Event Time
2014-02-03 22:36:41 UTC
2014-02-04 07:36:41 UTC+09:00 at epicenter

Location
7.164°S 128.100°E depth=18.1km (11.3mi)

Nearby Cities
318km (198mi) ENE of Dili, East Timor
383km (238mi) S of Ambon, Indonesia
413km (257mi) ENE of Atambua, Indonesia
433km (269mi) SSW of Amahai, Indonesia

Technical Details

Religious leaders and farmers held multi-faith prayer service in Reno to ask the divine for help easing drought conditions.

Religious leaders of multiple faiths and farmers in Nevada and Utah turned to prayer this weekend for help easing severe drought conditions gripping the west.

The plea to above comes weeks after the federal government declared parts of 11 parched western and central states natural disaster areas.

Faith leaders asked for divine intervention during a special multi-faith service Saturday at a Mormon church in the Reno, Nevada suburb of Sparks. And on Sunday, the Utah Farm Bureau Federation asked the public to join in prayer and fasting for snow and rain for livestock and crops as part of its Harvesting Faith event.

"We can't go to the legislature to ask for help, (so) we decided to go to the guy upstairs," Ron Gibson, a dairy farmer in Weber County, Utah, told the Deseret News. "One thing you learn as a farmer is most of the things that happen in your life are totally out of your control."

Rajan Zed, who organized the Nevada service, said Christian, Muslim, Hindu, Buddhist, Jewish, Baha'i and other faith leaders who participated are confident it'll bring positive results.

Victims of sinkholes that appeared at Thulibeshi Phant in Armala of Kaski have pleaded for help from fellow Nepali citizens at home and abroad.

Saying that the Rs 1.5 million allocated by the Home Ministry as immediate relief was too meagre, the victims have sought help from Nepalis, Armala Disaster-induced Concern and Construction Committee Secretary Ram Prasad Parajuli said.

Parajuli said both the government fund and other help received from individuals would be deposited in the committee's account and used. Parajuli further said that individuals and organisations willing to assist could deposit the amount at Nepal Bank Limited account number 091000079908 maintained in Bagar Branch, Pokhara.

The alert level of the volcano was raised today from 1 ("normal") to 2 ("Waspada", "watch") on a scale of 1-4. During the second half of 2014, a strong increase in seismic activity and a 5.5 deg temperature increase of the crater lake water had been detected.
The number of shallow volcanic earthquakes rose from averages of 1-2 per day to approx 10 per day during 20-31 Jan and climbed to more than 100 events since the start of February alone.

Residents in Hyde Park have reported a strange trembling in the neighborhood that started as the weather grew colder.

"The sound was quite variable, at times somewhat like a locomotive, at times somewhat like your giant fan, at times like something grinding away," said Caroline Herzenberg, who lives at 1700 E. 56th St.

Others said they experience it more as a vibration or a change in air pressure.

"It's not as sharp as a change in pressure in an airplane, but it's similar," said Ann Marie Miles, who lives at 5490 S. Shore Drive, adding that she only experiences it when she is in her apartment in the afternoon.

Others have reported a vibration that shakes their windows or a low-level hum.

All said the phenomenon lasts less than five minutes and happens even if the obvious causes like trains or trucks are not present. Those who have reported experiencing the trembling all live within three blocks of the Metra tracks from 58th to 55th streets. Most report the source of the phenomenon appearing to come from deep underground.

A windstorm last Sunday brought literally tons of tumbleweed through the town of Clovis, New Mexico. As the storm subsided and the tumbleweed came to rest, the city was covered with the roaming foliage, with many of the piles well over 8 feet high.

Pathways have been dug out for cars and the huge piles keeping some residents stuck in their houses have been removed. But crews are still putting in 10-hour days clearing the rest and expect to continue for weeks.

Endangered and threatened sea turtles are reeling after winter storms ravaged the Florida Panhandle, causing more than a dozen deaths, The Miami Herald reports.

Over 130 sea turtles were rescued Thursday and Friday, as freezing rain and low tides posed serious threats to local wildlife, FWC wildlife biologist Alley Foley said. Marine mammals including dolphins and manatees can not warm themselves during these adverse conditions, with sea turtles suffering from hypothermia-like conditions.

"When it comes to wildlife, it seems the turtles had the most trouble," Foley said.

