Global Disaster Watch

Friday, October 10, 2008 -

Didn't find much natural disaster news today - good thing since we have plenty in the financial markets.

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
The higher the buildings, the lower the morals.
Noel Coward

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
10/9/08 -
5.3 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
5.9 TONGA
5.0 PACIFIC-ANTARCTIC RIDGE

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Hurricane NORBERT was 238 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm ODILE was 161 nmi SW of Salina Cruz, Mexico.

COSTA RICA - A “tropical wave” – rain, rain and more rain – is likely to traverse Costa Rica today. The weather system, called an onda tropical in Spanish, will start early morning on the Caribbean side and sweep across the country, with the chance of becoming a tropical storm after it spills over into the Pacific Ocean by early evening. The wave is common for October but puts a damper on efforts to rebuild some 300 homes, many in Cartago and eastern San José, that were soaked and pummeled in last week's heavy rains and runoff from overflowing rivers. A weakening Hurricane Norbert headed toward Mexico's Baja California yesterday, while Tropical Storm Odile – which as a low-pressure system dumped on Costa Rica last week – gained steam off Mexico's Pacific coast.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
CHINA - Six people died in a landslide early today in north China's Shanxi Province.

ODD-
ANOTHER VIRGIN SHARK BIRTH - Scientists using DNA testing have confirmed the second-known instance of "virgin birth" in a shark - a female Atlantic blacktip shark named Tidbit that produced a baby without a male shark. The shark came to the Virginia Aquarium & Marine Science Center in Virginia Beach not long after being born in the wild and lived there for eight years with no males of the same species. The 5-foot (1.5-meter) shark died after being removed from the tank for a veterinary examination, and a subsequent necropsy revealed that Tidbit was carrying a fully developed shark pup nearly ready to be born. DNA testing showed the pup had no father. Virgin birth such as this is known as parthenogenesis. A year ago, a hammerhead shark at a zoo in Omaha gave birth to a pup in 2002, also after parthenogenesis. "It tells us that the original case we documented last year was not some fluke of nature. This is something that might be more common than we think it is, and widespread among sharks." Parthenogenesis also has been documented in Komodo dragons, snakes, birds, fish and amphibians.

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

Thursday, October 9, 2008 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
There is some magic in wealth, which can thus make persons pay their court to it,
when it does not even benefit themselves.
How strange it is, that a fool or knave, with riches, should be treated with more respect by the world,
than a good man, or a wise man in poverty!
Ann Radcliff

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
10/8/08 -
5.1 CATANDUANES, PHILIPPINES
5.0 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.5 EASTERN XIZANG
5.3 SOUTHERN ALASKA
5.2 ARCTIC OCEAN
5.0 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.3 ALAMAGAN REG, N. MARIANA ISLANDS

KYRGYZSTAN - The death toll following the earthquake that hit southern Kyrgyzstan over the weekend has risen to 75, with 200 injured, 128 houses destroyed and more than 70 per cent of infrastructure damaged in Nura village (population 941).

VOLCANOES -
ALASKA - Redoubt steams, but still 'normal'. Reports last month by a pilot of a strong hydrogen sulfide odor and by nearby residents of loud noises coming from Redoubt Volcano has focused attention by scientists of the Alaska Volcano Observatory on the volcano 51 miles east of Kenai. No increased earthquake activity has been measured, and the alert level for Redoubt remains at normal and the aviation code remains at green. Redoubt last erupted in the winter of 1989-90, depositing ash over much of the Kenai Peninsula. A Boeing 747 jet flew into an ash cloud on Dec. 18, 1989, causing all four engines to stop. The jet fell about 10,000 feet before the pilot restarted the engines. In the recent overflight, scientists reported new fractures and circular openings in the upper Drift Glacier on the north side of Redoubt. Fumaroles on the 1968 and 1990 domes also were seen to be steaming more vigorously. A distinct hydrogen sulfide odor also was observed on the overflight, but instruments did not detect sulfur dioxide. Seismic instruments on Redoubt have not shown increased small earthquakes above normal background levels. However, in a second report released late Friday, AVO noted weak but anomalous volcanic seismicity on Redoubt. Volcanic activity remains very low, but is slightly above background levels. Scientists also are restoring some seismic stations that hadn't been working fully. Before the 1989 eruption, several thousand small earthquakes at Redoubt were reported in a day, as opposed to just a handful now.

ITALY - Residents of Naples, Italy, panicked when they heard a sonic boom Wednesday, thinking the Mount Vesuvius volcano had erupted. Neopolitans rushed to the phones, jamming switchboards at the city's eruption hot line with calls until they realized the noise was caused by Italian F-16s breaking the sound barrier while scrambling to intercept an unidentified aircraft. Naples goes through Mount Vesuvius scares fairly often. The last major scare was in August 2007 after the U.S. magazine National Geographic claimed Naples' evacuation plans wouldn't get people out in time if Vesuvius erupted as it did in A.D. 79 when it buried the city of Pompeii.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Hurricane NORBERT was 332 nmi SSW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.
Tropical storm ODILE was 212 nmi S of Salina Cruz, Mexico.

Hurricane Norbert's winds weakened overnight to reach a top speed of 185km/h (115mph), category three. It is due to veer towards Mexico's Baja California peninsula and mainland over the next two days. Mexican farmers are rushing to finish field work before the rains sweep in. Hoteliers are also securing their property in Baja California. (satellite photo / map)
Elsewhere, Tropical Storm Odile, the 15th named storm in the Eastern Pacific's hurricane season, has formed with maximum sustained winds of nearly 65km/h (40mph). It is centred about 505km (315 miles) south-east of Puerto Angel, Mexico, but is expected to remain offshore as it moves north-west.
Tropical Storm Marco, which hit Mexico's other (Gulf) coast late on Tuesday, has weakened to a tropical depression. While it caused flooding in the state of Veracruz, Marco caused no major damage to the country's oil and gas installations.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-

More people died from natural disasters in the first six months of 2008 than in the Asian tsunami of 2004 due mainly to the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar. "2008 is a terrible year." More than 230,000 people lost their lives from disasters and another 130 million were affected. Cyclone Nargis which hit Mynamar in May is estimated to have killed around 138,000 people while the earthquake in south-west China's Sichuan province left a death toll of 87,500. Record floods in India as well as a devastating hurricane season in the Caribbeans also all contributed to the grim statistics. The UN estimates the economic cost of natural disasters for the first half of this year at 35 billion dollars (26 billion euros), up from an average of 15 billion dollars for the same period over the past ten years.

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

CURRENT WORLDWIDE NATURAL DISASTERS