Ecuador declares state of emergency over volcano

• 16 August 2015
 
• From the sectionLatin America & Caribbean

Eruptions at the Cotopaxi volcano have sent plumes of ash and smoke into the sky

Ecuador President Rafael Correa has declared a state of emergency over increasing activity at the Cotopaxi volcano near the capital, Quito.

The declaration gives authorities more flexibility in using government funds to address the situation.

Officials evacuated several hundred people from nearby villages after the volcano began to erupt on Friday.

Cotopaxi is among the world's most dangerous volcanoes and is prone to fast-moving rock and mud flows.

Evacuated residents looked on from a safe distance as the volcano belched ash

Residents fled the zone around the volcano and soldiers were on the streets to assist

Cotopaxi is considered one of the world's most dangerous volcanoes - its glacial cover means it is prone to fast-moving mud flows

Small eruptions have already shot ash more than 5km (three miles) into the sky, spreading fine grey powder over as far as the capital 50km (30 miles) to the north.

Authorities have restricted access to the park that surrounds the volcano and barred mountaineers from climbing the snow-capped peak.

Cotopaxi last had a major eruption in 1877.

Do I Need to Use Iodized Salt?

Do I Need to Use Iodized Salt?

By Linda B. White, M.D.

“Do I need iodized salt in my diet?”

Without knowing your location or diet, my answer is a qualified “yes.”

We obtain iodine from food grown in soils that contain it, but large areas of the world’s soils lack sufficient iodine. So, seasoning your food with iodized salt is the best way to be sure you’re getting as much of this essential nutrient as you need.

Iodine has one main function in the body: The thyroid gland, a butterfly-shaped gland nestled at the base of the throat, needs it to make thyroid hormones, which affect every cell in the body by regulating metabolism. They’re also critical to optimal growth and development, including that of the skeletal and central nervous systems in fetuses and infants. According to the National Institutes of Health, iodine may also have a positive effect on immune function and in preventing fibrocystic breast disease.

If a person becomes iodine-deficient, his or her thyroid gland will enlarge to form a “goiter.” Other symptoms of an underactive thyroid, called hypothyroidism, include fatigue, constipation, cold intolerance, depression, dry skin and hair, weight gain, and muscle weakness. In 1924, the iodization of table salt in the United States successfully addressed deficiencies caused by the consumption of foods grown in soils lacking in iodine. Before that, illnesses due to iodine deficiency were widespread throughout the Great Lakes, Appalachians and Northwestern regions — known as the “goiter belt.”

If a woman is iodine-deficient during pregnancy, her infant may have mental disabilities, stunted growth, and problems with speech and hearing. In fact, the World Health Organization calls iodine deficiency the most preventable cause of brain damage. Mild iodine deficiency has also been linked with attention deficit disorder.

While the typical U.S. diet contains a lot of salt in the form of processed foods, these foods are mainly made with non-iodized salt, according to the Office of Dietary Supplements. Table salt is thus the main source of iodine in most U.S. diets. (The label will specify whether the salt is iodized.) A half-teaspoon of iodized table salt contains about 140 micrograms of iodine. Adults need 150 micrograms a day. Requirements rise to 220 micrograms during pregnancy and 290 micrograms while nursing.

Reliable dietary sources of iodine include saltwater fish, shellfish and seaweed. Breads and other grains often contain iodine as well.

Ecuador Training Ship to Visit Germany

Berlin, Aug 8 (Prensa Latina) The training ship Guayas, from Ecuador, will arrive in the German port of Bremerhaven on Tuesday with the aim of promoting the culture of that Latin American nation, diplomatic sources reported. According to the embassy in Quito, the ship will participate in the international festival of sailing Sail Bremerhaven, to be held from August 12 to 16, attended by representatives from more than 20 nations. Also, the Ecuadorian delegation will be received by German authorities and the training ship will open its doors to the public on Friday 14. Guayas weighed anchor from Guayaquil on May 12 this year to visit 23 countries and show the cultural wealth of its country. After its stay in German port, the ship will set sail on the 15th of this month to Amsterdam, Netherlands. The ship is named after the Indian chief of Huancavilca, native tribe settled on the Ecuadorian river of the same name.

Ecuador Pursues Guinness Record for Tree-Planting

QUITO – The government of Ecuador will deploy 35,000 volunteers to plant more than 350,000 trees at 150 sites across the country on May 16 in an attempt to set a Guinness record for tree-planting.

