News on 4 May 2010

 

News on 3 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

German ZFDtext: DEAD IN BAD WEATHER IN THE USA

Powerful storms and heavy rains caused flooding this week-end in the USA. At least 11 were killed. In Tennessee 100 apartment houses were evacuated. Due to the flooded streets many people were trapped. A temporary shelter was provided for them. The flood is expected to continue for several days according to Tennessee's Governor, Bredesen.In Arkansas a tornado killed at least one person. 24 other were injured in the bad weather according to officials.

 

 

Swedish SVT: SEVERAL DEAD IN BANGLADESH AFTER STORM

At least 15 died and 50 were injured by a stroke of lightning during storms with heavy rain and hail in Bangladesh on Sunday. The meteorological authority issued a storm alert covering all of Bangladesh.

Several thousand people were made homeless, when hundreds of houses were hit by the storm with heavy rain which swept through 4 districts in Mymensingh.

News on 4 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS on 4 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

Danish TV2 and DR1: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE OFF CHILE’S COAST

A powerful magnitude-6.4 earthquake hit an area 151 km off Chile’s coast at 1:09am Central European Time according to info given by US Geological Survey. There are no reports of material damage or injured people. The quake struck in a depth of 20.6 km southwest of the seaside/coastal city, Concepcion which was hit by a magnitude-8.8 earthquake in February. The quake and the ensuing tsunami cost at least 452 human lives.

 

German ZDFtext: NEW EARTHQUAKE OFF CHILE’S COAST

An earthquake shook Chile Monday evening (local time). According to the US Geological Survey the epicentre was about 150 km southwest of the City of Concepcion off the coast of the region Bio Bio in a depth of more than 20 km.

There are no reports of damage.

The southern part of Chile was shaken by a magnitude-8.8 earthquake at the end of February. It was one of the most powerful earthquakes ever recorded. At least 350 people were killed, and ten thousand are still living in tents or temporary huts.

 

German ARDtext: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE SHAKES CHILE

A powerful earthquake has shaken Chile. According to the seismological service at the university in Santiago the magnitude was 6.4. The epicentre was about 600 km south of the capital Santiago off the coast of the region Bio Bio in a depth of more than 20 km. There are no reports of damage.

The southern part of Chile was shaken by a magnitude-8.8 earthquake at the end of February. At least 350 people were killed.

 

 

MAGNITUDE-6.4 QUAKE SHAKES CHILE, NO DAMAGES

05/04/2010 | 08:36 AM – GMA News.TV

 

SANTIAGO, Chile — The US Geological Survey says a magnitude-6.4 earthquake has struck of Chile's central coast. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries.

 

The USGS says the quake's epicenter was 151 kilometers (94 miles) south-southwest of Concepcion, Chile, at a depth of 20 kilometers (12 miles).

 

Radio stations in the Bio-Bio region reported no major damages or injuries from Monday's tremor.

 

The area has been shaken by hundreds of smaller quakes since a huge magnitude-8.8 quake hit on Feb. 27, triggering a tsunami and killing 486 people. On Sunday, a 5.9-magnitude quake struck the area, one of more than a dozen perceptible temblors since Saturday.

 

Tens of thousands of Chileans are still living in tents or temporary huts. — AP

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BBC World News, German ARDtext + ZDFtext, Swedish SVT, Danish DR1 and TV2 text-TV:

FLIGHTS GROUNDED BY NEW ASH RISK RESUMED AT 13BST OR 14CET

All flights in and out of Northern Ireland and the Irish Republic have been grounded from 7BST to 13BST or 14CET because of fresh risks from volcanic ash.

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German ZDFtext: NUMBER OF KILLED DUE TO VERY BAD WEATHER IN THE USA RISEN TO 28

The death toll after very bad weather in several US states in southern US has risen to 28.

17 died in Tennessee, 10 of them in the City of Nashville. Several sights / tourist attractions were under water in the historic centre of Nashville City, one of them being the Country Music Hall of Fame.

The floods of brown water made the rescue operation(s) difficult as for instance it was difficult to see trapped cars under water. The affected regions were surprised by heavy rains and very powerful storms.

 

German ARDtext: USA: MANY DEAD AFTER FLOODING

Powerful tornadoes and flooding in the southern US cost at least 20 human lives. Kentucky governor, Steve Beshear declared state of emergency after 4 deaths in Kentucky.

In Mississippi where 10 people were killed 9 days ago in the bad weather, at least 5 were killed and 5 injured.

In Tennessee, where heavy rains caused massive flooding, 11 people were killed according to the media.

 

 

BBC World News:

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8658405.stm

Page last updated at 08:26 GMT, Tuesday, 4 May 2010 09:26 UK

 

NASHVILLE SUBMERGED AFTER DEADLY STORMS

 

Parts of Nashville, Tennessee, have been evacuated after a levee protecting the southern city sprang a leak.

 

Nashville landmarks like the Country Music Hall of Fame and the symphony centre are surrounded by water.

 

Officials say at least 27 people were killed in three southern states over the weekend.

 

Seventeen people were killed in Tennessee, most of them drowning in flash floods, while the others died in Mississippi and Kentucky.

 

In Nashville, more than 13in (33cm) of rain fell over two days, almost doubling the previous rainfall record.

 

Nashville's Opryland Hotel on the banks of the Cumberland was flooded after the river breached its levees.

 

'QUESTIONABLE INFRASTRUCTURE'

 

A hotel spokeswoman said it would remain closed indefinitely, and 1,500 of its guests were evacuated to a high school.

 

Hickman county, to the east of Nashville, requested large quantities of water after their waste water and water treatment plants broke down.

 

Nashville Mayor Karl Dean inspected the damage from the air and said it was worse than he had expected.

 

"This situation is going to require a very large recovery process. The safety of some of our infrastructure is questionable," he told the Tennessean newspaper.

Kentucky Governor Steve Beshear has requested federal assistance to deal with the storm damage.

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

The Independent: 28 killed in US storms

Daily Express: Storm floods leave 28 dead in US

Philippine Daily Inquirer: Tornado, floods kill at least 22 in southern US

NEWS.com.au: Tornado, floods kill 22 in US

Sydney Morning Herald: Tornado and floods take a deadly toll

News on 5 May in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 5 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 News: SNOW AND GIGANTIC WAVES IN SOUTHERN FRANCE

Trees and branches collapsed under the weight of snow after a massive snowfall in Southern France Tuesday according to Ritzau.Broken power lines caused power failure. The snow broke several power cables and 23,000 houses were consequently without power.

The airport in Perpignon grounded all flights, and Montpellier Airport had to cancel several flights.

Along the south coast up to 10 m tall/high waves washed ashore. A woman broke one leg, and the waves caused substantial material damage along the beach as well.

 

German ZDFtext: GIANT WAVES CAUSED SUBSTANTIAL DAMAGE TO COTE D'AZUR BEACH

Up to 10 m tall waves have caused substantial damage to the Cote d'Azur beach. In CANNES in Southern France about 20 restaurants were "seriously damaged" by 8 to 10 m high waves. A parking area was flooded and several cars toppled. In NICE "everything on the beach was washed away", and the famous beach promenade / parade was partly blocked. According to the authorities in Nice, the area had not had such bad weather in 50 years.

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One of the German Text-TV services: DEATH TOLL IN THE USA RISEN TO 29 AFTER THE POWERFUL STORM AND FLOODING

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BBC World News and Swedish, Danish and German Text-TV services:

 

ASH PROMPTS FRESH CLOSURES / MORE AIRPORTS SHUT OVER ASH RISKS

 

Airports in Scotland and Ireland are closed. Planes in England and Wales might also be grounded.

 

 

ICELAND's ASH MAY KEEP CHOKING EUROPE's AIR TRAVEL

 

SHAWN POGATCHNIK, Associated Press Writer - 05/05/2010 | 02:05 AM - GMA News.TV

 

DUBLIN — Iceland's clouds of volcanic ash are menacing European air traffic again, but transport chiefs insisted Tuesday they are learning from last month's crisis and won't let the hard-to-measure emissions ground their continent again.

 

Rising volcanic activity spurred aviation authorities in Ireland, northwest Scotland and the Faeroe Islands to shut down services Tuesday after a two-week hiatus. Their airports reopened several hours later, once the densest ash clouds had passed over their airports and back over the Atlantic.

 

Travelers and transport chiefs alike said Europe was learning to pinpoint the true nature of the threat versus last month's better-safe-than-sorry shutdown of air services for nearly a week in several countries. Airline and airport authorities branded that response overkill; it grounded 100,000 flights and 10 million passengers and cost the industry billions.

 

European Transport Commissioner Siim Kallas emphasized that, had last month's sweeping safeguards been imposed Tuesday, "a very large part" of Europe would have lost its air links again — and for days, not hours.

 

Kallas and transport ministers from across the 27-nation European Union agreed Tuesday at an emergency meeting in Brussels to press ahead on plans to unify their divided air-traffic-control networks, research new ways to identify and measure radar-invisible ash clouds, and legally define safety standards for specific makes of jet engines and the airline industry as a whole.

 

"We want to give top priority to those measures which will accelerate the setting up of the single European sky," Kallas said.

 

But government and aviation officials from Ireland couldn't attend in person because their airports were shut. They warned that Iceland, some 900 miles (1,500 kilometers) to the northwest, could keep spewing untold tons of engine-destroying ash into air space indefinitely and could keep disrupting in Ireland, Britain and Scandinavia this summer.

 

"There's no doubt about it, we're probably facing a summer of uncertainty due to this ash cloud," said Eamonn Brennan, chief executive of the Irish Aviation Authority, who foresaw the potential for sporadic shutdowns dependent on the whims of prevailing winds.

 

Too often so far, the ash from Iceland's Eyjafjallajokul volcano has ended up traveling with unseasonal winds straight east or southeast into Europe rather than northeast to the uninhabited Arctic, the typical path in springtime.

 

Irish Transport Minister Noel Dempsey said Tuesday's closure of Irish airspace "emphasizes the need for a strong European response and action plan to deal with this situation as it continues to evolve."

 

Iceland's Institute of Earth Sciences said Eyjafjallajokul — which erupted April 13 after a 177-year slumber — has experienced increased seismic activity since Sunday and its ash plume has risen to nearly 5.5 kilometers (18,000 feet) in altitude. The last time it erupted, in 1821, its emissions ebbed and flowed for two years.

 

At Dublin Airport, passengers said they doubted whether aviation chieftains could effectively cork the Iceland ash threat soon. Some turned their anger on Irish airlines for allegedly taking advantage of their misfortunes to gouge them on emergency-rebooked flights.

 

"We only got married on Saturday and a wedding is a lot of stress, so this was the last thing we needed," said Maria Colgan, standing beside her husband Brian Halligan after they sped to Dublin Airport and paid €600 ($790) to catch the last Aer Lingus flight Monday out of Dublin to London.

 

The couple, both 30, felt they had no choice but to shell out because their honeymoon in Barbados required them to make a Tuesday connection in London.

 

"The ash isn't our fault. Aer Lingus could work with people like us, but they aren't interested, charging us full whack for flights to London," she said.

 

But most passengers camped out Tuesday during the shutdown appeared resigned to a dawning reality of uncertain air bookings. Many applauded the authorities' more selective shutdown Tuesday as a sign of improving systems — and literally applauded as the Dublin departures terminals began listing takeoff times again.

 

"Ireland's an island. We're kind of stuck with air travel, for better or worse," said Elaine McDermott, 23, who lost her early flight to Paris — to attend a college friend's wedding — but found herself boarding a replacement service eight hours later.

 

"I'll make it to the church on time," she said with a relieved smile once her backpack had been checked.

 

Weather forecasters and geologists agreed that the immediate prognosis for Europe's harried air travelers was improving.

 

Irish meteorologist Evelyn Cusack said winds were expected to resume their typical northeasterly direction by Thursday, pushing ash into the Arctic and away from Europe's airports.

 

And Brian Flynn, deputy director of operations at the Brussels air safety agency Eurocontrol, said the ash was not reaching altitudes that could threaten aircraft in mid-flight, only those that were climbing after takeoff or descending to land. This greatly limited the actual air corridors at risk, he said.

 

"This time the volcano is much less active" than during the April 14-20 shutdowns, Flynn said. "The eruption is only to about 10,000, 15,000 feet. The amount of ash being put out is much less. ... The aviation community is in a much better position to know exactly where there could be any real risk to the operation of an aircraft."

 

The Irish Aviation Authority said the risk of further shutdowns before midday Wednesday was "minimal."—AP

News on 6 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 6 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1: EARTHQUAKE IN NORTHERN CHILE

Northern Chile has been shaken by a magnitude-6.4 earthquake according to US Geological Survey.

The epicentre of the quake which occurred late Wednesday evening local time was 37 km northwest of the city of Arica in a depth of 26 km.

In February Chile was hit by a powerful magnitude-8.8 earthquake which caused substantial damage to the country's infrastructure and killed more than 800 people.

 

German ARDtext and ZDFtext: MAGNITUDE-6.4 EARTHQUAKE SHAKES SOUTHERN PERU

A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook southern Peru late wednesday night according to the US Geological Survey, USGS. The epicentre was in a depth of about 11 km about 25 km west of the city of Tacna near the Chilean border. According to the first reports from Peru's authorities there was only little damage.

In connection with a magnitude-8.8 earthquake at the end of February about 350 people were killed in southern Chile. In August 2007 a magnitude-8.0 earthquake in Peru cost 600 human lives. The town of Pisco was totally destroyed.

 

 

MAGNITUDE 6.4 QUAKE HITS SOUTHERN PERU

05/06/2010 | 11:45 AM - GMA News.TV

 

(Updated 12:49 p.m.) LIMA, Peru — A magnitude-6.4 earthquake shook southern

Peru near the Chilean border late Wednesday, the US Geological Survey said. There were reports of toppled electricity poles in the Peruvian city of Tacna.

 

The USGS said the quake's epicenter was 25 kilometers (15 miles) west of Tacna at a depth of 11 kilometers (6.8 miles). It struck at 9:42 p.m. local time.

 

Local radio station RPP said the quake toppled telephone poles in Tacna, but there were no immediate reports of casualties. The station said Peru's Geophysical Institute put the quake's magnitude at 6.5.

 

On Aug. 15, 2007, a powerful earthquake killed 596 people and reduced the Peruvian town of Pisco to rubble.

 

Tacna is near Peru's border with Chile, where a huge magnitude-8.8 quake hit Feb. 27, triggering a tsunami and killing 486 people. Since then the region has been shaken by dozens of smaller quakes.

 

The latest quake was felt in northern Chile, but there were no reports of serious damage. Chile's National Early Warning Center said some telephone and electricity outages were reported in the port of Arica.

 

Dozens of people reportedly fled coastal homes in fear of a tsunami, but the navy's Hydrographic and Oceanographic Service said none was expected.

 

That part of Chile is hundreds of miles north of the area hit by the February quake. — AP

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German ARDtext: AIR SPACE OVER GREAT BRITAIN AND IRELAND OPEN

BBC World Service: FLIGHTS LEAVING UK AIRPORTS / AIRPORTS OPEN AFTER ASH CLOSURES

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German ARDtext: STEEL CONCRETE COVER ON THE WAY TO THE SCENE OF DISASTER IN THE MEXICAN GULF

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http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8663683.stm

 

STRONG EARTHQUAKE HITS OFF INDONESIAN ISLAND OF SUMATRA

 

Page last updated at 20:14 GMT, Wednesday, 5 May 2010 21:14 UK

 

A 6.3-magnitude earthquake has struck west of Indonesia's Sumatra Island.

 

The US Geological Survey said the quake hit at a depth of 18.1 km (11.2 miles) at 1629 GMT - 137km (85 miles) from the port city of Bengkulu.

 

There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was no threat of a destructive widespread tsunami.

 

Indonesia has recently been struck by many quakes. More than 1,000 people were killed off Sumatra in September.

 

The country sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.

 

In December 2004, a 9.1-magnitude quake off the coast of Aceh triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed quarter of a million people in 13 countries including Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India and Thailand.

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German ARDtext: 25 DEAD AFTER VERY BAD WEATHER IN CHINA

In connection with a tornado and severe hail storms in southwestern China, at least 25 were killed. More than 150 were injured by the bad weather close to CHONGQING municipality according to local media.

 

More than 1,000 houses were smashed by wind speeds of up to almost 110 km per hour and more than 10,000 were injured. Also the infrastructure and the agriculture in the region had been substantially damaged. The material damage was estimated at about 2.3 billion euro.

 

Swedish SVT: MORE THAN 20 DEAD IN TORNADO IN CHINA

At least 23 were killed and more than 160 injured when today a tornado swept through Chongqing municipality in southwestern China. The powerful tornado was followed by hail storms. Many houses were smashed. The power was lost.

The local authorities started rescue operations. The death toll may rise. Chongqing has a population of more than 30 million people.

 

 

25 DEAD AFTER TORNADO, STORM IN SOUTHWESTERN CHINA05/06/2010 | 11:17 AM - GMA News.TV

 

(Updated 1:03 p.m.) BEIJING — A tornado and strong winds in southwestern China killed 25 people and injured more than 150 early Thursday, state media reported.

 

Several homes collapsed in the city of Chongqing, but the number was still being tallied, said the disaster relief director at the Chongqing civil affairs bureau.

 

The director, who gave only his surname Ma, disputed a China News online report that 1,000 homes had collapsed. "It's definitely not that many," he said.

 

China Central Television said in its noon broadcast that the death toll had risen to 25. The official Xinhua News Agency said more than 150 were injured.

 

Telephones at the press office for the Chongqing government rang unanswered at midday, when many government officials are usually away for lunch.

 

Xinhua said the tornado struck the area around 2 a.m. and killed people in the counties of Dianjiang and Liangping. — AP

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8663969.stm

 

BBC World News: DEADLY TORNADO HITS CHINESE CITY

Page last updated at 16:38 GMT, Thursday, 6 May 2010 17:38 UK

 

Severe storms and a tornado have killed at least 39 people near the city of Chongqing in south-western China.

