OKLAHOMA - A RARE 5.6 earthquake, considered to be THE STRONGEST ON RECORD in the area, shook the central US state of Oklahoma late Saturday reportedly causing damage but no injuries.
After initially putting the magnitude of the temblor at 5.2, the US Geological Survey revised the strength of the seismic event, the second of the day, saying it had reached magnitude 5.6. The first 4.7-magnitude jolt was reported north of the town of Prague early Saturday. The epicentre of the later tremor, which occurred at 10.53pm local time, was located just 6km east of the town of Sparks at a depth of 5km. The Lincoln County Emergency Management agency was reporting significant damage, but its extent was not immediately clear. Portions of federal highway 62 buckled and the chimney on a two-story house collapsed near the town of Prague. Other buildings were also damaged. "It was a pretty ornery little earthquake."
The Oklahoman newspaper said the quake was felt as far away as north Texas. No injuries were reported to emergency management officials.But a lot of people were scared. "The picture by the TV fell off the wall and we jumped up because we thought somebody had hit the house. It was like a roaring noise. I've never heard one that bad over here" in Oklahoma City, 72km southwest from the epicentre of the quake. A strong jolt was also felt in Kansas City, more than 570km away. "The whole house shook. It felt like someone was standing behind my recliner shaking it back and forth. You could see items shaking that were sitting on the entertainment centre." The strongest earthquake previously recorded in Oklahoma was in 1952. It registered 5.5.
Central Oklahoma continued to experience dozens of aftershocks Sunday, nearly 24 hours since the state's strongest earthquake since 1952 was felt throughout the region.
The magnitude 5.6 earthquake could be felt throughout the state and in Arkansas, Kansas, Missouri, northern Texas and some parts of Illinois and Wisconsin.
Jerry Lee Lewis
LARGEST QUAKES -
This morning -
5.2 BISMARCK SEA [200 km (120 miles) SW of Papua New Guinea]
5.1 BISMARCK SEA
5.1 BISMARCK SEA
5.1 KURIL ISLANDS
Yesterday -
11/6/11 -
5.3 JAVA, INDONESIA
5.2 ALASKA PENINSULA
5.3 ALASKA PENINSULA
5.1 TONGA REGION
5.6 OKLAHOMA
5.0 TIMOR SEA
11/5/11 -
5.1 KERMADEC ISLANDS REGION
5.7 ANTOFAGASTA, CHILE
5.8 VANUATU
11/4/11 -
5.2 SOUTHWEST OF SUMATRA, INDONESIA
5.1 SOUTH OF BALI, INDONESIA
5.1 NEAR EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN
5.0 JUJUY, ARGENTINA
5.8 VANUATU
VOLCANOES -
CHILE - Plumes of steam and ash are piping from Chile's Hudson volcano. Melting snow threatens flash flooding nearby. Two Chilean volcanoes are under alert status as Hudson volcano’s rumblings combined with those of Cordón Caulle, which has coated a large swath of neighboring Argentina in ash and disrupted air travel for months. Hudson spewed a column of steam and ash that soared more than 3 miles into the sky about 1,000 miles south of Chile’s capital, Santiago. Officials evacuated 119 people from the immediate area around Hudson as snow melted by the volcano’s fresh internal warmth caused the Aysen River to overflow its banks. Hudson has erupted twice in the last 60 years. Its explosions in August 1991 dumped ash 18 inches deep downwind, killing an estimated 1.5 million sheep in adjacent areas of Argentina. (photos)
CANARY ISLANDS - La Restinga village evacuated again as eruption coninues off Spanish island of El Hierro. Residents were evacuated for the second time in less than a month due to threat from the eruption of the volcano off the island. The increasingly strong seismic activity has prompted the authorities to put the area around La Restringa on red alert and the rest of the island on yellow alert. Since the seismic activity began back in July there have been more than 10,000 tremors.
The number of people being moved from their homes in the village of La Restringa is between five and six hundred. “We didn’t have time to prepare anything, we just took what was most necessary. Some clothes, medicines, the deeds to the house, that’s all they told us.” The civil authorities are describing this latest evacuation as a precautionary step. The last time a volcano fully erupted in the Canaries was in 1971. (photo)
ALASKA -Scientists have lowered the alert level for Cleveland Volcano in Alaska's remote Aleutian Islands. The Alaska Volcano Observatory downgraded the volcano alert on Thursday from "watch" to "advisory".
TROPICAL STORMS -
No current tropical storms.
Cyclone Keila Killed Six in Oman and Yemen - Tropical Cyclone Keila formed from an area of disturbed weather just south of the Arabian Peninsula. The storm was packing maximum sustained winds of 40 mph as it skirted the coastline of far southern Oman early Wednesday. At least six people died as flash flooding from Keila surged across the desert region. But the storm quickly began to dissipate after moving ashore over Oman's arid interior. Such tropical cyclones form in that area only during two brief periods each year. A study released this week says that manmade pollution over India is causing storms over the Arabian Sea to become intense in recent years.
