Global News What Happened To...?

Eleven years ago, Haiti was rocked by a seven-magnitude earthquake that killed, injured and displaced hundreds of thousands of people.Franciscot Auguste was living in the country at the time with his mother and four other siblings.He said Jan. 12, 2010, started out like a normal day that is until he realized the shaking he was feeling was an earthquake; he acted immediately and ran outside of the building.20 seconds after he escaped the three storey building came crumbling down and he heard chaos around him.Shock and adrenaline coursed through Auguste; he escaped death by seconds. He thought everyone made it out safely, but his brother was still unaccounted for.13-year-old brother, Peterson Auguste, was killed by the earthquake.In the days after the earthquake international foreign aid began flooding into the country; more than $13-billion was pledged to help rebuild the small Caribbean country.On this episode of Global News What Happened To…?, Erica Vella finds out what happened to the money that was raised. She also finds out what happened to Franciscot Auguste and how his life changed after the earthquake.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of Alan Kurdi and the Syrian refugee crisis (Part 2)In 2012, Ruba Bilal was living in Damascus, Syria with her husband and two sons; she had reached a level of stability in her life, but the country where she had lived her whole life was in the middle of a dangerous civil war.Bilal said she was an activist in her community and worked on providing aid to people who were in areas that were under siege, but her family had concerns that she would be taken and detained because of the work she was doing.That year, Bilal and her family felt tensions beginning to mount and she said they made the decision to temporarily relocate to Lebanon.As the civil war continued, it was clear Bilal and her family would never have the chance to return to Syria and she submitted an application to LifeLife Syria, an organization that connects Syrian refugees with potential sponsors in Canada.In 2016, she learned her family would be coming to Canada as privately sponsored refugees.Bilal and her family were one of thousands who came to Canada in 2016, after the federal government made promises to resettle 25,000 Syrian refugees.The commitment came after a photo of two-year-old Alan Kurdi garnered international attention on the dangers refugees undertake to seek safety.Kurdi and his family were attempting to cross the Mediterranean Sea by boat after fleeing war-torn Syria. On the journey Alan, his brother Ghalib and mother Rehana perished; Abdullah Kurdi, Alan and Ghalib's father, was the only one to survive.On this episode of Global News What Happened To…?, Erica Vella speaks with Bilal about how she and her family adapted to life in Canada. She also finds out what happened to the Kurdi family and if the federal government has continued its commitment to resettle refugees in Canada.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

In early September in 2015, a photo of a young boy lying lifeless on a beach in the Mediterranean captured the world’s attention. The picture showed two-year-old Alan Kurdi lying face down in the sand.Kurdi and his family were attempting to cross the Mediterranean by boat after fleeing war-torn Syria, but on the journey Alan, his brother Ghalib and mother Rehana perished; Abdullah Kurdi, the family’s father and husband, was the only one to survive.Tima Kurdi, Abdullah’s sister and Alan’s aunt, spoke about the night the family boarded the boat in Bodrum, Turkey.Tima said she went to grab her phone and noticed she had dozens of missed calls; she called her sister-in-law who was living in Turkey.The journey the Kurdi family took was one thousands of Syrians attempted at the height of the civil war.On this episode of the Global News What Happened to...? journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of Alan Kurdi and the Syrian refugee crisis and speaks with Tima about the Kurdi family’s devastating journey and finds out how the photo of Alan mobilized Canada to take action and help thousands of Syrians fleeing persecution.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Global News What Happened To...? journalist Erica Vella revisits the 2013 Lac Megantic train derailment.In the early hours of July 6, 2013, a train carrying petroleum crude oil crashed into the centre of Lac Megantic, a small town in Quebec.The downtown core erupted in flames; 47 people perished, 2,000 people were evacuated from their homes. The tragedy marks one of the worst rail disasters in Canadian history.The incident happened at 1:15 a.m. July 6, 2013, when a runaway train with 72 oil tankers — owned and operated by the now-bankrupt railway company Montreal Maine and Atlantic Railway Ltd. (MMA) — barreled into the town at over 100 km/h.Along with the 47 deaths, much of the town was also destroyed.The Transportation Safety Board launched an investigation into the derailment and found 18 factors led to the Lac-Megantic disaster, including poor training, mechanical problems and sloppy safety oversight, a Transportation Safety Board (TSB) investigation concluded.Three men, Tom Harding, Richard Labrie and Jean Demaitre, were charged following the derailment, but in 2018 a jury had found the men not guilty.On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?, Erica Vella visits the town of Lac Megantic to speak with people who witnessed the tragedy over seven years ago. She describes what the town looks like know and finds out if any changes were made to ensure a derailment like this never happens again.