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You are here: Home / 2015 / Archives for April 2015

Archives for April 2015

Why Baltimore Rebelled

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

The most salient thing in Baltimore isn’t the damage caused by protestors, but the grinding poverty and neglect wrought by capital.

A protester on a bicycle in front of a burning CVS drug store, during clashes in Baltimore yesterday. Jim Bourg / Reuters

A protester on a bicycle in front of a burning CVS drug store, during clashes in Baltimore yesterday. Jim Bourg / Reuters

by Shawn Gude, Jacobin

Days before social unrest in Baltimore reached levels unseen in decades, Dan Rodricks, the Baltimore Sun‘s resident liberal columnist, painted a picture of Saturday afternoon’s march against police violence. Peaceful. Family friendly. An expression of justifiable anger.

But he concluded somberly: “And as I write those words, the Freddie Gray march turned violent . . .”

“The dream of the Next Baltimore is cracked.”

What was the cause of Rodricks’s lamentations? The destruction of a handful of police cars, it seems, and the smashed windows of some businesses in Baltimore’s Inner Harbor.

And the “Next Baltimore” occupying his imagination? A vision built not on pouring investment into long-neglected communities, but attracting young professionals and tourists. It’s a vision that left intact racial and class inequality — even as it trumpeted inclusiveness and opportunities to come.

Baltimore, then, is like so many other cities with their own Freddie Grays: a place in which private capital has left enormous sections of the city to rot, where a chasm separates the life chances of black and white residents — and where cops brutally patrol a “disposable” population.

Yesterday’s uprising occurred the same day Gray, the twenty-five-year-old whose spine was almost completely severed while in police custody, was laid to rest. Protests haven’t ceased since his April 19 death.

The rebellion began when police amassed at a West Baltimore mall, citing calls by students on social media for a “purge” and after issuing histrionic reports of a “gang partnership” to injure police. In the acute (if imbalanced) melee that ensued, police sprayed tear gas and shot rubber bullets; the young crowd threw bricks and water bottles. (Some police responded by chucking the objects back.)

Spilling into adjoining neighborhoods, the demonstration escalated through the late afternoon and early evening. When I arrived around 5:30 at Pennsylvania and North, about a mile south of the mall, a pall of smoke obscured the road. I passed a couple burned-out police vehicles.

The source of the smoke was a looted CVS at the intersection. Some protesters screamed at the line of police arrayed across the road, but the crowd had thinned substantially. The occasional demonstrator bolted back after getting pepper sprayed. An assortment of packaged snacks, presumably from the pharmacy, were strewn across the ground.

Intent on dispersing the remaining demonstrators and spectators, riot police fired flaming smoke bombs. They advanced in unison, wooden batons clacking against their plastic shields, chanting an unnerving cry: “Move back, move back, move back.”

Further down, at the next intersection, it was a picture of catharsis and unadulterated joy: two young men dancing to Michael Jackson — one in the middle of the street, the other on top of a yellow truck — the music mixing with the sounds of fire engines.

But of the entire scene, the most salient thing wasn’t the destruction wrought by protestors — the cop car demolished, the payday loan store smashed up — but by capital: the decrepit, boarded-up row houses, hovels, and vacants in a city full of them.

These are the streets in which Maryland Gov. Larry Hogan has now declareda state of emergency, the same streets that would suffer from his austerity. They are the streets that have endured astronomic unemployment rates for decades, even as Democrats have run the city unrivaled. And they are the streets where police folded up Freddie Gray’s body “like origami,” then restrained him with leg irons in the back of a police van and delayed calling for an ambulance.

After Saturday’s protests, Baltimore officials blamed property destruction on “outside agitators” (a charge that reeked of both red-baiting and hackneyed desperation). On Monday night, Mayor Stephanie Rawlings-Blake embraced a new term of abuse — “thugs” — and imposed a weeklong curfew. And still the results of the Gray investigation have yet to be released.

Through it all, the local governing elite has danced the liberal two-step: denounce the extremists, then placate with reassurances that reform is on the way — that grievances are justified, but only orderly marches are legitimate acts of protest. Anything else would be a “disservice” to the memory of Freddie Gray.

Yet the unrest in Baltimore is a response to the unmitigated failure of this approach. The snails-pace of police reform at the Maryland Legislature didn’t spark an uprising. When Tyrone West died at the hands of police, and when Baltimore Police Commissioner Anthony Batts insisted that they were “changing and adapting the organization” after the cops got off scot-free, Baltimoreans didn’t revolt. And when police faced no charges in the death of Anthony Anderson, Charm City residents showed remarkable restraint.

But police immunity and dehumanizing poverty can only coexist for so long. If the future is uncertain, one thing is clear: it is only through resistance and struggle that a new, more just Baltimore will be born.

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Baltimore, Inequality, Maryland, Racism, United States, USA

Indonesia executes drug smugglers by firing squad

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

Executions of eight out of nine convicts carried out despite plea by Australia to investigate judicial corruption.

A coffin bearing the body of Indonesian drug convict Zainal Abidin was buried in Cilacap several hours after his execution [AFP]

A coffin bearing the body of Indonesian drug convict Zainal Abidin was buried in Cilacap several hours after his execution [AFP]

by Al Jazeera

Indonesia has executed eight out of nine drug convicts by firing squad despite last-ditch appeals by Australia’s foreign minister for a stay of execution so that claims of corruption during the trials of two Australian prisoners could be investigated.

The executions were carried out after midnight (17:30 GMT) at Besi prison on Nusakambangan Island on Tuesday, after the inmates were given 72-hours notice.

Australia on Wednesday took the unprecedented step of recalling its ambassador to Indonesia in protest against the executions, in which two of its citizens, Myuran Sukumaran and Andrew Chan, were killed.

Prime Minister Tony Abbott said the relationship with Jakarta “has suffered as a result of what’s been done over the last few hours”.

BREAKING: Australian officials have taken custody of the bodies of Chan and Sukumaran in prep for repatriation pic.twitter.com/fo05yx0Vz6

— George Roberts (@George_Roberts) April 28, 2015

“These executions are both cruel and unnecessary. Cruel because both Andrew Chan and Myuran Sukumaran spent some decade in jail before being executed, and unnecessary because both of these young Australians were fully rehabilitated while in prison,” Abbott told reporters in Canberra.

“We respect Indonesia’s sovereignty but we do deplore what’s been done and this cannot be simply business as usual,” he said.

Over the weekend, authorities had asked the nine convicts, which included four Nigerian men, one man each from Brazil and Indonesia and a Filipino woman for their last wishes.

However, the execution of Filipina Mary Jane Veloso was postponed at the last minute after someone suspected of recruiting her surrendered to police in the Philippines, the attorney general’s spokesman told the Reuters news agency late on Tuesday.

“The execution of Mary Jane Veloso has been postponed because there was a request from the Philippine president related to a perpetrator suspected of human trafficking who surrendered herself in the Philippines,” Tony Spontana, spokesman for the attorney general said.

“Mary Jane has been asked to testify.”

Earlier, Filipino migrants had rallied in Hong Kong on behalf of Velose – a 30-year-old mother of two whose  supporters said was tricked  into carrying a suitcase loaded with heroin.

Al Jazeera’s Step Vaessen, reporting from Cilacap in Indonesia, said while there was an outpouring of joy among Filipinos that Velose had been spared, there would be a different reaction from Australia after Jakarta rejected last-ditch pleas for clemency.

“The executions could cause a diplomatic fallout between Australia and Indonesia similar to earlier this year when the Netherlands and Brazil recalled their ambassadors after their nationals were killed,” she said.

Australia had mounted a sustained campaign to save its citizens, who have been on death row for almost a decade.

Chan and Sukumaran were the Australian ringleaders of the so-called “Bali Nine” heroin trafficking group whoe were arrested at the main airport on the holiday island in April 2005 for trying to smuggle 8.3kg of heroin to Australia.

The seven other members of the Bali Nine, all Australians, were jailed in Indonesia and did not face the death penalty.

White coffins

The families of the Australian convicts had paid an anguished final visit to their loved ones earlier on Tuesday, wailing in grief as ambulances carrying empty white coffins arrived at the prison.

Julie Bishop, Australia’s foreign minister, told media earlier in the day that she had asked for a stay in their executions, saying allegations in the Australian media that their judges had requested money to commute the death sentences were “very serious”.

Indonesian President Joko Widodo said that such concerns should have been conveyed a decade ago when the case went through the courts.

A former lawyer of the prisoners, Muhammad Rifan, told Australia’s Fairfax Media on Monday that Indonesian judges had requested more than $100,000 in return for prison terms of less than 20 years.

