ROGER D HARRIS and SARA FLOUNDERS challenge propaganda against the blockaded socialist island
Latest editorial
Earthquake deaths: the dividing line on fault lines
The low death toll and damage from a recent earthquake in Taiwan highlights global inequality in preparing for natural disasters, write ROX MIDDLETON, LIAM SHAW and MIRIAM GAUNTLETT
DAMAGE LIMITATION: (Left) A powerful earthquake strikes Hualien City in eastern Taiwan, last Thursday; (right) Earthquake aftermath in Kahramanmaras, Turkey on February 10 2023
Marx and Engels incorporated in their writings a critique of the way that capitalism destroys the environment but it is only in the last half century that environmental concerns have become an integral part of the fight for socialism, writes the Marx Memorial Library and Workers’ School
The racist Republican tactic of redistricting to keep Trump and his base in power is turning the clock back to the 1950s, writes LINDA PENTZ GUNTER
With a political crisis engulfing the Labour Party, the case for PR is back on the agenda. TONY BURKE argues trade unions must now engage on changes to our voting system
YVETTE WILLIAMS and JOE DELANEY dissect the institutional dawdling that rubbed salt into the Grenfell open wounds prolonging the agony of survivors
The HS2 debacle exposes what happens when public infrastructure is handed to private contractors – especially when set against China’s state-led high-speed rail success, says CARLOS MARTINEZ
IN a video taken just after a magnitude 7.4 earthquake struck the eastern coast of Taiwan on April 3, the Taipei 101 skyscraper is shown oscillating lightly. Despite the fact that tall buildings are particularly susceptible to seismic damage, the building only experienced minimal swaying during the earthquake.
Elsewhere in Taiwan, 28 buildings collapsed and at least 125 experienced some form of damage. It wasn’t simply luck that protected Taipei 101; the 1,670-foot tall building has been specifically designed to minimise damage from natural disasters that are endemic to the region, such as earthquakes and typhoons.
When an earthquake happens, its energy is dissipated in the form of seismic waves, which have a variety of frequencies (rates of vibration). These seismic waves cause the ground to shake.
Buildings have a natural rate at which they will vibrate, referred to as their resonant frequency, like the natural frequency of a child going back and forth on a swing. When seismic waves of this resonant frequency shake the ground beneath a building, the wave will be amplified, causing stronger shaking and more damage.
Similar stories
Afghan women living under the Taliban are navigating a system that makes their public existence conditional on male approval, writes SHUKRIA RAHIMI
RAMZY BAROUD looks at how entire West Bank communities have been shattered, their social and physical fabric deliberately dismantled by Israel to enable its formal annexation
While Trump praises the ‘successful’ attack on Iranian nuclear sites, the question arises as to the real motives behind this escalation. MARC VANDEPITTE explores the issues