Showing posts with label Disaster Management. Show all posts

Wednesday, December 23, 2015

Landslide swallows up the city of Shenzhen in southern China , entire buildings being gobbled up in seconds. 91 people missing.

Chilling footage shows Shenzhen landslide claim entire BLOCKS; 91 now missing in disaster (VIDEO)

Published time: 21 Dec, 2015 02:14Edited time: 21 Dec, 2015 08:50

A horrifying video of a landslide swallowing up the city of Shenzhen in southern China shows entire buildings being gobbled up in seconds. Meanwhile, the number of people missing has jumped to 91, China Central Television (CCTV) reports.

The disaster occurred in the Hengtaiyu industrial park in Shenzhen, Guangdong province, on Sunday morning, destroying a total of 22 buildings and causing a gas pipeline explosion. Shocking video footage from CCTV shows an entire multi-level building collapse in under five-seconds. At first, people are in disbelief, but are then seen running away from the landslide seeking safety.

China’s Ministry of Land & Resources has blamed the disaster on a collapse of piled-up construction waste and soil residue in the area, state media said. It also cited a local emergency office giving a sharply increased estimate of the number of people missing. The figure had previously stood at 59.

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The death toll from two storms which battered the Philippines rose to 45. Several towns remain under water and rainfall continues in northern regions,

Inquirer.net

Death toll rises to 45 in storm-hit PH

Agence France-Presse

05:41 PM December 20th, 2015

The death toll from two storms which battered the Philippines rose to 45 Sunday as several towns remained under water and rain kept falling in northern regions, disaster monitoring officials said.

The rain was caused by a cold front, dragged into the country by Typhoon Nona (international name Melor) and Tropical Depression Onyok which hit the Philippines in succession last week.

Floods almost three meters deep covered some riverside areas north of the capital Manila as heavy rain kept falling, civil defense offices said.

“Our home has been flooded up to the waist. It has been flooded for over two days,”

said Mary Jane Bautista, 35, in the industrial town of Calumpit 50 kilometers north of the capital.

Her family and several others were forced to take refuge on nearby high ground — in front of a church where their only shelter is the awning over the entrance.

“My husband has to wade through the waters to go home to get supplies. If we need water, he has to go to the faucet in our kitchen,” she told AFP, expressing fears the current could wash him away.

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120 “cold-stunned” sea turtles wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay

The Boston Globe

Wellfleet Bay Wildlife Sanctuary
Rescuers placed cold-stunned turtles in fruit boxes.

By Reenat Sinay Globe Correspondent December 21, 2015

Massachusetts Audubon Society volunteers recovered about 120 “cold-stunned” sea turtles during the weekend after strong winds caused them to wash up on the shores of Cape Cod Bay.

The majority of the reptiles found on the beaches of Wellfleet, Truro, Eastham, and Brewster were Kemp’s ridley sea turtles, a critically endangered species and the rarest type of sea turtle.

It was an unusually large late-season stranding for the turtles, who most often get stuck on Cape Cod shores around Thanksgiving as they try to make their way south to warmer waters for the winter.

Young sea turtles often feed in Cape Cod Bay during the summer but can get trapped in the “hook” of the Cape and become hypothermic as temperatures drop, according to Mass Audubon.

Despite their rarity, Kemp’s ridleys are the type of turtle most often found stranded on Massachusetts beaches.

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New cases of highly pathogenic avian flu in poultry have recently been detected in south-western regions of France,

New bird flu outbreak: More than 60 farms in France infected

Published time: 22 Dec, 2015 16:38

New cases of highly pathogenic avian flu in poultry have recently been detected in south-western regions of France, forcing authorities to step up sanitary measures.

