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Fri, 29 Oct 2021
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Alarm Clock

Increasing earthquake and volcanic activity: Prepping for natural disasters

Ecuador earthquake survivors
© Dolores Ochoa/Associated Press
Residents recover their belongings days after an earthquake in Pedernales, Ecuador, Wednesday, April 20, 2016.
All over the world seismic activity is increasing. In recent weeks we have seen a dramatic earthquake in Ecuador, more than 600 earthquakes have experts extremely alarmed about what is happening to Japan's southern Island, and 37 volcanoes around the planet are erupting right now. Most of the large earthquakes and volcanic eruptions that we have witnessed lately have come along the Ring of Fire, which is an area of seismic instability which roughly encircles the Pacific Ocean. Fortunately the west coast of the United States has been spared so far, but scientists tell us that tension has been building up along the San Andreas fault and the Cascadia Subduction Zone for decades, and they assure us that it is only a matter of time before we see a major event. What that day arrives, will you be prepared?

There were a couple of notable seismic events which took place on Monday. First of all, the largest volcano in Russia's Far East known as Klyuchevskaya Sopka violently erupted. Steaming hot ash was shot more than three miles up into the air, but fortunately it is not a heavily populated area. This represents yet another major volcanic eruption along the Ring of Fire, and this has some scientists extremely concerned about what may be coming next.

Here in the United States, an unusual swarm of 21 earthquakes along the Arizona-Nevada border is also raising eyebrows...

Comment: As well as the recent increase in seismic and volcanic activity, check out the March edition of SOTT's Earth Changes Summary for more extreme weather, planetary upheaval and meteor fireballs.
Record heavy spring snowfalls, destructive tornado outbreaks, planes falling out of the sky, catastrophic flooding on every continent, metallic 'sky sounds' heard in diverse locations, multiple meteor fireball sightings, mass animal deaths, sinkholes swallowing moving vehicles... These were just some of the signs of the times in March 2016...
Further information on being prepared:


Snowflake Cold

A sign of what lies ahead? It's nearly May but it's snowing with 'thundersnow' in London

UK late spring snow
© North News & Pictures Ltd
Thunder, lightning and sleet showers are expected with some in northern areas witnessing heavy snowfall.
Snow and sleet has fallen in many parts of the UK as temperatures struggle to get into double figures with the prospect of a Spring-like May a long way off.

It's almost May but forecasters are warning the unsettled picture will continue for much of the week with freezing conditions in many parts.

Thunder, lightning and sleet showers are expected with some in northern areas witnessing heavy snowfall, including on the North Yorkshire Moors and parts of Scotland.

It is the latest widespread snow has been seen in the UK since May 6, 1997, when more than 200 weather stations recorded it.

Before that forecasters have to go back to April 27, 1985 when several London weather stations recorded sleet.

Snow even stopped play at The Oval cricket ground this afternoon as the south was dusted in the white stuff.

The type of snow flurry seen in London is known as 'thundersnow'. It is a phenomenon caused by heavy showers accompanied by lightning storms.

Attention

Dead whale found grounded in Gardiner's Bay, New York

A drone photograph captured the sight of the dead whale grounded in Gardiner's Bay on Monday afternoon.
© Dell Cullum
A drone photograph captured the sight of the dead whale grounded in Gardiner's Bay on Monday afternoon.
A dead whale has run aground in Gardiner's Bay, leaving East Hampton Town officials trying to figure out what to do about it.

A bayman reported what appeared to be the carcass of a small humpback whale in the water on Sunday morning, according to Ed Michels, the chief harbormaster. Coast Guard Station Montauk searched for it but did not locate the 20-foot whale until Sunday evening, Mr. Michels said. As of Monday afternoon, the carcass had become stuck on the bay bottom and was belly up in shallow water about 500 feet from the shore between the Devon Yacht Club in Amagansett and Promised Land, he said.

Mr. Michels said he did not know any specifics about the type of whale or how long it had been dead. Right now, his main concern is what to do about it, he said, adding that he has given Supervisor Larry Cantwell two options: Leave it alone and let Mother Nature run its course, or try to tow it to shore and dispose of it, a process that comes with a hefty price tag. "If we go touch it, it's going to cost thousands."

Attention

Dead humpback whale washes up on beach in Newport, Rhode Island

Dead whale
Nestled against the rocks at the end of Hazard's Beach in Newport is what appears to be a dead humpback whale.

Andi Flax is one of dozens who came out to see it. "A friend posted some pictures on Facebook and it's not something you see everyday so we thought we'd come pay our respects."

In fact, it's been drawing Rhode Islanders from all over the state, like Jillian Borgia.

"We saw it on Facebook...we drove from Bristol to come down and see the whale!"

Some locals say the whale's been here since Sunday, but the question now is what's going to happen to it next?

"My question is how did it get there and what do you do with it? Study it, burn it, leave it there?"


Fish

Officials probing fishkill on beach in Barbados

big eyed jacks
Hundreds of big eyed jacks have washed up on a stretch of East Coast beach and environment officials aren't quite sure why.

