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tagged w/ Evacuations
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Hurricane Irene has a Message to New York!
Hurricane IRENE is on her way to New York City shutting down the city, subways, baseball games, broadway shows, beaches and forcing evacuations throughout the Jersey Shore and NYC! Here is what she has to say about all the panic!Hurricane IRENE is on her way to New York City shutting down the city, subways,... more-
- eightimprov
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- 9 months ago
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Earthquake-Ravaged Japan Now Overwhelmed by Heavy Rain/Floods
Herald Sun...
Last Updated: July 31, 2011
Search for:
Earthquake-ravaged Japan now overwhelmed by rain
AFP
From: Herald Sun
July 30, 2011 6:43PM
Japan Heavy Rain
PHOTO: Residents stand beside a flooded street caused by heavy rain in Sanjo, Japan. Herald Sun
.
FLOODS claimed their first victim in Japan and nearly 300,000 people were urged to flee their homes as a weather system that killed dozens on the Korean peninsula swept the country.
Local governments in the central province of Niigata and tsunami-hit Fukushima issued the guidance today after the national weather agency urged citizens to be on maximum alert against more flooding and mudslides.
Helicopter footage on NHK showed bridges over the Shinano River in Niigata partially submerged, while trees and telephone polls had been knocked down. Kamo City in Niigata was extensively flooded, with roads submerged.
Forecasters warned that the rains could continue to be torrential after reaching 1000 millimetres to date in Sanjo City, Niigata, 250km northwest of Tokyo, since they started on Wednesday.
A total of 296,000 people had been asked to evacuate their homes by this afternoon, according to public broadcaster NHK, but no compulsory orders were issued despite muddy swollen rivers, broken dykes and flooded houses.
The same weather saw record rainfall kill at least 59 people in South Korea earlier this week, leaving thousands more homeless.
The first Japanese victim, Eiichi Murayama, 67, was confirmed dead in Tokamachi City, in Niigata, early on Saturday.
''We found a car fallen in River Nakasawa last night ... and found the driver's body downstream this morning,'' an official at Niigata police said of the drowned man.
Four other people are missing in the area, including a 93-year-old woman who was swept away in a river and a 25-year-old man who was believed to have fallen into a flooding river while driving, police said.
Officials had requested the Self-Defence Force dispatch troops to join the search for missing people and help those stranded by mudslides and floods.
A 63-year-old man was listed as missing in Fukushima, where the Pacific coast was hit by a massive tsunami on March 11 that crippled an atomic power plant in the world's worst nuclear disaster since 1986's Chernobyl.
More than 40 people who had spent a night in cars and buses after being stranded on a road blocked by mudslides and flooding in Fukushima were rescued unhurt.
''I couldn't sleep. I had some food, but couldn't swallow a bite'' out of fear that further mudslides would hit the stranded cars, a woman told NHK.
The weather agency has warned quake-hit regions are more prone to mudslides as the tremors had worsened ground conditions.
.Herald Sun... Last Updated: July 31, 2011 Search for: Earthquake-ravaged... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 10 months ago
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Jackson implements Code Red Emergency Alert System following April tornado
The capital city of Jackson is now utilizing the Code Red Emergency Alert System as an additional method to notify its residents and businesses when severe weather and or other emergencies arise.
http://www.examiner.com/weather-in-jackson/jackson-implements-code-red-emergency-alert-system-following-april-tornadoThe capital city of Jackson is now utilizing the Code Red Emergency Alert System as an... more-
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Ruptured ExxonMobil Pipeline Spills Crude Oil Into Yellowstone River
July 2, 2011
Ruptured Pipeline Spills Oil Into Yellowstone River
By ANAHAD O’CONNOR
An ExxonMobil pipeline running under the Yellowstone River in south central Montana ruptured late Friday, spilling crude oil into the river and forcing evacuations.
The pipeline burst about 10 miles west of Billings, coating parts of the Yellowstone River that run past Laurel — a town of about 6,500 people downstream from the rupture — with shiny patches of oil. Precisely how much oil leaked into the river was still unclear. But throughout the day Saturday, cleanup crews in Laurel worked to lessen the impact of the spill, laying down absorbent sheets along the banks of the river to mop up some of the escaped oil, and measuring fumes to determine the health threat.
