18 months is a long time to wait for a stable home to call your own, but for Canterbury residents this has been the reality.

In September 2010 Canterbury, New Zealand was hit by the first of a series of devastating earthquakes. This earthquake, measuring 7.1 on the Richter scale, damaged many buildings, including homes throughout the region.

Canterbury residents have been hit by over 3000 aftershocks and new earthquakes since then measuring over 3.0, some of which have caused even more damages and forced residents out of their homes.

The most devastating quake in February of 2011 had a magnitude of 6.3, and killed 185 people, including exchange students from Japan, and forced the demolition of the majority of the Central Business District (CBD).

With claims being shared by the EQC, the New Zealand government, and personal insurance companies, many residents are still waiting for a resolution from claims made in September 2010.

Christchurch city resident Amanda knows she isn’t in one of the worst situations – her family is still intact, her and her partner still have their jobs and they were able to find a rental property close to their daughters’ schools while they wait to hear from EQC and their insurance company; but she is still feeling frustrated.

“I just wish I knew what was going to happen and when. I do know there are people out there in a worse situation that me and my family and they need information too” says Amanda.

Amanda has had some information from EQC but is growing tired of constant excuses and flip-flopping. She states that she has not had the same answer once when talking to an EQC representative.

She feels that “if EQC can’t act straight away at least they could give us consistent and reliable information”.

The current situation is that her house is red-zoned so needs to be torn down but the land is able to be built upon. However Amanda, her family and her house are stuck in limbo while EQC decides what they will or won’t do.

Amanda is asking those who are in the same position or know someone who is to write to or post on the Facebook page of their local MP, Prime Minister John Key, EQC or Minister for Canterbury Earthquake Recovery Gerry Brownlee.

It is disappointing for residents that a country such as New Zealand can have such a slow response to not just a one-off disaster, but a string of them. Many people who have had their claims assessed have moved either elsewhere in New Zealand or to Australia, where it is much easier to find accommodation and jobs.

Canterbury residents need help to get their voices heard!

Image Courtesy of   geoftheref

The article New Zealand: Christchurch Earthquakes – An Ongoing Crisis appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

Rescue efforts are well underway in the Himalayan state of Sikkim, the epicenter of an earthquake that shook parts of Tibet, Nepal and Bangladesh on Sunday, September 17. The quake, measuring 6.8 on the Richter scale, has taken the lives of 118 people and injured many more.

Helicopters are being used to deliver food as well as relief material to affected areas within Sikkim. At least 5,000 people are being sheltered in government camps. The Teesta Hydro Electro Project employees feared dead have mostly been counted for and 400 tourists stranded in the remote North have been rescued.

“Rescue workers have now reached most of the villages that had been inaccessible since the quake on Sunday, “ said government spokesman K.S. Topgay. Power in quake epicenter Mangan (district capital of North Sikkim) has been restored, but roads beyond that have been badly affected making it difficult to reach the interior.

Medical teams are being flown in with food and medical supplies, but nine villages still remain completely cut off. Sikkim falls within Zone IV, a high damage risk zone, of the seismological map of the Indian subcontinent.

State finance minister Badal Choudhury said, “Central government should set up at least one station in each of the capitals of all the eight northeastern states with an adequate number of NDRF (National Disaster Response Force) personnel.” Union Home Minister P. Chidambaram also visited the quake-hit areas on Thursday to review the situation.

He said that the prime motive was to provide relief to the 5,000 – 6,000 survivors in camps, and to restore connectivity and water supply. The overall death toll has risen to 118, including 75 in the Himalayan state, while West Bengal has reported 15 deaths, nine in Bihar, 11 in Nepal, seven in Tibet and one in Bhutan.

Tibetan Spiritual leader, H.H. The Dalai Lama has donated 500,000 rupees to affected areas. “I was saddened to learn about the loss of life and damage to property that the recent earthquake has caused across isolated Himalayan regions, particularly in Sikkim.

I offer my sympathy and condolences to all those families, who have been directly affected by what I understand is one of the worst earthquakes in recent memory,” His Holiness said in his letter dated September 20, 2011. Hundreds of homes have been destroyed and repairs to the area will cost an estimated $22 billion.

Sikkim is the least populous area in India. Many tourists are drawn to the area for it’s Buddhist monasteries and adventure activities. Sikkim experienced a 3.8 tremor around 10:15 pm Thursday night. East Sikkim district collector D Anandan said, “People came out on the roads and were afraid to go back inside their homes.”

Unfortunately, monsoon weather continues to interfere with rescue efforts to the mountainous region.

The article Rescue Efforts Drudge On After 6.8 Himalayan Earthquake appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.

A Taiwanese blogger is under suspicion for conspiring to defraud people by predicting that a natural disaster will hit Taiwan and split the country in two. The self-proclaimed prophet, identifying himself as “Teacher Wang”, has predicted a magnitude-14 earthquake on 11 May and his message has caused panic on the Island. This could be another example of malicious exploitation of the anxiety caused by the high-profiled natural disasters of 2011 – namely Christchurch and Fukushima.

In February, the New Zealand Herald could report the surfacing of several fake emails and websites inciting people to donate money to relief funds. One scam in particular was highly sophisticated, mimicking the Red cross and directing people to a fake website where they could enter their credit card details. Another used the face of a legitimate UK-based charity called Donate4Charity NZ. The fraudulent email asked New Zealanders to accept overseas donations for Christchurch earthquake victims, and to manage a bogus branch of the charity in return for financial compensation.

The same pattern emerged after the Fukushima earthquake and tsunami disaster. The security firm Symantec, could by mid-March, report that scammers were appealing for donations to fraudulent charities through a so-called ‘419-style fraud scam’. A “419” scam is a con that tries to persuade its victims to advance funds in hopes of realizing a much larger sum. The name originates from its related section in the Nigerian criminal code. In a company blog post, Samir Patil, a security researcher at Symantec warned: “Within the first few hours of the earthquake and tsunami, Symantec researchers observed more than 50 domains with the names of either ‘Japan tsunami’ or ‘Japan earthquake.’ These domains are either parked, available for sale, or are linked to earthquake sites. Don’t be surprised if you see these domains being used in phishing and spam attacks.”

Virtual criminals were reportedly unusually quick to exploit the disaster. To reporter Gregg Keizer of online magazine Macworld.co.uk, Chet Wisniewski, a security researcher with Sophos explained; “What’s surprising this time is how quickly they picked up on the news. We knew [scams] were coming, but they started appearing in record-breaking time, less than three hours after the earthquake.”

With these instances in mind, the prophecies of the Taiwanese blogger “Teacher Wang” could be another elaborate example of fraudsters, preying on people in the Asia-Pacific region’s fear. Wang advised people to live in containers if they wanted to survive the disaster, but local police are investigating if the blogger is working with a container business to defraud worried citizens. As of May 1, more than 100 cargo containers had been discovered in Nantou county, and were in the process of being fitted with doors, windows and air conditioning, according to the BBC’s correspondent in Taipei.

Despite the fact that Taiwan is in a quake zone, Taiwan’s Central Weather Bureau has stated to the BBC that there is no basis for the doomsday prediction and that quakes cannot be reliably predicted. A weather bureau spokesman added in the Pretoria News that “Issuing unauthorised forecasts on earthquakes is punishable by a fine of up to Tw$1 million ($35000).” So far, the police have been unable to trace “Teacher Wang” but his message has been deleted from the web.

The article Taiwanese Blogger Spreads Doomsday Fear, Another Case of Fraud? appeared first on The Toonari Post - News, Powered by the People!.