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

[Shammu]

Rumbling Java volcano may erupt, warns geologist
Apr 23 6:12 AM US/Eastern
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Data gathered from Indonesia's Mount Merapi indicates a strong likelihood of a major eruption, a geologist has warned.

"There is a large opportunity for a major eruption for Merapi," said Subandriyo, a chief geologist at the volcano office in Yogyakarta, just 30 kilometers (18.5 miles) south of the mountain.

However, he said even a strong eruption from the 2,914-meter (9,616-foot) would still be less powerful than other volcanic activity in the region such as Mount Galungung in West Java and Mount Pinatubo in the Philippines.

"In a scale of 1 to 10, a major Merapi eruption would be at around three," Subandriyo said Sunday.

Still, authorities are already preparing to evacuate the area and some residents have been relocated.

In Klaten district 834 people -- all women, children and the elderly -- were moved Saturday from two villages high on the slope to a temporary shelter outside of the eight-kilometer radius first danger zone, the ElShinta radio said.

Subandriyo said if Merapi erupts, residents living within a 12- to 15-kilometer radius would have to be evacuated.

Merapi's last eruption in 1994 produced heat clouds killing more than 60 people and forcing 6,000 others to evacuate. The mountain last spewed smoke and lava in 2001 but no major eruption followed.

The volcanic activities of the Merapi remained at a high level, but was at about the same as on the previous day, another geologist at the same office, Triyani, said earlier.

Rumbling Java volcano may erupt, warns geologist

[Soldier4Christ]

Cyclone Monica bears down on remote Australian communities

That's two Cat 5's so far this year. It is not unusual to have typhoons in April but not usual to have many that are that strong.

[Soldier4Christ]

Aid sent to Peru volcano evacuees

Peruvian authorities have been sending aid to hundreds of evacuees after declaring a state of emergency in the area near the erupting Ubinas volcano.

Gas and cinder began spewing from the 5,672-metre (18,609-ft) volcano in southern Peru three weeks ago.

Tonnes of aid, particularly tents, water and powdered milk, have been shipped into the affected zone.

The army has been brought in to help evacuate nearby villages, although some residents are reluctant to leave.

Animals killed

The civil defence institute has recommended that the entire population in the district of Ubinas, about 3,500 people, be evacuated as soon as possible.

However, correspondents say many people do not want to leave their livestock and land.

So far no human lives have been reported lost, but llamas and alpacas have died from eating grass exposed to volcanic pollutants.

Peru's Institute of Geophysics has warned that a dome of incandescent lava seems to be building up in the crater.

The volcano has been spewing out acid-laden ash and smoke over a radius of 6km (3.5 miles), causing eye and breathing problems for local people.

Teams of geologists and doctors have been sent to the area to monitor the volcano and the health risks.

More than 200 people have already been forced from their homes and several thousand more are at risk, officials said.

Around 40 families have been told to leave the town of Querapi, which lies just 4km from the volcano.

[Shammu]

That's two Cat 5's so far this year. It is not unusual to have typhoons in April but not usual to have many that are that strong.

Don't be suprised to see more brother.

[Soldier4Christ]

Don't be suprised to see more brother.

Not in the least bit.

[Shammu]

Levees not fully ready for hurricane season

By Anne Rochell Konigsmark, USA TODAY Mon Apr 24, 7:06 AM ET

All day, every day and into the night, crews for the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers pour concrete into walls, pack dirt into hills and ram steel into the earth. They are scrambling to undo the damage Hurricane Katrina inflicted on the region's levee system.

Their task is urgent: Hurricane season begins June 1.

But even when the holes are plugged - a $2 billion endeavor - the entire 350-mile protection system remains flawed, the corps now admits. Flood walls are too weak in some places; earthen levees are too short in others. Locals say the only thing that will save the low-lying region from more flooding this summer is not getting hit with a strong storm.

"I think we can limp along through this hurricane season," says Julie Quinn, a state representative whose district includes the 17th Street Canal, which flooded the Lakeview neighborhood.

