Earthquakes and other Calamities and the End of Times – Is the West ready for Islam?
One should note that the fabric of human history is made of two threads, 'cause and effect' and 'crime and punishment,' denying either of the two gives us only a distorted view of human affairs. A physical explanation of any phenomenon does not rule out any spiritual implications!
The Holy Quran states, "Man does indeed transgress, because he considers himself self-sufficient." (Al Quran 96:7-8) The theme of this knol could be considered to be Divine response, to this human illusion, as revealed through the prophets.
"Remember, God has informed me of many earth-quakes. Rest assured, therefore, that as earth-quakes have shaken America and Europe, so will they shake Asia. Some of them will resemble the Day of Doom. So many people shall die that rivulets of blood shall flow. Even the birds and the beasts will not he immune against this death. Havoc shall sweep the surface of the earth which shall be the greatest since the birth of man. Habitations shall be demolished as if no one had ever lived in them. This will he accompanied by many other terrible calamities which the earth and the heavens will send forth, till their extraordinary nature will become evident to every reasonable man. All the literature of science and philosophy shall fail to show their like.
As my mission is to invite and propagate, I make it clear once again, calling God to witness, that He has disclosed to me through His revelation that His ire has been aroused on earth, for the majority of people have become so sunk in sinfulness and worship of the world that they have no faith left in God Almighty. And he who has been sent by Him for the reform of people is mocked at and their mocking and derision have exceeded all bounds. Therefore, God announces that He will fight them and will attack them in such manner as they cannot conceive of, for such is their love of falsehood that they have sought to trample the truth underfoot. God says: I am now determined to safeguard My poor community against the attacks of these wild beasts and to display manifold signs in support of the truth. And He says: A Warner came into the world and the world did not accept him;but God will accept him and will establish his truth through powerful assaults.
But right now the flood is at its height. At the approach of this flood God Almighty appointed this humble one and commanded, 'build thou the Ark under Our eyes and according to Our directions.' This Ark would be in no danger from the tempest. It would be supported by God's hand. This then is the Ark of pure Islam to which I call the people to board. If you are awake, arise and board this Ark quickly for the flood is raging upon the earth and every life is in danger.
He quoted several verses of the Holy Quran including this one from Sura Anbiyya. "'Nay, We provided those and their fathers with the good things of this world till life grew long for them. Do they not see that We are visiting the land, reducing it from its outlying borders? Can they even then be victors?" (Al Quran 21:45). Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said if a nation has been in power for a long period of time and feels superior about it, certainly such situations are not permanent. In fact God states that He generously provides generations upon generations of a nation but it should always be kept in view that great nations were diminished in the past. In recent past the European nations lost much of their power. They had colonized huge parts of the world and now they are diminished. Russia too had spread over a vast area but many of its nations have gained independence. This very destiny will one day be repeated in America. Smaller countries too may not have any presumptions, they too can diminish. However, there is glad-tiding for Islam, there is glad-tiding for the followers of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) that Islam will be triumphant. Our Tabligh efforts are humble, our task is to spread the message with love. However, we see glimpses of what Divine decree can do in the form of earthquakes and other calamities. If only the Muslims too would abandon their opposition and become a part of the destiny that will come to pass through the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). He said the current-day calamites and disasters are also a sign of support for the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). Many people query that the opposition is from the false leaders, why then are the poor and disadvantaged being killed in these disasters.
Explaining this, the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) said that it is the way of God that when all limits are exceeded in accusing truthful people of God of falsehood and they are persecuted, all kinds of calamities occur in the world. All Books of God state this as does the Holy Qur'an. Just as at the time when Moses (on whom be peace) was accused of falsehood all kinds of calamities befell Egypt. Although the far-afield people of Egypt had not even heard of Moses (on whom be peace) and therefore had not sinned. While the Pharaoh was saved, the unaware were killed. Again, in the time of Jesus (on whom be peace) those who wanted to kill him through crucifixion remained unharmed. However, forty years later thousand of Jews were killed and there was an outbreak of plague. The Qur'an proves that this was due to Jesus (on whom be peace). Similarly in the times of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) a seven year famine took place and most of the poor died whereas the great big evil-doers were saved for a long period. In short it is the way of God that when someone comes from Him and is accused of falsehood, all kinds of calamities come to pass. However, people who have nothing to do with the accusation of falsehood are caught up in the calamities. Gradually the false Imams are seized and the time of the wickedest comes in the end. The natural calamities that follow accusation of falsehood on God's appointed people are general and not specific.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad said a few days ago a huge earthquake struck Chile. Two months ago an earthquake had struck Haiti. The Chilean earthquake was 64–times stronger than the Haitian quake. Hudhur said these are signs in support of the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace). Hundreds of thousands of homes have been damaged. It is being said that the Chilean earthquake is the seventh most dreadful earthquake since records began. The earthquake has taken off 1.26 milliseconds from Earth day, which is now this much shorter. Scientists have also recorded that the powerful quake shifted the Earth's figure axis by three inches. Hudhur explained this is the axis about which the Earth's mass is balanced. Thus a situation is arisen to 'reduce earth on its outlying borders'.
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) indeed foretold earthquakes as one of his signs. A quake struck Chile in 1906 which the Promised Messiah had called as a sign in his support. From 1570 to 1835 five earthquakes struck Chile. The next one struck in 1868 and then the 1906 one. Since then Chile has been struck with eighteen powerful earthquakes. The Promised Messiah wrote at the time of the Chilean earthquake of 1906 that he had had his prophecies about strong earthquakes striking the world published many times so much so that the earth would disintegrate. He wrote that the earthquakes of San Francisco and Formosa that came in accordance to his prophecy were known to all, but recently, on 16 August 1906 an earthquake had struck Chile which was no less powerful. It destroyed fifteen towns, thousands lost their lives and hundreds of thousands were made homeless. Some could ask how could this be a sign, as these earthquakes did not strike Punjab. They did not realise that God is the God of the entire world not just of the Punjab and He had informed the Promised Messiah about the whole world. It was unfortunate that accusations of falsehood were levied in the Punjab. The Promised Messiah warned that just as earthquakes had struck according to prophecies in America and Europe, they would strike in Asia, some of which would be a picture of Day of Judgement, obliterating life en masse. So much so that those with wisdom will find this extraordinary and no worldly knowledge will be able to explain the phenomenon. This is when mankind will get anxious and many will be given salvation while many will be destroyed. This will come to pass in the not too distant future and many other dreadful calamities will take place. Some occurring from the skies, others on the earth. This will be because mankind has stopped worshipping God and all attention is focussed on the world. The Promised Messiah said had he not come, these calamities may have been slightly delayed, but with his coming the hidden will of God had been made evident, just as God has declared: '…We never punish until We have sent a Messenger.' (Al Quran 17:16). Those who repent will be granted refuge.
The 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake was an undersea megathrust earthquake that occurred at 00:58:53 UTC on December 26, 2004, with an epicentre off the west coast of Sumatra, Indonesia. The quake itself is known by the scientific community as the Sumatra-Andaman earthquake. The resulting tsunami itself is given various names, including the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, Asian Tsunami, Indonesian Tsunami, and Boxing Day Tsunami.
The earthquake was caused by subduction and triggered a series of devastating tsunamis along the coasts of most landmasses bordering the Indian Ocean, killing nearly 230,000 people in fourteen countries, and inundating coastal communities with waves up to 30 meters (100 feet) high. It was one of the deadliest natural disasters in recorded history. Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, and Thailand were the hardest hit.
With a magnitude of between 9.1 and 9.3, it is the second largest earthquake ever recorded on a seismograph. This earthquake had the longest duration of faulting ever observed, between 8.3 and 10 minutes. It caused the entire planet to vibrate as much as 1 cm (0.4 inches) and triggered other earthquakes as far away as Alaska.
Hurricane Katrina formed over the Bahamas on August 23, 2005 and crossed southern Florida as a moderate Category 1 hurricane, causing some deaths and flooding there before strengthening rapidly in the Gulf of Mexico to Category 5 hurricane. The storm weakened before making its second landfall as a Category 3 storm on the morning of Monday, August 29 in southeast Louisiana. It caused severe destruction along the Gulf coast from central Florida to Texas, much of it due to the storm surge. The most severe loss of life occurred in New Orleans, Louisiana, which flooded as the levee system catastrophically failed, in many cases hours after the storm had moved inland. Eventually 80% of the city and large tracts of neighboring parishes became flooded, and the floodwaters lingered for weeks. However, the worst property damage occurred in coastal areas, such as all Mississippi beachfront towns, which were flooded over 90% in hours, as boats and casino barges rammed buildings, pushing cars and houses inland, with waters reaching 6-12 miles (10-19 km) from the beach.
The levee failures prompted investigations of their design and construction which belongs to the US Army Corps of Engineers (USACE) as mandated in the Flood Control Act of 1965 and into their maintenance by the local Levee Boards. There was also an investigation of the responses from federal, state and local governments, resulting in the resignation of Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) director Michael D. Brown, and of New Orleans Police Department (NOPD) Superintendent Eddie Compass. Conversely, the United States Coast Guard (USCG), National Hurricane Center (NHC) and National Weather Service (NWS) were widely commended for their actions, accurate forecasts and abundant lead time.
Four years later, thousands of displaced residents in Mississippi and Louisiana were still living in trailers. Reconstruction of each section of the southern portion of Louisiana has been addressed in the Army Corps LACPR Final Technical Report which identifies areas not to be rebuilt and areas and buildings that need to be elevated.
The 2005 Kashmir Earthquake was a major earthquake centered in Pakistan-administered Kashmir, near the city of Muzaffarabad, affecting Gilgit-Baltistan and North-West Frontier Province (NWFP) regions of Pakistan. It occurred at 08:52:37 Pakistan Standard Time on 8 October 2005. It registered a debatable moment magnitude of 7.6 making it similar in size to the 1906 San Francisco earthquake, the 1935 Quetta earthquake, the 2001 Gujarat earthquake, and the 2009 Sumatra earthquakes. As of 8 November, the government of Pakistan's official death toll was 79,000, while officials say nearly 1,400 people also died in Indian-administered Kashmir and four people in Afghanistan. The severity of the damage caused by the earthquake is attributed to severe upthrust, coupled with poor construction.