Fearing a possible explosion, officials in Laurel evacuated about 140 people on Saturday just after midnight, then allowed them to return at 4 a.m. after tests showed fumes from the leaked oil had dissipated, The Associated Press reported. While the cause of the rupture was not immediately known, Brent Peters, the fire chief for Laurel, told The A.P. that it may have been caused by high waters eroding parts of the river bed and exposing the pipeline to debris.
The pipeline is 12 inches wide and runs from Silver Tip, Mont., to Billings, an area with three refineries, ExxonMobil said. All three were shut down after the spill. ExxonMobil said it had summoned its North American Regional Response Team to help clean up the spill, and a fire spokesman in Laurel said more than 100 people, including officials with the Environmental Protection Agency, were expected to arrive at the scene by Sunday morning.
In a statement, the company said it “deeply regrets this release and is working hard with local emergency authorities to mitigate the impacts of this release on the surrounding communities and to the environment.”
“The pipeline has been shut down and the segment where the release occurred has been isolated,” the statement added. “All appropriate state and federal authorities have been alerted.”
The rupture occurred sometime around 11:30 p.m. Friday. Duane Winslow, a disaster and emergency services coordinator for Yellowstone County, told a local television station, KTVQ, that all oil companies with pipelines near the river were told to immediately shut them down, and that the damaged pipe was off within half an hour. He said drinking water in the surrounding area was being monitored and so far was determined safe. Officials in Billings initially shut down water intake but later reopened it, KTVQ reported.
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PHOTO:
Larry Mayer/The Billings Gazette, via Associated Press
Oil swirled in a flooded gravel pit in Lockwood, Mont. after an ExxonMobil pipeline ruptured.
.July 2, 2011 Ruptured Pipeline Spills Oil Into Yellowstone River By ANAHAD... more-
- EthicalVegan
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- 11 months ago
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Southern Arizona's Massive Firestorm Has Jumped the Highway/Canyon
Fresh evacuations as southern Arizona fire jumps highway, canyon
By the CNN Wire Staff
June 19, 2011 10:30 p.m. EDT
Read more about the fires from CNN affiliates KVOA, KOLD, KGUN, KMSB and KTVK.
(CNN) -- Hundreds of firefighters fought to control several dangerous blazes in Arizona, fighting to make progress even as expanded evacuations and power outages signalled that the battle was far from over.
The Monument fire -- which U.S. Forest Service Chief Tom Tidwell has deemed the nation's "number one priority," putting it first in line for any air, ground or other resources -- jumped Highway 92 late Sunday afternoon at Carr Canyon heading east, according to the Cochise County website.
"We've had a hard day today, with things that we didn't want to happen," fire spokesman Bill Paxton told CNN on Sunday night. "The bull came out of the pen."
Thanks to dry, windy conditions, the fire broke through four different contingency lines, including going over to the other side of the highway, said Paxton, part of the national Interagency Incident Management Team.
"Everything aligned for a massive push," he said. "It's really hard on the community here."
The county sheriff's office broadened the evacuation zone soon thereafter east to the San Pedro River, reports InciWeb, an online interagency database that tracks fires, floods and other disasters.
On Sunday evening, that website noted that the fire had burned at least 20,956 acres and was 27% contained. More than 1,000 personnel -- as well as 100 engines and nine helicopters -- were battling that blaze, which had burned 44 homes and 18 other structures from its start June 12 through Sunday.
The weather has hardly been cooperating in the fight, with humidity at 7% and temperatures topping 96 degrees. The National Weather Service forecast winds should weaken somewhat in the early part of this week, to between 7 and 13 mph in Sierra Vista, Arizona, though temperatures were still expected to remain in the 90s all week.
"The conditions that we're dealing with here are as bad as we can get," Tidwell said Saturday. "It just can't get any worse."
People living in Sierra Vista were ordered to leave Sunday while firefighters conducted burn-out operations in an attempt to stop the fire moving that way, CNN's Thelma Gutierrez reported from the area.
Arizona Gov. Jan Brewer has issued emergency declarations for the Monument fire and another blaze, Horseshoe II, making Cochise County eligible for $100,000 toward response and recovery expenses.
This is just one of dozens of wildfires affecting the southwestern United States, where red flag warnings were in effect for most of Arizona, all of New Mexico, much of north Texas and portions of Oklahoma, Colorado, Kansas and Utah for Sunday. A red flag warning means weather conditions -- mainly high heat, low humidity and strong winds -- pose an extreme fire risk.