Then she laughs. "With some divine intervention, we'll be OK. I just can't imagine we're going to see another Katrina."

Corps officials are confident that by June, they will repair the breaches and other damage incurred along almost half the levee system. Lt. Gen. Carl Strock, commander of the corps, announced April 12 that the agency wants to correct and strengthen the entire system to withstand storms stronger than Katrina, which was a Category 3 when it made landfall the morning of Aug. 29 in Plaquemines Parish.

Hurricanes are measured on a rising scale of intensity, from Category 1 (sustained winds of 74 mph or more) to Category 5 (156 mph or above).

By 2010, if Congress funds it, the corps will have made the system "better and stronger than it has ever been," Strock says.

That's years and at least $4 billion away. For this year's storm season, which lasts six months and promises to be active, the corps will not be able to upgrade the 181 miles of levees that remained intact during Katrina. An inspection of those undamaged areas began only last week, says Dan Hitchings, the corps' Director of Task Force Hope, which is overseeing levee repairs. Weaknesses, known and unknown, abound in those sections, the corps and other experts say.

"It's all a matter of reducing the risk as quickly as we can," says Maj. Gen. Don Riley, the corps' Director of Civil Works. "But a different storm (from Katrina) on a different track with a different speed could do different damage."

The difference between this year and last? Awareness, Hitchings says. Much of the levee system is the same as it was when Katrina hit, and that means it might fail again. "You're going to have what you had (before Katrina), and that's all you're going to get," Hitchings says. "The threat is the same."

The parts of the city that did not flood - well-known areas along the Mississippi River such as the French Quarter, the Garden District and the area around Tulane and Loyola universities - likely will remain safe, the corps says.

Strock says he is most concerned about the low-lying neighborhoods on the east side of the city, such as the 9th Ward, as well as St. Bernard and Plaquemines parishes. Levees in those areas could be topped again. And some flood walls along Lake Pontchartrain, on the north side of the city, likely are as weak as those that broke in other places.

Half the system destroyed

The corps designed and built the levee system after Hurricane Betsy, a Category 3 storm, hit and flooded New Orleans in 1965. That was the last major hurricane to strike the city until Katrina.

It took decades to build the system: It took only hours to knock almost half of it down.

In the chaotic, post-Katrina world, no issue unites New Orleanians like the levees. Trusting in the corps is not easy. "I'm very hopeful we're going to be safer," says U.S. Sen. David Vitter, R-La. "But based on the corps track record, I have grave concerns."

On this, most residents agree: Hurricane Katrina did not destroy hundreds of thousands of homes and businesses and kill more than 1,000 people. Failed levees did.

"Our city has been destroyed, and it was the federal government that did it," says Rhett Accardo, a former nurse at a now-closed hospital. "People are as mad as they would be if al-Qaeda had hit us."

More than half the city's 450,000 residents have not come home since flooding nearly emptied the city eight months ago, according to Mayor Ray Nagin's office, and many say their decision to return and rebuild hinges on levee safety.

"When people think about getting hit by a hurricane, they feel like those things are inevitable, and just a chance you take in life," says Bob Thomas, director of the Center for Environmental Communications at Loyola University. "But after repeatedly being told by the corps that we were safe, this is different.

"The break in the levees caused people to lose faith in the government's ability to protect them. I gotta tell you, I'm nervous, more because of the frailty of the infrastructure than the power of any storm. The corps is saying the levees will not break now, but that's what they said last year."

As the corps works to repair levees, it also wants to repair the agency's reputation. Meeting the June 1 deadline is part of that effort. Riley and others say work of this scale has never been undertaken under such a tight deadline.

"We have absolute confidence in the repair of the damaged portions," Riley says. "We've got a great system in place that will go a long way to protect New Orleans."

The corps has asked three separate groups of experts to investigate what went wrong with the levees and to ensure that the current work is correct. The agency has invited the most outspoken critics to tour here and offer advice. There are frequent news conferences at levees and alongside flood walls. And the corps has taken the blame for mistakes. The agency admits design flaws led to the collapse of flood walls along canals that cut through the city. "Everyone at the agency feels shocked and numb," Hitchings says. "That was not supposed to happen."

