SIO15/ERTH15: Natural Disasters

Source: Steve Newman at the San Diego Union Tribune

This page lists some of the news published every other week in the Earth Watch box, found in the "Quest" section of the Thursday edition of the San Diego Union Tribune.
These are good topics for starting a discussion on recent natural disasters in our problem sessions and may be topic of a homework problem.

Older earthwatch pages can be found here for

Earthwatch 2006

Earthwatch 2005
Earthwatch 2004

Earthwatches

November 08, 2007 (for week ending Nov 02)

Earthquakes

Several homes in southwestern Turkey sustained damage from a magnitude 5.1 quake centered near the town of Cameli, in Denizli province. There were no reports of injuries.
The strongest quake (mag. 5.6) to rock the San Francisco Bay Area since the deadly 1989 Loma Prieta temblor shattered windows and knocked items off shelves near San Jose.
Earth movements also were felt in northern Egypt (4.0), central Nepal (5.0) and the Northern Mariana Islands (7.2).

Tropical Cyclones

Tropical Storm Noel triggered flash flooding and mudslides the killed at least 61 people across the northern Caribbean. The storm later dissipated after moving northward over the Bahamas.
Heavy rainfall in eastern Japan, caused by passing Tropical Storm Faxai, killed one person near Tokyo.
Remnants of Tropical Cyclone 05A were expected to bring locally heavy rain to the desert nations of Oman and Yemen.

Indonesian Rumblings

Three volcanoes across seismically active Indonesia are showing signs of unrest, with at least two posing a threat of an explosive eruption.
Anak Krakatau, or Child of Krakatau, expelled ash over the Strait of Sunda, where an 1883 eruption of the famed parent volcano obliterated the previous volcanic island. Approximately 36,000 people died in the resulting tsunami.
Mount Soputan on Sulawesi Island continued to expel smoke and lava after the volcano shot clouds of debris one mile into the air and spewed lava down its slopes.
Scientists continued to warn those living around Java's Mount Kelud that the mountain could erupt violently at any time. Many have returned to their homes after evacuating in early October.

La Niña Lingers

La Niña

El Niño

Australian Twister

Oldest Animal

Primates in Peril

Conservation International

Extreme Temperatures: -79°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Las Lomitas, Argentina

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November 01, 2007 (for week ending Oct. 26)

Earthquakes

A string of strong offshore quakes (one measuring a mag 7.1) rocked quake-weary Bengkulu province on Indonesia's Sumatra Island, but there were no reports of damage.
Earth movements also were felt in Papua New Guinea (5.3), central New Zealand (4.8), the southern Philippines (6.2) and Fairbanks, Alaska (2.5).

Tropical Cyclone

At least 11 people drowned in high seas generated off Mexico's west coast by Tropical Storm Kiko when a boat carrying Central American migrants capsized near the isthmus of Tehuantepec.
The storm also brought heavy rainfall to the Mexican coastal states of Oaxaca, Guerero and Michoacan before turning out to sea.
Typhoon Kajiki threatened shipping lanes in the open Pacific east of Japan.

Indonesian Eruption

Mt Soputan

California Conflagration

Anthrax Outbreak

anthrax

Greenhouse Surge

₂

Global Carbon Project

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

₂

Elephant Electrocutions

Meghalaya

Extreme Temperatures: -77°F Vostok, Antarctica; 109°F Prats-Gil, Paraguay

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October 25, 2007 (for week ending Oct. 19)

Earthquakes

The strongest (magnitude 6.7) in a series of powerful earthquakes that rocked southern New Zealand knocked items off shelves and triggered a landslide near a popular tourist destination. No injuries were reported.
Earth movements were also felt across a wide area of the South Pacific from Fiji to northern New Zealand (6.4), and in Indonesia's easternmost Papua province (5.1), northeastern Ohio (2.9) and southern California (4.2).

Tropical Cyclones

An area of disturbed weather off Mexico's pacific coast strengthened into Tropical Storm Kiko. The storm was predicted to move ashore near the state of Colima.

Eruption Warnings

Mount Kelud volcano

Bangladesh Twisters

Climate Change Costs - U.S.

