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At least two people were killed and dozens more were injured after a destructive quake, measuring only 4.3 magnitude, struck the densely populated volcanic island of Ischia in the Tyrrhenian Sea.
Earthquake Details
Magnitude: 4.3mb
Region: TYRRHENIAN SEA
Location: 40.78 N, 13.87 E
Depth: 10 km
A major heatwave, dubbed “LUCIFER” by Italian forecasters, threatens 11 countries with “very dangerous” weather conditions.
Warnings have been issued for 26 European cities as the heatwave from Africa blankets the Mediterranean with high temperatures reaching 43ºC (109F).
Temperature of up to 47ºC have already been recorded in Southern Europe this year.
The heatwave is affecting Spain, France, Italy, Greece, Bosnia, Croatia, Serbia, Slovenia, Hungary, Romania and Poland, as well as China and other parts of Asia.
[Report Issued by FIRE-EARTH Science Team.]
Details of Report, as well as regional forecasts are available via FIRE-EARTH PULSARS.
Red
The weather is very dangerous. Exceptionally intense meteorological phenomena have been forecast. Major damage and accidents are likely, in many cases with threat to life and limb, over a wide area. Keep frequently informed about detailed expected meteorological conditions and risks. Follow orders and any advice given by your authorities under all circumstances, be prepared for extraordinary measures.
Orange
The weather is dangerous. Unusual meteorological phenomena have been forecast. Damage and casualties are likely to happen. Be very vigilant and keep regularly informed about the detailed expected meteorological conditions. Be aware of the risks that might be unavoidable. Follow any advice given by your authorities.
Yellow
The weather is potentially dangerous. The weather phenomena that have been forecast are not unusual, but be attentive if you intend to practice activities exposed to meteorological risks. Keep informed about the expected meteorological conditions and do not take any avoidable risk.
Italy’s supervolcano at “critical stage” of eruption: “volcanic activity might be imminent”
Campi Flegrei, Italy’s only supervolcano, could erupt sooner than previously predicted, researchers say, immediately affecting more than three million people who live in the Naples area.
The volcano last erupted in 1538 but it has been restless since 1950, with local seismicity and ground uplift recorded in the 1950s, 1970s and 1980s, similar to a 100-year long episode that lead to the last eruption.
More than 26,000 micro-earthquakes, or volcano-tectonic (VT) events, have occurred across the central zone of the caldera during the current unrest, researchers say.
“The current unrest is consistent with a reactivation of the magmatic system after 412 years and, hence, with an increase in the threat from volcanic activity to the caldera’s population of almost 360,000 people, as well as to the three million residents of Naples immediately outside its eastern margin.”
Ground movements of about 3m, the largest recorded since Roman times, have occurred since 1950.
“At Campi Flegrei itself, an additional obstacle to effective warning is a low public awareness of volcanic hazard compared with the perceived threat from microseismicity. The persistent VT seismicity in 1983–1984 damaged buildings throughout Pozzuoli and triggered the evacuation of some 40,000 people.”
550 people including 40 children drown in one shipwreck alone: Report
Up to 900 refugees and migrants are feared drowned in several shipwrecks off the coast of Libya in the past few days, MSF Sea Group says.
“Around 900 people may have died in the Central Mediterranean in the last week alone. Europe, this is unbearable,” MSF said.
Meanwhile, the Italian officials reported they had rescued about 600 others off Libya on Saturday, making a weekly total of about 13,000.
An estimated 190,000 people have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year. About 156,000 entered Greece and 34,000 went to Italy. About 1,375 people are missing, presumed dead, reported the UN’s International Organization for Migration (IOM).
The eruption follows reports of volcanic tremors starting five days ago.
“On May 17th we witnessed an increase in the amplitude of volcanic tremors and recorded intense degassing accompanied by occasional, weak emissions from the northeastern crater,” the Catania branch of Italy’s National Volcanology and Geophysics Institute said in a statement.
Etna lies above the convergent plate margin between the African and the Eurasian Plates, making it one of the most active volcanoes in the world.
It is the tallest active volcano in Europe, and currently stands 3,330m high. The volcano covers an area of 1,190km² with a basal circumference of 140km.
One of the 16 Decade Volcanoes, Mt Etna is in an almost constant state of activity.
