Brazil
From CBC:
The death toll following mudslides north of Rio de Janeiro
rose to 464 Thursday (Jan 13) as survivors of the Brazilian disaster
scrambled to reach neighbours trapped under layers of mud.
Wednesday's slides blasted through the mountainous region,
destroying homes and businesses and sweeping away cars and
trucks.
Roads and bridges were also washed away, making it nearly
impossible for emergency vehicles to reach the area.
Survivors were left to dig through the mud with shovels and
bare hands.
Officials said 210 people had died in the city of
Teresopolis. Witnesses described hearing a tremendous rumble
as tonnes of earth above their neighbourhood slid down a
sheer granite rock face there at about 3 a.m. Wednsday.
"We were like zombies, covered in mud, in the dark, digging
and digging," said Geisa Carvalho, 19.
Cars sit in debris in Teresopolis, 65 kilometres north of
Rio de Janeiro, on Wednesday. Cars sit in debris in
Teresopolis, 65 kilometres north of Rio de Janeiro, on
Wednesday. (Roberto Ferreira/Agencia O Dia/Associated Press)
The power was out, but by lightning flashes they could see a
torrent of mud and water rushing just metres from their home
-- and the remnants of their neighbours' houses that were
swept far down a hill.
Australia
The flooding has been on our minds, but is so spread out
that it is beyond the GCP technology, which requires focus.
A suggestion comes from Michael Duggan, who writes
"I would
use an event that
encapsulates ther Australians spirit of resistance and the selflessness
demonstrated by so many.
Here is a news article of a 13 yr old lad who died saving
his 10 year old brother."
From Associated Press:
BRISBANE -- Inch by inch, block by block, floods consumed
Australia's third-largest city, creeping across suburban
yards Wednesday and streaming through downtown streets
darkened by power outages and largely emptied of people.
The waters poured into Brisbane, topping traffic lights on
some streets, after marching across Queensland state for
weeks. Roads shut throughout the city, and people moved
about in kayaks, rowboats and even on surfboards. Boats torn
from their moorings floated down an engorged river.
Residents of the city's low-lying areas headed in the
thousands for higher ground, while others chose to ride it
out as the waters approached their expected peak early
Thursday morning.
The flooding, which has killed 22 people since late
November, has submerged dozens of towns -- some three
times -- and left an area the size of Germany and France
combined under water. Highways and rail lines have been
washed away in the disaster, which is shaping up to
Australia's costliest ever.
One tale has particularly transfixed the country: a
13-year-old boy caught in the flood who told strangers to
save his 10-year-old brother first and died as a result.
Jordan and Blake Rice were in the car with their mother,
Donna, when a wall of water pummeled Toowoomba on Monday.
After the torrent of water knocked one rescuer over, another
man managed to reach the car, The Australian newspaper
reported. At Jordan's insistence, he pulled Blake out
first, according to a third brother, Kyle.
"Courage kicked in, and he would rather his little
brother would live," the 16-year-old told the newspaper.
Jordan and his mother were washed away before the men were
able to get back to them. By Wednesday, Jordan's name
was among the top 10 most used terms on Twitter, as a wave
of tweets hailed him as a "true hero" the
Queensland floods.
The GCP event was set for the 24 hour GCP day, following
precedents for similar disasters. The result is Chisquare
87371.71 on 86400 df for p = 0.010 and Z = 2.330.
It is important to keep in mind that we have only a tiny
statistical
effect, so that it is always hard to distinguish signal from
noise. This means that every "success" might be largely
driven by chance, and every "null" might include a real
signal overwhelmed by noise. In the long run, a real effect
can
be identified only by patiently accumulating replications of
similar analyses.
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