Earthquake in Lorca – Murcia province

Here are the latest facts (from Diario Sur) about the earthquake that hit Lorca, a small town of 93,000 people in the Murcia province of Andalucia:

- May, 11, 2011- First tremor of 4.4 on the Ritcher scale hit around 17:05.
- Location: between 5 and 10 km from Lorca´s center. Earthquake felt in the Murcia province, but also in some cities of Almeria and Albacete provinces.
- Six tremors between 1.4 and 2.3 on the Richter scale follow.
- At 18:47, the largest tremor (5.1 on Richter) hits Lorca, followed by 18 successive tremors between 0.7 and 4 on Richter scale, until 22:45.
- Various buildings collapsed.
- 8 deaths reported so far – 3 people in critical state – 119 people injured.
- At least 10,000 people spent the night outdoors fearing additional tremors. Luckily, the weather was pleasant.
- This was the most mortal earthquake in Spain in the last 50 years.

Prepare your kids for a new reality

Did you know India has more honors kids than the USA has kids?
Did you know the top 10 in-demand jobs in 2010 did not exist in 2004?

You need to watch this video to grasp the magnitude of the changes our children will face in their business (and social) life. Apparently it was shown to Sony management at their executive conference this year.

Two ways to look at this:
- you can worry, ignore or resist an inevitable world transformation
- or you can prepare your children for a new reality, see it as huge opportunities and embrace the change.

Not unlike the choices faced by many at the onset of the industrial revolution…

Unemployment of 45+ population in Andalucia

El Sur reported very telling data regarding the depth of the crisis in Andalucia:
* 21% of all people older than 45 are unemployed in Andalucia.
* 60% of those lost their job in the last two and a half year of crisis.

12% of turnover in EU27 due to E-commerce

The European Commission Eurostat reported that, in 2008, e-commerce accounted for 12% of turnover of enterprises in EU-27.

The share of enterprise turnover generated from e-commerce in 2008 varied significantly between Member States. The highest shares were recorded in Ireland (26%), Finland and Sweden (both 18%), the Czech Republic, Germany and the United Kingdom (all 15%), Hungary (14%) and France (13%). The lowest shares were observed in Bulgaria and Cyprus (both 1%).

In the EU27, three quarters (73%) of e-commerce turnover came from within the country, 19% from another EU27 Member State and 8% from outside the EU27.

Over 80% of e-commerce turnover came from within the country in Latvia (88%), Bulgaria (85%), the United Kingdom (83%), Greece and France (both 82%) and Spain (81%).

Hungary (60%) recorded the highest share of e-commerce turnover with another Member State, followed by Cyprus (51%), Slovakia (44%) and Ireland (39%).

Highest proportions of e-commerce turnover from outside the EU27 were observed for enterprises in Malta (56%), Slovakia (34%), Ireland (23%) and Cyprus (20%).

And this is only the beginning…

Andalucia social statistics

The Statistics Institute of Andalusia just issued some interesting data about the natural changes in the Andalusian population during the second quarter of 2009:

* 9,008 marriages were celebrated, 23.9% less than in the second quarter of 2008.

• In 16.1% of marriages, at least one party was a foreigner.
• 1% were same sex marriages.

* 22,698 births were registered, 11% less than in 2008.

• 30.3% of the births were out of wedlock.
• In 14.1% of the births, one parent was a foreigner.

* 15,397 deaths were registered, 8.4% than in 2008.

• In 64.7% of the cases, the person was over 75.

H1N1 epidemic in Spain is over

The Spanish Health Ministry issued its last weekly update about the H1N1 virus to coincide with the New Year. With a rate of 41 cases for 100,000, the extent of the flu is now 10 times lower than its peak of a month ago. Given the lower incidence rate, the Ministry decided to terminate issuing its weekly updates about the disease.

The epidemic is officially considered over in Spain leaving behind 271 deaths to-date, a huge population scare and probably much unnecessary public spending.

H1N1 in Spain – November 2009

This week, my daughter was sent home from school for a slight runny nose. In her class, half of the students stayed home and two out of three Year 5 teachers were absent. At my gym, attendance by ¨regulars¨ was clearly down. Everywhere I turned, it appeared that people were sick with the flu… Nothing too serious, just a few days of slight fever and general fatigue seemed to be the norm.

I looked at the official statistics from the Spanish Health Ministry and created my own graph about the evolution of the H1N1 virus in Spain. On this graph, I plotted the weekly number of flu cases per 100,000 inhabitants (in blue) and the cumulative death number attributed to H1N1 (in green) during the past three months:

We observe a sharp increase in the number of flu cases in Spain after October 21st. The spread of the virus appears to slow down in the last week as the curve flattens just below 400 cases per 100,000 inhabitants, for a grand total of 160,000 people affected in Spain. Next data points will be critical to see whether this is just a fluke or the worse is really behind us for now…

135 deaths are attributed to H1N1 so far in Spain. The mortality rate per 100,000 people affected by the virus is 0.13 on November 26. This is the lowest rate in the last three months indicating that the severity of the virus is under control…

The big scare drummed up by the press and governments regarding the H1N1 risk has not materialized so far, but experts tell us that the number of people affected by the flu usually peaks in January… So let´s wait a few weeks more and see if this was another ploy for governments to distract and worry the population, for the press to sell more sensational news and for lobby groups to make more money… It would not be the first time it happened…

Active population in Andalucia – Q3 2009

The Junta de Andalucia published the latest data about the active population in Andalucia for the third quarter of 2009. Here are some interesting facts:

- The active population consists in 3,878,700 individuals, which corresponds to an activity rate of 57.7%. Activity rate for foreigners is 74.1%.

- There are 2,884,300 employed individuals, -1.6% vs previous quarter and -8.1% vs same quarter of 2008.

- Foreigners represent 10.1% of the employed population.

- There were 994,400 unemployed individuals, representing an unemployment rate of 25.6%, +0.2% vs previous quarter and +7.3% vs same quarter of 2008.

- Unemployment increased in the agriculture sector and decreased everywhere else including in the construction sector (-10.7%) vs previous quarter.

- There are 302,900 households where all its members are unemployed.

- The number of unemployed individuals increased in all provinces of Andalucia except Malaga. The highest unemployment rate can be found in Almeria (30.6%), Cordoba (27.9%) and Granada (27.4%); the lowest in Huelva (22.1%).