5,835 refugee minors missing in Germany last year: report
Some 5,835 refugee minors have disappeared in Germany in 2015, including 555 who were under the age of 14, German media reported.
The report was published by the news organization Funke Mediengruppe, which obtained the information from the German parliament.
Most of the missing minors reportedly came to Europe from Syria and Afghanistan, and fewer numbers from Morocco, Eritrea, and Algeria, according to the data released by Berlin’s Interior Ministry.
The authorities have so far failed to explain how so many kids could have disappeared without a trace.
The latest revelation follows the Europol’s announcement in January, that since mid-2014 about 10,000 minors had gone missing after entering the EU.
In May 2015, Italian authorities warned that about 5,000 children had disappeared from asylum reception centers since the previous summer.
In Sweden, about 1,000 unaccompanied refugee children and teens had gone missing by October last year, within a month of arriving in the southern town of Trelleborg, officials have admitted.
[Our Swedish colleagues believe thousands more refugee minors are missing in Sweden.]
In 2015, a total of 1,047,844 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe [Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Malta, as well as Cyprus] including 1,011,712 by sea, with at least 5,394 fatalities recorded globally, said IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
More than 95,000 unaccompanied refugee children claimed asylum in Europe in 2015, more than 4 time the number in 2014, according to the Bureau of Investigative Journalism.
Who is responsible for this evil?
Mr Obama, we hold you responsible for the destabilization of Syria, deaths of tens of thousands of Syrians and the fate of missing refugee children.
At least 10,000 migrant children may have disappeared in Europe over the past 24 months, said the EU’s police intelligence unit (Europol).
“We estimate that at least 26,000 unaccompanied children entered Europe last year – children who have risked everything to flee war, persecution and extreme poverty alone. They come from Afghanistan, Syria, Eritrea, Somalia and Iraq, among other places, seeking sanctuary,” said Save the Children’s CEO, earlier this month.
On Friday, IOM said an estimated that 55,528 migrants and refugees had crossed the Mediterranean to enter Europe during the first 28 days of 2016 – a rate of nearly 2,000 per day. The daily average is nearly equivalent to the total numbers for the month of January as recently as two years ago.
During the same period IOM has recorded some 244 deaths at sea [global total of 361 fatalities,] as well as at least a dozen more deaths of migrants and refugees who died either after reaching Europe or traveling to a launch point in Turkey. By comparison, total deaths on Mediterranean Sea routes were 12 in 2014 and 82 last year.
Just hours after IOM released its latest statement, 39 more migrants and refugees including 10 children drowned on Saturday trying to cross the Aegean Sea from Turkey to Greece.
In May 2015, Italian authorities warned that about 5,000 children had disappeared from asylum reception centers since the previous summer.
In Sweden, about 1,000 unaccompanied refugee children and teens had gone missing by October last year, within a month of arriving in the southern town of Trelleborg, officials have admitted.
In 2015, a total of 1,047,844 refugees and migrants arrived in Europe [Greece, Bulgaria, Italy, Spain, Malta, as well as Cyprus] including 1,011,712 by sea, with at least 5,394 fatalities recorded globally, said IOM’s Missing Migrants Project.
Greece records highest migration inflows so far this year: IOM
Between January 1 and October 21, 2015 some 680,928 refugees and migrants crossed the the Mediterranean Sea, arriving in Greece (537,460), Italy (139,518), Malta (105) and Spain (3,845). Some 3,175 people perished in the Mediterranean (estimated global toll stood at 4,480 dead).
About 50,000 refugees and migrants crossed from Turkey to the Greek islands in the past five days alone, reported IOM International.
During the same period, “18 migrants are believed to have lost their lives in two incidents – one on October 19th off the coast of Megisti, the other on October 21st off the coast of Samos.”
“In the shipwreck off Samos, the Hellenic Coast Guard rescued a 32-year-old Syrian, but 14 others, including his wife, two children and other relatives are missing, believed drowned.
“Meanwhile in Italy, so far in the month of October a total of 7,447 migrants have been rescued at sea in the Channel of Sicily. No deaths have been recorded since eight bodies (seven women; one man) were shipped on Monday into Taranto, brought by the Spanish ship Rio Segura, which carried another 633 survivors. Authorities discovered the eight victims in a rubber dinghy carrying 113 migrants. Their cause of death remains unknown,” said the report.
