Kyrgyzstan - On December 28, 2005, at 07: 54 AM the earthquake at rate 4, 5 occurred in the north of the country. It was stated by Ministry of Emergency Situations (MES) of KR.
According to Institute of earthquake station Bishkek, the earthquake occurred in Bistrovka at rate 4, in Tokmok- 3, 5, Kant- 3.
It has to be mentioned that there are already two earthquakes registered in this day. In the morning of December 27, 2005, the earthquake occurred in Kemin district at rate 4, and then at 16:45 PM another earthquake occurred in the south of the country. In Uzgen district the earthquake was at rate 3, 5- 4, in Jalalabad- 3.
Forty-nine people have been indicted in a scam to pocket Red Cross hurricane relief funds and more indictments are expected, according to Justice Department officials.
Authorities said 22 people working for a Red Cross contractor at a call center in Bakersfield, California, filed false claims worth tens of thousands of dollars. They are also accused of involving family members and friends in the alleged scheme, bringing the number of people under indictment to 49.
Freezing conditions across parts of northern Europe caused travel chaos today as forecasters warned that more snow and colder temperatures were expected over the next two days.
British motoring organisations urged people only to make essential journeys, while hundreds of drivers in France spent the night in their cars after 30cm of snow fell in parts the country.
In Austria, a blizzard resulted in power cuts to homes and was blamed for numerous road accidents across eastern parts of the country.
In the UK, Kent and eastern England suffered the worst of the freezing conditions, which brought road closures and train cancellations.
PORTLAND, Maine - The Maine coast has dozens of methane gas fields on the ocean bottom where mud-trapped gas occasionally bubbles to the surface, according to a team of University of Maine scientists.
There are 70 known gas fields between Portland and Eastport, and the rising bubbles create craters or pits, according to the scientists, who are publishing their findings in Marine Geology magazine. The largest crater is the size of a football stadium.
KENNEDALE, Texas (AP) - Rancher Dean Dillard was able to save his 72-year-old mother's home by soaking the land before fires roared through his hometown. Many of his neighbours weren't as lucky.
Wildfires fuelled by dry brush and driven by gusty wind damaged scores of homes as they raced across Texas and Oklahoma Tuesday, leaving one person dead and forcing a small town to evacuate.
"It looked like we had been bombed in a big war, the whole city was on fire everywhere," said Dillard, whose town of Cross Plains, about 240 kilometres southwest of Dallas, had 25 homes and a church burned. The town's 1,000 residents were told to leave.
Moderate earthquake shakes central TurkeyA moderate earthquake shook central Turkey early on Wednesday, the Kandilli Observatory said. No injuries or damage were reported.
The quake, with a preliminary magnitude of 4.2, struck near the town of Kastamonu at 04.11 am, the observatory said.
Quakes are frequent in Turkey, much of which lies atop the active North Anatolian fault. Two devastating earthquakes killed about 18,000 people in northwestern Turkey in 1999.
GUATEMALA CITY (Reuters) - Guatemala's Volcano of Fire erupted on Tuesday, sending rivers of lava down its slopes and a huge cloud of ash and smoke into the sky.
About 25,000 local residents were put on alert. Emergency teams said there was no immediate need for evacuations but they might be necessary if there were more eruptions.
MONTPELIER, Vt. - A series of rock slides dumped boulders the size of cars across a downtown street Monday, forcing about 50 people to evacuate as debris spilled up to their doorsteps.
Comment: Comment: Two HOURS of rocks tumbling??? Cold and rain?
Many parts of Eastern Canada are being told to expect little or no relief Tuesday as they continue to feel the punishing effects of a rampaging winter storm.
"It's a very slow-moving system that has caused all kinds of problems," says the CBC's Colleen Jones.
"It's going to be a really messy, dirty day."
All this comes after many areas in Eastern Canada were hit with heavy snow, winds, and rain on Monday.
PARIS
PARISTue, 27 Dec 2005 12:00 UTC
In the space of a year, a tsunami, an earthquake, brutal storms and floods have claimed more than 300,000 lives and cost at least 100 billion dollars in damage.
Humans prefer to view these catastrophes as the result of misfortune, of randomness, of the unfathomable forces of Nature, of the whim of gods or of God.
But the exceptional disasters of the past 12 months raise a far more difficult question.
Could mankind be to blame?
Comment: Comment: Two HOURS of rocks tumbling??? Cold and rain?