Global Disaster Watch

Wednesday, May 14, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
He that plants a tree loves others besides himself.
Thomas Fuller

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/14/08 -
5.7 OFF W COAST OF NORTHERN SUMATRA
5.1 MOLUCCA SEA
5.3 LUZON, PHILIPPINES
5.2 LUZON, PHILIPPINES
5.0 KURIL ISLANDS
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.0 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.9 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.3 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION

CHINA - The full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge today as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000 and rising by the hour. The message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago. "Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to the ground." The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building levelled.
China quake 'worse than expected' - First reports from the epicentre of Monday's earthquake in China's Sichuan province suggest the number of dead could be higher than feared. In Yingxiu, in Wenchuan County, the devastation was worse than expected, as roads were blocked and children buried in debris. Out of the town's population of 10,000, only 2,300 have been found alive after Monday's 7.9 quake. The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply. Poor weather has continued to hamper aid efforts, and rescuers have been forced to trek to areas cut off by the quake damage and search through the rubble with their bare hands. An army team in Yingxiu said they could hear cries under the rubble of collapsed buildings. The troops have rescued about 1,000 people in Wenchuan County, but an estimated 60,000 people remain missing. In Juyuan, more than 1,000 people were thought to be trapped in a collapsed school building. China's one child policy means that, for most of the relatives desperately waiting outside, their only offspring is under the rubble. About 18,000 people are reported to be trapped at Beichuan, close to the epicentre. In one city, Mianyang, 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble, and in nearby Mianzhu, at least 4,800 are reported trapped. In Shifang, where two chemical plants collapsed, releasing a huge toxic cloud, about 600 people were reported dead and up to 2,300 still buried. People have set up tents or makeshift shelters on almost any piece of open land, even in the middle of road junctions.

VOLCANOES -
INDIA - The oozing of a lava-like substance from the earth created panic among villagers in Murti and surrounding areas of Baramati in Maharashtra Tuesday and the police cordoned the area off and then sent the liquid's samples for analysis. A hot jet of the molten substance was thrown out of the earth's bowels Sunday night. Though the substance has stopped oozing out since early Tuesday morning, it has turned into a semi-solid brackish rock-like formation spread over more than 30 square feet. The police also sent a message to the state geological department to investigate the substance. "We have sent samples of the material to the geological department and we will decide what to do after we get results of the tests." The material was coming out near an electric pole. "Since nothing has happened to the pole, it might not be lava, but we will wait for analysis results." The incident coincided with the reports of the killer earthquake in China and led to a widespread apprehension in the area.

CHILE - Two million sheep in the Argentine Patagonia province of Chubut are suffering the consequences of the ash blanket spewed by the eruption of the volcano Chaiten in neighboring Chile according to primary estimates from local authorities. "The situation is very serious because we already had sheep suffering from the drought and scarce grassland and unprepared for these exceptional circumstances." It’s still very difficult to quantify losses because the problem has not ceased and “we have to wait some sort of normality in the Andes to assess the real magnitude of the eruption’s consequences."
A towering cloud of hot ash, gas and molten rock spewed miles into the air by the volcano in southern Chile has partially collapsed, raising fears it could smother surrounding villages, an expert said on Tuesday. The column of ash, which had soared as high as 20 miles (30 km), was now about 4.5 miles (7 km). The column of debris, kept aloft by the pressure of constant eruptions, could collapse entirely, smothering the ghost town of Chaiten 6 miles (10 km) away with hot gas, ash and molten rocks. "These small collapses which generate minor flows of pyroclastic material are normal, they are not that serious in that they affect a small area, the top part of the volcano. But that doesn't make the worst case scenario disappear. As long as the eruptive column is high in the air, (a major collapse) is a possibility." Thick ash has caked rooftops, settled on the backs of animals and also formed a sediment in a river near Chaiten, which overran its banks briefly on Monday due to heavy rains and flooded about 40 houses on the outskirts of Chaiten town. Footage from the area showed a cluster of wooden houses at tilted angles in a river of gray ash.

