2010 Disaster Calendar [DECEMBER]

U.S., the world, stake the future on high-energy strategies. Energy models’ simulations show all such strategies ending in collapse. EDRO

2010: Year One of Human-Enhanced Disasters

• FEWW Amendment to Murphy’s Law: If more things can go wrong they will go wrong about now!

• In the next few years, YOU or someone close to you will likely have experienced a man-made, or human-enhanced ‘natural disaster.’

• “About 99.98 percent of human effort goes to debilitate the ecosystems. In other words, for every single step taken to restore the natural life support services, humans take 6,400 steps in the opposite direction, destroying the planet’s ability to maintain life.” —EDRO

2010 Disaster Calendar

Links to monthly entries:  January 2010 |February 2010 | March 2010 | April 2010 | May 2010 | June 2010 | July 2010 | August 2010 | September 2010 | October 2010 | November 2010 |

[Note: This listing is by no means exhaustive.]

December 2010

• Day 335 [December 1, 2010]

  • Caracas, Venezuela. Extreme weather kills at least 30 people and forces thousands from their homes. Venezuelan President Hugo Chavez declares a state of emergency in the states of Falcon, Miranda and Vargas. Flooding and landslides triggered by torrential rains has claimed at least 30 lives, reports say. So far, more than 3,000 families have lost their homes, and another 60,000 people have been affected by the deadly floods. “Officials said the storms caused a power outage Monday that stopped operations at the Cardon oil refinery in Falcon, and similar problems shut down some units at the adjacent Amuay refinery.” AP reported.
  • Oahu, Hawaii. The total number of traffic deaths for the year so far has reached 58,  more than 2009 total of 53, a report said.
  • Bang-kok, Thailand. Death toll from the flooding that inundated vast areas of Thailand since Oct 10 has climbed to at least 257, a report said.
  • Pennsylvania, USA. Death toll on Pennsylvania highways during the 5-day Thanksgiving holiday period climbed to at least 17, the highest in 7 years. The state police reported 1,101 crashes during the period, a report said.
  • USA.  The National Safety Council has estimated that at least 441 people would be killed and 42,700 others seriously injured on US roads during the 2010 Thanksgiving holiday period.

• Day 336 [December 2, 2010]

  • Europe. Arctic weather has killed dozens of people across Europe. Temperatures dropped to -26C (-14.8F) in Poland, where at least 18 people died from exposure. About three dozen others died from the cold in Central, Northern and Western Europe.
  • The Balkans. Hundreds of people in Serbia and Montenegro have been evacuated after heavy rains triggered extensive flooding in many parts of the region
  • Cyprus. Temperatures in the Mediterranean island of Cyprus are more than 5C above the seasonal average. November was reportedly the driest in 110 years, the country’s Meteorological Service was reported as saying. The island is experiencing severe drought.
  • Italy. Heavy rains have caused severe flooding in various parts of Italy, with the country’s Civil Protection Authority warning of more heavy rains and deluge.
  • North Carolina, USA. USDA has
    declared 10 South Carolina counties as natural disaster areas, because of persistent drought.
  • Louisiana, USA. USDA has declared  36 counties in Louisiana as natural disaster areas.
  • USA. “Counties along the Arkansas state line in Louisiana, Mississippi, Missouri, Oklahoma, Tennessee and Texas were declared secondary disaster areas,” a report said.

• Day 337 [December 3, 2010]

  • Haifa, Israel. Forty-one prison guards were killed in a massive forest fire near the northern Israeli city of Haifa, the local police has confirmed. At least 45 others were reportedly injured. Up to 15,000 people abandoned their homes to escape the blaze. The flames traveled 1.5km (0.9 miles) in under 3 minutes, according to a  fire brigade spokesman.  About 3,000 hectares (7,200 acres) of land has been charred in what Israeli media called “the biggest forest fire in Israel’s history,” by Thursday PM local time.
  • The Balkans. A state of emergency has been declared in the Balkan states of Bosnia, Montenegro and Serbia following extensive  flooding unseen for more than a century, reports say.  The river Drina, which runs through the three countries, flooded, submerging  farms, killing hundreds of livestock, destroying homes and damaging roads and other infrastructure.

• Day 338 [December 4, 2010]

  • Europe. Death toll from arctic climate in Europe has exceeded at least 90, with Poland accounting for about 40 of the victims.
  • Nigeria. “As many as 150 people, many of them civilians, were killed when Nigerian security forces raided militant camps to hunt out rebels of the restive Niger delta region, a human rights activists has alleged,” a report said.
  • Australia. The authorities declared a state of emergency in the two Australian states of New South Wales and Queensland.  Torrential rains causing extensive flooding have destroyed about 500 million dollars worth of crops, cutting off towns and communities and killing at least one person, reports say. “This is simply devastating to farmers who, after 10 years of drought, will now see one-sixth of their crop lost to rain,” NSW Emergency Services Minister has said.

