Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

US: 2 Earthquakes Recorded in Central Oklahoma

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© USGS
The U.S. Geological Survey reports recording two earthquakes in central Oklahoma.

A 3.7 magnitude quake was recorded near Prague in Lincoln County about 8:35 p.m. Sunday and a 2.8 magnitude quake was recorded in the same area just after 4:15 a.m. Monday.

No injuries or damage are reported.

The survey says people as far away as Tulsa and Claremore reported feeling the 3.7 quake. Quakes of magnitude 2.5 to 3 are generally the smallest felt by people.

According to the USGS, there were 3 earthquakes: 3.8, 2.8 and 2.7.

Snowman

Heavy snowstorm paralyzes traffic in Russian Far East

Yuzhno-Sakhalinsk - A heavy snowstorm has paralyzed traffic on Russia's
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© RIA Novosti, Сергей Красноухов
Far Eastern island of Sakhalin, regional transportation authorities reported on Sunday.

The cyclone, which approached from the Yellow Sea, hit the Pacific island on Sunday morning with winds up of to 25 meters per second and heavy snow, creating the danger of avalanches in the island's south, the transportation authorities said.

The cyclone has partially interrupted air communication with Sakhalin while the ferry service between the island and the mainland has been suspended, the transportation authorities said.

Igloo

China: More than 10,000 houses collapse as rainstorm and blizzard hit Xinjiang

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© XinhuanetXinjiang is hit by blizzard and rainstorm.
More than 11,000 houses have collapsed in Yining County, the most seriously damaged area by blizzard and rainstorm in northwest China's Xinjiang Uygur Autonomous Region, local authorities said Sunday.

The county government has sent 950 tents of its 1,000 emergency tents to the residents who have lost their dwellings. It also has provided plastic cloth for others to protect their houses, an official said.

Some residents have been moved to the offices of local governments and schools, as there are not enough tents and plastic cloth.

Xinjiang has suffered the most serious snowstorms in six decades since last December, which seriously affected at least 1.88 million people in Xinjiang after houses collapsed and livestock were killed.

As temperature rises, the snow has been melting and some houses were flooded.

Tacheng City in northwest Xinjiang has suffered from melted snow in its E'min, Tuoli and Yumin counties as temperature rose to 18.1 Celsius degrees last Wednesday, which affected 60,000 people and caused 5,000 houses to collapse.

Magic Hat

Amazongate II - Seeing REDD

The Amazon - a "green gold-rush"

The WWF and other green campaign groups talking up the destruction of the Amazon rainforests are among those who stand to make billions of dollars from the scare. This "green gold-rush" involves taking control of huge tracts of rainforest supposedly to stop them being chopped down, and selling carbon credits gained from carbon dioxide emissions they claim will be "saved".

Backed by a $30 million grant from the World Bank, the WWF has already partnered in a pilot scheme to manage 20 million acres in Brazil. If their plans get the go-ahead in Mexico at the end of the year, the forests will be worth over $60 billion in "carbon credits", paid for by consumers in "rich" countries through their electricity bills and in increased prices for goods and services.

Bomb

Seventeen volcanoes in Indonesia on alert status

Bandung -- Some 17 of the 18 volcanoes in Indonesia are declared to be on alert status (level II), based on the result of monitoring by the Volcanology and Geological Hazard Mitigation Center (PVMBG) of the Geological Agency.

"These volcanoes have been declared on alert status due to their volcanic activities, but the Ibu volcano in West Halmahera only on third level alert status," said the Bandung PVMBG chief Dr. Surono, here Friday.

The Ibu volcano is still on third alert status declared on August 5, 2009.

In mid February 2010, PVMBG has raised the alert status of Mount Talang in Sumatra and Mount Karangetang in Sulawesi from standby (level III) to alert status (level II).

The Mount Bromo in East Java has been declared on alert status on Sept. 18, 2006.

Other intensively monitored volcanoes are Gunung Batur, Kaba, Anak Krakatoa, Semeru, Slamet, Sangeang Api, Rinjani Rokatenda, Soputan, Dukono, Gamalama, Papandayan, Lokon and Kerinci volcanoes.

Despite the alert status, these mountains are still safe to be visited as long as the safety signs in tourism sites are closely heeded.