"The winds certainly will be very gusty and strong," said Ken Daniel, weather service meteorologist in Flagstaff, Arizona. "Any new fire starts would have the potential to have explosive growth."
Nationwide, wildfires have burned almost as many acres in the first half of 2011 as were recorded by the National Interagency Fire Center for all of 2010. The agency reports on its website that 3.1 million acres in the United States had been ignited by wildfires as of May 31, compared to 3.2 million burned acres cited in the organization's year-end report in November 2010.
One Arizona blaze that started May 29 has mushroomed into a historically large wildfire. Known as the Wallow fire, it has burned 511,118 acres and was 44% contained as of Sunday.
This fire has caused power outages Sunday in Arizona cities Blue and parts of Alpine, Nutrioso and Greer, the Navopache Electric Cooperative reported on its website. Generators are powering some of the company's New Mexico customers, as well as those in Alpine, Arizona.
Residents of Luna, New Mexico, were ordered to evacuate Saturday afternoon after the blaze jumped containment lines along U.S. 180, according to InciWeb.
But fire public information officer Rich Szlauko had some good news, telling CNN that in terms of bringing the Wallow fire under control, "everything is starting to look pretty good."
Some 3,600 people continue to battle the blaze, in the face of winds Sunday measuring 20-30 mph, he said.
Tidwell said Saturday that he was "very optimistic" that damage from future wildfires could be minimized by thinning forests and clearing out biomass -- which did occur, to some extent, in parts of eastern Arizona. He noted that 3.2 million acres were "treated" nationwide last year.
Sen. John Kyl, R-Arizona, noted Saturday that the estimated $64.1 million price for the Wallow fire would more than double after the costs of mitigation efforts to prevent mudslides from the summer monsoons.
"Just think that what we could have done using those funds to treat those forests in advance," Kyl said.
But government budget strains have limited the amount of money going to such efforts. "The only way we are going to get these (forests) thinned is through greater participation of private enterprise," Sen. John McCain said, adding that the government should try to facilitate such initiatives, including by allowing limited logging in national parks.
"There is simply not enough tax dollars to get the job done without them," the Arizona Republican said of private companies.
CNN's Greg Botelho contributed to this report.Fresh evacuations as southern Arizona fire jumps highway, canyon By the CNN Wire... more-
- EthicalVegan
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Japan Says It Was Unprepared for Post-Quake Nuclear Disaster
Los Angeles Times...
Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster
In its report, Japan says, it needs to revise its nuclear safety preparedness and response in light of the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant crisis. It also says the damage and radiation leak were worse than previously thought.
associated press
June 8, 2011
tokyo —
— Japan acknowledged Tuesday that it was unprepared for a severe nuclear accident like the tsunami-generated Fukushima disaster and said damage to the reactors and radiation leakage were worse than it previously thought.
In a report being submitted to the United Nations' nuclear watchdog agency, the government also acknowledged reactor design inadequacies and a need for greater independence for the country's nuclear regulators.
The report says the nuclear fuel in three reactors probably melted through the inner containment vessels, not just the core, after the March 11 earthquake, and the tsunami knocked out the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant's power and cooling systems. Fuel in the Unit 1 reactor started melting hours earlier than previously estimated.
The 750-page report, compiled by Japan's nuclear emergency task force, factors in a preliminary evaluation by a team from the International Atomic Energy Agency and was to be submitted to the IAEA as requested.
"In light of the lessons learned from the accident, Japan has recognized that a fundamental revision of its nuclear safety preparedness and response is inevitable," the report says. It also recommends a national debate on nuclear power.
The report says the "inadequate" basic reactor design — the Mark-1 model developed by General Electric — included the venting system for the containment vessels and the location of spent fuel cooling pools high in the buildings, which resulted in leaks of radioactive water that hampered repair work.
GE declined to comment on the specific conclusions of the report.
Hundreds of plant workers are scrambling to bring the crippled reactors to a "cold shutdown" by early next year and end the crisis. The accident has forced more than 80,000 residents to evacuate from neighborhoods around the plant.Los Angeles Times... Japan says it was unprepared for post-quake nuclear disaster... more-
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Nuclear Threat Level Raised to 7 | Crisis Rated in International Highest (Most Severe) Category
PART ONE..........