Cyclone Nargis (also known as Very Severe Cyclonic Storm Nargis), was a strong tropical cyclone that caused the worst natural disaster in the recorded history of Burma (officially known as Myanmar). The cyclone made landfall in the country on May 2, 2008, causing catastrophic destruction and at least 138,000 fatalities.
The 2008 Sichuan earthquake or the Great Sichuan Earthquake was a deadly earthquake that measured at 8.5 ON Richter magnitude scale occurred at 14:28:01.42 CST on May 12, 2008 in Sichuan province of China and killed at least 68,000 people.
The deadliest earthquake in China since the 1976 Tangshan earthquake 32 years ago and the strongest in 58 years since the 1950 Chayu earthquake. The earthquake lasted three minutes and was felt as far away as Beijing and Shanghai some 1,500 and 1,700 km away where people were evacuated from office buildings as a precaution. Mianyang, Ngawa, Deyang, Guangyuan, and Chengdu suffered the most loss of lives. Most of the buildings that collapsed were in rural areas and did not adhere to building codes. At least 4.8 million people were rendered homeless.
President Hu Jintao declared a national state of emergency 90 minutes after the quake. All highways into Wenchuan were damaged by the quake, delaying the arrival of relief troops. Half of the wireless communications were lost in the entire Sichuan Province. The earthquake occurred three months prior to the opening of the 2008 Summer Olympics hosted in China for the first time. None of the Olympic venues were damaged and as a result, the torch relay route was changed and a minute's silence was observed. The Chinese government announced RMB 1 trillion ($146.5 billion USD) to be spent on rebuilding the area over a period of three years.
Others in the community also saw it as divine intervention, a ray of hope amid the destruction visited on them in a few violent hours. The bland facts of science as to what brings about tornadoes may give us some future prevention but offer no consolation for the tragedy at hand.
A 1997 survey of American scientists found that 39 percent believed in a God to whom one may pray in expectation of receiving an answer as compared to 42 percent in a 1916 survey that used the same questions and an identical sampling procedure. The results chal¬lenged the widely held assumption that religious beliefs have fallen off drastically among scientists in the twentieth century.
The super Tuesday tornadoes were the nation's deadliest barrage of twisters in almost 23 years. "I was there before daylight and it looked like a war zone," said county emergency management director Johnny Burnette.
In Mississippi, Desoto County Sheriff's Department Cmdr. Steve Atkinson said a twister shredded warehouses in an industrial park in the city of Southaven, just south of Memphis. "It ripped the warehouses apart. The best way to describe it is it looks like a bomb went off," Atkinson said.
Union University staff and students search through dormitories destroyed by a tornado in Tennessee. Classes have been canceled for two weeks to allow for cleanup. The Union University campus was perhaps hardest hit. Candra Pennington, a senior, told CNN there were 15 students in her dorm when the warning sirens went off; "we went to look at the weather and we realized we couldn't get the door open," she said. "We had to get all 15 girls in the bathroom. As we were closing the bathroom door, the debris, the windows were shattering in with us, the ceiling began to fall on us. We were able to get the door shut just in time to keep ourselves safe from all of the debris that fell out into the room.' "It looks like a war zone," said David Dockery, university president. "Cars and trucks thrown from one side of the campus to the other," Dockery exclaimed, and added, "the women's dorms were destroyed, along with two academic buildings." Many other school buildings received lesser damage.
Winter tornadoes are not uncommon. The peak tornado season is late winter through midsummer, but the storms can happen at any time of the year with the right conditions. But this batch was the nation's worst in a 24-hour period since May 3, 1999, when some 50 people died in Oklahoma and Kansas. One can safely assume that there would be tornadoes, earthquakes and hurricanes in future also. Man seems to be in constant need of consolation for one reason or another.
The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local tim on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. As of Feb. 12, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.
The earthquake caused major damage to Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard. The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi. This was the fifth deadliest earthquake in recorded history.
A collapsed bridge over the Claro river is seen near the town of Camarico, Chile, some 112 miles (180 kilometers ) south of Santiago Saturday, Feb. 27, 2010. An 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck central Chile early Saturday. The quake hit 200 miles (325 kilometers) southwest of the capital and the epicenter was just 70 miles (115 kilometers) from Concepcion, Chile's second-largest city.
Sebastian Pinera has been sworn in as president of Chile, on March 11, 2010, minutes after it was hit by the largest aftershock since last month's devastating earthquake.
The 6.9-magnitude tremor was centred in O'Higgins Region, some 140km (90 miles) south of the city of Valparaiso, where the inauguration ceremony took place. Seldom can an incoming president have faced such a massive and immediate challenge, says the BBC's Gideon Long in Santiago.
Many people have been made homeless by the quake, with about half a million homes destroyed.
BBC reader Ian Hutcheon, from San Vicente, 45km south of Rancagua, described Thursday's aftershock as "very severe".
Chile's new President, Sebastian Pinera, has said it will cost at least $30bn (£20bn) to rebuild the country after January's earthquake. Speaking on his first full day in office, he said loans and budgetary savings would be used to rebuild infrastructure, homes and industry. Other nations would be asked to help, Mr Pinera told reporters in Santiago.
The 8.8 magnitude quake on 27 February killed nearly 500 people, with hundreds others missing and 1.5m homes damaged.
A sandstorm reduces visibility near the Olympic Green in Beijing, China, Monday, March 22, 2010. Sandstorms whipped across a wide swath of China on Monday, forcing residents to don masks and scarves to protect themselves from the unhealthy grit.
People walk in Tiananmen square during a sandstorm on March 20, 2010. The meteorological administration said a sandstorm that swept down from the Gobi desert Friday would continue to shroud parts of northern China stretching from the far-western region of Xinjiang to Beijing. A severe drought in southwest China, which locals say is the worst in a century, is forecast to linger till the start of the rainy season in May, according to two provincial meteorological stations in Yunnan and Guizhou, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken March 16, 2010.
A view of a partially dried-up pond at a village of Guangnan county, Yunnan province, March 16, 2010. A severe drought in southwest China, which locals say is the worst in a century, is forecast to linger till the start of the rainy season in May, according to two provincial meteorological stations in Yunnan and Guizhou, Xinhua News Agency reported. Picture taken March 16, 2010. The locals say, this drought is the worst in a century, is forecasted to linger until the start of the rainy season in May.
Then he (Dhulqarnain) followed another way. Until, when he reached the place between the two mountains, he found beneath them a people who would scarcely understand a word. They said, 'O Dhu'l Qarnain, verily, Gog and Magog are creating disorder in the earth; shall we then pay thee tribute on condition that thou set up a barrier between us and them?' He replied, 'The power with which my Lord has endowed me about this is better, but you may help me with physical strength; I will set up between you and them a rampart. 'Bring me blocks of iron.' They did so till, when he had levelled up the space between the two mountain sides, he said, 'Now blow with your bellows.' They blew till, when he had made it red as fire, he said, 'Bring me molten copper that I may pour it thereon.' So they (Gog and Magog) were not able to scale it, nor were they able to dig through it.
path of God. This means that the Promised Messiah will need such eager hearts and mild dispositions as would melt under the influence of Divine signs. These signs have no effect on the hard-hearted. A person can only become immune to Satanic attacks when he becomes steadfast like iron and that iron becomes like fire when touched by the fire of Divine love, and then the melted heart should melt and cover the iron to secure it against disintegration and decay. These are the three conditions which, when combined, form a wall which cannot be scaled or bored through by the spirit of Satan. Then God says that all this will come about by His grace. It is His hands which will accomplish everything and human design will have no part in it. When the Day of Judgement approaches, mischief will reign supreme once again. This is the promise of God.
religion and will attack each other like the waves of the sea. Then the trumpet will be blown in heaven, i.e., God will raise the Promised Messiah and create a third people for whom He will show great signs until all good people gather under the banner of Islam. They will respond to the call of the Promised Messiah and will run towards him; then there will be only one shepherd and one flock. Those days will be hard and God will reveal His countenance with awe-striking signs. Those who persist in disbelief will experience hell in this very world in the shape of calamities. God says: These are the people whose eyes were veiled against My Words, and their ears heeded not My commandments. Did the disbelievers imagine that they could take humble men to be God and that I should stand dismissed? We shall reveal hell in this very world as entertainment for the disbelievers, i.e., great and terrible signs will appear.
bestowed all these favours on this humble one, who is labelled a disbeliever and Dajjal by his opponents!
An earthquake shook China at about 7:49 am local time on April 14 and registered between a 6.9 and 7.1 on the Richter scale. The quake did widespread damage along the Tibetan Plateau and a reported 500 people have died as a result.
The location of the quake is relatively remote, meaning that although the death toll is high, it could have been much higher had the quake been in a more populated region.
The exact location is the county of Yushu, which is located in the Qinghai province on the Tibetan plateau.
The Chinese earthquake is only the latests of the natural disasters. Starting with Haiti and going to Chile, Mexico, Japan, United Statees, Solomon Islands, Turkey, and other countries earthquakes have been everywhere.
Scientists don't seem too concerned, although the Chilean quake was strong enough to move the earth off its axis.
Chinese President Hu Jintao has visited survivors of last week's earthquake on a remote Tibetan plateau, as the death toll rose to more than 1,700 people.
A few people are being found alive four days after the quake, including a 68-year-man trapped beneath the rubble.
The Dalai Lama has appealed to China to allow him to make a similar visit.
Officials say people now have basic shelter, food and water, but it is not easy to get supplies to the quake-zone 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea-level.
Also on Sunday, the death toll from Wednesday's 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Qinghai province was raised to 1,706 and 256 missing, the official Xinhua news agency said.
The eruption of a volcano beneath Iceland's Eyjafjallajokull has resulted in dangerous amounts of volcanic ash in the sky, huge headaches for travelers.
The eruption caused a 3.7 mile high plume of ash, which has wrecked havoc on flights across the Europe and around the world. The ash has the ability to knock out jet engines, an inconvenient fact that has grounded tens of thousands of passengers. Additionally, there is no telling when the ash will disperse. It could take days before the sky clears up. Much of the airspace across northern and western Europe has been closed and air control officials said some 17,000 flights would be cancelled on Friday, April 16, 2010.
The Opryland Hotel stood in floodwaters one story deep in Nashville, Tenn., on Monday, May 3, 2010. After heavy weekend rains and flooding.
It seems God is reminding mankind all over the world that, despite our technological advancement, He is still In Charge!
