On air: Revisiting Haiti and Chile.

Haiti’s earthquake on January 12th lasted 35 seconds and resulted in around 200,000 deaths.

The Haitian government and international agencies estimate that Haiti will need $11.5bn (£7.55bn) to rebuild after the devastating earthquake.  

Chile’s seismic tremor on February 27th, was 500 times stronger, measuring 8.8 in magnitude, compared with Haiti’s 7.0.

Yet the number of casualties lay in the hundreds. There was far less physical damage to structures and phone lines in Santiago began operating again within hours.

On air: Is looting ever acceptable?

Since we talked about the Chile earthquake last night, how to control looting has moved to the top of the agenda.

On air: Chile earthquake

An earthquake measuring 8.8 on the richter scale shook Chile in the in the early morning hours of February 27.

Strong aftershocks, some up to 6 points on the Richter scale, continued day and night and into Sunday.

Islands and countries across the Pacific were put on tsunami alert. Although this has now be lifted.

On air: Your Haiti questions – updated

Heba: Thanks for your questions.

There were several – some angry – calls and e-mails criticising the speed of the aid relief effort and the role of the media on the reporting of this unfolding crisis.

The round-the-clock news coverage, increasing newspaper column inches and your own input into the conversation has thrown up yet more questions that we think are worth pursuing.

Picking up the pieces

I  got an email overnight from my long-time friend Louise who grew up next door to me in Melbourne. 

This year she married a Samoan and they both live on the island of Upolu. She told me how their world had changed since the tremors woke them at 7am Tuesday, shaking the walls of their house and sending their dog into a crazy barking frenzy (well the dog was always pretty crazy to start with, I reckon).

What causes these disasters?

An earthquake in Indonesia.
A tsunami in Samoa.
A flood in the Philippines and Vietnam.

In the last few days we’ve seen images of people covered in mud and chest-deep in water, against backdrops of smashed buildings and upended cars. We’ve seen naked grief, grim searches for bodies and entire villages washed away.

It’s got me thinking – why do we know so little about what causes such massive disasters?

Should celebrities get involved in global politics?

American film actress Sharon Stone has put her foot in it with these comments on China. Essentially saying the Chinese earthquake might be punishment for the country’s policies on Tibet. Are celebrities better off keeping their mouths shut when it comes to geo-politics? Or do they bring much needed attention and publicity to political campaigns? George Clooney has tried it with Darfur. Sean Penn with the Iraq war. Do we care what they think?