6.1 – COSTA RICA

May 31, 2010 on 11:45 pm | In Earthquakes | Comments Off

Date: Tue, 01 Jun 2010 03:26:18 UTC
Lat/Lon: 9.3502/-84.281
Depth: 29.3

EH : Unidentified Poisoning / North-America / USA [0:0]

May 31, 2010 on 11:24 pm | In Bio Hazards | Comments Off
GLIDE Number: EH-20100526-26275-USA
Date / time: 26/05/2010 05:47:20 [UTC]
Event: Epidemic Hazard
Name of Hazard: Unidentified Poisoning
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Louisiana
City: Venice


Description:
Some fishermen hired by BP to mop up the gulf spill report nausea and breathing troubles after contact with oil and dispersant. A congressman calls for mobile health clinics to treat them. Some fisherman who have been hired by BP to clean up the gulf oil spill say they have become ill after working long hours near waters fouled with oil and dispersant, prompting a Louisiana lawmaker to call on the federal government to open mobile clinics in rural areas to treat them. The fishermen report severe headaches, dizziness, nausea and difficulty breathing. Concerned by the reports, Rep. Charlie Melancon (D-La.) wrote to Health and Human Services Secretary Kathleen Sebelius asking the agency's help providing medical treatment, especially in Plaquemines Parish, a southern region where many fisherman live. Melancon said he expected BP to fund the clinics, but his spokeswoman said Tuesday the company had not responded to last week's request for financial assistance. George Jackson, 53, has been fishing since he was 12 and took a BP cleanup job after the massive oil spill forced the closure of fisheries and left him unemployed. While laying containment booms Sunday, he said, a dark substance floating on the water made his eyes burn. "I ain't never run on anything like this," Jackson said. Within seconds, he said, his head started hurting and he became nauseated. Like other cleanup workers, Jackson had attended a training class where he was told not to pick up oil-related waste. But he said he wasn't provided with protective equipment and wore leather boots and regular clothes on his boat. "They [BP officials] told us if we ran into oil, it wasn't supposed to bother us," Jackson said. "As far as gloves, no, we haven't been wearing any gloves." David Michaels, U.S. assistant secretary of labor for occupational safety and health, reviewed the conditions for cleanup workers, pledging this month that the federal government would ensure workplace safety in a toxic environment. The Louisiana Department of Environmental Quality and Department of Health and Hospitals warned that oil cleanup workers "should avoid skin contact, and oral cavity or nasal passage exposure to oil spill products [by] using appropriate clothing, respiratory protection, gloves and boots." Meanwhile the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency has been cautioning since the April 20 offshore leak began in the Gulf of Mexico that the oil spewing from the undersea well is harmful to human and animal health. Even the EPA's monitoring of air quality on the gulf shoreline, 50 miles from the oil leak, has detected petroleum odors strong enough to cause sickness. The agency's website warns coastal residents: "Some of these chemicals may cause short-lived effects like headache, eye, nose and throat irritation, or nausea." BP spokesman Graham McEwen said Tuesday he was unaware of any health complaints among cleanup workers, noting that the company had taken hundreds of samples of so-called volatile organic carbons, such as benzene, and all the levels were well within federal safety standards. McEwen said the fishermen the company is training are not being deployed into areas that require respirators or breathing apparatus. Those who are working for BP laying booms or skimming oil are issued protective coveralls and gloves, he said. To Riki Ott, a marine toxicologist who studied the 1989 Exxon Valdez spill off Alaska, it's "deja vu." "What we saw with Exxon Valdez was a parallel track — sick animals and sick people. Harbor seals were looking like they were drunk and dying … and autopsies showed brain lesions.…What are we exposing these poor fishermen to?" Ott said. Some fishermen suspect that health problems are going unreported because, with so much of the gulf closed to commercial fishing, unemployed shrimpers and oystermen are grateful for the cleanup jobs. "It an unwritten rule, you don't bite the hand that feeds you," said George Barisich, president of the United Commercial Fishermen's Assn. in St. Bernard Parish, who said many fishermen have told him about feeling ill. Barisich says he won't risk going out, especially after a crew told him of working around the Chandeleur Islands, a barrier chain hit by the slick. "All the birds were walking around like a bunch of zombies," he said. At a recent meeting fishermen complained to a BP representative about illness, Barisich said, but got little response. "BP has the opinion that they are not getting sick," he said. Barisich said the company is not providing respirators because "if they give us that type of equipment then they admit there are health hazards." He acknowledged that it was difficult for fishermen to prove their ailments since they seemed to recover after leaving the water. "It becomes a matter of honor," Barisich said. "You left in the morning, you were OK. Out on the water, you've got a pounding headache, throwing up." George Arnesen was congested and coughing the day after he went shrimping off California Point. His wife, Kindra, 32, made him see a doctor. The 42-year-old was given a shot of antibiotics, an anti-inflammatory and a prescription for three medications.

Event updates:
Situation Update No. 2 on 2010-06-01 at 03:23:32.
Situation Update No. 1 on 2010-05-27 at 07:40:44.


Not confirmed information!

