Prophecy, Drought, Earthquakes, Famine, Pestilence, War, and Strange Weather.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Earthquake jolts Nir city in Ardebil province
Nir, Ardebil prov, Jan 13, IRNA

Iran-Ardebil-Earthquake
An earthquake measuring 4.2 degrees on the Richter scale jolted Nir town, 30 kilometers west of Ardebil city, on Friday morning.

According to the report of Tabriz seismography center affiliated to Tehran University Geophysics Institute, the tremor occurred at 08:27 local time (04:57 GMT) and its epicenter was at 47:99 longitude and 38:14 latitude.

Head of provincial natural disaster center Akbar Samadi told IRNA on Friday that the rescue and aid teams have quickly been dispatched to the area and so far there have not been any reports on any possible casualties or damage.

[Soldier4Christ]

 Three dead in S. Africa mine quake

From CNN Correspondent Alphonso Van Marsh
Friday, January 13, 2006; Posted: 7:06 a.m. EST (12:06 GMT)

JOHANNESBURG, South Africa (CNN) -- Three miners died and four others were hurt Tuesday when an earthquake jarred rocks loose inside a gold mine, a company official said.

"Twelve people were working at the mining face at the time and were trapped by a seismic event," said Steve Lenahan, a spokesman for AngloGold Ashanti, which owns the TauTona mine, about 70 kilometers (44 miles) south of the capital.

Two of the four were seriously hurt, but in stable condition, he said.

The magnitude-2.4 earthquake occurred at 11:40 a.m. (9:40 a.m. GMT), shaking the area where the miners were working 4 kilometers (2.5 miles) from the mine entrance and 3 kilometers (nearly 2 miles) below the surface, he said.

An emergency team entered the mine around noon and, within an hour, discovered the fatalities, he said.

According to the Web site of Anglo American, owner of Anglogold Ashanti, production at the mine began in 1962.

The TauTona mine was the deepest working mine in the world, Lenahan said.

[Soldier4Christ]

Alaska volcano erupts third time in a week
DAN JOLING
Associated Press

ANCHORAGE, Alaska - A volcano on an uninhabited island 180 miles from Anchorage erupted twice Friday, sending plumes of ash more than six miles into the sky.

Airplanes were warned to keep at least five miles away from 4,134-foot Augustine Volcano.

The National Weather Service warned about 16,000 residents of Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island to south - an area that includes the city of Kodiak - about the ash cloud. But the Alaska Volcano Observatory said it did not expect a heavy accumulation of ash.

Anchorage was in no danger.

In addition to the health risk, ash can damage the engines of vehicles on the ground and aircraft that fly through the plumes.

The eruptions, nearly five hours apart, followed two bursts from the volcano on Wednesday. Those earlier eruptions were the volcano's first in 20 years.

[Soldier4Christ]

Volcano in Alaska Erupts for Third Day
By JEANNETTE J. LEE , 01.14.2006, 08:41 AM

Snowflakes laced with fine, gray ash fell on communities south of Anchorage as a series of volcanic eruptions continued early Saturday on an uninhabited island dozens of miles away.

Plumes of ash from the volcano drifted across Cook Inlet and into Homer, 75 miles to the northeast, halting air travel and closing schools in some Kenai Peninsula communities Friday.

In Seldovia, 15 miles north of Homer, city manager Kurt Reynertson noticed a fine dusting of ash on cars, but he said "That's the only way I was able to pick up that there was ash falling."

The 4,134-foot Augustine Volcano began erupting Wednesday after a 20-year lull. By Saturday morning, it had erupted at least eight time, and scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said they expect more eruptions over the next several days or weeks.

"I see no reason they would stop," said Stephanie Prejean, a seismologist with the U.S. Geological Survey.

The National Weather Service warned about 16,000 residents of the Kenai Peninsula and Kodiak Island to the south about the ash cloud, which could pose a health risk, especially for people with respiratory problems.

Alaska Airlines also canceled 28 flight into Anchorage and Fairbanks on Friday and early Saturday as a safety precaution. Ash can damage the engines of aircraft and vehicles on the ground.

Charlie Franz, chief executive officer of South Peninsula Hospital in Homer, said his staff was putting extra filters in the hospital's air handling system.

