Natural Disasters

Crews make some progress on ice storm outages

2009-01-30T09:34:00.000-08:00

Utility crews made some progress Friday in restoring power to the more than 1.3 million homes and businesses darkened by an ice storm that crippled states from Missouri to West Virginia, but thousands were still bunking in toasty shelters because their homes had no water or heat.

At Murray University in southwestern Kentucky, brothers Jim McClung, 42, and Dale Earnest, 38, were among those resting in every corner of a university theater. Some sprawled in aisles, propped in chairs or curled up on the stage. hey, like many others, ran out of food and water at their frigid, powerless home.

"I had no idea the storm was going to last this long," McClung said.

Utility companies struggled through ice-encrusted debris into Friday morning as they worked to restore power, but warned it may not return until Saturday at the earliest. It could take until mid-February for some to come back online in the hardest-hit areas of Kentucky and Arkansas.

"I know everybody, including myself, would like this to be over today, tomorrow or yesterday," said Kentucky Gov. Steve Beshear, who toured some of the damage Thursday. "It's going to take several days, if not weeks, to dig our way through all of this all across the state."

For some, things were getting better. About 60,000 had power restored since Thursday, and with warmer temperatures predicted for the weekend, crews could make "substantial progress" in the next few days, said Public Service Commission spokesman Andrew Melnykovich. Still, some 547,000 homes and businesses were still in the dark - including about 172,000 in Louisville.

Deputies trekked door-to-door in many communities to let people know where shelters were, forced to spread the word the old-fashioned way because cell phone and Internet service was spotty. In some towns, volunteers checked to make sure their elderly and disabled neighbors were all right.

Many Kentucky hotels offering discounted "power outage rates" reported being fully booked with people escaping frosty neighborhoods. Those who hunkered down in their homes face long lines to buy generators, firewood, groceries - even bottled water because power outages crippled local pumping stations.

Truckloads of ready-to-eat meals, water and generators from the Federal Emergency Management Agency were expected to arrive Friday at a staging area in Fort Campbell, Ky., said Mary Hudak, a spokeswoman for FEMA's southeast region.

In Paducah, Amber Fiers and her neighbor Miranda Brittan tried a half-dozen filling stations before finding one where they could buy kerosene. The two were in a line that swelled to 50 or more at the 13th Street Station, which began pumping kerosene after its owner set up a generator.

"We got food, but I'm just worried about staying warm," said Brittan, who lives in Mayfield, adding she was frustrated by the search for supplies.

Read Article Seattlepi

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Grant Supports Disaster Preparation In Middletown Area

2008-12-30T15:44:00.000-08:00

MIDDLETOWN — - The center of the state hasn't seen a major ice storm since 1973. The last time a hurricane set its sights on the state was Gloria in 1985.

Although both events were decades ago, officials at the Midstate Planning Agency know that luck is bound to run out. The agency recently received a grant of more than $100,000 from the Federal Emergency Management Agency that would help Middletown and the surrounding communities served by Midstate develop a disaster mitigation plan.

The plan would evaluate "natural hazard vulnerabilities," including dams, bridges, buildings and storm culverts in the municipalities served by Midstate — Middletown, Portland, East Hampton, East Haddam, Cromwell, Durham, Middlefield and Haddam.

"It's what can we do today to prevent damage to infrastructure, buildings and roadways in the event of a disaster," said Joel Severance, Midstate emergency management planner. "We aren't here to alarm folks, but we want to be sure we are prepared regardless of the storm or its timing. This is all about preparation."

Starting in January, each town will hold a workshop to collect information from town officials and residents about vulnerable infrastructure, including sewer, water and power lines, cell towers or areas of town that are in a flood plain or have suffered repeated losses. The plan will also look at local and regional capabilities to address the vulnerabilities and list the municipalities' needs. The plan should be completed by August.

Severance said the advantage of having a plan in place is that when FEMA representatives come in after a disaster, the information will be documented.

Read Article Courant.com

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Trauma Response Meets Disaster Preparedness

2008-12-30T15:28:00.000-08:00

Mumbai, previously known as Bombay, is the largest city in India. Once considered an underdeveloped country, India has made significant progress. One sign of this is the recently completed Golden Quadralateral, the only highway crisscrossing India and connecting all its major cities. But development comes at a cost, as evidenced by the increased number of motor vehicle crashes along the Quadralateral.

The good news: in response to this problem, Mumbai has plans for developing an EMS system in their area to initiate early care and rapid transport of trauma patients to area hospitals. Currently these victims are delivered via common carrier or by a Good Samaritan.

The bad news: unfortunately this planned trauma system was not in place during the recent large scale terrorist attack in Mumbai that left more than100 dead and even more injured. This disaster was perpetrated by inhumane individuals using small-arms fire and explosives.

Historically, most man-made disasters produce injury, generally from explosions and/or small-arms fire. Chemical, nuclear or biological forces have been infrequently involved. Natural disasters such as hurricanes, tornados, tsunamis, earthquakes, etc., also generate injuries, at least initially. For these situations a systematic approach to injury care should be universally available.

By definition, a system is a group of interacting or interrelated or interdependent elements forming a complex whole. For trauma systems that are successful, this translates into a group of dedicated health-care providers and medical facilities who interact regularly, are clearly related in their commitment to treating trauma, and are dependent on the contributions from each provider and facility to achieve the optimum patient outcome. And we’re not just talking about the large trauma hospitals. The system must be inclusive; everybody plays, from the field first responder to the trauma surgeon and all the trauma-treating providers in between. And all facilities participate, from the isolated clinic to the Level I trauma center. This trauma system model has a proven track record for improving the care and survival of the severely injured patient.

The connection between trauma systems and disaster response capability is obvious and it should be considered a fundamental component for achieving disaster preparedness. Fortunately, the number of trauma systems has increased in the United States over the years despite a decrease in federal funding. Yet, as 2008 passes, there are still communities that go un-served by this organized response to injury. In a country that has to color code the terrorist threat level and spends billions on disaster preparedness, perhaps we should channel some of those resources to further propagate a structure of care that serves the injured patient day-in and day-out, thus keeping skills sharp and at the ready to provide service in the unfortunate, but certain event of future disaster.

Read Article EMS1

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Outages after quake deemed 'unavoidable'

2008-12-30T15:26:00.000-08:00

As Hawaiian Electric Co. crews searched for clues to what triggered Friday's blackout, a report from the Public Utilities Commission concludes HECO could not have prevented a similar failure after an earthquake two years ago.

"The record indicates that the islandwide outages on Oahu and Maui were, under the conditions that existed on Oct. 15, 2006, unavoidable," the report said.

The report will allow HECO to finish processing 1,440 damage claims from that outage, a spokesman said.

Industry experts say only extensive and expensive enhancements to the grid could prevent such power disruptions in the future. That would raise electricity bills and still leave the system vulnerable to natural disasters, they say.

Meanwhile, last week's blackout has left at least 2,000 Oceanic Time Warner Cable customers on Oahu without television and phone service.

A major electrical surge to Oahu households when power resumed on Saturday damaged thousands of cable boxes, digital converters and digital video recorders that were not plugged into surge protectors.

Read Article Star Bulletin

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Will Natural Gas Continue to Drop?

2008-12-30T15:25:00.000-08:00

A week that was ill-attended even by holiday standards with little volume and less news. While the markets did little before Christmas that wasn’t reversed on Friday there are a couple of interesting data points to take away.

1) Rig Counts Continue To Fall. Not unexpectedly, both gas and oil counts fell again last week. What is interesting to see is the stronger than to date seen dip in horizontal rig activity. This is where your big wells come from, be it oil from the Bakken or natural gas from any one of a number of supply / demand busting equation (at least that’s the perception) shales. Take away the horizontal activity and U.S. onshore production will follow all the more quickly.

2) Gas In Storage Fell With Cold Weather, Again … Ok, usually that’s a given. But three weeks ago it appeared the wheels had come off the Industrial natural gas demand train as big heating degree day readings translated into sub par storage withdrawals. Then the last two weeks of cold and an eradication of the front six months contango disincentivized traders from storing gas and selling it later and wa-la, average-ish storage withdrawals.

3) … And Natural Gas Noticed… Again, usually not a big deal for gas to move up into colder spells during the winter but so far no joy until this past week. The week just past is likely to show warmer temps when the numbers are out on Monday, so this little rally of last Tuesday ("Gas-OPEC’s" first meeting) and Wednesday may not be sustainable through the arrival of this week’s storage number, but we appear to be putting in a floor.

4) …But The Natural Gas Monthly For October Revealed A Mixed Bag for Production. The Gulf of Mexico was still far from recovered from September’s stormy weather so I won’t give them much thought except that they continue to decline. Texas suffered from power outtages in September but was more than recovered in October, setting a new state gas produciton record at 20 Bcfgpd. Notably Oklahoma and Wyoming, two important and recently growing states, eased slightly in October and who can blame them given the differentials they are getting they should take a breather on new wells. I don’t expect to see a reaction in the supply math to those falling rigs until the February or March numbers are out) but I’ll have more comments in Monday’s piece with more thoughts there.

5) Last but not least, oil fell again even as OPEC threatened to hold another emergency rate slashing meeting for mid January. Stories are circulating that this time they mean it. We’ll see. The market liked news that production cuts out of several names were being confirmed by Asian crude buyers on Friday giving crude its best performance since the day before the last disaster of an OPEC meeting, albeit under very light trading conditions (less than one-third of normal volumes). Analysts and those traders that like to go on TV are for the most part setting their sights on numbers like $25 for 2009 I think with the intention of getting numbers too low so that they can offer the pleasant surprise of raising company numbers in the case of the former and get long before they suddenly pronounce the light at the end of the tunnel to be a candle and not a train in the case of the later. Since it's end of the year prognotication time, I’ll be adding my guesstimate for prices (for natural gas too) in posts this week.

If I don’t see you in comments this week have a happy and safe remainder of 2008 and a more prosperous 2009.

Read Article Seeking Alpha

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In difficult times, give freely to assist others

2008-12-30T15:23:00.000-08:00

community food banks, or we work with our community organizations to find a family that can share our home for a short period of time.

That was the case recently in the North Druid Hills area of DeKalb County when a senior citizen needed some extra income and was matched with a young couple who had lost their home to foreclosure. In this case, the Housemate Match program at the Marcus Jewish Community Center matched the couple with a senior citizen in the Toco Hills Naturally Occurring Retirement Community.

Now an elderly woman has some extra cash, some company in her home, and someone to drive her to doctor’s appointments. And, a young couple has some breathing room to find new jobs and permanent housing.

As we struggle through today’s economic challenges, nonprofits worry that contributions to fund charitable work will decline as we all tighten our belts. But consistently, it’s during the tough times that the strength and resilience of our community surfaces.

If history is any indicator, I believe that our fellow citizens will respond generously to help the most vulnerable among us.

Over the past 50 years, research shows that charitable giving has stayed constant or even increased during economic downturns.

Surveys this fall from other nonprofit groups show similar figures. Individuals, corporations and foundations continue giving throughout economic downturns, and in many cases actually give more in support of specific needs.

I have confidence in the generosity of the Atlanta community and believe that in spite of difficult times, our community will heed the call of the most vulnerable among us.

Rabbi Hillel urged us to remember those in need and not to separate ourselves from the community. He also wrote the following powerful challenge for these, and for all, times:

“If I am not for myself, who will be for me? If I am not for others, what am I? And if not now, when?”

> Steve Rakitt is president and CEO of the Jewish Federation of Greater Atlanta.

Read Article ajc.com

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Jelutong sets up disaster response unit

2008-12-30T15:21:00.000-08:00

THE Jelutong parliamentary constituency has launched its Emergency Response Team (ERT).

The team was formed to help flood victims, especially those in the Jalan P. Ramlee vicinity, Jelutong MP Jeff Ooi said.

“Every time, there is a flash flood here, it take up to four hours for the relevant authorities to arrive and render assistance. They are also often left in the dark, not knowing who needs help and the places to go.

“The ERT will serve as ‘communicators’ between authorities like the Fire and Rescue Services Department and Drainage Irrigation Department (DID) and the residents here. This will ensure natural disaster victims get prompt action,” he said at the launching of the ERT project at the Jelutong DAP service centre recently.

Ooi said they were the first constituency in the country to have such an emergency team.

He said the allocation to establish the unit came from the former Jelutong MP Datuk Lee Kah Choon’s fund.

“Lee applied for the allocation from the Federal Government and by the time he received it, Barisan Nasional had already lost the seat.

“Nonetheless, we will continue with his good work of helping the community,” he said, adding that the ERT would also provide a chance for volunteers to show their leadership skills.

Also present at the ceremony was Datuk Keramat assemblyman and ERT advisor Jagdeep Singh Deo.

