| AROUND THE WORLD: OCTOBER 1st - 18th, 2008
MARCH 2008 APRIL 2008 MAY 1st - 20th, 2008 MAY 21st - 31st, 2008 JUNE 1st - 15th, 2008 JUNE 16th - 30th, 2008 JULY 1st - 19th, 2008 JULY 20th - 31st, 2008 AUGUST 1st - 12th, 2008 AUGUST 13th - 22nd, 2008 AUGUST 23rd- 31st, 2008 SEPTEMBER 1st - 12th, 2008 SEPTEMBER 13th - 26th, 2008 SEPTEMBER 27th - 30th, 2008 Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 18th October PUERTO RICO: As a result of the constant downpours for the last four days, a massive landslide near the Chomes, Puntarenas, exit on the Interamericana Norte highway has caused more problems for the weather embattled Guanacaste. Mud and rocks came falling down on from the side of the road yesterday afternoon and reports of vehicles trapped under the debris could not be verified as rescue workers dig through the rubble. The mudslide occurred near the turn off to Monteverde on the major route that connects Puntarenas and Liberia and the Guanacaste beaches. The highway remained closed last night. The weeklong rains has caused many rivers in to overflow their banks, causing flooding and evacuation and death. As of last count, 274 communities have been affected around the country as a tropical storm at the Honduras-Nicaragua border batters Costa Rica, primarily in the Pacific coastal areas, seven deaths reports and 77.000 directly and indirectly affected. ANTIGUA & BARBUDA: Hurricane Omar flooded homes and battered crops on the Caribbean island of Antigua before it spun north and weakened into a tropical storm, drifting toward extinction Friday over the open Atlantic. Antiguan Prime Minister Baldwin Spencer warned of a produce shortage, saying the farming community "appears to have suffered an extensive loss of crops." "No one is reported to have perished in this disaster," Spencer said late Thursday, hours after Omar blew past the Lesser Antilles islands as a Category 3 hurricane. USA: Florida - HazMat Incident> Twenty people were taken to area hospitals following a sulphur leak at the Mosaic phosphate plant at 3200 State Road 60 West. Susan Sartain, a spokeswoman with the Bartow hospital, said that 11 people were admitted to the hospital for inhalation of sulphuric dioxide. Of the 11, 10 were treated and released and one was in serious condition, Sartain said. SLOVENIA: Slovenian veterinary services confirmed on Friday reports about the death of four cows caused by anthrax, but insisted that there were no reasons for panic after having taken necessary measures. The four cows belong to a farmer from the village of Zice near Slovenske Konjice in northeastern Slovenia. NIGERIA: Malaria has killed 401 people in the last four weeks in northern Nigeria's Katsina state, according to local health officials. "In the last 28 days 401 people have died of malaria which has become endemic in the state," Halliru Idris, director of public health in the state's health ministry. The death toll could be much higher because this figure does not reflect those who died at home, he said. WHO has recorded up to 50,311 malaria cases in Katsina state since September 19, which Idris attributes to the unusually heavy rainfall recorded this rainy season. US VIRGIN ISLANDS: Authorities in St. Croix rushed to contain oil spills on Friday after more than 40 boats sank or washed ashore during Hurricane Omar. About half the vessels lost their anchors, including houseboats, catamarans and pricey yachts and sailboats owned by tourists. The other half were tied at marinas but broke loose, said Carlos Fachette, enforcement director for the Department of Planning and Natural Resources. The hurricane caught many local boaters off-guard because they did not take the storm seriously, according to Kim Jones of the St. Croix Yacht Club. "It's devastating," she said of the damage. SLOVENIA: An exercise aimed at testing and improving the preparedness of rescue forces in case of an accident at the Krsko Nuclear Power Plant (NEK) will take place between 20 and 22 October, the head of the Slovenian Civil Protection and Disaster Relief Administration, Miran Bogataj, told the press on Friday. KENYA: More than 10,000 people have been displaced by flash floods following heavy rains that pounded Mandera in north-eastern Kenya and southern parts of Somalia this week, aid agencies said. Kenya Red Cross Communications Officer Titus Mung'ou said that food and non-food items had been provided to families from an estimated 1,500 households that were displaced by the water that has been flowing across Mandera district in the past two days. HONDURAS: Flooding from heavy rains killed at least three people and four others were reported missing as civil defence officials issued a red alert along the Ulua River basin stretching across northern Honduras. Two people died in flooding of the Guayape River in the eastern department of Olancho, and one victim was reported in the capital, Tegucigalpa, after a collapsed wall buried a house. Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 17th October ALGERIA: At least eight people were reported drowned in severe flooding over the past two days in the southwest of Algeria, officials said Thursday. The latest incidents occurred in the region of Bechar, more than 1,000 kilometres (600 miles) from the capital Algiers, after the normally arid region was hit with heavy rain. The national crisis centre warned the death toll could go even higher. CARIBBEAN SEA: Hurricane Omar weakened to a tropical storm in the Atlantic on Thursday night after threading its way through the small islands of the northeastern Caribbean as a powerful storm causing minor damages. The hurricane center forecast additional weakening during the next two days. CENTRAL AMERICA: Intense rainstorms for five consecutive days as a tropical depression swept over Central America has left four people dead, three missing, numerous villages flooded and thousands evacuated to safety. Central American governments issued warnings and mobilized emergency services, as weather forecasts indicated the rainfall will continue for another 36 hours in some areas. GUATEMALA / MEXICO: A 6.6-magnitude earthquake struck in the Pacific near the Mexico-Guatemala border on Thursday, but there was no tsunami alert and no initial reports of casualties. The epicentre was located at about 40 kilometres southwest of the Mexican city of Tapachula, with a depth of about 24 kilometres. CHINA: The death toll from a mine blast accident in northwest China has risen to 11. Forty-six people were injured including 12 who are in serious condition. Rescue work was still underway to determine how many more people might be missing. RUSSIA: A volcanic eruption on the Kamchatka Peninsula sent clouds of smoke and ash into the air above Russia's Far East on Thursday, a scientist said, warning of dangers to local inhabitants and passing airplanes. The 4,750 m Klyuchevskoy volcano is spewing out rocks, ash and gases, said Alexei Ozerov, a scientist with the Institute of Volcanology and Seismology of the Far Eastern