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BRINGING HARMONY TO ALL THE COMMUNITIES
Volume 12 Issue 322 Dhul Hijjah 17, 1433 AH / November 2, 2012 - $1
Bi-Weekly & Bilingual
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Myanmar strife victims flee to already packed camps; UN says latest unrest displaced 22,000
U.S. region hit by Sandy slowly resumes daily life, but thousands still trapped in homes People along the battered U.S. East Coast took the first cautious steps to reclaim their daily routines Wednesday, even as about 20,000 people remained trapped at home in a single New Jersey city and the search for victims continued. The superstorm’s death toll rose to at least 72. The New York Stock Exchange came back to life, and two major New York airports reopened to begin the long process of moving stranded travelers around the world. President Barack Obama landed in New Jersey, which was hardest hit by Monday’s hurricane-driven storm, and he took a helicopter tour of the devastation with Gov. Chris Christie. “We’re going to be here for the long haul,” Obama told people at one emergency shelter. For the first time since the storm pummeled the heavily populated Northeast, doing billions of dollars in damage, brilliant sunshine washed over New York City, for a while. At the stock exchange, running on generator power, Mayor Michael Bloomberg gave a thumbs-up and rang the opening bell to whoops from traders. Trading resumed after the first two-day weather shutdown since a blizzard in 1888. New York’s three major airports were expected to be open Thursday morning with limited flights. Limited service on the subway, which suffered the worst damage in its 108-year history, would resume Thursday. It was clear that restoring the region to its ordinarily frenetic pace could take days — and that rebuilding the hardest-hit communities and the transportation networks could take considerably longer. There were still only hints of the economic impact of the storm. Forecasting firm IHS Global Insight predicted it would cause $20 billion in damage and $10 billion to $30 billion in lost business. Another firm, AIR Worldwide, estimated losses up to $15 billion. About 6 million homes and businesses were still without power, mostly in New York and New Jersey. Electricity was out as far west as Wisconsin in the Midwest and as far south as the Carolinas.
In New Jersey, National Guard troops arrived in the heavily flooded city of Hoboken, just across the river from New York City, to help evacuate about 20,000 people still stuck in their homes and deliver ready-to-eat meals. Live wires dangled in floodwaters that Mayor Dawn Zimmer said were rapidly mixing with sewage. Tempers flared. A man screamed at emergency officials in Hoboken about why food and water had not been delivered to residents just a few blocks away. The man, who would not give his name, said he blew up an air mattress to float over to a staging area. As New York crept toward a semi-normal business day, morning rush-hour traffic was heavy as buses returned to the streets and bridges linking Manhattan to the rest of the world were open. A huge line formed at the Empire State Building as the observation deck reopened. Tourism returned, but the city’s vast and aging infrastructure remained a huge challenge. Power company Consolidated Edison said it could be the weekend before power is restored to Manhattan and Brooklyn, perhaps longer for other New York boroughs and the New York suburbs. Amtrak said the amount of water in train tunnels under the Hudson and East rivers was unprecedented, but it said it planned to restore some service on Friday to and from New York City — its busiest corridor — and would give details Thursday. In Connecticut, some residents of Fairfield returned home in kayaks and canoes to inspect widespread damage left by retreating floodwaters that kept other homeowners at bay. In New York, residents of the flooded beachfront neighbourhood of Breezy Point returned home to find fire had taken everything the water had not. A huge blaze destroyed perhaps 100 homes in the close-knit community where many had stayed behind despite being told to evacuate. Source: Vancouver Sun
Victims of Myanmar’s latest explosion of Muslim-Buddhist violence fled to already packed displacement camps along the country’s western coast, with a top U.N. official saying the unrest has forced more than 22,000 people from their homes. State television reported the casualty toll has risen to 84 dead and 129 injured over the past week in nine townships in Rakhine state. The figures have not been broken down by ethnic group, but New York-based Human Rights Watch has said Rohingya Muslims bore the brunt of the unrest and the true death toll may be far higher. On Sunday, wooden boats carrying some refugees arrived outside the state capital, Sittwe. The people trudged to the Thechaung camp, already home to thousands of Rohingya who took refuge there after a previous wave of violence in June. “I fled my hometown, Pauktaw, on Friday because there is no security at all,” said 42-year-old fisherman Maung Myint, who arrived on a boat carrying 40 other people, including his wife and six children. “My house was burned to ashes and I have no money left.” Another Muslim refugee said she fled her village, Kyaukphyu, on Thursday after attackers set her home on fire. “We don’t feel safe,” said 40-year-old Zainabi, a fish seller who left with her two sons, aged 12 and 14. “I wish the violence would stop so we can live peacefully.” Human Rights Watch released dramatic satellite imagery of Kyaukphyu on Saturday showing a vast, predominantly Rohingya swath of the village in ashes. The destruction included more than 800 buildings and floating barges. There were no reports of new violence Sunday. It was unclear what sparked the latest clashes, but ill will between Muslims and Buddhists in Rakhine state goes back decades and has its roots in a dispute over the Rohingya’s origins. Although many Roh-
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Youth pg 8
Imaad Ali researches Islamic History of North America
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