NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters 11 to 14 April 2010

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 11 APRIL 2010

 

The PHILIPPINES

PHIVOLCS: MILD QUAKES HIT SAMAR, SURIGAO

 

04/11/2010 | 12:42 AM - GMA News.TV

 

Mild quakes rocked Samar in Eastern Visayas and Surigao province in Mindanao, but state seismologists said they are not likely to cause damage.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said a magnitude-4.2 quake was recorded in Eastern Samar in Eastern Visayas at 2:53 p.m.

 

PHIVOLCS said the epicenter was traced to 63 km southeast of Borongan.

 

It said the quake was tectonic and was felt at Intensity III in Borongan, Eastern Samar; and Llorente, Eastern Samar.

 

The quake was felt at Intensity II in Hernani, Eastern Samar; McArthur, Eastern Samar; Salcedo, Eastern Samar; and Mercedes, Eastern Samar.

 

No damage or aftershock was expected.

 

In Mindanao, a magnitude-3.7 quake was recorded at 2:28 p.m., with the epicenter traced to 12 kms northeast of Tandag, Surigao del Sur.

 

PHIVOLCS said the quake was tectonic and felt at Intensity II in San Agustin, Surigao del Sur.

—JV, GMANews.TV

 

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 12 APRIL 2010

 

6.2-MAGNITUDE QUAKE HITS SPAIN, NO REPORTED DAMAGE

 

04/12/2010 | 04:38 PM - GMA News.TV

 

MADRID — The US Geological Survey says a 6.2-magnitude earthquake has hit southern Spain, but a Spanish official says there are no reports of injuries or damage.

 

The agency says that the quake's epicenter was 616 kilometers (385 miles) underground, near the city of Granada. It hit a few minutes after midnight Monday.

 

An official with the Spanish Interior Ministry office in Granada told AP there are no reports of damage or injuries. The official said the quake was so deep that most people did not even feel it.

 

Spain's National Geographic Institute put the magnitude lower, at 4.8.

— AP

 

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 13 APRIL 2010

 

German ARD Text: INDIA: MORE THAN 30 DIED IN STORM

 

Tuesday evening a massive storm in the eastern part of India cost at least 31 human lives. The storm swept across the northern part of the state of West Bengal destroying more than 50,000 houses, the regional minister for civil defense Srikumar Mukherjee said to the news agency AFP. Trees, power and telephone lines came down. Most victims were buried under the rubble of their houses. Thousand people made homeless by the storm found interim shelter in schools and government buildings.

 

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 14 APRIL 2010

 

HAITI

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/in_depth/8618445.stm

 

US FIRST LADY MICHELLE OBANA MAKES SURPRISE HAITI VISIT

 

Page last updated at 01:38 GMT, Wednesday, 14 April 2010 02:38 UK

 

The First Lady of the United States, Michelle Obama, has made an unannounced visit to Haiti.

 

It was her first official trip overseas without US President Barack Obama since he took office last year.

 

She spent several hours in the Haitian capital Port-au-Prince, visiting projects set up in the wake of the devastating earthquake in January.

 

Mrs Obama then flew on to Mexico for a previously announced visit due to last

three days.

 

The trip was kept a secret for security reasons.

 

The White House said the AIM of the visit was to "underscore to the Haitian people and the Haitian government the enduring US commitment to help Haiti recover and rebuild".

 

The BBC's Laura Trevelyan, who is travelling with Mrs Obama, says US troops who have been helping with the aid effort are leaving and Haitians are wondering what comes next.

 

President Obama has previously stated that America will be a reliable partner and will continue to help reconstruction efforts, even though US troops are leaving the area.

 

About 230,000 people are believed to have died in the quake.

 

More than a million people lost their homes and many are now living in makeshift camps.

 

Thousands are being moved to higher ground as the forthcoming rainy season increases the risk of landslides.

 

 

German ZDF Text: PENN: NOW HAITI HAS A CHANCE

 

The American 49-year-old actor Sean Penn, who is involved in helping Haiti, sees a unique chance of a better future for Haiti. He criticizes the international aid as being "too slow and frustrating".

 

Penn, who has lived almost non-stop in the hard-hit earthquake-stricken Haitian capital, Port-au-Prince, since the devastating earthquake on 12 January, told the Mexican daily paper "La Jornado" that the international community must let the Haitians decide their own future.

[nancyk58]

Updates / news in relation to natural disasters on 14.4.10 - INDIA, ICELAND + CHINA

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 14 APRIL 2010

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV at 01:00pm: CYCLONE KILLS 76 IN INDIA

A cyclone in the eastern part of India cost at least 76 human lives. According to the police the cyclone destroyed almost 60,000 mud huts in 3 villages. Most victims were buried when their houses collapsed according to the regional minister for civil defence, Srikumar Mukherjee. The area is without power and the telephone lines are down. Tuesday night, the cyclone struck the district of North Dinajpur about 500 km from Calcutta in the state of West Bengal.

 

Danish TV2 at 10:15am: ICELAND: 800 EVACUATED

700 to 800 people were evacuated in Iceland caused by fear of a volcanic eruption. There is a risk of flooding triggered by the volcano, Eyjafjällajökull which is located under a glacier.

The area has been hit by several minor tremors the last couple of days, and smoke has been observed over the glacier.

Only yesterday tourists flocked to the area where the volcano is situated, and this implies a trip by jeep over the glacier.

 

Danish TV2 at 10:45am: ICELAND: MELTING WATER FROM THE GLACIER

There is melting water from the glacier above the active volcano Eyjafjällajökull on Iceland. The eruption is going on and the ice has begun to melt – the water is heading for the nearby lake.

 

Danish TV2 at 12:45pm: ICELAND: 6 KM COLUMN OF SMOKE FROM VOLCANO

800 have been evacuated, but according to geologists it is only a small eruption. “There is an eruption in the south-western part of Eyjafjällajökull’s crater. Smoke is coming out of the crater and reaches an altitude / elevation of 6 km.

 

 

CHINA EARTHQUAKE KILLS HUNDREDS IN QINGHAI

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8619135.stm

 

At least 300 people have died and thousands are feared hurt after a magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck China's Qinghai province, officials say.

 

The powerful tremor hit remote Yushu county, 800km (500 miles) south-west of provincial capital Xining, at 0749 (2349 GMT), at a shallow depth of 10km.

 

Chinese TV showed wrecked buildings and people scrabbling through debris.

Officials ordered rescue crews and supplies to Yushu, but the area is hundreds of miles from a major airport.

 

Emergency teams are making their way from Xining and neighbouring provinces - with the first specialist quake team expected to reach Yushu within hours.

"Soldiers have been dispatched to save the people buried in the collapsed houses," local official Huang Limin was quoted as saying by China's state news agency Xinhua.

 

One official told journalists more than 85% of buildings in Jiegu town near the epicentre had collapsed.

 

"The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic - injured people, with many bleeding in the head," Zhuo Hua Xia told Xinhua.

 

"Many students are buried under the debris due to building collapse at a vocational school.

 

"I can see injured people everywhere. The biggest problem now is that we lack tents, we lack medical equipment, medicine and medical workers."

 

Many of the buildings in Yushu, a county with a largely Tibetan population of about 250,000, were thought to be made from wood.

 

In 2008, a huge quake struck neighbouring Sichuan province which left 87,000 people dead or missing.

 

QUAKE-PRONE REGION

 

Karsum Nyima, from Yushu county's TV station, told China's state-run CCTV that school students had been assembled in outside playgrounds, although school buildings had not collapsed.

 

"In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake. In a small park, there is a Buddhist tower and the top of the tower fell off," he said.

 

"Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members." Zhuo De, an ethnic Tibetan resident of Yushu, who spoke by phone from the capital of Qinghai province, Xining, said there could be many more casualties.

 

"The homes are built with thick walls and are strong, but if they collapsed they

could hurt many people inside," he said.

 

The remote high-altitude region is prone to earthquakes, but officials from the US Geological Survey said this was the strongest quake within 100km of the area since 1976.

 

The region, which is home to Tibetan farmers and herdsmen, is dotted with coal, tin, lead and copper mines.

 

After the Sichuan quake, five million people were left homeless, and officials estimated rebuilding work would take at least three years.

 

The government later punished people who had compiled lists of the victims and had suggested shoddy school-building was partly to blame for the high death toll.

 

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV: 400 KILLED IN EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

A powerful earthquake that was measured at magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale has hit the northern part of the western Qinghai province in China according to US Geological Surveys (USGS). According to China's government at least 400 were killed, and many houses collapsed. Attempts are being made to rescue several injured people.

"Soldiers have been dispatched to save the people buried in the collapsed houses," local official Huang Limin was quoted as saying by China's state news agency Xinhua.

The epicentre was almost 400 km south of the city of Golmud.

 

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: 400 KILLED IN EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

A powerful earthquake that was measured at magnitude 7.1 on the Richter scale has hit the northern part of the western Qinghai province in China according to US Geological Surveys (USGS). According to China's government at least 400 were killed, and many houses collapsed. The quake hit at 0:49 Wednesday. The epicentre was almost 400 km south of the city of Golmud. China’s own geological experts have measured the earthquake at 7.1 on the Richter scale.

 

 

Swedish SVT Text: 400 DIED IN EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

According to the US Geological Surveys it was a magnitude-6.9 quake, whereas the quake was a magnitude-7.1 quake according to the Chinese authorities. The death toll was 400 according to the Chinese authorities, and the number of injured was 8,000. Most houses in the city of Yushu collapsed. The quake was followed by 3 aftershocks. The affected area is quake-prone, but mostly the damage is minor.

 

 

German ZDF Text: EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA: 400 KILLED

An earthquake that hit the northern part of the western Qinghai province in China has cost at least 400 human lives, and 8,000 were injured according to Chinese television. The earthquake occurred early in the morning in the southern part of the province which is located near Tibet.

The magnitude-7.1 tremors surprised people in the early hours in the Tibetan county of Yushu in the province of Qinghai. Many victims are presumably trapped under the rubble. In the city of Yushu and the town/township of Jiegu between 80 and 90% of the house are destroyed.

 

 

German ARD Text: 400 DIED IN EARTHQUAKE IN CHINA

A powerful earthquake in the north-western China cost about 400 human lives according to China's state news agency Xinhua, and 8,000 were injured. According to US Geological Survey the earthquake had a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale. According to the Chinese authorities the first tremor had magnitude 7.1 followed by 3 aftershocks. The epicentre was near the city of Yushu. The earthquake occurred early in the morning.

 

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV (in the evening): 900 RESCUED FROM THE RUBBLE IN CHINA

Chinese rescuers have rescued more than 900 people who were trapped in the rubble after the powerful earthquake in the Qinghai province. The quake that was measured at 6.9 on the Richter scale cost more than 400 human lives and more than 8,000 were injured. Houses, schools and official buildings collapsed, many are still trapped in the rubble of collapses buildings in the city of Yushu near the epicentre.

A policeman says that the rescuers had to dig with their bare hands, because there was no excavator in the area.

 

 

WESTERN CHINESE PROVINCE STRUCK BY 6.9 EARTHQUAKE

 

(04/14/2010 | 09:46 AM - GMA News.TV)

 

BEIJING — A series of strong earthquakes struck China's western Qinghai province Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said. There were no immediate reports of casualties in the remote rural area, though witnesses described houses quickly crumbling.

 

The USGS reported on its Web site that a magnitude 6.9 temblor struck an area in southern Qinghai, near Tibet, on Wednesday morning and was followed by two quakes in the same region.

 

The quake hit the county of Yushu, a Tibetan area in Qinghai, the official Xinhua News Agency cited the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying. The Chinese center measured the quake's magnitude at 7.1. A local government Web site put the county's population in 2005 at 89,300, a community of mostly herders and farmers.

 

The quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled many houses made of mud and wood, said Gasong Nima, the Yushu county television station's deputy head of news, speaking by phone with state broadcaster CCTV.

 

"In a flash, the houses went down. It was a terrible earthquake," the witness said. "In a small park, there is a Buddhist tower and the top of the tower fell off.

 

"Everybody is out on the streets, standing in front of their houses, trying to find their family members," he said, adding that school buildings had not collapsed but students had been evacuated and were assembled in outdoor playgrounds.

 

The epicenter of the first quake was located 235 miles (380 kilometers) south-southeast of Golmud, a large city in Qinghai, at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), the USGS said.

 

Ten minutes later, the area was hit by a magnitude 5.3 quake, which was followed after two minutes by a temblor measuring 5.2, according to the US agency. Both the subsequent earthquakes were measured at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers).

 

Calls to the local Communist Party office and the government of Yushu county and the Qinghai provincial seismological bureau rang unanswered.

 

In 2008, a magnitude-7.9 quake in Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing.

— AP

 

 

STRONG QUAKE IN WESTERN CHINA's QINGHAI KILLS 300

 

04/14/2010 | 02:10 PM - GMA News.TV

 

BEIJING – A series of strong earthquakes struck China's western Qinghai province Wednesday, killing at least 300 people, injuring thousands and burying many others under toppled houses in a mountainous rural area, officials and state media said.

 

The US Geological Survey said a magnitude 6.9 temblor struck an area in southern Qinghai, near Tibet, on Wednesday morning and was followed by several aftershocks.

 

The main quake sent residents fleeing as it toppled houses made of mud and wood, said Karsum Nyima, the Yushu county television station's deputy head of news, speaking by phone with broadcaster CCTV.

 

The quake hit the county of Yushu, a Tibetan area in Qinghai's south, said the China Earthquake Networks Center, which measured the quake's magnitude at 7.1. A local government Web site put the county's population in 2005 at 89,300, a community of mostly herders and farmers.

 

State broadcaster CCTV said the death toll had risen to about 300, with an additional 8,000 people injured.

 

The China Earthquake Administration said phone lines were down, hindering rescue efforts, while workers were racing to release water from a reservoir where a crack had formed after the quake.

 

In Jiegu, a township near the epicenter, more than 85 percent of houses had collapsed, while large cracks have appeared on buildings still standing, the official Xinhua News Agency cited Zhuohuaxia, a local publicity official, as saying.

 

"The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic and full of injured people, with many of them bleeding from their injuries," he said.

 

There were also students buried under the debris of a collapsed vocational school, Zhuohuaxia said.

 

State television showed footage of paramilitary police using shovels to dig around a house with a collapsed wooden roof. A local military official, Shi Huajie, told state broadcaster CCTV rescuers were working with limited equipment.

 

"The difficulty we face is that we don't have any excavators. Many of the people have been buried and our soldiers are trying to pull them out with human labor," Shi said. "It is very difficult to save people with our bare hands."

 

Five thousand tents and 100,000 thick, cotton coats and heavy blankets were being sent to help survivors cope with strong winds and near-freezing temperatures of around 43 degrees Fahrenheit (6 degrees C), the Qinghai provincial government said in a statement.

 

Wu Yong, a local military chief, said medical workers also were urgently needed but that roads leading to the airport had been badly damaged by the quake, creating difficulties for people and supplies to be flown in. He said rescue efforts were hindered by frequent aftershocks and strong winds.

 

The epicenter of the first quake was located 235 miles (380 kilometers) south-southeast of Golmud, a large city in Qinghai, at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), the USGS said.

 

Ten minutes later, the area was hit by a magnitude 5.3 quake, which was followed after two minutes by a temblor measuring 5.2, according to the US agency. Both the subsequent earthquakes were measured at a depth of 6 miles (10 kilometers). Another quake, measuring 5.8, was recorded at 9:25 a.m.

 

Xinhua cited officials at the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying at least 18 aftershocks have been reported and that more temblors exceeding magnitude 6 were likely to occur in the coming days.

 

In 2008, a magnitude-7.9 quake in Sichuan province left almost 90,000 people dead or missing. — AP

[nancyk58]

Updates / news in relation to natural disasters on 15 April 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 14 + 15 APRIL 2010

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8621565.stm

 

QINGHAI QUAKE: 'NO TIME TO REACT'

 

A day after a devastating earthquake struck China's remote Qinghai province, accounts are emerging of the destruction it has caused.

 

Drolma, who comes from worst-hit Yushu and now lives in the UK, said she had managed to speak to her family by mobile phone.

 

She told the BBC that she had lost several relatives. "One auntie lost five of them in one family, the other lost three, another lost four and also friends, all dead. It's a disaster."

 

Her immediate family were safe, she said, but their house was wiped out. One of her brothers was in his garden when the earthquake hit.

 

"He just realised that his three-year-old daughter was not there. So while the earthquake is shaking, the whole house is collapsing, he went back to get his little child," Drolma said.

 

"This little three-year-old daughter was just standing in the kitchen next to the stove, because she had no clue about what was going on. So he just grabbed her and just hid in the corner of the room.

 

"Then suddenly the whole house collapsed on them. And he could hear from the outside the other family members: 'Oh my God, we lost him and the little baby'. They were screaming outside.

 

"He shouted and shouted 'We're here, we're here'. So they managed to pull out all the brakeage and other stuff. And he managed to get out. Luckily he was OK in the end."

 

'WAR ZONE'

One resident, Lungme, told Xinhua news agency that she and five of her relatives were buried when their home collapsed in Jiegu township, near the epicentre of the quake.

 

"It was all so sudden. I had no time to react," the agency quoted her as saying. She and four others were dug out but her mother died.

 

"Eight people in one of my neighbour's family were all buried. They were all dead when they were found," she said,

 

Another resident, Yuhu, told the 21st Century Business Herald that everyone was joining in.

 

"There are dozens of soldiers who are all working hard to rescue people. Monks are working hard too.

 

"People are trying to dig out family members first - and then help others. Most of the people who are being dug out are dead."

 

Ren Yu, the manager of Jiegu's Yushu hotel, said that the town "felt like a war zone".

 

"It's a complete mess. At night, people were crying and shouting. Women were crying for their families," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

"Some of the people have broken legs or arms, but all they can get now is an injection. They were crying in pain."

 

'JUST HORRIFIC'

Arnold King, an American volunteer teaching English in Tibet, travels with his students, yak herdsmen who are always on the move to find pasture. They were in Yushu when the earthquake struck.

 

They have been trying to rescue people from the rubble. He sent pictures to the BBC and a description of the devastation.

 

"The scene is just horrific. So many mud brick houses came down on people," he said.

 

"I've been trying to look for survivors in the rubble with a Swedish woman, but we are only pulling out dead bodies.

 

"There are several camps being set up around town. We are doing the best we can, but it's just a total chaos here.

 

"I've never seen anything like it. When I see my students around town I just hug them. Some of them didn't make it. It's too horrible to even think about it right now."

 

STANDING IN TENTS

Drolma said her brother described a devastating situation in Yushu.

"On one of the three main streets he went down - there are just dead bodies everywhere," she said.

 

She said that based on what relatives had told her, she believed the death toll would be higher than the figure of 600 currently being reported.

 

When she spoke to her brother again on Thursday morning, he told her he had slept outdoors.

 

"My brother didn't have anywhere to stay last night. He spent the night in the mountain, where it's very cold. This morning he tried to get a tent, clothes and food but there are so many people and so few clothes and blankets.

 

"My uncle is going back to the village to look for food," she said. "He stayed in a tent which was so crammed people were standing and no-one could sleep.

 

"There were quite a few aftershocks all night. People there sound tired, they don't have energy and they are desperate for food."

 

 

CHINESE RESCUERS STEP UP SEARCH FOR QUAKE SURVIVORS

 

Emergency teams have been pouring into western China's Qinghai province, a day after a deadly earthquake devastated the mountainous region.

 

Thousands of homeless people and casualties are waiting for help.

 

Officials say 617 people died and 9,980 were injured when the tremor hit Yushu

county early on Wednesday, while a further 313 remain missing.

 

Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao had travelled to Yushu to see the relief operation, state media said.

 

He has postponed a visit to South East Asia because of the earthquake and China's President, Hu Jintao, is cutting short a visit to South America and returning home.

 

Mr Jintao called the earthquake a "huge calamity" and confirmed he was returning from a summit in Brazil.

 

Speaking at a news conference in the capital, Brasilia, on Thursday, he said: "That is why I decided to bring forward my return to China."

 

AFTERSHOCKS

 

The rescue teams are facing a number of logistical challenges.

 

"Freezing weather, high altitude and thin air have all made rescue efforts difficult," Hou Shike, deputy head of China International Search and Rescue, told official news agency Xinhua.

 

Yushu sits at about 13,000ft (4,000m), making work difficult for teams not used to the high altitude. Further logistical problems were posed by aftershocks.

 

The quake also knocked out phone and power lines, and triggered landslides.

 

Survivors shivered through Wednesday night in the open as temperatures fell below freezing.

 

In the township of Jiegu, 85% of buildings have been destroyed, officials say.

Several schools collapsed and at least 66 pupils and 10 teachers were among the dead, Xinhua reported.

 

State broadcaster CCTV showed anxious parents waiting overnight outside Yushu Vocational School, where 22 students, mostly girls, were reported dead.

 

The flattened schools echoed scenes from the quake that hit neighboring Sichuan province two years ago, leaving nearly 90,000 people dead.

