February 4
[ 2007-02-04 08:22 ]
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| 15,000 people have been
made homeless by the earthquake |
| 1998: 4,000 feared dead in Afghan
earthquake |
England have
An earthquake in northern Afghanistan has left thousands dead, injured
or homeless.
The earthquake is centred on the city of Rostaq in the remote province
of Takhar, close to the border with Tajikistan.
A spokesman for the Northern Alliance - which controls the area - told
Pakistan-based Afghan Islamic Press over 3,500 bodies had been recovered.
The Islamic Taleban Government in Kabul puts the death toll at 3,230,
but western experts believe these figures may be too high because the area
is sparsely populated.
According to the anti-Taleban Afghan Embassy in the Tajik capital
Dushanbe about 15,000 people have been made homeless as dozens of villages
have been destroyed.
The United Nations and the International Red Cross is still trying to
verify this information.
There are no relief agencies in the area but the International
Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has already sent a team
from Dushanbe - at least 36-hours' drive away.
An airport to the west of Rostaq is still operating and can receive
emergency supplies.
Swedish seismologists
measured the earthquake at 6.1 on the Richter scale, which they described
as "not extreme" but they said under certain conditions it could
nevertheless cause considerable damage.
Most of the population in the affected area live in mud-built houses.
Afghan ambassador to the UN Ravan Farhadi said the region was covered
in snow drifts and extremely cold at night.
Taleban leader Mulla Mohammed Omar has expressed his sympathies and
ordered troops in the region - attempting to capture Takhar province from
the Northern Alliance - to assist rescue efforts.
But ongoing civil war in Tajikistan may hamper relief operations from
the other side of the border. |
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| Seven teams of observers
are on their way to establish regional
headquarters |
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1973: Vietnam observers' struggle for
peace | Artificially 1969:
The International
inspection teams in Vietnam have been sent into the countryside to monitor
the truce agreed last Saturday in Paris.
The International Commission of Control and Supervision (ICCS) was
created at the Paris Peace Accords - signed by the US, the Vietcong, North
Vietnam and South Vietnam - on 27 January and includes delegates from
Hungary, Poland, Canada and Indonesia.
But the warring parties have been unable to agree the details of the
settlement and fighting has continued in spite of the ceasefire.
About 3,500 communists have been killed by South Vietnamese troops, who
claim they have suffered similar numbers of casualties over the past week.
The ICCS announced yesterday it was not going to wait for the
reconciliation meeting between the Vietcong and South Vietnamese in Paris
tomorrow.
Seven teams of observers are on their way to establish regional
headquarters in the provincial capitals of Quang Nam, Thua Thien, Pleiku,
Pham Thiet, Bien Hoa, My Tho and Can Tho.
They had already set up a skeleton presence in three of the areas after
the Joint Military Commission met to produce guidelines for the ICCS on 2
February.
The Military Commission - comprising Vietcong, South Vietnam, North
Vietnam and the US - is responsible for the security and transport
arrangements of the ICCS.
A spokesman for the ICCS said they will be settling into their areas
until the Military Commission has laid down the infrastructure for them to
move to the fronts and supervise the ceasefire.
Senior figures from the Military Commission met in Saigon on 29 January
to decide how demarcation lines should be drawn between the South
Vietnamese and communist Vietcong armies in South Vietnam.
Under the terms of the peace agreement the ICCS is to establish
regional and sub-regional administrations, with headquarters in 26 towns
and 12 observation teams based in the demilitarised zone below the
Seventeenth Parallel. |
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| Vocabulary:
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seismologists : a scientist who studies
earthquakes（地震學家）
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