Up to 3,000 migrants, refugees killed while crossing the Mediterranean: UNHCR
More than 300,000 refugees and migrants have crossed the Mediterranean so far this year including about 200,000 landing in Greece and 110,000 in Italy. In comparison, about 219,000 people crossed the Mediterranean during the whole of 2014, according to the UN Refugee Agency.
More than 2,500 people have lost their lives while making the crossing this year, excluding about 200 who are feared to have drowned off the coast of Libya over the past day. About 3,500 people died or went missing in the Mediterranean during the whole of 2014, said UNHCR spokesperson at a press briefing in Geneva earlier today.
In the last few days, more people have lost their lives in three separate incidents.
The Libyan Coast Guard carried two rescue operations on Thursday morning, seven miles off the port town of Zwara. Two boats carrying an approximate total of 500 refugees and migrants were intercepted and survivors taken to shore in Libya. An estimated 200 people are still missing and feared dead. A still undetermined number of bodies were recovered and taken to shore. The Libyan Red Crescent has been helping with the collection of the bodies.
On Wednesday (26th August), rescuers coming to the aid of a boat off the Libyan coast found 51 people dead from suffocation in the hold. According to survivors, smugglers were charging people money for allowing them to come out of the hold in order to breathe. One survivor, Abdel, 25, from Sudan told our colleagues, “we didn’t want to go down there but they beat us with sticks to force us. We had no air so we were trying to get back up through the hatch and to breathe through the cracks in the ceiling. But the other passengers were scared the boat would capsize so they pushed us back down and beat us too. Some were stamping on our hands.” Another survivor, Mahdi, an orthopaedic surgeon from Baghdad, told us he paid 3,000 euros to get his wife and two-year-old son on the top deck.
Last week (15 August), in a similar incident, the bodies of 49 persons were found in the hold of another boat. They are thought to have died after inhaling poisonous fumes.
Also on Wednesday, a rubber dinghy carrying some 145 refugees and migrants ran into trouble when the person steering it made a manoeuvre that caused the dinghy to tilt dangerously to one side. Some people fell into the sea and two men jumped into the water to rescue them. Panic ensued and people began to jostle and shove and, as a result, three women were crushed to death on the dinghy. Of those who fell in the water, 18 are still missing and believed to have drowned. The survivors were rescued and taken to Lampedusa, including the two-month old baby of one of the women who died. Most of the survivors are in critical condition, suffering from shock, cuts and bruises.
Bodies of 71 people found in Austria meat truck
Austrian police say they have discovered bodies of 71 people, believed to be migrants, in an abandoned truck near the Hungarian border.
The victims, believed to be Syrian migrants and thought to have been dead for several days, included four children, eight women and 59 men.
Extreme heat continues to scorch much of Europe, killing hundreds and igniting forest fires in Greece, Italy, Portugal, Spain…
Health authorities in Italy have issued a level-3 “red alert” for at least 22 cities, while the fire authorities in Liguria placed the entire region under a forest fire alert as the elevated temperatures brought by the latest heatwave dubbed “Caronte,” and dry conditions posed significant risks.
Record temperatures in northwestern Italy have killed at least 140 senior citizens during the first ten days of July, according to data from the environmental agency, Arpa Piedmont, said a report.
“July 2015 has everything it takes to be among the hottest ever,” says a meteorologist with 3bmeteo. “[We are experiencing] the most intense heat wave in 70 years.”
The extreme heat has caused a fall in production across Italian farms. Milk production in Italy fell by more than 50 million in the first two weeks of July due to the heat stressing the dairy cows, said a report.
Temperatures in many parts of Europe have been persistently above average by as much as 6ºC for more than three weeks.
Some 60,000 residents of Troyes, a town in the Champagne region of France, woke up in a sweat as the temperature climbed from 24ºC to 33°C, an increase of 9ºC (or 16.2 degrees F), in just one hour (between midnight and 1.00 am), in a phenomena called a heat burst, said a report.
An earlier heatwave that hit France between June 29 and July 5 left 700 dead and thousands more hospitalized, said a report quoting the country’s Ministry of Health.
Hundreds of migrants are believed to have drowned after their boat sank about 100km off the coast of Libya.