• Day 339 [December 5, 2010]

  • Colombia. Death toll from weeks of torrential rains across Colombia has climbed to at least 174, with 20 others missing and at least 250 injured. More than 1.5 million people have become homeless, according to the Colombian Red Cross.
  • Venezuela. Death toll from ongoing flooding and landslides in Venezuela has risen to 37,  with an estimated 75,000 people left homeless nationwide, the authorities  said.
  • Great Britain. As the death toll from the big freeze in the UK climbs to at least 7, “National Energy Action estimates that 5.5 million households will have plunged into fuel poverty by early next year due to price rises. This is up 400,000 on the group’s last estimate and represents 21 per cent of the UK’s 26 million households,” a report said.

• Day 340 [December 6, 2010]

  • Albania. About 15,000 people have so far been  been moved from their homes in NW Albania, after nearly a week of torrential rains and widespread flooding which inundated some 15,000 hectares, destroying or damaging many structures.
  • Colombia. About 250 people are believed to have been buried/reported as missing by a large landslide in the Colombian city of Medellin, which buried at least 50 buildings, reports say.
  • Sichuan Province, China. A grassland fire swept through Daofu County in the Tibetan Autonomous Prefecture of Garze in southwest China’s Sichuan Province killing at least 22 people, and seriously injuring another, a report said.
  • Tamil Nadu, India. At least 170 people were killed after widespread flooding triggers by heavy rains in India’s coastal regions of Tamil Nadu inundated vast areas. “Most of the death were due to electrocution, wall collapses, lightning and drowning in flood waters.” A report said. “The death toll is expected to increase.”
  • Poland. Death toll from the big freeze in Poland has climbed to at least 60 since November, reports say.
  • Europe. Death toll from arctic weather in Europe may have already exceeded several hundred, Fire-Earth Estimates.
  • Australia. Some 34 New South Wales regions have been declared natural disaster areas after “swollen rivers spilled into the streets and water levels continued to rise,” a report said. Thousands of Australians have been evacuated from their homes as surging floodwaters inundated towns in the region’s worst deluge in nearly 4 decades, officials said. Some 3,000 properties were isolated and 1,500 had been evacuated, State Emergency Service said.  Widespread flooding has also been reported in Queensland with towns completely isolated. [The silver lining? Flooding has disrupted coal production in the region!]
  • China. “A two-month drought is plaguing China’s major wheat production areas, according to local agricultural and drought relief authorities,” a report said. “The four drought-hit provinces of Henan, Anhui, Shandong and Hebei produce over half of the country’s summer grain, 90 percent of which is wheat, and account for 22 percent of China’s arable land.“

• Day 341 [December 7, 2010]

  • UK. Death toll from the big freeze in the UK reaches at least 13 and is expected to rise as the Arctic weather persists, reports say. Forecasters say the cold weather will last a fortnight.
  • Greece. Flooding triggered by torrential rains in the city of Ioannina has damaged/destroyed scores of buildings including homes, stores and offices. Massive landslides forced the closure of a 65-km (40 miles) stretch of the highway linking Ioannina with the port of Igoumenitsa, a report said.
  • Tamil Nadu, India. Death toll in Tamil Nadu flooding and landslides has climbed to 181, with thousands of people left homeless, reports say.
  • New Zealand. 23 seals, including 8 newborn pups were clubbed to death in Ohau Point Seal Sanctuary, Kaikoura, NZ, reports say.

• Day 342 [December 8, 2010]

  • Chile. At least 82 prisoners were killed and scores of others injured after fire broke out at a prison in Santiago, Chilean capital, reports say.
    
  • Henan province, China. Death toll from a gas explosion at a coal mine in Henan province, central China, has risen to 26,  state media reported. 
  • Pakistan. Death toll from bombing in northern Pakistan has climbed  to 15, with at least 20 others wounded, most of them  seriously, reports say.
  • Pakistan. At least 4,000 people have been killed in bomb attacks across Pakistan in the past 30 moths, reports say.
  • Bangladesh. At least 19 people were killed and more than 300 injured after 2 passenger trains collided in Bangladesh’s Narsingdi district, about 50 km NE of capital Dhaka, reports say.

• Day 343 [December 9, 2010]

  • Poland. At least 68 people have frozen to death in Poland since November, 53 of them in the last week alone, Polish Press Agency quoted the police.
  • Nigeria. A new outbreak of cholera has killed at least 15 people in Kebbi state, Northern Nigeria.  “We have 13 deaths out of 125 cholera cases we have recorded since Sunday and these figures are from hospital records,” the heath commissioner told AFP.
  • Papua New Guinea (PNG).  Death toll from PNG’s latest outbreak of cholera has climbed to 300, and more deaths are expected, Medicins sans Frontieres said.
  • Haiti. Death toll from cholera outbreak in Haiti has climbed to 2,120, according to the health ministry.
  • Pakistan. Death toll from Dengue Fever in Sindh province, Pakistan, has climbed to 25, and about 4,000 others tested positive for  the virus,  a report said.
  • South America. “More than 80 people have died in landslides in Colombia and Venezuela after torrential rains the Venezuelan president has blamed on a ‘criminal’ use of resources by developed nations.” a report said. At least 1.5 million people are left homeless.
  • Tennessee, USA. 28 counties in Tennessee have been declared federal disaster areas because of agricultural losses from heat and drought contniuing since the summer.  U.S. Agriculture Secretary Tom Vilsack said farmers have suffered significant production losses to corn, soybeans, tobacco, forage and vegetable crops, reports say.
  • Montana, USA. USDA has declared Montana’s Cascade, Chouteau, Flathead, Pondera, Lewis and Clark and Teton counties as natural disaster areas following hailstorms which occurred  from May 1 through September 30, 2010, reports say.
  • New South Wales (NSW), Australia. 35 shires (districts) in NSW have been declared as natural disaster zones after flooding caused hundreds of thousands of dollars in damage, a report said. Thousands of people have been ordered to evacuate flood-hit towns, according to another report.

