2012info.ca Earth Watch

Fire – Africa – Kenya

January 31, 2009 on 11:58 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off

EDIS Number: FR-20090201-20305-KEN
Date / time: 01/02/2009 04:57:04
Event: Fire
Area: Africa
Country: Kenya
State/County: State of Rift Valley
City: Molo
Number of Deads: 111 persons
Number of Injured:None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:
The death toll from an oil spill blaze in central Kenya has risen to 111, making it one of the east African nation's worst disasters of recent times, police said on Sunday. "We counted 91 bodies at the site and there were 20 others that had been taken to the local mortuary," said a Rift Valley police provincial commissioner Hassan Noor Hassan. A truck crashed near the central Rift Valley town of Molo on Saturday, spilling oil that burst into flames as hundreds of locals crowded round in search of free fuel. Many bodies were burned beyond recognition. Rescuers said someone may have accidentally dropped a cigarette, although there was also suspicion someone angered at being blocked by police may have started the fire on purpose. After the truck careered off the road, motorbike riders and others descended on the vehicle in the hope of scooping up petrol, witnesses said. Rescue operations went on through the night in scenes of chaos and anguish. "My two sons ran home, picked some jerry cans and ran to get some petrol. I tried to stop them but they did not listen, they told me everyone is going there for the free fuel," recounted one distraught woman, who would not give her name. "Now I cannot trace them," she said, sobbing as she looked at the skull and bones of one corpse nearby. The disaster in Molo followed the deaths of at least 25 people in Nairobi when a supermarket caught fire earlier this week.

Heat Wave – Pacific ocean – middle – New Zealand

January 31, 2009 on 11:52 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: HT-20090201-20304-NZL
Date / time: 01/02/2009 04:52:05
Event: Heat Wave
Area: Pacific ocean - middle
Country: New Zealand
State/County: Northern Island
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured:None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:
Parts of New Zealand are experiencing hot weather as the country feels the fallout from the high pressure system that has brought record-breaking temperatures in southern Australia. The system that has affected Australia is bringing hot dry westerlies across eastern parts of the North Island on Sunday. MetService says Napier looks to have reached a record for January with 35.8 degrees recorded at 2pm. The previous high was 35 recorded in 1946. Gisborne, with 31 degrees, Wairoa with 33 and Hastings at 34 degrees also recorded unofficial record maximums for January. In Christchurch, the mercury soared to 31 degrees at noon before a cool south to south-west change moved through the region. In the south, the front dropped 29 millimetres of rain in Milford in the 24 hours to midday Sunday, with heavy falls also recorded in Haast and Manapouri. The cool blustery change is expected to reach Gisborne around midnight, but another high is expected to reach New Zealand on Monday.

Fire – Asia – China

January 31, 2009 on 11:50 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: FR-20090201-20303-CHN
Date / time: 01/02/2009 04:48:43
Event: Fire
Area: Asia
Country: China
State/County: State of Fujian
City: Changle
Number of Deads: 15 persons
Number of Injured:20 persons
Damage level: Minor

Description:
Revelers celebrating a birthday set off fireworks inside a bar in southern China, triggering a blaze that killed 15 people and injured 20. The fire in Changle, a city in the southern province of Fujian, started just before midnight on Saturday, when 10 people lit the fireworks at their table. Fireworks are sold and set off everywhere during Lunar New Year festivities, which lasted all week and ended Saturday. Also known as Spring Festival, it is the country's biggest holiday. The explosion "set the ceiling on fire and the entire place was soon engulfed in flames," said a city government spokesman. The spokesman said it took 30 minutes to put out the fire and that 35 people were found in the bar. The 15 dead suffocated, he said. Three of the injured were in critical condition, while the other 17 were treated overnight at the Changle City Hospital, he said. A city government official confirmed the incident owhen telephoned Sunday, but declined to give any other details.

Vehicle Accident – Asia – Myanmar (Burma)

January 31, 2009 on 11:48 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: VI-20090201-20302-MMR
Date / time: 01/02/2009 04:45:43
Event: Vehicle Accident
Area: Asia
Country: Myanmar (Burma)
State/County: Shan State
City: Kokang
Number of Deads: 1 persons
Number of Injured:None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:
One person was confirmed dead and 11 others went missing when a ship capsized in a river on the China-Myanmar border Saturday afternoon, officials in southwest China's Yunnan Province said. The accident happened at around 3:30 p.m. Saturday on the lower reaches of the Nujiang River, in Kokang of Myanmar's Shan State, a spokesman with the city government of Baoshan in Yunnan Province said Sunday. "More than 500 Chinese soldiers, policemen and local residents joined the rescue work after calls for help were heard from across the border," he said. Rescuers had so far retrieved the dead body of a Myanmar boy, the spokesman said. Another 11 people remained missing, including four Chinese and seven from Myanmar. The cause of the accident and identities of the victims are not immediately known. Top officials in Baoshan City ordered all-out efforts to search for the missing.

Vehicle Accident – Europe – United Kingdom

January 31, 2009 on 11:42 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: VI-20090201-20301-GBR
Date / time: 01/02/2009 04:42:08
Event: Vehicle Accident
Area: Europe
Country: United Kingdom
State/County: England
City: Birmingham
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured:9 persons
Damage level: Minor

Description:
Nine people have been taken to hospital after the roof of a bus was ripped off in an accident. The accident happened when the double-decker bus collided with a bridge on Corngreaves Road in Cradley Heath, Birmingham. Two girls, believed to be 15 years old, suffered the most serious injuries. One suffered a broken nose while the other complained of head, neck and back pain.

Fewer Days Of Extreme Cold And More Days Of Extreme Heat In Europe

January 31, 2009 on 8:00 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off Scientists have selected 262 European observatories which analyzed the series of minimum and maximum daily temperatures from 1955 to 1998 to estimate trend variations in extreme temperature events. According to the study, in Europe days of extreme cold are decreasing and days of extreme heat increasing. From 0.5ºC to 1ºC in the average minimum temperature, and from 0.5ºC to 2ºC in the average maximum temperature.

5.7 – NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

January 31, 2009 on 6:20 pm | In Earthquakes | Comments Off

Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:51:52 UTC
Lat/Lon: 36.7157/141.133
Depth: 35

6 – NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

January 31, 2009 on 5:23 pm | In Earthquakes | Comments Off

Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:51:52 UTC
Lat/Lon: 36.7157/141.133
Depth: 35

6 – NEAR THE EAST COAST OF HONSHU, JAPAN

January 31, 2009 on 5:19 pm | In Earthquakes | Comments Off

Date: Sat, 31 Jan 2009 21:51:52 UTC
Lat/Lon: 36.7371/141.109
Depth: 35

Czech president attacks Al Gore’s climate campaign

January 31, 2009 on 5:07 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off

AFP – Czech President Vaclav Klaus took aim at climate change campaigner Al Gore on Saturday in Davos in a frontal attack on the science of global warming.