july august 2007

Friday, August 31, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
"The great question is now at issue, whether man shall henceforth start forwards
with accelerated velocity toward illimitable, and hitherto unconceived improvement,
or be condemned to a perpetual oscillation between happiness and misery?"
Thomas Malthus

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/30/07 -
5.5 SERAM, INDONESIA
5.3 NORTHERN SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.0 OFFSHORE CHIAPAS, MEXICO
5.2 SANTA CRUZ ISLANDS
5.1 WESTERN INDIAN-ANTARCTIC RIDGE
5.4 SOUTHEAST OF LOYALTY ISLANDS

BRITAIN - The sixth tremor in a month shook the city of Manchester. Seismologists declared that Manchester and its environs were officially at the centre of an “earthquake swarm”. The latest quake struck at 5:45am and measured 2.4 on the Richter scale – a minor tremor but one that caused houses to shake and residents to think that they were being burgled. The swarm - a succession of quakes that do not have a clear distinction between main shocks and after-shocks - is likely to be caused by the same movements of the Earth’s crust that led to 70 tremors in 2002. Manchester lies on top of four large faults – the Pendleton fault, the east and west Manchester faults and the Ardwick fault. The current quakes were likely to be a knock-on effect of friction between the Eurasian plate and either the African plate or the North American plate. “The crust is full of faults because of our turbulent geological past. At the moment we are quite fortunate in that we are far away from any major plate boundaries, but [430 million years ago] Scotland and England were on two separate continents. You’ve got these old faults within the crust that are points of weakness. We are still subject to tectonic stress, and these stresses build up on those points of weakness. The fault slips and we get an earthquake. The origin of the stresses is likely to be a long way away.” Manchester could be hit by further shocks before the swarm subsides. Seismologists are uncertain whether the tremors were caused by a single fault or a cluster. The faults beneath the city have caused swarms of tremors for centuries, including one in 1753 which caused church bells to ring. A previous sequence of quakes caused minor damage between October 2002 and January 2003, when shocks reached a magnitude of 3.9 on the Richter scale. Mancunians have little to fear from the current swarm, however. “It will rumble on for a period of months or weeks, but a volcano rising in the centre of Manchester is completely out of the question." British earthquakes have killed 11 people since 1580. Six were killed by falling stones, two fell from upper floors, two died of shock and one committed suicide. The largest earthquake recorded in Britain had a magnitude of 6.1 and struck offshore in the North Sea on June 7, 1931. The last big British earthquake was in 1990, when a 5.1 tremor hit Bishop’s Castle, Shropshire. The most damaging quake to date was the magnitude 4.6 Colchester earthquake of 1884. It shattered walls and brought down a church spire. A magnitude 5 earthquake occurs on average every ten years. A magnitude 4 earthquake occurs on average every two to three years

PERU - Relief groups say Peru still badly needs aid after quake. Survivors are living on the streets in cardboard shelters under desperate, unhygienic conditions, two weeks after the quake struck.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Typhoon FITOW was 955 nmi ESE of Tokyo, Japan.
Tropical depression 11E was 236 nmi SE of Acapulco, Mexico.
Tropical storm GIL was 330 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. (forecast to become a hurricane in about 72 hours.)

Typhoon Fitow, expected to gain strength in the western Pacific Ocean, could threaten the Tokyo area around the middle part of next week. Shifts in its track remain possible but computer models put Typhoon Fitow on a path toward mainland Japan. At 3 p.m. Thursday, the Category 1 storm was a minimal typhoon with sustained winds of 74 mph and gusts to 92 mph. It was moving north at 10 mph but forecast to turn due west by Monday. Intensification is expected as Fitow approaches Tokyo. By Tuesday, it could reach super typhoon status with 150 mph sustained winds — gusting to above 180 mph — as it again tracks north off the central Japan coast.

HEAVY RAINS -
GEORGIA - showers brought 2.40 inches of rain to the area, BREAKING THE PREVIOUS RECORD for the date of 2.37 inches set in 1981. Yet that will do little to ease a 21-inch rainfall deficit for the year in Floyd County.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
Map of global HOT spots.

SOUTHERN EUROPE - Satellite sensors detected far more fire-generated “hot spots” in southern European countries in August than they have even during previous spikes in fire activity over the past 10 years. The Greek wildfires, visible from space, SHATTERED RECORDS. Data is beginning to show how immense the burns really were. Greece “has experienced more wildfire activity this August than other European countries have over the last decade.” August was also the worst month for fires in Greece in the past 10 years by a factor of four. There remains the threat of more fires in the next few days. Another major heat wave is expected this weekend, making natural and human-ignited blazes all the more likely.

GREECE - A distinctly better day dawned across fire-ravaged southern Greece on Thursday, with most wildfires either extinguished or under control, as only four spots - two in the Peloponnese and two on the large island of Evia - were still identified as "problems". Of the four, the worst wildfire was in the verdant Karytaina district of western Arcadia prefecture, in the central Peloponnese. The death toll, meanwhile, of all wildfire-related deaths remained at 64. The week of wildfires in Greece has caused at least $1.7 billion in damage.

MACEDONIA - Wildfires continue to blaze in five sites in Macedonia on Thursday. According to the latest reports, the Galicica mountain fire is still burning in the hamlets of Tumba and Diva Jasika. The blaze scorched dry grass, juniper-trees and beech-trees. The blaze consumed 3.5 hectares of woodland. The fire near the village of Oreska Cuka is still blazing. The firefighters have averted the blaze from spreading onto the village. The wildfire between the villages of Bezikovo and Preseka, Kocani area, is still active. It scorched 50-60 hectares of woodland. Also burning are wildfires in Zajas-Bukojcani, Kicevo area, and on the mountainside in Straza area near Kicevo. The inaccessible terrain hampers the firefighting efforts. Several wildfires have been put under control, including the blaze just outside the Village of Banista, near the border with Albania. The blaze consumed roughly 500 square meters of woodland. Firefighters contained the wildfire just outside the village of Vaksince, Kumanovo area, which consumed 60-70 hectares of pine forest.

ALGERIA is facing an UNPRECEDENTED heat wave resulting in forest fires that are being felt across the entire northern regions. In the Tizi Ouzou province in the central northeast of the country at least four people died from severe burns. The temperature in Algiers reached the 110 Fahrenheit or 42 Celsius, pushing power consumption to peak levels on August 28th. Firefighters are battling fires on 28 fronts; a battle that appears difficult to win. 36 fires are currently destroying forests in Annaba, Guelma and El Tarf. In all, 74 fires have been active over the past couple of days in 19 provinces, affecting 21,000 hectares of land (52,000 acres). Since the beginning of summer, 1,204 fires have been registered, making 2007 the busiest season for Algerian firefighters.

U.S. - RECORD HEAT continues to plague parts of the U.S. - This summer is setting records for heat and drought in the west, southwest and southeastern United States. Charlotte, North Carolina, is about to set a record for most consecutive days in one year with high temperatures over 90 degrees. The west has seen severe heat for months. In California, Palm Springs has seen brutal temperatures hovering near 115-degrees, while in Arizona it's been 110-degrees or hotter for 29 straight days, a new record. Severe drought conditions are drying up lakes, lawns and fields. Farmers are fighting to save crops and cattle in some of the driest areas. In North Carolina there is a "hay emergency," continuing what has been a rough go for several seasons now. "We've had a late freeze that damaged crops in North Carolina, and then we've had a drought that has been very severe, but then couple that with probably the hottest August temperatures that have ever been recorded on record. We've had our three strikes but we're still fighting." Smaller crops and the extra cost for farmers to deal with the conditions will surely mean higher market prices in the fall.

CANADA - Climate change could be causing cougar attacks - A combination of warm winters and Alberta's population boom is causing a recent jump in cougar attacks.

CROP FAILURE / FOOD SHORTAGES -
LOOMING FOOD CRISIS - the surge in demand for agrofuels such as ethanol is hitting the poor and the environment. A "perfect storm" of ecological and social factors appears to be gathering force, threatening vast numbers of people with food shortages and price rises. The era of cheap food is over. World commodity prices of sugar, milk and cocoa have all surged, prompting the BIGGEST INCREASE IN RETAIL FOOD PRICES IN THREE DECADES in some countries. "Meat, too, will cost more because chicken and pigs are fed largely on grain." The world price [of maize] has doubled. 850m people around the world are already undernourished. There will soon be more because the price of food aid has increased 20% in just a year. In the US, where nearly 40 million people are below the official poverty line, the Department of Agriculture recently predicted a 10% rise in the price of chicken. The prices of bread, beef, eggs and milk rose 7.5 % in July, the HIGHEST MONTHLY RISE IN 25 YEARS. Reports suggest that one-third of ocean fisheries are in collapse, two-thirds will be in collapse by 2025, and all major ocean fisheries may be virtually gone by 2048. 15% of the world's present food supplies, on which 160 million people depend, are being grown with water drawn from rapidly depleting underground sources or from rivers that are drying up. In large areas of China and India, the water table has fallen catastrophically. In Britain, the recent floods will result in a shortage of vegetables such as potatoes and peas, and cereals such as wheat. This comes on top of a 4.9% rise in food prices in the year to May and a 9.6% hike in vegetable prices. Rain-dependent agriculture could be cut in half by 2020 as a result of climate change. "Anything even close to a 50% reduction in yields would obviously pose huge problems." "The competition for grain between the world's 800 million motorists, who want to maintain their mobility, and its two billion poorest people, who are simply trying to survive, is emerging as an epic issue." It is not going to get any better. The UN's World Food Organisation predicts that demand for biofuels will grow by 170% in the next three years. A separate report from the OECD, the club of the world's 30 richest countries, suggested food-price rises of between 20% and 50% over the next decade. This time last year, there were fewer than 100 ethanol plants in the whole United States, with a combined production capacity of 5bn gallons. There are now at least 50 more new plants being built and over 300 more are planned. If even half of them are finished, they will help to rewrite the politics of global food.

With the world population growth outpacing food supply, say goodbye to the era of unlimited improvement. The last time a British summer was this rain-soaked was in 1789. The consequences of excessive rainfall in the late 18th century were predictable. Crops would fail, the harvest would be dismal, food prices would rise and some people would starve. It was no coincidence that the French Revolution broke out the same year. The question is whether we could now be approaching a new era of misery. The United Nations expects the world's population to pass the 9 billion mark by 2050. But can world food production keep pace? Plant physiologists have estimated that "we must reach an average yield of 4 tons per hectare to support a population of 8 billion." Yields now are just 3 tons per hectare, and a world of 8 billion people may be less than 20 years away. Meanwhile, forces are conspiring to put a ceiling on food production. Global warming and the resulting climate change may well be increasing the incidence of extreme weather events, as well as inflicting permanent damage on some farming regions. At the same time, our effort to slow global warming by switching from fossil fuels to biofuels is taking large tracts of land out of food production. World per capita cereal production has already passed its peak - in the mid-1980s - not least because of collapsing production in the former Soviet Union and sub-Saharan Africa. Meanwhile, rising incomes in Asia are causing a worldwide surge in food demand. The International Monetary Fund recorded a 23% rise in world food prices during the last 18 months. Of course, we're not supposed to notice that prices are going up. In the U.S., the monetary authorities insist that we should focus on the "core" consumer price index, which excludes the cost of food and fuel, and has the annual U.S. inflation rate at just 2.2%. But food inflation is roughly double that.

