IN BRIEF (Page 8)
Switzerland
61m people affected by extreme weather
Earthquakes and tsunamis accounted for most of the 10,373 lives lost in disasters last year, while extreme weather events accounted for most of 61.7 million people affected by natural hazards, the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction said on Thursday. There were 281 extreme weather events recorded by the Center for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters in its EM-DAT (International Disaster Database), the UNISDR said at a UN news conference in Geneva. "No part of the globe was spared from the impact of extreme weather events last year," said Mami Mizutori, UN Special Representative for Disaster Risk Reduction.
Indonesia
Death toll from floods, landslides climbs to 59
Floods and landslides in Indonesia have killed at least 59 people, the government said on Friday, after heavy rain pounded Sulawesi island and forced thousands to flee their homes. "I've never seen something this bad - this is the worst," said Syamsibar, head of South Sulawesi's disaster mitigation agency, who like many Indonesians goes by one name. He said 25 people were still missing. Lashed by the heavy rain, rivers swelled and burst their banks, inundating dozens of communities in 11 districts of southern Sulawesi. Parts of the provincial capital Makassar have also been affected.
United Kingdom
Remains found of British explorer
The remains of the first British explorer to circumnavigate the Australian continent and popularize the country's name have been found near a busy London railway station. Archaeologists sifting through a vast burial ground near Euston station said on Friday they had found a coffin plate identifying the last resting place of Royal Navy captain Matthew Flinders. Flinders was buried on July 23, 1814, but not before publishing A Voyage to Terra Australis, which described his circumnavigation of Australia in 1802-03 that proved it was a continent. Flinders is a hero for many Australians of European origin.
Xinhua - Afp
(China Daily 01/26/2019 page8)
