MYSTIC RADIO® with Robin Alexis wants to know, "Would you be willing to help people & pets survive a possible earth change?"

Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Hits Chile

By USGS
Jul 14, 2010

Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Hits Bio-Bio, Chile on Wednesday, July 14, 2010 at 08:32:22 UTC.

Location 38.002°S, 73.282°W ; Depth 28.4 km (17.6 miles).

Distances 55 km (35 miles) SE of Lebu, Bio-Bio, Chile ; 100 km (65 miles) NW of Temuco, Araucania, Chile ;100 km (65 miles) SW of Los Angeles, Bio-Bio, Chile and 560 km (345 miles) SSW of SANTIAGO, Region Metropolitana, Chile.

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18 Dead, 57 Missing After Tropical Storm Conson Rakes Philippines

By CNN
Jul 14, 2010

Eighteen people were killed and 57 others are missing as Tropical Storm Conson moved over the Philippines, the country's National Disaster Coordinating Council reported Wednesday.

The storm, known locally as "Basyang," had weakened slightly, the council said. As of 4 p.m. Wednesday (4 a.m. ET), its maximum sustained winds were at 53 mph (85 kph) near its center and gusts of up to 62 mph (100 kph).

Conson made landfall on the northern Philippine island of Luzon late Tuesday, about 41 miles (66 kilometers) east of the capital, Manila. It was back over the South China Sea, about 112 miles (180 kilometers) west of Iba, as of Wednesday afternoon.

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BP Announces Another Delay As Gulf Gusher Flows

By NPR News
Jul 14, 2010

BP said it has temporarily halted drilling on a nearly complete relief well in the Gulf of Mexico as a precaution while it tests the viability of a new temporary cap.

Kent Wells, a senior vice president with the British oil giant, said at a news conference Wednesday morning that the company would delay drilling on the relief well by as much as 48 hours. The relief well is meant as a conduit to plug the main well with mud and cement, snuffing off the flow of crude once and for all.

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Haiti: Summer Storm Floods 'Safe' Refugee Camp

By Associated Press
Jul 14, 2010

CORAIL-CESSELESSE, Haiti - A summer storm ripped through tents and sent solar-powered streetlights crashing down at the government's primary relocation camp for people left homeless by the January earthquake.

The storm damage on Monday, six months to the day after the disaster, intensified questions about why people were moved to the remote location from tent camps in the Haitian capital.

The Associated Press reported this week that area has been slated for major development by Haitian officials and businessmen, who are in ongoing negotiations with South Korean garment firms to build factories there, and that the land it is on belongs to a company whose president headed the relocation effort.

The isolated desert plain of Corail-Cesselesse, some 15 miles (24 kilometers) north of Port-au-Prince, was billed as a safe relocation point where people would be protected from strong winds and floods. Thousands were moved there in April from the capital's Petionville Club golf-course camp managed by actor Sean Penn.

Numerous aid groups, U.N. peacekeepers and the U.S. military helped with its construction.

It is now clear that the new camp, currently home to 7,000 people, sits atop a flood plain as well.

On Monday, torrents of water and high winds from the isolated storm collapsed 344 tents and sent 1,700 people - a quarter of the camp - fleeing for new shelters, according to the International Organization for Migration.

Six people were injured by flying tent poles and rushed to hospitals. The collapse of the lights plunged the well-appointed camp into darkness, said Georgia McPeak of the American Refugee Committee, which manages the camp.

Terrified residents fled through racing streams toward any covering they could find. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

"People are not going to tolerate this situation anymore," said a young man who only identified himself as Alphonse. "We came here and they told us that in three months we will be relocated. Six months have passed and we are still here."

Replacement tents, tarps, cooking pots and other lost items were delivered to the camp under U.N. police and military escort Tuesday morning, the International Organization for Migration said. By Tuesday afternoon the rain had returned.

Camp Corail is notable for its amenities. Where surrounding tarp cities are perched on hillsides and at risk of gang incursions, Corail had security, lighting, latrines and ShelterBox tents billed as storm-resistant. U.S. military engineers and U.N. peacekeepers graded the soil and covered it with gravel.

But aid groups said the relocation was hasty and poorly planned. The land has no trees and is backed by barren mountains, suggesting possible flood danger.

It is also far from food markets and potential jobs. More permanent shelters were promised but never built. Aid workers raced to put some up on Tuesday.

International Organization for Migration spokesman Leonard Doyle said the tent collapses serve as "fair warning" for the hurricane season, which intensifies as summer goes on.

"They need to hurry up and get more temproary shelters up," Doyle said. "Without a doubt tents are not designed for hurricanes. Even houses are not necessarily designed for hurricane conditions."

Prior to the relocation, the government claimed the camp land and surrounding area - one-and-a-quarter times the size of Manhattan - for public use through eminent domain.

The AP has confirmed that the land under the government-run camp is owned by Nabatec Development - a consortium whose president, Gerard-Emile "Aby" Brun, was in charge of the relocation effort. The company stands to gain part of a $7 million fund the government will spend compensating landowners.

Brun was asked to step down from the position after the relocation was complete, Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive said.

Monday marked the six-month commemoration of the Jan. 12 quake, which destroyed most of Port-au-Prince and surrounding cities and killed a government-estimated 230,000 to 300,000 people.

President Rene Preval hosted a medal ceremony at the crushed national palace to honor successes in the post-quake recovery effort. Penn was among the recipients, along with politicians, former U.S. President Bill Clinton, and official of Haiti and the U.N.

During the ceremony Preval announced that the emergency phase of the recovery was over and that long-awaited reconstruction will now press forward.

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Heatwave in Northern Europe

By BBC News
Jul 13, 2010

Europe is continuing to swelter under a heatwave which has sent temperatures soaring.

The punishing heat with temperatures as high as 40C (104F) has sparked a series of health warnings across the Northern region.

In Germany dozens of passengers on three trains had to be removed and some hospitalised after temperatures reached 50C (122F) after the air conditioning broke down during the weekend.

The spiritual disciplines we offer here on the Robin Alexis Reiki Healing On Line Soul Spa may or may not serve you as you make your world a better place. Let your own Higher Self discern what helps you get through the day feeling peace within.

You must be the change you want to see in the world.
Mahatma Gandhi
Indian political and spiritual leader (1869 - 1948)

This week we have Monday’s “AWAKENING YOUR CLAIRVOYANT ABILITIES MEDITATION”, Wednesday’s “DIVINE RIGHT PARTNERING MEDITATION”.

Details are below. The energy we create in these world wide group consciousness meditations is very powerful, so we hope you’ll join in.

MEDITATION INSTRUCTIONS:

These are GROUP MEDITATIONS, which means that everyone meditates on their own. People from all over the world are joining together at the same time, combining their collective energies into a powerful positive force of healing, while meditating from their homes or favorite places of meditation

Mary Magdalene has guided Robin to create meditations where participants connect to their Higher Selves first, and then connect in with other's Higher Selves in a group consciousness. This requires trusting that you will receive what is yours to receive in this meditation process.

This technique teaches the art of telepathy. Mary Magdalene is a strong teacher of this means of communication. When we share Higher Self to Higher Self, there is no harm that can be created for ourselves or anyone else.

These meditations will teach you to KNOW, TRUST, and ACT upon your own KNOWING, or in other words, these meditations will teach you to TRUST yourself, because you do have all the answers.

Up Coming Soul Spa Meditation Events:

MONDAY JULY 12, 2010---7:30 PM Pacific / 10:30 PM Eastern Time

AWAKENING YOUR CLAIRVOYANT ABILITIES. I will lead a Group Consciousness meditation with the specific purpose of awakening your clairvoyant abilities. Do you want to have access to your 3rd eye? Join in this group consciousness meditation and fine tune your clairvoyant abilities.

WEDNESDAY JULY 14, 2010--7:30 PM PACIFIC / 10:30 PM EASTERN TIME

DIVINE RIGHT PARTNERING MEDITATION. Please join the Mary Magdalene Wednesday night meditations on Divine Right Partnering. They always begin at 7:30 PM Pacific / 10:30 PM Eastern Time, and last approximately one hour. During this unique meditation experience, Mary Magdalene helps us connect Higher Self to Higher Self with our Divine Right Partners. Mary Magdalene helps existing relationships create stronger soul-full interactions, and if you are not presently in a relationship, this meditation will help you mend your soul's heart, and calibrate your senses to the Divine Lover within. Mary Magdalene also helps to create the synchronicity of the space for miracles to occur with Divine right timing of love connections here on Mother Earth. Many people are reporting shifts in communications with their partners to more joyful elevations, and many others are reporting that they are meeting and dating people with discussions of long term committed relationships. Each week as we do these meditations, the power is increasing as we join together with the intention of creating Divine family experiences on our planet.

TO PARTICIPATE IN THESE GROUP CONSCIOUSNESS MEDITATIONS, YOU MUST BE A SOUL SPA MEMBER AND HAVE THE MARY MAGDALENE REIKI HEALING ENERGY PORTAL FROM THE SOUL SPA OPEN. Log onto the website at www.RobinAlexis.com and Click on the Soul Spa button. Turn on the Mary Magdalene Reiki Healing Energy Portal and start your Meditation at the specific meditation time. That is all you have to do to participate in these powerful meditations. Allow yourself to feel the Energy and Consciousness of this worldwide group of people, all meditating on the same subject lead as I channel these meditations. You can mute the music or leave it on, that is a personal preference. You don’t necessarily have to be right in front of the computer. What I suggest is, after you turn the Portal on, you find a comfortable place in your home to either sit or lie down comfortably, for at least one hour, where you will not be disturbed.

Mary Magdalene suggests that you place a shawl or blanket around your shoulders to begin the meditation. If you don't have a shawl please place a blanket or poncho of your choice around your shoulders. Mary calls this the Mary Magdalene Meditation Shawl. As you place it about your shoulders you are wrapping yourself up with the knowing that you are Divinely Protected as you open up your energies to the Divine Feminine. If you don’t have a shawl or blanket that makes your heart sing, use a substitute that does make you feel good to wrap around your shoulders. If you would like to purchase a Meditation Shawl for our ongoing meditations there are some web sites at the bottom of this page that I’ve been referred to. Your Shawl is a very personal meditation tool. Find one that makes your heart sing.

You might also enjoy lighting a candle and/or some incense to prepare the energies in the room for your meditation time. Once you have prepared the space and yourself for this sacred time, simply get comfortable and imagine yourself as part of a group of people who are like minded and like spirited, gathering together with the intention of receiving sacred blessings from Saint Mary Magdalene. Do not be overly concerned about anything. Trust that what is yours will be telepathically transmitted to you. When the hour is up take your shawl or blanket off and put it in a sacred place until the next meditation. Blow out the candle. You are done. Enjoy!

I WOULD LIKE TO INVITE YOU TO SHARE AFTER THE MEDITATIONS. TO DO SO, GO TO THE MARY MAGDALENE REIKI HEALING EMERGY FORUM ON MY WEBSITE: www.RobinAlexis.com. Share your experiences of these meditations and read other people's experiences. You might want to follow the postings for a few days. I know that sometimes directly after a meditation transmission I am so busy in the inner world, I can barely produce a sound let alone write a thought, however, some people are profoundly descriptive about their experiences. I, for one, deeply appreciate reading them. I enjoy reading them the night of meditation or the days following.

HERE ARE WEBSITES TO SHOP FOR A SHAWL:

http://travelersteaco.com/

http://www.fashionscarvesandshawls.com/animalscarf.html

Namaste,

Robin Alexis
"Mystic Radio with Robin Alexis"
Alternative Talk-AM 1150-KKNW Seattle
LISTEN on the INTERNET: http://www.1150kknw.com
Wednesdays 12:00 NOON (Pacific Time)

http://www.stockstorage.com/?gclid=CPOrmuyr5KICFUf75wodenwW9g

Destruction In China - 600-thousand people relocated
By NECN
Jul 11, 2010

Floods, landslides and mud flows, triggered by days of torrential rains, have left 50 people dead and 15 missing in parts of central and southern China.

A total of 17.2 million residents have been affected by flood-related disasters in eight provinces and one municipality.

The Ministry of Civil Affairs says that nearly 600-thousand people have been relocated in the provinces of Zhejiang, Anhui, Fujian, Jiangxi, Hubei, Hunan, Sichuan, Guizhou and Chongqing Municipality.

Hundreds of thousands of homes have collapsed or damaged, with large areas of cropland being completely destroyed. Direct economic losses could reach nine billion yuan.

With more rain expected in the next few days, a network of disaster relief measures have been launched in flood-hit regions, to protect lives and minimize losses.

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Oil Flowing Freely Into Gulf

By Associated Press
Jul 10, 2010

Officials say a containment cap over the gushing leak in the Gulf of Mexico has been removed. Oil is now flowing into the Gulf without being collected from the well head.

BP spokesman Mark Proegler says the cap was removed at 12:37 p.m. CDT on Saturday "so a better one can be installed". The hope is to fit a tighter dome that will funnel more oil to collection ships on the surface a mile above. The next steps will prepare the seal for the new cap.

If all goes well, the oil could be contained sometime Monday. A permanent solution is still weeks off. That involves an attempt to plug the well far below the gushing well head.

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Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits South Of The Mariana Islands

By USGS
Jul 10, 2010

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits South Of The Mariana Islands on Saturday, July 10, 2010 at 11:43:32 UTC

Location 11.127°N, 146.050°E ; Depth 10 km (6.2 miles) set by location program.
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Storm With Strong Winds Nears Louisiana Coast

By Reuters
Jul 5, 2010

MIAMI - A storm packing heavy winds in the Gulf of Mexico is likely to strengthen into a tropical storm before it tears into coastal Louisiana Monday evening, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said.

It said the storm, centered about 50 miles south-southeast of Morgan City, Louisiana, was already packing sustained winds near tropical storm force. The BP well capping operations are located off the Louisiana coast.

There was a "high chance" the system will become the second named storm of the 2010 Atlantic hurricane season before it makes landfall in the Terrebonne Parish area near Caillou Bay early Monday evening, the Miami-based hurricane center said.

A separate system was also being watched closely. An area in the southeastern Gulf could strengthen into a tropical depression later this week, potentially hampering oil spill cleanup efforts.
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Strong earthquake hits northeastern Japan

TOKYO, July 5 (Xinhua) -- An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.3 jolted northeastern Japan on early Monday morning, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage from the 6:56 a.m. quake. No tsunami warning was issued.

The focus of the quake was off the coast of Iwate Prefecture at a depth of about 30 kilometers, the agency said.
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Tornadoes, Floods Slam Saskatchewan

By The Montreal Gazette
Jul 4, 2010

Severe weather in southern and central Saskatchewan over the past few days, including tornadoes and hail the size of golf balls, have wreaked havoc on the province.

Two tornadoes struck the area near the town of Raymore Friday evening, according to Environment Canada, damaging several homes from the Kawacatoose First Nation, about 110 kilometres north of Regina.

Severe flooding in the city of Yorkton has forced local officials to declare a state of emergency. A severe thunderstorm rumbled through Yorkton around Thursday evening, toppling trees and drenching the city.

Strong earthquake hits southern Mexico, killing 1
2 hours ago

MEXICO CITY — A strong earthquake rattled southern Mexico early Wednesday, killing at least one man who was crushed beneath a rafter that fell from his roof.