But Rifan said the judges later told him they had been ordered by senior legal and government members in Jakarta to impose a death penalty, so the deal fell through.

Among the condemned on Tuesday was Brazilian, Rodrigo Gularte, who had been diagnosed by Indonesian medics with schizophrenia.

Gularte, 42, was arrested in 2004 at a Jakarta airport after trying to enter the country with 6kg of cocaine hidden in a surfboard.

He was also sentenced to death in 2005.

Amnesty International condemned the executions saying they showed a “complete disregard for due process and human rights safeguards.”

“Some of the prisoners were reportedly not provided access to competent lawyers or interpreters during their arrest and initial trial, in violation of their right to a fair trial which is recognized under international and national law,” Rupert Abbott, Amnesty’s Research Director for Southeast Asia and the Pacific said.

“Gularte, had been diagnosed with paranoid schizophrenia, and international law clearly prohibits the use of the death penalty against those with mental disabilities,” Abbott added.

Fourteen people have now been put to death in Indonesia this year, and the government has announced plans for further executions this year.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Drug Trafficking, Drugs, Indonesia, Smugglers

CSK pull off thrilling 2 run win over Knights

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

CSK-IPL

Chennai: A scintillating bowling performance backed up by some terrific fielding enabled Chennai Super Kings successfully defend a below par total as they pulled off a thrilling two-run win against Kolkata Knight Riders here on Tuesday.

Replying to 134/6 posted by the Super Kings, the Knights finished at 132/9 before packed crowd at the M.A. Chidambaram Stadium.

For CSK, West Indies all-rounder Dwayne Bravo was the pick of the bowlers as he returned figures of 3 for 22 to walk away with the man of the match award. Off-spinner Ravichandran Ashwin bagged 2 for 5, as the hosts climbed atop the table with six wins from seven matches, while the Knights remained third managing just three wins from seven games.

Chasers KKR were off on a canter even after losing skipper Gautam Gambhir (0) as opener Robin Uthappa started belting the CSK bowlers away.

Uthappa especially got stuck onto Mohit Sharma’s first over, hammering the pacer for three consecutive boundaries. Earlier, he had wipped Ishwar Pandey of his pads for a six.

When all looked rosy for the men in purple at 52/1 at the end of five overs, Uthappa fell prey to Ashwin’s first ball, as he swept straight to Brendon McCullum inside the circle.

The innings stuttered thereafter as Manish Pandey (15) lofted one straight to Dwayne Bravo at deep-midwicket, with Ashwin picking up his second victim.

The Knights added just 18 runs between the sixth and the tenth over to be at 70/3 at the half-way stage.

The hunt hardly was back on track as Suryakumar Yadav (16) perished at long-off trying to pull a short delivery. Dwayne Bravo took a blinder to get rid of the Indian batsman.

Bravo once again took the spotlight with the leather in the 16th over as Yusuf Pathan (13) dragged one on his stump.

Even the hard-hitting Andre Russell (4) was sent back to the dug-out after a miscommunication between him and Ryan ten Doeschate led to the Caribbean being run out with the score reading 100/6 in 16.5 overs.

Pat Cummins (0), and Piyush Chawla soon returned. as Bravo gave away just four runs in the 18th over.

After a drought of boundaries for 12 overs, the penultimate over produced 13 runs for the Knights, but it was all too late as the home side pulled off the edge-of-the-seat encounter.

Earlier, The Super Kings got off to a bit of a flyer courtesy their hard-hitting openers again. Brendon McCullum and Dwayne Smith stitched together a 42 run partnership in 4.3 overs.

The Knights finally got the break-through when McCullum (19) failed to pick a Piyush Chawla googly and was adjudged leg before.

The innings stuttered after the jolt, as both Smith (25) and number three Suresh Raina(17) quickly followed the New Zealander into the dugout.

After being 48/1 from five overs, CSK managed to get to 73/3 at the halfway stage.

South African du Plessis and skipper Mahendra Singh Dhoni (3) looked to consolidate, but Russell struck again as he induced the Indian to glove one to the keeper off a fiery bouncer.

Darren Bravo (5) too lasted only a few balls, but Ravindra Jadeja and du Plessis took the total past the 100-run mark in the 16th over. With the latter top scoring with an unbeaten 29 from 29 balls.

