Is Manila ready for an earthquake? A study states up to 38% of the capital may be devastated

“CNN’s Anna Coren revealed that the Philippine government commissioned an Earthquake study several years ago. The results of the study made by the Japanese hinted that up to 38 percent of the capital would be devastated, and the projected death toll to be at least 50,000 people.” Also read: “UN to Metro Manila: Ready for Big One?” And here’s the “Earthquake Impact Reduction Study for Metropolitan Manila” [PDF] The scary thing is I can see the fault line from myRead more
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CNN International: Screenshot of my photo essay on the home page

Well, it was fun while it lasted. I don’t mean to gloat – really – it’s just fun to gain a little recognition for something I’m passionate about. CNN International featured my photo essay of the Aliwan Festival on the CNN home page for a day. If you click on the above image you can see a full size version of the screen capture kindly sent to me by CNN Go’s Editor. The photo essay is still up on CNNRead more
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The "I will not post about Obama's inauguration" post

There’s no point. The entire world is blogging, posting, tweeting, flickring, chatting about the inauguration. Why bother to read more here? So, this post will be about… what I didn’t do during the inauguration. I didn’t go to the Ritz for a $200/person event to watch the inauguration I didn’t ‘not’ miss being in America during these times of excitement. I didn’t ‘not’ watch the inauguration despite having to stay up till 1:30AM and getting up at 6AM for work.Read more
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Local Television Coverage

Flipping through the various news stations, I came upon MetroTV – an Indonesian station. There is none of the edited footage being looped on BBC or CNN – they’re showing rooms full of children who’ve drowned, stacks of bodies being taken away in ambulances, mothers finding their infants dead. The hardest part is seeing the children – they are showing a dozen children lying in a row, all dead. I’m truly sorry if this image offends you, however, I doRead more
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Earthquake and Devastation

I have friends visiting Sumatera and Phucket, Thailand. They were planning on diving off the coast of Phucket, and it’s been reported that 40 to 100 divers are missing or trapped. I have no way of contacting them and haven’t heard any word from anyone yet. There is an echo of September 11 in the surreal feeling of watching the events unfold on BBC and CNN. My home is only 2 miles from the coastline in North Jakarta – aRead more