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

[Soldier4Christ]

Earthquake jolts southern Iran
Associated Press, THE JERUSALEM POST    Mar. 25, 2006

An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted southern Iran on Saturday but no casualties were initially reported, the official Islamic Republic News Agency reported.

The report said the quake occurred at 10:58 a.m. local time (0728 GMT) and was felt on Qeshm Island, in the Strait of Hormuz.

In November, an earthquake with a magnitude of at least 5.9 shook the island, killing 10 people and injured 70.

[Soldier4Christ]

Strong earthquake hits Fiji islands, no damage reported


    WELLINGTON, March 25 (Xinhua) -- A strong earthquake shook South Pacific Fiji area early Saturday, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

    There were no immediate reports of damage or injury.

    The quake measuring 6.0 on the Richter scale was centered 270 miles west-northwest of the Fiji capital, Suva, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

    The Hawaii-based Pacific Tsunami Warning Center did not issue a tsunami warning.

    Earthquakes have been very frequent around Fiji, a South Pacific country made up of more than 300 islands, mostly causing no damages.

[Soldier4Christ]

MANSEHRA, March 25 (Online): Mild intensity tremors were felt in Mansehra and surrounding areas on Friday at 8:37am.

The tremors were recorded on the Richter scale as 4.

As soon as tremors were felt, people came out of their houses in fear and panic, however no loss of life and property was reported till the filing of the report.

[Soldier4Christ]

Turks setting up tents in some areas fearing possible earthquake following solar eclipse

ANKARA, Turkey (AP) _ Residents in a small quake-prone central Turkish town have set up tents in streets and gardens in fear of a possible earthquake following the March 29 solar eclipse, a report said Friday.

Northwestern Turkey was struck by a devastating earthquake in August 1999 that killed some 17,000 people just six days after another solar eclipse, and some believe the temblor was triggered by the phenomenon.

Although scientists have appeared on television to reassure the public that there is no evidence of any link between an eclipse and earthquakes, many still fear that next week's eclipse could cause a new disaster.

In the town of Niksar and surrounding villages, some 400 kilometers (250 miles) east of Ankara, residents have set up tents equipped with TV sets, the Sabah newspaper said.

Niksar was devastated by two earthquakes in 1939 and 1942, the newspaper said.

A solar eclipse occurs when the moon crosses between the Earth and sun. On March 29, the eclipse will be visible across a track stretching from Brazil, crossing through much of Africa, into Turkey and ending in Mongolia.

[Shammu]

Next Big Quake? Maybe East of Bay Area

By SCOTT LINDLAW, Associated Press Writer Sat Mar 25, 6:32 PM ET

HAYWARD, Calif. - New cracks appear in Elke DeMuynck's ceiling every few weeks, zigzagging across her living room, creeping toward the fireplace, veering down the wall. Month after month, year after year, she patches, paints and waits.

"It definitely lets you know your house is constantly shifting," DeMuynck said. So do the gate outside that swings uselessly 2 1/2 inches from its latch, the strange bulges in the street and the geology students who make pilgrimages to her cul-de-sac.

DeMuynck could throw her paint brush from her front stoop and hit the Hayward Fault, which geologists consider the most dangerous in the San Francisco Bay Area, if not the nation. Like others who live here, she gets by on a blend of denial, hope and humor.

It's the geologists, emergency planners and historians who seem to do most of the worrying, even in this year of heightened earthquake awareness for the 100th anniversary of San Francisco's Great Quake of April 18, 1906.

Several faults lurk beneath this region, including the San Andreas Fault on the west side of the Bay area, but geologists say the parallel Hayward on the Bay's east side is the most likely to snap next.

"It is locked and loaded and ready to fire at any time," said U.S. Geological Survey seismologist Tom Brocher.

The Hayward Fault runs through one of the country's most densely populated areas; experts say 2 million people live close enough to be strongly shaken by a big quake.

