NEWS CREDIT: Disaster Watch
Monday, July 7, 2008 -
QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.
Largest quakes yesterday -
7/6/08 -
5.2 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.5 PHILIPPINE ISLANDS REGION
5.7 KURIL ISLANDS
5.5 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
5.6 KURIL ISLANDS
CHINA - The 12 May earthquake that rocked Sichuan Province in China was the first there in recorded history and unexpected in its magnitude.
VOLCANOES -
HAWAII - More lava than usual is spilling from Hawaii’s Kilauea volcano into the ocean. The lava is emerging near the Pacific on the southeastern side of the Big Island.
FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
AUSTRALIA - FREAK king tide hits boat ramp - A river boat launch ramp and a car park were flooded by a RARE king tide last Wednesday. The event was caused by the combination of strong southerly winds pushing water into the bay and the incoming high tide. “It’s a FAIRLY FREAKISH occurrence. We haven’t had one for years.”
TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Hurricane Bertha was located about 845 miles east of the Northern Leeward Islands.
Tropical depression 5-E made landfall just west of Lazaro Cardenas in SW Mexico. (The remnants of the depression are expected to produce very heavy rain and the potential exists for flash floods and mudslides over the mountainous terrain of Mexico.)
Bertha became the first hurricane of the 2008 Atlantic season today and its winds were expected to strengthen further over the next few days at open sea. Tropical storm force winds extend outward up to 25 miles from Bertha’s center. Forecasters said it was still too early to determine if Bertha will eventually hit land.
There is another tropical cyclone forming about three days behind Bertha below the Cape Verde Islands that could develop into a tropical depression soon. Conditions in that region are favorable for tropical cyclone formation and it would become Tropical Storm Cristobal once the winds reach a sustained speed of 39mph or more.
PHILIPPINES - More than a thousand fishermen died or went missing during the height of typhoon Frank (international codename: Fengshen) and have received little attention and help from the national government. There are 119 fishing vessels that sank during the typhoon.
BURMA - It has been two months since Cyclone Nargis, which struck Myanmar on May 2, devastating entire communities and killing thousands and destroying the lives of thousands more. Though eight weeks have passed, the needs facing survivors remain critical. Future outbreaks of disease among the survivors are a concern, particularly as the heavy rains continue. Many diseases, including malaria and dengue, are endemic in Myanmar. Currently, people lack adequate access to food, shelter or clean water, their vulnerability to disease increases.
INDIA - Every year nature unleashes its fury as the monsoon arrives but for residents of Uttar Durgapur, a tiny village, a lesson learnt is that mother nature gives ample signals of the impending disaster and it pays if one learns and accordingly prepares for the same. Residents of this village near Kulpi in South 24 Parganas district of coastal West Bengal have learnt just that and hope to use it to avert major tragedies. “Ants carrying eggs to higher positions in the house, snails inching up higher grounds in the fields and flocks of grasshoppers flying haphazardly indicate rainy weather coupled with strong wind and cyclone.”
HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
THAILAND - June rain BROKE 20-YEAR RECORD in Chandigarh. Chandigarh experienced the highest recorded June rainfall in the last 20 years - breaking the previous record of 256.6mm in 1988.
CHINA - More extreme weather for China over the last few days. Heavy rain is causing floods and traffic chaos in many parts of the country. Over 95% of the flights at Beijing’s Capital International Airport were delayed or cancelled on Friday. The heaviest rainstorm in the city so far this summer also flooded the airport expressway and a major subway line.
NORWAY - An UNUSUALLY powerful thunderstorm struck Oslo Saturday afternoon, flooding streets, downing power lines and setting several fires. Many homes in Oslo and Baerum lost electricity, as well as telephone and TV signals. Many were stranded on outlying islands, where they had been enjoying a sunny summer afternoon at the beach.
U.S. -
MIDWEST - Mosquitoes and a muskrat may not be part of biblical flooding prophecies, but in the United States Midwest region, these two creatures are yet another sign of the rain-soaked times. After heavy spring precipitation, multiple rivers throughout the central United States overflowed, causing flooding in several states in early June. The Farm Bureau has pegged Iowa’s agricultural losses alone at roughly $4 billion. Other states hurt by flooding are: Illinois, $1.3 billion; Missouri, $900 million; Indiana, $500 million; Nebraska $500 million; and an additional $1 billion in remaining wet states. As of July 3, the National Weather Service indicated that flooding continued to affect 60 locations, with major flooding in eight towns, primarily along the border of Missouri and Illinois.
EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
SOUTH KOREA - Nation braces for heat wave - steamy weather is likely to continue through this week with some regions being put under a heat wave alert.
KUWAIT - Several fires reported as Kuwait sizzles in grip of heat wave.
CALIFORNIA - Heatwave looms as wildires rage across California - hundreds of wildfires are still raging across California as forecasters warned on Sunday that a looming heatwave was set to deliver drier, hotter conditions.
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NEWS FOR Sunday, July 6, 2008 -
Largest quakes yesterday -
7/5/08 -
5.0 NEAR N COAST OF PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.1 RAT ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.3 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 SEA OF OKHOTSK
7.7 SEA OF OKHOTSK
7/4/08 -
5.1 LAPTEV SEA
7/3/08 -
5.6 TRINIDAD REGION, TRINIDAD-TOBAGO
6.2 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS
VOLCANOES -
CHILE declared a red alert around the Llaima volcano on Friday, just days after it spewed lava down one of its sides. The red alert affected a lightly populated area that is home to about 40 people on the slopes of the volcano. Llaima’s renewed activity, which on Thursday was quite significant, comes after the Chaiten volcano, 760 miles (1,220 km) south of Santiago, started erupting on May 2 for the first time in thousands of years, spewing out ash, gas and molten rock. (photo)
On Friday, the Llaima volcano could not be seen, due to snowmelt and heavy rainfall in the entire area of Melipeuco, Vilcún and Cherquenco. The rising water levels of the Calbuco River are currently the most daunting concern for the area.
INDONESIA - Geological experts in Indonesia Friday issued an alert, advising tourists not to climb Mount Anak Krakatau because it’s spewing red-hot rocks and toxic fumes. The warning was the highest level alert possible.
SICILY - Mount Etna has been releasing continuous plumes of ash and steam since late June. (satellite photo)
FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
BANGLADESH - A sea surge blamed on monsoonal storms marooned 200,000 people in Bangladesh when a number of villages in southern coastal districts were swamped.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical Storm Bertha is THE FIRST STORM ON RECORD TO DEVELOP OFF THE AFRICAN COAST IN JULY. July storms typically develop in the Gulf of Mexico, the Eastern Caribbean Sea, or in the Western Atlantic off the coast of the Carolinas or Florida.
Tropical waves emerging from Africa have been stronger in this early season than last year, and Atlantic Ocean water temperatures between Africa and the Caribbean Sea ran higher than normal through June. Water temperatures in much of the tropical Atlantic last month were about 1 degree above normal. Those elements are important because warm water becomes fuel for hurricanes.
PHILIPPINES - The La Niña episode that started in September 2007 has ended.
HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
PHILIPPINES - A landslide forced residents of a village, 102 families, to immediately vacate their homes Thursday afternoon in Zamboanga City. On Thursday, state weather forecasters warned people living in Southern Luzon, Western Visayas and the entire of Mindanao of possible landslides due to days of heavy rains.
BRITAIN - Weather experts have predicted torrential rain will hit Gloucestershire this weekend. The rain is on its way due to an “unseasonal drop of low pressure across the Atlantic” heading in the county’s direction. “It is an UNUSUAL Atlantic depression for this time of year and something we would usually see in January not July.”
IRELAND - From a landslide in Courtown, to flash flooding in Gorey, and howling winds damaging trees on the Main Street on July 1, Mother Nature has thrown it all at them over the past week. Summer 2007 has lived in legend as being one of the worst summers in recent years, but Summer 2008 is shaping up to throw another spanner in the works of the local tourist and agricultural trade.
BANGLADESH - Massive landslides and wall collapses caused by heavy monsoon rains on Thursday killed at least 11 people while two others drowned. Five houses were crushed under mud.
COTE D’IVOIRE - Heavy rains in Abidjan have displaced 450 families and killed six people.
CANADA - June’s weather is being called a month of extremes. The COLDEST JUNE TEMPERATURE ON RECORD of 1.6 degrees was recorded on the 11th. And the HOTTEST JUNE TEMPERATURE ON RECORD, 37.9 degrees happened during the late afternoon of the 29th. The previous June benchmarks were 1.9 degrees and 36.8 degrees. One other UNUSUAL June weather factor was the number of days with thunderstorms was greater than average, 9 compared to an average of 6.
28,000 lighting flashes, a heat wave and RECORD RAINFALL pounded on British Columbia this past week. From Sunday, the 29th of June to Saturday, July 5, there have been about 28,000 lightning flashes in the province. Lightning helped start about 190 forest fires in the province since Sunday.Tuesday evening, around the time when four Canadian Pacific Railway tanker cars were pushed off the tracks by a rock or mudslide, about 200 mm - nearly eight inches - of rain fell in a two-hour period. “Buckets that were empty were filled to about [200 mm]. That’s EXTRAORDINARY. ”
The Windsor area has experienced the WETTEST JUNE ON RECORD, with an estimated 172 millimetres of rain falling in the region throughout the month. That beats the previous 1960 record of 162.1 millimetres and far exceeds last year’s June rainfall, pegged at 65.2 millimetres.