"Just don't go out if you don't have to," he said. "I think that's probably the best advice people can get.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tornadoes, storms kill 1 in Ala., hurt 13 Fla. children
BAKER, Fla. (AP) — Severe storms and tornadoes swept across two states Friday, killing a woman in Alabama, damaging dozens of homes, and tearing a section of roof off a Florida school where 13 children were injured, authorities said.

The children at Baker School had minor cuts and bruises, said Ken Wolf, emergency management director for Okaloosa County.

A nearby post office and several mobile homes were also damaged in the Panhandle town, about 50 miles northeast of Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported.

In the small community of Belleville, Ala., at least 18 homes and the fire department building were damaged or destroyed by an apparent tornado, state Emergency Management Agency director Bruce Baughman said.

The Conecuh County, Ala., sheriff's office confirmed the death of a woman who was killed in her home by a chimney collapse.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tornadoes In January?
Jan 12, 2006, 12:05 PM

Just how common are January tornadoes like the one that touched down in Sussex and James City Counties Wednesday night?

"Not very common, but not unheard of," says Triple Doppler Meteorologist Patrick Rockey. After crunching the numbers, Patrick found that of 520 confirmed tornadoes in Virginia since 1950, just seven occurred during the month of January.

"That's only about 1.4% of all our tornadoes," Rockey notes.

In fact, just 4% of all tornadoes occur during the entire winter season, while 40% develop during the summer months.

Patrick also says the Sussex-James City Co. tornado was an F-1 tornado, the most common type in Virginia. He says that F-1 tornadoes bring winds of between 73 and 112 miles per hour and can cause roof damage and knock mobile homes off their foundations.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tornado injures several people, destroys homes near Manning
Published Saturday, January 14, 2006
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MANNING, S.C. (AP) - Residents and weather experts were surveying damage Saturday morning after severe weather passed through South Carolina overnight.

Eleven people were injured. Four were taken to Columbia for treatment of injuries, said Ann Ward, a nursing supervisor at Palmetto Health Richland. The patients were in fair and guarded condition, Ward said Saturday.

"Everybody was pretty shook up," Beverly Trotter, Clarendon Memorial hospital nursing supervisor, said Friday night. "I have people who are getting minor stitches all the way up to surgery."

The system, associated with a cold front and ban of weather that moved quickly across the state, brought intense, but brief heavy rains and tornado warnings for several counties, National Weather Service meteorologist Leonard Vaughan said. Most of the state was under a tornado watch at some point Friday.

"We think it was a tornado based on the radar signature and based on the fact that there was quite a bit of damage over there," Vaughan said. "We just don't know exactly how large of a tornado."

Reports indicated a tornado about 9:40 p.m. roughly two miles from Manning along state Highway 261.

Nine mobile homes were destroyed and another 18 were damaged, all within close proximity, Clarendon County emergency services coordinator Anthony Mack said.

The Red Cross was working with the county to put displaced families at a nearby hotel, but Mack didn't know exactly how many had checked in.

"They were pretty much devastated and in a state of shock as to basically the magnitude of the event," Mack said.

[Shammu]

Seattle Nears Rainy-Day Record
Jan 13 12:58 PM US/Eastern

By DONNA GORDON BLANKINSHIP
Associated Press Writer

SEATTLE

People in water-logged Washington now have official confirmation of something they've been suspecting: It's been raining a lot.

The city had its 26th straight day of rain Friday and was just a week short of the 1953 record of 33 consecutive rainy days. Daily rainfall records have already fallen in Seattle and Olympia.

More seriously, officials worried about the potential for more landslides and floods, warning that the saturated landscape can't hold much more water.

"What we need is a reprieve," Tony Fantello, maintenance and operations manager for Pierce County Water Programs in Tacoma, told The News Tribune. "Everything is just overtaxed. Even 24 to 36 hours of dry conditions really help take the heat off."

No dice. Mostly light rain fell early Friday, and the weather service predicted more over the next 10 days.

Meteorologist Danny Mercer said he thinks the rain will continue at least until Jan. 20, when Seattle would tie the 1953 mark.

"We have a front coming in almost every single day, with very few breaks in between these systems," Mercer said.