It slices the earth's crust along a 50-mile swath of suburbia east of San Francisco, from exclusive hilltop manors overlooking the bay to Hayward's humble flatlands. It snakes beneath highway bridges, strip malls, nursing facilities and retirement centers, and it splits the uprights of the football stadium at the University of California, Berkeley.

"A lot of these structures are going to come down," said David P. Schwartz, chief of the USGS's Bay Area Earthquake Hazards Project. He spoke with one foot on either side of the fault, marked by a crack that snaked through a parking lot in Hayward's business district.

Before San Francisco's Great Quake of 1906, on the San Andreas fault, there was the Great Quake of 1868 on the Hayward, a magnitude 6.9 rumbler that killed five people. Severe quakes have happened on the Hayward Fault every 151 years, give or take 23 years, meaning it is now into the danger zone.

Experts forecast the next big one will be in the potentially lethal 6.7 to 7.0 range. The Association of Bay Area Governments estimates it would wipe out some 155,000 housing units, 37,000 in San Francisco alone.

The ground on each side of the fault could shift 3 feet, meaning two objects on opposite sides could be abruptly carried a total of 6 feet apart, Schwartz said.

The Hayward Fault runs directly beneath Eden Jewelry and Loan, but the men working in the pawn shop shrugged when asked if they fear a quake.

"Honestly, it's a non-issue," said Saul Gevertz, 64.

The building was renovated about five years ago and now is essentially an enormous steel cage, designed to flex in an earthquake without breaking, said one of the building's co-owners, Darrell Davidson.

"I'm not worried-worried. I've thought about it," said Davidson, 47. "I think we're in good shape. I hope to God we are."

Nickey Avila acknowledged some alarm when informed that the fractures in the pavement outside his house were caused by the fault.

"I'm thinking one day it's going to move, but if I survive it, I'll be able to say I survived one of the biggest quakes of all time," said Avila, 23.

The quake could come at any moment.

"If it moved while we were walking, it wouldn't surprise me," Schwartz said during a tour of Hayward's misaligned street curbs, warped concrete gutters and abandoned buildings. They include the former Hayward City Hall, deemed too dangerous to occupy because it's right on the fault.

The City Hall was built in 1930, during an unusually quake-free period after the Great Quake of 1906 released stress on all faults in the region.

A "virtual tour" developed by the USGS shows the Hayward Fault slashing through identifiable structures, like DeMuynck's house, but she is resolved not to worry.

"There's dangers all around us, all the time, so if we thought about those dangers all the time, we wouldn't have anything else to think about," said DeMuynck, 62. "We just come home and say, 'The house is still here.' We're OK for another day."

Next Big Quake? Maybe East of Bay Area

[Shammu]

From my e-mail, the next 4 posts.

This information is provided by the USGS
         National Earthquake Information Center.

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 5.0 earthquake OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA has occurred at:
41.78N 126.03W  Depth  10km  Sat Mar 25 03:16:05 2006 UTC

Time: Universal Time         (UTC) Sat Mar 25 03:16:05 2006
      Time Near Epicenter          Fri Mar 24 19:16:05 2006
      Eastern Standard Time  (EST) Fri Mar 24 22:16:05 2006
      Central Standard Time  (CST) Fri Mar 24 21:16:05 2006
      Mountain Standard Time (MST) Fri Mar 24 20:16:05 2006
      Pacific Standard Time  (PST) Fri Mar 24 19:16:05 2006
      Alaska Standard Time   (AST) Fri Mar 24 18:16:05 2006
      Hawaii Standard Time   (HST) Fri Mar 24 17:16:05 2006

Location with respect to nearby cities:
     150 km (90 miles) W of Brookings, Oregon (pop 4,000)
     150 km (95 miles) W of Crescent City, California (pop 4,000)
     190 km (120 miles) NW of Eureka, California
     425 km (265 miles) SW of SALEM, Oregon

For maps, additional information, and subsequent updates,
please consult: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

[Shammu]

2006/03/25 07:29 M 5.8 SOUTHERN IRAN Z= 44km 27.65N  55.66E

        This information is provided by the USGS
         National Earthquake Information Center.