The 20-meter-long boat was carrying up to 950 migrants, and only 28 survivors have been rescued, according to the latest reports.
The sinking is probably the largest loss of life of migrants attempting to cross to Europe, said the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR), adding that the North Africa-Italy route was the world’s deadliest.
The EU voted last year to heavily downsize search and rescue attempts. The decision was reached after EU members said they couldn’t afford to house the refugees, and feared that it would encourage even more migrants to cross the sea.
Some 13,500 people arrived in the Italian waters over the past week (April 10 – 17), said UNHCR. “Their arrival exacerbates a growing crisis which has seen some 31,500 people cross Mediterranean waters to Italy and Greece so far this year, as war and violence intensify in sub-Saharan Africa and the Middle East.”
As many as 1,700 migrants are now feared to have drowned so far this year.
An estimated 218,000 migrants crossed the Mediterranean in 2014, while 3,500 others drowned, said UNHCR.
States of Emergency Declared in Nine Bulgarian Municipalities after Deadly Snowstorms
Hundreds of towns in southern Bulgaria remain without electricity following massive snowstorms, said a report.
States of emergency were declared in the municipalities of Smolyan, Kardzhali, Haskovo, Laki, Pazardzhik, Rakitovo, Plovdiv, Sarnitsa and Velingrad, the local media reported.
Up to 2 meters of snow blocked roads, downed power lines and forced hundreds schools to close, leaving tens of communities remain cut off from the rest of the country, said the report.
At least five people were reported dead as a result of the mammoth snowfalls, including a “65-year-old man was found frozen to death,” and three snowboarders killed by an avalanche in Pirin mountain on Sunday, “as the country continued to grapple with huge snowfalls that have massively disrupted power supplies and caused travel chaos in parts of the country.”
“The situation also remained serious in the Kurdzhali region, mainly in Ardino and Kirkovo, with the latter having seen nearly four meters of snowfall.”
A powerful storm with hurricane-force winds brought the snow to the Balkan Peninsula, and surrounding regions, producing hurricane-force winds over the Adriatic Sea, which lasted more than 48 hours.
The storm severity affected southern Italy, Croatia and Serbia, with blizzards, as well as flooding, and landslides.
Italian village breaks snow records with a dump of more than 256.5cm in 18 hours
A small village in southern Italy became the snowiest places in the world after it received more than 2.56 meters (101 inches) of snow in less than 24 hours.
An intense storm left Capracotta buried under a deep blanket of snow, forcing the residents to climb out of their first-floor windows, or dig tunnels from their front doors.
The village may have set a new world record for most snow in 24 hours, shattering the previous high of 193cm (75.8 inches) held by Silver Lake, Colorado, USA.
“In Colorado, they had two meters of snow in 24 hours, but here it took just 16 hours for that amount to fall,” said the mayor of the village [population: ~1,400.]
The neighboring village of Pescopennataro received more than 240cm of the powdery precipitation.
High winds created blizzard conditions with snow drifts up to four meters deep in several places.
Other towns and villages in the southern Italian region of Molise were also affected, including Campobasso, Pescocostanzo, Pescopennataro and Vastogirardi.
Mudslides triggered by EREs claim more lives in Italy
Extreme weather events have left at least a dozen people dead in Italy during the past four weeks.
The Liguria region has received more rain over the past two weeks than it normally gets in the entire year, said a report.
Extreme Rain Events (EREs) since mid October have swamped large swathes of Italy, inundating homes, businesses and infrastructure, causing damage estimated at up to two billion dollars so far.
Extreme Rain Events (EREs) Plague Entire Western Italy
Flooding and mudslides have destroyed orchards, vineyards in Tuscany, Liguria, and Veneto regions of Italy, said officials
Mass evacuations were ordered in coastal areas of Tuscany and Liguria, as extreme rain events triggered severe flooding and mudslided. Authorities issued a “red alert” for most of Liguria.
“Schools have been closed in Carrara, which is halfway between Florence and Genoa, while trains have also been stopped,” said a report.
In the Tuscan city of Carrara, halfway between Florence and Genoa, more than 200 meters of riverbank collapsed into Carrione River, with floodwaters trapping hundreds of families inside their homes.
The Po River in Lombardy rose by more than two meters in 24 hours on Wednesday.