branch of the Russian Academy of Sciences. "The luminescence in the volcano's crater is becoming more intensive, which testifies to the appearance of new lava," Ozerov said, adding that the eruption would probably last from two or three weeks to six months. Continuous flows of lava running down Klyuchevskoy's slopes could trigger mudslides as the molten rock melts the snow and ice, endangering people living in nearby villages, the scientist said. The volcano eruption is also a threat to aircraft flying overhead as volcanic ash could cause planes considerable damage, he added. The last powerful eruption of the Klyuchevskoy volcano took place in 2005. NEW ZEALAND: Waiko - A mini tornado has ripped through Cambridge, lifting roofs, downing trees and leaving the area without power. Emergency services received around 30 calls between 3 and 3.30am, when the tornado travelled in a near straight line through the middle of the town. SPAIN: The Agriculture and Fisheries Department�s veterinary services have detected an outbreak of bluetongue in Alhaurin el Grande. An ovine vaccination programme has been launched throughout the province, which will later be extended to the rest of Andalucia. The infected animals detected were 40 sheep and two goats from the nearly one million animals tested. Those infected have the type-8 strain of the virus, which had previously only been found in one animal in the Cantabria region of Spain. CANADA: Ontario - An E. coli outbreak in North Bay, Ont., has spread to include 93 confirmed and suspected cases, a number expected to grow. The city's medical officer of health said Thursday that 15 people have tested positive for the potentially lethal strain of E. coli O157:H7 and 78 more cases are under investigation. The average incubation period for E. coli is three or four days. Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 16th October ONCE AGAIN OUR THOUGHTS ARE WITH OUR EMERGENCY MANAGEMENT COLLEAGUES AND THEIR FAMILIES USA: Illinios - Four people have been killed after a medical evacuation helicopter crashed in the Chicago suburb of Aurora, Ill. According to Aurora police, the helicopter was headed for Children's Memorial Hospital from Valley West Hospital in Sandwich. Sgt. Robb Wallers said the helicopter belonged to Air Angels, an emergency medical transport service. He said the victims included three crew members and a patient. He refused to provide further information on the victims, saying the next of kin had yet to be notified of the crash. According to police, the helicopter crashed in a field near a residential area in east Aurora and was engulfed in flames. He said police and fire officials learned of the crash around midnight. Investigators with the National Transportation Safety Board were at the scene of the crash. NEW ZEALAND: Two people have died after a suspected norovirus outbreak. They were residents at an Auckland retirement centre. It is not yet clear whether they died because of the norovirus or other illnesses. Another 13 people at St Andrew's Village in Glendowie have been struck down with vomiting and diarrhoea, symptoms of the highly infectious bug. Auckland Regional Public Health clinical director Dr Julia Peters says it is uncommon for the virus to to be fatal. Peters says they have taken steps to stop the virus spreading. She says some patients have been isolated, and extra cleaning measures have been put in place including a thorough hand washing. USA: Alaska - A viral outbreak on Prince of Wales Island killed one woman and forced 7 others to be medically evacuated to health clinics outside the community of Klawock, according to state health officials. Alaska Department of Health spokesman Greg Wilkinson said there are 34 suspected or confirmed cases of adenovirus 14 [virus infection], an air and liquid borne virus commonly associated with winter respiratory illnesses, though he suspects there are more unconfirmed cases. SLOVAKIA: The state of emergency was declared in the Stara Lubovna area in east Slovakia due to a hepatitis epidemic, Stefania Kolcunova, from the regional public health office in Stara Lubovna said on Wednesday. More than 200 Romany children have contracted hepatitis, according to the report reaching here from Slovakia. A temporary medical center was established in the area and hospitals in Poprad and Presov have had to increase the number of beds in their infectious diseases wards. Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 15th October ETHIOPIA: Ethiopia said on Tuesday that 6.4 million of its people now needed emergency food aid due to drought, and appealed for a further $265 million from donors. The food crisis in the Horn of Africa nation has steadily worsened since April when the government estimated that some 2.2 million people needed emergency assistance. In June, it revised the official figure to 4.6 million. Aid agency Oxfam says Tuesday's figure did not include 7.2 million Ethiopians who receive cash handouts or food aid from the government each year to stave off hunger. PAKISTAN: People have received another setback as the announced load-shedding duration has been extended up-to 12 hours in Lahore. Meanwhile, the power feeders are being shut down on every alternative hour, PEPCO spokesman Basharat Cheema said. Cheema maintained the water spilling from Tarbela Dam has plunged to 75,000 cusec from 100,000 cusec leading to power outage intensification. He added that Industrial sector would also be affected with electric shortage however he hoped to provide people relief till Wednesday. VENEZUELA: Tropical storm Omar stopped tankers from loading crude at Venezuelan refinery facilities on Tuesday and knocked power out at the OPEC nation's 200,000 barrel-per-day Puerto La Cruz refinery, officials said. The state oil company PDVSA said in a statement the storm cut power to some units at Puerto La Cruz and forced authorities to suspend tankers' movements at that facility's port. Power outages also hit urban areas around the refinery on Tuesday, according to a Reuters witness. Two refinery sources with knowledge of company operations said the storm, which generated high waves across areas of the Caribbean, also stopped loadings onto tankers at the country's largest refinery complex Amuay-Cardon. TS OMAR / CARRIBEAN: Omar strengthened into a hurricane late Tuesday and drenched islands in the southeastern Caribbean, downing trees and blowing off a school's roof as it menaced U.S. islands. Authorities issued a hurricane warning for the U.S. Virgin islands as well as Puerto Rico's Vieques and Culebra islands. Hurricane warnings were also in place for St. Martin, the British Virgin Islands, St. Kitts and Nevis and other islands. Officials in Puerto Rico, already soaked from several days of rain, warned residents to prepare for a lot more and medical authorities appealed for blood donations for possible casualties. AUSTRALIA: Brisbane - More than 32,000 homes and business lost power as a storm struck Brisbane with heavy rain and thousands of lightning strikes this evening. The weather bureau issued a severe thunderstorm warning, predicting heavy rain and damaging winds as the storm swept the city. The storm dumped 13.6mm of rain in central Brisbane between 7pm and 9.30pm (AEST) and 37.2mm at Amberley, south-west of the city, between 5.50pm and 9.30pm, including 20mm in the 10 minutes to 6pm alone. Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 14th October SOUTH AFRICA: The results of tests conducted at the Special Pathogens Unit, National Institute for Communicable Diseases (NICD) of the National Health Laboratory Service in Johannesburg, and at the Special Pathogens and Infectious Disease Pathology branches of the Centers for Disease Control in Atlanta, USA, provide preliminary evidence that the causative agent of the disease which has resulted in the recent deaths of 3 people from Zambia and South Africa, is a virus from the Arenaviridae family. Analysis continues at the NICD and CDC in order to characterize this virus more fully. CDC and NICD are technical partners in the Global Outbreak Alert and Response Network (GOARN). Meanwhile, a new case has been confirmed by PCR in South Africa. A nurse who had close contact with an earlier case has become ill, and has been admitted to hospital. Contacts have been identified and are being followed-up. WHO and its GOARN partners continue to support the Ministries of Health of the two countries in various facets of the outbreak investigation, including laboratory diagnosis, investigations, active case finding and follow-up of contacts. USA: California - More than 1,000 firefighters were battling a wind-driven forest fire raging north of Los Angeles on Monday that has forced the evacuation of 1,200 people and closed several roads and schools. Fire officials said the out-of-control blaze in the Angeles National Forest had consumed around 3,700 acres. CHINA: Hong Kong - The Center for Health Protection of the Department of Health of Hong Kong has confirmed a cholera case involving a six-year-old local boy. The boy arrived from Nepal on Oct. 3 and his travel companions have no symptoms. VIETNAM: More than 50 people in Quynh Luu District, central Nghe An Province, have been hospitalised with acute diarrhoea, according to the provincial health department. Quynh Phuong Commune had the largest number of patients, amounting to 39. So far, 23 patients have tested positive for cholera. The department said the Mai Giang River, which runs through the district is the main cause of the epidemic. Vibrio cholera bacteria was discovered in the river. Many kinds of seafood sourced from the river were found to be infected with the bacterium, including fish and oysters. Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 13th October RUSSIA: The quake hit the Russian region around 1pm (0900 GMT)yesterday and was centred on the north east region of the capital Grozny. It damaged scores of buildings, including hospitals and schools, and reached as far as neighbouring Georgia and Armenia. The US Geological Institute recorded the quake at 5.3 on the Richter scale and said its epicentre was 40 kilometres east of Grozny and 10 kilometres underground. At least 13 people, including three children, were killed. USA: Pennsylvania - A leak of a corrosive material at a chemical plant in western Pennsylvania forced about 2,500 people to flee the toxic fumes Saturday. A material called oleum, similar to sulfuric acid, leaked Saturday from a tank and evaporated at the Indspec Chemical Corp. plant in Petrolia, about 64 kilometres northeast of Pittsburgh, plant manager Dave Dorko said. No injuries were reported at the plant but at least three residents were taken to a local hospital, authorities said. The chemical can cause respiratory damage and skin burns, a state environmental official said. VIRGIN ISLANDS: On 11/10/2008 10:40:01 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 struck the unpopulated region of Virgin Is. in Virgin Is. MEXICO: Nearly 3,000 people have been evacuated to temporary shelters on Mexico's pacific coast after a powerful hurricane made landfall. Hurricane Norbert has brought heavy rain and winds of more than 160 kilometres an hour to the region of Baja, California. Local director of civil protection Miguel Arevalos says the storm poses a serious risk to the area. "In some of the neighbourhoods the water level is 50 centimetres high," he said. "We're having problems because of the previous two storms, Julio and Lowell, which left the ground water logged and now we have very poor drainage." GIBRALTA: The Liberian registered 'Fedra', 35,000 ton, has split in two after running aground at Europa Point on Gibraltar. Fedra Witnesses reported a large white coloured slick around the wreck. 31 people were rescued by the coastguard on Friday afternoon after the efforts of several tugs to keep her away from the rocks proved useless when her anchor broke. The second boat, Tawe, ran aground on the San Garcia Point in Algeciras, and has lost fuel which is reported to have already affected some 300m of the El Chinarral beach. The 22 crew remained on board the ship which is reported not to have been carrying any cargo. SOUTH AFRICA: Two more people have been admitted to the Morningside Medi-Clinic for observation after they showed signs of viral haemorrhagic fever. The hospital confirmed on Saturday that a man was admitted on Thursday night and a woman on Friday. The woman is the second nurse to show signs of the disease. In the wake of the deaths linked to the "mystery disease", the National Institute for Communicable Diseases has placed several virology laboratories around the country on alert. IRAQ: Thirty-seven people have been infected by anthrax in northern Iraq in the country's first outbreak of the disease since the 1980s, the health minister in the Kurdish autonomous region said on Sunday. Health Minister Ziryan Othman said the disease appeared to have been passed on from livestock. The first human case of the outbreak was discovered in remote Dahuk province last month. None of the reported cases had yet proven fatal, he told Reuters. The 37 cases in humans have all affected the patients' skin, rather than their lungs or internal organs, as occurs in more serious anthrax cases. MOROCCO: Five people were killed in Morocco after flash floods struck the northern city of Nador, the country's MAP news agency reported Friday. An adult and four children died Thursday when the floods, caused by nearby rivers bursting their banks, tore through the city, which is located on the edge of the Rif mountains. CANADA: British Columbia - A massive power outage hit southern Vancouver Island tonight, knocking electricity out to about 200,000 customers on the south Island and the Gulf Islands. The entire region south of Ladysmith on Vancouver Island lost power for an hour because of transmission problems, according to B.C. Hydro. AUSTRALIA: NSW - Plague locusts have begun forming bands in the New South Wales Riverina and Central West, threatening