• Day 344 [December 10, 2010]

  • Australia. 45 districts have now been declared as natural disaster areas in Australia’s New South Wales and Queensland states.  “Many local communities in NSW, Queensland, Victoria and South Australia are dealing with the effects of severe weather and flooding,” a government official said.
  • Pakistan.   Four months later, millions of Pakistanis are still suffers from flooding, reports say.
  • Panama. Panamanian President has declared a national emergency following  heavy rains and flooding which killed at least 10 people and left more than 1,500 homeless. About 5,000 homes have been destroyed or damaged in the country’s three worst-hit eastern provinces.

• Day 345 [December 11, 2010]

  • Florida, USA. A record 699 Florida manatees have died so far this year. “Of those, 244 were attributed to cold weather and many of the 271 undetermined deaths were also likely caused by weather. In most years, the leading cause of manatee deaths is from collisions with power boats.” Said a report.
  • Poland. Death toll from  severe winter weather in Poland has climbed to at least 70 since the start of the cold spell in late November, reports say.
  • New South Wales, Australia. State government has declared three additional districts as disaster areas: Orange, Tumut and Liverpool Plains shire councils.  Meanwhile,  four  motorists were killed when their cars were swept away by floods, 3  in Queensland, and 1 in New South Wales. “A Public Information Inquiry Centre, co-ordinated by NSW, has taken 11,600 calls since opening on December 2, surpassing a previous record of 10,545 calls during the mid-north coast and north coast floods in May 2009.” Said a report.  According to another report 700 sheep drowned on a single farm near Wagga Wagga.
  • Michigan, USA. USDA has declared 44 counties, including the entire West Michigan, as “primary natural disaster areas.” The designation follows freezing temperatures and frost which destroyed/damaged numerous crops including apples, blueberries,  cherries and vegetables.
  • Florida, USA. Florida governor has declared a State of Emergency due to the threat of severe weather and freezing temperatures as far south as Lake Okeechobee. “I am issuing an Executive Order to declare a state of emergency due to the threat of severe cold weather and to ensure timely precautions are taken to protect Florida’s agricultural crops and the general welfare of the State.” Charlie Crist said.
  • Indiana, USA. USDA has designated several Indiana counties as natural disaster areas because of the combined effects of heavy rain, hail, storms, tornadoes, and flooding, which have caused devastation in the region. The counties are:  Elkhart, LaPorte, LaGrange and St. Joseph. (SEE also the above entry for Michigan.)
  • Arkansas, USA. USDA has declared all Arkansas counties as natural disaster areas because of damages caused by drought and excessive heat last spring.
  • Colombia.  Colombian government has declared some 200,000 hectares (494,000 acres) as  “public disaster” areas as many crops have been damaged by excessive rain from a La Nina condition, the U.S. Department of Agriculture’s Foreign Agricultural Service said.

• Day 346 [December 12, 2010]

  • Obama’s slaughterhouse I (Afghanistan). The reported death toll of NATO troops for 2010 has topped 670 after 6 more soldiers were killed in in Helmand and Kandahar provinces, reports say.
  • Pakistan.  Death toll from bombings in Pakistan’s tribal district of Ghalanai, about 175 km (110 miles) northwest of Islamabad, bordering Afghanistan, has risen to 43, officials were reported as saying.
    • “Our research observed that intelligence officials of US and Pakistan deliberately overlook civilian fatalities and relay only censored accounts to Western media organisations. However, study reports suggest that the civilian casualties generally outnumber the killings of militants in drone attacks,” The Nation (Pakistan) quoted Conflict Monitoring Center (CMC)  monthly report as saying.
  • NSW, Australia. The swollen Queanbeyan River to rose by more than 3m, in just two hours, reports say, “splitting the southern NSW town in two and forcing more than 100 people to flee.”  At least 1200 tons of grain, 4,500ha of crops, 1,000 bales of fodder and 50km of fencing has been lost as a result of heavy rain and flooding in the last week. Meanwhile, the death toll from flooding related incidents rose to at least 7. “With more than $3 billion now estimated to be scratched off the value of the wheat, barley and canola harvest, National Farmers Federation president Jock Laurie said the morale of farmers across the country continued to plummet.”
  • Michigan, USA. The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has designated Kent, Kalamazoo and Muskegon counties, in addition to 44 other Michigan counties mentioned above, as primary natural disaster areas following severe storms, frost and freezing earlier this year, a report said.   “According to October harvest projections from the Michigan Department of Agriculture, fruit production will be down across the board – from apples down 49 percent to peaches down 21 percent. “

• Day 347 [December 13, 2010]