The US homeland security secretary has been touring Nashville, which, along with other areas in the American South, was hit by flooding this week.
More than 30 people died as flood waters swept through the states of Tennessee, Mississippi and Kentucky, destroying homes and businesses.
Janet Napolitano said she expected government workers to be still cleaning up in six months time.
The cost of repairing the city is estimated to be at least $1.5bn.
The floodwaters that swept through Nashville last week didn't discriminate, ruining trailer homes, as well as the mansions of country music's elite.
Multi-award winning singer Keith Urban was just one artist who lost his stock of guitars to water damage.
More than 16,000 Tennessee residents have already registered for federal assistance.
But, as she toured Nashville on Saturday, the Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano warned there were limits to what the government could do.
"There will be individuals who will be suffering financial damage and I'm not going to say we're going to guarantee everybody is going to be made whole," she said.
As waters receded, volunteer cleanup efforts are gathering pace, with hundreds turning out on Saturday to provide food and shelter to those whose homes have been gutted.
Many Nashville residents had never considered protecting themselves against the risks of flooding.
"I just can't believe it. It's just so devastating. When I moved here I didn't even think about getting flood insurance," said one person.
(CNN) — One person — believed to be a 10-year-old boy — survived a passenger plane crash in Libya that was feared to have killed more than 100 people, an official said Wednesday.
The boy was undergoing surgery at a hospital in the Libyan capital of Tripoli after the Afriqiyah Airways plane that left Johannesburg crashed as it neared the end of its flight.
The Dutch Foreign ministry said it had a representative at the hospital waiting to identify the boy, believed to be a Dutch national. He apparently suffered bone injuries.
The plane was carrying 93 passengers and 11 crew members when it crashed while trying to land at the Tripoli International Airport.
LANGLEY, Ark. – Crews on Monday found a 20th victim of a flash flood that swept through a popular campground, but they continued searching because authorities don't know if the body belonged to the last person thought to be missing. State police declined to identify the victim, who was found floating in the Little Missouri River. But Capt. Mike Fletcher said searchers weren't sure if the body matched the description of the last person they were looking for.
Dozens of people were feared missing after the pre-dawn Friday flood, but authorities on Sunday narrowed their search to just one person known to have been camping at the Albert Pike Recreation Area. They said they believe many others first feared missing were camping in other parts of the state, without cell phone coverage.
A heavy storm sent a wall of water rushing down the river while most campers were sleeping, leaving them scrambling in the dark for safety amid the area's steep terrain.
Floodwaters rose up to 8 feet per hour, pouring through the remote valley with such force that they peeled asphalt from roads. Cabins along the river banks were severely damaged, and mobile homes were tossed on their sides.
No week passes by without a catastrophe in one part of the world or another. Just a few days back there was flooding in Oklahoma, USA and now France.
DRAGUIGNAN, France (AFP) – Rescuers airlifted survivors and searched for missing people in southern France Wednesday after heavy storms triggered flash floods that killed at least 19 people, officials said.
Nearly 2,000 rescue workers rushed in to help hundreds trapped in their vehicles, houses or on rooftops in the Draguignan area near the Mediterranean coast, while helicopters were sent in to airlift residents to safety.
Emergency teams also moved 436 inmates from a flooded prison in Draguignan where the water covered the first two floors and they were taken to nearby jails.
The death toll has climbed since early morning as rescuers found the bodies of more victims. State authorities in the Var department said earlier that 15 people had died and 12 were missing.
"I fear the (death) toll will go higher," said Interior Minister Brice Hortefeux, who visited the area to see for himself the extent of the damage by the floods that meteorologists said were the worst there since 1827.
BEIJING – China's disaster relief departments raised the emergency response to level-three from level-four Saturday morning for the floods that have hit southern China, as authorities forecast more rain to fall over coming days.
The Civil Affairs Ministry and the State Disaster Relief Commission made the decision.
As of 10:00 am Saturday, downpours that began pounding southern China Sunday had left 88 people dead, 48 missing, and forced the evacuation of 757,000 residents from their homes, the Ministry of Civil Affairs said in a statement.
About 9.27 million people in Fujian, Zhejiang, Guangdong, Hunan, Jiangxi, Guangxi, Guizhou and Sichuan were affected by the heavy rains, the ministry said.
Floods in southern China caused by torrential rain have killed 46 people since Sunday, officials say.
Fifty people are missing, and about 238,000 people have been evacuated from their homes because of heavy rains that have pounded six provinces.
Hundreds of flights in and out of Beijing have been cancelled or delayed because of severe thunderstorms.
More than 33,000 homes have collapsed or been damaged. And forecasters say more rain is on the way.
Floods have engulfed two states in north-east Brazil, leaving about 1,000 people missing and forcing at least 100,000 to flee their homes.
At least 38 people are known to have died so far in Alagoas and Pernambuco.
Correspondents say the floods, brought on by nearly a week of rain, have washed away entire villages.
PESHAWAR, Pakistan – Pakistan dispatched medical teams Monday to the deluged northwest amid fears that cholera could spread after the worst floods in the country's history that have already killed up to 1,200 people, an official said.
The disaster has forced around 2 million to flee their homes. Residents have railed against the government for failing to provide enough emergency assistance nearly a week after extremely heavy monsoon rains triggered raging floodwaters in Khyber-Pakhtoonkhwa province.
Floodwaters ravaged hundreds of villages in Pakistan's main province of Punjab Wednesday, destroying homes, soaking crops, and threatening more lives. Aid workers warned that bloated rivers would soon surge into the country's south, prompting more evacuations.
This year's monsoon season has prompted the worst flooding in Pakistan in living memory and already killed more than 1,500 people. The U.N. scrambled to provide food and other assistance to some 3.2 million affected people in a nation already struggling with an Islamist militancy and a poor economy.
The rains are falling about 25 to 30 percent above normal rates, Hanif said. The northwest, which has been hit the hardest, experienced "once-in-a-century" rains, and can expect more wet weather in coming days, though at normal levels that should allow some recovery. The vast majority of deaths have been reported in that region.
ZHOUQU, China – Rescuers dug through mud and wreckage Monday searching for 1,300 people missing after flash floods and landslides struck northwestern China, just one of a series of floods across Asia that have killed hundreds and spread misery to millions more.
In Pakistan, frustrated victims railed against the government's anemic relief effort for the estimated 15 million displaced by the country's worst-ever floods, while rescuers in mountainous Indian-controlled Kashmir raced to rescue dozens of stranded foreign trekkers and find 500 people still missing in flash floods that have killed 140.
Sunday's disaster in China's Gansu province killed at least 127 people and covered entire villages in water, mud, and rocks.
BEIJING – Flooding has forced the evacuation of more than a quarter-million people in northern China along its border with North Korea, state media said Monday.
Heavy rains over the last several days caused the Yalu river, which marks the border, to breach its banks, although the water level had started to fall late Sunday, the official Xinhua News Agency state media said Monday.
It said four people died, including a couple in their 70s and a mother and son, after their homes in Dandong were swept away by flash floods. Xinhua said 253,500 residents have been evacuated after the Yalu rose to its highest level in a decade.
BEIJING – Floods and landslides have left 3,185 people dead and more than 1,060 missing in China this year, China's Ministry of Civil Affairs (MCA) said Tuesday.
Heavy rains have hit many Chinese provinces, including Gansu, Sichuan, Shaanxi, Jilin, Jiangxi and Hubei, this year.
As of Tuesday, about 230 million Chinese had been affected.
Nearly 15.2 million people had been evacuated and 16.5 million hectares of crops had been affected.
Direct economic losses stood at more than 350 billion yuan (US$51.4 billion), according to figures released by the China National Committee for Disaster Reduction.
CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand (AFP) – New Zealand prepared for further destruction on Sunday as aftershocks and an approaching storm threatened an area hit by the most devastating earthquake in decades.
Prime Minister John Key said it was "a miracle" no one had died when the major 7.0 magnitude quake wreaked more than a billion dollars of damage on the nation's second-biggest city of Christchurch.
Civil defence officials warned that ongoing aftershocks with magnitudes of up to 5.4, coupled with a ferocious storm blowing in, could threaten already-weakened buildings.
Despite widespread damage, none of the city's 340,000-strong population died when the quake struck before dawn Saturday.
"The only conclusion you can draw is that it's a miracle nobody was killed," Key said as he surveyed the devastation.
Engineers praised New Zealand's stringent building standards in the earthquake prone country for the limited damage.
Almost two-thirds of the 160,000 homes in and around Christchurch have been damaged by Saturday's earthquake, New Zealand's prime minister has said.
John Key said many had been damaged beyond repair, and that it might take some time to discover the damage to the region's underground infrastructure.
A state of emergency in Christchurch has been extended until Wednesday, and the city centre remains cordoned off.
Experts have warned a major aftershock could rock the area in the near future.
More than 80 aftershocks have been recorded since Saturday's 7.0-magnitude tremor, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.1.
Rescue workers are preparing to evacuate victims from quake-hit areas More than 100 people have been killed and many are missing after a tsunami triggered by an earthquake off the coast of Sumatra, Indonesia.
Scores of houses were destroyed by waves after the 7.7 magnitude quake, which struck 20km (13 miles) under the ocean floor near the Mentawai islands.
Ten villages on the islands were swept away by the tsunami, a disaster official told the AFP news agency.
Damage and rough weather are delaying efforts to reach the affected area.
More than 1,000 people were killed by an earthquake off Sumatra in September 2009.
In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed a quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.
BANGKOK (AFP) – Severe flooding in Thailand has left 181 people dead over the past month, the authorities said Tuesday.
The government estimates that 7.8 million people have been affected, mainly in the northeast and south, with homes submerged and farmland damaged in what Prime Minister Abhisit Vejjajiva has described as "a huge natural calamity".
Fifty-one of Thailand's 76 provinces have been hit but the waters have now subsided in many areas, officials said.
Colombian President Juan Manuel Santos has declared a state of emergency in 28 of the nation's 32 departments because of heavy rains and flooding that have affected some 1.2 million people.
Flooding and mudslides have killed at least 136 people, injured 205 and left 20 missing, the nation's Interior and Justice Ministry reported.
"Many have lost everything they had and the capacity of the government [to help them] has been overwhelmed. We're trying to find ways to get more resources and that's why we're calling on the business sector, the public in general, and the international community to help us because, unfortunately, the situation is getting worse," said Santos.
Up to 20,000 homes are now at risk in Brisbane, the Queensland state premier has said, as deadly floodwater surge towards Australia's third-largest city.
Central Brisbane is a ghost town, with electricity cut and thousands urged to either evacuate or stay at home.
