Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.3 Earthquake hits the Gulf of Paria, Venezuela.

5.3 Earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.

5.0 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.0 Earthquake hits Fiji.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

No current tropical storms.

NewsBytes:

Pakistan - Update - The death  toll in flash floods and landslides, triggered by heavy rainfall in Pakistan's Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province and the Gilgit-Baltistan region in Pakistan-occupied Kashmir (PoK), has crossed 100, according to reports. The landslides have cut off the Gilgit-Baltistan region from the rest of the country. More than 70 people were killed in the Gilgit-Baltistan region and over 30 in the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa province since heavy rainfall started in these regions last Saturday. The heavy rainfall has also damaged hydro-power projects, triggered several landslides in the affected region and blocked the Karakoram Highway (KKH) that connects Kashghar in Chinese territory Xinjiang with Gilgit and Abbottabad through the Khunjerab Pass.

Wildlife

Big Cat Fatalities - Kenya

The killing of two Kenyan lions within 48 hours triggered outrage from animal rights advocates who say a major road project is affecting the animals’ behaviour.

A wildlife ranger was vilified after he shot the famed lion “Mohawk” because the officer didn’t have tranquilliser darts. The big cat had earlier injured a motorcyclist after straying from Nairobi National Park, just outside the capital. The next day, rangers found the body of another lion speared to death south of Nairobi.

Construction of a new road through the park that will link Nairobi’s international airport to the city centre is causing more big cats to stray, conservationists say.

Environment

Nuclear Graveyard - Chernobyl

Ukrainian officials say that the contaminated area around the Chernobyl nuclear power plant will be used to store radioactive waste materials, including spent nuclear fuel.

“People cannot live in the land seriously contaminated for another 500 years, so we are planning to make it into an industrial complex,” said Vitalii Petruk, of the State Agency of Ukraine on Exclusion Zone Management.

The 20-mile exclusion zone around the plant was established 30 years ago after an explosion from a botched test at the Soviet plant sent clouds of radioactive material billowing over Europe."

Environment

Global Temperature Extremes

The week's hottest temperature was 113.0 degrees Fahrenheit (45 degrees Celsius) in Tillaberi, Niger.

The week's coldest temperature was minus -93.0 degrees Fahrenheit (minus 69.4 degrees Celsius) at Russia's Vostok Antarctic research station.

Temperatures were tabulated from the more than 10,000 worldwide synoptic weather stations. The United Nations World Meteorological Organization sets the standards for weather observations, and provides a global telecommunications circuit for data distribution.

Disease

Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease in Florida, USA

Since the beginning of the year, the state of Florida has reported one confirmed and one probable case of Creutzfeldt-Jakob Disease (CJD), and both cases are from Hillsborough County, according to state data.

The confirmed case was reported from Tampa in January, while a probable case was reported from Valrico, in eastern Hillsborough County last month.

In 2015, 21 confirmed and eight probable CJD cases were reported in the state from 20 counties with three cases reported in Hillsborough County.

Wildfires

Wildfires - USA

Powerful winds are helping to spread fast-moving wildfires across Southern states. Firefighters in Arizona overnight battled flames that pushed into California and forced evacuations. Several other wildfires stretch across Oklahoma, where 11 counties are under states of emergency.

Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Kliuchevskoi (Kamchatka): According to KVERT new phase of (so far) mild strombolian activity seems to have started at the volcano on around 4 April.

A mild thermal anomaly is visible on satellite data, and webcam images during clear days show intense steaming and some glow at night, which supports the interpretation of new activity.

Telica (Nicaragua): The activity of the volcano remains elevated, with little changes over the past days. Bright incandescence inside the crater and mild to moderate degassing, sometimes with light ash content, are visible at the surface.

Internal micro-seismic activity continues to be at high levels according to INETER's latest report. The risk of sudden explosions from the crater remains considerable and people are advised not to approach the crater.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.4 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.9 Earthquake hits Java, Indonesia.

5.7 Earthquake hits the Banda Sea.

5.1 Earthquake hits offshore Coquimbo, Chile.

Three 5.0 Earthquakes hit Vanuatu.

