lunes, 9 de noviembre de 2009
miércoles, 21 de enero de 2009
Picking Up the Pieces - Costa Rica Jan 2009 quake
In aftermath of worst quake in 18 years, Ticos begin rebuilding lives
By Leland Baxter-NealTico Times Staff lbaxter@ticotimes.net
With backs bent to the tropical sun, rescue workers and volunteers this week pulled three more bodies from the raw earth of a landslide that killed at least a dozen people who were eating lunch in a small restaurant in the village of Cinchona.
Their names – Jeffrey Zamora, Francisco Zamora and Daniela Zamora – were added to the list of people killed Jan. 8 by an earthquake, a list now 23 names long, and their names were removed from the list of missing persons, who now number 11.
Eight days after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit the mountainous region northwest of San José, the full scope of the disaster is just beginning to come into focus.
More than 2,300 people are sleeping on thin foam mattresses in temporary shelters in churches, schools and tent camps set up in campo soccer fields.
President Oscar Arias this week declared a state of emergency to free up emergency funds and ordered a period of national mourning Jan. 12-16, when flags are flown at half-staff and festivals are prohibited. As a result, the popular Palmares festival has been postponed (see Weekend).
Arias recognized that the government response lacked coordination, and acknowledged that had the quake hit a major city, the toll could have been much higher.
“If it had been in an important city, in an urban area, we wouldn't be talking about a few victims, but rather hundreds, if not thousands,” Arias said.
The government has ventured an initial estimate of $100 million in total damage. At least 10 kilometers of highway have “disappeared,” according to Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González. Entire sections of mountain roads simply slid away. Road crews have been working to clear other sections of highway that were covered by enormous landslides and to replace three bridges also destroyed by slides.
The quake's casualties include the Cariblanco hydroelectric power plant at San Miguel de Sarapiquí in north-central Costa Rica. The plant is full of mud and branches and will be shut down for a year, said ICE president Pedro Pablo Quirós, raising concerns of blackouts.
Under a worst-case scenario, in which the missing are found dead, the total number of fatalities would be 34, which would be less than the 48 Costa Ricans who perished in the 1991 earthquake that struck near the Caribbean city of Limón.
That, however, is little comfort for many Costa Ricans, who have suffered from heart-wrenching details recounted in newscasts, on the Internet and in newspapers, some of which have published grisly photographs.
The first known victims were two sisters, 4 and 7, who were buried together in a landslide.
This week, a mother and the two children she clutched to her chest were pulled from a landslide. Others died when their vehicles or homes were crushed by falling mountainsides, and one teenage girl reportedly died from a panic attack triggered by aftershocks Monday night.
Though less deadly than the 1991 quake, and significantly less than the 6.4 earthquake that killed at least 700 in Cartago in 1910, the Jan. 8 earthquake has tested the government's mettle.
The National Emergency Commission (CNE) reported that at least 346 houses were destroyed, and at least another 150 are uninhabitable, all within a radius of 10 to 15 kilometers from the epicenter. One village, Cinchona, has been declared a total loss. Residents walked for hours to return to their condemned and crumpled homes to retrieve what belongings they could carry out on their backs.
The quake struck at 1:19 p.m., 10 kilometers east of the Poás Volcano, or about 35 kilometers northwest of San José. Scientists do not believe the quake resulted from volcanic activity but rather the movement of tectonic plates along a fault line in the area.
As the quake's shock waves hit the capital city about 1:21 p.m., people hid under desks or fled from their offices and homes. Streetlights bounced. Some people screamed, some cried. In the city of Alajuela, and concrete buildings cracked.
In Fraijanes, a rural community farther north along the road to Poás Volcano, Lorena Morales was at home when the earth began to shake.
“We had to get out of the house because it was too dangerous,” she said.
A couple of days following the quake, Morales appeared resigned but optimistic as she sat under one of 13 small makeshift shelters made of plastic tarps, string and fence posts erected in the middle of a grassy field.
“There was no point after the earthquake in going back in,” she continued. “There's no electricity, no water, and everything you own is in pieces. So we've been here.”
Morales lived within walking distance from the shelter where she ended up. Thousands of others, however, were left stranded along remote highways or in inaccessible mountainside villages.