 

Revelations of shoddy construction and lax building regulation infuriated grieving parents in the aftermath of that disaster.

 

About 900 people have been pulled out alive since the 6.9-magnitude quake struck on Wednesday morning, at the shallow depth of 10km (six miles).

 

Rescuers saved one girl who was trapped for more than 12 hours under debris.

As she was placed on a stretcher, she could be heard saying: "I'm sorry for the trouble. Thank you, I will never forget this."

 

Wu Yong, a local army commander, said the death toll could rise as many houses had collapsed.

 

The Chinese president has called for an all-out emergency effort and some 5,000 rescuers, including 700 soldiers, have been sent to the area, which is on the Tibetan plateau.

 

The civil affairs ministry said it would also send 5,000 tents, as local officials in Yushu reported a lack of shelter, medicines and medical equipment.

 

A hotel manager in Jiegu, Ren Yu, said it was like being in a war zone.

 

"Some of the people have broken legs or arms but all they can get now is an injection," he said. "They were crying in pain."

 

Forecasters predicted wind and sleet in the coming days, putting homeless victims of the tremor at risk of exposure.

 

The region is prone to earthquakes but, according to the US Geological Survey, this was the strongest tremor within 100km of the area since 1976.

 

RECENT DEADLY QUAKES:

Feb 2010: Magnitude 8.8 quake in central CHILE kills at least 450

Jan 2010: About 230,000 die in magnitude 7.0 tremor in HAITI

April 2009: Quake measuring 6.3 in L'Aquila, ITALY, kills 300 people

May 2008: 87,000 die in 7.8 scale tremor in Sichuan province, CHINA

Oct 2005: Quake measuring 7.6 hits north Pakistan, killing 73,000

---------------------------------------------

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/

 

VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD

 

The eruption in the Eyjafjallajoekull area is the second to occur in a month

 

This eruption has released ash to significantly greater heights

 

Volcanic ash contains tiny particles of rock and even glass, which can wreak havoc with machinery

 

A 1982 BA flight unknowingly flew into an ash cloud, shutting down all four engines

 

While ash can be dangerous to health, the current cloud is too high to pose a threat

 

The ash is likely to lead to particularly red sunsets in some areas

 

 

ICELANDIC VOLCANIC ASH ALERT GROUNDS UK FLIGHTS

 

All flights in and out of the UK and several other European countries have been suspended as ash from a volcanic eruption in Iceland moves south.

 

Up to 4,000 flights are being cancelled with airspace closed in Norway, Sweden, Finland and Denmark among others. [LATER ALSO FRANCE]

 

The UK's air traffic control service (Nats) said no flights would be allowed in UK airspace until at least 0700 BST on Friday amid fears of engine damage.

 

Safety group Eurocontrol said the problem could persist for 48 hours.

 

The airspace restriction was the worst in living memory, a Nats spokesman said.

 

AIR AMBULANCE

Nats suggested that the restrictions were unlikely to be lifted after 0700, saying it was "very unlikely that the situation over England will improve in the foreseeable future".

 

Passengers were advised to contact their carriers prior to travel.

 

Experts have warned that the tiny particles of rock, glass and sand contained in the ash cloud from the still-erupting volcano could be sufficient to jam aircraft engines.

 

But the Health Protection Agency said the ash from the Eyjafjallajoekull eruption did not pose a significant risk to public health because of its high altitude.

 

These are some of the main knock-on effects:

 

Eurocontrol says Germany is monitoring the situation and considering partial airspace closures

 

The two main airports in Paris and many others in the north of France are closing

 

There is severe disruption in France and Spain, where all northbound flights are cancelled

 

Nats says it will make an announcement at 2000 BST as to the arrangements that will be in place through to 1300 BST on Friday

 

British Airways offers refunds or an option to rebook after all its domestic flights are suspended

 

Royal Navy Sea King helicopter flies a critically ill patient from Scotland to London

 

British sports teams have been hit by travel problems after flights were grounded

 

Dozens of Leicestershire students were evacuated from accommodation in Iceland after the volcano eruption

 

One passenger at Glasgow told the BBC: "I'm meant to be going to Lanzarote. We've travelled from Oban, leaving at 3am. Now we've decided we might as well just go home and do a bit of gardening."

 

Others switched from plane to train, with the East Coast line extending its 1830 BST London to Newcastle service through to Edinburgh.

 

A spokeswoman for Eurostar said it had received hundreds of calls on Thursday "that turned into thousands before lunch" and that an estimated extra 10,000 seats had been booked.

 

She also said Friday's services were "extremely full".

 

Budget airline Ryanair said no flights were operating to or from the UK on Thursday and it expected cancellations and delays on Friday.

 

A spokesman for Nats, which was formerly known as the National Air Traffic Services, said: "The Volcanic Ash Advisory Centre has issued a forecast that the ash cloud from the volcanic eruption in Iceland will track over Europe tonight.

 

"Nats is working with Eurocontrol and our colleagues in Europe's other air navigation service providers to take the appropriate action to ensure safety in accordance with international aviation policy."

 

The European air safety body, Eurocontrol, said the cloud of ash had reached 55,000ft and was expected to move through northern UK and Scotland.

 

Brian Flynn, assistant head of operations of its central flow management unit, told the BBC: "As it moves toward the Netherlands and Belgium it will dissipate and lose intensity, like any weather phenomenon. But we don't know what the extent of it will be."

 

The Natural Environment Research Council (NERC) will be sending up a reconnaissance flight on Thursday to investigate how the ash is distributed in the cloud, something that is impossible to assess from satellite imagery.

Dr Mike Branney, senior lecturer in volcanology, University of Leicester, said: "Volcanic ash is not good to plane engines.

 

"Firstly it is highly abrasive and can scour and damage moving parts. Secondly, if it enters a jet engine the intense heat of the engine can fuse it to the interior of the engine with a caking of hot glass, which ultimately can cause the engine to cut out completely.

 

"This is a sensible precaution."

 

In 1982 a British Airways jumbo had all four of its engines shut down as it flew through a plume of volcanic ash.

 

There was also an incident on 15 December 1989 when KLM Flight 867, a B747-400 from Amsterdam to Anchorage, Alaska, flew into the plume of the erupting Mount Redoubt, causing all four engines to fail.

 

Once the flight cleared the ash cloud, the crew was able to restart each engine and then make a safe landing at Anchorage, but the aircraft was substantially damaged.

 

A BAA spokesman said: "Passengers intending to fly today are asked to contact their airline for further information."

 

The eruption under a glacier in the Eyjafjallajoekull area of Iceland is the second in the country in less than a month.

 

Prof Bill McGuire, professor at the Aon Benfield UCL Hazard Research Centre, said it was not "particularly unusual" for ash from Icelandic eruptions to reach the UK.

 

"Such a large eruption... would have the potential to severely affect air travel at high northern latitudes for six months or more.

 

"In relation to the current eruption, it is worth noting that the last eruption of Eyjafjallajoekull lasted more than 12 months."

 

Other articles (can be found at http://news.bbc.co.uk/):

 

Live text: Volcanic cloud

 

Why ash grounds planes

 

Ash cloud 'is no health threat'

 

Ash cloud weather forecast

 

North Europe hit by volcanic ash

 

What are passengers' rights?

[Black Rose]

Ash ash baby

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in relation to natural disasters / news on 15 April 2010

 

German ZDF Text on 15 April 2010: WILLIAMS ASKS FOR HAITI RELIEF / AID

 

Robbie Williams has appealed to the world to do its utmost to help children in the earthquake-stricken Haiti to a better life. The British singer who is also UNICEF ambassador said after his visit to Haiti that 3 months after the quake a lot has been done. "But it is still a huge challenge".

 

According to the latest UNICEF report the life conditions have improved for many of the 1.5 million children who are affected by the earthquake. But the situation is still difficult.

 

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

- INDIA (15/4-10):

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: STORM MADE 250,000 HOMELESS IN INDIA

 

Very bad weather has led to enormous devastation in poor areas of North-East India.

 

"Rescue teams have been sent to the area to help". The task is difficult because the area is impassable due to the bad weather", says Srikumar Mukherjee, minister in charge of civil defence in the Indian state of West Bengal.

 

At least 114 were killed, and the death toll is expected to be far higher. At least 250,000 have lost their homes, and there is massive flooding in the region.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in relation to natural disasters on 16 + 17 April 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 16 and 17 APRIL 2010

 

HEADLINES FROM 16 APRIL 2010:

 

China quake toll 'passes 1,000' / 16 Apr 10 | Asia-Pacific

 

China quake rescue effort builds / 16 Apr 10 | Asia-Pacific

 

On 16 April I saw BBC news live including a moving scene: A Tibetan girl was rescued. I saw her be pulled out of the rubble after being trapped for 2 days - she was then reunited with her father.

The rescue operations are difficult. Survivors made homeless by the earthquake had to spend their second night outdoors - another cold night with freezing temperatures.

 

News from German ZDFtext / ARDtext on 16/4-10: About 11,500 are injured. More than 100,000 have been made homeless after the collapse of their houses. Due to the insufficient number of tents, many homeless had to spend a second cold night outdoors in freezing temperatures.

The freezing temperatures, the frequent aftershocks and the fact that many rescuers are feeling really bad having trouble breathing in the thin air due to the altitude - all these factors make the rescue operations very difficult. The earthquake area is situated in an altitude of 4,000 m.

 

Swedish SVT on 16/4-10: The death toll after the earthquake last Wednesday on the Tibetan plateau in China has gone up. So far more than 1,000 survivors have been pulled out of the rubble of collapsed houses in the Qinghai province. More than 9,000 are injured, many of them children.

President Hu Jintao and prime minister Wen Jiabao ordered an extensive rescue effort after the quake. Prime Minister Wen visited the earthquake-hit region to see the devastation and the help efforts with his own eyes.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8626696.stm / Page last updated at 13:30 GMT, Saturday, 17 April 2010 14:30 UK

 

CHINA QUAKE BODIES BURNT ON PYRES IN JIEGU

 

About 700 people who died in a massive earthquake in north-west China on Wednesday have been cremated outside the worst-hit town, Jiegu.

 

After being blessed by chanting Buddhist monks, the bodies were placed in a trench and set alight.

 

The number of people known to have died in Qinghai province has risen to 1,339, with 322 missing, officials say.

 

The Tibetan spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, has said he would like to visit his birthplace to comfort survivors.

 

The Dalai Lama was born in Qinghai but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago.

 

THOUSANDS HOMELESS

 

Tibetans traditionally perform sky burials, which involve chopping a body into pieces and leaving it on a platform to be devoured by vultures.

 

But the authorities have decided to cremate victims because of fears that disease may spread rapidly.

 

"The vultures can't eat them all," said one local man.

 

Local monks constructed a huge funeral pyre near Jiegu township.

 

After the earthquake, many residents of the largely-Tibetan town turned to the monks and their traditions for help, rather than a central authority dominated by the majority Han Chinese.

 

Thousands of people have been left homeless, with many having to sleep outdoors in freezing temperatures.

 

The rescue effort is continuing, but it is four days since the earthquake hit, the chances of finding more people alive under the rubble of Jiegu are growing slim, said the BBC's Quentin Sommerville.

 

Many of those who survived the quake have endured days without proper shelter or food. The town lies high in the mountains of Qinghai, the air is thin and the temperature often drops below freezing at night.

 

There has been no response yet from Beijing to the Dalai Lama's statement on visiting the victims.

 

In the statement, issued from his home-in-exile in northern India, the Dalai Lama said: "Because of the physical distance between us, at present I am unable to comfort those directly affected, but I would like them to know I am praying for them."

 

The Dalai Lama also praised Chinese officials for their quick response to the quake.

 

China has despatched 10,000 troops and doctors to help, but the scale of the devastation is so large, they are struggling to cope.

 

But the authorities in Beijing have pledged to do everything they can to help the victims of the earthquake, and eventually, to rebuild the shattered town.

Premier Wen Jiabao has promised "all-out effort" to rebuild the area.

 

Heavy-lifting equipment has been arriving in the remote Himalayan region by road from hundreds of kilometres away.

 

Food, tents and medical supplies are arriving too but rescue workers say there is a critical need for further supplies.

 

Rescuers in Yushu, which lies at about 4,000m (13,000ft), are facing freezing weather and high altitude.

 

Ninety-seven percent of Yushu's population is ethnic Tibetan, and state media said that 500 interpreters were being sent to aid rescuers.

 

The quake, which struck on Wednesday morning at the shallow depth of 10km (six miles), knocked out phone and power lines, and triggered landslides, blocking vital roads.

 

Mr Wen visited the affected area on Thursday and Friday.

 

He said the people would "overcome the disaster and improve national unity in fighting the calamity".

 

 

German ZDF text: AFTER EARTHQUAKE: MORE THAN 1,100 DEAD IN CHINA - FEAR OF LOOTING

 

3 days after the massive earthquake in West China the death toll has gone up to 1,140 according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. More than 400 are injured. - Increasing fear of looting. The police intensified the precautionary measures at the points of distribution of aid for the population. The situation is stable according to the police spokesman.

 

The magnitude 6.9-earthquake shook the province of Qinghai primarily inhabited by Tibetans.

 

ICELAND

 

Danish DR1 (midnight between 15 and 16/4-10): HUNDREDS EVACUATED ON ICELAND

About 800 Icelanders were forced away from their homes because of the volcanic eruption in South Iceland.

The volcano melted ice from the glacier, "Eyjafjallajökull", and caused massive amounts of melted water threatening to flood a large area. No reports of casualties in regard to animals and people. The authorities fear that large pieces of ice may damage houses, roads and bridges (news agency AFP)

The volcanic eruption is not the largest ever in Iceland.

 

Danish TV2 on 16/4-10: VOLCANIC EXPERT: THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION MAY LAST ONE YEAR

The powerful and massive volcanic eruption in South China may last one year. Based on its intensity, the eruption may take a long time. The eruption under the glacier Eyjafjalljökull is the second in Iceland in a few weeks.

 

Swedish SVT on 17/4-10: ICELAND: VOLCANIC ERUPTION INTENSIFIED

British researchers report increased activity of the Icelandic volcano. The increased activity may cause further problems for the air traffic. According to the news agency AP the volcano Eyjafjalljökull had powerful eruptions last night and strong winds in different directions. The situation in relation to the European airspace has worsened.

 

ZDFtext on 17/4-10: VOLCANO ERUPTION ON ICELAND CONTINUES

The glacier volcano continues to emit a huge column of smoke and ashes. According to the Meteorological Institute in Reykjavik there was no observation of changes in the activities under the Eyjafjallajökull glacier. The wind direction is toward the south. The cloud of smoke and volcanic ash continues to head southwards across the European continent. That implies continued chaos in the international air traffic.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8626505.stm

 

VOLCANIC ASH: EUROPE FLIGHTS GROUNDED FOR THIRD DAY

 

Virtually all of Europe's major airports remain closed as a huge plume of volcanic ash drifts south and east across the continent from Iceland.

 

Millions of air travellers are stranded as thousands of flights are being cancelled for a third day.

 

The disruption from the spread of ash would continue into Sunday, European aviation agency Eurocontrol said.

 

Airlines are losing some £130m ($200m) a day in an unprecedented shutdown of commercial air travel.

 

"Forecasts suggest that the cloud of volcanic ash will persist and that the impact will continue for at least the next 24 hours," a statement from Eurocontrol said at around 0830 GMT.

 

The agency, which co-ordinates air traffic control in 38 nations, said it expected 16,000 flights to be cancelled across Europe on Saturday, from a total of 22,000 on a normal Saturday.

 

Many countries and airlines have grounded fleets as the ASH - a mixture of glass, sand and rock particles, drifting from 5,000ft (1,500m) - can seriously damage aircraft engines.

 

Some 18,000 of the 28,000 daily flights in the affected zone were cancelled on Friday, twice as many as the day before.

 

The UK extended its ban on commercial flights until at least 0700 local time (0600 GMT) on Sunday.

 

Many other countries, from Ireland to Ukraine, have either closed airspace or shut key airports. In northern France and northern Italy, airports are shut until Monday.

 

The disruption has now affected millions of travellers since Wednesday when the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting for the second time in a month.

 

Scientists in Iceland said they hoped to fly above the volcano to assess how much ice has melted, now that winds have cleared visibility.

 

A plume of ash 8.5km (5.3 miles) high was visible on Saturday.

 

A "significant quantity" of ash was contained in the column, said Dr David Rothery, of the UK Open University's earth sciences department, based on live images from webcams in Iceland.

 

"The column is pulsing in height, as fresh explosions occur in the active crater. One can see curtains of ash fallout below the plume from time to time," he said.

According to Mr Rothery, the fine ash at the top of the column is likely to be drawn into the high altitude winds, adding to the ash cloud heading southwards across the continent.

 

LONG WAY HOME

 

Europe's busiest airports, including Heathrow in London, Frankfurt and Charles de Gaulle in Paris, have been affected by the closures.

 

"There has never been anything like this," he said, adding that there were no Lufthansa planes in the air anywhere in the world.

 

Unable to catch flights, commuters across northern Europe have sought other means of transport, packing out trains, buses and ferries.

 

The Eurostar cross-channel rail service said it had never seen so many passengers on one day and the trains were fully booked until Monday.

 

The large no-fly zone also means that some world leaders might have difficulty attending the funeral of the Polish president on Sunday.

 

US President Barack Obama has cancelled his visit to Poland.

 

German Chancellor Angela Merkel, who was due to return from a visit to the US on Friday, had to fly to Lisbon where she spent the night.

 

With all German airports still closed, she flew on to Italy on Saturday and is set to continue her journey home by bus.

 

The disruption also forced the cancellation of the inaugural Iraqi Airways flight from Baghdad to London.

 

US pop star Whitney Houston was forced to take a car ferry from Britain to Ireland for a concert after her flight was cancelled.

 

The travel chaos has been felt as far away as North America and Asia, with dozens of Europe-bound flights being cancelled.

 

British health officials said any effects of the ash on people with existing respiratory conditions were "likely to be short term".

 

The last eruption of the Eyjafjallajoekull volcano was on 20 March, when a 0.5km-long fissure opened up on the eastern side of the glacier at the Fimmvoerduhals Pass. The eruption prior to that started in 1821 - and continued intermittently for more than a year.

 

Iceland lies on the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, the highly volatile boundary between the Eurasian and North American continental plates.

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

NEWS.com.au: Aussie flight bans extended - 14 o'clock CET

Citizen.co.za: Ash cloud causes Europe flight chaos, airlines suffer - 10 o'clock CET

Al Jazeera: Ash plume threatens more air chaos - 09 o'clock CET

Melbourne Age: Massive ash cloud shuts down Europe's skies - 01 o'clock CET

National Post: Volcanic ash grounds flights on Saturday - 01 o'clock CET

[nancyk58]

News articles from 14 April to 18 April 2010

 

UPDATES OF NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS FROM 14 to 18 APRIL 2010, PART I

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8627836.stm

Page last updated at 02:50 GMT, Sunday, 18 April 2010 03:50 UK

 

STRONG QUAKE OFF PAPUA NEW GUINEA BUT NO TSUNAMI ALERT

 

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck off Papua New Guinea but no tsunami alert has been issued and there are no early reports of casualties.

 

The US Geological Survey said it had hit at about 0915 local time (2315 GMT) and was centred about 29km (18m) east of the Pacific state's city of Lae.

 

The quake was registered at a depth of 66km (41m).

 

The island Papua New Guinea shares with Papua is historically prey to volcanic activity, earthquakes and tidal waves.

 

Officials told AFP news agency that villagers had reported cracks in buildings and a damaged water tank in the Hidden Valley gold-and-silver mine area, near the town of Lae, but no collapsing houses.

 

"The earthquake was strongly felt, mostly in the Wau and Bulolo areas," Lawrence Anton, a seismologist at the country's Geophysical Observatory in Port Moresby, added.

"We would expect a bit of damage to village houses."

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Reuters UK: No casualties reported in Papua New Guinea quake - 12 o'clock CET

People's Daily Online: 6.3-magnitude quake hits Papua New Guinea - 9 o'clock CET

The News International: Strong quake damages buildings in PNG: officials - 9 o'clock CET

New Zealand Herald: 6.3 quake strikes Papua New Guinea - 5 o'clock CET

Times of India: Strong quake hits off Papua New Guinea: Geologists - 4 o'clock CET

---------------------------

 

NEWS in relation to the PHILIPPINES 14 to 18 April 2010

 

PHIVOLCS: MAGNITUDE-4.1 QUAKE ROCKS EAST VISAYAS

 

04/18/2010 | 03:30 PM - GMA NEWS.TV

 

A magnitude-4.1 quake rocked parts of Eastern Visayas early Sunday but state seismologists said no damage was expected.

 

The Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) said the quake was recorded at 8:27 a.m. and was tectonic in origin. It said the epicenter was traced to 23 km northwest of Tacloban City in Leyte, and was felt at Intensity II in Tacloban City.