  • Upper Midwest, USA. Gov Jim Doyle of Wisconsin declared a state of emergency in 72 counties as a powerful snowstorm barreled through the upper Midwest depositing about 20 inches of snow, causing extensive power outages, closing many roads in several states and grounding thousands of flights throughout the region.     The deadly snowstorm which has claimed at least 4 lives so far,  hit Wisconsin and Minnesota first and moved eastward toward Indiana, Iowa, Michigan and Ohio. In Minnesota the roof of the Metrodome in Minneapolis collapsed under about 2 feet of snow.    The National Weather Service has issued a  blizzard warning for Iowa, Minnesota, Wisconsin, Missouri, Chicago, northern, and north-western Illinois, as well as Michigan, North and South Dakota.    “In Wisconsin, wind gusts were as high as 70 miles per hour, the National Weather Service said, and an advisory was issued with wind chill temperatures expected to drop to minus 20 degrees F to minus 27 degrees F (minus 29ºC to minus 33ºC).” A report said.
  • NSW, Australia. The NSW Premier Kristina Keneally has declared the districts of Goulburn, Mulwaree Cowra, Coolamon and Tamworth as Natural Disaster areas.  As of posting, at least 37  district across NSW (at least 52 areas countrywide) have been declared as disaster areas since the flooding began on November 29. “This has been the most widespread flooding event of this kind NSW has experienced in more than 30 years,” Keneally was reported as saying.  Meanwhile,  death toll from the extreme weather and flooding in eastern Australia has risen to at least seven.
  • Panama. A week of heavy rains which caused extensive flooding in Panama has left at least 10 people dead and more than 2,500 homes damaged,  civil defense authorities in Panama said.  “The office said Monday that 2,720 people are in shelters nationwide.”

• Day 348 [December 14, 2010]

  • Egypt. Extreme weather has killed at least 31 people  in Egypt. Storms, torrential rain and sandstorms also injured more than 58 people, a report said.
  • USA. At least 15 people have been killed in 5 states after a deadly  snowstorm paralyzed the Midwest, authorities said. The deaths occurred in Wisconsin, Michigan, Indianapolis, Minnesota,  and Illinois reports say.

• Day 349 [December 15, 2010]

  • Sarnia, Ontario (Canada). Sarnia has been declared a natural disaster area following a massive snowstorm, reports say.   A severe weather warning has also been issued for Western Lambton County and Petrolia.  A state of emergency was announced December 13, 2010 due to the severity of snowstorm, which has since stranded an estimated 400 motorists on Highway 402. Meanwhile,  “A vigorous disturbance … from British Columbia has spread freezing rain and ice pellets into parts of southwestern and south-central Saskatchewan,” Environment Canada said. Bad weather that rolled into Saskatchewan late Tuesday has produced treacherous driving conditions throughout the region, forcing the closure of a 150-km stretch of the Trans-Canada Highway in Saskatchewan.
  • USA.  The U.S. Department of Agriculture (USDA) has declared parts of 16 states including some of the driest areas in Texas, Louisiana, Arkansas, Alabama, Georgia and Florida as natural disaster areas, reports say.
  • Kentucky, USA. Four Kentucky counties, Bell and Whitley in eastern Kentucky and Calloway and Graves in western Kentucky, are declared as natural disaster areas because they neighbor Tennessee counties that were devastated by drought and excessive heat this yea.
  • Zimbabwe.  Farmers in Zimbabwe’s Hurungwe District are unable to use their cattle for tillage because tick-borne diseases have left their animals too weak to plow, a report said.  “The ticks were also affecting humans.”
  • Christmas Island. About 50 people are feared drowned after a boat carrying asylum seekers crashed into rocks on Christmas Island (located 350 km  south of Jakarta, Indonesia) in the Indian Ocean.
  • Chahbahar  Iran. Death toll in twin suicide bombings near a mosque in Iran’s southeastern city of  Chahbahar has climbed to 38, the local news agency has said. “The IRNA news agency said the dead included women and children,” UKPA reported.
  • Obama’s Slaughterhouse I (Afghanistan). A NATO soldier was killed in an explosion in southern Afghanistan today, reports say, raising the 2010  death toll for the foreign occupation troops to about 700. (2009 toll was 521).
  • Ciudad Juarez, Mexico. Death toll from drug-related violence in the Mexican city of Ciudad Juarez has climbed to 3,000 (a total of about 7,400 in the city over three years). Drug related violence throughout the country has risen to more than 30,000 since 2006, reports say.