Nuclear threat level raised
Crisis rates in most severe category
Japan nuclear agency raises threat level
By Matt Smith, CNN
April 11, 2011 11:11 p.m. EDT
Click on picture to play Video
Anatomy of a ghost town
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
NEW: The agency raises the level from 5 to 7
7 is the highest possible level and is on par with Chernobyl
Japan's government has called for further evacuations
Cities covered by Monday's orders should evacuate in about a month, Edano says
Tokyo (CNN) -- Japanese authorities Tuesday "provisionally" declared the country's nuclear accident a level-7 event on the international scale for nuclear disasters -- the highest level -- putting it on par with the 1986 Chernobyl disaster.
Japan's Nuclear and Industrial Safety Agency announced the new level Tuesday morning. It had previously been at 5.
Regulators have determined the amount of radioactive iodine released by the damaged reactors at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was at least 15 times the volume needed to reach the top of the International Nuclear Event Scale, the agency said. That figure is still about 10 percent of the amount released at Chernobyl, they said.
The amount of radioactive Cesium-137, which has a half-life of 30 years, is about one-seventh the amount released at Chernobyl, according to the agency.
Japan's nuclear concerns explained
Hidehiko Nishiyama, the safety agency's chief spokesman, explained the final level won't be set until the disaster is over and a more detailed investigation has been conducted.
Tetsunari Iida, a former nuclear engineer-turned-industry critic, told CNN the declaration has no immediate practical impact on the crisis. It is a sign, however, that Japanese regulators have rethought their earlier assessments of the disaster, said Iida, who now runs an alternative energy think-tank in Tokyo.
According to the scale, a level 5 equates to the likelihood of a release of radioactive material, several deaths from radiation and severe damage to a reactor core.
The 1979 incident at Pennsylvania's Three Mile Island was a 5. The partial meltdown of a reactor core there was deemed the worst nuclear accident in U.S. history.
The Chernobyl accident in the former Soviet Union rated a 7 on the scale, which equates to a "major release of radioactive material with widespread health and environmental effects requiring implementation of planned and extended countermeasures."
Japan's government called for evacuations Monday from several towns beyond the danger zone already declared around Fukushima Daiichi, warning that residents could receive high doses of radiation over the coming months.
Japan to evacuate more towns
Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said the municipalities are likely to see long-term radiation levels that exceed international safety standards, and he warned that the month-old crisis at Fukushima Daiichi is not yet over.
"Things are relatively more stable, and things are stabilizing," he said. "However, we need to be ready for the possibility that things may turn for the worse."
And about an hour after he spoke, a fresh earthquake rattled the country, forcing workers to evacuate the plant and knocking out power to the three damaged reactors for about 40 minutes, the plant's owner, the Tokyo Electric Power Company, reported. The magnitude 6.6 tremor came a month to the day after the magnitude 9 quake and tsunami that knocked out the plant's cooling systems, and followed a magnitude 7.1 aftershock Thursday night.
Neither the 6.6 quake nor any of the smaller ones that rippled across the region in its wake inflicted any more damage to the plant, Tokyo Electric officials told reporters.
At least six killed in latest Japan quake
Tuesday morning, a fire broke out in a battery storage building in a water discharge area of reactors 1-4 at Fukushima Daiichi, Tokyo Electric said. The fire was out a few hours later and the company said it caused no radiation emissions and no effect on cooling systems.
Japan's government said it did not know how many people would be displaced by the new evacuation orders. Evacuation orders have so far covered about 85,000 people inside the 20-kilometer (12.4-mile) zone, while another 62,000 within 30 kilometers have been told to stay inside, Fukushima prefecture officials told CNN.
The decision announced Monday does not create a wider radius around the plant, said Masanori Shinano, an official with Japan's Nuclear Safety Commission.
Instead, "if there are areas in the northwestern parts where there is a risk of exceeding 20 millisieverts as a cumulative dose over a one-year period, the area will be designated an evacuation area even if it is beyond the 30-kilometer area," Shinano told reporters Monday night.
That dose is a tiny fraction of what would cause immediate radiation sickness, but it's more than seven times the amount a typical resident of a western industrialized country receives from background sources in a year. Long-term exposures to those levels of radiation could increase the risk of cancer -- and the presence of cesium isotopes that have half-lives of up to 30 years means that radioactivity could linger for some time.
CONTINUED.......PART ONE.......... Nuclear threat level raised Crisis rates in most severe... more-
- EthicalVegan
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Upgraded 9.0 Earthquake and Tsunami in Japan | Updates (New Videos/Photos/News Articles/Personal Accounts)
First Breaking News...
MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.8-magnitude earthquake hit Japan early Friday, triggering tsunami alerts and sending people fleeing out of buildings in the capital. The quake rattled buildings and toppled cars off bridges and into waters underneath.
In Tokyo, crowds huddled together and tried to reach relatives via cell phone. Its epicenter was 373 kilometers (231 miles) from Tokyo, the United States Geological Survey said. It triggered a tsunami alert for various countries, the National Weather Service said.
___________________
March 11, 2011 5:35 a.m. EST
Tokyo (CNN) -- An 8.9-magnitude earthquake hit northern Japan on Friday, triggering tsunamis and sending a massive wave filled with debris that included boats and houses inching toward land.
The number of fatalities was unclear, but Japan's Kyodo news reported at least 10 killed and numerous injured.
The quake prompted at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands to issue tsunami warnings. It was followed by powerful aftershocks that were felt in capital of Tokyo.
At Tokyo Station, one of Japan's busiest subway stations, people grabbed each other to steady themselves. Children cried. An announcement over the station loudspeaker warned commuters to remain underground.
With bus and train lines interrupted, workers and children poured into the streets after offices and schools were closed.
Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan appealed for calm and said there were no reported leaks of radioactive materials from power plants.
Firefighters battled a blaze at an oil refinery in Chiba prefecture near Tokyo.
"This was larger than anyone expected and went on longer than anyone expected," said Matt Alt in Tokyo.
"My wife was the calm one ... she told us to get down and put your back on something, and leave the windows and doors open in case a building shifts so you don't get trapped."
Richard Lloyd Parry said when the quake struck, he looked through a window and saw buildings shaking from side to side.
Such a large earthquake at such a shallow depth creates a lot of energy, said Shenza Chen of the U.S. Geological Survey.
A tsunami is sweeping across the Pacific Ocean, with a wall of water heading toward at more than a dozen countries.
An earthquake of that size can generate dangerous tsunamis to coasts outside the source region, the National Weather Service said.
Humanitarian agencies were working with rescue crews to reach the people affected.
"When such an earthquake impacts a developed country like Japan, our concern also turns to countries like the Philippines and Indonesia, which might not have the same resources," said Rachel Wolff, a spokeswoman for World Vision.
In Philippines alone, the tsunami is expected to hit in the early morning and the government has ordered the evacuation of 19 provinces along the coast, which could affect hundreds of thousands of people
Authorities in at least 20 countries and numerous Pacific islands issued tsunami warnings, the National Weather Service said.
The tsunami could cause damage "along coastlines of all islands in the state of Hawaii," warned the U.S. National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. "Urgent action should be taken to protect lives and property."
Tsunamis are a series of long ocean waves that can last five to 15 minutes and cause extensive flooding in coastal areas. A succession of waves can hit -- often the highest not being the first, said CNN meteorologist Ivan Cabrera.
A day earlier, a 7.2-magnitude earthquake struck off of Honshu, the country's meteorological agency said.
CNN's Kyung Lah, Faith Karimi and Kevin Voigt contributed to this report.
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March 12 2011 - 3:38PM PT -
CNN's reporting two "MAJOR" aftershocks. Tsunami alerts reinstated.
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March 12 2011 - 11:07PM PT -
Japan upgrades magnitude of killer earthquake to 9.0; USGS keeps number at 8.9.
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March 13 2011 - 2:52PM PT
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
Here is what I think is, thus far, the most horrifying video (no, no dead or dying people) of what the tsunami looked like, taken from someone who had time to get up to higher ground and watch the town around him get destroyed.
Just picked it up from Sean Bonner, on Twitter...
seanbonner Sean Bonner
by BadAstronomer
Seriously, this first person Tsunami video is one of the scariest things I've ever seen.
http://ow.ly/4dvh0
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[Scroll down -- if you're set with oldest to newest -- to see new photos and videos, along with updated news]
http://cbskllc.files.wordpress.com/2011/03/japan-earthquake-today-tsunami-warning.jpg?w=311&h=337First Breaking News... MASSIVE QUAKE HITS JAPAN Tokyo (CNN) -- An... more-
- EthicalVegan
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Flooding in Pakistan Has Displaced One Million More People in the Past Two Days | Photos | Videos
UN: Flooding has displaced 1 million more in Pakistan
By the CNN Wire Staff
August 27, 2010 9:41 p.m. EDT
Levee break displaces thousands
STORY HIGHLIGHTS
* NEW: U.N. is increasingly worried about flood-driven malnutrition among children
* U.N. official says a "colossal disaster is getting worse"
* About 1 million additional people have been displaced in Sindh province, the U.N. says
* Authorities have ordered evacuations in the Indus River delta
Islamabad, Pakistan (CNN) -- Flooding has displaced an additional 1 million people in Pakistan's Sindh province in the past two days, according to new U.N. estimates released Friday.
