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7.2 magnitude earthquake hits Papua New Guinea [Update]

Zamira Rahim
The Independent
Mon, 06 May 2019 22:31 UTC
PNG quake
© USGS
The 7.2-magnitude earthquake was reported by USGS

Quake strikes eastern edge of mountainous country

A 7.2 magnitude earthquake has struck near Papua New Guinea, the United States Geological Survey (USGS) has said.

The quake struck 33km north west of the town of Bulolo in the early hours of Tuesday morning.

The epicentre of the strong quake was 127 km (79 miles) below the surface, the USGS said, in a region at the eastern edge of the mountainous country.

Comment: More information on the quake:
Its epicentre was 33 kilometers from the town of Bulolo at 2119 GMT according to the agency. It has a population of some 16,000. The nearest population centre is Lae, Morobe, 66km from the epicentre, with 76,000 residents.

The fire department in Lae said no one had yet called in to report damage or injuries so far following the quake. Social media photos out of Lae show stock strewn over the floors of supermarkets and clinics, though there appears to be little structural damage.

The Moresby-based National Disaster Management office said there had been no immediate reports of damage but news from the quake zone could take time to trickle in.

"We are awaiting assessments," a spokesman told AFP.



Christopher Lam was in Lae, about 100km north of Bulolo, said the rumble was audible.

"It was big. You can hear it. Got stuff thrown around in the house and the power is now cut off," he tweeted, alongside a video that showed his home rattling.

The PNG Power Ltd has issued a statement saying several of its power plants in the area of Ramu and Baiune had been knocked offline due to moving machinery, minor damage to power houses and damaged transformers.

The USGS automated assessment predicts a 65 per cent chance of zero fatalities, and just 4 per cent odds for there being up to one hundred. Economic losses are expected to be minimal.

But a similar 7.5 earthquake last year buried homes under landslides, killing some 125 people. It took several days for news of the tragedy to trickle out of PNG's remote countryside.

According to the Richter Scale, a 7-magnitude quake is equivalent to the detonation of 20 billion kilograms of dynamite and can cause serious damage to building foundations and underground pipes.


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Snowflake

May snowfall in Croatia


The Zagreb Times
Tue, 07 May 2019 18:18 UTC
Photo taken on May 6, 2019 shows snow-covered Biokovo Mountain by the Adriatic coast near Zagvozd, Croatia
© Xinhua/Ivo Cagalj
Photo taken on May 6, 2019 shows snow-covered Biokovo Mountain by the Adriatic coast near Zagvozd, Croatia
Did you know that snow is actually falling in Croatia? May can be a spring month as much as it likes, the tiny white bits of frost can still manage to reach the soil from white clouds. Although not very usual, small outbursts of winter weather can still happen in Central Europe during this time of the year. One such situation has happened last week. Just when people began to experiment with short sleeves in Croatia, a drop in temperature led to winter coats being retaken from the closets.

You didn't have to travel in the highlands of Lika to enjoy the frozen layer. If being in Capital, all you had to do is make a short climb to Medvednica Mountain. Our photo reporter Marko Todorov did precisely that, leading to the footage you can view below:

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Snowflake Cold

Ravers get hypothermia at snow-hit French techno festival


Yahoo! News
Mon, 06 May 2019 17:14 UTC
snow Teknival music festival
© AFP Photo/PASCAL LACHENAUD
Participants at the Teknival music festival in Feniers, central France, were caught off guard by a spring snowstorm on Saturday, May 4
Around 30 people were treated for hypothermia at an outdoor techno music festival in France after unexpected snowfall left many ravers sheltering under survival blankets distributed by the Red Cross.

Around 10,000 people attended the unauthorized Teknival 2019 festival in the central Creuse region at the weekend, where temperatures dropped to -3 degrees Celsius (27 degrees Fahrenheit) overnight on Saturday to Sunday.

Around 30 people were treated for hypothermia at the scene and two were taken to hospital, local officials told AFP, with the several centimeters (inches) of snow turning the festival camping experience into an endurance test.
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Fish

Shark species as big as small yachts spotted off California coast after 30-year absence

Amy Graff
SFGate
Fri, 03 May 2019 15:23 UTC
basking shark
© Gregory B. Skomal / NOAA
Basking sharks are large and gentle and in April 2019 they started to reappear in California waters after a 30-year absence. (photo: Gregory B. Skomal / NOAA)Basking sharks are large and gentle and in April 2019 they started to reappear in California waters after a 30-year absence.
A species of enormous sharks, some as long as small yachts, have been frequently spotted off the coast of Southern California after all but vanishing decades ago.

