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China
11 Million on Lockdown
China has placed the city of Shijiazhuang, capital of the Hebei provide, on strict lockdown in response to a rise in COVID-19 cases. Yesterday, the city recorded 120 new cases of COVID-19, compared with just 22 in all other parts of China. Officials report the new outbreak to be the first instance of locally transmitted infection in Hebei since June. New restrictions prohibit Shijiazhuang’s 11 million people from leaving the city limits, in addition to closing schools, halting public transportation including flights and local bus service, and suspending the postal service in and out of the city. Limits on movement are even stricter in the Gaocheng district, considered to be the epicenter of the outbreak, where residents are not allowed to leave their local area. The lockdown comes just weeks before the Chinese New Year travel period, and is reminiscent of similar restrictions placed in Wuhan at the beginning of last year.
This map depicts the location of Shijiazhuang within the Hebei province. Click on the map to learn more.
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South Korea
Court Ordered Japan To Pay
On Friday in a landmark ruling, the Seoul central district court orders the Japanese government to compensate 12 victims who were forced into sexual slavery during World War II. It was the first civilian legal case in South Korea against Tokyo by wartime sex slaves for Japanese troops, who were labeled “comfort women.” The court ruled the victims and their families should receive 100 million won ($91,000; €74,000) each. Japan denounced the ruling as “utterly unacceptable, stating all compensation claims were settled when the countries normalized diplomatic ties in 1965″ and that the issue had been resolved “finally and irreversibly” by a 2015 agreement that has since been scrapped by Seoul. Historians estimated at least 200,000 women – mostly Koreans, but also Chinese, south-east Asians, and a small number of Japanese and Europeans – were coerced or tricked into working in Japanese military brothels across the Pacific between 1932 and 1945. Only 16 registered Korean survivors are still alive and six of the 12 victims have died since they initiated the lawsuit in 2016.
This map depicts the height of the Japanese expansion in the Pacific during World War. Click on the map to expand.
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Graphic Source: Britannica
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World
Disasters Cost $210 Billion
Global losses from natural disasters, including a record hurricane season in the Atlantic, historic wildfires in the U.S., and flooding in China, cost an estimated $210 billion in 2020, according to insurance firm Munich Re. Approximately $82 billion of the losses were insured. The estimated figures represent a significant increase from 2019 when total losses equaled $166 billion, and insured losses $57 billion. The costliest individual event was severe flooding in China during the summer monsoon rains. Damages from flooding amounted to $17 billion. Of the next nine costliest events, six occurred in the United States, including destruction caused by Hurricane Laura valued at $13 billion. 2020 was one of the warmest years on record, and scientists at Munich Re predict the costs of natural disasters to grow as global temperatures continue to rise.
This map depicts the disaster events across the world. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: Of the three ethnogeographic groupings that make up the Pacific Islands, which island grouping covers the largest area?
A: Polynesia
Made up of more than 1,000 islands spread across the southern and central Pacific Ocean, Polynesia covers an area of approximately 800,000 square miles. The region is triangular in shape with its corners at the Hawaiian Islands, New Zealand, and Easter Island (Rapa Nui). The other islands that fall with this region are (from northwest to southeast) Tuvalu, Tokelau, Wallis and Futuna, Samoa, American Samoa, Tonga, Niue, the Cook Islands, French Polynesia (Tahiti and the other Society Islands, the Marquesas Islands, the Austral Islands, and the Tuamotu Archipelago, including the Gambier Islands), and Pitcairn Island. The term “Polynesia” was coined by Charles de Brosses in 1756 and originally applied to all the islands of the Pacific.
Source
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Q: Covering 64,000 square miles (165,000 sq km), the largest estuary in the United States spans how many states?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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