 

State news agency Xinhua reported that at least 150 others were injured after heavy rain, a hail storm, gales and a tornado struck two rural districts.

 

Rescue work was underway in Liangping and Dianjiang districts, Xinhua said, and some 70,000 people were temporarily evacuated from areas near Chongqing.

The storms destroyed some 1,000 homes, damaged crops, and caused power cuts.

 

Local reports said almost 1,000 homes in Chongqing - a municipality of more than 30 million people - had partially collapsed and thousands more were damaged.

A nurse at a hospital in the area told the BBC that equipment was damaged when power was lost. She said she could see several uprooted trees and houses with broken windows.

 

The BBC's South China correspondent, Chris Hogg, says most of the houses damaged were the older type of Chinese dwellings with tiled roofs. Most of the roofs blew off and the weaker houses collapsed.

 

Up to 157mm (6.5in) of rain had fallen in parts of the region from late Wednesday to Thursday afternoon, the China News Service said.

 

The storms were caused by a heatwave from the south colliding with a northern cold front, it added.

 

The worst affected area reported winds of more than 100km/h (62mph).

 

Local government has told the BBC it will take two days to restore power.

 

Our correspondent says tornadoes which kill are relatively rare in China.

News on 7 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 7 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

 

FRESH FLOODS HIT NORTHERN AFGHANISTAN

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8667211.stm

Page last updated at 09:36 GMT, Friday, 7 May 2010 10:36 UK

 

Fresh floods caused by heavy rains have hit northern Afghanistan, after a week of flooding across the country in which at least 65 people died.

 

Western provinces have been worst hit by the deluge over the past few days, Afghan authorities told the BBC.

 

Thousands of families have been affected as mud homes were damaged or demolished and swathes of agricultural land destroyed.

 

UN and Afghan officials said they were working to get aid to those affected.

But they warned that more rain was expected in the country in coming days and this could worsen the situation.

 

"The Afghan government and the UN have mobilised air and ground teams to help those affected with food and non-food aid," head of Afghanistan's department for disaster management, Abdul Mateen Edrak, told the BBC.

 

A number of residents from the affected areas told the BBC that they needed help.

 

They said hundreds of livestock and hundreds of hectares of agricultural land were destroyed in the flooding.

 

 

ICELAND:

 

German ARDtext: IRELAND CLOSES AIRPORTS AGAIN

Due to a new massive cloud of ash from the Icelandic volcano, Eyjafjallajökull, the airports in western Ireland have been closed according to the national Irish Aviation Authority, IAA. It was the third time in 3 days that the airspace over Ireland had been closed fully or partly due to the volcanic ash.

 

German ZDFtext: The glacier volcano in Iceland is again "more explosive" spewing ash according to the Meteorological Institute in Reykjavik. According to a prognosis from the Meteorological Institute in London the ash cloud is drifting from Iceland towards the west coast of Ireland and the northwestern Scotland.

In the night between Thursday and Friday the Irish Aviation Authority, IAA, decreed the closure of several airports. In the next couple of days passengers must expect disruptions according to the IAA.

 

BBC WORLD NEWS: ASH BRINGS NEW FLIGHT DISRUPTIONS

Some flights to and fro Glasgow and the Hebrides have been cancelled or delayed by volcanic ash drifting from the volcanic eruptions in Iceland.

 

Danish TV2text: VOLCANO PRODUCES A 9 KM HIGH ASH CLOUD

The Icelandic volcano under the glacier, Eyjafjallajökull has begun to spew more ash into the air. According to TV2 News Weather an up to 9 km tall ash cloud (tonight it was estimated at 7 km) rises above the glacier. "The eruption has changed back to being an explosive eruption. The lava has stopped its outflow and most magma is spread due to explosions inside the crater." The ash cloud has risen above the crater - to an altitude (height) of 4 to 7 km, and a substantial amount of ash is expected to fall down in the wind direction. [/b]

 

Swedish SVT: VOLCANO SPEWS NEW ASH INTO THE AIR

The volcano under the glacier, Eyjafjallajökull that caused European flight disruptions after the April eruption has started again to spew out ash. According to seismologists it might be a new eruption ensuing enormous amounts of volcanic ash. An up to 7 km tall ash column has been discovered. According to the European Organisation for the Safety of Air Navigation, EUROCONTROL, the ash cloud might cause transatlantic flights to be redirected / rerouted. Earlier Friday it was decided to close the airports on the west coast of Ireland.

 

Swedish SVT, in the evening: AIR TRAFFIC REROUTED/REDIRECTED DUE TO ASH

More powerful eruptions of ash from eyjafjallajökull in the night between Thursday and Friday led to redirection of some transatlantic air traffic. According to Eurocontrol the area that might be affected of the volcanic ash has been increased to the western part of the Iberian Peninsula. The ash column can reach an altitude of 10,000 m in some places (earlier the altitude reached was 6,000 m).

 

 

THE PHILIPPINES:

 

PAGASA: WIDESPREAD RAINS MAY CAUSE FLASHFLOODS IN MINDANAO

05/07/2010 | 09:25 AM - GMA News.TV

 

While El Niño is still in the country, widespread rains that may cause flash floods and landslides might occur in Mindanao, the state weather agency said Friday.

 

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) said "Visayas and Mindanao will experience mostly cloudy skies with scattered rainshowers and thunderstorms becoming widespread rains over the eastern section of Mindanao, which may trigger flash floods and landslides," it said in its 5 a.m. bulletin.

 

In recent past weeks, the El Niño weather pattern was among the reasons cited for the power crisis in Mindanao, as power plants there are highly dependent on water that went scarce since long dry spells hit the country.

 

Meanwhile, PAGASA said the rest of the country will be partly cloudy to cloudy with isolated rainshowers or thunderstorms mostly late in the day, or evening.

 

Light to moderate winds blowing from the East to Southeast will prevail over Luzon and the Visayas. — LBG, GMANews.TV

 

 

USA:

 

BBC WORLD NEWS (before noon Friday 7 May 2010): OIL SLICK REACHES WILDLIFE REFUGE

 

FUNNEL 'PLACED OVER' GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8668753.stm

Page last updated at 22:52 GMT, Friday, 7 May 2010 23:52 UK

 

A giant concrete-and-steel funnel has been placed over a blown-out oil well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico in a bid to contain oil leaking from it.

 

The oil firm, BP, said it might take up to 12 hours for the containment device to settle in place, but that everything appeared to be going as planned.

 

It is hoped it will be able to collect as much as 85% of the oil and begin funnelling it to ships above by Monday.

 

Oil from a slick caused by the leak has washed ashore on islands off Louisiana.

 

US officials announced on Friday they had closed Breton National Wildlife Refuge to the public after a silver sheen of oil reached the shoreline. The refuge includes the Chandeleur Islands chain.

 

"The refuge closure is important to keep the public safe, to minimize disturbance to nesting colonial sea birds, and to allow personnel conducting cleanup operations and recovery efforts to work safely and efficiently," the US Fish and Wildlife Service said.

 

The BBC's Rajesh Mirchandani on Dauphin Island, an inhabited barrier island three miles (5km) off the coast of Alabama, says there is a faint but distinct smell of oil in the air.

 

Meanwhile, some scientists say the oil may be spread more widely. Small, black particles have been found in samples taken from below the surface, away from the visible slick, our correspondent adds.

 

'GOOD PROGRESS'

 

An estimated 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day has been leaking unstopped for 18 days from the well, 50 miles (80km) off Louisiana, since an explosion destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig last month, killing 11 workers.

 

Although the rig was operated by Transocean, it was leased by BP, which is responsible for cleaning the 3 million gallons that have so far leaked, creating a slick covering about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).

 

The company hopes the 98-tonne containment device, once operational, will allow it to collect oil leaking out of the well while it attempts to stop the leak altogether by drilling relief wells nearby.

 

Earlier, remote-controlled submersibles guided the 40ft (12m) funnel above the wellhead, some 5,000 ft (1,500m) below the surface. The technology has only ever been used a few times in shallow waters.

 

"It appears to be going exactly as we hoped," BP spokesman Bill Salvin told the Associated Press. "Still lots of challenges ahead, but this is very good progress."

 

Now that the containment device is on the seafloor, workers will need at least 12 hours to let it settle and make sure it is stable before the submersibles can hook up a pipe and hose that will funnel the oil up to a tanker.

 

"We are essentially taking a four-story building and lowering it 5,000 feet and setting it on the head of a pin," Mr Salvin added.

 

If the box works, another will be dropped onto a second, smaller leak.

Experts warn that there is still a risk that any wrong move could damage the leaking pipe and make the problem worse. It is also possible for the pipe to the surface to become clogged with ice, and for the subsequent separation of the oil, gas and water to cause an explosion.

 

In the meantime, residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida await news of when the oil will reach their shores.

 

BP said emergency teams had been sent to Freemason Island, a favourite fishing spot for recreational anglers some 30 miles (50km) off Louisiana's coast, to deploy inflatable booms to protect its prime marshland.

 

Fears are growing that sea life may have been severely affected in the area, which includes vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs.

 

The attempt by BP to lower the funnel comes as Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar called for a halt to permits for new exploratory drilling in the US, pending a 30-day investigation into the cause of the oil spill.

 

Some environmentalists are now calling for a permanent ban on offshore drilling as a result of the spill.

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Yahoo! UK and Ireland: Huge dome probes ocean depths to cap US oil leak

 

Reuters UK: Massive dome lowered site of huge U.S. oil spill

 

RTTNews.com: Oil Slick Contaminates Louisiana Wild Life Reserves

 

Financial Times: Dome to stem BP oil leak moves into place

 

Chicago Tribune: Oil slick reaches Louisiana's barrier islands

Northern Spain Airspace is closed I believe

Updates and news on 8 May 2010 - part I

 

NEWS ON 8 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO HAITI

 

US MILITARY DRAWS DOWN DEEPLY IN HAITI

 

05/08/2010 | 02:08 PM - GMA News.TV

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — Six Haitian children cling to Lt. Ben Stollerman's hands, sleeves and fatigue pants as the US Navy engineer negotiates one of Haiti's biggest camps for earthquake refugees.

 

"I feel like the Pied Piper," he says, grinning as he takes a break from pointing out projects he's directed to help reduce flooding in a sea of makeshift shelters that 47,000 people call home.

 

Stollerman says he's tried to explain to the children — though he's not sure they grasp it — that he won't be around forever. Next week, he ships out.

 

From a high of 22,000 troops spearheaded by the now-departed 82nd Airborne two weeks after the devastating Jan. 12 quake, the US military operation here is now down to 1,300 troops.

 

As of June 1, the Louisiana National Guard will be in charge of a 500-person contingent, based in Gonaives, a flood-prone city north of the capital where 800 people died two years ago in three hurricanes and a tropical storm.

 

Other National Guard units will rotate in every two weeks from Nevada, Montana, Arizona, the Virgin Islands and Puerto Rico, said Maj. Gen. Simeon Trombitas, who heads US Army-South and is in command of Joint Task Force-Haiti for its last month.

 

But the thousands of troops of Operation Unified Response, who helped keep the peace, distribute food and provide an overall feeling of safety for quake-stricken Haitians, will be a thing of the past.

 

They will be missed at the old military airport, where Stollerman works.

 

"The Americans' leaving is kind of sad because they get things done," Marie Ange Joseph, a 36-year-old street vendor who lives in the airport camp, said as Navy engineers installed steel grates over open sewer holes nearby. "If things were left up to the Haitians, they wouldn't get done."

 

Children scurried and slipped about near one of the holes, the stench of human waste strong even a few shacks away where a bare-chested young man sold moonshine and cigarettes and people played cards at a tarp-covered tavern.

 

An eight-person Southern Command contingent will remain in the capital, Port-au-Prince, with a handful of Chinook and Blackhawk helicopters.

 

The Navy engineers, or Seabees, also will remain in Haiti, to protect those among the 1.3 million still crowded in tent camps who are at high risk from flash flooding.

 

"It's a transition, not a drawdown or a departure," Trombitas told The Associated Press.

 

The Guardsmen will build and repair schools and continue to train Haitian medical workers. Large-scale US military medical attention ended March 19 when the USNS Comfort hospital ship departed.

 

The US Agency for International Development and civilian relief agencies will be taking over most of the logistical and aid work American troops performed.

 

Rain is apt to be the biggest challenge.

 

May is normally the wettest month, with an average of 8.6 inches (21.8 centimeters) of rainfall, said Michel Davison, coordinator of the International Desk of the US National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration.

 

So far, the Western Hemisphere's poorest nation has been spared the kind of weather systems that typically stall for a few days, dumping several inches of rain. But Davison predicted that major downpours could begin around May 20.

 

Just 3 percent of Haiti is forested, and widespread erosion regularly contributes to violent flooding capable of delivering death on an alarming scale.

 

Last month, the Seabees took advantage of lower-than-average rainfall to build retaining walls, carve out drainage canals and sponsor cash-for-work programs that paid jobless, homeless Haitians to clear garbage from culverts in nine camps where they deemed people to be at the highest risk from flash floods.

 

The US military also helped move 7,400 at-risk people from those camps to relocation camps.

 

A centerpiece of the effort has been the teeming Ancien Aeroport Militaire camp, where 26-year-old Lt. Stollerman of Park City, Utah, has become a minor celebrity.

 

The Seabees delivered 300 truckloads of gravel that people have used to raise the floors of their homes and rid the camp of standing water where mosquitoes could breed and spread malaria. They've also covered big sewer drain openings that spelled peril for the lieutenant's little friends.

 

"They really decreased the stress level among the people in the camp," said Louise Ivers, Haiti clinical director for the Boston-based Partners in Health, a medical relief organization with more than two decades in Haiti. "The place was a hellhole. When it rained, water was collecting in big ponds. Children were falling into holes. It was just desperate."

 

If disaster strikes again, the Seabees can be back in force in a matter of days, said Capt. Roger Motzko, 55, of Anchorage, Alaska, Stollerman's boss and the Joint Task Force's chief of engineering.

 

The first US troops to arrive for the earthquake emergency bivouacked under ponchos on the western edge of a relief-choked international airport.

 

The soldiers have had it somewhat easier lately: Recently, they were entertained by Miami Dolphins cheerleaders who made three appearances from April 27-29 with a military-sponsored variety show.

 

And the Americans only opened fire once, Trombitas said: warning shots during looting in the early post-quake days.

 

Though the troops are universally pleased to be among friendly, appreciative people, Haiti's capital remains a sweat-inducing, dust-choked stew of filth, despair, hunger, traffic and sporadic electricity.

 

"We live at the old bus station in non-air-conditioned tents," Motzko said.

 

"On lucky days we get a shower a day. Lucky for you, today was one." — AP

News on 8 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters, part II

 

NEWS ON 8 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, Part II

 

German ZDFtext + ARDtext: BAD WEATHER KILLED MORE THAN 40 IN INDIA

Bad weather cost at least 43 human lives in northern India. About 70 were injured in connection with powerful storms and heavy rains in the Indian states of Uttar Pradesh and Bihar according to the police. Hundred houses and the crops were damaged. In parts of Bihar the power was down for more than 10 hours Friday evening.According to meteorologists the bad weather is an omen of the MONSOON season which begins in June.

 

VIOLENT THUNDERSTORMS KILL 43 PEOPLE IN INDIA

05/08/2010 | 03:39 PM - GMA News.TV

 

LUCKNOW, India — Fierce thunderstorms with heavy rains uprooted trees and destroyed hundreds of homes, crushing dozens of people to death and injuring scores of others in northern India, police said Saturday.

At least 43 people were killed and 70 hurt in the deluge and squalls that erupted late Friday. The powerful storms slashed a wide swath across Uttar Pradesh and Bihar states, uprooting trees and power pylons and damaging homes and crops.

 

In eastern Uttar Pradesh, 21 people were killed and about 50 others injured when heavy rains lashed the region, police spokesman Surendra Srivastava said Saturday.

 

"A majority of the victims were crushed under uprooted trees or when houses collapsed due to the squall," he said.

 

In neighboring Bihar, 22 people died after strong winds blew off the roofs of houses and toppled trees and electricity poles, said Devesh Chandra Thakur, the state's disaster management minister.

 

Large parts of the state, including the capital Patna, were hit by power outages that lasted more than 10 hours.

 

Bihar's meteorological department chief, Animesh Chandra, said the high-velocity winds and rain storms were a normal occurrence in the run-up to the annual monsoon season that starts in June.

 

Srivastava said the highest casualties in Uttar Pradesh were reported from the city of Jaunpur, where 11 people were killed Friday.

 

"Among those who died were four people traveling in a car who were killed when a tree fell on them. Three others died when a house collapsed in Jaunpur," Srivastava said.

 

Jaunpur is 155 miles (250 kilometers) southeast of the state capital, Lucknow.

— AP

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

 

Danish DR1: BAD WEATHER KILLED 65 IN CHINA

At least 65 were killed during several days of powerful rainy and stormy weather in southern China according to chinese media reports.

At least 10,000 houses were destroyed, and thousands have been made homeless. 100,000 hectares of agricultural land has been destroyed by floodings, and many roads and railway stretches / sections have been damaged. Power and water supplies were down in several places.

More than 2.5 million people were affected by the bad weather in Sichuan, Chongquin, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Hunan.

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

 

Swedish SVT: AT LEAST 13 KILLED BY LANDSLIDE IN TADZHIKISTAN

 

At least 13 were killed Friday in massive landslides in Tadzhikistan. 12 people are still missing after heavy rains.

 

The earthquake destroyed about 200 homes in the mountainous region Kiljab, about 20 miles southeast of the capital Dushanbe according to AFP citing a spokesman of the rescue service.

 

The rescue operation was made complicated by flooding in the affected area. The mountainous former Sovjet republic is hit by powerful earthquakes each spring. So far this year, 19 people have been killed by landslides in Tadzhikistan.

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

 

German ZFDtext: ASH CLOUD: SPAIN CLOSES ITS AIRSPACE

The northern Spanish airspace was closed due to the ash cloud from Iceland according to the Spanish airport management agency, AENA (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea which means Spanish Airports and Air Navigation). The ash cloud from Iceland's glacier volcano reached Spanish airspace in the night between Friday and Saturday. The cloud also affected a small part of Northern Portugal's airspace.

