Chile's new president, Sebastian Pinera will be sworn in today, inheriting leadership of a government and a country still in natural disaster recovery.
In this week's agenda, Marcus Mabry, international business editor for the New York Times, and Jonathan Marcus, BBC diplomatic correspondent, look at what to expect this week. They'll look at the aftermath of Iraq's national elections, Vice President Biden's visit to the Middle East, and the latest news on financial reform.
It's been four days since an 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck Chile and since then, the country's military and police force have been tested in some of the hardest hit areas, where there have been reports of curfews, looting, and vigilantes protecting their threatened property. At the same time aid has been arriving from around the world, with U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arriving in the capital yesterday.
UPDATED 8:00pm
Arwa Gunja here with the night shift update.
We’ve booked P.J. Crowley, State Department Spokesperson, to discuss US aid efforts to Chile. Secretary of State Hilary Clinton visited Chile today with satellite phones in hand as she pledged more US support. Reports out of the country indicate that conditions are worsening. We’re aiming to get an update from a reporter on the ground in Concepción, one of the hardest hit cities.
We’ll also take a look at North Carolina public schools where there is a program in place to bus students based on their socio-economic background. The program has become very controversial and many parents are up in arms. There is a vote tonight to decide whether scrap the system, and tomorrow we’ll bring you the latest..
One other story likely to make headlines tomorrow is the status of marriage equality in Washington, D.C. Tomorrow will be the first day same-sex couples will be able to apply for marriage certificates. The co-chair of the DC for Marriage campaign will join us in the morning to discuss this victory for the gay community.
Finally, all day tomorrow we’re asking the question, what is one thing about your life that you want the world to know? And it seems to apply to so many of our segments tomorrow – from the survivors in Chile, to students in North Carolina being bussed based on their financial status, to the Americans living in some of America’s most depressed cities, and to the community in DC which will be adjusting to a landmark decision that will inevitably bring social change. For all our listeners, leave us a message here to tell us what we should know about your life. Or you can call us at 877-8-MYTAKE.
Over 700 lay dead and over two million have been left homeless after the weekend's 8.8 earthquake rocked Chile. Pascale Bonnefoy, correspondent for The Global Post in Chile has an update from Santiago, and says that many of the homeless are staying with relatives or they are on the streets trying to protect their property from vandals and looters.
In 2010 alone, there have been earthquakes in Haiti, Chile, Argentina, Japan, Venezuela and the Bay Area. This weekend, it was feared a series of tsunamis would hit Mexico, California and Hawaii. Are this many natural disasters normal? Dr. Arthur Lerner-Lam, a seismologist at the Lamont-Doherty Earth Observatory helps contextualize the shocking size of the quake.
UPDATED 7:15 p. m.
Alex Goldmark here with the night shift update.
We've lined up our live reporter interviews from Chile for tomorrow morning. We'll get a sense of how the curfews and looting has unfolded as the hunt for water and gas gets more desperate in some areas. But we will stick with our plans to find out the science behind tsunamis and quakes and also the construction techniques that kept the death toll so low.
Other than that, not much has changed, which means that here on the night shift we can get into long debates about the meaning of "999 dead in Operation Enduring Freedom." And should we consider a fallen CIA agent in Afghanistan differently than a troop killed in Somalia? Or across the Afghan border in Uzbekistan? It's all part of Operation Enduring Freedom so what's a radio show to do when covering "The War in Afghanistan." Here's the official count from the DoD with little explanation on how the number is derived. We will hear from the mother of one of the first troops to be killed in Afghanistan on how she marks her loss eight years later.
In Chile, the death toll has risen above 700 victims three days after the 8.8 magnitude earthquake shook the country. This is one of the strongest earthquakes recorded in history, and one of the deadliest earthquakes in Chile since the Valdivia quake of 1960.
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Chilean President Michelle Bachelet has declared a “state of catastrophe” and has sent soldiers into some of the streets. U.S. Ambassador to Chile Paul E. Simons gives the view on the ground from Santiago, Chile.
Hundreds are dead and 1.5 million people are displaced after one of the biggest earthquakes on record hit central Chile. Chile's president, Michelle Bachelet, says the massive 8.8 magnitude earthquake created "a catastrophe of such unthinkable magnitude that it will require a giant effort" to recover.
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