Chile electrical difficulties
A state of emergency was declared after an electrical blackout sparked most of Chile on Tuesday night. According to The National Disaster Prevention and Response Service, 14 of the country’s 16 regions were affected by the blackout.
By Wednesday, about 90% of homes, businesses and all public transportation have turned their power back on.
“Our first concern, and the reason for this announcement, is to ensure people’s safety,” Chilean Interior Minister Carolina Tohá said. “Obviously, this was something no one planned for.”
Wildfires in North and South Carolina
March began with a rough start with wildfires hitting North and South Carolina on Saturday.
The South Carolina coast west of Myrtle Beach was affected while a fire in the Blue Ridge Mountains hurt two small towns, Tyron and Saluda.
It was the unfortunate high winds, dry air and high temperatures in the afternoon that caused the fires to spread, as well as low rainfall in February.
Evacuations started on Saturday afternoon and continued until Sunday morning. Now, as dry conditions are still occurring, both states are still at risk of danger and possibly more evacuations to come.
Israel pauses aid to Gaza
Israel has made the decision to pause all of their humanitarian aid and goods from entering Gaza. This comes right after Hamas turned down the proposal to extend the first phase of the ceasefire deal. However, a senior official for Hamas’ political bureau has said that Israel had been “sabotaging” the three-phase ceasefire deal that was signed in January.
This will affect the second phase even more, which could include Hamas releasing hostages. The second phase was supposed to start last month.
Prices have already begun to rise since the aid trucks have been put on pause.
Germany vehicle accident kills two people
A man in Mannheim, Germany, drove a vehicle into a crowd on Monday morning, which resulted in two deaths and others injured.
The crowds were from Rose Monday, the beginning of carnival season before Ash Wednesday. The crowd happened to be gathered for parades at the time. CCTV footage happened to catch the black SUV speeding down the road near the Mannheim city center just minutes before.
The 40-year-old driver was arrested shortly after.
Wildfires in Japan
Japan began battling its largest wildfire in over three decades on Monday. The forest of Ofunato in the northern region of Iwate has been on fire and has currently burned about 3,000 acres.
Along with the Iwate wildfire, two other fires began burning on Saturday, located in another area in Iwate and in Yamanashi.
More than 1,000 residents had to be evacuated in Iwate, with one burned body found so far. Over 80 buildings have burned down as well.
Similar to the wildfires in North and South Carolina, Ofunato also had very low rainfall in the month of February.
“We’re still examining the size of the affected area, but it is the biggest since the 1992 wildfire,” an agency spokesperson stated.
jcaramagna@ramapo.edu
Featured photo courtesy of @edpiotrowskiwpde, Instagram
