Sah! gempa di Pahang

Gempa: Penduduk Bukit Tinggi dicengkam ketakutan16-01-2008 11:00:21 AM
Oleh ZURIATI ZULMI

BENTONG: Penduduk Kampung Janda Baik dekat sini tidak berpuas hati dengan penerangan yang diberikan dan masih menanti jawapan yang lebih terperinci berkaitan kejadian gempa bumi kecil yang berlaku di kawasan Bukit Tinggi, Pahang sejak November tahun lepas.
Ahli Jawatankuasa Kemajuan Kampung (JKKK) Janda Baik, Mejar (B) Husin Nordin berkata sekumpulan pegawai daripada beberapa agensi berkaitan telah mengadakan perjumpaan dengan penduduk pagi Selasa, bagaimanapun penerangan yang diberikan begitu ringkas.
Malahan, beliau berkata pegawai berkenaan seolah-olah tidak mengambil berat tentang kebimbangan dan trauma yang dialami penduduk yang tidak pernah mengalami fenomena gegaran sejak mereka tinggal di kawasan terbabit.
"Saya sendiri sudah 14 tahun tinggal di kampung ini dan ini adalah kali pertama saya merasinya. Berlaku gegaran susulan boleh dikatakan setiap hari. Memang gegaran itu kecil, retak yang berlaku juga kecil...tapi kalau selalu terjadi gegaran, retak yang kecil lama-lama boleh menjadi semakin besar," katanya.
Mengimbas kembali kejadian pertama pada 30 Nov lepas, beliau berkata ketika itu beliau sedang membaca akhabar sebelum mendengar satu dentuman kuat yang disusuli dengan gegaran kecil.
Beliau berkata disebabkan penerangan yang sambil lewa itu penduduk merungut dan akhirnya meninggalkan sesi taklimat.
Husin yang turut tidak berpuas hati dengan sesi taklimat itu bagaimanapun masih berharap selepas siasatan yang dilakukan oleh kumpulan berkenaan, mereka akan memberi jawapan yang lebih terperinci.
Pengetua Sekolah Menengah Kebangsaan (SMK) Bukit Tinggi, Nordin Mohamed berkata sejak berlaku gegaran kecil itu, beliau telah memaklumkan kepada pelajar dan guru supaya sentiasa bersedia sekiranya berlaku kejadian gegaran yang lebih besar.
Katanya inisiatif telah diambil untuk mengadakan latihan kecemasan kepada pelajar dan guru bagi mengelakkan rasa panik sekiranya berlaku lagi gegearan.
Beliau berkata gegaran telah menyebabkan dinding makmal sekolah retak dan pecah.
Sementara itu, Pegawai Jabatan Meteorologi, Alwi Bahari berkata empat lokasi yang dikenal pasti mengalami gegaran dan kerosakan teruk termasuk di Kampung Chemperoh, Kampung Bukit Tinggi, Kampung Janda Baik dan SMK Janda Baik.
Pegawai Kajibumi Jabatan Mineral dan Geosains, Mohd Badzran Mat Taib berkata setakat ini gegaran kecil yang dialami oleh penduduk di Bukit Tinggi berkemungkinan disebabkan tekanan struktur tanah di garisan sesar di kawasan itu.
Sesar adalah celah pada kerak bumi yang berada di perbatasan antara dua lempeng tektonik. Gempa dipengaruhi oleh pergerakan batuan dan lempeng pada sesar.
Beliau berkata berdasarkan kajian yang dijalankan oleh jabatannya tahun lepas, sesar itu ditafsirkan sebagai tidak aktif dan tidak ada kejadian gempa sehinggalah gegaran pertama dilaporkan November lepas.
"Kita masih dalam peringkat kajian. Jawapan kepada punca ini tidak mungkin diketahui dalam masa yang cepat kerana perlu penelitian rapi supaya tidak berlaku kesilapan kepada apa saja maklumat yang akan diberikan kepada masyarakat," katanya.
Mengulas kemungkinan gempa kecil itu mempunyai kaitan dengan kejadian gempa bumi di kawasan Sumatera, beliau berkata andaian itu sekadar hipotesis kerana Malaysia memang terletak di dalam lingkungan lautan Sumatera dan Lautan Hindi di mana kawasan di sekitarnya sering mengalami kejadian gempa bumi.
Gegaran pertama berlaku di kawasan Bukit Tinggi pada 30 Nov berukuran 3.5 pada skala Richter pada 10.15 pagi dan 8.47 malam, disusuli gegaran kedua pada 4 Dis berukuran 3.0 pada 6.12 petang dan diikuti pada 5, 6, 9, 12 dan 13 Dis lepas.
Pada hari Ahad satu gempa bumi kecil direkodkan berukuran 2.5 pada pukul 10.24 pagi dan semalam satu lagi gegaran direkodkan berukuran 3.1 sekitar 11.45 malam. BERNAMA