West of Brisbane, the city of Ipswich is being swamped by flood waters in a situation described as "total chaos".
The death toll from the flash floods in Queensland is 12 so far, with many others reported missing.
Australian broadcaster ABC reports that the Brisbane river is now forecast to peak at 5.2m (17ft) in the early hours of Thursday, down from a prediction of 5.5m.
More than 30,000 army, navy, police and air force personnel are battling to provide urgent aid to people hit by heavy flooding in Sri Lanka.
A government spokesman said more than 325,000 people had been displaced by flooding. At least 23 people have died and more than a million are affected.
The priority since the rains abated on Thursday has been to deliver emergency food and medical supplies.
In the centre and east, farmland has been flooded and rice fields destroyed.
Thousands of people who fled the flooding are now living in camps on higher ground, a spokesman from the disaster management centre told the BBC.
More than 500 people are now known to have died in floods in south-eastern Brazil, the country's worst natural disaster for several decades.
Heavy rain has led to massive mudslides hitting several towns, resulting in thousands being made homeless.
Police say the number of dead is likely to rise further.
The death toll has now surpassed the devastating 1967 mudslides in Caraguatatuba, Sao Paulo state, in which up to 430 people perished.
Rescue workers will resume searching for survivors in the mountainous Serrana region, north of Rio de Janeiro, later on Friday.
Many spent Thursday scrabbling with their bare hands through debris.
On her visit to the area, President Dilma Rousseff promised a shipment of seven tonnes of medicines.
In the Campo Grande area of Teresopolis, which was earlier cut off, rescuers found people pulling bodies from the mud.
In the neighbouring town of Petropolis, local resident Nelson Toledo told the BBC that some areas "had been completely devastated" by the floods and mudslides.
He said "thousands" of people remained trapped in their homes.
The first winds began howling throughout Cairns as night fell Wednesday, with the storm expected to make landfall sometime around midnight.
Dozens of guests at a Cairns waterfront hotel took cover in the central ballroom as lights throughout the building flickered. Staff members pinned curtains shut over windows that were in danger of shattering and handed out flashlights to everyone.
Barbara Maskei, a 49-year-old tourist from Germany, lay on the ballroom floor under a sheet reading a book, as her 20-year-old daughter Annette and husband Peter dozed beside her. For her, there will be no sleep tonight. "I like to keep my eyes open," she said as the wind roared outside.
Winds at the center of the storm were gusting up to 186 mph (300 kph), and the front was about 300 miles (500 kilometers) across. The worst of the winds were expected to last up to four hours on the coast, though blustery conditions and heavy rain could last for 24 hours.
In Innisfail, a town about 55 miles (90 kilometers) south of Cairns that is nearly in the direct path of the storm, Mayor Bill Shannon said he saw the roof torn off a building near the local government building where some 500 people are sheltering.
"We 're just hoping and praying we can all get through the night," Shannon said.
Invariably, at the time of any disaster the masses and the leaders are all praying, but still some fundamentalist atheists like Richard Dawkins, continue to deny this powerful human need to be consoled.
WELLINGTON—New Zealand's second-largest city, Christchurch, was rocked Tuesday by an earthquake that destroyed part of its cathedral and killed at least 65 people, with the death toll expected to climb as offices and buildings collapsed.
Key said that the 6.3 magnitude earthquake, which hit 10 kilometers south-east of the city, and its following tremors have so far claimed 65 lives and he expects this figure to climb as rescue workers begin sifting through wrecked buildings.
The first quake was followed by aftershocks, including one measured at 5.6 magnitude. Tremors from the earthquake were felt as far away as the city of Dunedin, about 320 kilometers south of Christchurch.
Sky News television footage earlier showed the collapsed spire of Christchurch Cathedral, a major landmark in the city, cracked roads and a number of badly damaged buildings. The city's international airport was closed indefinitely following the quake, and the entire center of town is being evacuated. Police had warned of multiple fatalities in several parts of the city, including two buses crushed by falling masonry.
Many in Christchurch have been on edge since the September 4, 2010 quake which caused massive damage but no loss of life, with more than 5,000 aftershocks ravaging the city of 390,000 — New Zealand's second largest.
There was a spike in suicides and stress-related conditions after the first quake, and David Meates, the region's health director, said Tuesday's disaster "has certainly got most people very, very fragile, very anxious".
"In these sorts of situations there are enormous pressures and strains on families, relationships, people's livelihoods are now at stake," Meates told AFP.
In 2011 alone it was first Australia, the New Zealand and Brazil and now Japen has been stuck with a massive natural disaster.
When the earthquake hit, buildings in Tokyo swayed. Walking was like crossing the deck of a ship at sea.
People poured down from their offices and stood in the street staring up.
A large fire seemed to have broken out in one part of the city and, in another place, injured people were being brought out of a station.
The authorities immediately issued a tsunami warning.
In Tokyo, public transport has been suspended, elevators are switched off in many buildings and thousands of people have gathered in squares and around train stations.
TOKYO – An explosion blew the roof off an unstable reactor north of Tokyo on Saturday, Japanese media said, raising fears of a disastrous meltdown at a nuclear plant damaged in the massive earthquake that hit Japan.
The 8.9-magnitude earthquake — the strongest ever recorded in Japan — sent a 10-metre tsunami ripping through towns and cities across the northeast coast. Japanese media estimate that at least 1,300 people were killed.
Jiji news agency said there had been an explosion at the stricken 40-year-old Daichi 1 reactor and TV footage showed vapour rising from the plant, which lies 240 km (150 miles) north of Tokyo.
The blast came as plant operator Tokyo Electric Power Co (Tepco) worked desperately to reduce pressures in the core of the reactor that — if not contained — could lead to a release of radiation into the atmosphere.
NHK television and Jiji said the outer structure of the building that houses the reactor appeared to have blown off, which could suggest the containment building had already been breached.
Italy's National Institute of Geophysics and Volcanology said the earth's axis had shifted 25 cm as a result of the quake and the U.S. Geological Survey said the main island of Japan had actually shifted 2.4 metres.
Friday's tremor was so huge that thousands fled their homes from coastlines around the Pacific Rim, as far away as North and South America, fearful of a tsunami.
Shirakawa, Japan (CNN) — Rescuers plucked dazed survivors from collapsed homes, muddy waters and raging fires Saturday, a day after a powerful earthquake tore through northeastern Japan, unleashing waves that swallowed entire neighborhoods along the coast.
More than 900 people were killed and about 700 were missing, Japanese public broadcaster NHK reported. The number of dead is expected to rise as rescuers reach more hard-hit areas.
In the town of Minamisanriku, 9,500 people are unaccounted for, Japan's Kyodo News Agency reported, citing local officials. That figure is about half the population of the town, which is located on the Pacific, the news agency said.
More than 3,000 people had been rescued, according to Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan, Kyodo News Agency said.
Japan's historic quake Friday's 8.9-magnitude quake was centered about 130 kilometers (80 miles) from Sendai, a farming region already battling youth population losses to big cities, leaving aging residents struggling to keep up with the global economy.
Aftershocks continued to jolt the island nation Saturday, including two at 6.1 and 6.4 magnitude.
In the city of Shirakawa, south of Sendai, rescuers dug through rubble with shovels to try and reach 13 neighbors trapped when the earth opened up and swallowed their homes. Relatives and friends stood in the cold, quietly watching, praying and waiting. Others wept.
Tokyo (CNN) — I've been asked questions along this theme multiple times, from my friends and family in the United States to colleagues who work around the globe: How, amid Japan's worst natural disaster in 100 years, can the Japanese seem so calm?
This is surprising only if you've never lived here or experienced how Japan's society operates. As a resident of Japan for three years, I would have been surprised if this country's people behaved in any other manner.
How Japanese cope with disaster Across Sendai's tsunami zone, both in the areas devastated and in the neighboring regions, you can see that Japan's societal mores have failed to break down, even if the tsunami destroyed the physical structure of this coastal community.
At stores across the city, long, straight lines of Japanese tsunami victims have been waiting for rations in the city. No one is directing these lines; they're organized by the people themselves.
Hadhrat Mirza Masroor Ahmad, Khalifatul Masih V (Hudhur) explained that a true believer continues to call on God after trouble is averted while the ungrateful get embroiled in bad ways. As the blessed model of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) demonstrated, true believers do not just fear God at the time of their own trouble, rather when affliction falls on others, it instils fear of God in them. Hudhur said whether the calamities be of the past or current times, if a true believer fears God through the bad ending of ancient people, how much more should the present disasters make one turn to God and fear Him. However, the majority attributes natural disasters to simply climatic changes and laws of nature. It is correct that natural disasters occur due to the laws of nature. Earthquakes happen when the earth's plate tectonics move. It is correct that New Zealand, Japan and many islands are located on plate tectonics and that is why they experience more earthquakes. However, it is also noteworthy that the one commissioned by God in the current age foretold earthquakes.
Many years ago, during his Tabligh efforts, one of our missionaries in Ghana Mubasher sahib, was told by the local ulema (religious leaders/scholars) that earthquakes were one sign of the coming of the Mahdi and if his claim about the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) was truthful, then they wanted a sign of earthquake in their country. Earthquakes are not common in Ghana. The missionary sahib prayed and it so happened that an earthquake occurred in Ghana. This created a lot of restlessness among the Christians and many came into the fold of Ahmadiyya Islam and this sign became most renowned. Hudhur said we observe that the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) has indeed connected his advent with earthquakes and other natural disasters. Having being informed by God, he foretold that natural disaster would take place as a sign for him. He wrote: 'Addressing me God Almighty said: 'You are a warner on my behalf. I have sent you so that the guilty ones be separated from the righteous, 'and He said, 'A warner came unto the world but the world accepted him not, yet God will accept him and demonstrate his truthfulness with mighty onslaughts.' And, 'I shall bless thee, so much so that kings shall seek blessings from thy garments.' And God informed me of another impending earthquake which would be of utmost severity and said: 'Again the spring came and again the word of God was fulfilled.' Thus another massive earthquake is bound to occur, but the righteous are safe from it. Be righteous, therefore, and fear God that you may be saved. Fear God today so that you may remain safe from the fear of that Day. It is inevitable for the heaven to show some sign for the earth to do likewise. But those who fear God shall be saved. God's Word informed me that many calamities will occur and many disasters will descend on the earth – some during my life time and some after I have gone. And He will promote and advance this Jama'at to the full. A part of it will happen at my hands, and some after me.' (The Will, pp. 3 – 5).
Hudhur said he has explained it before that the natural disasters that have occurred in the last 100 years have exceeded all previous records. God is repeatedly demonstrating these signs in different part of the world. Therefore, we should repeatedly keep this warning in view and strengthen our faith and take this message to the world.
