A6 Thursday, April 3, 2014
WORLD
Roswell Daily Record
Chile’s M8.2 quake causes little damage, death IQUIQUE, Chile (AP) — Hard-won expertise and a big dose of luck helped Chile escape its latest magnitude-8.2 earthquake with surprisingly little damage and death. The country that suffers some of the world’s most powerful quakes has strict building codes, mandatory evacuations and emergency preparedness that sets a global example. But Chileans weren’t satisfied Wednesday, finding much room for improvement. And experts warn that a “seismic gap” has left northern Chile overdue for a far bigger quake. Authorities on Wednesday discovered just six reported deaths from the previous night’s quake. It’s possible that other people were killed in older structures made of adobe in remote communities that weren’t immediately accessible, but it’s still a very low toll for such a powerful shift in the undersea fault that runs along the length of South America’s Pacific coast. “How much is it luck? How much is it science? How much is it preparedness? It is a combination of all of the above. I think what we just saw here is pure luck. Mostly, it is luck that the tsunami was not bigger and that it hit a fairly isolated area of Chile,” said Costas Synolakis, an engineer who directs the Tsunami Research Center at the
University of Souther n California. Chile is one of the world’s most seismic countries and is particularly prone to tsunamis, because of the way the Nazca tectonic plate plunges beneath the South American plate, pushing the towering Andes cordillera ever higher. About 2,500 homes were damaged in Alto Hospicio, a poor neighborhood in the hills above Iquique, a city of nearly 200,000 people whose coastal residents joined a mandatory evacuation ahead of a tsunami that rose to only 8 feet (2.5 meters). Iquique’s fishermen poked through the after math: sunken and damaged boats that could cost millions of dollars to repair and replace. Still, as President Michelle Bachelet deployed hundreds of anti-riot police and soldiers to prevent looting and round up escaped prisoners, it was clear that the loss of life and property could have been much worse. The shaking that began at 8:46 p.m. Tuesday also touched off landslides that blocked roads, knocked out power for thousands, briefly closed regional airports and started fires that destroyed several businesses. Some homes made of adobe also were destroyed in Arica, another city close to the quake’s offshore epicenter.
AP Photos
Above: Fishing boats washed ashore by a small tsunami, sit in Caleta Riquelme, adjacent to the port, in the northern town of Iquique, Chile, after magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck the northen coast of Chile, Wednesday. Right: Rescue personnel get ready to go into action in the northern town of Iquique, Chile, after magnitude 8.2 earthquake struck the northen coast of Chile, Wednesday.
Police: Jet mystery may never be solved US asks Europe LUMPUR, KUALA Malaysia (AP) — A police investigation may never determine the reason why the Malaysia Airlines jetliner disappeared, and search planes scouring the Indian Ocean for any sign of its wreckage aren’t certain to find anything either, of ficials said Wednesday. The assessment by Malaysian and Australian officials underscored the lack of knowledge authorities have about what happened on Flight 370. It also points to a scenario that becomes more likely with every passing day — that the fate of the Boeing 777 and the 239 people on board might remain a mystery forever. The plane disappeared March 8 on a flight to Beijing from Kuala Lumpur after its transponders, which make the plane visible to commercial radar, were shut of f. Military radar picked up the jet just under an hour later, on the other side of the Malay Peninsula. Authorities say that until then its “movements were consistent with deliberate action by someone on the plane,” but have not ruled out anything, including mechanical error. Police are investigating the pilots and crew for any evidence suggesting
to wean itself from Russian gas
AP Photo
In this Monday, March 31, photo, a shadow of a Royal New Zealand Air Force P-3 Orion aircraft is seen on low cloud cover while it searches for missing Malaysia Airlines Flight MH370 in the southern Indian Ocean.
they may have hijacked or sabotaged the plane. The backgrounds of the passengers, two-thirds of whom were Chinese, have been checked by local and international investigators and nothing suspicious has been found. “Investigations may go on and on and on. We have to clear every little thing,” Inspector General Khalid Abu Bakar told reporters. “At the end of the investigations, we may not even know the real cause. We may not even know the reason for this
incident.” Police are also investigating the cargo and the food served on the plane to eliminate possible poisoning of passengers and crew, he said. The search for the plane began over the Gulf of Thailand and South China Sea, where the plane’s last communications were, and then shifted west to the Strait of Malacca, where it was last spotted by military radar. Experts then analyzed hourly satellite “handshakes” between the plane
conflict. And it may have raised the Palestinians’ asking price: They realize that with Israel so eager to free Pollard, they may be able to hold out for broader Israeli concessions.
tion with Pollard for fear of being seen as meddling in internal American affairs.
and a satellite and now believe it crashed somewhere in the souther n Indian Ocean.
