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

[Shammu]

More than 60 percent of U.S. in drought

By JAMES MacPHERSON, Associated Press Writer 2 hours, 47 minutes ago

STEELE, N.D. - More than 60 percent of the United States now has abnormally dry or drought conditions, stretching from Georgia to Arizona and across the north through the Dakotas, Minnesota, Montana and Wisconsin, said Mark Svoboda, a climatologist for the National Drought Mitigation Center at the University of Nebraska at Lincoln.
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Southwest LMDA, July

An area stretching from south central North Dakota to central South Dakota is the most drought-stricken region in the nation, Svoboda said.

"It's the epicenter," he said. "It's just like a wasteland in north central South Dakota."

Conditions aren't much better a little farther north. Paul Smokov and his wife, Betty, raise several hundred cattle on their 1,750-acre ranch north of Steele, a town of about 760 people.

Fields of wheat, durum and barley in the Dakotas this dry summer will never end up as pasta, bread or beer. What is left of the stifled crops has been salvaged to feed livestock struggling on pastures where hot winds blow clouds of dirt from dried-out ponds.

Some ranchers have been forced to sell their entire herds, and others are either moving their cattle to greener pastures or buying more already-costly feed. Hundreds of acres of grasslands have been blackened by fires sparked by lightning or farm equipment.

"These 100-degree days for weeks steady have been burning everything up," said Steele Mayor Walter Johnson, who added that he'd prefer 2 feet of snow over this weather.

Farm ponds and other small bodies of water have dried out from the heat, leaving the residual alkali dust to be whipped up by the wind. The blowing, dirt-and-salt mixture is a phenomenon that hasn't been seen in south central North Dakota since the Dust Bowl of the 1930s, Johnson said.

North Dakota's all-time high temperature was set here in July 1936, at 121. Smokov, now 81, remembers that time and believes conditions this summer probably are worse.

"I could see this coming in May," Smokov said of the parched pastures and wilted crops. "That's the time the good Lord gives us our general rains. But we never got them this year."

Brad Rippey, a federal Agriculture Department meteorologist in Washington, said this year's drought is continuing one that started in the late 1990s. "The 1999 to 2006 drought ranks only behind the 1930s and the 1950s. It's the third-worst drought on record — period," Rippey said.

Svoboda was reluctant to say how bad the current drought might eventually be.

"We'll have to wait to see how it plays out — but it's definitely bad," he said. "And the drought seems to not be going anywhere soon."

Herman Schumacher, who owns Herreid Livestock Auction in north central South Dakota, said his company is handling more sales than ever because of the drought.

In May, June and July last year, his company sold 3,800 cattle. During the same months this year, more than 27,000 cattle have been sold, he said.

"I've been in the barn here for 25 years and I can't even compare this year to any other year," Schumacher said.

He said about 50 ranchers have run cows through his auction this year.

"Some of them just trimmed off their herds, but about a third of them were complete dispersions — they'll never be back," he said.

"This county is looking rough — these 100-degree days are just killing us," said Gwen Payne, a North Dakota State University extension agent in Kidder County, where Steele is located.

The Agriculture Department says North Dakota last year led the nation in production of 15 different commodity classes, including spring wheat, durum wheat, barley, oats, canola, pinto beans, dry edible peas, lentils, flaxseed, sunflower and honey.

North Dakota State University professor and researcher Larry Leistritz said it's too early to tell what effect this year's drought will have on commodity prices. Flour prices already have gone up and may rise more because of the effect of drought on wheat.

"There will be somewhat higher grain prices, no doubt about it," Leistritz said. "With livestock, the short-term effect may mean depressed meat prices, with a larger number of animals being sent to slaughter. But in the longer run it may prolong the period of relatively high meat prices."

Eventually, more than farmers could suffer.

"Agriculture is not only the biggest industry in the state, it's just about the only industry," Leistritz said. "Communities live or die with the fortunes of agriculture."

Susie White, who runs the Lone Steer motel and restaurant in Steele, along Interstate 94, said even out-of-state travelers notice the drought.

"Even I never paid attention to the crops around here. But I notice them now because they're not there," she said.

"We're all wondering how we're going to stay alive this winter if the farmers don't make any money this summer," she said.

More than 60 percent of U.S. in drought

According to the dought map, I sit between D-3 and D-4.

[Shammu]

San Andreas Fault So Stressed, Next Quake Could Be Magnitude 8

© 2006 by Linda Moulton Howe

"What’s the probability that we’re going to have a large earthquake, magnitude 6, 7 or 8, on the southern part of the San Andreas Fault? There is about a 70% likelihood of a large earthquake within the next 30 years."   - Seismologist Debi Kilb, Ph.D.