wheat crops. Aerial surveys found bands in areas where no hatchings had previously been reported. RUSSIA: Storm winds caused by a cyclone in the Sea of Okhotsk have raged through Russia's Far Eastern city of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky. Heavy rainfall caused a section of the road to subside in the center of the city on Sunday. Work is currently underway to strengthen the road and protect nearby buildings. No casualties have been reported. The hurricane also disrupted electricity supplies from the Mutnovsky geothermal power plant, Russia's largest environmentally friendly facility. The plant's two power units, with a total capacity of 50MW, meet up to a quarter of local industries' electricity demand. The cyclone is now heading to the north of the Kamchatka Territory, a local meteorological service spokesman said. BOLIVIA: On 12/10/2008 8:55:03 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.2 has struck the moderately populated region of Bolivia. USA: California - About 400 firefighters are tackling the flames at Angeles National Forest, just outside Los Angeles. Some 750 acres have been destroyed, but fire crews say they are now gaining control of the blaze. BURUNDI: Heavy rains and strong winds destroyed several houses, schools and farmlands since the beginning of the week in the area of Rugazi and Bubanza. Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 12th October No information posted Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 11th October GERMANY: Germany has informed European Union animal health experts of an outbreak of H5N1 bird flu, the EU's first case of the lethal strain of the contagious disease in poultry this year, the European Commission said on Friday. The outbreak occurred in the German state of Saxony, close to the border with Poland, the Commission said in a statement. 'Strict movement controls are in place. Poultry must be kept indoors, gatherings of poultry and other birds are banned, and on-farm biosecurity measures are strengthened,' it said. PORTUGAL: Following experts; concerns voiced earlier this year concerning the possible wipe out of pine trees forests from a killer bug that has caused ecological catastrophes in east Asia, Minister for Agriculture Jaime Silva has this week confirmed that nearly one million trees have already been cut down in Portugal in an attempt to control the chaos being caused by the pine tree nematode. CHINA: The number of people sickened after drinking contaminated water in south China has risen to 450 as of Friday, including four with arsenic poisoning. All 647 people in the two villages affected had been tested for arsenic, according to the government of Hechi City, Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region. Twenty-three children aged under seven and 32 people aged over 60 were kept in hospital for observation, while the others received outpatient treatment, said Wei Kaizhong, head of the Hechi health bureau. SOUTH AFRICA: Up to 144 people who had contact with three people killed by a mysterious illness in southern Africa are being traced, the World Health Organisation said Friday. A statement said that "121 known contacts of the fatal cases are being traced in South Africa and 23 in Zambia." The organisation's spokeswoman Fadela Chaib also told journalists in Geneva that 121 of those are already under observation, and that "all are doing well." WHO epidemologists have been been hunting for the cause of the mysterious illness which killed "an expatriate tour guide living in Lusaka" as well as a paramedic and a nurse, she added. The disease is believed to be a haemorrhagic fever, but "three haemorrhagic fevers have been ruled out -- Ebola, Rift Valley and Lhasa. They are not the cause of the disease," said Chaib. The first victim arrived in South Africa on September 12 and died two days later after being treated for what was believed to be tick-bite fever. The medic who accompanied her from Zambia died two days later with flu-like symptoms. A nurse has also died since. SCOTLAND: Hundreds of people were evacuated yesterday after torrential rain caused flooding across central and southern Scotland, just four years after a 9m flood defence plan was completed. A primary school, a supermarket and a cinema were among the buildings forced to close when the River Irvine burst its banks in and around Kilmarnock. Despite the widespread disruption to local services, East Ayrshire Council said that flood defences had worked as planned. Problems began following a night of heavy rain, with a severe weather warning having been issued by the Met Office on Thursday afternoon. The Queen's Drive retail park and a number of nearby homes were cleared, along with a Post Office sorting station, while around 100 children had to leave a cinema as rising water levels threatened to leave them stranded. The flooding is the worst in the area since 1994, when significant damage was caused to 27 local homes. CENTRAL AFRICAN REPUBLIC: A yellow fever outbreak is rocking the Boda sub-prefecture mainly in the Ngotto village, in south-western Central African Republic (CAR), sources confirmed here Friday [10 Oct 2008]. The minister of Public Health, Population and AIDS Control, Faustin Ntelnoumbi confirmed the outbreak in a press release issued in the capital. The statement urged all the population in general and particularly those in areas at risk to quickly evacuate to the relevant care facilities anyone showing symptoms highly suggestive of yellow fever: sudden fever attack with jaundice and bleeding eyes, gums and nose. Such symptoms occur in the 2 weeks following the appearance of the 1st symptoms of this hemorrhagic viral disease transmitted to men through bites by mosquito "Aedes Aegypti" which is infested by the "amaril [yellow fever] virus." MEXICO: Norbert batters Mexican peninsula. Fisherman in Baja California Sur have been warned of a possible storm surge Hurricane Norbert has struck Mexico's Baja California Sur peninsula with heavy rains and 103mph (165km/h) winds. The US National Hurricane Center said Norbert made landfall near the city of La Paz. "It's blowing down roofs and destroying things in its path," said civil protection chief Jose Gajon. Forecasters expect the Category 2 storm to cross the peninsula and make a second landfall on Saturday night on Mexico's north-western mainland. Reports say the storm is creating 13ft (four-metre) waves. RUSSIA: An earthquake measuring about 5.5 on the Richter scale hit the Russian North Caucasus republic of Chechnya on Saturday, killing one person and affecting also neighboring republics, emergencies services said. Residents of North Ossetia, Daghestan, Ingushetia, Kabardino-Balkaria and the Stavropol Territory also felt the quake. The residents of the Chechen capital, Grozny, especially those living in multistory buildings, are reported to be leaving their homes in fear of more tremors. INDIA: Bengal - After dengue and malaria, the city is facing the menace of Japanese encephalitis (JE) which has already claimed a life in the southern outskirts of the metropolis. The death, caused by a mosquito-borne virus that affects the nervous system, has been confirmed as JE following blood and spinal fluid tests, health department sources said here today. Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 10th October GLOBAL / SUDAN: An explosion equal to more than a kiloton of TNT rocked the sky over a remote part of northern Sudan late Monday night, ending a 20-hour scramble to track the first Earth impacting meteoroid to be discovered before impact. Though the meteoroid was not expected to reach Earth's surface, the astronomers' goal was to refine the trajectory and predict where the automobile-sized rock was headed to test their ability to track potentially dangerous asteroids in the future. There are three reported "sightings" of the resulting fireball so far: The first was from a weather satellite over Europe and Africa that imaged the fireball as a cluster of pixels; The second was a seismometer in Kenya that picked up the kiloton blast; And the third was a KLM pilot who saw the streak of light from 750 nautical miles away. On the map above, the plane is marked by the cross and the asteroid by the circle. The space rock graciously targeted a very rural part of the world, allowing its gigantic fireball to serve as a warning to keep an eye on the sky. It also proved to be a good dry run for scientists to see how quickly they could coordinate observations and calculate trajectories. The real question is, if it had been bigger (in which case we might have had a few days more warning), and headed towards a major city, what could we have done? This is the very scenario Apollo astronaut Rusty Schweickart has been asking the world to address. The time to make an emergency plan is not after you know where it is going to hit. Then only the impacted country will be concerned about it, and there might not be much they can do on their own. However if we come up with a global plan ahead of time, it could end up coming to the aid of my country just as well as yours. YEMEN / SOMALIA: out 100 migrants are feared to have drowned after being thrown overboard by smugglers in the Gulf of Aden, the UN refugee agency says. The migrants were attempting to flee to Yemen from war-torn Somalia but were forced off the boat about 5km (3 miles) from the coast, a UN official said. About 47 migrants managed to swim to shore and alert the authorities. The UN says about 32,000 people have made the perilous crossing to Yemen this year, and 365 have gone missing. SPAIN: Torrential rain over the past few days has left several rivers in eastern Spain running dangerously high and closed the ports of Valencia, Gandia and Sagunto. It has also blocked roads and railway lines. In southern Spain, ferry links to the Moroccan port of Tangier and Spain's north African enclave of Ceuta were suspended because of storms. At least two people have been killed. The severe weather is set to continue. Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 9th October GLOBAL: More people died from natural disasters in the first six months of 2008 than in the Asian tsunami of 2004 due mainly to the earthquake in China and cyclone in Myanmar, the United Nations said Wednesday. "2008 is a terrible year. There have already been more victims than in the tsunami," said Salvator Briceno, head of the UN's disaster management agency (ISDR). FULL STORY: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Disasters_kill_more_in_2008_than_in_tsunami_UN_999.html MEXICO: Norbert has become a major hurricane with winds near 115 miles (185 kilometers) per hour, as it churns towards Mexico's tourist destination of Baja, California, the National Hurricane Center said Wednesday. The NHC's five-day forecast showed Norbert, currently located in the Pacific Ocean about 470 miles (755 kilometers) south of Baja's southern tip. SOUTH AFRICA: A woman died near Port Elizabeth amidst heavy thunderstorms and eleven people were injured in Grahamstown as a tornado ripped through the town on Wednesday morning, 65 made homeless, police said. Nelson Mandela Bay metro disaster management said the woman from Bethelsdorp died at about 11:50 during heavy storms in the region. RWANDA: Torrential rains have caused extensive flooding, destroying homes and crops in Rwanda's western and northern regions. According to officials, the rains submerged more than 500 homes, destroyed about 2,000 hectares of crops and washed away bridges, roads and pylons, as well as schools. No report of casualties so far. PHILIPPINES: A 5.2 magnitude earthquake hit Philippines' northwestern island of Luzon early on Thursday (1913 GMT Wednesday). The epicenter was located at about 66 kilometres from Legazpi and about 54 kilometres deep. There were no immediate reports of casualties or damages. Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 8th October MEXICO: Tropical storm Marco made landfall in Mexico Tuesday, crashing ashore as the latest in a series of powerful storms to strike the region this hurricane season, US forecasters said. Marco quickly traversed the Gulf of Mexico before barreling ashore about 55 miles (90 kilometers) north-northwest of Veracruz, the Miami-based National Hurricane Center (NHC) said. CHINA: China's agriculture ministry warned dense swarms of locusts and moths threatened to devastate the nation's grain harvest this year. Adverse weather led earlier this year to swarms with more than 10,000 locusts per square metre (11 square feet), six times more than usual in Tianjin, south of Beijing, the ministry of agriculture said. ITALY: There are new cases of West Nile in Emilia-Romagna. The diagnosis of West Nile meningoencephalitis in a man living in Ferrara has been confirmed by the regional microbiological emergency reference center (Crrem) of the Polyclinic S. Orsola-Malpighi in Bologna. The man is currently hospitalized in the Resuscitation Department of the Hospital of Ferrara. This is the 2nd [human] case within a few days in Emilia-Romagna after one found in Imolese. The province of Ferrara, already included in the national plan for control of the virus (which is transmitted by mosquitoes, primarily of the _Culex_ genus), is involved in the monitoring plan implemented by the region since 23 Sep [2007]. USA: Alaska - A respiratory illness likely caused by a virus circulating on Prince of Wales Island in Southeast Alaska has killed one person and put another on a ventilator in an Anchorage hospital, the state Division of Public Health said Monday [6 Oct 2008]. Genetic testing on samples taken from patients indicates the cause of the outbreak is adenovirus 14, a particularly virulent version of a common bug best known for causing "that respiratory crud in the winter,". TANZANIA: Four people died of cholera and 70 more have been admitted to health centres following a fresh outbreak in southern Tanzania, officials said on Wednesday. The first death was reported a week ago in the southwestern