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Tue, 26 Oct 2021
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Seismograph

Record 5.8 magnitude earthquake rocks southeastern South Korea; preceeded by 5.1-magnitude shake less than an hour earlier

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
A record magnitude-5.8 earthquake jolted South Korea's southwestern region, the country's meteorological agency said Monday.

The quake detected at 8:35 p.m. was the strongest tremor reported on land in the country with the Korea Meteorological Administration (KMA) saying the epicenter was near Naenam-myeon region in Gyeongju, some 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul.

The quake was preceded by a 5.1-magnitude tremor detected at 7:44 p.m. in the same area located some 9 kilometers south of Gyeongju. The second quake was felt in most parts of the country.

No serious damage was immediately reported, including at the Wolsong, Hanul and Gori nuclear power plants located in the Gyeongsang region.



Comment: See also this report of the earlier event: Magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocks southeastern South Korea


Cloud Lightning

Two construction workers taken to hospital after lightning strike in Beaufort, North Carolina

lightning
© 123RF
Two construction workers were injured after a lightning strike Monday afternoon.

The Beaufort Fire Department said the call came at 12:48.

The Assistant Fire Chief told WNCT the two men were working on a house on front street.

They were on an aluminum ladder when it hit.

Beaufort EMS took the men to Carteret Health Care, there is no word on their conditions.

Their identities are not released at this time.

Heart

Large whale rescued on beach in Myanmar (Burma)

Residents of Manaung rescue a beached whale.

Residents of Manaung rescue a beached whale.
The whale was discovered beached in Manaung township's Kha Ohn Maw Ywar Ma village, according to State Department of Fisheries officer U Nyunt Wai.

More than 22 feet (6 metres) long and 8 feet (2.4m) in girth, with 3-foot (0.9m) pectoral fins and a 3-foot fluke, the whale weighed 2 tonnes. It hit the shore around 6am, U Nyunt Wai said.

"A stranded whale is a strange thing in nature," he said. "The stranding might be related to magnetic fields, as this type of animal goes around seeking the magnetic field."

Villagers and members of the township's Department of Fisheries successfully pushed the whale back into the water and along the canal until it reached a place where it could swim by itself.

SOTT Logo Media

SOTT Earth Changes Summary - August 2016: Extreme Weather, Planetary Upheaval, Meteor Fireballs

louisiana flooding
© Sott.net
While TV audiences were distracted by the Summer Olympics in Rio de Janeiro and the farcical build-up to the US presidential election, the relentless pace of increasing extreme weather events around the world continued in August. Among the trends in environmental upheaval last month, we observed...
  • A record-breaking number of tornadoes in the US for August
  • Another '1-in-1,000-year flood event', this time in Louisiana
  • A destructive earthquake in central Italy
  • The fastest comet ever recorded
  • Lots more lightning deaths, including an entire herd of reindeer in southern Norway
  • Three massive sinkholes opening up to swallow (and kill) people in China
  • Intense storms hitting many world capitals, including record rainfalls in Macedonia and Moscow
  • Raging wildfires across the western Mediterranean and western US
These were just some of the signs in August 2016:


Arrow Down

Sinkhole cracks pavement across four-lane road in Torrance, California

Road closure sign
A water main break Sunday caused a sinkhole, which closed a stretch of Crenshaw Boulevard in Torrance for about five hours.

Police were dispatched at 7 a.m. to Crenshaw Boulevard, between 168th and 170th streets, to provide traffic control as utility crews fill up sinkhole, according to a news release from the Torrance Police Department.

"There were cracks (in the pavement) across all [four] lanes of traffic," the release stated.

It was not immediately known if any water service was interrupted due to the water main brake.

Crenshaw Boulevard was closed between 168th and 170th streets at about 7:25 a.m. Police expected the big hole to be filled and traffic lanes re-opened by 12:30 p.m., police said.

Fire

Volcano erupts on French island of Réunion

Reunion Island volcano erupts
© YouTube/RT (screen capture)
Piton de la Fournaise (Peak of the Furnace), one of the world's most active volcanos, erupts on Sunday on the French island of Réunion. This is the second time the volcano has erupted this year.

Piton de la Fournaise is classified as a shield volcano because of its low profile and multiple lava flows when it erupts. No one was injured in the eruption.


Tornado2

4 tornadoes strike Champaign County, Illinois

tornado
Four confirmed tornadoes touched down in Central Illinois Friday night, sweeping through Champaign County around 7 p.m., leveling at least one farm, and damaging buildings in small towns within the county.

The most powerful of the tornadoes was rated an EF-2 by the National Weather Service, reaching a peak wind speed of 125 miles per hour and leaving a 4.7 mile path of damage.

Significant damage is reported in the small towns of Homer — in between the city of Champaign and Danville — and Sidney south of Danville. A 116-year-old farmhouse was destroyed, and headstones in a cemetery were knocked over. The tornado threat bypassed the University of Illinois.

Path of tornado
© National Weather Service
Path of tornado

Seismograph

Magnitude 5.3 earthquake rocks southeastern South Korea

Graph
© Dimas Ardian, Getty Images
An earthquake with a magnitude of 5.3 jolted the country's southwestern region, South Korea's meteorological agency said Monday.

Busan Regional Meteorological Administration pinpointed the epicenter of the quake at 8 kilometers south of Gyeongju, some 371 kilometers southeast of Seoul. The quake was felt throughout Gyeongsang Province.

No damage was immediately reported, although most people in the region felt homes and buildings shake.

MAP EARTHQUAKE

Cloud Precipitation

Flood waters cause chaos in Kingston, Jamaica

Flooding
There was chaos along Marcus Garvey Drive and Spanish Town Road in Kingston yesterday as blocked drains resulted in severe flooding.

Several people were unable to leave their business places for more than an hour and motorists were left stranded.

It was reported that employees of the Wallenford Coffee Company sought refuge on the upper floor and stairway of the office as water inundated the ground floor.

Vehicles in the main car park were also flooded.

Communications Manager at the National Works Agency Stephen Shaw said a pile-up of garbage contributed to the flooding along Marcus Garvey Drive, where roadwork is also under way.

Shaw said last evening that work crews had been dispatched to the area to address the flooding problem.



Cloud Precipitation

133 killed, 395 missing, 107K displaced in North Korean flooding - UN

North Korea flooding map
© UNOCHA
Map of North Korea showing the areas affected by severe flooding
Severe flooding in North Korea has led to the deaths of 133 people, with 395 reported missing, according to the UN. More than 100,000 have been forced to flee their homes.

Some 107,000 people have been displaced in the area along the Tumen River, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said in a statement, citing figures from Pyongyang.

The official KCNA news agency reported on Sunday that the flooding in the country's northeast has led to "great hardship." A labor campaign designed to bolster the nation's economy has been shifted to "direct all efforts to the construction of dwelling houses to provide flood-hit people with warm cradles and turn the flood-battered region into a fairyland in the era of the Workers' party within this year," the agency reported, quoting the country's Central Committee.

An address published in the country's official state media has called on all citizens to take part in the recovery work, TASS reported, stating that "all the human, material, and technical resources of the country have been mobilized."

Workers from the International Red Cross and Red Crescent are reportedly taking part in humanitarian efforts, distributing aid to those in the worst-hit areas.

Comment: Floods displace tens of thousands in North Korea