U.S.-
VIRGINIA - Wildfires. Floods. Tornadoes. Blizzards. This is shaping up to be an EXTRAORDINARILY INTENSE weather year across the nation. It’s worth going back to take a look at some of the biggest weather events that have already occurred in Southwest Virginia, all the while keeping in mind that the typically hottest weeks of summer, most of the Atlantic tropical season and the start of a new winter are all still ahead in 2008.
Feb. 10 wind storm - The National Weather Service in Blacksburg had significant damage reported in all 40 of the counties it covers in three states, an UNPRECEDENTED coverage of wind damage in its forecast area. Several hours of 30 to 50 mph winds with gusts topping 70 on a partly cloudy afternoon caused widespread damage to trees, power lines, roof shingles, and even some structures across virtually all of Southwest Virginia. Some 360 wildfires were sparked, THE MOST ON RECORD IN ONE DAY.
June 3 Roanoke tornado - estimated $350,000 in damage. It was the FIRST CONFIRMED TORNADO WITHIN THE CITY IN 34 YEARS.
<> MASSACHUSETTS - A pool of cold air hovering over south-central Canada, coupled with a hot and humid air mass over southern New England, have created turbulent weather in Boston. A cold pocket above that humid air mass made the storms more severe.
WISCONSIN - June closed as ONE OF THE WETTEST ON RECORD for parts of Wisconsin. Madison and Milwaukee both got about 11 inches of rain. Typically in June, southern Wisconsin gets four to four and a-half inches of rain. Madison’s previous record of nearly 10 inches was set 30 years ago. Milwaukee’s last record of just over 10 inches was set in 1917. Even before June was half over, many parts of southern Wisconsin got drenched with 8 to 16 inches of rain.
MICHIGAN - it was the WETTEST JUNE ON RECORD at Houghton Lake, which normally receives 2.93 inches of rain but got 9.2 inches last month. Lake City, 30 miles to the west, normally sees 2.95 inches of rain but was inundated with 10.66 inches last month. The weather service measured 5.66 inches of rain at Grand Rapids, 1.99 inches above normal. Almost half that total, 2.71 inches, fell on June 7-8.
EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
CANADA - More than 2800 people in Canada have been forced to leave their homes as wildfires ravage the province of Saskatchewan.
“It’s the same as having a volcano go off.” A cool front moving in over the fires is setting up the kind of explosive conditions that can send smoke billowing into the stratosphere. The fires are giving researchers an unprecedented close-up look at boreal fires, which are expected to grow more common as the climate changes.
TEXAS faces 6th drought in past 12 years — For many farmers and ranchers, it’s becoming an all-too-familiar routine: One drought ends and another begins.
GREECE - Meteorologists are warning of record temperatures next week, when a mini-heatwave is expected to sweep most areas of Greece. According to the forecasts, the hottest days will be Tuesday and Wednesday, when the mercury is expected to soar as high as 41 degrees centigrade.
Extreme weather events predicted for warming North America - Atlanta is thirsty, New York is sizzling, Des Moines is flooded - all these situations have happened this year, and a new federal government report predicts an increasing frequency of the same kinds of extremes across North America as the planet warms. Droughts, heavy downpours, excessive heat, and intense hurricanes are likely to become more common. “We are now witnessing and will increasingly experience more extreme weather and climate events.” A warming world will be accompanied by changes in the intensity, duration, frequency, and geographic extent of weather and climate extremes. The strongest cold season storms in the Atlantic and Pacific are likely to produce stronger winds and higher extreme wave heights. Most of North America is experiencing more UNUSUALLY hot days and nights and fewer unusually cold days. The last 10 years have seen FEWER SEVERE COLD WAVES THAN ANY OTHER 10 YEAR PERIOD IN THE HISTORICAL RECORD, which dates back to 1895. The number of heat waves has been increasing since 1950.
Hot future shock: Heat-Wave temperatures forecast to soar - According to one researcher, by the end of the century, high temperatures for once-in-a-generation heat waves will rise twice as fast as everyday average temperatures. Chicago, for example, would reach 115 degrees in such an event by 2100. Paris heat waves could near 109 with Lyon coming closer to 114. “Extreme temperature puts a huge demand on the body, especially anyone with heart problems.” And it’s not just at the end of the century.