 

German ARDtext: SPAIN: AIR TRAFFIC STOPPED / FLIGHTS GROUNDED

An ash cloud from Iceland's volcano Eyjafjallajökull creates new problems for the air traffic in parts of Europe. The Spanish airport management agency, AENA (Aeropuertos Españoles y Navegación Aérea) decreed closure of several Spanish airports.

ANA, the Portuguese Airport Authority warned against air traffic disruptions affecting Porto, the north portuguese sea port. On Friday several airports were closed for some hours in western Ireland due to volcanic ash.

 

Swedish SVT: SPANISH AIRPORTS CLOSED

Airports in northwestern Spain were closed Saturday due to an ash cloud from the Icelandic volcano Eyjafjallajökull according to AENA, the Spanish airport management agency. Friday, new, more powerful eruptions of ash from the volcano led to redirection of certain transatlantic air traffic. According to Eurocontrol, the area which may be affected by the ash cloud was extended to cover also the western part of the Iberian peninsula. Sweden is so far not affected.

 

BBC World News: ASH CLOUD SHUTS SPANISH AIRPORTS

Spain closed 19 airports Saturday due to a cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano drifting south over western Europe according to the Spanish airport management agency, Aena. Most flights between Europe and North America were diverted because of the ash cloud's latest drifting according to Eurocontrol.

 

BBC World News (Saturday evening): TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS HIT BY ASH / SPAIN: FLIGHTS GROUNDED BY ASH CLOUD

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8669610.stm

 

VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD HITS TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS

 

Page last updated at 22:28 GMT, Saturday, 8 May 2010 23:28 UK

 

Hundreds of transatlantic flights have been cancelled or delayed by a cloud of ash from an Icelandic volcano drifting south over Western Europe.

 

Sixteen Spanish airports - including the international hub, Barcelona - are closed, with many flights being re-routed around the affected area.

 

But Zaragoza, Valladolid and Salamanca airports have now reopened after closing earlier.

 

On average, 600 airliners make the Atlantic crossing every day.

 

Spain's national airport management agency Aena said the airports affected were Barcelona, Girona, Sabadell, Santiago, La Coruna, Vigo, Asturias, Santander, Burgos, Leon, Bilbao, San Sebastian, Vitoria, Huesca, Pamplona and Logrono.

 

The Spanish government said there was a chance the 1,200 mile (2,000km) long cloud could still affect the country next week.

 

"We don't rule it out and we will make alternative plans," Transport Minister Jose Blanco told a news conference.

 

He added that extra places on long-distance trains would be made available, and extra buses and boats were being laid on.

 

In the UK, some flights to Spain, France and Portugal were being affected.

 

At London Stansted, 22 Ryanair flights to the Canary Islands, mainland Spain and Portugal were cancelled, along with three EasyJet flights.

 

Flights from Gatwick to Portugal, Alicante and Madrid were cancelled and at Heathrow some flights to La Coruna in northern Spain were also grounded.

 

Ryanair said that it expected flights to Milan's Bergamo airport to be disrupted by ash on Sunday morning.

 

Last month, thousands of travellers were stranded after ash shut down airspace across Europe for five days.

 

Recent images have shown activity in the Eyjafjallajokull volcano intensifying.

 

Experts at the UK's Met Office said it was sending ash up to heights of 30,000 ft (9,100m).

 

Flights across Ireland and parts of the UK were disrupted earlier this week.

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 at 18:30: ASH CLOUD CLOSES BARCELONA's AIRPORT

The Spanish authorities closed Barcelona's airport at 15:30 as the ash cloud reached Barcelona. 19 airports in Spain were closed. According to AENA, the Spanish airport management agency, 673 flights were cancelled due to the Icelandic volcanic ash. In Portugal 104 flights were cancelled according to ANA, the portuguese Airport Authority.

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

 

BBC World Service: USA: OIL SPILL CREW DESCRIBES ACCIDENT

 

The deadly blast on board an oil rig in the Gulf of Mexico was caused by an exploding bubble of methanic gas according to a US media report.

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 News: BP FAILED TO STOP OIL LEAK / ATTEMPT TO STOP OIL LEAK FAILED

 

Ice prevents BP from mounting a 100 tonne heavy metal funnel which should close the oil leak.

 

BBC World News: SETBACK IN US OIL CONTAINMENT BID

BP says it has problems with the containment device it is trying to put over a blown-out well in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

 

BBC World News: PROBLEMS WITH CONTAINMENT BOX HALT US GULF OIL LEAK FIX

 

The oil company, BP, has encountered problems with the containment device it is trying to put over a blown-out well on the seabed of the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Chief operating officer Doug Suttles said the 98-tonne concrete-and-steel box had to be moved, after ice-like crystals began accumulating inside it.

 

He said BP's engineers hoped they could find a solution to the problem.

 

The aim is to contain as much as 85% of the escaping oil and then funnel it into a waiting tanker on the surface.

 

US officials have closed the Breton National Wildlife Refuge to the public after the slick caused by the leak reached islands off Louisiana.

 

Some 5,000 barrels (210,000 gallons) of oil a day has been leaking for 19 days from the well, 50 miles (80km) offshore, since an explosion destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig last month, killing 11 workers.

 

Rescued workers who were on the rig earlier described how a bubble of methane gas escaped from the well and expanded as it shot up the drill column before exploding. Some complained that safety devices had not worked.

 

One of them, Micah Sandell reportedly said: "There was people screaming and hollering. There was people jumping off the side."

 

Another, Dwayne Martinez, stated: "[There were] no kind of alarms. We didn't hear any kind of alarms until there was one explosion."

 

'NOT YET FAILED'

 

Although the rig was operated by Transocean, it was leased by BP, which is responsible for cleaning the 3 million gallons that have so far leaked, creating a slick covering about 2,000 sq miles (5,200 sq km).

 

The company hopes the 98-tonne containment device, once operational, will allow it to collect oil leaking out of the well while it attempts to stop the leak altogether by drilling relief wells nearby.

 

On Friday, remote-controlled submersibles guided the 40ft (12m) funnel above the wellhead, 5,000 ft (1,500m) below the surface. The technology has only ever been used a few times in shallow waters

 

BP initially said everything appeared to be going as planned, but on Saturday it said flammable gas hydrates - crystalline water-based solids physically resembling ice - had accumulated inside the device.

 

"As we were placing the dome over the leak source a large volume of hydrates formed inside the top of the dome, requiring us to move the dome to the side of the leak point," Mr Suttles told reporters in Robert, Louisiana.

 

"The dome is currently sitting on the seabed while we evaluate options to deal with the hydrate issue. We believe that it'll probably take the next two days to look for opportunities to overcome this challenge."

 

These could include using hot water to heat up the hydrates at the ocean floor, or using hydrocarbons like methanol to thin them out.

 

"I wouldn't say it's failed yet," Mr Suttles added. "What I would say is what we attempted to do last night didn't work."

 

If the funnel fails to work, BP faces the prospect of drilling a relief well nearby to cut off the leaky oil well, which could take two to three months.

 

In the meantime, residents of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama, and Florida await news of when the massive oil slick will reach their shores.

 

A sheen of oil began arriving on barrier islands off the coast of Louisiana last week, and crews have been laying inflatable booms, spraying chemical dispersants and setting fire to the slick to try to keep it from coming ashore.

The US Coast Guard and BP said on Saturday that about 2.1 million gallons of an oil-water mix had been collected, about 10% of which was oil.

 

More than 160 miles (257 km) of booms had been put out and crews had used nearly 275,000 gallons of dispersants, they added.

 

Fears are growing that sea life may have been severely affected in the area, which includes vital spawning grounds for fish, shrimp and crabs.

 

Some environmentalists are calling for a ban on offshore drilling.

News on 9 and 10 May - Indonesia, ash cloud in Europe and Afghanistan

 

NEWS ON 9 + 10 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ZDFtext on 9 May 2010: SUMATRA HIT BY MAGNITUDE 7.4 EARTHQUAKE - TSUNAMI ALERT LIFTED

Off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, a powerful earthquake occurred about 225 km south of Banda Aceh, Aceh's capital. The quake reached a magnitude of 7.4 according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). Several buildings were damaged. According to the police the tremors triggered panic: People ran out of their houses and were afraid to go inside again. A tsunami alert covering the coast 100 km from the epicentre was issued, but it was later lifted again.

 

German ARDtext on 9 May 2010: POWERFUL QUAKE OFF SUMATRA + TSUNAMI ALERT LIFTED

Indonesia's coast has been shaken by a powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake at sea. According to the US Geological Survey the earthquake occurred off the island of Sumatra. In Banda Aceh, the capital city of the province Aceh, several people ran out of their houses in panic. In the Meulaboh district, buildings were damaged. There were no reports of casualties. The Indonesian authorities issued a tsunami alert and later lifted it again, as no tsunami was triggered by the powerful magnitude 7.4 earthquake. In the city of Medan on Sumatra's east coast, the earth trembled. This region was hit by the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami on 26 December, 2004. 170,000 were killed on Sumatra.

 

Swedish SVT: EARTHQUAKE NEAR ACEH IN INDONESIA / TSUNAMI ALERT IN HARD-HIT ACEH

A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has occurred 22.5 miles south of Banda Aceh according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). A tsunami alert was issued, but lifted again. The quake occurred in a depth of 3 miles and 6.6 miles southwest of the Meulaboh district at 8 o'clock CET. This info was given by Indonesia's Meteorological and geographical office.

The Indonesian ACEH province was hard hit by the devastating tsunami on 26 December 2004.

 

Danish TV2 News on 9 May 2010: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN INDONESIA

A tsunami alert covering the coast off the Indonesian ACEH province was lifted. The alert was issued after a powerful earthquake at sea 225 km south of the Indonesian island of Sumatra. Measurements at sea show no indication of a tsunami. Therefore the alert was lifted again according to the Indonesian Ministry of the Interior. The quake was measured at magnitude 7.4 on the Richter scale.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/8670593.stm

Page last updated at 08:09 GMT, Sunday, 9 May 2010 09:09 UK

 

EARTHQUAKE OFF INDONESIA's ACEH TRIGGERS TSUNAMI

 

An earthquake of magnitude 7.4 has struck offshore near the Indonesian island of Sumatra, near Aceh province.

 

The quake struck 214km (133 miles) south of Aceh's capital of Banda Aceh, the US Geological Survey (USGS) said.

 

A local tsunami alert was issued and later lifted by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

 

The site is very near that of 2004's 9.2 magnitude earthquake. About 220,000 people were killed in the Indian Ocean tsunami the quake triggered.

 

The epicentre of the latest quake was at a depth of 61.4km, about 66km (41 miles) south-west of Meulaboh district, the USGS said.

 

The district, and other parts of Aceh, were devastated in the 26 December 2004 earthquake.

 

RING OF FIRE

 

The quake hit at 1259 (0559 GMT). Local media reported some houses were damaged and power lines knocked down, Associated Press news agency said.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center lifted its tsunami watch several hours after the earthquake.

 

"Sea level readings indicate that a significant tsunami was not generated," the Hawaii-based centre said in a statement on its website.

 

"Therefore, the tsunami watch issued by this center is now cancelled."

 

The USGS earlier said it believed there was no threat of a destructive, widespread tsunami but the possibility of a local tsunami existed.

 

Indonesia is located on the volatile Pacific Ring of Fire, a belt of tectonic activity girdling the Pacific Ocean that triggers earthquakes and volcanic activity.

 

Aceh is on the north-western tip of Sumatra, one of Indonesia's main islands, and is frequently rocked by earthquakes.

 

One last year near Padang in West Sumatra province killed more than 1,000 people.

 

About 170,000 people were killed in ACEH from the 2004 earthquake and the tsunami it launched.

 

The waves spread across the Indian Ocean to cause death and destruction as far away as Sri Lanka, Burma and Thailand.______________________________________

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8670645.stm

Page last updated at 18:55 GMT, Sunday, 9 May 2010 19:55 UK

 

ASH DELAYS MORE EUROPEAN FLIGHTS

 

Ash from an Icelandic volcano is drifting across areas of France, Spain, northern Italy and Germany bringing more disruption to European air travel.

 

Several airports were closed, including Munich in southern Germany.

 

Another, higher-level ash cloud is still hanging over the Atlantic, delaying flights between Europe and the US as jets divert around it.

 

The UK's Met Office said the ash cloud could disrupt UK airspace over the next few days.

 

In ITALY, airports at Milan, Pisa and Florence reopened on Sunday afternoon but many flights had been delayed.

 

CROATIA closed the airports of Split and Zadar on the Adriatic coast until further notice, Croatia Airlines said.

 

FRENCH authorities said ash had forced the suspension of about 20 flights at Nice airport.

 

All flights were grounded at Munich airport in southern Germany on Sunday afternoon, with airports at Augsburg, Memmingen and Stuttgart also affected, Germany's DFS air safety agency said.

 

The measures would be in force "until further notice", the agency said.

 

SPANISH airspace had been returning to normal on Sunday after 19 airports in the north were closed on Saturday.

 

However, the national airport management agency Aena announced that seven airports were again closing from 1600 (1400 GMT) - Asturias, Santander, Bilbao, Salamanca, Valladolid, Leon and Burgos. Airports at Santiago de Compostela, Vigo and La Coruna reopened at 1700 (1500 GMT), it added.

 

In PORTUGAL, the airport in the northern city of Porto was closed until 0600 GMT on Monday, the country's air navigation authority NAV said.

 

The National Air Traffic Service, which covers UK airspace, said restrictions had been lifted across the country, apart from an area in north-west Scotland affecting Barra airfield, which will remain in the no-fly zone until 0100 on Monday.

 

The IRISH Aviation Authority also ordered five airports in the west of the country to close on Sunday afternoon. Airports in Dublin, Shannon and Cork were expected to stay open.

 

DENSE ASH

 

There was no evidence that the eruption was about to finish, the Icelandic Meteorological Office warned on Sunday.

 

It said on its website that "output from the volcano has been slowly decreasing" but that "further changes in overall activity can be expected".

 

It concluded: "Presently there are no indications that the eruption is about to end."

 

Weather forecasters predicted the ash cloud would gradually weaken as it spread over southern Germany, the Czech Republic and Austria by Sunday night.

 

Eurocontrol's latest map on Sunday showed two areas of concentrated ash over northern ITALY and south-eastern FRANCE.

 

Aircraft reported an ash cloud over the Pyrenees on Saturday, the UK's Met Office said.

 

Last month, ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano shut down airspace across Europe for five days.

 

Recent images have shown activity in the volcano increasing and emitting ash up to 20,000ft (6,000m).

 

German ZDFtext on 9 May 2010: FLIGHTS IN EUROPE AFFECTED BY ASH

Due to the Icelandic ash cloud flights were grounded and airports closed in GERMANY, but also in FRANCE, SPAIN, northern ITALY, PORTUGAL, AUSTRIA and Switzerland). 700 flights were cancelled. Transatlantic flights were rerouted which caused some delays.

 

German ZDFtext and ARDtext on 10 May 2010: GERMAN AIRSPACE (= all German airports) REOPENED

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

 

German ARDtext ON 10.5.10: 97 KILLED BY HEAVY RAIN IN AFGHANISTAN

Heavy rains and flooding cost as least 87 human lives in the south Asian country within a week. In particular the provinces in western and northern Afghanistan are affected according to Afghanistan's authority in charge of disaster management. In the regions dominated by agriculture 10,000 animals have died. Because many streets are flooded, it has been difficult for rescue teams to reach those affected. According to information given the Afghan rescuers are support by NATO troops.

 

Swedish SVT ON 10.5.10: HUNDRED KILLED BY FLOODING IN AFGHANISTAN

The last couple of weeks, flooding has cost more than 100 human lives, and thousands have become homeless according to Afghanistan's authority in charge of disaster management. Worst hit are 3 provinces in western Afghanistan. More than 1,800 houses have been totally destroyed according to Reuters citing an official. The government and the United Nations started a rescue operation to supply survivors with food and shelter. More rain is expected in parts of Afghanistan in the next couple of days.[/b]

News in relation to natural disasters on 11 May 2010 / Afghanistan

 

NEWS ON 11 AND 12 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8674915.stm

Page last updated at 13:24 GMT, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 14:24 UK

 

PAKISTAN VILLAGES 'AT RISK' OF LAKE FLOODING

 

A LAKE near the northern Pakistani town of Aliabad is on the verge of breaking its banks and displacing thousands of people, officials have warned.

 

They say that if Attabad lake does flood, at least 36 villages could be submerged along with crops.

 

The lake formed when landslides blocked a river in January. The trapped water is now at dangerously high levels.

 

Officials say that parts of the famous Karakoram highway to China could be washed away if the lake's banks burst.

 

They told an emergency news conference on Tuesday that the danger will be highest during the rainy season in June.

 

SUBMERGED VILLAGES

 

The landslide at the village of Attabad, about 30km (18 miles) north-east of Aliabad, occurred during snowstorms in January.

 

The BBC's M Ilyas Khan in Islambad says it cut off part of the Karakoram highway - which has remained closed to traffic and is not expected to be operational again for many years.

 

The landslide caused debris to block the River Hunza, which in turn prevented water from flowing downstream and created what is now referred to as Attabad lake.

 

Over the last four months water has been accumulating in the lake, which is now about 11km (6.8 miles) long. The water is more than 330ft (100m) deep in places.

Officials believe that by the first week of June the water will start overflowing the debris that is blocking its passage.

 

So far, more than 3,000 people have been displaced by the rising water levels upstream of Attabad.

 

Most belong to two villages that were submerged in late March and early April.

Another 1,000 locals are expected to leave their homes in a week or so when water will overrun low-lying areas of Gulmeet town, located on the northernmost limits of Hunza valley.

 

PROMISES

 

Officials warn that once the blockage is breached, rushing waters may submerge villages downstream of Attabad, displacing as many as 20,000 people.

 

Our correspondent says that a recurrent theme has been the indifferent attitude of the authorities.