NEW ZEALAND - Vulcanologists say molten rock appears to be moving higher inside Mt Ruapehu. They say elevated gas output, high lake temperatures and tremors continue to indicate unrest at Ruapehu, but say it is not clear whether an eruption is imminent. Eruptions in 1995 and 1996 wrecked the ski seasons in those years and were economically disastrous for the area. [Site note - oddly, the seismic drum at Ruapehu has not been showing any activity.]

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES / RISING SEA LEVELS -
Forces that triggered the earthquake in China on Monday may have been born in the geological event that triggered the tsunami on Boxing Day 2004, killing more than 230,000 people, an Australian seismologist says. He suspects that the 9.1-magnitude quake that struck Sumatra on December 26, 2004, unleashing the tsunami across the Indian Ocean, had also forced stresses within the Earth's crust to "migrate" towards fault lines in south-western China. "Once we crunch the numbers we will find the stress on this [Chinese] fault line increased as a result of the Sumatra earthquake." The Chinese tremor is described as an intraplate event, because, unlike the Sumatra quake, it struck about 500 kilometres from the nearest tectonic plate boundary. Only 10% of all quakes happen in the middle of plates, rather than on their boundaries. "After China, Australia is the next most active intraplate area in the world."

INDONESIA - 3 years after the Indian Ocean earthquake of December 2004, tsunami survivors still struggle. The scars of the 2004 Asian Tsunami can be seen everywhere. Your local travel agent might have you believe that it’s all over, that the resorts have been rebuilt and it’s business as usual on Thailand’s Andaman coast. But cycle a few hundred meters outside of the resorts and it’s a very different story. Many people have struggled to rebuild homes (unrecognisable as such by Western standards), and are having a hard time time living from the remaining natural resources which were devastated following the undersea earthquake, so large that our Earth wobbled on its Axis and our days are now 2.7 microseconds shorter. Survivors continue to mourn their losses, left with farm fields still contaminated by salt water, limited infrastructure for the treatment of sewage and provision of fresh water and the collapse of local fishing industries. The healthy return of tourism to the region is certainly helping to inject funds into local economies, and a sense of normality is slowly returning, but the memory of 26th December 2004 continues to traumatise many survivors struggling to scrape a living from a coastline still bearing many scars of the most deadly natural disaster in living memory.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
No current tropical cyclones.

BURMA - Another powerful storm is headed toward Myanmar's cyclone-devastated delta. The Hawaii-based Joint Typhoon Warning Center said there is a good chance that "a significant tropical cyclone" will form within the next 24 hours and head across the Irrawaddy delta area. The new cyclone would likely not be as severe as Nargis because it is already close to land, and cyclones need to be over sea to gain full strength. "There will be a lot of rain but the winds will not be as strong." So little aid has reached the area that the U.N. warned today of a "second wave of deaths" among an estimated 2 million survivors. U.N. agencies and other groups have been able to reach only 270,000 people so far. Getting to the worst-affected areas was getting more and more difficult, and the impending storm was expected to compound the misery of the survivors. Some survivors of Cyclone Nargis were reportedly getting spoiled or poor-quality food, rather than nutrition-rich biscuits sent by international donors, adding to suspicions that the junta may be misappropriating foreign aid. The news of a second cyclone was not broadcast by Myanmar's state-controlled media.
Heavy rains have pelted homeless cyclone survivors in Burma's Irrawaddy delta, complicating the already slow delivery of aid to more than 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease. The official death toll from Burma's devastating Cyclone Nargis has risen to 34,273, with 27,836 people missing. The death toll could exceed 100,000.
The international effort to save the survivors of Cyclone Nargis has been jeopardised further by the destruction of Burma's biggest port, which is likely to be out of action for months. The oil and container terminals in Rangoon, Burma's biggest city, were crippled in the storm 12 days ago, and repair work has not even begun. The UN is making plans to offload supplies directly into the stricken Irrawaddy delta area, with flat-bottomed craft unloading from large cargo vessels anchored off the coast. But these ambitious schemes will be impossible to implement without the agreement of the Burmese Government, which is still blocking the large-scale delivery of foreign aid. “The jetties are broken and the [oil] lines are broken. They said to me, 'Don't worry, we'll have it fixed in a month'. But it will take three or four months - it will be August before it is ready.” After the first American aid shipment landed on Monday, the Burmese military regime said that Burma was grateful but there was no further requirement for aid workers. Even without the reluctance of the Burmese junta, the country's wretched infrastructure presents profound obstacles to the importation of large-scale foreign aid.