 

Phivolcs, however, said no damage was reported, and no aftershocks were expected. - KBK, GMANews.TV

 

 

PINOYS WARNED AGAINST JOB OFFERS IN QUAKE-RAVAGED HAITI

 

04/16/2010 | 10:24 PM - GMA News.TV

 

Beware of unscrupulous individuals recruiting Filipinos for non-existent jobs in Haiti, which is still reeling from the devastation of a major earthquake.

 

This was the reminder of the Philippine Embassy in Cuba, after receiving reports of an alleged recruitment scheme to bring in Filipino workers in Haiti.

 

“Port-Au-Prince was recently ravaged by a major earthquake on January 12 that killed more than 250,000 people. It does not have job opportunities at all for ‘walk-in’ applicants," Philippine Ambassador to Cuba Macarthur Corsino said in a release posted on the Department of Foreign Affairs (DFA) website.

 

The warning was issued in the light of reports from Philippine Honorary Consul in Haiti Fitzgerald Brandt about two Filipinos being recently stranded penniless in a beach resort in the Haitian capital of Port-au-Prince after being promised jobs in the country.

 

The recruitment scheme was allegedly hatched by Philippine-based recruiters in connivance with Haitian nationals and supposedly Haiti-based Filipinos.

 

Most of the victims are from Laguna, the release added.

 

“The city’s infrastructure and business establishments suffered tremendously from the tragedy. It is still in the process of recovery, and any available jobs are given first to qualified local Haitians and those with prior approved contracts addressed to specifically needed skills related to reconstruction," Corsino added.

 

The Embassy likewise warned Filipinos against illegally entering the country to look for jobs by pretending to be tourists.

 

Jobseekers may end up being stranded, penniless and homeless in the earthquake-ravaged country, after paying big amounts to recruiters, the release stated.

 

“Any promise of available jobs in Haiti is false and is punishable as illegal recruitment and human smuggling," it added.

—Jerrie M. Abella/JV, GMANews.TV

 

 

NO INFO ON 9 FILIPINOS IN QUAKE-HIT CHINA PROVINCE

 

04/14/2010 | 05:19 PM - GMA News.TV

 

No Filipino was hurt in the series of earthquakes that jolted China's western province of Qinghai on Wednesday, but Philippine officials have yet to receive information on the whereabouts of the nine Filipinos there.

 

"We’re trying to get information from our contacts in local police here and from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs in Beijing," said Philippine vice consul Noel Novicio in an interview over radio dzMM.

 

He said they are getting most of their information from the media and the police.

 

Nine Filipinos were registered in Qinghai as of 2008. Novicio could not state their specific jobs but said most Filipinos in China are employed as teachers and musicians.

 

At least 400 people were reportedly killed when a 6.9 quake (US Geological Survey) struck an area in southern Qinghai, near Tibet, Wednesday morning and followed by several aftershocks.

 

The epicenter of the first quake was located 235 miles (380 kilometers) south-southeast of Golmud, a large city in Qinghai, at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), the USGS said.

 

Xinhua cited officials at the China Earthquake Networks Center as saying at least 18 aftershocks have been reported and that more temblors exceeding magnitude 6 were likely to occur in the coming days. — Aie Balagtas See/KBK/RSJ, GMANews.TV

 

Other related headlines: » China's Hu comforts quake victims on scripted trip

» Chinese president Hu flies to Tibetan quake zone

» Young China quake survivor survived by sleeping in

» Monks, govt workers seek life after China quakes

 

 

DALAI LAMA WANTS TO VISIT CHINA QUAKE SITE

ASHWINI BHATIA, Associated Press Writer - 04/17/2010 | 10:02 PM

 

DHARMSALA, India — The Dalai Lama said Saturday that he would like to visit the site of the earthquake that hit a Tibetan area of western China, killing at least 1,144 people.

 

The Tibetan spiritual leader has not set foot in China since fleeing Tibet following a failed 1959 uprising against Beijing's rule in the Himalayan region. The Chinese government accuses him of fomenting separatism in the area, making it very unlikely that he would be allowed to visit.

 

"To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer them comfort," the Dalai Lama said in a statement to reporters in Dharmsala, the north Indian hill town that is home to the Tibetan government-in-exile.

 

The Dalai Lama was born in Qinghai, the province where Wednesday's quake struck, and Yushu county, the area hit hardest, is overwhelmingly Tibetan.

 

"Because of the physical distance between us, at present I am unable to comfort those directly affected, but I would like them to know I am praying for them," he added in the statement.

 

It was not clear if the Tibetan leader would ask actually for permission to travel to the region, and he told reporters that he had not made a formal request for a visa with the Chinese Embassy in New Delhi.

 

"When Sichuan was rocked by an earthquake two years ago, I wished to visit the affected areas to pray and comfort the people there, but I was unable to do so," he added.

 

In May 2008, a massive 7.9-magnitude temblor struck Sichuan province leaving 90,000 dead or missing and another 5 million homeless.

 

The Dalai Lama commended Chinese officials for their quick response to Wednesday's earthquake.

 

"I also applaud the Chinese authorities for visiting the affected areas, especially Prime Minister Wen Jiabao, who has not only personally offered comfort to the affected communities but has also overseen the relief work," he said.

 

China claims Tibet has always been part of its territory, but many Tibetans say the Himalayan region was virtually independent for centuries until Chinese troops invaded in the 1950s.

- AP

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8627946.stm

Page last updated at 09:15 GMT, Sunday, 18 April 2010 10:15 UK

 

 

 

Danish DR1 TTV before noon: DEATH TOLL IN CHINA CLOSE TO 1,500

The death toll after the earthquake in the Qinghai province near Tibet last Wednesday is now 1.484 according to China's state media.

The death toll has gone up by 340 in 24 hours. The magnitude-6.9 earthquake has injured more than 11,000. Thousands of homes are in ruins.

There is doubt about the number of victims. Earlier Saturday when the official death toll was 1.339, Tibetan monks in the area said that they had cremated 1,400 in a ceremony, but this information could not be verified by other sources.

 

German ZDF (before noon): AFTER THE EARTHQUAKE: ALMOST 1.500 KILLED IN CHINA - PRESIDENT HU VISITS THE EARTHQUAKE-STRICKEN AREA

4 days after the massive earthquake in West China the death toll is 1,484 according to official information. More than 12,000 are injured, about 1,400 of these are seriously injured. 312 remain missing.

China's President Hu Jintao has arrived in the disaster-stricken area to see for himself the situation in the earthquake area. The powerful magnitude 7.1-earthquake shook the province of Qinghai last Wednesday. Primarily Tibetans live in the disaster-stricken area.

 

Swedish SVT Text (before noon): CHINA: ALMOST 1,500 DIED IN EARTHQUAKE

After the massive earthquake in West China the number of confirmed deaths has risen to 1,484 today according to the state news agency New China (I guess it is the same as Xinhua).

Wednesday a magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck primarily a part of the province Qinghai which has a primarily Tibetan population.

Thousands of towns have been ravaged and an extensive rescue operation is going on.

The spiritual Tibetan leader, Dalai Lama who has lived in exile since China took Tibet, has asked China's permission to visit the area.

 

Danish TV2 in the afternoon: DEATH TOLL IN CHINA HAS RISEN TO 1,700

China's President Hu Jintao encouraged rescuers to continue their search for survivors after the massive earthquake last week.He said this during a visit to the earthquake-stricken area where the number of deaths reaches 1,706, whereas 256 have been reported missing.

More than 100 students and 12 teachers are among those killed. They died as their schools and dormitories were destroyed by the earthquake which was measured at 6.9 on the open Richter scale.

[nancyk58]

News articles dated 17 and 18 April - China Earthquake

 

NEWS RELATED TO THE CHINA EARTHQUAKE FROM 17 AND 18 APRIL 2010, PART II

 

MONKS, GOVT WORKERS SEEK LIFE AFTER CHINA QUAKES

 

04/17/2010 | 09:04 AM - GMA News.TV

 

JIEGU, China – Tibetan monks in crimson robes dug through earthquake rubble alongside government rescue workers, a startling image for a Chinese region long strained by suspicion and unrest.

 

The central government has poured in troops and equipment to this remote western region, but it is the influential Buddhist monks whom residents trust with their lives — and with their dead.

 

As the death toll climbed to 1,144 late Friday, there was tension and some distrust over the government relief effort, with survivors scuffling over limited aid.

 

"They have a relaxed attitude," said Genqiu, a 22-year-old monk at the Jiegu monastery, of the government-sent rescue workers. "If someone's taking their photo then they might dig once or twice."

 

Since Wednesday's quakes, government relief efforts have been slowed by heavy traffic on the single main road from the Qinghai provincial capital, 12 hours away. On Friday, heavy equipment finally arrived.

 

"The disaster you suffered is our disaster. Your suffering is our suffering," Premier Wen Jiabao said in remarks broadcast repeatedly on state TV.

 

Though the government was reaching out, many residents turned instead to the monks and their traditions, rather than a central authority dominated by the majority Han Chinese. The groups are divided by language — the government has had to mobilize hundreds of Tibetan speakers to communicate with victims — as well as culture and religion.

 

Cultural differences might have contributed to Friday's sharp rise in the death toll. In a telephone call with The Associated Press on Friday, rescue officials seemed surprised to hear that hundreds of bodies were at the Jiegu monastery, taken there by Buddhist families. The new official death toll was announced hours later.

 

It wasn't clear whether tensions over the relief effort were driven by longtime suspicions of the government or by the stress of living outside for three days in the freezing air and digging for loved ones with bare hands. Many buildings in the town collapsed in the quakes; countless others are unsafe.

 

Residents of the largely Tibetan town pointed out repeatedly that after the series of earthquakes Wednesday, the monks were the first to come to their aid — pulling people from the rubble and passing out their own limited supplies.

 

Tibetans traditionally perform sky burials, which involve chopping a body into pieces and leaving it on a platform to be devoured by vultures. But Genqiu, who like many Tibetans goes by one name, said that would be impossible now.

 

"The vultures can't eat them all," he said at Jiegu monastery, where bodies were carefully wrapped in colorful blankets and piled three or four deep on a platform.

 

More than 200 monks chanted in the late afternoon sun in preparation for a mass cremation on a nearby mountaintop Saturday. In two blue government tents stamped "disaster relief," hundreds of candles burned on a makeshift altar.

 

One monk estimated 1,000 bodies were brought to a hillside clearing in the shadow of the monastery. Gerlai Tenzing said a precise count was difficult because bodies continued to arrive and families had taken some away.

 

Nearby, two men worked to fit two bodies into the back of a taxi.

 

Yushu county, the area impacted by the quakes, is overwhelmingly Tibetan — 93 percent by official statistics, though that does not include Han migrants who have moved in temporarily to open restaurants, take construction jobs or work in mines.

 

The area largely escaped the unrest that swept the Tibetan plateau in 2008. But authorities have periodically sealed off the area to foreign media and tourists.

 

On Friday, some survivors competed for the limited aid. A line of police held back anxious sunburned residents as aid workers unloaded packets of noodles, tents and other supplies.

 

"I saw trucks almost attacked by local people because of the lack of food and shelter," said Pierre Deve, program director at a community development organization, the Snowland Service Group. "It started yesterday, but you still see some things like this today. It's getting better. Chinese authorities are doing well."

 

Still, he said his aid group was relocating outside town in case things worsened.

 

A few people were still being found alive. China Central Television reported that a 13-year-old girl was pulled from a toppled two-story hotel after a sniffer dog alerted rescuers. And the state news agency Xinhua said a 43-year-old woman was rescued after being trapped for 50 hours with no food or water.

 

State media said more equipment to check for signs of life was on the way, along with 40,000 tents — enough to accommodate all the survivors.

 

Makeshift rescue teams of monks and fellow Tibetans said they would work until there was no one left to save.

 

"We wanted to help people and save lives," said Dengzeng Luosang, a monk from neighboring Sichuan province, as his crew pushed at a section of wall with wooden beams and yanked away a chunk of concrete with ropes.

 

Nearby, a dozen government rescue workers probed the debris with video cameras and heat sensors.

 

Both teams, one Tibetan and one largely Han Chinese, were likely to spend another cold night sleeping on a bus or in a tent after yet another meal of instant noodles.

 

"It doesn't matter if it is Han or Tibetan," Dengzeng said, wearing cotton work gloves and a simple face mask. "Life is precious." — AP

 

 

YOUNG CHINA QUAKE SURVIVOR SURVIVED BY SLEEPING IN

 

04/18/2010 | 10:20 AM - GMA News.TV

 

JIEGU, China — Her roommates used to call her a "lazy pig" for trying to sleep in before class. But Song Yuhuan’s slowness to get out of bed saved her life — the girls who rushed from their dorm were crushed by the walls collapsing in an earthquake that leveled their town and left 1,484 dead.

 

Song was trapped briefly by the quake on Wednesday morning, a leg and arm pinned under a wall of the third-floor room. Instead of panicking, she felt a steely calm as the others around her screamed.

 

"Stop screaming," she told them, "and I'll get out first and then I'll help you." An aftershock a few minutes later allowed her to slip free.

 

But three of her seven roommates died, and a fourth was still missing. Officials say more than 40 of her classmates at the Minorities Vocational School died, and at least 103 students in this remote Tibetan corner of western China were killed.

 

President Hu Jintao flew into the quake zone Sunday to visit victims, the official Xinhua News Agency reported. Hu cut short a trip to South America to deal with the disaster.

 

The exiled Dalai Lama said Saturday he'd like to visit the site, though he has never returned to China since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

 

"To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer them comfort," the Tibetan spiritual leader said. China hasn't commented but is unlikely to allow a visit after long accusing the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in Tibetan areas.

 

On Saturday, monks in face masks set ablaze piles of blanket-wrapped bodies in a mass cremation, as necessity forced them to break with the tradition of sky burials — leaving their dead out for vultures.

 

Hundreds of villagers sat watching on the hillside, while monks chanted and prayed for the dead.

 

Life also showed the first small signs of returning to normal, with residents crowding to buy food from makeshift sidewalk stores.

 

The ruddy-cheeked, 18-year-old Song continued to stand and watch as a rescue squad dug at the mangled pile of concrete that used to be her dorm. She was still wearing the tracksuit and purple sweat shirt with the word "Pittsburgh" she had on when the quake hit, and a pair of mismatched shoes.

 

Among the dead was her best friend, who had just put a drink for Song on their windowsill before running out when the shaking started and being crushed by the door frame. Song knew other victims. The class hunk, known for checking out his hair during class, was crushed by a wall as he rode his motorcycle to school.

 

Up to five students were thought to still be somewhere under the collapsed buildings.

 

"If the boss of the construction company were here, I would ask him, if his daughter was here, would he have used shoddy materials?" Song asked, her voice wavering and tears welling in her eyes. She looked at the half-flattened girls' dorm. "Why is this side still standing and this side flat?" Most of the buildings on the campus were still standing, if damaged, including the cafeteria, where most of the school’s 1,800 students were when the quake hit Wednesday morning.

 

"The cafeteria didn't collapse. If it had, it would have been much worse. The death toll would be much higher," said Danzhen Cairen, deputy chief of the local education bureau.

 

The quake destroyed more than a third of the school buildings in Jiegu and rendered the rest dangerous, according to a statement on the Qinghai provincial government’s news Web site. It said 684 students and teachers were wounded and another 73 were either buried in rubble or missing.

 

Shattered schools remain a sensitive issue in China, where a devastating 2008 quake killed thousands of students during class, and the buildings and code enforcement were found to be inferior. But Wednesday’s quake flattened schools and other buildings alike.

 

Overall, 312 people were still missing as of Saturday evening. Officials said another 12,088 were injured, including 1,394 seriously.

 

On Saturday, the first makeshift school started classes again, with 60 elementary and middle school students singing the national anthem, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. More classes were expected to resume Sunday.

 

In town, residents who had camped outdoors amid the debris and lived for days on water and instant noodles eagerly stuffed vegetables into plastic bags as a woman sold eggs and cans of soft drinks on the sidewalk, one of the first vendors to receive goods from out of town.

 

Officials said getting aid to the region, a 12-hour drive from the provincial capital, remained a problem. Only 22 planes of supplies had landed at Yushu’s small airport as of early Saturday morning. Vice Transport Minister Gao Hongfeng told reporters in Beijing that it may rain and snow in the next few days, complicating efforts.

 

Aid workers said the distribution of aid was better than just after the quake, when desperate residents fought for limited supplies.

 

"I can't talk now, several of our trucks are arriving," said a breathless Pierre Deve, program director at a community development organization, the Snowland Service Group.

 

Rescue work was shifting. "The past two days were focused on rescuing people, saving those trapped and digging out bodies. Now, we're trying to help people recover their valuables," said Chen Zhenyun, a member of a military rescue team.

 

Song, the student who survived by sleeping in, still hopes to find the large teddy bear she was hugging when the earthquake began.

 

But even she was starting to look toward the future.

 

"I grew up a lot with this earthquake. I buried my tears and turned them into motivation," she said. "When school starts again, I'm going to study hard and be a doctor. Then I can really help people." — AP

 

 

CHINESE PRESIDENT HU FLIES TO TIBETAN QUAKE ZONE

 

04/18/2010 | 12:35 PM - GMA News.TV

 

JIEGU, China — Chinese President Hu Jintao flew to the remote, mountainous Tibetan region devastated by an earthquake as the flow of rescue supplies picked up pace on Sunday.

 

Hu flew from Beijing after cutting short an official trip to South America to deal with the disaster that killed nearly 1,500 people in western China.

 

Residents could be seen at makeshift sidewalk stores buying food. The Ministry of Commerce said it was sending 30 modified vans that will become mobile stores.

 

Most survivors were living in tents and had basic food and clean water, said Zou Ming, head of the disaster relief at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told a news conference in Beijing.

 

Still, Zou said, getting aid to the region, which is a 12-hour drive from the provincial capital, remained a problem.

 

He said 25,000 tents, more than 50,000 cotton-padded quilts, and 850 tons of instant food and drinking water had been delivered to the quake zone.

 

The death toll stood at 1,484 people, Zou said, adding that another 312 people were still missing as of Saturday evening.

 

Some of the dead have been cremated. In a hillside ceremony Saturday, Buddhist monks in face masks set ablaze piles of blanket-wrapped bodies in a mass cremation, as necessity forced them to break with the local tradition of "sky burials" — leaving corpses on a platform to be devoured by vultures.

 

Rescue workers were still searching for survivors and bodies in schools. The quake destroyed more than a third of the school buildings in Jiegu and rendered the rest dangerous, according to a statement on the Qinghai provincial government’s news Web site. It said at least 103 students were killed, and another 684 students and teachers were wounded with 73 either buried in rubble or missing.

 

Shattered schools remain a sensitive issue in China, where a devastating 2008 quake killed thousands of students during class, and the buildings and code enforcement were found to be inferior. But Wednesday’s quake flattened schools and other buildings alike.

 

The first makeshift school started classes Saturday, with 60 elementary and middle school students singing the national anthem, the state-run Xinhua News Agency reported. More classes were expected to resume Sunday.

 

In town, residents who had camped outdoors amid the debris and lived for days on water and instant noodles eagerly stuffed vegetables into plastic bags as a woman sold eggs and cans of soft drinks on the sidewalk, one of the first vendors to receive goods from out of town.

 

The exiled Dalai Lama said Saturday he'd like to visit the site, though he has never returned to China since he fled Tibet in 1959 after a failed uprising against Chinese rule.

 

"To fulfill the wishes of many of the people there, I am eager to go there myself to offer them comfort," the Tibetan spiritual leader said. China hasn't commented but is unlikely to allow a visit after long accusing the Dalai Lama of fomenting separatism in Tibetan areas. — AP

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8627946.stm

Page last updated at 09:15 GMT, Sunday, 18 April 2010 10:15 UK

 

CHINA PRESIDENT VISITS QUAKE ZONE

 

Chinese President Hu Jintao has visited survivors of last week's earthquake on a remote Tibetan plateau, as the death toll rose to more than 1,700 people.

 

A few people are being found alive four days after the quake, including a 68-year-man trapped beneath the rubble.

 

The Dalai Lama has appealed to China to allow him to make a similar visit.

 

Officials say people now have basic shelter, food and water, but it is not easy to get supplies to the quake-zone 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea-level.

 

Also on Sunday, the death toll from Wednesday's 6.9-magnitude earthquake in Qinghai province was raised to 1,706 and 256 missing, the official Xinhua news agency said.

 

President Hu, cutting short a summit in South America, arrived at Jiegu township, high in the Qinghai mountains, and encouraged rescuers to keep working.

 

"Rescuing those people who are trapped is still the main task. We must treasure each life," Mr Hu said in Datong Village, state media reported.

 

One elderly man who had spent 100 hours under the rubble was pulled to safety. His condition is now stable, Xinhua said.

 

But the emphasis has shifted, says the BBC's Quentin Sommerville in Beijing, as locals and monks have been cremating the dead.

 

In this Buddhist part of China, the dead are usually left to the elements and vultures, but because so many were killed by the earthquake, traditional ceremonies were not possible and huge funeral pyres were built.