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.caIf you enjoy Global News What Happened To...?, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, tell us what you think and share the show with your friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Following years of drought, Australia was ravaged by sweeping bushfires that began in 2019; 33 people were killed and thousands of others were displaced.Bushfires are an annual threat during Australia’s dry summers, but this wave of fires came early, catching many by surprise.The speed of the fires, coupled with the consistently dry conditions, created a situation firefighters struggled to control.New South Wales, a coastal state, was the hardest hit. The region located in the eastern part of the country is home to about six million people.Nathan Barnden, who has been working as a volunteer firefighter for the New South Wales Rural Fire Service since he was 16 years old, knew the 2019 fires were going to be bad ones.According to Australia’s Department of Agriculture, Water and the Environment, more than 10 million hectares of land was affected.The World Wildlife Fund estimates the bushfires killed or displaced nearly three billion animals, including 143 million mammals, 2.5 billion reptiles, 180 million birds and 51 million frogs.The devastation motivated people around the world to donate.The Wildlife Information Rescue and Education Service — also known as WIRES — received more than $90 million to help native Australian wildlife.In this episode, Erica Vella speaks with Barnden about his story, learns about the animals and land that was destroyed and finds out how the country is recovering since the massive blaze a year ago.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.caIf you enjoy Global News What Happened To...?, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, tell us what you think and share the show with your friends Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

Brandon Wolf recalls the hours leading up to June 12, 2016 vividly. He said he made plans to go out with his friends Christopher Andrew (Drew) Leinonen and Juan Ramon Guerrero.They decided to go to Pulse, a gay nightclub in Orlando.At 2:02 a.m. a man armed with a semi-automatic rifle and a handgun walked into the tightly packed club and began firing.The massacre is on record as one of the deadliest mass shootings of LGBTQ2S+ people in the U.S. Forty-nine people were killed and 53 others were injured by gunfire, most of whom were LGBTQ2S+ and many were people of colour.On this episode, Erica Vella revisits the story of the Pulse nightclub shooting in Orlando, Fla., on June 12, 2016 and speaks with Brandon Wolf about his experience as a survivor and how witnessing the shooting that night changed the course of his life.She also finds what happened to the nightclub and the investigation into the mass shooting and if the events led to any changes in the U.S.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.caIf you enjoy Global News What Happened To...?, please take a minute to rate it on Apple Podcasts or Google Podcasts, tell us what you think and share the show with your friends. Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the SARS epidemic that gripped parts of Canada in 2003.This year has been an unprecedented year as the world battles the COVID-19 pandemic, but 17 years ago, parts of the world faced another coronavirus -- Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome, better known as SARS.Erica Vella looks back at the SARS epidemic and explains how one super-spreading event brought the virus to Toronto, where health-care workers were among the hardest hit.Sylvia Gordon was working in the critical care unit at Scarborough Grace Hospital in 2003 and there was one day in early March that she recalls vividly.“I was doing a day shift -- a 12-hour day shift -- we had trouble staffing and I stayed on for an extra hour or so,” she said.“Just as I was on my way out the door, I heard deep snoring. I thought, wow somebody is in trouble. I went in the room and sure enough, the patient was having like a cardiac arrest. So I put my bag down and called a code and we began resuscitating him.”At the time, Gordon had no idea that the patient she was resuscitating had SARS and she was now infected with the virus.“Initially I thought I was coming down with the flu. It was, you know -- you're coughing and you're feeling lethargic, running the temperature and just body pain, aches and pains all over,” she said.Gordon called in sick and explained what she was feeling.