Cont'd next post.

[Shammu]

Critics are impressed with the corps' repair work. Floodgates, placed at the mouths of three canals that cut through the north end of New Orleans, will prevent storm surges from entering the city from Lake Pontchartrain.

"The gates are beautiful," says Bob Bea, a University of California-Berkeley engineer who has been investigating the levees with a National Science Foundation grant. He has been an outspoken critic of the corps.

After a recent tour of levees in St. Bernard Parish, another expert said the soils being used to rebuild the earthen hills were much better than what was originally there. "Our concerns have been pretty well addressed," says Raymond Seed, a Berkeley engineer working with Bea.

Paul Kemp, with the Hurricane Center at the University of Louisiana, said he is "astounded" by the recent progress. But he remains worried about earthen levees along the Mississippi River in Plaquemines Parish, and along a shipping channel in St. Bernard Parish, saying they need to be reinforced or "armored" with concrete to prevent erosion. The corps plans to armor levees in coming years, but not for this hurricane season.

"Right now, these levees are not going to do well with a combination of wave and storm surge," Kemp says. "This is a work in progress, and we're going to have that progress perhaps interrupted by a hurricane."

About $1.5 billion in improvements to the levees, including armoring, is currently in a supplemental spending bill before Congress. President Bush has not yet asked for the $2.5 billion needed to provide protection from a "100-year storm" - that is, a storm that has a 1% chance of occurring in a given year. And the White House has announced it will not ask for the $1.6 billion needed to protect the lower part of Plaquemines Parish from such a flood.

Even at its best, the system would not withstand a Category 5 storm. That's why Louisiana's elected officials have been pushing the federal government to fund a complete makeover of the levees. The corps is studying what it would take to provide Category 5 protection; a report is due to Congress in December.

"This hurricane season makes me very uneasy," says Bea, who lived here in the 1960s and lost his home in Hurricane Betsy. "The corps is trying to do in a few months what it couldn't get done in 40 years. If I lived in New Orleans, I'd get a second-floor apartment and put my stuff in storage."

For some, the job is personal

Germaine and Shane Williams would like to see Category 5 protection before they feel truly safe. The two young brothers begin work every day at dawn, rebuilding a 4,000-foot section of the canal wall that collapsed and flooded the 9th Ward.

For the Williams brothers, the job is personal: They grew up here. Their mother's flood-ruined home, marked by the city as unsafe to enter, is walking distance from their work site. On both sides of the canal, the working-class neighborhood remains mostly uninhabited, a ghostly landscape of smashed houses and overturned cars.

"We're building it pretty strong," says Germaine, 23, about the steel-reinforced, concrete wall. "I feel better about it."

When asked if he would rebuild in this neighborhood, Germaine says: "I don't know about that. I wouldn't stay this close." Shane, 20, agrees: "It would take a higher wall."

Germaine now lives with his father in a travel trailer in St. Bernard Parish; Shane lives with friends in an area of the city called the West Bank.

Some residents who have chosen to rebuild in flooded areas say they're trusting the odds, not the corps.

"Katrina was once in 100 years," says Fred Yoder, who just moved back into his Lakeview home. "You can say we have to have Category 5 protection, but that's not going to happen right now. The levees won't be up to standard this year, but we just have to have faith."

Levees not fully ready for hurricane season

[Shammu]

Oklahoma storms spawn tornadoes

Tuesday, April 25, 2006; Posted: 10:00 a.m. EDT (14:00 GMT)

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) -- A powerful storm system spawned at least two tornadoes and numerous severe thunderstorms, causing damage in central and northeastern areas of the state Monday, authorities said.

There were no immediate reports of injuries with the twisters, which were part of a powerful storm system that tracked through region.

West of Oklahoma City, two tornadoes tore through sparsely populated areas of Canadian County, damaging hangars at the municipal airport south of El Reno around 7:30 p.m.

Television footage showed debris from the buildings being lifted and flung about as the tornado moved overhead. Parts of the hangars' roofs were ripped away and a couple of airplanes were moved outside.

(Watch a twister spin as viewed from a chopper -- :40)

Damage from the storms, which formed near U.S. Highway 81 and Interstate 40 about 40 miles west of Oklahoma City, appeared to be isolated, Lt. Stewart Meyer, an Oklahoma Highway Patrol spokesman said.

A number of vehicles traveling on I-40 stopped as the tornadoes, creating congestion on the highway, Meyer said.

"We're asking people if the weather is clear to move on down the road as soon as they could," he said.

Nearby, employees and patrons watched as the twisters danced west and south of the Denny's Restaurant along I-40, restaurant manager Danielle Landers said.

"We had about seven tables at the time," she said. "There were a few people that wanted to go outside and see the tornadoes, but most people waited inside until the storm passed. We didn't see any damage."

Tornado warnings also were issued for Logan, Creek and Tulsa counties, but there were no reports that any tornadoes touched down or that any damage was done.

Near Tulsa, a storm moved through around 1 p.m., toppling trees and damaging at least one house, a mobile home and an auto dealership.

Resident Leslie Shanks said he saw a tornado twist a tree in his front yard and noticed that another tree had fallen onto the back of his house.

"It hit and was gone," Shanks told the Tulsa World.

There was no immediate confirmation from the National Weather Service that a tornado touched down.

In southwestern Oklahoma, spotters reported a tornado, estimated at 200 yards wide, touched down about 8:30 p.m. near Randlett, the weather service said. The twister remained on the ground about 13 minutes, damaging trees but no structures. Another tornado was reported in Stephens County west of Marlow.

The storms formed within a tornado watch that initially covered much of western and central Oklahoma, but was extended to cover eastern counties until early Tuesday.

Oklahoma storms spawn tornadoes

[Soldier4Christ]

Number of Mumps Cases in Iowa Still Rising

DES MOINES, Iowa — The number of mumps cases in Iowa has topped 1,000, state health officials said Tuesday.

There were 1,120 confirmed, probable and suspect cases as of Monday, with mumps activity found in 69 out of Iowa's 99 counties, according to a news release from the Iowa Department of Public Health.

Iowa has been at the center of a mumps outbreak in the Midwest, which is being called the worst in the U.S. in 20 years.

The source of the Iowa outbreak is unknown, but Britain experienced a mumps epidemic that peaked last year with about 56,000 cases. The Iowa mumps virus is the same variety.

Last week, public health officials announced mass immunization clinics for 18- to 22-year-olds _ the age group they said is most likely to get the virus. People in that age group may have had only one vaccination, which was the recommended dosage while they were growing up.

The state planned to divvy up 25,000 doses of the vaccine among 35 counties where colleges, universities and other post-secondary institutions are centered. The first phase of immunizations was scheduled for Wednesday through Friday.

Mumps is spread by coughing and sneezing. The most common symptoms are fever, headache and swollen salivary glands under the jaw. It can lead to more severe problems, such as hearing loss, meningitis and swollen testicles, which can lead to infertility. It does not respond to antibiotics.

[nChrist]

Dreamweaver Said:

In southwestern Oklahoma, spotters reported a tornado, estimated at 200 yards wide, touched down about 8:30 p.m. near Randlett, the weather service said. The twister remained on the ground about 13 minutes, damaging trees but no structures. Another tornado was reported in Stephens County west of Marlow.

The storms formed within a tornado watch that initially covered much of western and central Oklahoma, but was extended to cover eastern counties until early Tuesday.

Oklahoma storms spawn tornadoes

Brother Bob,

I can vouch for this story completely. It is true.        In fact, this type of story has been true several times a week in my neck of the woods. This is pretty early in the season to have so many, but tornadoes are just a fact of life here. I remember times in the past with 5 or more tornadoes dancing around our city, but we've only had one time where a tornado came down and stayed on the ground to cut a swathe through the city. I couldn't count the number of times that tornadoes hopped, skipped, and jumped through the city and caused all kinds of strange damage. As a child, a twister skipped over the top of our block, and our house was the only house on the block with the windows and roof left in tact.

