JAPAN: A fragile country at the mercy of nature

By Marson Mesa

The world was shocked to hear the news of the huge earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan, but people there have learnt to expect natural disasters. Hundreds of beer glasses on wooden shelves, shook from side to side, then knocked into each other. The conversation suddenly dimmed, then stopped completely. The faces looked from one to another across the plates of tempura and sushi. It is no coincidence that tsunami is a Japanese word. The native religion, Shinto, is animist - it tells of the divine nature of trees and mountains, of goddesses who emerged from deep clefts in the rocks. The very earth can seem to be alive.

For images visit this page: Japan's Tsunami Images

Josep Pla school on fire

By Silvia Muela

On April 20th 2011, early in the morning, a neighbor called the firemen because the Josep Pla School, at 24-34 Valle de Ordesa street was on fire. The fire burnt a third of the school (600 square meters). The rest of the building was damaged by water and dust. Since Tuesday the school’s 400 students have been going to another school, and will do so until the next academic year. According to Irene Rigau, the Education Minister, the fire came from the outside. The fire service is investigating the causes. The firemen put out the fire in three hours. The building was empty and nobody was injured.

Photos and cancer

By Joana Roig Borrell

In the Vanguardia I found an interesting article about teenagers who had cancer or had suffered this from illness and took photos about their world. A group of experienced monitors, aged over eighteen, helped these teenagers in photography workshops, where they shared a lot of experiences and interacted with them. The teenagers talked about their experiences in hospital or the beginning of their current life after the illness. These photographs are collected in the book called "A través de mi cámara", presented a day before the International Children’s Cancer Day. The photos are accompanied by short texts about the sick teenagers’ thoughts, questions and hopes, and those of their parents and the professionals who treated them. The book shows real pictures of the pain, but also of the joy and hope, with the objective of communicating emotions, as the workshop co-ordinator Mario Rodríguez said. We think that these initiatives are useful in order for society to become aware of this illness, and they also they show that a lot of teenager and childhood cancers can be cured.

La Sagrada Familia

By Jonathan Holguín

In November 2010 Pope Benedict XVI proclaimed the "Sagrada Familia" a Minor Basilica.

The building is located in the city centre, and over the years it has become one of the most universal symbols of the identity of both the city and the country. Every year it is visited by millions of people.

Since its beginnings, the Temple has been built by means of donations. This is because Gaudi said that this work was in the hands of God and the will of the people. Nowadays its construction is continuing and will be finished during the first third of this century.

In 1882 the architect Francisco de Paula del Villar (1828-1901) began the construction of “La Sagrada Familia". In 1883 Gaudí took over the building work and changed the original project in his characteristic style; he pursued the task until his death in 1926,. Since then, several architects have continued the construction, in keeping with Gaudí’s project.

Russian Fires

By Leon Buengel

In summer 2010 since the fires in Russia started, the death rate increased in the capital Moscow about more the 50 %. More than 5000 people than normal died in the months of the terrific fire. The reason for this is as simple as terrible. As a result of the fires there had been so much smoke that the people in town just could see ten meters wide. Everything was smoky. A Russian journalist said that the people had two opportunities when they wanted to sleep. Either they close the window. But then it would be too hot in the room, or they could open the window. But then the heat came into the room. Heat was everywhere. The people were afraid to go out of house because the probabiility to get ill was so high. You just could go out with a mask or with a wet thirt in front of your mouth and face. It was horrible. But not just the econnomy had a problem with these fires. After a while first consulates closed in Moscow. An other problem is that the fires went near to nuclear laboratories. The Russians were afraid of an explosion like there had been one in Tschernobil. There had been such an explosion that a cloud of nuclear dirt got into the atmosphere. Many people died right at the moment of the explosion or tight after it. Even now you can see what illneses there had been after the accident. The Russians were afraid these could happen with their country, too. There were about 600 fires in Russia, most of them near Moscow.

Gusts of wind struck Spain

By Baniel Belvis

This weekend terrible storms struck all Spain and 'ruined' the "Puente del Pilar", a 4 days long weekend to pay tribute to the 'Virgen del Pilar'.

The effects of the storms were sensible in all the country during all the weekend. For example, in Roses, where the strong gusts of wind above the mediterranian sea caused high waves, above 8 meters. Yesterday, the 12th of October 2010, the wind fell down a tree in Rubí, my hometown. The tree destroyed 5 cars in his path. In Barcelona the wind moved down motorcycles and crashed cars. Wind gusts reached over 70 kms/h. In the roads, it was also a terrific weekend. There were 26 deaths caused by the strong rains and wet roads.

Weird news

By Daniel Belvis

Lightning strikes a preacher

A preacher who asked God for a sign was struck by a lightning in Forest, Ohio. The lightning went through the microphone and surrounded the preacher, who was unhurt. The church had to be evacuated because it was on fire.

Coke worker fired for drinking Pepsi

A Coca-Cola truckdriver, who had been working in the company for 12 years in the USA, was fired because someone reported to his boss that he was drinking Pepsi and was thus supporting the rival firm.

Barcelona, the third happiest city in the world

By Pol Berbel Arqués

Forbes and the market research company GfK Roper City Brands published a list of the 10 happiest cities in the world. Barcelona was in third position, after Rio de Janeiro and Sydney. Barcelona also came 15th in a survey made by the ONU in 2009 on cities’ standards of living.

The happiness list is the result of a study based on the opinions of 10,000 people who have probably never visited the cities in question. A staff member from Oh-Barcelona asked his work mates about this in order to find out what Barcelona’s citizens really think.

People who were born in Barcelona say that the city’s position on the list is justified because of its mild climate, its geographical location and its cultural and night life. Although the opinion of foreigners who live here is similar, they add that Catalans are quite reserved.