FLORIDA - Just before 10 PM on Monday night, The National Hurricane Center in Miami accidently sent out alerts about the formation of a Tropical Storm Ophelia. The alert even included Hurricane Warnings for the Carolina coast. The bad alert also appeared on the National Hurricane Center website for several minutes. Turns out it was all a training exercise that was not meant to be sent out to the media. ( Link with the alert and the predicted track.)

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
WASHINGTON D.C. - The heavy, steady rain that pounded the region for more than 24 hours on Monday sent rivers over their beds, destroyed homes and caused one woman, caught in the grip of Beltway traffic, to deliver her third child in the back of a car. The rising waters and falling trees caused thousands of power outages and closed about 90 roads throughout the region, including about 20 in suburban Maryland, 63 in Northern Virginia and seven in the District of Columbia. Rescuers in Prince William County evacuated 31 homes and rescued more than 18 people from rushing water, mostly from vehicles trapped in flood zones. Torrential downpours brought up to 3 inches of rain and put most of the area under flood warnings and closed dozens of roads across Northern Virginia. Floodwaters erased the earth under a section of Dale Boulevard in Dale City, leaving a 20-foot-deep hole in the four-lane Prince William County thoroughfare. "This is SOME OF THE WORST FLOODING WE'VE SEEN IN AT LEAST 30 YEARS.”

NEW ZEALAND - A hillside that gave way, spewing rocks, mud and gravel into holiday houses at the fishing village of Ngawi, continues to threaten homes. About 10,000 square metres of hillside came rumbling down on Friday, smashing into four houses in Seaview Rd during heavy rain. The hilltop continues to crumble, and contractors say it could come down anytime. The rubble from the landslide, about six to eight metres deep, buried a large section of the road and raged down into the village to the foreshore. (photo)

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

Tuesday, May 13, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
I think computer viruses should count as life. I think it says something about human nature
that the only form of life we have created so far is purely destructive.
We've created life in our own image.
Stephen Hawking

QUAKES -
World map of the quakes in the past 7 days.
Quake list.

Largest quakes yesterday -
5/12/08 -
5.3 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.4 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.3 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.1 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.0 SICHUAN-GANSU BORDER REG, CHINA
5.7 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.2 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.1 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.5 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.6 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.8 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
7.8 EASTERN SICHUAN, CHINA
5.0 TAIWAN REGION
5.3 KODIAK ISLAND REGION, ALASKA
5.1 NORTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE
5.0 KURIL ISLANDS

CHINA - A team of 1,300 troops and medics has now reached Wenchuan, which was largely cut off by the quake. But rescue efforts are being hampered by heavy rain and badly damaged roads. The quake has killed at least 10,000 people in south-western Sichuan province, with thousands more trapped. 10,000 people are thought to remain buried in one town alone near the epicentre of the earthquake in Wenchuan county. The quake - now upgraded to 7.9 magnitude - struck on Monday at 1428 local time (0628 GMT) and was felt as far away as Beijing and the Thai capital, Bangkok.
Ahead of Monday's deadly earthquake , many people reported seeing UNUSUAL animal behavior. On Saturday, local media reported that hundreds of thousands of toads had appeared on the streets of Manzhu, a city about 60 km southeast of Wenchuan. A resident was quoted as saying he saw countless toads killed by passing vehicles as they crossed roads, and that he had never seen anything like it. Similarly, on Friday, people in Taizhou, Jiangsu province, also said they saw tens of thousands of toads on the city's streets, local media said. Experts have said animals can give advance notice of quakes, as they sense tremors before they happen. Unfortunately, no one heeded the toads' "warning". In response to questions from the public about the reptilian swarms, officials in both Mianzhu and Taizhou said there was nothing unusual about them. "The move is because of the change of weather."
A seismologist warned more than five years ago that based on historical records and animal studies, a strong earthquake was likely in Sichuan. Sichuan stood a big chance of being hit by a huge temblor due to its geographic location, and records since 1800 showed the average interval between major quakes in the province was about 16 years. Since 1900, the area had experienced frequent big temblors, and records showed the longest interval between them was 19 years, with the average being 11 years. The paper said, "however, the area hasn't seen any earthquake measuring above 7 for 26 years, since a big temblor struck its Songpan and Pingwu counties in 1976. We must be prepared for a big earthquake after 2003."

