EDITOR-IN-CHIEF
Sebastian Hernandez
ARTICLE EDITOR
Alea De La Chica
CONTRIBUTORS
Lokyee Wong, Na-Yeon Kim, Sun-Ho Kim, Aidan Tsen,
GRAPHIC DESIGN
Sebastian Hernandez
PHOTOGRAPHER
Carrie Chan
SPECIAL THANKS TO
The Pinetree Administration, Ms. Rioux
Extra!Extra!Readallaboutit!
Iwanttogivemyheartfeltapologiesforthelackof aFebruaryissue,senioryearhasbeenhittingme likeatruck.Ithankmyincrediblestaffteamfor theirunderstandingandwillingnesstobringyou thenewMarch2023Issue!Thismonthwefocused onworldevents.Whilesomearticleswere supposedtobereleasedonthecancelledFebruary 2023Issue,Istillseethemasagreatread! IhopeyouallhaveagreatSpringBreak.Keepsafe, andwarm!(Whyisitsocoldstill?It’sMarch???)
Sebastian“Chevi”Hernandez
Editor-in-Chief
PS:HaveanyideasforThePost? ThePinetreePostwantsYOUtohelpitimprove! Anycommentsorsuggestionsregardinghowyou viewtheissueseverymonthoraboutThePost itselfarehighlyencouraged Reachout,I’dbethankful thepinetreepost@gmail com
AccordingtotheLunarcalendar,the22ndof JanuarymarksthebeginningoftheYearOfthe Rabbit(ortheYearoftheCatinVietnam).
LunarNewYearisoneofthemostimportant festivalscelebratedinEastAsia.Itisthedayofthe yearthatbringslotsofcheerandthereunionof families.
InHongKong,familiestaketheirchildrentovisit theirrelativesintheearlymorning.Asalocal tradition,smallredpacketsfilledwithcashare exchangedasasymbolofluckandprosperity.
YearCakeandRadishCakearetraditionalfoods enjoyedonNewYear'sDay.InChinese,YearCake iscalled“年糕”,inwhich“糕”ispronouncedthe sameas“⾼”,meaningof“high”or“tall”.Therefore, YearCakerepresents“highachievements”.Itisa sweetandchewydessertwhileradishcakeis savory.
OnNewYear’sDay,streetsaredecoratedinvivid red,acolorthatsymbolizesfortune.Blessingson redpaperaredisplayedeverywhere,writteninfour characters.Theyaretargetedtowardsdifferent groupsofpeople,varyingamonggender,age, occupation,andmore.Forexample,childrenmight receiveblessingssuchas“growtallereachyear”,or “goodacademics”.Ontheotherhand,wishessuch as“goodhealth”or“strongphysique”are commonlygiventoelders.
新年快樂, 恭喜發財!
Enjoy the day with your loved ones
Na-YeonKim Writer
It’s mind-boggling that February is already here Truly, January felt just like a blink of an eye A few more blinks and our seniors are off to graduation! (Still trying to wrap my head around that one ) For now, BC Family Day is just around the corner, and it’s time to celebrate this provincial statutory holiday Usually, it is celebrated on the third Monday of February In 2023, Family Day is on Monday, February 20th
Family day is only recognized in New Brunswick, Alberta, Manitoba, Ontario, Saskatchewan and of course, British Columbia It makes you ponder how the intricate Canadian law can’t seem to settle on consistent, nationwide holidays Unfortunately for public servants (any person employed in a department), this is yet to be established as a national statutory holiday, meaning they need to head off to work Family day was first observed in Alberta in 1990 when the former lieutenant governor, Helen Hunley, felt it necessary to leave a day to recognize the importance of family Other provinces joined in on the act over the next two decades
Various activities are accessible for everyone in honour of this day This quote from the British Columbia government website sums it up nicely:
“TheB.C.governmentisfundingfreevirtualand in-personFamilyDayactivitiesthroughoutthe provinceovertheFamilyDayweekend.Thismakes surecelebrationsareaccessibleforeveryone.”