If anyone wants to ask questions about all of the wild stories that have been told about tornadoes, I can probably tell you the truth. I can't count the weird things that twisters have done here. Regarding injuries and fatalities, one has to put things in perspective if you talk about my home, Lawton, Oklahoma. More people are killed in traffic accidents in one year than all of the people killed by tornadoes in 100 years. BUT, the reverse could easily be true, and it is true for many cities in my part of the country. Some cities were wiped off the map completely, people and all, in the last 100 years.

Love In Christ,
Tom

Psalms 107:6 NASB  Then they cried out to the LORD in their trouble; He delivered them out of their distresses.

[Shammu]

Indonesian Volcano Could Erupt Any Day

Thu Apr 27, 6:56 PM ET

JAKARTA, Indonesia - Indonesia's rumbling Mount Merapi is spewing volcanic ash, magma has fully covered its crater, and a powerful eruption could come any day, a scientist said Thursday.
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Authorities said, however, they were not ready to raise the alert to the highest level, which requires immediate evacuation of villagers living on the slopes of the 9,700-foot peak.

The mountain, one of the most active in Indonesia, is still in phase two, they said.

"It's close to eruption," said Dewi Sri, a vulcanologist at a monitoring post near Merapi's peak.

"The crater is fully covered by magma," she said, predicting "an enormous and dreadful eruption" within days.

Indonesia's official Antara news agency, meanwhile, reported that volcanic debris has begun pouring into Ngargomulyo village in the nearby Central Java district of Magelang.

Local officials contacted by The Associated Press were still trying to confirm the reports.

Merapi is one of at least 129 active volcanoes in Indonesia, which is part of the Pacific "Ring of Fire" — a series of fault lines stretching from the Western Hemisphere through Japan and Southeast Asia.

It last erupted in 1994, sending out a searing cloud of gas that burned 60 people to death. About 1,300 people were killed when it erupted in 1930.

Indonesian Volcano Could Erupt Any Day

[Soldier4Christ]

Triple volcano risk to 70,000


THE imminent eruption of three powerful volcanoes is endangering the lives of more than 70,000 people and threatening to affect the global climate by ejecting millions of tonnes of volcanic ash into the atmosphere.

The most serious threat is posed by the Merapi volcano in central Java, one of the most dangerous volcanoes in the Pacific "Ring of Fire", which was yesterday throwing out ash and small rocks. Geologists believe that the 1.7-mile high volcano could violently erupt at any time.

Two other volcanoes also giving cause for concern are the Galeras volcano in Colombia - expected to erupt within a matter of days or weeks - and the Urbinas volcano in southern Peru, which also appears to be gearing up for an eruption.

Aid workers have voiced concerns about the threat posed to the thousands of people living in the vicinity of the volcanoes and the Foreign Office has issued a travel warning advising British citizens to avoid the area around Mount Merapi.

It said the Indonesian centre for vulcanology had raised the alert status for the volcano and warned that an eruption might be imminent.

It added: "Indonesian authorities have evacuated the villages closest to the volcano and some flights over the area have been cancelled."

Aid agencies are preparing for the worst. Oxfam has briefed staff that up to 60,000 people in four districts around Merapi are at risk and that several hundred have already been relocated.

Most of those relocated are women, children and the elderly, but some are returning to their homes near the volcano during the day to feed livestock.

Yesterday, the tower of sulphurous smoke over the volcano had risen to 1,640ft and a rain of ash fell on one village on its slopes, which overlook the ancient city of Yogyakarta.

The volcano has a history of violent eruptions. In 1994 it killed 70 people and a 1930 eruption cost the lives of 1,300 people.

Government officials, including Hamengkubuwono X, the sultan of Yogyakarta and provincial governor, have been urging residents to leave the foothills, saying Merapi could erupt any time. Local vulcanologists have also noted the magma inside the volcano is reaching its peak.

The Galeras volcano in Colombia began erupting in 1988 after a period of dormancy and it has a history of large-scale eruptions. About 7,000 people are thought to be at risk if, as expected, it erupts in the near future, and aid workers report that many of those directly at risk have not left their homes.