 

The Dalai Lama, the exiled Tibetan spiritual leader who was born in Qinghai province, appealed on Saturday to the Chinese authorities to allow him to visit the quake zone, where another 12,000 people were injured and 100,000 made homeless.

 

It is thought highly unlikely that the Chinese government will agree to his request.

 

Loved by the people there, he is hated by Beijing, who says his requests for freedom for Tibetans are ploy to achieve independence, our correspondent adds.

[nancyk58]

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO ICELAND AND AIR TRAFFIC ON 18 APRIL 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN ICELAND (3RD POST WITH NEWS ON 18 APRIL 2010)

 

EUROPE's AIRLINES AND AIRPORTS QUESTION FLIGHT BANS

 

Europe's airlines and airports have called for an immediate reassessment of flight restrictions imposed because of volcanic ash from Iceland.

 

Two bodies that represent most of Europe's airlines and airports say they question the extent of the flight restrictions currently imposed.

 

Airlines that have carried out test flights say planes showed no obvious damage after flying through the ash.

 

Millions of travellers have been hit by four days of air travel disruption.

 

The disruption is said to be greater than the shutdown that followed the 9/11 attacks.

 

About 20 European countries have closed their airspace and some have extended flight bans into Monday.

 

The flight bans came amid fears that the ASH - A MIXTURE OF GLASS, SAND AND ROCK PARTICLES - can seriously damage aircraft engines. Airlines are estimated to be losing some £130m ($200m) a day.

 

The two airline bodies, ACI Europe and AEA, said: "The eruption of the Icelandic volcano is not an unprecedented event and the procedures applied in other parts of the world for volcanic eruptions do not appear to require the kind of restrictions that are presently being imposed in Europe."

 

One of the airlines that carried out tests over the weekend was Dutch carrier KLM.

 

Its chief executive Peter Hartman, who was on board, said there was "nothing unusual" about the flight.

 

"If the technical examination confirms this... we then hope to get permission as soon as possible to partially restart our operations," he added.

 

Steven Verhagen, vice-president of the Dutch Airline Pilots Association, told the Associated Press news agency: "In our opinion there is absolutely no reason to worry about resuming flights."

 

Meanwhile, British Airways was conducting its own test flight on Sunday afternoon, with Willie Walsh, a trained pilot, on board. The BBC's business editor, Robert Peston, understands that the airline fears it might not be allowed to fly normal services until Thursday at the earliest.

 

Germany's two biggest airlines, Lufthansa and Air Berlin, also said they had carried out test flights without apparent damage, as did Air France.

 

Air Berlin spokeswoman Diana Daedelow told the BBC: "It is astonishing that these findings... have seemingly been ignored in the decision-making process of the aviation safety authorities."

 

WORSENING DISRUPTION

 

British Airways is due to conduct test flights over the Atlantic later on Sunday. Results are expected on Monday.

 

However BBC business editor Robert Peston says BA and other airlines are working on the assumption that they will not be allowed to fly until Thursday at the earliest.

 

UK Transport Secretary Lord Adonis, said "urgent discussions" were taking place between European and international agencies to ease the chaos.

 

"We want to be able to resume flights as soon as possible, but safety remains my paramount concern," he said.

 

Weather experts say wind patterns mean the cloud is not likely to move far until later in the week.

 

Brian Flynn, head of operations at Eurocontrol - which co-ordinates air traffic control in 38 nations - said aviation authorities were dealing with an "unknown phenomenon", but dismissed suggestions they were being over-cautious.

 

"With the over-riding objective of protecting the travelling public, these exceptional measures have to be taken," he said.

 

Meanwhile travel disruption worsened on Sunday. Eurocontrol said only 4,000 flights were expected in European airspace, against 24,000 normally.

 

On Saturday there were 5,000 flights. All but 55 of 337 scheduled flights by US carriers to and from Europe were also cancelled.

 

POLISH FUNERAL

 

Since Thursday, countries across northern and central Europe have either closed airspace or shut key airports.

 

Britain has extended a ban on most flights in its airspace until at least 0700 local time on Monday (0600 GMT).

 

Ireland is closing its airspace until 1200 GMT on Monday. Most French airports are to stay closed until Tuesday, the government has said.

 

However airports in northern Spain - including Barcelona - reopened on Sunday.

 

Ukraine opened Kiev airport, which had been closed since Saturday, enabling President Viktor Yanukovich to attend the funeral of Polish President Lech Kaczynski.

 

Many world leaders, including US President Barack Obama, were unable to attend the funeral of Mr Kaczynski, who was killed in a plane crash last week, because of the travel restrictions.

 

Commuters across northern Europe have sought other means of transport, packing out trains, buses and ferries.

 

Southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano began erupting for the second time in a month on Wednesday, sending a plume of ash 8.5km (5.3 miles) high into the air.

 

ICELAND VOLCANO CLOUD

 

LATEST NEWS

 

Airlines urge flight ban review

 

PM calls meeting on flight chaos

 

As the day unfolded

 

Stranded Britons face air chaos

 

Europe flight misery to drag on

 

Ash imperils bone marrow patients

 

Dan Snow's rescue mission halted

 

Volcano costing airlines '£130m a day'

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Yahoo! UK and Ireland: European airports and airspace closed by ash cloud - at 19 o'clock CET

 

Melbourne Age: Volcano puts Europe's economy at risk - at 17 o'clock CET

 

Reuters Factbox: European airports and airspace closed by ash cloud - at 15 o'clock CET

 

Pravda Eyjafjallajokull: Impending Catastrophe?

- at 1 o'clock CET

 

Scientific American FACTBOX-Airports and airspace closed by ash cloud

- at 16 o'clock CET, Sat. 27.4.10

 

 

LATEST NEWS from BBC World Services:

 

EU says weather forecast suggests half of scheduled flights may operate on Monday

 

European airports and airlines say eruption is not an 'unprecedented event'

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in relation to natural disasters: Brazil, China

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, PART I

 

The Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende on 17 April 2010: BRAZIL: THE STATUE OF JESUS CHRIST IN RIO UNAPPROACHABLE

 

The extremely bad weather that caused massive mudslides and killed up to 247 people in Rio de Janeiro's poor favela districts has also made it impossible to visit the largest sight in Rio - the 30 meter tall statue of Jesus Christ at the peak of the Corcovado mountain. Rocks, trees and mudslides have made the road through the Tijuca Forest National Park impassable, and it will take as long as 6 months to clean up the site. "But we hope to secure the road so that the bus can carry/transport tourists up to the statue again in a month or two," says Bernardo Issa who is the head of the Tijuca Forest National Park.

 

The figure (of Jesus Christ) which was sculpted by the French sculptor, Paul Landowski was unveiled in 1931. Last month it was wrapped up in a scaffolding for restoration / renovation. In 2007 the figure Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World.

 

Info from the Wikipedia:

Christ the Redeemer (Portuguese: O Cristo Redentor, formerly Portuguese: Christo redemptor) is a statue of Jesus Christ in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil; considered the largest Art Deco statue in the world.[1] The statue is 39.6 metres (130 ft) tall, including its 9.5 meter (31 feet) pedestal, and 30 metres (98 ft) wide. It weighs 635 tons (700 short tons), and is located at the peak of the 700 metres (2,300 ft) Corcovado mountain in the Tijuca Forest National Park overlooking the city. It is one of the tallest of its kind in the world.

The statue was struck by lightning during a violent electrical storm on Sunday, February 10, 2008 and suffered some damage on the fingers, head and eyebrows. A restoration effort was put in place by the Rio de Janeiro state government and archdiocese, to replace some of the outer soapstone layers and repair the lightning rods installed on the statue.

In 2010, graffiti, such as listing names of murdered people and phrases like "When the cat's away, the rats will play" was sprayed on the statue's head and right arm. Rio's mayor called it a crime against the nation and vowed to jail the vandals.

New Seven Wonders of the World

On 7 July 2007, Christ the Redeemer was named one of the New Seven Wonders of the World in a list compiled by the Swiss-based The New Open World Corporation. Leading corporate sponsors, including Banco Bradesco and Rede Globo, put large sums of money in the effort to have the statue voted into the top seven.

----------------------------

 

German ARDtext: CHINA: EARTHQUAKE SURVIVOR RESCUED

5 days after the massive earthquake in West China 2 survivors were pulled out of the rubble: A 68-year-old lady and a 4-year-old girl after 123 hours in the dark before rescue teams could pull them out. Relatives had supplied them with water and food through gaps in the debris.

According to experts, victims have no chance of surviving after 3 days. As many as 1,944 people were killed and more than 12,000 injured in the magnitude-6.9 earthquake according to new information.

 

Swedish SVT: CHINA: NUMBER OF CONFIRMED DEATHS AFTER EARTHQUAKE IN QINGHAI PROVINCE IN NORTHWEST CHINA HAS RISEN TO 1,944 ACCORDING TO CHINESE STATE MEDIA TODAY. MORE THAN 200 REMAIN MISSING.

 

Danish TV2 and DR1 Text-TV around noon CET: 4-YEAR-OLD GIRL PULLED OUT OF RUBBLE AFTER EARTHQUAKE

5 days a little girl survived being trapped under the rubble of a collapsed building in west China. 4-year-old Cairen Baji was trapped in the rubble as a massive earthquake last Wednesday struck the remote Qinghai province.

The little girl spent 123 hours in the dark before she was pulled out of the rubble today, Monday. Her relatives made sure to keep her alive by bringing her water and food on long bamboo canes through small gaps in the debris in the piles of mud and bricks.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8629293.stm

Page last updated at 10:20 GMT, Monday, 19 April 2010 11:20 UK

 

CHINA QUAKE SURVIVORS FOUND AS DEATH TOLL NEARS 2,000

Two survivors have been rescued from the rubble in China's Qinghai province, as the number of people killed in the quake five days ago reached 1,944.

 

Wujin Cuomao, 68, and a four-year-old girl, Cairen Baji, were found under a house near Jiegu in Yushu County, the worst-hit town, state media said.

 

They had been kept alive by water and food passed through gaps in the debris.

Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless in the remote region by the powerful 6.9-magnitude quake.

 

Another 12,135 were injured, many of them seriously, and 216 people are still missing, officials say.

 

China's CCTV broadcast images of the two survivors as they were taken for medical treatment.

 

They had been trapped under a bed in a village about 20km (13 miles) from Jiegu. It was not clear whether the two were related.

 

'NOTHING LEFT'

 

Officials say people in the quake zone now have basic shelter, food and water, but it has not been easy to get supplies to the area 4,000m (13,000ft) above sea-level.

 

Miao Chonggang, deputy head of the China Earthquake Administration, said some 15,000 rescue personnel were on the scene.

 

This included 11,000 soldiers, 2,800 firefighters and 1,500 search and rescue workers, he told Xinhua

 

One man, Zhang Zhaojun, said he had only received a tent so far and feared for his family's future.

 

"Life would be very difficult. All the houses here have collapsed and we don't have any economic means to support ourselves," he told Reuters.

 

"We have nothing. It is going to be very difficult for us."

 

Thousands of people have slept in the open since Wednesday's quake, despite freezing temperatures.

 

Ninety-seven percent of Yushu's population is ethnic Tibetan and hundreds of translators have been sent to the region.

 

Tibetan Buddhist monks have been heavily involved in the emergency operation, digging through the rubble for survivors, distributing aid and collecting bodies.

Many of the monks have travelled from other provinces to help.

 

"We have over 10,000 monks here for one reason - to save people," one monk told the Associated Press news agency on Monday.

 

On Sunday, the bodies of more than 700 quake victims were burned on vast funeral pyres.

 

The scale of the deaths meant that traditional Tibetan sky burials - where bodies are left in the open to be eaten by vultures - were impossible.

 

President Hu Jintao, who visited Qinghai on Sunday, has promised the region will be rebuilt.

 

On Saturday, the Dalai Lama appealed to the Chinese authorities to allow him to visit the quake zone.

 

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was born in Qinghai province but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago.

 

Correspondents say it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government - who see the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist - will agree to his request.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8629689.stm

Page last updated at 12:59 GMT, Monday, 19 April 2010 13:59 UK

 

FEAR FOR THE FUTURE IN QUAKE-HIT YUSHU

 

The powerful earthquake which struck Yushu in China's Qinghai province has left tens of thousands of people homeless. Arnold King, an American teaching English there, describes the situation for local people.

 

We've had a tough week. Everyone is feeling stressed out. Things are better now compared to the first couple of days after the quake.

 

There are several NGOs distributing food. Lack of food is not a problem anymore. The problem is with shelter, tents, blankets and warm clothing.

 

It's very cold here at night. We also need medical care. There are lots of injuries that need to be treated.

 

I still don't have news about many people. There are so many camps all over town, people are scattered all over the place and it's impossible to find the ones you know.

 

We made a little team - foreigners, some NGO people and some people from our camp and we try to do many different things, like food distribution or trying to reunite people. Nobody has a specific job, we just do whatever needs to be done.

Right now I am now on my bicycle heading towards the hills to bring food to people there.

 

There are people up in the hills who refuse to leave their destroyed houses, because they are afraid that looters will go through the rubble to steal their things. That's why they stay up there. It's most difficult to get aid to them.

 

'NUMBING EXPERIENCE'

 

The earthquake struck early in the morning. I was in bed and had to run out in my underwear. I couldn't immediately see any damage. Our area was a little bit better than the west part of the town. There was lots of dust.

 

When the dust settled, it became obvious how much damage there was. Especially up in the hills all the mud houses have collapsed.

 

That school where I was about to start teaching was completely destroyed. Fortunately, there was nobody inside at that time.

 

I ran to my students in the nearby school to make sure they were ok. People were standing outside, they were distressed and some were crying. We hugged each other.

 

We spend the next couple of days digging and trying to rescue trapped people. I wouldn't call it a rescue operation, because they were not coming out alive.

Those were my first dead bodies - it was a numbing experience.

 

Because some of my students died, when I see someone, it feels great. This morning I was very down and then one of my students just walked into my camp - it was such a great feeling.

 

It was very frustrating in the beginning. I didn't see much help from the government. They would come with their cameras, film some people being rescued alive and once they got their pictures, they would move away from a building, where there could be more trapped people.

 

Monks have been doing lots of the digging.

 

Now we are being told that we are not allowed to give out food. I am supposed to be gone from here. I was having my visa renewed when the earthquake happened. So when I went to collect my passport, the official told me to leave.

 

Why? Good question. I am assuming they don't want Westerners here. I will probably be gone in a few days.

 

There was a protest at the camps a few days ago about lack of food and although things are better now, there's got to be a constant influx of food supplies.

 

People are worried that they'll run out of food and some have started to secretly store food in their tents.

 

I can't put a number on the people who became homeless, but there are scores of camps and the biggest one is on the horse-racing festival ground. It's huge. Yushu has become a slum city.

 

People here know that this will be their home for months to come. Some are keeping high spirits, but others are desperate. Everyone is worried about the future.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in relation to natural disasters, part II - Iceland and Afghanistan

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, PART II

 

Danish TV2 TTV: THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION ON THE DECLINE

The volcanic eruption under the Icelandic glacier, Eyjafjallajökull, is apparently on the decline. "For almost 24 hours the ash plume has been below an altitude of 3 km according to the head of the Nordic Volcanological Center in Reykjavik, Iceland. According to forecasts the ash cloud hindering air traffic remain over Northern Europe for some days.

 

 

LATEST NEWS / Headlines from http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8630632.stm

Page last updated at 19:01 GMT, Monday, 19 April 2010 20:01 UK

 

EU MOVES TO EASE EUROPE FLIGHT CURBS

 

The EU has moved to ease air travel curbs imposed after much of Europe's airspace was closed because of the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.

 

Transport ministers said there would be a core no-fly area, another open to all flights and a third zone available for a limited service.

 

The move came as the UK, Germany, the Netherlands, France and Belgium said they would begin to reopen airspace.

 

Airline chiefs had lambasted officials over the flight ban.

 

Following talks with the bloc's 27 transport ministers by video conference, EU Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas told reporters in Brussels more planes would start flying from Tuesday.

 

EU transport commission spokeswoman Helen Kearns told the BBC they hoped to see a 10% or 15% increase in flights on Tuesday and another 10% increase on Wednesday.

 

"There will be a slow and progressive opening up of the European airspace," she said.

 

"It has been done based on the science and based on the principle that there can be no compromise on safety."

 

The airline industry says its losses have soared over $1bn (£650m; 740m euros), since much of Europe's airspace was closed five days ago because of ash from southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

 

British Airways was the latest airline to call the flight bans unnecessary.

 

However, a Nato F-16 fighter jet suffered engine damage after flying through the volcanic ash cloud, said one US official earlier.

 

In the high temperatures of an engine turbine, ash can turn to molten glass and paralyse the engine.

 

But experts said the volcano - which erupted last Wednesday for the second time in a month - was now spewing more steam and less ash.

 

Britain's air traffic control body said airspace in Scotland, parts of the north of England and Northern Ireland would reopen on Tuesday.

 

The two main German airlines, Lufthansa and Air Berlin, were granted exemptions from the flight ban to fly home thousands of stranded passengers.

 

France said it would reopen Lyon airport later on Monday, before opening air corridors for flights between Paris and southern French cities, and eventually all its other airports.

 

Some passenger flights will be allowed to leave Schiphol Airport in Amsterdam from Monday night, said the Dutch transport minister.

 

Belgium said it would begin reopening the country's airspace from Tuesday morning.

 

The International Air Transport Association (Iata) earlier lambasted European leaders for their inaction, calling the travel chaos a mess and an embarrassment.

Iata chief Giovanni Bisignani said: "The decision that Europe has made is with no risk assessment, no consultation, no co-ordination, no leadership."

 

Airspace closures were costing airlines $200m a day in lost revenue, he said.

 

'NO TIMER'

 

European airlines have asked the EU and national governments for financial compensation for the closure of airspace.

 

EU Trade Commissioner Karel De Gucht said the bloc's economy would suffer badly if the disruption continued for a long time.

 

"What makes me a little bit afraid is that there is no timer on this volcano," he told news agency Reuters.

 

The shroud of fine mineral dust particles from the volcano has spread from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south, and from Spain into Russia.

 

Airspace was closed, or partially closed, in more than 20 countries.

 

Italy's civil aviation authority shut the country's northern airspace until Tuesday morning.

 

But airports have reopened in Austria, Estonia, Finland, Hungary and Turkey, after authorities there decided there was no longer any risk.

 

In Spain, where all airports were open, the government offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving again.

 

The UK earlier deployed three Royal Navy warships to help pick up stranded passengers from Spain and the Channel ports.

 

The French railway company SNCF has said it will offer reduced fares and 80,000 extra seats between Paris and London this week.

 

LATEST NEWS:

 

Volcano cloud as it happened: 19 April

 

EU moves to ease curbs on flights

 

Airspace in northern UK to reopen

 

BA seeks compensation for chaos

 

Ash cloud causes sporting chaos

 

Exam change for stranded pupils

 

'Outrage' over flight price issue

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES (CET = Central European Time)

 

BusinessWeek: Europe to Phase Out Ban on Flying as Eruptions Ease (Update1) - at 22 o'clock CET

 

Sky News: Flights To Start In UK Tomorrow - at 21:45 o'clock CET

 

Daily Express: Ministers in talks to reopen skies - at 20 o'clock CET

 

Reuters Africa: EU ministers strike deal to reduce ash no-fly zone - at 20 o'clock CET

 

Irish Times: EU agrees to ease air restrictions - at 20 o'clock CET

------------------------

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8628901.stm

 

Page last updated at 06:52 GMT, Monday, 19 April 2010 07:52 UK

 

'SEVEN DEAD' AS EARTHQUAKE ROCKS AFGHANISTAN

 

At least 11 people were killed and more than 70 injured when an earthquake shook parts of northern Afghanistan, officials say

 

The Samangan province deputy governor said the quake hit just before midnight local time on Sunday.

 

Samangan is 190km (120 miles) north-west of the capital Kabul and the same distance from Mazar-e-Sharif city.

 

The 5.7 magnitude quake occurred at a depth of 10km, the US Geological Survey reported.

 

It was felt in Kabul and the neighbouring countries of Uzbekistan and Tajikistan, the Associated Press news agency reported.

 

EARTHQUAKE REGION

 

Deputy governor Ghulam Sakhi Baghlani told the BBC that the casualties were in the Dara-e-Suf district of Samangan and that the toll could rise.

 

He added that 300 houses were damaged and hundreds of cattle killed.

 

Landslides sparked by the quake had blocked roads, making even more arduous what was already an eight-hour drive along winding mountain trails from the provincial capital of Aybak, the Associated Press said.

 

Three civil defence units had been sent to check on the damage and casualties.

 

Earthquakes are common in Afghanistan and particularly in the Hindu Kush region.

 

In 2002, a 5.3 quake in Baghlan province, which is next to Samangan, killed about 1,000 people.

 

And in 1998, two earthquakes measuring 5.9 and 6.6. killed more than 6,000 people along the border with Tajikistan.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in relation to natural disasters on 20 April 2010 / CHINA

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 20 APRIL 2010

 

CHINA

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: DAY OF MOURNING FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

In China the authorities have decided to hold a national day of mourning for the more than 2,000 victims of last week's powerful earthquake striking northwestern China.

