Chile to investigate tsunami warning failures

SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — The Chilean justice authorities will investigate why a tsunami warning was too early canceled in the wake of a massive quake while the tsunami later caused a significant loss of life and property, the Supreme Court said Tuesday.

The Navy Oceanography Service (SHOA) and the emergency management agency had issued a tsunami warning after an 8.8-magnitude quake hit Chile on Feb. 27. However, the warning was canceled one hour later, and the tsunami that followed badly hit the coastal villages and left hundreds of people killed or missing.

\”The fact that the warnings were not issued in an adequate manner justifies an inquiry,\” national prosecutor Sabas Chahuan said Tuesday. \”I\’m preparing the opening of an inquiry.\”

He added he expected the investigation to get underway immediately.

SHOA chief Mariano Rojas was fired from his post less than a week after the quake, while the head of Chile\’s emergency management agency, Carmen Fernandez, resigned on March 10.

Fernandez said ahead of her resignation that the agency had a breakdown in communications and became \”blind and speechless.\”

She said the intelligence the agency received after the quake was very vague and inaccurate, and nobody was able to make a decision to issue a tsunami warning.

Commander of Chief of the Chilean Navy Edmundo Gonzalez acknowledged that the information transmitted to the presidency via the SHOA was \”very unclear.\”

Two hours after the quake, then-president Michelle Bachelet phoned the navy and asked whether the tsunami warning was still necessary, but the navy didn\’t even know how to answer, he said.

Statistics showed the twin disasters, the earthquake and the tsunami, have killed almost 500 people and caused an estimated 30 billion U.S. dollars in damage to infrastructure in Chile.

Related:

Chile makes preliminary estimate of damage after earthquake

SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — A preliminary estimate shows Chile needs 30 billion U.S. dollars for repair following the 8.8-magnitude earthquake on Feb. 27, President Sebastian Pinera said Tuesday.

The cost accounts for 18 percent of the country\’s gross domestic product (GDP), Pinera said while meeting with leaders of the right-wing Coalition for Change.? Full story

Quake-caused damage to reach 30 bln USD: Chilean gov\’t

SANTIAGO, March 16 (Xinhua) — Chilean Interior Minister Rodrigo Hinzpeter estimated on Tuesday that the damage caused by the devastating 8.8 magnitude earthquake and the ensuing Tsunami on Feb. 27 will reach 30 billion U.S. dollars.

He also said that 500 people have been confirmed dead in the quake, while 200 others remain missing. The majority of the casualties were at the coast areas.? Full story

by George Bao

LOS ANGELES, March 16 (Xinhua) — Immigration and civil rights groups in the United States are planning to assemble thousands of people in Washington D.C. on Sunday to call for immigration reform.

The demonstrators\’ demands for reform will include better wages and working conditions and more labor protections. Moreover, a fair balance in salary between Main Street and Wall Street will also be demanded.

\”Immigration reform must include a path to earned citizenship for the undocumented that helps new Americans learn English, become naturalized, and contribute fully to our economic renewal,\” the organizers said.

They claim that immigration policy that keeps families together is good for the country because families help their relatives get jobs and housing, and become acclimated to their new environment.

Anti-family policies have put more than 5 million Americans who have applied to bring relatives here into a never-ending bureaucratic line and thousands have been thrown into poverty because the breadwinners have been deported, the activists say

The organizers believe that decades without immigration reform created a second class of workers who are exploited by unscrupulous employers.

\”It\’s been 24 years since Congress last addressed this issue comprehensively,\” said California State Assemblyman Kevin De Leon.

The organizers also criticized anti-immigrant conservatives as whittling away the U.S. justice system, putting important court decisions in the hands of low-level clerks.

\”It\’s time to restore justice by ensuring immigrants have full due process protections and by re-prioritizing judicial discretion over capricious bureaucracy. It\’s time to take back the American story and American values by enacting true immigration reform,\” the organizers said.

Meanwhile, De Leon has introduced a resolution into the state Assembly that intends to signal the federal government that immigration reform is urgently needed.

\”The state with the largest immigrant population is sending a clear and strong message to the president and the Congress that inaction on immigration reform is not an acceptable or beneficial option for the nation,\” said Angelica Salas, Executive Director for the Coalition for Humane Immigrant Rights of Los Angeles.

http://www.chinacourse.com

BRASILIA, March 17 (Xinhua) — The gap between the opposition presidential candidate, the governor of Sao Paulo Jose Serra, from the Social Democratic Party (PSDB), and the ruling candidate, chief of staff Dilma Rousseff, from the Workers\’ Party (PT), reduced to 5 percentage points, according to a poll released Wednesday.

According to Ibope poll, commissioned by the National Confederation of Industry (CNI), 35 percent of voters support Serra, against 30 percent for Rousseff.

The figures show a sharp reduction in the gap between the main candidates, compared with Ibope poll conducted last December, when the gap was of 21 percentage points.

Currently, the third place is occupied by Deputy Ciro Gomes, from the Brazilian Socialist Party (PSB), who enjoys 11 percent in favor, followed by former Environment Minister, Senator Marina Silva, from the Green Party (PV), with 6 percent of support.

In case there is run-off, Serra holds the advantage over Rousseff, with 44 percent of support versus 39 percent for the minister.

The survey also showed that 53 percent of voters want to vote for the candidate supported by President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva, although so far only 42 percent of respondents know that the Da Silva supports Rousseff.

The next general elections in October will be the first one in more than two decades that Lula will not be a candidate, since he has already served two consecutive presidential terms, the maximum allowed by Brazilian law.

http://www.chinacourse.com

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — U.S. wholesale prices declined by 0.6 percent in February, larger than the economists\’ expectation, the Labor Department reported Wednesday.

The rise in the department\’s Producer Price Index (PPI), a measure of inflation at the wholesale level, followed a 1.4 percent gain in January. Economists had forecasted a 0.2 percent drop.

Excluding the volatile food and energy sectors, core wholesale prices rose by 0.1 percent in February, matching the economists\’ expectation.

Over the past 12 months, wholesale prices are up 4.4 percent, core inflation is up a much more subdued 1 percent over the past year.

Economists believe that inflation remains not a problem at the moment and is not likely to become a threat any time soon because of all the downward pressures on wages and prices as a result of the recession.

They also believe that the subdued inflation pressure gives the Federal Reserve room to keep interest rates low to boost the recovery.

The Fed reaffirmed Tuesday to hold the federal funds rate at historic low level for \”an extended period.\”

http://www.marconimedical.com

WASHINGTON, March 17 (Xinhua) — The U.S. and Pakistan will hold their first ministerial-level Strategic Dialogue in Washington next week, which will be co-chaired by State Secretary Hillary Clinton and its Pakistani counterpart Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi, State Department said on Wednesday.

Topics of the meeting, which is due on March 24, ranges from economic development, water and energy, education, security and so on, according to the press release by State Department.

\”President Obama and Secretary Clinton have repeatedly stressed the breadth and depth of the U.S.-Pakistan relationship, a partnership that goes beyond security,\” it said.

U.S. and Pakistan had hold a strategic dialogue in Washington in April 2006, co-chaired by Pakistan\’s then Foreign Secretary Riaz Mohammad Khan and then U.S. Under Secretary of State Nicholas Burns.

Last year, Pakistan and the U.S. had agreed to raise strategic dialogue to the ministerial level, the first of its kind since President Obama has announced new strategy for the region.

http://www.tbogg.com