The total number of confirmed cases of contamination with the virus in France has risen to 61, according to a statement from the French Ministry of Agriculture. The statement was published on Tuesday.

infos140 @infos140

GRIPPE AVIAIRE 8 nouveaux foyers identifiés dans les Landes. 61 foyers désormais touchés dans le sud-ouest

6:45 AM - 22 Dec 2015

Special protection zones stretching for between 3 to 10 kilometers around the farms have been set up until the epidemic ceases, a decree published in the Official Journal said.
There is currently no evidence that the virus is transmitted to humans through birds’ eggs, meat or foie gras, the World Health Organization (WHO) and the European Centre for Disease and Control (ECDC) stated.

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Friday, December 18, 2015

A volcano in Russia's Kamchatka region has spewed ash cloud, covering a local village with a thin layer of soot

Village Covered in Film of Soot After Kamchatka Volcano Spews Ashes

The Moscow Times
Dec. 16 2015 15:22
Last edited 15:22

NASA / JSC / Wikicommons

A volcano in Russia's Kamchatka region has spewed ashes, covering a local village with a thin layer of soot, the Emergency Situations Ministry said on Wednesday, the RIA Novosti news agency reported.

The ash cloud from the Shiveluch Volcano reached 6,500 meters above sea level, the ministry said in a statement, RIA Novosti reported. The volcano is 3,283 meters high.

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A “larger than normal” dust storm billowed through the Australian outback town of Boulia

Must See: 5 unearthly shots of massive outback dust storm

Daksha Rangan
Digital Reporter

photo c93f9620-b356-4e6f-a6a3-a0adbe15b3c8_zpssobl3wgg.jpg

photo 8f05fd6f-1804-4702-9555-7a7aecf7e328_zpsdredndap.jpg

SOURCE: Jan Norton/Facebook | Brisbane Times

Wednesday, December 16, 2015, 11:23 AM - A “larger than normal” dust storm billowed through the Australian outback town of Boulia Tuesday, creating an otherworldly spectacle.

Local photographers jumped at the opportunity to capture the Martian-like moment, where visibility was reportedly limited to just a few metres.

Read More and Watch Video here

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brisbanetimes

Huge dust storm hits Central West Queensland

Date: December 16, 2015

Kristian Silva

Brisbane Times journalist

A major dust storm swept over the Queensland town of Boulia on Tuesday. Photo: Kerry Hutchins/Instagram

Photographers have captured incredible images of a major dust storm which hit central west Queensland on Tuesday.

The outback town of Boulia, located about 500 kilometres west of Longreach, bore the brunt of the storm which blanketed everything in its path in red dust.

Ann Britton was on her cattle station when she saw the storm approaching.
"The winds were very strong and the dust blew for a few hours. If you were driving through it you had to stop," she said.

Ms Britton, a local photographer, said visibility was down to a few metres.

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Wednesday, December 16, 2015

Ireland - Communities on high flood alert along River Shannon

newstalk.com

IFA calls for Government to cancel farm inspections due to flooding

The level of water in Lough Derg increased marginally in the past 24 hours, the ESB says

The Irish Farmer’s Association (IFA) is urging the Government to do more to help farmers affected by flooding.

At this stage up to 100,000 hectares of land are under water and communities remain on alert with more rain forecast for this week.

Tonight the risk of flooding persists along the River Shannon - however defences are said to be holding steady in Athlone for now.

The IFA’s Tom Turley says he is concerned about Farmer's mental health and wants routine Department of Agriculture inspections called off.

“This is just in disarray at the moment,” Mr Turley

“I can’t emphasise this enough, the Department have got to stop these inspections forthwith.

“The minister just needs to come out and say I’m calling of all inspections under force majeur circumstances – end of,” he added.

The National Emergency Co-ordination group has said today that water levels in most rivers are falling.

However, water is still rising in the lower half of the River Shannon, although at a lower rate than yesterday.

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IRISHCENTRAL

Dramatic flooding to come in Ireland as the Shannon River’s waters rise

An overall view of the River Shannon flowing into Athlone Town: the National Emergency Coordination Centre has said there is a high risk. Photo by: RollingNews.ie

Towns along the River Shannon are still feeling the effects of recent extreme bad weather, with further rain possibly flooding areas that are not yet under water.