But need not fear, basking sharks are often called "gentle giants" as they aren't aggressive and don't bite. Swimming with their mouths wide open and often near the surface, they are filter feeders, consuming tiny food such as plankton.

Cal State Long Beach Shark Lab Director Christopher Lowe tells the Ventura County Star it's been 30 years since basking sharks have been seen in the area in large numbers.

After whale sharks that can reach 60 feet long, basking sharks are the second-largest known shark species, growing to be 30 feet long, though the ones seen locally have been in the 18- to 25-foot range.
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Snowflake Cold

Unseasonable cold temperatures bring snow to northern Greece

Tasos Kokkinidis
Greek Reporter
Tue, 07 May 2019 14:53 UTC
snow greece
Even though spring is well advanced and summer is supposedly just around the corner, weather stations recorded unseasonably low temperatures and even snow in several parts of Greece on Tuesday morning, especially at high altitudes.

Photographs published by EpirusGate show the Greek village of Syrrako in the Ioannina region covered in a thick layer of snow.

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Snowflake

Carpathian Mountains in Ukraine covered with May snow


112.international
Tue, 07 May 2019 14:39 UTC
Snow falls in Ukraine’s Carpathian mountains

Snow falls in Ukraine’s Carpathian mountains
On May 7, Ukrainian Carpathians are being covered with snow. In particular, snow falls in Ivano-Frankivsk region, as Unian reported.

Forecasters announced storm warning.

Facebook users shared videos of the snowfall.

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Attention

North Korea faces food crisis after "worst harvest in a decade" - UN

Tom Miles
Yahoo
Fri, 03 May 2019 12:00 UTC
north korea farm
© Jacky Chen/Reuters
A North Korean woman is shown in a 2015 file photo tending to crops in Sakchu county, North Phyongan Province, North Korea.
Four in ten North Koreans are chronically short of food and further cuts to already minimal rations are expected after the worst harvest in a decade, the United Nations said on Friday.

Official rations are down to 300 grammes - under 11 ounces - per person per day, the lowest ever for this time of year, the U.N. said following a food security assessment it carried out at Pyongyang's request from March 29 to April 12.

It found that 10.1 million people were suffering from severe food insecurity, "meaning they do not have enough food till the next harvest," U.N. World Food Program spokesman Herve Verhoosel said.

Comment: Obviously malicious US sanctions are exacerbating the situation but food shortages due to the increasingly erratic seasons and extreme weather is depleting food stocks across the globe: Also check out SOTT radio's: Behind the Headlines: Earth changes in an electric universe: Is climate change really man-made?

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Attention

2 dead grey whales wash ashore, raising total to 13 in Washington this year


KOMO News
Sun, 05 May 2019 09:33 UTC
Stranded dead gray whale May 4 at Cape Disappointment
© NOAA Fisheries/West
Stranded dead gray whale May 4 at Cape Disappointment
Two dead grey whales were found washed ashore in the last two days, bringing the total to 13 this year alone in Washington state, according to the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA).

A dead grey whale washed ashore at Harborview Park in Everett Sunday, according to the Everett Police Department.

Another gray whale was found stranded near Ilwaco at Cape Disappointment Saturday.

A portion of Harborview Park remains closed.


Comment: Meanwhile over on the other side of the country along the Atlantic coast dead whales have recently been found in Westhampton, New York and Oyster, Virginia.

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Snowflake Cold

Adapt 2030 Ice Age Report: 5G disrupts weather forecasts - UK record cold - Europe record snow


Adapt 2030
Mon, 06 May 2019 23:49 UTC
5G weather
© YouTube/Adapt 2030 (screen capture)
5G will disrupt the ability to forecast weather due to the fact that it mimics the signature of water vapour, so forecasters won't know 5G signature from real weather fronts. UK breaks cold temperature record back to 1841, and Europe record snow in five countries first week of May 2019.


Comment: Meteorologists warn 5G frequencies could interfere with water vapor signals, disrupting forecasting

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Snowflake

May snow storm leaves Italian mountain towns blanketed - 26 inches recorded


Yahoo! News
Mon, 06 May 2019 20:00 UTC
snow
An estimated 67 centimeters of snow fell in the mountains of Italy's Veneto region on Sunday, May 5, Nuova Venezia reported.

The late season storm delivered winds and flurries throughout the southern Dolomite region and broke local records for spring snowfall, Italian media said.

Video posted to Instagram and is described as showing heavy flurries and snow-laden trees near Crespano del Grappa.


Comment: It's not only the central and northern parts of Italy currently experiencing heavy and unseasonal snowfall, so too is the far south:




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