Read Article The Star Online

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Australian-Indonesian relationship at 'historic high' in 2008

2008-12-30T15:19:00.000-08:00

While speaking at a seminar in Jakarta in August 2008, Australian Minister for Foreign Affairs Stephen Smith described his country's current relationship with Indonesia as at an "historic high". Australia and Indonesia no longer see each other only in geographical and economic terms but as, in the words of Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd, "inseparable partners."

If this is true, it is a big step forward in the decades-old "love-hate" relationship between the two culturally different neighbors.

Just a few years back, Indonesia became enraged with Australia for its pro-independence stance on East Timor (now Timor Leste). More recently, in 2006, Indonesia recalled its ambassador from Canberra as a protest against Australia's decision to grant temporary visas to 42 Papuan asylum seekers. Since then things have been improving rapidly, especially under the new Australian prime minister, Kevin Rudd.

Since his election in November 2007, Rudd has visited Indonesia three times and met with President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono a half a dozen times, sending a clear signal to Jakarta that he regards the relationship with Indonesia as profound.

"We have seen, across the government, a similar resolve, with many Australian ministers coming to Indonesia with quite a few Indonesian ministers coming to Australia," Ambassador Bill Farmer told The Jakarta Post in an exclusive interview at his office in Jakarta recently.

"All of these activities are a sign that the relationship is substantial and growing".

It's true there has been immense activity regarding Australia's foreign policy toward Indonesia. Both countries have been working closely on issues including climate change, counter-terrorism, natural disasters and transnational crimes at various international forums. The Bali Democracy Forum, which was co-chaired by Yudhoyono and Rudd early this month, was just the most recent.

But Indonesia sees the growing ties from a different perspective. Indonesia and Australia are products of different civilizations and cultures. Until recently, both have different political systems.

"Between our two nations there is a mismatch of backgrounds that can make our relations rather bumpy," Indonesian Foreign Minister Hassan Wirayuda said last month in Jakarta.

The relations are at least moving in a positive direction.

"During the past seven years, our bilateral relations have been generally stable. They have become so much more rational than emotional," Hassan said.

It seems Australia does not want its ties with Indonesia, home to world's biggest Muslim population, to be a zero-sum game.

"The new government (Rudd's Cabinet) is very determined to build a solid basis of cooperation," Farmer said.

The most important milestone in the history of the two countries relations was the signing of the Lombok Treaty, which became effective in February 2008.

The Lombok Treaty, or the Australia-Indonesia Framework for Security Cooperation, establishes an official guide for defense, law enforcement, counter terrorism, maritime security and response to natural disasters for the two countries.

It also binds each country to respect the other's sovereignty, territorial integrity, national unity and political independence; and bars interference in each other's internal affairs.

Read Article The Jakarta Post

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Buffett Makes Out With $224 Million on Hurricane Bet

2008-12-30T15:12:00.000-08:00

Talk about a big payout: Warren Buffett's Berkshire Hathaway just scored $224 million on a bet that Florida would escape major hurricane damage in 2008, according to Bloomberg (okay, technically it expires tomorrow.)

Essentially, Florida doubted its ability to raise money after a hurricane. In exchange for $224 million, Buffett pledged to buy $4 billion in bonds to if the state ran into a cash shortfall. Apparently, Florida's Attorney General thought the agreement was a raw deal for the state, stating that the chance of a serious enough hurricane hitting Florida in 2008 was about 3 percent (it turns out that this year was particularly bad in terms of hurricanes--among the five worst since 1944, per the NOAA--but the damage was mostly in Texas and Louisiana.)

Catastrophe bonds, which also cover natural disasters like earthquakes, aren't always a bad deal for states. According to a Milken Institute report:

Catastrophe bonds make a huge amount of sense, in theory. The cost of Hurricane Katrina was over $65 billion in insured losses alone. And that's a fraction of potential damages: coastal property in Florida is worth $1.9 trillion, compared to just $66 billion in Louisiana and Mississippi, where Katrina hit. Values in earthquake-prone California are, if anything, even higher. What's more, uninsured losses, especially in areas of the world which have recently been hit by hurricanes and the 2004 tsunami, are higher still: globally about 25% of catastrophe risks are insured, and in the emerging markets it's 7%.

Read Article usnews.com

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Natural Disasters, Poverty Squeeze Resources for Free Civil Legal Services in Texas

2008-12-29T14:20:00.000-08:00

AUSTIN, Texas, Dec 10, 2008 /PRNewswire via COMTEX/ -- Texas Access to Justice Commission, Others Report to the Supreme Court of Texas on the Status of Legal Aid
Natural disasters such as Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike and a rise in poverty continue to strain resources for providing free civil legal services to poor Texans, according to a report presented Dec. 10 to the Supreme Court of Texas by the Texas Access to Justice Commission.
"The report to the Court detailed the issues that impact access to the civil justice system in Texas, including limited resources, scarcity of legal services in rural areas of the state, and a rapidly increasing poverty population," Chief Justice Wallace B. Jefferson, said. "While important progress has been made, Texas is still facing significant challenges in providing justice for all of our citizens."
Texas saw a 27 percent rise in the number of poor residents from 2000 to 2007; about 5.1 million low-income people in Texas qualify for legal aid services. A new report from the U.S. Census Bureau indicated that two Texas counties--Cameron and Hildago--have the highest poverty rates of any U.S. counties with at least 250,000 residents.
Texas ranks just 43rd in the nation in per capita revenue spent to provide civil legal aid. And a national study by Legal Services Corp. found that legal aid programs turn away half of all qualified applicants because they lack the resources to help them. More specifically, legal aid is able to provide help for only 20-25 percent of the legal needs of low-income and poor Texans who need and seek legal help.
Meanwhile, thousands of evacuees from Hurricane Katrina in 2005 relocated to Texas, and many of the new arrivals have sought civil legal services throughout the state. Furthermore, many Texans affected by Hurricane Rita three years ago and Hurricane Ike in Sept. of this year have required free legal aid.
"The clash between natural disasters like Hurricanes Katrina, Rita and Ike and the increase in the impoverished population in Texas has created a funding gap almost as wide as the Rio Grande at the flood stage," James B. Sales of Houston, chairman of the Texas Access to Justice Commission, said.
Sales applauded the Texas judiciary--especially the Supreme Court and Justice Harriet O'Neill, the Court's representative on the Commission--and the State Bar of Texas for their continuing strong support of access to the justice system for poor Texans.
"Without the unwavering support of the Texas judiciary and the State Bar of Texas, thousands of Texans undoubtedly would go without desperately needed legal services," Sales said. "Any denial of access to the justice system because someone cannot afford legal representation violates our most primitive sense of fairness, decency and just plain basic justice."
In addition, Sales thanked the dedicated staff of legal aid and pro bono programs and the thousands of volunteer lawyers throughout Texas who have helped ensure equal access to justice.

Read Article Market Watch

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“Death Map” Shows Impact of Natural Disasters

2008-12-29T13:38:00.000-08:00

A study shows that, of all natural hazards, Americans are most likely to die from extreme heat. But would more data tell a different story?

Realities of Extreme Weather
According to a newly-published “death map” that analyzed data from 1970 to 2004, “Heat and drought caused 19.6 percent of total deaths from natural hazards,” while summer thunderstorms and winter weather each caused about 18 percent of deaths, reported Reuters.

The research was compiled by a group at the University of South Carolina, and revealed some surprising results: “Earthquakes, wildfires and hurricanes” resulted in fewer than five percent of hazard deaths combined. The researchers concluded that heat is the biggest threat to Americans.

“What is noteworthy here is that over time … singular events such as hurricanes and earthquakes are responsible for relatively few deaths when compared to the more frequent, less catastrophic such as heat waves and severe weather,” the researchers wrote in a report for BioMed Central’s International Journal of Health Geographics.

Read Article Finding Dulcinea

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Asia at risk of era of mega-disasters: report

2008-12-29T13:36:00.000-08:00

SYDNEY (AFP) — The Asia-Pacific faces an era of large-scale natural disasters which could kill up to one million people at a time, with Indonesia, the Philippines and China most at risk, according to an Australian report.

The Sydney Morning Herald cited a scientific report which found that the impact of natural events such as earthquakes and tsunamis would in coming years be amplified by rising populations and climate change.

The paper said the report, by government body Geoscience Australia, had prompted Prime Minister Kevin Rudd and Indonesian President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono to create a joint disaster training and research centre.

Geoscience Australia could not be reached for comment Friday.

The Herald said the Australian scientists had analysed the likelihood of earthquakes, cyclones, tsunamis and volcanoes occurring in the region and then estimated the likely casualty toll.

The study found that cities in the Himalayan belt, China, Indonesia and the Philippines could experience earthquakes where the death toll could top one million.

Indonesia and the Philippines were was also at risk of volcanoes which could affect hundreds of thousands of people while a low-lying country like Bangladesh could be ravaged by tsunamis, floods and cyclones.

The study, part of an assessment by Australia and Indonesia on humanitarian crises, said catastrophes which killed more than 10,000 people were likely to occur several times each decade and there was the potential for events to affect more than one million people.

The paper said that rising populations, climate change and food shortages could exacerbate natural events.

Geoscience Australia scientist Alanna Simpson said the analysis looked at the data of natural events from the past 400 years to predict the likelihood of future events.

"Whilst the incidence of natural hazards themselves -- earthquakes, volcanic eruptions and the like -- hasn't really changed, the sheer number of people living in the Asia-Pacific region means any earthquake has the potential to affect hundreds of thousands, if not millions," Simpson said.

"If we worked out that parts of Alaska, for instance, are likely to have a volcanic eruption every 100 years, the impact of those events would be pretty low because there is no one living in those parts of Alaska, whereas the same frequency in Java will have a huge impact."

Read Article AFP

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'RP now better prepared to respond to large-scale natural disasters'

2008-12-29T13:34:00.000-08:00

The National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said the Philippines is better equipped to face the impacts of possible large-scale natural disasters like earthquake or tsunami because of effective and long-term disaster-preparedness, response and mitigation efforts it has set up since 2001.

NDCC spokesperson and deputy presidential spokesperson Anthony Golez said that President Arroyo, at the start of her term in 2001, had directed the NDCC and other concerned agencies to prepare for disasters and calamities that will hit the country.

“This is the reason why the Philippines has gained the distinction of being one of the countries with disaster-preparedness plans,” said Golez in a reaction to an Australian report citing the Philippines as one of the countries most at risk of large-scale natural disasters which could kill up to one million people.

The Sydney Morning Herald cited a scientific report which found that the impact of natural events such as earthquakes and tsunamis would in the coming years be amplified by rising populations and climate change and the Philippines, China and Indonesia are most at risk.

While Golez acknowledged that the Philippines is prone to a major earthquake or tsunami because it sits in the Pacific Ring of Fire, he stressed that what should be given more weight is how the country is prepared to respond to these natural threats.

He said it was also natural that in highly-populated countries like the Philippines, a greater number of people would be at risk.

He said the Philippines is no stranger to natural disasters as it is frequently hit by typhoons, which cause tremendous damage to life and property. Strong earthquakes have also hit the country in the past and the government has exerted all efforts to increase people’s awareness of how to deal with this occurrence.

“Since then there has been a lot of firsts in the Philippines, like the conduct of simultaneous earthquake drills every quarter in all public schools nationwide,” Golez said.

He pointed out that around eight million students have already participated in these earthquake drills.

“The important thing is the Philippines is better prepared than before,” Golez said.

Read Article Philstar.com

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Think Before You Chop

2008-12-29T13:31:00.000-08:00

With just a few days to go before New Year, the illegal cutting down of fir trees again becomes an issue. Although there are stringent laws in Georgia prohibiting the illegal cutting of fir trees, this is still occurring.

Although artificial fir threes can be found on sale at every store and supermarket, people prefer natural ones, because natural fir trees are much cheaper than artificial ones. One can buy a mid-sized lopped fir tree for 20 lari, while an artificial tree of the same size costs twice as much.

The first decorated fir tree appeared in 1510 in Latvia’s capital, Riga. The tradition of decorating trees subsequently spread around the world, but has created problems, as fir trees are used for New Year and plenty of new ones are cut annually. This became issue for environmentalists, who decided to invent artificial trees.

There are plenty of natural fir trees on sale at flea markets, namely, those in Railway Square, opposite Children’s World and on Gldani Market. We interviewed several traders who did not wish to identify themselves and sought to avoid us for the most part. The only thing we were able to get from them was that the trees they sell are legally cut down and shipped from West Georgia. Fir trees grown in pots are also for sale at the flea markets, but these are much more expensive, their prices ranging between 70-400 Laris.

