Earth ChangesS

Bomb

Indonesia volcano eruption imminent despite false alarm: scientist

A day after a false alarm on Indonesia's Mount Kelut led to panic among residents on its slopes, the volcano is showing signs of an imminent eruption, a scientist said Sunday.

"An eruption is now very, very much possible, although so far it has not yet happened," said Agus Budianto, a geologist monitoring the activities of the volcano in the densely populated East Java province.

On Saturday, continuous tremors beneath the volcano became so strong that they could no longer be read on seismological instruments, leading scientists to evacuate their posts and warn an eruption appeared to have occurred.

They could not confirm it visually as the top of the historically deadly mountain was shrouded by clouds but their warning led residents still in the danger zone to flee in fear for their lives.

Cloud Lightning

Floods kill at least 48 people in Vietnam in past week

Floods have killed at least 48 people in central Vietnam in the past week, a disaster management center spokesman said on Monday.

©Unknown

Magnify

The deceit behind global warming

No one can deny that in recent years the need to "save the planet" from global warming has become one of the most pervasive issues of our time. As Tony Blair's chief scientific adviser, Sir David King, claimed in 2004, it poses "a far greater threat to the world than international terrorism", warning that by the end of this century the only habitable continent left will be Antarctica.

Inevitably, many people have been bemused by this somewhat one-sided debate, imagining that if so many experts are agreed, then there must be something in it. But if we set the story of how this fear was promoted in the context of other scares before it, the parallels which emerge might leave any honest believer in global warming feeling uncomfortable.

Attention

Media Spin! Hungry Mexico flood victims turn to looting

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Rescue workers and police were out in force helping flood victims in southern Mexico, as food shortages sent hundreds of hungry people on a looting rampage at a shopping center.

Around 80 percent of the Belgium-sized state of Tabasco was flooded after seven rain-loaded rivers burst their banks in the flat, flood-prone region, in its worst natural disaster in decades.


Comment: Using the word looting is a way of stigmatizing the victims of the disaster. The word looting refers to the act of stealing private property in acts of war or riots and thus a criminal act. In case of disaster where people, who are starving and who feed themselves through taking of food from stores can not be compared to war or riot situations. Especially when the food due to lack of refrigeration would go off anyway. Think about it! What would you do if you were in their place and your family were starving, the place inundated with water and the authorities unable to deliver aid?


Life Preserver

Exodus out of Mexico flood zone

Hundreds of thousands of people have fled severe floods in the south Mexican state of Tabasco where rivers burst their banks after heavy rain.

©Agence France-Presse
Mexican soldiers have been deployed to keep order

Info

Man Correctly Predicted Bay Area Quake

Scientists have been trying for years to come up with a way to predict quakes without much luck. But a man was able to predict Tuesday night's Bay Area earthquake using a system he's worked on for years.

On Sunday, Luke Thomas posted his quake prediction on his website called quakeprediction.com and on YouTube. Pointing to a brightly colored map of California, Thomas points to what he says are low-risk areas in the northeastern and southern parts of the state.

©CBS13
Luke Thomas points to the high risk area on his quake prediction map.

Cloud Lightning

Update! 'Dangerous' storm, Noel, heads to eastern Canada

People in Atlantic Canada are expecting heavy rain, strong winds and possible electrical outages as the remnants of Hurricane Noel hit the region this weekend.

The storm is heading north after cutting a swath through the Caribbean, where it left more than 100 people dead and caused tens of millions of dollars in damage.

©TSR

Attention

Rare, strong earthquake jolts Antarctica

Santiago -- An earthquake registering 6.3 on the Richter scale rocked Antarctica at 2031 GMT Friday, the Chilean national TV station reported.

©csem-emsc

Bizarro Earth

Scientists Say Indonesian Volcano Erupts

One of Indonesia's deadliest volcanos began erupting Saturday, but there was no visual confirmation of activity because the peak was cloaked in dense fog, a senior government volcanologist said.

Cloud Lightning

Vietnam: Havoc continues as floods kill 7 and injure 30



©VNA/VNS Photo Xuan Quang
The water level in the Hoai River in the ancient town of Hoi An, Quang Nam Province, continues to rise due to heavy rains.

Seven people have died and 30 others have been injured by the recent extreme weather conditions in Viet Nam's central region, according to Vietnam News Agency.

Six people are still missing.

Authorities in Quang Nam Province have told relevant sectors to evacuate people in areas threatened by landslides and floods, and have distributed food, oil, petrol and medicine to localities that have been cut off by flooding.