Indira Gandhi
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.0 OFF-SHORE BIO-BIO, CHILE
Yesterday -
8/21/10 -
5.8 SIMEULUE, INDONESIA
5.0 NEAR N COAST OF NEW GUINEA, PNG.
5.3 SOUTH OF PANAMA
5.0 TAIWAN
5.1 TAIWAN
5.0 CATAMARCA, ARGENTINA
5.2 OFF EAST COAST OF KAMCHATKA
8/20/10 -
5.0 SOUTH OF JAVA, INDONESIA
6.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.2 KYRGYZSTAN
5.3 FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
5.1 SOUTH SANDWICH ISLANDS REGION
5.0 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.
5.1 ANDREANOF ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN IS.
5.0 PAGAN REG., N. MARIANA ISLANDS
INDIA - A day after 18 students died as their school building caved in following landslides, the state government on Friday decided to relocate 101 villages situated in extremely dangerous and seismologically sensitive places across Garhwal and Kumaon. The government identified the villages on the basis of a survey conducted by the Uttarakhand disaster management department a couple of months ago.
TROPICAL STORMS -
Tropical depression 06 was 1586 nmi E of Bridgetown, Barbados. [likely to be a hurricane in 3 days]
Tropical depression 08E was 184 nmi SW of Cabo San Lucas, Mexico. [degenerating to a tropical low]
Tropical depression 09E was 164 nmi SSE of Salina Cruz, Mexico. [expected to become a tropical storm today]
OFF VIETNAM - New storm likely to hit East Sea - A depression formed in the northern part of the East Sea strengthened into a low pressure system on August 21 and is likely to become a tropical storm in the coming days. At 01.00am on August 22, the system was positioned about 450km from Hoang Sa archipelago, with winds gusting at between 39-49kmph near its centre. In the next 24 hours, the low pressure system is expected to move between west and north-west at a speed of 5-10 kph and to strengthen further. It will cause strong winds and rough seas in the area around the Hoang Sa islands. (map)
HEAVY RAINS, SEVERE STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
CHINA - Four people died and more than 64,000 were evacuated in China as heavy rain sparked serious floods along the North Korean border, with Pyongyang's state media warning of "devastating" consequences. Downpours swelled the Yalu river which forms the border between the two countries to untenable levels, sending floodwaters into homes on both sides of the frontier. In the northeast Chinese city of Dandong, more than 64,000 people were evacuated. About 230 homes collapsed and some transport, power and communication links have been cut off.
Heavy summer rain across large parts of China has triggered the country's worst floods in a decade. Nearly 3900 people have been killed or left missing this year in China in flood-related incidents. Earlier this month, authorities suspended shipping and tourist traffic on the Yalu amid fears of flooding, as the waterway had seen MORE RAIN IN A TWO-WEEK PERIOD THAN AT ANY COMPARABLE TIME IN RECORDED HISTORY. Thousands were evacuated at the time. Elsewhere in China, rescuers were still searching for 69 people who went missing in rain-triggered mudslides in a remote part of the southwestern province of Yunnan. Twenty-three people have been confirmed dead.
"The rescuers are at risk of sinking into the mud any time" in Puladi township, where more rain was also expected. Hundreds of homeless villagers have been moved to two temporary shelters in the township.
Across the border in North Korea, widespread flooding this summer has caused an unspecified number of fatalities.
The Korean Central News Agency said Sinuiju across the border was "severely affected". Floodwaters had inundated all houses, public buildings and farmland in three sectors of Sinuiju - home to a North Korean military airbase - and nearby rural communities. Storms were expected to batter the area throughout Saturday.
NIGER facing the worst food crisis in its history. After months of drought, floods caused by torrential rains have destroyed crops and drowned farm animals.
Unscrupulous traders are buying grain cheaply from farmers as soon as it is harvested. They then hoard it for several months, waiting until grain runs into short supply. Farmers are then forced to buy their own crops back at hugely inflated prices. Many cannot afford it and they go hungry. A charity says it is working with farmers to find a way for them to store their own grain in community granaries. The charity says more than 300,000 children under the age of five in Niger are acutely malnourished, and aid agencies are struggling to feed them. Recent floods have left more than 100,000 people homeless across the country. In Niger's capital, cars have been replaced by canoes in some parts of the city. Houses along the swollen River Niger have been reduced to piles of clay; crops of mangoes and lemons are underwater, leaving people with nothing to sell at market.
INDONESIA has been experiencing IT'S MOST EXTREME WEATHER CONDTIONS IN RECORDED HISTORY, meteorologists warned last Wednesday as torrential rains continued to pound the capital. All regions across the archipelago have been experiencing ABNORMAL and often catastrophic weather. “We have reached a SUPER-EXTREME LEVEL OF WEATHER earlier this year, THE FIRST TIME IN OUR HISTORY, and this is much worse than what we experienced back in 1998, when the La Nina caused extreme weather in the country."
“The combination of global warming and the La Nina phenomenon makes everything exceed normalcy" - global warming causes higher temperature in sea waters, and La Nina boosts humidity and the likeliness of rains.
Sea temperature, were also at a level considered normal for Indonesia’s rainy season, not for the dry season. “It is about 28 to 29 [degrees] Celsius now. Normally, for August it should have been around 24 to 26 degrees.” Generally at this time of year, Indonesia is supposed to be in the midst of the dry season and entering the transition to wetter months. “In conditions like this, tornadoes are likely to occur. It can happen in any region in the country, starting from the western part of Indonesia to the east.”
The extreme conditions were causing high waves, posing a threat to ships in Indonesian waters. “At the least, the waves will reach 3.5 meters and can reach up to more than five meters. And strong winds can make the waves even higher. The Southern part of Sumatra and Java are the most affected areas so far. This condition is forecast to start to reach the eastern part of Indonesia within one to two weeks.”
Based on a BMKG forecast, the provinces of Aceh, North Sumatra, West Sumatra, West Java, West Kalimantan, East Kalimantan, Maluku, West Papua and Papua would see prolonged high rains, with more than 400 millimeters falling from now through October. More than 100 mm of rain is categorized as high intensity. The rest of the country is expected to begin entering the rainy season again in November.
The extreme weather has already affected the country’s agricultural output, especially in Java where there are many farms. “Crops like melon, mango and mushrooms are experiencing delayed harvests. It puts the farmers at a disadvantage as they now cannot produce many good quality crops." The excess rains made fruit softer and less sweet. The extreme weather will also cause headaches for commuters and truckers, especially in big cities like Jakarta. The capital has seen heavy downpours for two days, causing deep inundations and burst river banks.
HEALTH THREATS -
India and New Zealand are still the world's hot spots for pandemic H1N1 flu activity, with flu and other respiratory illness activity low in most of the Southern Hemisphere, which is nearing the end of its winter flu season.