Blue triangles indicate 2006 small quake activity along San Jacinto Fault, Elsinoro Fault,
and Rose Canyon Fault, while the San Andreas Fault near the Salton Sea is building more and
more energy in a "locked up" mode, moving only 1 inch per year. Map source: USGS.

July 27, 2006  La Jolla, California -   Last month, the June 22, 2006, issue of the science journal Nature, published recent detailed research of the San Andreas and San Jacinto faults in Southern California. The data shows the San Andreas so stressed that its next quake release of energy could be a magnitude 8 on the Richter scale. The San Andreas Fault is considered the main boundary between the Pacific and North American tectonic plates that are slowly moving past each other. Some day in the far distant future, those moving plates might even break off sections of the Pacific coast into the ocean. The tension between those moving plates is what makes California "earthquake country."

To put a magnitude 8 earthquake into perspective, one hundred years ago on April 18, 1906, San Francisco was hit by an early morning earthquake between magnitude 7.7 and 7.9. That quake ruptured the northernmost section of the San Andreas fault for 296 miles. From San Juan Bautista to Cape Mendocino, that 1906 earthquake stunned geologists with its huge horizontal displacement in the Earth's crust. At least 3,000 people died. Broken gas pipes set the city on fire.

More recently, Prof. Yuri Fialko of Scripps Institution of Oceanography at the University of California, San Diego, analyzed high resolution images taken by European Space Agency satellites. He combined the visual imagery with data from historic geological records, Global Positioning System readings and current seismic instruments stationed every 20 meters. The result is a study with a factor of a thousand times improvement in spatial resolution.

Prof. Fialko found more evidence that the southern San Andreas fault is "mostly locked up." Not being able to move forward much, the fault builds up stress. Currently, the Southern California San Andreas is only moving about one inch per year. According to Prof. Fialko, that means during the last 300 years, the southern San Andreas fault has accumulated so much locked up energy that when it finally breaks that lock, the resulting earthquake will be huge - between magnitude 7 and 8. This also means that the city of Los Angeles or the San Bernardino/Riverside region could be hit by a seismic event as big as the 1906 San Francisco earthquake. When could the next big one happen in Southern California? The research indicates a 70% chance in the next thirty years.

Prof. Fialko was surprised to learn that the San Jacinto Fault, a little west of the San Andreas, is moving at about twice the speed as earlier estimates. So, the San Jacinto Fault has built up a lot of energy which could break out in a magnitude 7 earthquake. What if both the San Andreas and San Jacinto Faults erupted at the same time? Seismic engineers at UCSD Jacobs School of Engineering's Englekirk Structural Engineering Center have been testing buildings on a "shake table" to see what various intensities of shaking can do.

On January 14, 2006, a 7-story building built on their 25 foot by 40 foot shake table was subjected to ground motions equivalent to the January 17, 1994, Northridge earthquake. What the engineers are learning is that wood frame construction will collapse. But smaller concrete and reinforced steel frames will survive powerful earthquakes with only minor damage. The research from several years of work on the shake tables at UCSD have also caused most of Southern California's freeway bridges to be retrofitted to withstand severe ground shaking. The problem is that a magnitude 8 earthquake could seriously affect several square miles wherever it hits. Older homes and buildings built from wood frame construction could collapse in huge numbers.

This week I talked with Prof. Debi Kilb, a seismologist at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography in La Jolla. She worked with Prof. Fialco on his San Andreas and San Jacinto Fault investigations and begins with the question that Prof. Fialco wanted to answer.

San Andreas Fault So Stressed, Next Quake Could Be Magnitude 8
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~

They think thats bad, just wait till the wrath of the Lamb.

[Soldier4Christ]

Hundreds evacuated from Ohio flooding

EASTLAKE, Ohio — Fast-rising water gushed into homes early Friday in suburban Cleveland, chasing people to rooftops to await boat rescues as 10 inches of rain raised the Grand River 11 feet above flood level.

"We think everybody got out. But we cannot be certain," warned fire Capt. Ken Takacs, who estimated 600 residents were evacuated along the river, which curves around three sides of Painesville.

In Eastlake, between Cleveland and Painesville along Lake Erie, the Coast Guard searched for a man reported missing while checking on his boat at a marina near the Chagrin River. The Lake County coroner identified a man found drowned as Stephen Rihaly, 51, of Eastlake, The (Cleveland) Plain Dealer reported.

A deluge hit the area Thursday and early Friday, but by midday the sun broke through and flood waters began to recede. The weekend forecast called for clear weather.

By Friday night, most residents had returned to their homes, but two shelters remained open for those experiencing power outages or sanitation problems, Painesville police dispatcher Wendy Loomis said.

"It is receding, but we still have a lot of little secondary creeks that are still at a higher level," Loomis said.

