02 November 2009 - 13H42
Online testimony on Typhoon Mirinae’s deluge
In this edition: Net users testify to Typhoon Mirinae’s deluge in the Philippines and the web mobilises to combat maternal mortality.
PHILIPPINES HIT BY TYPHOON MIRINAE
The Philippines were once more hit hard by storms this week-end. In its passage, Typhoon Mirinae killed at least 14 people and paralysed the country, causing flooding and electricity cuts. Online testimonies.
Filmed by hurricane hunters on the shores of Laguna Lake, close to Manila, this video illustrates the violence of the winds which ripped through the region. Gusts reached up to 190 km an hour with the arrival of the Typhoon off the Philippine coast.
In the wake of the Typhoon, net users were faced with the extent of the damage. Here we see an evacuation centre, set up during last month’s storms, which has been entirely destroyed.
An inhabitant of Batangas filmed this video showing a bridge which was carried away by flood water. A vehicle with three people on board was driving over as the structure collapsed, and one of the passengers is still missing.
And while the authorities set about repairing the damage, net users are also mobilising. Floods, mud slides and cut-off roads, this interactive map allows users to keep track of the local situation in real time in order to permit rapid and efficient deployment of humanitarian aid.
MATERNAL MORTALITY
According to UNICEF, each year 500,000 women die giving birth and four million new borns perish in their first month. A problem many NGO’s are trying to tackle, using the Web to spread their message.
The White Ribbon association has launched this campaign to combat maternal mortality. This video, entitled ‘birth and death’ aims to reveal the extent of the problem alongwith its possible solutions, such as training a larger number of mid-wives.
Meanwhile, UNICEF has published this video, offering 5 recommended steps, indispensable for remedying the situation. The priorities being to improve the education of young women and the respect of their rights.
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-2z7NH0yxCw
This video, created by the NGO, Care, which has set up a specific programme in Peru, shows the urgent need to offer treatment both before and after pregnancy. The report highlights the importance of including community members in the process.
Meanwhile, the stories of many women who have died giving birth, are echoed on the Web. Here the NGO Human Rights Watch, tells the story of a young Indian woman, who died aged twenty five, after giving birth to her child.
“IWATCH” LOS ANGELES
To combat terrorism, police in Los Angeles have just launched the "iWatchLA programme" which calls on the city’s citizens in this video broadcast online. The aim being to teach the public to detect suspicious behaviour and to report this to the police via the Internet or by phone. An initiative which has caused an outcry from net users who see it as a kind of informing, worthy of the worst totalitarian regimes.
ANIMALS WITH PLASTER CASTS
Here is a blog which should generate reactions amongst pet owners. It shows photos of animals with one or more limbs in a plaster cast. Images sent in by net users, which give rise to compassion but which also show the owner’s imagination in terms of decoration.
VIDEO OF THE DAY
A piece of music created entirely from clips from the Pulp Fiction soundtrack, accompanied by sequences used to create an original rhythm: this is the latest video buzz sure to please fans of US film director, Quentin Tarantino in particular.
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