VOLCANOES -
CHILE's President on Saturday warned that towns surrounding Chaitén Volcano, which has been in constant eruption since May 2, might become permanently unlivable. The National Geologic and Mining Service delivered an ominous report putting the possibility of the volcano's collapse above 50%. “There are experts who say that lava from the Chaitén Volcano could flow directly towards the town of Chaitén. These experts are recommending that the town of Chaitén never be inhabited again.” The volcano could implode, thus releasing a stream of red-hot pyroclastic material (burning gas and rock) capable of destroying everything in its path. There is increased build-up in the dome of magma currently covering the volcano's crater. Futhermore, the material accumulating in the area is “highly dense,” and thus more prone to collapse. Any implosion would cause complete destruction of everything within a 15 kilometer radius around the peak, an area which encompasses Chaitén, Santa Barbara, and several rural farming villages. “We have never had a situation quite like this in Chile.”

NEW ZEALAND - Volcanic activity at New Zealand's Mount Ruapehu is increasing and an eruption could occur at any time. The volcano in central North Island, famed as a location in the "Lord of the Rings" film trilogy, last erupted on Sept. 25, 2007, spitting 2 metre (6 feet) boulders distances of up to 2 kms (1.5 miles). Ruapehu's elevated alert level has not been changed, but scientists said that activity within the mountain was greater, with high levels of gas spewing out, a warmer than average crater lake and ongoing volcanic tremors.

SICILY - Mount Etna has rumbled back to life with a "seismic event" followed by a burst of ash, volcanologists said today, three days after minor eruptions shook the cone. A "seismic event provoking a strong explosion was recorded Tuesday at 0424 GMT (1324 AEST) in parts of the peak of the volcano." The explosion on Etna was followed by a rain of ash on the southeast crater, "where significant gas emissions are occurring." The "phenomenon currently represents no danger to people or property." Saturday's eruption, accompanied by streams of lava, was also at the volcano's southeast crater.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm RAMMASUN was 316 nmi S of Tokyo, Japan.

MYANMAR’s state media reported Monday that the death toll from the recent cyclone had risen to just under 32,000. Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, washed away villages and left an estimated 1 million people homeless. Today is the 11th day since typhoon Nargis hit Myanmar.

