Chief Seattle's speech (by Mark Sawalha)

Chief Seattle's speech (by Mark Sawalha)

Syrian War is Man Maid Disaster.

World Refugee Day 2013 

June 18, 2013 by IRD HQ 

Each year on World Refugee Day, we remember the more than 40 million people displaced worldwide because of conflict or disaster.

This June 20 in particular, IRD turns its attention to the ongoing Syrian refugee crisis. Hundreds of thousands of Syrians have crossed the border into countries with already strained local resources. On behalf of UNHCR, IRD manages the Za-atari camp in Northern Jordan, home to more than 150,000 refugees, dealing with needs from water and sanitation concerns to employment and legal issues.

Assisting Syrian refugees at the Za'atari camp.

To draw attention to the crisis, IRD is hosting two events. First, we will be broadcasting a Google On Air discussion between Dr. Daniel Serwer, Syrian Scholar for the Middle East Institute and Professor at Johns Hopkins School of Advanced International Studies (SAIS), and IRD Director of Health programs Jim Griffin. The discussion will focus on how the civil war is contributing to the region's refugee crisis, how it is affecting the political situation in the Middle East at large, and how the international community can help. It airs on Thursday, June 20, at 10 a.m. EST - check back to this page (www.ird.org/syrian-refugees) to see the discussion broadcast live. Or join the discussion live directly.

Later in the day, IRD will be hosting two fundraisers for Syrian refugees in the Washington DC area. Circa bistros has graciously agreed to host the events by providing drink specials in exchange for a donation. All money donated will go directly to additional resources for IRD programs for Syrian refugees in Lebanon and Jordan, including the services at the Za'atari camp. Find out more event details on Facebook.

We hope to see you at the events, as part of our efforts to remember the struggle of those displaced by war or conflict worldwide.

Filed Under: Civil Society, Conflict Mitigation, Emergency Response, Health & Hygiene, Refugees, Relief to Development, Middle East & North Africa, Iraq, Jordan, Lebanon, Syria

Source : http://www.ird.org/syrian-refugees

Man Maid Disaster In Sri Lanka

‘LET’S JOIN THE STRUGGLE FOR WATER’

On August 01^st the State Army took the lives of three youngsters who voiced for their right for water. There were many others who got injured in this clash and hospitalized. Lack of water was the protest of those people from twenty five villages including those from the village of Rathupaswala. The Government Army used brutal force to suppress the peoples protest. 

We met people from Rathupaswala village who spoke of the current situation and its many causes.

All this started in 1992. We saw this disaster at that time. We complained to the authorities and made them aware of the situation. I filed a case. The Environmental Authority was adamant to keep silent. It was proved at the case that the water is unclean and cannot be used, however, everything turned to our disadvantage. I have four acres of paddy. I couldn’t get into the field. My legs got affected by this dirty water. Those who go to the field, died there itself. The story went that it is Mee Una (leptospirosis). Seventeen died and ten became blind. Many others fell ill. Once we bathe we feel faintish and have to sleep. This state did not change. It continued. Once you drink water, your whole body gets totally dry. So we drink more water. Our children complain that they have chest pains. Children go to school with a digene tablet in their hand. We are almost dead now. See my fingers. The finger nails have fallen. Many people suffer in this way. There’s enormous damage that has happened inside our bodies. But we want to save our children”.

“We haven’t got any solution yet. We will fight till a solution is met. It is so impractical the way they lay pipelines. It is only for the four major towns that they have given pipelines. There are twenty five villages when you come inside.  To lay pipelines for those towns they took one month. To give this service to the villages, they will take ages! Enough is enough. We don’t need to pay and get water. We have wells which are older than hundred years.”

Another farmer revealed the following:

“The factory takes water from the springs that give water to the fields. Some of the villagers are supporting that. They get paid for it. We know that some get 50,000 to 60,000 rupees. In one village there are nearly 500 to 1000 families. Only 400 water tanks have been supplied to all the villages. Even the water they provide is not drinkable. Also the quantity of water they supply is insufficient. To don’t wash, we soak a piece of cloth in water and wipe our bodies. Why do we need to suffer like this? We had enough water and we drank enough. These officers, it is they who deprived us of our water. The Sri Lanka Government and those responsible acted as if they are deaf and blind. Next they attacked our people. They killed two school going children and one youth. Why do they treat us like this?”