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WHEAT - Traders are paying RECORD PRICES for wheat on world markets, thanks in part to shortages caused by a mix of drought and flooding. Canada, the second-biggest wheat producer after the U.S., looks set to harvest its SMALLEST CROP IN FIVE YEARS, due to an unusually dry July, while production in the European Union may be down nearly 40% from last year after flooding rains followed long droughts. Growing global demand for biofuels is also eating up grain production, and boosting prices. Global inventories of wheat — which makes up one-fifth of the world's food intake — are expected to fall to THEIR LOWEST LEVEL IN 26 YEARS. And, if the world warms as expected over the coming decades, the terrible farming year of 2007 may be just the beginning. As temperatures rise, many studies predict that crop yields will decline, as the extreme droughts and floods that damaged this year's wheat crops become more common. The temperature increase that occurred between 1981 and 2002 reduced major cereal crop yields by an annual average of 40 million metric tons — losses worth $5 billion a year. Those losses are sobering, but nothing compared to what might be in store: A recent study forecast a 51% decline in India's wheat-growing land, potentially leaving hundreds of millions hungry. And, last week, China's top meteorological official warned that global warming could cut the nation's grain harvest by 5 to 10% by 2030. The effects of prolonged drought can already be seen in Australia, where consistently dry weather ravaged last year's wheat crop, and threatens to do the same this year. Flooding can destroy entire fields in a single day, and over time can lead to soil erosion and loss, permanently crippling once fertile land.

MEAT & WHEAT - Meat prices are set to increase as farmers pass on the burden of surging costs. With wheat prices rising, animal feed costs have almost doubled for farmers. Price rises are vital for an industry at "breaking point" after the recent foot-and-mouth scare and floods had taken their toll. The warning comes days after consumers were told to prepare for rising BREAD prices as WHEAT COSTS HIT RECORDS. Bad weather in key grain growing areas such as Canada and parts of Europe has limited supplies as demand has risen, sparking fears of a grain shortfall.

LIVESTOCK - Increased levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere are changing the pastoral landscape around the world, turning grasslands into shrublands unsuitable as grazing grounds for domestic livestock.

CORN - NORTH CAROLINA - drought has reduced the 2007 crop in North Carolina to a third fewer bushels an acre than in the 2006 harvest.
CORN - MICHIGAN - drought is hurting corn farmers as ground conditions range from abnormally dry to extreme drought, with virtually no region unaffected.

OLIVES - GREECE - Wildfires have devastated Greek olive groves.

GRAPES - ITALY - growers are rushing to harvest the grapes which have ripened a month early.
WINE - EUROPE - the unusual position of the jet stream, which caused last month's freak weather, has devastated some of Europe's best-known wine regions.
GRAPES - INDIA - Grape cultivation dwindles in Coimbatore. Unexpected drought and unseasonal rains hit the area damaging this expensive cultivation and entrapping farmers in debt.

ONIONS - INDIA - standing crops on 3,000 acres were reported damaged due to the rain that lashed Kurnool city and surrounding areas on Wednesday night. Onion farmers in Orvakal suffered huge losses as the crop was about to be harvested in a few days.

PALM OIL - MALAYSIA - the world's top producer of palm oil, said that heavy flooding will cause 2007 output to fall.

STRAWBERRIES - AUSTRALIA - Heavy rain has severely damaged some fields.

SUGAR CANE - AUSTRALIA - Extreme weather conditions on the New South Wales north coast during the past six weeks have made it one of the worst crushing seasons for local cane.

COTTON - TURKEY - Severe drought has hit Turkey and water shortage has hit cotton cultivation.

PEANUTS - SOUTH GEORGIA - the peanut crop is threatened by record heat wwhich could be baking the crop in the ground.

PEACHES are in rare supply in the southern U.S. as the budding fruits became vulnerable to cold weather when they bloomed too early during an unusually warm March.

COAL is at record price as supply dips, rain hinders output in Indonesia, Chinese exports drop and Japan's demand increases.

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CANADA - BERRY shortage in Northern Ontario sends bear encounters soaring as bears come looking for food. Reports of nuisance bears normally drop off in June when natural food sources flourish.

WASHINGTON - HUCKLEBERRY shortage may force bears into campgrounds - A shortage of berries forces bears to look for new berry patches or other food sources.

UTAH - 24 counties have been designated as primary natural disaster areas. To receive a primary disaster declaration, a county must have incurred a production loss of at least 30 percent. The state's remaining five counties have been declared contiguous disaster areas. Contiguous areas must be surrounded by impacted counties. In addition to record wildfires and severe drought, the 24 counties have suffered from insect infestations, killing frosts, hot dry winds and flash flooding. Most ranchers said in a recent survey that they expected little help after record wildfires that have blackened more than 700,000 acres. They reported destroyed water systems, fences and outbuildings, and problems with finding money to buy hay for thousands of displaced cattle.
UTAH - a mercurial weather pattern has wreaked havoc on the state's crops this season. It has been a topsy-turvy season for the berry crop in Utah.

MINNESOTA - The effects of flooding in southeastern Minnesota are reaching far beyond the flooded area into urban areas where people contract with farmers for their supply of vegetables through community-supported agriculture programs. The programs have been billed as a way to save the family farm by linking farmers and customers who pay in advance in the spring to get vegetables each week during the growing season. The flooding provides a stark reminder that the customers share the risks of farming. Their weekly boxes of produce swell with the farm's fortunes or can get washed away. More than 1,200 U.S. farms participate in the programs, including many farms in Minnesota and Wisconsin where recent flooding has hurt crops.
Several recent thunderstorms have eased the drought conditions being faced by area farmers, but they have caused another problem - knocked-down corn.

WISCONSIN - Flooding has devastated organic farms.

TENNESSEE - While most of the South is in a period of prolonged drought, that drought has hit "extreme" levels in middle and western Tennessee, destroying crops and closing farmer's markets.

KENTUCKY - The current drought has taken a toll on Kentucky's projected crop yields.

OHIO - "This is absolutely the worst drought I've ever seen." All kinds of crops,including corn and beans, are suffering.

INDIANA - The Indiana State Beekeepers Association is alerting residents to the possibility of a honey shortage because of the nationwide bee die-off. The honeybee shorage is impacting the food supply.

TEXAS - Too much rain is hurting Texas crops, slowing harvests.

FLORIDA - Drought has caused $100 million in crop damage and economic losses to Florida and the figure could rise tenfold.

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SOUTHEAST ASIA has been hit by floods and landslides affecting more than 28 million people, who face "serious" threats of food shortage.

INDONESIA - Elephant rage claims dozens of lives in Indonesian villages - "The deforestation has reduced their habitat and, as a result, they've suffered a food shortage." They have come hunting for food in the villages.

VIETNAM - About one million people face food shortages in central Vietnam until the rice harvest early next year after the worst floods in decades.

CAMBODIA - More than 19000 hectares of rice paddies in the north-east of Cambodia have been submerged under flood waters for over a week.

BANGLADESH - Rice crops and vegetables on an area of about 100,000 hectares have been totally damaged by the onrushing flood waters.

CHINA - drought has hit about 11 million hectares of arable land and crops in China so far this year, 1.7 million hectares more than last year. Floods have damaged or destroyed more crops.
CHINA - Typhoon Sepat inundated 5920 hectares of crops.
Chinese farming experts are considering planting potatoes instead of rice and wheat as a way to beat crippling drought each year.

TAIWAN - High vegetable and fruit prices in Taipei City caused by Typhoon Sepat's heavy rain are expected to continue for three weeks.

PHILIPPINES - Drought causes heavy crop loss - Two municipalities suffered damage to corn crops estimated at P67 million as a result of the drought.

NEPAL - Food shortage has affected the remote VDCs of Baglung district including Rajkut, Devisthan, Darling and Nisi for the past two months due to recent flash floods and landslides. 42 of the country's 75 districts are threatened by food deficits.

PAKISTAN - an unexpected heavy spell of rain resulted in an acute shortage of vegetables, propelling its prices to increase.

TURKEY - In western Turkey, where the lakes are drying up and the blazing sun burns the crops, a 10-month-long drought has ravaged farming.

BULGARIA is seeking to import up to 1 million tons of corn after heat waves and floods sharply cut the country's annual grain crop.

EGYPT - Now that the country is facing a wheat shortage, parliamentarians are worried that cheap bread for the poor may become even more scarce.

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Freak weather across Europe has already pushed up the cost of wheat and hence staples like bread and pasta. Cheese and milk prices also soared last month. Indeed, there has been talk of milk riots on the Continent, particularly in Germany, where the price is to rise by 50 per cent because of a global shortage.

BRITAIN - Heavy rain has helped sclerotinia to germinate two weeks earlier. Overall the risk to main crop carrots from this disease is high this year.
BRITAIN - Experts believe the unpredictable weather may lead to the shortest summer on record for fruit growers - 'confused' fruit thinks it's already autumn.
BRITAIN - Farmers' livelihoods have been devastated across the UK by the June and July deluges. The effect on flooded farms was "phenomenal in terms of productivity". The public will feel the pinch and see gaps on their supermarket shelves until at least next April. "I don't want to exaggerate the problem we've got, but if I say it's a crisis, I'll be telling it exactly like it is. We're only cropping 15 to 20% of what we should be." Among the crops worst hit are potatoes, broccoli, cauliflower and peas.

RUSSIA - A state of emergency was introduced in the Rostov region due to crop failure resulting from drought.

PERU - The Peru Earthquake will cut agricultural & textile exports in August.

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SOUTHERN AFRICA - severe natural disasters in Swaziland, Lesotho and Mozambique have worsened the food shortage crises in Southern Africa.

LESOTHO - drought will further worsen the already precarious situation of acute poverty and food security in Lesotho.

ZIMBABWE is suffering nationwide food shortages because of drought and what critics say are years of misguided government policies.
ZIMBABWE - was warning of a bad wheat crop. An electricity shortage prevented farmers from irrigating the crop.