Government Order No 702, issued in the winter of last year, authorized the Forestry Department to select 5,000 natural fir trees between 1 and 2 metres tall in the Adigeni District forests. These fir trees were dug up with their roots, replanted in pots and put on sale; their prices ranged between 30-500 Laris. Government representatives stated that each family will plant these fir trees in their own gardens and squares, something very favourable for the environment.

The Environmental Inspectorate states that the majority of fir trees on sale in Tbilisi are not genuine fir trees, and a permit is not needed to cut what is being sold. Environmental Inspection representatives have told us that on-duty crews are making daily rounds and inspecting markets to prevent the sale of illegally cut fir trees. It’s difficult to say whether the fir trees on sale at the markets are genuine, but environmentalists say that after this illegal degradation of the forests environmental disaster in Georgia is inevitable.

The present environmental state of the sectors subject to licensing and their adjacent forests is unenviable. For the past 20 years there have been cases of massive cutting of forests and an extraordinary number of natural disasters. According to data from the Disaster Epidemiological Research Centre the losses to Georgia’s economy from natural disasters in 1974-2003 totaled USD 3,369 milliard. From this, in 1999-2008 719,246 people suffered loss as a result of the 10 biggest natural disasters, while damage to the economy totaled USD 552 million. According to the natural disaster risks analysis forecast, damage from natural disasters in the coming years may amount to USD 4 milliard.

Read Article G FM

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Natural disasters took a record financial toll on Indiana in 2008

2008-12-29T13:28:00.000-08:00

The numbers alone could tell the story.

Storms and high water -- from Northern Indiana in January to communities downstate in September -- made 2008 Indiana's costliest year ever for natural disasters.

More than 17,800 people registered for aid with the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which has given more than $55 million to flood victims.

All told, federal aid for repairs to homes and public infrastructure topped $213 million.

There were more than 8,400 evacuations and water rescues, with damage to more than 5,600 homes, 650 roads and 100 dams and levees.

But there are, of course, stories beyond those numbers. Six months after the devastating floods, The Indianapolis Star checked back with the communities of Columbus, Franklin and Martinsville to see how they are doing.

Read Article Indystar.com

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Natural disasters 'killed over 220,000' in 2008

2008-12-29T13:27:00.000-08:00

BERLIN (AFP) — Natural disasters killed over 220,000 people in 2008, making it one of the most devastating years on record and underlining the need for a global climate deal, the world's number two reinsurer said Monday.

Although the number of natural disasters was lower than in 2007, the catastrophes that occurred proved to be more destructive in terms of the number of victims and the financial cost of the damage caused, Germany-based Munich Re said in its annual assessment.

"This continues the long-term trend we have been observing. Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes," Munich Re board member Torsten Jeworrek said.

Most devastating in terms of human fatalities was Cyclone Nargis, which lashed Myanmar on May 2-3 to kill more than 135,000 people and leave more than one million homeless.

Just days later an earthquake shook China's Sichuan province, leaving 70,000 dead, 18,000 missing and almost five million homeless, according to official figures, Munich Re said.

Around 1,000 people died in a severe cold snap in January in Afghanistan, Kyrgystan and Tajikistan, while 635 perished in August and September in floods in India, Nepal and Bangladesh.

Typhoon Fengshen killed 557 people in China and the Philippines in June, while earthquakes in Pakistan in October left 300 dead.

Six tropical cyclones also slammed into the southern United States, including Ike which, with insured losses of 10 billion dollars, was the industry's costliest catastrophe of the year.

In Europe, an intense low-pressure system called Emma caused two billion dollars worth of damage in March, while a storm dubbed Hilal in late May and early June left 1.1 billion dollars' worth.

The earthquake in Sichuan province was the most expensive overall single catastrophe of 2008, causing around 85 billion dollars worth of damage, helping to make the year the third most expensive on record, Munich Re said.

With 200 billion dollars' worth of damage, only 2005, when a large number of hurricanes slammed into the southern United States, and 1995, year of the Kobe earthquake in Japan, wreaked more destruction since records began in 1900.

According to provisional estimates from the World Meteorological Organization, 2008 was the tenth warmest year since the beginning of routine temperature recording and the eighth warmest in the northern hemisphere.

This means that the ten warmest years ever recorded have all occurred in the last 12 years, Munich Re said.

Read Article AFP

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Natural Disasters Cause Higher Losses in 2008, Munich Re Says

2008-12-29T13:22:00.000-08:00

Dec. 29 (Bloomberg) -- Losses from natural catastrophes rose to the third-highest level on record as climate change fueled cyclones and hurricanes and China was hit by the Sichuan earthquake, according to a report from Munich Re.

Worldwide insured losses related to natural catastrophes increased about 50 percent to an estimated $45 billion last year compared with 2007, the world’s biggest reinsurer said in an e- mailed statement today. Overall losses more than doubled to about $200 billion, the Munich-based company said.

Natural disasters cost more than 220,000 lives even as the total number of such events declined 22 percent to 750, the report showed. China’s earthquake in Sichuan province in May claimed about 70,000 lives and cost $85 billion in overall losses, while Tropical Cyclone Nargis killed about 84,500 in Myanmar. September’s Hurricane Ike in the U.S. was the most expensive natural disaster for insurers, costing $15 billion.

“Climate change has already started and is very probably contributing to increasingly frequent weather extremes and ensuing natural catastrophes,” management board member Torsten Jeworrek said. “2008 has again shown how important it is for us to analyze risks like climate change in all their facets and to manage the business accordingly.”

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Las Vegas gets record Dec. snowfall, 3.6 inches

2008-12-23T16:02:00.000-08:00

LAS VEGAS — Flights resumed in and out of Las Vegas, but schools and highways were closed Thursday after a record-setting snowfall coated marquees on the Strip, weighed down palm trees and blanketed surrounding mountain areas.

The city awoke to clear weather after a storm that left 3.6 inches at McCarran International Airport. It was biggest December snowfall on record there, and the worst for any month since a 7 1/2-inch accumulation in January

The storm Wednesday and early Thursday also dumped snow or rain and snarled travel in other parts of Nevada, much of southern California and parts of northern Arizona.

"It looks like Whoville, all snowy, but with less joy and more extreme misery," said Calen Weiss, 19, who was stuck Wednesday when snow in the Cajon Pass east of Los Angeles disrupted travel on Interstate 15.

Cajon Pass and another leg of Interstate 15 near the Nevada line both reopened by midday Thursday, while Interstate 5, the major route between Northern and Southern California, partially reopened.

In Washington state, Seattle got a rare 4-inch accumulation, and the 19.4 inches of snow that piled up at Spokane International Airport smashed the 24-hour record total of 13 inches set in 1950. And snow continued to fall — 23.3 inches had piled up in Spokane in the 36-hour period that ended at 4 p.m. Thursday.

The city of 200,000 declared a "Condition Red" snow emergency, meaning crews will work around the clock until they complete a full city plow.

The storm was heading east. Northern Illinois was forecast to receive up to 14 inches of snow Thursday night and Friday, while Michigan's Lower Peninsula was expecting up to 10. Road commissions were on high alert with snow and salting teams standing by, and some people left work early and made a run on gas and grocery stores.

For Las Vegas, the storm left heavy wet accumulations of snow along the famed Strip. At least one carport toppled under the accumulated weight, authorities said, and motorists in Henderson parked their cars and walked home when tires spun as they tried to navigate slippery uphill climbs.

Thursday was the first snow day for Clark County schools since the 1979 storm, district spokesman Michael Rodriguez said.

Airlines resumed flights Thursday after canceling dozens of them late Wednesday, McCarran airport spokesman Jerry Pascual said.

"Visibility has lifted. The outlook for the day is much better," Pascual said as the sun rose Thursday. Pascual said just one flight had gotten out overnight and stranded travelers were forced to sleep on lounge seats and floors at the nation's sixth-busiest airport.

In Arizona, snow was widespread in the state's higher elevations, with 24-hour accumulations reaching 10 inches in Flagstaff by daybreak. By 10 a.m. Thursday, official weather service measurements had 18 inches of snow on the ground in Flagstaff.

Authorities said major highways were open but advised drivers to be careful of packed snow and ice.

In western Washington, the Seattle School District had been mocked by some for closing schools Wednesday with just a threat of snow. The threat became a reality Thursday, and 4 inches of snow by midday left many drivers spinning their wheels on slippery roads.

The National Weather Service said the city even had an episode of "thundersnow" when a storm cell moved across Puget Sound.

Rachel Bjork, 36, waited in vain for a downtown bus at a stop in north Seattle as four outbound buses passed.

"I'm getting a little annoyed. It's cold," Bjork said. "I would suspect there's probably going to be four people at work. Usually there's 30."

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Tracking Down Strange Seismic Waves

2008-12-23T15:47:00.000-08:00

As a rule, oceanic crust is subducted under the adjoining continent or under other oceanic crust at the major fault zones bordering and traversing the Pacific. Seismic waves generated by earthquakes and passing through the earth’s interior provide information about the underground structure of such regions, and with few exceptions they run according to specific patterns. Accordingly, the waves pass through an anisotropic region by splitting up and propagating at right angles to one another in two different directions and at two different velocities. In subduction zones, the fast component of shear waves alignes normally parallel to the trench. This is usually interpreted as due to flow of the mantle parallel to the trench in the region below the slab. However, numerical models show that the flow is perpendicular to the slab.

Cause identified

In his doctoral dissertation, Manuele Faccenda from the Institute for Geophysics at ETH Zurich has now studied the reason why the faster of the two seismic waves propagates in the known directions. Together with Luigi Burlini and Taras Gerya, Senior Lecturers at ETH Zurich, and David Mainprice of the University of Montpellier, he has now published the results of the study today in the scientific journal “Nature”.

Until now it was assumed that the cause of the splitting of the waves – the anisotropy – is situated in the earth’s mantle, but satisfactory replication of this in models was unsuccessful. Therefore the scientists have now included new aspects in their model. The study was based on seismic wave data already recorded. To this were added various parameters representing the conditions in the fault zone, e.g. the subduction angle and the age of the plates, their thickness and the orientation of the minerals to be expected in this crustal region. The expected water content of the minerals was also taken into account.

Hydrated plates as the decisive factor

In their model the researchers were now able to show that the source of the anisotropy lies in the subducting plate and not in the mantle. The computer simulation they developed reveals exactly what happens when an oceanic crustal plate subducts below a neighbouring plate. It is apparent that cracks form in it, depending on its age, depth, subduction angle and pressure. The minerals of the oceanic plate can be hydrated along these cracks by water penetrating down to a depth of 40 kilometres. This forms highly anisotropic platelet-shaped minerals aligned parallel to the cracks.

The seismic waves attain their highest velocity when they penetrate through these platelets longitudinally. In this case the fast seismic waves propagate parallel to the fault. The overall results of the study show that the orientation patterns of the seismic waves relative to the faults match the patterns observed around the Pacific well. The only case in which the researchers were unable to simulate the known pathway of the seismic waves by their model was for a quite young subduction zone in which the plate is still very flexible and subducts at only a gentle slope, and in which consequently scarcely any fractures and hydrated minerals occur. Faccenda explains that in this case probably the cause of the anisotropy really is to be found in the mantle.

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Great Indian Ocean Earthquake Of 2004 Set Off Tremors In San Andreas Fault

2008-12-23T15:45:00.000-08:00

New research shows that the great Indian Ocean earthquake that struck off the Indonesian island of Sumatra on the day after Christmas in 2004 set off such tremors nearly 9,000 miles away in the San Andreas fault at Parkfield, Calif.

"We found that an earthquake that happened halfway around the world could trigger a seismic signal in the San Andreas fault. It is a low-stress event and a new kind of seismic phenomenon," said Abhijit Ghosh, a University of Washington doctoral student in Earth and space sciences.

"Previous research has shown that this phenomenon, called non-volcanic tremor, was produced in the San Andreas fault in 2002 by the Denali earthquake in Alaska, but seeing this new evidence of tremor triggered by an event as distant as the Sumatra earthquake is really exciting," he said.

Ghosh is to present the findings Dec. 17 in a poster at the American Geophysical Union annual meeting in San Francisco.

The Indian Ocean earthquake on Dec. 26, 2004, was measured at magnitude 9.2 and generated tsunami waves that killed a quarter-million people. It was not known, however, that an earthquake of even that magnitude could set off non-volcanic tremor so far away.

The San Andreas fault in the Parkfield region is one of the most studied seismic areas in the world. It experiences an earthquake of magnitude 6.0 on an average of every 22 years, so a variety of instruments have been deployed to record the seismic activity.

In this case, the scientists examined data from instruments placed in holes bored in the ground as part of the High-Resolution Seismic Network operated by the University of California, Berkeley, as well as information gathered by the Northern California Seismic Network operated by the U.S. Geological Survey.