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 5.8 earthquake IN SOUTHERN IRAN has occurred at:
27.65N  55.66E  Depth  44km  Sat Mar 25 07:29:01 2006 UTC

Time: Universal Time         (UTC) Sat Mar 25 07:29:01 2006
      Time Near Epicenter          Sat Mar 25 10:59:01 2006
      Eastern Standard Time  (EST) Sat Mar 25 02:29:01 2006
      Central Standard Time  (CST) Sat Mar 25 01:29:01 2006
      Mountain Standard Time (MST) Sat Mar 25 00:29:01 2006
      Pacific Standard Time  (PST) Fri Mar 24 23:29:01 2006
      Alaska Standard Time   (AST) Fri Mar 24 22:29:01 2006
      Hawaii Standard Time   (HST) Fri Mar 24 21:29:01 2006

Location with respect to nearby cities:
     80 km (50 miles) NW of Bandar-e Abbas, Iran (pop 273,000)
     170 km (105 miles) NNW of Al Khasab, Oman
     200 km (125 miles) S of Sirjan, Iran
     975 km (610 miles) SSE of TEHRAN, Iran

For maps, additional information, and subsequent updates,
please consult: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

[Shammu]

2006/03/25 20:14 M 4.7 OFF COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA Z= 10km 41.69N 126.61W

        This information is provided by the USGS
         National Earthquake Information Center.

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 4.7 earthquake OFF THE COAST OF NORTHERN CALIFORNIA has occurred at:
41.69N 126.61W  Depth  10km  Sat Mar 25 20:14:00 2006 UTC

Time: Universal Time         (UTC) Sat Mar 25 20:14:00 2006
      Time Near Epicenter          Sat Mar 25 12:14:00 2006
      Eastern Standard Time  (EST) Sat Mar 25 15:14:00 2006
      Central Standard Time  (CST) Sat Mar 25 14:14:00 2006
      Mountain Standard Time (MST) Sat Mar 25 13:14:00 2006
      Pacific Standard Time  (PST) Sat Mar 25 12:14:00 2006
      Alaska Standard Time   (AST) Sat Mar 25 11:14:00 2006
      Hawaii Standard Time   (HST) Sat Mar 25 10:14:00 2006

Location with respect to nearby cities:
     195 km (120 miles) W of Brookings, Oregon
     200 km (125 miles) W of Crescent City, California
     230 km (140 miles) WNW of Eureka, California
     465 km (290 miles) SW of SALEM, Oregon

For maps, additional information, and subsequent updates,
please consult: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

[Shammu]

2006/03/25 23:23 M 4.5 OFF COAST OF OREGON Z= 10km 43.94N 128.16W

        This information is provided by the USGS
         National Earthquake Information Center.

These parameters are preliminary and subject to revision.

A magnitude 4.5 earthquake OFF THE COAST OF OREGON has occurred at:
43.94N 128.16W  Depth  10km  Sat Mar 25 23:23:55 2006 UTC

Time: Universal Time         (UTC) Sat Mar 25 23:23:55 2006
      Time Near Epicenter          Sat Mar 25 14:23:55 2006
      Eastern Standard Time  (EST) Sat Mar 25 18:23:55 2006
      Central Standard Time  (CST) Sat Mar 25 17:23:55 2006
      Mountain Standard Time (MST) Sat Mar 25 16:23:55 2006
      Pacific Standard Time  (PST) Sat Mar 25 15:23:55 2006
      Alaska Standard Time   (AST) Sat Mar 25 14:23:55 2006
      Hawaii Standard Time   (HST) Sat Mar 25 13:23:55 2006

Location with respect to nearby cities:
     325 km (200 miles) WNW of Coos Bay, Oregon
     335 km (210 miles) WSW of Newport, Oregon
     380 km (235 miles) NW of Brookings, Oregon
     425 km (265 miles) WSW of SALEM, Oregon

For maps, additional information, and subsequent updates,
please consult: http://earthquake.usgs.gov/

[Soldier4Christ]

Record low temperatures at PBIA

By Jennifer Sorentrue

Palm Beach Post Staff Writer

Sunday, March 26, 2006

Sunday morning's low of 47 degrees at Palm Beach International Airport, recorded at 6:36 a.m., was the coolest on record, according to the National Weather Service in Miami.