UGANDA - Food shortage is fueling prostitution in IDP camps - Lack of food has exposed internally displaced people and refugees in camps, especially women and children, to high risk of contracting HIV/Aids.

GAMBIA - Kuntaur, in the Central River Region, which is one of the villages known for its rice production, has been hit by a serious water shortage for two weeks.

NAMIBIA - Small stock farmers in southern Namibia fear losing their animals due to lack of water as most earth dams have run dry.

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NEW ZEALAND - Overall, food prices have risen 1.2% in over the month - a 3.4% increase on last year. Driving the increase is a worldwide milk shortage.

AUSTRALIA - Drought catastrophe stalks Australia's food bowl - "It's on a knife edge and if it doesn't rain in the next couple of weeks it's going to be very ugly. People will be walking off the land, going broke." Australia's Murray-Darling river basin is a vast plain bigger than France and Germany, home to 2 million people and in good times the source of almost half the nation's fruit and cereal crop. But years of drought, which some blame on global warming, have savagely depleted the huge dams built 60 years ago to hold the snow melt from the Australian alps and push it hundreds of kilometres inland to the parched west for farm irrigation. The Murray-Darling normally provides 90 percent of Australia's irrigated crops and $18.1 billion worth of agricultural exports to Asia and the Middle East. But with some crops now just 10 days from failure, farmers are to receive no water at all for irrigation through the summer, while others will get a fraction of their regular entitlement to keep alive vital plantings like citrus trees and grapevines. Thousands of oranges lie rotting under rows of trees stretching to the horizon under relentless blue skies. The drought and a new sense of the importance of water in the driest inhabited continent, with prices having gone from A$30 a megalitre to hover near A$800, will change Australian farming forever and make some irrigation unviable. "It's going to be a massive change...I spent the first half of my life developing irrigation and I'll spend the second half pulling it down...We are now in something that is beyond probabilities."
AUSTRALIA - Fish catches are down due to a lack of river run off during the drought leading to a sense of hopelessness and depression, alcoholism and family breakdown among some fishermen.
AUSTRALIA - Geelong residents were facing a vegetable shortage not seen since World War II as whacky weather across the nation destroyed crops in Australia's salad bowls.
AUSTRALIA - South Australian dairy farmers who rely on water from the River Murray are deciding to sell off their entire herds, worried their stock will not survive.
AUSTRALIA - The water shortage means there is very little water for general irrigators in the Murray or Murrumbidgee valleys and the rice industry is facing a challenge.

ODD -
Giant spider web - Entomologists are debating the origins of a massive spider web, which runs more than 180 metres and covers several trees and shrubs, found in Texas. The web has been formed in the park over the past several weeks. Officials at Lake Tawakoni State Park, near Willis Point, find the web both amazing and somewhat creepy. "It's filled with so many mosquitoes that it's turned a little brown. There are times you can literally hear the screech of millions of mosquitoes caught in those webs." Experts are debating whether the web is the work of social cobweb spiders working together, or a mass dispersal where the arachnids spin webs to move away from one another. (photo)

HEALTH THREATS -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

About 140 million people, mainly in developing countries, are being poisoned by arsenic in their drinking water. This will lead to higher rates of cancer in the future. South and East Asia account for more than half of the known cases globally. Eating large amounts of rice grown in affected areas could also be a health risk. It's a global problem, present in 70 countries, probably more. Arsenic consumption leads to higher rates of some cancers, including tumours of the lung, bladder and skin, and other lung conditions. Some of these effects show up decades after the first exposure. "In the long term, one in every 10 people with high concentrations of arsenic in their water will die from it. This is the highest known increase in mortality from any environmental exposure." The metal is present naturally in soil, and leaches into groundwater, with bacteria thought to play a role.

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Thursday, August 30, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
"I can't believe it," said the tourist. "I've been here an entire week
and it's done nothing but rain. When do you have summer here?"
"Well, that's hard to say," replied the local.
"Last year, it was on a Wednesday."

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/29/07 -
5.5 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR
5.5 POTOSI, BOLIVIA
5.7 TAIWAN REGION
5.2 TAIWAN REGION

COLUMBIA - False rumors of an earthquake on Tuesday led to the collapse of emergency phone lines and forced thousands of office workers to evacuate high-rise buildings in Bogota. Colombian media reported that a man identifying himself as an engineer from Colombia's geological institute, Ingeominas, sparked the rumor by calling several businesses and government offices and warning an earthquake would strike the Colombian capital at 5 p.m. local time. For hours in the afternoon, office workers rushed to evacuate hospitals and high-rise office buildings downtown, and a city-run emergency telephone line temporarily collapsed under the weight of 50,000 calls from concerned citizens. The hoax comes less than two weeks after a magnitude-8 earthquake in neighboring Peru killed more than 500 people.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES -
CANADA - A mountain-sized meteorite appears to have created Sudbury's gigantic crater and sent a tsunami racing though ancient oceans, say scientists who have uncovered a thick layer of debris the extraterrestrial interloper hurled all the way into Michigan. The two-to-four-metre-thick layer of "ejecta," which they found south of Lake Superior, bears the clear signature of a meteorite. Perhaps even more intriguing, they say the "ejecta" appears to have been stirred up by a "mega-tsunami," possibly two, that swept through the ancient oceans after the space rock hit. "The material blown out of the crater was reworked during deposition by a tsunami." Shock waves generated by the impact of the meteorite, believed to have been about the size of Mt. Everest, would have been powerful enough to generate giant waves in near-by oceans. "We also get beautiful rock preserved in tear drops just as you'd expect if you had molten rock flying through the atmosphere and it cooled." The Sudbury crater, the second largest ever found, was formed 1.85 billion years ago and is much bigger than the one linked to the demise of the dinosaurs. Some have suggested a comet carved out the crater, which originally measured up to 280 kilometres in diameter. But the material uncovered in northern Michigan points to a meteorite, since it contains an unusually high concentration of iridium, which occurs in low amounts in icy comets but in high levels in space rocks. The "ejecta layer," which the geologists found buried a kilometre underground south of Lake Superior, builds on similar evidence uncovered near Thunder Bay, Ontario, a few years ago. The newly found material not only contains high levels of iridium and "melt drops" but also "shocked" crystals deformed by the intense energy, and evidence of reworking by a tsunami, the team reports. The impact of the meteorite would have been felt globally but most of the evidence has eroded away over time. The huge cloud of gas and molten rock hurled into the atmosphere would have put photosynthesis on hold for an extended period and may be linked to a "long lull" in the evolution of early life.

VOLCANOES -
GALAPAGOS ISLAND - Darwin volcano has erupted on uninhabited Fernandina Island, at the far west of Ecuador's Galapagos Island chain. The eruption began at 4:50 p.m. on Tuesday following a 5.2 earthquake in the Beagle sector of Isabella island on the western flank of the volcano Darwin. The authorities planned a flight over the island to see if the eruption is a crack or comes from the crater. The Galapagos has experienced explosive eruptions, with lava flow lasting around a week. Fernandina is the tallest island in the archipelago. The last eruption happened in May 2005, leaving a large amount of lava down its southeastern flank.

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Typhoon FITOW was 821 nmi NE of Saipan, N. Mariana Islands.
Tropical storm GIL was 196 nmi S of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico.

Fitow, this year's ninth named storm in the western Pacific, came into being yesterday afternoon at a location about 1,500 km northeast of Guam. Fitow, still 3,000 km from Taiwan, was moving north at 13 kph, and chances of the storm hitting Taiwan are very slim. The storm has a 100-km radius, with maximum center winds of 18 meters per second and gusts of up to 25 meters per second. From Aug. 31, Fitow will likely change direction from north to northwest, and increase its speed slightly from 13 kph to 14 kph, according to meteorologists. They predict that the tropical storm could head toward Japan.

ATLANTIC - Three areas of disturbed weather are being tracked by the National Hurricane Center in Miami. A tropical wave located about 900 miles east of the Windward Islands is producing showers and thunderstorms. Although this activity is currently disorganized, environmental conditions are expected to gradually become more favorable for development as the system moves westward at 15 to 20 mph.
An area of disturbed weather over the western Atlantic is primarily associated with a non-tropical low centered about 260 miles southeast of Charleston, South Carolina. Upper-level winds could become a little more favorable for development during the next few days. The low is expected to drift southward. This system off the Carolinas may become a player in Florida's weather. "It's dropping southward and it is possible the system will spin-up."
Showers and thunderstorms primarily located over the Yucatan Peninsula are associated with a tropical wave. This activity is expected to move over the Bay of Campeche during the next day or so and will be monitored for any signs of development. (satellite photos)

BELIZE - Aid workers in Belize are calling for international support after the effects of Hurricane Dean have put thousands at risk for contracting deadly diseases. The country is now a breeding ground for potentially life-threatening cases of diarrhea, stomach cramps, and fever. "The scarcity of drinking water and water for sanitation has led many people to use poor quality water from previously abandoned wells and being exposed to an increased risk of water-borne diseases." Over 10 percent of the country is still without electricity, leaving an estimated 30,000 people without power. Further estimates say about 275 homes were destroyed, and about 2,000 people have been displaced as a result of the storm. Crops and fields have been ruined, leaving over 20,000 people unemployed.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
Climate change may carry a higher risk of flooding than was previously thought. Researchers say efforts to calculate flooding risk from climate change do not take into account the effect carbon dioxide (CO2) has on vegetation. Higher atmospheric levels of this greenhouse gas reduce the ability of plants to suck water out of the ground and "breathe" out the excess. Plants expel excess water through tiny pores in their leaves. Their reduced ability to release water back into the atmosphere will result in the ground becoming saturated. Areas with higher predicted rainfall have a greater risk of flooding. But this effect also reduces the severity of droughts. The findings suggest computer models of future climate change may need to be revised in order to plan for coming decades. "It's a double-edged sword. It means that increases in drought due to climate change could be less severe as plants lose less water. "On the other hand, if the land is saturated more often, you might expect that intense rainfall events are more likely to cause flooding."

SINGAPORE - In the Bukit Timah area yesterday, more rain fell than the average monthly rainfall for August for the whole of Singapore in the past 25 years. By 4pm, the highest rainfall recorded was 150.8mm at the Bukit Panjang Telecom weather station. This is higher than Singapore's average total rainfall for the month of August between 1982 and 2006, which is 143.4mm. Some areas were hit by flash floods.