Signals corresponding with non-volcanic tremor at precisely the time that seismic waves from the Indian Ocean earthquake were passing the Parkfield area were recorded on a number of instruments as far as 125 miles apart.

"It's fairly obvious. There's no question of this tremor being triggered by the seismic waves from Sumatra," Ghosh said.

Scientists have pondered whether non-volcanic tremor is related to actual slippage within an earthquake fault or is caused by the flow of fluids below the Earth's surface. Recent research supports the idea that tremor is caused by fault slippage.

"If the fault is slipping from tremor in one place, it means stress is building up elsewhere on the fault, and that could bring the other area a little closer to a big earthquake," Ghosh said.

Monitoring tremor could help to estimate how much stress has built up within a particular fault.

"If the fault is closer to failure, then even a small amount of added stress likely can produce tremor," he said. "If the fault is already at low stress, then even high-energy waves probably won't produce tremor."

The work adds to the understanding of non-volcanic tremor and what role it might play in releasing or shifting stress within an earthquake-producing fault.

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Boundary Between Earth's Upper Atmosphere And Space Has Moved To Extraordinarily Low Altitudes, NASA Instruments Document

2008-12-23T15:43:00.000-08:00

The CINDI suite, which was built under the direction Principal Investigator Rod Heelis of the University of Texas at Dallas, includes both ion and neutral sensors and makes measurements of the variations in neutral and ion densities and drifts.

CINDI and C/NOFS were designed to study disturbances in Earth's ionosphere that can result in a disruption of navigation and communication signals. The ionosphere is a gaseous envelope of electrically charged particles that surrounds our planet and it is important because Radar, radio waves, and global positioning system signals can be disrupted by ionospheric disturbances.

CINDI's first discovery was, however, that the ionosphere was not where it had been expected to be. During the first months of CINDI operations the transition between the ionosphere and space was found to be at about 260 miles (420 km) altitude during the nighttime, barely rising above 500 miles (800 km) during the day. These altitudes were extraordinarily low compared with the more typical values of 400 miles (640 km) during the nighttime and 600 miles (960 km) during the day.

The height of the ionosphere/space transition is controlled in part by the amount of extreme ultraviolet energy emitted by the Sun and a somewhat contracted ionosphere could have been expected because C/NOFS was launched during a minimum in the 11-year cycle of solar activity. However, the size of the actual contraction caught investigators by surprise. In fact, when they looked back over records of solar activity, they found that C/NOFS had been launched during the quietest solar minimum since the space age began.

This extraordinary circumstance is providing an unparalleled opportunity to study the connection between the interior dynamics of the Sun and the response of the Earth's space environment.

CINDI is a NASA sponsored Mission of Opportunity conducted by the University of Texas at Dallas. NASA's Explorer Program at Goddard Space Flight Center, Greenbelt, Md., managed the CINDI mission. The Explorer Program provides frequent flight opportunities for world-class scientific investigations from space within heliophysics and astrophysics.

The CINDI investigation is carried out as an enhancement to the science objectives of the C/NOFS satellite undertaken by the Air Force Research Laboratory and the Space and Missile Command Test and Evaluation Directorate.

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Breathing Cycles In Earth's Upper Atmosphere Tied To Solar Wind Disturbances

2008-12-23T15:41:00.000-08:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 20, 2008) — A new University of Colorado at Boulder study shows the periodic "breathing" of Earth's upper atmosphere that has long puzzled scientists is due in part to cyclic solar wind disturbances, a finding that should help engineers track satellites more accurately and improve forecasts for electronic communication disruptions.

Aerospace engineering sciences department Associate Professor Jeff Thayer said the outer, gaseous shell of the atmosphere, known as the thermosphere, is known to expand and contract as it exchanges energy with the space environment, causing changes in thermosphere density. Changes in thermosphere density can alter the atmospheric drag of satellites, causing them to deviate from their predicted paths and complicating tracking and orbital adjustment maneuvers, he said.

While extreme ultraviolet radiation from the sun is the dominant mechanism that causes the thermosphere to "breathe," the new CU-Boulder study indicates high-speed wind from the sun triggers independent breathing episodes by creating geomagnetic disturbances, heating the thermosphere and altering its density. The wind streams are generated by relatively cool pockets on the sun's surface known as solar coronal holes that periodically rotate around the sun's surface, said Thayer.

"We were surprised to find the density changes were so consistent in our observations," said Thayer, lead study author. "Because of the huge increase in satellite activity in recent years, finding this new thermosphere breathing mechanism should help improve our models and increase the accuracy satellite tracking and collision avoidance."

A paper on the subject was presented at the Fall Meeting of the American Geophysical Union held Dec. 15 to Dec. 19 in San Francisco. Co-authors included Research Associate Jiuhou Lei, Professor Jeffrey Forbes, Research Associate Eric Sutton and Professor Steve Nerem of CU-Boulder's aerospace engineering sciences department.

The thermosphere begins at about 60 miles above Earth and extends to about 300 miles in altitude. The thermosphere gas is known to expand and contract on a 27-day solar rotation period due to changes in extreme UV radiation, said Thayer. The new findings indicate the thermosphere also has periodic oscillations occur at four-to-five days, six-to-seven days and nine-to-11 days caused by the violent effect of the high-speed soar winds interacting with Earth and transferring energy through auroras and enhanced electric currents.

The team used data from the German Challenging Minisatellite Payload, or CHAMP, and the NASA Advanced composition Explorer satellite to measure the solar wind properties, The research was funded by a five-year, $7 million grant from the U.S. Air Force Office of Scientific Research to a CU-Boulder aerospace engineering science group led by Forbes.

In addition to helping monitor density changes in the thermosphere, the new findings should help researchers track the growing amount of space debris in the upper atmosphere that can damage satellites and threaten astronauts, said Thayer. Last year a ground-based Chinese missile was used to intentionally destroy an aging Chinese meteorological satellite, creating thousands of chunks of debris in low-Earth orbit, a region heavily used by spacecraft, including the International Space Station.

A better understanding of the characteristics of the thermosphere should also help scientists and engineers adjust radio communications and GPS signals during periods of significant solar wind activity, he said.

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Solar Activity Between 1250-1850 Linked To Temperature Changes In Siberia

2008-12-23T15:40:00.000-08:00

ScienceDaily (Dec. 22, 2008) — An ice core drilled at the Belukha glacier in the Siberian Altai by a Swiss-Russian research team under the leadership of the Paul Scherrer Institute (PSI) in 2001 has now provided new findings in climate research. Oxygen isotopes in the ice were used to reconstruct the temperatures in the Altai over the past 750 years.

The scientists discovered a strong link between regional temperatures and the solar activity in the period 1250-1850, concluding that the sun was an important driver of preindustrial temperature changes in the Altai.

The observation that the reconstructed temperatures followed the solar forcing with a delay of 10 to 30 years is particularly interesting. The strong rise in temperature in the Altai between 1850 and 2000 can not be explained by solar activity changes, but rather by the increased concentration of the greenhouse gas CO2 in the atmosphere.

The researchers report on these findings in the online edition of the scientific journal Geophysical Research Letters.

The Altai mountains lie on the border between Russia, Kazakhstan, Mongolia, and China, in a region with a particularly pronounced continental climate. In 2001, an international research team under the leadership of Margit Schwikowski (Paul Scherrer Institute) drilled a 139 m-long ice core at the Belukha glacier, near the highest mountain of the Altai. Following extensive work in the laboratory, this core has now revealed its secrets.

Ice core acting as a thermometer

The ice core was cut into 3600 samples at -20°C in the PSI’s cold room, and the 16O and 18O oxygen isotope content determined with an isotope mass spectrometer. It was demonstrated that the behaviour of the stable oxygen isotope ratio has closely followed the record of the temperature measured at a nearby weather station over the past 130 years. This parameter can therefore be used as a measure for temperature in the past. The deepest sample was dated to the year 1250, which means that the ice core contains climate information covering the past 750 years.

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Expert: Small Ark. earthquakes could be warning

2008-12-04T17:23:00.000-08:00

By JON GAMBRELL

Associated Press Writer

LITTLE ROCK, Ark. — A series of small earthquakes that rattled central Arkansas in recent weeks could be a sign of something much bigger to come.

By this weekend, seismologists hope to install three measurement devices to gather data about future temblors in the area. That information could show whether the rumbles come from heat-related geological changes or from an undiscovered fault — which could mean a risk of substantial earthquakes in the future.

"The potential for generating a high-magnitude earthquake is real," said Haydar Al-Shukri, director of the Arkansas Earthquake Center at the University of Arkansas at Little Rock.

Five earthquakes ranging in magnitude from 2.2 to 2.7 have hit central Arkansas this month. Quakes with a magnitude of 2.5 to 3 are typically the smallest felt by people.

While hundreds of earthquakes occur each year, including several in Arkansas, the location of the recent ones give Al-Shukri pause. Arkansas quakes generally occur in the state's northeast corner, part of the New Madrid Seismic Zone, where three temblors with magnitudes of around 8 struck during the winter of 1812 and smaller ones continue today.

But central Arkansas does not have any seismic history, Al-Shukri said.

"It is abnormal. It is significant," he said. "We need to carefully watch this activity."

The area does not have any permanent seismograph, so researchers asked the University of Memphis in Tennessee if they could use its portable equipment. The nearest seismographs aren't close enough to provide the detailed readings scientists need to determine what could be causing the tremors or properly locate their origin, said Scott Ausbrooks, the geohazard supervisor for the Arkansas Geological Survey.

"I don't know if you've looked at a map of where these events are located, but they've got a scatter on them," he said. "We're thinking this is probably the inherited error built in when you try to locate events of this small a magnitude from that far away."

Ausbrooks said officials would install the three seismographs around Magnet Cove, a Hot Spring County community near where a magnitude-2.7 earthquake hit on Nov. 1. Residents told police dispatchers they heard what sounded like an explosion.

One possible culprit could be a hydrothermal quake, caused by extremely hot fluid pushing into rocks under the surface. The hot fluid percolates into the cracks of the rocks and causes movement, Al-Shukri said.

That theory matches the geologic history of the area. Central Arkansas is home to Hot Springs, a city that grew up around its namesake spas. The springs have 143-degree waters rushing to the surface continuously.

If that's the case, the earthquakes likely wouldn't pose a drastic danger to the area, Al-Shukri said. At their strongest, such quakes reach only a magnitude of 5, the U.S. Geological Survey's threshold for "moderate."

However, if the earthquakes are caused by a previously unknown fault, that could mean a much more powerful temblor in the future. A recently discovered fault in eastern Arkansas near Marianna caused an earthquake with a magnitude of between 7.2 and 7.5 in the past 5,000 years, Al-Shukri said. That could cause widespread, heavy damage.

"Now, it's not active, but in geologist time, that's yesterday," he said.

Ausbrooks wouldn't speculate on what could be causing the earthquakes, saying he wanted to see what data the seismographs capture. However, he acknowledged an unknown fault could be running through the area.

"There are numerous faults across the state, both known and unknown," Ausbrooks said. "This area has got a lot of faults associated with it from the mountain building of the Ouachitas, but they're considered inactive."

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Feds extend total payment for Ike debris removal

2008-12-04T17:21:00.000-08:00

AUSTIN, Texas — The federal government will pay Hurricane Ike debris-removal costs in Texas for six more months, but Gov. Rick Perry's office said the extension is inadequate.

The Bush administration late Wednesday announced the extension of 100 percent cleanup payments for areas devastated by the Sept. 13 hurricane.

Perry has criticized the federal government's response to debris removal, which Texas officials have estimated will costs as much as $2 billion.

"The federal government's announcement to provide only a small fraction of the assistance Texas requested is unacceptable," governor's spokeswoman Allison Castle said in an e-mail. "The governor made a very reasonable request, that Texas be treated no less than Louisiana after Hurricane Katrina, and this doesn't even come close."

The Federal Emergency Management Agency typically pays 75 percent of cleanup costs, with local governments responsible for the rest.

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US lawmaker calls for action against Haiti hunger

2008-12-04T17:20:00.000-08:00

By JONATHAN M. KATZ

Associated Press Writer

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti — A prominent U.S. congresswoman called on Wednesday for a better-funded, systemic approach to fighting hunger in Haiti following an Associated Press report that child malnutrition is worsening.

California Democrat Maxine Waters, a veteran member of the Congressional Black Caucus, urged the U.S. Agency for International Development to locate Haitian children in danger of starvation, citing a Nov. 21 AP report that malnutrition had contributed to the deaths of at least 26 children in the southeastern area of Baie d'Orange.

USAID needs to make sure malnourished children are receiving appropriate therapy and evacuate them to hospitals or cities if necessary, she said.

"The idea that children are dying of starvation right here in this hemisphere" is unacceptable, Waters said by phone.