Right now, their best guess is low oxygen levels in the water.

Yesterday morning the dead silver scale fish were the first thing that greeted Kim Somerville, who walks the Cattlewash, St Joseph beach every weekend.

She journeyed to the area for her weekly ritual, when she came across the sight.

Some of the hundreds of jacks on the beach at Cattlewash, St Joseph.
© Heather-Lynn Evanson
Some of the hundreds of jacks on the beach at Cattlewash, St Joseph.

Comment: Maybe this event was connected to the seismic activity that was recorded a few days earlier? See this:Barbados rocked by magnitude 6.9 earthquake


Arrow Down

Whales found stranded around North Sea had stomachs full of plastic debris

stranded whales
The whales' deaths are symbolic of humanity's shocking disregard for marine life.

In January, 29 sperm whales were found stranded on shores around the North Sea, an area that is too shallow for the marine wildlife. Only recently were details of the animals' necropsy released. However, scientists were deeply disturbed by what they found in the animals' stomachs.

According to a press release from Wadden Sea National Park in Schleswig-Holstein, many of the whales had stomachs FULL of plastic debris, including a 13-meter-long fishing net, a 70 cm piece of plastic from a car and other pieces of plastic litter.

Some suggest that the animals thought the items were food, such as squid, which is their main staple. Others, however, believe that the travesty is largely a result of humanity's shocking disregard for marine life, which has resulted in an overabundance of plastic in the oceans.

Comment:


Cloud Lightning

Lightning strikes kill woman, 18 cows and 4 pigs in Thailand

Huge thunderstorm leaves trail of death & destruction across two provinces, destroying homes, crop fields, trees, killing many animals & one human.

Huge thunderstorm leaves trail of death & destruction across two provinces, destroying homes, crop fields, trees, killing many animals & one human.
Huge thunderstorm in Nan & Phrae leaves trail of death & destruction, homes, crop fields, trees, destroyed, leaving many animals & one human dead.

In the northern Thai provinces of Nan and Phrae, summer thunderstorms struck with lightning strikes that killed one person and several animals on Monday night.

An elderly woman, Singha Prachuap, 60, was found dead in her orchard in Den Chai or Phrae.

She had taken refuge in a small shelter that collapsed on top of her during the storm.

Twenty-two cows and pigs died from lightning strikes and hundreds of homes were damaged.

Cloud Precipitation

Eight killed as 'golf ball' hailstones, storms hit Myanmar

A woman looking at the damage to a roof caused by hailstones in Mandalay on April 24, 2016.
© AFP
A woman looking at the damage to a roof caused by hailstones in Mandalay on April 24,
Violent storms which saw hailstones the size of golf balls rain down across Myanmar have killed at least eight people in recent days, toppled pagodas and damaged thousands of buildings, officials said on Sunday (April 24).

The freak storms struck across five states on Friday and Saturday after weeks of heatwave temperatures regularly topping 40deg C.

"From what we know now there are eight people killed and 7,500 houses destroyed during these days," Phyu Lei Lei Tun, director of the Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement, told AFP, adding that the toll may increase as more information becomes available.



Attention

4.1 magnitude earthquake felt around Vienna, Austria

Vienna earthquake map
© CSEM/EMSC
A small earthquake hit Lower Austria and Vienna around Monday lunchtime, with residents feeling the impact across different districts in the city.

The earthquake measurement website EMSC confirmed an earthquake happened 18 kilometres south-west of Vienna at around 12.28pm.

EMSC measured the magnitude around 4.4, although the Austrian Central Institute for Meteorology and Geodynamics said it was 4.1.

Residents writing on social media confirmed feeling the earthquake, the centre of which was in Raum Alland in Lower Austria, throughout Vienna, including the 3rd, 9th, 13th, and 19th districts.

"Short but scary", is how Twitter user Velina Tchakarova described it. Writing on the EMSC website, witnesses described the floor and ceiling "moving some centimeters" and they felt the "chair bounce and desk move"

It is not unknown for Austria to experience small earthquakes, with the most recent one of a similar magnitude thought to have occurred in Lower Austria in 2013. Another similar quake hit Carinthia in January 2015.

Geologists warned last December, however, that the Vienna region is at risk of being hit by a strong earthquake at some point in the future.

Attention

Dead whale washes up near San Clemente, California

Dead whale
© Kelly Slater
A dead whale washed up Sunday on the cobblestone beach at Lower Trestles, a popular surf spot just south of San Clemente.

Todd Mansur, a boat captain for Dana Wharf Sportfishing & Whale Watching, said he has seen two dead whales off Orange County's shoreline in recent days.

He said he saw the one that washed up at Trestles as it neared the water line, and the other one is expected to wash up at San Clemente State Beach in the next few days.

Both whales were estimated to be larger than 40 feet.

Mansur said that from what he saw, it was Mother Nature taking its course.

"It looked like nature. There were no marks from ships, no propeller marks, no abrasions, no entanglements," he said.