General Awareness Updates – April 2010

Places in News:

In a major terror strike, 15 persons were killed and over 60 injured in a bomb blast which ravaged the famous German Bakery in Pune. A group claiming affiliation with the Pakistan-based terror outfit, LeT, claimed responsibility for the heinous attack.

A world class seed vault has been established on the Siachen Glacier to preserve India’s biological wealth for future generations. The vault, which has a natural temperature between -20⁰ and -40⁰ Celsius, will hold samples of rice, pulses, peas and beans and can be used for building food programmes across the nation.

At least 65 people, nearly all of them women and children, were killed and 28 others injured in a stampede at Pratapgarh in Uttar Pradesh in a local ashram after a collapse of its gate triggered panic among about 10,000 people who had converged for a ritual.

India Aviation 2010, the second edition of India’s biggest civilian aviation expo, was held at Begumpet Airport in Hyderabad. About 190 companies, including 115 from abroad like Boeing, Airbus, Cessna, Bombardier, Beechcraft, and Bell participated in the event.

A 8.8 magnitude earthquake, one of the largest on record, killed at least 300 people in Chile and sent giant waves roaring across the Pacific Ocean that forced Japan to issue a major tsunami alert almost a day later. Two million Chileans have been affected but thousands rendered homeless. Highways in the South American nation of 16 million were sliced to pieces, bridges imploded and buildings collapsed as the 8.8-magnitude earthquake struck overnight some 325 kilometres southwest of the capital Santiago.