"We have more people on the move, to whom we need to provide relief. An already colossal disaster is getting worse and requiring an even more colossal response," said Maurizio Giuliano, a spokesman for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Giuliano said rains have forced the evacuation of an estimated 1 million people in southern Sindh in the past 48 hours or so.
"The magnitude of this crisis is reaching levels that are even beyond our initial fears, which were already leaning towards what we thought would be the worst. The number of those affected and those in need of assistance from us are bound to keep rising. The floods seem determined to outrun our response," he said.
The U.N. also said Friday that it is increasingly concerned about flood-driven malnutrition among children.
"The flooding has surrounded millions of children with contaminated water," said Karen Allen, deputy representative of the United Nations Children's Fund (UNICEF) in Pakistan. "Most have nothing else to drink. We fear the deadly synergy of waterborne diseases, including diarrhea, dehydration and malnutrition."
Acute malnutrition was high in much of Pakistan even before the floods. For instance, 27 percent of children under 5 in Baluchistan province were malnourished, as were 17 percent of children in Punjab, according to the U.N.
A hospital in Sindh is overrun with people suffering from waterborne illness; two children share each bed and more are on the floor. A doctor at the hospital said there are "not enough resources because of huge population ... coming to this hospital."
Remat Chacher, a farmer in Sindh, escaped the floodwaters with his wife and two children earlier this month.
But then his 3-month-old daughter Benazir got sick. "She started to get fever and couldn't keep anything down ... lots of belly pain," said Ulla, the infant's mom.
A few days later, the same symptoms struck the Chachers' son, 2-year-old Wazira. Both children died on the way to the hospital, with Wazira weighing just 8 pounds and Benazir weighing 2 pounds.
Floodwaters have started to recede across Pakistan, but in the Indus delta, the potential for more flooding remained high, especially given high tides in the Arabian Sea, where the Indus spills out.
Already, more than 17 million Pakistanis -- from the Chinese border in the north to the mouth of the Indus in the south -- have been affected by the monsoon floods that began a month ago.
To date, Pakistan's unfolding tragedy has claimed 1,600 lives, according to the National Disaster Management Authority. That number is likely to rise as more drowned bodies are discovered in receding waters.
Many refugees have sought shelter at relief camps, where food and drinking water are now available. But every day, there are new camp arrivals -- people who were already poor, who now have nothing.
Along the flooded Swat River in northeastern Pakistan, six local aid workers have spent two weeks braving the torrents on rafts they built from used tire tubes, bamboo and gaffers' tape after motorized boats failed to arrive.
The workers are ferrying tents, blankets and other supplies to hundreds of thousands of people stranded across the river and cut off from normal supply routes.
Last year, bombs and bullets from the army's offensive against the Taliban destroyed many homes and lives in the region. Residents had barely begun to recover when the rains came.
"We are fed up," said Shahravan, a 65-year old man who lost his house in the floods. "You don't ask a dead man why he's in his grave. It's not his choice."
Fayas Muhammad, another local, said he lost his leg when his house was mistakenly bombed in last year's fighting. The same blast took his wife and son. "We are very sad for all that Swat has been through," he said.
The damage from Pakistan's worst humanitarian catastrophe is sure to hurtle the impoverished nation back in terms of development. This week, America's top aid official saw firsthand the dire needs in Pakistan.
Dr. Rajiv Shah, administrator for the U.S. Agency for International Development, said he was deeply moved by his visit to Sukkur and that aid agencies were "scaling up their response efforts as quickly as they possibly can."
Shah announced the United States would be diverting another $50 million for flood relief from the Kerry-Lugar Act, which allocated $7.5 billion in nonmilitary assistance to Pakistan over five years.