The potential eruption of the Urbinas volcano in southern Peru puts some 4,500 people at risk. The volcano, about 470 miles from Lima, has triggered earth tremors which have been felt in the capital.

Peruvian authorities have declared a state of emergency in the area after the volcano started to eject gas and ash over a radius of 3.5 miles. Geologists report a dome of lava appears to be building in the crater, a sign that an eruption is imminent.

The eruption of any volcano can have an effect on local and global climate and three large eruptions close together could have a significant impact, leading to cooler temperatures.

The eruption of Mount Pinatubo in 1991 led to a drop in global air temperature over the next three years of between 0.2 and 0.5 °C, according to NASA, which conducted a study into the effects of the millions of tonnes of ash and sulphur dioxide blown into the atmosphere.

Yesterday David Crichton, visiting professor at the Benfield Hazard Research Centre at University College London, said it was possible that the three volcanoes now expected to erupt could have similar effects.

"Volcanoes can have an impact on climate," he said. "Sulphur dioxide can have a cooling effect and there is also a dimming effect on the sun caused by the clouds of ash."

[Shammu]

Cyclone Mala Batters Myanmar

By AYE AYE WIN, Associated Press Writer Sat Apr 29, 8:02 AM ET

YANGON, Myanmar - A cyclone packing winds up to 150 mph battered Myanmar Saturday, ripping roofs off dozens of buildings near the capital, knocking out electricity and forcing tourists to flee flooding along the coast.

There were scattered report of injuries and deaths but the government gave no details.

Cyclone Mala, which means "a garland of flowers" in Bengali, passed through Gwa, a resort 120 miles northwest of Yangon, an official in the meteorological department said.

The storm produced massive waves and flooding, knocked down trees and forced dozens of youngsters on a yachting trip to seek higher ground, said the official, who spoke on condition of anonymity.

The worst damage appeared to be just outside the capital Yangon, where strong winds damaged more than 150 buildings, the official said.

A soft drink and flour factory collapsed and dozens of buildings lost their roofs, the official said. Police and soldiers stood guard as municipal workers cleaned up the twisted metal, downed utility polls and shattered glass.

"This was the worst damage I have ever seen in my life," said a resident from the industrial zone. "Even containers fell and cars were blown into the air by what looked like a tornado."

Storm warnings were also issued for coastal areas in southern Bangladesh, though forecasters said there was almost no chance now that the cyclone would strike there.

Cyclones are known as typhoons in much of East Asia and hurricanes in the Western hemisphere.

Cyclone Mala Batters Myanmar

[Shammu]

Philippine volcano showers ash on surrounding villages

Sat Apr 29, 5:30 AM ET

LEGASPI, Philippines (AFP) - A Philippine volcano spewed a column of ash nearly a mile (1.6 kilometers) into the sky, showering surrounding villages with ash, vulcanologists said.

The Philippine Institute of Seismology and Vulcanology said steam inside Mount Bulusan, located 600 kilometers (370 miles) southeast of Manila, caused the ash to come out.

There were no reports of casualties or damage. The incident occurred at 10:44 am (0244 GMT) Saturday.

There was no sign of lava in the 1,565-meter (5,133-foot) volcano and the government is not raising the alert level around Mount Bulusan.

Bulusan had a similar eruption of ash last month.

Philippine volcano showers ash on surrounding villages

[Shammu]

Strong quake rocks eastern Taiwan

Fri Apr 28, 9:53 AM ET

TAIPEI (AFP) - An earthquake registering 5.6 on the Richter scale has rocked eastern Taiwan, but the seismology centre said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualties.

The tremor struck at 17:05 pm (0905 GMT) with its epicentre seven kilometres (about four miles) northeast of Hualien city and six kilometres under sea.

Taiwan, lying near the junction of two tectonic plates, is regularly shaken by earthquakes. The country's worst, a magnitude-7.6 quake, killed some 2,400 people in September 1999

Strong quake rocks eastern Taiwan