• Day 350 [December 16, 2010]

  • Uganda.  Death toll from the outbreak of a mysterious virus has risen to at least 38, the Uganda Health Ministry reported, with more than 90 people taken seriously ill.
  • Colombia. Death toll from northwestern Colombia’s mudslide on December 5, has risen to at least 74, officials were reported as saying. At least 257 people have died during this year’s rainy season, about two and a half time as many victims as  in 2009. The rains have left up to 2 million people  homeless so far this year.
  • NSW, Australia. The state government in New South Wales has added FOUR more natural disaster zones to its disaster list as extensive flooding continues to cause misery across the state. “Natural disasters were declared today in Urana and Corowa shires, in the Riverina and Moree Plains and Bogan shires, in the northwest,” a report said.
  • Wyoming, USA. USDA has declared Fremont County and its neighboring counties ( Carbon, Hot Springs, Natrona, Park, Sublette, Sweetwater, Teton and Washakiea) as  disaster areas following  the devastation caused by grasshoppers in September, a report said.
  • Roxas City, Philippines. The Roxas City Council has declared a state of calamity in the city after last weeks massive flooding which inundated 22 districts. Four days of heavy rains in the province of Capiz submerged at least 138 districts including those in Roxas, reports say. Floodwater drowned at least three people, and seriously affected more than 80,000 people.
  • Gaspe, Que., Canada. A state of emergency has been declared in the town of Gaspe after torrential rains and wind gusts pummeled the entire region, a report said.  The town was declared a flood zone after “two days of driving rain flooded basements, washed out roads and muddied tap water.”
    • Up to 230 mm of rain was expected in the area by the weekend.
    • “Storm surges whipped up waves as high as 10 metres in the town of Chandler, to the south, where schools were closed as a precaution.”
    • Storm said to be the worst since the 1870s.

• Day 351 [December 17, 2010]

  • Colombia. Death toll from two weeks of torrential rains, flooding and landslides in Colombia has risen to at least 250, as Colombian President declares a state of emergency, a report said. More than 2 million people have been affected so far.  “Officials said that, in addition to the increasing loss of lives, material damage could exceed $5 billion. Many bridges and roads were washed away as the floods advanced.”
  • Malaysia.  Death toll from dengue fever has climbed to at least  132, reports say.  “The number of cumulative cases from January until Dec 11 is 44,641, which is an increase of 15 percent or 5,660 cases, compared with 38,981 cases reported during the same period last year,” the country’s Health Director-General was reported as saying.

• Day 352 [December 18, 2010]

  • Sudan.The worst epidemic of the deadly kala azar disease in almost a decade has struck southern Sudan with thousands of people infected, according to Medecins Sans Frontieres. “If untreated, the parasitic disease, spread by the bite of an infected sandfly, is fatal in almost 100 percent of cases.” AlertNet said.
  • USA. Contaminated food kills at least 3,000 Americans each year and leaves 48 million sick, according to a report released by CDC.
  • Ivory Coast. Up to 30 people have been killed so far in clashes between Ivory Coast police and  supporters of opposition leader Alassane Ouattara, reports say.
    • The UN refugee agency reported that about 5,000 Ivorians have fled to neighboring countries, fearing an eruption of civil war.
  • Kansas, USA. About 1,200 dogs at a Kansas kennel have been euthanized after an outbreak of the highly contagious disease distemper in Wyoming, which has been “linked to the large-scale breeding operation,” a report said.

• Day 353 [December 19, 2010]

  • Colombia.  Death toll from “catastrophic rainy season” in Colombia has risen to at least 281, the local Red Cross said. Torrential rains, floods and landslides have affected about 2.2 million people have so far this year. The cost of damage is estimated at $5.5billion, reports say.
  • Poland. Death toll from severe frost in Poland climbs to at least 93 so far this winter, reports say.
  • Bangladesh. At least 37 people were killed and 18 others reported missing after a passenger boat collided with a sand-laden cargo vessel on the River Surma near Sunamganj, reports say.
  • Kabul, Afghanistan. “A member of the NATO-led force in Afghanistan was killed on Sunday, taking the total number of foreign troops killed in 2010 to 700, by far the deadliest year of the war since the Taliban were toppled in 2001,” Reuters reported.
  • Tugueragao, Philippines. At least 15 people were killed and two dozens injured, many of them young nursing students, after a fire destroyed a budget hotel in Tugueragao, Philippines, reports say.
  • Pakistan. Death toll from drone attacks in Pakistan’s Khyber district  has climbed to about 60 since late friday, officials were quoted as saying.

• Day 354 [December 20, 2010]

  • Mexico. At least 30 people have been killed and many others injured in an oil pipeline explosion near San Martin Texmelucan about 80km (50 miles) east of Mexico City. The authorities say about 3 dozen homes were destroyed after thieves attempted to steal fuel from the pipeline. “They lost control because of the high pressure with which the fuel exits the pipeline. The streets began to flood, then came a spark and we saw rivers of fire in the streets,”an official said.
  • Hunan Province, China. Death toll from an explosion in central China’ s Hunan Province has climbed to at least 12, with two others missing and 9 injured, a report said. The explosion occurred when a truck carrying fireworks fuses “hit a power pole and sparks from fallen cables ignited the fuses.“
    • “The blast destroyed the truck and nearby houses, shattering windows and cracking walls hundreds of meters away. “

  • Thailand. Thailand’s Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation has declared 20 northern and northeastern provinces as disaster zones, after the onset of “harsh winter.” Temperatures in the disaster areas has fallen below 8ºC.
  • Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia. At least 30 people were killed and more than a dozen injured after a bus carrying tourists from Thailand overturned in Simpang Pulai, a police source was quoted as saying.