The U.S. Congress already pledged about $100 million in relief from the August and September tropical storms and hurricanes that hit Haiti, killing at least 793 people and causing $1 billion in damage. But Waters said not enough is being done.

"We are going to follow up with a combination of our ambassador and (President Rene) Preval and see if we can help to orchestrate something that's a little more extensive," she said.

Aid workers discovered the pocket of malnutrition after nearly all of the children had died, and officials are still investigating to determine the exact causes of death.

At least 65 more severely undernourished children were evacuated to hospitals or treated in tent clinics on site.

USAID is taking the matter seriously and had already stepped-up ongoing programs to deliver food and health aid to the region, said Mari Tolliver, a U.S. embassy spokeswoman in Port-au-Prince.

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Former firefighter sentenced in Calif. arson fires

2008-12-04T17:11:00.000-08:00

WOODLAND, Calif. — A former volunteer firefighter has been sentenced to 40 years in prison for setting a dozen wildfires in rural northern California.

Robert Eason, 39, was sentenced Wednesday on charges of arson, using time-delay fuses and possessing incendiary devices.

Arson investigators say there have been no suspicious roadside fires in Capay Valley northwest of Sacramento since Eason's arrest in October 2006.

Investigators used satellite tracking and hidden cameras to catch the former captain with the Capay Volunteer Fire Department.

Eason's attorney had argued that his client had incendiary devices because he was conducting experiments on his own time to help capture the arsonist.

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2008 hurricane season sets 5 records

2008-12-04T17:10:00.000-08:00

Sunday’s end: Though ‘huge monster’ never hit, Georgia Tech prof cites ‘a lot of damage.’ Insurance industry records at least $10.6 billion in losses.
By Seth Borenstein

Associated Press

Friday, November 28, 2008

Washington —- The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Sunday, appears to have attained Olympian heights, setting at least five weather records in the United States and Cuba.

“It was pretty relentless in a large number of big strikes,” said Georgia Tech atmospheric sciences professor Judith Curry. “We just didn’t have the huge monster where a lot of people lost their lives, but we had a lot of damage, a lot of damage.”

Data on death and damage are still being calculated, but the insurance industry recorded at least $10.6 billion in losses this hurricane season. That includes $8.1 billion in insured damage from Hurricane Ike, which ranked as the seventh most expensive catastrophe in the United States history, according to Mike Barry of the Insurance Information Institute in New York.

Three records showed the hurricane season’s relentlessness. Six consecutive named storms —- Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike —- struck the U.S. mainland, something that had not been seen in recorded history. It’s also the first time a major hurricane, those with winds of at least 111 mph, formed in five consecutive months, July through November. And Bertha spun about for 17 days, making it the longest lived storm in July.

Two records involve storms hitting the same places repeatedly. Rain-heavy Fay was the only storm to hit the same state —- Florida —- four times, leaving heavy flood damage in its wake.

A record three major hurricanes smacked Cuba: Gustav, Ike and Paloma.

Upper air currents helped storms get bigger and focused them into a few places —- Cuba and the U.S. Gulf Coast —- said Gerry Bell, the top hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration’s Climate Prediction Center. Five of the six storms that hit the United States this season struck the Gulf Coast.

And that repeat-tracking of storms to the same place —- and with it increased likelihood of landfall —- is typical of years when the hurricane season is on overdrive, like this year, Bell said.

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Gustav, Ike destroyed 60 energy platforms

2008-12-03T16:22:00.000-08:00

WASHINGTON — Hurricanes Gustav and Ike destroyed 60 drilling platforms that drew about 1 percent of the oil and natural gas from the Gulf of Mexico, the Interior Department said Wednesday in a final damage assessment of the two September storms.

The platforms produced 13,657 barrels, or 1.05 percent, of the oil and nearly 94.5 cubic feet, or 1.3 percent, of the natural gas taken daily from the Gulf of Mexico, said Interior's Minerals Management Service, which oversees the federal offshore oil and gas leasing program.

The agency also reported an additional 31 platforms were extensively damaged by the two storms. The damaged platforms were in waters from 37 feet to 477 feet deep. They are estimated to take three to six months to repair, the agency said. An additional 93 platforms sustained moderate damage that could be repaired within three months.

The agency said 2,127 oil and gas production platforms in the Gulf of Mexico were exposed to Gustav's hurricane-force winds on Sept. 1. Ike followed 12 days later. There are 3,800 production platforms in Gulf waters, from single wells in 10 feet of water to huge, multiwell platforms in water more than 7,000 feet deep.

Three years ago, Hurricane Katrina destroyed 44 platforms, and soon after Hurricane Rita destroyed 64.

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Atlantic hurricane season blows away records

2008-12-03T16:21:00.000-08:00

By SETH BORENSTEIN

AP Science Writer

WASHINGTON — The 2008 Atlantic hurricane season, which ends Sunday, seemed to strike the United States and Cuba as if on redial, setting at least five weather records for persistence and repeatedly striking the same areas.

"It was pretty relentless in a large number of big strikes," said Georgia Tech atmospheric sciences professor Judith Curry. "We just didn't have the huge monster where a lot of people lost their lives, but we had a lot of damage, a lot of damage."

Data on death and damage are still being calculated, but the insurance industry recorded at least $10.6 billion in losses this hurricane season. That includes $8.1 billion in insured damage from Hurricane Ike, which ranked as the seventh most expensive catastrophe in the United States history, according to Mike Barry of the Insurance Information Institute in New York.

Three records showed the hurricane season's relentlessness. Six consecutive named storms — Dolly, Edouard, Fay, Gustav, Hanna and Ike — struck the U.S. mainland, something that had not been seen in recorded history. It's also the first time a major hurricane, those with winds of at least 111 mph, formed in five consecutive months, July through November. And Bertha spun about for 17 days, making it the longest lived storm in July.

Two records involve storms hitting the same places repeatedly. Rain-heavy Fay was the only storm to hit the same state — Florida — four times, leaving heavy flood damage in its wake. A record three major hurricanes smacked Cuba: Gustav, Ike and Paloma.

Upper air currents helped storms get bigger and focused them into a few places — Cuba and the U.S. Gulf Coast — said Gerry Bell, the top hurricane forecaster at the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration's Climate Prediction Center. Five of the six storms that hit the United States this season struck the Gulf Coast.

And that repeat-tracking of storms to the same place — and with it increased likelihood of landfall — is typical of years when the hurricane season is on overdrive, like this year, Bell said.

This year wasn't the busiest ever. It merely tied for the fourth most named storms in history with 16. The 2005 season shattered all records with 28 tropical storms and hurricanes.

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Cuba names general new agriculture minister

2008-12-03T16:19:00.000-08:00

HAVANA — Cuba's governing body has named Gen. Ulises Rosales Toro to the long-vacant post of agriculture minister as it struggles with shortages following three hurricanes.

Rosale moves from the post of sugar minister. He also is a member of the Communist Party's select Politburo.

Wednesday's announcement in the party newspaper Granma says Rosales was picked for his "wide management experience and political authority" and the need to improve agricultural production.

Agriculture Vice Minister Maria del Carmen Perez Hernandez had been overseeing the ministry.

The sugar minister's job now goes to Rosales' deputy there, agronomist Luis Manuel Avila Gonzalez.

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Space experts offer anti-asteroid plan

2008-12-03T16:18:00.000-08:00

By DANICA KIRKA

Associated Press Writer

VIENNA, Austria — It is disaster planning on a galactic scale: Space experts want to come up with a contingency plan on what to do in case a killer asteroid collides with Earth.

The experts, including former American astronaut Rusty Schweickart, told U.N. officials Tuesday that the international community needs a plan to counter so-called Near Earth Objects in advance of the potential catastrophe. Deflecting asteroids — or at least evacuating people in areas where they might strike — could save millions of lives.

"This is a natural disaster, which is larger, potentially, than any other natural disaster we know of," Schweickart said. "However, it is preventable ... that's a very important thing to keep in mind. But it is our responsibility to take action to do that."

Asteroids are small planetary bodies that revolve around the sun, according to the NASA Web site, which states that many scientists believe an asteroid collided with Earth about 65 million years ago, helping cause environmental changes that led to the extinction of the dinosaurs.

Schweickart, a former Apollo 9 crew member, spoke at a news conference after briefing U.N. officials on a recent report called "Asteroid Threats: A Call for Global Response." The report was compiled by the International Panel on Asteroid Threat Mitigation that is made up of members of the Association of Space Explorers, among others.

The report, among other things, calls for an international decision-making program within the framework of the United Nations to decide on actions to counter asteroids. It also urges the creation of an information, analysis and warning system that would operate telescopes worldwide to detect and track possibly harmful objects.

Schweickart acknowledged that devastating collisions happen "very infrequently" but warned the risk could not be ignored. Next year alone, six asteroids have a "very small" probability of hitting the Earth, he said.

He added that over the coming years, researchers will increasingly be able to predict possible collisions, enabling early warnings and deflection operations.

While rare, Near Earth Objects have caused considerable damage in the not-too-distant past. One known as the Tunguska object slammed into remote central Siberia in 1908, unleashing energy equivalent to a nuclear bomb explosion. It wiped out 60 million trees over a 2,150-square-kilometer (830-square-mile) area. Had it hit a populated area, the loss of life would have been staggering.

For Walther Lichem, an Austrian member of the panel who was also at the news conference, investing in preventive measures is key to making sure such incidents don't happen again with more devastating effects.

"The damage potential is so incredible that we have to take the responsibility," he said.

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California burn areas escape storm damage

2008-12-03T16:17:00.000-08:00

By GILLIAN FLACCUS

Associated Press Writer

SANTA ANA, Calif. — Weary residents ordered to evacuate during heavy overnight rains returned home Wednesday as the threat of mudslides and flash flooding in Southern California's wildfire burn areas eased on the eve of Thanksgiving.

All 1,500 people ordered to leave their homes in the Orange County city of Yorba Linda were allowed back in and no major flooding was reported in the hilly suburban communities that burned so dramatically earlier this month.

Northwest of Los Angeles, Santa Barbara County officials lifted evacuation orders for residents of about 2,200 homes. Many had fled their homes for the second time in a month.

Bob Cluff, 76, fled his Anaheim Hills home of 34 years two weeks ago as embers dropped into his backyard and then endured the fear of mudslides from the charred hills above him.

On Wednesday, he savored the cooking smells as his wife, Vernice, prepared for the arrival of their 20 children, grandchildren and great-grandchildren for the holiday.

"I feel like I'm extremely blessed," Cluff said. "When you've lived here as long as we've lived here, that makes it very difficult to get turned out or flooded out."

The first big Pacific storm of the season came ashore Tuesday, and on Wednesday it was still occasionally dropping rain heavy enough to trigger scattered flash flood warnings, but the region largely appeared to have avoided serious damage.

There were scattered reports of small rock slides in Santa Barbara County, a slipping hillside in southern Orange County and a small mud flow in a canyon that burned last fall — but officials had feared much worse.

"The weather event is over, that doesn't mean our work is over," said William Boyer, spokesman for Santa Barbara County. "This is really just the beginning of the real rainy season for this area."

Without significant damage, the wet weather was a welcome change from a long siege of temperatures in the 80s and 90s with skin-withering dry Santa Ana winds that fanned destructive wildfires around Southern California. About 1,000 homes were damaged or destroyed fires this month. Dozens more burned in October

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Brazil flood, mudslide death toll rises to 79

2008-12-03T16:15:00.000-08:00

By ALAN CLENDENNING

Associated Press Writer

SAO PAULO, Brazil — Rescue workers desperately digging through the wreckage of homes engulfed by mudslides found more bodies on Tuesday in southern Brazil, raising the death toll from rain-spawned floods and hillside collapses to 79.

As many as 30 people were still missing in small cities and towns across Santa Catarina state, where torrential weekend rains far surpassed records going back to 1961.
Most of the dead were killed in mudslides that swept away homes and businesses, and more than 54,000 were displaced, civil defense officials said in a statement.

Eight cities remained isolated and were running short of everything from drinking water to fuel because of the rains that caused rivers to overflow their banks. Four helicopters were being used to rescue stranded people surrounded by water.

A pipeline rupture cut off natural gas from the state's sole source in Bolivia, prompting shortages of cooking gas and fuel for cars. Gas was also cut off to the neighboring state of Rio Grande do Sul that borders Argentina and Uruguay.

Six large textile mills also shut down because they had no natural gas to generate electricity, Brazil's Valor Economico business newspaper reported.

Seventeen highways are blocked by mudslides, and officials said it could take days to reopen several that were heaped high with earth and trees from entire hillsides that turned to mud, broke away and crashed in heaps atop the pavement.

Hardest hit was the city of Blumenau, where 20 people died when they were buried by mudslides. Another 15 people suffered serious injuries, according to the civil defense statement.

More than 150,000 people in the city of nearly 300,000 had no electricity, and 500 soldiers were sent in to help flood victims. Blumenau is a renowned tourist destination founded by German immigrants and is known for its Oktoberfest celebration.

Fifteen people died in the nearby town of Ilhota along the banks of the Itajai River, where waters rose 9 meters (30 feet) above normal.

Reports of scattered looting at supermarkets and drug stores also emerged Tuesday, according to G1, the Web site of Brazil's Globo TV.

"They're not always taking food. In some places, they're taking alcoholic drinks and cigarettes," firefighter Samuel Martins told G1 from the city of Itajai, where two people died. "A lot of profiteers end up blending in with those who really need it,"

Forecasters said rain would probably continue until Wednesday in Santa Catarina.

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Waters ebbed, rents went up

2008-12-03T16:13:00.000-08:00

Program fails: Most owners of small rental property, a New Orleans mainstay, have received no help.
By John Moreno Gonzales

Associated Press

Tuesday, November 25, 2008

New Orleans —- The four-unit shotgun house that Sandra Marshall bought after decades of working double shifts has sat untouched since the flooding of Hurricane Katrina, while nearly $850 million in federal aid for her and thousands of other mom-and-pop landlords sits on a bureaucratic shelf.

“I have old tenants calling me all the time asking when I’m going to get the place back up and running. I wish I knew,” said Marshall, 56, who worked days as a postal clerk and nights as a housekeeping manager to buy her property.

She has applied for a repair loan from the nearly forgotten Louisiana Small Rental Property Program, created in the aftermath of Katrina to provide financial help to as many as 13,000 live-in owners of the shotgun and cottage conversions that kept rents cheap here for generations.

So far, it has put money in the hands of only 352 landlords. The hurdles have been its flawed implementation, limited financial resources among applicants, and lately, the national credit crunch. Now, the state is seeking to overhaul the program and divert the funds.

Housing advocates say the program’s failure has contributed to a 40 percent spike in rents citywide. That has forced the federal government to pour even more Band-Aid relief into the recovery, including a $28-million-a-month Disaster Housing Assistance Program that helps 31,000 families pay the inflated rents.

“The rental market in New Orleans will never be the same,” said Annie Clark, co-author of a New Orleans housing report released in August by the research group PolicyLink.

The failure of the small rental program is one reason that, three years after Katrina, many blue-collar New Orleans residents find themselves no longer able to afford life in their beloved hometown. It also illustrates how the billions of taxpayer dollars thrown at the hurricane recovery effort have yielded limited progress.

The rental program was launched under former Gov. Kathleen Blanco as a companion to the $10.3 billion Road Home program, which has issued 120,000 rebuilding grants to Gulf Coast homeowners despite its own persistent errors and bureaucratic delays.

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Ireland: first new begging penalties for 160 years

2008-12-03T16:12:00.000-08:00

DUBLIN, Ireland — Ireland plans to impose tough new penalties on beggars for the first time since the Potato Famine 160 years ago.

Justice Minister Dermot Ahern says the measure is necessary because of the growth of professional begging gangs who harass pedestrians. Children often are involved. Ahern says a bill will make begging punishable by a maximum euro700 (US$900) fine or a month in prison.

Irish police lost their legal authority to arrest beggars after the nation's second-highest court declared the previous law unconstitutional.

The High Court ruled two years ago that the 1847 Vagrancy Act was too vague and it conflicted with the 1937 Irish Constitution's clauses on freedom of expression and communication. Britain passed the 1847 Act to combat begging as famine swept Ireland.

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Study: Many kids in Katrina trailer park anemic

2008-12-03T16:11:00.000-08:00

By JANET McCONNAUGHEY

Associated Press Writer

NEW ORLEANS — Dozens of infants and toddlers who lived in Louisiana's biggest trailer park for those displaced by Hurricane Katrina were anemic because of poor diets, at a rate more than four times the national average.

About 41 percent of 77 children under the age of 4 suffered from the condition this year, according to a study released Monday by the Children's Health Fund. Most, and possibly all, lived in the Renaissance Village trailer park in Baker.

Iron deficiency anemia can cause fatigue and learning problems. Severe deficiency in young children can delay growth and development and even cause heart murmurs.

The national rate for children that young is below 10 percent. Louisiana has one of the nation's highest anemia rates, with about 24 percent of all children below the age of 5 affected, according to the 2007 Pediatric Nutrition Surveillance survey.

Dr. Irwin Redlener, president of the Children's Health Fund and director of Columbia University's National Center for Disaster Preparedness, said the Renaissance Village rate was double the rate for homeless children the same age in New York City shelters.

The study used records for all 261 babies and children who lived in New Orleans until Katrina and were treated last year at CHF's mobile clinics at the trailer park and Baton Rouge schools, said Roy Grant, the organization's director of applied research and policy analysis.

While most of the affected children were storm evacuees, it was possible that a few were natives of Baton Rouge.

But studying the problem further and providing follow-up care for the children is difficult because the state closed the parks in May.

"Now it's more difficult, because they're no longer in the trailer area. They're dispersed around the state. So it's a little harder to get follow-up," said Dr. Jimmy Guidry, Louisiana's health officer.

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Siberian quake triggers false US seismic reports

2008-12-03T16:08:00.000-08:00

PASADENA, Calif. — A powerful undersea earthquake off Russia's eastern coast on Monday caused automated monitoring systems to falsely indicate small temblors in Idaho and California, scientists reported.

The real quake had a preliminary magnitude of 7.3 and struck the Sea of Okhotsk 195 miles west of Petropavlovsk-Kamchatskiy, on Russia's Kamchatka Peninsula, the U.S. Geological Survey said. It was centered at a depth of about 300 miles.

That jolt caused computerized seismic stations in the western United States to send out false quake reports including a magnitude-4.8 quake in southeastern Idaho, a magnitude-3.8 in central California and a magnitude-3.4 at the Southern California mountain resort town of Big Bear.

The initial automated reports were accompanied by a standard caution saying they had not yet been reviewed by seismologists.

The false reports were deleted after seismologists reviewed the computer records, said geophysicist Julie Martinez of the USGS National Earthquake Information Center in Golden, Colo.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center in Hawaii said no Pacific-wide tsunami was expected.

A distant earthquake that is both large and deep can sometimes confuse faraway seismic stations, said Kate Hutton, a seismologist at the California Institute of Technology. A scientist is always on call to verify a computer-generated report, she said.

"We know it's a problem," Hutton said.

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Oil tumbles below $50 as recession called

2008-12-01T15:07:00.000-08:00

By MARK WILLIAMS
The Associated Press
Monday, December 1, 2008; 4:26 PM

COLUMBUS, Ohio -- Oil prices tumbled below $50 a barrel Monday as National Bureau of Economic Research reported that the U.S. economy has been in a recession since December 2007 and the Dow Jones industrial average fell nearly 700 points.

A tandem of bleak economic reports led to an early decline even before the NBER report was released, and a huge sell-off on Wall Street was enough to send crude prices down fast on the belief that energy demand is deteriorating.

A panel of the NBER believes the current downturn will last until the middle of 2009 and will be the most severe slump since the 1981-82 recession.

Light, sweet crude for January delivery fell more than 9 percent, or $5.15, to settle at $49.28 a barrel on the New York Mercantile Exchange.

Crude has lost nearly 70 percent its market value since July when it peaked near $150 per barrel.

Analyst Phil Flynn with Alaron Trading Corp. said the $50 price remains significant psychologically for traders.

"It opens up the possibility of further declines," he said.

In a note to investors Monday, Raymond James Equity Research slashed its 2009 oil price forecast from $90 per barrel to $60 per barrel.

In London, January Brent crude fell more than 10 percent, or $5.52, to settle at $47.97 on the ICE Futures exchange.

Dour economic news in the U.S. comes on the heels of a meeting over the weekend in Cairo, Egypt, where OPEC said it would not cut production before it meets in three weeks.

On Saturday, Saudi Oil Minister Ali Naimi said that Organization of Petroleum Exporting Countries will do what needs to be done to shore up oil prices when the group meets Dec. 17 in Algeria.

There are continuing indications, however, that OPEC has lost much of its power to control prices by cutting supply.

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Brazil flood victims loot stores, death toll at 97

2008-12-01T14:59:00.000-08:00

By RICARDO MORAES
The Associated Press
Wednesday, November 26, 2008; 10:06 PM

NAVEGANTES, Brazil -- Hungry flood survivors looted supermarkets and emergency crews tried to get aid to nearly 80,000 people driven from their homes Wednesday, as rain-spawned mudslides and overflowing rivers killed at least 97 people and isolated cities in southern Brazil.

Amid mounting misery in the disaster zone, 20 people were arrested for ransacking a supermarket in the hard-hit city of Itajai, where many streets were still submerged following torrential weekend rains.

Besides food, the looters tried to cart away beer, plasma TVs and a refrigerator, state police inspector Carlos Quilante said in a statement.

Nearly 100,000 people remained cut off by flooding in eight cities in Santa Catarina state, civil defense officials said in a statement.

Helicopters _ some provided by the government, others donated by businesses _ rescued 1,100 people, authorities said.

"The cities in the south still cannot be reached, it's going to take some time," Army Lt. Col. Jose Henrique Ruffo told Globo TV.

The weekend downpours dumped as much water on the area as it usually receives in months, cutting residents off from electricity, drinking water and food. The water shortage was so extreme that civil defense officials advised people to drink swimming pool water after boiling it for 10 minutes.

State Gov. Luiz Henrique da Silveira flew with President Luiz Inacio Lula da Silva over areas devastated by floodwaters, and said Silva was "shocked when he saw the Dantesque spectacle below him."

"This is the worst environmental calamity we have ever faced," Silva told reporters after the fly over.

Civil defense officials said mudslides and floods killed at least 97 people, down from the 99 reported earlier after two could not be confirmed. As many as 30 were missing, and more than 78,000 people were driven from their homes.

Itajai civil defense worker Gilvan Muniz told the Agencia Estado news service that residents of the flooded riverside city were seeing much of the damage for the first time as floodwater receded on Wednesday.

"We endured two moments of horror: when we saw the water rise and then when it receded and we saw the destruction," he said.

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Disasters, Recoveries and FEMA

2008-12-01T14:48:00.000-08:00

By Al Kamen
Tuesday, November 25, 2008; Page A13

The Federal Emergency Management Agency, a tragicomic disaster since Hurricane Katrina in August 2005 -- and even before that -- looks to be getting a facelift under the Obama administration, sources tell us.

First off, the likely plan is to break off the agency from the Department of Homeland Security, a move that by itself would help restore the pride that folks at FEMA felt when it was an independent agency.

Second, there's increasing talk that former director James Lee Witt, who took over the then-troubled agency at the start of the Clinton administration and left it eight years later with a much-enhanced reputation, is coming back from retirement to run FEMA for six months to a year, to whip it into shape.

After that, so the plan goes, his possible deputy administrator, Mark Merritt, who worked with Witt at James Lee Witt Associates -- where they made a fortune on disasters -- would take over the top job at FEMA.

Witt's no stranger to this cleanup role, lest we forget what he inherited when he took the FEMA reins in 1993. FEMA was so badly ridiculed for botching relief efforts after Hurricane Andrew in 1992 that outraged senators were threatening to zero out its budget. Then-Sen. Ernest F. "Fritz" Hollings (D-S.C.) opined that the agency "could screw up a two-car parade."

Witt, however, is likely to be grilled about his work on Katrina relief. Witt and Merritt began their work in the days after the hurricane, when Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Babineaux Blanco (D) hired their disaster recovery firm with an open-ended no-bid contract.

An NBC News investigation of Louisiana records found that James Lee Witt Associates was paid more than $40 million for its work. Merritt, who had been the firm's top manager in Louisiana, tallied $506,000 in billable hours over the 10-month span from September 2005 through June 2006, NBC News found in its July 2007 report.

The firm allegedly billed the state double what it actually paid its subcontractors, the report said. For instance, the firm subcontracted an Indiana company to manage recovery grants. That company's workers were paid $19 to $20 an hour, but the company billed Witt Associates $37.50 an hour, and Witt Associates billed the state $75 an hour, according to the NBC report.

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'We are going to disappear one day'

2008-11-12T14:31:00.000-08:00

When four huge storms struck this summer, one after another in the space of 30 days, Haiti never stood a chance. Each time the sky darkened and drops began to fall, it took just hours for torrential downpours to soften hillsides into sludge and send mounds of slick, wet earth crashing into homes. Survivors scrambled on to roofs and watched helplessly as others perished in one of the Caribbean's worst disasters of recent years. The four tropical storms, ending with September's Hurricane Ike, turned Haiti into a wasteland.