Environment Minister Lorena Tapia provided details about the “Siembraton” (Plant-a-thon) at a news conference that included a video-link from Mexico with Carlos Martinez, the Guinness World Records director for Latin America.

Martinez said Ecuador’s plan is more ambitious than any previous effort along these lines.

Turkey holds the current Guinness record for tree-planting, with 10,624 people deployed, but the Turkish initiative was not as extensive in geographic terms.

Tapia said the Ecuadorian government has invested $74 million since 2008 in reforestation efforts and has set a goal of “zero deforestation” by 2017.

Between 1990 and 2000, Ecuador lost roughly 92,000 hectares (227,300 acres) of forest annually, a pace of deforestation reduced to about 65,000 hectares (160,000 acres) annually between 2000 and 2012, according to Christian Teran, undersecretary for natural heritage at the Environment Ministry.

Since 2012, the pace of deforestation has declined to around 47,000 hectares (113,000 acres) a year.

Ivan Proaño, a representative of Ecuador’s Scout movement, said his organization will mobilize 7,000 members for the Siembraton, an event sponsored by Nestle.

What we owe Ecuador

When I joined a U.S. Congressional delegation to Ecuador a decade ago, I saw firsthand the struggle of the Ecuadorian people against these daily challenges. After a return visit last year, I was fortunate to see that they have not only overcome these difficulties, but they have made a top-to-bottom transformation that has made Ecuador a beacon of prosperity and stability in Latin America.

There are new airports and roadways all around, which required a substantial investment but have had a dramatic, positive impact on the country’s economy. Some of the best evidence of this transformation is that while here in the United States we have a contentious debate about immigration from Latin America, Ecuador is welcoming back any of its citizens who sense new opportunities and an improved living standard.

And it’s not just Ecuadorians who are returning home – Americans are retiring to the country in record numbers because of its economic progress and strong healthcare system. These American émigrés are joined by well-known companies like Google and General Motors, both of which are investing heavily in Ecuador. Coca-Cola alone has committed $1 billion in investments in Ecuador over the next few years.

This truly is a story of a small country that overcame the odds and succeeded.

However, Ecuador still lacks one important ingredient to its continued development. Justice. On my recent trip to Ecuador, I observed firsthand the environmental damage to the Amazon rainforest caused by irresponsible oil drilling by an American company dating back half a century. It broke my heart to visit areas where I saw plants and foliage still completely coated with oil, despite the fact that drilling there ended 25 years ago. It was gut wrenching to see paths well-travelled by indigenous Ecuadorian people coursing straight through abandoned toxic waste pits that to this day smell of oil.

While I was there, Ecuador’s government convened experts from around the world to discuss about how best to address this oil pollution. We also saw firsthand how Ecuador is not repeating past mistakes. The oil sector has introduced state-of-the-art technology to extract and transport oil while making sure it does not pollute the rainforest or affect the indigenous population. 

However, one of Ecuador’s remaining challenges has been to convince the polluter of its rainforest to do the right thing and clean up the mess they created in the Ecuadorian rainforest: Texaco, the oil company bought by Chevron in 2001.

While there were some half-hearted attempts to clean up the mess by Texaco decades ago, evidence has now surfaced that they quite literally tried to bulldoze dirt over it – at best. Texaco’s new owner, Chevron, has made it clear it won’t pay despite this subterfuge – threatening to extend litigation beyond hell freezing over.

This ecological disaster and response should be a global concern – and responsibility. The Soviet Union helped its archrival, the United States, when the Exxon Valdez spilled oil in Alaska. Other countries, including Mexico and Sweden, volunteered resources when BP spilled millions of barrels of oil in the Gulf of Mexico. And now the United States and China have partnered to cut carbon emissions to help control climate change. 

The same international collaboration must be done to clean up the Ecuadorian rainforest.

While the Chevron-Ecuador litigation seems to be an interminable path – two decades and counting—the rainforest and indigenous people of Ecuador can no longer wait. Chevron touts its corporate responsibility and the importance of “every single employee doing the right thing, every single day.” Now it must show that it truly lives by those words and help those hurt by Texaco.

We all have a vested interest – and responsibility – in resolving this tragedy that befell the indigenous people in the Ecuadorian Amazon rainforest.  Ecuador’s triumph is in no small way a triumph for all of us. Not only do we depend on the vitality of the Amazon rainforest, one of the most bio diverse regions on the planet, but we depend on the proliferation of our democratic values to solve the problems of the modern era. Ecuador, through its robust democracy and its courts, has sought justice for its people. We owe that to Ecuador.