• Day 355 [December 21, 2010]

  • Kerman Province, Iran. At least a dozen people are reported dead, with dozens more injured or trapped under the rubble after a 6.5Mw earthquake struck Iran’s Kerman province, reports say.
  • NSW, Australia. “Moree Plains Shire was named along with three other local government areas–Urana, Corowa, and Bogan–as natural disaster zones, bringing the total number of declared zones in NSW to 42,” a report said.
  • Western Australia. WA’s state government has declared several parts of the Pilbara region a natural disaster zone after severe flooding reports say.
  • Australia.  “More than 100 local government areas and regions across Australia have been declared natural disaster zones because of flooding over the past three weeks,” a report said.  The town of Carnarvon received a year’s rainfall in under 24 hours.
  • France. Death Toll from French diabetes drug and appetite suppressant Mediator could be as high as 2,000, a report said.
  • Guadalupe. Santa Barbara County, California. The City of Guadalupe declared a state of emergency on Tuesday due to the rain storms that began on Friday.
  • Carnarvon, Western Australia. The town of  Carnarvon was declared a disaster zone earlier today after floods caused millions of dollars of damage to vegetable and fruit crops, reports say.

• Day 356 [December 22, 2010]

  • Global. Extrapolating the tobacco-related death figures for the US, Canada and Europe, the corresponding global toll could be as many as 12 million victims, including 3 million children. [On average about 56 million people die globally from various causes each year.] Of those, at least  600,000 people, including 165,000 children, die each year from passive smoking, according to a report from World Health Organization (WHO).
  • United States. At least 1,440 people died in the past 24 hours in the U-S as a result of tobacco use. Tobacco use is reported “as the single largest cause of preventable death in the United States, exceeding the death toll from HIV/AIDS, substance abuse, motor vehicle accidents, suicide, and homicide combined,” a report said, with an estimated “one out of five deaths” in the U-S caused by cigarette smoking.
  • British Colombia, Canada. More than 16 people died as a result of tobacco-related illnesses in B.C. in the past 24 hours. “Tobacco-related illness is the leading cause of preventable death in BC. Tobacco use causes up to 6,000 deaths in BC each year.   Smoking kills more people in BC than all other drugs, motor vehicle collisions, murder, suicide and HIV/AIDS combined.” See source.
  • California, USA. Up to 3,800 people were killed on California roads in the past 12 months.
  • South Carolina, USA. Some 755 people have been killed on SC state highways so far this year, SCDOT said. SC has a population of about 4,7 million and 2,800 miles of state road.
  • Alabama, USA. The USDA has designated the entire state of Alabama as a natural disaster area because of losses caused by excessive heat and drought that began March 1, 2010, a report said. The disaster declaration includes also Escambia and Santa Rosa counties in Florida.
  • Arizona, USA. President B.O. has signed a disaster declaration for the  state of Arizona following severe storms and flooding which pummeled the region early October.
  • California. Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger has  declared a state of emergency in several California counties [Kern, Orange, Riverside, San Bernardino, San Luis Obispo and Tulare] in the wake of the powerful storms that have caused flooding, mudslides and evacuations.
  • Utah, USA. “The Mayor of St. George, Utah, has declared a state of emergency in the area due to heavy rain and runoff causing the Virgin River and Santa Clara Rivers to flood,” a report said.
  • Nevada, USA. “Southern Nevada is in a state of emergency after rain-swollen creeks closed some roads in the Las Vegas area and a thick blanket of snow disrupted electricity to about 300 customers on nearby Mount Charleston,” a report said.

• Day 357 [December 23, 2010]

  • Texas, USA. Gov Rick Perry has issued a disaster proclamation for 244 counties (all but 10 of Texas counties),  because of the ongoing severe drought, a report said. “Drought conditions, as Texas is experiencing its driest November to December in about 50 years, can combine with low humidity and gusty winds to produce the wildfires, said Mahlon Hammetter, a fire prevention specialist with the Texas Forest Service.”
  • Vermont, USA. President B.O. has declared parts of Vermont a major disaster area because a wind storm caused widespread damage throughout the state on December 1, the White House reportedly said.
  • Maine, USA. U.S. Commerce Secretary Gary Locke has declared Maine a disaster area because the 2009 red tide outbreak in the state resulted in a commercial fishery failure, a report said.
  • Southern California. Flooding, landslides and rivers of mud have wreaked havoc in much of Southern California, causing substantial damage to homes in the regions and destroying infrastructure.
  • Ivory Coast. At least 173 people have been killed and 600 others arrested in the post election violence in Ivory Coast in the past seven days, the UN says.
  • Britain. The Big Freeze in Britain is costing about 282 lives each day.  “A total of 11,193 deaths were registered in England and Wales bet­ween December 3 and 10, the Office for National Statistics has revealed. This is a 21 per cent rise on the previous week, which works out at 282 extra deaths every day.” Said a report.
  • Arizona, USA. “Severe flooding in northwestern Arizona has spawned a state of emergency declaration in Mohave County,” a report said.