The magnitude-6.2 quake was felt as far north as Mexico City, where people fled homes and hotels in their pajamas. City officials reported no injuries or significant damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was centered in a sparsely populated, mountainous area of Oaxaca near the southern Pacific coast.

"It felt strong, very strong," said Tomas Herrera Sanchez, a police officer on duty in the town of Santiago Pinotepa Nacional, the closest sizable town to the quake's center. "There are people who got scared and left their houses."

Armando Lugo Hernandez, 49, was killed when a beam fell from his roof in the town of San Andres Huaxpaltepec near the epicenter, said Carlos Alberto Ramos, director of Oaxaca state Civil Protection.

Ramos said officials were still trying to assess damages in the remote area, but did not believe it was extensive.

The USGS said the quake hit at 2:22 a.m. local time (0722 GMT, 3:22 a.m. EDT) and it was centered about 80 miles (125 kilometers) west-southwest of Oaxaca city, the state capital. It initially estimated the magnitude at 6.5.

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Kamchatka Volcano Spews Out Ash

By The Voice Of Russia
Jun 30, 2010 - 11:19:36 AM

One of 29 active volcanoes on Kamchatka, the Karymsky Volcano, has spewed out a 7-kilometer column of ash. Reports by RIA Novosti say about 70 earthquakes have been registered in the neighboring area.According to a spokesman for the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences' Geophysical Service, the Karymsky eruption has been on at variable rate since 1996.

Lava that gushed out from the top crater and from the bottom of the lake in the early stages of the eruption killed all living organisms in the lake.The volcano poses no danger to populated areas if located 100 kilometers or more from the site.
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Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Hits South Of The Fiji Islands

By USGS
Jun 30, 2010 - 11:19:34 AM

Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Hits South Of The Fiji Islands on Wednesday, June 30, 2010 at 04:30:59 UTC.

Location 23.200°S, 179.165°E ; Depth 536.3 km (333.3 miles).

Hurricane Watch Issued For Parts Of Gulf Of Mexico As Alex Strengthens

By News.com.au
Jun 28, 2010

A hurricane warning was issued for coastal areas of Texas and Mexico as Tropical Storm Alex continued to slowly intensify.

The watch was in effect for parts of the Texas and Mexican coasts, the National Hurricane Center said in a statement.

Affected areas include the coast of Texas south of Baffin Bay to the Rio Grande and along the coast of Mexico from the Rio Grande through La Cruz.

Alex is expected to strengthen into a hurricane by today.

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Brazil: Search On For 600 Missing In Floods

By Associated Press
Jun 24, 2010

RIO DE JANEIRO - Rescuers searched Wednesday for 600 people declared missing after torrential floods ripped through cities in northeastern Brazil. The death toll rose to 44 after three bodies were found overnight.

The easing of rains gave soldiers and other rescuers the chance to reach some isolated towns by boat and helicopter. Heavy machinery was used to remove destroyed homes, while search dogs scoured areas where survivors or more bodies might be found, according to the civil defense department of Alagoas state.

A fire department spokeswoman in Maceio, the capital of Alagoas, said there were no reports of survivors found - but also nothing yet to indicate the missing were dead. She spoke on condition of anonymity, per department rules.

On Tuesday, Civil Defense officials said they believed most of the missing were safe - just unable to notify relatives of their status because there was no electricity and phones were knocked out.

Massive storms last week dumped a month's worth of water on parts of Alagoas and neighboring Pernambuco state, near the point where Brazil juts farthest east into the Atlantic. Some small towns were nearly destroyed by the flooding.

Roads were erased by flooding and bridges torn in pieces, hampering search and rescue efforts and making aid delivery more difficult. The federal Transportation Ministry announced emergency funds of $40 million to begin immediate repairs.

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Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Hits New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea

By USGS
Jun 24, 2010

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Hits New Britain Region, Papua New Guinea on Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 05:32:28 UTC.

Location 5.531°S, 151.157°E ; Depth 42 km (26.1 miles) set by location program.

Distances 110 km (70 miles) E of Kimbe, New Britain, PNG ; 185 km (115 miles) SW of Rabaul, New Britain, PNG ; 615 km (385 miles) NE of PORT MORESBY, Papua New Guinea and 2430 km (1510 miles) N of BRISBANE, Queensland, Australia.

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Canada Earthquake Shakes Area

By Wall Street Journal
Jun 24, 2010

An earthquake from Canada sent its tremors across the border Wednesday, swaying New York-area residents and prompting countless phone calls to fire departments across the region.

The tremors stemmed from a magnitude 5.0 earthquake. New York City officials said a flurry of calls came in from Brooklyn, Manhattan and Queens, all with questions or details about the shaking and swaying.

"There have been too many to count," said city fire department spokesman Matt Coppeto of the phone calls, which started shortly before 2 p.m. He said there were no injuries reported and that the shaking was mild at best.

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Easter Sunday Earthquake Shifted Earth's Crust Nearly 3 Feet Near Calexico

By Los Angeles Times
Jun 24, 2010

The 7.2 Mexicali earthquake was so powerful that it shifted the Earth's crust up to 10 feet in Mexico, according to radar images and data released Wednesday by NASA.

The Easter Sunday quake also shifted the crust 31 inches near Calexico. The data for the California shift came from NASA satellites and those for the Mexican shift from European and Japanese satellites. Both sets of data were analyzed by NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

Eric Fielding, a JPL geophysicist, said shifts would be obvious in some places because the earth cracked. But the shifts generally occurred in remote desert and agricultural areas, so it's unclear whether people noticed the altered landscapes there.

The shifts are large, particularly for California, but they are not record-setting. The largest such "deformation" ever measured was 60 feet after the massive 9.5 earthquake that struck Chile in 1960, Fielding said. Along the coastline, places that used to be at sea level jutted up to 30 feet above the lapping water, he said.

The temblor, the largest to hit the Southern California/Baja California region in years, also increased the likelihood of earthquakes on faults north of the Mexican border, including the San Jacinto and Elsinore faults, said Andrea Donnellan, a JPL geophysicist.

However, she said it's too early to know which faults are more likely to rupture.

"This, combined with future measurements, will tell us how the region is changing and how" future earthquakes will behave, Donnellan said. "All these faults to the north had more stress added to them. We want to know which are more likely to break."

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Brazil Floods Kill Dozens And Leave 1,000 People Missing

By Guardian.co.uk
Jun 22, 2010

At least 1,000 people are unaccounted for after floods devastated a series of small towns and cities in Brazil's north-east.

Torrential rain has hammered down on the north-eastern states of Alagoas and Pernambuco, over 1,200 miles (2,000km) north-east of Rio de Janeiro, since last Thursday causing rivers to swell and at least one dam to burst.

The resulting floods tore through dozens of towns with aerial images showing several areas that had been reduced to giant piles of rubble. Reports in the local press suggest that as many as 97,000 people have been left homeless while 38 deaths have been confirmed.

"There are places where it looks like someone has dropped an atomic bomb," Teotonio Vilela Filho, the governor of Alagoas state, one of the two affected regions, told the O Globo newspaper.

"We are praying that they [the missing] are still alive. We are very worried because the bodies have already started washing up on the beaches."

"In certain areas it looks like what happened in Haiti," he added, claiming that 70% of the state's railway lines had been destroyed by the flooding.

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Death Toll From Myanmar Floods, Landslides Hits 63

By Associated Press
Jun 21, 2010 - 8:15:12 AM

YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from heavy flooding and landslides last week rose to 63 as relief efforts continued in northwestern Myanmar, state media reported Monday.

Torrential rains triggered floods and mudslides that washed away homes, destroyed schools and damaged bridges in Rakhine state. More than 2,000 people were forced to flee the region.

The military was providing aid to victims and local authorities were inspecting recovery efforts in the state's seriously hit Buthidaung and Maungdaw regions, the New Light of Myanmar newspaper said.

Myanmar's military government, the United Nations and other humanitarian organizations rushed food, clothing, medicine, and cash to the area, state media and a U.N. press release said.

A United Nations official, who declined to be named because he was not authorized to speak with the press, warned villagers who returned to their hillside homes were in danger because more landslides were likely to occur.
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Russian Volcano Shiveluch Spews Ash To Over 3 Miles, No Threat To Air Traffic Yet

By RIA Novosti
Jun 20, 2010 - 8:07:10 AM

The northernmost active volcano in Russia's Far East Kamchatka Peninsula is currently spewing plumes of ash at a height of more than 5 kilometers (3 miles), the Kamchatka branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences Geophysical Service said.

Shiveluch, located 2 miles above sea level, increased its volcanic activity in May 2009 and periodically spews ash from three to eight kilometers (1.9-5 miles). Scientists have registered more than 180 local earthquakes near the volcano.

Earthquake Swarm Continues To Shake Up California Border Region

By Los Angeles Times
Jun 16, 2010

An earthquake swarm continued to produce hundreds of temblors along the California-Mexico border on Wednesday morning.

The swarm began with a 5.7 earthquake Monday night that was felt across Southern California. It was followed by more than 1,000 aftershocks, most of them tiny but some measured more than 4.0 magnitude.

Overnight, the Imperial County region was hit by seven quakes greater than magnitude 3.0.

All the quakes are believed to be aftershocks from the 7.2 Mexicali quake the struck the border area on Easter Sunday.

"With something as big as a 7.2, the aftershocks are going to continue for years or decades," said Susan Hough, a U.S.

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China Issues Storm Alert After 35 Killed In Flooding And Landslides

By The Canadian Press
Jun 16, 2010

BEIJING, China - China has issued a rainstorm alert for southern China, where 35 people have been killed in flash floods and landslides caused by heavy rains.

The National Meteorological Center issued the warning Wednesday as more rain was expected to hit several provinces already dealing with floods and landslides.

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Floods In France Leave 15 Dead, 12 Missing

By Associated Press
Jun 16, 2010

DRAGUIGNAN, France - Fifteen people were killed and another 12 missing after flash floods hit southeastern France, turning city streets into meters-high (feet-high) brown rivers that swept away cars, trees and parts of houses, Var region officials said Wednesday.

The flooding devastated the picturesque region in the hills behind a portion of the Riviera.

Nearly a dozen helicopters worked overnight to evacuate people trapped by floodwaters, which reached about 2 meters (6.5 feet) high in some areas. About 1,200 people spent the night in shelters, and tens of thousands were still without electricity or phone service on Wednesday afternoon, the Var government said.
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Powerful 7.7 Earthquakes Hits Indonesian-Tsunami Warning Issued

By CNN
Jun 16, 2010

At least two people were killed after four earthquakes struck within an hour's time the largest of which measured 7.0 mag. near the northern coast of Papua, Indonesia.

"Two people dead, 20 houses collapsed" on the island of Yapen, according to Papua police spokesman Wachyono, who goes by a single name. There were also reports of fires burning, he added.

A 6.4 magnitude quake quake struck at 12:06 p.m. local time, followed by a more powerful 7.0 magnitude quake 10 minutes later, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. Within the next 40 minutes, a 5.1 magnitude quake also rattled the region, along with a magnitude 6.2 quake.
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'53 Dead' In Bangladesh Floods, Landslides

By AFP
Jun 15, 2010

COX'S BAZAAR,Bangladesh - At least 53 people have been killed after days of heavy rain triggered flash floods and landslides in southeastern Bangladesh, police said Tuesday.

The country's flood warning centre said most of the southeast had experienced heavy rainfall during the past 24 hours, with 24.2 centimetres (9.5 inches) falling in many areas.

"We've found 48 bodies, including six soldiers, in the Cox's Bazaar region so far," said the district police chief Nibhas Chandra Majhi.

Five more bodies have been recovered in the neighbouring hill district of Bandarban, police said.

Most of the dead were washed away by flash floods or buried alive by landslides as Cox's Bazaar was pounded on Monday by some of the heaviest rains in decades, Majhi told AFP.

"It was a huge flash flood, it washed everything in its path away," he said. "At least 20,000 people have been trapped by the flash floods. We cannot reach them as the roads are flooded or blocked with mud."

The worst affected location, Teknaf -- which is on the border with Myanmar and home to hundreds of thousands of ethnic Rohingya refugees -- was where at least 34 of the bodies were recovered.

Rescue workers say the death toll was high because many residents live on hillsides in makeshift houses.

Sea creatures flee oil spill, gather near shore

By JAY REEVES, JOHN FLESHER and TAMARA LUSH, AP
June 16, 2010
4 hours ago

GULF SHORES, Ala. — Dolphins and sharks are showing up in surprisingly shallow water off Florida beaches, like forest animals fleeing a fire. Mullets, crabs, rays and small fish congregate by the thousands off an Alabama pier. Birds covered in oil are crawling deep into marshes, never to be seen again.

Marine scientists studying the effects of the BP disaster are seeing some strange phenomena.

Fish and other wildlife seem to be fleeing the oil out in the Gulf and clustering in cleaner waters along the coast in a trend that some researchers see as a potentially troubling sign.

The animals' presence close to shore means their usual habitat is badly polluted, and the crowding could result in mass die-offs as fish run out of oxygen. Also, the animals could easily be devoured by predators.

"A parallel would be: Why are the wildlife running to the edge of a forest on fire? There will be a lot of fish, sharks, turtles trying to get out of this water they detect is not suitable," said Larry Crowder, a Duke University marine biologist.

The nearly two-month-old spill has created an environmental catastrophe unparalleled in U.S. history as tens of millions of gallons of oil have spewed into the Gulf of Mexico ecosystem. Scientists are seeing some unusual things as they try to understand the effects on thousands of species of marine life.

Day by day, scientists in boats tally up dead birds, sea turtles and other animals, but the toll is surprisingly small given the size of the disaster. The latest figures show that 783 birds, 353 turtles and 41 mammals have died — numbers that pale in comparison to what happened after the Exxon Valdez disaster in Alaska in 1989, when 250,000 birds and 2,800 otters are believed to have died.

Researchers say there are several reasons for the relatively small death toll: The vast nature of the spill means scientists are able to locate only a small fraction of the dead animals. Many will never be found after sinking to the bottom of the sea or being scavenged by other marine life. And large numbers of birds are meeting their deaths deep in the Louisiana marshes where they seek refuge from the onslaught of oil.

"That is their understanding of how to protect themselves," said Doug Zimmer, spokesman for the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

For nearly four hours Monday, a three-person crew with Greenpeace cruised past delicate islands and mangrove-dotted inlets in Barataria Bay off southern Louisiana. They saw dolphins by the dozen frolicking in the oily sheen and oil-tinged pelicans feeding their young. But they spotted no dead animals.

"I think part of the reason why we're not seeing more yet is that the impacts of this crisis are really just beginning," Greenpeace marine biologist John Hocevar said.

The counting of dead wildlife in the Gulf is more than an academic exercise: The deaths will help determine how much BP pays in damages.

As for the fish, researchers are still trying to determine where exactly they are migrating to understand the full scope of the disaster, and no scientific consensus has emerged about the trend.

Mark Robson, director of the Division of Marine Fisheries Management with Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission, said his agency has yet to find any scientific evidence that fish are being adversely affected off his state's waters. He noted that it is common for fish to flee major changes in their environment, however.

In some areas along the coast, researchers believe fish are swimming closer to shore because the water is cleaner and more abundant in oxygen. Farther out in the Gulf, researchers say, the spill is not only tainting the water with oil but also depleting oxygen levels.