Climate Change Costs - Indonesia

Elephants Buzzed Off

Samburu National Reserve

Flood Worms

China Times

Extreme Temperatures: -81°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Curtin, W. Australia

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October 18, 2007 (for week ending Oct. 12)

Earthquakes

Sumatra's Padang and Bengkulu regions were jolted by a magnitude 6.0 quake, but there were no reports of damage or injuries. On Sept. 12 and 13, two earthquakes registering magnitudes of 8.2 and 7.7 hit West Sumatra and Bengkulu respectively, killing 23 people and causing extensive property damage.
Earth movements were also felt in the northern Philippines (5.4), southwestern Australia (4.8) and western Greece (4.5).

Tropical Cyclones

Powerful Typhoon Krosa prompted the evacuation of more than 1.4 million people in coastal areas of China's Zhejiang and Fujian provinces after the storm left five people dead, one missing and 52 injured on Taiwan.

Java Volcano Alert

Mount Kelud

Wildebeest Death Mount

wildebeests

Kenya Wildlife Service

Mara River

Global Warming Fashion

The New York Times

Bird Flu Mutation

H5N1 strain

pandemic

South African Iceberg?

Extreme Temperatures: -98°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Podor, Senegal

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October 11, 2007 (for week ending Oct. 05)

Earthquakes

The New Zealand region's most powerful earthquake since 1934 (magnitude 7.4) sparked an international tsunami alert and caused minor rises in the sea level on the South Island and Australia's island of Tasmania.
Tremors were also felt in eastern Japan (4.9) and the Sumatra aftershock zone (6.4).

Tropical Cyclones

Flash floods produced by developing Typhoon Lekima killed at least nine people in the Philippines before the storm drenched China's Hainan province.
The typhoon then made landfall in Vietnam's Quang Binh and Ha Tinh provinces, killing five people.
At least five people were killed as spiraling band of Hurricane Lorenzo swept through the Mexican states of Puebla and Veracruz.
Tropical Storm Juliette passed west of Baja California, while Tropical Storm Melissa formed briefly over the mid-Atlantic.

Red Sea Eruption

Jabal al-Tair

Fatal Migration

Earthquake Flotsam

hawksbill sea turtles

Congo Ebola Update

Ebola virus

Ozone Hole Shrinks

ozone hole

Extreme Temperatures: -105°F Vostok, Antarctica; 113°F In Salah, Algeria

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October 04, 2007 (for week ending Sep. 28)

Earthquakes

Late reports from the Caspian Sea nation of Azerbaijan say that a total of 715 homes were damaged by a magnitude-4.5 earthquake in the west of the country on Sept. 20. No injuries or fatalities were mentioned by the Azeri Press Agency.
Earth movements were felt in Greece's Dodecanese island of Karpathos (5.3), southern Sumatra (6.4), southern Ecuador (5.9), northwestern Oregon (3.6) and the coast of Southern California (3.9).

Tropical Cyclones

Hurricane Ivo brought heavy rain to the southern tip of Baja California, but had weakened to a tropical depression before reaching the popular resort area.
Tropical Storm Jerry and Hurricane Karen passed over open waters of the mid-Atlantic Ocean.
Tropical Storm Francisco drenched China's island province of Hainan before bringing unwanted rainfall to soggy northern Vietnam.

North Island Eruption

Mount Ruapehu

NB: Some scenes depicting Mordor and Mount Doom in Peter Jackson's "Lord of the Rings" Trilogy were filmed on the slopes of Mount Ruapehu.

African Flood Crisis

La Niña

Mutant Frogs Explained

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

leopard frogs

La Niña Returns

La Niña

Blue Whale Deaths

blue whales

domoic acid poisoning

Extreme Temperatures: -96°F Vostok, Antarctica; 111°F Mecca, Saudi Arabia

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September 27, 2007 (for week ending Sep. 21)

Earthquakes

Sumatra was jolted by several strong aftershocks[, including an magnitude 6.4 earthquake,] of the powerful 8.4-magnitude temblor that killed 24 people and wrecked more than 42,000 buildings on Sept. 12.
Earth movements were also felt in South Australia (4.8), eastern Texas (2.7) and northern parts of the San Francisco Bay Area (3.6).