Last week an extremely powerful earthquake hit Japan. It was followed by a tsunami which obliterated many towns. Hudhur said our team is on the ground helping the victims. En route they rang and said they were passing through a desolated area where once a town of 15,000 inhabitants stood. Roads, large buildings were wiped out. Hudhur said this is a most frightening situation and we should follow in the blessed model of the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) and pray that may God enable these people to recognize the truth so that they may be saved from disasters; may God open their hearts. For this, we too have to take the message to them.
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) had a particularly good intuition about the Japanese people. So, while they suffer from earthquakes, in light of the Promised Messiah's (on whom be peace) good intuition, if they understand the true teachings, they can be saved. Our Jama'at in Japan is small, but it should try its very best to take this message to people. In the current situation, discretion should be used in taking this message to them alongside service to humanity. Our Ahmadi camps are indeed serving humanity there, but they need to make these links permanent so that people know about Ahmadiyyat. Hudhur said the Japanese are very proud of their Shinto and Buddhists beliefs. It is said that both these belief systems are observed in Japan. Marriages take place according to Shinto beliefs where as in death Buddhist rites are observed. A very influential Japanese friend of Hudhur told Hudhur a while ago that due to their Shinto beliefs, the Japanese will not be drawn to Islam. Hudhur told him that indeed Shinto belief has many good moral aspects but one day they will have to come to Islam. Hudhur said the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) wished for Tabligh in Japan and said that there should be a comprehensive book on Islam to draw the attention of the Japanese. He had said that books on Islam published by others have errors in them and were not to be trusted. He said what he presented was indeed what Islam was. Hudhur said this lays a huge responsibility on us to have such a book written in Japanese. He said he did not think such a book has yet been written. Hudhur said the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) had said that even if it meant paying someone Rupee 1000, which was a huge amount in those days, to get such a book translated, it should be done. Hudhur explained that currently the Japanese translation of the Holy Qur'an is being revised by Zia sahib. Hudhur also mentioned that Hadhrat Musleh Maud (may Allah be pleased with him) had a vision in 1945 about which he said that the Japanese were spiritually dead at the time, but God will incline them towards Ahmadiyyat and they will hearken at his voice just as birds responded to the voice of Hadhrat Ibrahim (on whom be peace).
Hudhur said today it is our task to pay attention to this matter. It is our task to alert every nation. It is being said that there has not been such a powerful earthquake for the past 1000 years. Japan has many earthquakes and buildings are built there with this specification. However, when God's decree comes to pass, nothing works. The Japanese plan for earthquakes of 7 to 8 Richter scale. The current earthquake measured 9 on the Richter scale and was followed by a tsunami. Man assumes that he has advanced a lot. Atomic/nuclear energy is now being utilized in beneficial ways. Although there is opposition to atomic energy in Japan because of the WWII history but it is being used there for mankind's benefit. However, the recent earthquake has damaged a few nuclear reactors and as a result radiation is spreading. Hudhur said he has just received a fax informing him that as the attempt by helicopters to drop water at the reactors to cool them down has not worked, they are now hosing water at the reactors with tanks belonging to the fire brigade. Hudhur said may God bless and save from further destruction. Hudhur said he has sent a message to all our volunteers working in Japan to take homoeopathic remedy; specific medicine in specific order. It should also be given out to others and if stocks are not sufficient, Humanity First should have them delivered.
South storm death toll climbs to 178; 128 in Ala.
TUSCALOOSA, Ala. – The death toll from severe storms that punished five Southern U.S. states jumped to a staggering 178 Thursday after Alabama canvassed its hard-hit counties for a new tally of lives lost.
Alabama's state emergency management agency said it had confirmed 128 deaths, up from at least 61 earlier.
Mississippi officials reported 32 dead in that state and Tennessee raised its report to six from one. Another 11 have been killed in Georgia and one in Virginia.
The fierce storms Wednesday spawned tornadoes and winds that wiped out homes and businesses, forced a nuclear power plant to use backup generators and prompted the evacuation of a National Weather Service office.
The National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said it received 137 tornado reports around the regions, including 66 in Alabama and 38 in Mississippi.
One of the hardest-hit areas was Tuscaloosa, a city of more than 83,000 and home to the University of Alabama. The city's police and other emergency services were devastated, the mayor said, and at least 15 people were killed and about 100 were in a single hospital.
Tuscaloosa, Alabama (CNN) — Daylight illuminated a scene of utter devastation across many areas of the South Thursday, following storms of near-epic proportions that killed as many as 247 people in six states.
The vast majority of fatalities occurred in Alabama, where 162 people perished, said Yasamie August, Alabama Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman.
A breakdown provided by Alabama Gov. Robert Bentley's office showed that violent weather claimed lives in 16 Alabama counties. Thirty people perished in DeKalb County in northeastern Alabama; the death toll in the hard-hit city of Tuscaloosa, in west-central Alabama, was at 36 as of Thursday morning, said Mayor Walter Maddox.
The weather channel reported that the frequency and severity of the tornadoes in the month of April was of epic proportions and there were more in just a month than are generally recorded in 6 month period.
Torrential rain and flash flooding have caused chaos in north-eastern Colombia.
The rain has flooded towns and huge swathes of farmland. This year's rainy season is the worst in Colombia's history.
God may not prevent natural disasters, but religion is always a big part of the response. We see it play out every time Mother Nature delivers a punishing blow, from March's Japan earthquake and tsunami to the recent tornado that flattened much of Joplin, Missouri.
God revealed to the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace): 'Despair not of the treasures of Allah's mercy. We have bestowed upon you abundance of every kind of good.' [Tadhkirah p.579] Thus God assured the Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) and informed him that he had been granted an abundance of good. Hudhur said there is restlessness among the mainstream Muslims but they do not see a way and are disappointed and when their restlessness increases, they opt for wrongful ways to address their problems. We need to take the message to them that God has also granted the abundance of good that He gave to His beloved, to the true and ardent devotee of His beloved, because of the devotee's ardent love for the Holy Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) and it is due to this devotion of his that he was given the status of Prophethood. If people wish to put an end to their disappointment, they should come into the fold of the Community of this ardent devotee and find peace. They should reflect and ponder that all the powers have come together to try their best to suppress and eliminate this Community; but have they succeeded? On the contrary, this voice is resounding all over the world.
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) also gave earthquakes as a Sign of his advent. He said that these natural calamities will not stop, rather they will continue to occur, so much so that man will wake up to the fact and will wonder what is going on! God states that He will not stop until people reform their hearts. Hudhur said if the world deems the natural disasters as a mere act of nature and disregards them, then it should be remembered the these disasters are closely linked to the era of the Messiah. It is the task of the Ahmadi that he/she strengthens his/her faith, he or she should also alert the world and try to bring people close to God. It is requisite of the love that we have in our hearts that we should try to save humanity from being destroyed.
Hudhur explained that a true believer continues to call on God after trouble is averted while the ungrateful get embroiled in bad ways. As the blessed model of the Prophet (peace and blessings of Allah be on him) demonstrated, true believers do not just fear God at the time of their own trouble, rather when affliction falls on others, it instils fear of God in them. Hudhur said whether the calamities be of the past or current times, if a true believer fears God through the bad ending of ancient people, how much more should the present disasters make one turn to God and fear Him. However, the majority attributes natural disasters to simply climatic changes and laws of nature. It is correct that natural disasters occur due to the laws of nature. Earthquakes happen when the earth's plate tectonics move. It is correct that New Zealand, Japan and many islands are located on plate tectonics and that is why they experience more earthquakes. However, it is also noteworthy that the one commissioned by God in the current age foretold earthquakes.
The Promised Messiah (on whom be peace) had a particularly good intuition about the Japanese people. So, while they suffer from earthquakes, in light of the Promised Messiah's (on whom be peace) good intuition, if they understand the true teachings, they can be saved. Our Jama'at in Japan is small, but it should try its very best to take this message to people. In the current situation, discretion should be used in taking this message to them alongside service to humanity. Our Ahmadi camps are indeed serving humanity there, but they need to make these links permanent so that people know about Ahmadiyyat. Hudhur said the Japanese are very proud of their Shinto and Buddhists beliefs.
Let it be absolutely clear that a mere verbal pledge has no value if it is not supported by a genuine and firm resolve to live up to it in every way. Therefore, whoever fully lives up to my teaching, he alone enters that house of mine with reference to which God Almighty has promised 'I shall Myself protect all those who are in this house' [revelation in Arabic]. It should not, however, be understood here that this Divine protection is extended only to those living within the compass of my house made of mud and bricks: the pledge also encompasses those who follow my teaching to the fullest extent, and who, therefore, can truly be said to be the inmates of my spiritual home.
Love for all and hatred for none.
Jack Yaco thank you for your comments below (This is copied from the extinct Google-knol).
This booklet, Paigham-e-Sulh (A Message of Peace) is the last written work of the Founder of the Ahmadiyyah Muslim Community. It was completed on May 25, 1908—just a day before his demise. The citizens of Lahore were the primary audience for this address; however its subject matter is in no way confined to them alone but is of vital importance to the entire population of the world. The general principles laid down in the work are applicable to all countries which host multiple religions.
The Promised Messiah passed away on May 26, 1908. The address was read out on his behalf at a conference held on June 21, 1908 at the Punjab University, Lahore for which it was intended. The book lays down the principles of human compassion and religious tolerance.
In the first few months of 2010 alone there have been 4 major earthquakes.
People are beginning to notice the frequency of earthquakes and other calamities. Explanations may vary but the frequency cannot be denied.
"Tuesday's massive earthquake in western China has left hundreds dead and thousands more injured. Both of those numbers are expected to rise in the coming days, as many victims are still trapped under collapsed buildings and rubble. Below, some of the most frequently asked questions surrounding the devastating earthquake.
Are we having more earthquakes?
It sure seems like it. Since the beginning of 2010, there have been four major earthquakes around the world.
7.0 in Haiti on January 12, 2010.
8.8 in Chile on February 27, 2010.