According to Ireland's national weather service Met Éireann, there may be further “nasty” weather in the coming week, with the possibility of orange rain warnings for the south and southwest over the weekend.

Weather forecaster Gerald Fleming said at a briefing of the National Emergency Coordination Committee that there is no immediate danger as of yet, although it may develop into a serious weather event.

Air corps pictures over the Shannon area during Storm Desmond. Image: Air Corps/Photocall Ireland.

“There will be above normal rainfall over the course of the next six or seven days,” Fleming said.
“At the moment none of the individual events are at the orange status serious warnings level, but we’ll have to keep a very close eye on that because a couple of the events have the potential to get there.

“We’re in a situation where a number of those rain events have the potential to turn nasty, and potentially they could cause flooding in areas where there has been no flooding so far if that were to happen.”

Regions along the banks of the Shannon, Ireland’s longest river, are still battling with flooding caused by Storm Desmond over a week ago, with flood levels in the Lower Shannon area, from Lough Derg to Limerick City, only expected to reach their peak on Tuesday.

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California Has a Huge Methane Gas Leak of approx. 80,000 tons per month but a fix won't be possible until April, 2016

msn

California Has a Huge Gas Leak, and Crews Can’t Stop It Yet

Wired

Sarah Zhang

Crews from SoCalGas and outside experts work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, on December 9, 2015.

© Dean Musgrove/Los Angeles Daily News/AP/Pool Crews from SoCalGas and outside experts work on a relief well at the Aliso Canyon facility above the Porter Ranch area of Los Angeles, on December 9, 2015.

While the world was hammering out a historic agreement to curb carbon emissions—urged along by California, no less—the state was dealing with an embarrassing belch of its own. Methane, a greenhouse gas 70 times more potent than carbon dioxide, has been leaking out of a natural gas storage site in southern California for nearly two months, and a fix won’t arrive until spring.

The site is leaking up to 145,000 pounds per hour, according to the California Air Resources Board. In just the first month, that’s added up to 80,000 tons, or about a quarter of the state’s ordinary methane emissions over the same period. The Federal Aviation Administration recently banned low-flying planes from flying over the site, since engines plus combustible gas equals kaboom.
Steve Bohlen, who until recently was state oil and gas supervisor, can’t remember the last time California had to deal with a gas leak this big. “I asked this question of our staff of 30 years,” says Bohlen. “This is unique in the last three or four decades. This is an unusual event, period.”

Families living downwind of the site have also noticed the leak—boy, have they noticed. Methane itself is odorless, but the mercaptan added to natural gas gives it a characteristic sulfurous smell. Over 700 households have at least temporarily relocated, and one family has filed a lawsuit against the Southern California Gas Company alleging health problems from the gas. The gas levels are too low for long-term health effects, according to health officials, but the odor is hard to ignore.

Given both the local and global effects of the gas leak, why is it taking so long to stop? The answer has to do with the site at Aliso Canyon, an abandoned oil field. Yes, that’s right, natural gas is stored underground in old oil fields. It’s common practice in the US, but largely unique to this country. The idea goes that geological sites that were good at keeping in oil for millions of years would also be good at keeping in gas.

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Monday, December 14, 2015

Alabama - A widespread fish kill is underway on Mobile Bay. Dead fish litter the bottom in the shallows surrounding a Fairhope boat ramp.

al.com

The fish kill on Mobile Bay appears to be affecting primarily filter-feeding fish such as menhaden, sardines, alewives and shad.

Widespread fish kill underway in Mobile Bay

A widespread fish kill is underway across Mobile Bay. It appears to be affecting primarily filter-feeding fish such as menhaden, sardines, alewives and shad.

Dead fish are present in the shallows and on beaches on both sides of the bay, from Point Clear to Daphne on the eastern shore and from Arlington Point south to Fowl River on the western shore. Dead and dying fish also dot the surface of the bay, from one side to the other.

The kill does not appear to be related to a red tide bloom occurring in the Gulf of Mexico and around Dauphin Island. Instead, the bloom in the upper bay appears to be another species of algae with a similar neurotoxic effect on fish.

