Cyclone Cheneso makes landfall in Madagascar
Tropical Cyclone Cheneso was a strong tropical cyclone that affected Madagascar in January 2023. It was first monitored at RSMC La Réunion on 17 January. Despite convection wrapping into the curved band pattern, the system formed into a tropical depression on 18 January. The depression strengthened into Severe Tropical Storm Cheneso on the following day. Cheneso made landfall over northern Madagascar and weakened into an inland depression, before emerging into the Mozambique Channel. The National Office for Risk and Disaster Management (BNGRC) has reported 33 deaths and 20 missing. The agency reports a total 90,870 affected people, 34,100 of which were displaced.
Plasco Building collapse
The Plasco Building is a 20-story high-rise (5 floors below and 15 floors above ground) landmark building in Tehran, the capital city of Iran. The former building at the time of its construction in the 1960s, it was the tallest building in Iran and was considered an iconic part of the Tehran skyline. It collapsed on 19 January 2017 during a high-rise fire. Construction of the new building began in 2018 and was completed in 2021.
Nicholas Ambraseys was born
Nicholas Ambraseys was a Greek engineering seismologist. He was emeritus professor of engineering seismology and senior research fellow at Imperial College London. For many years Ambraseys was considered the leading figure and an authority in earthquake engineering and seismology in Europe.
Henry Bessemer was born
Sir Henry Bessemer was an English inventor, whose steel-making process would become the most important technique for making steel in the nineteenth century for almost one hundred years from 1856 to 1950. He also played a significant role in establishing the town of Sheffield, nicknamed 'Steel City', as a major industrial centre. Bessemer had been trying to reduce the cost of steel-making for military ordnance, and developed his system for blowing air through molten pig iron to remove the impurities. This made steel easier, quicker and cheaper to manufacture, and revolutionised structural engineering. One of the most significant inventors of the Second Industrial Revolution, Bessemer also made over 100 other inventions in the fields of iron, steel and glass.
San Agustin Church was completed
The Church of Saint Augustine, also known as the Archdiocesan Shrine of Our Lady of Consolation and Cincture or the Immaculate Conception Parish, is a Roman Catholic church under the auspices of the Order of Saint Augustine located inside the historic walled city of Intramuros in Manila, Philippines. Completed in 1607, it is the oldest stone church in the country. In 1993, San Agustin Church was one of four Philippine churches constructed during the Spanish colonial period to be designated as a World Heritage Site by UNESCO, under the collective title Baroque Churches of the Philippines. It was named a National Historical Landmark by the Philippine government in 1976.