A similar scenario occurs during "dead zone" periods — the time during summer months when oxygen becomes so depleted that fish race toward shore in large numbers. Sometimes, so many fish gather close to the shoreline off Mobile that locals rush to the beach with tubs and nets to reap the harvest.

But this latest shore migration could prove deadly.

First, more oil could eventually wash ashore and overwhelm the fish. They could also become trapped between the slick and the beach, leading to increased competition for oxygen in the water and causing them to die as they run out of air.

"Their ability to avoid it may be limited in the long term, especially if in near-shore refuges they're crowding in close to shore, and oil continues to come in. At some point they'll get trapped," said Crowder, expert in marine ecology and fisheries. "It could lead to die-offs."

The fish could also fall victim to predators such as sharks and seabirds. Already there have been increased shark sightings in shallow waters along the Gulf Coast.

The migration of fish away from the oil spill can be good news for some coastal residents.

My friend just emailed me from Japan notifying me he felt this one.
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Magnitude 6.1 - NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
2010 June 13 03:32:54 UTC

Magnitude 6.1
Date-Time Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 03:32:54 UTC
Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 12:32:54 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 37.405°N, 141.602°E
Depth 7.7 km (4.8 miles) (poorly constrained)
Region NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

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Magnitude 7.5 - NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
2010 June 12 19:26:50 UTC

Magnitude 7.5
Date-Time Saturday, June 12, 2010 at 19:26:50 UTC
Sunday, June 13, 2010 at 01:26:50 AM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location 7.748°N, 91.938°E
Depth 35 km (21.7 miles) set by location program
Region NICOBAR ISLANDS, INDIA REGION

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Kamchatka Volcano Waking Up

By The Voice Of Russia
Jun 12, 2010

In the Russian Far East, Kamchatka's Gorely volcano is spewing steam and ash again after decades in dormancy.

The plume has stretched to over a hundred kilometers, compromising regional air travel and threatening disruption at a local geothermal power plant. Volcanologists say that population centres are not under threat.

Mount Gorely rises to about two kilometres above sea level. There are 11 craters on it, one with a lake. The volcano's average dormancy interval is close to 20 years.

New oil numbers may mean more environmental damage
By SETH BORENSTEIN and HARRY R. WEBER, AP
June 11, 2010

HOUSTON — New numbers showing the amount of oil gushing from a well in the Gulf of Mexico may be double as much as previously thought means the crude is likely to travel farther away, threatening more birds, fish and other wildlife that call the fragile waters their home, scientists said Friday.

The new figures could mean 42 million gallons to more than 100 million gallons of oil have already fouled the Gulf's delicate ecosystem and are affecting people who live, work and play along the coast from Louisiana to Florida — and perhaps beyond.

More oil means the giant gooey cloud can spread out over a greater distance, having far worse consequences for the environment, said Paul Montagna, a marine biologist at Texas A&M University Corpus Christi.

"Doubling the amount of oil does not have a linear effect, it doesn't double the consequences, it may instead have quadruple the consequences," Montagna, who studies the Gulf of Mexico deep sea reefs and other underwater ecosystems, said.

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12 dead, dozens missing in Arkansas floods
By JILL ZEMAN BLEED, AP
June 11, 2010

CADDO GAP, Ark. (AP) — Heavy rains triggered flash floods along a pair of southwestern Arkansas rivers around dawn Friday, killing a dozen people trapped in remote valleys after the water rose as rapidly as eight feet in an hour.

Floodwaters inundated campgrounds along the normally peaceful Caddo and Little Missouri rivers, swamping hikers and campers sleeping along the rivers' banks. This area of the Ouachita Mountains includes second homes, hunting camps and a number of U.S. Forest Service campgrounds.

"We don't know who was in there last night," State Police spokesman Bill Sadler said. "This is a very wide area."

Brigette Williams, spokeswoman for the American Red Cross in Little Rock, said that between 200 and 300 people were believed to be in the area at the time of the flooding. She did not know how many of those were campers and how many were local residents.

Williams said the Red Cross would provide shelter for anyone displaced by the flooding.

Sadler said 12 people died in the floods and that officials were setting up a temporary morgue in a refrigerated truck.

--------------------------------
Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hit Vanuatu

By USGS
Jun 10, 2010

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hit Vanuatu on Wednesday, June 09, 2010 at 23:23:19 UTC.

--------------------------------
Heavy Rains Unleash Floods Along Comal, Guadalupe

By Statesman.com
Jun 10, 2010

Fierce thunderstorms caused major flooding in Central Texas on Wednesday, killing one person, trapping others in their homes and triggering water rescues across two counties as local rivers swelled beyond their banks.

The body of Norman Walker, 65, was pulled from the Guadalupe River near the Gruene area of New Braunfels late Wednesday morning in what officials are calling a water-related fatality. Walker, who was from Iowa Park, had been staying at a campground near Hueco Springs when he was trapped by the rising water, according to New Braunfels police.

Heavy rains in Comal and Guadalupe counties closed roads, soaked houses and destroyed vehicles. Parts of Schlitterbahn Waterpark Resort in New Braunfels were temporarily under water, but park officials vowed that at least parts of the facility would be open for business today. Meanwhile, the Rockin' R River Rides tubing business took a beating when its buses and tubes ended up downstream.

"It's just total devastation down here," said Terry Walling, who was trapped for hours on the top floor of her New Braunfels home.

The flooding was caused by a storm that dumped more than 12 inches of rain on Comal County and 7 inches in Guadalupe County, according to the National

-------------------------------
'Macroburst' Blamed For Area Storm Damage

By The Daily Item Of Lynn
Jun 9, 2010

REVERE - The National Weather Service is blaming a "macroburst" for the damage to two coastal homes on Winthrop Parkway near the Winthrop line and the Belle Isle Marsh.

Powerful wind gust ripped the roofs off the two buildings and blew them across the street and into the ocean. Those winds are also believed responsible for widespread tree and property damage all over eastern Massachusetts.

The National Weather Service said after surveying damage on Monday that the macroburst with estimated wind gusts of up 80 mph was spawned by a severe thunderstorm that cut a large swath through the Greater Boston area Sunday afternoon just after 4 p.m.

Meteorologists say a macroburst occurs when an intense downdraft from a thunderstorm hits the ground and quickly spreads out, causing wind damage that can be comparable to that from a tornado. A smaller version of the phenomenon is called a microburst.

The storm toppled trees and knocked out power to many residents all around the North Shore, closing over 40 streets in Lynn and many in Saugus, and keeping public safety officials busy well into the evening. No serious injuries were reported. Tornados were confirmed to have touched down in Vermont, Maine and New Hampshire.

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What's Wrong With The Sun?

By Helium News
Jun 8, 2010

The Sun has been worrying scientists for quite a while.

Back in the late 1990s its eruptions became increasingly violent until it spewed mammoth plasma streamers at an intensity and rate never observed at any other time in history. Earth's satellites were at risk as well as electrical power grids and all electrical communications.

Then the sun went quiet-abnormally quiet. Normal cycles of increased activity came and went with little or no sunspot activity. Around the globe sun watchers began to ask each other-a bit uneasily-what was wrong with the Sun?

Their question is about to be answered. The giant is about to awaken from its abnormal slumber and scientists around the world, NASA included, are very concerned.

The director of NASA's Heliophysics Division, Richard Fisher, sheds some light on the growing worry: "The Sun is waking up from a deep slumber, and in the next few years we expect to see much higher levels of solar activity. At the same time, our technological society has developed an unprecedented sensitivity to solar storms. The intersection of these two issues is what we're getting together to discuss."

Fisher echoes the growing worry amongst electrical engineers, computer experts, space application experts-even the Pentagon.

The warning shot has been fired

The solar space probe, Solar Dynamics Observatory (SDO) recorded one of the largest solar eruptions in years on April 19, 2010. Experts breathed a collective sigh of relief as the solar storm missed our planet by a wide margin. Some expressed the opinion that we dodged a major bullet.

How long we can continue dodging that bullet is a matter of speculation. The law of averages, however, leads the experts in heliophysics (the study of the properties of the sun) to suspect our days are numbered. The odds of avoiding a planet crippling storm are piling up against Earthlings and our fragile, susceptible technology underlying our civilization. As the sun awakes our risk increases.

Emergency measures to be discussed

At the Space Weather Enterprise Forum being held at the National Press Club on June 8th, some of the world's solar experts are gathering to decide how to protect our technology (and by extension, our civilization) from a rampaging, exploding Sun.

Earth's necklace of orbiting satellites are particularly at risk. The suggestion has been made to place them in a 'safe-mode' that-theoretically at least-afford them some protection from the electrified plasma and energized particles of a full blown solar storm blasting Earth.

Forecasting the intensity, duration and direction of a storm is critical to defending against it.

Forecasting the Sun's next move is the business of NOAA's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado. Its director, Thomas Bogdan notes that, "Space weather forecasting is still in its infancy, but we're making rapid progress."

In that regard, an old NASA satellite, the Advanced Composition Explorer (ACE) launched in 1997, is Bogdan's choice for early warning. "ACE is our best early warning system," asserts Bogdan. "It allows us to notify utility and satellite operators when a storm is about to hit."

Now into its 4th year, the annual meeting of the Space Weather Enterprise Forum takes on a special new urgency. Many of the speakers carry with them an aura of increased intensity almost matching that of the star they are focused upon.

As one unnamed observer remarked, the underlying current of the participants this year is one of "frenetic calm."

Back in 2008, the National Academy of Sciences issued their dire report: "Severe Space Weather Events-Societal and Economic Impacts." The report outlined, in excruciating detail, the potential demise of America's 21 st Century technological base-and the resulting havoc to the economy and society. It spelled out how people in the first world countries rely heavily upon technologies at risk from solar storms-a technology that powers financial systems, power grids, water plants, air travel, farming, transportation, GPS navigation of aircraft and sea going vessels...even the daily operation of government at all levels.

A massive solar storm hitting Earth could kick the US back into the 19th Century and cause havoc for years.

Fisher worries aloud, "I believe we're on the threshold of a new era in which space weather can be as influential in our daily lives as ordinary terrestrial weather. We take this very seriously indeed."

Dearest Water Sisters and Brothers:

This message says it all...it speaks of everything we have been saying.....The Grandmothers gathering, The Net of Light, Standing all together as a United Force!...

Please watch this Message of a Chief of Indigenous Tribes.....AHO...Grandmother Whitedeer

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=voFj5YgxcuY

Eurasia Highest Volcano Erupts In Russia's Far East

By RIA Novosti
Jun 7, 2010

Eurasia's highest volcano on the Kamchatka Peninsula in Russia's Far East has shown again signs of intensified activity throwing clouds of smoke and ash into the air to a height of 2.5 kilometers.

The Klyuchevskoy, which lies 220 miles north of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, is one of the largest active volcanoes in the world and reaches an altitude of 15,584 feet. It erupts about every 2-3 years.

----------------------------------------------------

Ecuador: Tungurahua Volcano Continues With Three Explosions Per Hour

By Momento24 News
Jun 7, 2010

According to the Geophysical Institute of the National Polytechnic School "the eruptive activity of the Tungurahua volcano in Ecuador remains high, with an average of three explosions each hour."

Also reported that "The explosions generate loud noises, like gunshots and roars that could be heard in the city of Ambato, about 30 km from the volcano and incandescent rocks are being ejected up to one kilometer above the crater, and then fell and roll down the slopes of the mountain, up to 1.5 kilometers below the summit."

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Warsaw Braces For Flood, Slovakia And Hungary Reel

By AFP
Jun 7, 2010

WARSAW - Warsaw braced Monday for a new flood crest on the mighty Vistula river, as Budapest sandbagged its tourist quarter against the swollen Danube and Slovakia reeled from its worst flood in centuries.

Heavy rains pounding central and eastern Europe have broken defences all along the Vistula, Poland's largest river which winds from the mountainous south to the Baltic Sea in the north, causing weeks of flooding.

The crest, or high point of the flood, is moving north and is forecast to surge into the Polish capital in the early hours of Wednesday, two weeks after a first giant wave washed through the capital.

"The second large wave will arrive in Warsaw around 0300 CET (0100 GMT) at 7.8 metres (8.5 yards)," Mieczyslaw Ostojski, head of the IMGW weather institute, told reporters.

Warsaw officials launched a new alert for the city of two million, which was spared serious damage from the flood in May.

"It's a fresh challenge for all of us," Warsaw Mayor Hanna Gronkiewicz-Waltz told reporters Monday.

A Warsaw motorway running along the river will be closed to traffic from Monday midnight, as will around 150 schools that would be threatened by flooding should defences along the river rupture, the mayor said.

Tens of thousands of people whose homes are threatened have been evacuated in recent days in southern regions of Poland.

-------------------------------------------------

Tropical Storm Hits Pakistan's Largest City; 7 Die

By Associated Press
Jun 7, 2010

A tropical storm lashed Pakistan's coast with torrential rains and heavy winds Sunday, damaging mud houses and submerging roads in the country's largest city. Seven people were electrocuted in floodwaters, officials said.

Authorities feared worse flooding was to come in and around Karachi and tried to evacuate people from their homes elsewhere along the country's southern coastline. Some villagers refused to move, but several thousand people shifted to higher ground, said Hamal Kalmati, a government minister in Baluchistan province.

He said many mud houses in Gawadar and Pasni districts had already collapsed.

The storm made landfall late Sunday to the east of Karachi, bringing winds as high as 50 miles (80 kilometers) per hour. The meteorological department said ocean storm surges of between 2 and 4 meters were likely in Karachi and other coastal towns.

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UPDATE : Severe Weather Rakes Midwest; 7 Dead

By CNN News
Jun 7, 2010

Seven people were killed in Ohio as severe thunderstorms and tornadoes raked the Midwest on Saturday and early Sunday, authorities said.

The deaths came in Wood County when a tornado touched down there overnight, state Emergency Management Agency spokeswoman Kelli Blackwell told CNN. Wood County is about 30 miles south of Toledo.

-----------------------------------------------

Coast Guard: Gulf Oil Spill Response Growing More Complex

By Miami Herald
Jun 7, 2010

PENSACOLA - Oil giant BP will send a second ship to the Gulf of Mexico by mid-June to help contain crude captured from the undersea blowout, a move that will increase recovery of oil to about 20,000 barrels a day, federal officials said Monday.

A ship currently stationed over the busted well and siphoning oil to the surface through a ``containment cap'' captured about 11,000 barrels of oil on Sunday, an increase over the first three days, when the ship was capturing about 6,000 barrels daily.

Yet as BP increases the amount of oil siphoned from the well one mile below the Gulf, the fight to recover oil on the surface and elsewhere has grown more complex, said U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the government's point man on the recovery effort.

Speaking from the White House, Allen said that response teams are no longer battling one monolithic spill but ``hundreds of thousands of patches of oil going in lots of different directions.''

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Thousands Evacuated As Further Flooding Hits Central Europe

By Irish Times
Jun 5, 2010

Thousands of people have been evacuated from their homes across central Europe in the second wave of major flooding to hit the region in recent weeks.

Over the past month, at least 20 people have been killed in Poland, four in Slovakia and in the Czech Republic, two in Serbia and one in Hungary, as major rivers including the Danube, Oder and Vistula have swelled to dangerous levels.

BP Tries Again To Divert Oil Leak With Dome

By The New York Times
Jun 1, 2010

HOUSTON - Unable for six weeks to plug the gushing oil well beneath the Gulf of Mexico, BP turned its attention Tuesday to trying to use a dome to funnel some of the leaking crude to a tanker on the surface. A similar attempt failed three weeks ago, but officials said they had resolved some of the technical problems that forced them to abort last time.

