The death toll reached 59 Saturday from floods and mudslides in southern Thailand over two weeks that caused damage estimated at more than 300 million dollars, officials said.
The Interior Ministry's disaster prevention and mitigation department said 26 people had died in Nakhon Si Thammarat province, 610 kilometres south of Bangkok.
Twelve deaths were confirmed in neighbouring Surat Thani province, with additional casualties in Krabi, Phatthalung, Chumphon, Trang and Phangnga provinces throughout the southern region.
Large areas of Nakhon Si Thammarat were reported still underwater on Saturday.
Earth Changes
The Municipal Disaster Risk Reduction Center has started informing residents--especially children, elderly and the disabled--living near Taal volcano to voluntarily evacuate.
This after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) raised Taal volcano's alert level status to 2 after it showed increased seismic activity on Saturday.
Local and foreign tourists were advised not trek the volcano or go on boat riding around the lake.
"The public is also advice not to venture into the Daang Kastila Trail and Mt. Tabaro as steam explosion may occur not to mention the presence of toxic gas," reported Sarita Kare of ABS-CBN Southern Tagalog.
This after the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (PHIVOLCS) raised Taal volcano's alert level status to 2 after it showed increased seismic activity on Saturday.
Local and foreign tourists were advised not trek the volcano or go on boat riding around the lake.
"The public is also advice not to venture into the Daang Kastila Trail and Mt. Tabaro as steam explosion may occur not to mention the presence of toxic gas," reported Sarita Kare of ABS-CBN Southern Tagalog.
Sterling, Kansas - A central Kansas family hopes to learn what caused the deaths of dozens of birds that fell from trees outside their house.
Elizabeth Stange says it started with one or two birds tumbling to the ground Thursday afternoon, followed by dozens more. The Sterling woman told KWCH-TV that the birds all died within minutes of each other.
By evening, Stange says, she and her family collected about 50 birds from their driveway and yard.
Stange says a local veterinarian told her the birds probably ate something poisonous. But a few were sent to Kansas State University for a closer look.
At one point, Stange's family worried about leaving the house for fear of being hit by a falling bird. She calls the episode bizarre.
Elizabeth Stange says it started with one or two birds tumbling to the ground Thursday afternoon, followed by dozens more. The Sterling woman told KWCH-TV that the birds all died within minutes of each other.
By evening, Stange says, she and her family collected about 50 birds from their driveway and yard.
Stange says a local veterinarian told her the birds probably ate something poisonous. But a few were sent to Kansas State University for a closer look.
At one point, Stange's family worried about leaving the house for fear of being hit by a falling bird. She calls the episode bizarre.
The onset of spring has brought a growing twilight to the night skies of the Arctic. The sky may be bright, but the auroras are even brighter. Here is the view from northern Norway after "nightfall" on April 5th:
Photographer Øystein Ingvaldsen of Bø in Vesterålen was taking a late walk at the time of the display. "I did not expect to see Northern Lights," he says "but suddenly they appeared. This is the first time I have photographed auroras and a sunset all at once."
More Arctic lights are in the offing. A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% - 25% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. Aurora alerts are available here.
© Øystein Ingvaldsen
More Arctic lights are in the offing. A solar wind stream is buffeting Earth's magnetic field, and NOAA forecasters estimate a 15% - 25% chance of high-latitude geomagnetic activity during the next 24 hours. Aurora alerts are available here.
© PS
Drive west across the rocky spine of Vancouver Island along rutted logging roads to the fishing village of Bamfield and stand on the splendid beach at Pachena Bay.
Look out across the surly, roiling Pacific and try to picture a crack in the ocean floor, a tectonic fault known as the Cascadia subduction zone that runs south 1,300 kilometres to Cape Mendocino, the most westerly point in California.
Now imagine a chilly winter's night more than three centuries ago when that fault ripped apart in a deadly, magnitude 9 earthquake.
People of the Huu-ay-aht First Nation, asleep in their longhouses just above the high-tide mark, were jolted awake. The violent shaking of the earth lasted several minutes and left the houses intact. Their occupants survived, but what they could not see out in the dark was a rapidly falling tide.
A dark force was sucking the sea out of Pachena Bay, leaving the sands dry - but only momentarily - as a mountainous wave gathered strength. Suddenly it crashed like a battering ram against the shore, hurtling back into the bay so quickly that the people had no time to reach their canoes.