The old record was set in 1979, when the overnight temperature dropped to 48 degrees.

Sunday morning's temperature was about 16 degrees cooler than normal for this time of year, forecasters said. The cool temperatures will return again Monday morning.

Forecasters expect the mercury to dip into the lower 40s inland and the lower 50s along the coast.

[Soldier4Christ]

The climate is crashing, and global warming is to blame

Never mind what you've heard about global warming as a slow-motion emergency that would take decades to play out. Suddenly and unexpectedly, the crisis is upon us.

From heat waves to storms to floods to fires to massive glacial melts, the global climate seems to be crashing around us.

The problem -- as scientists suspected but few others appreciated -- is that global climate systems are booby-trapped with tipping points and feedback loops, thresholds past which the slow creep of environmental decay gives way to sudden and self-perpetuating collapse. That's just what's happening now.

It's at the north and south poles -- where ice cover is crumbling to slush -- that the crisis is being felt the most acutely.

Late last year, for example, researchers analyzed data from Canadian and European satellites and found that the Greenland ice sheet is not only melting, but doing so faster and faster, with 53 cubic miles draining away into the sea last year alone, compared to 23 cubic miles in 1996.

One of the reasons the loss of the planet's ice cover is accelerating is that as the poles' bright white surface disappears it changes the relationship of the Earth and the sun. Polar ice is so reflective that 90 percent of the sunlight that strikes it simply bounces back into space, taking its energy with it. Ocean water does just the opposite, absorbing 90 percent of the light and heat it receives, meaning that each mile of ice that melts vanishes faster than the mile that preceded it.

This is what scientists call a feedback loop, and a similar one is also melting the frozen land called permafrost, much of which has been frozen -- since the end of last ice age in fact, or at least 8,000 years ago.

Sealed inside that cryonic time capsule are layers of decaying organic matter, thick with carbon, which itself can transform into CO2. In places like the southern boundary of Alaska the soil is now melting and softening.

As fast as global warming is changing the oceans and ice caps, it's having an even more immediate effect on land. Droughts are increasingly common as higher temperatures also bake moisture out of soil faster, causing dry regions that live at the margins to tip into full-blown crisis.

Wildfires in such sensitive regions as Indonesia, the western U.S. and even inland Alaska have been occurring with increased frequency as timberlands grow more parched. Those forests that don't succumb to fire can simply die from thirst.

With habitats crashing, the animals that call them home are succumbing too. In Alaska, salmon populations are faltering as melting permafrost pours mud into rivers, burying the gravel the fish need for spawning. Small animals such as bushy tailed rats, chipmunks and pinion mice are being chased upslope by rising temperatures, until they at last have no place to run.

And with sea ice vanishing, polar bears are starting to turn up drowned. "There will be no polar ice by 2060," says Larry Schweiger, president of the National Wildlife Federation. "Somewhere along that path, the polar bear drops out."

So much environmental collapse has at last awakened much of the world, particularly the 141 nations that have ratified the Kyoto treaty to reduce emissions. The Bush administration, however, has shown no willingness to address the warming crisis in a serious way and Congress has not been much more encouraging.

Sens. John McCain and Joe Lieberman have twice been unable to get even mild measures to limit carbon emissions through a recalcitrant Senate.

A 10-member House delegation did recently travel to Antarctica, Australia and New Zealand to meet with scientists studying climate change. "Of the 10 of us, only three were believers to begin with," says Rep. Sherman Boehlert of New York. "Every one of the others said this opened their eyes."

But lawmakers who still applaud themselves for recognizing global warming are hardly the same as lawmakers with the courage to reverse it, and increasingly, state and local governments are stepping forward.