Fish affected by the algae swim in a markedly erratic fashion, zipping straight ahead for a time, then falling into lazy circles, often swimming on their side or even upside down.

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Straight-line winds blow train cars off trestle and destroy billboards across Lufkin's north loop

The Lufkin News

High winds blow train cars off trestle across Lufkin's north loop

Section of loop expected to remain closed Monday

Derailed

ANDY ADAMS/The Lufkin News
Straight-line winds this morning blew rail cars off the railroad trestle — and their own wheels — across North John Redditt Drive, near the Pepsi plant on Lufkin's north loop. The loop is closed from state Highway 103 west to U.S. 69 north.

ANDY ADAMS/The Lufkin News

Billboard down

Sunday morning's straight-line winds that blew railroad cars off a trestle across Loop 287 near U.S. 69 north also destroyed a couple of billboards at that intersection, sending debris into nearby trees and power lines.

Posted: Sunday, December 13, 2015 9:17 am | Updated: 8:27 pm, Sun Dec 13, 2015.

By ANDY ADAMS and STEVE KNIGHT/The Lufkin News

Straight-line winds on Sunday morning blew rail cars off the railroad trestle across Lufkin's north loop, near the Pepsi plant and U.S. Highway 69 north.

Texas Department of Transportation officials said Sunday afternoon that they expected that section of the loop to remain closed for some or all of today as they clear the rail cars and repair the highway.
Two rail cars fell to the roadway beneath the railroad bridge. Dozens other rail cars came off the track, as well. A&NR Railroad owns and operates the railroad from which the cars were derailed.
Motorist Jose Torres posted this on The Lufkin News' Facebook page on Sunday morning: "I got there right after it happened and you could hear the metal clanking as it was still slightly falling. No cars were pinned and noone looked to be injured. The train is always stationary at that location so no train operators seemed to have been injured either."

Barricades will remain in place and motorists will be detoured until the roadway is cleared, according to Rhonda Oaks, public information officer for the Lufkin District. Residents with direct access as well as businesses within the barricaded area will be accommodated to and from their locations, she said.

“Removing the rail cars in the safest way possible will require certain things to happen,” Oaks said. “Our officials have devised a traffic control plan for motorists until the cars can be removed, and we are hoping that will be by Monday evening. We are waiting on equipment that is being sent from Houston before the cleanup can begin.”

Read More Here

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newson6.com

Oklahoma’s Own

Winds Blow Train Off Tracks In Lufkin, Texas

Posted: Dec 13, 2015 9:36 AM CST Updated: Dec 13, 2015 1:41 PM CST

By: Dee Duren, NewsOn6.com

The Lufkin, Texas police department shared this photo Sunday morning on Facebook.

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The Lufkin, Texas Police Department shared a photo on its Facebook page Sunday morning after winds blew a train off the tracks as it crossed a highway. An update says it will take at least 48 hours to upright the 64 rail cars.

Read More Here

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Wikipedia.org

Straight-line winds

Derecho

From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

NOAA - http://www.spc.ncep.noaa.gov/misc/AbtDerechos/derechofacts.ht

A shelf cloud along the leading edge of a derecho photographed in Minnesota

A derecho (/dəˈreɪtʃoʊ/, from Spanish: derecho [deˈɾetʃo], "straight") is a widespread, long-lived, straight-line wind storm that is associated with a land-based, fast-moving group of severe thunderstorms.^[1]

Derechos can cause hurricane force winds, tornadoes, heavy rains, and flash floods. Convection-induced winds take on a bow echo (backward "C") form of squall line, forming in an area of wind divergence in upper levels of the troposphere, within a region of low-level warm air advection and rich low-level moisture. They travel quickly in the direction of movement of their associated storms, similar to an outflow boundary (gust front), except that the wind is sustained and increases in strength behind the front, generally exceeding hurricane-force. A warm-weather phenomenon, derechos occur mostly in summer, especially during June, July, and August in the Northern Hemisphere, within areas of moderately strong instability and moderately strong vertical wind shear. They may occur at any time of the year and occur as frequently at night as during the daylight hours.