 

The military-run National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) announced soon after the landslide that it would deploy the army's engineering wing, the Frontier Works Organisation (FWO), to cut a breach in the debris which would allow water levels to recede.

 

It said at the time that the work would be completed in three weeks. But the FWO took more than three weeks to arrive at the scene.

 

In February, the NDMA said it would start releasing water from the lake by 15 March. Officials later said they would finish the job by the end of April.

 

The FWO now claims they have excavated some 30m of the debris, but some locals say they have only removed half of what they claim.

News in relation to natural disasters dated 11.5.10, part II

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 11.5.10, PART II

 

Swedish SVT and German ZDFtext: TORNADOES KILLED AT LEAST 5 IN THE USA

Tornadoes have killed 5 and injured 58 in the US state of Oklahoma. According to Oklahoma City's authority in charge of disaster management, cars were blown off the road, caravans/mobile homes were toppled, and hails as big as a fist destroyed windshields. 2 highways were closed in Oklahoma. More than 30,000 households were without power. The hurricanes also hit Kansas and Arkansas.

The tornadoes were forecast a few days ago by the weather/meteorological service.

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

 

German ZDFtext: BP WILL TRY TO STOP OIL LEAK BY MEANS OF A SMALLER STEEL FUNNEL

Last week-end, there were 2 failed attempts to place a bigger steel funnel over the leak in a depth of 1,500

m. A new attempt will be made before the end of this week with a smaller steel funnel. BP works on a plan to block the oil leak by means of pieces of rubber such as for instance tyres/tires which are to be "shot" into the safety valve of the source under high pressure. Every day about 800,000 litres of oil are streaming out of the leak.

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

 

German ARD evening: AIR TRAFFIC AFFECTED BY THE ASH CLOUD IN SPAIN, PORTUGAL AND MOROCCO

The ash cloud from Iceland drifted from the Canary Islands to the Spanish mainland. According to Spain's radio, the airport in Tenerife and La Gomera and in southern Spain have reopened.

On the CANARY ISLANDS, la Palma remained closed. The airport of Seville is still closed.

Also in PORTUGAL and MOROCCO several airports stopped flight operations.

 

Swedish SVT: FLIGHTS GROUNDED DUE TO ASH CLOUD

Volcanic ash from Iceland has closed 4 airport on the CANARY ISLANDS and 3 on Spain's southern ainland according to Spanish authorities. According to LFV an area from Northern MOROCCO via southern FRANCE, SWITZERLAND and southern GERMANY, POLAND, BULGARIA and ROMANIA to western TURKEY has been classified as zone 2 which implies that permission to fly is required.

A large area over the North Atlantic was classified as zone 1 which implies that no flights are permitted in that area. The air traffic between North America and Europe is characterized by rerouting and delays.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8674241.stm

Page last updated at 16:01 GMT, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 17:01 UK

 

ASH FEARS CLOSE SPANISH AND MOROCCAN AIRPORTS

A cloud of volcanic ash from Iceland has forced airports in NORTH AFRICA to shut for the first time, as well as hitting air travel in southern Spain.

 

MOROCCO halted flights from Rabat, Casablanca and at least three other airports while, at one point, seven airports in Spain were closed.

 

TURKEY banned flights over its north-west for four hours from 1200 GMT.

Ash said to be drifting towards south-east FRANCE is at high altitude and is not expected to affect airports there.

 

Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control agency, said it expected 29,000 flights to take to the air on Tuesday, which is close to normal for this time of year. On Monday, there were 29,155 flights.

 

Icelandic volcanologists say the ash over Europe this week is left over from previous weeks and can travel around in the atmosphere carried by winds.

"We really don't know when it will settle down," said Bjorn Oddsson of the Institute of Earth Sciences at Iceland University.

 

"So even if the volcano stops, we can look at this problem for a couple of weeks after," he was quoted as saying by AFP news agency.

 

MOUNTING COST

In the UK and IRELAND, rules governing air safety during the volcano crisis were eased by the Civil Aviation Authority, the UK safety regulator.

 

It said it had lifted the 60-mile no-fly buffer zone imposed around dense areas of ash cloud, clearing the way for more flights.

 

In MOROCCO, the airports in Tangier, Tetouan and Essaouira were also closed.

 

According to AFP, eight Moroccan airports in all shut down on Tuesday.

Prior to Tuesday, the ash had only affected European airports.

 

In TURKEY, Istanbul's international airport remained opened despite the flight restrictions.

SPAIN reopened both of Tenerife's airports along with La Gomera and Badajoz after a temporary closure, but La Palma, Seville and Jerez remained closed as of Tuesday afternoon.

 

OVERFLIGHT RESTRICTIONS at altitudes between 6,000m (20,000ft) and 10,500m (35,000ft) remained in place, with transatlantic flights mainly affected.

 

At the weekend, 19 airports were shut in the north of the country because of ash fears.

 

Most of the ash cloud is ABOVE THE ATLANTIC now, meaning TRANSATLANTIC FLIGHTS are longer and there are many delays as pilots fly around the hazard, the BBC's Sarah Rainsford reports from Madrid.

 

It is almost a month since the volcano in Iceland first erupted, closing airspace across Europe for almost a week and stranding hundreds of thousands of travellers.

 

The budget airline Easyjet alone had to cancel more than 6,500 flights. It has announced that the disruption cost it up to £75m ($110m) and is now seeking compensation from governments.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8674704.stm

Page last updated at 16:14 GMT, Tuesday, 11 May 2010 17:14 UK

 

VOLCANO ASH CLOUD: UK AND IRISH AIR SAFETY RULES EASED

 

Safety rules governing flights in UK and Irish airspace have been eased following the Iceland volcano, the Civil Aviation Authority has announced.

 

It said it had cleared the way for more flights by lifting the 60-mile no-fly buffer zone imposed around dense ash.

 

Passengers, meanwhile, have been facing more disruption as the ash forced parts of SPAIN, PORTUGAL, MOROCCO and the CANARY ISLANDS to close their airspace.

 

UK airports remain open, but dozens of flights were cancelled and delayed.

A CAA spokesman said its decision to remove the buffer zone was taken with the Irish Aviation Authority after three weeks of evidence gathering.

 

He said: "Following in-depth and evidence based studies a larger amount of air space can now be allowed to remain open when there are very small amounts of volcanic ash at acceptable levels in the atmosphere.

 

LONG DELAYS

"This will reduce the impact of volcanic ash on airports, and ease some restrictions on flight operations, enabling more flights to resume."

The CAA, the UK's safety regulator, said its goal is to allow as much flying as safely possible.

 

But both Ryanair and Easyjet confirmed they had been forced to scrap flights to Europe as the problems from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano continued.

Airlines and airports urged passengers to check updated information before travelling.

 

London's two main airports both reported a handful of cancellations - 19 arrivals and 17 departures at Gatwick, and seven arrivals and four departures at Heathrow.

 

A Gatwick spokesperson also said 20 arrivals and 25 departures out of the 688 flights scheduled on Tuesday had been delayed by the ash. Ryanair said it had cancelled flights to and from the Canary Islands, Faro and Madrid.

 

Flights to and from Granada, Jerez, Malaga, Seville and Tangier have also been cancelled.

 

Easyjet spokesman Andrew McConnell said the "vast majority" of its flights were operating normally.

 

Passengers travelling to and from Madrid, Faro, Funchal, Marrakesh and Tenerife should check their flight status before travelling, he said.

 

British airports operator BAA has also warned of delays to transatlantic services and cancellations by airlines.

 

British Airways and Virgin Atlantic are among the carriers whose passengers suffered long delays on Tuesday.

 

Last month, ash from the Iceland volcano shut down airspace across Europe for five days.

 

British tourism operator TUI Travel estimated the travel chaos caused by the volcanic ash cloud had cost the group £90m.

 

Gatwick said the impact on last month's passenger figures was severe.

 

It said it handled a total of 2.05m passengers in April, a drop of 586,000 - more than a fifth - on the same month the year before.

earthquake happened again in aceh, indonesia last week about 7.2 magnitude :bigcry:

News on 12 May in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 12 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ZDFtext: RHEIN-MAIN-DANUBE CANAL BLOCKED AFTER LANDSLIDE

The Rhein-Main-Donau canal was blocked early in the morning after a LANDSLIDE near Forcheim. According to a police spokesman in Bayreuth, heavy rains washed out an embankment so that it slipped into the water. Another embankment that slipped into the water uncovered a cable. According to the police the lock (sluice/floodgate) there can no longer be used. It is not clear for how long it will be blocked. Each year about 6 million tonnes of goods are being transported using the Danube canal.

 

Danish DR1: A HOLE SWALLOWS HOUSE IN CANADA

A family of 4 died after their house sank into the ground in the state of Quebec in Canada.

A MUDSLIDE on Monday creater a "hole" that swallowed the farm of the family. 24 hours later the authorities concluded that the 4 people in the farmhouse had died.

The MUDSLIDE occurred without warning. The family had no possibility of escaping the landmasses.

 

Danish TV2 News: AIRPORTS IN SPAIN OPEN AGAIN

The last airports affected by the ash cloud was the airport in Valencia. It opened again at 6 o’clock Wednesday morning (info from Aena). Since parts of the Spanish airspace was shut down Tuesday due to the ash cloud, more than 1,000 flights have been cancelled.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/europe/8678514.stm

 

AIRPORTS IN SPAIN AND PORTUGAL REOPEN AFTER ASH FEARSPage last updated at 17:24 GMT, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 18:24 UK

 

Airports in Spain, Portugal and Morocco have reopened after days of disruption caused by a cloud of ash emitted from an erupting volcano in Iceland.

 

In Spain, Valencia airport - the last in the country to lift restrictions - reopened at 0600 GMT.

The ash cloud has led to closures at Spanish airports since Saturday.

 

The European air safety agency has meanwhile proposed new rules which would limit airspace closures due to volcanic ash, AP reported.

 

PORTUGAL's NAV air traffic authority said the ban on flights was lifted on Wednesday and released a statement saying there was "no more disruption".

 

In MOROCCO, restrictions were due to be in place until 0600 GMT on Wednesday.

 

The ash from ICELAND's Eyjafjallajoekull volcano led to a huge aerial shutdown last month, but only affected North Africa for the first time last weekend.

 

Icelandic volcanologists said the ash, left over from previous weeks, could be carried around in the atmosphere by winds.

 

Eurocontrol, the European air traffic control, said ash concentrations at lower altitudes were still posing problems for trans-Atlantic flights.

 

BUFFER ZONES

 

The European air safety agency has submitted a proposal with rules which would impose a 120-mile no-fly buffer zone for all aircraft near a visible ash cloud, according to AP.

 

"I can confirm that the agency has been discussing a new solution to the renewed threat of

airspace closures due to the volcanic ash cloud," agency spokesman Daniel Hoeltgen told AP.

The new regulations, if adopted, would be similar to guidelines in the US and could give airlines more flexibility on flight decisions.

 

In the UK and Ireland, rules governing air safety during the volcano crisis were eased by the Civil Aviation Authority, the UK safety regulator.

 

It said it had lifted the 60-mile no-fly buffer zone imposed around dense areas of ash cloud, clearing the way for more flights.

 

It is almost a month since the volcano in Iceland first erupted, causing the largest aerial shutdown in Europe since the Second World War.

 

The budget airline Easyjet alone had to cancel more than 6,500 flights. It has announced that the disruption cost it up to £75m ($110m) and is now seeking compensation from governments.

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8678113.stm

 

'TOP HAT' DOME AT GULF OF MEXICO OIL SPILL SITE - BP

Page last updated at 19:28 GMT, Wednesday, 12 May 2010 20:28 UK

 

A new steel dome has been placed beside the damaged oil well that has been polluting the Gulf of Mexico since last month's drilling rig disaster, BP says.

 

Dubbed the "top hat", it is smaller than a first container dome which had to be set aside after becoming blocked by crystallised gas hydrates.

 

It is on the seabed but is being kept away from the well for now, BP said.

 

The cost of tackling the spill is being put at $118m (£80m), much of which the Obama administration expects BP to pay.

 

The figure is contained in legislation sent to Congress, which would also increase a TAX ON OIL COMPANIES to provide FUNDS FOR CLEAR-UP WORK.

 

The bill would also raise the liability cap on how much oil companies must pay for economic damage caused by a spill at one of their wells.

 

Eleven people died when an explosion - thought to have occurred after a surge of methane gas from deep within the well - destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April.

 

DEAD DOLPHINS

 

At least 4m gallons (15m litres) of oil have leaked into the Gulf from the damaged well to date, the Associated Press news agency reports.

 

US federal wildlife officials are treating the deaths of six dolphins on the Gulf Coast as oil-related, even though other factors may be to blame.

 

Samples from the carcasses found in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama since 2 May have been sent for testing.

 

A National Marine Fisheries Service official said none of them had obvious signs of oil and it was common for dead dolphins to wash up at this time of year, when they are in shallow waters to calve.

 

The dome is meant to funnel some of the escaping oil to a waiting tanker on the surface.

"The 'top hat' was lowered to the seabed floor last night and is presently... in the immediate area of the leak and the plan is to have that positioned over the leak and functioning by the end of the week," BP's Bryan Ferguson told AFP news agency.

 

Containment chambers like this have been used to tackle well and pipeline leaks in the past but not at such a depth - 5,000ft (1,525m).

 

At 4ft (1.2m) in diameter and 5ft (1.5m) in height, it is much smaller than the first, 40ft dome.

 

BP chief operating officer Doug Suttles said engineers also hoped to link a second pipe to the end of the pipe supposed to pump oil from the sea floor before the explosion.

 

This pipe would funnel away oil that had collected in the original piping, or riser.

 

He said the pipe could arrive on Wednesday and be usable by Thursday or Friday.

 

National Guard soldiers have been dropping sandbags from helicopters into a channel near Grand Isle, Louisiana, in a desperate bid to keep the slick out of wetlands.

 

The area's ecosystem is home to pelicans, gulls and sea creatures vital to the local fishing economy.

 

'HOURS BEFORE BLAST'

 

Unemployment assistance, help for fishermen and money for food stamps are all foreseen in the legislation submitted to Congress on Wednesday.

 

The legislation calls for oil companies to pay a 1% per barrel tax increase to the existing Oil Spill Liability Trust Fund, a senior administration official said in Washington.

 

Jeff Liebman, acting deputy director of the Office of Management and Budget, said the administration hoped to get it passed in the next few weeks.

 

US House of Representatives investigators say they have uncovered significant problems with one of the well's crucial safety devices, its blowout preventer (BOP), which may have contributed to the explosion.

 

The BOP, built by Cameron International, had a leak in its hydraulic system and lacked the power to cut through joints to seal the drill pipe, Representative Henry Waxman told a hearing on the spill.

 

Just hours before the explosion, the well failed a negative pressure test, he said, citing BP documents received by the Energy and Commerce Committee.

 

The hearing was also told that the BOP had been modified, which made it difficult to operate after the accident, and its emergency back-up controls may have failed because the explosion that destroyed the rig also disabled communications preventing workers from sending signals underwater.

 

On Tuesday, BP and other oil industry executives traded blame in Congress.

News in relation to natural disasters / 13 May 2010

 

NEWS ON 13 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8679981.stm

 

VENEZUELAN NATURAL GAS PLATFORM SINKS, CHAVEZ ANNOUNCES Page last updated at 11:49 GMT, Thursday, 13 May 2010 12:49 UK

 

A gas platform has sunk in the Caribbean Sea off the coast of Venezuela, but the energy minister says it poses no risk to the environment.

 

President Hugo Chavez announced the incident via his account on the social networking site Twitter.

 

He said all 95 workers were evacuated from the Aban Pearl platform before it sank in the early hours of Thursday.

 

The rig's owners, Aban Offshore Ltd, said it was not clear what had happened but that the platform had been listing.

 

The Indian firm's CEO, Gopal Dupalkrishnan, told the BBC from his offices in Singapore that the semi-submersible drilling rig had been under contract to a company owned by the Venezuelan government.

 

It was drilling some of the 16 gas wells in the Mariscal Sucre offshore natural gas project, in the extreme north-east of Sucre state.

 

The Mariscal Sucre project is being developed by Venezuela's state oil company, PDVSA, without participation from the private sector, Reuters news agency reports.

 

'GOOD NEWS'

 

President Chavez used Twitter to send out the news of the sinking at just after 0300 local time (0730 GMT).

 

"I'm afraid to inform you that gas platform Aban Pearl sank a few moments ago. The good news is that 95 workers are safe," he tweeted.

 

"They were evacuated and at the moment two Navy patrols are moving to the area."

 

Later, Venezuela's Energy and Oil Minister Rafael Ramirez said the Dragon 6 natural gas field being drilled by the Aban Pearl had been stabilised and there was no risk of leaks.

 

The incident comes less than a month after an explosion that destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

Work is still under way to stop a massive oil leak that is threatening the Gulf coast's delicate ecosystem.

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

 

DEEPWATER HOZIZON BLOWOUT PREVENTER 'FAULTY' - CONGRESS

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8679090.stm

Page last updated at 04:38 GMT, Thursday, 13 May 2010 05:38 UK

 

The device meant to stop oil leaking from a Gulf of Mexico well after last month's rig explosion was faulty, US Congressional investigators have said.

 

The blowout preventer (BOP), a set of huge valves, had a hydraulic leak and a failed battery, they said after studying documents from BP and others.

 

Oil industry chiefs say it is too early to conclude what caused the disaster.

 

A climate change bill just submitted to the Senate could allow states to veto some offshore drilling plans.

 

Meanwhile, President Barack Obama has also proposed new legislation which foresees $188m (£127m) in emergency funding to cope with the fallout from the oil spill.

 

His administration intends to recover most of the money from BP.

 

In a letter to House speaker Nancy Pelosi, Mr Obama requested $100m in immediate funding for the Coast Guard and $29m for the Secretary of the Interior for additional inspections, enforcement and studies, saying he would "spare no effort to clean up whatever damage has been caused".

 

Eleven people died when an explosion - thought to have occurred after a surge of methane gas from deep within the well - destroyed the Deepwater Horizon rig on 20 April.