COSTA RICA - Intense rain that destroyed roofs, walls and a dike in the Central Valley and Southern Zone Monday also BROKE NATIONAL RECORDS. In the northern suburb of Tibás, about 80 millimeters of rain fell in one hour, at least 10 centimeters more than the national record. The rest of the San José area as well as the Southern Zone also experienced rain so intense it turned some roads into muddy rivers, damaging homes and infrastructure. In the Southern Zone canton of Corredores, a dike broke, flooding neighborhoods in nearby Ciudad Neilly. Three bridges were also washed away near Ciudad Neilly. About 27 families had to evacuate their homes in the Corazón de Jesús neighborhood of the northwestern San José district of La Uruca. In Tibás, a vehicle was nearly swallowed by a hole in the road as it attempted to make it through thigh-deep water, and residents of one condo in the western suburb of Escazú saw a chunk of their ceiling cave in from the pressure of accumulated water. “The intensity was extremely high, and we also saw a lot of electric activity” in the form of thunder and lightning. There's lots more rain and possibly tropical storms to come in September and October, typically the wettest months of the rainy season.

INDIA - Road links that are the life-line to the northeastern states of Tripura, Mizoram and parts of Assam and Manipur remained cut off from the rest of India for the fourth consecutive day Wednesday following massive landslides. A stretch on National Highway No 44 at Sonarpur in Meghalaya has remained blocked since Sunday after heavy rains triggered landsides with huge boulders and trees covering the road. Communication services in the land-locked region have been badly hit with rail links snapped for the past two months after a bridge collapsed in the Assam sector. Thousands of trucks carrying essentials have been stranded on both sides of the landslide-hit area as about 300 metres of the road now remains covered by the debris.

WISCONSIN - Areas of Vernon County received between 6.5 and 11 inches of rain on Aug. 18 and Aug. 19. They call it a “1,000-YEAR FLOOD.” It’s the standard to which they built the 20-plus flood-control dams in Vernon County. That standard is to withstand a flood that statistically may happen only once every 1,000 years. Those who built the county’s dams in the 1950s and 1960s did a pretty good job, because after dealing with the rain they received on Aug. 18 and Aug. 19, the dams in some cases withstood pressure two times greater than that for which they were designed. There have been bad floods in Vernon County stretching through history, but as far as recorded history, they only know of two other floods, the flood of 1951 and the flood of 1978, that rival the flood of 2007. And in places like Chaseburg and Gays Mills, the flood of 2007 takes the cake. Perhaps overall, countywide, it does as well. The magnitude of the Aug. 18-Aug. 19 flood waters might be something a meteorologist deals with, “only two or three times over their entire career,” and that’s covering an area of thousands of square miles. Seven people in Minnesota died because of the flooding. While there was no loss of life in Wisconsin, the damage totals are not yet fully tallied and are already at unbelievable levels. Vernon County’s totals are $24.8 million for public property and $8 million for agriculture. That’s $32.8 million and private property hasn’t even been totalled yet.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
LAKE SUPERIOR is headed for a record low water level for August, with more record lows likely in September and October, environment officials from Canada and the U.S. said Tuesday. "We would need a hurricane" to avoid a record. Water levels on the largest of the Great Lakes have been below the long-term average since 1998 - the LONGEST PERIOD OF BELOW-AVERAGE WATER LEVELS IN HISTORY. Portions of the Lake Superior watershed have been drier or in moderate drought conditions since May 2006, and extreme drought conditions now affect most of the watershed. Lake Superior's water level on Aug. 27 was 182.98 metres above sea level, below the August record low of 183.02 metres set in 1926. The all-time record low was 182.72 metres above sea level in April 1926. With the lower water levels, surface temperature has increased by fractions of a degree, but it's enough to increase evaporation, which adds to the problem.

ALGERIA - Massive fires have raged in forests in different provinces in Algeria. In Cherea mountains (23 km west of Algiers), local authorities ordered to evacuate several families living next to the fires. A temperature of 43 degrees has been recorded in coastal cities such as Algiers, Annaba, Tizi Ouzou, Bejaia and Boumerdes. In the wilaya (province) of Tlemcen (west of Algiers), a large number of families had to leave their houses because of fires that raged mountains. In the east, RECORD-BREAKING TEMPERATURES were recorded. At Algiers’ hospitals, emergency departments have received people with respiratory diseases and allergy, especially children and old people, all day long.

AUSTRALIA - THE EARLIEST TOTAL FIRE BANS IN SOUTH AUSTRALIAN HISTORY are in force days before the end of winter, as the state prepares for a dangerously hot and windy day today. Bans came into force at midnight for the West Coast, Eastern Eyre Peninsula, Lower Eyre Peninsula and Mt Lofty Ranges, just four months after last summer's fire bans were lifted in April. The bans are in force until midnight tonight, when much of the state will have baked in unseasonal temperatures up to 30C and been lashed by winds gusting up to 120km/h. The previous earliest ban was October last year. "It's not the highest risk conditions I've seen, but it's certainly the highest (fire risk) I can remember at this time of the year. That's in 20-plus years. The number one issue we've got is the ground is so dry on the West Coast and the Mt Lofty Ranges." Predictions of hot winds also have the state's farmers on edge and such conditions have the potential to financially "devastate" some. "It will ruin crops if it is of the nature we're told (with) strong winds, high temperatures and a very, very drying and crop-destroying day. It's giving rise to many, many concerns...(it will be) absolutely devastating to some and to the economy of the state as well. Who would have predicted two days like this (in one week), and this is going to be worse than the one we had a couple of days ago and we're not even into spring yet." "The stress of a long, dry period on our trees means we're getting a significant number of trees down. This weather pattern, this whole thing is something we expected in summer, certainly not winter. We get storms all year round, we can't dispute that, (but) the weather patterns certainly appear to us to have changed because we don't seem to get as many winter storms now."

ARIZONA - Broiling hot temperatures are gripping the Phoenix area. The heat is shoe-melting, spirit-crushing and now, RECORD-BREAKING. Phoenix hit its 29th day of 110 degree-plus temperatures Wednesday, breaking the record of 28 days set in 1970 and 2002. The average number of days that top 110 degrees in a given year is 10. The weather service is forecasting temperatures of 105 degrees for the rest of the week.

CALIFORNIA - This summer’s outbreak of oakworms is THE MOST SEVERE IN YEARS. Mature worm larvae are found on the Central Coast from May to June and adults emerge June to July. The worms quickly go to work feeding on oak trees. They have a hefty appetite for leaves, and in no time a healthy oak tree can be left practically naked. The worms don’t kill trees, but defoliation can leave them looking sickly. Lack of rain in the winter and spring created ideal conditions for an eruption in the oakworm population. Normally, this area sees two life cycles of oakworms, but the warm dry weather has spawned a recent third generation, which is EXTREMELY RARE, according to arborists.

HEALTH THREATS -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALLED - Metz Fresh is voluntarily recalling bagged spinach as a result of a positive test for Salmonella found during routine company testing. It was distributed in the continental United States and Canada.

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Wednesday, August 29, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
What did the tornado say to the sports car?
Let's go for a spin!

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/28/07 -
5.1 SULAWESI, INDONESIA
5.1 GALAPAGOS ISLANDS, ECUADOR
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.6 KURIL ISLANDS

TROPICAL STORMS -
Map.
Projected storm paths .
Tropical storm FITOW was 706 nmi NE of Saipan, N. Mariana Islands.

ATLANTIC - There's a new area of showers and thunderstorms associated with a tropical wave that is in the same general area where Hurricane Dean was formed three weeks ago. In other words, this tropical wave is nearer to Africa than to the Americas. And while this area of storms is being watched by hurricane forecasters in Miami, it is described as "limited and disorganized." Development into a tropical system "if any, is expected to be slow to occur." Three months remain in the 2007 hurricane season, and only five tropical storms have been named thus far. That's half the normal number of named storms at this time of summer. None of the five named storms in 2007 has impacted Florida, a repeat - so far - of the quiet, 2006 hurricane season for Floridians. Overall, the tropics are clear of tropical storms in the final week of August.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / UNUSUAL & OUT-OF-SEASON WEATHER -
ROMANIA - After a heat wave that hit Romania in recent days, the country is now struggling with flooding that left two people dead and hundreds of homes damaged. About 500 households were affected by the floods that destroyed property with logs, rocks and dislocated trees swept up by the high water. Heavy weekend rains created the flooding that has affected almost two-thirds of the Balkan country’s territory, especially in the northern and central regions. Authorities warned that more Romanian counties are in danger. Weather forecasters predict heavy rain, lightning and wind gusts will hit areas spreading from southern Romania to the country’s north.

LIBERIA - Hundreds of people living in parts of Bushrod Island, just outside of Monrovia, on Monday were badly hit by floods created by an upsurge of water, which overflowed the banks of the St. Paul River; leaving residents strangulated in their homes as well as being deprived of tangible properties and personal belongings. The St. Paul River overflowed its banks Sunday night due to the heavy downpour of rain. The ravaging waters besieged approximately ten communities on the Bushrod Island. Residents were seen trying to salvage what was left of most of the damaged domiciles; transporting their effects in canoes and makeshift rafts, while others were seen carrying their belongings on their heads in almost shoulder-deep water. Major vicinities affected by flood include the St. Paul Bridge, Jamaica Road, Logan Town, Samuel K. Doe, Caldwell, New Georgia communities among others. The situation compelled many residents to abandon their homes while others who apparently had nowhere to go, chose to remain in their water-engulfed homes despite the appalling situation. The flood has affected the country's main water treatment plant, located in White Plains, outside Monrovia. Residents living in some of the affected communities said that this is the FIRST TIME THAT THEY HAVE EVER BEEN AFFECTED BY FLOOD. The situation was described as "grave." "We are finding it difficult to do anything in our houses because the water has entered and destroyed nearly everything." Due to the gravity of the situation, the Liberian National Red Cross has quickly moved in to swiftly bring relief to the incapacitated localities so as to provide material and other essential assistance to the victims. Additional actual causes of the overflow of the river's banks are not known, but some environmentalists and residents of the affected areas point directly to the massive illicit mining of sand and rocks for commercial purposes by some individuals.

CYPRUS - An out-of-season downpour in the Troodos area on Sunday provoked floods in Saittas, emphasising the damages caused by last June’s fire. Despite the government’s efforts to deal with the land erosion provoked by the June 29 blaze in the Pelendri-Kato Amiandos-Saittas region, one of the biggest fires the island has suffered in recent years, the area was still nowhere near equipped to deal with the weekend’s sudden storm. As a result, works to deal with the erosion were being sped up, aiming at being complete by the end of September. “Nobody was expecting rain at this time of year.”

MINNESOTA - First, high and dry... now, wet and wild. What's up with the weather? A couple of weeks ago lawns were brown and Minnehaha Creek was running dry. Then on Tuesday the Twin Cities BROKE THE RAINFALL RECORD FOR THE MONTH OF AUGUST. Less than three weeks ago, fish were dying in what was left of metro rivers and creeks. The recent rains were fueled by an UNUSUAL channel of moisture coming from the Pacific Ocean off the coast of California, plus the customary summer moisture from the Gulf of Mexico that was stalled by an east-west flow of air about 12,000 feet above the ground. A weather front that hasn't moved out of the Midwest - the same one that caused the major flooding across southeastern Minnesota, southwestern Wisconsin and parts of Illinois and Ohio - has poured 5.39 inches of rain on the Twin Cities over the past two weeks through Tuesday afternoon. That's more than fell in June and July together. Throw in the 3.93 inches that fell in the first half of the month and you get 9.32 inches, exactly .01 more than the monthly record set in 1977. The storms also brought damage from heavy rains, high winds and hail. Many locations from the Twin Cities across southern Minnesota are now above average for yearly rainfall. North of the metro area, most of Minnesota is still struggling through drought for the second straight summer. Alexandria may wind up with only about an inch of rain for July and August together. Duluth has been well below average since May 1. Even after recent rains, many of the state's rivers are still running low. The rain hasn't improved the state's crop outlook, either. On Monday, the Minnesota Agricultural Statistics Service rated 40 percent of the state's corn crop as good or excellent. Soybeans were 59 percent good or excellent Monday. Rains are also not likely to revive much of the state's forests. Healthy trees across much of Minnesota have pulled into crouch as a defense against drought, dropping leaves early and signaling a drab fall. Some roadside pines and spruce that struggled to find moisture last winter have already died after a second drought season, while weakened oaks are under attack from beetles.

BRITAIN - "What's happening to our weather?" Britain is just a few showers away from recording a record wet summer, at the climax of THE MOST REMARKABLE PERIOD OF BROKEN WEATHER RECORDS IN THE COUNTRY'S HISTORY. All of the smashed records have to do with temperature and rainfall - the two aspects of the climate most likely to be intensified by the advent of global warming. The pattern of increasing heat and wet weather has been visible in the same period all around the globe, with temperature and rainfall records broken in many other countries, from Australia (record drought) and India (record monsoon rains) to Greece (record forest fires). In the UK, in the past 14 months, they have experienced the hottest July, the hottest April and the wettest June since records began. They have seen the hottest autumn and the hottest spring, and the second-hottest winter. They have also seen the hottest single month, and - by a considerable margin - the hottest single 12-month period. Now they are on the brink of seeing the soggiest British summer as a whole - defined as June, July and August - since records were first kept for the United Kingdom in 1914. By Friday morning of last week, the average rainfall in Britain since the beginning of June was 356.6mm - just over 14 inches - and nudging up to the record of 358.4mm, set in 1956. It is increasingly likely a new record will be set if there is any significant rainfall between now and Saturday. Even if there is none, summer 2007 has already passed the second-wettest summer mark. And the three months from May to July have easily broken the record for rainfall for that period. In particular, April 2007 and the summer just ended produced quite unprecedented weather for Britain - with quite unprecedented effects. April was so warm (contributing to the warmest spring on record) that the natural world was put completely out of sync: swifts arrived (from Africa) a month early, as did the hawthorn flowers - known as May - which prompted suggestions they should be renamed April blossom. And summer was so wet that it produced the worst flooding Britain has ever seen - with the two catastrophic "extreme rainfall events" of 24 June and 24 and 20 July, which did the damage, each being of a severity likely only once in 200 years, or even longer.

EXTREME HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
GREECE - The country's worst fires in living memory have killed at least 64 people since they began five days ago, ravaging olive groves, forest and orchards and incinerating homes, wild animals and livestock. Fires burned through about 184,000 hectares, or 454,000 acres, of forest, groves and scrubland between August 24th and 26th. During those three days, more land was burned in Greece than during ALL of 2000, which had been the worst year recorded by the EU's fire information service. Fires kept breaking out despite progress on some fronts, including a blaze just outside Athens in Grammatiko, located near ancient Marathon. Since yesterday 56 new fires have broken out. The worst were concentrated in the mountains of the Peloponnese in the south and on the island of Evia north of Athens. Meanwhile, a strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 5 struck the fire-ravaged area in the south, panicking residents, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

AUSTRALIA - This month the minimum overnight temperature in the city of Sydney has averaged 11.2 degrees, almost 2 degrees above average. Top daytime temperatures during the month have averaged 19.4, also well above normal. The mercury soared to 27 yesterday afternoon after almost reaching 28 on Monday - 10 degrees above normal. "It is starting to get UNUSUAL."

ARIZONA - Valleywide temperatures hit 110 degrees on Tuesday and TIED AN ALL-TIME SUMMER HEAT RECORD. The "110 degree day record" will most likely fall by Thursday. And it looks as though they will be breaking the record for the most days in a year with a high temperature greater than 110. The current record is 28.

Tropical rainfall is on the rise, NASA scientists have said. Using a 27-year-long global record of rainfall assembled by the international scientific community from satellite and ground-based instruments, the scientists found that the rainiest years in the tropics between 1979 and 2005 were mainly since 2001. The rainiest year was 2005, followed by 2004, 1998, 2003 and 2002 respectively. “When we look at the whole planet over almost three decades, the total amount of rain falling has changed very little. But in the tropics, where nearly two-thirds of all rain falls, there has been an increase of five percent.” The rainfall increase was concentrated over tropical oceans, with a slight decline over land. A warming trend in Earth's atmosphere and surface temperatures would produce an accelerated recycling of water between land, sea and air.

HEALTH THREATS -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

World 'dodged bullet' in bird flu spread - A mathematical analysis has confirmed that H5N1 avian influenza spread from person to person in Indonesia in April, US researchers reported today. They said they had developed a tool to run quick tests on disease outbreaks to see if dangerous epidemics or pandemics may be developing. Health officials around the world agree an influenza pandemic is overdue, and are most worried by the H5N1 strain of avian influenza that has been spreading through flocks from Asia to Africa. It rarely passes to humans, but since 2003 it has infected 322 people and killed 195 of them. Most have been infected directly by birds. But a few clusters of cases have been seen and officials worry most about the possibility that the virus has acquired the ability to pass easily and directly from one person to another. That would spark a pandemic. "We find statistical evidence of human-to-human transmission in Sumatra, but not in Turkey. This does not mean that no low-level human-to-human spread occurred in this outbreak, only that we lack statistical evidence of such spread." In Sumatra, one of Indonesia's islands, a 37-year-old woman appears to have infected her 10-year-old nephew, who infected his father. DNA tests confirmed that the strain the father died of was very similar to the virus found in the boy's body. "It went two generations and then just stopped, but it could have gotten out of control. The world really may have dodged a bullet with that one, and the next time, we might not be so lucky." The researchers estimated the secondary-attack rate, which is the risk that one person will infect another, was 20 per cent. This is similar to what is seen for regular, seasonal influenza A in the United States.

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Tuesday, August 28, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
Know how to listen, and you will profit even from those who talk badly.
Plutarch

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/27/07 -
5.0 PAGAN REG., N. MARIANA ISLANDS
5.0 PAGAN REG., N. MARIANA ISLANDS
5.1 MOLUCCA SEA
5.2 MOLUCCA SEA
5.0 MOLUCCA SEA
5.6 SAMOA ISLANDS REGION
5.5 SOUTH OF FIJI ISLANDS

PERU - the Natural Resources Institute has reported that since the earthquake which struck Peru's southern coast and devastated most of the Ica Region, 60 percent of the sea lion population, which lived on Paracas Bay, has disappeared. "We can only see 50 sea lions where there used to be 150." Paracas Bay is part of an ecological reserve that was near the epicenter of the magnitude-8 earthquake that destroyed most of Peru's Ica Region. Only 2 sea lions were found dead after the earthquake. Therefore the Institute does not discard the fact that the creatures could have migrated. Peruvian authorities have begun evaluating the impact the earthquake has had on Peru's fauna, researching whether it has affected other species, such as birds which live on nearby cliffs.

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES -
Hong Kong and Macao are enormous, sprawling economic centres perched on the coast. And both stand a 10 per cent chance of being hit by a serious tsunami in the next century, warn geophysicists. The warning follows a new assessment of how earthquakes along the nearby Manila trench could radiate tsunami waves across the South China Sea. Although Chinese records of tsunamis date back to AD 171, the hazard was largely ignored until the cataclysmic Sumatra tsunami in 2004. However, the structure of the complex plate boundary on the eastern side of the South China Sea, running from Taiwan to the Manila trench, makes shallow subduction-related quakes particularly likely. This problem was highlighted by the quake in December 2006 that hobbled internet traffic in the region when it ripped through subsea data cables. Such earthquakes could also trigger tsunamis. All coastal regions, stretching north from Macao and Hong Kong to beyond Shantou - a city of 1.2 million people - have about a 1-in-10 chance of being struck by a tsumani within 100 years.

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

NIGERIA - General apprehension over the reported threat of a tropical storm still envelopes Benue state as the people are still afraid of leaving their homes since day-break yesterday, even when it became clear that the threatening bad weather had subsided. The forecast of the threatening storm was repeatedly aired over the radio, just as the state government warned the people against staying out doors past 10pm Saturday when the disaster was expected to strike. The Special Adviser on Media and Public Affairs reported that the threat was coming from Chad and would sweep through Maiduguri, Yola and Taraba states where it was expected to reach Benue state by past 10 to 11pm. The weather forecasters said the storm would travel at over 70 kms per hour. The forecast threatened normal activities in Makurdi and environs as businesses were generally paralyzed, with people retiring for the night into homes as early as 7pm. The threat closed eateries and drinking joints earlier than expected and commuters became stranded with the complete absence of commercial buses and motorcycles. The storm never came as forecast by Nigerian meteorologists. Rather, the sky was clear and the moon shone bright. A rainbow, indicating an UNUSUAL weather change, was also observed at full circle around the bright moon at between 9pm and 10:30pm when the storm was expected. Throughout the night, the weather was calm as a normal breeze blew with the usual rainy season's cooling effects. Residents spoken to said they were disappointed with the forecast as the announcement dislocated their normal activities. However, they were thankful that the disaster never came after all. "Everybody was apprehensive. And let me not deceive you, we are still apprehensive because anything can happen. We can't say how or when."