Australian pacer Pat Cummins then bowled a tight 18th over which yielded just 6 runs, Hogg followed it up with another crafty over cleaning Jadeja (15) up and giving away just three runs.

Chawla and Russell got two wickets each, while veteran 44-year-old Chinaman bowler Brad Hogg picked up another.

(IANS)

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: Chennai Super Kings, Cricket, IPL, IPL 2015, Kolkata Knight Riders

Farmers who commit suicide are cowards, says BJP leader

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

OP Dhankar

Chandigarh: Haryana Agriculture Minister O P Dhankar has stoked a controversy with insensitive remarks that farmers who commit suicide are “cowards” and “criminals”, drawing severe flak from the Opposition with Rahul Gandhi raking it up in Parliament today.

“Committing suicide is a crime, according to Indian law. Any person who commits suicide escapes from his responsibilities and leaves the burden on his wife and innocent children and such people are cowards,” Dhankar, who earlier headed the BJP’s Kisan Cell, said yesterday.

Asked about compensation to kin of farmers who committed suicide, the Minister said,

“An institution like government cannot stand behind cowards (those committing suicides) and cannot be with a criminal.”

The Congress slammed the Minister’s “insensitive” remarks and demanded that he be sacked. The issue also echoed in Parliament with Congress Vice President Rahul Gandhi citing it to attack the ruling BJP.

“Your minister in Haryana now says that farmers who commit suicide are cowards. You did not help them when their crops were affected by hailstorm, the farmers bore it. You ended their bonus, they bore it. You did not give them fertilisers, they were lathicharged, but they bore it and now their produce is lying in the markets,” Gandhi said in Lok Sabha.

Attacking Manohar Lal Khattar government, Haryana Congress President Ashok Tanwar said,   “This shows the insensitive mindset of the BJP Government towards the farmers. Will the Khattar government wake up from its deep slumber or will it wait till more farmers end their lives.”

Despite the uproar, Dhankar today defended his remarks saying the the issue of farmer suicides was “hype” and “motivated”.

He also referred to the alleged suicide by a farmer Gajendra Singh at an AAP rally in Delhi.

Slamming the minister’s remarks, Tanwar said “a farmer is not coward, but those who are sitting in the government and escape from responsibility are the biggest cowards.”

He also said that “a farmer, who feeds the nation and whose children guard our borders, is brave”.

“We demand that either he should resign or he should be sacked by the Chief Minister,” the Congress leader said.

However, Dhankar today said the state government is doing its best to help the farmers and remained unrepentant about his remarks.

“I stand by my previous statement,” the Minister said.

“Drama is taking place ‘suicide, suicide’. I am doing my best to help the farmers…. I have been working with farmers since last 10 years. There are (crop) failures but committing suicide is not a solution.

“Facilities should be there so that they can restart from zero. We are with the farmers…. A drama happened in Delhi. Everyone saw it. That should not happen,” he said.

Referring to the Delhi incident, Dhankar yesterday told reporters, “One party termed it as motivated murder… it is unfortunate that a farmer had taken such a step in the presence of no less than a person than the Chief Minister himself”.

He also added, “People of Haryana are strong, they do not leave burden on their wives and innocent children, they themselves face the challenges. They are brave soldiers. In everyone’s life there are difficulties and one has to face them and move on.”

The Haryana Minister’s comments came on queries related to incidents of farmers allegedly committing suicide because of heavy crop damage and if the government was contemplating to give any compensation to their kin.

“This is not an issue to be assessed. Society does not stand with cowards, fugitives…after all who does not face difficulties in one’s life, but one has to face it strongly,” he said.

Earlier yesterday, when asked about the issue, Chief Minister Manohar Lal Khattar had said that it was very difficult to find out the actual reasons behind such incidents of suicide.

“It is always painful if somebody dies. It is difficult to know reasons for he takes his life which may be because of old debt, poor financial condition,” Khattar had said.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Farmer Suicide, Farmers, Haryana, O P Dhankar

Mumbai HC upholds Maharashtra government's ban on beef

April 29, 2015 by Nasheman

beef-ban

Mumbai: The Bombay High Court today declined to stay provisions of a recent Maharashtra law which prohibits possession, transportation and consumption of meat of cow, bulls and bullocks even if the animals have been slaughtered outside Maharashtra.

A division bench headed by Justice V M Kanade was of the view that no stay can be given until the final hearing of a bunch of petitions challenging the beef ban which was fixed on June 25.