• Day 358 [December 24, 2010]

  • California. Abel Maldonado, the Acting Gov.  of California has proclaimed a state of emergency for Kings, Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties, reports say.
  • Wyoming, USA. USDA has declared Fremont County a primary disaster area after weather related grasshopper infestations between 7 and 10 September devastated crops.  The counties of Carbon, Hot Springs, Natrona, Park,Sublette, Sweetwater, Teton and Washakie are designated as contiguous disaster areas, a report said.< >
  • New Brunswick, Canada. The N.B. Emergency Measures Organization has reported that the damage toll from three recent storms may exceed $50 million, reports say. “Eastern New Brunswick was slammed by heavy rain, strong winds and storm surges this week, damaging about 100 homes, by EMO’s latest estimate, between Port Elgin in the southeast and Miramichi in the northeast.”
  • NSW, Australia. “Seven more natural disaster areas have been declared in NSW as the worst flooding in years shows no signs of letting up over Christmas,” a report said.
  • Desert Hot Springs, Coachella Valley, California. DHS declares a state of emergency after about 200 homes were damaged by floodwaters, a report said.
  • Uruguay. A 90-day state of emergency has been declared in Uruguay as the drought conditions in the northern parts of the country worsen, reports say.

• Day 359 [December 25, 2010]

  • Haiti. According to the latest media reports, at least 2,500 Haitians have died from the cholera epidemic, with another 120,000 treated for the waterborne disease since October. Also, 45 “voodoo priests” have been lynched in Haiti recently, blamed for the spread of the infection.
  • Pakistan. An explosion at a food distribution point in the town of Khar, Bajaur region, Pakistan, has killed at least 43 people and wounded up to 100 others, a senior government official has said. The death toll is expected to rise because several people are critically injured, reports say.
  • Peshawar, Pakistan. At least 38 people have been killed and dozens more wounded in “one of the bloodiest clashes between the security forces and the militants,” in Pakistan’s Mohmand Agency, official sources have said.
  • Jos, Nigeria.  Death toll from a series of bombings in the central Nigerian city of Jos has climbed to 32, with at least 74 others wounded, the police commissioner has said.
  • California. Abel Maldonado, the Acting Gov. of California has declared a state of emergency in San Diego County following the severe storm, reports say. Meanwhile, the National Weather Service has forecast more rain for SoCal over the holiday weekend.

• Day 360 [December 26, 2010]

  • Ecuador. At least 41 people were killed when an overcrowded bus plunged about 400 meters into a ravine in Ecuador, reports say. The death toll is expected to rise as more than 30 others were injured, some critically.
  • Uttar Pradesh, India. At least 34 people were killed when their truck overturned and was hit by a bus in the north Indian state Uttar Pradesh,  reports say. More than 12 others were injured. “33 members, all men, of the funeral procession and the driver of the bus have been killed. Of the 12 injured, majority were of the funeral procession,” an official said.
  • S. Korea. Another outbreak of the highly contagious foot-and-mouth disease (FMD) continuous to spread across S. Korea, a report said. “The Ministry for Food, Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries said the pig farm with 2,100 animals, located in Yeoju, 105 kilometers southeast of Seoul, tested positive for the disease.“
  • Alberta, Canada. The number of reported cases of syphilis has risen from two in 1999 to 267 in 2009, Alberta Health and Wellness said.
  • Egypt. As many as a dozen US tourists were killed and two dozen others injured when their bus collided with a stationary truck near the southern Egyptian city of Aswan, reports say.
  • Virginia, USA. Gov. Bob McDonnell declared a state of emergency in Virginia after forecasters said  up to 12 inches of snow could be expected in parts of the state, a release from the governor’s office said.
  • North Carolina, USA. A state of emergency has been declared for the entire state of North Carolina, after forecasters said the winter storm could dump an additional 10 inches of snow on the eastern part of the state.
  • Maryland, USA. Gov. Martin O’Malley has issued a Declaration of Emergency in Maryland after weather reports said the total snow accumulation could reach 12 inches in some parts of the state, a report said. The National Weather Service has predicted that the winter storm could dump up to 12 inches of snow along the Eastern Shore, 10 inches in central Maryland and 5 inches from Carroll County west.

• Day 361 [December 27, 2010]

  • Delaware, USA. East Coast Blizzard: State of Delaware declares State of Emergency‎
  • New Jersey, USA. East Coast Blizzard: Shore gets buried by blizzard, state of emergency declared
  • Maine, USA. Maine governor declares state of emergency, closes government offices
  • Massachusetts, USA. Massachusetts Gov. Deval Patrick has declared a state of emergency as the season’s first snow storm barrels into New England.
  • Northern Ireland. Thousands of people across Northern Ireland have been left without access to mains water because of burst pipes.
  • Jos, Nigeria. Death toll in Nigeria’s ethnic clashes is mounting “Eighty people have been confirmed dead so far in Friday’s explosions and the crisis that followed it, the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) said Monday.”
  • Hunan Province, China. Death toll from a school bus accident in central China’s Hunan Province has climbed to at least 14, a report said.

