Week 3, NEWSWRITING ASSIGNMENT 1, Prime Minister's Speech

            PUTRAJAYA: The  environmental issues of landscapes and preserving tropical forests in Malaysia were addressed by the Prime Minister, Dato’ Abdullah Razak’s speech on the 26^th of April at Sri Siantan Conference Hall.

            The Prime Minister made a statement of  the new organization set up for the environment, Malaysia Green Forum, 2010 by the government and emphasized that their resounding commitment towards environmental sustainability in the country. Therefore, the government are working on advancing the environmental and landscape issues occurring in Malaysia.

            Alongside, Dato’ Abdullah Razak also stated the forum’s aim of establishing the environmental issues. MGF2010’s ways of approaching the issues are indeed refreshing and most welcomed. The forum was able to come up with creative, innovative and pragmatic solutions to the green issues we faced, taking full considerations of the environment. Due to that, it had drawn the attention and participants of high ranked social status including experts from within and outside the country.  

            Malaysia is considered one of the richest biodiversity in the world, possessing 16 million hectares of tropical forest areas. The key to this sustainability is preservation. Over 73 per cent of the total forest area are currently protected as national parks. The serious concern adopted way back in 1974 by enacting the Environment Quality Ac as an integral part of the Third Malaysia Plan.

            The announcement of the formation of the Ministry of Energy, Green Technology and Water had been made by the Prime Minister after only six days of taking the administration. The government will continue to take awareness of the growing need and urgency of green technology towards sustainable development of the environment. Hence, last year just after 106 days of setting up of ministry, the National Green Technology Policy was launched. Furthermore, The National Green Technology Center also came to being through a restructuring exercise of the then Malaysia Energy Centre.

MGF2010 united leaders and experts from very diverse backgrounds on a platform where environmental issues will be a priority and dealt with. The government welcomes all constructive ideas that could make this blessed country greener and more sustainable.

Week 3, NEWSWRITING ASSIGNMENT 1: EARTHQUAKE STORY

            ALASKA: A natural disaster of a pretty strong earthquake hit few of Aleutian Islands on Sunday night, 7.01pm.

            Three of Aleutian Island fishing villages, Nikolski, Dutch Harbor and Unalaska were approached by an earthquake. The disaster shook the villages and it lasted for about three minutes. It was discovered that the epicenter of the earthquake started in the North Pacific. This was just about 40 miles east of the village in Nikolski and 850 miles southwest of Anchorage. Fortunately, there were no reports of serious injuries and major damage done by the earthquake as the Aleutian residents are sparsely settled. 

            “There was some very minor damage at Nikolski, with items knocked off shelves and small items damaged." said George Carter, a seismologist from the Alaska Tsunami Warning Center.

            Cart also mentioned that the quake was felt strongly in the towns of Unalaska, Dutch Harbor and Nikolski. These three fishing villages are located on the western islands in the Aleutian chain.

According to an official, 20 aftershocks of the earthquake were found with one of them measuring at 5.0 on the scale. However, none was powerful enough to cause a tsunami. Alaska Tsunami Warning Center on the other hand, reported that it was measured 6.6 on Richter scale. Earthquake with 6.6 magnitude can cause severe damages if it hits the populate areas. Richter is a scale that measures ground motion and is recorded on seismographs.  In that scale, each increase of one number means a tenfold increase in magnitude. For example, 7.5 is 10 times greater than 6.5.

There are official categories of earthquake motions. The magnitude of 3.5 can cause slight damage, 4 with a moderate damage, 5 with a considerable damage, 6 with a severe damage, 7 will bring major earthquake which can cause widespread heavy damage and 8 is the major earthquake of all.