These stories were very emotional and there were many of them. They were sad for what has happened. We asked them who would take the leadership in this struggle. They said, “all of us are leaders. This not only a common problem, water is our life. So this struggle is between life and death. We need to sacrifice our lives and protect our children. It will take ages for our ground to give us clean water. The earth is now angry with us! This is a holocaust! They have destroyed our lives as well as our children’. They have caused injustice to this earth”.

Another disclosed this story:

“First they brought two water bowsers. Now that doesn’t happen. They don’t go inside the village. Those who  have money pay 100 rupees and get a full tank of water. I saw this. The next tank got only half. Now the water is muddy. We are scared that our children will fall ill. Even in the other village the story is the same. To understand our plight one has to experience this.”

Ven. Siridhamma takes the lead of this burning issue. The villagers have a strong faith on him.

“I live with these villagers. They are quite helpless at this time. We do not want to pay and get water. The officials try to pacify us by giving water for some families in the village.  Our demand is that everyone should get water” says the thero.

“We want the support of all religious leaders. We don’t have anything to do with political parties. But we ask everyone to join us in this struggle to find a solution” he added.

• We will not pay money for water
• The factory should be closed down
• Compensation should be given to those families whose members died or got injured
• Compensation should be given for the spoilt wells

“The people do not know what to do. They are innocent. Some with their opportunistic political agendas try to make use of this struggle. Many groups are waiting to exploit these people. We are helpless, but we are strong. Please join in our struggle for water”.

            Water is life!

So, what is our duty should be?

The damage caused to one place affects all places.

Today it is Rathupaswala….Tomorrow….?

“I see the suffering of my people in Egypt (villages around Weliweriya)” said Lord (Exodus 3:7 )

Let’s face this plight and be active!

It is the Christian responsibility .                                                 Note by Sr. Deepa Fernando

           

Top 10 Man Made Disasters In The World

1. Global Warming 

Nobody doubts anymore that climate change is at least in part man-made. And even if the effects of global warming remain at the most benign end of the predicted range, it will be a disaster of unprecedented proportions. For years, that disaster has been unfolding so slowly that it's been invisible. But now you can see it: Mountain glaciers around the world are melting, along with North polar sea ice and the ice cap atop Greenland; droughts are baking the U.S. southwest, Australia and sub-Saharan Africa; floods are devastating Bangladesh; and Central America is reeling from powerful hurricanes. Not all of these events can be tied absolutely to global warming, but all of them will surely become more frequent and intense as the world warms — ultimately threatening the lives and livelihoods of hundreds of millions of people. 

 2. Brazil Plane Crash

Aviators call São Paolo's Congonhas Airport "the aircraft carrier," because landing on its notoriously short runway, surrounded by densely populated residential areas, is as touchy as trying to put down on the deck of a ship at sea. Though a Brazilian court had banned large jets from the airport in February, citing safety concerns, the ban was later overturned. On July 17, the pilot of TAM Airlines Flight JJ3054, tried to land at Congonhas, but realizing he wouldn't be able to stop in time on the rain-slicked tarmac, tried to take off again. He failed. The Airbus A320 skidded across a road, smashed into a gas station and then into a building owned by the airline. The ensuing fireball killed all 186 people on the plane and 13 more on the ground, making this the worst air disaster in Brazilian history. 

3. Southern California Forest Fires

 California has been ravaged by wildfires for thousands of years; they're an essential part of the natural ecosystem. But the fires that burned hundreds of square miles between Oct. 20 and Nov. 6 — at the disaster's peak, 18 separate fires were burning, the worst of them in San Diego County — killing 10 people and forcing at least half a million more from their homes, weren't entirely natural. At least one, the Santiago Canyon blaze, was deliberately set, while two others — the Witch and Rice Canyon fires — were caused by downed power lines that ignited surrounding brush. Whether that brush should have been more thoroughly cleared, and whether people should be permitted to build homes in remote, fire-prone areas, are now matters of active debate, to say nothing of lawsuits.

4. Yangtze River Dolphin Extinction 

The Chinese called it baiji and "goddess of the Yangtze," and it was the only surviving member of a family of species that split off from saltwater whales and dolphins between 20 million and 40 million years ago. But now, according to a survey released in August, this rare freshwater mammal is almost certainly extinct — the first aquatic vertebrate species to disappear from the Earth in 50 years, and the first large mammal to fall victim to human impact. The multiple pressures: noisy boat collisions and dam construction that may have imperiled the sonar-driven animals, and overfishing — not for the dolphins themselves, but for river fish — with such indiscriminate techniques as netting, dynamite and powerful electric shocks. The disappearance of a top-level predator like the baiji — an indicator species that signals the health of its ecosystem — portends trouble for the Yangtze River and for the 400 hundred million people who depend on it

5. Minneapolis Bridge Collapse

Bridges failed this year in China and in Guinea, killing 64 and 70 people, respectively. But the disaster that really grabbed U.S. headlines was the collapse of the I-35 bridge in Minneapolis on Aug. 1, where the death toll reached only 9. The attention wasn't due only to Americans' interest in news that's closest to home. Rather, it was that the occurrence seemed so impossible: We think of our highways and other infrastructure as being so well built and so rigorously inspected and maintained as to be immune from such dramatic and sudden disintegration. But this tragedy probably resulted from a design imperfection when the bridge was built, followed by four decades of harsh weather and road salt, proving that nothing is failsafe.

6. Utah Mine Collapse

For days afterward, mine owner Robert Murray insisted that it had been an earthquake — and indeed, seismologists confirmed that the earth had moved near Huntington, Utah, on Aug. 6. But the quake didn't cause the Crandall Canyon coal mine to collapse, trapping six miners inside. The quake was the collapse, as the mine, its walls weakened by decades of coal removal, gave way. Ten days later, three rescuers were killed by a second collapse, and shortly after that, attempts to reach the trapped men by drilling down from above were called off. The mine was sealed in October.

 7. North Korea Oil Pipe Explosion

The fanatically secretive North Korean government rarely reports internal problems, so it fell to aid organizations to get the news out: On June 9, an aging oil pipeline sprung a leak in North Pyongyang province. Local residents in the fuel-starved country rushed in to scavenge what they could — and then the oil caught on fire and exploded. At a minimum, 110 people died, but it's unlikely that the government will ever acknowledge the incident at all.

8. Siberia Mine Explosion

Many of Russia's coal mines are aging, dilapidated and dangerous. The Ulyanovskaya mine, by contrast, located in the Kemerovo region of Siberia, about 2,000 miles east of Moscow, was less than five years old, and had modern safety features. None of that, however, was enough to prevent a massive methane explosion from ripping through the mine on Mar. 19, collapsing tunnels as the blast wave radiated from an epicenter nearly 900 ft. down. Working their way through smoke and flooded shafts, rescuers got more than 90 miners safely out — making the death toll of 107 a lot lower than it could easily have been.

 

9. Mozambique Munitions Explosion

A stockpile of old ammunition, stored at a Mozambican army facility in the outskirts of the city of Maputo, blew up on Mar. 22, triggering fires and killing 117 people. According to the Mozambique Red Cross, heavy traffic in the area hampered the organizations attempts to rush volunteers to the site.

 

 10. Congo Train Derailment

Eight cars fell off the tracks and seven of them rolled over when the brakes failed on a passenger train traveling between the cities of Ilebo and Kananga on Aug. 1. Train crews had to unhitch the locomotive and go in search of help, and the injured were carried to a hospital six miles away on bicycles and on people's backs. By the time recovery crews pulled the last bodies from the wreckage, the death toll stood at about 100.

Source By : http://content.time.com/time/specials/2007/article/0,28804,1686204_1686252_1690600,00.html

Man Made Disaster In The Syrian Crisis