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Tracking around the globe

Earthquake – Afghanistan:

A moderate 5.3 magnitude earthquake hit the Badghis province in the western part of the country on Jan. 17. While the quake wasn’t particularly strong, it was extremely shallow at only 6.2 miles (10 km), and many of the affected people lived in homes that were not built to be earthquake-resistant. At least 26 people died, while four more were injured in some of the hundreds of damaged or destroyed homes. Cultural preservationists are racing to save an 800-year-old minaret known as the Minaret of Jam – a UNESCO heritage site – after sustaining damages from the earthquake.

Snowstorm – Turkey:

Days of heavy snowfall buried homes and left hundreds of villages isolated across several parts of the country. Local officials reported single-story houses were completely buried in several rural villages that received as much as 10 feet (3 meters) of snow in a week as of Jan. 20. Thousands of vehicles were trapped because of poor visibility and heavy snow on a major highway in the south of the country on Jan. 19, leading rescue teams to distribute food to the approximately 7,000 people stranded. Along the Syrian border, where tens of thousands of refugees are gathered in camps, the heavy snow collapsed the tents the refugees use for emergency shelter.

Flooding – Madagascar:

The region surrounding the capital city of Antananarivo was hit by heavy rains starting on Jan. 17. As of the next morning, approximately 4 inches (100 millimeters) had fallen in the area, and the resulting floods and landslides killed at least 10 people. Local news reports state that 20 districts are on high alert for flooding, and blame the floods on heavily built-up urban areas with poor drainage and water management systems.

Explosion – Ghana:

A truck carrying explosives used for mining collided with a motorcycle on Jan. 21, leading to an explosion that killed 13 people and injured dozens more. The death toll would have been significantly worse had it not been for the rapid evacuation of people from the area after the motorcycle caught fire. Ultimately, the fire set off the explosives and leveled over 500 buildings in the surrounding area, including a school that had been rapidly evacuated just after the collision.

Cyberattack – Switzerland:

Hackers seized the data of 515,000 vulnerable people from the database of the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) during a cyberattack that was announced on Jan. 19. The attack was against a third-party company that is used by the ICRC to store data. The breach reinforces the need for philanthropy and disaster management organizations to be vigilant about cybersecurity, especially with information about marginalized groups of people.