THE GUILFORDIAN
AUGUST 27, 1999
Death toll rises in Turkey
By Lara Handler
WORLD EDITOR
A second earthquake hit
Turkey this past Tuesday, this
one measuring a compara
tively low 4.7-magnitude on
the Richter scale.
However, the death rate
continues to rise as Turkey
faces the aftermath of last
Tuesday's 7.4-magnitude
quake. As the country contin
ues to face the challenge of
rescuing survivors, treating
the injured and sick, caring for
the homeless, and burying the
dead, acid rain added to the
problems on Monday.
The first earthquake oc
curred a week ago Tuesday,
August 17, centered in Izmit in
the northwestern region of
Turkey.
Although it lasted a mere
45 seconds, the quake killed
thousands as buildings and
homes collapsed just past 3
a.m.
This region has had sev
eral earthquakes in the past
decade, but is rampant with
India's population hits billion mark
By Lara Handler
WORLD EDITOR
India may be the second
country ever to reach one bil
lion people. India's census
commission projected that the
billion mark would not be
passed until May of 2000, but
the U.N. Population Division
estimated that on August 15th,
last Sunday and also India's In
dependence Day, the country
would see the billionth child
born.
India is known for its huge
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Turkey has been ravaged by natural disasters.
poorly-built structures and
un-enforced building codes.
In addition to the deaths
and injuries caused by the
quake itself, the country now
is confronted with the spread
population; the size of the
country is roughly one-third of
the United States, yet the
number of people in India is
approximately four times
greater than the United
States' 270,311,756 citizens (es
timated by the CIA in 1998).
Only China with its 1.27
billion people exceeds India's
population, and as India now
nears being the second coun
try to reach the million mile
stone, it faces issues of con
cern.
In an AP news report on
August 15, the day estimated
to bring the billionth baby, a
citizen worried that more chil
dren will also cause more "air
pollution, noise pollution, un
employment, [and] poverty."
Demographer Ashish Bose
stressed that already India is
a country where 400 million
people are illiterate, 350 mil
lion people live in a state of
poverty, and crop land per per
son has been reduced by one
half since 1960.
In newspaper ads cel
ebrating India's military suc
cess defeating Pakistan during
the border conflicts in Kash
mir, Prime Minister Atal
Bihari Vajpayee referred with
apparent pride to the billion
World
countryside.
Some people are even re
sorting to wearing face masks
to avoid breathing air that is
feared to bring diseases such
as typhoid fever or dysentery.
Indian citizens by proclaiming
"Nothing is impossible when
one [billion] Indians work to
gether." Still, the government
has maintained cheap or free
birth control programs since
the early 19505, indicating
some concern over the popu
lation explosion.
The birth rate has fallen
in recent years from 42 to 27
births per 1,000 people, but
still many Indians say that the
problem with population con
trol is not due to the success
or lack thereof with govern
ment programs, but to societal
attitudes
and tra
dition .
Woman's
literacy
is ap
proxi-
mately
half of
men's in
many re
gio n s
and pres- WWW.MEMBERS.TRIPOD.COM
sure to Behavior like this just adds to the problem.
repro-
duce early remains strong.
Women often do not know of
birth control methods or are
not allowed by family members
to use them. Sarj Pachauri of
of disease and the
acid rain problem.
The earthquake
caused a fire to burn
for days at Turkey's
largest oil refinery,
and the rain is
bringing the toxins
released into the air
down into the
streets already
crowded by thou
sands of homeless
survivors.
The World
Health Organiza
tion says the largest
threat is now "poor
sanitation, contami
nated water, and
the interruption of
routine medical
care," as well as the
large volume of un
buried bodies which
remain in cities and
Teams of outside help con
tinue to assist Turkey, though
other countries' medical and
help crews are now beginning
to leave the country as
Turkey's own army and other
organizations take over.
The government there has
been criticized for being slow
to mobilize and give help, but
it cites destroyed telephones
and roads as being a reason for
this, and increased patriotism
has been seen throughout the
recent efforts to rescue and
help survivors.
Still, as the death toll rose
to 17,997 this Tuesday and
200,000 people still remain
homeless, Turkey's govern
ment is continuing to prepare
for the future.
As of now, many countries
are sending food and tents, the
United States has stationed
six ships off the coast of Tur
key to prepare clean drinking
water, and in a sobering move,
the United Nations currently
has plans to supply an addi
tional 45,000 body bags to the
earthquake teams in Turkey.
the nonprofit Population
Council in the poor rural state
of Bihar explains, "Many
women do not want large fami
lies anymore, but this is still
a patriarchal society, where
men make the decisions on re
production. Ask a woman in
Bihar if she wants more chil
dren, and she will say no. Ask
her if she is using [birth con
trol], and she will say no."
As India's cities and rural
areas show growing evidence
of the burgeoning number of
Indian people, the country as
a whole faces the continued
points
out, just in the time alone that
it took you to read a f-tory of
this size, India now has a
whopping 150 more babies to
feed, clothe, and house.
7
question
of how to
meet the
needs of
a Ibillion
people.
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story in
the
Greens
boro
News
and
Record