Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes - Global

5.7 Earthquake hits the Santa Cruz Islands.

5.3 Earthquake hits south of Fiji.

5.3 Earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.

5.3 Earthquake hits the Bougainville Islands region in Papua New Guinea.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Caribbean Sea.

5.0 Earthquake hits the west Chile rise.

Storms and Floods

Tropical storm wreaks havoc over Dominica

A violent storm moving across the Caribbean island of Dominica on Friday has resulted in casualties as mudslides have destroyed roads and rivers have run amok. The severe rainfall has caused landslides in the localities of Bagatelle, Petite Savanne, Delices, Portsmouth and Capuchin. The storm and heavy rainfall are a result of a low pressure trough system moving across the region.

Other News:

Floods force evacuations in New Zealand. The wet weather has already caused flooding in parts of the Bay of Plenty. Dozens of people were evacuated from Waihi Beach yesterday after flooding in the area.

Sweden's weather agency has warned that the floods that caused severe disruptions in and around Uppsala on Friday will intensify, and weather warnings were issued for the north and south of the country as well.

The US National Weather Service in Binghamton, New York has confirmed that a tornado touched down near Bainbridge in Chenango county of south-central New York on Friday evening.

Storms and Floods

Death toll from Hurricane Sandy in the Caribbean rises to 58. Gale force winds are expected to arrive along portions of the US mid-Atlantic coast by late Sunday and reach Long Island and southern New England by Monday morning. Winds to near hurricane force could reach the mid-Atlantic states by late Monday.

 

At least 24 people have been killed as a result of tropical storm Son-Tinh in the Philippines.

Storms and Floods

The outer bands of Tropical Storm Rafael have drenched the Caribbean's Northern Leeward Islands, as its centre steadily moves over open ocean on a possible track toward Bermuda. A Tropical Storm Warning is in effect for Culebra, Vieques, U.S. Virgin Islands, British Virgin Islands, Anguilla, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Antigua and Montserrat, Saba, St. Eustatius and St. Maartin, St. Martin, Guadeloupe and Desirade les Saintes.

Cyclone Cleopatra to bring heavy storms over northern Italy - 'Cleopatra', a Mediterranean cyclone, will usher autumn into Italy.

An unusually cold storm in southern Australia has dished out the first October snow in a century.

Environment

Coral reefs around the world are under severe threat.

Caribbean corals are under immediate threat and urgent action was needed to limit pollution and aggressive fishing practices. Average live coral cover on Caribbean reefs has declined to just 8 percent today compared to more than 50 percent in the 1970s.

As more and more carbon dioxide is absorbed from the atmosphere, sea water turns more acidic which can hinder calcification which is crucial for corals' growth.

Warmer sea surface temperatures are likely to trigger more frequent and more intense mass coral bleaching, which is when reefs turn pale. Although corals can survive bleaching, if the heat persists they can die. This happened in 1998 when 16 percent of corals were lost in a single, prolonged period of warmth worldwide.

Warmer ocean temperatures and acidification are also placing the Great Barrier Reef off Australia under stress.

Coral reefs are home to almost a quarter of the world's ocean species, they provide coastal protection and can support tourism and fishing industries for millions of people worldwide.

Earthquakes

5.3 and 5.1 Earthquakes hit south-west of Sumatra, Indonesia.

5.3 Earthquake hits the New Guinea region, Papua New Guinea.

5.2 Earthquake hits Tonga.

5.0 Earthquake hits Hokkaido, Japan.

4.7 Earthquake hits the Caribbean Sea.