Everyone died, according to neighbouring villagers who witnessed the tragedy from homes built high on a nearby hill, a story passed down through the generations to the current chief, Robert Dennis, who told me.
Roughly eight hours later, the back side of that killer wave hit the coast of Japan, more than 7,000 kilometres away.
© USGS
Earthquake Location
Earthquake Location
Saturday, April 09, 2011 at 12:57:49 UTC
Saturday, April 09, 2011 at 09:57:49 PM at epicenter
Time of Earthquake in other Time Zones
Location:
30.013°N, 131.810°E
Depth:
21.3 km (13.2 miles)
Region:
KYUSHU, JAPAN
Distances:
212 km (131 miles) S of Miyazaki, Kyushu, Japan
213 km (132 miles) SE of Kagoshima, Kyushu, Japan
948 km (589 miles) SSE of SEOUL, South Korea
973 km (604 miles) SW of TOKYO, Japan
The devastating 2004 Indonesian tsunami, with its death toll of as many as 250,000 people, was caused by the first magnitude-9.0 earthquake since 1967. A succession of smaller but still destructive tremors in Haiti, Chile, and New Zealand -- surpassed by this year's magnitude-9.0 quake in Japan -- has some researchers wondering whether the number of large earthquakes is on the rise.
An earthquake represents the abrupt release of seismic strain that has built up over the years as plates of the Earth's crust slowly grind and catch against each other. Giant earthquakes live up to their fearsome name. The biggest ever recorded was the magnitude-9.5 Chile earthquake of 1960. It accounts for about a quarter of the total seismic strain released worldwide since 1900. In just three minutes, the recent quake in Japan unleashed one-twentieth of that global total according to geophysicist Richard Aster at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.
The Indonesian quake "reinvigorated interest in these giants," said Aster, who is also president of the Seismological Society of America. The Chile and Japan earthquakes -- along with a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska in 1964 -- also triggered catastrophic tsunamis.
After a lull in large quakes in the 1980s and 1990s, we may now be in the middle of a new age of large earthquakes, Aster added.
An earthquake represents the abrupt release of seismic strain that has built up over the years as plates of the Earth's crust slowly grind and catch against each other. Giant earthquakes live up to their fearsome name. The biggest ever recorded was the magnitude-9.5 Chile earthquake of 1960. It accounts for about a quarter of the total seismic strain released worldwide since 1900. In just three minutes, the recent quake in Japan unleashed one-twentieth of that global total according to geophysicist Richard Aster at the New Mexico Institute of Mining and Technology in Socorro.
The Indonesian quake "reinvigorated interest in these giants," said Aster, who is also president of the Seismological Society of America. The Chile and Japan earthquakes -- along with a magnitude-9.2 quake in Alaska in 1964 -- also triggered catastrophic tsunamis.
After a lull in large quakes in the 1980s and 1990s, we may now be in the middle of a new age of large earthquakes, Aster added.
Wethersfield Connecticut -- A rough winter is causing a smelly spring. Dead fish are popping up in ponds and reservoirs across Connecticut, and while it's a natural occurrence, it's more widespread thanks to this year's winter weather.
Wethersfield's 1860 reservoir is a picturesque place and serene spot. For Nate Wierzbicki, it's his back yard.
"If I'm home, I'm out there," Wierzbicki said. "If I'm free I'll be out there catching some sun and some bass."
For a moment, let's review some of the history-shattering events that we have witnessed this year so far and the impact that they have had on the financial world....
© DPA
Several people have been killed in a mass pileup on a German autobahn apparently caused by a sandstorm. More than 40 vehicles were involved in the accident on the A19 highway near Rostock, with dozens of people injured. In total, 40 vehicles were involved in the pileup, with many catching fire.
Several people have been killed in a mass pileup on a German autobahn apparently caused by a sandstorm. More than 40 vehicles were involved in the accident on the A19 highway near Rostock, with dozens of people injured. In total, 40 vehicles were involved in the pileup, with many catching fire.
Police reported Friday night that at least eight people died. Around 97 were believed to have been injured, with scores requiring hospital treatment. According to medical facilities in Rostock, Güstrow and Bad Doberan, victims had mostly suffered broken bones, bruises, sprains and head injuries.
Comment: Update: German news report on the bizarre sandstorm: