kwabs.com News

Chile was ready for quake, Haiti wasn't

Sun, 28 Feb 2010 00:47:43 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti � The earthquake in Chile was far stronger than the one that struck Haiti last month � yet the death toll in this Caribbean nation is magnitudes higher.

The reasons are simple.

Chile is wealthier and infinitely better prepared, with strict building codes, robust emergency response and a long history of handling seismic catastrophes. No living Haitian had experienced a quake at home when the Jan. 12 disaster crumbled their poorly constructed buildings.

And Chile was relatively lucky this time.

.Huge quake hits Chile; tsunami threatens Pacific

Sat, 27 Feb 2010 15:00:47 PST

TALCA, Chile � One of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck Chile on Saturday, toppling homes, collapsing bridges and plunging trucks into the fractured earth. A tsunami threatened every nation around the Pacific Ocean � roughly a quarter of the globe.

Chileans near the epicenter were tossed about by the magnitude-8.8 quake as if shaken by a giant. At least 147 people were killed, according to Carmen Fernandez, director of the National Emergency Agency.

The quake shook buildings in Argentina's capital of Buenos Aires, and was felt as far away as Sao Paulo in Brazil � 1,800 miles (2,900 kilometers) to the east. About 13 million people live in the area where shaking was strong to severe, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

All Haitian 'orphans' with Baptists had parents

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:57:23 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti � There is not one orphan among the 33 children that a U.S. Baptist group tried to take from Haiti in a do-it-yourself rescue mission following a devastating earthquake, The Associated Press has determined.

In the rubble-riddled Citron slum where 13 of the children lived, parents who gave their children away confirmed Saturday that each one of the youngsters had living parents.

Their testimony echoed that of parents in the mountain town of Callabas, outside of Port-au-Prince, who told the AP on Feb. 3 that desperation and blind faith led them to hand over 20 children to the religious Americans who promised them a better life.

Haiti president pleads for shelter for quake's homeless

Sun, 21 Feb 2010 01:22:04 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE (AFP) � Haitian President Rene Preval on Saturday pleaded for the world to urgently help provide shelter for some 1.2 million people left homeless by last month's devastating earthquake.

In comments after meeting visiting Chilean President Michelle Bachelet on the grounds of the destroyed National Palace, Preval warned that the heavy rain season, which begins around May, posed a major risk to those without shelter.

"It is urgent today that those who are in the streets, exposed to the storms ... find shelter right away," said Preval, who added that his country did not have the resources to do it alone.

Haiti PM: Gov't to take land for temporary camps

Fri, 19 Feb 2010 19:27:12 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti � Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive says the Haitian government will appropriate land to build temporary camps for earthquake victims. The decision, announced in an interview with The Associated Press, is potentially explosive in a country where a small elite owns most of the land in and around the capital.

That elite, a traditionally corrupting force in Haitian politics, has the power to bring down the government.

The government owns some land but not enough, Bellerive said in an interview Thursday, meaning he has no choice but to take over private terrain.

.Haiti bans construction using quarry sand

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:59:17 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti � Haiti's government is banning a commonly used sand from structural construction in an attempt to improve building safety.

The public works ministry issued a notice Sunday warning that the use of "La Boule"-type white quarry sand to make concrete for structural elements would be punishable under Haiti's penal code and recommends using river sand.

It is not clear how the edict will be enforced.

US forces scale back Haiti relief role

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 14:04:38 PST

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti � The biggest U.S. military surge since Iraq and Afghanistan is scaling back a month after the troops arrived in haste to aid victims of Haiti's catastrophic quake.

Great gray ships have been leaving behind Haiti's battered shores as thousands of American troops pack up their tents. The mission, however, is far from over.

Defense Secretary Robert Gates says the U.S. will be in Haiti for the long haul, although troop strength is down to 13,000 from a Feb. 1 peak of 20,000. Those who remain will accompany Haitians in an arduous struggle toward recovery.

Mourning, fundraising replace Haiti carnival

Mon, 15 Feb 2010 11:00:35 PST

Through dictatorship and democracy, coups d'etat and economic strife, carnival has always gone on -- until this year. Instead, the nation grieves.
It is a manifestation of the Haitian spirit, the enduring buoyancy and optimism that has guided Haiti for more than 200 years.

