On the 6 December 2009 at 1:19am, Blantyre, Malawi’s largest city by population, experienced a strong earthquake which destroyed buildings, killed at least three people and injured about 200.
Gasten Macheka, the commissioner of the Karonga district, said victims included students who were sleeping in a dormitory at a government school when the tragedy struck. He also mentioned that about 270,000 people have been urged to leave their homes for their safety, and that the areas which suffered more damage in northern Malawi urgently needed at least 48,000 tents and medical supplies.
Many of the earthquake victims were treated for injuries such as broken bones and skin lacerations at Karonga District Hospital, but dozens of others were hospitalized there or evacuated to a hospital in Mzuzu city which is about 230 kilometers from the epicenter. Macheka said that they were asking everyone in Karonga not to be in houses or near houses because of the unstable situation. He added that they were appealing to the government and the international community to help them.
The United States Geological Survey said that the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.0, making it strong enough to cause severe damage. As officials from Malawi’s Department of Relief and Disaster Management Affairs were flying to the area to survey the damage, the Malawi Red Cross was taking tents from the hospital Lilongwe to the displaced in the Karonga district, which lies on the Great Rift Valley fault line, which may now be realigning itself, making it more unstable than it has been for a long time.
About US$300,000 has been allocated from the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies’ Disaster Relief Emergency Fund to support Malawi Red Cross Society in delivering immediate assistance to the victims of the the earthquake. Two days of sizable earth tremors were experienced, the tremors, with a magnitude of 5.8, caused over eight earth tremors during the first day, affecting approximately 3,000 households and the patients at the Karonga district hospital.
Major damage has been triggered by the collapse of walls, rendering houses completely uninhabitable. 1,929 houses have already been confirmed. As an initial response, Malawi Red Cross has given assistance to people left homeless by the earthquake, who are currently living in the open outside their damaged homes, which are in danger of further collapse. The Red Cross distributed 40 tarpaulins, five family tents and 20 shelter kits. IFRC has also despatched 400 tarpaulins and 300 shelter kits for distribution to the affected households. The Government of Malawi, through the Department of Disaster Management Affairs, has called for a joint assessment by the national disaster assessment team, of which Malawi Red Cross Society is a member. The situation will be re-evaluated following the conclusion of the assessment. The operation is expected to be carried out over three months, and will be completed by 31 March 2010.
We can minimize the impact of earthquakes using earthquake engineering structures such as
building earthquake shelters and noting the building structure. Some buildings also use the steel plates sheer wall system which takes advantage of the post-buckling behavior of the steel infill panels.
Bibliography:
http://www.nyasatimes.com/national/malawi-red-cross-gets-us-295891-to-assist-karonga-earthquake-victims.html
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,580674,00.html
http://www.un-spider.org/disaster/3116/2009-12-06/malawi/earthquake
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Earthquake_engineering_structures
Images from:
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