· January, 2008

Stories about Disaster from January, 2008

China: Train Jam

Because of the heavy snow in Hunan, the spring train traffic has been seriously affected. The situation in Guangzhou Railway station can be viewed at 56.com (zh). Inmediahk.net has an...

28 January 2008

MENA: Brrrrrrrrrrrrrr…It's Freezing

Brrrr... It's freezing in the Middle East is the message that has been popping up on blogs recently. Here's a round up of what some of the region's bloggers had to say about the cold spell, in the otherwise warm and sometimes explosive hotspot of the world.

27 January 2008

Davos: peeking in and participating through videos

The World Economic Forum´s annual meeting of political and business leaders is taking place between January 23rd and January 27th in Davos, Switzerland. This year, common people can participate in this forum by giving their ideas to make the world a better place and posting it on the YouTube video sharing site.

26 January 2008

Lebanon: Car Bomb Targets Counter-Terrorism Captain

Yet another terrorist attack targeted Lebanon leaving behind deaths and destruction. Today, at 10am local time, a car bomb killed Lebanon’s active counter–terrorism police officer, Captain Wissam Eid and three others. The explosion along the Hazmieh highway, just on the outskirts of Beirut, also wounded 38 other persons. Moussa Bashir sums up some of Lebanese bloggers’ reactions to the incident.

25 January 2008

Japan: Videotape from 1995 Monju reactor leak

The infamous Monju fast-breeder reactor leak of 1995, an accident that long ago earned itself a place in the history of nuclear power in Japan, has returned one more time to haunt government and industry officials with images they had hoped they would never see again. More than ten years after the original incident, a never-before-seen video has finally come out, released on YouTube by a group called News for the People in Japan (NPJ) and also posted by blogger tokyodo-2005 at his blog.

25 January 2008

Syria: Bloggers React to Gaza Blockade

As Israel continues its blockade on the strip, humanitarian conditions dip lower and lower. And while the Middle East shivers under the exceptional weather conditions, Gazans find themselves without fuel for heat or electricity. Yazan Badran records the reactions of Syria's bloggers on the unfolding tragedy.

23 January 2008

Tajikistan: The ice age. Now

Despite the fact that the long-awaited hydropower station Sangtuda-1 in Tajikistan has been launched, the population still does not feel the changes. It is worth of mentioning that only the...

23 January 2008

Egypt: Gaza In the Headlines

Eman Abd Al Rahman brings us the latest headlines from the Egyptian blogosphere decrying the suffering of Palestinians in Gaza. A four-day blockade has plunged Gaza in darkness, sparking international calls and anger on the Arab street to stop the carnage.

22 January 2008

Pitch Black Gaza: Jordanian Bloggers React!

As the Israeli onslaught in Gaza continues this week, the death toll continues to climb. With many of the dead being civilians and the European Union labeling the Israeli offensive as 'collective punishment', the situation has not sat well with Jordanian bloggers. Here's what they had to say in the past few days.

22 January 2008

Palestine: Gaza Under Seige

Bloggers around the region are adding their voices to an international outcry as the Gaza Strip falls into darkness. A four-day Israeli blockade on the strip has led to the closure of the territory's only power station because of the lack of fuel.

21 January 2008

Morocco: House Collapse

The View From Fez reports on the dangers of house reconstruction in Morocco, and mourns the recent deaths from a house collapse. The collapse on Wednesday killed eighteen people and...

21 January 2008

Kenya: Mapping the dark and the light

Ethan Zuckerman blogs about Ushahidi: “One way to measure the continuing protest and unrest is to follow the story through Ushahidi, a citizen media site put together by friends of...

19 January 2008

Kazkahstan: Surviving or Prospering?

Kazakhstan is a country of contrasts, with no exaggeration: desperate poverty neighbors with arrogant wealth, economic growth is accompanied by decline of social sphere and expansion of state control, and...

17 January 2008