7.2 in Mexico on April 4, 2010.
6.9 in China on April 13, 2010.
All of this seismic activity has left some wondering if earthquakes are increasing in frequency, or if it just seems like they are. According to an expert from the United States Geological Survey, the recent activity is not unusual.
The final line, quoted here, may be a futile attempt at hiding the increased frequency that is self evident, "It might seem like we're getting a lot more earthquakes, but they're actually just causing more damage due to where they are striking." See the wikipedia reference in the body of the knol about all the recorded earthquakes in the nineteenth century onwards.
THE WORLD WE KNOW TODAY is so different from that of a mere hundred years ago. The age of air travel had not yet dawned. The fledgling flight of the Wright brothers was to remain, for many more years, a dream to be realized. Massive ships towering high like mountains were not yet built and the era of submarines was not as yet afloat. Nevertheless, there was a stir in the air, like that at the early break of dawn. A dazzling new day of revolutionary scientific inventions was breaking.
The air in the realm of religion was also vibrant with an expectancy of a different nature. There was talk in every religion of the near advent of a Divine Reformer of global dimensions. Who would come and where, was the most hotly debated question. The air was tense with claims and counterclaims. But nowhere was the tension of inter-religious debate so intense as in the subcontinent of India.
Christians and Muslims were awaiting the arrival of the Messiah among them. The Hindus were no less enthusiastic about the manifestation of their Lord Krishna. The Buddhists did not lag behind either, in hoping for the re-advent of Buddha.
In that atmosphere of multi-religious conflict, a voice was heard loud and clear, from a person of humble origin by the name of Mirza Ghulam Ahmadas of Qadian. He electrified the atmosphere with his outstanding advocacy of the supremacy of Islam over all other faiths. He threw challenges on behalf of Islam in every direction with such powerful arguments based on scriptural and logical evidence as compelled the champions of other religions to take serious note of him. 'A new warrior has risen for the defense of Islam,' was the clamor everywhere.
The National Weather Service on Monday gave the tornado that ravaged parts of Mississippi a preliminary rating of speeds of up to 170 mph. Yazoo was one of the hardest-hit counties.
The tornado traveled 150 miles across Mississippi, starting in the western part of the state and moving northeast before weakening as it moved into Alabama.
Britain sent Royal Navy warships on Monday, five days after the volcanic erruption in Iceland that has disrupted thousands of flights, to rescue those stranded across the Channel by the volcanic ash cloud and the aviation industry blasted European officials, claiming there was "no coordination and no leadership" in the crisis that shut down most European airports for a fifth day.
Eurocontrol, the air traffic agency in Brussels, said less than one-third of flights in Europe were taking off Monday — between 8,000 and 9,000 of the continent's 28,000 scheduled flights. Passengers in Asia who had slept on airport floors for days and were running out of money staged protests at airport counters.
All airports were open Monday in Spain and the country volunteered to become the new hub of Europe to get stranded passengers moving again. Infrastructure minister Jose Blanco said Spain could to take in around 100,000 people under the new emergency plan, which focuses on aircraft trying to bring Britons home from Asia, Latin America and North America.
They seem to stress the location of humanity more so than the frequency of disasters!
Ahmadi Muslims often have to bear ridicule poured upon them by their colleagues from other faiths. An allegation is made that each misfortune which afflicts the world is enumerated by Ahmadis as evidence of the truthfulness of the claims of the Founder of their Community. Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad. Thus opponents allege, "If there is an earthquake in Chile or tremors in China register high Richter scales; the cities of Hazara and Mardan get a foretaste of the doomsday; whether it rains very heavily or there be a drought; whether there be a violent storm or typhoons or hurricanes or it becomes extremely hot and sticky in the doldrums; in short, no matter how the dice falls or which mode of catastrophe occurs, without rhyme or reason, your people are quick to advance these as further evidence of the truth of your Mirza. How nonsensical and ridiculous is this line of argument which no person on earth can accept today. On hearing this, some Ahmadis have no response other than to distance themselves from it. Some are bewildered and begin to harbor doubts. After all, since time immemorial, the world has suffered many disasters. How than can we as Ahmadis advance such natural disasters as proof of the truth of the Promised Messiah?
One thing leads to another. Our thoughts quickly race to another source of comfort. We begin to search for a tangible cause for why the Holy Quran clearly mentions various natural disasters as Signs of the truth of the Prophets of God. Why is the Holy Quran replete with instances of the destruction of one people after another who had rejected God's chosen Prophet sent by Him to them? God only saved those who believed. Why, for instance, does the Holy Quran elicit the same argument in support of even the Chief amongst the Prophets, the Holy Prophet of Islam, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him? The Holy Quran warns mankind that if they reject the Chief amongst the Prophets, then the misfortunes afflicted on those who denied earlier prophets of much lower rank in the sight of God than the Holy Prophet, may peace and blessings of Allah be upon him would also afflict the disbelievers. Their fate may be even more disastrous than those who denied earlier Prophets. Such punishment would, therefore, prove the truth of this Noble Prophet.
Having considered this concomitant matter, one is no longer confined to Ahmadiyya teachings, but one's thoughts turn to the broader and loftier underlying principle of divine chastisement. What is this principle? Is it right for any religion to claim that because of the outright rejection of a Prophet of God, world calamities are a sure sign of the punishment of God? In other words, must we wag the finger of God at every disaster?
Some 200 people are feared to have been buried by a landslide in Rio de Janeiro, following the heaviest rains in decades, Brazilian officials say.
Mud came crashing down into a slum in Niteroi, across the bay from Rio, sweeping away at least 50 homes.
Rescuers are still searching for survivors of previous mudslides. The number of confirmed dead is 150 but is now expected to rise steeply.
Officials are to distribute thousands of aid packs with food and medicine.
Hundreds of people and rescuers rushed to find buried victims after the fresh mudslide hit Niteroi, one of the worst affected parts of the greater Rio de Janeiro area, late on Wednesday.
A nursery for children was among the 50 buried buildings, officials said.
Brazilian media initially said some 20 people had been pulled from the debris alive and that six had died – including five women and a child.
However, civil defence spokesman Pedro Machado later told the Globo news network that at least 200 people were feared buried in the landslide.
In other knols I have discussed the history of the people of the 'Ad and Thamud.
"In the opinion of such scholars, Jeremiah began to prophesy toward the end of the reign of Josiah or at the beginning of the reign of Jehoiakim (609–598).
Early in the reign of Jehoiakim, Jeremiah delivered his famous "Temple sermon," of which there are two versions, one in Jeremiah, chapter 7, verses 1 to 15, the other in chapter 26, verses 1 to 24. He denounced the people for their dependence on the Temple for security and called on them to effect genuine ethical reform. He predicted that God would destroy the Temple of Jerusalem, as he had earlier destroyed that of Shiloh, if they continued in their present path. Jeremiah was immediately arrested and tried on a capital charge. He was acquitted but may have been forbidden to preach again in the Temple.
The reign of Jehoiakim was an active and difficult period in Jeremiah's life. That king was very different from his father, the reforming Josiah, whom Jeremiah commended for doing justice and righteousness. Jeremiah denounced Jehoiakim harshly for his selfishness, materialism, and practice of social injustice.
Near the time of the Battle of Carchemish, in 605, when the Babylonians decisively defeated the Egyptians and the remnant of the Assyrians, Jeremiah delivered an oracle against Egypt. Realizing that this battle made a great difference in the world situation, Jeremiah soon dictated to his scribe, Baruch, a scroll containing all of the messages he had delivered to this time. The scroll was read by Baruch in the Temple. Subsequently it was read before King Jehoiakim, who cut it into pieces and burned it. Jeremiah went into hiding and dictated another scroll, with additions.
When Jehoiakim withheld tribute from the Babylonians (about 601), Jeremiah began to warn the Judaeans that they would be destroyed at the hands of those who had previously been their friends. When the King persisted in resisting Babylonia, Nebuchadrezzar sent an army to besiege Jerusalem.
"Jeremiah." Encyclopædia Britannica. 2010. Encyclopædia Britannica Online. 29 Mar. 2010 .
In the name of Allah, the Gracious, the Merciful. Whatever is in the heavens and the earth glorifies Allah; and He is the Mighty, the Wise. His is the kingdom of the heavens and the earth; He gives life and He causes death; and He has power over all things. He is the First and the Last, and the Manifest and the Hidden, and He knows all things full well.
This is a short article by: Rev. Diana Facemyer.
For then there will be great distress, unequaled from the beginning of the world until now—and never to be equaled again. If those days had not been cut short, no one would survive, but for the sake of the elect those days will be shortened.
Then there came flashes of lightning, rumblings, peals of thunder and a severe earthquake. No earthquake like it has ever occurred since man has been on earth, so tremendous was the quake. The great city split into three parts, and the cities of the nations collapsed. God remembered Babylon the Great and gave her the cup filled with the wine of the fury of his wrath. Every island fled away and the mountains could not be found. From the sky huge hailstones of about a hundred pounds each fell upon men. And they cursed God on account of the plague of hail, because the plague was so terrible.
The lesson number 143 in the Tarjumatul Quran classes covers this issue. This Translation and Commentary of the Holy Quran has more than 300 lessons in Urdu translation by Hadhrat Mirza Tahir Ahmad (rh). Click on a lesson to download the mp3 audio file.
The Promised Messiah, Hazrat Mirza Ghulam Ahmad of Qadian (1835-1908), peace and blessings of Allah be upon him, having received repeated revelations from God, warned humanity to return to Him in earnest. If humanity did not follow his advise, He said, great signs of destruction will appear as divine manifestation. Among these signs is the growing frequency of severe earthquakes, that have stretched the limits of humanitarian Agencies including the United Nations. Below is evidence of a historical trend since he made his prophecy and claim in 1889.
Silent and unexpected,without warning,they smite with irresistible force. All that dwells upon the surface is subject to the invisible fury of the earthquake. Shacks and mansions,buildings,bridges,and roadways;their permanence rendered illusory. Yet for all its titanic power,the earthquake,unlike other natural forces,does not kill man directly. It exerts itself on the very things that sustain our civilization,causing what normally provides shelter to cave in and crush us.
But in some ways earthquakes are similar to other natural disasters. Like pestilence,its force is unseen and usually takes us by surprise. Like a great flood,it can level villages or cities. And similar to some other natural disasters,there seems to be a rising trend in the number of people killed in recent times. As the bar graph below indicates,there is a clear rise in the number of people killed by earthquakes in the last few decades.
The question is why? What is causing this increase? Is it due to stronger earthquakes? Poor building practices? These are not just academic questions. They're on a lot of peoples'minds nowadays. Subsequent posts on this subject will show that many different theories abound,running the gamut from the religious to the scientific:from the end-of-the world crowd to those who tie earthquakes to global warming.