A search there began just over two weeks ago, and now involves at least nine ships and nine planes. Malaysian Prime Minister Najib Razak was scheduled to visit Thursday mor ning the Australian air force base near the west coast city of Perth to inspect the multinational search effort.
Imprisoned spy may be key for peace talks
JERUSALEM (AP) — In an improbable twist, the fate of an imprisoned American who spied for Israel could now play a big role in rescuing Middle East peace negotiations after a dramatic Palestinian rebuff to Secretary of State John Kerry.
With Kerry’s efforts in tatters, a three-way deal that includes the United States releasing Jonathan Pollard could provide incentives for Israel and the Palestinians to break the deadlock and extend the talks.
But critics say the sudden focus on Pollard has turned attention away from the real issues that need to be addressed to end decades of
Palestinian officials, for instance, say they have discussed the possibility of seeking the release of the top Palestinian prisoner held by Israel, Marwan Barghouti, as part of any arrangement involving Pollard. The officials, speaking on condition of anonymity because they were not authorized to disclose internal deliberations, said they have to date been hesitant to raise the issue in connec-
Negotiations on a peace deal hit a major snag late Tuesday when Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas abruptly renewed a campaign for recognition of the “state of Palestine” in international bodies.
Abbas had promised to suspend the campaign when peace talks resumed in July but angrily reversed course after Israel failed to carry out a promised prisoner release. The move forced Kerry to cancel a planned trip back to the region and threatened to derail the talks completely.
BRUSSELS (AP) — The United States on Wednesday called on Europe to wean itself from a dangerous dependency on Russian gas, saying it was time to stand together and bring an end to the Kremlin’s use of energy supplies as political leverage. Left unsaid was the European Union’s reluctance to follow the United States headlong into shale gas extraction, which has transfor med the global energy scene and turned the U.S. from importer into a nascent exporter. Or its refusal to fully re-embrace nuclear power in the wake of the Fukushima disaster in Japan. And even if it tried to become independent, it would take Europe years to develop promising sources, such as shale deposits in Ukraine and Poland — and with no guarantees of success. Europe’s reliance on Russia for a third of its energy needs has left the Kremlin in a position of power, emboldening it as it swept in to annex the Crimean Peninsula from Ukraine last month, with little more than diplomatic protest and a few sanctions
in return.
In his first interview since fleeing to Russia, Ukraine’s ousted president, Viktor Yanukovych, said Wednesday that he was “wrong” to invite Russian troops into Crimea and vowed to try to persuade Russia to return the coveted Black Sea peninsula.
Yanukovych told The Associated Press and Russia’s state NTV television that he still hopes to negotiate with Russian President Vladimir Putin to get the annexed region back.
“Crimea is a tragedy, a major tragedy,” the 63year-old Yanukovych said, insisting that Russia would not have taken over Crimea if he had stayed in power. He fled Ukraine in February after three months of protests focused on corruption and on his decision to seek closer ties to Russia instead of the European Union.
His ouster and Russia’s subsequent annexation of Crimea added fresh urgency to calls for Europe to diversify its energy policy.
U.S. officials said Kerry spoke with Abbas and Israeli Prime Minister Benjamin Netanyahu during the day and that negotiators from the sides would meet later Wednesday in Jerusalem.
White House spokesman Josh Earnest said the U.S. was “disappointed by the unhelpful unilateral actions that both parties have taken in recent days.” He said Kerry remains in close touch with negotiating teams, but added that the parties “must take the necessary steps if they want to move forward.”
AP Photo
Palestinian President Mahmoud Abbas, right, joined by Palestinian chief peace negotiator Saeb Erekat, signs an application to the U.N. agencies in the West Bank city of Ramallah, Tuesday.