The mayors of more than 200 cities have signed the U.S. Mayors Climate Protection Agreement, pledging, among other things, that they will meet the Kyoto goal of reducing greenhouse emissions in their own cities to 1990 levels by 2012. Nine northeastern states have established the Regional Greenhouse Gas Initiative for the purpose of developing a program to cap greenhouse gasses.


 

[Soldier4Christ]

Blizzard conditions lead to 20-vehicle crash in Wyoming; At least six killed

At least 20 vehicles crashed on a rural Wyoming interstate in blizzard conditions Sunday. Officials say at least six people were killed.

An unknown number of injured victims were taken to hospitals in Laramie and Rawlins.

Troopers at the scene reported strong winds that reduced visibility to zero. Interstate 80 was closed about 50 miles from Cheyenne to Laramie, at the request of Laramie officials, who said there was no parking left in the town for semitrailers.

Troopers were still clearing vehicles late Sunday from the scene west of Laramie and released few details about the crash, which was reported shortly after 4 p.m. Mountain time. Several smaller crashes also occurred behind the 20-vehicle crash.

US 30 westbound out of Laramie was also closed because of the weather, and additional crashes have been reported there.

[Soldier4Christ]

TB rates rising steeply in Europe

BRUSSELS, March 28 (UPI) -- Rising tuberculosis cases in Eastern Europe are creating a "public health emergency" on the EU's borders, a European public health agency has warned.

New figures published in the scientific journal Eurosurveillance show a steep rise in TB rates in Eastern Europe since 1997, with 12 former Soviet states now accounting for over two thirds of the 414,163 cases reported in the European region.

"The continued rise of TB in the former Soviet republics cannot be allowed to continue," said Zsuzsanna Jakab, Director of the European Centre for Disease Prevention and Control, adding that TB strains were emerging that that fail to respond to antibiotics. "If we want to defend public health in the European Union we must address this public health emergency on our doorstep."

The Stockholm-based EU agency is teaming up with the World Heath Organization and Finland's upcoming presidency of the Union to organize a European ministerial forum on tuberculosis in October. The aim is to mobilize a political response to the growing TB crisis in Eastern Europe.

[Soldier4Christ]

Strong earthquake jolts Tokyo area

A strong earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.0 jolted the Tokyo area on Tuesday evening, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries or damage and no tsunami warning was issued.

The quake, which struck at 10:33 p.m. (1333 GMT), was felt most strongly north of the capital.

The epicentre of the tremor was about 410 km (255 miles) below the seabed in the Pacific Ocean south of Japan's main island of Honshu, the agency said.

The quake originated about 430 km (270 miles) off the coast of Tokyo, Kyodo news service said.

The quake's deep focus meant the effect on the Japanese mainland was limited. The area most affected, north of Tokyo, registered readings of up to 3 on the Japanese intensity scale of 7 but there were no reports of injuries or damage there.

The magnitude of the earthquake was measured according to a technique similar to the Richter scale, but adjusted for Japan's geological characteristics.

Earthquakes are common in Japan, one of the world's most seismically active areas. The country accounts for about 20 percent of the world's earthquakes of magnitude 6 or greater.

In October 2004, an earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck the Niigata region in northern Japan, killing 40 people and injuring more than 3,000.

That was the deadliest quake since a magnitude 7.3 tremor hit the city of Kobe in 1995, killing more than 6,400.

[Soldier4Christ]

Earthquake hits central RP (1:50 p.m.)

MANILA -- A strong earthquake shook the central Philippines early Tuesday, but there were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, the government's earthquake monitoring agency said.

The magnitude 5.1 temblor occurred at 7:43 a.m. and was centered undersea, 45 kilometers off San Jose town in Mindoro Occidental province, which is about 260 kilometers south of Manila.

Seismologist Ric Mangao of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology said the epicenter was 21 kilometers below the earth's surface, which is relatively shallow but not powerful enough to cause a tsunami.

He said the tremor, which was felt at the popular resort island of Boracay, was caused by the collision of two fault lines. Some aftershocks were expected, he added.

The Philippines is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" where earthquakes and volcanic activities are frequent.