Nearly 800 people died, about 60% of the country's harvest was destroyed and entire cities were rendered desolate and uninhabitable. Life in the western hemisphere's poorest country went from grim to desperate.

Weeks later, the floodwaters have receded and the dead are buried, but millions of cubic feet of mud remains, rendering cities such as Gonaives sticky, squelching versions of Pompeii.

Relief agencies such as ActionAid have mobilised to help Haitians salvage and rebuild. But international donors, distracted by the credit crunch, have stumped up less than a third of the UN's requested $108m. At the current rate of clean-up, it will be almost three years before the mud and debris is cleared.

"When there are no longer any dead on the streets, people tend to forget," President Rene Preval recently told reporters. "Attention has shifted to the (US) elections and the sub-prime crisis. These things are important to you, but we ask that you not forget us."

There is little chance that photographer Gideon Mendel will forget. He waded waist-high through Gonaives to capture these images. "Most of the water in the town centre had receded, but the city felt like it was drowning in the residue of thick, stinking mud. Working conditions were some of the most difficult I have ever experienced. The heat was unbearable and the city seemed beyond recovery."

August and September is hurricane season in the Caribbean and other countries such as Cuba and the Dominican Republic were also badly hit by the quadruple whammy. Nature's wrath, some would call it. But the reason Haiti suffered so disproportionately was man-made. A country once thickly wooded has been stripped to less than 2% of tree cover - a shocking denuding compared with neighbouring Dominican Republic, which is 28% forested. This leaves Haiti extremely vulnerable because even light rain can wash away the crumbly topsoil, triggering mudslides and flash floods.

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Indonesia launches tsunami warning system

2008-11-12T14:28:00.000-08:00

Indonesia today launched a sophisticated new tsunami warning system designed to give coastal residents enough time to flee or seek shelter from an impending tidal wave.

The national system aims to protect the inhabitants of the archipelago's vast coast and prevent a deadly repeat of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 168,000 people in Indonesia alone.

But even as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono inaugurated the system in Jakarta, officials conceded it would be several years yet before it is fully complete and the whole coastline protected.

In particular, deep-sea warning buoys have yet to be installed around Bali, Flores and northern Sumatra — which includes Aceh where most lost their lives in the tsunami — with the result that there could be delays in predicting a tsunami and issuing warnings.

However, much of the complex system of sensors, satellite communications and computer modelling is already in place ahead of the 2010 completion target and was able to predict the tidal wave that struck the Sumatran coast last September.

The Boxing Day 2004 tsunami was the result of an earthquake below the seabed measuring 9.3 on the Richter scale. The surge it triggered struck the Banda Aceh coast within 15 minutes, but in the hours that followed the devastating impact left 240,000 dead around the region.

Yet Indonesia, with its 17,000 islands, remains especially vulnerable because it sits on the meeting point of three of the earth's tectonic plates, leaving 60% of the coastline at risk from tsunamis.

The new high-speed warning system connects a series of seabed sensors that detect the earthquakes that may set of a tsunami, information that is relayed to buoys on the surface.

Deep-sea pressure gauges monitor any sudden variations indicating that a tsunami is in motion, data that is enhanced by the notion of the surface buoys that carry global positioning systems.

All the information is relayed by satellite to the tsunami early warning centre in Jakarta, which is connected to 11 regional hubs across Indonesia.

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Over-spilling lakes plague Haiti

2008-11-12T14:26:00.000-08:00

The owners of an $18-a-night motel in with a dancing floor closed up shop. Fishermen converted their boats into water taxis. Roadside food vendors abandoned coveted spots.

For these workers whose livelihoods depend on Haiti's busiest and most profitable commercial corridor on the border with the Dominican Republic, it wasn't just bad enough that three weeks of deadly summer storms forced them to pack their goods and flee.

Lake Azuei, Haiti's largest lake and a habitat for rare birds and marine life, busted its banks, flooding several towns.

"Before the storms, few people passed but business was good enough," Viliane Garries, 40, said as she stirred a steaming pot of chicken bouillon near a customs building. "Now even fewer people pass, and business is so slow."

Problems caused by over-spilling lakes continue to plague Haiti months after deadly storms over the summer. In the South, the Miragoane lake remains flooded, disrupting lives and commerce.

In Malpasse, government workers successfully cut a temporary road through a nearby mountain two weeks ago and raised the road with gravel to stop flooding from the Azuei.

But even with the resumption of traffic and trade, which generated $18m (£11m) in customs revenue last year, authorities acknowledge they have not solved the source of the problem: the lake's rising waters.

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Earthquake hits south-west Pakistan

2008-11-07T09:46:00.000-08:00

At least 31 people have been killed and 40 injured after a strong earthquake struck south-west Pakistan early this morning, according to officials.

The US geological survey said a 6.2 magnitude quake struck 45 miles (70km) north-east of the city of Quetta just before dawn.

The Pakistan meteorological department said two tremors had struck before dawn, the second one bigger than the first.

"Two areas are badly hit," said Dilawar Khan, mayor of the town of Ziarat, in Pakistan's Baluchistan province.

Some houses had collapsed and 11 people were killed in one area and 14 in another, he said.

A security official in the neighbouring Pishin district said five people had been killed there.

Officials in Quetta said that many of the injuries had been sustained when mud walls collapsed, or during the panic when people rushed from their homes.

"There were two tremors, the second one was serious and people rushed out of their houses," said local resident Amjad Hussain.

A severe earthquake in 1935 left 30,000 people dead and destroyed most of Quetta.

The region's worst earthquake was in October, 2005 when about 75,000 people were killed, most of them in the mountainous region of northern Pakistan.

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Don't defend the junta

2008-10-31T14:39:00.000-07:00

After Cyclone Nargis things have gone from bad to worse in Burma. Yet it is all the west's fault, say the ICG

Burma is ruled by one of the world's most brutal regimes, guilty not only of suppressing democracy but of causing one of the world's worst humanitarian crises. In response, the International Crisis Group (ICG) has lost the plot.

Earlier this year, Cyclone Nargis hit Burma. Unlike almost any other government in response to a natural disaster, the junta in Burma initially refused, and then restricted and diverted international aid efforts. Aid was stolen by the regime (pdf). Burmese people who tried to help deliver aid were arrested. The little aid that was officially distributed was given for propaganda purposes and often taken back when the photocalls were over. At least 140,000 people died and 2.5 million left homeless in the wake of the regime's deliberate neglect.

Following the cyclone another humanitarian crisis has unfolded, this time in western Burma (pdf). Chin State (pdf) has been hit by a famine caused by a plague of rats who multiply due to flowering of bamboo, a natural phenomenon that occurs every 50 years. True to form, the regime did nothing to prepare the people for the anticipated famine and has actively obstructed aid efforts. Officials took the World Food Programme to the wrong area, causing them to declare there was no famine. Since then, the WFP has revised its view – but the regime continues to block attempts to help the starving Chin people.

Burma's military is continuing an offensive against ethnic peoples in eastern Burma, causing further humanitarian misery. Since 1996, more than 3,200 villages have been destroyed, and a million people displaced. Civilians are shot at point-blank range, or raped, taken for forced labour or used as human minesweepers. Children are taken off the streets and forced to join the Burmese army, which has the highest number of child soldiers in the world. Over 2,100 political prisoners languish in jail, double the number of last year, subjected to horrific torture, and Aung San Suu Kyi, Burma's pro-democracy leader and Nobel laureate, marked 13 years in house arrest last week.

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Burma's misery

2008-10-31T14:32:00.000-07:00

Supporters of World Food Day can find in Burma a case study in the lethal combination of climate change, poverty and politics

Today, the Food and Agriculture Organisation's World Food Day obliges the world and its leaders to consider the issue of global hunger. A particular theme this year is climate change and its impact on poverty and hunger. While the role of climate change is significant, the matter of political will casts a broader shadow across world hunger. This year's World Food Day is, as a result, somewhat hollow.

Burma stands as a case study for the combined effects of poverty and hunger, climate change and politics. In short, the stresses created by these dynamics have created a collapsing system in which the majority of Burmese are in danger of being crushed.

The actions of Burma's military regime represent a situation whereby climate change and its impacts on hunger are actively utilised for political gain. Currently, for instance, there are reports that the regime is creaming off 10% of post-cyclone aid coming into Burma in the wake of this May's disaster as "exchange transfer costs". It's a clear case of profiting from the effects of climate change and hunger.

Under the military, rural communities have been decimated by being forced to destroy vegetable and other staple croplands and to replace them with the regime's designated exportable cash crops, such as tea and biofuels.

A life-threatening famine is emerging in Chin state, western Burma, for instance, while the junta does nothing. Plagues of rats gorging on a rare crop of bamboo flowers are razing community plots and destroying any remaining semblance of food security. Again, politics stands in the way of necessity.

As the government elected in Burma's last free and fair elections, the National Coalition Government of the Union of Burma is committed to raising Burma's understanding and action on climate change issues, both domestically and regionally, in direct contrast to the current regime.

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Caribbean islands may avoid hurricane Omar

2008-10-31T14:29:00.000-07:00

David Batty and agencies guardian.co.uk, Thursday October 16 2008 14.11 BST
Article history

Islands in the north Caribbean remain on alert over hurricane Omar but could escape being hit by the category three storm, forecasters said today.

Latest observations show the hurricane quickly moving away from the northern Leeward Islands and out to sea.

The storm's top speed increased today to 125 mph (205kph). Omar is expected to weaken as it continues on a path unlikely to directly hit any Caribbean island. Forecasters say it is likely to weave through the US and British Virgin Islands on one side, and territories including Anguilla on the other.

"It could thread the needle, but any kind of track deviation and any of those islands will be clobbered," said Jack Beven of the US national hurricane centre in Miami.

The hurricane yesterday sank boats in St Croix harbour, flattening trees and trapping people in their homes before it moved on towards other small islands.

"No damages have been reported, but we have a couple more hours of this," said Jacqueline Heyliger, the deputy director of the island's emergency management agency.

On the nearby Puerto Rican island of Vieques, the storm flooded roads and brought down tree branches.

One death was reported on Puerto Rico's tiny island of Culebra. Authorities said a 55-year-old man collapsed from cardiac arrest while trying to install storm shutters on his house.

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Two reported dead in California wildfires

2008-10-31T14:24:00.000-07:00

· Two thousand firefighters help battle blazes
· Marek fire 70% contained
· Santa Ana winds hinder ability to fight fires

Dan Glaister in Los Angeles and agencies guardian.co.uk, Tuesday October 14 2008 15.33 BST
Article history

Huge fires north of LA have forced more than 1,000 from their homes
Link to this video Wildfires continued to rage across southern California today, destroying dozens of homes, forcing thousands to flee and causing two deaths.

Two fires in the San Fernando Valley, 20 miles north of Los Angeles, extended to 5,260 hectares (13,000 acres) after strong Santa Ana desert winds fanned the blazes overnight.

A third fire broke out early today in Camp Pendleton, a US Marine base north of San Diego, burning 1,214 hectares (3,000 acres) and forcing the evacuation of 1,400 homes.

Further south, near the Mexican border, another fire broke out, forcing the evacuation of 300 homes.

Two thousand firefighters battled the flames, aiming to stop the fires jumping across motorways and reaching the Pacific Ocean, 18 miles away.

"We could have had an army there and it would not have stopped it," Los Angeles fire department battalion chief, Mario Rueda, said. "Wind is king here - it's dictating everything we are doing."

The 5,300 acre Marek fire, in the north-east corner of the San Fernando Valley, and the 5,000 acre Sesnon fire, in Porter Ranch, started early on Monday morning.

Authorities confirmed that more than three dozen mobile homes burned in the Marek fire, and 19 structures, some of them homes, were destroyed by the Sesnon blaze. By this morning, the Marek fire was 70% contained.

One man interviewed on the local NBC affiliate said that he had been prepared to evacuate. "We live in southern California," he said, speaking through a smoke mask. "Fire, flood, drought, earthquake - those are the four seasons, right?"

The two fatalities came on Monday. One was a homeless man living with his dog in a shack alongside a motorway near the Angeles National Forest.

The second death came when a tow truck crashed into the back of a car, killing the driver as traffic stopped on a motorway to allow fire engines to pass.

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China improves power network to better prepare against natural disasters

2008-10-17T17:33:00.000-07:00

BEIJING, Oct. 14 (Xinhua) -- China will speed up the enhancement of its power grid to better prepare against the looming winter, as the specter of devastating snowstorms the country experienced earlier this year still lingers, the National Development and Reform Commission (NDRC) said Tuesday.

Zhang Guobao, vice director of the NDRC, the country's top economic planner, said faced with increasing natural disasters, such as the severe snowstorms and earthquakes, greater challenges were imposed on the safety and stability of the power system.