The victims will be commemorated/remembered tomorrow exactly one week after the magnitude-6.9 earthquake which struck the remote mountainous area of Yushu near Tibet.

195 are still reported missing, and the rescue operation continues. Many are still trapped in the rubble in the town in the region.

Yesterday, an elderly woman and a woman in her 30s were rescued after having been trapped for 130 hours in the rubble/debris.

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV: CHINA MOURNS FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

Tomorrow, Wednesday, is national day of mourning in China. The Chinese leaders and population will commemorate / remember the more than 2,000 victims killed in connection with a powerful earthquake last week.

The magnitude-6.9 earthquake struck the remote Qinghai province close to Tibet. The Chinese flag will be flown at half mast at China's embassies and consulates abroad as well as in China.

More than 6,000 have been rescued / pulled out of the rubble alive, and rescuers still work at finding more survivors.

 

German ZDFtext: CHINA: DEATH TOLL RISEN TO MORE THAN 2,000

6 days after the massive earthquake on the Tibetan plateau in the province of Qinghai, the death toll has risen to 2,039 according to the Chinese news agency Xinhua. There have been more than 1,200 aftershocks after the massive magnitude-6.9 earthquake last Wednesday. 195 remain missing.

The Chinese government has decreed a one-day state mourning on Wednesday. In front of all official buildings in China and Chinese embassies abroad, the Chinese flag will be flown at half mast.

 

German ARDtext: CHINA: DEATH TOLL NOW HIGHER THAN 2,000

6 days after the massive earthquake on the Tibetan plateau in the province of Qinghai the death toll has risen to 2,046. Almost 200 remain missing in the rubble in the hard-hit Yushu county. Snow and hail made the fate more difficult for thousands of homeless. - China's government decreed that Wednesday is to be a national day of mourning. At 10 o'clock the official activities in the affected Qinghai province will stop for 3 minutes and the dead will be commemorated / remembered.

 

 

CHINA TO HOLD NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR QUAKE DEAD

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8631354.stm

Page last updated at 07:50 GMT, Tuesday, 20 April 2010 08:50 UK

 

China is to hold a national day of mourning for victims of the powerful earthquake in Qinghai province.

Flags will be flown at half mast across the country on Wednesday as a mark of respect, one week after the quake hit.

The announcement came as the number of people known to have been killed in the quake reached 2,039.

Officials say weather conditions are expected to deteriorate in the next few days, further hampering rescue and relief efforts in the remote region. Another 195 people are still missing after the 6.9-magnitude quake and 12,135 have been injured, state news agency Xinhua reported.

Rescue workers are continuing to dig through the rubble in and around the worst-hit town of Jiegu in Yushu County.

Hopes were raised by the rescue of three people on Monday who had survived nearly a week under the ruins of buildings.

A four-year-old girl and an elderly woman were rescued from a house near Jiegu and later in the day, a woman in her 30s was pulled alive from her home.

 

SCHOOLS OPEN

Tens of thousands of people have been left homeless by the quake and are living in temporary shelters or tents in freezing overnight temperatures.

The officials have warned that temperatures in the Himalayan plateau region are expected to fall further.

We estimate that in the next few days, the rain, snow and low temperatures will harm relief work," the National Meteorological Centre said. It warned that those working in transport, medicine and health should "strengthen their guard".

Aid has been arriving in large amounts in the region, with convoys of trucks reportedly backed up for miles along the highway from the provincial capital, Xining.

Some schools have also reopened, although where school buildings have collapsed lessons have had to be held in tents.

Danzeng Jiangcuo, a maths teacher at Yushu No.3 Elementary School, said students were receiving psychological care as well as their usual lessons.

"We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore," he told Xinhua.

Ninety-seven percent of Yushu's population is ethnic Tibetan, and there were reports that language difficulties were affecting relief work.

China's President Hu Jintao, who visited Jiegu at the weekend, has promised an all-out effort to rebuild the region.

 

'HOSTILE FORCES'

Tibetan Buddhist monks have been heavily involved in the emergency operation, digging through the rubble for survivors and distributing aid.

They have also been collecting bodies and holding funerals.

The Dalai Lama has appealed to the Chinese authorities to allow him to visit the quake zone.

The exiled Tibetan spiritual leader was born in Qinghai province but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago.

Correspondents say it is highly unlikely that the Chinese government - who see the Dalai Lama as a dangerous separatist - will agree to his request.

At a government meeting on Monday, China's top parliamentary advisor, Jia Qinglin, warned of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" in the quake's aftermath, the Associated Press reports.

He did not specifically mention the Dalai Lama but he and his supporters are often referred to as "hostile forces" by the Communist government.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in ICELAND on 20 April 2010

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 20 APRIL 2010

 

ICELAND

 

Swedish SVT: ONE CONSEQUENCE OF THE VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD IS LACK OF FOOD ON THE GROUP OF ISLANDS, SVALBARD

The volcanic ash cloud over North Europe has had consequences for food supplies on the group of islands, SVALBARD. When the sea is frozen, SVALBARD is totally dependent on food supplies by air.

The only store selling food in Svalbard's main town has been without milk, egg and fish for a week now. The hope is for the supplies to be resumed tomorrow (= Wednesday). In a couple of weeks - not before - the ice surrounding SVALBARD will begin to break up allowing supplies by ship.

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: THE VOLCANIC ERUPTION IN ICELAND WAS INTENSIFIED MONDAY EVENING. FORECASTS INDICATE THAT A CLOUD WITH MORE ASH IS MOVING EASTWARD.

Experts say that the volcano produces more lava.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8631238.stm

Page last updated at 11:56 GMT, Tuesday, 20 April 2010 12:56 UK

 

EUROPE STARTS TO RESUME FLIGHTS

Planes begin to take to the skies after five days of inactivity caused by a volcanic ash cloud, but many flights remain grounded.

 

A limited number of flights have taken off in northern Europe after five days of inactivity caused by the spread of volcanic ash from Iceland.

The Eurocontrol air traffic agency says it expects about half of flights over Europe to go ahead on Tuesday.

Planes have been departing from Paris, Amsterdam and Frankfurt among others - though many flights are still grounded.

A new ash cloud spreading from Iceland has meant that most of UK airspace, including London, remains closed.

The UK's air traffic control authority, Nats, says it is unlikely that the main airports in London will reopen on Tuesday.

A few flights have taken off from Scotland and Northern Ireland and there is limited airspace open over the north of England.

British Airways says it has cancelled all short-haul flights, but is hoping to operate long-haul flights after 1600 BST (1500 GMT).

The airline said this "remains subject to the full and permanent opening of airspace".

A Nats statement said the situation remained "dynamic" and that "the latest information from the Met Office shows that the situation today will continue to be variable".

In an effort to try to take control of the situation, EU transport ministers have created a core no-fly area, a limited-service zone and an open-skies area.

The Eurocontrol air traffic agency in Brussels says that some 14,000 of Europe's 27,500 daily flights are expected to fly on Tuesday.

The deputy director of operations, Brian Flynn, said: "The outlook is optimistic that bit by bit, hopefully in a few days' time, the situation will be restored to normal movement of air passengers in Europe."

The first flights left Amsterdam's Schiphol Airport late on Monday. Dutch Transport Minister Camiel Eurlings said his country was "taking a lead" in restarting flights, but warned that further suspensions might prove necessary if the situation worsened.

Swiss and northern Italian airspace has reopened. The Swiss authorities said test flights had shown a considerable reduction in the amount of ash in the atmosphere and posed no threat to passenger safety.

Flights have resumed out of Paris' Charles de Gaulle and Orly airports, which are operating at about 30% capacity.

The skies over Germany are to remain closed until 1800 GMT, with some exceptions.

The German carrier, Lufthansa, said it was planning about 200 flights on Tuesday, taking advantage of special permission to fly visually rather than relying on instruments and keeping in constant touch with air traffic controllers.

In Spain, where all airports are open, the government has offered to let Britain and other European countries use its airports as stopovers to get passengers moving.

Our correspondent in Madrid, Sarah Rainsford, says that British passengers are starting to arrive - some from as far away as South Africa and Israel.

She says the British government is laying on 100 coaches to transport its stranded citizens on the final leg of their journey home.

 

FINANCIAL IMPACT

Meanwhile, the EU Commissioner for Transport, Siim Kallas, has rejected criticism that the EU took too long to respond to the crisis.

Addressing the European Parliament in Strasbourg, Mr Kallas said that all decisions were taken in accordance with existing and established rules.

Mr Kallas said that officials had had to delay decisions until "the ultimate truth" of the situation was known following test flights on Sunday.

He said the matter was not "in the hands of arbitrary decisions", but that the lives of people were at stake.

The International Air Transport Association on Monday labelled the chaos a mess and an embarrassment for Europe.

The body says its losses have soared to over $1bn (£650m; 740m euros), since much of Europe's airspace was closed last week because of ash from southern Iceland's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano.

In a sign of the crisis' impact on Asia's export-driven economies, the Japanese car giant, Nissan, says it is suspending several production lines due to the shortage of parts from Ireland. Honda will also partly halt production.

Experts say the volcano - which erupted last Wednesday for the second time in a month - has entered a new phase and is now producing more lava rather than ash and dust.

In the high temperatures of an engine turbine, ash can turn to molten glass and cripple the engine.

 

The shroud of fine mineral dust particles from the volcano has spread from the Arctic Circle in the north to the French Mediterranean coast in the south, and from Spain into Russia.

 

Other articles available at BBC World Services:

 

Live: Ash cloud as it happens

 

First UK flights take off

 

Satellite views of volcano

 

Weather: Wind set to shift

 

Correspondent reports

 

Maps of ash impact

 

Science behind the ban

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES (CET = Central European Time)

 

Build.co.uk: Airports Remain Closed As New Ash Cloud Heads For UK - at around 14 o'clock CET

 

The Independent New Europe flights give hope to stranded passengers - at around 13:30 o'clock CET

 

BusinessWeek Europe: Flights Resume Where Ash Thinnest; London Shut (Update3) - at around 13:30 o'clock CET

 

Sky News: Flights Limited As New Ash Cloud Moves In - at around 13:30 o'clock CET

 

CNN: Some flights resume amid new ash cloud - at around 12:30 o'clock CET

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8631889.stm

Page last updated at 10:36 GMT, Tuesday, 20 April 2010 11:36 UK

 

FORECAST WIND SHIFT MAY BLOW VOLCANIC ASH FROM EUROPE

 

A change in wind direction by the weekend could help blow Iceland's volcanic ash cloud away from Europe, a BBC meteorologist says.

 

North-westerly winds over the Atlantic have blown ash from an erupting volcano over the UK and Europe this week.

 

Much of the continent's airspace has been closed for fear the ash will damage plane engines.

 

BBC Weather's Matt Taylor warned ash blown away from Europe could cause problems for Canada instead.

 

WARNING FOR CANADA

 

"Weather conditions should be more favourable by the end of the week," Matt Taylor said.

 

A new high-pressure system will form in the Atlantic by the weekend.

 

"The wind should change to the opposite direction: it could start to disperse some of the stuff that has been blown over from Iceland," Mr Taylor said.

 

"As we move from Friday into the weekend, we will start to see south and south-westerly winds. Even if there is any fresh eruption, the ash should not be blown over the UK."

 

The weather pattern should continue to blow the ash cloud away into next week, Mr Taylor said.

 

But a respite for the UK and Europe means bad news elsewhere. "It means that ash will circulate over north-east Canada and the North Atlantic," Mr Taylor added.

 

However ash will continue to fall on Europe. "It is up there in the atmosphere, and factors like gravitational pull and rainfall will bring it back down."

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in HAITI, Australia, Iceland and China

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 19 to 21 APRIL 2010

 

HAITI

 

METROXPRESS (free paper) on 21 April 2010: HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE

 

In spite of the massive foreign aid the rebuilding of the destroyed country is very slow!!

 

HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP (The essence of this article is as follows):

 

The Minister for youth and sport, Lescouflair Evans says: We must start playing FOOTBALL again, and we must make the young people go in for SPORTS again. We are TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM = SYLVIO CATOR, THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI WHICH IS CURRENTLY TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES OR ABOUT 6,000 HAITIANS WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

Thierry Regenass, regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings hope and joy".

 

I'll translate these two articles tomorrow.

 

 

AUSTRALIA

 

5.0 QUAKE HITS WESTERN AUSTRALIAN MINING TOWN

 

04/20/2010 | 11:57 AM - GMA News.TV

 

PERTH, Australia — A 5.0-magnitude earthquake struck Australia's major gold-mining region in the west Tuesday, collapsing roofs of several buildings and prompting the evacuation of mines, schools and hospitals.

 

There were no immediate reports of injuries.

 

The quake hit at 8:17 a.m. local time (0017 GMT, 11:17 p.m. Monday EDT) about six miles (10 kilometers) southwest of the town of Kalgoorlie-Boulder, according to Geoscience Australia.

 

Roofs fell in hospitals and other buildings, and balconies fell off some hotels.

 

Geoscience Australia seismologist David Jepsen said the quake was fairly shallow and would have been felt several hundred kilometers away.

 

"This is the largest event in the last 25 years in this region, and it might be the largest since we started recording," Jepsen said.

 

All mines were evacuated and all miners accounted for, Paul Howes of the Australian Workers Union told Sky News Australia.

 

"We'll make sure no mines are opened until all the safety checks are done," Howes said.

 

More than 50 mines operate in Kalgoorlie, 370 miles (595 kilometers) east of the Western Australia state capital of Perth. The Super Pit — Australia's largest open-pit gold mine — produces up to 850,000 ounces of gold every year.

 

The area was founded on gold fields in 1893. — AP

 

 

ICELAND

 

German ZDFtext: ICELANDIC VOLCANIC ACTIVITY HAS BECOME LESS

 

The activity of the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull has decreased in the last couple of days. The intensity of the eruptions has declined by 80% according to the spokeswoman of Iceland's civil defense today. The volcanic ash cloud is moving in an altitude of less than 3,000 m. A change in wind direction should blow volcanic ash away from western Europe. Instead the volcanic ash will be blown towards the Atlantic.

 

 

ICELANDIC VOLCANO ERUPTION 'DECLINING'

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8635820.stm

Page last updated at 16:04 GMT, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 17:04 UK

 

The eruption from the Icelandic volcano that has caused travel chaos across Europe is declining according to Professor Pall Einarsson of the University of Iceland.

The Geophysicist said that the Eyjafjallajokull volcano would continue to be monitored closely but "the explosive part of the eruption" was considerably reduced.

 

 

WIND CHANGES EXPECTED TO CLEAR ASH FROM WESTERN EUROPE

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8634828.stm

Page last updated at 11:17 GMT, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 12:17 UK

 

Weather forecaster Jay Wynne says a change in wind direction should blow volcanic ash away from western Europe at the weekend.

------------------------------

 

CHINA

 

WORK IN CHINA’s QUAKE ZONE SWITCHES TO REBUILDING

 

04/19/2010 | 01:09 PM - GMA News.TV

 

JIEGU, China — Heavy construction machinery and trucks carrying aid to earthquake survivors clogged streets on Monday morning as this shattered town in remote western China turned to rebuilding, and search teams and other rescuers left.

 

Thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks stayed in Jiegu, however, picking at rubble with shovels, performing funeral rites and throwing food from the backs of trucks.

 

Bedraggled survivors streamed from their tents and chased the trucks, the women scooping bread rolls and packets of instant noodles into the aprons of their traditional fur-lined robes.

 

Army trucks sprayed water on roads to reduce dust, and mobile toilets arrived — just in time as the spread of diseases was becoming a concern after more than five days without running water.

 

Classes resumed at Yushi No. 3 Elementary School, with hundreds of students taking lessons in classrooms set up in tents. Most wore the blue-and-white school uniforms they had on when their classrooms collapsed on Wednesday.

 

The quake killed 1,706 people and injured 12,128. The official Xinhua News Agency reported that at least 66 children and 10 teachers died, but that total was likely to climb as more remained missing.

 

The children trooped into the tents filled with small wooden desks and chairs salvaged from the rubble.

 

"Confidence! Hope!" the children chanted, led by volunteers from Beijing who had organized the temporary classrooms and were planning to build permanent ones.

 

"On the one hand students are coming back to resume classes. On the other hand, we are giving the students some psychological treatment after the disaster. We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore," said Danzeng Jiangcuo, a sixth-grade math teacher.

 

"Most of the students are living with their families and relatives. Every morning we notify them that classes start at 9 a.m. and finish at noon," he said.

 

Painful reminders of the disaster were everywhere. Just behind the tent classrooms, hundreds of monks in crimson robes sat on the playground singing sutras, or prayers, for about a dozen earthquake victims whose bodies were stacked in the back of a nearby truck.

 

Their mournful voices mixed with the sounds of the children reciting their lessons.

 

"It’s Buddhist nature to help those in need," said Cijia, a 21-year-old Buddhist student from a school in neighboring Sichuan province 300 kilometers (185 miles) away.

 

He said monks have been performing funeral rites twice a day, morning and night.

 

The 1,200 monks from his school have no income and paid 500 yuan to 600 yuan ($ 73 to $87) each out of their pocket money to volunteer in Jiegu.

 

The surge in aid came as President Hu Jintao, who cut short an official trip to South America to deal with the disaster, arrived Sunday to inspect relief work at the remote Tibetan region where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule.

 

He visited displaced families living in tents and promised that the Communist Party and the government was doing everything they could. Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

 

Government-issued blue tents that were sparsely dotted around town in recent days could be seen in abundance, with a horse racing track turned refugee camp, the largest of several tent cities in Jiegu. — AP

 

 

3 RESCUED FIVE DAYS AFTER STRONG CHINA QUAKE

 

04/20/2010 | 09:39 AM - GMA News.TV

 

JIEGU, China — Relatives kept alive a 4-year-old girl and an elderly woman trapped by an earthquake under a collapsed house for almost a week in China by using bamboo poles to push water and rice through the rubble until rescuers saved them.

 

The rare good news came as the death toll in China's remote Tibetan region jumped to more than 2,000, with about 200 still missing.

 

But relief efforts could be hindered as snow began falling Tuesday on the high-altitude region. Snow and sleet are forecast for the next three days, with temperatures dropping by nearly 20 degrees Fahrenheit (10 degrees Celsius) to far below freezing, according to Tsering Tashi, deputy chief of the Yushu Prefecture Meteorological Bureau, the official Xinhua News Agency reported.

 

Rescuers also freed a third person Monday from the rubble of a hillside house that toppled when the magnitude-6.9 temblor struck Yushu county of Qinghai province Wednesday morning, state broadcaster China Central Television reported.

 

The death toll from the quake rose to 2,039, while more than 12,100 people were hurt, according to relief officials, Xinhua said. Relief and reconstruction work accelerated, with power and telecommunications services largely restored and aid convoys arriving in droves.

 

The rescue of Wujian Cuomao, 68, and Cairen Baji, 4, from a crumbled home in a village about 13 miles (20 kilometers) from the hardest-hit town of Jiegu was hailed by state media as a miracle and repeatedly played on television news broadcasts.

 

Footage showed workers in orange suits and safety helmets lifting the bewildered-looking white-haired woman onto a stretcher and into an ambulance. The visibly tired child lay wrapped in a blanket in the arms of a rescuer. Debris had pressed down on the girl's chest, CCTV said, but she suffered no injuries. The report said the woman's life was not in danger.

 

The woman and child were protected by a wooden bed frame, which they huddled under as the house fell to pieces around them. A young woman CCTV said was a relative pointed to an 8-inch (20-centimeter) gap between the floor and a corner of the broken bed frame.

 

"When the earthquake happened the house fell and they were buried under here," said the woman, whose name was not given. "We sent them food every day."

 

CCTV reported relatives used bamboo poles to push water and rice through the narrow gap to the trapped pair. Also Monday, rescuers freed a Tibetan woman named Ritu from her collapsed house on a hillside, CCTV said. Half her body had been trapped by the debris, the report said, but her vital signs were stable.

 

In Jiegu, thousands of Tibetan Buddhist monks picked at rubble with shovels, performed funeral rites and threw food to survivors from the backs of trucks.

 

Efforts were shifting toward rebuilding to help the tens of thousands left homeless in the elevated area where temperatures can hit lows of 27 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 3 degrees Celsius).

 

Convoys of military supply trucks were at a standstill, backed up for miles (kilometers) on the main road heading into town. At a supply depot set up on the town's edge, huge stacks of bottled water were piled up outside a warehouse. More relief goods rumbled past mountainside hamlets where residents pitched government-provided tents along a two-lane highway that is the only connection between Jiegu and the provincial capital of Xining, the nearest big city.

 

The Chinese government has poured in aid to the remote Tibetan region, where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule. Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

 

In a sign of tensions, Jia Qinglin, China's top parliamentary adviser and the Communist Party's No. 4 ranking leader, warned at a meeting Monday of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" to the disaster-relief effort, CCTV reported.