For as long as anyone can remember, carnival or kanaval has taken place. Until this year. Haiti carnival has now become a wake.

As quake-struck Haitians ended three days of national mourning and fasting Sunday, the satirical drumbeats of the traditional ``meringues'' ridiculing politicians and rivaling musicians that would have marked the beginning of the three-day carnival have been silenced.

Satellite Images Help Focus Haiti Earthquake Relief

Sat, 16 Jan 2010 10:51:23 PST

NASA and space agencies around the world are pointing their satellites toward Haiti to aid relief efforts and map damage caused by the devastating earthquake earlier this week.

The 7.0 magnitude quake struck the Caribbean island Tuesday, causing extensive destruction and fatalities estimated in the tens of thousands.

NASA's Advanced Spaceborne Thermal Emission and Reflection Radiometer (ASTER), a joint project with Japan, and its Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite are taking images of Haiti's hardest-hit areas in multiple wavelengths of light.

Health bill would cost $829B, help cover 94 pct

Thu, 08 Oct 2009 15:08:37 PST

WASHINGTON � Democrats are breathing a sigh of relief after a positive cost report on health care overhaul gave them a chance to rally around a Senate plan that significantly expands coverage while trimming the federal deficit.

The Congressional Budget Office said Wednesday that the latest version of the Senate Finance Committee proposal would expand coverage to 94 percent of all eligible Americans at a 10-year cost of $829 billion.

Despite rain, Kennedy mourners flock to church

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 12:15:49 PST

BOSTON � Hundreds of mourners lined the sidewalks near Boston's Mission Church where a funeral Mass was held Saturday for Sen. Edward Kennedy, with some holding signs urging lawmakers to approve health care legislation in his honor, and other saying they just wanted to witness a moment in history.

Lillian Bennett, 59, of the city's Dorchester neighborhood said she was a longtime Kennedy supporter and was determined to get as close as she could to the invitation-only funeral, despite the driving rain.

"I said to myself this morning, 'no matter what the weather, I'm going. I don't care if I have to swim," she said, calling Kennedy "irreplaceable."

Text of Obama's eulogy at Kennedy's funeral Mass

Sun, 30 Aug 2009 11:53:43 PST

Text of President Barack Obama's eulogy at Sen. Edward Kennedy's funeral Mass on Saturday in Boston, as prepared for delivery and provided by the White House:___

Mrs. Kennedy, Kara, Edward, Patrick, Curran, Caroline, members of the Kennedy family, distinguished guests, and fellow citizens:

Today we say goodbye to the youngest child of Rose and Joseph Kennedy. The world will long remember their son Edward as the heir to a weighty legacy; a champion for those who had none; the soul of the Democratic Party; and the lion of the U.S. Senate � a man whose name graces nearly one thousand laws, and who penned more than three hundred himself.

But those of us who loved him, and ache with his passing, know Ted Kennedy by the other titles he held: Father. Brother. Husband. Uncle Teddy, or as he was often known to his younger nieces and nephews, "The Grand Fromage," or "The Big Cheese." I, like so many others in the city where he worked for nearly half a century, knew him as a colleague, a mentor, and above all, a friend.

Kennedy carried to Arlington, laid beside brothers

Sat, 29 Aug 2009 22:19:43 PST

WASHINGTON � Sen. Edward M. Kennedy was laid to rest alongside slain brothers John and Robert on hallowed ground at Arlington National Cemetery on Saturday evening, celebrated for "the dream he kept alive" across the decades since their deaths.

Crowds lined the streets of two cities on a day that marked the end of a political era � outside Kennedy's funeral in rainy Boston, and later in the day in humid, late-summer Washington. With flags over the Capitol flying at half-staff in his memory, his hearse stopped outside the Senate where he served for 47 years.

"Go now, to your place of rest. And meet the Lord, your God," said the Rev. Daniel Coughlin, the House chaplain.

Sen. Kennedy's body begins final poignant tour

Thu, 27 Aug 2009 19:44:09 PST

BOSTON � His life's journey ended, the body of Sen. Edward Kennedy traveled by motorcade Thursday from the family compound where he spent his last days, past the building where he opened his first office to the presidential library named for his slain brother.

