Million People Affected after Earthquakes Hit NE China

45,000 People lose their homes after a swarm of earthquakes strikes China

The quakes have affected more than 260,000 families, or at least one million people, in 125 villages across two counties in NE China’s Jilin Province, leaving more than 45,000 people displaced, and causing direct economic losses of 2 billion yuan ($328 million), said Xinhua.

A significant quake measuring 5.8Mw, centered at 44.6ºN, 124.1ºE, struck at a depth of about 9km at 6:04am Beijing Time, said China Earthquake Networks Center.

A significant aftershock measuring 5.0Mw struck close to the epicenter at a depth of about 8km some 28 minutes later. The quakes were followed by a swarm of at least 280 smaller aftershocks.

There were no reports of casualties available, as of posting (November 23, 2013 at 14:50UTC).

“All schools and kindergartens in Songyuan City have been suspended due to the quakes. Education authorities in Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County have asked schools in the region to close for the following one to two weeks,” reported Xinhua.

The latest shocks followed another shallow quake measuring 5.3Mw, centered at 44.7ºN, 124.1ºE,  which struck at a depth of about 8km, shaking the city of Songyuan in northeast China’s Jilin Province on Friday at 4:18 p.m. , the EQ Center said.

Earthquake Location Map (44.7ºN, 124.1ºE). Source: GEOFON Extended Virtual Network (GEVN)

“The earthquake lasted for about 3 seconds. I felt it was more severe than the last time, and my house was partly damaged,” a resident in Yingtu Village of Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County, told Xinhua.

ORIGINAL CAPTION: A house is damaged at quake-hit Yingtu Village of the Qian Gorlos Mongol Autonomous County, Songyuan City, northeast China’s Jilin Province, Nov. 23, 2013. From Friday afternoon to Saturday morning, three earthquakes measuring above 5 magnitude were reported in the Qian Gorlos or the border area between Qian Gorlos and Qian’an county in Songyuan City. (Xinhua/Zhang Nan). More images…

More updates to follow…

Global Disasters/ Significant Events – Nov. 23, 2013

4.24 Million Displaced in Super Typhoon HAIYAN

Super Typhoon HAIYAN left 6,848 dead or missing, and affected up to 13.5 million [U.N. estimate] others, while destroying or damaging 1,112,731 houses, and leaving more than 4.24 million Filipinos homeless.

See today’s full entry at 4.24 Million Displaced in Super Typhoon HAIYAN.

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Death Toll Rises in Latvia Store Collapse

Death toll has climbed to at least 51 in Latvia store collapse, said to be the country’s deadliest disaster since its  independence in 1991.

More than 500 square meters of the roof collapsed at the ‘Maxima’ building in Riga in two separate stages, with the second collapse killing several rescue workers, according to reports.

• Officials insists the soil from a garden being built on the roof of the shop was too heavy.
• At least 40 others were injured including 33 who were hospitalized.
• The government has declared three days of mourning, starting Saturday.

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Death toll from China’s oil pipeline blast rises to 47

Death toll in a Sinopec oil pipeline double explosion in the eastern Chinese city of Qingdao has climbed to at least 48, said Xinhua.

• At least 138 other people have been injured in the explosions according to other news sources.
• More than 18,000 people have been evacuated from the district where the explosion

“The leaking pipeline, which has been in use since July 1986, measures 711 mm in diameter and runs 248.52 km, with an annual oil transfer capacity of 10 million tonnes, the company said,” according to the report .

Original caption: Photo taken with a mobile phone shows the site of a pipeline explosion in Qingdao, east China’s Shandong Province, Nov. 22, 2013. A fire broke out and the blast occurred around 10 a.m. in the Huangdao District when workers were repairing a petroleum pipeline which broke and resulted in an oil leakage around 3 a.m. Casualties remained unknown. (Xinhua)

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Criminal Imbeciles Desperate to Keep Their Dirty Secrets Hidden

UN Special Rapporteur on freedom of expression Frank La Rue  has expressed concern over a Japanese government-sponsored bill to protect state secrets.

In a statement released on Friday, La Rue asserted the proposed legislation would threat transparency, which is a core requirement for democratic governance, said reports.

La Rue is concerned that the proposed bill’s definition for protect information is “very broad” and “vague” and that it poses a threat to whistle-blowers and journalists reporting on the secrets.

Meantime, ARTICLE 19, a London-based organization concerned with freedom of expression, has also urged the Japanese National Diet (Japanese Parliament) to reject the pending Special Secret Protection Bill.

“The bill violates international standards on freedom of expression and the right to information. The definition of protected information is overly vague. It is being applied to anything relating to defense, diplomacy, ‘harmful activities’ and ‘terrorism’ and would allow the authorities to hide information about environmental hazards, human rights abuses, corruption and other areas protected by international law.” said the organization.

“Information could be classified as a ‘special secret’ indefinitely by allowing it to be repeatedly classified every five years. Whistleblowers face up to ten years imprisonment with no possibility of any public interest defense. Journalists can be prosecuted for revealing classified information even if they demonstrate that it is in the public interest.”

The bill was passed by the crooked cabinet in October and is currently being heard by the Diet.

Global Disasters/ Significant Events – June 3, 2013

Powerhouse fire in the Angeles National Forest and Santa Clarita spreads to 30,000 acres

The massive wildfire north of Los Angeles grew to about 30,000 acres and was 40% contained as of Monday morning,  authorities said.