5.0 Earthquake hits Tonga.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.0 Earthquake hits Minahasa, Sulawesi, Indonesia.

5.0 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Cyclone (tc) 18p (Zena), located approximately 108 nm east-southeast of Tonga, and is tracking east-southeastward at 25 knots.

Disease

Yellow Fever – Kenya

Between 15 and 18 March 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of Kenya notified WHO of 2 imported cases of yellow fever (YF).

Yellow Fever – China

Between 18 March and 1 April 2016, the National IHR Focal Point of China notified WHO of 8 additional imported cases of yellow fever.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.8 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.5 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.4 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Batan Islands in the Philippines.

5.0 Earthquake hits eastern Uzbekistan.

5.0 Earthquake hits New Britain, Papua New Guinea.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Cyclone (tc) 18p (Zena), located approximately 190 nm west of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking east-southeastward at 23 knots.

Invest 90C is an area of disturbed weather in the Central Pacific that has the potential for tropical development.

NewsBytes:

Ethiopia - The Ethiopian Broadcasting Corporation reported Monday that 23 people were killed and 84 more people were injured when a river that crosses Jigjiga, the regional capital of the Somali region, burst its banks on Sunday. It said intense rains in another drought-stricken region, Afar, led to floods in which five people were killed.

Fiji - Torrential rain triggered major flash flooding in parts of Fiji Monday and Tuesday, and intensifying Tropical Cyclone Zena will bring more heavy rain to the Pacific island.

Wildlife

Illegal mining hits Congo gorilla population

The world's largest gorilla sub-species has seen its population fall 77 percent over the past two decades, a trend linked to illegal mining for coltan, a key mineral used in the production of cell phones and electronics, a new report has found.

Grauer's gorilla, the planet's biggest primate which can weigh up to 400 pounds (180 kgs), is found in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo, where minerals have been plundered for decades under the smokescreen of conflict and instability.

A report this week by the Wildlife Conservation Society (WCS) and Fauna & Flora International found that its numbers had fallen to 3,800 from an estimated 17,000 in 1995.

"One of the primary causes of the decline in Grauer's gorilla numbers has been the expansion in artisanal mining for coltan and other minerals. Most of these artisanal mining sites are remote, which means that the miners often turn to local wildlife for food," the organisations said in a statement.

Artisanal mining often involves the illegal extraction of minerals by hand or other makeshift methods.

Wildfires

Wildfires - Oklahoma, USA

Oklahoma authorities on Tuesday urged residents of the small town of Freedom to evacuate as a wildfire flared in the same area near the border with Kansas where blazes last month scorched hundreds of square miles.

The National Weather Service warned that most of the state was under critical to extremely critical fire conditions due to dry air, warm temperatures and strong winds. Blazes also broke out across Kansas, where some small-town residents were forced to leave their homes. There were no immediate reports of injuries.

Wildfires - Tennessee, USA

Cocke County fire crews teamed up with more than 100 personnel from the U.S. Forest Service and the Tennessee Emergency Management Agency to battle the wildfire blaze ripping across the west side of Stone Mountain.

The wildfire started on Monday afternoon, and has scorched more than 1,000 acres of land as of late Tuesday night. The U.S. Forest Service said Wednesday morning the fire is still only contained about 10 percent.

Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): During the past days, the volcano has been in a very active state again, producing multiple and relatively strong vulcanian explosions that showered the upper crater area with incandescent bombs and generated ash plumes that rose up to 15,000 ft (4.5 km) altitude. It seems that along with the recent increase in explosions, most activity has again returned to the Showa crater.

Bromo (East Java, Indonesia): New ash emissions resumed at the volcano again since yesterday. A plume of steam and moderate ash content been rising a few hundred meters and drifting approx. 40 km into westerly directions over East Java. No additional details about the activity from the volcano observatory are currently available.

Sangay (Ecuador): The most recent (so far mild) summit eruption of the volcano continues. A steam and ash plume rising several 100 m above the crater and extending approx. 10 km west from the summit was reported this morning by VAAC Washington and can also be found on the occasional social media picture. No close-by observations are currently available (Sangay is one of the most remote and difficult-to-access active volcanoes in South America). Seismic data show rhythmic small bursts likely from strombolian explosions in the summit crater, whereas satellite-based spectrometers detected the presence of a strong heat source at the crater, possibly from a lava flow, since 22 March.