Tropical Cyclones

Super Typhoon Wipha roared onto the Chinese coast south of Shanghai, killing at least nine people and destroying nearly 10,000 homes. A total of 2.67 million people were evacuated in Zhejiang, Fuijan, Shanghai and Jiangsu provinces before the storm made landfall along the coast of Zhejiang.
Powerful Typhoon Nari killed at least 14 people after slamming into South Korea's southern coast.
Tropical Storm Ingrid formed briefly in the Atlantic.

Volcanoes

Kaba

Talang

Dempo

Meteorite Sickens Town

NB: Find the wikipedia entry for this event here. Research confirmed that people were sickened by arsenic poisoning when residents inhaled the vapor of the boiling contaminated water.

Cold Harms Bats

Radioactive Shield

Long-haul Record

godwit

Extreme Temperatures: -102°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Dharhran, Saudi Arabia

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August 16, 2007 (for the week ending Aug 10)

Earthquakes

A powerful earthquake centered beneath the Java Sea shook Indonesia's capital of Jakarta, violently shaking tall buildings and sending panicked residents into the streets. There were no immediate reports of significant damage.
Two people on Far East's Sakhalin Island were injured by sharp magnitude 4.9 aftershocks of a pair of quakes that killed two people and left 1,000 others homeless on Aug. 2.
Earth movements were also felt in far southern Japan (6.4), western Germany (4.2) and metropolitan Los Angeles (4.5).

Tropical Cyclones

Vietnamese emergency teams moved thousands of people along the country's central coast to higher ground after Tropical Storm 06W dumped heavy rain on the region, killing 53 people. Most of the deaths were in the coffee-growing region of the Central Highlands.
Taiwan was lashed by two tropical cyclones in rapid succession. Typhoon Pabuk clipped the southern tip of the island, ending one of the worst droughts in decades with nearly 12 in of rainfall. The storm then moved southward, eventually passing directly over Hong Kong.
Tropical Storm Wutip struck southern parts of Taiwan a day later, then lost force over China's Guangdong province.
Tropical Storm Flossie formed over the eastern Pacific.

Monsoon Misery

Chilean Chill

Maule region

Extremes Now The Norm

Sonar Use Banned

Simian Bling

simians

Shimla

Extreme Temperatures: -93°F South Pole, Antarctica; 122°F Death Valley, California

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April 19, 2007 (for the week ending Apr 13)

Earthquakes

A 5.4 magnitude quake centered in western Greece damaged a school in the city of Thermo.
A [magnitude 5.4] quake in southern Peru caused landslides to block some roadways.
Earth movements were also felt in western Nicaragua [magnitude 5.2], southwestern Turkey [4.9] and northwestern Sumatra [6.1].

Eruption of the Century

Piton de la Fournaise volcano

Vanishing Bees

colony collapse disorder

Gobi Dust Pollutions

Bangladesh Twister

United News of Bangladesh

Tangail district

Solomon Lift

seismic slip

Ranongga

Population control

Himachal Pradesh State

Extreme Temperatures: -96°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F N'Guigmi, Niger

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March 29, 2007 (for the week ending Mar 23)

Earthquakes

A sharp early morning [magnitude 5.2] temblor sent panicked residents from their beds into the streets in Indonesia's North Maluku provincial capital of Ternate. There were no reports of significant damage or injuries.
Earth movements were also felt in the southern Philippines [magnitude 5.3], northern New Zealand [3.6], metropolitan Tokyo [4.2] and New Hampshire [2.7].

Tropical Cyclones

Cyclone Indlala's rampage across northern Madagascar left at least 36 people dead and nearly 54,000 people homeless.
Indlala destroyed two bridges, six schools, 63 administrative buildings and three electrical facilities, according to the national emergencies bureau BNGRC.
"In terms of destruction, it is almost as bad as Gafilo," said bureau chief Jacky Randriaharison, referring to a cyclone that left 241 people dead after it pummeled the Indian Ocean island in March 2004.
Madagascar has been affected by seven tropical cyclones this season, which normally runs from November through March.

