Big quake in Afghanistan and Pakistan kills at least 135

A major earthquake struck the remote Afghan northeast on Monday, killing at least 135 people in Afghanistan and nearby northern Pakistan and sending shock waves as far as New Delhi, officials said.

The death toll could climb in coming days because communications were down in much of the rugged Hindu Kush mountain range where the quake was centered.

In one of the worst incidents, at least 12 girls were killed in a stampede to flee their school building in the northeastern Afghan province of Takhar, just west of Badakhshan province where the tremor's epicenter was located.

"They fell under the feet of other students," said Abdul Razaq Zinda, provincial head of the Afghan National Disaster Management Agency, who reported heavy damage in Takhar.

Shockwaves were felt in New Delhi in northern India and across northern Pakistan, where hundreds of people ran out of buildings as the ground rolled beneath them. No deaths were reported in India.

"We were very scared ... We saw people leaving buildings, and we were remembering our God," Pakistani journalist Zubair Khan said by telephone from the Swat Valley northwest of the capital Islamabad.

"I was in my car and, when I stopped my car, the car itself was shaking as if someone was pushing it back and forth."

The quake was 213 km (132 miles) deep and centered 254 km (158 miles) northeast of Kabul in Badakhshan province. The U.S. Geological Survey initially measured the magnitude at 7.7, then revised it down to 7.5.

Just over a decade ago, a 7.6 magnitude quake in another part of northern Pakistan killed about 75,000 people.

In Afghanistan, a total of 33 were reported dead on Monday. In addition to the 12 schoolgirls in Takhar, seven people died in the eastern province of Nangarhar, two in Nuristan province in the northeast, three in eastern Kunar province and nine in Badakhshan, officials said.

In Pakistan, 102 deaths were reported by early evening, most in northern and northwestern regions bordering Afghanistan, officials told Reuters.

Particularly hard-hit in Pakistan was the northern area of Chitral, where 20 people were killed, police official Shah Jehan said. The death toll was likely to rise because so many areas were cut off from communications, he said.

Journalist Gul Hammad Farooqi, 47, said his house had collapsed. "I was thrown from one side of the road to the other by the strength of the earthquake. I’ve never experienced anything like it," he said.

"There is a great deal of destruction here, and my house has collapsed, but thankfully my children and I escaped."

Further south, the city of Peshawar reported two deaths but at least 150 injured people were being treated at the city's main hospital, the provincial health chief said.

In Afghanistan, international aid agencies working in northern areas reported that cell phone coverage in the affected areas remained down in the hours after the initial quake.

"The problem is we just don't know. A lot of the phone lines are still down,” said Scott Anderson, deputy head of office for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Kabul.

Badakhshan provincial governor Shah Waliullah Adib said about 400 houses were destroyed but he had no figures on casualties.

"Right now we are collecting information,” he said.

The earthquake struck almost exactly six months after Nepal suffered its worst quake on record on April 25. Including the toll from a major aftershock in May, 9,000 people lost their lives and 900,000 homes were damaged or destroyed there.

The Hindu Kush mountain region is seismically active, with earthquakes the result of the Indian subcontinent driving into and under the Eurasian landmass. Sudden tectonic shifts can cause enormous and destructive releases of energy.


Citation: Mahr, Krista. "Reuters". October 26, 2015. Thomson Reuters.  October 26, 2015. <http://www.reuters.com/article/2015/10/26/us-earthquake-afghanistan-idUSKCN0SK0XB20151026>


Response: This article is somewhat different than the others that I have responded to in CWI because it is not about the problems going on between different people but is about a national disaster. The earthquake described here stretched from Afghanistan to New Delhi. The death toll is said to be rising over the next couple of days. There isn't really a bias in this article because it is mostly informational but the reporter seems to do a good job of getting data and reports from all over the earthquake zone. Overall, I think this article did a good job of giving the information available now in an understandable way.

Israel-Palestine Article

Clashes in the Holy Land: All you need to know 

about the Israel-Palestine conflict 

Cairo: The clashes between Israelis and Palestinians in the Holy Land are not just 

physical; the two sides cannot agree on what they see, how they got here, who is to 

blame or where they should go. 

To many Israelis, the wave of knifings betrays a hatred of Jews by a Palestinian populace 

that is easily incited to violence by fanatics dreaming up conspiracy theories about 

Zionist plots to take over their sacred Jerusalem mosque. 