The PVMBG chief also reminded that the community and visitors not to get near to the crater within a radius of one kilometer due to it the dangerous toxic gas emissions.

Bad Guys

Bushmen mark eight years without water

Bushman
© SurvivalXoroxloo Duxee died of dehydration after the Bushmen's water borehole was disabled.
As the world marks World Water Day, the Gana and Gwi Bushmen of Botswana are marking eight years without access to a regular supply of water in the Central Kalahari Game Reserve.

In 2002, the Botswana government cut off and sealed a borehole, which the Bushmen relied on for water, in an attempt to drive them out of the reserve. Despite the Botswana High Court's 2006 ruling that the Bushmen have the constitutional right to live in the reserve, the government has refused to allow them to re-commission their borehole, even though they have offered to raise the costs themselves.

At the same time as forcing the Bushmen to make 300 mile round trips to fetch water, the government has allowed the opening of a safari lodge in the reserve, complete with a swimming pool for tourists, and has drilled new boreholes for wildlife only.

Evil Rays

Australia - The Bureau of Meteorology & CSIRO report: It's what they don't say that matters

Ken Stewart has scanned the trend maps at BOM (Bureau of Meteorology), and his point is spot on. As soon as I saw the neat joint six page advertising pamphlet for the climate-theory-backed-by-bankers, I wondered what happened to the first 60 years of last century, and Ken found it. Did the BOM forget they have hundreds of data points from back then? Did they forget to use their own Website, where you can pick-a-trend, any-trend, and choose the one with err...more convenient results? Or is it the case that their collective mission is not necessarily to provide Australians with the most complete and appropriate information available, but with what the bureaucracy needs them to know? And what they need to know, apparently, is the carefully censored version of the truth that will keep government ministers happy (Let us tax them more!), keep department heads smiling (Let the climate cash cow continue!), and last, but not least, help staff feel good (We're sure we're helping the environment!).

Bizarro Earth

US: Small quake rattles Keya Paha County, Nebraska

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© USGS
People in Keya Paha County felt a weak, "weird" earthquake Friday evening.

The earthquake, which had a 2.7 magnitude, caused no damage but did cause a rumble of conversation across the county, Barb Nilson, a dispatcher at the sheriff's office, said Saturday.

Nilson lives in Springview, the seat of the extreme north-central Nebraska county. She was standing near her front door in her bare feet Friday evening, saying goodbye to her son and granddaughter, when she heard a boom and felt something bang the bottom of her house.

It was 8:11 p.m.

Bizarro Earth

Korea: Nation hit by worst-ever yellow dust storm

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© Joongang IlboYellow Dust Storm - Seoul, April 2007
The worst-recorded yellow dust storm hit the nation on Saturday, causing the weather agency to issue its first nationwide warning, according to the Korea Meteorological Administration.

The KMA lifted the yellow dust warning at 4 a.m. yesterday as the storm weakened overnight. Nonetheless, the sandstorm would continue to affect the peninsula until today, the agency said.

"As the northwestern air current coming from the northern Chinese region to the peninsula will continue to be formed, there is a possibility of several additional bouts of yellow dust this week."

The sandstorm, which scientists blame on China's industrialization and deforestation, hit the nation Saturday for the fifth time this year. The level of PM10 -- particulate matter smaller than 10 micrometers in diameter -- in the southeastern island of Heuksan Saturday afternoon reached 2,847 micrograms per cubic meter, the highest level since the KMA began recording the level in 2003.

Bizarro Earth

Drought blankets Beijing in thick, yellow dust storm‎; South Korea issues warning

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© Xinhuanet
Bejing - Beijingers woke up Saturday to find the Chinese capital blanketed in yellow dust, as a sandstorm caused by a severe drought in the north and in Mongolia swept into the city.

The storm, which earlier buffeted parts of northeastern China, brought strong winds and cut visibility in the capital.

Authorities issued a rare level five pollution warning, signalling hazardous conditions, and urged residents to stay indoors.

Sandstorms frequently hit the arid north of China in the spring, when temperatures start to rise, stirring up clouds of dust that can travel across China, to South Korea and Japan and even as far as the United States.