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / WIND -
WISCONSIN - Another round of thunderstorms brought more rain and flash-flood warnings to an already deluged southwestern Wisconsin on Monday, forcing residents below four dams to evacuate. Strong wind knocked out power to parts of Vilas and Oneida counties. With more storms expected overnight Monday, about 80 people living below the earthen Runge Hallow, Hidden Valley, Yettri-Primmer and Seas Branch dams were told to evacuate beginning at 4 p.m. A week ago, the same dams filled when torrential rains of up to 12 inches caused flooding. All the dams held, but overflow at the Hidden Valley dam caused some erosion.
Elsewhere, cleanup and recovery were underway in Ohio and the rest of the Great Lakes region hit hard by last week's storms. The electricity was back on for most of the more than 1 million customers who lost power. The weather service confirmed that tornadoes touched down in six areas of Michigan along an 80-mile line Friday, destroying at least 250 homes and businesses in the town of Fenton. The tornado's path there widened to about one-quarter mile. Another tornado struck the small town of Northwood, North Dakota, about 30 miles southwest of Grand Forks, on Sunday, destroying two small mobile home parks and damaging much of the rest of the town. One man was killed.
MINNESOTA - what does a RECORD RAINFALL do to a town? In Hokah, it altered the landscape for years to come - several landslides ripped into hills around town, scarring the landscape and devastating the city's prized Como Falls Park. Apartments and mobile homes were evacuated. Businesses were ruined, and backyards collapsed.(photos)
MICHIGAN - the Monroe County region has SET A RECORD FOR RAINFALL in August. Friday night's storm did the trick as .75 inch was recorded.
ILLINOIS - August rainfall HEAVIEST ON RECORD - Rain totals counted at Morris (11.42 inches) and Peru (8.89 inches) are the highest in more than 50 years of recording data.
INDIANA - RECORD SET FOR RAINFALL Monday - Record rainfall for the same date had previously been 1.77 inches, which fell in 1904. Record rainfall also hit several Indiana regions.
ALABAMA - Montgomery had 1.50 inches of rain on Saturday, BREAKING THE OLD RECORD of 1.26 inches.

KOREA - The weather has been fickle this month and will continue that way. Two major reasons are cited for the unexpected weather changes. A hot and humid North Pacific anticyclone collided with cold air from China and that made air above Korean peninsular unstable, causing the fickle weather. Experts also pointed to an ABNORMAL CLOUD BELT that formed in the air above the Korean Peninsula. "The most extraordinary phenomenon this summer was that the cloud belt aligned north-south instead of east-west." The reason was a massive inflow of hot and humid air from subtropical regions while the rim of North Pacific anticyclone was aligned north-south. "The fact that hot air from the equator flowed into the Korean Peninsula indicates that the climate in Korea is now becoming subtropical." In Seoul, it rained almost every day in early and mid-August, but the average temperature until Aug. 26 was counter-intuitively one degree Celsius higher than the previous year. "Another UNUSUAL weather phenomenon is that it has rained often but the precipitation in this summer was less than last year." That has also meant an increase the number of tropical nights, when the nocturnal low does not fall below 25 degrees. In Seoul, as of Sunday, there had been 11 tropical nights in August, four times more than the average number of 3.2, between 1971 and 2000. In Daegu, there were a whopping 15 tropical nights, up from the average 4.2, and in Seogwipo 23 while the average was 10.8. In addition, experts said it rained more in early August than in the actual rainy season, and the average temperature was higher in the end of August than the middle of the month. (satellite photos)

CHINA - Seventeen people were killed and three others missing as torrential rains pounded southwest China's Sichuan Province from last Wednesday. Among the 17 victims, all from southeast Sichuan's Yibin city, eleven were killed by landslide and mud-rock flows, three by lightening strike, two by flash floods and one most unlucky was hit by a rock rolling down a hill. Six people were injured as the Pingshan county saw the maximum of rainfall measured at 303 millimeters. Two two-storey buildings were toppled down by landslide. Five others are among the dead list. A total of 213,000 people were affected by the rainstorm. Experts believe the rainstorms were brought by typhoon Sepat that churned ashore in east China's Fujian Province last Sunday, leaving a trail of chaos as it stormed through the neighboring Jiangxi, Zhejiang and Hunan provinces. China reported 39 death and nine people missing in floods and mud-rock flows triggered by Sepat in eastern and central parts of the country.

HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
GREECE - Firefighters rushed helicopters and buses Monday to evacuate more than two dozen villages threatened by towering walls of flames that had killed 63 people while ravaging swaths of forest and farmland in Greece. The evacuation was THE BIGGEST SEEN IN PEACETIME in Greece.

HEALTH THREATS -
Global Bird Flu Breaking News - updated every 10 minutes.

RECALLS & ALERTS:
-RECALL EXPANDS - The U.S. Food and Drug Administration is warning consumers not to eat raw oysters harvested from an additional part (growing area 5) of the southern tip of Hood Canal in Washington state due to a foodborne illness outbreak caused by Vibrio parahaemolyticus bacteria. This follows an earlier outbreak and August 10 warning about oysters harvested from growing area 6 of Hood Canal. Raw oysters harvested from growing area 5 in Hood Canal from July 31 through August 20, 2007 have caused at least six people to become ill in Washington state. To date, records indicate that raw oysters from the area were distributed to Arizona, California, Colorado, Delaware, Florida, Idaho, Minnesota, New York, Oregon, Pennsylvania, Utah, Washington state, British Columbia (Canada), Bali (Indonesia), Hong Kong, Singapore, and Thailand.

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

Monday, August 27, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
What happened when the cow barn was hit by a tornado?
Udder disaster!

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/26/07 -
5.1 PAPUA, INDONESIA
5.4 KURIL ISLANDS
5.6 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
5.1 D'ENTRECASTEAUX ISLANDS REGION
6.0 TONGA

TSUNAMI / FREAK WAVES / ABNORMAL TIDES -
SOUTH AFRICA - Sweeping, foam capped waves smashing into already devastated beaches and coastal properties - that is what KwaZulu-Natal authorities are bracing themselves for with massive plans to prevent another coastal wave disaster. Coastal engineers, municipalities, together with department of agriculture and environmental affairs scientists are preparing for another onslaught from Mother Nature. Celestial conditions mimicking March's devastating equinox coupled with high tides is again expected this September, and officials are not taking any chances. Although there are two equinoxes each year (March 20 and September 22), it's the celestial events coupled with bad weather and spring high tides that could see monster waves being created. "In terms of preparedness and awareness, the department and other listed stakeholders have been working on this since March this year." Municipalities devastated by almost three days of FREAK WAVE activity in March have now warned of the financial ruin they could face if storm activity combines with the September equinox during high tides. "We are trying to stabilise the situation. We think it will be fairly quiet provided the sea behaves, but if there is a sea storm or cold front at the same time we could see more erosion." Further south the Ugu District Municipality, which had a R113-million hole knocked into its budget by the waves, says it is monitoring the situation. More erosion and damage has also been reported in the Margate and Park Rynie areas. "We are aware of the expected Equinox but at the moment we can only monitor and observe the situation. We know that the ocean is unstable and previous damage to the coastline proves that. All necessary precautions will be taken." KwaDukuza disaster management officials have adopted a wait and see attitude after private and municipal infrastructure valued at more than R1 billion was swept away in March. The head of disaster management said he hoped that the "perfect storm" conditions were not repeated in September. "Yes, we are going to get high seas and with the frontal dunes not being there the water will sweep higher. Facilities are more exposed and there is no protection. People have protected where they have had to, but thus far there has been no major construction mainly because of the environmental authorisation needed. "We will monitor it and hope it does not happen, but we say this now, and tomorrow it happens."

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

CALIFORNIA - Sunday morning, residents of coastal Orange County were met by an UNUSUAL summer thunderstorm that moved north from the Pacific Ocean, possibly due to leftovers from Hurricane Dean. A hail storm and rain fall went through the Big Bear area Saturday. At least two bands of storms were poised to hit the Los Angeles basin. The storms are tropical moisture fed up from the tropics by the low pressure system once known as category 5 Hurricane Dean, and the system still has a center, currently 140 miles southwest of downtown Los Angeles. The system caused a FREAK downpour in Escondido, dropping almost 2 inches of rain in barely an hour. Thunderstorms rarely flow west of the Santa Ana Mountains because the air here is typically too stable to support such systems. That wasn't the case Sunday. Unstable air rolled in off the ocean, from the west coast of Mexico, whipping up thunderheads that were about 40,000 feet high, or roughly 40 times taller than the Eiffel Tower.

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / WIND -
ROMANIA - At least 1,400 villagers have been stranded in northern Romania amid heavy rains that caused rivers to overflow, killing a 19-year-old man. The 17th-Century Sambata de Sus monastery was evacuated in the floods, which also cut power to 130 villages in the north and east of the country. Six of Romania's 41 counties have been affected, with authorities warning that seven more counties were in danger. The rain comes after three days of high temperatures of up to 40C. Swollen rivers also caused flooding in six towns in central Romania.

U.S. MIDWEST - Tens of thousands of people in the US Midwest remain without power following heavy storms, while floodwaters in some areas are still rising. Skies cleared over Chicago as the storms moved east and south, while tornado warnings were issued for parts of Ohio. Storms have battered US states from Minnesota down to Ohio in the last week or so, killing at least 17 people. The weather has eased but many problems still remain for residents. More than 650,000 customers in Illinois lost their power supply after a major storm on Thursday. A utility company said it had restored power to the majority of homes by Saturday, but that it might be several days before everyone had electricity.
OHIO - Mansfield ABSOLUTELY SHATTERED THEIR AUGUST RAIN RECORD with 10.32" - more than an inch-and-a-half over the old record of 8.65" set in 1995.
ILLINOIS - Floodwaters bring deluge of mosquitoes - Thankfully, the aedes vexans comprising the most recent infestation isn't the same species that carries the West Nile virus. But floodwater mosquitoes are more aggressive than their Culex cousins. "Floodwater mosquitoes tend not to carry virus. Their life-span is a very short period - two weeks. But during that period, they take a lot of blood meals and lay a lot of eggs." The dramatic increase in rainfall in August - more than 15 inches or 400 percent of normal levels in some parts of Kane County - has meant the annoyance factor is skyrocketing. Mosquitoes lay their eggs in damp spots and hope that water soon will be added. In normal circumstances, the liquid commodity isn't always forthcoming, so the eggs die. But with northern Kane County seeing between 10 and 15 inches of rain in the past three weeks, all of a sudden water and baby mosquitoes are in abundant supply. "In 17 years, you see a lot. But generally, you don't see a lot of this. I don't know if I've seen rainfall in the same spot for so long."
OKLAHOMA - On August 20th, an amateur astronomer in Broken Arrow, Oklahoma, was hunting for meteors using a low light video camera when instead he caught two Gigantic Jets. Gigantic Jets are lightning-like discharges that spring from the top of thunderstorms, reaching all the way from the thunderhead to the ionosphere 50+ miles overhead. They are enormous and powerful. "They were much brighter than a typical meteor - more like a fireball." To appreciate the size of these things, consider the following: "They came from a thunderstorm more than 100 miles away in Missouri. "This means the Jets were about 48 miles tall measured upward from the top of the thundercloud." "Gigantic Jets are RARE. The first one was discovered in 2001 in Puerto Rico. Since then fewer than 30 jets have been recorded - mostly over open ocean and on only two occasions over land." Because they connect thunderstorms directly to the ionosphere, Gigantic Jets play some role in the global flow of electricity around our planet, but how big is that role? "No one knows."
[Site note - These jets were sighted around the same time that Tropical storm Erin was unprecedentedly regenerating over Oklahoma - In what the National Weather Service termed "AN EXTRAORDINARY EVENT,” the storm re-intensified just south of the Red River and developed sustained winds GREATER than tropical storm magnitude. The result: 10-plus inches of rain in some areas. "To see what we saw on satellite, where the system reorganized and had the look of a very well-organized system like you'd see over the Atlantic or the gulf, that's REALLY RARE.” The storm system hardly resembled what a tropical storm, or even a hurricane, is supposed to look like [as it should weaken] three days and 450 miles after landfall.]