A respite could come Sunday or late next week, but it's more likely that the rain will only lessen, possibly with a few hours of scattered sunshine, he said.

On Wednesday the weather service reported 0.94 inches of rain at Seattle-Tacoma International Airport, breaking the old record for Jan. 10 of 0.71 set in 1979. A record of 1.56 inches was set at Olympia Airport, breaking the previous mark of 1.12 set in 1976.

Flooding along numerous rivers, none of it severe, was generally easing as water receded early Friday, and the only flood warnings were for the Chehalis below Centralia and the short, flood-prone Skokomish west of Bremerton.

Some highways remained closed by mudslides, while Amtrak and commuter train service that had been suspended north of Seattle due to mudslides could resume Friday afternoon, officials said.

Seattle Nears Rainy-Day Record

[Shammu]

Thai Floods Leave Behind Gold Rush

By SUTIN WANNABOVORN, Associated Press Writer Sat Jan 14, 10:52 PM ET

THAM THA MAUK, Thailand - Severe floods that washed away homes, bridges and lives apparently have compensated hapless villagers in southern Thailand with a treasure — gold.

Hundreds of fortune-seekers armed with shovels and pans are flocking to the stream of Tham Tha Mauk village in search of the precious metal, which surfaced from stream banks after the deluge.

"The spirit of Tha Mauk (Grandfather Mauk) has given us worshippers a treasure to compensate for what we lost in the flooding," said 60-year-old Sangad Chankhaew as he flashed a broad smile after a buyer gave him $30 in cash for a gold nugget the size of a rice grain. Sangad found the nugget 30 minutes after starting his day of panning for gold.

He was among about 50 gold diggers on the banks of the Tha Mauk stream, scooping sand and mud into wooden pans and hopefully swishing them around in the water one recent morning.

November's flooding — the worst the area has seen in 40 years — caused landslides and the collapse of the stream's banks, exposing an area for gold digging.

"The gold is more plentiful than in the past years," said Sanguan, Sangad's older brother who goes by only one name. He said his family has made about $2,000 since they began panning after the water receded.

Sanguan's house was lightly damaged by the floods, and a part of his pineapple plantation was washed away.

The flooding swept away houses, roads and bridges in Prachuab Khiri Khan province's Bangsaphan district, 180 miles south of Bangkok, where the stream is located. Six people were killed in flash floods in Bangsaphan in November.

Gold diggers have offered flowers, incense and sweets to Tha Mauk's small spirit house, which was erected near the stream. Local folklore says that the spirit of Tha Mauk owns the gold-rich forest of the area and that he occasionally gives to worshippers from his stores.

Some gold buyers see their purchases here as his sacred gifts.

"This gold is a present from the holy spirit, so I bought it to keep for prosperity in my life," said Pradit Sawangjit, 42, a pineapple plantation owner who bought the nugget from Sangad.

Many gold diggers had left jobs at pineapple and coconut plantations to look for gold.

Ruangsri Polkrut, 52, traveled more than 60 miles from Chumpon province to sit on a rock by the stream for more than six hours a day to search.

"I've earned about 5,000 baht ($120) from three days panning for gold. It's not big money but enough for the school fee of my daughter for next term," Ruangsri said.

Tham Tha Mauk used to be a gold mining village, but gold digging ended some 30 years ago when vast swathes of forest were converted into private pineapple plantations.

"This area used to be a national forest, but the rich people turned this land into their private pineapple plantations," Sanguan said. "But after the water washed way part of the plantation and the banks of stream, we had every right to look for gold again."

Thai Floods Leave Behind Gold Rush

[Shammu]

Storms, Tornadoes Cause Havoc Across South

Saturday, January 14, 2006

BAKER, Fla. — Severe storms and tornadoes swept across three states Friday, killing a woman in Alabama, damaging dozens of homes, and tearing a section of roof off a Florida school where 13 children were injured, authorities said.

The children at Baker School had minor cuts and bruises, said Ken Wolf, emergency management director for Okaloosa County.

A nearby post office and several mobile homes were also damaged in the Panhandle town, about 50 miles northeast of Pensacola, the National Weather Service reported.