Volcanic Eruptions

A "mud volcano" on the Indonesian island of Java briefly stopped spewing toxic sludge, which has displaced 15,000 people since last May.
"None of our team members knows for sure what happened, and we are still trying to determine how it happened," said Rudi Novrianto, a spokesman for the government project trying to plug the flow with concrete balls.
Experts believe that effort was probably not the cause of the sudden halt in the flow of mud. They said it most likely occurred because parts of the volcano's funnel collapsed, creating a temporary obstruction that was eventually cleared by pressurized gas within the crater.
NB: the mud volcano described here is the world's largest mud volcano. The Lusi mud volcano or Sidoarjo mud volcano was most likely caused by human petroleum prospecting efforts.
A mixture of mud, water and rocks cascaded down the Mount Ruapehu volcano on New Zealand's North island after the mud burst through a 23-foot wall of volcanic ash and sand built up during an eruption 12 years ago.
Police and civil defense workers closed roads and the nation's main rail line near the base of the mountain until the surge of debris passed.

Warming Impact

yellow dwarf disease

Smoke Emergency

Strong Sunspot Cycle

Sunspots and Weather

Solar Terrestrial Physics

Jumbo Retirement

Extreme Temperatures: -79°F South Pole, Antarctica; 110°F Birni-N'Konni, Niger

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March 15, 2007 (for the week ending Mar 09)

Earthquakes

Initial reports from Sumatra said that around 70 people perished during a 6.4 magnitude earthquake on the Indonesian island.
A separate 5.9 magnitude quake caused panic in Sumatra's Nias region the following day.
At least 35 people in southwestern Iran were injured when a 4.8 magnitude quake damaged buildings around the town of Doroud.
Earth movements were also felt in sIndonesia's Papua province [magnitude 5.3] and Moluccas islands [5.3], northern New Zealand [4.6], Japan's Akita prefecture [4.4] and the San Francisco Bay Area [2.7].

Tropical Cyclones

Australia's Northern Territory was drenched by a tropical disturbance that later became Cyclone George. The storm gained force off the country's northwest coast before slamming into Western Australia.
Cyclone Jacob was a threat to shipping over the northeastern India Ocean between Java and northwestern Australia.

Andean Eruption

Tungurahua volcano

Asia Smog Melts Arctic

Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences

Mystery Bird

large-billed reed warbler

Aborted Hunt

Too Many Elephants

Extreme Temperatures: -77°F Vostok, Antarctica; 115°F Carnarvon, W. Australia

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March 09, 2007 (for the week ending Mar 03)

Earthquakes

Two earthquakes of magnitude 4.7 jolted the southern Caribbean island nation of Trinidad and Tobago within a four-day period.
Earth movements were also felt in southern Chile [magnitude 5.6], northwestern California [5.4], northwestern Greece [4.5], eastern Turkey [4.8] and southwestern China [5.3].

Tropical Cyclones

Category 3 Cyclone Favio slammed into the coast of southern Mozambique, killing at least five people before drenching a nation that was already in the grip of a flood crisis.
Two people were killed on the Indian Ocean island of Mauritius, and nine hurt on nearby Reunion, when Tropical Cyclone Gamede brushed both islands.
Cyclone Humba formed briefly over the central Indian Ocean.

Volcanoes

Southern Italy's Stromboli volcano suddenly began spewing large amounts of lava into the Tyrrhenian sea off Sicily, prompting authorities on the windswept island of Stromboli to warn residents of possible small tsunami.
Islanders who live in homes less than 33 feet above sea level wee urged to move to higher ground until the lava flows subside.
Far eastern Russia's Klyuchevskoi volcano spewed a columns of black ask high above the Kamchatka peninsula.
The nearby village of Klyuchi was later blanketed by falling ash.

Antarctic Eden

Larsen ice shelves

cnidarians

Dolphin Slaughter

Taiji

annual hunt

La Niña Returns

La Niña

Warming Escape Route

Sydney Morning Herald

Extreme Temperatures: -73°F Vostok, Antarctica; 112°F Telfer, W. Australia

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February 15, 2007 (for the week ending Feb 09)

Earthquakes

A strong temblor rocked several islands of the northern Caribbean, but there were no reports of significant damage or injuries. Shaking from the 6.1 magnitude quake was felt in the Cayman islands, Jamaica and several Cuban provinces.
A 5.2 magnitude quake just northeast of Guam cracked water mains on the island.
Earth movements were also felt in Croatia [magnitude 4.9], southern Greece [5.8], central Japan [4.2] and around Anchorage, Alaska [3.4].