Itseemspeopletendtoenjoythetypicalleisure activitiesofgoingtothemovies,playinghockeyor takingawalkinthepark.Butwhat’shappening aroundtheworldonthisholiday?Whiletheday maynotbethesame,itiscelebratedinthestates oftheU.S.,Angola,Israel,SouthAfrica,Uruguay, Vanuatu,andVietnam.ForcountrieslikeVietnam, FamilyDayhasaculturalvalue;theinfluenceof Confucianismanditscoreteachingsofreverence, especiallyfilialpiety,canbequiteclearlyobserved ondayslikethese.Filialpietyexpressesthemoral dutyofshowingrespect,obedienceandcareto one’sparents.Althoughthisconceptitselfmay seemforeign,weshouldalltakeintoaccountthe principleofthisvalue.Itiseasytooverlookthe tremendousamountofworkthatparentsputinto raisingtheirbelovedchildren.Sowhentheday arrives,let’sputdownourphonesandtakea momentwithourparentsorguardiansandshow gratitudeforthetimewecanspendwiththem. Don’tforgetyoursiblingstoo!
Enjoy some family tiime in the snow! Source: iStockphotoOn February 6th, early Monday morning, millions of Turkish and Syrians were woken by a great tremor, a major earthquake sweeping across southeastern Turkey and the Syrian border. 2 weeks later, more than 44,000 were confirmed dead "[One] of the deadliest earthquakes in any given year, only two in the last 10 years have been of equivalent magnitude, and four in the previous 10 years " (Joanna Faure Walker, head of the Institute for Risk and Disaster Reduction at University College London, February 10, 2023)
The two affected countries were shaken by 2 major earthquakes and numerous aftershocks; the first quake, measuring 7 8 on the moment magnitude scale (Mw), began 34 kms west of Gaziantep at 4:17 a m (UTC +3), followed by another 7 5 Mw quake that hit further up North later the same day, devastating dozens of cities and trapping thousands under rubble and dust Nearly 2 weeks after rescue operations began, over 44,000 were confirmed dead, 110,000 injured, and 6,500 buildings destroyed These numbers are absurdly high compared to others within the past decade, many of which were similar in magnitude to Turkey and Syria; So why was this year’s earthquake so deadly?
To begin, Turkey and Syria are prone to powerful seismic activities due to a concentration of tectonic plates in the area The larger region of the Anatolian plate is exposed to severe earthquakes because of the North and East Anatolian fault lines As the Arabian plate grinds against the Anatolian plate, an intense friction builds up, eventually releasing a powerful earthquake The most recent 7 8 major earthquake occurred on the East Anatolian fault line, with the epicenter of the seismic activity impacting cities densely populated by Syrian refugees living in haphazardly built, and often neglected buildings
Thedrawnoutcivilwaralsocontributedtothe weakbuildingstructuresacrosstheborderinSyria. Notonlythat,governmentcorruptionseemsto alsohavecontributedgreatlytothelackof protectivemeasuresagainstapotentialdisaster. :
Turkey, alongside India and Pakistan, has often used soft story structures that provide a solution to overcrowding in densely populated areas to serve as a multi-purpose residential building. However, this type of structure has historically performed poorly against even medium level earthquakes due to the heavy upper stories being supported by an extremely weak foundation; this was evident back in 1999, when a 7.6 earthquake that hit İzmit caused over 17,000 deaths. The deaths were clearly magnified due to weak building design and soft stories, which made up around 90% of the building collapses, but the reintroduced building codes from then were never enforced by the Turkish government due to corruption Even now, most buildings in the country were constructed well before the events of İzmit Retrofitting the old buildings would have strengthened the structural integrity of the buildings up to standard for the latest quakes, but executing such a overhaul would have been extremely expensive Thankfully, the International community was quick to offer support; some of the larger pledges of humanitarian aid were announced on February 16th when U N General Secretary Antonio Guterres announced the pledging of $1 billion in aid to Turkey This aid package was aimed at assisting the 5 2 million people affected by the disaster, although the total number of affected ranges roughly around 24 million Other multinational organizations, such as the EU, NATO, and the World Bank, also pledged aid, stating that they would provide $1 78 billion in aid for Turkey Individual countries, with the United States Agency for International Development having pledged $85 million, $10 million from Canada, towards the two stricken countries Alongside the dozens of contributing nations, humanitarian organizations and various companies have also announced they will deliver aid to Turkey and Syria, with many nations also deploying rescue teams to assist in the disaster relief in Turkey