text:
<?xml version="1.0" encoding="UTF-8"?>
<project xmlns="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0" xmlns:xsi="http://www.w3.org/2001/XMLSchema-instance" xsi:schemaLocation="http://maven.apache.org/POM/4.0.0 http://maven.apache.org/xsd/maven-4.0.0.xsd">
  <parent>
    <artifactId>jglobus-all</artifactId>
    <groupId>org.jglobus</groupId>
    <version>2.1-SNAPSHOT</version>
  </parent>
  <modelVersion>4.0.0</modelVersion>
  <artifactId>test-utils</artifactId>
  <name>Test Utilities</name>

  <dependencies>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>commons-io</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-io</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>org.apache.httpcomponents</groupId>
      <artifactId>httpclient</artifactId>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>commons-logging</groupId>
      <artifactId>commons-logging</artifactId>
      <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
    <dependency>
      <groupId>log4j</groupId>
      <artifactId>log4j</artifactId>
      <scope>compile</scope>
    </dependency>
  </dependencies>
</project>

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaGithub


text:
MHS Centennial Business: Gladstone Times / Gladstone Age / Gladstone Age Press
Established on 1 January 1883 by brothers Peter and John Moodie, the Gladstone Age was the oldest weekly newspaper in Manitoba (a few months older than the Minnedosa Tribune) when, in 1981, it was sold to Vopni Press of Portage la Prairie. In 1988, the newspaper merged with the Portage Leader and MacGregor Herald to form the weekly Leader Herald Press.
Editors and Publishers
Peter H. Moodie (?-?)
John Moodie
J. M. Grover
F. Armstrong
W. A. Myers
J. K. Hall
E. Downing
H. J. Newman
G. P. Minaker
Roy Christopher Fahrni (1884-1958)
Arthur Eric MacLennan (c1912-1985)
Kenneth Benvie Morrison (1921-1986)
"1883 to 1957," Gladstone Age Press, 17 July 1957, page 10.
The Story of Manitoba's Weekly Newspapers by Major A. M. Pratt, The Manitoba Weekly Newspapers Association, 1970.
Obituary [Arthur Eric MacLennan], Winnipeg Free Press, 2 June 1985, page 22.
Obituary [Kenneth Benvie Morrison], Winnipeg Free Press, 13 November 1986, page 72.
"300 years of newspaper history ends," Winnipeg Free Press, 18 July 1988, page 2.
Page revised: 14 September 2018

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaCommonCrawl


The biggest expense in buying a new computer is not always the computer. After all, you can buy a new Dell desktop, and a good one at that, for $300 and get a monitor in the bargain.
The software to make a PC do anything useful can cost you as much as the computer. To accomplish even the most basic functions on the computer, like writing, you could pay $400 for the standard edition of Microsoft's Office suite that includes Word for word processing, Excel for spreadsheets, Outlook for e-mail and PowerPoint for boring everyone with slideshow presentations.
You can find software that is cheaper. Yet a stripped-down student and teacher edition of Word still costs $150 and even Microsoft Works 8.0, a really basic version of Word and Excel, is $50.
There is another way to do almost everything these programs can do — some would say you can actually do more — and you can do it free. A number of smart programmers have developed word processing, spreadsheet, calendar and other software that you operate while in a Web browser.
No one is saying they are a direct substitute for Word or Excel, but they do have a distinct advantage. The programs can be used by several people at different computers to collaborate on a document.
"It's solving an actual real problem," said Sam Schillace, a founder of Upstartle, which makes the Writely software for word processing. Google bought the company for that software this year.
Google is the biggest and best-financed company putting such software online. It is gradually opening to the public the Spreadsheets program it announced last week, and it plans to release a version of a word processing program soon. A number of smaller software companies are doing similar things.
Where is Microsoft, the software giant, in all this? Interesting question. It is expected that Microsoft will offer a similar product via its Net-centric Office Live and Windows Live initiatives, which convert the desktop to the Web top. It may be a tough choice for the company, because it faces the dilemma of cannibalizing its own products or letting someone else take a bite out of them.
Microsoft, which carved a near monopoly in word processing and spreadsheet software, has up to now been able to protect its high prices. But a monopoly, a few laissez-faire economists argue, will eventually succumb to competition. This could become a textbook example: innovators are attracted by the profit pool and undermine the monopoly with something different.
You have always had the ability to edit a document in a browser, including Microsoft's Internet Explorer, by opening the file in HTML format. You can still do that in a pinch, but no one recommends it because that method is pretty bare-bones. You can not automatically check the spelling or easily change to unusual fonts, for example.
The new programs take word processing a step further. If you have already been using a free e-mail program like Yahoo Mail or Google Gmail, you have some experience with substituting tools on the Web for programs residing on the hard drive of your computer. Of course, to take advantage of them, you have to get over two hurdles. One, you can use them only if you are connected to the Internet. And you must be comfortable with the idea that your addresses, your correspondence and your documents don't reside on your hard drive in your computer in your home. They are stored at sites controlled by a giant company.
The new online applications add functions to that basic browser ability by using a set of software tools known among developers as Ajax. These tools enable a host of so-called Web 2.0, or Web services, applications like Google maps posted in Web sites or photos displayed on Flickr.com.
Google Spreadsheets is a good example. (You can find the program at Google Labs, labs.google.com, but to use it you have to sign up for a Google account first. No one said free meant easy.) An alternative is Jotspot (www.jot.com), though its products are aimed more at business users.
Google is moving to make popular types of software available for use on the Web, like its Spreadsheets program, top, and Writely, above, a word processing program.
Google Spreadsheets has many of the features you use in Excel, like the ability to sort, change typefaces or color and insert a variety of set formulas. The developers plan to add other features like auto fill.
You can save the document to your hard drive or to the Google servers. Once it is there, you can access the spreadsheet from any computer, which means you no longer have to load it onto a disk or flash drive to carry it home or to another office, or send it there by e-mail.
Because the document is stored on the Google servers, you can give permission for other people with Google accounts to open and work on it. A team can work on it together to make changes. The file can also be opened in Excel.
Jonathan Rochelle, product manager for Spreadsheets, said people were using it to create lists and share them with groups, like a soccer team or fellow students. Wedding planning becomes a little easier as couples use the multiple pages of the spreadsheet to track guests, accommodations and menu selection. He used it himself to help his father with a budget while the two were in different cities.
Google's word processing software will work the same way. It has not been released yet, but an early version of the browser tool had every necessary function of Word except auto correct, where misspellings are changed on the fly. That feature is coming, Mr. Schillace said. "We haven't been able to do it smoothly."
He said one early tester of Writely was the daughter of a divorced couple who have joint custody. The father told Mr. Schillace that she had been able to do her homework at either house and never had to worry about forgetting an assignment at one house or the other.
If you don't want to wait for Google, a similar browser application is already available called Zoho Writer at www.zohowriter.com. (I wrote most of this article on Zoho with as much ease as writing with Microsoft Word.) Writeboard (www.writeboard.com) is a competitor. Another program, called Ajax Write (www.ajaxwrite.com), lacks the spell checking and word count functions that Word has taught us to rely upon.
But you need not stop there. Applications for coordinating calendars among friends and family is another popular application that replaces some of the functions of Microsoft's Outlook program. Yahoo and Google have some, but there are others, including one from a start-up named 30Boxes (www.30boxes.com) that is very easy to use. Microsoft is also beginning to offer collaborative Web tools.
If you like the idea of making your Web browser do more work, you might also download the Firefox browser, made by another competitor nipping at Microsoft's heels (at www.mozilla.com/firefox). Then you can start using any of the hundreds of add-ons, called extensions, that independent programmers have created to add functions to the browser, for example, the ability to synchronize bookmarks between computers, block ads or download video faster.
Google Labs offers some of them. One of the most useful is Notebook. It puts a little button on the frame of your browser that organizes snippets of information you find on the Web into folders that are then accessible from any computer. When you are on a Web site and you see something you want to save, you highlight it, right-click your mouse, click on "Note this" in the dropdown menu, and your search is saved.
Clipmarks (www.clipmarks.com) adds an element of the social networking that you find on Facebook or MySpace.
A more fully featured alternative to Google Notebook is coming soon from Plum Ventures, a small start-up company based in San Francisco. You can join the waiting list at www.plum.com. With the application you can collect information, whether Web sites, photos, music or text files, and then annotate it and share it with others.
You can also make your lists public, to share with strangers. A founder, Hans Peter Brondmo, said, "People like to watch what others are doing." He calls this "info-voyeurism."
That you can do it free only makes it better.


