Polish firefighters on the ground in Turkey rescued a ninth survivor this morning, a 13-year-old girl buried under the rubble from Monday’s massive earthquake.
The chief commander of the Polish State Fire Service, Andrzej Bartkowiak, made the announcement early this morning after firefighters spent the night conducting search and rescue operations in the city of Adiyaman, over 100 km from the earthquake’s epicenter in Gaziantep.
The Polish rescue group HUSAR, which includes 15 rescuers from Pomerania, began searching for people trapped under the rubble on Tuesday afternoon, finding their first survivor around 15:20 local time.
Just before midnight last night, the Polish State Fire Service announced that rescuers managed to extract five more people alive from the rubble of collapsed buildings, including a 17-year-old girl and a family of four.
In the opinion of Jakub Zambrzycki, a former firefighter and veteran rescuer with similar experience in Algeria, India, and Pakistan, the chances of finding people alive are still good, as the Polish group left for Turkey within the first 24 hours of the event.
As of this morning, the death toll from the quake had climbed to over 7,800, with rain and freezing temperatures continuing to complicate rescue efforts on the ground.
Source: Radio Gdańsk, PAP, Reuters
US President Joe Biden delivered his annual State of the Union address to both houses of the US Congress last night, declaring that he has “never been more optimistic about America’s future” as he touted domestic reforms and promised continued support for Ukraine.
In a speech dominated mainly by economic and domestic issues, Biden repeatedly stressed the importance and resulting efforts of bipartisan cooperation, including unprecedented investments in infrastructure, the fight against climate change, and semiconductor production.
Despite the global problem of inflation resulting from the pandemic and the war in Ukraine, Biden declared the US to be “in a better position than any country on earth,” pointing to falling inflation, lower prices for food and gasoline, and record low unemployment in the US.
During the foreign policy component of his speech, Biden focused on competition with China and the war in Ukraine, describing Putin’s invasion as “a test for the ages. A test for America. A test for the world.” He went on to applaud US efforts to strengthen NATO and build a global coalition that “stood against Putin’s aggression” and “stood with the Ukrainian people.”
He later addressed Ukraine’s ambassador, Oksana Markarova, one of the guests of honor at the speech, assuring her that “America is united in our support” for Ukraine and “will stand with you as long as it takes.”
Today is day 350 of Russia’s war on Ukraine.
Source: PAP, Reuters
The Speaker of the Polish Senate has submitted a letter nominating the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity (WOŚP) for the Nobel Peace Prize.
Acting on behalf of a group of 37 senators, Speaker Tomasz Grodzki submitted the nomination to the official Nobel committee in Oslo in recognition of the WOŚP foundation’s success at “mobilizing all generations of Poles in a country divided and torn over politics.”
In the letter, the senators hailed the annual drive as “a real sociological phenomenon in Poland,” emphasizing that the charity has raised “about USD 50 million a year to support various branches of the health care system” since the foundation’s formation in 1992.
Over the years, these efforts have focused on support for various fields of the Polish healthcare system, including pediatric cardiology, pediatric oncology first aid, and geriatrics. This year, volunteers collected funds to purchase equipment for the early diagnosis of sepsis.
During its 31st grand finale on January 29, 2023, the Great Orchestra of Christmas Charity raised a record-breaking PLN 154 million (EUR 32.5 million).
Source: Polskie Radio
The Gdańsk Tax Office recently attempted to auction off 92 wedding dresses seized from the wedding dress salon “Livia” in Przymorze after the business suddenly closed last month.
The dresses up for auction ranged in price from PLN 1,500 to over PLN 5,000, with only one bidder, the brother of a future bride-to-be, taking home a dress for PLN 3,000.
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The sole bidder at the recent auction explained that his sister was fitted for the dress at the salon in Obrońców Wybrzeża in December but didn’t purchase the dress at the time. The salon then went bankrupt at the beginning of January.
According to Sławomir Grubner of the Second Tax Office in Gdańsk, the remaining dresses may now be auctioned off at a later date for half their estimated value.
Source: Radio Gdańsk
Weather
Today will be partly cloudy and very cold, with only a slight chance of snow showers and winds coming from the southwest. Temperatures will remain at or below freezing, with a high of 0°C or 32°F dropping to a low of -5°C, or 23°F overnight. Similar weather is expected tomorrow, with a chance for rain or snow returning later in the week.
Listen to the broadcast:
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