To Palestinians, the violent rage of lone-wolf attackers is an inevitable consequence, a 

last resort, and just desserts given almost a half-century of Israeli occupation in the West 

Bank and east Jerusalem, after peace talks collapsed last year and Israelis then re-elected 

a prime minister who seems wedded to the status quo. 

Where Israelis see attackers killed in self-defense against what headlines call the "wave 

of terrorism, Palestinians tend to see martyrs sacrificing themselves to fight the 

unacceptable predicament Of their oppressed and humiliated people. 

Image courtesy: AP 

The clashing narratives share a deep rooted sense Of vulnerability. 

Israelis are deeply affected by the memory of the Nazi slaughter of 6 million Jews during 

World War Il. The country that emerged from that disaster is surrounded by potential 

enemies. They look at the map, feel small, and grow peeved at the fuss made about their 

relatively modest conquest Of a few thousand square kilometers, one Of many in history. 

The Palestinians call Israel's 1948 "War of Independence" the "naqba," meaning 

catastrophe. Some 600,000 of their number left what became the Jewish state, with some 

expelled and others fleeing. The refugees' descendants now number in the millions. They 

are a people who have Often felt unwelcome by fellow Arabs, in some cases confined to 

shantytown "camps, ' as in Syria, and denied basic rights, as in Lebanon. 

Of the Palestinians who did not leave the Holy Land, there are currently four distinct 

groups, each with their own miseries and grievances: 

— About 1.7 million "Arab Israeli" citizens in Israel proper can vote and in theory have 

equal rights. But they are poorer, disadvantaged and angered by reminders Of second- 

class status like a national anthem that romanticizes Jewish yearning for Zion. 

— Some 300,000 Palestinians live in east Jerusalem, which was occupied by Israel in 

1967, along with the West Bank and Gaza, but unlike those areas was annexed. They have 

the right to become citizens, but few have chosen this, fearing it would legitimize Israel's 

claim to the city. 

Palestinian neighborhoods in east Jerusalem suffer from a lack Of services and schools, 

along with poor infrastructure, though residents are free to wander from these 

ramshackle areas to jobs in Jewish west Jerusalem, which Israel is constantly trying to 

develop and improve. Israel 's separation barrier has cut many of them off from their 

hinterland in the West Bank, while those behind the barrier are disconnected from the 

heart Of the city. Palestinians from east Jerusalem have been the driving force Of the 

knife attacks, and as a result, their status has grown even more precarious, with Israel 

putting up roadblocks that constrict travel in and out Of their neighborhoods. 

— More than 2 million Palestinians live in the surrounding West Bank, which from 1948 

to 1967 was held by Jordan, like east Jerusalem. They live mostly in a maze of 

autonomous zones surrounded and dominated by the Israeli army. With little control 

over their travel, they observe helplessly the constant expansion of Jewish settlements in 

the occupied land between their disconnected areas. The settlers have disproportionate 

water rights and live under a separate legal system; they enjoy favored funding and can 

vote as part of Israel 's democracy, while the Palestinians endure strict security measures 

— without which the settlers might indeed come under constant attack. 

Israel cannot decide what to do about this extraordinary situation. Despite occupying 

and settling the West Bank with Jews for almost 50 years, it has not annexed it for fear Of 

having to officially absorb the millions of Palestinians into its democratic system. 

— Another 2 million Palestinians live in Gaza, an enclave that between 1948 and 1967 

was held by Egypt. The area is squeezed between Israel and Egypt and ruled by the 

Islamic militant group Hamas as a theocratic police state where women are subjugated, 

dissent is punished, and alcohol is banned. They are cut off from Israel but feel occupied 

nonetheless because they are fenced in — even by Egypt to the south — and Israel 

controls the skies and seas. Several have been killed and injured lately in protests at the 

border 

Israelis feel that past leaders who in vain offered the Palestinians a state in Gaza and 

almost all the West Bank with a foothold in Jerusalem — in 2001 and 2008 — were acting 

in good faith and exposed Palestinian intransigence. The Palestinians say they have 

already compromised by giving up their longstanding claim to land that now makes up 

Israel, and they are in no mood for accepting less than all the land occupied in 1967. 

They also have a host of explanations for what many around the world see as missed 

opportunities that may not come again. Some say Israeli offers were not as serious as 

leaders have claimed, as proved by continued settlement-building. 

The world community mostly considers Israel to be in violation of accepted norms by 

changing the status quo in occupied territories through these settlements, and the 

disproportionate death toll among Palestinians in bouts of violence also draws fire. But 

despite the global hectoring, Israel has not been truly punished: it has a mighty alliance 

with the U.S., favored trading status with Europe, growing relations with Asia and a per 

capita gross domestic product to rival Britain's. 