Fivefold increase in kidney patients over a decade
07-01-2008 06:53:17 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: The number of kidney patients undergoing dialysis in Malaysia has increased five fold over the past decade, Health Director-General Tan Sri Dr Mohd Ismail Merican said today.
He said as at 2006, there were about 14,647 kidney patients undergoing dialysis compared to only 2,922 patients a decade ago.
"Currently there are about 118 new cases of kidney failure or endstage kidney disease per million population per year. This means that for the Malaysian population of 26 million, there are about 3,000 new cases a year," he said when launching the National Kidney Foundation (NKF) Mobile Health Screening Unit, here today.
Dr Mohd Ismail said 57 per cent of new dialysis patients were found to be diabetic while another six per cent developed endstage kidney failure due to hypertension."Unfortunately there is an increasing trend of diabetes and hypertension as a cause of kidney failure," he said, adding that this was extremely worrying as these were lifestyle diseases that could be controlled or even prevented.
Earlier, the Chairman of the NKF Management Board, Dr S.S. Gill said the mobile clinic was in the form of a bus that could accommodate 40 people offering medical checks for a fee of only RM2.
He said the checks were aimed at detecting diseases suffered at the early stage, especially kidney problems so that immediate measures could be taken to treat them.Initially, the mobile clinic would provide services to the public within the Klang Valley before expanding to other areas, he said. BERNAMA

Selamat Hari Raya Aidil Adha

Kepada semua yang mengenali kami terutama saudara mara, kami mengucapkan Selamat Hari Raya Aidiladha Maaf Zahir Batin. Moga-moga segala pengorbanan yang dilakukan menepati semangat dan erti sebenar hari raya korban.

Apa dah jadi ni??

1 juta wanita gemuk, 850,000 lelaki gempal
12-12-2007 03:10:01 PM

KUALA LUMPUR: Bilangan wanita gemuk mengatasi lelaki boyot dalam kalangan penduduk negara ini yang berumur 25 hingga 64 tahun, Dewan Rakyat diberitahu hari ini.
Setiausaha Parlimen Kementerian Kesihatan Datuk Lee Kah Choo berkata Kajian Faktor Risiko Penyakit Kronik yang dijalankan oleh Kementerian Kesihatan tahun lepas menunjukkan terdapat satu juta wanita gemuk berbanding 850,000 lelaki gempal.
"Dalam erti kata lain terdapat 19 wanita gemuk bagi setiap 100 wanita berbanding 14 lelaki gemuk bagi setiap 100 orang lelaki dalam kumpulan umur yang sama," katanya menjawab soalan Datuk Dr Rahman Ismail (BN-Gombak).
Lee berkata kajian itu mendapati 5.8 juta penduduk Malaysia berumur antara 25 dan 64 tahun mengalami masalah berat badan berlebihan dan kegemukan.
"Kegemukan meningkatkan risiko seseorang itu mendapat penyakit kronik seperti jantung, diabetes, strok dan kanser," katanya.
Lee berkata antara faktor yang menyebabkan kegemukan adalah keturunan, gaya hidup dan pemakanan.
Beliau berkata bahawa bagi mengawal masalah itu, kementerian melaksanakan langkah pencegahan jangka panjang antaranya dengan menganjurkan kempen cara hidup sihat, menjalankan pengesanan awal kegemukan di klinik kesihatan dan hospital, melaksanakan program pengurusan berat badan dan menganjurkan kem kesihatan. BERNAMA

p/s ish!ish! takutnya..