PHILIPPINES - Typhoon Butchoy (RAMMASUN) kills 2 - Two forest guards were pinned to death while another one was critically injured after a tree fell on them, the police reported Monday. The incident occurred shortly after 12 noon of Friday in the village of Lunday in the town of Siocon. The report said the victims were inside their guardhouse while on duty at the Dacon forest concession area when a Lawaan Tree of about 60 centimeters in diameter fell on them. The report added that the Lawaan tree was uprooted by strong winds spawned by tropical storm Butchoy that hit some parts of Mindanao and the Visayas last week. The Philippines Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration said the region will continue to experience heavy downpour and strong winds.
Strong winds and big waves brought about by typhoon Butchoy battered a pump boat boarded by 17 persons, causing it to sink off the waters of Caohagan Island, Sunday afternoon, following heavy downpour in the entire province. The 17 were successfully rescued before night time on Sunday. PAGASA initially issued a gale warning to small boats and other seacraft as Butchoy could cause rough seas. The motorboat, however, sailed off to sea despite the warning.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
U.S. - Nearly half of the 21 people killed by a tornado that smashed parts of Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend died in cars, troubling experts who say vehicles are among the worst places to be during a twister.
The National Weather Service has upgraded the severity of Saturday’s tornado to an EF4, with a maximum wind speed of 170 mph. And Southwest Misourians should brace for another round of potentially severe weather this afternoon and evening. Weather conditions will be similar to those on Saturday that produced a single massive tornado that was on the ground for 74 miles - 29 miles in Oklahoma and 45 miles in Southwest Missouri. It killed at least 22 people - 15 in Missouri and six in Oklahoma and one in Georgia. “Once it came across the Oklahoma-Missouri line it was an EF1. But within a matter of minutes it quickly strengthened to an EF4.” Saturday’s tornado was UNUSUAL in that it tracked southeast instead of taking a more typical northeasterly path. Because it moved southeasterly, it pushed deeper into warm, moist air, helping increase the twister’s strength. “This was a wedge tornado that had some serious width to it. At one point along this track, where it crossed the Oklahoma border near Seneca it was a mile wide.” Tonight a strong cold front will be pushing in from the northwest and colliding with warm, moist air over Missouri. Two jet streams - one flowing at about 60 mph, 2,000 feet above the ground, and another streaming at more than 100 mph at 35,000 feet - may help twist thunderstorms that develop tonight into tornado-producers.

NEW JERSEY - An UNUSUAL spring nor'easter walloped the Jersey Shore yesterday with heavy rain and wind gusts reaching 78 mph, leaving thousands of people without power and forcing officials to declare localized states of emergency as bays and rivers overflowed their banks. "We usually don't get a storm like this after April. It's unusual." Sustained northeast winds of 40 to 45 mph piled waves high on shore and brought the ocean to the doorstep of many homes along the coast. High tide for most of Ocean County and south was around 3 p.m., with flooding in the back bays expected to follow a couple of hours later. But even before high tide in Atlantic County yesterday afternoon, officials were forced to close two major arteries because of major flooding. Those roadways were to remain shut into the night because yet another high tide was expected around 3 a.m. "Numerous communities had downed power lines, tree limbs down, uprooted trees. Thousands of people in Atlantic County are without power."
The wet, gusty storm that lashed the mid-Atlantic states Monday forced evacuations, flooded roads, fanned the flames of a deadly New Jersey fire and wrecked a brand-new research vessel off the Delaware coast, killing a crew member. Tens of thousands of electricity customers in several states lost power as up to 5 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday and wind gusts in some places reached hurricane strength. Monday morning's high tide sent waves crashing through low-lying areas, forcing the evacuation of more than 200 residents from coastal communities in central Delaware. The foul weather also prevented the Coast Guard from resuming a search for a female passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship northeast of Atlantic City, New Jersey, on Sunday night.

THAILAND - Thirty families have been evacuated to safer ground amid fears of a major flood and possible landslides from a national park runoff in Wipawadi sub-district as heavy downpours continued to lash the province for the fourth straight day yesterday. A rain-induced run-off from Kaeng Krung national park swamped several villages, forcing rescue workers to move people to higher ground. 83 areas at risk of possible landslides were being closely monitored and evacuation would be ordered if the situation becomes critical. In Kamphaeng Phet, the water level in some areas of Khlong Lan district is as high as two metres, forcing cassava growers to wade through the flood to gather what little was left of their produce. In Phichit, more than 1,000 rai of the second rice crop were under water in Pho Prathap Chang district. Local irrigation officials urged rice farmers in Kamphaeng Phet and Phichit to quickly help drain the floodwater from their paddy fields into the Yom river. If the draining of the overflowing water was delayed, thousands of as-yet-unharvested rice paddies would be in jeopardy. The North, the Central Plains, the East and the West will experience heavy rainfall in the coming days due to a low air pressure from Burma. Waves as high as two metres forced sea-going fishing boats to stay ashore.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