Gringo Pricing

Gringo Pricing 

On a recent drive I stopped at a small store, to buy a bottle of soda.

The person in front of me was buying the very same thing.

But when it came to me paying for it that was a very different thing, even though the label on the bottle said $1.00 and the person in front of me paid $1.00.

I was told that the cost was $2.00, so I said that I only am buying one bottle, the response was $2.00.

What looked like the son of the owner just sold another bottle of the same to a local at the price marked on the bottle, with that I gave the bottle to the owner and said, you know how to treat your customers, and left.

2017 End Extreme Poverty

Quito, Nov 27 (Prensa Latina) Ecuador plans to eradicate extrema poverty by 2017 through a nationwide strategy presented today in this capital by the National Department of Planning and Development (Senplades) and other institutions.

In the presentation ceremony of the National Strategy for Equality and the Eradication of Poverty, attended by government authorities, the Head of Senplades, Pabel Munoz, said that the most important to achieve the goal is the radical political will to address the phenomenon, as the objective is to wipe out the scourge completely.

He added that after curbing poverty by 12 percent and improve equality by seven percent in the past few years, the country is in a position to achieve the said target by 2017.

In remarks to journalists, he said that the commitment of the national government is essential to achieve the goal, but this responsibility must also be shared by the decentralized autonomous governments, the private sector and all the citizens.

Minister Coordinator of Human Talent, Guillaume Long, highlighted the importance of education to break the cycle of poverty.

Ecuador's internet penetration reaches 72%

Ecuador seizes climate bus opposed to drilling

Check out this link 


Ecuador siezes climate bus opposed to drilling | World News |Axisoflogic.com
opposed

Tablets for kids

Tablets for kids

Only a short time ago, I mentioned that the government had imposed an additional tax on the internet and cell phone providers.

Well, just last week it came to my attention that provisions have been made in the 2015 budget to spend that windfall in two ways.

 First, there is a start up company in the Quito area that is producing tablets for the android market. As yet I have not seen one, nor have I seen any advertising for the product.

You can see where I am going; by the new year they should be in a position to ship.

In the new year, the government has made a commitment to provide 1 million tablets to the schools in Ecuador.

Not only is this a bold move, but is it also a gamble?

Will the company be able to provide the number of tablets required within that year?

How will the tablets be distributed, and will the tablets slot into the current teaching methods?

As this is a start up company, will they be able to provide the support for the tablets with firmware and software?

Now you know where that extra 3% tax is going next year.

Fall Seven Times, Get up Eight: The Japanese War Brides

Three daughters tell the story of Japanese women who landed in 1950s America -- the brides of young GIs brought home from an enemy nation.

This is a peek into the modern history of America. In trying to make this film, these 3 women have released some of the lesser known outcomes of the second world war.

The three ladies have put tremendous effort into painstakingly sifting through material that is slowly being eroded by time, and a generation that is fading.

These ladies need a little help to finish this project. Please go to the link and find out more. 

https://www.kickstarter.com/projects/528473920/fall-seven-times-get-up-eight-the-japanese-war-bri

Brunch

Thank you to our clients concerned about our cancellation of last brunch.

Specially in the low season we highly recommend booking 24 hours ahead, so we are able to accommodate your needs.

We have worked this way since we started, although not all of you have booked before, we always have required a minimum of 10 reservations for be able to open.

Thanks for your understanding.

Place  :  Big Ralph´s Restaurant

Time   :  9.30 - 12.00

Date   :  Sunday 14th / Sep

BRUNCH MENU

CLASSIC EGGS BENEDICT WITH HOLLANDAISE SAUCE  

$ 6.25

SMOKED SALMON & SCRAMBLED EGGS ON TOASTED WHEAT B. BREAD

$ 7.00

ENGLISH MUFFIN TOPPED WITH TOMATO,

LETTUCE & FILLET STEAK AND ONION RINGS

$ 13.50

BACON, CHEESE & MUSHROOMS QUICHE WITH GREEN BEAN DRESSING

$ 7.00

GRILLED CHICKEN CAESAR SALAD

$ 7.70

EGG OMELETTE WITH MUSHROOMS, CHEESE & HAM

$ 5.75

DESSERT OF THE DAY

$ 5.95

Best regards

Ing. Andrea Torres

BIG RALPH'S HOSTAL & RESTAURANTAv. San Lorenzo y Av. Carlos Espinoza Larrea,
(Diagonal a Pizza Express)  Salinas - Santa Elena, Ecuador
(00593) 42930910 / 0996188111
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