 

Jia did not mention any specific individuals. The Chinese government often refers to supporters of the Dalai Lama and advocates of Tibetan independence as "hostile forces." The exiled spiritual leader said Saturday he'd like to visit the quake site. China is unlikely to allow a visit.

 

In Jiegu, classes resumed at Yushi No. 3 Elementary School, with hundreds of students taking lessons in classrooms set up in tents.

 

"Confidence! Hope!" the children chanted, led by volunteers from Beijing who organized the temporary classrooms and planned to build permanent ones.

 

"On the one hand, students are coming back to resume classes. On the other hand, we are giving the students some psychological treatment after the disaster," said Danzeng Jiangcuo, a sixth-grade math teacher. "We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore." — AP

 

 

German ZDFtext: CHINA: STATE MOURNING FOR EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

China mourns the 2,064 people who died in the earthquake a week ago. In the hard-hit Qinghai province all official activities stopped for 3 minutes of silence. Across China the flags were flown at half mast in front of all official buildings. There were no entertaining programmes on the telly, and the theaters and cinemas are closed today. Last Wednesday on 14 April 2010 the magnitude 6.9-earthquake shook the Tibetan plateau in the West Chinese province. More than 170 remain missing in the rubble.

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: CHINA REMEMBERS THE EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS

Today, Wednesday 21 April 2010 is national day of mourning in China commemorating (in memory of) the victims of the earthquake last Wednesday in the remote Qinghai province near Tibet. More than 2,000 died, of which several hundred school children. Various ceremonies were held to remember the many earthquake victims. Across China the flags were flown at half mast in front of all official buildings.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS / CHINA ON 21 APRIL 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS / CHINA ON 21 APRIL 2010

 

CHINA HOLDS NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING FOR QUAKE DEAD

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8631354.stm

Page last updated at 14:05 GMT, Wednesday, 21 April 2010 15:05 UK

 

China has observed a national day of mourning for victims of the powerful earthquake in Qinghai province.

 

Flags flew at half mast across the country and public entertainment was curtailed as a mark of respect, one week after the quake hit.

 

The official death toll from the 6.9-magnitude tremor has now reached 2,039.

 

Tens of thousands of people were left homeless by the earthquake, and relief supplies have been pouring into the worst-hit area around Jiegu town.

 

Another 175 people are still missing since the earthquake and more than 12,000 are injured, the state news agency Xinhua reports.

 

The BBC Quentin Sommerville in Beijing says public entertainment, including some television channels, was suspended nationwide while cinemas, karaoke bars and internet cafes were closed.

 

The 24-hour ban extended online, with music and film websites suspended. The biggest websites and newspaper mastheads turned black or grey for the day.

 

President Hu Jintao led the country's top leaders in observing a three-minute silence, which was broadcast on state TV.

 

"For our countrymen who have suffered from the earthquake in Yushu, Qinghai, let us mourn in silence," he said.

 

'BRIGHTER TOMORROW'

 

In the Qinghai provincial capital Xining, thousands of mourners dressed in black stood silently for three minutes as light snow fell. Car horns and sirens blared throughout the city.

 

"The earthquake showed no mercy, but we have love," said Qiang Wei, the provincial Communist Party secretary.

 

"Let us wipe our tears off and strive to meet a brighter tomorrow and let a more beautiful, wealthy and socialist Yushu stand on the vast Tibetan Plateau."

 

Tens of thousands of people are now living in temporary shelters or tents in freezing overnight temperatures.

 

The officials have warned that temperatures in the Himalayan plateau region are expected to fall further.

 

Aid has been arriving in large amounts in the region, with convoys of trucks reportedly backed up for miles along the highway from Xining.

 

Some schools have also reopened, although where school buildings have collapsed lessons have had to be held in tents.

 

Danzeng Jiangcuo, a maths teacher at Yushu No.3 Elementary School, said students were receiving psychological care as well as their usual lessons.

"We are trying to help them forget the disaster and not feel scared anymore," he told Xinhua.

 

Emergency teams are continuing to dig through the rubble in and around Jiegu in Yushu County, close to the epicentre of the quake.

 

Hopes of finding more people were raised on Monday by the rescue of three people who had survived nearly a week under the ruins of buildings.

 

A four-year-old girl and an elderly woman were rescued from a house near Jiegu and later in the day, a woman in her 30s was pulled alive from her home.

 

President Hu, who visited Jiegu at the weekend, has promised an all-out effort to

rebuild the region.

 

GOING HOME

 

Tibetan Buddhist monks and nuns have been heavily involved in the emergency operation, working alongside the army and other rescue workers, digging through the rubble for survivors, distributing aid and collecting bodies for holding funerals.

 

But there were reports that some monks had been told to go home and leave rescue work to the government.

 

Yixi Luoren, who heads a monastery in Sichuan province, said 120 of the 150 monks he had travelled with had gone home following a telephone call from the authorities.

 

"The authorities didn't tell us the reason, but we assume they might have worried that there are too many people there and wanted us to come home safely," the Associated Press news agency quoted him as saying.

 

Ninety-seven percent of Yushu's population is ethnic Tibetan. The Tibetan plateau has in the past been the scene of ethnic conflict.

 

However, the state media has portrayed the response to the quake as proof of underlying ethnic harmony.

 

The Dalai Lama, the Tibetan spiritual leader, had asked to return to Qinghai to comfort the victims.

 

He was born in Qinghai province but has not set foot in China since a failed Tibetan uprising more than 50 years ago.

 

Our correspondent says that while he is loved by China's Tibetans, he is hated by the Chinese government, which regards him as a separatist. The government has ignored his request.

 

At a government meeting on Monday, China's top parliamentary advisor, Jia Qinglin, warned of "hostile forces from abroad working to cause disruptions and sabotage" in the quake's aftermath, the Associated Press reports.

 

He did not specifically mention the Dalai Lama but he and his supporters are often referred to as "hostile forces" by the Communist government.

 

 

By Michael Bristow, BBC News Beijing

 

There is no doubting the sorrow felt by Chinese people about the Qinghai earthquake. Officials, rescuers and ordinary people were genuinely moved as they stood in silence on a day of mourning.

 

People have donated millions of dollars to the relief effort - a true sign of how much they care. The authorities have allowed the media to report in full this public show of grief for those who died, most of whom were Tibetans.

 

Senior Chinese leaders will perhaps be hoping this response will help improve relations between Beijing and its Tibetan population. That relationship has been strained since unrest in Tibetan areas in March 2008. Jia Qinglin, a member of the Chinese Communist Party's all-powerful politburo standing committee, said as much. He said China needs to emphasise unity and stability in the earthquake area, as well as carry out relief work.

 

 

CHINA MOURNS 2,064 VICTIMS IN DEVASTATING QUAKE

 

04/21/2010 | 01:57 PM - GMA News.TV

 

BEIJING – Bowing their heads in silent tribute, thousands of officials, soldiers and civilians gathered Wednesday in ceremonies across China to mourn the 2,064 victims killed in a devastating quake that hit one week ago in a remote Tibetan region.

 

At the quake's epicenter in Yushu County in western Qinghai province, hundreds of rescue workers, residents and children in school uniforms stood silently for a ceremony held on a hill with rubble from destroyed buildings behind them. The solemn gathering was aired live on television.

 

Red Chinese flags flew at half-staff as the blaring of horns and sirens from cars, police vehicles and ambulances sounded in the background after three minutes of silence that began at 10 a.m.

 

Dressed in black with a white flower pinned to his chest, Qiang Wei, Communist Party secretary for Qinghai province, called on people to unite and rebuild in the wake of the quake, which also left more than 12,000 people injured.

 

"Today, we are gathered here to pay our tribute and send our condolences.... The earthquake showed no mercy, but we have love. Let us wipe our tears off ... and strive to meet a brighter tomorrow and let a more beautiful, wealthy and socialist Yushu stand on the vast Tibetan Plateau," he said.

 

Light snow fell in Xining, Qinghai's capital, as tens of thousands gathered in the town's main square for formal ceremonies. Police, government officials, military troops and regular citizens lined up to lay white flowers on tables laden with bouquets.

 

In Beijing, President Hu Jintao, along with China's top leaders, paid a silent tribute in Tiananmen Square to the victims of the earthquake.

 

A CHARITY SHOW Tuesday night, broadcast nationwide by China Central Television, raised 2.175 billion yuan ($319 million) for the quake-hit region, with donations mainly coming from the country's private and state-owned enterprises, entertainers, dignitaries, and news organizations.

 

China ordered all flags be flown at half-staff and called a halt to all entertainment, including online games and sports events, for the national day of mourning.

 

Similar arrangements were made two years ago following a larger and deadlier earthquake in southern Sichuan province that left nearly 90,000 dead or missing. Such high-profile displays of government concern are also likely aimed at tamping any potential unrest among the mostly Tibetan victims.

 

Tibetan anger over political and religious restrictions and perceived economic exploitation by the ethnic majority Han Chinese have sometimes erupted in violence.

 

The Chinese government has poured in aid to Tibet and surrounding regions, such as Qinghai, where residents have frequently chafed under Chinese rule.

 

The Voice of Tibet radio service, based is Oslo, Norway, said Chinese authorities have jammed broadcasts of recorded messages from Tibetans in exile to family and friends living in the quake region.

 

"We want basically to give a platform for Tibetans and other sympathizers to convey their messages to the victims of the earthquake, rescue workers and aid agencies," Voice of Tibet editor-in-chief Karma Yeshi said in a statement.

 

Oystein Alme, a spokesman for the service, told The Associated Press that Chinese authorities have blocked the broadcasts since the service began transmitting them Monday.

 

Alme said the service urged the Beijing government not to block Wednesday's transmission, saying the messages would be broadcast separately from the service's politically oriented programming. — AP

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters on 22 April 2010

 

I had expected to translate the two articles from yesterday's MetroXpress regarding HAITI, but now I cannot find the newspaper.

 

The headline of the entire page was: "HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE".

 

The headline of the first article was: IN SPITE OF THE MASSIVE FOREIGN AID, THE REBUILDING OF THE DESTROYED COUNTRY IS VERY SLOW.

 

This headline was the most informative thing in relation to the current situation in HAITI !! - I found the rest of that article rather disappointing = boring.

 

I translated the most important parts of the second article named: HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP.

The essence of that article is as follows:

 

"The Minister for Youth and Sports, Lescouflair Evans says: "WE MUST START PLAYING FOOTBALL GAMES AGAIN, AND WE MUST MAKE THE YOUNG PEOPLE GO IN FOR SPORTS AGAIN."

WE ARE TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM. THE STADIUM IS SYLVIO CATOR, THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI WHICH IS CURRENTLY TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES OR ABOUT 6,000 HAITIANS WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

Thierry Regeness, the regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings HOPE and JOY".

 

I remember reading that FIFA is going to pay for the rebuilding of the football stadium.

 

This article upset me because it seemed that the football-loving government said: FOOTBALL ABOVE EVERYTHING - FOOTBALL IS THE ANSWER TO OUR PROBLEMS. Where can the homeless go? - if I may ask.

 

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 22 APRIL 2010

 

Swedish SVT: VOLCANIC ACTIVITY IN ICELAND CONTINUES TO BE STABLE

The volcano at Eyjafjallajökull continues to be stable today, Thursday even though the eruption continues - according to the authorities on Iceland.

The smoke cloud remains low and the tremors have not increased, said a spokesman for the authorities in charge of rescue operations on Iceland.

Seismologists said Wednesday that the cloud of smoke had diminished to "insignificant" levels.

 

German ZDFtext: CHINA: SNOW STORM DELAYS RELIEF IN THE EARTHQUAKE-HIT REGION

A massive snow storm has hindered relief for earthquake survivors on the Tibetan plateau and worsened the fate of the homeless. The death toll has risen to 2,183, and 84 remain missing under the rubble.

The survivors seek protection against the heavy snowfall and the powerful winds in thin tents. Snow is also forecast for the next couple of days. According to the Chinese government the rescue teams have reached all affected villages.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in HAITI / news on 23 April 2010

 

UPDATES ON 23 APRIL 2010 OF THE SITUATION RELATED TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

HAITI

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 as well as Swedish SVT: UN ESTIMATES THAT 300,000 DIED IN THE DEVASTATING HAITI EARTHQUAKE

 

The earthquake in Haiti on 12 January 2010 cost between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives, says the head of the UN mission in Haiti.

 

So far Haiti's government has indicated that more than 220,000 were killed in the earthquake.

 

- Now more than 100 days have passed since the disaster that cost between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives according to a statement made by Edmond Mulet who is in charge of UNs mission in HAITI. Mulet also says that 300,000 were injured and that more than 1 million were made homeless.

 

Swedish SVT1: Mulet wants UNs Security Council to send additional 800 policemen to maintain law and order in the refugee camps.

 

The death toll in the Haiti earthquake is twice as much as the death toll after the atomic bomb over Hiroshima in Japan at the end of World War II.

 

 

I managed to find MetroXpress from the 21 April 2010 and the promised translation of the 2 articles will follow tomorrow.

 

Another article published in MetroXpress on 21 April 2010 in relation to HAITI:

 

TEACHER SAVED 800 SCHOOL CHILDREN

 

CHINA. Early in the morning (of 12 January 2010) the Chinese teacher Yanli Duode suddenly felt that the earth shook under him. "I had an ominous feeling that made me nervous", he says. Together with four other teachers Yanli woke the children and led them out of the building. Few minutes later the boys' dormitory collapsed as the earthquake struck at full steam. Also the girls' dormitory was damaged. Thanks to the resolution of their teacher, more than 800 school children survived meaning that far less were killed at the school than in other places in the same area.

[nancyk58]

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 24 APRIL PLUS 2 HAITI ARTICLES

 

UPDATES OF THE SITUATION IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 24 APRIL 2010

 

NEWS ON 24 APRIL 2010

 

INDONESIA ON 24 APRIL 2010

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV: MAGNITUDE 6.1-EARTHQUAKE STRUCK INDONESIA

An earthquake struck parts of North Indonesia according to US Geological Surveys.

The quake was measured at a magnitude of 6.1 on the Richter scale, whereas – according to the local meteorological and geophysical institute – the magnitude was 6.4 on the Richter scale.

 

The earthquake had its epicentre 155 km southeast of the town of Labuha in the North Maluku province. No reports of killed or injured after the earthquake, and no tsunami alert was issued.

 

 

HAITI on 24 April 2010

 

German ZDFtext: EU SIGNS CONVENTION IN RELATION TO RELIEF / AID TO HAITI AT 260 MILLION EURO

During a visit to HAITI, EUs commissioner for development, Andris Piebalgs has signed conventions in relation to relief / aid to HAITI to a value of 260 million EURO. This amount is a contribution to rebuilding the earthquake-ravaged country.

 

EU has pledged a total of 1.6 billion Euro for reconstruction. 460 million Euro should come from the Commission, the rest from the EU member states. In the earthquake on 12 January 2010, between 250,000 and 300,000 human lives were lost according to the United Nations, and more than a million people lost their homes.

 

 

Translation of 2 articles published in Metropress on 21 April 2010

 

The headline of the entire page was "HAITI 100 DAYS AFTER THE DEVASTATING EARTHQUAKE".

 

Article 1: IN SPITE OF THE MASSIVE FOREIGN AID, THE REBUILDING OF THE DESTROYED COUNTRY IS VERY SLOW.

 

By Elisabeth Braw, Metro World News

 

When UNs secretary general, Ban Ki-moon calls 5.3 billion dollar a “first instalment”, it is an indication of the need for enormous amounts of money for the rebuilding of Haiti.

 

5.3 billion dollar is the amount / the donations pledged by the international community to Haiti over the next two years. After the two-year-period, Haiti is to receive additional 4.6 billion dollar.

 

At a conference in New York last month, the USA, the EU, the World Bank and other great international actors coordinated their relief / aid to the earthquake-ravaged country covering the next couple of years.

 

But Haiti’s needs are larger = these amounts do not meet Haiti’s needs.

 

“The first stage is relief / aid over the next decade”, says Mark Schneider, senior vice president for International Crisis Group.

 

“The next stage is relief / aid for the next generation”.

 

Haiti’s gross national product 2009 amounted to 11.9 billion dollar, and money sent to Haiti by Haitians living abroad amounted to 25 per cent of this amount.

 

Immediately after the earthquake, enormous amounts – it is not clear how much – were sent to HAITI via governments and relief organisations from all over the world.

 

“It is not yet clear whether the relief work has been successful”, says Arrietta Chakos, acting director in the Time Disaster Recovery Project at Harvard’s Kennedy School of Government.

 

“The relief in HAITI is still at the acute stage. The situation is incredibly difficult, because so many died or were injured, and the devastation is extensive”.

 

But some fields such as searching for victims by means of new technology and status updates via social media have experienced huge success to the effect that the experts now examine how to use them in future disasters.

 

“And the fact that most victims get food and a shelter should be regarded as a success”, says Mark Schneider.

 

“It is of course not ideal that people have to live under a plastic cloth, but it is really cost-expensive to transport relief to Haiti”.

 

 

HOMELESS TO BE THROWN OUT OF CAMP

 

By Elisabeth Braw, Metro World News

 

Haiti’s government has been criticized for its plans to repel homeless earthquake survivors from a national stadium so that football games can again be played there.

 

THE LARGEST FOOTBALL STADIUM IN HAITI, SYLVIO CATOR, IS CURRENTLY THE TEMPORARY HOME FOR 1,500 FAMILIES WHO WERE MADE HOMELESS BY THE DISASTER.

 

Now the government will clear the camp so that the stadium can be repaired (with money donated by FIFA) and so that the football games can be resumed as soon as possible. There have been found no ideas for an alternative for the homeless Haitians.

 

From 12 January 2010, only few hours after the earthquake ravaged the city, hundreds of homeless Haitians invaded the synthetic grass/turf and the parking area surrounding the stadium.

 

Today more than 6,000 Haitians live here. Those who have not been handed a tent by a relief organization, seek shelter under plastic cloths, pieces of metal, sheets or curtains / blinds. Relief workers have installed a water tank, lavatories and devices for showers in the goals.

 

Children are playing and women cooking at the foot of the stairs. People feel safe, because the stadium lights are on until 22 o’clock, and the tall fences protect against the chaos in the streets outside.

 

If the government implements its plan, this insecure existence will come to an end within days or weeks.

 

The Minister for Youth and Sports, Lescouflair Evans says: WE MUST START PLAYING FOOTBALL GAMES AGAIN, AND WE MUST MAKE THE YOUNG PEOPLE GO IN FOR SPORTS AGAIN. WE ARE TRYING TO FIND AN ALTERNATIVE FOR THOSE LIVING AT THE STADIUM.

 

Thierry Regeness, the regional FIFA director, agrees: "The Haitians are crazy about football. Football is one of the things working best in this country. Football brings HOPE and JOY".

 

 

OFFICIAL DONORS

50 countries and many international organizations have donated money to the reconstruction of Haiti. Among these countries are Venezuela and many African nations, but not Great Britain and Austria!

 

 

MONEY

 

The relief organization MSF = Médécins Sans Frontières (Doctors without Borders) is spending the amount donated in this way:

 

109 million dollar donated for acute aid / relief

 

57,000 patients have been treated

 

26,000 cooking kits have been distributed

 

15,000 tents have been distributed

 

3,300 doctors are in HAITI

[nancyk58]

News on 25 April of natural disasters / Mississippi in the USA

 

NEWS ON 25 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ZDFtext: DEATH TOLL 10 AFTER TORNADO IN MISSISSIPPI IN THE USA

Yesterday = Saturday, at least 10 people were killed in the American states of Mississippi and Louisiana by a powerful tornado. The tornado - having a diameter of more than 1 km and moving at wind speeds of up to 240 km per hour - left a trail of destruction.

In the hard-hit Yazoo City in Mississippi at least 2 people were killed and 15 injured. The massive storm low pressure triggered 40 additional tornadoes in the South and Midwest.

 

German ARDtext: POWERFUL TORNADOES COST AT LEAST 10 HUMAN LIVES

At least 10 were killed and more than 12 seriously injured due to Saturday's powerful tornadoes in Mississippi. Thousands of households were without power. Roofs were torn off, and trees and power lines toppled and fell. There was massive destruction in the regions of Choctaw, Yazoo and Holmes. There was also serious damage in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama due to Saturday's tornadoes. Rescue operations are going on, and the number of deaths and injuries is expected to rise.

 

Swedish SVT: AT LEAST 10 KILLED IN TORNADOES IN THE USA

Yesterday = Saturday, a tornado ripped through the centre of the American state of Mississippi killing at least 10, including 3 children. More than 20 were injured.

The tornado - described as 1 km wide and moving at a speed of about 100 km per hour - destroyed several buildings in Yazoo City.

Mississippi's governor declared state of emergency in 17 affected counties and ordered the national guard to participate in the rescue operations.

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV: 10 KILLED BY TORNADOES IN THE USA

Saturday, tornadoes ripped through the American state of Mississippi at a speed of up to 241 km per hour killing at least 10 people.