If successful - and after the string of failures so far, there is no guarantee it will be - the containment dome may be able to capture most of the oil, but it would not plug the leak. Its failure would mean continued environmental and economic damage to the gulf region, as well as greater public pressure on BP and the Obama administration, with few options remaining for trying to contain the spill any time soon.

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Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Hits Andaman Islands, India Region

By USGS
Jun 1, 2010

Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Hits Andaman Islands, India Region on Monday, May 31, 2010 at 19:51:48 UTC.
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2010 Atlantic Hurricane Season Begins Today

By ARRL
Jun 1, 2010

The Atlantic hurricane season could be the busiest since 2005, when Katrina and Rita caused massive destruction along the same part of the Gulf Coast now struggling with the largest offshore oil spill in US history, government scientists with the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last week.

According to NOAA's predictions, the 2010 season may spawn as many as 23 named tropical storms, including up to seven major hurricanes, a number not likely to be affected by the spill. The Atlantic hurricane season begins today, June 1 and runs through November 30.

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Fallen Bridges, Roads Hamper Guatemala Storm Rescue

By Reuters
Jun 1, 2010

GUATEMALA CITY, Guatemala - Collapsed roads and highway bridges complicated rescue efforts in Guatemala on Tuesday after Tropical Storm Agatha drenched Central America, burying homes under mud and killing at least 146 people.

Dozens of people were still missing and rescue teams struggled to reach remote rural communities after the storm cut off roads and destroyed up to 18 major road bridges and dozens of smaller footbridges.

"We're trying to get to the communities but we're finding that bridges are down and we have to walk, so it is talking so much longer," said firefighter Rony Veliz.

Some 35,000 people remained in emergency shelters three days after Agatha, the first named storm of the 2010 Pacific hurricane season, slammed into western Guatemala, dumping more than 3 feet (1 meter) of rain in places and raising concern over the coffee crop there and in El Salvador.

Guatemalan aid workers relied on six helicopters sent by the United States, as well as private helicopters, to get tents and medical supplies to remote towns on the Pacific coast, but in inland areas villagers were frustrated at the lack of help.

"We've gone several days now without aid from the government and we don't have enough water and food," said a caller to Guatemalan radio from the town of Huehuetenango in the western highlands.

At least 123 people died in Guatemala, and 59 others were missing, according to the government, either crushed in their homes or swept away by swollen rivers. Nine people were killed in El Salvador and 14 in Honduras.

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Vanuatu's Volcano Causing Havoc

By TVNZ
Jun 1, 2010

Ash belching from a Vanuatu volcano is an increasing health threat to islanders and their water supplies.

The cloud from erupting Mount Yasur has billowed some 1,800 metres high and affected flights in neighbouring New Caledonia.

Tourists have been banned from the scenic spot under persistent bombardment from lava and burning rocks.

Government officials have visited the island of Tanna to assess the overall impact of the eruption.

"They have come across some experiences where young children have gone through like headache, stomach ache," Donald Manses, operations officer for the Vanuatu Disaster Management Office, told Radio New Zealand.

"They have found out also that the water is contaminated."

Manses said some families had chosen to leave the island, but "people have not been asked to evacuate".

--------------------------------------------

Giant Ash Cloud Threatens Flights In Pacific

By AFP
May 31, 2010

SYDNEY - A giant plume of volcanic ash over the South Pacific prompted warnings to tourists and airlines Monday but caused only minor disruption to flights compared with recent chaos in Europe.

The cloud billowing from Vanuatu's Mount Yasur volcano rose about 6,000 feet (1,800 metres) high and was spread over about 340 square kilometres (130 square miles), affecting flights in neighbouring New Caledonia.

Tourists have been banned from scenic Mount Yasur, which has been exploding and spitting lava and burning rocks, while officials are assessing whether to evacuate some 6,000 nearby villagers.

--------------------------------------------

Undersea Volcano Erupts 90 Miles North Of Saipan

By Pacific News Center
May 31, 2010

Guam - The National Weather Service on Guam has issued a public information statement advising that that an undersea volcano has erupted between the islands of Sarigan and Anatahan in the Northern Mariana Islands.

The Weather Service reports that the volcano ejected hot water vapor and sent ash up to 40, 000 feet. Satellite images showed that high level clouds and possibly some ash drifted southward across Guam and the CNMI early Sunday.

BP Says Crude May Continue Flowing Into Gulf Until August

By Washington Post
May 30, 2010

As BP prepared to implement another fallback plan to contain the worst oil spill in U.S. history, Obama administration and BP officials said crude could continue flowing into the Gulf of Mexico until August.

The "American people need to know that it is possible we will have oil leaking from this well until August when the relief wells will be finished," presidential adviser Carol Browner said on the CBS show Face the Nation.

Browner also warned that the spill could get worse for several days as BP attempts to put in place another containment structure. That effort will involve cutting a pipe that rises from the seabed, and because a kink in the riser may be limiting the flow, cutting it could release as much as 20 percent more oil over a period of four to seven days, Browner said.

Hopes for an earlier solution were dashed Saturday when BP conceded defeat in its attempt to plug the well through a maneuver known as a "top kill." The effort involved pumping mud into the runaway well, but the pressure of the leak proved overpowering.

The failure of the top kill left a deepening sense of despair in the Gulf region, where the spill threatens the ecology, the economy, and a way of life for people in the fishing industry.

-----------------------------------------------

Tropical Storm Kills 15 In Guatemala, El Salvador

By Associated Press
May 30, 2010

GUATEMALA CITY - Torrential rains brought by the first tropical storm of the 2010 season pounded Central America and southern Mexico, triggering deadly landslides. The death toll stood at 15 Sunday but authorities said the number could rise.

Tropical Storm Agatha made landfall near the border of Guatemala and Mexico on Saturday with wind speeds of up to 45 mph (75 kph), then weakened into a tropical depression before dissipating over the mountains of western Guatemala.

Although no longer even a tropical depression, Agatha still posed trouble for the region: Remnants of the storm were expected to deliver 10 to 20 inches (25 to 50 centimeters) of rain over southeastern Mexico, Guatemala and parts of El Salvador, creating the possibility of "life-threatening flash floods and mudslides," the U.S. National Hurricane Center in Miami said in an advisory Sunday.

Guatemalan President Alvaro Colom said Saturday night that the rivers in the country's south were flooding or close to it.

Colom said 4.3 inches (10.8 centimeters) of rain had fallen in Guatemala City's valley in 12 hours, the most since 1949.

As of Saturday night, 4,300 people were in shelters and authorities said the number could rise as figures come in from around the country.

-------------------------------------------------
Sydney Braces For Cyclonic Destruction

By Daily Telegraph
May 29, 2010

A cyclonic storm will batter Sydney tonight, bringing flash flooding, gale-force winds and 5m-high waves along the coast.

The dangerous conditions, expected to leave a path of destruction, will continue overnight, but will ease by tomorrow afternoon.

The SES has warned Sydneysiders to stay indoors away from windows and to keep clear of power lines.

------------------------------------------------

Ecuador: Tungurahua Volcano Erupts And Spreads Ash

By Global Voices Online
May 29, 2010

The Tungurahua volcano again registered large activity on May 28. Two eruptions were felt at 8:47 and 11:00 AM, and provoked a great outpouring of ash that reached the provinces of Guayas, Los Rios, Chimborazo and Bolivar, as well as affecting cities like Baños, Penipe, Guayaquil and Babahoyo in Sierra and Costa. The Tungurahua began its activity in 1994 and had hit Baños in 1999.

Guayaquil airport suspended its activities on the day after its mayor, Jaime Nebot called a ‘Code Red', meaning no landings were allowed in or out the Jose Joaquin de Olmedo Intenational Aiport in Guayaquil until Saturday 29. School classes were also suspended until further notice in three provinces, Tungurahua, Los Rios and Guayas. Hugo Yepes, the Director of the Geophysics Institute of Polytechnical School in Quito, the major authority on this matters in Ecuador, has said that even though the volcano activities diminished that afternoon at 2:30 PM, it is expected to continue to spread ash for at least 5 more days.

Columns of volcanic residuals reached 10 Km high and drifted in a southwest direction due to the wind currents. That is why for the very first time, the people in Guayaquil, in its north region, had to use masks. In Guayaquil most troubles were cantons: Jujan, Yaguachi, Balsar, El Empalme y Samborondón.

-----

The Sisterhood of the Planetary Water Rites acknowledges this plea from the Grandmothers and will pray upon rising every day that this terrible mistake be reversed and waters and animals revived .....AHO

"You Are Desperately Needed"

Today the Grandmothers woke me with this message and asked me to send it out. Please forward it on so we reach as many people as possible.

"We ask you to cast, anchor, and hold the Net of Light steady for the Gulf of Mexico," the Grandmothers said. "This crisis is affecting the entire world, and humanity is asleep. Wake up!" they cried. "Animals are dying, plants are dying, and your Mother is writhing in agony. If you hold the Net of Light steady at this time you will help stave off further catastrophe.

"You have been lulled into a false sleep," they said, "told that others (B.P.) will take care of this problem. This is not so," they said. "And this is not the time for you to fall into oblivion. Determine now to stay awake, and once you have made that commitment, think of, cast, and hold the Net of Light. Hold it deep and hold it wide. Amplify its reach to penetrate the waters of the Gulf and dive deep beneath the crust of Mother Earth. Anchor it at the earth's core and as you hold it there, ask it to unify with the mineral kingdom of this planet. It will do this and will harmonize with all the solid and liquid mineral states on earth-including oil and gas. The Net of Light will call these minerals back into harmony. Men have wreaked havoc. They have abused the kingdoms of life on earth for many years, but this time their destruction has reached crisis proportions.

"Whatever human beings have damaged, human beings must correct," the Grandmothers said. "This is the law. We repeat: This is the law. You cannot sit back and ask God to fix the mess humanity has created. Each of you must throw your shoulders to the wheel and work. We are asking for your help. Several years ago we gave you the Net of Light so you would be able to help the earth at times like this. Step forward now. This is the Net of Light that will hold the earth during the times of change that are upon you," they said.

"First move into your heart and call on us. We will meet you there. The Net of Light is lit by the jewel of your heart," they said, "so move into this lighted place within you and open to the Net of which you are a part. Bask in its calming presence. It holds you at the same time that you hold it.

"Now think of magnifying your union with us. We, the Great Council of the Grandmothers, are with you now, and all those who work with the Net of Light are also with you. There are thousands, even millions now connected in light," they said. "Along with this union, call forth the power of the sacred places on earth. These will amplify the potency of our joint effort. Then call on the sacred beings that have come to prevent the catastrophe that threatens to overwhelm your planet. We will work together," they said, nodding slowly.

"Think of, cast and magnify the presence of the Net of Light in the Gulf of Mexico. See, imagine or think of it holding the waters, holding the land, the plants, the sea life, and the people. Holding them all!" they said. "The Net of Light is holding them steady; it is returning them to balance. Let the love within your lighted heart keep pouring into the Net of Light and hold, hold, hold. Calmly and reverently watch as the light from your heart flows along the strands of the Net. It will follow your command and continuously move forth. As soon as you think of it, it will happen. We ask you to practice this for only a few minutes at a time, but to repeat it throughout the day and night.

"We promise that this work with the Net of Light will do untold good," the Grandmothers said. "We are calling you to service now. You are needed. Do not miss this opportunity. We thank you and bless you."

Sharon's note: To lean more about the Grandmothers and the Net of Light, go to grandmothersspeak.com.

gmothers@cox.net - http://www.grandmothersspeak.com

www.robinalexis.com
www.mysticradio.us
www.metaphysicalmothering.com
www.raisinghumanity.com

1 Dead, 3 Missing In Guatemala Volcano Eruption

By Associated Press
May 28, 2010

GUATEMALA CITY - Rocks spewing from a volcano overlooking the Guatemalan capital killed a television reporter, authorities said Friday. Three children are missing.

The Pacaya volcano started erupting lava and rocks on Thursday afternoon, blanketing Guatemala City with ash and forcing the closure of the international airport. President Alvaro Colom declared a "state of calamity."

Television reporter Anibal Archila was hit by a shower of rocks when he got too close to the volcano, about 15 miles (25 kilometers) south of Guatemala City, said David de Leon, a spokesman for the national disaster committee.

He said three children between the ages of seven and 12 were missing.

At least 1,600 people from villages closest to the volcano have been evacuated to shelters.

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U.S. Official: Flow Of Oil From Spill Has Stopped

By MSNBC
May 28, 2010

WASHINGTON - The flow of oil from the broken well in the Gulf of Mexico has stopped, the Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen claimed Friday, but BP warned it would be a further 48 hours before it was known whether the "top kill" procedure had been successful.

"They have been able to stop the hydrocarbons from coming up the wellbore," Allen said on ABC's Good Morning America. "I think the real challenge today is going to be sustain the mud on top of the hydrocarbons and reduce the pressure to the point where they could actually put a cement plug in."

BP CEO Tony Hayward told NBC's TODAY show that the top kill attempt, which involves shooting heavy drilling mud into the blown-out well 5,000 feet underwater, was "proceeding pretty well according to plan."

But he maintained that the procedure, which has never been attempted before so deep underwater, still had only a 60-70 percent chance of success, although some of the risks had been reduced.

"It will probably be another 48 hours before we know if we've met the success," Hayward added.

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Indonesia Mud Volcano Still Spewing Sludge Four Years Later

By AFP
May 28, 2010

PORONG, Indonesia - Four years after it erupted from the well of a gas company linked to one of Indonesia's richest men, the mud volcano known as "Lusi" is still spewing its toxic sludge over Java's countryside.

All attempts to plug the geyser have failed and new spouts are opening up, threatening to destroy more villages, homes and livelihoods in the East Java district of Sidoarjo.

The mud lake is so huge -- seven square kilometres (almost three square miles) and 20 metres (66 feet) thick -- it is now visible from space, and geologists say "Lusi" could continue gushing sludge for centuries.

But the victims who lost their homes after the mud began oozing from the bowels of the earth on May 29, 2006 are still waiting for the compensation they have been promised by President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono.

"President Yudhoyono hasn't been able to do the best thing for the mud victims. The fact is that up to today we're still living in a disaster area," victim Gatot Wiyono said.

The mud -- a hot, bubbling, grey substance the consistency of wet concrete -- has already wiped out 12 villages, killed 13 people and displaced more than 42,000.

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Second Iceland Volcano Issues Warning

By MSNBC
May 28, 2010

LONDON - A second, much larger volcano in Iceland is showing signs that it may be about to erupt, scientists have warned.

Since the start of the Eyjafjallajökull eruption, which caused cancellations of thousands of flights in Europe because of a giant ash cloud, there has been much speculation about neighboring Katla.

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7.2 Quake Hits South Pacific Nation Of Vanuatu

By Associated Press
May 27, 2010

WELLINGTON, New Zealand - An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 7.2 rattled the South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu early Friday, briefly triggering a tsunami watch for the region, officials said. There were no immediate reports of damage.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake struck just after 4 a.m. local time and was centered 300 miles (485 kilometers) northwest of the capital, Port Vila, at a depth of 22 miles (36 kilometers).

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii issued a tsunami warning for Vanuatu, Solomon Islands and New Caledonia, but canceled the alert about an hour later.