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WHAT ARE STRAIGHT-LINE WINDS?

METEOROLOGIST JEFF HABY

There are several terms that mean the same as straight-line winds and they are convective wind gusts, outflow and downbursts. Straight-line wind is wind that comes out of a thunderstorm. If these winds meet or exceed 58 miles per hours then the storm is classified as severe by the National Weather Service. These winds are produced by the downward momentum in the downdraft region of a thunderstorm. An environment conducive to strong straight-line wind is one in which the updrafts and thus downdrafts are strong, the air is dry in the middle troposphere and the storm has a fast forward motion.

A storm with a strong updraft will tend to have a strong downdraft. When the CAPE is very high then strong or severe convective wind gusts could occur. Dry air aloft will entrain into the downdraft. This promotes evaporative cooling and this further enhances the negative buoyancy of a parcel. A cold parcel of air surrounded by warm air will sink since the cold air is more dense. The colder the parcel is compared to the surrounding air then the faster it will sink. Dramatically cooler air is often noticed at the surface when the downburst air reaches the observer. When a storm has a fast forward motion the rate that the downdraft is moving is added to the storm motion. This can produce strong to severe winds out ahead of the storm as the storm approaches.

Read More Here

Friday, December 11, 2015

Biological Hazard - New Zealand, [Wellington, Motueka, Kaikoura and Christchurch] South Island : Measles

Biological Hazard	New Zealand	[Wellington, Motueka, Kaikoura and Christchurch] South Island

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Biological Hazard in New Zealand on December 11 2015 01:43 PM (UTC).

Base data

EDIS Number	BH-20151211-51213-NZL
Event type	Biological Hazard
Date/Time	December 11 2015 01:43 PM (UTC)
Last update	December 11 2015 01:46 PM (UTC)
Cause of event
Damage level	Is not or not known

Geographic information

Continent	Australia - New-Zealand
Country	New Zealand
County / State	South Island
Area	Wellington, Motueka, Kaikoura and Christchurch
Settlement
Coordinate	41° 7.443,173° 0.059

Number of affected people / Humanities loss

Dead person(s)	0
Injured person(s)	0
Missing person(s)	0
Evacuated person(s)	0
Affected person(s)	0
Foreign people	0

Biohazard information

Biohazard level

Disease, agent name	Measles
Infected person(s)	0
Species	Human
Status	suspected

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Biological Hazard in New Zealand on December 11 2015 01:43 PM (UTC).

A measles warning has been issued in several areas after an infected tourist traveled the country. A 28-year-old European man carrying the virus traveled from Wellington, to Motueka, Kaikoura and Christchurch from December 3 to 11. The Canterbury District Health Board now is asking anyone who may have come in contact with him and is now presenting symptoms to call their doctor. He is believed to have contracted the highly-infectious virus while in Australia and is in private accommodation in Christchurch until the end of his infectious period. Canterbury medical officer Alistair Humphrey said it was a particularly risky time for the tourism industry. "Over the next few years there is a heightened risk of measles as a result of the decision by parents in the 1990s not to get their children immunized," he said. Where He Stayed: December 3-5: Comfort Hotel, Cuba Street, Wellington,5 December 5: BlueBridge Ferry,December 5-7: Motueka Holiday Top 10,December 8-10: Lazy Shag Backpackers, Kaikoura,December 11: Travels to residence outside Christchurch

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msn news

Sick tourist prompts measles warning

NZ Newswire

Measles is untreatable but easily preventagle through vaccinations

A 28-year-old European man carrying the virus traveled from Wellington, to Motueka, Kaikoura and Christchurch from December 3 to 11.The Canterbury District Health Board now is asking anyone who may have come in contact with him and is now presenting symptoms to call their doctor.
He is believed to have contracted the highly-infectious virus while in Australia and is in private accommodation in Christchurch until the end of his infectious period.

Read More Here

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