Rukwa region, Mpanda District Commissioner Thobias Sijabaje said. EGYPT: An apartment building collapsed in Alexandria on Egypt's northern coast on Wednesday, and rescue workers have pulled seven bodies from the rubble, including a mother found clutching her baby, state media reported. At least 10 others were injured, and rescue workers were combing the ruins of the four-storey building for more victims, state news agency MENA said. The building as old. Building collapses are common in Egypt because of lax building standards and poor maintenance. MEXICO: Hurricane Norbert strengthened off Mexico's Pacific coast on Tuesday to become a category 2 hurricane with sustained winds near 165 kilometres per hour. Norbert is expected to gather further strength before slamming into the Baja California peninsula later in the week. NICARAGUA: The death toll rose to 13 people whereas more than 3,500 people are left homeless as heavy rains hit the country. According to the Civil Defense, the continued rains in Nicaragua have damaged 200 km of highways and roads and hundreds of houses are flooded. SOMALIA: Torrential rains and strong winds have battered settlements for hundreds of thousands of internally displaced Somalis between Mogadishu and Afgooye during 10 hours on Sunday night destroying refugee's makeshift shelters. No report of casualties so far. Subject: Around the World Today - Tuesday 7th October INDONESIA: Indonesia has raised the alert level for a volcano on Sulawesi island after it began spewing hot clouds and lava, a vulcanology official said on Tuesday. Lava from Soputan volcano flowed up to 1 km (over half a mile) from the crater while white clouds and fiery sparks shot up about 150 metres from the peak, said Surono, the head of the vulcanology centre. RAWANDA: Torrential rains have caused extensive flooding, destroying homes and crops in Rwanda's western and northern regions, according to officials. The rains submerged more than 500 homes, destroyed about 2,000 hectares of crops and washed away bridges, roads and pylons, as well as schools. IRELAND: An invasion of deadly jellyfish could stretch for hundreds of miles around the Irish coast, an expert said last night. Mauve stingers were discovered near Portrush, Co Antrim, and as far south as Co Sligo. Dr John Houghton from Queen's University said the species was the same as that which devastated salmon farms off the Co Antrim coast last year. NEW ZEALAND: About two thousand electricity consumers in New Zealand's lower and central North Island were still without power on Tuesday after strong winds battered the region. Supply was lost on Tuesday after winds gusting to more than 150km/h brought down trees and branches on powerlines, Radio New Zealand reported. At one stage, more than 4,000 customers were without power in Wellington, Wairarapa, Manawatu and Taranaki. The power is now back on in Wellington, but about 2,000 households in areas further north are still without supply. KYRGYZSTAN: Kyrgyz President Kurmanbek Bakiev has declared a day of national mourning on October 7 for the 74 victims of a strong earthquake that devastated remote villages in the southeast of the country. Forty-one of the dead are reported to be children. RFE/RL's Kyrgyz Service reports that rescue and relief efforts are being hampered by the mountainous location, near the country's border with China. CHINA: On 10/6/2008 8:30:45 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.4 has struck the moderately populated region of China in China. Subject: Around the World Today - Monday 6th October KYRGYZSTAN: A major earthquake has hit Kyrgyzstan, killing at least 58 people, officials in the Central Asian nation have said. The 6.6-magnitude quake struck at 2152 local time (1552 GMT) on Sunday, destroying more than 100 buildings in the southern province of Osh. The emergencies ministry said rescue workers were still searching for survivors under the rubble. Destruction was concentrated in Nura, a remote village in the mountains close to the border with China. AFGHANISTAN: On 10/5/2008 10:56:03 PM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 5.7 struck a very highly populated region of Afghanistan SSE of Kabul. DR CONGO: On 10/5/2008 12:02:14 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 5.2 struck the very highly populated region of Kivu near to the city of Rutshuru. ICELAND: A report by the government of Iceland warns that the country's glaciers will have all but disappeared by the next century. Europe's largest glacier, Iceland's Vatna-Jokull, covers an area 8000 square kilometres and is more than 900 metres thick at its deepest point. It's now melting at a rate of a metre a year, because of rising temperatures and reduced snow fall. Not everyone in Iceland, though, is concerned about climate change. Warmer temperatures have lengthened growing seasons, and one farmer's even been able to grow Iceland's first crop of wheat. SOUTH AFRICA: Pretoria's Steve Biko Academic Hospital is one of several in the province which have been placed on high alert following the death of three people from a highly infectious disease. On Sunday the Gauteng health department said three people had died in Johannesburg. "We are on high alert following the confirmation of three cases of an unknown highly infectious disease which has since led to three deaths," the department said in a statement. Symptoms are fever and flu-like symptoms, vomiting, diarrhoea, body aches and coughing. SOUTH KOREA: A new suspected case of bird flu was found at a duck farm in South Korea, the South Korean Agriculture Ministry said Saturday [4 Oct 2008]. Routine tests showed that some ducks at a farm in Yesan, 134 km south of Seoul, have been infected with avian influenza, the ministry said in a statement. The ministry said detailed tests were underway to confirm whether the suspected outbreak of bird flu is a highly virulent strain of avian influenza. All ducks at the farm were culled to avoid further spreading of the fatal disease, the ministry said. PAKISTAN: State of North-West Frontier - 7 persons including 5 women died, and dozens were hospitalised here on Saturday [4 Oct 2008] following the outbreak of a mysterious disease in Sundhya village of Chakesar Union Council. HAITI: Four major storms that pounded Haiti in August and September killed 793 people and left more than 300 others missing, authorities said Friday. Haitian Civil Protection announced the new figures in a dramatic surge upward from their previous estimate of 326 dead on September 11 after the passing of Tropical Storm Fay and hurricanes Gustav, Hanna and Ike. USA: California - At least 78 students at the University of Southern California have been treated for a contagious gastrointestinal virus infection, according to university school officials. The victims of the infection arrived at the campus clinic complaining of vomiting, stomach cramps and diarrhea, university spokesman James Grant asserted. Early Saturday, all students were alerted via e-mail and cell