UNITED KINGDOM - Country divided by fires and floods as extreme weather cuts UK - The heatwave is due to come to an end by the end of the week as rain moves in from the south, but not before the month of May is propelled into the record books as having THE WARMEST BEGINNING SINCE 1772. Frustrated families were mopping up after flash floods brought misery to Wales and the North West. The fire brigade said it took "hundreds of calls", with some families stranded in their homes. The terminal at Liverpool's John Lennon Airport was also flooded, triggering an evacuation. But elsewhere, in scenes more reminiscent of a scorching August than the tail-end of spring, firefighters battled to contain flames ripping through gorse land after the first wildfires of the year struck near Yelverton on Dartmoor. For Scotland it has been the warmest first week of May since 1990, while for England, Wales and Northern Ireland it has been the warmest since 1995. The temperature in Central England – covering a triangular area between Bristol, Lancashire and London – was 15.1c (59.2f) on average over the first ten days of May. That is the warmest for the period since records of the area – the world's oldest weather log – began in 1772.

FOOD / WATER / SUPPLIES-
KILLER CORN FLAKES - Climate change could lead to "killer cornflakes" with THE MOST POTENT LIVER TOXIN EVER RECORDED. The effects of the toxins, known as mycotoxins, have been known since the Middle Ages when rye bread contaminated with ergot fungus was a staple part of the European diet. Mycotoxins can appear in the food chain as a result of the fungal infection of crops in the field or in storage, either by being eaten directly by humans, or by being used as livestock feed. "People started suffering mass hallucinations, manic depression, gangrene, abortions, reduced fertility and painful, convulsive death. The rye bread, which was known as the staff of life, quickly became known as the sceptre of death." The damage was done not from a single exposure but from many small doses of the toxins over a long period of time. The toxins can spread when temperature and moisture conditions are right and could affect crops including maize and peanuts and in some milk, dried milk products and some spices. There have been outbreaks of high levels of aflatoxins in Australian crops in recent years and global warming is providing a new threat to food safety, with temperatures expected to rise and rainfall drop in inland areas of the eastern states. "Rainfall is correlated with aflatoxin contamination, so not only do these conditions favour aflatoxin contamination but they also induce plant stress, which is going to make our plants more susceptible to contamination." Grain-growing areas of Australia could become unviable, and Australia may have to import more maize and maize-based food products to meet demand. "While killer cornflakes may not precisely be around the corner, we do have potential for increasing aflatoxin exposure. We need to investigate risk management for maize production and we need to undertake careful monitoring of food products coming into our country."

AUSTRALIA - Hopes of harvesting a bumper wheat crop this year are fading quickly, with more areas around the country sinking back into drought. In New South Wales, almost half the state has been officially drought declared, and the situation is not much better in Victoria and Queensland. Farmers admit they are getting great prices for wheat, but that's being offset by record fertiliser and fuel prices. "We're waiting for rain to plant a winter crop at the moment. We had quite a reasonable summer but since February, we've just had no rain. A few little showers of one or two mils and that's been it unfortunately. We've still got time to plant and we can plant right through into July, but as every week goes by from the middle of May, we go past our optimum planting time, which means our potential yield starts to reduce. So that's why we'd like to get a crop in the ground certainly before the end of May." Farmers in far northern New South Wales and in southern Queensland have already missed the window to plant wheat. Parts of Victoria, Queensland and South Australia are in desperate need of rain. The situation in Western Australia is looking much brighter. But the latest drought figures in NSW show 48 per cent of the state is now drought declared, up from 42 per cent just last month. "Some farmers have now had about seven interrupted or devastated years due to this drought."

HEALTH THREATS -
Latest bird flu news from the Center for Infectious Disease Research & Policy.
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

SOUTH KOREA has culled all domestic fowl in the Seoul area in a bid to contain a second outbreak of bird flu to hit the capital in less than a week.

CURRENT WORLDWIDE NATURAL DISASTERS