The island of Djerba has been added to a special list by a United Nations agency for its cultural importance. It is located off the southern coast of Tunisia.
When a place is recognized by Unesco, more tourists are likely to visit and it becomes easier to get money to protect cultural sites.
Many people visit the beautiful island known for its white villages and the annual visit to Ghriba Synagogue. Djerba is thought to be one of the earliest Jewish communities in Africa.
The Star Wars movies were also made on Djerba, a place mentioned in Homer’s ancient Greek poem The Odyssey as the home of “lotus-eaters”.
Tag: island
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Island in Tunisia gains Status on Unesco list
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KNUST Architecture student designs amphibious buildings with local materials, waste plastic bottles
We are faced with uncertainties about the future due to the impacts of climate change on communities and our livelihoods.
In the past decades, severe flooding in major cities and towns across the globe has resulted in loss of human life, damage to properties and infrastructure facilities, and destruction of crops among others.
Coastal cities and island communities are among those facing the highest risks of climate change impact due to rising sea levels.
Despite their huge tourism potential and economic opportunities, most island communities in Ghana are at risk of being abandoned due to climate crisis and limited investment.
Azizakpe Island, located in the estuary of the Volta River, is one such example.
Azizakpe has been in existence for more than a hundred years. However, in recent years, the island community faces existential threats due to severe flooding and erosion. About 20 acres of Azizakpe’s land has been lost to erosion.
Farming and economic activities such as coconut oil production, crab hunting, boat making, fish mongering, weaving and broom making, etc. have been severely disrupted by this climate crisis and the emigration of most residents.
To revitalize the community and make it attractive to both residents and visitors, a final-year Architecture student at the Kwame Nkrumah University of Science and Technology (Miss Rhoda Osei-Nkwantabisa), has designed resilient structures that can help the community withstand the impacts of floods and erosion.
The proposed structures were designed based on the concept of Amphibious Architecture. This approach to design allows buildings to float on the surface of rising floodwater rather than succumb to inundation. The designer adapted local materials such as mangrove trees, thatch roof, woven coconut leaf walls, and bamboo raft floors.
To enable the buildings to float without submerging, the designer created a bamboo cage at the base of each building. The cage is filled with waste plastic bottles for buoyancy in the event of a flood. The shape of the structures was inspired by the roots of the mangrove tree due to its ability to withstand floods and erosion.
If sea levels rise in the future as has been predicted, the structures are designed to stay afloat with the aid of the bamboo cage and supporting mangrove sliding stilts.
Due to the use of locally available materials and low-cost construction techniques, construction cost is estimated to reduce by 40 percent. This proposal, if implemented, will benefit the community socially, economically, and environmentally.
The plastic bottles used to create buoyancy will reduce plastic waste in the community and its environs. The facility will also help to generate income for the community and the nation at large. It could serve as a model for the revitalization of island communities in Ghana.
This research was supervised by Dr. Martin Larbi and Arc. Isaac Annor. The author gratefully acknowledges the support of Mr Emmanuel Kankam in the construction of the 3D impressions.
This research was supervised by Dr Martin Larbi and Arc. Isaac Annor. The author gratefully acknowledges
the support of Mr Emmanuel Kankam in the construction of the 3D impressions. -
Monster cyclone Harold tears through Fiji
A deadly Pacific storm slammed into Fiji on Wednesday, tearing off roofs and flooding towns, after leaving a trail of destruction in the Solomon Islands and Vanuatu.
Tropical Cyclone Harold weakened slightly overnight from a scale-topping Category Five to a Four, but was still lashing Fiji with winds of up to 240 kilometres per hour (150 miles per hour), forecasters said.
The official NaDraki weather service said the cyclone was offshore south of Fiji’s main island Viti Levu, but passing closer to land than initially expected.
Despite the downgrade, it said Harold remained “extremely dangerous” as it barrels eastward, threatening further damage in Tonga early Thursday.
Images on social media showed extensive damage at Nausori, just outside the Fijian capital Suva, with corrugated iron roofs peeled back by the ferocious winds.
The main street of Ba, in the island’s north, was submerged after the local river burst its banks.
“Emergency authorities are the only personnel allowed to travel, all Fijians should stay indoors,” Prime Minister Frank Bainimarama said.
“There are a number of reports of winds whipping up flying debris in the Suva area. It can be deadly. Keep yourself indoors and out of harm’s way.”
The National Disaster Management Office said residents along much of the south coast, home to many of the country’s major tourist resorts, should evacuate.
NDMO director Vasiti Soko said 85 evacuation centres had been set up and officials were attempting to maintain social distancing to ensure COVID-19 did not spread among those fleeing the cyclone.
Fiji has 15 cases of the coronavirus, with all known sufferers in quarantine before the cyclone hit.
– Town ‘obliterated’ –
Harold claimed 27 lives in the Solomon Islands last week, and on Tuesday ripped through Vanuatu, destroying much of the country’s second-largest town Luganville.
World Vision’s Vanuatu director Kendra Gates Derousseau said an aerial survey carried out by disaster officials late Tuesday showed the town of Melsisi on Pentecost island had also been devastated.
“We’ve done some programming there in the past, so I can recognise the landmarks — you can see that 90 percent of all buildings are obliterated, is the term I’d use,” she told AFP.
A massive international aid effort was launched after the last Category Five storm to hit Vanuatu, Cyclone Pam in 2015, flattened the capital Port Vila.
But Vanuatu’s international borders are currently closed as the impoverished Pacific nation bids to remain one of the world’s few places with no confirmed COVID-19 cases.
The government has revoked a domestic travel ban imposed as part of its virus response, which will allow disaster relief to flow from Port Vila to the worst-hit islands in the north.
New Zealand deployed a P-3 Orion aircraft to help with damage assessments and allocated NZ$500,000 ($300,000) in aid funding for essential supplies.
Foreign Minister Winston Peters said Wellington would provide further assistance if requested by Vanuatu.
“We are aware that the government of Vanuatu is running a ‘keep it out’ strategy, and we will give serious consideration to ensure that any response to the cyclone does not lead to the spread of COVID-19 to Vanuatu,” he said.
The cyclone formed off the Solomons last week, where it washed dozens of passengers from an inter-island ferry into the sea.
It was initially expected to only reach Category Three.
Latest forecasts say it will brush past Tonga early Thursday, still at Category Four strength, before petering out over the sea by the weekend.
Tonga’s Fua’amotu Tropical Cyclone Warning Centre said some coastal areas should expect to be pounded by massive six-metre (20-foot) swells.
Its arrival coincides with a high tide and flood warnings were in place for much of the kingdom.
Source:Â AFP
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7.5-magnitude quake hits off Russia’s Kuril Islands
A 7.5-magnitude quake hit off Russia’s Kuril Islands on Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said, although there was no tsunami threat.
The quake hit at a depth of 59 kilometres (37 miles), around 1,400 kilometres (around 850 miles) northeast of the Japanese city of Sapporo, USGS added.
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said “only very small tsunami waves were generated by this earthquake and there is no further threat”.
It had previously warned tsunami waves were possible for coasts in the region.
The four southernmost islands of the Kuril chain — Habomai, Shikotan, Etorofu and Kunashiri — have been disputed between Moscow and Tokyo since the end of World War II.
The Kurils are known as the Northern Territories in Japan.
Source: AFP