In the small community of Belleville, Ala., at least 18 homes and the fire department building were damaged or destroyed by an apparent tornado, state Emergency Management Agency director Bruce Baughman said.

The Conecuh County, Ala., sheriff's office confirmed the death of a woman who was killed in her home by a chimney collapse.

Betty Williams, 58, had just returned from an errand to the store, her daughter, Cynthia Williams, told The Associated Press. She had entered the house, put her purse down on the table and returned to unload the car.

"The wind pushed the chimney down and crushed her. It didn't last but a minute," the daughter said.

In South Carolina, a tornado touched down in rural Clarendon County, injuring at least nine people and destroying mobile homes in its path, officials said.

At least three people were in serious condition Friday night, said Clarendon Memorial nursing supervisor Beverly Trotter said.

"Everybody was pretty shook up," Trotter said. "I have people who are getting minor stitches all the way up to surgery."

Storms, Tornadoes Cause Havoc Across South

[Shammu]

First Victims Reported in Russian Capital as Arctic Cold Tightens Grip

Created: 17.01.2006 13:56 MSK (GMT +3), Updated: 18:51 MSK, 40 minutes ago

MosNews

Two people froze to death in Moscow, local emergency officials said Tuesday, as Arctic cold from Siberia descended on western Russia, sending nighttime temperatures to as low as minus 36 degrees Celsius and prompting warnings of power cuts to offices across the city.

Forecasters said the cold snap in the Moscow region is expected to last most of the week as local authorities implement measures to ensure smooth functioning of the public infrastructure amid the sudden plunge in temperatures, AFP reported.

State schools said students do not have to attend as long as the temperature remains under minus 20 degrees Celsius in the morning, while buses in Moscow, Saint Petersburg and other cities were filled with special “Arctic” diesel fuel to minimize disruptions, the daily Izvestia reported.

Traffic police officers were issued with “emergency felt boots”, while train stations and other public transport sites were told to let homeless people to take shelter inside rather than being trounced out as usual.

Russian broadcast media and newspapers were overflowing with breathless reports about the low temperatures, which forecasters have predicted would range between minus 20 and minus 25 during the day and minus 30 to minus 36 overnight for the next week in the Moscow area, the business daily Vedomosti said.

“The capital for the first time has come up against a situation where, due to the cold, its demands for energy may well exceed supplies,” Vedomosti quoted Nestor Serebryannikov, the former head of the Moscow municipal power utility, as saying. “In Soviet times, we would shut off the power supply to industry at night. Today there is no industry and all these buildings have offices in them instead,” and so the power cannot be shut off, he explained.

The Interfax news agency said two people died of hypothermia in Moscow overnight, while another 14 were hospitalized as a result of exposure to the cold. The report quoted an unnamed source in the city’s emergency call service as saying that a total of 107 people have died in Moscow from the cold since October.

The Moscow city hall has set up a special “headquarters to counter the Siberian freeze”. Russian Prime Minister Mikhail Fradkov on Monday evoked possible economic fallout from the cold. “Managers at all levels will do everything possible to ensure that there will be no losses over this period,” he told a government meeting.

First Victims Reported in Russian Capital as Arctic Cold Tightens Grip

[Shammu]

Checking Augustine Volcano, I see they have changes conditions for eruptions.

ALASKA VOLCANO OBSERVATORY
CURRENT STATUS REPORT
Tuesday, January 17, 2006 8:35 AM AKST (1735 UTC)


AUGUSTINE VOLCANO (CAVW#1103-01-)
59.3633°N 153.4333°W, Summit Elevation 4134 ft (1260 m)
Current Level of Concern Color Code: RED

A strong seismic signal began at approximately 7:58 AST, marking an the onset of an explosive eruption of Augustine. We are changing the level of concern color code from ORANGE to RED.

The explosive eruption that began at 7:58 A.M. AST (16:58 UTC) ended at approximately 8:03 A.M. AST (17:03 UTC). We remain at level of concern color code RED. Based on seismicity, preliminary estimates indicate that this event is at least as energetic as the events of last week.

AVO is monitoring the situation closely and will issue further updates as new information and analyses become available.

For those of you who don't know the color code, for volcanoes.