The lagoon city of Venice was also flooded by high water.
Piemonte and parts of Liguria have also been put heightened alert amid EREs, said reports.
A line of killer storms brought heavy winds, torrential rains and lightning to Illinois and Michigan, uprooting trees, downing power lines and leaving at least two people dead, said officials on Saturday, Reuters reported.
Hundreds of thousands of Michigan residents were left without power, with the the Detroit area being the hardest hit, AP reported.
Wind gusts of more than 120 km/h (75 mph) downed more than 2,000 power lines Friday, said DTE Energy Co, leaving hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses without power.
“An Illinois woman died Saturday of injuries she sustained when she was struck by a falling tree and a Michigan man was electrocuted after touching a power line,” Reuters reported local media as saying.
Other Global Disasters/ Significant Events
“Mystery virus” infecting hundreds of children across the US
A severe respiratory illness is sickening hundreds of children across the U.S., according to reports describing disease as a “mystery virus.”
“The disease hasn’t been officially identified but officials suspect a rare respiratory virus called human enterovirus 68. According to the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention, the virus is related to the rhinovirus, which causes the common cold,” ABC reported.
The disease is said to be similar to a common cold, but is more severe. Symptoms include high fever, breathing difficulty, and a wheezing couch.
“Officials at Children’s Hospital Colorado said they have treated more than 900 children since Aug. 18 for severe respiratory illness and admitted 86 to the hospital,” said a report.
Hundreds of additional cases have also been reported in Illinois, Missouri and Ohio.
Significant Seismic Activity Continues at Bardarbunga Volcano
Researchers monitoring Iceland’s massive volcano reported a total of 70 earthquakes between midnight and 08:00GMT on September 7, 2014, said IMO. The largest quake measuring magnitude M5.7 occurred at 07:08 in the Bárðarbunga caldera. “The lava has reached Jökulsá á Fjöllum. Steaming occurs.” [The quake was later downgraded to magnitude 5.4 — Editor]
Another significant quake measuring M5.0 occurred Saturday morning some 7.2km NE of Bárðarbunga, said IMO.
Large changes on the ice surface: up to 15 m subsidence has occurred in the centre of Bárðarbunga caldera [which corresponds to a volume change of 0.25 km³]. There are no signs of eruption or increased geothermal activity in the caldera.The main eruptive activity is on the fissure that has been active since the eruption began. In addition, the fissure that opened yesterday morning is still active. Depressions in the ice have grown deeper.
The shape of the subsidence area is in accordance with the elevation of the caldera floor having lowered by that amount. [IMO]
Deadly Floods Force Evacuations in S. Italy
Several people are dead or reported missing as severe floods inundated large parts of southern Italy forcing more than 1,000 families to evacuate.
Rainfall in the region has been the heaviest in at least 80 years, officials said.
Thousands evacuated as Hurricane NORBERT lashes Mexico’s Pacific coast
More than 2,500 people were evacuated as Hurricane NORBERT inundated large areas along Mexico’s Pacific coast, damaging at least 1,500 homes, officials said.
The hurricane also severely flooded the coastal town of San Carlos [population: ~7,000,] after levees protecting the area were breached by storm surges.
Month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours devastates Senigallia, Italy
By now most readers must have become familiar with the phrase “month’s worth of rainfall in 24 hours.”
The latest Extreme Rain Event occurred in central Italy, killing at least two people, and forcing the authorities to issue a severe weather alert.
The schools remained closed throughout the port town [population: ~50,000,] located on on Italy’s Adriatic coast.
Floodwaters submerged roads and underpasses throughout the Marche region in central Italy, especially in the province of Ancona, according to local reports.
Parts of the UK, France and Italy are inundated as extreme rain events wreak havoc across Europe
The Environment Agency in the UK has issued hundreds of flood warnings and flood alerts including 9 severe flood warnings (danger to life) along the coastal areas.
Severe flooding is expected in the lower reaches of the River Severn in Gloucestershire as a result of high tidal levels combined with high river levels. Conditions are expected to result in danger to life due to flood bank over-topping and fast flowing water, and severe disruption to transport with a risk of motorists becoming stranded. High tides, a positive surge, strong winds and large waves combine to bring a risk of significant flooding for coastal communities throughout Wales and in Dorset, Somerset, North Somerset, Gloucestershire and the north coasts of Devon and Cornwall Saturday. —environment-agency.gov.uk
Italy
In Italy, at least 1,000 homes were evacuated in the city of Pisa as the Arno river threatened to burst its banks, and floodwaters submerged vast swathes of the countryside.
