UPDATED
Hundreds killed, many wounded, tens of thousands displaced amid Saudi air raids in Yemen
At least 519 people have been killed, about 1,700 others wounded in the past two weeks—more than 90 of them children—and tens of thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes, some by crossing the sea to Djibouti and Somalia, said Valerie Amos, the UN Undersecretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief Coordinator in her latest statement on Yemen.
Electricity, water and essential medicines are in short supply, she added.
“Before this recent escalation in the violence, millions of Yemenis were already extremely vulnerable.”
The Air War Massacre Will Backfire
Saudi military air war massacre against the defenseless Yemen people will ultimately backfire, says journalist Thomas C. Mountain.
“In 2009 the Saudi military’s incompetence was exposed when their major offensive against the Houthi’s along the Saudi/Yemen border was routed and in the following Houthi counter offensive a large chunk of Saudi territory was captured by the lightly armed Houthi fighters.”
“Still stinging from their last military humiliation 6 years ago at the hands of the Houthi tribal fighters in Yemen, the Saudi Arabian royal family has embarked on what is highly likely to turn into Saudi’s ‘Vietnam’ with their latest attempt at invading Yemen.”
Houthis, having seized the presidential palace in Aden on Thursday, are now threatening to attack Saudi Arabia, should the aerial bombardment of Yemeni territory continue, said reports.
Even the U.S. should be weary of Saudi misadventures by now.
Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events
Kenya attack: 147 killed 80 wounded
At least 147 people, mostly students, were killed after al-Shabab terrorists attacked Garissa University in northeastern Kenya Thursday, said reports.
Heavily armed terrorists stormed the university campus, killing several security guards and firing indiscriminately on students.
The group was also responsible for the 2013 terrorist attack on Westgate shopping mall in the Westlands suburb of Nairobi, in which 67 people were massacred.
Iraqi Death Toll – March 2015
A total of 997 Iraqis were killed and another 2,172 were wounded in acts of terrorism and violence in March*, according to casualty figures released by UNAMI,
- At least 729 civilians were killed (including 42 civilian police), and 1,785 others wounded (including 98 civilian police).
- Also 268 members of the Iraqi Security Forces (including Peshmerga, SWAT and militias fighting alongside the Iraqi Army / Not including casualties from Anbar Operations) were killed and 387 others were wounded.
- Baghdad was the worst affected Governorate with 1,290 civilian casualties (362 killed, 928 wounded). Diyala suffered 51 killed and 75 wounded; Salahadin suffered 34 killed and 48 wounded, and Ninewa 20 killed and 15 wounded, said UNAMI.
- In Anbar, the Governorate reported a total of 939 civilian casualties (237 killed and 702 wounded). This included 58 killed and 391 wounded in Ramadi and 179 killed and 311 wounded in Fallujah, according to information obtained by UNAMI from the Health Directorate.
*CAVEATS: In general, UNAMI has been hindered in effectively verifying casualties in conflict areas. Figures for casualties from Anbar Governorate are provided by the Health Directorate and are noted above. In some cases, UNAMI could only partially verify certain incidents. UNAMI has also received, without being able to verify, reports of large numbers of casualties along with unknown numbers of persons who have died from secondary effects of violence after having fled their homes due to exposure to the elements, lack of water, food, medicines and health care. For these reasons, the figures reported have to be considered as the absolute minimum.
Mount Sinabung Erupts
North Sumatra’s Mount Sinabung erupted again on April 3, 2015 ejecting a 2-km column of ash into the air and forcing evacuations of several villages closest to the volcano, official said on Friday.
The 2,460-meter thigh volcano is located about 40 km NNW of the Lake Toba, the site of Toba supervolcano.
Toba’s latest supereruption, which occurred about 70,000 years (73,000 ± 4,000) ago, may have plunged Earth into a global volcanic winter of 6–10 years and possibly a 1,000-year-long cooling episode, according to Toba catastrophe theory.
It had an estimated volcanic explosivity index (VEI) of 8 (described as “Apocalyptic”), and was responsible for 2,800km³ of erupted matter, including 800 km³ of volcanic ash.
[FIRE-EARTH models show total erupted matter from the supereruption may have been as much as 20,000 km³.]
Fire Earth 