BANGLADESH - The death toll from flood-related incidents in Bangladesh rose to 702 by Sunday morning.

NORTH KOREA - The flood toll in North Korea is at 454 Dead, 156 Missing.

BRITAIN - A new £20 billion Thames barrier to save London from a potentially disastrous flooding threat is the centrepiece of a series of measures planned by the Government. In addition, new flood defences are being planned for all major police, fire and power stations and other vital infrastructure in a bid to avoid more disastrous flooding of the kind that hit Britain last month. During the floods, which caused up to £3 billion worth of damage, parts of Gloucestershire came within minutes of the biggest peacetime evacuation Britain has seen. It came after a crucial electricity sub-station was nearly destroyed. Flood experts say the existing Thames barrier, completed in 1983, may not be able to cope with rising tides by 2030. A second barrier, long rumoured to be in the planning, would be located farther east than the current defence system at Woolwich which has seen a dramatic increase in the number of times it has been put into use. When it first came on stream it was closed on average every couple of years - but in 2003 it was used 19 times. Asked whether they thought London would flood in the next 25 years - "It may do. The environment agency are doing a feasibility study. When the Thames Barrier was built it was built on the assumption that there was a one in 2,000 year chance that London would flood. That estimate now is one in 1,000 years. In other words from 1983 to today the probability has doubled."

HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT / CLIMATE CHANGE-
GREECE - More international help was set arrive in Greece today to fight the DEADLIEST FOREST FIRES IN THE PAST 150 YEARS, amid growing suspicion that many of the blazes which have killed more than 60 people and destroyed hundreds of houses were arson.
Wildfires are burning in half of Greece - "This is an UNPRECEDENTED SERIES OF EVENTS that has occurred in Greece, upwards of 170 individual wildfires, mostly in the south of the country." Greece has NEVER EXPERIENCED A DISASTER ON THIS SCALE. Police say it is not clear how many people are unaccounted for and say they fear an even higher death toll. As authorities evacuated hundreds of people trapped by flames in their villages, dozens were hospitalized. Thousands of hectares of agricultural land and pastures have been scorched.
Photos

BULGARIA - The number of people who have died as a result of the wildfires in the Bulgarian municipality of Topolovgrad rose to two. The victims were from the village of Prisadets. The situation in the region remains serious. The fire has engulfed kilometers of forest and is moving towards the Municipality of Svilengrad. The villages of Filipovtsi, Prisadets and Varnik were evacuated.

MASSACHUSETTS - on Saturday, the Attleboro area endured its second day in a row of RECORD-SETTING HEAT. The temperature hit 95 degrees at 4 p.m., just breaking the previous record of 94 degrees, set in 1993.
NEW HAMPSHIRE - A strong line of thunderstorms moved across New Hampshire on Saturday night, tearing down trees and knocking out power to as many as 7,000 people. The line of storms followed a record hot summer day for the Granite State. In Concord, the temperature hit 98 degrees, BREAKING THE RECORD by one degree.
NEW YORK - Temperatures soared Saturday afternoon, SHATTERING THE PREVIOUS RECORD HIGH for this date by six degrees. The high of 91 degrees, measured at the airport at 2:14 p.m., broke the old record of 85, set in 1993.
GEORGIA - The 100-plus degree heat and the rainfall shortage this month has caused drought conditions so bad that they usually DON'T OCCUR MORE THAN ONCE A CENTURY. The drought in 70 of Georgia's 159 counties — almost half — has now been classified as "exceptional." In an "exceptional" drought, the affected regions experience widespread crop losses, and the water level in reservoirs, streams and wells drop so low that it creates a water emergency. These conditions are RARE. The drought has spared only four Georgia counties - all of which received plentiful rain from Tropical Storm Barry. 40 other counties are in an "extreme" drought. That happens ONCE IN 50 YEARS and also causes crop loss and water shortage, although not as severe as in an "exceptional" drought. The state's rainfall total for the year is 17.51 inches. That's almost half of normal. Add to that the temperature - August has seen nine days when the temperature climbed to 100 degrees or more in metro Atlanta, making it the HOTTEST MONTH SINCE THE WEATHER SERVICE BEGAN KEEPING RECORDS. (map)
ALABAMA - The U.S. Drought Monitor labeled 73 percent of Alabama "exceptional" for its lack of rainfall. Alabama has become significantly drier since Aug. 7, when 52 percent of the state was labeled exceptionally dry. Every county in Alabama has some degree of drought or abnormal dryness. "Not only have our farmers been suffering through the highest level of drought in the entire United States, but now we are experiencing RECORD-BREAKING TEMPERATURES that may cause even more losses."
KENTUCKY - Baking under another RECORD-BREAKING HEAT WAVE, customers of Louisville Gas & Electric and Kentucky Utilities Co. were being asked for the first time this year to conserve electricity. The request for area residents to temporarily turn off their air conditioners, dishwashers and other appliances comes as near 100-degree heat continues to drive record levels of energy consumption. Thursday the mercury climbed to 99, breaking the record set in 1959 of 98 degrees. Records have been dropping like beads of sweat since the heat wave started July 30. The record string of consecutive days with 90-degree heat or more was broken last Monday when the city experienced its 22nd consecutive day. The streak ended Tuesday, the 14th, when the high was only 88. The previous record of 21 straight days had been set three times: August of 1900, July of 1901 and August of 1936.
TENNESSEE - Thursday’s 99-degree heat eclipsed the day’s Tri-Cities RECORD of 94 degrees set in 1968. Relief from the RECORD-BREAKING TEMPERATURES isn’t expected until today, when meteorologists forecast a 40 percent chance of rain and temperatures in the upper 80s.

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Sunday, August 26, 2007 -

A THOUGHT FOR THE DAY -
True luck consists not in holding the best of the cards at the table;
luckiest is he who knows just when to rise and go home.
John Hay

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

Largest quakes yesterday -
8/25/07 -
5.2 ANDAMAN ISLANDS, INDIA REGION
5.1 EASTERN TURKEY
5.0 SOUTHERN IRAN
8/24/07 -
5.0 BANDA SEA

CALIFORNIA - A California researcher says Los Angeles is in the midst of a 1,000-year seismic lull characterized by relatively small and infrequent earthquakes. The Northridge earthquake of 1994 was "a drop in the bucket" compared to the massive jolts that would strike the basin during a period of high seismic activity. "The past 1,000 years has been relatively quiet." This is based on the discovery of several clusters of intense seismic activity separated by periods of relative calm lasting about 1,500 to 2,000 years. Looking at the geological record going back 12,000 years, they found several clusters of seismic bursts, the most recent lasting 4,000 years and ending about 1,000 years ago. Earthquakes that struck Southern California over the last century killed more than 200 people and caused billions of dollars in damage. Scientists argue that when the lull ends, metropolitan Los Angeles will experience significantly bigger and more frequent temblors - up to 15 times larger than the destructive Northridge earthquake of 1994. That could be soon - or 500 years from now. Even more dramatic is the geologists' explanation - welcomed by some scientists and questioned by others - of why the lull is occurring. They theorize that two of the region's most active fault zones are essentially taking turns producing earthquakes, with faults in the Mojave Desert producing bigger and more frequent quakes, while faults under Los Angeles take a break, and vice versa. High-tech monitoring devices show that the region's earthquake faults are building up high amounts of energy, yet the historical record shows that, as an average over time, seismic activity has been much lower. Once the lull ends, the quakes experienced in the region could be significantly larger than the ones we have experienced during the last 1,000 to 1,500 years. These quakes will not only be bigger, but they will likely produce large, slow seismic waves, which can be very damaging to tall buildings and large structures like dams and bridges. Such a quake "is going to pump enormous amount of energy into the L.A. Basin, causing it to resonate. We're going to have a metropolitan area-wide disaster on our hands." Even a seismic lull period has its risks - "Even if we believe Southern California is in a lull, we still had Long Beach and Northridge and Sylmar. If it's quiet, it's not dead."

RUSSIA - more than 1,000 repeat earth tremors have occurred in Nevelsk since August 2 when the town was hit by a powerful earthquake measuring 6.8 on the Richer scale. The seismic activity in the Nevelsk area is now higher than the intensity of tectonic cataclysms in the area of the Simushir Island of the Kuriles chain. A total of 798 aftershocks have been registered there since November 15, 2006 after a 7.8-point earthquake. The strong earthquake in Nevelsk was triggered by the earth crust movement in the Tatar Strait on the coast of which the town is located. The epicenter was located just four kilometers from Nevelsk. There was a tsunami wave up to two meters high here after the earthquake; it reached the Japanese Hokkaido Island. After the powerful earthquake in the Simushir Island area the tsunami wave was seven meters high and this wave, with reduced strength, reached Alaska, the Hawaii and even New Zealand. Earlier this week, regional legislators called for raising seismicity norms for a number of far eastern areas. The Kamchatka peninsula, if hit by a powerful earthquake, may lose up to 100,000 residents. More than 1,800 Kamchatka facilities need to boost their earthquake resistance. Kamchatka needs 33 billion roubles to boost the strength of all structures to withstand 7- to 9-magnitude earthquakes. Scientists predicted that such an earthquake is possible within the next five years.