Floodwaters also inundated parts of Florence, and nearby towns, forcing the schools to remain closed on Friday.
Authorities in Venice are bracing for high tides, exacerbated by heavy rains, rising to more than 140cm above the average sea level.
France
“The French department of Finistere, in the west of the country, was placed on red alert as forecasters warned of huge waves and extensive flooding. Ten other French departments were also on alert for rising water levels,” reported Bbc.
The downpour has swollen rivers in Tuscany causing widespread flooding and leaving more than 1,000 homes inundated.
Blizzard
Meanwhile, snow storms, high winds and bitter cold continued to batter Eastern Europe prompting the local and national authorities to issue multiple states of emergency for the region.
In Romania, most parts of the country remained under states of emergency as temperatures plummeted to -22ºC and authorities ordered schools closed in the south, south-east and eastern regions.
The blizzard is said to be one of the worst in living memory with winds of about 70 km/hr reducing visibility to 20 meters.
Extreme Rain Events trigger severe flooding, landslides in Indonesia
A landslide triggered by flooding in North Sumatra, Indonesia, has left at least a dozen people dead and many injured, officials said.
a low-pressure zone residing over southern Thailand and northern Malaysia has dumped more than 300mm of rain in some areas, causing flash flooding.
Thailand
Several southern provinces in Thailand have been ravaged by heavy rains and flash floods since Sunday. Many residents have been evacuated.
Malaysia
In Malaysia, torrential rains since Sunday have caused floods in the oil palm growing states of Johor and Pahang, forcing about a thousand evacuations so far, Reuters reported local media as saying.
Sri Lanka
Sri Lanka’s Department of Meteorology has issued a severe weather warning, as high winds and heavy rains batter the island country.
“The atmospheric disturbance has intensified into a low pressure area and is located very close to the East coast of Sri-Lanka. Under it’s influence, Showery and windy weather is expected over the country and the suburb sea area.
“Very heavy rain falls (more than 150mm) are also likely at some places.”
Extreme Rain Events Battering Southern and Central Italy
Storms and flooding in central and southern Italy have killed at least two people and forced thousands of evacuations since Sunday.
A train jumped tracks near the town of Cervaro in Italy’s central Lazio region, critically injuring several people.
Other affected regions included Abruzzo, Basilicata, Calabria, and Pescara, reported ANSA.
A migrant boat was reportedly adrift in rough seas off the Calabrian coast with more than 140 people aboard.
Cyclone CLEOPATRA Leaves Thousands Displaced in Sardinia
Death toll in Sardinia storms has climbed to at least 17, with a dozen others reported missing, as thousands of people abandon their flooded homes taking refuge in hotels.
Cyclone Cleopatra dumped 450mm in 90 minutes late Monday, causing “apocalyptic” flooding in the region.
Swollen rivers have burst their banks, roads have been washed away and large swathes of countryside isolated throughout the province of Nuoro.
The calamity was described as a “national tragedy” by the Prime Minister Enrico Letta.
The regional governor Ugo Cappellacci told SkyTG24 television the town of Olbia had been flooded with several bridges collapsing.
“The situation is tragic. The hotels in Olbia are full of people who have had to escape but there are thousands who have damage to their homes,” he said.
Olbia Mayor Gianni Giovanelli described the deadly storm as “apocalyptic.”
Deadly Flooding in Sardinia. Image credit: TG24.sky.it
“We’re at maximum alert,” said an official from Sardinia’s civil protection office.
“We haven’t seen a situation as extreme as this, perhaps for decades, especially because it’s hit the entire island.”
The civil protection authorities in Veneto (Venetia) have warned extreme weather could hit several other regions, according to SkyTG24 television.
The bad weather will continue throughout the week. On Thursday a cold air front from northern Europe is forecast to intensify CLEOPATRA, as she continues to “rage over NE Italy.”
Major snowfall is forecast for Umbria, Marche and Tuscany regions.