Many turtles found were green sea turtles. They will be taken to the Gulf World Marine Park in Panama City Beach and are expected to be released sometime this week after treatment.

The weather, which covered much of the Florida Panhandle with ice and snow and dropped water temperatures to as low as 37 degrees, was also an issue for rescue workers attempting to get to the struggling animals.

Scientists present links between unusual Alaska seal deaths and Fukushima fallout - Skin lesions, hair loss, lethargy - 'Pulsed release' when built-up radionuclides were set free as ice melted - "Wildlife health implications" due to radiation exposure discussed

Alaska Marine Science Symposium (pdf), Jan. 20-24, 2014 (emphasis added): 2011 Fukushima Fall Out: Aerial Deposition On To Sea Ice Scenario And Wildlife Health Implications To Ice-Associated Seals (Dr. Doug Dasher, John Kelley, Gay Sheffield, Raphaela Stimmelmayr) -

On March 11, 2011 off Japan's west coast, an earthquake-generated tsunami struck the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant resulting in a major nuclear accident that included a large release of airborne radionuclides into the environment. Within five days of the accident atmospheric air masses carrying Fukushima radiation were transiting into the northern Bering and Chukchi seas. During summer 2011 it became evident to coastal communities and wildlife management agencies that there was a novel disease outbreak occurring in several species of Arctic ice-associated seals. Gross symptoms associated with the disease included lethargy, no new hair growth, and skin lesions, with the majority of the outbreak reports occurring between the Nome and Barrow region. NOAA and USFWS declared an Alaska Northern Pinnipeds Usual Mortality Event (UME) in late winter of 2011. The ongoing Alaska 2011 Northern Pinnipeds UME investigation continues to explore a mix of potential etiologies (infectious, endocrine, toxins, nutritious etc.), including radioactivity. Currently, the underlying etiology remains undetermined. We present results on gamma analysis (cesium 134 and 137) of muscle tissue from control and diseased seals, and discuss wildlife health implications from different possible routes of exposure to Fukushima fallout to ice seals. Since the Fukushima fallout period occurred during the annual sea ice cover period from Nome to Barrow, a sea ice based fallout scenario in addition to a marine food web based one is of particular relevance for the Fukushima accident. Under a proposed sea ice fallout deposition scenario, radionuclides would have been settled onto sea ice. Sea ice and snow would have acted as a temporary refuge for deposited radionuclides; thus radionuclides would have only become available for migration during the melting season and would not have entered the regional food web in any appreciable manner until breakup (pulsed release). The cumulative on-ice exposure for ice seals would have occurred through external, inhalation, and non-equilibrium dietary pathways during the ice-based seasonal spring haulout period for molting/pupping/breeding activities. Additionally, ice seals would have been under dietary/metabolic constraints and experiencing hormonal changes associated with reproduction and molting.

"We are not capable of addressing climate change." Such was the lead sentence of climate-change guest columnist Gregory Willits, in the Dec. 24 edition of the Orlando Sentinel ("Let's accept climate change and deal with it in a big way"). It was an accurate statement to be sure, but for all the wrong reasons.

Willits, an avowed "green" enthusiast, went on to strongly support the building of sea walls to keep out the predicted rising sea levels that the world's greatest climate scaremonger, Al Gore, has said will swamp most of Florida with 21 feet of sea water by the year 2100. Yes, we are not capable of addressing climate change - the truth about climate change, that is.

The truth of what is really happening to the climate versus the United Nations and current U.S. government version is, however, a bit hard to accept after two decades of global-warming propaganda. I know. It was for me in April 2007, after finishing some research into solar activity.

Indonesian officials searched through thick ash for bodies Sunday after Mount Sinabung volcano erupted, killing at least 15 people, with the only sign of life an ownerless mobile phone ringing inside an abandoned bag.

Dark, searing clouds engulfed victims during the eruption on Saturday, leaving rescuers with little hope of finding survivors as they searched through ash up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) thick.

Officials said about 170 people armed with chainsaws and oxygen apparatus spread out through the destruction in Sukameriah village, just 2.7 kilometres (1.7 miles) from Sinabung's crater, Sunday before the search was called off.

"There's no sign of human life. All the crops were gone. Many houses were damaged and those still standing were covered in thick white ash. It was hard to walk in ash which nearly reached my calves," Gito, who like many Indonesians goes by one name, told AFP.