Drought Destroys Fifth of Argentine Corn Crop

Grain fields across Argentina’s Pampas region destroyed by drought

An estimated 20 percent of Argentina’s corn crop has been roasted by drought and parching southern hemisphere summer sun.

Disaster Calendar 2012 – January 6

[January 6, 2012]  Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.  SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,531 Days Left to the ‘Worst Day’ in Human History

• Argentina.  Drought and blazing summer sun have destroyed about a fifth of Argentina’s corn crop.
  • Farmers have stopped late-season corn planting.
  • The lingering drought also threatens the country’s soy harvest.
  • Argentina’s corn harvest forecast is down by 5 million to 7 million metric tons and soybean harvest by 3 million tons, reports said.
  • December rainfall was down to an overall average of about 25mm, down sharply from 85-mm average in December 2010.
  • Argentina is world’s 2nd-largest corn exporter and 3rd largest soybean seller.
  • The country supplies about 20 percent of the world’s traded corn, and half the soymeal.
• Chile. About 60 wildfires have killed, injured or left up to a dozen firefighters missing.
  • Blazes fanned by high winds, have consumed hundreds of homes and destroyed at least 50,000 hectares of woodland and brush since December 26, 2011.
  • Some of the fires were reportedly started by arsonists, one by an Israeli tourist.
  • Chilean President Pinera has invoked anti-terror legislation, which allows for steeper punishments.
  • A blaze in Biobio region has destroyed about 190 hectares of apple trees, cherry orchards and vineyards, a report said.
  • “Up to 300 farmers have lost or suffered damage to their crops, apiaries, warehouses and equipment. It’s estimated the blazes have claimed 67 greenhouses, 640 head of livestock and 650 beehives.”
  • The Agriculture Minister has declared a state of emergency in Quillón, Ránquil, San Rosendo and Florida provinces.
  • An unusually hot and dry weather has prevailed in Chile in the past few months.
• Netherlands. About 1,000 villagers from four villages in the province of Groningen, the northeasternmost province of the Netherlands, are being evacuated after an inland dyke began leaking, and threatened to break amid torrential rains.
  • Local authorities are also moving thousands of cattle from farms in the flood-risk areas.
  • “Hundreds of acres of land would flood in a matter of hours, while the water level in the area would rise to at least 1.50 meters. This is why we started the evacuation,” a local official said at a news conference.

Global Disaster Links

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• Mass Die-offs

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters: 2011 SIX TIMES MORE DISASTROUS THAN 2010
• 2011 Disaster Calendar

3.5m Pakistani children face waterborne diseases

Pakistan Flood Tragedy Enters New Phase

A quarter of Pakistan, including its agricultural heartland, has been inundated

“Up to 3.5 million children are at high risk of deadly water-borne diseases, such as watery diarrhoea and dysentery,” Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said, AFP reported.

“What concerns us the most is water and health. Clean water is essential to prevent deadly water-borne diseases. Water during the flood has been contaminated badly. There is a shortage of clean water,” he added.

Pakistan – Floods Impact Profile [13 August 2010] – Click images to enlarge.

MAP OF FLOOD DAMAGED HOUSES

YOUR RESPONSE

YOU have a moral duty to help victims of disasters; however, do NOT enrich the international aid mafia. DO NOT give any money to the American Red Cross, or any outfit headed by Clinton/Bush, Hollywood (film and music scenes) people, ex-politicians, or senior members of the UN organizations.

Related Links:

• Intense rains affect 1 in 10 Pakistani
• Collapse of Pakistan May Have Started
• 2010 Disaster Calendar [AUGUST]
• Between Hell and High Water
• Pakistan Floods Kill 1,000

• Collapse Diary
• 2010 Disaster Calendar

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Index of Human Impact on Nature (HIoN) March 2008
• Earth’s Human Induced Antiphase Nears Completion
• Energy Dinosaurs

The Resourceful Ganges River

Image of the Day:

Day of the Dead on Holy Ganges River

“THE UNCARED FOR.”  A dead body floats on the banks of the Ganges as a devotee Hindu performs rituals in Varanasi, Uttar Pradesh, considered to be one of Hinduism’s holiest cities. Photo: K.R. Deepak. The Hindu. Image may be subject to copyright.

Will Religion and Ecology Ever Coincide?

Each year millions of tons of municipal sewage and industrial effluent are pumped in the Holy Ganges. In additions to millions of tons of municipal garbage, the uncared for bodies and remains of prayer materials and idols of Hindu goddess of valor, Durga, are also thrown into the holy river for good measure!

Let’s face it, what good is a river, especially one with holy water, if it didn’t cater for your daily needs?

Related Links:

• Indian Power Workers Drink Radioactive Water
• India faces severe water, farming, food crisis
• Surprise! World’s largest rivers drying

Looking for Water on Earth

Never Mind Water on the Moon

Image of the Day: Please, can we have some more water?

Her’s another egregious example of science gone awry from its intended purpose of serving humanity. At a time when socially blind NASA “elites” are spending tens of billions of dollars of taxpayer money playing space invaders, bombing the moon and looking for water, people are perishing from the lack of water here on Earth, abandoned by science.

A villager walks in the partially dried-up Mahanadi river in the eastern Indian state of Orissa, November 17, 2009. REUTERS/Krishnendu Halder. Image may be subject to copyright.

Related Links:

• To Prove ‘Fertility,’ NASA Had to Rape Moon
• Space Exploration Not an Exact Science!
• NASA Finds Cheeseburgers on the Moon

• Drought and Deluge
• India faces severe water, farming, food crisis
• East Africa Driven to the Verge of Catastrophe

2008 second worst year for disaster losses

Disaster losses in 2008 are about $160 billion, so far, insurers Munich Re Foundation say

Only 2005 saw a bigger financial toll of $220 billion, with a large contribution from hurricane Katrina.

China’s Sichuan quake which struck in May, was the costliest disaster in 2008 so far. However, it should be noted that outside the U.S. and EU,  natural disaster losses are far less likely to be covered by insurance.

According to a joint study by Munich Re and the U.N. Environment Program, weather-related disasters caused by global warming are rising.

“Since the 1980s… weather-related hazards such as major floods have increased by as much as 350 percent and those from wind storms have doubled,” the report said.

Meanwhile, the Colorado State University hurricane research team said 2009 would be another “above-average” hurricane season like 2008. They forecast 14 tropical storms in the 2009, including seven that would develop into hurricanes, with three being dangerous Category 3 or above on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

FEWW Tropical Storm Forecast will be release early 2009. Stay tuned!

Related News Links:

• 2008 one of worst years for disaster losses: insurer
• Forecasters see active 2009 hurricane season

Related Links:

• Index of Human Impact on Nature
• Early “Dividends” of Climate Change
• 500 Weather-Related Disasters A Year [and counting]
• Food Crisis
• Failing Ecosystems