Earth ChangesS


Ambulance

Indonesian Quake Toll at 1100, Thousands Missing

Quake
© AP PhotoIndonesian youths sit on the roof of a building that collapsed after an earthquake in Padang, West Sumatra, Indonesia, Thursday, Oct. 1, 2009.
Padang - Across this coastal provincial capital, hardest hit by the latest earthquake to devastate Indonesia, mourners, survivors and rescue workers alike clawed through the rubble.

Some, like Malina Utami, had already realized the worst. She was just looking for the shoes missing from her dead daughter's body, found in the rubble of a four-story school that was flattened within seconds.

As the death toll climbed Thursday - to 1,100 by one U.N. estimate - others looked for survivors, with thousands of people missing and feared trapped in the wreckage of shattered buildings.

Bizarro Earth

Indonesia quake deaths pass 1,000

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© Bay Ismoyo/AFP/Getty ImagesPadang, 1 October: Rescuers search through the rubble of a collapsed building
At least 1,100 people have died in the earthquake that struck the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Wednesday, the UN humanitarian chief has said.

John Holmes said many hundreds more had been injured, and both figures were set to rise further.

Rescuers are working into the night to find survivors in the rubble of hundreds of collapsed buildings.

The 7.6-magnitude quake struck close to the city of Padang, the capital of West Sumatra province.

The earthquake brought down hospitals, schools and shopping malls, cut power lines and triggered landslides.

Bizarro Earth

US: Series of earthquakes rattle Central California, Largest 5.1

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© USGS
A series of earthquakes - the largest a magnitude-5.1 - have rattled the Lone Pine area of the eastern Sierra in Central California.

The largest struck about 18 miles southeast of the town of Lone Pine along the east shore of the Owens River at 3:01 a.m.

It was followed within three hours by about a half-dozen smaller quakes between magnitude-3.0 and magnitude-3.5 in the same rural area near Sequoia National Park, about 180 miles northeast of Los Angeles.

Inyo County sheriff's dispatcher Faith Felton says she felt a slight tremor during the strongest quake. No damages or injuries have been reported.

Bizarro Earth

Indonesia shaken by another powerful quake

Jakarta - The U.S. Geological Survey says another powerful earthquake has shaken western Indonesia.

The 6.9 magnitude struck at 08:52 a.m. local time (0152GMT) Thursday on Sumatra island, about 180 miles (280 kilometers) from the epicenter of a more powerful quake on Wednesday.

Rescue efforts are under way around the area worst hit by Wednesday's quake, the regional capital of Padang on West Sumatra. At least 200 people died there and thousands are said to be trapped under collapsed buildings throughout the province.

There were no immediate reports of damage from Thursday's quake.

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP's earlier story is below.


Bizarro Earth

More than 300 killed in path of deadly storm Ketsana

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© AFP / Getty Images
Ketsana, downgraded from a typhoon to a tropical depression, set its sights on a fourth nation Wednesday -- barreling toward Laos after leaving a trail of destruction and death across southeast Asia.

By Wednesday morning, the death toll from the storm's rage had topped 325: at least 246 in the Philippines, 74 in Vietnam and nine in Cambodia.

With heavy rains still lashing Vietnam, some major roads were closed and rivers and flood waters were rising. But the airport in the coastal city of Danang, which had been closed for three days, reopened Wednesday.

Bizarro Earth

Powerful 7.6 Indonesia Quake Kills 75, Traps Thousands

Quake
© ReutersA man stands in front of a collapsed building after an earthquake hit Padang, on Indonesia's Sumatra island September 30, 2009.
A powerful earthquake struck western Indonesia on Wednesday, triggering landslides and trapping thousands under collapsed buildings - including two hospitals, an official said. At least 75 bodies were found, but the toll was expected to be far higher.

The temblor started fires, severed roads and cut off power and communications to Padang, a coastal city of 900,000 on Sumatra island. Thousands fled in panic, fearing a tsunami.

Buildings swayed hundreds of miles (kilometers) away in neighboring Malaysia and Singapore.

In the sprawling low-lying city of Padang, the shaking was so intense that people crouched or sat on the street to avoid falling. Children screamed as an exodus of thousands tried to get away from the coast in cars and motorbikes, honking horns.

The magnitude 7.6 quake hit at 5:15 p.m. (1015GMT, 6:15 a.m. EDT), just off the coast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey reported. It occurred a day after a killer tsunami hit islands in the South Pacific and was along the same fault line that spawned the 2004 Asian tsunami that killed 230,000 people in 11 nations.

Bizarro Earth

Bolivia: Earthquake Magnitude 5.9 - Las Paz

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 19:03:16 UTC

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 03:03:16 PM at epicenter

Location:
15.532°S, 69.249°W

Depth 250.2 km (155.5 miles)

Distances:
95 km (60 miles) E of Juliaca, Peru

160 km (100 miles) NW of LA PAZ, Bolivia

260 km (160 miles) NE of Moquegua, Peru

930 km (570 miles) ESE of LIMA, Peru

Fish

Whale forensics highlights threat to species

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© UnknownMinke Whale
A high proportion of the whale meat on sale in Japan comes from a population of north Pacific minke whales that some fear is under serious threat.

The finding, from a forensic DNA study of meat bought on Japanese markets, suggests that either Japan's scientific whaling programme is taking more animals from this population than previously estimated, or accidental "by-catch" of the whales in fishing nets is larger than officially reported.

Vimoksalehi Lukoschek of the University of California, Irvine, and Scott Baker of Oregon State University in Newport, along with their colleagues, bought samples of whale meat in Japan and used DNA analysis to determine in each case not only the species of whale, but also which population it came from.

They found that a disturbingly high proportion came from a population of north Pacific minke whale that was selected for protection by the International Whaling Commission (IWC) in the 1980s, before the wider moratorium on commercial whaling came into effect.

Arrow Down

Climate Change to Cut Crop Yields, Boost Prices, Study Shows

Farmers in South Asia may reap only half of today's wheat harvest in 40 years' time as global temperatures rise and rain falls in different places, according to a study on climate change and agriculture.

Climate change may cut corn, wheat and rice yields across developing countries by 2050, boosting prices and causing hunger, according to a study by the Washington-based International Food Policy Research Institute, or IFPRI, financed by the Asian Development Bank and the World Bank.

The United Nations' Food and Agriculture Organization has said it's "cautiously optimistic" food output can rise 70 percent to feed an increased world population in 2050. The agency expects nine-tenths of the growth to come from higher yields and more intensive farming.

Bizarro Earth

Southern Indonesia: Earthquake Magnitude 7.6

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© USGS
Date-Time:
Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 10:16:09 UTC

Wednesday, September 30, 2009 at 05:16:09 PM at epicenter

Location:
0.789°S, 99.961°E

Depth:
80 km (49.7 miles) set by location program

Distances:
45 km (30 miles) WNW of Padang, Sumatra, Indonesia

220 km (135 miles) SW of Pekanbaru, Sumatra, Indonesia

475 km (295 miles) SSW of KUALA LUMPUR, Malaysia

960 km (590 miles) NW of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia