January 22, 2024

Rescue efforts are under way in southwestern China’s mountainous Yunnan province after at least 47 people were buried in a landslide. State news agency Xinhua reported that the disaster struck just before 6am (22:00 GMT on Sunday) in the village of Liangshui, beneath the town of Tangfang in Zhenxiong County. (Al Jazeera) Authorities said rescuers were trying to find victims buried in 18 separate houses. Xinhua showed footage of men in orange jumpsuits and hard hats picking their way though piles of concrete blocks and twisted steel. There was snow on some of the rubble and on buildings that were still standing. The cause of the landslide was not immediately known. end of list Authorities said about 500 people had been evacuated. The landslide hit Liangshui Village in Yunnan province [Video obtained by Reuters] Landslides are common in Yunnan, a remote region of China where steep mountain ranges rise up into the Himalayan Plateau. China has experienced a string of natural disasters in recent months and Yunnan is among several provinces in the country’s southern region currently experiencing a cold wave and bitter temperatures near or below freezing. The landslide comes just more than a month after a 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck the northwest between the Gansu and Qinghai provinces, killing at least 149 people and triggering heavy mudslides. Nearly 1,000 people were injured and more than 14,000 homes were destroyed. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/2024/1/22/landslide-buries-47-people-in-chinas-southwestern-yunnan-province

A huge fire engulfed a shopping centre in Peshawar’s Saddar area in the early hours of Monday which was brought under control after 13 hours of continuous operation, Geo News reported citing rescue officials. The rescue officials said that 36 vehicles including water browsers and 130 firefighters were present at the shopping centre to control the fire. They added that the operation would take some time as the blaze was massive. The Time Centre Plaza, which is a two-storey building, has about 200 shops including mobile phones, UPS and other electronics shops. According to the rescue team, the fire engulfed the entire building, causing a loss of millions of rupees. Moreover, the houses that were located near the shopping centre were evacuated. The rescue officials added that teams from different districts — Khyber, Nowshera, Mardan and Charsadda — were called to the site of the incident to help in the process. Corps Commander Peshawar Lieutenant General Hasan Azhar Hayat is overseeing the operation. The rescue team said that the fire destroyed hundreds of shops. The rescue spokesperson said that the emergency call was received at 12:45am last night, adding that according to the local people, the fire was started due to a short circuit. “Four shopkeepers who had entered the market were rescued during the fire,” said the spokesperson, adding that the condition of some of the rescue officials injured during the rescue operation is “critical”. Source:https://www.thenews.com.pk/latest/1150277-fire-engulfs-peshawars-two-storey-building

At least 190 people killed and 340 wounded in Gaza over the last 24 hours. Dozens reported killed in the besieged southern city of Khan Younis as Israeli forces target hospitals, ambulances, and schools where thousands of civilians are sheltering. Dr Ahmed al-Moghrabi, head of plastic surgery and burns at Khan Younis’s Nasser Hospital, says there is “bombing all around us”. At least 25,295 people have been killed and 63,000 wounded in Israeli attacks on Gaza since October 7. The death toll in Israel from the October 7 Hamas attack stands at 1,139. Photos: Palestinians displaced from Khan Younis arrive in Rafah Smoke rises during an Israeli ground operation in Khan Younis, January 22, 2024 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis, due to the Israeli ground operation, arrive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 22, 2024 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis, due to the Israeli ground operation arrive in Rafah in the southern Gaza Strip, January 22, 2024 [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Palestinians fleeing Khan Younis, due to the Israeli ground operation [Ibraheem Abu Mustafa/Reuters] Click here to share on social media ‘When my father was alive’: Children of Gaza recount losing their fathers A group of children in Gaza narrated the tragic circumstances after they lost their fathers as a result of Israeli bombing of camps in the central Gaza Strip last month. “When my father was alive, I used to sleep in his arms. I was sad for all those who were killed,” Abdel Shafee Hussein, whose father was killed on December 15 while he had a meal with his family. Kenza Ihsan said she lost her father as he tried to find flour. “We are four people, my mother and three children. The conditions are difficult. There is no food or water. We demand an end to the war, and we do not want anything else,” the girl said. Another child, Karam Hussein, said: “My mother asked my father to bring food and a rug because of the cold. My father went and was bombed. My uncle and his son went to search for him, and they were bombed and killed. “On the second day, we brought my father’s body from the bombing site. We were unable to bury him in the cemetery, so we buried him in the school, like 13 others. There are others who decomposed in the streets.” Click here to share on social media ‘Books buried under rubble’: Bologna book fair faces call to suspend Israel Dozens of illustrators, authors and publishers have written an open letter to call on the Bologna Children’s Book Fair (BCBF) to suspend Israel’s participation. The prominent book fair, which runs April 8-11, suspended Russia’s participation in favour of Ukraine in 2022. “Currently, there is a war on Palestine which is affecting children at such an unprecedented scale that it has been described by doctors, journalists and UN aid workers as a war on children,” reads the letter. “We, the undersigned, would like to urge BCBF to join us in taking a stand and showing the Palestinian child whose books have are buried under rubble, whose play and story times have been taken from them, whose songs are drowned out by bombs, that they are not forgotten.” Palestinians collect books from the rubble of a cultural centre following an Israeli strike in Rafah [File: Mohammed Abed/AFP] Click Reservist protest video circulating online: Israeli military The Israeli military issued a short statement saying it is investigating an incident captured on video that has been circulating in recent hours showing reservists protesting while on active duty. It says the actions seen in the video are not in line with military orders. Source:https://www.aljazeera.com/news/liveblog/2024/1/22/israels-war-on-gaza-live-bombing-all-around-hospital-in-khan-younis