 

At least 4m gallons (15m litres) of oil have leaked into the Gulf from the damaged well to date, the Associated Press news agency reports, and desperate efforts are being made to protect the Gulf coast's ecosystem from the slick.

 

Attempts to stop the leak have so far failed but engineers hope at least to begin reducing it later this week with a steel dome - dubbed the "top hat" - which has been lowered on to the seabed.

 

'APPARENTLY DEFECTIVE'

 

Representative Bart Stupak, head of the House Subcommittee on Oversight and Investigations, said its investigators had uncovered significant problems with the BOP, which was meant to stop sudden, dangerous rushes of volatile oil and gas.

 

He said a 2001 report by Transocean, which operated the drilling rig on behalf of BP, indicated there could be as many as 260 failure possibilities in the equipment.

 

"How can a device that has 260 failure modes be considered fail-safe?" Mr Stupak asked.

 

The hearing was also told that the BOP had been modified, which made it difficult to operate after the accident.

 

A senior BP executive, Lamar McKay, told the House: "It's inappropriate to draw any conclusions before all the facts are known."

 

Jack Moore, president of Cameron International Corp, which built the BOP, also told the hearing it was "far too early" to draw conclusions, adding that the company had not been able to the examine the BOP.

 

CLIMATE BILL

 

Introducing the new climate change bill, Senator John Kerry described it as "a bill to hold polluters accountable" after the "devastating" oil spill.

 

The main aim of the American Power Act is to cut greenhouse gas emissions by 17% within a decade and by 80% by 2050, which is ambitious by any standards, the BBC's Madeleine Morris reports from Washington.

 

To try to achieve this, the bill pushes nuclear power and clean coal technology by giving financial incentives.

 

It imposes a strict carbon-trading market as well as mandatory cuts on emissions by certain manufacturers and power companies.

 

Because of the Gulf of Mexico spill, a provision was added at the last minute, allowing states to veto drilling less than 75 miles (120km) off their own coastlines.

 

But that may not placate several Democratic senators, who are already uncomfortable with offshore drilling and, because of the Deepwater Horizon disaster, are now even more so, our correspondent says.

 

Republican support for the act is by no means guaranteed at the moment, she adds.

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

CNEWS: BP's oil rig failures uncovered

 

Yahoo! UK and Ireland: BP tries new fix to cap oil spill

 

France24: USA: BP tries new fix to quell oil as environmental disaster looms

 

Telegraph: Gulf of Mexico oil slick: new Nasa image shows it 'looking like a swan'

 

Melbourne Age: US experts try to cap oil spill

 

US OIL SPILL

 

KEY STORIES

 

Firms blame each other

 

BP vows to clean up slick

 

Obama's sombre prognosis

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

 

Swedish SVT: FIRST DONATION TO HAITI FUND

 

Brazil is the first country to give a donation to the reconstruction fund for the earthquake-hit HAITI.

 

Brazil is also in charge of the UN force(s) on HAITI and has paid 55 million dollars to the World Bank which administrates the donations.

 

World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick now recommends other donor countries to live up to their pledges to HAITI.

 

The disaster which destroyed HAITI's capital, Port-au-Prince, is estimated to have cost 300,000 human lives. The cost of material damage has been calculated at 120% of Haiti's annual gross national product.

 

 

BRAZIL BECOMES FIRST MAJOR CONTRIBUTOR TO HAITI RECONSTRUCTION FUND

 

http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/rwb.nsf/db900SID/MYAI-85D37E?OpenDocument

 

Source: The World Bank Group / Date: 11 May 2010

 

WASHINGTON DC, May 11, 2010 - The Haiti Reconstruction Fund (HRF) gathered momentum today after Brazil contributed US$55 million to the multilateral mechanism set up to help the Caribbean nation rebuild following its devastating January 12 earthquake.

 

Brazil is the first donor country to make such contribution, but at least 14 other countries are expected to chip in to replenish the fund that has been in operation since April with an initial grant of US$189 million by the World Bank, the fund's fiscal agent and administrator, Bank officials said.

 

Confirmations of intent to date have come from donors such as CANADA, ESTONIA, NORWAY, SWEDEN, SAUDI ARABIA and the UNITED STATES, while discussions with other potential contributors are underway, noted Haiti country director Yvonne Tsikata.

 

In welcoming Brazil's contribution, the Bank praised its long-standing commitment to Haiti, which has become increasingly prominent over the last few years in project funding, peacekeeping initiatives and technical advice.

 

Brazil's announcement comes on the heels of increasing recognition of the growing role of emerging powers in global affairs, in what World Bank president Robert B. Zoellick has called "the end of the Third World".

 

"Brazil leadership in supporting Haiti underscores an important feature of our multipolar world where emerging powers are taking on new responsibilities to assist those struggling with major development challenges," said Zoellick during a ceremony held at the Bank's Washington D.C headquarters, where Brazil's Secretary-General of External Relations, Antonio de Aguiar Patriota, signed US$55 million over to the fund in the presence of Haiti's Ambassador to the United States Raymond Joseph, and multilateral officials.

 

The HRF was set up by the government of HAITI and MULTIPLE DONORS to pool mobilize and allocate resources from the international community in support of Haiti's recovery and development. The fund will channel resources "in a manner that builds the capacity of the Haitian state and society in the longer term," said HRF manager Josef Leitmann, while adding that the fund will be flexible enough to respond to unmet priorities in the recovery program, including the provision of budget support.

 

Activities financed by the HRF can include technical assistance and capacity building, infrastructure investments, delivery of basic services, community development, environmental protection and clean-up, job creation and income generation, Leitmann said. The fund regroups the World Bank, United Nations agencies and the Inter-American Development Bank.

 

Brazil's secretary-general Patriota noted that after the initial show of support for Haiti, the challenge is now to keep such momentum going and translate international support into effective and timely reconstruction projects.

 

To achieve this goal, he said, "it is important to stress that we see this as an opportunity for Haiti to embark on a route to sustainable development and the overall improvement of its infrastructure and the livelihood of the Haitian people who for too long have been struggling with chronic difficulties."

 

"Brazil is proud to be the first country to contribute to the Fund and invites others to join us in this effort," he added.

 

The international community pledged US$5.3 billion towards Haiti's reconstruction over the next two years at a March 31 United Nations meeting in New York.

 

Judging from experiences with previous reconstruction funds, about 10-15 per cent of those pledges will find their way into the HRF, which has been designed to fill gaps in the financing available from development partners, according to Bank officials.

 

Ambassador Joseph thanked Brazil for its generous contribution to the fund and President Zoellick for providing safekeeping of the fund resources "which has given confidence to a lot of people and a lot of countries."

 

"Haiti cannot do it alone, but I have no doubt that others who have pledged at the March 31 conference will soon follow the example of Brazil," he concluded.

News on 14 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 14 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ARDtext: VIENNA (WIEN) FLOODED AFTER HEAVY RAINS

Cars swept away, power failures and blocked underground railways - all that as a result of very bad weather Thursday evening. Parts of Vienna were under water. Friday morning, the fire department was busy cleaning up after the bad weather.

 

After a cloudburst / lots of heavy rain, the streets were flooded in only a few minutes, and the water was knee-deep. Buildings were damaged. In about 20,000 households the power was down, and a line on the underground railway / subway had to be closed. In the shopping centre "Lugner City" the cinemas had to be emptied of people, because movie fans were getting wet due to the flood.

News on 15 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 15 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ARDtext: A MAGNITUDE-5.2 EARTHQUAKE KILLS 2 PEOPLE IN ALGERIA

Friday, a powerful magnitude-5.2 earthquake killed 2 and injured 43 people in Algeria according to the Algerian Ministry of the Interior. The epicentre was near Melouza 250 km south-east of Algiers. There was material damage. The citizens were in panic.

 

Danish DR1 text-TV: A MAGNITUDE-5.2 EARTHQUAKE IN ALGERIA KILLS 2 PEOPLE

Friday, a magnitude-5.2 earthquake cost 2 human lives and injured 2 according to the Algerian state television.

The epicentre of the earthquake was about 200 km south of the capital, Algiers near a village in Algeria’s M’sila region.

News on 16 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 15 and 16 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish TV2 text-TV: VOLCANO IN ICELAND IS EXTREMELY ACTIVE RIGHT NOW

The volcano under the glacier Eyjafjallajökull has been active for now 32 days and nights and counting. Nothing indicates that the volcano has become less active - on the contrary.According to a geophysicist at Iceland's university, the volcano is extremely active now. It is sending massive ash clouds up in the sky according to the homepage IceNews, and the ash cloud is so enormous that it can be seen clearly by the inhabitants of Reykjavik.

 

Swedish SVT: VOLCANIC ASH MAY STOP LONDON FLIGHTS

According to British authorities volcanic ash may stop London flights. South eastern England with Heathrow is one of the areas where the traffic is likely to stop Sunday to Tuesday. Travellers are advised to check with their airline (company).

The Irish air traffic is likely to stop traffic to and from airports on the west coast from Sunday morning.

 

 

Danish TV2 and DR1 text-TV: NORWAY EVACUATES AFTER AVALANCHES OF ROCKS

A massive avalanche of rocks between Narvik and Beisfjord has caused the Norwegian authorities to evacuate those living in the area in fear of new avalanches in progress. The first avalanche was 100 m wide and does not seem to have cost human lives. "As far as we know, no one has been trapped by the avalanche, says a press representative for the centre in charge of rescue operations in northern Norway. Nor does anything indicate that houses or huts have been swept away by the masses of snow, ice and rocks as the avalanche took place. The avalanche was probably caused by snow melting very fast in the area for the time being.

 

Swedish SVT: NORWAY: Saturday a MASSIVE AVALANCHE (OF ROCKS) occurred in Beisfjord near Narvik in northern Norway. 600 people live there. The Norwegian authorities want to evacuate the inhabitants. Noone was injured according to the rescue service.

 

 

German ARDtext: 150 DIED AFTER HEATWAVE IN INDIA

DEADLY HEAT: Heat cost at least 150 human lives in India after a heatwave with temperatures of more than 44 degrees Celsius. Most of them died from a HEATSTROKE according to the authorities in New Delhi.According to meteorologists, the temperature was about 5 degrees over the normal annual average in many regions in northern, eastern and southern India. In the capital, New Delhi, the temperature was measured at about 44.4 degrees Celsius last Thursday. It was the hottest day in May in 4 years.

 

 

Danish DR1 text-TV: DEATH TOLL AFTER FEBRUARY'S EARTH QUAKE IN CHILE GONE UP TO 521

Chile's government announces that the official death toll after the powerful earthquake and ensuing tsunami in February has risen to 521. - After having received death certificates, we have added 35 victims to the former death toll. The death toll is accordingly 521 according to the homepage of Chile's Ministry of the Interior which reduced the number of those missing to 56.

The earthquake hitting Chile on 27 February 2010 triggered a gigantic tsunami that swept away entire villages.

News on 16 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 16 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, PART II

 

German ARDtext: NEW ATTEMPT TO STOP THE OIL LEAK FAILED

The latest attempt to stop the oil leak failed. By means of remotely controlled robots, it was attempted to place a thin tube in a depth of 1,500 m. The thin tube was intended for suction of the oil. "Working under water is more complex than expected", a spokesman said. According to BP, 800,000 litres of oil are leaking out into the Gulf of Mexico every day. According to experts at several universities, clearly more oil than officially stated is leaking out - up to between 70,000 and 100,000 litres of oil. Their estimates are based on video photos of the oil leak.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8684912.stm

 

US DEMANDS OIL SPILL COSTS 'CLARIFICATION' FROM BP Page last updated at 20:48 GMT, Saturday, 15 May 2010 21:48 UK

 

The US government has demanded immediate clarification from BP over its commitment to pay for costs caused by the oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

 

The Obama administration said it wanted to be sure BP would honour commitments not to limit payments for damages to a US statutory cap of $75m (£50m).

 

Meanwhile, BP says oil dispersants applied at the source of the leak on Friday have begun to take effect.

 

MISSISSIPPI has become the third US state to have OIL WASH UP on its COAST.

Crude has already contaminated beaches in LOUISIANA and ALABAMA since a drilling rig blew up on 20 April, killing 11 workers.

 

'RIDICULOUS SPECTACLE'

 

US Interior Secretary Ken Salazar and Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano noted in a letter on Saturday to BP chief executive Tony Hayward that the firm had repeatedly pledged to assume all costs for the spill.

 

"The public has a right to a clear understanding of BP's commitment to redress all of the damage that has occurred or that will occur," the letter continued.

 

"Therefore, in the event that our understanding is inaccurate, we request immediate public clarification of BP's true intentions."

 

The officials said they hoped BP would not seek to rely on a statutory cap on how much oil companies must pay for such leaks.

 

It is not clear what prompted the letter as BP said last week the $75m cap was irrelevant and the firm would pay for all costs and legitimate claims.

 

On Friday, President Barack Obama suggested BP and other firms were trying to duck responsibility, as he condemned a "ridiculous spectacle" of oil executives shifting blame in US congressional hearings.

 

Mr Obama has stopped all new drilling for the moment and a number of politicians want that to become permanent.

 

Early on Friday, BP began trying to thread a 6in-wide (15cm) tube into a damaged 21in-wide pipe on the ocean floor a mile beneath the surface.

 

Like a long straw, the tube is intended to slurp oil to a ship on the surface, and a stopper surrounding it would stem the flow of crude into the sea.

 

After its first attempt failed, the company announced it would try again on Saturday night.

 

BP also said the underwater chemical dispersants it began to use on Friday were already resulting in less oil rising to the top of the ocean.

 

ICE CRYSTALS

 

BP's chief executive earlier told the BBC's Today programme he hoped the leak could be stopped within 10 days.

 

But the worst case scenario was "more than that, and it's impossible to say how much more", Mr Hayward added.

 

A week ago, BP tried to cap the well with a 100-tonne box, but gave up after it became encrusted with ice crystals.

 

Some scientists have begun to cast doubt on official estimates of the rate of oil flow, saying the widely repeated figure of 5,000 barrels of oil per day dramatically understates the real amount.

 

The spill is threatening to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez leak off Alaska as America's worst environmental disaster.

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

 

Swedish SVT: VOLCANIC ASH FROM ICELAND STOPS BRITISH FLIGHTS

The air traffic to and from BELFAST and other parts of NORTHERN IRELAND closed at 8 o'clock Sunday morning due to the volcanic ash from Iceland. The airspace is also closed in parts of IRELAND and NORTHERN ENGLAND. The authorities have also warned against disruption in the British airspace in the coming days. The grounding of flights might be extended to cover even London's big airports according to Reuters.

 

German ZDFtext: AIRPORTS IN NORTHERN IRELAND CLOSED DUE TO ASH CLOUD

Flights are grounded in BELFAST and ISLE OF MAN. South-east England including the London airport, Heathrow, is expected to be affected in coming days according to the British Ministry of Transport.

 

Danish TV2news: ASH CLOSES BRITISH AIRSPACE

Parts of the British airspace over SCOTLAND and ENGLAND are closed from 14 to 20 o'clock Sunday due to volcanic ash from Iceland. The London airports will not be affected according to the British Ministry of Transport.

 

Danish DR1 text-TV at 14:30 o'clock: Some British airports are closed including those in LIVERPOOL and MANCHESTER. 3 NORTHWESTERN airports in IRELAND are closed whereas other Irish airports including in Dublin will remain open until later Sunday.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8684540.stm

 

ASH CLOUD CLOSES NORTHERN IRELAND AIRSPACE

Page last updated at 08:17 GMT, Sunday, 16 May 2010 09:17 UK

 

A no-fly zone has been imposed over parts of NORTHERN IRELAND, causing renewed disruption for air travellers.

 

The move by the Civil Aviation Authority comes as a DENSE VOLCANIC ASH CLOUD from Iceland heads towards NORTH-WESTERN parts of the UK.

 

BELFAST's airports are shut until 1300 BST. Dublin Airport is open despite some Irish Republic flight bans. The Isle of Man's Ronaldsway is closed.

 

Forecasts say ash may extend over the UK on Monday and Tuesday.

 

Travellers are being advised to check with their airline before leaving home.

 

Jonathan Astill, from the air traffic authority, Nats, said: "Unfortunately, yet again, a mixture of VOLCANIC ACTIVITY and WEATHER SYSTEMS have conspired to bring a CLOUD OF ASH down towards the UK.

 

"As a result we've now got a CLOUD OF HIGH DENSITY VOLCANIC ASH rapidly encroaching on NORTHERN IRELAND and the ISLE OF MAN."

 

The cloud is expected to lie over the London area by Tuesday, but is likely to have drifted out of UK airspace by Wednesday, forecasters say.

 

EasyJet said it has so far CANCELLED 11 SUNDAY FLIGHTS from BELFAST INTERNATIONAL AIRPORT.

 

British Airways said all its flights were operating normally, adding that the situation was being closely monitored.

 

The Department of Transport, which is establishing five-day ash prediction charts, is warning there is a chance airports in south-east England may be also be affected in the next few days.

 

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the situation was "fluid" but passenger safety was the top priority.

 

Prof Brian Golding, head of forecasting research at the Met Office, said the cloud stemmed from an eruption on Thursday.

 

"The volcano has now dropped back in height. It did that yesterday, so the ash coming towards us for the future isn't quite so deep as it was on Thursday.

 

AIRLINE FINED

 

"It isn't going to turn into a huge area and it's being blown eastwards, between south-east and east. "

 

Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has caused disruption to thousands of flights since April.

 

Meanwhile, Italy has fined Irish airline Ryanair 3m euros (£2.5m) for failing to help some passengers after cancelling their flights during the crisis.

 

Ministers agreed on Saturday that the five-day forecasts, rather than 18-hour ones, would be made available on the Met Office website.

 

The Met Office said its charts would be updated every six hours. A spokeswoman said the ash plume was currently about 25,000ft (7,620m) high, with winds blowing from the north west.

 

But she said the wind was expected to change direction in the middle of next week, taking ash away from the UK.

 

Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson called upon airlines to be "consistent" to "avoid unnecessary and unhelpful confusion".

