Earth ChangesS


Bizarro Earth

Fiji Region: Earthquake Magnitude 6.2

Fiji Quake_170810
© USGSEarthquake Location
Date-Time:
Monday, August 16, 2010 at 19:35:48 UTC

Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 07:35:48 AM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
20.768°S, 178.782°W

Depth:
594.8 km (369.6 miles)

Region:
FIJI REGION

Distances:
15 km (10 miles) SSW of Ndoi Island, Fiji

375 km (235 miles) W of NUKU'ALOFA, Tonga

415 km (255 miles) SE of SUVA, Viti Levu, Fiji

1890 km (1170 miles) NNE of Auckland, New Zealand

Phoenix

Fire-affected areas shrink in Russia

Russia's Emergency Situations Ministry reported Monday that the wildfire-affected areas were reduced by some 8,000 hectares over the past 24 hours.

The number of fires decreased fourfold, the ministry was quoted by RIA Novosti news agency as saying.

Two NASA satellites registered a total of 371 hotspots in Russia on Sunday, according to the ScanEx website that received information from the satellites.

Arrow Down

UN warns of Pakistan 'second death wave'

The United Nations has warned of a "second wave of death" in flood-stricken Pakistan as aid agencies struggled to raise money to help the 20 million people hit by the nation's worst-ever natural disaster.

Britain branded the international response to the catastrophe "lamentable" and charities said Pakistan was suffering from an "image deficit" partly because of perceived links to terrorism.

The United Nations has launched an appeal for $US460 million ($A512.08 million), but aid groups say the response has been sluggish and flood survivors have lashed out at Pakistan's weak civilian government for failing to help.

Bizarro Earth

US: Earthquake Magnitude 4.3 - Wyoming

Image
© USGS
Date-Time:
Tuesday, August 17, 2010 at 02:49:55 UTC

Monday, August 16, 2010 at 08:49:55 PM at epicenter

Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones

Location:
43.616°N, 110.499°W

Depth:
5 km (3.1 miles) set by location program

Region:
WYOMING

Distances:
25 km (15 miles) NE of Jackson, Wyoming

70 km (45 miles) W of Dubois, Wyoming

95 km (60 miles) SSE of Old Faithful, Wyoming

545 km (335 miles) WNW of CHEYENNE, Wyoming

Bizarro Earth

Italian quake triggers rockslides

Rome - A magnitude 4.5 earthquake near the Aeolian islands off Italy's southern coast triggered rockslides near a crowded beach on Monday, sparking panic but no causing injuries, officials and Italian media said.

Local news reports initially reported as many as seven people suffered injuries after the quake struck near the main island of Lipari at 1254 GMT, but officials later denied any caused by the fall of rocks.

"There are no injuries or victims," Senate speaker Renato Schifani, who was vacationing in the area aboard a boat and was evacuated by authorities, told Italian television channel Sky TG24. "The situation is under control."

Local health officials said at least six people suffered panic attacks, including some who jumped into the sea when the rockslides occurred and were bitten by jellyfish, the Ansa news agency said.

"I've never seen the ground shake like this before," Andrea Graffagnini, an event promoter who was in Lipari when the quake struck, told Ansa. "I saw people screaming and jumping into the water in fear."

Bizarro Earth

Slovakia, Czech Republic hit by flood waters

Bratislava - Storms carrying heavy rain over central Europe have caused flash flooding in parts of Slovakia and neighbouring Czech Republic, local media reports said Sunday.

In north-western Slovakia, the TA3 television channel reported that heavy rainfall had caused a dam to break, flooding the towns of Handlova and Prievidza.

TV pictures showed flood water careening down streets, carrying cars away.

Unconfirmed eyewitness reports suggested that several people are missing, but no deaths have yet been confirmed. On the Facebook page of the TA3 channel, local residents appealed for information about at least two people.

In parts of the south of the country, flooding was also reported.

In the Czech Republic, the CTK news agency reported two missing people as a result of flooding over the past several days.

Bizarro Earth

Violent storm hits Russia after heatwave

A cold front has swept across north-western Russia, bringing with it driving rain and high winds in the wake of the devastating heatwave.

The storm hit St Petersburg, the country's second city, as trees came down and buildings were damaged.

Two 50-metre cranes fell on a construction site, seriously injuring the woman driver of one of them.

Across the region nearly 100,000 people had their power cut off.


Bizarro Earth

Six people injured in hailstorm in Prague

Image
© ČTKWenceslas square hit by heavy rain.
Prague - Six people were injured in a hailstorm in Prague Sunday night, the rescue service told CTK.

One man suffered a serious injury after a broken roof window fell on him and the glass cut an artery on his leg.

Another man suffered a head wound and four women were treated with lighter head and back injuries after they slipped and fell down in the heavy rain.

Firefighters had to assist in the storm. They drained water from some cellars and removed fallen trees and branches from streets in the capital.

They also had to drain water from a hall of the Můstek underground station on Wenceslas square in the city centre.

Bizarro Earth

Summer storms bring chaos to parts of Spain

Image
© EFEThe after effects of the hail storm in Cuenca
Two people were hit by lightening when on the beach.

Summer storms have been bringing scenes of drama to parts of Spain.

A 15 minute long cloudburst flooded the streets to Cuenca to a depth of nearly a metre of water. Vehicles were covered in places and some people found themselves wading up to the waist. Shops, garages and some homes were flooded in several regions of the city, and the hailstones reached three centimetres in diameter at times.

Valencia, Alicante and the south of Castellón saw the worst of the storms and the weather forecasters said that as much as 40 litres per square metre could fall in some areas.

Storms in Tarragona and Valencia caused delay to both long distance and local train services. The drainage system overflowed in Murcia, while fires were caused by lightening in Fortuna, Yecla and Jimilla.

Question

Mystery as 'corkscrew' kills dozens of Scottish seals

Image
'Strange deaths': Seven incidents involving common and grey seals were reported in Scotland in the last two months
Dozens of seals are dying from unexplained 'corkscrew' injuries, prompting the launch of a Scottish Government investigation.

Seven incidents involving common and grey seals, such as the one pictured below, were reported in the past two months alone in St Andrews Bay and the Firth of Forth, Scottish officials said.

Carcasses washed ashore showing a single, smooth-edged cut starting at the head and spiralling around the body. Experts do not believe the injuries were caused by fishing nets or boat propellers.

Environment Minister Richard Lochhead said: 'It's critical that we establish the cause of these strange deaths and do all we can to protect our seal populations, particularly as numbers have reduced in recent years. I would encourage anyone who encounters a seal carcass to contact the Sea Mammal Research Unit.'