The blaze has so far destroyed at least 6 homes and damaged more than a dozen others, according to several reports.

About 2,200 fire crews were attempting to suppress the fire which broke out Thursday afternoon in the Angeles National Forest north of Castaic, close to a Los Angeles Department of Water and Power station in San Francisquito Canyon near Drinkwater Reservoir.

More than 1,000 homes in the Lake Hughes and Lake Elizabeth areas were still under mandatory evacuation, as of posting.

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Flooding Wreaks Havoc in Central Europe

Major flooding has worsened across Austria, Czech Republic, Germany, Poland, Slovakia and Switzerland, with several countries declaring states of emergency.

• A large part of Eilenburg, a town north-east of Leipzig, was evacuated, with more than 7,000 people being taken to emergency shelters.
• In Austria, two months of rain fell in just two days, said the meteorological office, forcing the authorities to evacuate hundreds of people.
• Water levels in the Bavarian city of Passau, located at confluence of three rivers—the Danube, Inn and Ilz—were at their highest since 1501, the local media reported.

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Saudi Arabia: Forecast Withheld by a Moderator

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China slaughterhouse fire kills 119, injures many more

Death toll from a large fire at a “poultry slaughterhouse” in NE China’s Jilin Province has climbed to to 119 as of Monday afternoon, the authorities said.

The fire broke out early morning at a workshop “owned by the Jilin Baoyuanfeng Poultry Company in Mishazi Township of Dehui City” also injured dozens of others, the report said.

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Turkish protests turn into bloody riots

Hundreds of thousands of people have taken to the streets across Turkish cities, angry over the heavy-handed police response to a small peaceful demonstration last week.

• Hundreds of protesters and police have been injured since Friday.

• Protests began last week against construction in Istanbul’s “last remaining open space,” the Taksim Gezi Park.
• The anti-government protests have now spread to 67 provinces across Turkey.
• The largest demonstrations were held in Istanbul, the capital city of Ankara and ports of Antalya and Izmir.
• “The unrest has delivered a blow to Turkish financial markets that have thrived under Erdogan. Shares fell more than six percent and the lira fell to 16-month lows,” said a report.
  
• Some protestors complained about the costs from the prime Minister Erdogan’s support of rebels in neighboring Syria’s civil war.

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DISASTER CALENDAR – June 3, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,013 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,013 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

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

Global Disasters/ Significant Events Headlines – 2 April 2013

Eurozone unemployment rate hits new record high

The official number of people unemployed in the 17 member states rose by 33,000 in February, surpassing 19.07 million, said Eurostat.

• The highest rate was 26.4% in Greece (December 2012 figure).
• Spain’s unemployment rate rose to 26.3% in February.
• The rate in Portugal was largely unchanged at 17.5%.

CHINA

China’s Coal Addiction Claims More Lives

Two explosions in three days at the same Chinese coal mine have killed at least 34 miners and left  24 others missing, said a report.

The blasts occurred at a state-owned colliery operating under the name of Tonghua Mining (Group), located at the Babao Coal Mine in Jiangyuan District, city of Baishanin in China’s northeastern Jilin Province

The first blast occurred on late Friday, killing 28 people and injuring 13 others.

NIGERIA

19 killed, 4,500 displaced in Nigeria’s ethnic violence

Attacks on three communities in ethnically divided central Nigeria have left 19 people dead and 4,500 others displaced, reports said.

• The gun attacks followed a long-running dispute between a mainly Muslim Fulanis and the mostly Christian Atakar ethnic groups in the Kaura district, a remote region of Kaduna state, AFP reported.

• “Apart from the gun attacks, the assailants also set fire to homes,” a local government official told AFP.

• “There has been some misunderstanding between the Fulani and the Atakar communities for some time,” Kaduna state police commissioner said.

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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 2, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,075 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,075 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

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

No Survivors, Bodies Found after Tibet Major Landslide

Latest Global Landslides

Tibet

Some 89  mine workers were buried in a Major landslide in Tibet on Thursday, but NO survivors or bodies have been found yet!

A major landslide in a gold-mining area of Tibet, in Maizhokunggar County of Lhasa, capital of southwest China’s Tibet Autonomous Region left 83 workers buried.  Rescuers had not found any survivors or bodies 28 hours after the massive collapse. Credit: Xinhua/Zhang Quan. Image may be subject to copyright. More images…

• The miners’ camp, located at an altitude of 4,600m, was buried by an estimated 200,000 tons of rock, which covered a 4km² area.

• Meantime, 28 miners were killed and 13 others injured in a coalmine gas blast in northeast China’s Jilin Province on Friday. The explosion occurred at at Babao Coal Mine in Jiangyuan District in the city of Baishan, authorities said.

Whidbey Island, Washington, USA

Large landslide probably part of greater landslide complex, a legacy of the Puget Sound’s glacial past: Geologists

Image Credit: Ted S. Warren/AP photo. Image may be subject to copyright.

A large landslide on Whidbey Island, about 50 miles north of Seattle, has destroyed at least one home, and left four others under evacuation orders Friday. The slide has also isolated or threatens at least 32 other homes.

• The slide area, part of greater landslide complex, a legacy of the Puget Sound’s glacial past, probably dates back to about 11,000 years ago, State geologists said.

• The landslide displaced about quarter of a million cubic yards of earth.

• The landslide has a 400m wide front on the beach and extends about 100m into the sound.

Related Links

• Image of the Day: Mudslide on Whidbey Island  April 4, 2009