He added various regions must improve power planning and optimize grid structures to improve their ability against disasters, the sooner the better.

Starting 2009, the anti-disaster ability would be one integral part of grid planning. Reports on new power facility building projects must be made, and with it, necessary protective measures,he said.

China's power output hit 2.5909 trillion kwh in the first three quarters, up 11.74 percent year on year, according to the Fuel Association of China Electricity Council.

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New wildfire burns in Calif.'s Los Padres forest

2008-10-03T16:48:00.000-07:00

FORT HUNTER LIGGETT, Calif. — A wildfire in the Los Padres National Forest has nearly doubled in size and prompted the evacuation of a few homes in the remote region.

The U.S. Forest Service says more than 830 firefighters are battling the blaze that broke out Saturday night in Monterey County, along the California coast about 150 miles south of San Francisco.

Aided by hot weather and dense brush, the fire grew from 925 acres Monday morning to more than 1,700 acres by nightfall. It was only 5 percent contained.

Forecasters were expecting weather to improve later Tuesday.

No structures have been lost so far, but about seven homes and a commercial building were subject to the evacuation order issued by the Monterey County Sheriff's Department.

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Atlanta soaks up freer-flowing gas

2008-10-03T16:43:00.000-07:00

Like soft rain on parched ground, gasoline has continued to pour into metro Atlanta only to be quickly absorbed.

Hundreds of service stations remained closed Monday, while drivers flocked to those still open — and companies struggled to keep up

QuikTrip, for instance, managed Monday to get gasoline to more than half of its Atlanta stores, said spokesman Michael Thornbrugh. “The problems is that just as soon as you get a store filled with product, it’s gone.”

The Tulsa-based chain is a major piece of the metro Atlanta puzzle, with 111 stores and more than one-fifth of the area’s gas sales.

The company’s contracts with several suppliers has meant it is as likely to have gas as anyone else — maybe more likely. But nonstop purchases can empty a 9,000-gallon tank in just a couple of hours, Thornbrugh said.

“It is getting better, but the huge, huge demand is not slowing down.”

Because the system is just not designed to handle so many drivers filling up so often, the post-hurricane shortage very quickly became severe, said Richard Cobb, executive director of the Georgia Petroleum Council. Modest improvement is just not good enough to get things back to normal.

“We are getting healthier volumes, although we are certainly not up to where we usually are,” he said. “But even if we were at 100 percent we would have gas lines and closed stores. Once you get behind, it is hard to catch up.”

Atlanta gets all its gas from the Gulf Coast, where three refineries are still down and several others are damaged.

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7.3 quake strikes outer New Zealand islands

2008-10-03T16:39:00.000-07:00

WELLINGTON, New Zealand — A 7.3-magnitude earthquake struck near New Zealand's remote and largely uninhabited Kermadec Islands early Tuesday, New Zealand's GNS Science geological agency said.

New Zealand's Ministry of Civil Defense issued no tsunami warning following the quake, while the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said in a bulletin on its Web site that "no destructive widespread tsunami threat exists based on historical earthquake and tsunami data" for the Kermadec area.

Only the Kermadec's Raoul Island is inhabited, with up to six New Zealand Department of Conservation workers living there at any time.

The Hong Kong Observatory said the quake was centered about 630 miles south-southwest of Nuku'alofa, Tonga and was recorded in Hong Kong at 4:19 a.m. Tuesday, New Zealand time.

The U.S. Geological Survey put the magnitude of the quake at 7.0 and said its depth was 12.5 miles.

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Harvest caps challenging year for Calif. vintners

2008-10-03T16:35:00.000-07:00

SAN FRANCISCO — California vintners are bringing in the grape harvest this month after a challenging year that started with unusually sharp frosts and moved on to smoky summer wildfires.

So far, it looks like the crop will be smaller than usual but the fruit that is coming in is good, said Karen Ross, president of the California Association of Winegrape Growers. "People are very happy to date with the quality and flavor development," she said.

The harvest caps a season that began with late frosts that struck just as vines were beginning to send out shoots. That was followed in some areas by a heat spike that hit during flowering, another adverse condition, said Nick Frey, president of the Sonoma County Winegrape Commission.

"We have had some real tough spots," he said. On the plus side, conditions for much of the season were "pretty ideal," he said.

This summer, lightning-sparked wildfires cast a smoky blanket over large swaths of the state. It wasn't clear whether that would affect the wine crop, but some wineries are having juice tested as a precaution, say industry observers.

"At this point everybody's watching," said Domingo Rodriguez, vice president and co-owner of Winesecrets, a Sebastopol-based company that removes unwanted substances from wine through filtration.

If grapes are affected by smoke taint, the wine is still sound but it could have off-flavors, depending on the level of exposure, said Rodriguez. Processing the wine through filtration technology removes compounds associated with smoke taint, he said.

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Tropical Storm Mekkhala kills 8 in Vietnam, 8 missing and feared dead

2008-10-03T15:23:00.000-07:00

HANOI, Vietnam (AP) _ The bodies of two children and three fishermen were recovered in central Vietnam, raising the death toll from Tropical Storm Mekkhala to eight with eight others still missing and feared dead, disaster officials said Thursday.

The bodies of the 5-year-old girl and 3-year-old boy were found Wednesday after they were washed away from their house in Ha Tinh province, disaster official Nguyen Khoa Thanh said. Rescuers also recovered the bodies of three fishermen in Quang Tri and Quang Binh provinces, where four others remained missing after the storm sank their boats, provincial officials said.

Four people remained unaccounted for in Thanh Hoa province, disaster official Do Minh Chinh said.

Mekkhala slammed into Vietnam's central coast Tuesday morning before moving to Laos later the same day.

The storm, packing winds of 55 mph, destroyed or blew the roofs off of hundreds of houses and sank dozens of boats. It also triggered heavy rains across the region.

Mekkhala hit as northern Vietnam was still recovering from Typhoon Hagupit, which struck last Thursday. Floods triggered by the typhoon killed 41 people and caused an estimated $65 million in damage.

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US starts to count cost in billions as storm lashes Gulf coast

2008-10-03T11:23:00.000-07:00

Millions were left without water and power yesterday as rescuers moved into devastated coastal areas of Texas and Louisiana in the wake of Hurricane Ike.

The storm, which made landfall early Saturday morning, thrashed 600 miles of the Gulf coast with winds of up to 100mph. Television pictures showed wooden-frame houses strewn across highways, boats deposited inland and advertising hoardings and power pylons lying on the ground.

While around 2 million people took heed of a mandatory evacuation order, rescue efforts centred on the estimated 140,000 who chose to stay behind.

Fifty miles inland, in Houston, a dusk-to-dawn curfew was imposed on Sunday as residents of the fourth largest city in the US faced days and possibly weeks without power and with little drinking water, due to a drop in water pressure.

President George Bush announced that he would visit the area on Tuesday. After receiving a briefing from the Homeland Security secretary, Michael Chertoff, Bush said the federal government is providing 1.5m litres of water and 1m meals a day to the displaced.

Early estimates of the cost of the storm put Ike's insured damage at anything between $8-18bn. Flood damage and uninsured loss would likely push that total much higher, placing Ike in the top three costliest storms in US history.

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George Bush heads to Texas to survey damage from Hurricane Ike

2008-10-03T11:19:00.000-07:00

President George Bush this morning flew to Texas to survey damage from Hurricane Ike, which devastated the gulf region over the weekend, killing at least 40 people and forcing thousands from their homes and leaving millions more without electricity.

Bush, who was lambasted for his inattention to New Orleans' recovery after Hurricane Katrina struck three years ago, visited Houston and Galveston Island. The two cities are central to the US oil industry and were battered by Ike, the worst storm to hit Texas in 25 years.

Bush spoke with Texas officials and flew over Galveston aboard a helicopter to inspect the damage.

"With proper help from the federal government and the state government there will be a better tomorrow," Bush, former governor of Texas, said at an airplane hangar in Houston. "It is good to be home, I'm just sorry it's under these circumstances."

Bush said the demand for emergency fuel and water supplies was met, and that electrical workers had streamed into the state to repair downed power lines.

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Cuba faces food shortage after hurricanes

2008-10-03T11:10:00.000-07:00

Cuba has warned that it faces food shortages for the next six months after the devastating damage caused by hurricanes Gustav and Ike.

The government is introducing emergency measures after almost one-third of the country's crops were destroyed.

The twin storms caused the worst damage in the island's history.

"There have been very serious effects, but I can say no Cuban is going to die of hunger or be abandoned to their fate," Alcides Lopez, the vice-minister of agriculture, said.

"We face six hard months ... but we can't lament, we have to plant," he added, outlining more than 80 measures designed to speed up production and the distribution of food.

The government is also taking steps to stop food speculators driving up prices.
Gustav hit western Cuba on August 30, with Ike striking seven days later. Heavy rains and high winds devastated thousands of acres of agricultural land.

Cuba, which spends up to $2bn annually on food imports, was already struggling to increase its domestic production when the storms hit staples such as rice, beans, plantains and sweet potatoes.

Around 1.2m eggs were destroyed and 500,000 chickens killed.

The authorities said they were trying to salvage as much of the damaged crops as possible, repair farm equipment and restore power to food processing plants.

The Cuban government has also hit out at the US over the shortages, saying its trade sanctions were the biggest obstacle to Cuba's recovery.

The embargo prevents Cuba from buying supplies directly from the US, and prevents the island from purchasing any US goods on credit.

"The economic, commercial and financial blockade imposed during 50 years by the United States is the main obstacle to Cuba's development," Felipe Perez Roque, the Cuban foreign minister, said.

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Haitians at risk of disease after hurricanes, say aid agencies

2008-10-03T11:00:00.000-07:00

Aid agencies today warned of severe outbreaks of disease in Haiti as thousands of people remained in squalid, cramped shelters after the country was hit by three hurricanes and a tropical storm.

Haiti, one of the poorest countries in the world, is struggling to cope with the disaster and some areas are still without any clean water supplies.
Aid workers in Gonaives, one of the hardest hit towns, have struggled to reach thousands of people who fled to higher ground.

The storms brought down bridges, cutting off all roads leading in to the town making the only access by helicopter and boat.

Charlie Rowley, of Oxfam, said victims were having to endure appalling conditions.

"The situation is really dire, especially in the shelters where ... hundreds of people [are] in a very small area without any sanitation facilities," he said.
"It's very dirty and the [aid] organisations are doing their best to build as quickly as possible the sanitation conditions to be able to avoid a public health crisis."

Many of those who fled to the roofs of their houses to escape rising floodwaters remain there, surviving by collecting rainwater in buckets and saucepans.

Others are using whatever water they can find to live on, sparking fears of disease.

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China declares three days of mourning after quake

2008-10-03T10:34:00.000-07:00

China today declared three days of national mourning for its earthquake victims and ordered a suspension of the Olympic torch relay.

The state council, China's cabinet, said the mourning period would start tomorrow and include three minutes of silence observed nationwide at 2.28pm (7.28am BST) — exactly one week after the 7.9-magnitude quake struck in Sichuan province.

That would be followed by horns of vehicles, trains, ships and air raid sirens wailing in grief, it was announced. All national flags will fly at half-mast at home and at Chinese diplomatic missions abroad, and public recreational activities will be halted.

Organisers of the Beijing Olympics said the torch relay would be suspended "to express our deep mourning to the victims of the earthquake."

The relay sombrely resumed last week, with runners starting with a minute of silence and asking for donations along the route. Organisers said the relay would go on as planned in Sichuan next month.

In the disaster zone, efforts appeared to shift from searching for buried survivors to clearing corpses from shattered buildings as the government confirmed the death toll had risen to 32,476.

Another 220,109 people suffered injuries, according to a statement from the state council. The government has said it expects the final death toll to surpass 50,000.

In Beichuan, near the quake's epicentre, few hopeful relatives could be seen. Several dozen corpses in blue body bags lay in a street. Soldiers continued to pull more dead from the wreckage.

"It will soon be too late" to find trapped survivors, said Fuji Yakoji, the deputy leader of a Japanese rescue team that pulled 10 bodies from a flattened school. "We hope with our hard work we will find more people alive."

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Ike resurrects river flooding fears across Midwest

2008-09-16T16:08:00.000-07:00

ST. LOUIS – Just a few months after near-record flooding across the Midwest, roads in the region were under water again Tuesday and more than 1 million people were without power thanks to the remnants of Hurricane Ike.

"The old-timers knew it was wise to leave the sandbags," said Arnold City Manager Matthew Unrein, whose town south of St. Louis still has the sandbag defenses it built when it was threatened by floods in March. The Meramec was expected to reach 18 feet above flood stage in Arnold on Thursday.

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