phone messages by university officials. On top of that, they were strongly advised to avoid the USC Trojans and Oregon football game at the Coliseum. School officials believe this is not a food-borne illness. UKRAINE: Six Ukrainian miners have been killed in a coal mine blast in the eastern Lugansk region of the country. The methane gas blast occurred 500m underground at the Duvanna mine, spokesman Igor Krol said. Mr Krol said 119 miners were working in the area at the time, of whom 113 managed to escape. NICARAGUA: Authorities have declared a state of alert along the country's Pacific coast after heavy rain left at least nine people dead and four missing. A slight weather improvement allowed civil defense forces to enter some of the most isolated areas on Friday to help residents evacuate. The fatalities were the result of people crossing rivers in heavy water. At least 22 homes have been destroyed by the torrential rains. The official number of people displaced by the floods has risen to 3, 525. Authorities also report that landslides have destroyed coffee, banana, fruits and grain plantations in the countryside. USA: Colorado - Prairie dogs found dead south of Briggsdale have tested positive for plague, the Weld County Department of Public Health and Environment confirmed. The highly infectious bacterial disease is transmitted primarily by flea bites. Although human cases are rare, the illness can be life-threatening. This year, 22 positive tests for plague have been confirmed in animals in the state. ALGERIA: Hundreds of troops, engineers and social workers have converged on the desert town of Ghardaia to help with relief operations after a flash flood there killed 33, Algeria's Interior Ministry said Friday. Torrential rains caused rivers in this usually arid region bordering the Sahara to overflow on Wednesday and Thursday, destroying hundreds of houses in the historic town and several neighboring oases. Subject: Around the World Today - Sunday 5th October No information posted Subject: Around the World Today - Saturday 4th October No information posted Subject: Around the World Today - Friday 3rd October CHINA: More than 40 houses were submerged after a landslide on the banks of the Yangtze River's Heishazhou section in the eastern province of Anhui, local authorities said on Thursday, but no casualties were reported. The landslide took place in Wuwei County on Saturday, when an area 400 meters long and 200 meters wide collapsed, carrying 48 homes into the water. More than 70 households had to be evacuated and the county government earmarked 100,000 yuan (about 14,700 U.S. dollars) for disaster relief. The cause of the landslide hasn't been determined. According to local sources, landslides on the bank could be triggered by changing water levels or construction nearby. Smaller landslides have occurred in the past few years. SPAIN: Guardia Civil environmental officers have been informed that there are thousands of dead fish on a stretch of the Tajo river close to Arrocampo reservoir, the waters of which are used to refrigerate the Almaraz nuclear plant. The president of the Platform for Those Affected by the Almaraz Nuclear Plant, M?ximo Garcia, who was called in by a concerned local resident, confirmed that he noticed "much more foam than normal" when he visited the point where the reservoir water is discharged into the river. Notwithstanding, a spokesman for the nuclear plant pointed out that the affected area is actually closer to Valdeca�as reservoir, and that he had been informed by a contact at the local water board that the problem was probably caused by the natural shifting of the reservoir beds, which can release hydrogen sulfide. While most of the dead fish are barbel, some carp have also been spotted as well as a small number of sun fish. USA: The US Justice Department has charged 907 people with cheating the federal government out of relief funds or other assistance following the devastation of Hurricane Katrina in August 2005, officials announced Thursday. After the Katrina catastrophe, authorities created a special unit to investigate the kinds of crimes and abuses that tend to follow natural disasters. USA: In the case of an influenza pandemic, the U.S. healthcare system would be inadequately prepared to meet the needs of an infected population, according to a report released this week by federal auditors. The report, published by the Government Accountability Office, criticizes the Department of Health and Human Services' current influenza pandemic preparedness. FULL STORY: http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Analysis_Flu_pandemic_would_overwhelm_999.html RUSSIA: During the period 19-25 Sep 2008 a total of 29 confirmed [or] suspected cases of hemorrhagic fever with renal syndrome (HFRS) were recorded in Tatarstan: 10 in Kazan, 8 in Naberezhnye Chelny, 3 in Nizhnekamskiy area, 3 in Almetievskiy area, 2 in Sabinskiy area, 1 in Kukmorskiy area, 1 in Leninogorskiy area, and 1 in Bavlinskiy area. NICARAGUA: Days of heavy rains in Nicaragua have killed at least seven people who were dragged away by swollen rivers, and another four are missing, emergency services said on Thursday. The torrential rains in the Central American nation, one of the poorest in the Americas, forced the evacuations of some 2,600 people, said civil defense head Mario Perez-Cassar. The rains caused rivers to burst their banks and sodden hillsides to collapse, blocking roads in a country prone to deadly storms and flooding. Forecasters warned the rains were likely to continue with thunderstorms and strong winds. Subject: Around the World Today - Thursday 2nd October RUSSIA: The number of people hospitalized with suspected aseptic meningitis has risen to 124 in north Russia's Arkhangelsk Region, the local emergency service said on Wednesday. A total of 23 new cases have been registered in the past 24 hours in the city of Arkhangelsk, and in the Primorsky District. Most of those affected are children under the age of 14. The diagnosis has yet to be confirmed by laboratory tests. Aseptic meningitis is most commonly caused by enteroviruses in young children. It is characterized by strong headaches, fever, photophobia, drowsiness and muscle pain. The Arkhangelsk Region has reported an increase in the number of enterovirus infections since September 1. Quarantines have been imposed on five schools in the region. ZAMBIA: Chama - Anthrax has broken out in Chama District in Eastern Province. Principal Veterinary Officer Joseph Sitali disclosed that a numbner of wild animals have died due to the disease in the district. Dr. Sitali who could not give the number of animals that have died so far, said it has been difficult to control the disease due to inadequate resources. RUSSIA: "Five people were killed and four injured" in the incident in Belyayevka, a village in the Orenburg region, Tatyana Khvatkova, a spokeswoman for Russia's emergency situations ministry. A total of 11 people were pulled from the rubble and 800 evacuated