The court asked the state government to file a detailed affidavit on the issue within four weeks and allowed the petitioners and intervenors to file rejoinders two weeks thereafter.

The Maharashtra Animal Preservation (Amendment) Act, enforced last month by the state government, bans slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks and also consumption and possession of their meat.

Three petitions were filed challenging Sections 5(d) and 9(a) of the Act which prohibits possession, transportation and consumption of meat of cow, bulls and bullocks even if the animals have been slaughtered outside Maharashtra.

According to the petitions, this puts a ban on import of meat. The petitions sought a stay on these sections.

In another development, the court directed the state not to take any coercive action till pendency of petitions or three months against traders who have been found in possession or transportation of beef.

“This is because the Act had been introduced suddenly and reasonable time was not given to the traders to dispose of their products,” said the Judges.

However, FIRs can be registered against such traders but no further action can be taken until the petitions are decided finally or three months whichever is earlier, the court said.

The court also clarified that since ban on beef continues in the State under the Act, FIRs can be registered against slaughter of cows, bulls and bullocks.

As a note of caution, the Court also said that the state shall not intrude on the privacy of citizens to find out if they are in possession of beef or any other form of meat.

The court clarified that no blanket stay can be imposed on the provisions of the Act which ban transportation or possession of beef, though FIR can be registered against the offenders under the Act.

The judges said they were of the view that the traders had not been given reasonable time to dispose of the beef products as the Act was brought in all of a sudden. Hence they directed the State not to take coercive steps against them though FIR can be registered.

“There can be no compelling reason for the State to impose ban without giving a reasonable opportunity to traders provided they abided by the rules on food hygiene and safety,” said the division bench in their brief order.

Senior counsel Aspi Chinoy, appearing for one of the petitioners, had argued that such a ban on consumption was violative of the fundamental right of a person to have his choice of food.

“Section 5 (d) is extremely invasive, drastic and intrusive. There is no real justification behind making possession and consumption of beef a cognisable offence.

The government should not arbitrarily invade the rights of citizens,” Chinoy argued.

He said that the state has not even contemplated regulation of import of meat.

“Five states in India, including Uttar Pradesh, Punjab and Haryana, have permitted import of beef despite a ban on slaughter of those animals. And in these states passion go high in such matters but it is still allowed,” Chinoy said.

Advocate General Sunil Manohar had, however, argued that consumption of beef is not a fundamental right of a citizen and the state government can regulate a person’s fundamental right to have his choice of food.

“It is not a fundamental right of a citizen to eat beef. It cannot be said that the government cannot take away these rights. The state legislation can regulate consumption of flesh of any animal the source of which is reprehensible. Under the Animal Protection Act, there is a prohibition on consumption of wild boar, deer and other animals,” he argued.

Manohar further argued that if section 5(d) of the Act, which prohibits possession of meat, is struck down then the Act would remain only on paper and it would frustrate the purpose and object of the Act which is to protect cow progeny.

(PTI)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Beef, Bombay High Court, Maharashtra

5.5 magnitude earthquake jolts parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa in Pakistan

April 28, 2015 by Nasheman

The intensity of the earthquake was recorded as 5.5 on the Richter scale. Reuters

The intensity of the earthquake was recorded as 5.5 on the Richter scale. Reuters

by Ali Akbar, Dawn

Peshawar: An earthquake jolted parts of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Tuesday, creating a sense of fear and panic among the residents.

According to Meteorological Department, the intensity of the earthquake was recorded as 5.5 on the Richter scale and its epicentre was the border area of Tajikistan at a depth of 144 kilometres.

Earthquakes tremors were felt in Malakand, Swat, Upper and Lower Dir where residents evacuated homes and buildings out of fear.

There was no immediate report of any casualty or damages.

Pakistan and the region, along an active continental plate boundary, is often hit by earthquakes. In September 2013, a magnitude-7.7 quake struck Pakistan’s Balochistan province, killing at least 376 people.

In 2005, the country was hit by a 7.6-magnitude earthquake that killed more than 73,000 people and left about 3.5 million homeless.

