I’m coming down from having visited and I see people sweating
and tearing through brambles trying to get up and I want to say,
‘Don’t go there, it doesn’t exist, it’ll hurt you and it’s pointless.’
That golden city is fame, achievement, riches and all the rest of it.**
Stephen Fry
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.5 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
Yesterday -
10/31/10 -
5.0 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.1 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.7 NEW BRITAIN REGION, PAPUA NEW GUINEA
5.1 SOUTH OF THE FIJI ISLANDS
5.4 OFFSHORE VALPARAISO, CHILE
VOLCANOES -
Indonesia's deadly volcano unleashed another powerful eruption Monday, spewing searing clouds of gas and ash thousands of feet into the air to the sound of a booming explosion. There were no immediate reports of new casualties.
On the other side of seismically charged country, a break in weather was helping rescuers get aid to victims of a tsunami that slammed into several remote islands, sweeping entire villages to sea. The twin disasters, which occurred almost simultaneously one week ago, have together killed nearly 500 people.
Mount Merapi is among 20 mountains now rumbling and spitting out ash in Indonesia. The latest blast sent massive clouds of ash spilling nearly two miles down the northeastern slopes. Heavy rain over the weekend increased the danger of another larger eruption because water falling into the fiery crater can create sudden vapor pressure in the lava dome.
TROPICAL STORMS -
-Cyclone ANGGREK was 933 nmi SSW of George Town, Malaysia
-Tropical storm TOMAS was 218 nmi N of Caracas, Venezuela
A cyclone warning has been issued for islands off Western Australia, where residents have been advised to get ready to shelter. The Cocos Islands, an Australian territory in the Indian Ocean have been warned that Tropical Cyclone Anggrek, currently category two, is set to intensify this morning as it heads south towards the islands. Gales were expected to develop today as the system moved closer, with the period of greatest risk beginning this evening. There was a significant risk that people on the Cocos Islands would experience very destructive wind gusts tomorrow. At the centre of the cyclone, wind gusts had been measured at 130km/h and were intensifying. A yellow alert has been issued for communities on Home and West Island.
Hurricane Tomas weakened in the Caribbean after battering Barbados and St Lucia with strong winds and heavy rains that damaged properties on the resort islands but caused no loss of life.
EXTREME HEAT & DROUGHT / WILDFIRES / CLIMATE CHANGE -
NEW ZEALAND - Record breaking high - almost. A powerful high was building south east of Dunedin and settling over the country on the 29th of October. Another powerful high settled over the country a fortnight before. The central air pressure was predicted to be around 1,046 hectopascals - a smidgen above the HIGHEST AIR PRESSURE EVER RECORDED in New Zealand, in Wellington set in 1889. However, because it will remain just offshore it will be away from weather recording equipment.