The storms have caused significant damage to crops in Sardinia, according to reports.
Meantime, the Italian President Giorgio Napolitano has sent a message of condolence to the families of flood victims.
Two dozen dead or missing, hundreds evacuated as extreme weather batters Sardinia
At least a dozen people were killed, more than a dozen others reported missing and hundreds evacuated after storms tore through the Italian island of Sardinia late Monday.
Powerful storms and torrential rains submerged roads sweeping cars and destroying several bridges, as rivers burst their banks inundating hundred of home and businesses reported local media.
The township of Olbia (Population: 57,000), located northeast of the island, was the hardest hit area.
Heavy rains were buffeting both northern and southern Italy with high winds and flooding reported in coastal areas, officials said.
Massive floods triggered by extreme rain events hit the island of Sardinia, Italy (Image Credit: AP/Diego Manunta). The city was destroyed by the “apocalyptic” storm, with several dead and several missing. Olbia mayor Gianni Giovanelli told reporters.
NSA collects millions of e-mail address books globally: Report
T”he National Security Agency is harvesting hundreds of millions of contact lists from personal e-mail and instant messaging accounts around the world, many of them belonging to Americans, according to senior intelligence officials and top-secret documents provided by former NSA contractor Edward Snowden,” said the report.
NSA collected about 680,000 e-mail address books from Yahoo, Hotmail, Facebook, Gmail and others in a single day, or 250 million per year. Read more...
—|o|o|—
Big tech companies plan to track you even more aggressively
Biggest tech companies like Google, Microsoft, Yahoo and a dozen others “are assembling new forms of online tracking that would follow users more aggressively… Microsoft is developing such a system, following, apparently, in the footsteps of Google.”
Global Disasters/ Significant Events – October 12, 2013
Yet another migrant boat sinks off Italy in last week’s Déjà vu
At least 36 people were killed when a boat carrying more than 200 migrants capsized and sank in the Mediterranean sea, said reports.
The boat capsized about 120km off the Italian island of Lampedusa, where at least 339 people drowned on October 3, when their boat capsized and sank less than 600 meters from the island.
Last week’s disaster occurred when a boat similar to the one above caught fire as it headed toward Lampedusa Island, south of Sicily. Source: UNHCR
Today’s incident was the third migrants boat disaster in the Mediterranean in two weeks. Thirteen people drowned off the southern coast of Italy on Monday September 30 after they attempted to swim ashore from a foundering vessel, said UNHCR.
In August, six migrants drowned after they jumped out of a boat off the coast of Sicily and attempted to swim ashore.
In July seven immigrants drowned as they held on to a fishing cage that was being towed to shore.
13 immigrants drowned off the coast of Sicily on Monday after they attempted to swim ashore from a foundering vessel. Photo credit: Reuters.
Sicily and the surrounding islands are ideal portals for desperate refugees and illegal immigrants from Libya, Tunisia, sub-Saharan Africa in search of employment and a better quality of life, said UNHCR.
Extreme Rain Events affect hundreds of thousands, destroy thousands of homes in South China’s Guangdong Province
Flooding triggered by extreme rain events have destroyed thousands of homes, affecting about 500, 000 people, and forcing the authorities to evacuate tens of thousands.
Torrential rains, the second round to pound the province this month, are expected to continue through Friday. The events have left dozens of people dead or missing since early May.
-oOo-
Millions of Italians too poor to heat their homes
14 percent of the population, 8.6 million Italians, are completely destitute, twice as many as two years ago, according to the national statistics institute ISTAT’s Annual Report 2013 – The state of the Nation.
16.6 percent of the population cannot afford protein-based meals, for example meat, every two days, up from 6.7 percent in 2010.
More than 20 percent of the population cannot afford to heat their homes.
A quarter of Italy’s 61 million population are living in families that meet three of more of ISTAT’s nine poverty indicators.
Italy’s youth jobless rate has climbed to about 40 percent, the highest in Europe.
Nearly 24 percent of young Italians are neither receiving education nor in the job market, also the highest level in Europe. In southern Italy, a third of the youth aged 15-29 fell into this group.
Italians’ purchasing power plunged by 4.8 percent in 2012.
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DISASTER CALENDAR – May 22, 2013— SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,025 Days Left
Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,025 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human History
Fire Earth 