 

He said he had written to BA chief executive Willie Walsh after the airline cancelled three flights to Scotland on Friday. BA said the flights were cancelled as a "precaution".

 

MOLTEN GLASS

 

BA is facing industrial action in the coming days, potentially adding to travel disruption.

 

Meanwhile, Network Rail said it was boosting services to and from Scotland, and to Irish Sea ports, with engineering works postponed where necessary.

 

Dr Dougal Jerram, a volcanologist from Durham University, warned the last big eruption of Eyjafjallajokull - in the 1820s - went on for about two years, and its current eruption could last "several months".

 

But he said the continued eruptions would not necessarily cause more problems to air travel, as a number of factors - explosive eruptions, a concentrated plume and certain weather patterns - needed to be in place at the same time to create "the perfect storm".

 

In April, airspace across Europe was shut down for five days over concerns ash could turn to molten glass in high temperatures, crippling plane engines.

 

Scientists and engineers have since revised the safe-to-fly threshold, but clouds of volcanic ash have continued to drift over Europe, causing airport closures, flight delays and cancellations.

 

In the past week, several airports in southern Europe have been forced to close and flights have been re-routed.

 

Italy's civil aviation authority fine on Ryanair comes after it said it knew of 178 cases of passengers who did not receive mandatory assistance, such as food - required under EU regulations - between 17 and 22 April. Ryanair called the allegation "complete rubbish".

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/england/8685239.stm

 

FLIGHTS GROUNDED AFTER VOLCANIC ASH RETURNS

Page last updated at 11:36 GMT, Sunday, 16 May 2010 12:36 UK

 

Flights have been suspended at airports throughout the NORTH OF ENGLAND, including MANCHESTER and LIVERPOOL, as volcanic ash drifts across the country.

A NO-FLY ZONE has been imposed by the Civil Aviation Authority from 1300 until 1900 BST.

 

East Midlands, Manchester, Liverpool, Leeds, Doncaster, Humberside and Carlisle airports are all affected.

 

A spokesman for Liverpool John Lennon Airport said that 30 FLIGHTS have been affected there.

 

He advised passengers to check with their airline before travelling.

 

A Manchester Airport spokesperson said: "Long-range forecasts indicate that the ash cloud may cause further disruption into tomorrow but this is not certain.

 

"If passengers who are planning to travel to or from Manchester Airport over the coming days are concerned about their flight, please check with your airline or monitor our website for official updates.

 

"There is absolutely no official suggestion or prediction that the prolonged, continent-wide airspace restrictions experienced in April are about to occur again.

"We would like to sincerely apologise to passengers travelling today for the inconvenience that this will cause."

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8685193.stm

 

VOLCANIC ASH CLOSES UK AIRPORTS

Page last updated at 11:48 GMT, Sunday, 16 May 2010 12:48 UK

 

Airports across much of the UK are to close between 1300 and 1900 BST as volcanic ash drifts across Europe, the air traffic authority Nats has said.

 

In ENGLAND, East Midlands, MANCHESTER, LIVERPOOL, Doncaster, Humberside and Carlisle airports will be hit by the Civil Aviation Authority's no-fly zone.

 

Airports in NORTHERN IRELAND, Prestwick near GLASGOW, those on SCOTTISH ISLANDS and the ISLE OF MAN are also affected.

 

London airports are unaffected, while Dublin remains open on Sunday.

 

Planes have been grounded in other parts of the IRISH REPUBLIC. Travellers are being advised to check with their airline before leaving home.

 

So far Ryanair has cancelled 115 flights, Easyjet around 100 and BA three return trips, with all airlines keeping the situation under review.

 

The UK no-fly zones are set out by the Civil Aviation Authority using Met Office data. Forecasts suggest the ash cloud could extend further over the UK during Monday and Tuesday.

 

Nats' Jonathan Astill said: "Unfortunately, yet again, a mixture of volcanic activity and weather systems have conspired to bring a cloud of ash down towards the UK."

 

The cloud is expected to lie over the London area by Tuesday, but is likely to have drifted out of UK airspace by Wednesday, forecasters predict.

 

Transport Secretary Philip Hammond said the situation was "fluid" but passenger safety was the top priority.

 

Prof Brian Golding, head of forecasting research at the Met Office, said the cloud stemmed from an eruption on Thursday.

 

"The volcano has now dropped back in height. It did that yesterday, so the ash coming towards us for the future isn't quite so deep as it was on Thursday.

 

BAN CRITICISED

 

"It isn't going to turn into a huge area and it's being blown eastwards, between south-east and east. "

 

Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has caused disruption to thousands of flights since April.

 

Meanwhile, Italy has fined Irish airline Ryanair 3m euros (£2.5m) for failing to help some passengers after cancelling their flights during the crisis.

 

Ministers agreed on Saturday that the five-day forecasts, rather than 18-hour ones, would be made available on the Met Office website.

 

The Met Office said its charts would be updated every six hours but that the wind was expected to change direction in the middle of next week, taking ash away from the UK.

 

Scottish transport minister Stewart Stevenson called upon airlines to be "consistent" to "avoid unnecessary and unhelpful confusion".

 

He said he had written to BA chief executive Willie Walsh after the airline cancelled three flights to Scotland on Friday. BA said the flights were cancelled as a "precaution".

 

BA is facing industrial action in the coming days, potentially adding to travel disruption.

 

Sir Richard Branson, president of Virgin Atlantic, criticised the decision to ban flights from Manchester, branding it "beyond a joke".

 

He said there was no evidence planes could not continue to fly safely.

 

"All the test flights by airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers have shown no evidence that airlines could not continue to fly completely safely," he said.

 

"Over a thousand flights took off from France last week in similar conditions to that which exist in Manchester today without encountering any problems or showing any levels of ash concentration."

 

Meanwhile, Network Rail said it was boosting services to and from Scotland, and to Irish Sea ports, with engineering works postponed where necessary.

 

Molten glass

 

Dr Dougal Jerram, a volcanologist from Durham University, warned the last big eruption of Eyjafjallajokull - in the 1820s - went on for about two years, and its current eruption could last "several months".

 

But he said the continued eruptions would not necessarily cause more problems to air travel, as a number of factors - explosive eruptions, a concentrated plume and certain weather patterns - needed to be in place at the same time to create "the perfect storm".

 

Aviation expert David Learmount told the BBC the ash from the volcano could cause disruption for years.

 

He said: "This could go on for 20 years or more. We just don't know how long this volcano is going to erupt for.

 

"Technologically there's nothing we can do about this. We cannot build engines and aircraft which can fly safely through volcanic ash, it's just out of the question.

"The only thing that we can do is get better at predicting precisely where every part of the volcanic ash cloud is."

 

In April, airspace across Europe was shut down for five days over concerns ash could turn to molten glass in high temperatures, crippling plane engines.

 

Scientists and engineers have since revised the safe-to-fly threshold, but clouds of volcanic ash have continued to drift over Europe, causing airport closures, flight delays and cancellations.

 

In the past week, several airports in southern Europe have been forced to close and flights have been re-routed.

 

Italy's civil aviation authority fine on Ryanair comes after it said it knew of 178 cases of passengers who did not receive mandatory assistance, such as food - required under EU regulations - between 17 and 22 April. Ryanair called the allegation "complete rubbish".

News on 17 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 17 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Swedish SVT Text: 2 DIED IN FLOODING IN CENTRAL EUROPE

2 died in flooding after heavy rains in central Europe last week-end. In north-eastern HUNGARY and around Krakow in southern POLAND, about 2,000 people have been evacuated due to rising water level.

 

Danish text-TV from DR1 and TV2: THE WORLD'S SECOND OLDEST LAKE IS "BOILING" / AFRICA

The LAKE TANGANYIKA in Africa, the second oldest and second deepest lake in the world, is now warmer than ever before within the last 1,500 years according to researchers. This threatens the fishing industry by the lake on which millions of people are dependent.

The proof of the state of the lake derives from drillings into the deposits (sediments) at the bottom of the lake indicating climate changes over several centuries. The surface water of the Lake Tanganyika has been measured to be 26 degrees Celsius "which has not been seen since year 500" according to researchers in the magazine of Nature Geoscience. The warming escalated at the end of the 20th century, and that indicates that the blame should be put on man-made greenhouse gases.

 

Danish TV2 and DR1 text-TV: AT LEAST 2 KILLED IN AN LANDSLIDE IN NORWAY

A number of landslides have killed 2 near Vefsn in Mid-Norway. "Two are confirmed dead", says the head of the rescue operation. 4 are still missing (EDIT: Number of missing later reduced to 2). Several mountainous regions near the Jamtfjell Peaks were hit by landslides. A group of 8 people - 5 women and 3 men - were reported missing Sunday evening.

 

Swedish SVT: LANDSLIDE KILLED AT LEAST 2 IN NORWAY

At least 2 were killed yesterday (Sunday) in a landslide in northern Norway. 2 are missing and feared dead. The landslide surprised a group of 8 at 15 o'clock. They were in a mountainous region in Vefsn in Nordland County. 4 of them were carried away by the landslide, whereas 2 of the other people were injured - one of them seriously. When the police arrived at the scene of the accident almost 12 hours later, 2 dead bodies had been dug out. The 2 persons who had not been injured had left the scene of the accident in order to seek help and were reported missing. They were found this morning, i.e. Monday morning.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/uk_news/8685913.stm

 

UK ASH CLOUD RESTRICTIONS EASING

Page last updated at 17:08 GMT, Monday, 17 May 2010 18:08 UK

 

Flight restrictions have been lifted at all UK airports after the volcanic ash cloud over UK airspace moved away.

 

Knock-on disruption continues but there will be no flight groundings on the mainland at least until 0100 BST on Tuesday, UK air traffic control said.

 

After a weekend that saw thousands of passengers stranded, only Shetland and Orkney airports are closed to planes.

 

Airport operators are advising passengers to check for delays to their flights with airlines.

 

One airline boss - British Airways' Willie Walsh - had criticised the weekend's restrictions as "a gross over-reaction to a very minor risk".

 

But Transport Secretary Phillip Hammond told the BBC work was ongoing to raise the threshold level at which volcanic ash forced a flight ban.

 

Weather forecasters said the ash cloud from Iceland was now being blown away.

 

However, there may be some restrictions to helicopter operations in the North Sea, where a no-fly zone is still in force.

 

Across the country:

 

* In NORTHERN IRELAND, flights were able to operate from all three of Northern Ireland's airport from 1300 BST, but delays and cancellations were still possible.

 

* In SCOTLAND flights were cancelled for the rest of the day in Orkney and the Shetland Islands while Scotland's other airports reopened.

 

* In WALES, airports are open. However Cardiff airport is warning that some disruptions and cancellations remain in place following earlier restrictions.

 

Airlines are working to clear the backlog of delayed passengers.

 

The BBC's Katherine Downes at Gatwick said restrictions on flights in and out of the airport were lifted at 1100 BST, but the knock on effects were expected to be felt well into Monday evening.

 

Flights due to take off at 0700 BST departed at about midday.

 

She said: "In the terminals, crowds of passengers are awaiting news on their flights. They're being given free internet access so they can rebook flights if they need to.

 

"But many are simply sitting in the sunshine outside the terminal buildings, they can't go through to departures, they're just awaiting instructions."

 

UNCERTAIN OUTLOOK

 

At Edinburgh airport, the BBC's James Cook watched the first flight of the day depart just before 1300 BST.

 

Usually about 20,000 passengers travel through the airport daily and the airport was hopeful of getting them in the air.

 

He said: "A lot of people are still hanging around here. They've checked through a lot of people, they're waiting airside now to get on to their flights.

 

The outlook for the next 24 hours remained uncertain, he said.

 

In the NETHERLANDS, Amsterdam's Schiphol and Rotterdam airports reopened from 1300 local time (1200 BST) after being closed for seven hours. Schiphol is Europe's third most busy airport.

 

NETWORK RAIL pledged to do everything possible to help stranded and delayed travellers make journeys by train.

 

VIRGIN TRAINS said 7,000 extra seats had been made available on Monday, mainly on routes between Birmingham and Glasgow and Edinburgh, and between London Euston and Glasgow.

 

EUROSTAR laid on six extra trains through the Channel Tunnel on Monday, amounting to about 5,500 additional seats.

 

Since the Eyjafjallajokull volcano erupted last month, throwing huge amounts of ash into the air, thousands of flights have been delayed or cancelled across Europe due to fears that ash could turn into molten glass within a hot jet engine, crippling the aircraft.

 

The latest UK disruption saw airspace over NORTHERN IRELAND close first on Saturday, before the cloud moved south and grounded flights in many parts of the UK on Sunday.

 

Among the affected travellers who contacted the BBC News website was Matt Pope, from Guildford, who e-mailed to say it was the third time the ash had disrupted his travel plans. On the first occasion he was stuck in North Carolina for six days.

 

He wrote: "Last weekend the Easyjet flight from Prague to Gatwick was cancelled due to aircraft positioning problems after ash in central Europe.

 

"This was after we ran the marathon and I missed my flight to Singapore the next day causing expensive rescheduling.

 

"Now I am sat at Heathrow awaiting for a flight to NY. Will this ever end?"

 

Flight restrictions depend on how dense the ash cloud is.

 

The Civil Aviation Authority (CAA) has already raised the density threshold level that forces a flight ban following six days of airport closures last month.

 

Mr Hammond told the BBC that ministers and the airline industry were working together on how to enable more flights to operate while there is ash in the atmosphere.

 

"The threshold at which air is considered unsafe to fly through has already increased 10-fold from a 200-microgram limit to a 2,000-microgram limit, and that was agreed with the airlines after the last period of closure.

 

"Work is ongoing with the airlines, with the aircraft manufacturers, with the engine manufacturers, to see if a safe operating regime could be introduced at a yet higher threshold of ash, with enhanced, more regular engine inspections."

 

But after the latest airport closures over the weekend, airlines criticised the amended regulations.

 

BA chief executive Mr Walsh said: "I am very concerned that we have decisions on opening and closing of airports based on a theoretical model.

 

"There was no evidence of ash in the skies over London today, yet Heathrow was closed."

 

'BEYOND A JOKE'

 

He said that airlines flew safely in other parts of the world where there was volcanic activity.

 

"If we can do it in every other part of the world, I can assure you we can do it in

the UK as well."

 

On Sunday, Virgin Atlantic president Sir Richard Branson called the closure of Manchester airport "beyond a joke".

 

"All the test flights by airlines, aircraft and engine manufacturers have shown no evidence that airlines could not continue to fly completely safety," he said.

 

British Airways said airlines should be able to decide whether it was safe to fly, as the current approach was "overly restrictive".

 

CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said: "It's the CAA's job to ensure the public is kept safe by ensuring safety decisions are based on scientific and engineering evidence; we will not listen to those who effectively say: 'Let's suck it and see.' "We are all working flat out to keep flying safe whilst minimising disruption from the volcano."

 

The latest dense patch of ash disrupted the travel plans of tens of thousands of people, mainly in northern parts of the UK.

 

 

Airspace over Northern Ireland was first to close on Saturday, then as the cloud moved south, Manchester closed at lunchtime on Sunday, with Birmingham following suit by teatime.

 

the CAA chief executive Andrew Haines said: Ash from the Eyjafjallajokull volcano has led to thousands of flights being delayed or cancelled since April.

 

After many airports faced restrictions over the weekend and into Monday, just two are currently in the no-fly zone: Shetland and Orkney.

 

The industry has warned that knock-on disruption could last for some hours.

British Airways boss Willie Walsh called the latest restrictions "a gross overreaction to a very minor risk".

 

Airport operator BAA, which runs six UK airports including Heathrow and Stansted, said: "It is likely that some delays and cancellations will go on throughout the day and we continue to advise passengers to check the status of their flights with airlines."

 

German ZDF text and ARD text: Due to the closed airspace in Great Britain and the Netherlands earlier today, 11 long-distance flights were rerouted to Frankfurt, and 8 flights that had Dublin, Amsterdam, Birmingham, London and Manchester respectively as destination were cancelled. In Hamburg, about 12 flights were cancelled, and there were delays in Germany due to the ash cloud. Also the Netherlands and parts of Belgium were affected by grounded flights.

According to EUROCONTROL, the EU's air safety body, about 1,000 flights were cancelled, whereas 28,000 flights will fly as scheduled.

News on 17 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters / part II

 

News on 17 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters, part II

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8685368.stm

 

BP SAYS LATEST SCHEME TO HALT US OIL LEAK WORKING WELL

Page last updated at 21:19 GMT, Sunday, 16 May 2010 22:19 UK

 

The oil company BP says it has successfully started to siphon oil from its leaking Gulf of Mexico well to a tanker on the surface.

 

BP executive Kent Wells would not say how much oil was being siphoned but said the process was "working well".

 

BP succeeded on its third attempt to insert a long narrow tube into the leaking pipe, using underwater robots.

 

Earlier, scientists said they had found vast underwater plumes of oil, one 10 miles (16km) long and a mile wide.

 

DAMAGES RESPONSE

 

It is thought that BP's 6in-wide (15cm) tube and stopper could capture more than three-quarters of the leak, although a smaller spill nearby also has to be contained.

 

The tool became dislodged from the broken well riser after it was first inserted a mile beneath the surface on Saturday night.

 

But it was now back in place, senior executive vice-president Mr Wells said on Sunday at the firm's US headquarters in Houston, Texas.

 

Over the next few days the company planned to slowly increase the amount of oil and gas flowing through the pipe to the tanker, he said.

 

The energy giant also suggested it had already made clear its position on paying damages for the disaster, a day after the US government demanded immediate clarification on the issue.

 

The Obama administration said in a letter it wanted to be sure BP would honour commitments not to limit costs to a US statutory cap of $75m (£50m).

 

BP said last week the cap was irrelevant and it would settle all legitimate damages claims.

 

"What they are requesting in the letter is absolutely consistent with all our public statements on the matter," said BP spokesman David Nicholas on Sunday.

 

ESTIMATES QUESTIONED

 

BP would not comment on scientists' discovery of several new vast plumes of oil below the ocean's surface.

 

Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said they had detected the slicks lurking just beneath the surface of the sea and at depths of 4,000ft (1,200m).

