== PRELIMINARY EARTHQUAKE REPORT ==
***This event supersedes event PT08252011.
Region: VANUATU
Geographic coordinates: 19.974S, 169.046E
Magnitude: 6.5 Mw
Depth: 85 km
Universal Time (UTC): 8 Sep 2008 03:03:22
Time near the Epicenter: 8 Sep 2008 14:03:22
Local standard time in your area: 8 Sep 2008 03:03:22
Location with respect to nearby cities:
54 km (34 miles) SSW (205 degrees) of Isangel, Vanuatu
210 km (130 miles) NE (35 degrees) of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
259 km (161 miles) SSE (163 degrees) of PORT-VILA, Vanuatu
1833 km (1139 miles) ENE (66 degrees) of Brisbane, Australia
This event has been reviewed by a seismologist at NEIC.
Earth Changes
Up to 20 million people, thousands of whom are already displaced from their homes following the devastating Chinese earthquake, are at increased risk from flooding and major power shortages in the massive Sichuan Basin over the next few decades and possibly centuries.
Dr Alex Densmore, a geographer from Durham University, makes the observations on returning from carrying out investigative fieldwork in the China earthquake zone, where nearly 100,000 people were killed in May 2008. He has been studying the active faults in Sichuan for the past eight years.
The biggest risk is posed by the ongoing landslides in Sichuan province, a common occurrence after major earthquakes such as these. Landslides cause rocks and sediment to be dumped in the river valleys, and this material then moves downstream to settle on river beds.
In some areas, river beds are already two to three metres higher due to the increased amounts of sediment after the earthquake. This means that during periods of heavy rains the rivers have greater potential to burst their banks - a risk that will last for decades to centuries.
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| © Dr. Alex Densmore, Durham University |
| Ruined village. |
Dr Alex Densmore, a geographer from Durham University, makes the observations on returning from carrying out investigative fieldwork in the China earthquake zone, where nearly 100,000 people were killed in May 2008. He has been studying the active faults in Sichuan for the past eight years.
The biggest risk is posed by the ongoing landslides in Sichuan province, a common occurrence after major earthquakes such as these. Landslides cause rocks and sediment to be dumped in the river valleys, and this material then moves downstream to settle on river beds.
In some areas, river beds are already two to three metres higher due to the increased amounts of sediment after the earthquake. This means that during periods of heavy rains the rivers have greater potential to burst their banks - a risk that will last for decades to centuries.
GONAIVES - Haitians took to their roofs to escape rising floodwaters for the second time in a week on Sunday as squalls from Hurricane Ike killed 58 people and collapsed a bridge that cut the last land route into the starving city of Gonaives.
Many animals learn to avoid being eaten by predators. Now ecologists have discovered that bumblebees can even learn to outwit colour-changing crab spiders.
Bumblebees learn to avoid camouflaged predators by sacrificing foraging speed for predator detection, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
One of the bumblebee's main predators is the crab spider. Crab spiders hunt pollinating insects like bees and butterflies by lying in wait on flowers, and are particularly difficult for their prey to spot because they can change their colour to blend in with their surroundings.
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| ©Queen Mary, University of London |
| Spider attacking a foraging bumblebee. Bumblebees can even learn to outwit colour-changing crab spiders. |
Bumblebees learn to avoid camouflaged predators by sacrificing foraging speed for predator detection, according to scientists from Queen Mary, University of London.
One of the bumblebee's main predators is the crab spider. Crab spiders hunt pollinating insects like bees and butterflies by lying in wait on flowers, and are particularly difficult for their prey to spot because they can change their colour to blend in with their surroundings.
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| ©BBC News |
| Ike's predicted path |
Thousands of people have taken refuge across the Caribbean as one of the season's fiercest hurricanes barrels across the islands, on course for Cuba.
The Turks and Caicos prime minister was quoted as saying that 80% of homes on the main islands had been damaged.
Gonaives, Haiti - U.N. peacekeeping troops began handing out food and water to famished Haitians on Friday after the first shipload of aid sailed into a crumbling port on the outskirts of this flooded city, where tens of thousands are stranded in the wake of Tropical Storm Hanna.
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| ©AP Photo/Ariana Cubillos |
| A man unloads bottles of water donated by Word Food Program in Gonaives, Haiti, Friday, Sept. 5, 2008. A ship carrying 33 tons of U.N. relief supplies managed to dock Friday, the first significant aid delivery after four days without food or water for thousands of survivors from Tropical Storm Hanna |
Gonaives - Hundreds of people fled this waterlogged city Saturday for higher ground as powerful Hurricane Ike threatened to unleash heavy rain and compound a disaster caused by a previous storm. At the local jail, emaciated inmates waited for food to stave off starvation.
With a tropical storm warning issued Saturday for Gonaives and other parts of Haiti, some residents climbed on top of cars to reach the second floor of their homes, where they had piled up furniture and spread sheets to provide shade, said Holly Inurreta of Catholic Relief Services.
"We are very concerned about Ike," she said. "Any bit more of rain and Gonaives will be cut off again."
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| ©Unknown |
With a tropical storm warning issued Saturday for Gonaives and other parts of Haiti, some residents climbed on top of cars to reach the second floor of their homes, where they had piled up furniture and spread sheets to provide shade, said Holly Inurreta of Catholic Relief Services.
"We are very concerned about Ike," she said. "Any bit more of rain and Gonaives will be cut off again."
Beijing - A state-run news agency says 20 people are trapped after a coal mine flooded in central China.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the flood occurred early Sunday morning in Henan province. The report cited local authorities as saying that about 20 people were trapped underground.
The official Xinhua News Agency said the flood occurred early Sunday morning in Henan province. The report cited local authorities as saying that about 20 people were trapped underground.
Port-Au-Prince - Haitian police found 495 corpses when muddy floodwaters began to recede on Friday from the port city of Gonaives following days of heavy rain from Tropical Storm Hanna, the town's police commissioner said on Friday.
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| ©REUTERS/Marco Dormino/Minustah/Handout |
| An aerial view of floods caused by Tropical Storm Hanna is seen in Gonaives in this September 3, 2008 file photo. Haitian police found 495 corpses when muddy floodwaters began to recede on Friday from the port city of Gonaives. |
Massive boulders crashed down on a shantytown on the outskirts of Cairo Saturday, killing at least 24 people and burying many more under tons of rubble, Egyptian authorities said.
