World News
Hurricane Ian, category 3, hits western Cuba
Reading Time: 2 minutes
Steph Deschamps / September 27, 2022
Hurricane Ian, which became a major hurricane category 3 on Tuesday, hit the west coast of Cuba, announced the Cuban Meteorological Institute, while in the United States, Florida, is preparing to be affected in turn.
Hurricane Ian is now in Cuban territory,” said a meteorologist from the Institute on state television. The hurricane hit the town of La Coloma, a fishing village in the province of Pinar del Rio, on the west coast of Cuba, he said.
The National Hurricane Center (NHC) in the United States had announced in its bulletin of 02:30 (08:30 in Brussels) that Ian had strengthened into “major hurricane” of category 3 on the Saffir-Simpson scale that goes up to 5.
The authorities of the province of Pinar del Rio said that “all the electrical networks have been cut” as a precaution, according to the official media Cubadebate.
The winds began knocking down tree branches and debris was being blown into the streets and backyards of homes by the violent gusts, according to images broadcast on state television.
“The noise is deafening because of the passage of the winds,” said a television reporter who maintained an uninterrupted news program.
The rains accompanied by wind have already begun to fall on the west of the largest island of the Caribbean, noted AFP.
On Monday morning, the Cuban Civil Defense issued a “cyclonic alert” for the six westernmost provinces of the island: Pinar del Rio, Artemisa, Havana, Mayabeque, Cienfuegos and Juventud Island, 340 km south of the capital. The waves reached between five and seven meters in height.
The authorities evacuated some 50,000 people in Pinar del Rio, including 6,000 in shelters and the others with relatives or friends.
In the capital, where 2.1 million people live, long lines formed to access some food shops.
The fishermen of Havana sheltered their boats before taking refuge in their homes, and some residents were reinforcing their wooden houses.
In addition, a state of emergency has been declared throughout Florida and authorities are increasing preparations.
Continue Reading
Reading Time: < 1 minutes
Sylvie Claire / September 23, 2023
At least 25 people, including two children, died when a bus crashed into a ravine in the Andean region of Huancavelica, in southern Peru, the authorities announced in a revised death toll on Monday evening.
An initial police report put the death toll at 20, with a further 35 injured. A statement from the Ministry of Health later that morning put the death toll at 24. Finally, at the end of the day on Monday, the death toll stood at “25 dead and 34 wounded”, according to the Ministry of Defense.
The accident occurred on Sunday night, when the bus carrying over 50 passengers from Huanta in Ayacucho to Huancayo in the Junin region ran off the road.
Images show the damaged bus lying on its side near a river below the ravine, debris and personal belongings strewn all around.
Peruvian President Dina Boluarte expressed her “condolences to the families” from New York, where she will be attending the 78th General Assembly of the United Nations. The Peruvian Episcopal Conference, for its part, urged the government to “carry out a serious investigation” to prevent such accidents from happening again.
On August 13, another accident in the same region left 13 people dead and 5 seriously injured.
Road accidents are frequent in Peru, mainly due to speeding and poor road maintenance, especially in mountainous areas.
Reading Time: < 1 minutes
Sylvie Claire / September 17, 2023
In Japan, the number of people aged 100 has reached a record level: the world’s third-largest economy now has 92,139 people aged 100 or over. That’s 1,613 more than a year ago, reported the Ministry of Health in Tokyo on Friday.
For over half a century, the number of people aged 100 has been rising every year. Due to a low birth rate and almost non-existent immigration, no other industrial state is aging as fast as this East Asian country.
Japan’s population is also shrinking at a record pace. Last year, the number of Japanese fell by 801,000, the biggest drop since comparable data have been recorded. There are now 122.4 million.
When the Japanese Ministry of Health began compiling statistics in 1963, there were 153 centenarians. Twenty-five years later, there were over 10,000. According to the latest figures, around 88% of centenarians are women. Japan has the longest life expectancy in the world. Life expectancy for women is around 87 years, and 81 for men.
Reading Time: < 1 minutes
Steph Deschamps / September 17, 2023
The death toll from the earthquake in Morocco has risen to 2,946, the Moroccan Ministry of the Interior announced on Wednesday evening. A further 5,674 people were injured.
The previous death toll was 2,901. The death toll is expected to rise further. Hopes of finding survivors are now very slim. Rescue workers have not yet been able to reach all the villages affected in the Atlas Mountains.
A magnitude 6.8 earthquake struck the country on Friday night. The epicenter was located some 80 kilometers southwest of Marrakech. According to the World Health Organization (WHO), over 300,000 people in and around Marrakech were affected by the disaster.
World News2 days ago
At least 25 dead in a bus accident in Peru
Entertainment2 days ago
The Young and the Restless mourns the death of actor Billy Miller
World News1 week ago
