Earth ChangesS


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A Perfect Storm is Brewing for the IPCC

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© Artizons.com
The news from sunny Bali that there is to be an international investigation into the conduct of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change and its chairman Dr Rajendra Pachauri would have made front-page headlines a few weeks back. But while Scotland and North America are still swept by blizzards, in their worst winter for decades, there has been something of a lull in the global warming storm - after three months when the IPCC and Dr Pachauri were themselves battered by almost daily blizzards of new scandals and revelations. And one reason for this lull is that the real message of all the scandals has been lost.

The chief defence offered by the warmists to all those revelations centred on the IPCC's last 2007 report is that they were only a few marginal mistakes scattered through a vast, 3,000-page document. OK, they say, it might have been wrong to predict that the Himalayan glaciers would melt by 2035; that global warming was about to destroy 40 per cent of the Amazon rainforest and cut African crop yields by 50 per cent; that sea levels were rising dangerously; that hurricanes, droughts and other "extreme weather events" were getting worse. These were a handful of isolated errors in a massive report; behind them the mighty edifice of global warming orthodoxy remains unscathed. The "science is settled", the "consensus" is intact.

Bizarro Earth

Storm Batters Southern Europe, At Least 51 Dead

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© AFP/Getty ImagesRescuers evacuate a flooded street Sunday using a motor boat in Chatellaillon, western France
Paris, France - A winter storm named "Xynthia" battered the western coast of Europe Sunday, its high winds downing trees and power lines and leaving as many as 51 people dead, authorities said.

Hardest hit was France, where at least 45 people were killed, French Prime Minister Francois Fillon announced.

The extra-tropical cyclone whipped the country's coastal regions and moved inland, bringing sometimes heavy flooding with it.

"It's a national catastrophe," Fillon said in a brief news conference. "Many people drowned, surprised by the rapid rise of the water."

The departments of Vendee and Charente-Maritime, on the French coast west of Paris, had severe flooding flooding when the strong winds whipped up the water at high tide.

Bizarro Earth

18 killed as storm batters France

At least 18 people have died in a violent storm that swept across France late Saturday and Sunday, France Info radio reported.

Packing winds of up to 160 km per hour, the storm uprooted trees, flooded houses, wreaked havoc with transportation and cut electricity supply to more than one million households, primarily along the Atlantic coastline.

Among the victims was an 88-year old woman who was found drowned in her house on the Isle of Oleron, off the west coast. Another octogenarian woman and a 10-year-old child also died in the region.

In addition, a man was struck by a branch and killed Saturday in the south-western city of Luchon.

Officials fear that the death toll could still rise, since many people have been reported missing and are feared swept away by the floodwaters.

The heavy rains and strong winds made numerous roads impassable and flooded cities along the coast, cutting off many communities from the outside world.

The flooding was exceptional in many areas because the passage of the storm coincided with the annual spring tide. As a result, many dikes were swamped or simply collapsed.

Bizarro Earth

Aftershocks rattle quake ravaged Chile

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© Mario Vilches AlcainoThe death toll stands at 214, but seems certain to rise.
Chileans have spent a night camped outside, fearful of aftershocks as rescuers battle to find survivors of a huge earthquake that shattered roads and airports and triggered a tsunami across the Pacific.

A powerful new 6.1 magnitude aftershock struck just off the coast early on Sunday morning (local time) reinforcing those fears, rattling cities already devastated by Saturday's deadly quake.

The 8.8 magnitude quake, one of the world's most powerful in a century, hammered Chile, killing more than 300 people as it toppled buildings and mangled highways.

The clock is ticking on the search for survivors, with about 100 people feared trapped in just one collapsed apartment block in the city of Concepcion.

Bizarro Earth

Earthquake Alert for Mexico, California and Alaska

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With the effects of the recent 8.8 magnitude quake in Chile still unfolding, it is understandable that thoughts of how this will affect other areas are not high in people's minds.

Hundreds have lost their lives in Chile, and Tsunami alerts have been seen as far away as Japan and Russia. Aftershocks continue to hit Chile, hampering rescue efforts and placing the survivors in constant fear.

The Chile quake occurred in the centre of three tectonic plates (Nazca, South American and Antarctic plates) and almost the same location that produced the largest earthquake the world has ever seen (in 1960).

Tectonic plates move in different ways. Some slide against other plates, while others push or go over or under each other. In some cases, the movement of one plate can affect another, creating new earthquakes in different areas of the planet.

Bizarro Earth

Chile quake in 'elite class' like 2004 Asian quake

Los Angeles - The huge earthquake that struck off the coast of Chile belongs to an "elite class" of mega earthquakes, experts said, and is similar to the 2004 Indian Ocean temblor that triggered deadly tsunami waves.

The magnitude-8.8 quake was a type called a "megathrust," considered the most powerful earthquake on the planet. Megathrusts occur when one tectonic plate dives beneath another. Saturday's tremor unleashed about 50 gigatons of energy and broke about 250 miles of the fault zone, said U.S. Geological Survey geophysicist Paul Caruso.

The quake's epicenter was offshore and occurred about 140 miles north of the largest earthquake ever recorded - a magnitude-9.5 that killed about 1,600 people in Chile and scores of others in the Pacific in 1960.

Bizarro Earth

Parts of UK on flood alert with more downpours likely

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South-east England is expected to bear the brunt of the stormy weather
Large parts of the UK are on flood alert after heavy rain, with further torrential downpours and strong winds predicted for southern England.

The Met Office has issued a severe weather warning for south-east England and says up to 20mm (0.8in) of rain could fall on already saturated ground.

There is one severe flood warning and eight flood warnings in place for East Anglia and north-east England.

Some 103 flood watches are in force for much of the rest of England and Wales.

Two flood watches are currently in force in Scotland for the east coast from Peterhead to Berwick, and the Solway Firth from the Esk Estuary to Loch Ryan.

Bizarro Earth

Deadly storm lashes Spain, Portugal and France

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© AFPThe French village of Ver-sur-Mer feels the force of the gales
At least nine people have been killed in storms that have lashed parts of Spain, Portugal and France.

Winds of up to 140km/h (87mph) caused chaos as they moved from Portugal up through the Bay of Biscay.

Five people are reported to have been killed in France, three in Spain and a 10-year-old boy in Portugal.

The storm is expected to track north-eastwards during the course of Sunday, reaching Denmark by the evening, French meteorological authorities said.

Bizarro Earth

Argentina: Two people dead in an earthquake registered in Salta

Salta Earthquake
© momento24
Two people died in Salta, due to a quake of 6.1 in the Ritcher scale, which hit the Argentinean province.

The dead are an eight year old boy and an man of 70 years old, who were crushed by a wall that fell due to the quake.

The boy was playing with others, near California's farm in La Merced, where the a wall fell and hit them. The children were taken to a local hospital but one died because of the multiple injuries that he had suffered.

The child was identified as Mariano Martinez and was a native of Valle de Lema, located in the center of the province of Salta.

Bizarro Earth

Pakistan: 6.2 Quake Jolts Upper Parts of Country

Islamabad - A moderate earthquake with an intensity of 6.2 has rattled upper parts of country including federal capital Islamabad early on Sunday morning before dawn, Geo news reported.

According to met office, the areas received the shocks of tremor, included upper and lower Dir, Swat, Bunir, Hangu, Malakand, Shangla, Nowshera, Mansehra, Balakot, Attock, Peshawar and Momhand Agency.

The epic center of quake was somewhere in Afghanistan beneath Hindu Kush's mountainous region, met office told media.

No loss of life or property was reported, however, people in fear came out of their homes reciting verses from Holy Qura'an, witnesses told reporters.