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Katla Volcano In Iceland Shows Signs Of Increased Activity

By The Clare Herald
May 26, 2010

Fears are growing that the Katla volcano in Iceland could soon erupt after volcanic activity at the site increased by over 200% in recent days.

Seismic readings of the volcano indicate the tremors around the area have increased substantially.

Four earthquakes were detected near Katla during a 12-hour period on May 21st, more than at any other time since the Eyjafjallajokull volcanic eruptions first occurred in March.

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Alert Level Raised For Aleutian Island Volcano

By KTUU News
May 26, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - Scientists are raising the alert level for Cleveland Volcano in Alaska's Aleutian chain after satellite data has indicated thermal anomalies.

The Alaska Volcano Observatory on Tuesday raised the level to advisory status.

Death Toll In Sri Lanka Floods Rises To 17, Over 440,000 Affected

By Colombo Page
May 19, 2010
The flooding from the torrential rains lashing the Southwestern part of Sri Lanka for the fourth-consecutive day has displaced over 440,000 people and caused 17 deaths, the Disaster Management Centre said Wednesday.
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46 Killed In Volcano Landslide In Congo
By Press TV
May 20, 2010

A landslide on the slopes of Nyiragongo Volcano in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo has killed at least 46 people and washed away more than 200 houses.
The landslide started after heavy rains caused an overflow of volcanic rivers at Kibumba in North Kivu province, Reuters reported on Wednesday.
United Nations peacekeepers are caring for the victims until other humanitarian organizations take over, UN Mission in the Congo (MONUC) spokesman Madnodje Mounobai told the UN News Center on Wednesday.

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Cyclone Laila Hits SE India, 15 Die
By Associated Press
May 20, 2010

HYDERABAD, India - A powerful cyclone slammed into southeastern India on Thursday, toppling power lines and plunging a large swath of coastal Andhra Pradesh state into darkness after heavy rains and earlier strong winds claimed at least 15 lives.

State welfare agencies evacuated more than 50,000 people from low-lying villages as the region braced for its worst storm in 14 years.

The cyclone, packing strong winds of 60 miles (100 kilometers) per hour and heavy rain, hit the coastal town of Bapatla, about 250 miles (400 kilometers) southeast of Hyderabad, the state capital. Waves as high as 9 feet (3 meters) lashed the coast.

Even before the cyclone hit, some parts of the state had received up to 1 foot (32 centimeters) of rain. Officials said at least 15 people have died in the past 24 hours, and at least 55 fishermen were reported missing although authorities had ordered fishing vessels to stay in port.

"We are making all-out efforts to prevent the loss of human lives and to minimize damage to public and private property," Andhra Pradesh Chief Minister K. Rosaiah said.

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Severe Flooding In Poland Claims Sixth Victim
By AHN
May 20, 2010

Krakow, Poland - Severe flooding in parts of Krakow has claimed a sixth victim. The latest victim was a 67-year-old man found near a stream close to Bielsko-Biala.

Krakow, the second largest city in Poland, recorded 6 inches of rain in a four-day period ending Wednesday evening.

Heavy rain has prompted thousands to flee their homes and businesses as the Vistula River ripped through levees in two places. The worst of the heavy rainfall has ended for central Europe, however some rain will continue over the next day or so.

Emergency crews are working around the clock to reinforce levees as far away as Hungary to lessen the damage from waters slowly inching higher.

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits Northern Peru

By USGS
May 18, 2010 - 9:58:39 PM

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits Northern Peru on Wednesday, May 19, 2010 at 04:15:42 UTC.

Location 5.069°S, 77.559°W ; Depth 125.6 km (78.0 miles).

Distances 125 km (80 miles) NNW of Moyobamba, Peru ; 130 km (80 miles) NNE of Chachapoyas, Peru ; 545 km (340 miles) S of QUITO, Ecuador and 775 km (480 miles) N of LIMA, Peru.

Attempt-To-Contain-BP-Oil-Leak-Hit-By-Major-Setback

By The New York Times
May 8, 2010

A complex and dangerous attempt at stemming the 220,000 gallon-a-day oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico hit major problems last night, forcing a halt to recovery operations one mile below the surface.

Ice-like crystals, formed as a result of gas mixing with water, clogged a 120-ton chamber that had been lowered onto the seabed and placed over the source of the leak in a delicate all-night manoeuvre.

The box was to have been hooked up to a 5,000ft pipe, allowing the gushing oil to be fed to barges on the surface and sparing America's southern coastline from an even greater environmental disaster.

The process, which has never been attempted at such depths before, had been BP's best hope of sealing the spewing well, which has created a 130 mile-wide slick that now threatens four US states.

The company was last night considering whether to mount another attempt, mindful that if the operation fails altogether it could be at least another two months before it can bring the leak under control by alternative means. The news deal a new blow to communities struggling to defend their coastlines and wildlife against the advancing tide of oil.

Revealing the setback last night, BP's chief operating officer Doug Suttles said: "I wouldn't say it's failed yet. What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."

The leak began after a methane bubble forced its way up a drilling pipe that led from the seabed to the Deepwater Horizon rig, 50 miles off the coast of Louisiana, on April 20. Eleven workers were killed and 115 escaped in lifeboats as the rig erupted in a ball of flame.

Experts had warned that a build-up of frozen hydrates, known as ice-plugs, could cause problems for the recovery effort that got under way on Friday and that they may not be able to succeed.

"This is new technology, never done before at this depth," BP's executive vice president Bob Fryar explained at a briefing last Wednesday.

"The environment we're operating in is a mile below the surface - too deep for divers. At these depths pressure is immense, 2,300 pounds per square inch; it is very cold, about 43 degrees Fahrenheit; and it's a dark environment. Fluids can behave in ways that are complex and challenging."

Warmer surface water and methanol were to have been piped down to the box to keep ice plugs from forming. The box was last night lifted away from the site of the leak and moved to one side while crews consider other potential solutions.

A second attempt at positioning the box is likely within the coming days, but the consequences of failure are great. An alternative method to stop the leak - involving drilling into the ruptured well from a second rig - will take at least two months to complete, BP has said.

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BP Oil's Attempt to Cap Leak Fails

By Harry Weber & Sarah Larimer - Associated Press
May 9, 2010

GULF OF MEXICO - It could be at least a day before BP can make another attempt at putting a lid on a well spewing thousands of gallons of crude into the Gulf of Mexico, as a big box meant to siphon the oil away sat idle and encased in ice crystals.

The company's first attempt to divert the oil was foiled, its mission now in serious doubt. Meanwhile, thick blobs of tar washed up on Alabama's white sand beaches, yet another sign the spill was worsening.

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Earthquake Measuring 7.2 Mag. Hits Indonesia

Tsunami fears ease after powerful earthquake off Northern Sumatra

May 9th, 2010 - 3:20 pm ICT by BNO News -
JAKARTA (BNO NEWS) — A powerful earthquake struck off the west coast of Northern Sumatra in Indonesia on Sunday, seismologists said. Tsunami warnings were briefly issued but were later cancelled when sea level readings indicated no tsunami waves had been generated.

The 7.2-magnitude earthquake at 12.59 p.m. local time was centered about 220 kilometers (135 miles) south-southeast from Banda Aceh, the provincial capital of Aceh. It struck about 30 kilometers (18.6 miles) deep, making it a shallow earthquake, according to the Badan Meteorologi Klimatologi dan Geofisika (BMKG), Indonesia’s seismological agency.

The U.S. Geological Survey initially measured the strength of the earthquake at 7.4 on the Richter scale, but later revised it down to 7.2.

The worst-hit area appeared to be the city of Meulaboh, which is about 60 kilometers (37.2 miles) from the earthquake epicenter. The U.S. Geological Survey estimated that some 353,000 people were exposed to ’severe’ shaking which could result in ‘heavy’ damage to vulnerable structures.

Meulaboh, the capital of West Aceh Regency, was largely destroyed on December 26, 2004 when a 9.1-magnitude earthquake sent massive tsunami waves crashing into the city, killing tens of thousands of people there.

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Iceland Volcano Ash Hits European Flights Again

By AFP
May 8, 2010

BRUSSELS - European air traffic faced disruptions Saturday as a cloud of ash spewing from an Icelandic volcano affected flights in Spain, France and Portugal, authorities said.

Hundreds of flights were cancelled while many transatlantic services were delayed as they skirted the plume of debris from the Eyjafjoell volcano, which plunged air travel across the continent into chaos last month.

"Ash eruptions are ongoing and the area of potential ash contamination is expanding," the Brussels-based European air traffic coordination agency Eurocontrol said in a statement.

Transatlantic flights, being re-routed around the area owing to different concentrations of ash particles and predicted engine tolerance levels at different altitudes, were experiencing "substantial delays", it said.

Approximately 25,000 flights were expected to cross European skies on Saturday, well down from more than 30,000 on Friday.

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Southern Peru

By USGS
May 6, 2010 - 9:49:35 AM

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Southern Peru on Thursday, May 06, 2010 at 02:42:47 UTC.

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Freak Waves Smash French Riviera

By France24
May 6, 2010

Massive waves have hit the French Riviera between Nice and Cannes causing major material damage to the densely-populated coast. The freak weather struck as the region is preparing to host the 63rd Cannes Film Festival.

Ten-metre-high waves (33 feet) battered the coastline, leaving one woman with a fractured leg and causing major material damage.

"There were very big waves this afternoon that caused major material damage to beach constructions, but there were no disappearances," regional authorities told AFP.

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Icelandic Volcano Rumbles On As Ash Cloud Blows Clear

By Reuters
May 6, 2010

Iceland's erupting volcano has showed signs of increased activity, but the cloud of ash which wreaked havoc on European air travel is blowing clear of busy flight paths, a panel of scientists said on Thursday.

High altitude winds were pushing the ash cloud directly south over the north Atlantic at a height of about nine kilometers with little impact on flight patterns in northern Europe, except in parts of Ireland, the scientists said.

"The effect on European air traffic should be negligible but that, of course, is up to aviation authorities in each country," meteorologist Gudrun Nina Peterson told a news conference.

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Storms Leave At Least 39 Dead In China

By China Daily
May 6, 2010

BEIJING - Death toll from storms in southwestern and central parts of China in the last two days has risen to 39 as a missing person in Guizhou Province was confirmed dead.

A violent storm in the southwestern Chongqing Municipality since Wednesday had left 29 people dead and one missing, said the Ministry of Civil Affairs Thursday.

More than 70,000 people were relocated in Chongqing due to the extreme weather, the ministry said on its website.

The gales, torrential rain and hail that lashed the city from Wednesday night to Thursday morning had also left 190 people injured as of 5 p.m. Thursday, according to the municipal meteorological bureau.

The Chongqing municipal civil affairs bureau has sent 300 tents, 1,000 quilts and 400 emergency lights to the affected regions.

In addition, the municipal health authorities have dispatched two teams of medical workers to Dianjiang and Liangping counties.

The municipal government also issued more than 12 million yuan (1.76 million U.S. dollars) in disaster relief to Dianjiang, Liangping, Pengshui counties and Fuling District.

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Containment Dome Reaches Gulf Oil Spill Scene

By Guardian.co.uk
May 6, 2010

A barge arrived at the scene of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill today carrying a five-storey, 100-tonne containment dome that it is hoped will stem the leak that is threatening the US coast.

Engineers believe that the dome could be the best short-term solution to controlling the 220,000 gallons of oil being spewed into the water each day since an explosion at the Deepwater Horizon rig two weeks ago. The technique has not been tested before at such depths.

The barge's captain, Demi Shaffer, admitted he was anxious. "They're gonna try everything they can," he said. "If it don't work, they'll try something else."

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Flash Floods Kill Dozens In Afghanistan: Govt

By Hindustan Times
May 6, 2010

At least 31 people have been killed in a series of flash floods in Afghanistan, the government said on Wednesday, warning the death toll may rise.

Torrential rain has triggered heavy flooding in northern and western Afghanistan over the past three days, Abdul Mateen Idrak, the head of the National Disaster Management Authority, said.

"So far we know that up to 12 people have died in Herat and at least 19 in Ghor," he said, referring to provinces in western Afghanistan. The death toll may rise as we are still investigating."

The floods destroyed hundreds of houses as well as crops and irrigation systems, Idrak said.

President Hamid Karzai has sent relief teams to the affected areas to help the victims, his office said.

Natural disasters are common in mountainous Afghanistan, where more than 200 people lost their lives in heavy avalanches earlier this year.

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Hits Izu Islands, Japan Region

By USGS
May 3, 2010

Magnitude 6.1 Earthquake Hits Izu Islands, Japan Region on Monday, May 03, 2010 at 10:27:45 UTC.
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Lightning Kills At Least 17 People In Bangladesh

By Arirang News
May 3, 2010

Over in Bangladesh lightning killed at least 15 people and injured 50 others during a tropical storm.

According to local police lightning that occurred during a tropical storm that swept through a district northeast of capital Dhaka Sunday claimed the lives of mostly farmers who were struck while working on rice paddy fields.

The authorities said the storm destroyed thousands of homeless and uprooted trees and leveled electric poles disrupting the district's power supply.

Meanwhile, the Bangladesh weather service issued a nationwide warning saying that the storm will continue for another 24 hours.

Huge tropical storms are said to be an yearly occurrence in Bangladesh which arrive between April and June claiming hundreds of lives each year.
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At Least 15 Dead As Storms Pound Southeast

By CNN News
May 3, 2010

Atlanta, Georgia - A massive system of rain and thunderstorms that spawned tornadoes continued to pound the Southeast on Monday, leaving at least 15 dead in its wake and displacing or stranding thousands of people.

The storm moved through north Georgia on Monday, flooding streets in Atlanta and delaying flights into Hartsfield-Jackson Atlanta International Airport. No deaths or injuries were immediately reported.

Rain and flooding left at least 11 dead in Tennessee. The storm closed interstate highways, prompted evacuations of hotels and nursing homes, and turned streets and parking lots into raging rivers.

"Our neighborhood is completely cut off from the outside world," said Nashville resident and CNN iReport contributor John Rives. "There are over 100 homes in the neighborhood, with over a dozen submerged in water.

"... It's going to take years to fully recover from this flood."

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Arkansas Tornadoes Kill Woman, Injure 2 Dozen Others

By Associated Press
May 1, 2010

SCOTLAND, Arkansas - Leveled homes, overturned vehicles and uprooted trees were scattered across central Arkansas on Saturday after several tornadoes ripped through the state, killing a woman and injuring two dozen others, authorities said.

The woman was among three people in one of many homes destroyed by the Friday night storms in the small community of Scotland, about 75 miles north of Little Rock, said Van Buren County Sheriff Scott Bradley. The two others were hurt, but Bradley did not believe their injuries were life-threatening.

Spatter Cone Rises At Iceland Volcano

By Iceland Review Online
Apr 30, 2010

A spatter cone continues to grow in the northernmost crater in Eyjafjallajökull glacier in south Iceland and the lava keeps flowing to the north towards the Gígjökull glacial tongue, according to information from Björn Oddsson, a geologist at the University of Iceland Institute of Earth Science, who flew over the eruption site in a Coast Guard airplane yesterday.

The crew couldn't see much of the eruption but could monitor its development on the airplane's radar. The eruption seems similar as in the past days, although it is not nearly as forceful as it was in the first days, Morgunbladid reports.

The ash being emitted is much coarser than it was during the first days of the eruption. The fine particles that caused the most disturbances in the upper atmosphere, and thus disrupted flights, have disappeared.

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Wet Snow, Howling Winds Slam Southern Alberta

By Calgary Herald
Apr 30, 2010

CALGARY - A winter-like storm that pounded southern Alberta on Thursday left the region awash in wet snow, forced numerous vehicles into ditches along major highways and cut power temporarily to tens of thousands of customers.

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Spring Floods Force Thousands Of Russians From Homes

By APA
Apr 30, 2010

Baku - Rivers in Russia's Siberian region of Tomsk, central Kirov region and northern Arkhangelsk territory have swollen beyond their banks due to melting snow, forcing the evacuations of thousands of people, APA reports quoting RIA Novosti.

A state of emergency has been declared in Arkhangelsk, where several of the city's residential buildings have been flooded, affecting about 3,500 people.

Emergency reception centers have been opened in the city and people are being provided with accommodation and meals.

In the city of Tomsk, the authorities have begun to evacuate residents as water levels in the Ushayka River have risen more than a meter and continue to rise.

Kirov's Vyatka River has burst its banks and become polluted in a water inlet area, leaving the city without safe drinking water.

The pollution has reached 104% from the maximum allowable and although Kirov's authorities have not shut off water supplies, they say the water should only be used for sanitary purposes.

Volcano Spreads Ash Across Western Guatemala

By Washington Post
Apr 28, 2010

GUATEMALA CITY - An eruption at Guatemala's Santiaguito volcano has sent a plume of ash 27,300 feet (8,300 meters) above sea level, dusting parts of at least four provinces.

Disaster response agency spokesman David De Leon says the volcano has calmed since Monday's big burst - though it is still seeing weak to moderate explosions.

De Leon says the eruption damaged local flower harvests, but caused no injuries. The agency says schools were closed in 10 communities as a precaution and flights have been banned for 12 miles (20 kilometers) around the volcano.

Santiaguito is a crater on the slope of the 12,375-foot (3,772-meter) Santa Maria volcano about 120 miles (200 kilometers) northwest of Guatemala City.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Severe Weather Possible Again In Mississippi This Week

By USA Today
Apr 28, 2010

JACKSON, Mississippi - Storm-weary Mississippians might were facing another possible round of severe weather this weekend, only days after tornadoes plowed through the state and left a wide swath of destruction.

National Weather Service meteorologist Daniel Lamb said Tuesday that a "potent" storm system could hit Friday or Saturday, possibly stalling and dumping enough rain to cause some flooding. He said it's too early to make a clear forecast, but the weather service is watching developments.

"I wouldn't make any comparisons to the last system because that's something that's very rare and exceptional," Lamb said.

Tornadoes skipped through Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama this past Saturday, killing 10 in Mississippi and two in Alabama. Mississippi Gov. Haley Barbour said it's the worst storm the state has had since Hurricane Katrina nearly five years ago.

Teams of state and federal workers are continuing to assess damage in Mississippi, and Barbour said he's hoping on Wednesday to submit a request for federal aid.

Some Lava, Less Ash From Iceland Volcano

By ABC News
Apr 25, 2010

REYKJAVIK - A small amount of lava is now flowing from the Icelandic volcano that disrupted air traffic across Europe last week, and the ash production that caused the problems has diminished.

"There is very little lava and ash production," Johannes Tomasson at Iceland's Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management said on Sunday.

Huge ash clouds spewing from the volcano last week led to European air traffic being grounded for days, causing havoc for airlines and hardships for many businesses.

Flowing lava probably means less ash from now on because the ash was produced by lava melting through the Eyjafjallajokull glacier on top of the volcano, Tomasson said.

"They (scientists) are expecting ash to reduce, or at least not increase," he said, adding there was still seismic activity under the glacier.

He said it was very hard to predict what would happen next at the volcano, located about 120 km (75 miles) southeast of the capital Reykjavik, however.

A scientist who flew over the volcano on Saturday estimated about 10-20 cubic meters of lava per second was coming out of the volcano's crater, state radio reported.

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10 Dead In Mississippi After Tornado, Storms Hit South

By Associated Press
Apr 25, 2010

YAZOO CITY, Mississippi - Rescuers spread out Sunday to scour neighborhoods of splintered homes and twisted debris in Mississippi, a day after a devastating tornado sliced through the state and killed 10 people, including three children.

James Jackson, a deputy state fire marshal, said crews organized at first daylight to resume search and rescue operations. All was still Sunday morning as the sun rose amid one of the hardest hit areas of Yazoo City. National Guard soldiers blocked the roads, and the occasional emergency vehicle prowled amid the rubble.

The high winds on Saturday ripped roofs off buildings in hard-hit Yazoo County, where Gov. Haley Barbour grew up. He described "utter obliteration" among the picturesque hills rising from the flat Mississippi Delta.

"This tornado was enormous," Barbour told The Associated Press as searchers resumed their work.

Speaking in the parking lot of a heavily damaged restaurant, Barbour said emergency crews would be going to isolated houses in rural areas they had been unable to reach in the first chaotic hours after Saturday's storm.

Around him, he stood against a backdrop of snapped trees stretching to the horizon, houses wiped from their foundations and odd debris - including a child's stuff toy and a metal boat laying alongside a road.

He estimated at least 100 houses in Yazoo County alone had severe damage but said his estimate could rise later.

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Assam Storm Kills 5, Flattens 4,000 Houses

By Times Of India
Apr 25, 2010

GUWAHATI, INDIA - A devastating thunderstorm in Assam has claimed five lives and injured nearly 100 people, besides flattening at least 4,000 houses, officials said Sunday.

The storm lasted for about 45 minutes on Saturday night, leaving a trail of destruction in most parts of Assam with the state's main city of Guwahati among the worst hit.

No End To Volcano Ash In Sight

By CNN News
Apr 17, 2010

Weather experts predicted Friday that a volcanic ash causing chaos to air traffic across Europe would affect the region well into the weekend and possibly beyond as the dust cloud continued to spread.

Scientists said it was too soon to predict when the Eyjafjallajökull volcano in Iceland would cease spewing ash, raising the prospect of thousands more grounded flights in coming days.

Prevailing westerly winds are expected to fan the massive plume of dust from an erupting volcano in Iceland further east and north, according to predictions from the London Ash Advisory Center.

By 07:00 GMT Saturday (7 p.m. ET) the cloud traveling at up to 9,000 meters (30,000 feet) is forecast to be covering parts of Russia, Poland, Finland and other East European countries while continuing to affect the UK, Sweden, Norway, Germany, Denmark and Netherlands.

Volcanic ash still causing travel chaos.
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Massive Fireball Reported Across Midwestern Sky

By CNN News
Apr 15, 2010

Authorities in several Midwestern states were flooded Wednesday night with reports of a gigantic fireball lighting up the sky, the National Weather Service said.

The fireball was visible for about 15 minutes beginning about 10 p.m., said the National Weather Service in Sullivan, Wisconsin, just west of Milwaukee.

"The fireball was seen over the northern sky, moving from west to east," said the NWS in the Quad Cities area, which includes parts of Iowa and Illinois.

"Well before it reached the horizon, it broke up into smaller pieces and was lost from sight," the service said. "Several reports of a prolonged sonic boom were received from areas north of Highway 20, along with shaking of homes, trees and various other objects including wind chimes," it said.

It said the fireball was seen across parts of Missouri, Illinois, Indiana and Wisconsin. CNN affiliate WISN-TV said that people in Ohio also saw it.

Video from WISN showed a massive ball of light exploding across the sky. The Doppler Radar from the Quad Cities weather service appeared to capture a portion of the smoke trail from the fireball at just after 10 p.m., the NWS said. It appears as a thin line extending across portions of Grant and Iowa Counties in Wisconsin.

There has been no official determination as to what caused the fireball, the NWS in Sullivan said.

However, it said there is a meteor shower called Gamma Virginids that occurs from April 4 to April 21, with peak activity expected on Wednesday and Thursday.

"A large meteorite could have caused the brilliant fireball that has been reported," the National Weather Service said.

The NWS in Quad Cities said that it was unknown if any part of a meteorite hit the ground.

According to NASA, a meteor appears when a meteoroid -- a particle, chunk of metal or stony matter -- enters the Earth's atmosphere from outer space.

"Air friction heats the meteoroid so that it glows and creates a shining trail of gases and melted meteoroid particles," it said. "People sometimes call the brightest meteors fireballs."

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India And Bangladesh Storm

By BBC News
Apr 15, 2010 - 10:44:19 AM

At least 130 people have been killed over the lasttwo days after a powerful storm lashed Nepal, India and Bangladesh, destroying home, uprooting trees and disrupting transport.
Roads have been blocked and railway lines are damaged. All electric and telephone lines are brought down in Uttar Dinajpur.pThe storm originated from nearby Bay of Bengal during hot months of every year. It is locally called "Nor'wester".
The worst hit areas were the Indina states of Bihar and West bengal. Thosusands of people are homeless n both states and a major rescue opeartion is now under way.

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Rescuers Search For South Asia Storm Survivors

By BBC News
Apr 15, 2010

Rescuers are searching for survivors after a powerful storm killed 130 people in India and Bangladesh over the last two days, officials say.
Many more are injured or trapped in rubble as about 100,000 houses were hit by winds of up to 160 km/h (100mph).
Aid has been rushed to the Indian states of Bihar, West Bengal and Assam, and the Rangpur region in Bangladesh, after the cyclone struck on Tuesday.
The death toll is expected to rise, say Indian officials.
The relief operation has been hampered by blocked roads and a lack of resources.
It was the most violent storm in this area since Cyclone Aila hit eastern India and Bangladesh in May last year, killing more than 150 people.
Relief 'crisis'
The Indian government has begun to distribute rice, dried fruit, tarpaulin sheets and clothes to those affected.
Hundreds of thousands of people require aid after the storm destroyed homes, brought down trees and electricity poles, and wrecked crops.

Quake In Western China Kills 400, Buries More

By Associated Press
Apr 14, 2010

BEIJING - A series of strong earthquakes struck a mountainous Tibetan area of western China on Wednesday, killing at least 400 people and injuring more than 10,000 as houses made of mud and wood collapsed, officials said. Many more people were trapped, and the toll was expected to rise.

The largest quake was recorded by the U.S. Geological Survey as magnitude 6.9. In the aftermath, panicked people, many bleeding from their wounds, flooded the streets of a Qinghai province township where most of the homes had been flattened. Students were reportedly buried inside several damaged schools.

Paramilitary police used shovels to dig through the rubble in the town, footage on state television showed. Officials said excavators were not available. Crews worked to repair the damaged road to the nearest airport and clear the way for equipment and rescue teams. Hospitals were overwhelmed, many lacking even the most basic supplies, and doctors were in short supply.

By nightfall, the airport was operating with emergency power and receiving relief flights carrying medical workers and supplies, state media reported.

Downed phone lines, strong winds and frequent aftershocks hindered rescue efforts, said Wu Yong, commander of the local army garrison, who said the death toll "may rise further as lots of houses collapsed."

With many people forced outside, the provincial government said it was rushing 5,000 tents and 100,000 coats and blankets to the mountainous region, with an altitude of around 13,000 feet (4,000 meters) where night time temperatures plunge below freezing
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Deadly Cyclone Hits North-East India

By Guardian.co.uk
Apr 14, 2010

At least 89 villagers died when a cyclone demolished ten of thousands of mud huts in north-east India, officials reported today.

The cyclone struck overnight in the states of West Bengal and Bihar, with winds of more than 100mph uprooting trees and snapping telephone and electricity lines.

Devesh Chandra Thakur, Bihar's minister for disaster management, said there had been no weather department warning of a cyclone, so residents had been unprepared.

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Iceland Evacuates Hundreds As Volcano Erupts Again

By Associated Press
Apr 14, 2010

REYKJAVIK, Iceland - A volcano under a glacier in Iceland erupted Wednesday for the second time in less than a month, melting ice, spewing smoke and steam, closing a major road and forcing hundreds of people to flee rising floodwaters.

Authorities evacuated 800 residents from around the Eyjafjallajokull glacier as water gushed down the mountainside and rivers rose by up to 10 feet (3 meters).

Iceland's main coastal ring road was closed near the volcano, and workers smashed holes in the highway in three spots in a bid to give the rushing water a clear route to the coast and prevent bridges from being swept away.

-----------------------------------------------

Southeastern Alberta Blasted By Spring Storm; City Of Lethbridge Without Power

By Calgary Herald
Apr 14, 2010

Calgarians will be enjoying clear skies today, but just east of Calgary, residents aren't so lucky. Strathmore is getting blasted by a spring storm, with over a foot and a half of snow already on the ground. Lethbridge is in even worse shape; the city is currently without power and is in a state of emergency

More Mexican Earthquakes Shake San Diego Region

By San Diego Union Tribune
Apr 8, 2010

Several earthquakes in Mexico Thursday morning, including a 5.5 magnitude quake at 9:44 a.m., could be felt in San Diego.

Automated USGS seismographs indicate a magnitude 5.5 quake hit 30 miles south-southeast of Mexicali while a 4.5 magnitude quake hit about 18 miles west-southwest of Mexicali an hour earlier.

-------------------------------

Rio Floods: Mudslide In Slum Buries 200

By Sky News
Apr 8, 2010

Record rainfall and flooding near Rio de Janeiro has left around 200 people buried in a mudslide, according to authorities in Brazil.

O Globo Television has reported that dozens of homes have been buried in a shantytown in Niteroi, which is northwest of Rio.

It is believed more than 50 buildings have been affected and hundreds of residents are buried.

25,000 People Affected By Mexicali Quake

By New America Media
Apr 7, 2010

MEXICALI, Mexico - An estimated 25,000 residents have been affected by Sunday's 7.2 magnitude earthquake in the Mexicali Valley, said Baja California Governor Jose Guadalupe Osuna. Osuna said a count will be taken to ensure that families affected by the earthquake receive federal and state assistance, El Universal reports.

Although the population still is nervous about aftershocks, the governor said there have been no reports of serious threats to public safety. Security forces -- including federal and municipal police, as well as the Mexican army -- have been conducting constantly patrols of the area, he said.

Twenty-one fires and 45 landslides have been reported in the region. Electricity has been restored to 95 percent of homes there, and the potable water is back at 100 percent, he said. About 180 aftershocks have been reported since the earthquake on Sunday.

----------------------------------------

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits New Guinea, Papua New Guinea

By USGS
Apr 7, 2010

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits New Guinea, Papua New Guinea on Wednesday, April 07, 2010 at 14:33:05 UTC.

-----------------------------------------

More Than 60 Injured In Indonesia's Quake

By China Daily
Apr 7, 2010

JAKARTA - More than 60 people were injured after a magnitude-7.2 quake hit Simeulue district in Indonesia's Aceh province on Wednesday.

Gunung Putih village, 21 people were injured, four seriously, according to a report of Antara news agency.

------------------------------------------

7.7 Mag. Quake Hits Sumatra: Tsunami Warning Canceled

By BBC
Apr 6, 2010

A tsunami alert has been lifted after an earthquake with a magnitude of 7.8 hit the Indonesian island of Sumatra.
------------------------------------------

Redoubt Seismic Activity Drops After Day Of Quakes

By Anchorage Daily News
Apr 7, 2010

The rate of shallow, small earthquakes at Mount Redoubt has decreased markedly since Monday, the Alaska Volcano Observatory said Tuesday. The 10,197-foot volcano about 100 miles southwest of Anchorage had a swarm of small earthquakes beginning early Monday and continuing through much of the day.

