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Southeast Asia
Megacities at a Standstill
The megacities of Southeast Asia are some of the most densely populated urban areas on the planet. Over the past few weeks and months, COVID-19 has brought these megalopolises to a standstill with strict lockdowns, school closures, and social restrictions. Reuters Graphics has used GPS location data from cab company, Grab, to depict the complete easing of traffic congestion in southeast Asian cities such as Jakarta, Kuala Lumpur, and Ho Chi Minh City. This map shows how the Philippine capital, Manila, where the streets are usually bustling with 3.5 million registered vehicles, has come to a halt, as strict home quarantine measures are keeping people in their homes. The lockdown in the Philippines is currently in place until the end of May, as the island nation tries to contain the spread of the virus.
This map depicts the difference in traffic congestion between January and March 2020 in Manila, the capital city of the Philippines . All COVID-19 updates will be displayed in a red box.
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Pakistan
Airline Crash
A domestic routine flight from Lahore to Karachi has crashed in Pakistan. The Airbus A320 passenger jet, operating under Pakistan International Airlines, crashed miles from Jinnah International Airport in the Model Colony neighborhood around 2:30 PM local time (09:30 GMT). There are no official reports on the number of fatalities from the 107 passengers and crew members on board, or Model Colony residents involved. Minutes before the crash, the pilot reported technical issues and loss of engines to air traffic control before attempting an emergency landing. The crash comes days after domestic flights were resumed following the national lockdown from the pandemic.
This map depicts the site of the crash in Model Colony near Jinnah International Airport. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Daily Mail
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Eurasia
Neanderthal Extinction Explained
Researchers at the Institute of Basic Science’s (IBS) Center for Climate Physics in South Korea have created a computer model able to replicate the interactions between ancient Neanderthals, Homo sapiens, and their shared environments. The Neanderthals lived in Eurasia for over three-hundred thousand years, before their extinction around forty-thousand years ago. Around the same time, Homo sapiens began to spread across the continent, overlapping with existing Neanderthal populations. The IBS model allows scientists to explore a myriad of factors that could have contributed to the neanderthal’s disappearance; they can turn on and off variables such as dramatic climate events, interbreeding, and competition for resources. The results of each model variation are then compared to the archaeological evidence, leading researchers to confidently declare the extinction of the Neanderthals “the first major extinction caused by our own species.”
This map depicts the distribution of Neanderthal and Homo sapien populations in ancient Eurasia. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: With an area of approximately 135,000 square miles (350,000 square km), this desert occupies 70% of which Central Asian country?
A: The Karakum Desert in Turkmenistan
Translating to “Black Sand” in the Turkic language due to the dark soil found below the sandy surface, the Karakum Desert desert measures around 500 miles from east to west, and 300 from north to south. The recent shrinking of the Aral Sea has exposed an expanse of land that is now known as the Aral Karakum and is an extension of the main Karakum Desert.
Source
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Q: At a length of over 2,193 miles and with a drainage basin of about 533,000 square miles, Europe’s longest river drains into which body of water?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Tuesday’s DailyGeo.
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