About 20 have been injured and many homes destroyed according to the authorities.

5 lost their lives in Choctaw County, three in Yazoo County and 1 in Holmes County as the tornadoes ripped through the region and moved north-eastward. This information was given by Jeff Rent, spokesman of the authorities in charge of the rescue operation in Mississippi.

 

Danish DR1 Text-TV: FATAL TORNADOES IN MISSISSIPPI

Saturday, tornadoes ripped through the American state of Mississippi at a speed of up to 241 km per hour killing at least 10 people.

About 20 have been injured and many homes destroyed according to the authorities.

The death toll is expected to rise as the rescuers search the rubble of collapsed houses.

Mississippi's governor has declared state of emergency in 17 counties and ordered the national guard to participate in the rescue operations.

 

 

10 KILLED AS TORNADO STRIKES US; OTHERS INJURED

04/25/2010 | 09:48 AM - GMA News.TV

 

YAZOO CITY, Mississippi — Tornadoes ripped through the Southeast on Saturday, killing 10 people in Mississippi and injuring more than a dozen others. Roofs were torn off businesses, homes were splintered, vehicles were overturned and roads were blocked by toppled trees.

 

Mississippi Emergency Management Agency spokesman Greg Flynn said five people were killed in Choctaw County, including two children. Four victims were in Yazoo County and one was in Holmes County.

 

Gov. Haley Barbour told The Associated Press there was "utter obliteration" in parts of Yazoo County, an area known for cotton, catfish, blues music and picturesque hills rising abruptly from the flat Mississippi Delta.

 

More than 15 other counties were also damaged. The swath of debris forced rescuers to pick up some of the injured on all-terrain vehicles the west-central part of the state.

 

Tornadoes were also reported in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama, and the severe weather continued to track eastward.

 

In Yazoo City, Malcolm Gordon, 63, stood with members of his family peering through a broken window. Above them, the roof was gone, a tree lay across part of the house and power lines stretched across the yard in a neighborhood made up of modest houses and mobile homes on a street that winds around hills and ravines. The smell of shredded pine trees hung the warm breeze.

 

Gordon looked around at the devastation. "It sounded like a train coming down that road," he said.

 

Gordon and his wife, Diane, hid in a closet while much of the neighborhood was blown away.

 

"I'll just bulldoze what’s left and start over," he said.

 

The tornado slammed Yazoo County, then headed northeast to adjacent Holmes County before striking Choctaw County.

 

Thousands across the state were without electricity, and downed power lines and trees blocked roads. At least four people had been brought by four-wheeler to a triage center at an old discount store parking lot, Yazoo City Mayor McArthur Straughter said as sirens whined in the background.

 

Jim Pollard, a spokesman for American Medical Response ambulance service, said four patients from Yazoo County were airlifted and some 17 others were taken to hospitals. At least four people were in critical condition.

 

The severe weather darkened skies and dumped rain on the region, much of which was under a tornado watch or warning at some point during the day.

 

The weather hampered crews trying to clean up an oil spill after an offshore rig exploded earlier this week off the coast of Louisiana. Several sporting events and festivals also were rescheduled.

 

In northeast Louisiana, several people had minor injuries. The storms also damaged a tank at a chemical plant in Tallulah, causing a small nitrogen leak. — AP

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8642446.stm

 

MISSISSIPPI TORNADO LEAVES 10 DEAD AMID DESTRUCTION

 

Page last updated at 11:14 GMT, Sunday, 25 April 2010 12:14 UK

 

A tornado has hit the south-eastern US state of Mississippi, killing at least 10 people, including children.

 

There was "utter obliteration" in Yazoo County, where three people died, the state governor said. A state of emergency was declared in 17 counties.

 

A church in Yazoo City was flattened and houses reduced to rubble. The nearby states of Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama were also hit by tornadoes.

 

Officials fear the death toll may rise as more debris is cleared.

 

The National Guard has been deployed to help in the search and rescue operation.

 

Powerlines have been blown down and roads are blocked by fallen trees after a tornado estimated to be almost a mile (1.6 km) wide blew through the centre of Mississippi.

 

Meteorologists put wind speeds at about 150 miles per hour (240kph).

 

The storms brought heavy rain to some areas.

 

Five people died in Choctaw County - two of them children - while four of the other deaths were in Yazoo County and one was in Holmes County.

 

Four injured people were flown by helicopter from Yazoo County to hospital in the state capital, Jackson, for treatment.

 

Looking everywhere

 

"It sounded like a train coming down that road," said Malcolm Gordon, 63.

 

He hid in a cupboard with his wife, Diane, while the tornado took the roof off his house.

 

"I'll just bulldoze what's left and start over," he said.

 

Kenneth Gurley, of Warren County, said: "When I got up, the windows started blowing out and it blew me from one room to the next room.

 

"I grabbed my son, we got on the floor, and next thing I know the roof come off, all the windows were blowed out, the house started flooding with water."

 

"There are lots of places where a person can get blown off the road," said Mississipi Governor Haley Barbour.

 

"And so we've got a lot of volunteers, as well as professional people from the local fire departments who are just trying to run through there and look everywhere to make sure we don't miss anybody."

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

MSNBC: Twister death toll at 10, search continues - At 18 o'clock Central European Time

 

CNEWS: Deadly tornado rips through Mississippi - At 16 o'clock Central European Time

 

The Independent: Ten dead after tornado and storms hit US South - At 12 o'clock Central European Time

 

Miami Herald: 10 dead in Miss. after tornado, storms hit South - At 11 o'clock Central European Time

 

Daily Express: Ten killed as tornadoes sweep US - At 9 o'clock Central European Time

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8642998.stm

 

RURAL AREAS SEARCHED AFTER YAZOO MISSISSIPPI TORNADO

 

Page last updated at 16:17 GMT, Sunday, 25 April 2010 17:17 UK

 

US rescue teams are fanning out to search isolated rural homes in Mississippi after a tornado swept through, killing at least 10 people.

 

They are checking areas they were unable to reach in the first hours after Saturday's devastating storm, state Governor Haley Barbour said.

 

At least 100 houses suffered severe damage in Yazoo County alone, he added.

Meteorologists say it is too soon to tell whether one single tornado or multiple, briefer ones hit the state.

 

Wind speeds in Mississippi were put at about 150mph (240km/h).

 

Tornadoes were also reported in Louisiana, Arkansas and Alabama, and the severe weather continued to move north-eastward on Sunday, as gusty winds downed trees in north-west Georgia, the Associated Press news agency reports.

 

In all, eight states were placed on tornado watch.

 

'I was levitated'

 

National Guard soldiers patrolled Yazoo City early on Sunday, which dawned

sunny and still. Some rode in Humvees, others used a Blackhawk helicopter.

Dozens of volunteer state troopers and other law enforcement officers were arriving from other parts of the state to help with the relief operation.

 

Yazoo, which has a population of 28,000 and is known in the US for blues music, catfish and cotton, was hit particularly badly by the storm.

 

Governor Barbour, who grew up there, talked of "utter obliteration" among the picturesque hills rising from the flat Mississippi Delta.

 

"This tornado was enormous," he told AP in Yazoo City. Around him stretched snapped trees, toppled houses and random debris.

 

Ron Sullivan, who owns a grocery store in Choctaw County's pine forestland, found the building's wooden roof torn off and its cinderblock walls reduced to heaps of stone when he inspected it on Sunday.

 

At the moment the tornado struck, he had been on the phone to a National Weather Service meteorologist who wanted to know what the conditions were.

"Something's happening, and it's happening now," he recalled telling the meteorologist.

 

Then the phone went dead and Mr Sullivan was lifted off his feet.

 

"I was levitated and flew 15ft [4.5m] over there to the back wall," he said. "The only reason I wasn't killed was the wall was still there. After I hit it, it collapsed."

His wife hid behind a chest freezer which probably saved her life, as a large steel storage tank was uprooted and rolled into the store, coming to rest against the freezer.

 

Five victims, including three children, were killed in Choctaw County, with four deaths reported in Yazoo County and one in Holmes County.

[nancyk58]

News on 25 and 26 April in relation to natural disasters / Taiwan, China, USA and the Philippines

 

NEWS ON 25 AND 26 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

6.9-MAGNITUDE QUAKE HITS SOUTHEAST COAST OF TAIWAN

 

04/26/2010 | 11:36 AM - GMA News.TV

 

TAIPEI, Taiwan — The US Geological Survey says a 6.9 magnitude earthquake has struck off the southeast coast of Taiwan.

 

The agency says the quake hit at 10:59 a.m. local time (0259 GMT) Monday, 195 miles (295 kilometers) off the southern Taiwan city of Taitung.

 

Taiwan's Central Weather Bureau says no tsunami warning has been issued.

 

Buildings swayed in Taipei, the capital, when the quake hit, but there were no immediate reports of casualties or damage. — AP

 

 

Danish TV2 Text-TV: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE NEAR TAIWAN

A powerful earthquake which was measured at a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale was recorded around 5am in the morning 314 km southeast of Taiwan according to US Geological Surveys.

 

Local tsunamis might occur at coasts within 100 km of the quake's epicentre. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre has however not issued any tsunami alert.

 

 

German ARDText: EARTHQUAKE SHOOK TAIWAN

Monday morning, a powerful earthquake measured at a magnitude of 6.9 on the Richter scale according to US Geological Surveys hit southeast Taiwan. The epicentre was 269 km east of the sea port Taitung. The tremors could be felt in the capital, Taipeh where tall buildings swayed. There was no reports of victims or any damage, and no tsunami alert was issued.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

CHINA PLEDGES TO REPAIR QUAKE-DAMAGED MONASTERIES

 

04/25/2010 | 10:54 AM

 

BEIJING — The Chinese government promised to focus on repairing monasteries damaged in an earthquake in an ethnically Tibetan region of the country, days after monks assisting in relief work were told to leave the disaster area. The death toll from the massive quake that flattened houses rose by nine to more than 2,200, state media said on Sunday.

 

China’s communist leadership is wary of Buddhist monks because of their loyalty to their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing says has pushed for independence for Tibet. The government decision to send the crimson-robed monks out of the quake zone raised concerns that the move was politically motivated.

 

At the same time, the government appears to be using its full-scale relief operation to show it cares about China’s Tibetan communities, some of which staged anti-government protests in 2008.

 

The death toll from the April 14 earthquake centered in Yushu county of western China’s Qinghai province rose to 2,203, Xinhua News Agency reported on Sunday. As of Saturday night, 73 people were still missing.

 

The provincial civil affairs bureau said Saturday it would provide 8,000 yuan ($1,170) in subsidies to families for each death from the quake, according to Xinhua. It would also raise the monthly assistance for orphaned children, widowed elderly and the disabled to 1,000 yuan per person, from 600 yuan, for three months, Xinhua said.

 

Authorities were planning to repair the 87 monasteries damaged by the quake, Xinhua said. Living quarters for more than 8,000 monks now in tents should be fixed by the end of the year, Leshi, chief of the ethnic and religious affairs committee in Yushu, was cited as saying.

 

"Such repairs will be one of the priorities in our quake relief and rebuilding efforts this year," Leshi, who like many Tibetans goes by one name, was quoted as saying. "The residents rely on Tibetan Buddhism for spiritual support and for many, the monastery is often viewed as more important than their own homes." The vast majority of Yushu’s residents are Tibetan and most are deeply devout Buddhists. The area has 238 monasteries with more than 23,000 monks, Xinhua said.

 

Monks were among the first on the scene after the earthquake, helping to dig survivors and bodies from the rubble and handing out aid to survivors. Several days ago, monks told the AP they had been told to leave the area.

 

Chinese authorities said specialized personnel were needed for reconstruction work and rejected accusations that they had been told to leave for political reasons. — AP

 

 

HEAVY SNOW, SANDSTORM HINDER CHINA QUAKE RELIEF

 

04/25/2010 | 05:07 PM - GMA News.TV

 

BEIJING — Heavy snow and a sandstorm delayed flights carrying relief supplies and workers to a remote Tibetan region trying to recover from a devastating earthquake, state media said on Sunday.

 

As the death toll from the April 14 earthquake that flattened tens of thousands of houses in Yushu county of western China’s Qinghai province rose by 11 to more than 2,200, a senior government official said relief efforts will shift from searching for survivors to reconstruction and resettlement.

 

But the work was hindered over the weekend as all six daily flights between the provincial capital of Xining and Yushu were delayed, leaving hundreds of disaster relief workers on their way to the quake zone stranded in Xining, the official Xinhua News Agency said.

 

A sandstorm engulfed the Xining airport terminal, covering chairs with yellow grit, while in Yushu, heavy snow made plane landings dangerous, the report said.

 

Saturday was the final day that rescuers would search the quake zone for survivors still buried under rubble, Xinhua said, and Vice Premier Hui Liangyu said work would now focus on building temporary shelters, treating people who were hurt and reconstructing the quake-hit area.

 

The death toll rose to 2,203 by Saturday evening, while more than 12,000 were injured, Xinhua said. Another 73 people were still missing.

 

On Saturday, the Chinese government also promised to repair the 87 monasteries that were damaged by the quake, days after monks assisting in relief work were told to leave the disaster area.

 

The vast majority of Yushu’s residents are Tibetan and most are deeply devout Buddhists. The area has 238 monasteries with more than 23,000 monks, Xinhua said.

 

China’s communist leadership is wary of Buddhist monks because of their loyalty to their exiled spiritual leader, the Dalai Lama, whom Beijing says has pushed for independence for Tibet. The government decision to send the crimson-robed monks out of the quake zone raised concerns that the move was politically motivated.

 

At the same time, the government appears to be using its full-scale relief operation to show concern for China’s Tibetan communities, some of which staged anti-government protests in 2008.

 

The provincial civil affairs bureau said Saturday it would provide 8,000 yuan ($1,170) in subsidies to families for each death from the quake, according to Xinhua. It would also raise the monthly assistance for orphaned children, widowed elderly and the disabled to 1,000 yuan per person, from 600 yuan, for three months, Xinhua said. — AP

 

 

German ARDText: CHINA: THE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 2,220

About 2 weeks after the devastating earthquake in Northwest China the death toll has risen to 2,220. 70 people remain missing in the debris / rubble according to the state news agency Xinhua quoting official sources in the prefecture of Yushu. About 60,000 tents have arrived in the remote disaster region on the Tibetan plateau. After the earthquake the survivors had to sleep outdoors in freezing temperatures.

----------------------------------------------------------------

 

German ARDText and ZDFtext: CLEARING THE DEBRIS AND RUBBLE IN MISSISSIPPI AFTER FATAL TORNADO

The work with clearing the debris and rubble has begun after the fatal tornado on Saturday in the US state of Mississippi. According to official sources the death toll is 10. It had been feared that more victims would be found when searching for trapped people under the rubble of destroyed houses. A spokesman of the state authority in charge of disaster management / civil defense said that all those missing had been accounted for. 12 were injured by the bad weather.

---------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

 

Swedish SVT: THOUSANDS HOMELESS IN MANILA SLUM FIRE

About 15,000 Filipinos were made homeless in the Filipino capital, Manila after a powerful fire swept through a slum. At least 1 was killed and 4 were injured in the fire in Quezon City on the outskirts of Manila yesterday. Several houses were destroyed. People tried to salvage their belongings from the fire making it difficult for the firemen. The cause of the fire was probably defective wires.

 

German ARDText: BIG FIRE IN FILIPINO SLUM

A large fire in a slum near the Filipino capital, Manila cost one human life, and 4 were injured. At least 15,000 were made homeless. The fire broke out Sunday afternoon local time in a Quezon slum. It took 7 hours to extinguish the fire. The fire was apparently triggered by a defect wire. The affected people must rely on prompt relief / aid, the mayor of Quezon City said.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8643300.stm

Page last updated at 03:17 GMT, Monday, 26 April 2010 04:17 UK

 

FIREFIGHTERS TACKLE MASSIVE BLAZE IN MANILA SLUM

 

A huge blaze has swept through a shanty town outside the Philippines capital, destroying hundreds of homes and leaving thousands of people homeless.

 

Two hundred fire engines were sent to fight the flames in the Quezon City slum, outside Manila, reports said.

 

Firefighters were beaten back as the blaze spread swiftly, fanned by strong windsand intense summer heat.

 

At least one man is thought to have died, and several firefighters were injured.

The fire, which started on Sunday afternoon, was still burning at nightfall.

 

Firefighters struggled to penetrate the dense network of alleys in the slum, which were crowded with people trying to salvage their belongings.

 

"We failed to save anything except our clothes," a weeping resident, Glen Sardon, told the Associated Press news agency.

 

As many as 600 homes were feared destroyed in the blaze and up to 7,000 residents left homeless, it was reported.

[nancyk58]

Updates of news in relation to natural disasters on 27 April 2010 / Guatemala, Haiti and China

 

NEWS ON 27 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ARD Text: VOLCANO ERUPTION IN GUATEMALA

No classes in many places in Guatemala due to a powerful volcano eruption in Guatemala. The about 2,500 m high volcano Santiaquito in Quetzaltenango about 200 km west of Guatemala City spews sand and ash according to the National Institute for Volcanology.

The eruption is stronger than normal. The wind carries the volcano ash to 6 of 22 departments in North and Northwest Guatemala. The worst volcano eruption in 1929 cost about 2,500 human lives.

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: CHILD SMUGGLING MISSIONARY CHARGED

Laura Stilsby, the US missionary suspected of having tried to smuggle 33 Haitian children out of Haiti after the devastating January earthquake, will be put on trial. The legal proceedings against Laura Stilsby will take place in Haiti. Laura Stilsby was arrested with 9 other baptists when they tried to cross the border to the Dominican Republic in a bus with the Haitian children. The group of missionaries claimed that the children were orphans which turned out to be untrue. The children are now together with their parents again.

 

Swedish SVT: 8,000 TIBETAN MONKS HOMELESS

The earthquake that shook Northwest China almost 2 weeks ago made more than 8,000 Tibetan monks homeless according to the state media. The government had promised to rebuild the 90 earthquake-hit monasteries in the Qinghai province where the population is mainly Tibetan. The monasteries will be modernized with running water, electricity and internet connections within 3 years. At least 84 monks were among the 2,200 who died in the earthquake.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in HAITI on 28 April 2010

 

NEWS ON 28 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN ARE DEMONSTRATING IN HAITI

Hundreds of older school children in Haiti are demonstrating for the second consecutive day. They claim that their schools resume teaching / instruction. The schools are used as homes for many of the about 1.3 million Haitians who were made homeless by the powerful earthquake in January.

Police used teargas and fired four shots to make the older school children break up their demonstration.

Haiti's minister of education counselled moderation yesterday, and he told the school children that the authorities are working on solving the problems.

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN RECLAIM SCHOOLS

Hundreds of older school children are demonstrating in Haiti's capital, Port-au-Prince demanding that their schools or what is left of them should be emptied of homeless Haitians so that the teaching / instruction can resume. On Tuesday, demonstrators in school uniforms threw stones at the remnants of the Ministry of Education, which was destroyed in the devastating January earthquake.

Police used teargas and shot into the air, and Joel Desrosier Jean-Pierre, the Haitian minister of education, counselled moderation.

 

German ZDF: HAITI: OLDER SCHOOL CHILDREN DEMONSTRATE AGAINST THEIR SCHOOLS BEING USED AS RELIEF CENTRES

3 months after the devastating earthquake in Haiti, hundreds of school children have demonstrated against their schools being used as emergency centres for homeless Haitians. "We claim that our schools resume teaching / instruction", they shouted in front of Haiti's ministry of education in Port-au-Prince. The authorities are working on finding alternatives according to Haiti's minister of education.

According to UN estimates between 250,000 and 300,000 Haitians were killed in the devastating earthquake in January.

[nancyk58]

Updates of the situation in Guatemala, the Philippines and China at the end of April 2010

 

NEWS FROM 27 TO 30 APRIL 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ZDFtext on 29/4-10: GUATEMALA: VOLCANO SPEWS ASH: FLIGHTS GROUNDED AND SCHOOLS CLOSED

After an eruption by the volcano Santiaquito in Guatemala the authorities have closed schools and grounded all flights within 20 kilometers of the volcano. On Monday Santiaquito spewed a cloud of ash at least 1 km up into the air, and parts of at least 4 provinces were covered by a thin layer of ash according to the authorities in charge of disaster management. No one was injured.

Santiaquito is a volcano neighbouring the volcano Santa Maria about 200 km northwest of Guatemala City.

 

 

PREDAWN QUAKE ROCKS SOUTH LUZON, METRO MANILA

 

04/30/2010 | 07:17 AM - GMA News.TV

 

A magnitude-4.9 quake struck Bicol shortly after midnight Thursday, jolting residents not only in the region but also in parts of Metro Manila and Southern Luzon.

 

There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

 

Radio dzBB cited initial information reaching the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology that the quake was recorded at 12:47 a.m.

 

The quake was tectonic in origin and the epicenter was traced near Naga in Camarines Sur.

 

It was felt at Intensity III in Naga City; and Intensity II in Pasay City, Alabang in Muntinlupa City, and Guinayangan town in Quezon province.