Nobel Prize 2007

NOBEL PRIZE WEEK
Nobel winners take prizes in Stockholm
Published: 10 Dec 07 18:10 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.se/9367/

The winners of the 2007 Nobel prizes for medicine, physics, chemistry and economics received their awards from Sweden's King Carl XVI Gustaf at a formal ceremony in Stockholm on Monday.
The two eldest laureates, 88-year-old British novelist Doris Lessing who won the literature prize and 90-year-old economics co-prizewinner Leonid Hurwicz of the United States, were absent due to poor health.In Norway, the winners of the prestigious peace prize, former US vice president Al Gore and the UN's top climate panel IPCC, received their award at a separate ceremony at Oslo's city hall earlier on Monday.The Nobel prizes are traditionally presented on December 10, the anniversary of the death of the creator of the awards, Swedish industrialist Alfred Nobel, in 1896.The Stockholm ceremony, held amid pomp and circumstance in the capital's Concert Hall, was to be followed by a gala banquet for 1,300 guests at City Hall attended by Sweden's royal family and members of the government.Each Nobel prize consists of a diploma, a gold medal, and a cheque for 10 million Swedish kronor ($1.56 million) to be shared if there is more than one laureate.The prizewinners, decked out in white tie and tails, each accepted their awards from the hands of the king and bowed to the royal family and assembled guests as a fanfare played.The eight being honoured were economics laureates Eric Maskin and Roger Myerson of the United States, Mario Capecchi and Oliver Smithies of the United States and Briton Martin Evans for the medicine prize, Gerhard Ertl of Germany for the chemistry prize, and physics laureates Peter Gruenberg of Germany and Albert Fert of France.At the Oslo festivities, Gore said in his acceptance speech that humanity was "waging war" on the Earth and urged the United States and China to join the fight against global warming as he accepted his prize."Both countries should stop using the other's behaviour as an excuse for stalemate and instead develop an agenda for mutual survival in a shared global environment," Gore said at the lavish event.
AFP (news@thelocal.se)

Nobel Banquet

Nobel Banquet: the feast of feasts
Published: 10 Dec 07 10:16 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.se/9358/