Helicopters contracted by CNE or donated by private charter companies airlifted nearly 350 people from the areas worst hit by the quake. However, those choppers did not get into the air until the following morning, nearly 16 hours after the quake hit.
Among those who slept outdoors the first night were approximately 300 tourists stranded at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and the Peace Lodge. Eyewitness accounts told of hundreds going without food or water and looking for shelter overnight along the highway or in the hotel's parking lot.
Witnesses also claimed that the first helicopters to reach the area were private chartered flights that picked up only those who could afford to pay $300 to $700 per person, as well as a handful of injured people.
Reinaldo Carballo, spokesman for the CNE, said the government had no rescue helicopters of its own, and depended on those it could hire or borrow.
The United States, one of the first nations to come to Costa Rica's aid, donated $50,000 and sent four Blackhawk helicopters from a base in Honduras to aid in the rescue efforts. Colombia sent a fifth Blackhawk as well as a military squad.
At home, the outpouring of donations of money, food, clothing, medications and time has been overwhelming, and Arias this week announced he was forming a special commission to coordinate and organize the charity efforts.
The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, is negotiating grants from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Inter-American Development Bank, said Minister Guillermo Zúñiga.
Lawmakers also appear likely soon to approve a credit line from the World Bank to deal with natural disasters. The credit, awarded in November, would allow Costa Rica to borrow up to $65 million, to be repaid over 30 years at 2.25 percent interest.
With thousands of Ticos in temporary shelters, the government is beginning to turn its attention to how it will provide housing for the hundreds of families displaced by the disaster.
“We have to give people something more dignified than the tents they are staying in now,” said Housing Minister Clara Zomer.
Tico Times reporters Gillian Gillers and Meagan Robertson contributed to this story.
By Leland Baxter-NealTico Times Staff lbaxter@ticotimes.net
With backs bent to the tropical sun, rescue workers and volunteers this week pulled three more bodies from the raw earth of a landslide that killed at least a dozen people who were eating lunch in a small restaurant in the village of Cinchona.
Their names – Jeffrey Zamora, Francisco Zamora and Daniela Zamora – were added to the list of people killed Jan. 8 by an earthquake, a list now 23 names long, and their names were removed from the list of missing persons, who now number 11.
Eight days after the magnitude 6.2 earthquake hit the mountainous region northwest of San José, the full scope of the disaster is just beginning to come into focus.
More than 2,300 people are sleeping on thin foam mattresses in temporary shelters in churches, schools and tent camps set up in campo soccer fields.
President Oscar Arias this week declared a state of emergency to free up emergency funds and ordered a period of national mourning Jan. 12-16, when flags are flown at half-staff and festivals are prohibited. As a result, the popular Palmares festival has been postponed (see Weekend).
Arias recognized that the government response lacked coordination, and acknowledged that had the quake hit a major city, the toll could have been much higher.
“If it had been in an important city, in an urban area, we wouldn't be talking about a few victims, but rather hundreds, if not thousands,” Arias said.
The government has ventured an initial estimate of $100 million in total damage. At least 10 kilometers of highway have “disappeared,” according to Public Works and Transport Minister Karla González. Entire sections of mountain roads simply slid away. Road crews have been working to clear other sections of highway that were covered by enormous landslides and to replace three bridges also destroyed by slides.
The quake's casualties include the Cariblanco hydroelectric power plant at San Miguel de Sarapiquí in north-central Costa Rica. The plant is full of mud and branches and will be shut down for a year, said ICE president Pedro Pablo Quirós, raising concerns of blackouts.
Under a worst-case scenario, in which the missing are found dead, the total number of fatalities would be 34, which would be less than the 48 Costa Ricans who perished in the 1991 earthquake that struck near the Caribbean city of Limón.
That, however, is little comfort for many Costa Ricans, who have suffered from heart-wrenching details recounted in newscasts, on the Internet and in newspapers, some of which have published grisly photographs.
The first known victims were two sisters, 4 and 7, who were buried together in a landslide.