Tropical Cyclones

Communities along Australia's Gulf of Carpentaria coast were battered by potentially damaging winds and flash flooding as Cyclone Nelson passed over the region.
Minimals Tropical Storm 11P formed briefly near Fiji and Tonga.

Whooping Crane Disaster

whooping cranes

Chassahowitzka National Wildlife Refuge

Asian Chill

Benguet province

Vulture Recovery

diclofenac

Antarctic Spill

Gabriel de Castilla base

Deception island

Indonesian Inundation

Yellow Snow Alert

Aral Sea

Extreme Temperatures: -74°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 116°F Hyden, W. Australia

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February 01, 2007 (for the week ending Jan 26)

Earthquakes

At least four people were killed and many buildings were cracked by an extremely powerful [magnitude 7.5] earthquake that struck off northeast Indonesia's Sulawesi Island. All of the victims apparently died due to the stress caused by fleeing in panic.
Buildings in at least two villages in the eastern Turkey province of Agri were wrecked by a magnitude 5.0 temblor.
Earth movements also were felt in eastern South Korea (4.8), northern New Zealand (4.3), western Norway (4.0), northeastern Arkansas (2.5) and south-central Alaska (3.6).

Tropical Cyclones

Tropical Storm Zita was the first to develop, but it quickly lost force after it encountered the colder ocean surface to the west of Tahiti.
Tropical Storm Arthur formed a short time later to the east of American Samoa. It then took a similar path, eventually dissipating in the same area as Zita.

Andean Rumblings

Hudson volcano

Heated Migrations

War Legacy

Gorilla Truce

mountain gorillas

Wildlife Direct

Snake Invasion

eastern brown snake

Extreme Temperatures: -69°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Telfer, W. Australia

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January 18, 2007 (for the week ending Jan 12)

Earthquakes

Thousands of buildings were damaged in central China's Gansu province by a relatively weak earthquake. There were no immediate reports of injuries or fatalities from the magnitude 4.3 tremor, which was felt strongly around the provincial capital of Lanzhou.
A magnitude 6 earthquake caused buildings to crack in southern Kyrgyzstan, but no injuries were reported due to the shaking.
Earth movements were also felt in northeastern Japan (4.6), southern Spain (3.8), the Aleutian Islands (5.4), southern Yukon and neighboring southeastern Alaska (5.7) and southeastern Oklahoma (2.5).

Nicaraguan Ash Plume

Telica volcano

Yucatan swarms

Fish Farm Escapes

Silent Dawn

Esperance

wattlebirds

yellow-throated miners

Polluted Cleansing

Ganges River

Whooping Recovery

whooping crane

Extreme Temperatures: -76°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 112°F Oodnadatta, S. Australia

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January 04, 2007 (for the week ending Dec 29, 2006)

Earthquakes

A magnitude 7.0 temblor off the southern tip of Taiwan killed two people as it collapsed buildings and sparked fires. The seismic slip also ruptured undersea cables, disrupting telecommunications across Asia.
A cluster of 820 mild earthquakes, up to magnitude 4.3, jolted El Salvador within four days, damaging more than 1500 homes.
Earth movements also were felt in California's southern desert resorts (4.1), the San Francisco Bay Area (3.5), Scotland (3.5), northwest India (4.0), India's Andaman Islands (5.9) and Indonesia's easternmost Papua province (5.8) and Sulawesi Island (5.2).

Tropical Cyclones

Two people were killed when powerful Cyclone Bondo hit the northern coast of Madagascar. They were the first cyclone deaths in the country since January 2005, when 17 people were confirmed killed and 139 others were reported missing in the wake of Cyclone Ernest.
The western Indian Ocean is entering into its usual cyclone season, which will last through March.

Manatee Deaths

manatees

Polar Bears Endangered

Sleepless Winters

El Pais

Rift Valley Fever

Rift Valley fever

Behemoth Capture

Extreme Temperatures: -67°F Oimyakon, Siberia; 108°F Mandora, W. Australia

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