SEVERE RAIN STORMS, FLOODING, LANDSLIDES -
COLUMBIA - MUDSLIDES in western Colombia after days of heavy rain have killed at least 22 people and dozens are still missing, according to an updated official toll Sunday. Six bodies were found earlier in the day, bringing the death toll to 22. 17 others were injured. About 70 people are still missing. After several mudslides on Saturday, 150 rescuers were able to pull five members of the same family from the rubble in the city of Manizales. Four other people however died in Manizales, the capital of Caldas, when another landslide swept into homes where more than 30 families live. The mudslide destroyed at least 14 homes in the city and damaged three others.
Colombia has been battered by ONE OF ITS WORST RAINY SEASONS IN LIVING MEMORY this year, with dozens killed and some 250,000 people having to be evacuated from their homes. Between April 2010 and April 2011, particularly heavy rains triggered by the La Nina phenomenon - associated with cooler-than-normal water temperatures - left over 400 people dead and 3.6 million affected by the disaster.
ITALY - TORRENTIAL RAINS lashed Genoa and Italy's western coastline again overnight Friday, triggering flash floods that killed at least six people as raging water uprooted trees and swept cars and furniture through the streets. The Italian authorities have issued fresh safety warnings as storms and torrential rain continue to cause havoc across the country.
The River Po, Italy's longest river, rose 4m (13 feet) in the city of Turin, as thousands were told to evacuate. One person has died in the province of Naples, bringing this week's country-wide death toll to at least seven. Heavy rains have hit the country over the past two weeks, especially in the north-west.
Millions of Italians, from Milan to Venice, are at risk if the flooding continues. Thousands of people in low-lying areas near Turin have been told to leave their homes, while the city's schools, as well as those in Milan, were ordered to close today as a precaution. In Naples, an alert was issued as heavy rain caused widespread flooding on Sunday.
Geologists accuse the government of failing to provide a national emergency plan when bad weather batters the country. The Prime Minister has admitted that unauthorised building has exacerbated the problem, blaming lax local construction laws. On Friday six people were killed in Genoa, the largest city on Italy's north-western coast. Television footage showed cars floating and people wading knee-deep through flooded streets in the city. Hundreds of shops were flooded and emergency officials urged residents to move to high ground as two rivers burst their banks. Last week the government declared a state of emergency in the north-western Liguria region and in Tuscany, after storms lashed coastal regions, killing at least 10 people and causing widespread flooding and mudslides.
THAILAND - WORST FLOODS IN HALF A CENTURY. The death toll has climbed above 500, as advancing pools of polluted black water threaten Bangkok's subway system and new evacuations are ordered in the sprawling capital. The latest district added to the government's evacuation list was Chatuchak, home to a large public park and an outdoor shopping zone that is a major tourist attraction. So far, Bangkok's Governor has ordered evacuations in 11 of Bangkok's 50 districts, and partial evacuations apply in seven more. The evacuations are not mandatory, and most people are staying to protect homes and businesses. But the orders illustrate how far flooding has progressed into the city and how powerless the government has been to stop it. Chatuchak, just a few kilometres north of Bangkok's still-unaffected central business zone, is home to the government's national emergency flood relief headquarters. It is housed in the Energy Ministry - a building now surrounded by water. The relief headquarters moved several days ago out of Bangkok's Don Muang airport after it, too, was flooded.
Relentless rainfall has pummeled vast swaths of Thailand since late July, swamping the country and killing 506 people. Most victims have drowned, while a handful died from flood-related electrocutions. No deaths have been reported in Bangkok. The nearby province of Ayutthaya, which has been submerged for more than one month, has the highest toll with 90 reported dead. Floodwaters have begun receding in some provinces north of the capital, and a major cleanup is planned in Ayutthaya this week. But the runoff has massed around Bangkok and completely submerged some of the city's outer neighbourhoods.
On Friday, workers completed a 6km flood wall made from massive, hastily assembled sandbags to divert some of the water flowing toward central Bangkok. But large amounts of water are already beyond that wall, and officials say that besides a network of canals and underground drainage tunnels, there are no more barriers preventing water from pushing south into the heart of the city. Over the past two decades, Bangkok's much enlarged and improved drainage system has increasingly been able to siphon off water during monsoon seasons with average rainfall. But that system is facing its greatest test yet. A plan to be put before the Cabinet on Tuesday will allocate 100 billion baht ($3.19 billion) for post-flood reconstruction. The government has come under fire for failing to predict the threat to the capital. Residents also have been frustrated by widely different assessments of the flooding situation from the prime minister, Bangkok's governor and the country's top water experts and officials.
HEAVY SNOW / EXTREME COLD -
U.S. - Tens of thousands in the chilly north-eastern US are looking at several more days without power after the rare October snowstorm knocked much of the region into the dark last weekend.
Connecticut Light & Power, the state's largest utility, announced today at a news conference that it will miss its goal of restoring electricity to 99 per cent of its customers by midnight. About 88,000 customers still don't have electricity. Power might not be restored to everyone until Wednesday. New Jersey and Massachusetts each have a few hundred people still waiting for the lights to come back on. Companies in Maine and New Hampshire say customers affected by last weekend's storm are back on line.