Thousands of mourners assembled along the 70-mile route that was dotted with landmarks named for the Kennedys. The crowds gathered to bid farewell to the last of the family's brothers and mark the end of a national political chapter that was equal parts triumph and tragedy.

Ted Kennedy dies at 77, last of brothers who remade politics

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:29:34 PST

WASHINGTON � U.S. Sen. Edward Moore Kennedy, the last of the three Kennedy brothers who profoundly reshaped American politics over the past half-century, died shortly before midnight Tuesday at his home in Hyannis Port, Mass.

He was one of history's most towering senators, a skilled lawmaker who crafted scores of statutes that helped how children learn, how doctors treat the sick and how workers are paid and protected.

�He was the Henry Clay of the 20th Century. He got the job done,� said Thomas Whelan, associate professor of social science at Boston University, citing the �Great Compromiser� of the mid-19th Century.

A day of bipartisanship marks mourning for Kennedy

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:20:55 PST

WASHINGTON � America mourned Sen. Edward M. Kennedy Wednesday, recalling the veteran Massachusetts senator as a legislative lion who had a knack for accomplishing the toughest Senate tasks.

Kennedy's Senate seat � back row, second seat from the left, the same one his brother, John, had occupied as a senator � was shrouded in black, and Washington put aside its partisan ways and reflected.

President Barack Obama, whose presidential bid got an important endorsement from Kennedy early last year, issued a proclamation declaring Kennedy "not only one of the greatest senators of our time, but one of the most accomplished Americans ever to serve our democracy." Obama ordered flags flown at half-staff at the White House and all federal buildings until sunset Aug. 30.

Kennedy's absence leaves Senate void of dealmaker

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:17:10 PST

WASHINGTON � In an era of bitter political division, Sen. Edward M. Kennedy's death silenced a singular voice of bipartisanship at a time when colleagues are struggling with angry constituents and each other over an elusive plan to overhaul the nation's health care system.

Some lawmakers said Tuesday the current stalemate is the result of Kennedy's absence for the past few, crucial months. Some hope to rescue the embattled legislation as his legacy.

It's not clear that the post-Kennedy Senate includes anyone with the credibility among ideological opponents, the dealmaking skills or the inside knowledge to strike a quick agreement.

In Kennedy's death, some see hope on health care

Wed, 26 Aug 2009 22:11:39 PST

WASHINGTON � Securing universal health care coverage for Americans was a decades-long quest that eluded Sen. Edward Kennedy . In the wake of his death, however, several key Democrats on Wednesday saw a chance to break what's become this year's stalemate by invoking his legacy and last wishes.

"In his honor and as a tribute to his commitment to his ideals, let us stop the shouting and name calling and have a civilized debate on health care reform, which I hope, when legislation has been signed into law, will bear his name for his commitment to insuring the health of every American," Sen. Robert Byrd , D- W.Va. , said in a statement.

Obama supporters plan pro-health overhaul push

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:14:56 PST

WASHINGTON � Supporters of President Barack Obama's health care agenda are ramping up their efforts with rallies and bus tours starting this week, aiming to counter increasing public skepticism leading up to Congress' post-Labor Day return to Washington.

"We want to send members of Congress back to D.C. with the real message, which is that the majority of the public want comprehensive health care reform and we want it now," said Jacki Schechner, spokeswoman for Health Care for America Now, an umbrella organization of groups pushing for a comprehensive health care overhaul.

FACT CHECK: Health overhaul myths taking root

Tue, 25 Aug 2009 21:09:50 PST

WASHINGTON � The judgment is harsh in a new poll that finds Americans worried about the government taking over health insurance, cutting off treatment to the elderly and giving coverage to illegal immigrants. Harsh, but not based on facts.

President Barack Obama's lack of a detailed plan for overhauling health care is letting critics fill in the blanks in the public's mind. In reality, Washington is not working on "death panels" or nationalization of health care.

To be sure, presenting Congress and the country with the nuts and bolts of a revamped system of health insurance is no guarantee of success for a president � just ask Bill and Hillary Rodham Clinton. Their famous flop was demonized, too. After all, the devil does lurk in details.