Filed Under: Muslim World Tagged With: Earthquake, Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, Nepal, Pakistan

The science behind the Nepal earthquake

April 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Motorcyclists use both sides of a wide crack in the Koteshwor-Suryabinayak Highway caused by the earthquake in the  Bhaktapur area near Kathmandu, Nepal on 26 April, 2015  -- twenty four hours after a devastating quake which so far has taken the lives of at least 2,400.  EPA/Hemanta Shrestha

Motorcyclists use both sides of a wide crack in the Koteshwor-Suryabinayak Highway caused by the earthquake in the Bhaktapur area near Kathmandu, Nepal on 26 April, 2015 — twenty four hours after a devastating quake which so far has taken the lives of at least 2,400. EPA/Hemanta Shrestha

by Mike Sandiford, CP Rajendran & Kristin Morell, The Conversation

Saturday’s Nepal earthquake has destroyed housing in Kathmandu, damaged World Heritage sites, and triggered deadly avalanches around Mount Everest. The death toll is already reported as being in the many thousands. Given past experience, it would not surprise if it were to reach the many tens of thousands when everyone is accounted for.

Nepal is particularly prone to earthquakes. It sits on the boundary of two massive tectonic plates – the Indo-Australian and Asian plates. It is the collision of these plates that has produced the Himalaya mountains, and with them, earthquakes.

Our research in the Himalaya is beginning to shed light on these massive processes, and understand the threat they pose to local people.

The science of earthquakes

The April 25 quake measured 7.8 on the moment magnitude scale, the largest since the 1934 Bihar quake, which measured 8.2 and killed around 10,000 people. Another quake in Kashmir in 2005, measuring 7.6, killed around 80,000 people.

These quakes are a dramatic manifestation of the ongoing convergence between the Indo-Australian and Asian tectonic plates that has progressively built the Himalayas over the last 50 million years.

Belts of earthquakes (yellow) surround the Indo-Australian plate. Mike Sandiford

They are but one reminder of the hazards faced by the communities that live in these mountains. Other ongoing hazards include floods and monsoonal landslides, as exemplified by the Kedarnath disaster of 2013 which killed more than 5,000 people.

Earthquakes occur when strain builds up in Earth’s crust until it gives way, usually along old fault lines. In this case the strain is built by the collision or convergence of two plates.

A number of factors made this quake a recipe for catastrophe. It was shallow: an estimated 15km below the surface at the quake’s epicentre. It saw a large movement of the earth (a maximum of 3m). And the ruptured part of the fault plane extended under a densely populated area in Kathmandu.

From the preliminary analysis of the seismic records we already know that the rupture initiated in an area about 70km north west of Kathmandu, with slip on a shallow dipping fault that gets deeper as you move further north.

Over about a minute, the rupture propagated east by some 130km and south by around 60km, breaking a fault segment some 15,000 square kilometres in area, with as much as 3m slip in places.

The plates across this segment of the Himalaya are converging at a rate of about 2cm this year. This slip released the equivalent of about a century of built up strain.

Predicting quakes

While the occurrence of large earthquakes in this region is not unexpected, the seismological community still has little useful understanding of how to predict the specific details of such ruptures. While the statistical character of earthquake sequences is well understood, we are still unable to predict individual events.

Questions as to why such a large earthquake, in this specific location at this time, and not elsewhere along the Himalaya, continue to baffle the research community, and make for problematic challenge of better targeted hazard preparedness and mitigation strategies.

But with each new quake researchers are gaining valuable new insights. As exemplified by the ready availability of quality data and analysis in near real time provided by organisations such as the United States Geological Survey and Geoscience Australia, the global network of geophysical monitoring is providing an ever more detailed picture of how the earth beneath our feet is behaving.

Seismic gaps

New techniques are also helping us read the record of past earthquakes with ever greater accuracy. Our research collaboration – involving the University of Melbourne, the Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research and the Indian Institute of Science in India, the University of Victoria in Canada, and the Bhutan Government – is studying the earthquake geology of adjacent areas of the Himalaya in the state of Uttarakhand in India and in Bhutan.

Together we are mapping indicators of tectonic activity that link the earthquake time-scale (from seconds to decades) to the geological time-scale (hundred of thousands to millions of years).

Using new digital topography datasets, new ways of dating landscape features and by harnessing the rapidly growing power of computer simulation, we have been able to show how large historical ruptures and earthquakes correlate with segmentation of the Himalayan front reflected in its geological makeup.

This is shedding new light on so-called seismic gaps, where the absence of large historical ruptures makes for very significant concern. You can read our latest research here.