Avalanche – North-America – USA

May 31, 2010 on 11:14 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: AV-20100601-26341-USA
Date / time: 01/06/2010 03:13:42 [UTC]
Event: Avalanche
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Alaska
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: 2 persons
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

Two climbers from Canada have died in an avalanche in Alaska's Denali National Park and Preserve. Park officials say 39-year-old Canadian Andrew Herzenberg and 42-year-old Israeli Avner Magen were descending a steep gully of Ruth Gorge Saturday when they were swept away by the avalanche. Both men were residents of Toronto, Ontario. Officials say other climbers witnessed the avalanche and skied closer to the site. In the debris, the climbers saw what appeared to be two people and gear and called rangers with a satellite phone. The bodies of the two men were recovered Sunday morning.

Vehicle Accident – Europe – United Kingdom

May 31, 2010 on 11:07 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: VI-20100601-26340-GBR
Date / time: 01/06/2010 03:06:12 [UTC]
Event: Vehicle Accident
Area: Europe
Country: United Kingdom
State/County: Scotland
City: Glasgow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: 37 persons
Damage level: Minor

Description:

A driver had to be cut free and 37 others were hurt after a horror rush-hour crash between a bus and a bin lorry yesterday. Morning rush-hour traffic was plunged into chaos as the lorry toppled over and blocked the road. The front of the packed bus was completely destroyed and the driver was trapped inside. The driver of the lorry had to kick himself free through a window. Police sealed off the area as emergency services battled to free the trapped driver. The accident happened at 9.30am at Glasgow's Anderston Cross. Residents living several hundred metres away reported hearing a loud bang. Ten ambulances were called and passengers were treated at the scene. Both drivers were taken to hospital but had only received minor injuries. Student Stephanie Reid, 20, who cut her head, said: "Everyone started screaming. Someone opened the emergency exit and we all just ran out." Salesman Brian Malone, 52, injured his shins in the smash. He said: "There was no chance to stop at all. "The bus hit the lorry and it just went right over." Sam Jones, 43, who lives nearby, added: "I heard the bang and thought something had come off the bridge."

Vehicle Accident – Caribean Area – Cuba

May 31, 2010 on 11:05 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: VI-20100601-26339-CUB
Date / time: 01/06/2010 03:04:20 [UTC]
Event: Vehicle Accident
Area: Caribean Area
Country: Cuba
State/County: Province of Guantánamo
City: Maquey
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: 20 persons
Damage level: Minor

Description:

At about twenty passengers were injured in the train accident occurred in the easternmost province of Cuba. The fact happened when a locomotive crashed a single train car going to the rural town of Maquey. The activation of the System of Medical Urgency (SIUM) allowed the quick attention of those injured in the General Hospital “Doctor Agostinho Neto”. Most of them were released in the morning of Sunday. Specialists of the Fire Department with the help of railroad workers, worked during several hours to take out the driver of the car-motor, caught in the destroyed booth because of the impact. At the time of writing this note he was still in hospital. A commission integrated by specialists of the Ministry of the Transport and the Police Department was conformed to determine the causes of the accident.

Vehicle Accident – North-America – USA

May 31, 2010 on 10:54 pm | In Disasters | Comments Off
EDIS Number: VI-20100601-26338-USA
Date / time: 01/06/2010 02:53:13 [UTC]
Event: Vehicle Accident
Area: North-America
Country: USA
State/County: State of Florida
City: Unknow
Number of Deads: None or unknow
Number of Injured: None or unknow
Damage level: Minor

Description:

A 55-foot trawler partially sank at the Isle of Venice in Fort Lauderdale on Monday morning. The trawler was moored on the west side of the isle facing Hendricks Isle when it began to submerge. No one was on board the trawler, according to U.S. Coast Guard Sector Miami. Locals are trying to locate the owner of the recreational boat.

Gulf oil spill threat widens

May 31, 2010 on 7:47 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off

Health Safety and Environment workers place part of an oil snare boom into bags so it can be disposed of in Port Fourchon, Louisiana, May 29, 2010. REUTERS/Petty Officer 3rd Class Patrick Kelley/US Coast Guard/HandoutReuters - Oil from BP's out-of-control Gulf of Mexico oil spill could threaten the Mississippi and Alabama coasts this week, U.S. forecasters said on Monday, as public anger surged over the country's worst environmental disaster.


Relief for Gulf is 2 months away with another well

May 31, 2010 on 7:46 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off

Oil impacts Redfish Bay in Louisiana's birdsfoot delta, where the Mississippi River empties into the Gulf of Mexico, May 27, 2010. REUTERS/Jeffrey Dubinsky/Gulf Restoration NetworkAP - The best hope for stopping the flow of oil from the blown-out well at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico has been compared to hitting a target the size of a dinner plate with a drill more than two miles into the earth, and is anything but a sure bet on the first attempt.


AP source: Obama to meet oil spill panel chairmen

May 31, 2010 on 7:38 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off AP - President Barack Obama plans to meet Tuesday with the co-chairmen of an independent commission investigating the catastrophic oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico.

BP engineers prepare for next bid to stop oil flow

May 31, 2010 on 7:11 pm | In Climate Change | Comments Off

PFC DeJoshua Sloan with the Louisiana National Guard carries out a long hose to siphon gulf water to inflate a Tiger Dam, to protect the Grand Isle from encroaching oil coming in with the high tide in Grand Isle, Louisiana May 31, 2010. REUTERS/Sean GardnerAP - Robot submarines are carrying equipment and cutting small pipes at the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, preparing to place a cap-like containment valve over the blown-out oil well.


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