This week, a mother and the two children she clutched to her chest were pulled from a landslide. Others died when their vehicles or homes were crushed by falling mountainsides, and one teenage girl reportedly died from a panic attack triggered by aftershocks Monday night.
Though less deadly than the 1991 quake, and significantly less than the 6.4 earthquake that killed at least 700 in Cartago in 1910, the Jan. 8 earthquake has tested the government's mettle.
The National Emergency Commission (CNE) reported that at least 346 houses were destroyed, and at least another 150 are uninhabitable, all within a radius of 10 to 15 kilometers from the epicenter. One village, Cinchona, has been declared a total loss. Residents walked for hours to return to their condemned and crumpled homes to retrieve what belongings they could carry out on their backs.
The quake struck at 1:19 p.m., 10 kilometers east of the Poás Volcano, or about 35 kilometers northwest of San José. Scientists do not believe the quake resulted from volcanic activity but rather the movement of tectonic plates along a fault line in the area.
As the quake's shock waves hit the capital city about 1:21 p.m., people hid under desks or fled from their offices and homes. Streetlights bounced. Some people screamed, some cried. In the city of Alajuela, and concrete buildings cracked.
In Fraijanes, a rural community farther north along the road to Poás Volcano, Lorena Morales was at home when the earth began to shake.
“We had to get out of the house because it was too dangerous,” she said.
A couple of days following the quake, Morales appeared resigned but optimistic as she sat under one of 13 small makeshift shelters made of plastic tarps, string and fence posts erected in the middle of a grassy field.
“There was no point after the earthquake in going back in,” she continued. “There's no electricity, no water, and everything you own is in pieces. So we've been here.”
Morales lived within walking distance from the shelter where she ended up. Thousands of others, however, were left stranded along remote highways or in inaccessible mountainside villages.
Helicopters contracted by CNE or donated by private charter companies airlifted nearly 350 people from the areas worst hit by the quake. However, those choppers did not get into the air until the following morning, nearly 16 hours after the quake hit.
Among those who slept outdoors the first night were approximately 300 tourists stranded at the La Paz Waterfall Gardens and the Peace Lodge. Eyewitness accounts told of hundreds going without food or water and looking for shelter overnight along the highway or in the hotel's parking lot.
Witnesses also claimed that the first helicopters to reach the area were private chartered flights that picked up only those who could afford to pay $300 to $700 per person, as well as a handful of injured people.
Reinaldo Carballo, spokesman for the CNE, said the government had no rescue helicopters of its own, and depended on those it could hire or borrow.
The United States, one of the first nations to come to Costa Rica's aid, donated $50,000 and sent four Blackhawk helicopters from a base in Honduras to aid in the rescue efforts. Colombia sent a fifth Blackhawk as well as a military squad.
At home, the outpouring of donations of money, food, clothing, medications and time has been overwhelming, and Arias this week announced he was forming a special commission to coordinate and organize the charity efforts.
The Finance Ministry, meanwhile, is negotiating grants from the Central American Bank for Economic Integration and the Inter-American Development Bank, said Minister Guillermo Zúñiga.
Lawmakers also appear likely soon to approve a credit line from the World Bank to deal with natural disasters. The credit, awarded in November, would allow Costa Rica to borrow up to $65 million, to be repaid over 30 years at 2.25 percent interest.
With thousands of Ticos in temporary shelters, the government is beginning to turn its attention to how it will provide housing for the hundreds of families displaced by the disaster.
“We have to give people something more dignified than the tents they are staying in now,” said Housing Minister Clara Zomer.
Tico Times reporters Gillian Gillers and Meagan Robertson contributed to this story.
Costa Rica fêtes Obama inauguration with U.S.
By Patrick FitzgeraldTico Times Staff intern@ticotimes.net
A couple minutes past noon Eastern Standard Time yesterday in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama placed his hand on the Bible and was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America.
Cheers erupted from the approximately 75 Ticos and U.S. citizens gathered in La Luz Restaurant outside Escazú, where the inauguration was projected on a giant screen.
“Personally, I just felt it was a very terrific moment in our history,” said Timothy Lattimer, regional environmental officer at the U.S. Embassy in San Jos é. “It marks a new beginning, and I think that it sets a great example of how our democracy can renew itself.”