The most prominent segment of the Himalayan front not to have ruptured in a major earthquake during the last 200–500 years, the 700-km-long “central seismic gap” in Uttarakhand, is home to more than 10 million people. It is crucial to understand if it is overdue for a great earthquake.

Our work in Uttarakhand and elsewhere is revealing how the rupture lengths and magnitude of Himalayan quakes is controlled by long-lived geological structures. While little comfort to those dealing with the aftermath of Saturday’s tragedy, it is part of a growing effort from the international research community to better understand earthquakes and so help mitigate the impact of future events.

Funded as part of the Australian Indian Strategic Research Fund and DFAT aid programs, our collaborative work is a reflection of the commitment of our governments to international earthquake research.

Mike Sandiford is a Professor of Geology and Director of Melbourne Energy Institute at University of Melbourne. CP Rajendran is a Professor, Geodynamics Unit at Jawaharlal Nehru Centre for Advanced Scientific Research. Kristin Morell is an Assistant Professor, School of Earth and Ocean Sciences at University of Victoria.

The Conversation

Filed Under: Opinion Tagged With: Earthquake, Everest, Himalayas, Kathmandu, Nepal, Nepal Earthquake 2015

Doctors' team from Karnataka leaves for Nepal

April 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Karnataka-Nepal-Doctors

Bengaluru: As many as 10 doctors from Karnatala have left for Nepal to provide medical aid to the earthquake victims.

While six doctors departed on Monday evening from the residence of Health Minister U T Khader, the other four left on Tuesday morning with almost 200kgs of drugs.

According to Minister Khader, the team will treat the patients not only from India but also foreign countries at army camps in Kathmandu.

Dr Srinivas, Dr Manjunath, Dr Ramesh Dr Dakshin Kumar, Dr Asha are Dr Jayanthi among the doctors who have departed to Nepal.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: Earthquake, India, Karnataka, Kathmandu, Nepal, U T Khader

Words from the lunatic fringe: Rahul Gandhi ate beef, visited temple and caused earthquake, says Sakshi Maharaj

April 28, 2015 by Nasheman

Sakshi Maharaj

New Delhi: Well-known for his controversial remarks, BJP leader Sakshi Maharaj has made heads turn again by stating that Rahul Gandhi’s ‘impure’ visit to Kedarnath has led to the disastrous earthquake in Nepal.

Sakshi Maharaj stated that Rahul Gandhi ate beef and visited Kedarnath without ‘purifying’ himself and hence, the earthquake took place, according to a report published in The Times Of India.

Reacting to Sakshi Maharaj’s insensitive remark, Congress spokesperson Sushmita Dev has asked the Modi government to take immediate action against their party member.

The Nepal quake has claimed nearly 4300 lives till date, as per reports. The stranded people in Nepal, filled with grief and fear, are spending nights out on streets.

Relief and rescue operations are on and countries across the globe are stepping forward to their bit for the quake victims.

(Agencies)

Filed Under: India Tagged With: BJP, Earthquake, India, Kathmandu, Nepal, Rahul Gandhi, Sakshi Maharaj

Our top-order failed again: George Bailey

April 28, 2015 by Nasheman

george-bailey

Mohali: Kings XI Punjab skipper George Bailey rued a dismal batting performance from his side as they lost their home Indian Premier League (IPL) encounter against Sunrisers Hyderabad by 20 runs at the Punjab Cricket Association stadium here on Monday.

Chasing a target of 151, the Kings never really got into the game as they kept losing wickets at regular intervals, and finished as losers inspite of a valiant effort from wicket-keeper batsman Wriddhiman Saha, who top scored with 42 from 33 balls.

“It was our batting, the top order again (that failed). I’ll take responsibility again and we needed partnerships going but could not. It was a gettable target but top order couldn’t do it,” Bailey said at the post-match presentation ceremony.

The skipper, who got a solid 22 before falling prey to his country man Moises Henriques, is,however, content with the efforts of the pacers in the side saying they are bowling well at the death.

He also added the team is trying their best to make a turnaround and is hopeful of a comeback.

“The bowling was good to restrict them to 150. We are just trying to get a combination that works. I think no team are trying any harder than last year and we are not trying any lesser. Sandeep (Sharma) and Anureet (Singh) have been performing for us at the start as well as the death which is good to see,” he said.

(IANS)

Filed Under: Sports Tagged With: Cricket, George Bailey, IPL, IPL 2015, Kings XI Punjab, Sunrisers Hyderabad

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