CNN's Sanjay Gupta, Reza Sayah, Samson Desta, Sara Sidner, Moni Basu and journalist Nasir Habib contributed to this report.UN: Flooding has displaced 1 million more in Pakistan By the CNN Wire Staff August... more-
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Will Florida and Gulf Coast Residents Need to Evacuate From Oil Spill? | Newsflavor
Will Gulf coast residents need to evacuate? If so, when?-
- mygoditsfullofdoom
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- 2 years ago
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Surveillance Images May Reveal Faisal Shahzad Purchasing Fireworks - FBI: "That's Our Man" - 05-06-10
[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll down for additional contributions and comments.]
I'm watching CNN live, and it has just been confirmed that the suspicious car, parked in Times Square, was in fact turned into an "incendiary device."
UPDATE AS OF 5/2/10 at 1:15PM PT, BASED ON NYPD COMMISSIONER RAY KELLY'S PRESS CONFERENCE:
#
New York Police Department Commissioner Raymond Kelly is speaking live on CNN right now.
Quick notes while watching press conference.........
Surveillance tape: White male, 40s, dark shirt, looking back at car, removing dark shirt, revealing red shirt, stuffing white shirt into bag he was carrying.
Pennsylvania resident has footage taken in PA that includes potential driver. FBI headed to PA.
Gun locker (75-pound size) revealed "at least" eight bags of "unknown substance"; granular feel; "look" possibly fertilizer; could have created "significant fireball."
Two sources claiming responsibility: Pakistan Taliban and a "specific individual" who "claimed credit."
"More police officers are on patrol."
Not ready to reveal name of town in Pennsylvania where investigators have gone.
Pathfinder not reported stolen. Pathfinder with license plate from truck found in Connecticut junkyard.
"We will be doing an in-depth forensic investigation."
Not close to making any determinations.
"We're asking the public to help us."
"... would have caused casualties... vehicle would have been cut in half... We were lucky that it didn't detonate."
"Someone brought this vehicle... to terrorize... an individual can do it on their [sic] own."
"New Yorkers are pretty tough, resilient people."
"Two clocks were involved in this; they were wired together."
Surveillance camera caught dark green SUV going west on 45th St. at 6:28pm Saturday.
"In the car... everything was in the rear of the car... Two clocks connected to a 16-ounce can, in between two canisters..." "...Gun box inside cardboard box." "Running into that box were wires coming from, we believe, the explosives..."
"The detonation device... it's believed... the timers would ignite the cans, set them on fire, and then explode the propane tanks..."
Some video will be released "as soon as we can put it together." This is of "a person walking down Shubert Alley... 45th and Broadway... stops, takes dark shirt off... continues to walk south... looking sometimes in a furtive manner."
Fireworks are M-80's. The closest state where they are legal is Pennsylvania.
"Well, we certainly wouldn't rule it out," in regard to South Park Comedy Central.
"We're still examining the [yellow] alarms clocks, batteries... the detonator was the 16-ounce can..."
Alleged fertilizer "from a grocery store." "Had a pot... with additional M-88s, in the pot."
Eight bags were grocery store bags, not marked as fertilizer.
Not ruling out Viacom. Reveals picture of the alarm clock. Alarm "is set at Midnight... other clock was damaged..."
"I'm telling you this is what we found." "Okay, thank you very much."[This is the original submission. To read hopefully accurate updates, please scroll... more-
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Philippines just can't catch a break - Mayon Volcano evacuations
I don't think I'd be going out on a limb saying that it's been a rough year for the Philippines. Just a few weeks ago, several dozen people were massacred on the island of Mindinao. Earlier this year the island chain was hit by two, count 'em TWO, major typhoons causing massive flooding in Manila. And now? Just in time for Christmas, 47,000 people have to evacuate from a massive volcano that's about to blow.
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- Global Citizen YearI don't think I'd be going out on a limb saying that it's been a rough... more-
- afitzgerald
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- 2 years ago
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Philippines just can't catch a break - Mayon Volcano evacuations
I don't think I'd be going out on a limb saying that it's been a rough year for the Philippines. Just a few weeks ago, several dozen people were massacred on the island of Mindinao. Earlier this year the island chain was hit by two, count 'em TWO, major typhoons causing massive flooding in Manila. And now? Just in time for Christmas, 47,000 people have to evacuate from a massive volcano that's about to blow.
Anyone out there in the Philippines? Tell us what the view is from where you are.
