At least five people died when part of a fishing port collapsed in Cebu, and two others were also reported
dead when a roof fell at a market. At least three people also died during a stampede at a sports complex in Cebu, provincial disaster chief Neil Sanchez said. “There was panic when the quake happened and there was a rush toward the exit,” he told a news agency. The tremor triggered power cuts in parts of Bohol, Cebu and neighbouring areas, say reports citing the country’s disaster management agency. Officials from Bohol and Cebu have declared a state of emergency in their respective provinces, local media said. An official from the government agency which monitors earthquake activity was quoted as saying that this was the strongest tremor felt in the area in the last 23 years.
A huge crack has appeared in a road in Bohol province as a result of the earthquake.
Damage was also reported in neighbouring Cebu, about an hour away by plane from the capital, Manila.
The quake struck underneath Bohol Island, damaging structures like this old church in Loboc town. PHOTOS: REUTERS
Space rock pulled from Russian lake
D
ivers working at a Russian lake have recovered a halftonne chunk of the space rock that exploded over Chelyabinsk earlier this year. The object plunged into Lake Chebarkul in central Russia on 15 February, leaving a 6m-wide hole in the ice. Scientists say that it is the largest fragment of the meteorite yet found. More than 1,000 people were injured when a 17m, 10,000-tonne space rock burned up over Central Russia, breaking windows and rocking buildings. Live footage showed a team pull out a 1.5-metrelong (five-foot-long) rock from the lake after first wrapping it in a special
covering and placing it on a metal sheet while it was still underwater. The fragment was then pulled ashore and placed on top of a scale for weighing, an operation that quickly went wrong. The rock broke up into at least three large pieces as it was lifted from the ground with the help of levers and ropes. Then the scale itself broke, the moment it hit the 570kg (1,255lb) mark. Dr Caroline Smith, curator of meteorites at London’s Natural History Museum, confirmed that the object was a meteorite from characteristic features known as fusion crust and regmaglypts, which are obvious in images. She told BBC News:
“Fusion crust forms as the meteoroid is travelling through the atmosphere as a fireball. “The outer surface gets so hot it melts the rock to form a dark, glassy surface crust which we term a fusion crust. Regmaglypts are the indentations, which look a bit like thumbprints, also seen on the surface of the meteorite.” Lake Chebarkul The fragment left a 6m-wide hole in the frozen lake back in February Sergey Zamozdra, an associate professor at Chelyabinsk State University, told the Interfax news agency: “The preliminary examination... shows that this is really a fraction of the Chelyabinsk meteorite.
At least five people died when part of this port building collapsed in Cebu.
Many were also evacuated from buildings, like this hospital in Cebu, where patients were led to safer areas.