 

The United States Geological Survey (USGS) said the quake measured at magnitude 4.8, and traced the epicenter to 45 km west southwest of Naga; 80 km southeast of San Pedro in Laguna; 105 km (65 miles) west-northwest of Legazpi City in Albay; or 235 km east southeast of Manila. — RSJ, GMANews.TV

 

 

MAGNITUDE 4.5 QUAKE HITS PANAY, NEGROS ISLANDS

04/30/2010 | 11:45 PM - GMA News.TV

 

(Updated 12:25 a.m.) A magnitude 4.3 earthquake shook Panay and Negros islands in central Philippines at around 10:49 p.m. Friday.

According to a report posted on the website of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology (Phivolcs) late Friday night, the quake's epicenter was at 10.71ºN,122.52ºE, or 3 km. N 77° W of Iloilo City, with a shallow depth estimated at about 22 km.

 

The reported intensities of the earthquake were Intensity IV in Mandurriao, Lemery and Jaro in Iloilo, and Intensity III in Bacolod City and several other locations in Negros Occidental, the Phivolcs report said.

 

Earlier, firsthand rapid reports posted by readers of GMANews.TV's Facebook page late Friday night indicated that the earthquake was strong enough for people in Iloilo city to rush out of their homes, and was felt in nearby Guimaras island and in adjacent Bacolod City, Negros Occidental.

 

SEPARATE USGS REPORT

According to a separate report posted on the US Geological Survey website, the epicenter of the earthquake was estimated to be 15 kilometers northwest of Iloilo City in Panay island, at location 10.796°N, 122.471°E, with a +/- 30.3 km certainty.

The depth of the earthquake directly beneath the epicenter was estimated by the USGS at 65.1 km, with a +/- 11.5 km certainty. - JV, GMANews.TV

 

 

CONCERT RAISES $4.8M FOR CHINA QUAKE RELIEF

04/27/2010 | 01:24 PM - GMA News.TV

 

HONG KONG — With Jackie Chan, Andy Lau and other celebrities appealing for donations, the Chinese-language entertainment industry raised nearly $4.8 million for victims of the recent earthquake in China's west after a five-hour charity concert in Hong Kong.

 

A spokeswoman for the concert, Bonnie Wong, said the biggest individual donation on Monday came from Hong Kong media mogul Run Run Shaw, who chipped in 10 million Hong Kong dollars ($1.3 million).

 

Other stars performing or attending Monday evening included Hong Kong singers Jacky Cheung, Eason Chan, Leon Lai and Joey Yung.

 

The April 14 earthquake in Qinghai province killed more than 2,200 people. — AP

[nancyk58]

News on 1 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters plus OPINION from BBC World News

 

UPDATES ON 1 MAY 2010 OF NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Swedish SVT: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE OFF ALASKA

A powerful earthquake occurred in the Bering Sea last night in a depth of 15 km almost 50 sea miles southwest of Alaska. The magnitude was 6.3. A few minutes later a weaker aftershock was recorded. According to the authorities there was no risk of this earthquake triggering any tsunami.

The earthquake occurred so far off the coast that it was not felt on land in Alaska.

 

German ZDFtext: TORNADOES KILLED AT LEAST ONE PERSON IN ARKANSAS

Tornadoes cost at least one human life in the US state of Arkansas. About 24 were injured in the bad weather on Friday. Trees and toppled power lines blocked the streets. - Meteorologists expect more storms on Saturday.

A week ago 10 people were killed in the US state of Mississippi due to a powerful tornado.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8655540.stm

 

CALIFORNIA QUAKE REPORT WAS INCORRECT - US OFFICIAL

 

The US Geological Survey has withdrawn a report saying that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake has hit northern California.

 

It said the report was issued because scientists had not reviewed an automated alert, a geophysicist was quoted as saying by Reuters agency.

 

Paul Caruso told the agency that the tremor had not happened.

The USGS had earlier reported on its website that a magnitude 5.0 earthquake struck north-east of Napa at a depth of 3.1 miles (5km).

 

The report was withdrawn from the website soon after publication. The USGS later said a computer at its Berkeley station mistakenly concluded that northern California had been hit by the quake, the Associated Press reported.

 

It quoted Richard Buckmaster, a geophysicist at the USGS's National Earthquake Reporting Center, as saying officials were trying to establish why the computer generated the "dubious and erroneous" alert.

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Reuters: Northern California quake was a mistake, USGS says - 11 hrs ago

 

CTV.ca: Computer error signals erroneous earthquake - 17 hrs ago

 

Boston Globe: Computer error signals erroneous report of quake - 18 hrs ago

 

 

PRESSURE MOUNTS ON BRITISH OIL GIANT BP TO TACKLE SLICK

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8655683.stm

 

Criticism of BP is mounting in the US over its handling of the huge oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano urged BP to commit more resources to tackling the catastrophe.

 

Critics of the British oil giant also include President Barack OBAMA, who is due to travel to the region on Sunday to assess efforts to contain the spill.

 

The sprawling oil slick has begun washing up on the LOUISIANA coast and is threatening three other states.

 

Up to 5,000 barrels of oil a day are gushing into the sea after the BP-operated Deepwater Horizon rig exploded and sank last week.

 

BP's chief executive Tony Hayward is flying to Louisiana later to personally oversee the emergency mop-up operation.

 

Two natural gas platforms in the Gulf of Mexico had halted production because of the slick and one of them had been evacuated as a safety precaution, the

command centre co-ordinating the response said.

 

It said the gas production affected represented less than one-tenth of one per cent of the Gulf of Mexico's daily total.

 

WILDLIFE CASUALTIES

 

Analysts say the spill could rival the 1989 Exxon Valdez disaster as the worst in US history.

 

Mississippi, Alabama, Louisiana and Florida have all declared a state of emergency.

 

Animal rescue groups have been receiving their first patients - seabirds coated in oil.

 

Worsening weather conditions have been hampering efforts to contain the slick, now more than 130 miles (200km) long.

 

A BBC correspondent in the area says that at the moment the wind is keeping most of the oil offshore. But the choppy seas mean that smaller boats that could help clean up the slick are unable to go out.

 

Forecasters also warned that strong winds over Sunday could push the oil into inlets, ponds and lakes in south-east Louisiana.

 

The homeland security secretary flew into Louisiana on Friday to deliver a stark message to BP, which had been leasing the rig.

 

"We continue to urge BP to leverage additional assets to help lead the response in this effort," said Ms Napolitano.

 

After several unsuccessful attempts to plug the leak, she said, it was "time for BP to supplement their current mobilisation".

 

Some 1,900 emergency workers and more than 300 ships and aircraft are being sent to the disaster zone, President Barack Obama has announced.

 

In a White House statement, he said BP was "ultimately responsible... for paying the costs of response and clean-up operations".

 

Correspondents says the White House is desperate to avoid the kind of disaster that Hurricane Katrina brought to the region in 2005.

 

The president said he had asked Interior Secretary Ken Salazar to conduct a "thorough review" of the catastrophe and report back in 30 days on ways to prevent a repeat.

 

As the first strands of the slick reached the coast, Louisiana Governor Bobby said the oil firm did not seem prepared for the clean-up job.

 

"I do have concerns that BP's resources are not adequate," he said.

 

The first lawsuits have already been filed on behalf of fisherman, in what could end up as a barrage of litigation.

 

BP spokeswoman Sheila William told AFP news agency the energy firm was prepared to assume costs for the clean-up and for damages.

 

The BBC's business correspondent, Joe Lynam, says that BP has no external insurance cover in the traditional sense, instead using a form of "self insurance" to cover major events like this.

 

The company would therefore have to cover the full cost of any legitimate compensation claims from the oil spill from its own resources, our correspondent says.

 

The oil giant's chief operating officer, Doug Suttles, said it had mounted "the largest response effort ever done in the world".

 

BP says it has begun using dispersants underwater in an attempt to break up the leaking oil at its source.

 

The oil giant has also dispatched remotely operated vehicles to try to shut off an underwater valve, so far without success.

 

The firm is also having a relief-well drilled to slow the leak, though experts say that could take up to three months.

 

DRILLING ON HOLD

 

US Air Force planes have been deployed to spray oil-dispersing chemicals off the coast of Louisiana.

 

Two C-130 Hercules cargo planes will join civilian aircraft that have been dumping chemicals to break up the slick.

 

The US Navy and Louisiana National Guard have also been mobilised.

 

Fishermen - who face losing their livelihood from the spill - have been drafted in to help.

 

Wetlands off the Louisiana coast sustain hundreds of wildlife species and a major seafood and fishing industry.

 

The cause of last week's blast, which left 11 workers missing, presumed dead, remains unclear.

 

It has emerged that BP last year downplayed the possibility of such a disaster at the offshore rig.

 

In BP's 2009 exploration plan for the well, the firm suggested an oil spill was unlikely or virtually impossible, AP news agency reports.

 

The US government said on Friday it was putting on hold all new offshore drilling until the cause of the spill is investigated.

 

Last month, President Obama eased a moratorium on new offshore drilling.

 

 

BBC WORLD NEWS:

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/OPINION/04/30/saginor.quakes.volcanoes/index.html

 

ARE EARTHQUAKES GETTING WORSE? NO!

 

Editor's note: Ian Saginor, Ph.D., is a volcanologist and professor of geology at Keystone College. His research is on the evolution of volcanoes in Central America. (CNN)

 

- Ever since a devastating earthquake struck HAITI on January 12 followed by others in CHILE, BAJA CALIFORNIA and INDONESIA, many people have asked the question, "Are earthquakes getting worse?" The answer is a firm and unequivocal "No."

 

I know it's hard to believe given the devastation these earthquakes have caused and the intense level of media attention they have received. However, it turns out that large earthquake frequency has not changed at all over the last 20 years.

 

But don't take my word for it. Go to the United States Geological Survey website and see for yourself. As of April 25, 2010 is on pace to have approximately 18 earthquakes larger than a magnitude 7 on the Richter Scale.

 

That sure sounds like a lot, but it's only one more than last year and very close to the 15.4 large earthquakes per year that Earth has averaged over the last 20 years. Of course, some years are more active than others, but that is to be expected.

 

In fact, in 1995 there were 20 of these large earthquakes, but nobody talks about that year as being particularly lively. The fact that several of this year's large earthquakes occurred near populated areas only adds to the perception that the overall frequency or intensity of earthquakes has increased.

 

Before the earthquake in Haiti, there hadn't been an earthquake of that size in over two months. This ebb and flow of earthquakes is completely natural. And what about volcanic eruptions? USGS records show they have also remained constant since the 1960s, with between 50 and 70 eruptions each year.

 

Over the last few days, another misconception began to emerge when CNN published an opinion article by author Alan Weisman titled "Is the Earth striking back?" The piece outlined a theory that, as glaciers melt due to global warming, the Earth's crust will begin to stretch and rebound.

 

It goes on to imply that this stretching could cause not only earthquakes, such as in Haiti and Chile, but also volcanic eruptions. The article even suggests this process is responsible for the recent eruption of Eyjafjallajokull in Iceland with its neighbor, Katla. "threatening to detonate next." Do these studies exist? Yes. Is this really what they say? No.

 

First, some background. The source of this idea is a series of papers published by the Royal Society in England that looked at the potential effect of climate change on some types of natural disasters. This idea is generally based on the well-known phenomenon that, as Earth's glaciers continue to melt, the crust rebounds as it is relieved of the burden. In fact, this has been happening for thousands of years since the peak of the last ice age.

 

Several of these papers did propose that climate change could affect certain types of earthquakes on the ocean floor or underneath melting glaciers, however, Haiti is neither on the bottom of the ocean nor under a glacier. As for the Chilean quake, it was caused by the incredible amount of pressure generated as two tectonic plates are forced together.

 

The point is that not all earthquakes are caused by the same forces and earthquakes on the ocean floor or under glaciers could not be more different from earthquakes in Haiti or Chile. It's like saying cigarettes cause lung cancer, therefore they cause skin cancer as well.

 

The bottom line is that Weisman's claims that earthquake frequency is increasing and that earthquakes in Haiti and Chile are caused by global warming are unsupported by the scientific articles he uses to form his conclusions. The effect of his article is to take several well-meaning, preliminary, cautious and limited scientific studies and create unnecessary fear and confusion in the general public.

 

If the public concludes that earthquake frequency has increased, it will be wrong. If it concludes that volcano eruption frequency or intensity has increased, it will be wrong. If it believes that earthquakes in Haiti or Chile were caused by global warming, it will not only be wrong, but it will believe it because it was told it was the conclusion of geologists. It wasn't.

 

Most scientific papers do not lend themselves to sound bites or headlines. That means the media needs to do a much better job understanding them. For their part, scientists need to be willing to confront these errors before they spread.

 

Whatever effect climate change has on our planet in the future, inaccurate reporting of research leaves the public at a huge disadvantage and cannot be tolerated.

 

The opinions expressed in this commentary are solely those of Ian Saginor.

 

By Ian Saginor, Special to CNN

 

April 30, 2010 -- Updated 1301 GMT (2101 HKT)

[nancyk58]

News on 2 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 2 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

OFFICIALS: 3 DEAD, 25 HURT IN US TORNADOES

 

05/01/2010 | 12:06 PM - GMA News.TV

 

CLINTON, Arkansas — Authorities say tornadoes ripping through central Arkansas have killed at least three people, injured 25 others and destroyed several homes.

 

A state Department of Emergency Management spokeswoman says teams are searching for people who may be trapped in a damaged home in Center Ridge, north of Little Rock.

 

Spokeswoman Renee Preslar says three people were killed and three homes were destroyed in nearby Van Buren County. Details haven't been released.

 

Arkansas State Police say tornado sightings have been reported just north in Culpepper. A sheriff's dispatcher said a sighting also was reported in the Oakland area, near the Missouri border.

 

Trees and power lines are down along interstates in both areas. — AP

 

 

GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL BALLOONS, COULD MOVE EAST - GMA News.TV

 

05/02/2010 | 08:12 AM. A sense of doom settled over the American coastline from Louisiana to Florida on Saturday as a massive oil slick spewing from a ruptured well kept growing, and experts warned that an uncontrolled gusher could create a nightmare scenario if the Gulf Stream carries it toward the Atlantic.

 

President Barack Obama planned to visit the region Sunday to assess the situation amid growing criticism that the government and oil company BP PLC should have done more to stave off the disaster. Meanwhile, efforts to stem the flow and remove oil from the surface by skimming it, burning it or spiking it with chemicals to disperse it continued with little success.

 

"These people, we've been beaten down, disaster after disaster," said Matt O'Brien of Venice, whose fledgling wholesale shrimp dock business is under threat from the spill.

 

"They've all got a long stare in their eye," he said. "They come asking me what I think's going to happen. I ain't got no answers for them. I ain't got no answers for my investors. I ain't got no answers."

 

He wasn't alone. As the spill surged toward disastrous proportions, critical questions lingered: Who created the conditions that caused the gusher? Did BP and the government react robustly enough in its early days? And, most important, how can it be stopped before the damage gets worse?

 

The Coast Guard conceded Saturday that it's nearly impossible to know how much oil has gushed since the April 20 rig explosion, after saying earlier it was at least 1.6 million gallons — equivalent to about 2 1/2 Olympic-sized swimming pools. The blast killed 11 workers and threatened beaches, fragile marshes and marine mammals, along with fishing grounds that are among the world's most productive.

 

Even at that rate, the spill should eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez incident as the worst US oil disaster in history in a matter of weeks. But a growing number of experts warned that the situation may already be much worse.

 

The oil slick over the water's surface appeared to triple in size over the past two days, which could indicate an increase in the rate that oil is spewing from the well, according to one analysis of images collected from satellites and reviewed by the University of Miami. While it's hard to judge the volume of oil by satellite because of depth, it does show an indication of change in growth, experts said.

 

"The spill and the spreading is getting so much faster and expanding much quicker than they estimated," said Hans Graber, executive director of the university's Center for Southeastern Tropical Advanced Remote Sensing. "Clearly, in the last couple of days, there was a big change in the size."

 

Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer for exploration and production, said it was impossible to know just how much oil was gushing from the well, but said the company and federal officials were preparing for the worst-case scenario.

 

Oil industry experts and officials are reluctant to describe what, exactly, a worst-case scenario would look like — but if the oil gets into the Gulf Stream and carries it to the beaches of Florida, it stands to be an environmental and economic disaster of epic proportions.

 

The Deepwater Horizon well is at the end of one branch of the Gulf Stream, the famed warm-water current that flows from the Gulf of Mexico to the North Atlantic. Several experts said that if the oil enters the stream, it would flow around the southern tip of Florida and up the eastern seaboard.

 

"It will be on the East Coast of Florida in almost no time," Graber said. "I don't think we can prevent that. It's more of a question of when rather than if."

 

At the joint command center run by the government and BP near New Orleans, a Coast Guard spokesman maintained Saturday that the leakage remained around 5,000 barrels, or 200,000 gallons, per day.

 

But Coast Guard Adm. Thad Allen, appointed Saturday by Obama to lead the government's oil spill response, said no one could pinpoint how much oil is leaking from the ruptured well because it is about a mile underwater.

 

"And, in fact, any exact estimation of what's flowing out of those pipes down there is probably impossible at this time due to the depth of the water and our ability to try and assess that from remotely operated vehicles and video," Allen said during a conference call.

 

The Coast Guard's Allen said Saturday that a test of new technology used to reduce the amount of oil rising to the surface seemed to be successful.

 

During the test Friday, an underwater robot shot a chemical meant to break down the oil at the site of the leak rather than spraying it on the surface from boats or planes, where the compound can miss the oil slick.

 

From land, the scope of the crisis was difficult to see. As of Saturday afternoon, only a light sheen of oil had washed ashore in some places.

 

The real threat lurked offshore in a swelling, churning slick of dense, rust-colored oil the size of Puerto Rico. From the endless salt marshes of Louisiana to the white-sand beaches of Florida, there is uncertainty and frustration over how the crisis got to this point and what will unfold in the coming days, weeks and months.

 

The concerns are both environmental and economic. The fishing industry is worried that marine life will die — and that no one will want to buy products from contaminated water anyway. Tourism officials are worried that vacationers won't want to visit oil-tainted beaches. And environmentalists are worried about how the oil will affect the countless birds, coral and mammals in and near the Gulf.

 

"We are just waiting," said Meghan Calhoun, a spokeswoman from the Audubon Aquarium of the Americas in New Orleans. "We know they are out there. Unfortunately the weather has been too bad for the Coast Guard and NOAA to get out there and look for animals for us."

 

Fishermen and boaters want to help contain the oil. But on Saturday, they were again hampered by high winds and rough waves that splashed over the miles of orange and yellow inflatable booms strung along the coast, rendering them largely ineffective. Some coastal Louisiana residents complained that BP, which owns the rig, was hampering mitigation efforts.

 

"They're letting an oil company tell a state what to do," said 57-year-old Raymond Schmitt, in Venice preparing his boat to take a French television crew on a tour.

 

"I don't know what they are waiting on," Schmitt said. He didn't think conditions were dangerous. "No, I'm not happy with the protection, but I'm sure the oil company is saving money."

 

As bad as the oil spill looks on the surface, it may be only half the problem, said University of California Berkeley engineering professor Robert Bea, who serves on a National Academy of Engineering panel on oil pipeline safety.

 

"There's an equal amount that could be subsurface too," said Bea. And that oil below the surface "is damn near impossible to track."

 

Louisiana State University professor Ed Overton, who heads a federal chemical hazard assessment team for oil spills, worries about a total collapse of the pipe inserted into the well. If that happens, there would be no warning and the resulting gusher could be even more devastating because regulating flow would then be impossible.

 

"When these things go, they go KABOOM," he said. "If this thing does collapse, we've got a big, big blow."

 

BP has not said how much oil is beneath the Gulf seabed Deepwater Horizon was tapping, but a company official speaking on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to discuss the volume of reserves, confirmed reports that it was tens of millions of barrels — a frightening prospect to many.

 

Louisiana Gov. Bobby Jindal said that he has asked both BP and the Coast Guard for detailed plans on how to protect the coast.

 

"We still haven't gotten those plans," said Jindal. "We're going to fully demand that BP pay for the cleanup activities. We're confident that at the end of the day BP will cover those costs."

 

Obama has halted any new offshore drilling projects unless rigs have new safeguards to prevent another disaster.

 

As if to cut off mounting criticism, on Saturday White House spokesman Robert Gibbs posted a blog entitled "The Response to the Oil Spill," laying out the administration's day-by-day response since the explosion, using words like "immediately" and "quickly," and emphasizing that Obama "early on" directed responding agencies to devote every resource to the incident and determining its cause.

 

In Pass Christian, Miss., 61-year-old Jimmy Rowell, a third-generation shrimp and oyster fisherman, worked on his boat at the harbor and stared out at the choppy waters.

 

"It's over for us. If this oil comes ashore, it's just over for us," Rowell said angrily, rubbing his forehead. "Nobody wants no oily shrimp." — AP