Some grew emotional at the sight of Obama, the nation's first African-American president, assuming its highest office. Obama acknowledged this feat briefly in his inaugural address, noting that a “man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”
“For me, as an African-American, seeing this opens a world of possibility,” said Gregory Toussaint, from Miami, Florida. “It shatters the highest glass ceiling.”
For many throughout the world, the inauguration also highlighted anticipation for a new era of relations with the United States.
President Oscar Arias told the daily La Nación Monday that the new president must close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and step up its efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
For many Ticos, though, yesterday was largely business as usual. While millions around the world sat glued to their television screens to watch the ceremony, San José was much more subdued, with patrons casually glancing at newscasts in sodas over lunch.
“We just have to wait and see if there will be any change,” said Jaqueline Malegro, a waitress at one corner restaurant. “We don't know anything yet.”
Tico Times online editor Alex Leff (aleff@ticotimes.net) contributed to this story. See Friday's print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more coverage of Costa Rican reactions to the U.S. presidential inauguration.
A couple minutes past noon Eastern Standard Time yesterday in Washington, D.C., Barack Obama placed his hand on the Bible and was sworn in as the 44th president of the United States of America.
Cheers erupted from the approximately 75 Ticos and U.S. citizens gathered in La Luz Restaurant outside Escazú, where the inauguration was projected on a giant screen.
“Personally, I just felt it was a very terrific moment in our history,” said Timothy Lattimer, regional environmental officer at the U.S. Embassy in San Jos é. “It marks a new beginning, and I think that it sets a great example of how our democracy can renew itself.”
Some grew emotional at the sight of Obama, the nation's first African-American president, assuming its highest office. Obama acknowledged this feat briefly in his inaugural address, noting that a “man whose father less than 60 years ago might not have been served at a local restaurant can now stand before you to take a most sacred oath.”
“For me, as an African-American, seeing this opens a world of possibility,” said Gregory Toussaint, from Miami, Florida. “It shatters the highest glass ceiling.”
For many throughout the world, the inauguration also highlighted anticipation for a new era of relations with the United States.
President Oscar Arias told the daily La Nación Monday that the new president must close the prison in Guantanamo Bay, Cuba, and step up its efforts to bring peace to the Middle East.
For many Ticos, though, yesterday was largely business as usual. While millions around the world sat glued to their television screens to watch the ceremony, San José was much more subdued, with patrons casually glancing at newscasts in sodas over lunch.
“We just have to wait and see if there will be any change,” said Jaqueline Malegro, a waitress at one corner restaurant. “We don't know anything yet.”
Tico Times online editor Alex Leff (aleff@ticotimes.net) contributed to this story. See Friday's print or digital edition of The Tico Times for more coverage of Costa Rican reactions to the U.S. presidential inauguration.
miércoles, 14 de enero de 2009
Earthquake Vocabulary
AFTERSHOCKS
Smaller earthquakes following the hardest shake.
EARTHQUAKE
The earth vibrations caused by passing seismic waves that come from the release of energy
when sudden movement along a fault occurs.
EPICENTER
The point on the earth's surface directly above the place where the rock first breaks or slips in a
earthquake.
FAULT
A weak zone or break in the earth's crust where rocks have fractured and moved.
FORESHOCKS
Smaller earthquakes preceding the strongest shake.
LIQUEFACTION
The mixing of soil, sand and water to form a "jello-like" substance into which structures may
settle during an earthquake.
MAGNITUDE
A measure of earthquake size based on the size of the waves recorded on seismographs.
PLATES
Large, rigid segments of the earth's crust and part of the mantle below, broken into 12 major
and many minor sections that "float" on a plastic, flowing mantle layer.
RICHTER SCALE
The scale that measures earthquake magnitude or size. Each larger number on the scale represents an increase in 30 times the amount of earthquake energy released.
SEISMOGRAPH
An instrument which detects and records earth motions produced by passing seismic waves.
TSUNAMI
A long ocean wave usually caused by sea floor movements in an earthquake.
Smaller earthquakes following the hardest shake.
EARTHQUAKE
The earth vibrations caused by passing seismic waves that come from the release of energy
when sudden movement along a fault occurs.
EPICENTER
The point on the earth's surface directly above the place where the rock first breaks or slips in a
earthquake.
FAULT
A weak zone or break in the earth's crust where rocks have fractured and moved.
FORESHOCKS
Smaller earthquakes preceding the strongest shake.
LIQUEFACTION
The mixing of soil, sand and water to form a "jello-like" substance into which structures may
settle during an earthquake.
MAGNITUDE
A measure of earthquake size based on the size of the waves recorded on seismographs.
PLATES
Large, rigid segments of the earth's crust and part of the mantle below, broken into 12 major
and many minor sections that "float" on a plastic, flowing mantle layer.
RICHTER SCALE
The scale that measures earthquake magnitude or size. Each larger number on the scale represents an increase in 30 times the amount of earthquake energy released.
SEISMOGRAPH
An instrument which detects and records earth motions produced by passing seismic waves.
TSUNAMI
A long ocean wave usually caused by sea floor movements in an earthquake.
viernes, 9 de enero de 2009
Action words to use in Resumes, CV, and Bios
Accomplished- Achieved
- Acquired
- dministered
- Advised
- Adapted
- Analysed
- Anticipated
- Arranged
- Assisted
- Clarified
- Classified
- Coached
- Compared
- Composed
- Conducted
- Coordinated
- Counseled
- Communicated
- Completed
- Created
- Defined
- Designed
- Determined
- Developed
- Directed
- Earned
- Edited
- encouraged
- Established
- Evaluated
- Expanded
- Experienced
- Facilitated
- Financed
- Formulated
- Gathered
- Generated
- Guided
- Hired
- llustrated
- Increased
- Influenced
- Initiated
- Introduced
- Implemented
- Improved
- Launched
- Maintained
- Managed
- Marketed
- Mastered
- Monitored
- Motivated
- Negotiated
- Ordered
- Organized
- Participated
- Persuaded
- Planned
- Prepared
- Printed
- Programmed
- Projected
- Promoted
- Proposed
- Provided
- Publicized
- Qualified
- Researched
- Reorganized
- Represented
- Revised
- Responsible
- Scheduled
- Selected
- Sold
- Solved
- Spoke
- Strengthened
- Structured
- Succeeded
- Supervised
- Taught
- Trained
- Translated
- Updated
- Verified
- Wrote
jueves, 8 de enero de 2009
Finally a blog for all
San José feels first jiggle of the year
By Alex LeffTico Times Staff aleff@ticotimes.net
Costa Rica's Central Valley experienced a jolt yesterday morning from a quake that registered a magnitude of 4.0, the first noticeable one of 2009.
Seismologist Víctor González said the tremor started at 10 a.m. and lasted about 3 minutes, but many residents may have only felt it for a few seconds, depending on how close they were to its epicenter.
The quake began 5 kilometers east of the Poás Volcano, 6 km underground, said González, of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica. He said there were 55 aftershocks.
No injuries or damage were reported.
Yesterday's quake may have been the first to noticeably shake us this year, but seismic activity has already been stirring quietly, with as many as 10 mini-earthquakes a day, González said.
Last year ended with at least 4,746 quakes, but only about 60 of them were felt, the strongest hitting 6.2 on Nov. 19, the observatory reported.
By Alex LeffTico Times Staff aleff@ticotimes.net
Costa Rica's Central Valley experienced a jolt yesterday morning from a quake that registered a magnitude of 4.0, the first noticeable one of 2009.
Seismologist Víctor González said the tremor started at 10 a.m. and lasted about 3 minutes, but many residents may have only felt it for a few seconds, depending on how close they were to its epicenter.
The quake began 5 kilometers east of the Poás Volcano, 6 km underground, said González, of the Volcanological and Seismological Observatory of Costa Rica. He said there were 55 aftershocks.
No injuries or damage were reported.
Yesterday's quake may have been the first to noticeably shake us this year, but seismic activity has already been stirring quietly, with as many as 10 mini-earthquakes a day, González said.
Last year ended with at least 4,746 quakes, but only about 60 of them were felt, the strongest hitting 6.2 on Nov. 19, the observatory reported.
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