AUSTRALIA is in for a tenfold increase in heat waves as climate change sends the mercury soaring. The surge in heat waves is predicted to hit from 2010. A report by the nation’s top scientists has found exceptionally hot years - which used to occur once every 22 years - will occur every one or two years. Under the worst case scenario, every year would be exceptionally hot. The report makes alarming reading. “Parts of these high-level projections read more like a disaster novel than a scientific report.” Droughts will occur twice as often and cover twice the area due to climate change. The proportion of the country having an exceptionally hot year will increase from just under 5% each year, to as high as 95%.
The risk of extinction for many species may have been seriously underestimated, according to new research. Current methods used to assess species on the brink overlook some key factors. These include the ratio of males to females in a population, which can have a profound influence on survival. For some species, the risk could be a hundred times greater than previously thought.
FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
BIOFUELS have forced global food prices up by 75% – far more than previously estimated – according to a confidential World Bank report. The figure contradicts US Government estimates that plant-derived fuels have contributed less than 3% to food-price increases. Rising food prices have pushed 100 million people worldwide below the poverty line. The report said the EU and US drive for biofuels has had the biggest impact on food supply and prices. “Without the increase in biofuels, global wheat and maize stocks would not have declined appreciably and price increases due to other factors would have been moderate.”
IRAQ - After struggling through five years of war, Iraq is facing an acute drought, which has slashed agricultural production and threatens to decimate livestock.
STRAWBERRIES - FINLAND - On Wednesday, tens of thousands of kilograms of ripe and unripe strawberries were destroyed in Suonenjoki, central Finland, when an UNUSUALLY fierce hail storm pummelled fields.
CANTELOPES - U.S. - Delays and shortages should continue to limit cantaloupe availability, possibly through July, grower-shippers said. Cold, windy weather that affected pollination and plants’ first bloom, and later scorching heat that hurt vines and left fruit sunburned, reduced the first half of the Bakersfield-California area crop by 30-40%. A week of high temperatures in Arizona “pretty much wiped out” late shipments from there, putting additional upward pressure on markets.
SOD - Wisconsin - Between the winter’s record-breaking snowfall and June’s record-breaking rainfall, sod farmers in the state’s southeast region are worried about meeting crop demands this year. And with such high prices for commodities, input costs have some farmers facing substantial losses. “If we keep getting this kind of weather, we’re in trouble.” A preliminary estimate by Wisconsin Emergency Management for total agriculture damage topped $146 million in seven counties, although 22 counties have reported losses. Sod grows for an average of 18 months before it can be sold.
U.S. - Global warming will bring more drought to the US within the next 50 years, leading to crop disruptions that fuel food inflation.
CHINA - Add locusts to China’s list of calamities - First there was the freak snowstorm in February. Then the Sichuan earthquake, widespread flooding and an algae bloom that is tarnishing the Olympic sailing venue.
AUSTRALIA - The Australian state of New South Wales is facing both a major drought and a locust invasion that could devastate food supplies. And consumers are facing the prospect of further price hikes, with a failure of winter crops likely to increase the cost of food. June was a “horror” month for the south-western region, where just 10mm of rain fell in some parts. Dam levels also were very low in crop-producing areas, particularly in the Snowy Mountains and the central west of the state, squeezing irrigation supplies. A locust plague devastated the state in 2005, wreaking $1 billion in damage to crops.
Global Inflationary Pressures: No End in Sight - Worldwide, prices of commodities like crude oil, wheat and rice have skyrocketed in the last year or so. Policymakers have been finding themselves especially helpless in the present situation due to the “global” nature of the current inflation. Inflationary pressures, coming at a time when there are palpable signs of economic slowdown, have been spooking the global governments, policymakers, financial authorities and marketmen alike.
HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.
Twnety-one homeless people die after bird flu vaccine trial in Poland - Three Polish doctors and six nurses are facing criminal prosecution after a number of homeless people died following medical trials for a vaccine to the H5N1 bird-flu virus. The medical staff, from the northern town of Grudziadz, are being investigated over medical trials on as many as 350 homeless and poor people last year, which prosecutors say involved an untried vaccine to the highly-contagious virus. Authorities claim that the alleged victims received £1-2 to be tested with what they thought was a conventional flu vaccine but, according to investigators, was actually an anti bird-flu drug. The news of the investigation will come as another blow to the reputation of Poland’s beleaguered and poverty-stricken national health service. In 2002, a number of ambulance medics were found guilty of killing their patients for commissions from funeral companies.
Facilitated by the Coalition for Freedom of Information
Every 2 seconds, a child starves to death somewhere in the world. Countries such as Ethiopia and some Central American countries use their farmland to supply the United States with cheap burgers instead of growing healthful grain foods for their own starving people.
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