Doctor Polidori Fine Tonic Water is craftly created with natural ingredients for passionate gin & tonic lovers. It is the epitome of a classic filler, created to accompany a gin and support it to offer his full range of the botanical aromes.
Naturally crafted and in high quality.
Dry Tonic – The botanical infused Dry Tonic is a composition of natural herbal essences, which proved themselves as an aromatic harmony on Lord Byron and Doctor Polidori's journeys. Herbal earthy notes of basil and thyme, exotic shades of cubed pepper and juniper along with refreshing blossoms and citrus fruits combined with spring water from a natural park form the basis of the dry filler which, thanks to its reduced sugar content, gives sufficient room for gin and botanicals to unfold.
Cucumber Tonic – Keeping Polidori in mind, the Cucumber Tonic goes new ways and ensures mixological accents. Natural cucumber extract and an exceptional vegetative flavour offer not only as a tonic filler, but also as a single drink, a refreshing experience beyond compare.
The newest tonic of the Doctor Polidori family also explores new tracks as it is tradition. The Grape Tonic places you through its fruity and fresh grape taste into the world of vineyards and lets you wander trough the rows full of juicy grapes. This unique tonic offers a complete new character – but please just enjoy it yourself!
As the personal physician of the legendary bon vivant Lord Byron, Doctor Polidori was valued not only as a travelling companion and close confidante but also due to his alchemic tinctures, which brought many an adventure to a gentle end. The master's old writings laid the cornerstone for a modern interpretation of a tonic the wonderful taste of which the literary figure John William Polidori found difficult to describe adequately in words.
Enjoy our unique tonic-creations on ice combined with the spirit of your choice – gin, mezcal, vermouth or vodka there is no limit to the mixology possibilities!


1. Noun. A person with a prejudiced belief in the superiority of his or her own kind.
2. Noun. An extreme bellicose nationalist.
"In fact, most of our unmodified examples of chauvinism and chauvinist that imply male ... What a chauvinist remark! Yet it is also a deeply feminist remark ..."
"A chauvinist, an extreme German chauvinist, Heilman, editor of the arch-chauvinist Chemnitz Gazette and contributor of the arch^chauvinist Bell (a Social ..."
"chauvinist is formed from the name of Nicolas Chau- vin, a gallant private soldier in the armies of the first French empire. His devotion to Napoleon knew ..."
"His chauvinist acknowledged no other nation as having precedence over his own in any regard. The chauvinist's nation represented the best in the world. ..."


Free download Full HD Free Download Technology Wallpapers in hd resolution from World Wide Wallpapers. Click on above wallpaper to see its full size. You can download Full HD Free Download Technology Wallpapers by clicking on "Download Original" button and make this wallpaper as background for your desktop pc, laptop, mac or tablet.


text:
D River State Recreation Site (also D River State Wayside and D River State Park) is a state park in the U.S. state of Oregon, administered by the Oregon Parks and Recreation Department.  It is a sandy beach of the Pacific Ocean within central Lincoln City along the length of the  long D River, one of the world's shortest rivers.

The site provides public access to Wecoma Beach, part of Lincoln City's  of beach.  There is parking and day use facilities, and no fees.  The site has access to river and ocean fishing.

Two of the world's largest kite flying festivals are held here, one in the spring and one in the fall, as well as a summer kite festival which features several professional kite fliers.  It was named by Kitelines Magazine as one of the best places in the world to fly a kite.  The area also has two year-round  Volkssport walking courses.

D River State Recreation Site is considered among the ten best places along the Oregon coast for whale watching.  Whale watching guide volunteers are present one week in January and one in March to help visitors see and understand the whale migration.

The area of ocean where the D River enters the sea creates consistent year-round surfing conditions suitable for intermediate skills.

Like many Oregon coast locations, flocks of seagulls are frequently present in winter.  The most common species are western gull, glaucous-winged gull, and California gull.  Occasionally Thayer's gull and American herring gull are observed here.

See also
 Devils Lake State Recreation Area, a campground and a separate natural area surrounding Devils Lake, both within walking distance
 List of Oregon state parks

References

External links

State parks of Oregon
Parks in Lincoln County, Oregon

redpajama_set_name: RedPajamaWikipedia


Dr Sanjeev Kanoria is the Managing Director & Senior Consultant surgeon at Suasth Liver Centre (Institute for liver transplant and surgery) at Dr L H Hiranandani Hospital.
Dr Sanjeev is a qualified surgeon with FRCS from the surgical colleges in UK including transplantation and is on the General Medical Council (GMC) specialist Register in the UK. He has been working in the field of liver transplant and Hepatopancreatobiliary (HPB) surgery for over 15 years.
He has completed certified post graduate training from well known liver transplant centers in UK and India with leading surgeons in the field: Kings College, Royal Free Hospital and Medanta and is skilled in performing adult, pediatric liver transplantation and complex liver and pancreatic surgical oncology surgery. He was part of the liver cancer network in London and has received commendation on his surgical skills and training junior surgeons in performing complex liver transplant procedures. He was voted as an outstanding teacher of surgery by medical students at the Royal Free Hospital and UCLH Medical School in London.
He received a category 1 PhD from University College London, for innovative research in reducing liver injury and his academic work has been highly rated. He has published numerous international papers and has received awards and grants for his work in reducing liver injury during surgery.
He has co-authored the chapter on liver disease in the latest edition of the well known international textbook of surgery: Bailey & Love, Short Practice of Surgery; 26th edition.
He obtained a MBA from London business school, where his thesis on reinventing health care was awarded a distinction. He has recently been included in the Who's Who of Healthcare and has been nominated for an Order of the British Empire for his service to health care over the last 20 years in the UK.
His passion is to support and develop a high quality, yet affordable liver transplant service in India. With this aim and using his management and organizational skills he has started Suasth Liver Centre an innovative team approach for providing high quality liver transplant services in India.


Welcome to the Highlands of Papua New Guinea!
We are so excited to give you a "grand tour" of our life and ministry here in Mt. Hagen, Papua New Guinea. Until you can hop on a plane and come visit in person, we hope you will experience our life and ministry through this website. We've tried to include information about all aspects of what we do here, but if you find yourself wanting more information, please use our contact us form so we can make our site better, or contact you personally.
Enjoy, and welcome to PNG!
*We are career missionaries appointed through World Gospel Mission and the Churches of Christ in Christian Union.


Divorce is not something I wish for anyone to go through not even my enemy. My break up with my wife really destroyed my family. I could see that my father was hurting inside and disappointed in me that goes with the rest of the family. They made it clear that they are not going to accept the twins in the family and not that I minded neither do I wasn't really convinced that they are mine although they look like me.
a big one too. You know I'm not good with decorations so I hired an interior designer to do all the work. My house looked beautiful white grey black and red are colours that are dominated in my house. Bachelor colours a house will never be homely without a woman.
One of the day I received a call from my in laws apparently they were checking up on us and they wanted to talk to Melissa so I had to make up a lie saying I'm not with her and her phone is problematic. Though my excuse didn't sound convincing but I had to try. That call made me realize that her parents they haven't heard anything about the divorce and Melissa hasn't gone home to see them or be in contact with them. That really had me worried. I tried to call her number but it went straight to voice mail. I then call her friends they said they don't know where she was and haven't seen her for a while. At work I tried to find out at Sam but he also seemed to be clueless about her where abouts. At her work – the last time they saw her was the day she came and appointed a new acting CEO and left leaving her car behind. That was the last time they saw her.
There was nothing I can do living with lies taught me how bad and painful consequences are. It might sound selfish of me but I had to go to my in laws and come clean to them. I explained everything to them how I have failed them as their son in law. By the look in their eyes all I could see was hurt and hate they have on me. But I do not blame them for that.
I wish there was a way to change things. I wish there was hope for another chance with my wife. Losing my wife made me realize how much I love her and that there will be no woman who will love me like she did.