-------------------------------------------

Storm Warning: Above-Average Hurricane Season Predicted

By USA Today
Apr 7, 2010

Colorado State University's hurricane forecast team is predicting an above-average season for the Atlantic basin in 2010, which includes all tropical storms and hurricanes in the Caribbean Sea and Gulf of Mexico.

The forecast calls for 15 named tropical storms, of which eight will become hurricanes. A tropical storm becomes a hurricane when its sustained wind speeds surpass 74 mph. Of those eight, four are expected to develop into major hurricanes (Category 3, 4 or 5) with maximum wind speeds of 111 mph or greater.

Earth Struck By Most Powerful Space Storm In Three Years

By New Scientist
Apr 6, 2010

The most powerful geomagnetic storm since December 2006 struck the Earth on Monday, a day earlier than expected.

On 3 April, the SOHO spacecraft spotted a cloud of charged particles called a coronal mass ejection (CME) shooting from the sun at 500 kilometres per second. This velocity suggested the front would reach Earth in roughly three days.

A sharp gust of solar wind hit Earth's magnetosphere on Monday, April 5th, at approximately 0800 UT and sparked the strongest geomagnetic storm of the year.

"It hit earlier and harder than forecast," says Doug Biesecker of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Space Weather Prediction Center in Boulder, Colorado.

Fortunately, the storm was not intense enough to interfere strongly with power grids or satellite navigation, but it did trigger dazzling auroras in places like Iceland (pictured).

Such storms highlight the uncertainty in the arrival times of CMEs, which can easily be 15 hours off predictions, Biesecker says. Better modelling of the solar wind, which can accelerate CMEs en route to Earth, could reduce the uncertainty.

The event registered 7 on the 0-to-9 Kindex scale of magnetic disturbances. Although the storm is subsiding now, it is not over; high-latitude sky watchers should remain alert for auroras.

----------------------------------------------------------------

500 Aftershocks And Counting From Mexicali Earthquake

By Los Angeles Times
Apr 6, 2010

There have been more than 500 aftershocks from Sunday's 7.2 Mexicali earthquake, and experts said residents in the region can expect many more.

"People who live near [the epicenter] are getting no sleep," said Kate Hutton, a Caltech seismologist.

Most of the aftershocks have been minor -- in the 3 magnitude or less. But there have been six aftershocks that registered more than 5.0, and dozens in the 4 range, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

There was a 4.6 temblor on the border early Tuesday morning. But the last magnitude 5 quake occurred Monday morning.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Flooding In Rio De Janeiro State Kills 50

By BBC News
Apr 6, 2010

RIO DE JANEIRO, BRAZIL - At least 50 people have been killed after torrential rain caused landslides and flooding in the Brazilian state of Rio de Janeiro, officials have said.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Swarm Of Small Quakes Occurring At Alaska Volcano

By Associated Press
Apr 6, 2010

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A swarm of small earthquakes began Monday at a volcano near Anchorage in what scientists said was a warning that Mount Redoubt could be waking from its slumber.

--------------------------------------------------------------

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Molucca Sea

By USGS
Apr 5, 2010

Magnitude 6.2 earthquake Hits Molucca Sea on Monday, April 05, 2010 at 10:05:42 UTC.

------------------------------------

San Diego Earthquake Mexicali Baja California
By The Daily World Buzz
April 4, 2010

The US Geological Survey Earthquake news reports a CA earthquake that was reported to be mostly a 6.9 earthquake but in some areas as strong as 7.2 earthquake.

The San Diego Earthquake as some call it was also felt in other areas such as Mexicali Baja California, Arizona, Caltech, and more. The KTLA news reports that this CA Earthquake was one of the stronger recent earthquakes in Southern California. The 6.9 Earthquake news from San Diego, Arizona, Mexicali, Baja, Mexico and CA earthquake reports that it was also felt out at the Aral Sea.

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Atacama, Chile

By USGS
Mar 26, 2010

Magnitude 6.2 Earthquake Hits Atacama, Chile on Friday, March 26, 2010 at 14:52:06 UTC.
--------------------------------

More Than 25,000 Flee Homes After Flood In West Java, Indonesia

By CRIENGLISH.com
Mar 26, 2010

Flood in West Java province of Indonesia has forced more than 24,900 people to take shelters as their houses have been submerged since earlier this week, the Disaster Management Agency reported on Friday.

The floods in Karawang of the province have submerged over 15, 000 houses since Tuesday, it occurred after the authorities opened the water gate at Jatiluhur dam at the province, as the dam could not hold water as its volume has exceeded the dam capacity, spokesman of the agency Priyadi Kardono said.
--------------------------------

Landslide Lake Threatens Massive Floods North Pakistan

By Reuters
Mar 25, 2010

GILGIT, Pakistan - Authorities in northern Pakistan are struggling to prevent the bursting of a natural dam formed by a landslide that could affect more than 50,000 people and sever an important trade link with China.

The landslide, in early January, killed 14 people and blocked the Hunza River, creating a huge lake that inundated several villages and left about 25,000 people stranded.

Residents says the government has not done enough to get supplies and contain the threat of a breach.

"We know it's a natural disaster, but we are not satisfied with the government's belated efforts," said Mirza Hussain, a lawmaker in the district assembly.
--------------------------------

Kamchatkan Volcano Belches Out Ash To 7 Km Above Sea Level

By Itar-Tass, Russia
Mar 24, 2010

PETROPAVLOVSK-KAMCHATSKY - A belching of ash to the altitude of seven kilometers above sea level has been registered over the crater of the Shiveluch, Kamchatka's northernmost active volcano, experts at the regional affiliation of the Geophysical Service of the Russian Academy of Sciences said.
--------------------------------

Late Dust Storm Covers Nigeria

By Associated Press
Mar 24, 2010

LAGOS, Nigeria - The yellow haze descended across Nigeria, blotting out the sun, canceling airline flights and coating everything with a fine layer of dust.

The sudden storm sparked frightened text messages about supposedly killer acid rain, but meteorologists say the weather comes from the harmattan, a yearly trade wind that brings dust from the Sahara Desert through Nigeria and the rest of West Africa. This year, however, the harmattan has come at an abnormal time, a possible result of global warming. Experts say it may delay the rainy season in Africa's most populous nation and there are worries it may even throw off future seasonal changes.
--------------------------------

Iceland Eruption Remains Stable

By Iceland Review Online
Mar 23, 2010

The volcanic eruption on Fimmvörduháls between the glaciers Eyjafjallajökull and Mýrdalsjökull in south Iceland remained even and stable last night, according to geophysicist Gunnar B. Gudmundsson at the Icelandic Meteorological Office.
--------------------------------

More Sandstorms On The Way

By China Daily
Mar 23, 2010

SHANGHAI - Another eight to 10 sandstorms are expected to hit North China in April and May as a result of the frequent cold spells, meteorologists predicted on Monday.

The forecast came as sandstorms whipped across the country, shrouding cities in a cloud of sand, with winds carrying the dirt as far as Hong Kong and Taiwan.
--------------------------------

Perth Reeling From Freak Storm

By ABC News
Mar 22, 2010

Homes have been damaged, power knocked out and hail the size of golf balls has fallen as a sudden storm swept across the Perth metropolitan area.
--------------------------------

Sandstorms Blanket Beijing In Yellow Dust

By AFP
Mar 20, 2010

Beijingers woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital blanketed in yellow dust, as a sandstorm caused by a severe drought in the north and in Mongolia swept into the city.

The storm, which earlier buffeted parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital.

Authorities issued a rare level five pollution warning, signalling hazardous conditions, and urged residents to stay indoors.

Sandstorms frequently hit the arid north of China in the spring, when temperatures start to rise, stirring up clouds of dust that can travel across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the United States.

Scientists blame a combination of deforestation and prolonged drought in northern China for the phenomenon.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Blizzard Hits Midwest On First Day Of Spring

By Associated Press
Mar 20, 2010

NORMAN, Oklahoma - A powerful storm began blowing through Oklahoma and the southern Plains on the first day of spring Saturday, bringing heavy snow and strong winds a day after temperatures reached into the 70s.

Officials said gusts of up to 40 mph could create drifts of blowing snow and blizzard conditions in what the National Weather Service called "a potentially life-threatening" storm.

----------------------------------------------------------------------

Seventeen Indonesia Volcanoes On Alert

By United Press International
Mar 19, 2010

BANDUNG, Indonesia - Seventeen of 18 volcanoes in Indonesia are on alert status and emitting toxic gas, a federal monitoring agency said.

The mountains are safe to visit as long as tourists stay at least a half-mile away from the gas-producing craters, Indonesia's Volcanology and Geology Hazard Mitigation Center said.

The alert status is the second level of a three-level system of warning. The Ibu volcano in West Halmahera is the only one of the 18 volcanoes at the lower No. 3 standby level, Antara news reported.

Mount Talang in Sumatra and Mount Karangetang in Sulawesi are the most recent volcanos to have their status raised to alert.

-----------------------------------------------------------------------

Heavy Rains Swamp Camps Holding Haiti's Homeless

By Washington Post
Mar 19, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti - One of the heaviest rainfalls since Haiti's Jan. 12 earthquake swamped homeless camps Friday, sweeping screaming residents into eddies of water, overflowing latrines and panicking thousands.

The overnight downpour sent water coursing down the slopes of a former golf course that now serves as a temporary home for about 45,000 people.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------

Coastal Areas On Alert For Cyclone

By The Australian
Mar 18, 2010

Almost 1000km of Queensland coast was on cyclone watch yesterday as emergency preparations were stepped up for a storm generating destructive winds up to 200km/h.

Magnitude-4.4 Earthquake Shakes Southern California

By Associated Press
Mar 16, 2010 - 9:31:18 AM

LOS ANGELES - An earthquake east of downtown Los Angeles rippled across Southern California before dawn Tuesday, jolting millions of people awake and putting first-responders on alert

-----------------------------
Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits South Indian Ocean

By USGS
Mar 15, 2010

Magnitude 6.0 Earthquake Hits South Indian Ocean on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 20:33:10 UTC.

-----------------------------
Tropical Storm Hubert Kills 36 In Madagascar

By Associated Press
Mar 16, 2010

ANTANANARIVO, Madagascar - Madagascar's disaster officials say at least 36 people have died and more than 38,000 were made homeless by Tropical Storm Hubert.

The storm hit the southeast coast of the Indian Ocean island nation on Wednesday.

Officials also said Monday that many rice plantations, roads and homes have been affected or destroyed by flooding. Disaster officials also say that some evacuation teams cannot reach disaster victims because of flooded roads.

-----------------------------
Magnitude 6.6 Earthquake Hits Near The East Coast Of Honshu, Japan

By USGS
Mar 14, 2010

Magnitude 6.6 Earthquake Hits Near The East Coast Of Honshu, Japan on Sunday, March 14, 2010 at 08:08:05 UTC

------------------------------
Fiji Braces For Cyclone Tomas

By Stuff.co.nz
Mar 14, 2010

Fiji is bracing itself for what experts fear is going to be a brutal storm, passing right across the two main islands and hitting major population centres, including the capital Suva.

The Fiji Meteorological Service expects Cyclone Tomas to reach a Category Four storm - one short of the maximum storm - just before it hits the Vanua

Fiji Braces For Cyclone Tomas

By Stuff.co.nz
Mar 14, 2010

Fiji is bracing itself for what experts fear is going to be a brutal storm, passing right across the two main islands and hitting major population centres, including the capital Suva.

The Fiji Meteorological Service expects Cyclone Tomas to reach a Category Four storm - one short of the maximum storm - just before it hits the Vanua Levu near Udu Point tomorrow.

---------------------------------

Tropical Storm Hubert Leaves 14 Dead In Madagascar

By AFP
Mar 13, 2010

ANTANANARIVO - At least 14 people were killed and nearly 38,000 left homeless when tropical storm Hubert smashed into Madagascar this week, authorities said Saturday.

"So far we have counted 14 dead, two missing and 37,891 homeless on the east coast," of the Indian Ocean island, the press service of the national emergencies office BNGRC told AFP.

Hubert caused torrential rain all week on Madagascar, which only finally stopped on Friday morning.

"Our main problem now is evacuating victims," a spokesman for the BNGRC said, adding that 50 tonnes of rice had been sent to each of the six districts worst affected.

---------------------------------------.

Kazakhstan Flooding Death Toll Rises To 35

By Associated Press
Mar 13, 2010

ALMATY, Kazakhstan - The death toll from a massive flood that devastated a village in southern Kazakhstan has soared to 35, the country's president said Saturday.

A privately owned dam at a reservoir in the eastern Almaty region neighboring China ruptured Thursday evening, unleashing torrents almost 2 meters (6.5 feet) high and completely destroying Kyzyl-Agash, a village of 3,000 people.

President Nursultan Nazarbayev said at a government meeting that the owner of the dam could face prosecution for failing to take adequate safety measures in preparation for the spring floods.

Nazarbayev also criticized the Emergency Services Ministry for failing to properly check on the safety of water supply facilities across the former Soviet Central Asian nation.

Authorities said more than 600 emergency workers have reached Kyzyl-Agash to help clear the debris and that police have been posted at the entrance to the village to prevent looting. Emergency Services Minister Vladimir Bozhko is leading an operation to assess the scale of the damage.

----------------------------------------

Landslide blankets China village; 17 dead

By Xinhua News
Mar 11, 2010

A landslide swept over a village in northwest China covering dozens of homes and leaving at least 17 dead and 11 missing, state media said on Thursday.

The official Xinhua News Agency said rescuers in Shaanxi province were scrambling to find survivors after a massive wall of earth peeled away from a mountainside early Wednesday, crushing at least 25 houses in Shuanghuyu village.

Subject: world quakes past 7 days-5.0 or greater (11- 6.0 or greater)

Latest Earthquakes Magnitude 5.0 and Greater in the World - Last 7 days
Versión en Español
Magnitude 5 and greater earthquakes located by the USGS and contributing networks in the last week (168 hours). Magnitudes 6 and above are in red. (Some early events may be obscured by later ones on the maps.)
The most recent earthquakes are at the top of the list. Times are in Coordinated Universal Time (UTC). Click on the word "map" to see a ten-degree tall map displaying the earthquake. Click on an event's "DATE" to get a detailed report.
DISCLAIMER
Update time = Tue Mar 9 14:17:06 UTC 2010

 
MAG
UTC DATE-TIME
y/m/d h:m:s

LAT
deg

LON
deg

DEPTH
km

 Region

MAP
 5.7  
2010/03/09 14:06:55 
  51.539 
 -173.228 
37.0 
 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS., ALASKA

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/09 12:42:45 
 -23.649 
 -179.835 
515.1 
 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS

MAP
 5.2  
2010/03/09 06:00:42 
  11.253 
  125.457 
40.9 
 SAMAR, PHILIPPINES

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/08 23:43:28 
 -32.535 
  -71.500 
18.1 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/08 18:43:29 
 -32.340 
  -71.346 
35.0 
 VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.3  
2010/03/08 18:08:03 
 -32.366 
  -71.444 
22.5 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.4  
2010/03/08 17:50:48 
 -32.498 
  -71.586 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.7  
2010/03/08 17:03:19 
 -25.707 
  -66.599 
19.3 
 SALTA, ARGENTINA

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/08 16:49:52 
 -32.566 
  -71.564 
21.8 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/08 16:04:10 
 -35.942 
  -73.416 
24.6 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/08 13:47:22 
 -34.525 
  -71.579 
24.0 
 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/08 13:03:44 
 -34.562 
  -73.872 
37.0 
 OFF COAST OF LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/08 11:37:35 
  18.698 
  145.931 
219.2 
 PAGAN REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

MAP
 6.0  
2010/03/08 09:47:11 
  19.342 
  144.728 
446.5 
 MAUG ISLANDS REG., NORTHERN MARIANA ISL.