“I was told 'gosh, you know, you're not the first one. We've been getting a number of calls from other colleagues that they're not able to make it to work, that they're ill.' And then I started figuring out, well, maybe we contracted something. So I started calling my colleagues and then they described the same symptoms.”In Canada, there were 438 probable and suspect SARS cases reported and there were 44 deaths that included three health-care workers.Globally, the virus killed more than 800 people.Erica Vella finds out what changes were made following the SARS epidemic to protect health-care workers in Ontario and most importantly, if it helped in the battle ahead with COVID-19.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of Global News What Happened To...?,, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the ice bucket challenge.In 2014, social media feeds were flooded with videos of people showering themselves in ice cold water; the goal was to raise awareness and money for ALS.Julie Frates’ husband, Pete Frates, was one of the co-creators.“Our good friend Pat Quinn, who has ALS and lives in New York, he was challenged and in that challenge, he also named one of Pete's good friends,” she said.“Pete saw it immediately and thought, okay … everyone's got to get on this right away and I remember sitting down that night at dinner and he directed all of us to go on Facebook and just continually start challenging people and sharing it.”The campaign went viral; celebrities like Justin Timberlake, Jimmy Fallon and Bill Gates joined in on the dare and globally over $220 million dollars was raised.“It was unfathomable,” she said.“It was shocking for us and it was shocking for everyone in the medical community. Everyone who had spent their whole career trying to research this disease; it was kind of like such a huge windfall. It was amazing and overwhelming and completely hard to grasp.”Pete was diagnosed with amyotrophic lateral sclerosis in 2012. The disease weakens muscles and impairs physical functioning. There is no known cure.Erica Vella speaks with the family that started the viral campaign to see what has happened since 2014 and endeavors to answer; did it lead to any positive change?Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode of the Global News What Happened To...?, journalist Erica Vella revisits the story of the 33 trapped Chilean miners.On Aug. 5, 2010, the San Jose Mine in Chile collapsed while 33 men were underground. Mario Sepulveda, who has worked in the mining industry for almost two decades, spoke to Global News through a translator and said he remembers the day vividly.At approximately 2 p.m., Sepulveda said he began hearing really loud noises.Above ground, teams of people had been working to find the trapped miners, unaware if they had survived, but on Aug. 22, contact was made with the 33 men after a drill broke through.For 69 days in 2010, the world held its breath hoping for the safe return of 33 men trapped in a mine in Chile and people from all over the world helped in the rescue – including members of the National Aeronautics and Space Administration. Erica Vella speaks with one of the miners and members of the teams that helped in the rescue. She also finds out what changes were made to the mining industry following the collapse.Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices

On this episode Erica Vella revisits the 2011 Great East Japan Earthquake and the nuclear crisis that followed at the Fukushima Daiichi plant.On Mar. 11, 2011, a magnitude-9.0 earthquake rocked parts of Japan and triggered a massive tsunami that killed almost 20,000 people.Kazuko Moghul, who lives in Ontario, said she had family in parts of Japan that was hit by the earthquake and tsunami.“I watched the program of NHK [Japan Broadcasting Corporation]. … I realized a big earthquake and huge tsunami hit Tohoku region,” she said.“I knew I had to contact my family right away.”Moghul tried to get in touch with her family that day, but had no luck and in the days that followed she would learn that earthquake and deadly waves would take the lives of four family members.The natural disaster caused the Daiichi nuclear power plant in Fukushima to go into meltdown.Ontario resident, Dan Ayotte, an employee for General Electric, was working in the offices of nuclear plant when the earthquake hit.“I really didn't think we were going get out. I thought the building was going to come down,” he said.While Ayotte managed to escape and make it back to his home in Peterborough, Ont., a nuclear crisis was unfolding at the Daiichi plant and concerns had been raised around if people in Canada had been exposed to unsafe levels of radiation.On this episode of Global News What Happened to…? Erica Vella speaks with Moghul and Ayotte; she also discovers if the nuclear disaster affected people living on Canada’s west coast.For more exclusive content head over to https://globalnews.ca/news/7457185/whatever-happened-to-podcast-great-east-japan-earthquake-daiichi-nuclear-crisis/ Contact:Twitter: @ericavellaEmail: erica.vella@globalnews.ca Learn more about your ad choices. Visit megaphone.fm/adchoices