Saturday 3 October 2009

China

 image

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | China: Population

Population maps

image

At first glance they could be mistaken for distorted creepy-crawlies - bloated body parts with randomly placed antennae and spindly legs, their gridlines looking much like the compound eyes and variegated wings of an insect. In fact, each image is a country map - reinterpreted by a pair of Sheffield University geographers. The result is a remarkable series of cartographic designs that cast the world in an entirely new light.

BBC NEWS | Magazine | People-powered maps

Sumatra quake 'levelled villages'

image

Thousands of people may have died in remote village areas when a powerful earthquake struck Sumatra last week, emergency workers and officials fear.

sumatra

There is now a section on the GA website with a range of resources and weblinks:
http://www.geography.org.uk/resources/earthquakes/

BBC NEWS | World | Asia-Pacific | Sumatra quake 'levelled villages'

http://www.boston.com/bigpicture/2009/10/2009_sumatra_earthquakes.html
About 5:00 pm on September 30th, a magnitude 7.6 earthquake struck just offshore of the town of Padang in Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake toppled buildings and started many landslides, smashing homes and swallowing up entire villages. The following day, As rescue workers arrived and residents tried their best to dig out and help the survivors, another unrelated quake with a magnitude of 6.6 struck less than 1,000 km south of the original epicenter. Each of the two quakes had at least one aftershock greater than 5.0 as well. Over 1,000 people are known to have died, an additional 3,000 still missing. Today, October 5th, officials called off the search for survivors in Padang, and are focusing now on caring for the living and coordinating with international relief agencies