Serving a banquet to nearly 1,400 people is no mean feat, and when the event is the Nobel Banquet, the stakes are high. Charlotte West goes behind the scenes at the grandest event in Sweden's calendar.
A feast fit for a king would be an exaggerated description of just about any meal, no matter how palatable, with the exception of the annual Nobel Banquet. The weeklong blitz climaxes on Monday with the feast of feasts – arguably one of the grandest dinners in the world. The whole event is shrouded in mystery, and the menu is top secret until the almost 1,400 guests are seated at the banquet in the Blue Hall of the Stockholm City Hall at 7 p.m. on Monday, December 10th.
The composition of this year's menu is the result of the combined culinary prowess of chefs Krister Dahl, head of the Swedish Culinary Team, and Magnus Johansson, proprietor of the Xoko dessert cafe in Stockholm. This will be Johansson's sixth year of providing the Nobel dessert.
Last year, the eight Nobel laureates – and 1,240 other guests celebrating the memory of Alfred Nobel – enjoyed a spread featuring mosaic of salmon and scallops, herb-baked saddle of lamb and pineapple parfait. Of the 2007 menu, however, those involved remain silent. “It will be good. Really exquisite tastes,” was all the tight-lipped Dahl would tell newspaper Göteborgs-Posten. “We have prepared everything for the Nobel Committee four times, and it has obviously been approved,” he said. Simplicty, Dahl said, was the key to success. “It's about creating a functional menu, which should be relatively easy to make, and then everything must be served quickly,” he said. “It's a really big secret,” Linda Johansson of Xoko told The Local.
Whatever the delicacies turn out to be, they have been designed around a Scandinavian-related theme and are sure to whet the appetite – and keep the 30 chefs and 200 servers on their toes. There are tables to set and food to buy. According to the Nobel Foundation, one year the shopping list for the banquet consisted of 2,692 pigeon breasts, 475 lobster tails, 100 kilos of potatoes, 70 liters of sweet and sour raspberry vinegar sauce, 67 kilos of Jerusalem artichokes, 53 kilos of Philadelphia cheese, and 45 kilos of lightly smoked salmon, among other ingredients. With so many cooks in the kitchen, Ulf Östenius, General Manager of Stadshuskällaren restaurant, must run a tight ship. Östenius, along with Chef de Cuisine Gunnar Eriksson, is the man charged with the small task of making sure the logistics of Nobel Banquet go according to plan – something which is not to be taken for granted. In an interview with the City of Stockholm, Östenius said that one year the main course was some kind of poultry that had been pre-cooked. It was supposed to be warmed up in the oven right as the electricity went out. They had to begin again with new raw ingredients, but nevertheless managed to make it appear seamless. Another year, there was a panic because one of the laureates suddenly haunched over the table, but it turned out he had simply fallen asleep. Despite the stories about near-disasters, Östenius somehow manages to coordinate his team of 200 and still make the entire production seem effortless.
On the morning of the feast, more than 7,000 porcelain pieces, 5,000 glasses and 10,000 pieces of silverware must be meticulously laid out on the 470 metres of linen that adorns the banquet's 65 tables. And while expectant guests anticipate their royal meal, it takes six minutes from the time the waiters begin the procession down the steps until everyone has been served. The king is served first, immediately followed by the queen. The menu is decided upon months in advance. In August and September, the chefs prepare sample menus and present them to the Nobel Committee for tasting.
Linda Johansson of Xoko told The Local that they presented three different dessert options to the Nobel Committee, which then chose the final selection. The good news is that you don't have to be a rocket scientist to get the red-carpet culinary treatment. As of Tuesday, December 11th, you can order the Nobel menu at Stadshuskällaren, also located in the Stockholm City Hall. Unfortunately, the restaurant will only be serving the three-course meal to groups of 20 or more until January 7th, when the 2007 Nobel menu will become standard fare.
The only exception is December 31st, where you can book a table to celebrate New Year's Eve Nobel-style. Stadshuskällaren also offers every Nobel menu served since 1901 for groups of eight or more. Reservations must be booked one week ahead. Xoko will also serve the Nobel dessert, including for takeaway, beginning on Tuesday. As an added bonus, they will also serve the entire Nobel spread on Wed-Saturday nights this week. But call quickly, as a representative of the cafe said there are only a few spots left.
Charlotte West (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)

Nobel Prize 2007

What is Nobel Week really about?
Published: 10 Dec 07 10:20 CETOnline: http://www.thelocal.se/9357/

As Nobel laureates, foreign media and a host of other dignitaries descend on Stockholm for the week of festivities culminating with the Nobel Banquet on Monday, Charlotte West recalls her conversations with two of last year’s winners about the real significance of Nobel Week.

) In the midst of all the fanfare, the 10,000 flowers, the $1.5 million prize and speculations about which spectacular dress Queen Sylvia will don at the banquet, it is easy to lose sight of the achievements on which Nobel Week is founded. In his will, Alfred Nobel created the prize to honour those who have “conferred the greatest benefit on mankind.” While the precise meaning of that statement has been the subject of great debate, its essence relates to recognizing those individuals who have made a measurable and meaningful contribution – whether in the form of scientific discoveries, inspirational words or heroic actions – to society. While I had certainly heard of the Nobel Prize while growing up, the first time I really took notice of it was at my college graduation in Seattle, where our commencement address was given by Leland Hartwell, a cancer research pioneer and the winner of the 2001 Nobel Prize in Physiology and Medicine. He made a reference to standing on stage with the king and queen of Sweden. My ears immediately perked up as I was planning to move to Stockholm the following autumn. Yet I still had no idea of what that really meant. When I began attending Stockholm University that fall, I was surprised to learn that many of the Nobel laureates would be giving their lectures in the Aula Magna auditorium on campus – and what's more, that anyone could attend. These public lectures, presented by the laureates in their respective fields, offer a rare chance to hear what some of the greatest minds of our time have to say. This openness and accessibility are one of the hallmarks of the award. In other words, by making the laureates' words, and in a sense, the laureates themselves, accessible to the public, the Nobel Prize recognizes that knowledge is not the exclusive domain of the academic elite. Last December, I had the opportunity to interview 2006 Nobel laureates Dr. Andrew Fire (Medicine/physiology) and Dr. Roger Kornberg (Chemistry), who both came from Stanford University. They each reflected on the benefits, as well as on the responsibilities, of what it means to be a Nobel laureate.Fire said that being a recipient of a Nobel award gave him the chance to reach a broader audience. “That means one has to be careful but it is also an opportunity to speak up about things. And people over the years have really taken advantage of those opportunities, mostly for good. Scientists who have been in a position to get the ear of the leadership have said things that have really steered society in directions that are important,” he said. Kornberg similarly spoke of the responsibilities that accompany the Nobel Prize. “I think it puts a bit of a burden on us for a time, to convey the message that all scientists have with regard to support of research and its importance in society. It’s a message that needs to be repeated as often as possible, so it's our job to do so,” he said. The responsibility to convey the message about the importance of science and the pursuit of knowledge is not reserved to the laureates in the hard sciences. While the prizes in chemistry, physics and medicine bring ground-breaking scientific research into the public eye, the Nobel Peace Prize and the literature prize bring the human quotient to the table. Over the years, the literature lectures have dabbled in everything from meditations on the creative process and the future of literature to polemic discussions of global politics and the evils of war. For instance, Harold Pinter in his 2005 speech, Art, Truth & Politics, chastised Bush and Blair for their perpetration of the Iraq war. This year's literature laureate, Doris Lessing, spoke out against Zimbabwean president Robert Mugabe, saying that books – the foundation of literacy and the stuff great writers are made of – will remain endangered species in the country as long as he remains at the political helm. “Writers are not made in Zimbabwe. Not easily, not under Mugabe,” she said. The lecture thus provided Lessing with a platform to speak her mind, while the world was listening. But perhaps more essentially, the Nobel lectures also serve to inspire, something which Lessing said was an essential ingredient for the creative process. Writers, she said, must have access to a “space, which is like a form of listening, of attention” from which “will come the words, the words your characters will speak, ideas – inspiration.”Despite the fact that Lessing was too ill to travel to Stockholm to deliver her Nobel lecture herself, her words, her message could not have been clearer. As I left the Swedish Academy on Friday, I felt a sense of intellectual wonderment that I have not experienced in a long time. In this sense, her Nobel lecture provided the impetus for inspiration, which as she said herself, is essential to any successful literary (or scientific, for that matter) pursuit. The only remaining Nobel lecture this year is the Peace lecture, scheduled to be given by former US Vice President Al Gore on Monday at 1 pm (CET) in Oslo, where he is expected to speak out about the climate crisis. At a press conference following the announcement of the Peace Prize in October, Gore said, “We have to quickly find a way to change the world's consciousness about exactly what we're facing.”Perhaps Gore's Nobel Peace Prize lecture will be one step in the right direction. See a live webcast of Gore's Nobel Peace Prize lecture during the Nobel Peace Prize Award Ceremony at the Oslo City Hall on Monday, December 10th. 12:50 p.m. - 2:15 p.m. (CET).
Charlotte West (news@thelocal.se/08 656 6518)