 

Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia, said: "It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas.

 

"We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact."

 

Chemical dispersants BP has been dumping underwater may be preventing the oil from rising to the top of the ocean, the scientists said.

 

The find suggests the scale of the potential environmental disaster is much worse than previously feared since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up on 20 April, killing 11 workers.

 

Some scientists cast doubt on BP's estimate of the oil flow rate, saying the widely repeated figure of 5,000 barrels per day dramatically understates the real amount.

 

A week ago, BP tried to cap the well with a 100-tonne box, but gave up after it became encrusted with ice crystals.

 

MISSISSIPPI has become the third US state to have traces of oil wash up on its coast, along with LOUISIANA and ALABAMA.

 

The spill is threatening to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez leak off Alaska as America's worst environmental disaster.

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

RTTNews.com: US Government Issues Strong Warning To BP Despite Siphoning Off Gulf Gusher

 

Trade Arabia: BP marks first success in containing oil spill

 

Sydney Morning Herald: BP mulls options as oil tube captures 'some' oil

 

Financial Post: SIPHON SOLUTION A 'GOOD STEP'

 

Bangkok Post: BP cagey as oil tube registers 'some' success

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/americas/8685969.stm

 

US SAYS BP MOVE TO CURB OIL LEAK 'NO SOLUTION'

Page last updated at 02:15 GMT, Monday, 17 May 2010 03:15 UK

 

The success of a move by oil giant BP to curb a leak in the Gulf of Mexico is "not clear" and the technique provides "no solution", the US has said.

 

It was responding to BP's move to siphon oil from the leaking well head to a tanker on the surface.

 

A government statement said it would not rest until the leak was permanently sealed and the spill cleaned up.

 

BP executive Kent Wells earlier said that the siphoning process was "working extremely well".

 

This was the third attempt it had made to insert a long narrow tube into the leaking pipe, using underwater robots.

 

It is thought that BP's 6in-wide (15cm) tube and stopper could capture more than three-quarters of the leak, although a smaller spill nearby also has to be contained.

 

Mr Wells said on Sunday at the firm's US headquarters in Houston, Texas, that over the next few days the company planned to slowly increase the amount of oil and gas flowing through the pipe to the tanker.

 

COMMITMENTS

 

But a joint statement by Secretary of Homeland Security Janet Napolitano and Secretary of the Interior Ken Salazar said the latest technique was "not a solution to the problem and it is not yet clear how successful it may be".

 

It added: "We will not rest until BP permanently seals the well head, the spill is cleaned up, and the communities and natural resources of the Gulf Coast are restored and made whole."

 

It was the second strong statement to BP by the government officials on the current crisis.

 

Earlier they sent a letter saying they wanted to be sure BP would honour commitments not to limit costs to a US statutory cap of $75m (£50m).

 

BP responded by saying it had already made clear its position on paying damages for the disaster.

 

It said last week the cap was irrelevant and it would settle all legitimate damages claims.

 

"What they are requesting in the letter is absolutely consistent with all our public statements on the matter," said BP spokesman David Nicholas on Sunday.

 

LURKING SLICKS

 

Earlier, scientists said they had found vast underwater plumes of oil, one 10 miles (16km) long and a mile wide.

 

Researchers from the National Institute for Undersea Science and Technology said they had detected the slicks lurking just beneath the surface of the sea and at depths of 4,000ft (1,200m).

 

Samantha Joye, a marine science professor at the University of Georgia, said: "It could take years, possibly decades, for the system to recover from an infusion of this quantity of oil and gas.

 

"We've never seen anything like this before. It's impossible to fathom the impact."

 

Chemical dispersants BP has been dumping underwater may be preventing the oil from rising to the top of the ocean, the scientists said.

 

The find suggests the scale of the potential environmental disaster is much worse than previously feared since the Deepwater Horizon drilling rig blew up on 20 April, killing 11 workers.

 

Some scientists cast doubt on BP's estimate of the oil flow rate, saying the widely repeated figure of 5,000 barrels per day dramatically understates the real amount.

 

A week ago, BP tried to cap the well with a 100-tonne box, but gave up after it became encrusted with ice crystals.

 

Mississippi has become the third US state to have traces of oil wash up on its coast, along with Louisiana and Alabama.

 

The spill is threatening to eclipse the 1989 Exxon Valdez leak off Alaska as America's worst environmental disaster.

News on 18 May in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 18 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 news: INDONESIA: JAVA RELIEVED AFTER POWERFUL MAGNITUDE-6.0 QUAKE

A powerful magnitude-6.0 earthquake shook the Indonesian island of JAVA according to seismologists. No tsunami alert was issued. The quake occurred around noon Central European Time and had its epicentre 147 km south-east of Sukabumi in a depth of 13 km according to Indonesia's Meteorological and Geophysical Bureau.

- "There are no reports of casualties, and we only felt the quake very briefly, and no one panicked", said Cianjurs chief of police, Wibowo.

 

German ZDFtext: THE USA: DONOR GALA FOR FLOOD VICTIMS IN TENNESSEE

2 weeks after the massive flooding in the US state of Tennessee, a televised donor gala has collected more than $1.5 million or €1.2 million for the flood victims.

At the beginning of May, powerful storms and floods in southern USA cost 20 human lives and destroyed thousand houses.

 

German ARDtext: DRAMATIC SITUATION IN AREAS WITH HIGH WATER / HIGH TIDE

At least 5 were killed in Central Europe due to flooding. After days of heavy rain, thousand houses, many streets and fields in POLAND, the CZECH REPUBLIC and SLOVAKIA have been flooded. The rain is expected to continue until the end of the week according to meteorologists. The authorities in Brandenburg expect the first tidal wave ( flood) from Oder this Friday. The situation should not be so dramatic as in 1997 according to Task, the German minister for the Environment. In Poland, the tidal wave from Weichsel has already reached Krakow with a higher water mark than in 1997 in connection with the flood-of-the-century.

 

German ZDFtext, updated in the afternoon: SEVERAL KILLED BY BAD WEATHER IN EASTERN EUROPE

So far the flooding in Central Europe has cost at least 7 human lives. After heavy rain, the rivers Oder, Weichsel and other rivers overflowed their banks. Villages, thousand houses, several streets and fields in POLAND, the CZECH REPUBLIC, SLOVAKIA and HUNGARY were flooded.

 

German ZDFtext, updated in the afternoon: BRANDENBURG EXPECTS "ODER" TIDAL WAVE ON FRIDAY

BRANDENBURG prepares for an ODER tidal wave (flood) which will not reach the level of the devastating flood-of-the-century in 1997. The situation is better now as €220 million has been invested in an extension (improvement) of the dike. Whether to expect flooding similar to the flooding in 1997 with the devastating "ODER" flood/tidal wave, that depends on whether the high tide/high water of the river ODER coincides with the high tide of Glatzer Neisse and Bober.

 

Danish DR1 text-TV (teletext): BAD WEATHER OVER CENTRAL EUROPE KILLS NINE

Flooding in large parts of Central Europe cost at least 9 human lives in the last few days. - Two dead bodies were found in POLAND today, i.e. Tuesday where the museum over the former concentration Nazi-German camp Auschwitz has been closed due to torrential rain. As many as 5 died in POLAND during the bad weather, whereas the other fatal accidents happened in SLOVAKIA, the CZECH REPUBLIC and SERBIA that also experienced torrential rain. Some exhibitions have been moved from the former Nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz due to the water masses from a nearby river. A castle is also in danger of being flooded.

News on 19 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 19 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ARDtext: INDIA: 50,000 RUNNING AWAY IN FEAR OF "LAILA"

The population on the Indian East coast prepares for the strongest cyclone in 14 years. In expectation of the cyclone "Laila", thousand inhabitants in the coastal regions of Andhra Pradesh were removed to a safe place according to the authorities in Andhra Pradesh. In the Bay of Bengal at least 19 fishermen were reported missing. "Laila" is expected to hit the coast on Thursday. Wind speeds of 125 km per hour and heavy rain are to be expected. More than 10,000 people died in connection with the latest powerful cyclone in the region in 1977 (edit: I think that 1997 is the correct year, but it said "1977!).

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

 

German ZDFtext, Swedish SVT text and Danish TV2 News:

 

GULF OF MEXICO: THE OCEAN CURRENT CARRIES THE OIL TOWARDS FLORIDA

 

The oil pollution off the south coast of the USA spreads via strong currents in the Gulf of Mexico. Satellite images show that the oil was driven through the so-called Loop-Current towards Florida according to ESA, the European Space Agency. "The oil will probably reach the US state of Florida within 6 days. If so, the coral reefs of the Florida Keys, the only coral reefs near USA's mainland, will be threatened. The zones where fishing is forbidden have been doubled.

 

Only 4 weeks after the drilling rig "Deepwater Horizon" blew up, only then was BP successful in capturing 40% of the leaking oil. 100 tons of crude oil continues to leak into the sea every day!

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10127904.stm

 

GULF OIL NOW IN POWERFUL LOOP CURRENT, SCIENTISTS SAY

Page last updated at 18:10 GMT, Wednesday, 19 May 2010 19:10 UK

 

The first oil from the Gulf of Mexico spill has entered an ocean current that could take it to Florida and up the east coast of the US, scientists say.

 

The European Space Agency said satellite images suggested oil could reach the coral reefs of the Florida Keys within six days.

 

"We have visible proof that at least oil from the surface... has reached the current," said Dr Bertrand Chapron.

 

Meanwhile, the US said it was having talks with Cuba over the spill.

 

Observers say the talks demonstrate a concern that the oil may be carried by currents far from the site of the Deep Horizon disaster.

 

"It is incumbent upon us to inform all of our neighbors, not just the islands, but those countries that could be affected by disasters that happen within our territorial waters," State Department Spokesman Gordon Duguid said.

 

TURBULENT SYSTEM

 

Earlier, the US Coast Guard said tests showed that the tar balls that washed up on Florida beaches in recent days did not originate from the oil spill off Louisiana.

It is unclear where the tar balls came from, coast guard officials said.

 

The ESA images show a stream of oil extending south into the Loop Current.

 

ESA scientists described the Loop Current as a "conveyor belt" that joins the Gulf Stream, the most important current in the northern hemisphere.

 

If oil is dragged into the Gulf Stream, it could be carried up the east coast of the US, they said.

 

The scientists warned that the turbulent Loop Current could mix the oil and water, making it difficult to track the oil's progress in the coming days.

 

"This might remove the oil film on the surface and prevent us from tracking it with satellites, but the pollution is likely to affect the coral reef marine ecosystem," Dr Fabrice Collard said.

 

In Louisiana, a lawyer has asked a panel of federal judges to consolidate more than 100 cases related to the oil spill into a single action.

 

Daniel Becnel asked that the growing number of cases against oil companies BP, Transocean, Halliburton and Cameron be combined and heard in Louisiana, the Associated Press news agency reported.

 

The lawsuits have been filed by commercial fishermen, restaurants, hotels and property owners and others who say the oil spill has cost them income.

 

A BP executive said this week that the company had paid out $15m (£10.4m) in claims, much of it to shrimpers and commercial fishermen who have little or no income because of the spill.

 

Meanwhile, astronauts and cosmonauts aboard the International Space Station have said they could see the oil spill while passing over the Gulf of Mexico.

 

"It looks very scary," Russian cosmonaut Oleg Kotov told reporters via a video link.

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Reuters UK : BP siphoning more oil in effort to stem Gulf crisis

 

Oil and Gas Online : Gulf Of Mexico Oil Spill In The Loop Current

 

Yahoo! UK and Ireland : Florida fears deepen as oil enters the Loop Current

 

CNN Coast Guard: Tar balls found in Florida Keys not from BP oil spill

 

Spiegel Online : Oil Slick Could Ride Ocean Current to Pollute Further

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German ARDtext: POLAND FIGHTING AGAINST HIGH TIDE (FLOOD)

The situation in the areas with high tide in southern Poland remains tense. In Krakow a Weichsel embankment has collapsed. "A disaster", said Jerzy Miller, the minister of the Interior, after a visit to the disaster area. In the areas along the river "Weichsel", the rain was even stronger than during the flood of the century in 1997 when 55 people died in Poland. The high tide also threatens the memorial in the former Nazi concentration camp Auschwitz. A collection had to be removed out of a building to a safe place.

 

German ZDFtext: TENSE SITUATION IN POLAND - NAZI CAMP AUSCHWITZ THREATENED BY HIGH WATER

While the tide goes out slowly in the Czech Republic and Slovakia, then the situation in southern Poland remains tense. The high water / flooding in Poland threatens the memorial in the former nazi concentration camp, Auschwitz. Heavy rain has continued to undermine the building according to a spokesman for the museum.

Brandenburg expects a small tidal wave from the Oder tide on Friday. The water will rise gradually according to Brandenburg's minister for the environment, Anita Tack (from the leftist party, die Linke).

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

 

5.1 QUAKE HITS CALIFORNIA BORDER

 

05/19/2010 | 09:35 AM - GMA News.TV

 

EL CENTRO, California — A magnitude-5.1 earthquake struck the seismically active California-Mexico border region Tuesday, shaking a wide area of Southern California. There were no immediate reports of damage.

 

The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 5:38 p.m. PDT (0038 GMT Wednesday) and was centered 18 miles (29 kilometers) west-southwest of El Centro, the Imperial County seat in the state's southeastern corner.

 

The region on both sides of the border has been shaking with aftershocks since a magnitude-7.2 quake struck in northern Baja California on April 4.

 

Tuesday's quake was felt at San Diego's baseball stadium, Petco Park, about 90 miles (145 kilometers) to the west, and in adjacent counties. The USGS website for citizen reports showed responses from as far north as Los Angeles, 175 miles (280 kilometers) away.

 

Imperial County Sheriff's Department dispatcher Veronica Marron said the quake was strongly felt but there were no immediate reports of damage.

 

Carla Lopez, 17, a hostess and cashier at the Burgers and Beer bar in El Centro, said the shaking lasted at least 20 seconds.

 

"It was strong but nothing fell," she said. "All the customers just looked around, nobody ran out or anything. If it went on any longer, I would have run though."

 

At the Styles and Smiles salon, bottles of shampoo rattled, but the haircuts and massage therapy sessions continued.

 

"We just try to keep the customers relaxed," said owner Lourdes "Lulu" Castro. "We're used to it. We were just like 'OK, here it comes.'" — AP

News on 20 and 21 May in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 20 and 21 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ZDFtext: GULF OF MEXICO: AN ENORMOUS AMOUNT OF OIL REACHES LOUISIANA’S COAST

An enormous amount of oil from the oil leak in Gulf of Mexico has been washed ashore in the US state of Louisiana. According to Louisiana’s Governor Bobby Jindal, Louisiana’s ecologically sensitive wetland has been affected. Jindal: “What we all have feared would happen, happened today”.

Only 4 weeks after the explosion on the “Deepwater Horizon” rig, only then did BP succeed in capturing 40%. Every day hundreds of tons of crude oil have been spewing into the Gulf.

 

German ARDtext: THICK LAYER OF CRUDE OIL REACHES US-STATE LOUISIANA’s COAST

One month after the explosion on the Deepwater Horizon rig in the Gulf of Mexico, an enormous amount of oil has washed ashore on the US coast. Jindal, Louisiana’s Governor said that the layer of oil is several cm thick. More oil is expected to pollute the coast.

BP said that about 3,000 of about 5,000 barrels of leaking oil are pumped via a suction pipe.

 

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10134881.stm

Page last updated at 21:59 GMT, Thursday, 20 May 2010 22:59 UK

 

BP HAS FALLEN SHORT IN PROVIDING OIL LEAK DATA, SAYS US

 

BP has "fallen short" in providing data about the Gulf of Mexico oil spill, the US government has said, in its latest critical letter to the firm.

 

The Obama administration said the British energy giant should act in a "transparent manner" and "promptly" make all information public.

 

Earlier, BP said more oil than the 5,000 barrels a day it first estimated were gushing from the burst well.

 

The spill has reached LOUISIANA and is threatening FLORIDA and CUBA.

 

The crude has been flowing since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon, leased by BP, exploded off the coast of Louisiana on 20 April and sank two days later.

 

'A LITTLE MORE'

 

The Obama administration asked BP to make public all measurements of the growing leak, air and water quality samples, trajectories of underwater plumes and locations of dispersants.

 

The request came in a letter to BP CEO Tony Hayward from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) Administrator Lisa Jackson.

 

It said: "In responding to this oil spill, it is critical that all actions be conducted in a transparent manner, with all data and information related to the spill readily available to the United States government and the American people."

 

The officials said that despite claims by BP it was making efforts to keep the public and the government informed, "those efforts, to date, have fallen short in both their scope and effectiveness".

 

They said it was "imperative that BP promptly" make public all data on the spill.

Obama administration officials last week wrote a letter to BP demanding clarification over its commitment to pay for damages from the spill; the firm said it had already done so.

 

Another letter at the weekend cast doubt over the effectiveness of BP's latest attempt to siphon oil from the gushing well head.

 

'TOP KILL'

 

BP had stuck by its first estimate that some 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, a day of oil was leaking from the well - despite claims from several experts the real figure was at least 10 times higher.

 

But BP spokesman Mark Proegler told news agency AFP on Thursday: "Now that we are collecting 5,000 barrels a day, it might be a little more than that."

 

A live video feed showing the oil gushing from the well has been made available by BP after pressure from a US congressman.

 

It shows a large, flowing plume of oil and gas next to the tube that is carrying some of it to the surface.

 

Meanwhile, the EPA has told BP to use a new dispersant to contain the spill, as fears grow about potential damage from the use of such chemicals.

 

BP has used a number of dispersants, all approved by the EPA, to try to break up the crude.

 

The oil firm's temporary solution has been to funnel the oil up to a ship, but on Sunday it is preparing its latest attempt to seal the rupture, which is a mile below on the seabed.

 

Engineers are planning a so-called "top kill" operation, in which heavy mud would be injected to stem the oil flow, then cement used to block the well permanently.

 

It emerged on Wednesday a small portion of the slick had entered the so-called LOOP CURRENT, which could take it to Florida and up the eastern US coast.