FROM THE NEWS BLOG: http://blogs.current.com/news/2009/12/17/philippines-just-cant-catch-a-break-mayon-volcano-evacuations/
IMAGE: AFP/GettyI don't think I'd be going out on a limb saying that it's been a rough... more-
- afitzgerald
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- 2 years ago
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Hurricane Season 2009 update- fewer storms predicted
The 2009 Hurricane Season is off to a very slow start. In a matter of fact, this is the latest start to the hurricane season this decade.The 2009 Hurricane Season is off to a very slow start. In a matter of fact, this is... more-
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Grand Canyon Flooding Forces Evacuations, Searches (Update2)
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Rescuers in northern Arizona are searching for campers missing in an area of Grand Canyon National Park that was overwhelmed by floodwaters over the weekend.
Authorities resumed searches and evacuations this morning after suspending them last night because of darkness and dangerous terrain, Gerry Blair, a spokesman for the Coconino County Sheriff's Office, said in a telephone interview. Fewer than 20 people, all of them tourists, are missing, Blair said.
The Redlands Earthen Dam broke after storms on Aug. 16, sending floodwaters down Cataract Canyon into Havasu Canyon, an area about 75 miles (121 kilometers) west of Grand Canyon Village on the park's South Rim, the sheriff's office said in a statement.
The flooding forced the evacuation of about 170 people by helicopter, including some of about 200 visitors at a campground and residents of Supai Village, a community of about 400 Havasupai Indians in the canyon. The area, in the Havasupai Indian Reservation, is a popular destination for campers and hikers because of its waterfalls.
Another 80 campers and about 40 villagers who asked to be evacuated are expected to be airlifted from the canyon today, said park spokeswoman Maureen Oltrogge.
`Extreme Conditions'
``We had some pretty extreme conditions down there yesterday and the day before, so certainly we want to find them and make sure they're OK,'' Blair said. ``Things have calmed down there a bit. We're not receiving any reports of rainfall today, so that's a good thing and that should help our evacuation efforts.''
There are about 650 enrolled members of the Havasupai Tribe, about 450 of whom live in Supai, according to the tribe's Web site. Its name means ``people of the blue-green waters,'' according to Grand Canyon National Park.
Visitors to Havasupai Canyon must register with the tribe at the entrance and pay a fee before the 9-mile trip into the canyon, Blair said. Most of those who were registered when the floodwaters came were evacuated to an American Red Cross shelter in Peach Springs, although rescuers will search today for less than 20 tourists who were unaccounted for, he said. No injuries were reported.
Aug. 18 (Bloomberg) -- Rescuers in northern Arizona are searching for campers missing... more-
- huffamoose2k
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- 3 years ago
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Evacuations ongoing as China works to shore up quake lakes
As the engineers and army officers marched in, more than 80,000 people living in the quake-hit region of Beichuan county were being evacuated today under an emergency plan drawn up in the face of a swelling “quake lake”.
Tangjiashan Lake is one of 35 that have formed after the 8.0-magnitude earthquake that hit China’s Sichuan province on May 12, causing hundreds of landslides to block the area’s fast-flowing rivers.
The water levels at Tangjiashan have continued to rise ever since. They rose by another 1.79 metres today and are now just 25 metres below the lake barrier.
80,000 local residents are due to be evacuated from the area by midnight tonight, joining another 70,000 people who have already been evacuated from Mianyang city.
"It's better for them to complain about the trouble that the evacuation would bring than to shed tears after the possible danger," said Liu Ning, an official with the Ministry of Water Resources.
The lake currently holds 130 million cubic meters of water. If it burst its banks entirely, more than 1.3 million people would need to be relocated. Inaccessible by road, dozens of diggers have been dropped into the mountainous area by helicopter and more than 600 engineers and soldiers have come in on foot. They are working around the clock to create a sluice to drain the water.
But the Chinese state news agency said today that at least 50,000 cubic metres of debris would have to be removed to build the sluice and it is not expected to be finished before June 5.
Meanwhile, the government raised the count of the confirmed dead to 67,183 today, a jump of around 2,000. Almost 28,000 people are still missing and the number of injured has gone up to almost 362,000.
China will be rocked by powerful earthquake aftershocks for months, a senior expert warned today, as two more strong tremors struck.
He Yongnian, former deputy director of the China Seismological Bureau, said aftershocks would continue for two or three months. The latest, measuring 5.4, occurred today, with the tremor felt in Chengdu.
There were no immediate reports of major damage. As the engineers and army officers marched in, more than 80,000 people living in the... more -
What We Could Save
When you're ordered to evacuate your house, what do you take?-
- Mandiego
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