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

HEAVY RAINS / FLOODING / LANDSLIDES / WIND -
U.S. - Storms have continued to drench the US Midwest, which is already enduring record floods that are reported to have killed at least 25 people. States from Iowa to Texas have all been deluged. Early in the day on Friday, another band of thunderstorms dumped more rain on Missouri, Iowa and Wisconsin. The National Weather Service warned that Illinois residents could expect another 2in (5cm) of rain on Friday afternoon and evening. While some areas have seen the worst of the weather, with a high pressure system expected to dry things out over the weekend, others may still have more rain to come. "This is UNPRECEDENTED."
WISCONSIN - The series of storms that has pummeled the Upper Midwest is part of a VERY UNUSUAL weather pattern. It only comes around once every 100 or 200 years. Energized by warm air and fueled by moisture from the Gulf of Mexico, the storms start in Nebraska and Iowa in the afternoon, roll through southern Minnesota and then into Wisconsin and Illinois. They've been running on schedule for six days. The storms had caused more than $48 million in damage in Wisconsin by Friday.
IOWA BROKE A 135 YEAR-OLD RAIN RECORD - The heavy thunderstorms that rumbled across southern Iowa Thursday night and Friday morning helped break an August record for Iowa precipitation that covers 135 years of statewide weather reports. As of 7 a.m.Friday, Iowa has had an average of 8.62 inches of statewide average rainfall, breaking the old mark of 8.24 inches set in 1993. The all-time mark for rainfall in any month in Iowa is 10.5 inches, set in the historic flood month of July 1993. “We had some incredible rain in southern Iowa last night [Thursday]. It was the biggest that we had yet out of this episode” of heavy Iowa rainfall over the past week. The National Weather Service is forecasting a chance of thunderstorms again Tuesday and Wednesday.
MINNESOTA - The rains that triggered widespread flooding in southeastern Minnesota last weekend SMASHED A STATE RAINFALL FRCORD FOR A 24-HOUR PERIOD. It broke the old record by more than 4 inches. The town of Hokah in Houston County had 15.1 inches of rainwater when measured at 8 a.m. Sunday morning. The previous record - set in July 1972 at Fort Ripley, Minn., in the central part of the state - was 10.84 inches. The state has had only three 24-hour rainfalls of 10 inches or more in the last 200 years.

AUSTRALIA - BIGGEST WET EVER in south-east Queensland - South-east Queensland's Rainbow Beach has set a new RAINFALL RECORD. 713 mills fell there in the 24 hours to nine Friday morning. That's more than three times the previous total of 216 mm for the whole month of August, set in 1998. Other parts of the region at the northern end of the Sunshine Coast have also had good falls. The current low pressure system over south-east Queensland is a FREAK event, not seen since the 1800s. Dozens of people have been rescued from homes and cars, and more are poised to evacuate their homes as the flash-flooding caused by a one-in-100-year deluge sweeps across southeast Queensland. More than 300mm of rain and high winds have lashed the Sunshine Coast and Wide Bay regions since Thursday, caused by the UNUSUAL low pressure system over the state's southeast. Such events usually occur in late autumn or early winter. "They are VERY RARE in August and the last one we can find was probably in the 1880s. We know they happen now but we haven't in the past had any of these events in August or September." At Tewantin, near Noosa, 310mm of rain fell - more than four times the previous record daily total of 72.2mm set on August 19, 1989.

NORTH KOREA - At least 600 people are dead or missing after devastating floods in North Korea this month. One million people have been affected by the downpours, with thousands injured. Some 240,000 houses were totally or partially destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless and 900,000 people flood-stricken. The country also suffered severe damage to its infrastructure after landslides and rain left hundreds of miles of roads and railways inundated.

POLAND - Heavy storm felled hundreds of trees, blocking roads, rail tracks and causing damage to power lines the Swietokrzyskie region, southern Poland. Firefighters have been the busiest removing obstacles from the roads and rail tracks in the Kielce, Busko and Pinczów regions. There have also been reports on damaged roofs in some other neighbouring areas.

HEAT / WILDFIRES / DROUGHT/ CLIMATE CHANGE-
GREECE - A nationwide state of emergency has been declared in Greece, amid a rising death toll from raging forest fires. 47 people have died and many others may be trapped on the Peloponnesian peninsula. Radio stations are being inundated with calls from people in remote mountain villages saying they are surrounded by fire. Almost 200 fires have been reported - there were about 70 new blazes during Saturday, while many others continued to burn from the previous day. Strong winds have blown smoke and ash towards Athens 330km (200 miles) away, starting more fires and blocking out the sun over the capital. Fire crews said they had found at least 30 bodies in villages near Zaharo as they searched burned out cars and houses. "It's a tragedy," an eyewitness told Greek television. "I can see the burnt bodies of a mother holding her child in her arms. Further away there are more bodies. It's terrible." Emergency workers have been finding charred bodies in fields, homes, and in cars. Fire officials confirmed that three firefighters were among the dead. (photos)
Emergency services have been overwhelmed. Friday was previously the deadliest day of a terrible summer of forest fires, a war of attrition against the flames that has now been raging for two months. At least nine people are reported to have burned to death in their cars as they attempted to flee the flames in the western Peloponnese region. The victims, driving near the town of Zahero, were surrounded by a wall of fire and could not break through. A local prefect close to the scene described it as horrific. "The situation is extremely dire... The speed with which this fire has been spreading is astonishing." Scores of other people in the region have been taken to hospital with burns. The biggest fires are still raging out of control, whipped up by dry winds gusting up to gale force, which have hampered the efforts of water-dropping aircraft.
These are the WORST FOREST FIRES TO HIT GREECE IN DECADES.

WATER SHORTAGES -
TURKEY - Ankara, Turkey's capital and home to more than 4.5 million people, has been in the grips of a serious water shortage for the last three weeks. On August 1, the director general of the State Hydraulic Works announced that Ankara had enough water for just 78 days and that the water level in the city’s reservoirs had fallen to 5.5 percent of capacity, down from last year’s 23 percent. At the time of writing, the level in the reservoirs is a meagre 3.5 percent of capacity, which corresponds to a water supply of fewer than two months. “Temperatures all across Turkey will be two to four degrees higher than average in the period between August and October.” This means that evaporation of existing water stocks will continue unabated. Although not as acute as Ankara's, Istanbul has also a water shortage problem. In general, Turkey has been experiencing a dramatic decline in the level of its fresh-water supply. The newspapers are full of pictures of arid, cracked soil, accompanied by gloomy reports of the drying up of a river, lake or reservoir. Water shortages have already taken their toll on agricultural production across the country. The media is full of reports about water shortages adversely affecting the production of wheat, olives and olive oil, figs, grapes, sunflowers and sunflower oil, and cotton. As a result, food prices may increase substantially in the near future. The water shortages are also affecting the generation of electricity in the country. A massive water shortage is expected to hit Turkey after 2050.

EGYPT - Egyptians have begun mass demonstrations, demanding that the Cairo government intervene to end their critical drinking water shortage. In some areas in Cairo drinking water has been cut off for over a week and even over a month in one particular vicinity. The shortage threatens to ruin over 404 hectares (1,000 acres) of farmland.

GREECE - Water shortages have hit much of Greece, particularly the Aegean islands, at the height of the summer tourist season.

BULGARIA - There is a water shortage in about 600 small towns and villages in Bulgaria. If the dry weather continues, incidents of water shortage may reach 800.

PHILIPPINES - Extracting water from the atmosphere won't produce substantial supply to address the water shortage in Metro Cebu. Harvesting water from the atmosphere is already being practiced by other tropical countries, but the technique has not produced enough water supply.

KENYA - An acute water shortage has hit Mombasa town and its environs in the past two weeks.

AUSTRALIA - Following 10 years of drought nearly every Australian city will be forced to find new water supplies during the next decade.

BEE DIE-OFF-
One likely cause of the bee die-off are pesticides, particularly a new class of powerful chemicals called neonicotinoids (or neonics), which are an artificial form of nicotine. "My theory ...is something has broken down their immune system. The only thing that's new is the increased usage of neonicotinoids. Three years ago, you started really seeing it. Now, it's everywhere. It's the pesticide of choice in this country - and yours too. You can't get away from the stuff." This link is fuelling controversy because neonics have become widespread, mostly through their frequent use in treating genetically engineered seeds. If neonics were to blame for CCD, it would make bees the first known species to become a casualty of the biotechnology era. Last March, the Sierra Club called on the U.S. government to fund emergency research into the neonic connection and, if GM crops are found to be responsible for CCD, to ban the plants. "You look at what's new exposure, and this is the new exposure. This is big. We're talking about the food supply." Findings of the world's largest-ever field trial of GM crops, done for the British government in 2003: The three-year study, which involved 4,000 visits to fields and the counting of 1.5 million insects and birds, found that powerful chemicals used in conjunction with GM crops were highly harmful to bees, butterflies, and birds. Fields of biotech canola and sugar beets had dramatically fewer bees than conventional farms. Studies have shown neonics degrade the immune systems of bees, making them more susceptible to disease. The working group singled out neonics, because CCD made its appearance shortly after the new chemical became widespread in genetically engineered crops in 2000 and 2001. "Something is going haywire." The truth may be made of many things. "We're probably looking at multiple factors that came together in the past season in a perfect storm."

This is not the first time in history that honey bees have disappeared at alarming rates. “There have been problems like this in America on and off since the 1890s.” A particularly nasty die-off lasted from 1963-1965, putting a significant number of bee-keepers out of business. Mass hive abandonment was formerly called Disappearing Disease. In those days, the tools for investigating and finding the cause of die-offs were nonexistent. Therefore, scientists simply recorded what happened and kept their fingers crossed, hoping it would all be over soon. But today, with all modern technological advances and innovations in research strategy, the fact that a cause hasn’t been identified is frustrating to bee-keepers and experts alike. “We can’t just say, hey it went away before, it’ll go away this time.” The importance of honey bees in America can hardly be over-emphasized. Bee pollination is responsible for $15 billion each year in added crop value. Specialty crops such as almonds and other nuts, as well as apples, rely entirely upon the services of the nonnative species. Luckily this year there were enough bees available to meet pollination demands. But if CCD continues, will there be enough bees next year?

CANADA - The bee business is being battered by mysterious deaths that result in low honey yields. After losing unusually large numbers of their bees to unexplained deaths, beekeepers across Alberta are facing honey harvests projected to be 20 to 30 per cent below average. Alberta Agriculture and Food is conducting a study into the causes of the high bee deaths, expected to be completed in about a month. Preliminary findings have ruled out starvation and colony collapse disorder, in which a hive's adult bees disappear inexplicably, leaving larvae and pupae to die. Possible causes include the long winter and an abundance of mites, bacteria and viruses. Several diseases have become immune to conventional chemical treatment, forcing beekeepers to rethink the way they medicate their hives.

U.S. - Officials say bees are not dying as fast as they were last year, but say this fall will be a critical test. Some beekeepers have lost 90 percent of their hive populations since last fall. Experts say the bees might be dying because of diseases brought to the U.S. from other countries, or because of stress placed on the bees by being moved from farm to farm. Because of the shortage of bees, local farmers say they are now paying more for beehives to pollinate their crops.

JULY & AUGUST 2007 FEATURED DISASTERS