March 17, 2011
From Our Own Correspondent
BBC
4.4 • 1.3K Ratings
🗓️ 17 March 2011
⏱️ 28 minutes
🧾️ Download transcript
Summary
Colossal forces of nature have devastated Japan and the country faces the possibility of a nuclear disaster; but in the teeth of catastrophe Rachel Harvey discovers an extraordinary resilience on the part of the Japanese people. Egypt is undergoing massive political upheaval; and while the country is struggling to shape its future, Christine Finn hears that looters are increasingly plundering its past. Southern Sudan is just a few months away from independence; Hugh Sykes gets a feel for life in what will be Africa's newest capital city. On the anniversary of Italy's unification, David Willey meets the Italians who would rather dismantle the state than celebrate its foundation. And, enjoying a rare glimpse of Russia's pioneering spacecraft, Richard Hollingham wonders whether Russia might prove to be the real winner of the space race.
Transcript
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| 0:00.0 | You're listening to a download from the BBC, this is from our own correspondent. |
| 0:04.4 | You can hear the version of the program broadcast on the World Service by following the link to the I player on the top of our website. |
| 0:10.8 | To keep up with our latest reports and get a sneak preview of the stories, you can sign up to |
| 0:15.1 | our Twitter feed as well. |
| 0:17.0 | But now with the addition broadcasts on Radio 4, here's Kate Aide. |
| 0:20.9 | Today's strength and stoicism from the Japanese as they face up to the catastrophe which has |
| 0:26.8 | befallen their country. |
| 0:28.9 | The Tomb Raiders are wreaking havoc in the ancient burial grounds of Egypt. |
| 0:33.0 | Italy's 150 years old today, |
| 0:36.0 | but the birthday parties proving a bit of a flop. |
| 0:39.0 | And 50 years after man was first blasted into orbit, we ask, have the Russians finally won the space race? |
| 0:47.1 | The Japanese authorities say it's now known that almost 5,200 people were killed in last |
| 0:52.3 | week's huge earthquake and tsunami. |
| 0:55.0 | About another 10,000 are still missing. |
| 0:58.0 | Meanwhile, military helicopters have been dropping tons of sea water on the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Nuclear Power Plant. |
| 1:05.4 | The authorities are struggling to reduce the critical temperatures, which could lead |
| 1:09.5 | to the collapse of the core and massive leaks of lethal radiation. Almost 30,000 people have |
| 1:14.8 | already been evacuated from the area. Rachel Harvey, who's been in the north of |
| 1:19.4 | the country monitoring developments, has been struck by the resilience of the Japanese people trying to cope with the crisis. |
| 1:26.0 | It's the big numbers that tend to grab the headlines when a natural |
| 1:30.0 | disaster strikes. How many people have died, how many are missing, how strong was the earthquake, how high was the wave. But it's the small details that for me bring home the human tragedy and tend to stick in my mind. |
| 1:44.8 | The family photograph lying in the wreckage of what was once someone's home, |
... |
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