As Culture Volcan observed, the intense heat radiation thus appeared several weeks AFTER the first known onset of mild explosive activity, and thus, is an indication that something changed around that date, producing significantly more heat. The easiest explanation would be the appearance of a new lava flow (or a small lava lake) inside the crater, or perhaps on the upper flank.

Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

5.7 Earthquake hits Kepulauan Talaud, Indonesia.

5.2 Earthquake hits Coquimbo, Chile.

5.2 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.

5.1 Earthquake hits the Molucca Sea.

5.0 Earthquake hits the Solomon Islands.

5.0 Earthquake hits Meghalaya, India.

Storms and Floods

Tropical Storms - Roundup of Tropical Storms:

Tropical Cyclone (tc) 18p (Eighteen), located approximately 718 nm west-northwest of Suva, Fiji, and is tracking east-southeastward at 18 knots.

Invest 90C is an area of disturbed weather in the Central Pacific that has the potential for tropical development.

Environment

Mass-cloning factory slated for 2016

It seems the future is on us - with a plan to open a mass-cloning facility by the end of this year. The factory is part of an ambitious $21-million plan to mass-produce one million cows annually, by the year 2020.

The plan to build this futuristic facility, and begin production on thoroughbred race horses and genetically engineered police dogs too, is backed by the Boyalife group. It will be built in collaboration with South Korean company Sooam Biotech Research Foundation.

The factory will be housed in Tianjin, a northern Chinese port, and will be equipped with a 15 000 square metre laboratory, an animal centre and a gene bank. The plan is to clone animals to meet the demand for meat.

It is apparent that a market for these clones exists, and despite the ethical conundrums that plague cloning consistently, the US Food and Drug Administration (FDA) has given their thumbs up, saying "meat and milk from cow, pig, and goat clones and the offspring of any animal clones are as safe as food we eat every day".

Drought

Drought in Palau, Oceania

Drought-stricken Palau could dry up completely this month , officials warned Monday as the Pacific island appealed for urgent aid from Japan and Taiwan, including shipments of water. The tiny country of about 18,000 people declared a state of emergency last month, the latest Pacific island nation to do so as one of the worst ever El Nino-induced droughts in the region worsens. "We're still in the state of emergency, there's a sense of urgency to address the crisis."

The US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) said last month the El Nino weather pattern - associated with a sustained period of warming in the central Pacific which can spark climate extremes - was unlikely to ease before the second half of the year. The Marshall Islands and the Federated States of Micronesia have also declared states of emergency, while Guam and the Northern Marianas are experiencing low rainfall.

Drought ravages Thai sugar cane crop

A global sugar shortage is looming and prices are soaring. The world's top sugar cane exporters, India and Thailand, are being ravaged by a severe drought brought on by the El Nino weather phenomenon. Thailand - the world second-largest sugar cane exporter - is going to be shipping 20 to 30 percent less of the sweetener compared to last year. And the situation may even get worse next year.

Drought in Southern Philippines Causes Food Riots

Two people were killed in the southern Philippines after clashes between police and thousands of drought-hit farmers protesting over a lack of food. A parched highway in impoverished Kidapawan city, capital of Cotabato province, had been barricaded by 6,000 farmers since Wednesday to demand 15,000 sacks of rice from the government. Gunshots were fired and rocks hurled into the air during a scuffle between police and demonstrators on Friday, as the authorities tried to disperse the crowds.

"We asked for rice. Instead, they gave us bullets. The farmers are starving because they have nothing to eat. We went there looking for a solution." 116 protesters were wounded while 89 others were missing.

The Philippines has been gripped by a strong El Nino dry spell since December which has hit food production, particularly in the conflict-wracked south which is home to the country's poorest and where more than half of the population is reliant on agriculture. The state weather bureau had warned last year that rainfall could decrease by as much as 80 percent during the drought, which is expected to last until the middle of this year.