In this situation, many Israelis prefer to ignore the Palestinians, most Of whom are 

beyond fences in areas Israelis rarely visit. 

Many believe the Arab world is not ready for democracy — the failures of the Arab Spring 

hardly negate such a thesis — and the Palestinians should be happy with their lot 

compared with the brutal dictatorships and murderous chaos that have typified Other 

corners of the Middle East, past and present. 

Israelis also feel that the Palestinians are being incited — whether by Gaza preachers 

shouting at the masses to "stab, stab, stab,- or by politicians claiming, with meager basis 

if any, that the desires of Israeli fanatics to destroy the Al-Aqsa Mosque in Jerusalem or 

alter the status quo there are secretly the official Israeli policy as well. Palestinians tend 

to dismiss these things as secondary to a justifiable anger that is consuming their 

hopeless youth, who undeniably have also gotten worked up through inflammatory 

videos making their way around Facebook. 

On both sides there is a minority that watches the violence in despair — arguably more so 

in Israel, with its more individualistic society and culture Of debate and introspection. TO 

these more liberal Israelis, the apparently perpetual occupation of the Palestinians is a 

moral stain that also, by tying Israel inexorably to a Palestinian population equal to its 6 

million Jews, contains the seeds of self-inflicted ruination. 

Citation:  "Firstpost". October 19, 2015. Firstpost. October 19, 2015. <http://www.firstpost.com/world/clashes-in-the-holy-land-all-you-need-to-know-about-the-israel-palestine-conflict-2473972.html>


Response: This article talks about the problems that are going on between Israel and Palestine right now. One of the big disputes that is going on right now is the talk of Zionist attempts to take over the sacred Jerusalem Mosque. The author or editor of this article seems to show some bias towards Palestine as they talk about the Israelis being somewhat whiney but they also show some bias towards Israel when they talk about the fact that Palestine should be happy with their situation. I thought that the fact that this article talked about the Arab world not being ready for a Democracy because of the intense division of opinions and the conflict and I think that I agree with that. Overall I think this article was informational and definitely taught me some things.

85 dead migrants found washed up in Libya: Red Crescent

The bodies of 85 migrants have been found washed up on the coast of Libya, a major 

departure point for the sea crossing to Europe, the Red Crescent said Monday. 

Since Tuesday, volunteers have recovered dozens of bodies of migrants in an advanced 

stage Of decomposition on beaches near the capital, spokesman Mohamed al -Misrati 

said. 

They found 75 bodies around Tripoli and another 10 in Sabratah, 70 kilometers to the 

west, he said. 

The Libyan coastguard said it had also rescued 212 migrants from two overloaded rubber 

dinghies Off the Libyan coast. 

"We were informed Of the presence Of two large zodiacs Off the coast Of Garabulli " 60 

kilometers east of Tripoli, a coastguard officer told AFP. 

He said that 22 women were among the rescued migrants, who were Of different 

nationalities including many Senegalese and Sudanese. 

Libya, with a coastline of 1 , 770 kilometers, has for years been a stepping stone for 

Africans bound for Europe. 

Most head for Italy's Lampedusa Island which is 300 kilometers from Libya. 

People smugglers have taken advantage of chaos in Libya since the 2011 uprising that 

toppled and killed veteran dictator Muammar Qaddafi to step up their lucrative business. 

In exchange for steep fees, they take would-be migrants on board rickety boats for the 

treacherous crossing. 

About 515,000 migrants have crossed the Mediterranean this year alone, with up to 3,000 

people dead or reported missing in that period, according to the UN High Commission for 

Refugees. 




Citation: 

AFP, Tripoli.
"Al Arabia News". October 5, 2015.
Al Arabia Network.  October 5,
2015. <http://english.alarabiya.net/en/News/middle-east/2015/10/05/-Explosion-heard-in-eastern-Lebanon.html>




Response: This article talks about a migrant/refugee crisis that is going on 

in Libya because of the chaos. This was very interesting to me because 

there has been so much focus on the Syrian refugee crisis that I expected 

that this article would be related to that crisis. I think that this article seems 

to be against both the people smugglers as well as the chaos of the Libyan 

situation. I also think that some of the purpose of this article might have been 

to show that even though the Syrian Refugee Crisis is huge and heartbreaking, 

there are thousands of problems like it that are going on all over the world. 

Another purpose may have been to raise awareness about the people smuggling 

that is going on. Overall I think that this article showed yet another sad situation 

of displaced people that we see so often today.