 

FLORIDA forecasters said it would be at least a week before the oil reached waters near the state.

 

Farther south, US officials have been talking to CUBA about how to respond should the spill reach the island's northern coast.

 

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

MSNBC: Spill estimate under review after criticism

 

ABC News: BP Accused of Cover-Up

 

CNN BP: Oil gusher bigger than we estimated

 

TheStar.com.my: BP, accused of cover-up, says captures more oil

 

Telegraph: BP admits underestimating Gulf of Mexico oil leak

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

 

German ZDFtext: High TIDE IN POLAND: THOUSANDS EVACUATED TO SAFER PLACES

In some regions of Poland the situation with high tide remains tense. The river, Weichsel, has flooded the right river bank in the city of Sandomierz according to information given by the Ministry of the Interior in Warsaw. About 2,000 people had to be evacuated to safer places. In Krakow which was particularly hard hit by the flood, the Weichsel water level has fallen by about 80 cm during Wednesday. Due to heavy rain in Hungary, Slovakia, the Czech Republic and Poland, Weichsel overflowed its banks. 7 died.

 

German ZDFtext: BRANDENBURG PREPARES FOR ODER TIDAL WAVE

Brandenburg prepares for the high tide of the river, Oder. The first tidal wave is expected on Friday. As a precautionary measure, the authority in charge of the environment in Brandenburg has called for an evacuation of the area surrounding the dike. Brandenburg’s minister for the environment, Anita Luck from the leftist party, Die Linke warned against getting into a panic. The water levels are expected to reach their peak on Monday, 24 May 2010.

While the situation in Brandenburg seems to be less tense now, the heavy rain in POLAND in the last couple of days caused massive flooding. At least 7 people have died as a consequence.

 

German ARDtext: POLAND SUFFERING DUE TO HIGH TIDE / A TIDAL WAVE IS APPROACHING WARSAW

The tidal wave is coming nearer to central POLAND and threatens the capital, Warsaw. Also in Brandenburg, the authorities are preparing for the flood. The authorities in charge of the environment in Brandenburg recommended an evacuation of the area surrounding the dike. A second tidal wave is expected on Monday, 24 May 2010. In southern Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia, the situation is getting less tense. Tusk, Poland’s head of government, estimates the damage at up to 2 billion Euro.

 

German ARDtext: TIDAL WAVE THREATENS WARSAW

The tidal wave comes nearer. Also the authorities in central POLAND prepare for the water masses. The capital, Warsaw, is threatened. Brandenburg prepares for a first tidal wave on Friday which will arrive via the river, Oder. The authorities in charge of the environment in Brandenburg recommended the evacuation of the area surrounding the dike.

The second-highest alarm will be issued according to the spokesman for the ministry of the Interior. A second tidal wave is expected on Monday 24 May. The tidal wave will not be so high / tall as the tidal wave in 1997.

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

 

6.2-MAGNITUDE QUAKE HITS COSTA RICA

 

05/21/2010 | 07:25 AM – GMA News.TV

 

SAN JOSE, Costa Rica — A 6.2-magnitude earthquake has rattled Costa Rica. There are no immediate reports of injuries or damage.

 

Red Cross spokesman Freddy Roman says the quake "was felt very strongly" at several of the agencies' offices.

 

The US Geological Survey says it was centered about 42 miles (67 kilometers) south of San Jose, the capital.

 

Local television stations interrupted their programming Thursday and received calls from viewers frightened by the quake. — AP

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

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/africa/10132384.stm

Page last updated at 16:34 GMT, Thursday, 20 May 2010 17:34 UK

 

NYIRAGONGO VOLCANO LANDSLIDE: 54 'DEAD' IN DR CONGO

 

Families left homeless by a landslide on the slopes of a volcano which left 54 people MISSING in the Democratic Republic of Congo will be relocated, the UN says.

 

A UN spokesperson told the BBC that some 250 homes had been destroyed.

 

An overflowing river caused a landslide at the weekend on the slopes of Nyiragongo volcano, near the eastern town of Goma.

 

The UN Mission in DR Congo (Monuc) is searching for missing people.

 

It is also providing emergency relief, said Monuc spokesperson Madnodje Mounoubai.

 

Government officials have been telling people that they would be relocated away from the area in case new rains bring further landslides, he told the BBC.

 

Monuc has so far recovered 26 dead bodies, with 28 people still missing.

 

Eastern DR Congo - including the North Kivu province around Goma - is still plagued by army and militia violence despite the end of the country's five-year war in 2003.

 

But the poor security situation in the region is not disrupting Monuc's efforts to respond effectively to the disaster, Mr Mounoubai said.

 

The DR Congo press estimates that around 5,000 people have been affected by the landslide.

 

"This is the number we should go on," says Mr Mounoubai.

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

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/south_asia/8693642.stm

Page last updated at 12:24 GMT, Thursday, 20 May 2010 13:24 UK

 

CYCLONE LAILA HITS SOUTHERN INDIAN COAST

 

Cyclone Laila has made landfall on the southern Indian coast, battering the area with heavy rains and strong winds, officials say.

 

Winds of 90km/h (55mph) have uprooted trees and electricity poles. More than 50,000 people have been evacuated.

 

Officials said the cyclone appeared to be weakening. Forecasters had earlier predicted winds of 125km/h (78mph) and warned of storm surges from the sea.

But officials warned the cyclone could still cause widespread damage.

 

In the past 24 hours, heavy rains have killed 15 people and at least 55 fishermen are reported missing.

 

Laila is the worst storm to hit the southern state of Andhra Pradesh in 14 years and has been classified as "severe".

 

At least six districts have been hit by power cuts leaving hundreds of villages in darkness for more than 10 hours.

 

Coastal areas in the north of Tamil Nadu state have also been experiencing heavy rains since Tuesday night.

 

The army and navy are on high alert and Andhra Pradesh officials say boats have been requisitioned from the neighbouring state of Orissa.

 

Fishing vessels have been ordered to stay in port, the state's Chief Minister K Rosaiah said.

 

"We are fully geared to face this natural calamity," he said.

 

The chief minister directed his cabinet colleagues to rush to coastal districts to oversee relief and rehabilitation work.

 

Andhra Pradesh saw its worst cyclone in 1977 in which more than 10,000 people were killed.

 

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

 

Melbourne Age: Cyclone slams India's southeast coast

 

Yahoo! UK and Ireland: Cyclone hits India's southeast coast

 

News24.com: Cyclone batters India's coast

 

Washington Post: Indian state braces for fierce storm; 15 killed

 

CNEWS: India expecting worst storm in 14 years

News on 21 May 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

NEWS ON 21 MAY 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/us_and_canada/10139730.stm

Page last updated at 19:19 GMT, Friday, 21 May 2010 20:19 UK

 

US OIL SPILL: BP 'RECOVERING LESS OIL' THAN ESTIMATED

 

BP has said the amount of oil recovered from a leaking Gulf of Mexico oil well on Thursday was less than half an earlier estimate.

 

BP said it siphoned 2,200 barrels in the 24-hour period to midnight on Thursday, down from an estimate of 5,000 barrels earlier in the day.

 

The US government has formed a team to develop a more precise estimate of the amount of oil gushing from the well.

 

The oil leak began more than a month ago, when a rig leased by BP exploded.

 

The spill has reached Louisiana and is threatening Florida and Cuba.

 

Thick, sticky oil is washing on to miles of fragile Louisiana wetlands, with brown, foul-smelling globs coating reeds and grasses.

 

The crude oil has been flowing since the offshore drilling rig Deepwater Horizon exploded off the coast of Louisiana on 20 April and sank two days later.

 

TRANSPARENCY CALL

 

The Obama administration has asked BP to make public all measurements of the growing leak, air and water quality samples, trajectories of underwater plumes and locations of dispersants.

 

The request came in a letter to BP chief executive Tony Hayward from Homeland Security Secretary Janet Napolitano and Environmental Protection Agency (EPA) administrator Lisa Jackson.

 

It said: "In responding to this oil spill, it is critical that all actions be conducted in a transparent manner, with all data and information related to the spill readily available to the United States government and the American people."

 

The officials said that despite claims by BP it was making efforts to keep the public and the government informed, "those efforts, to date, have fallen short in both their scope and effectiveness".

 

They said it was "imperative that BP promptly" make public all data on the spill.

 

On Friday, Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal demanded the federal government and BP commit to long-term clean up efforts until the tainted beaches and marshlands have been restored to their pre-spill state.

 

And a top coast guard official in Louisiana speculated that oil had washed ashore because the weather had been too calm for the past two days to use chemical dispersants to mitigate the slick.

 

BP said the US government had formed a multi-agency task force aimed at more precisely measuring the amount of oil gushing from the well 5,000ft below the surface.

 

Independent scientists have estimated the flow is as much as 10 times more than the widely distributed figure of 5,000 barrels, or 210,000 gallons, per day.

 

'TOP KILL'

 

A BP spokesman told Reuters news agency on Friday that the company had only siphoned off 2,200 barrels, or 92,400 gallons, in the 24 hours up to midnight on Thursday.

 

"The flow changes, it's not constant," BP spokesman John Curry said on Friday.

But on Thursday, a spokesman had said the company was collecting 5,000 barrels per day or more.

 

A live video feed showing the oil gushing from the well has been made available by BP after pressure from a US congressman.

 

It shows a large, flowing plume of oil and gas next to the tube that is carrying some of it to the surface.

 

Meanwhile, the EPA has told BP to use a new dispersant to contain the spill, as fears grow about potential damage from the use of such chemicals.

 

BP has used a number of dispersants, all approved by the EPA, to try to break up the spill.

 

The oil firm's temporary solution has been to funnel the oil up to a ship, but it is preparing its latest attempt to seal the rupture on Sunday.

 

Engineers are planning a so-called "top kill" operation, in which heavy mud would be injected to stem the oil flow, then cement used to block the well permanently.

It emerged on Wednesday that a small part of the slick had entered the so-called LOOP CURRENT, which could take it to FLORIDA and up the EASTERN US COAST.

 

FLORIDA forecasters said it would be at least a week before the oil reached waters near the state.

 

Farther south, US officials have been talking to CUBA about how to respond should the spill reach the island's northern coast.

 

Swedish SVT: THE OIL HAS REACHED LOUISIANA’S COAST

Crude oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico has reached the fragile wetlands in the Mississippi delta. Louisiana’s Governor, Bobby Jindal, warns that "this is only the beginning". At the same time BP has been forced to admit that the extent of the leak is bigger than originally stated.

After having studied live video feed of the leaks, experts estimate the leak of oil into the Gulf at about 11 million litres of oil per day.

 

In a letter from US homeland Security Secretary, Janet Napolitano, BP is accused of having withheld information from the authorities - information that the authorities are entitled to receive.

 

 

German ZDFtext: OIL LEAK: CRUDE OIL REACHES WETLANDS ON THE US COAST

One month after the explosion on the “Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig in the Gulf of Mexico, crude oil washed ashore on the US coast. In the US state of Louisiana thick and sticky crude oil washed ashore polluting the fragile swampy areas aka. wetlands in the marshland. So far only a few lumps of oil had washed ashore on the US coast.According to a spokesman, BP - the multinational company - siphons off 795,000 litres of the leaking oil each day. He admitted that oil continued to gush from the well into the Gulf on Thursday 20 May.

 

 

German ARDtext: OIL DESTROYS KILOMETRES OF LITTERAL, i.e. COASTAL AREAS IN LOUISIANA

Dozens of kilometres of highly fragile marshland (wetlands) on the coast of the US state of Louisiana have been destroyed by oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico. "About 38 kilometres of land in Plaquemines Parish is polluted by oil", the local authorities told US broadcaster NBC. "Everything is dead there".

 

Since the explosion on the “Deepwater Horizon” drilling rig in April, every day hundreds thousands of litres of oil have been spewing into the Gulf. Some of the leaking oil is captured and siphoned off.

 

 

German ARDtext: CRITICISM OF BP's USE OF CHEMICAL

EPA, the US Environmental Protection Agency, has decreed the replacement of the chemical Corexit (which is used in the Gulf of Mexico) by a less dangerous substance. In the fight against the leaked oil, the BP group has defended the use of Corexit as "not poisonous" and as "biodegradable". About 2.5 million litres of Corexit has been used so far. In Great Britain it is forbidden to use Corexit: Researchers call it "poisonous", and they say that "Corexit massively damages fish and corals" and soon will "be absorbed into the food chain."

 

BP gains a profit from Corexit: The group is represented in the board of directors of the manufacturer.

 

 

German ARD text: THE MISSISSIPPI DELTA

 

The leaking oil off the US coast constitutes a disastrous risk to the Mississippi delta according to experts.

 

The longest river in North America, Mississippi, is flowing into the Gulf of Mexico here in the US state of Louisiana, with 5 branches.

 

The wetlands near the coast are the breeding ground for many crayfish and crabs as well as species of birds and fish. Also many plants can be found here in the subtropic climate of the swamps. The oil pollution is also affecting many people living on the delta. They live off (from) primarily fishing and agriculture.

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

 

German ARD text and ZDF text: POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE IN COSTA RICA

A powerful magnitude-6.1 earthquake shook southern Costa Rica. According to the Seismological Institute in the Central-American country, the epicentre of the earthquake was about 30 km southeast of Quepos in the Pacific in a depth of about 10 km.

 

There are no reports of casualties or substantial damage. Nor was a tsunami alert issued. In some parts of the country the telephone lines were down. According to some inhabitants in the capital, San José, the earthquake made buildings in the capital sway a little.

 

 

Danish TV2 and DR1 text-TV (teletext): EARTHQUAKE SHAKES COSTA RICA

A magnitude-5.9 earthquake shook several towns along Costa Rica's Pacific coast. There were no reports of casualties or damage, and no tsunami alert was issued.

 

The quake's epicentre was 65 km south / south-west of Costa Rica's capital, San José in a depth of 14.3 km according to US Geographical Survey.

 

The earthquake which occurred at 4:16 am local time shook the entire west coast and could be felt in the towns of Puntarenas, Perez Zeledon and Bahia Drake.

 

The earthquake was originally measured at a strenght of magnitude 6.2, but was later downgraded to magnitude 5.9.

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

 

German ZDF text and ARD text: TIDAL WAVE REACHES WARSAW / WARSAW: HIGH TIDE UNDER CONTROL

The water level of the river Weichsel in Warsaw rises - but the high-water situation in the Polish capital was not under control until the night between Thursday 20 and Friday 21 May. Late in the evening the water level was measured at 6.55 m - i.e. 5 cm over the alert value. The risk for Warsaw is low, said head of government, Donald Tusk. Friday evening the highest water level in Warsaw was expected. The water level was expected to be 7.80 m - which would be a record-high water level in the post-war period.

 

Hundreds of firefighters and soldiers reinforced the dike with sandbags as a precautionary measure.

 

In southern Poland, the Czech Republic and Slovakia the situation has eased.

 

According to the police, so far 9 died due to the high water (flood).

 

The high tide on the river Oder is expected in less than one week in Germany. Originally the tidal wave was expected to arrive this week-end.

The city of Frankfurt (Oder) has made its first preparations.

 

Currently the tidal wave is in Poland zwischen Oppeln and Breslau and will reach Brandenburg on Wednesday at the earliest.

News on 22 May in relation to natural disasters / USA and POLAND

 

NEWS ON 22 MAY IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish TV2 TTV: OIL DISASTER WILL AFFECT EUROPE

According to environmental experts the oil pollution off USA's coast will affect the environment in both Europe and the Arctic regions. The oil in the Gulf of Mexico affects vital breeding grounds for birds as well as other animals from the entire Atlantic.

Submarine recordings of the oil leak indicate that the amount of oil leaking into the Gulf of Mexico surpasses what the oil company, BP has so far announced.

Marine biologists fear that the visible part of the oil only constitutes a fraction of the leaked oil.

 

German ZDFtext: BP FACES NEW TECHNICAL PROBLEMS IN ITS FIGHT AGAINST THE OIL POLLUTION

Doug Suttles, BP's chief operating officer (COO): Only on Tuesday, 25 May 2010 will the group start the attempts to close the leaking oil well. The preparations on the seabed are too complicated to start this week-end as originally planned. It will take one week to know if the method used actually closes the leak according to US media.

Since the explosion on the drilling rig a month ago, hundreds of tons of crude oil have been spewing into the Gulf of Mexico every day.

 

55-year-old Hollywood star Kevin Costner (Bodyguard) has several companies. One of them has developed a system with a centrifugal oil separation device which could be used to close the oil leak in the Gulf according to Los Angeles Times on Friday, 21 May. BP and the US coast guard will start the first tests with 6 of the massive steel separators next week. The actor has invested 24 million dollar (i.e. 19 million Euro) in the development over the last 15 years.

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German ZDFtext: TIDAL WAVE: BREACH OF DIKE IN BRESLAU

Saturday, the high water on the river "Oder" caused a breach of an embankment in Breslau in Poland. The water penetrated the dike in 2 places; the district Kozanow is flooded, a spokesman for the fire-fighting service told broadcaster TVN24. The highest water level of the river "Weichsel" reached Warsaw. The critical water level of 8m was not reached. So far the dikes can keep back the water masses. 12 people have been killed by the tidal wave (flood) in Poland.

 

German ARD text: "The high-tide situation continues", Donald Tusk, the Polish head of government, warned after a meeting with the emergency staff. In some places the risk is on the rise according to Tusk. This morning in Warsaw, the Weichsel water level rose to 7.74 m. The alarm level at 6.50m was by far passed. A water level at 8m is critical, but was not reached. This Friday evening, the highest water level was reached in Warsaw, but it was less than 8m and thus not critical. The dikes were able to keep back the water masses.

 

 

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/pictures/KAC034.htm

 

A boat floats between buildings at the flooded Kozanow district of Wroclaw near the Sleza river in Wroclaw, southern western Poland May 22, 2010. Seven people have been killed by flash floods sweeping central Europe since last weekend, five of them in southern Poland, while thousands have been forced from their homes. REUTERS/Agencja Gazeta/Maciej Swierczynski