However, the aid responses were evenly distributed in all of the affected areas Since the events of the Arab Spring in 2011, a series of armed antigovernment protests across the majority of the Arab world, Syria has been embroiled in over a decade of civil war The Syrian Civil War is also a geopolitical flashpoint between many of the western countries in Europe and America and nations opposed to the western world, a factor which has directly influenced the delivery of aid By 2023, Northern Syria continued to remain out of control of the Syrian Arab Republic and its government in Damascus, instead being controlled by many of the numerous opposition factions depending on the region In the most affected areas of the earthquake, the northern Aleppo Governorate is controlled by the Syrian Interim Government, and the Idlib Governorate by Hay’at Tahrir al-Sham (HTS). However, for Bashar AlAssad, President of the internationally recognized Syrian Arab Republic, the Interim Government is an opponent in armed conflict. When the earthquake struck in Northern Syria, the humanitarian response remained extremely complicated as it always was during the years of the Syrian Civil War
Few groups have pledged any humanitarian aid directly to the Syrian Interim Government, and instead conducted all talks through the Syrian Arab Republic. HTS refused to accept any aid from the Syrian Arab Republic and only through the Turkish border. HTS-held territory has seen the largest share of fatalities with 3,500 reported on February 12th. The Interim Government can only receive aid through the Bab al-Hawa crossing on the SyriaTurkey border, a crossing used to move aid and Syrian refugees previously.
The United Nations has attempted to open other crossings, however they face the use of the United Nations Security Council veto powers in the hands of Russia and China, the former a staunch ally of the Syrian Arab Republic and directly involved in the Syrian Civil War on the side of Damascus Assad himself later permitted the use of two more crossings with the Turkish border (which has not been in control of Assad’s forces for years), thus bypassing the need for another U N resolution that would be vetoed This contrasts with the Syrian Arab Repbulic’s government position that aid must go through their territory, and not the Turkish border Conflict between forces in opposition-held Syria has also obstructed the movement of aid, such as the blocking of a convoy coming from Kurdish held northeastern Syria, due to the aid going to territory held by Turkish backed opposition Many of the parties trying to deliver aid to Northern Syria, including the United Nations have faced criticism for doing so through Assad and the Syrian Arab Republic’s government, who are notorious for misappropriation of humanitarian aid being sent through them, and crimes against humanity in general One ally of Syria has been the United Arab Emirates, who pledged $50 million in aid to Syria without specifying where it would go
The United Nations had pledged $397 million for relief in Northern Syria. When asked about why the portion of aid was less than half of that pledged to Turkey, U.N. spokesman Stephane Dujarric said that aid money was already established in the beginning of 2023 when $4.8 billion was pledged due to the Syrian Civil War. Worse, is that the numerous teams of rescue workers sent to Turkey by various nations were entirely absent from Northern Syria. Those that were sent mostly went to territory of Assad’s government, such as a team from the United Arab Emirates. Alone, the Syria Civil Defense, or “White Helmets'' began conducting what they could with only 3,000 personnel and limited resources.
Map of the affected areaThe White Helmets have been an active organization within the opposition controlled Syria since 2014, and have performed humanitarian operations ever since while being subject to an extensive disinformation campaign by Assad’s government and its supporters Additionally, poor relations with Kurdish northeastern Syria prevents them from operating in that region While the work they have done has been a tremendous effort, the White Helmets lack of resources and support has prevented them from being able to greatly affect the humanitarian situation in Northern Syria The earthquakes are only one of many events that continue to prolong the enduring suffering of the Syrian people
CNN