‎

• Day 362 [December 28, 2010]

  • East coast, USA. Up to two dozen traffic fatalities in several states have been attributed to the winter road conditions, reports say.
  • Poland. About a dozen Poles froze to death over the Christmas weekend pushing the winter death toll to 1about 130, reports say.  Some 298 people died in Poland from the cold last winter, with 119 of them dying in January 2010 alone, police was reported as saying.
  • Queensland, Australia. Second Round of Flooding This Month Submerges Entire Towns and Villages in NE Australia. The floods have destroyed tens of thousands of hectares of cotton and sunflower crops in many areas throughout the state, and forced thousands to flee their homes. The damage to the crops is expected to exceed $400million, Brent Finlay, president of the farmers’ lobby group AgForce, said. The towns of Chinchilla, Dalby, Warra, Alpha and Jericho, have also been declared disaster zones.
  • Thailand.  The northern province of Chiang Mai “has declared all its 25 districts as a disaster zone due to the cold snap affecting the region, according to to provincial disaster response services director Prajon Pratsakul,” a report said.
  • NSW, Australia. Several parts of the NSW have been declared a natural disaster area after about 10cm of rain fell in 24 hours, a report said.  “It is the 43rd natural disaster declaration to be made in NSW since flooding started in the state’s central west in November.”

• Day 363 [December 29, 2010]

  • New Zealand. the worst flooding in 150 years in disaster-stricken New Zealand saw road and bridges washed away by torrents of floodwater. “Raging waters in the Aorere River have destroyed the Salisbury Swing Bridge and the James Road Bridge. Livestock has been swept away and houses flooded.” Said a report.
  • Queensland, Australia. As Queensland’s flood crisis continues, more people flee their homes and businesses. Queensland’s state government has declared two new zones, Bundaberg and North Burnett districts, as disaster areas. “Queensland’s flood crisis has had a ‘staggering’ impact on the state’s roads and essential public assets, with the damage bill set to top $1 billion,” a report quoted the state government as saying.” Gregory MP Vaughan Johnson described the area around the Emerald town as resembling a huge inland delta. “All the river systems are full, the farmland has all been washed away and the crops have all been destroyed,” he said.
  • Arkansas, USA. Cowley County director of emergency management has declared a state of local disaster emergency for Cowley County due to drought and strong winds, imposing a countywide burn ban commencing one minute past midnight Wednesday December 29, 2010, a report said.

• Day 364 [December 30, 2010]

  • Colombia. The 2010 rainy season has claimed at least 303 lives and left up to 2.5 million victims in Colombia so far, authorities have said.  The cost of damage from floods and mudslides is at least $6 billion.
  • Global. At least 105 journalists were killed worldwide this year, media watchdog Press Emblem Campaign said.   Reporters Without Borders say the death toll was 57, with  51 other reporters kidnapped in 2010.
  • Oregon, USA. The USDA has designated Linn and Curry counties as natural disaster areas because rain, flooding and below normal temperatures from April to June caused damage to cranberry and squash and affected honey production, a report said.
  • New South Wales, Australia. Kyogle in New South Wales has been declared a natural disaster zone after sustaining heavy flood damage, a report said.
  • Philippines. Massive flooding triggered by torrential rains in the past four days has inundated Legazpi City and at least four other towns in Albay province, killing two people and displaced 4,000 others, a report said. The provincial governor has declared a state of calamity throughout the province and ordered the military and police force to effect mandatory evacuation in the flood-stricken areas.

• Day 365 [December 31, 2010]

  • Queensland, Australia. Floods have covered vast areas of NE Australia, inundating at least 22 towns and forcing up to a quarter of a million people out of their homes.  The disaster area is “bigger than the size of France and Germany combined.” Queensland’s state Premier told reporters.  Queensland emergency officials say the flooding could still get worse as it had not yet peaked in some areas, and would not recede for at least another week, a report said.
  • New South Wales (NSW), Australia. Ballina, located on the north coast of NSW,  has been declared a natural disaster area following torrential rain and flooding that has devastated the shire. The 5-day downpour triggered extensive flooding, ” damaging roads, bridges, drains and other critical infrastructure, the state government said on Friday.” NSW Premier told reporters that the total number of disaster-declared areas had reached 51 since early December.
  • Florida, USA. “The cold December weather caused 35 manatee deaths, adding to what was already a record-breaking annual total of manatee deaths. Last year, 767 manatees died, which was more than double the annual average, said the Florida Fish and Wildlife Conservation Commission.”
  • Virginia, USA. Nine Virginia counties have been declared as natural  disaster areas due to drought and excessive heat, reports say. Some farmers have lost about three-quarters of their crops because of n extremely hot and dry summer.
  • Lassen County, California. The USDA has designated Lassen County in California as a natural disaster area following crop losses caused by an ongoing drought that began exactly a year ago. The neighboring
    Washoe county in the state of Nevada is also covered by the  declaration because it’s contiguous.
  • Iraq. At least 3,976 Iraqi civilians, soldiers and police were killed in 2010, according to website Iraq Body Count.
  • Japan. The 2010 road traffic death toll in Japan was 4,863, reports say.
  • South and Midwestern US. A series of deadly  tornadoes ripped through the south and Midwestern US killing up to a dozen people and injuring dozens more, reports say. The tornadoes destroyed homes, fell trees and knocked out power to tens of thousands of homes in the region.

FIRE-EARTH Forecast for 2010 being the most disastrous year on record so far proved 100 percent correct. 2010 will end tonight, but the megadisasters in your ever-shrinking world are just beginning…

SEE ALSO: 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010

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