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/08 08:07:58 
 -33.691 
  -71.848 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.5  
2010/03/08 07:47:40 
  38.767 
  40.239 
10.0 
 EASTERN TURKEY

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/08 04:40:27 
 -33.103 
  -72.384 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 6.0  
2010/03/08 02:32:35 
  38.876 
  39.992 
12.0 
 EASTERN TURKEY

MAP
 5.4  
2010/03/07 23:46:58 
 -36.170 
  -72.971 
17.3 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.5  
2010/03/07 22:00:37 
 -34.070 
  -71.837 
30.2 
 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/07 18:36:01 
 -34.635 
  -71.777 
35.0 
 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/07 16:15:33 
  15.833 
  147.572 
17.5 
 MARIANA ISLANDS REGION

MAP
 5.8  
2010/03/07 15:59:45 
 -37.967 
  -73.300 
27.4 
 BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/07 07:51:11 
  11.268 
  140.673 
79.6 
 STATE OF YAP, FED. STATES OF MICRONESIA

MAP
 6.3  
2010/03/07 07:05:25 
 -16.108 
 -115.256 
10.0 
 SOUTHERN EAST PACIFIC RISE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/07 04:46:35 
 -33.045 
  -71.743 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/06 17:53:48 
  14.689 
  144.262 
10.0 
 ROTA REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/06 17:23:13 
  14.639 
  144.220 
10.0 
 ROTA REGION, NORTHERN MARIANA ISLANDS

MAP
 5.6  
2010/03/06 13:31:14 
  44.201 
  147.621 
55.4 
 KURIL ISLANDS

MAP
 5.4  
2010/03/06 12:10:57 
 -13.125 
  166.580 
92.7 
 VANUATU

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/06 03:09:31 
 -34.639 
  -72.102 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/06 01:23:23 
 -36.694 
  -73.255 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/06 00:33:02 
  48.888 
  91.513 
15.0 
 WESTERN MONGOLIA

MAP
 6.5  
2010/03/05 16:06:58 
  -4.032 
  100.806 
22.0 
 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/05 12:28:59 
 -34.974 
  -72.169 
35.0 
 MAULE, CHILE

MAP
 5.3  
2010/03/05 12:01:53 
 -37.478 
  -73.360 
35.0 
 BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 6.6  
2010/03/05 11:47:10 
 -36.513 
  -73.116 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/05 10:31:24 
 -37.477 
  -73.699 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/05 10:14:26 
  1.916 
  127.497 
104.2 
 HALMAHERA, INDONESIA

MAP
 6.0  
2010/03/05 09:19:38 
 -36.535 
  -73.253 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.2  
2010/03/05 03:55:19 
 -34.482 
  -71.443 
35.0 
 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.7  
2010/03/05 03:34:33 
 -34.405 
  -71.696 
23.0 
 LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 6.3  
2010/03/04 22:39:25 
 -22.273 
  -68.357 
104.2 
 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/04 19:28:39 
 -34.278 
  -72.518 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.3  
2010/03/04 17:37:50 
 -34.049 
  -71.997 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 6.5  
2010/03/04 14:02:28 
 -13.598 
  167.164 
176.0 
 VANUATU

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/04 10:53:52 
 -35.522 
  -69.808 
10.7 
 MENDOZA, ARGENTINA

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/04 09:39:43 
  -1.448 
  145.458 
59.7 
 ADMIRALTY ISLANDS REG., PAPUA NEW GUINEA

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/04 09:36:39 
 -12.041 
  166.282 
97.0 
 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/04 09:03:42 
 -37.495 
  -74.556 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/04 08:16:18 
  22.959 
  120.572 
35.0 
 TAIWAN

MAP
 6.0  
2010/03/04 01:59:51 
 -33.167 
  -72.099 
35.2 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 6.2  
2010/03/04 00:18:52 
  22.903 
  120.826 
21.0 
 TAIWAN

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/03 21:24:03 
 -38.465 
  -73.696 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE ARAUCANIA, CHILE

MAP
 5.6  
2010/03/03 19:58:29 
 -33.463 
  -71.825 
28.7 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 6.0  
2010/03/03 17:44:25 
 -36.452 
  -73.069 
19.0 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/03 11:13:58 
  3.160 
  127.084 
64.5 
 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/03 06:16:23 
 -33.620 
  -71.959 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/03 04:36:00 
 -37.527 
  -73.773 
30.2 
 OFFSHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE

MAP
 5.4  
2010/03/03 01:51:21 
 -34.966 
  -72.671 
35.0 
 OFFSHORE MAULE, CHILE

MAP
 5.2  
2010/03/02 22:18:42 
  3.528 
  126.917 
67.4 
 KEPULAUAN TALAUD, INDONESIA

MAP
 5.2  
2010/03/02 21:56:43 
 -30.212 
  -68.909 
33.7 
 SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA

MAP
 5.1  
2010/03/02 19:12:56 
 -34.253 
  -72.112 
41.3 
 OFFSHORE LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE

MAP
 5.0  
2010/03/02 17:57:02 
 -33.841 
  -72.123 
26.8 
 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE

 
March 9, 2010
 

www.robinalexis.com

Strong earthquake slams eastern Turkey, kills 51

Associated Press
March 8, 2010

OKCULAR, Turkey – A strong, pre-dawn earthquake struck eastern Turkey on Monday, killing 51 people as it knocked down stone and mud-brick houses and minarets in at least six villages, the government said.

The earthquake surprised many residents as they slept, crumpling buildings into piles of rubble. Panicked survivors fled into the narrow village streets, some climbing out of windows, as more than 50 aftershocks measuring up to 5.5 and 5.3 magnitude rattled the region.
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Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Hits Soutern East Pacific Rise

By USGS
Mar 7, 2010

Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Hits Soutern East Pacific Rise on Sunday, March 07, 2010 at 07:05:24 UTC.
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Floods Kill Hundreds In Africa

By United Press International
Mar 7, 2010

NAIROBI, Kenya - Floods resulting from torrential rain in Africa have killed hundreds of people and forced millions from their homes, authorities said.

The floods in eastern, central and southern Africa caused widespread damage to property and washed away entire herds of livestock, Radio France Internationale, RFI, reported.

In eastern Uganda, officials said, 300 people are believed to have been killed in a mudslide.

Thousands of villagers have been moved away from surrounding mountains because of fears of outbreaks of waterborne diseases like cholera and malaria.

Floods killed at least seven people and left dozens missing in Kenya, RFI reported. Authorities warned floods still threaten the south and west of the country.

 
 
http://www.fourwinds10.com/siterun_data/environment/weather_and_climate/news.php?q=1267890741

Strong Aftershocks Hit Quake-Stunned Chile

By Associated Press
Mar 5, 2010

CONCEPCION, Chile - The most powerful aftershock in six days sent terrified Chileans fleeing into quake-shattered streets and forced doctors to evacuate some patients from a major hospital on Friday as the nation struggled to comprehend the scope of the disaster that hit it.

People raced into the streets in pajamas as a magnitude-6.0 aftershock struck Concepcion shortly before dawn.

A magnitude-6.6 shock at 8:47 a.m. (6:47 a.m. EST; 1147 GMT) then rattled buildings for nearly a minute.

It was the strongest aftershock since a magnitude-6.9 jolt shortly after Saturday's historic quake and it sent office chairs spilling from upper floor of an already-damaged 22-story building.

Fear of additional damage led officials to evacuate some patients from the regional hospital in downtown Concepcion.

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Magnitude 6.5 Earthquake Shakes Indonesian Sumatra

By Associated Press
Mar 5, 2010

A magnitude-6.5 undersea earthquake shook the western shore of Indonesia's Sumatra island on Friday, causing panic but no casualties or damage, an official said.

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Kenya Floods Kill Six, Leave Dozens Missing

By AFP
Mar 5, 2010

NAIROBI - Floods in Kenya have killed at least six people and left dozens missing, also washing away entire herds of cattle, police and the Red Cross said Friday.

The torrential rains across several parts of Kenya, including in some of its most visited natural parks, left hundreds of people homeless and required helicopter evacuations of tourists.

"Six people have been killed since yesterday. Three of them were washed away by floods in Nakuru while the three others were killed in Marsabit," a senior police officer told AFP.

"Those killed in Marsabit are young children who were washed away as they played in an open field in Dukana area," he added.

Kenya Red Cross officials said up to 100 houses remained submerged in the Garbatula region of Eastern Province and nearly 500 people were homeless.

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Risk Of Deadly Malaria Is Growing In Earthquake-Ravaged Haiti, CDC Warns

By Miami Herald
Mar 5, 2010

In Haiti, the half-million people made homeless by the Jan. 12 earthquake now face another danger: malaria.

Also at risk are the relief workers who may not have built up an immunity to the sometimes-deadly strain found in Haiti.

On Thursday, the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention reported that 11 cases of the P.falciparum malaria infection, acquired in Haiti, have been confirmed among emergency personnel and Haitian residents who traveled to the U.S.

`Displaced persons living outdoors or in temporary shelters and thousands of emergency responders in Haiti are at substantial risk for malaria,' said the CDC.

The cases include: seven emergency responders, including six military personnel; three Haitian residents who traveled to the U.S., including one Haitian adoptee; and one U.S. traveler.

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'Golf Ball-Sized Hail' Brings Melbourne To Standstill

By AFP
Mar 6, 2010

MELBOURNE - A violent storm with hail-stones the size of golf balls brought Melbourne to a standstill on Saturday, as rains elsewhere threatened to inundate a rural town.

The storm, which hurled 19 millimetres (three-quarters of an inch) of rain in just 18 minutes on Australia's second city, flooded streets and forced the cancellation of horse races and an Aussie Rules match.

"It was a very dangerous thunderstorm," said the weather bureau's senior forecaster Richard Carlyon. "We don't often see storm cells like that."

Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Hits Vanuatu

By USGS
Mar 4, 2010

Magnitude 6.4 Earthquake Hits Vanuatu on Thursday, March 04, 2010 at 14:02:30 UTC.
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St George To Evacuate As Flooding Worsens

By ABC News
Mar 4, 2010

Homes in the tiny town of Bollon have been indundated and most of the streets are underwater, while authorities say flooding in nearby St George could be worse than first expected.

A creek in Bollon, where 12 homes are already underwater, was expected to peak overnight at a record height, but the town's 120 residents have refused offers to be airlifted.

Homes and businesses in St George will be evacuated this morning, said the Balonne Shire Council CEO, Scott Norman.

The Balonne River is expected to reach its highest level in at least 20 years, and major flooding is expected in St George tomorrow

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Chile's Earthquake Death Toll Rises to 802

By Xinhua News
Mar 4, 2010

SANTIAGO - The death toll of the earthquake that shook the center-south region of the country on Saturday rose to 802, Chilean Interior Vice Minister Patricio Rosende said on Wednesday.

The number of missing people are still 19, he added.

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UPDATE :Strong Earthquake Hits Taiwan; Injuries Reported

By Associated Press
Mar 4, 2010

TAIPEI, Taiwan - A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, causing widespread damage and disrupting communications around the island. Local news reports said several people were injured.

The quake was centered in the county of Kaohsiung, and struck at a depth of about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). Kaohsiung is about 249 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Taipei.

No tsunami alert was issued.

Strong Quake Hits Taiwan, Knocks Out Power

By Associated Press
Mar 3, 2010

TAIPEI - A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday morning causing buildings to sway hundreds of miles to the north. No tsunami alert was issued.
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UPDATE : Landslide Buries Villages, 80 Dead, 350 Missing

By New Vision Online
Mar 3, 2010

A massive landslide swept the slopes of Mt. Elgon in eastern Uganda on Monday night, killing at least 80 people, with 350 missing and feared dead.
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Strong 6.0 Aftershock Hits Chile, Tsunami Alert Sounded

By Wall Street Journal
Mar 3, 2010

SANTIAGO, CHILE - The U.S. Geological Survey said a preliminary 6.0-magnitude earthquake hit Chile's south-central region Wednesday, a powerful aftershock following the massive 8.8-magnitude quake that rattled the Andean nation early Saturday.

Death Toll In Chile Quake Reaches 723

By CNN News
Mar 1, 2010

Concepcion, Chile - Rescuers searched for survivors Monday as crews sought to deliver food and water and prevent looting after the fifth strongest earthquake in some 100 years ravaged central and southern Chile.

More than 1.5 million people were without power in and around the capital of Santiago, according to Chile's National Emergency Office, but the hardest-hit areas after Saturday's 8.8-magnitude quake were farther south in the Maule and Bio Bio regions along the coast.

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Giant Waves Brought Death, Misery To Chile Coast

By Reuters
Mar 1, 2010

DICHATO, Chile - The sun had barely risen over the Chilean fishing town of Dichato on Saturday morning when the three giant waves roared in from the Pacific.

The first two surges startled the town's 7,000 residents, who had already been violently awakened by the earthquake that wrought destruction across a swathe of central Chile.

But it was the third surge, a huge wall of water, that tore up and smashed houses, swept cars out to sea, and sucked people's possessions into the sea, destroying more than three-quarters of the town's buildings.

"The last one almost wiped the village off the map," said David Merino, surrounded by a scene of water-logged destruction in the village, which was among the closest settlements to the 8.8-magnitude quake.

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Rain, Floods Hit Quake-Ravaged Haiti, Kill 13

By Reuters
Mar 1, 2010

PORT-AU-PRINCE - Floods and mudslides killed at least 13 people in Haiti over the weekend, raising fears about the vulnerability of survivors of the January 12 earthquake, officials and aid workers said on Monday.

Haiti's civil protection agency said four people died when floodwaters triggered by torrential rains swept through Les Cayes, a port and the country's third-largest city located on the southern coast about 100 miles (160 km) west of the quake-shattered capital Port-au-Prince.

"At one point, people had to climb on the roofs of their homes ... Les Cayes was flooded by more than 60 percent," Joseph Yves-Marie Aubourg, the government's representative in the region, told Reuters.

Four more people were killed in nearby Cavaillon, four in Saint Louis du Sud and one in Aquin, the civil protection agency said. Three people were missing and close to 3,500 were evacuated from their homes, it added.

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French Rescuers Search For More Bodies After Deadly Storm

By The Sidney Morning Herald
Mar 1, 2010

Rescuers waded through grey floodwaters in France on Monday looking for more bodies after a fierce storm that killed at least 60 people in Western Europe.

The storm dubbed "Xynthia" unleashed gale force winds and torrential rains on Sunday, destroying roads and houses along France's Atlantic coast.

The government declared a national emergency.

The French toll rose to 50 dead and at least nine people were still missing on Monday. More than 170,000 homes were without power after the fiercest storm to have battered France since 1999, officials said.

At least five people died in neighbouring Germany, according to police, three in Spain, one in Portugal and one in Belgium.