What’s Happening Today?

International Town Criers Day. It is a day to remember the people called Town Criers, also known as “Bellmen,” normally celebrated on the second Monday in July. The role that these criers play is to call out public announcements in the streets of the towns. Town criers were are currently playing a big role in the sensitization drive to prevent the spread of COVID-19 in many Ugandan towns.

National Simplicity Day (USA). The holiday falls on this date every year to honor the birthday of Henry David Thoreau, who was born on this day in 1817. Thoreau advocated for living a simpler life to better get in touch with the knowledge that people know about themselves that ‘transcends’ all the external forces in their lives. 

What Happened Today?

1.    In 1995, Chinese seismologists successfully predicted the 1995 Myanmar–China earthquake, reducing the number of casualties to 11. After a foreshock on July 10, the Yunnan Seismological Bureau in China dispatched a team to the region closest to the epicenter. A meeting was also conducted and seismologists concluded that a mainshock of magnitude of ~7.0 was likely to strike. An evacuation order was recommended by scientists from the Yunnan Provincial Earthquake Administration after the forecast. Less than 30 hours after that forecast, the mainshock struck.

2.    In 1996, LRA rebels killed 115 individuals at the Acholi Pii refugee camp in northern Uganda. Following the attack, an operation was conducted where 350 LRA rebels and 285 West Bank Nile Front (WBNF) rebels were killed by government troops.

3.    In 2012, a tank truck explosion killed more than 100 people in Okobie, Nigeria. According to the German website DW, the victims literally died for oil as they were scooping up the "black gold" spilling out of the vehicle before it exploded.

Birthdays

1.    1970 – Paulo Kafeero, deceased kandongokamu musician, considered by most to be the best musician of all time in this genre in Uganda.

2.    1997 - Malala Yousafzai, Pakistani activist for female education and the youngest Nobel Prize laureate. 

Sources: Wikipedia, checkiday, bornglorious & nationaltoday.com

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