GREEN volcano is dormant; normal seismicity and fumarolic activity occurring
YELLOW volcano is restless; eruption may occur
ORANGE volcano is in eruption or eruption may occur at any time
RED significant eruption is occurring or explosive eruption expected at any time

[Shammu]

India's Torrential Flooding Batters Previously Devastated Populace

By Allie Martin
January 17, 2006

(AgapePress) - The president of Gospel for Asia (GFA) says due to another force of nature many residents of the southern coast of India are facing desperate times more than a year after the deadly tsunami of December 2004.

Recently, the world marked the one-year anniversary of the Indian Ocean earthquake and tsunami that caused widespread devastation in India and other parts of southern Asia. But this year, only days after that anniversary, the heaviest rains in half a century forced hundreds of thousands of people in the region out of their homes.

K.P. Yohannan heads GFA, a ministry to the people of Asia, which has reached out to thousands of tsunami survivors. He says the flooding as a result of the monsoon rains has opened many of the emotional wounds caused by the destructive Asian tsunami.

Yohannan finds the distress and desperation of the flood victims easily understandable. "People are just beating upon their chests and saying, 'Why is God so angry with us like this? What have we done that we should suffer like this?' You can imagine, for people who do not know the Lord, that's all they can think about," he says.

"But thank God," the ministry founder and president says, "that even during this time of monsoon and people's lives being destabilized and hurt once again, our people are out there trying to share with them about the Lord and give them help, doing whatever we can do." He notes that some of the GFA-affiliated Believers Churches have been swamped by rising waters, but others have been able to serve as shelters in local communities.

"When people's lives are so devastated," Yohannan says, "what we all can do is simply open up our church buildings and schools and everything we have for people to come and find some shelter. Of course, along with that, our people are cooking meals, bringing food and stuff like that."

The GFA spokesman notes that the current downpour is virtually unprecedented and that Chennai, the capital of India's southernmost state of Tamil Nadu, received nine inches of rain in one night. "There's not supposed to be this kind of rain, nonstop rain," he says, "but it just kept on coming. In Chennai, where we have a Bible college, the whole place is completely flooded."

Yohannan describes the floods as a "huge tragedy of unbelievable magnitude," which has resulted in more than 16,000 villages being hit and some 283,000 homes being destroyed. Meanwhile, Mumbai (Bombay) and other parts of western India have experienced flooding that has killed at least 1,500 people, and the latest forecasts indicate the rains will continue. Government authorities in Mumbai have warned residents not to venture out of their homes for the next 24 hours because of the predicted additional rain.

"In the name of Jesus, we simply must respond," Yohannan urges. The greatest immediate need in all the flooded areas, he adds, is for food, relief supplies, and shelter. The ministry projects that it will cost at least $500,000 for GFA Compassion Services to meet the immediate needs of those whose lives have been turned upside down by the floodwaters.

India's Torrential Flooding Batters Previously Devastated Populace

[Shammu]

Volcano Shoots Ash 8 Miles High in Alaska

By JEANNETTE J. LEE, Associated Press Writer 1 hour, 33 minutes ago

ABOVE AUGUSTINE VOLCANO, Alaska - Gray veins of ash crisscrossed the upper slopes of Augustine Volcano and a small steam cloud puffed from the summit following the island mount's latest explosion Tuesday.

The volcano in south-central Alaska resumed erupting after a three-day lull, scattering soft but abrasive ash into the mountainous Bristol Bay region to the west of the uninhabited island.

The 8 1/2-mile high eruption was "a little more energetic" than eight explosions last week on Augustine, according to Michelle Coombs, a geologist with the U.S. Geological Survey. Most of the previous eruptions sent ash plumes about 5 1/2 miles above Cook Inlet.

Winds shifted Tuesday's plume away from the Kenai Peninsula towns east of Augustine that had received light fallout from the volcano last week.

The blast from the snowy mountain, 180 miles southwest of Anchorage, started just before 8 a.m. and lasted five minutes.

Viewed from a small plane, a drab ash clouded drifted over Iliamna, a village of 90 people 60 miles northwest of the volcanic island. Pilot chatter described brown sludge in the waters surrounding the island.

Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory believe intermittent explosions will likely continue for days or weeks, but say there's little chance of a catastrophic eruption.

Volcano Shoots Ash 8 Miles High in Alaska

[Shammu]

Drought Sparks Food Shortage in Africa

By ANTHONY MITCHELL, Associated Press Writer Wed Jan 18, 5:34 AM ET

DENAN, Ethiopia - Two months ago Ayan Abdi struggled to tell her newborn twins apart. Tragically, she has no difficulty now.

The skin of her malnourished son Nemo stretches tightly over his tiny skeletal frame, while his sister Asma still retains some of her rounded features. Ayan, who earns $7 a month selling firewood, is so weak from malnutrition herself she can produce only enough breast milk to feed her daughter.

Millions are at risk of famine in eastern Africa after a potentially devastating drought wiped out this year's crop. Aid organizations warn that unless urgent supplies of food, water and medicine are delivered to the region, more people could die than perished in the drought of 2000 — which killed nearly 100,000 in Ethiopia alone.

"People will die because we are already too late with our help," said Abdullahi Ali Haji, the government's health officer for this area of eastern Ethiopia. "This is our warning that without immediate help a famine will soon follow."

Preliminary assessments show those affected by the drought include an estimated 3.5 million in Kenya, 1.75 million in Ethiopia, 1.4 million in Somalia and 60,000 in Djibouti.

Poor rains over the last nine years have left many families living on a knife's edge. This year the rains failed completely. Food prices are up as much as 50 percent, while the value of prized livestock has plummeted, hitting hard the nomads who rely on cattle, sheep, goats and camels for food and income.

The warning signs of famine appear long before it takes hold in this corner of Ethiopia, about 870 miles southeast of the capital, Addis Ababa. The bones and rotting carcasses of cattle mark the landscape. Children, whose immunity systems are hopelessly compromised by insufficient nutrition, are beginning to fall sick.

The handful of malnourished children that used to be brought to Haji's hospital in Gode, about 50 miles southwest of Denan, has now turned into steady trickle.

The two doctors assigned to cover 1 million people in the region are totally overwhelmed. They have just a handful of drugs to combat widespread measles and diarrhea from drinking dirty water.

"As ever, women and children will bear the brunt of this disaster," said Bjorn Ljungqvist, the U.N's Children's Fund Country Representative.

Aid agencies do not have money to buy food from districts with surplus harvests to feed those hit by the food shortages, said Peter Smerdon, spokesman for the World Food Program.

"WFP is short $44 million now to feed 1.1 million people because of the drought," Smerdon said in Kenya on Tuesday. "Without new donations, WFP will run out of food to distribute in drought affected areas by the end of February."

Efforts to help the region's hungry have also been troubled by a low-level conflict between the Ethiopian army and separatist rebels in the area. In recent months, trucks carrying food aid have been attacked and, in some cases, burned.

Violent clan disputes, a spillover from the feuding warlords in neighboring Somalia, have deterred aid workers and the U.N. from entering the region.

"We have received nothing," said Aden Abdi, who has nine hungry mouths to feed in the wind-blown town of Kelafo. Water wells are empty and the nearby Wabe Shebelle River, which at this time of year can be as much as 65 feet wide, is now easily traversed by foot.

"We have been forgotten," the oval-faced woman sighed, sitting outside her one-room stick shack where her family struggles to survive on $8 a month. "No one cares if we live or die, as long as they don't see."

In Kenya, however, British International Development Secretary Hilary Benn met President Mwai Kibaki on Tuesday and pledged $5.3 million to help alleviate the crisis, according to a statement released by the president's office.

One-third of the money will go to dealing with food shortages and the remaining two-thirds will go to providing water in drought-stricken areas, the statement said.

In Ethiopia, one aid group has been working on a project to help cattle herders develop ways of coping with drought in the region.

The project, developed by the U.S.-based aid agency CARE with funding from the U.S. Agency for International Development, will help cattle herders negotiate access to land when a crisis develops, provide a market so they can sell part of their herds and supply emergency food and water.

"We hopefully are going to get away from these emergency responses in the region," said Carey Farley, a program manager for CARE, from the Kenyan capital of Nairobi.
Drought Sparks Food Shortage in Africa