after the collapse, which is believed to have been related to repairs underway at the time, Khvatkova said. CHINA: Chinese officials have detected unacceptable levels of melamine in 31 more batches of milk powder, according a government website on Wednesday and advised the public to stop consuming certain products. The contaminated milk widens the tainted milk scandal to 15 more Chinese dairy companies accused of violating the legal limit of 2.5 parts per million of melamine. The new batches being tested were mostly milk powder products for adults. A previous round of tests found melamine in 69 infant milk powder batches. MACEDONIA: Another hundred people have asked for medical care in Skopje taking the number of people thought to have come down with suspected food poisoning to 160. The medical staff at the Infectious Diseases Clinic in Skopje is on constant alert expecting more people to pour in. More than 30 of them have been hospitalised for further medical treatment. USA: U.S. hurricane forecasters William Gray and Phil Klotzbach say their October forecast calls for three named storms, two of them becoming hurricanes. If that proves accurate, it would result in nearly twice the storm activity level of an average October. ALGERIA: Floods have killed at least 13 people in the Algerian oasis town of Ghardaia in the Sahara, the government of the north African country said on Thursday. Interior Minister Noureddine Yazid Zerhouni said that between 300 and 600 homes had been inundated since heavy rains began on Tuesday around the town on the northern edge of the Sahara desert. SPAIN / PORTUGAL / MALTA: Heavy rians have battered these countries in the past few days with reported flooding in a number of regions. On the Algarve 16 millimetres of rain fell in just 20 minutes on Saturday morning. PHILIPPINES: Three more miners were rescued on Wednesday as six others were pulled alive on Monday and Tuesday from gold mine after being trapped for nine days. Floods were caused by a typhoon on 22nd September. GUATEMALA: At least 900 people were displaced due to floods in coastal areas in southeast Guatemala that occured since last Saturday. At the beginning of the September, 2,700 people were evacuated from the same areas because of floods caused by heavy rains on the region. Subject: Around the World Today - Wednesday 1st October SUDAN: Thousands of Sudanese villagers were flooded out of their homes on Tuesday, village representatives said, blaming the floods on a new $2 billion dam on the River Nile. But the Sudan government's Dams Implementation Unit denied it had shut the gates of the Merowe dam, downriver from the villages, saying any floods were caused by seasonal rains. Many villagers from the northern Manaseer area are refusing to leave their river-side farms and homes to make way for the Chinese-built dam designed to double Sudan's electricity supply. The dam, which is due to start generating power by the end of the year, will flood a large part of the surrounding area 350 km (220 miles) north of Khartoum. SYRIA / CYPRUS: Turkish Cypriot television is reporting that a boat carrying 30 illegal immigrants from Syria to Cyprus has sunk leaving seven people dead and 23 others missing, presumed dead. According to the latest reports, the boat sunk late on Saturday night and seven corpses were found on Syrian shores this morning. The remaining 23 passengers, and the boat's captain, Mustafa Abdin, are missing. TURKEY: Large scale mitigation - Turkey hopes to complete construction of an undersea water pipeline to northern Cyprus by June 2009 to help it battle droughts, Anatolia news agency reported Tuesday. The project, which was launched in 2000 following a severe water shortage on the parched island, aims to pump 75 million cubic metres (2.65 billion cubic feet) into the self-declared Turkish Republic of Northern Cyprus every year. http://www.terradaily.com/reports/Turkey_hopes_to_finish_Cyprus_water_pipeline_by_2009_report_999.html GUINEA-BISSAU: A cholera epidemic in Guinea-Bissau that erupted in May has claimed more lives, as the death toll surpassed 140 people while nearly 7,800 people have now been infected, hospital officials said Tuesday. THAILAND: A worker on a free-range duck farm died from bird flu-like symptoms in Pho Prathap Chang district yesterday, and health authorities put his 12-year-old son under close observation for signs of infection with the virus. Manee Mankhetkit, 48, was taken to the provincial hospital on Monday after he developed a high fever, suffered from a cough, sore throat, chest pains and breathing difficulties. The man was treated in an isolated intensive care ward because he had come into contact with fowls. He was a hired hand at a duck farm which has more than 1,600 birds. Doctors pronounced him dead due to kidney and heart failure. JAPAN: Fire broke out in a video shop in the western Japanese city of Osaka early today, killing 15 men and injuring 10 other people. Firefighters received an emergency call at about 3am from a clerk at the video shop, which had 32 rooms for private viewing of rented videos, fire control centre official Takashi Ishida said. CHINA: Tibet - Two people in eastern Tibet have died of the deadliest and least common form of plague, Chinese state media said on Wednesday. The health department of the Himalayan region was notified on Friday that two people had died of an unidentified illness in a village in the Linzhi area, more than 200 kilometres (125 miles) southeast of the capital Lhasa. Health authorities examined the victims and determined they were cases of pneumonic plague. PHILIPPINES: At least 2 000 people have been stranded at a seaport as tropical storm Higos battered the country's east coast with winds of 80 kilometres an hour and heavy rain. There were no reports of damage or casualties so far. Ferry services have been halted due to rough seas. The Philippine weather service predicted that Higos will move across the archipelagos central islands over the next two days causing possible flash floods and landslides. JAPAN: Typhoon Jangmi was moving northeast in the East China Sea on Tuesday afternoon and could approach Kyushu on Wednesday afternoon by shifting its course easterly and gaining strength. Warning has been issued on possible heavy rain in extensive areas from Kyushu to the Tokai area in central Japan on Wednesday afternoon. Forecasters predicted rainfall of up to 250 mm in 24 hours in southern Kyushu by Wednesday morning, with up to 200 mm in northern Kyushu and up to 150 mm in the Tokai area. LAOS / THAILAND/ VIETNAM: Tropical storm Mekkhala slammed into central Vietnam on Tuesday with sustained winds of up to 100 kilometers per hour killing three people and leaving 10 others missing. Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and damages such as power outages have been reported. At least 41 people were killed and five feared dead after Typhoon Hagupit battered mountainous areas last week. |
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