Gov. Bob Taft declared a state of emergency in Lake County, helping the state provide resources to respond to the flooding and assist with recovery.

The evacuations in Painesville included 10 to 12 people rescued from condo and apartment rooftops by boat crews operating in 15 feet of water, Takacs said.

Some people had to drop from second-floor windows, and in one case a large front-end loader nudged a rescue boat through a tough current to reach a woman who uses a wheelchair, Takacs said.

Jeanette Fattori, 57, and her husband fled their Eastlake home with only their prescription medication.

"I thought we were going to drown. It was just filling up our basement and the only way we got out of there was in a small boat with people from the fire department," Fattori said at a Red Cross shelter.

Kevin Ford, 37, said the water flooded the bottom floor and garage of the Painesville condo he shares with his mother.

"We had two vehicles, appliances and furniture and they're probably all destroyed. I saw a refrigerator floating," he said.

Flooding severely damaged many of the riverfront condos and apartments, but there were no immediate damage estimates, Takacs said.

Elsewhere, a brief storm knocked out power to more than 5,000 people in New York Friday afternoon. Con Ed spokesman Chris Olert said crews were working to restore power for the customers on Staten Island, the latest to lose electricity in a series of problems for the utility this month.

[Soldier4Christ]

Mild quake reported in Mexico


A moderate earthquake shook a rural southern corner of Mexico's Baja California peninsula, but there were no reports of injuries or damage.

The 5.8-magnitude temblor on Saturday night was centered in the Sea of Cortes about 70 km north of Loreto and 860 km southeast of Tijuana, across the border from San Diego.

Dale Grant, a geophysicist at the US National Earthquake Information Center, said the quake was not powerful enough to trigger any threats of a tsunami.

[Soldier4Christ]

Moderate quake hits offshore Indonesia's Sumatra

A moderate earthquake of 5.7 magnitude rattled the Nias island area of Indonesia on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey reported.

The epicenter was 105 miles (170 km) west of Sibolga, Sumatra and 165 miles (270 km) southwest of Medan, Sumatra, at a depth of 18.6 miles (30 km). The quake hit at 0128 GMT, the USGS said.

Earthquakes occur frequently near Indonesia, which lies on a seismically active stretch of the Pacific basin, know as the "Pacific Ring of Fire." A magnitude 6.1 earthquake hit offshore of the Indonesian island of Sumatra on Thursday.

[Soldier4Christ]

Quake shakes Tajikistan, at least three dead

An earthquake measuring 5.5 on the Richter scale killed at least three children and left more than a thousand people without shelter in the south of Tajikistan, the Emergencies Ministry said on Sunday.   

 

The earthquake, whose epicentre was in northern Afghanistan about 180 km (112 miles) south of the Tajik capital Dushanbe, hit at 3:57 pm (1057 GMT) on Saturday.   

 

At least 19 people were injured and some were in a serious condition.   

 

A witness said the quake had almost completely destroyed three villages, including Zamini Nav, in Tajikistan's Qumsangir district near the border with Afghanistan.   

 

About 500 houses were destroyed and stunned villagers were left to huddle in the open overnight. There was a shortage of clean water and medicine.   

 

The Emergencies Ministry said the neighbouring Panj district was also affected. Several weaker tremors were felt overnight.   

 

Earthquakes, sometimes with large numbers of casualties, are common in Afghanistan and Tajikistan.   

[Soldier4Christ]

Sulawesi volcano still spluttering

The rumbling Mount Karangetang on North Sulawesi's Siau Island, Sangihe regency, continued to spit lava and gas but at a lesser intensity Saturday.

But the volcano's top alert status and fears that rain may flush lahar down its slopes were enough to convince more than 3,000 residents who had fled for safety early in the week to stay put in shelters.

Head of East Siau district, R. Areros, said Saturday that the volcano was still spewing out lava but was calmer compared to Friday. "The volcano is still spewing lava and its crater is covered by clouds of gas," he told The Jakarta Post by phone.

He has requested residents of Siau island, which lies north of Manado, to stay alert due to the danger of volcanic debris or lahar being flushed down from the volcano's slopes by rain as happened Friday. With no rain Saturday, the remaining lahar was flushed down through Batuawang and Kahetang rivers.

An observation post staffer in East Siau, Ruben Hinondaleng, confirmed Saturday that the volcano showed declining activity.

"But Karangetang is still on top alert status and all residents living in East, Central and West Siau should remain on alert. The most risk-prone area in case of an eruption is East Siau. That's why no residents are permitted to get close to the volcano," he said.

From Bandung, West Java, volcanologist Dali Ahmad told Reuters that there did not appear to be a danger of a major eruption at the moment but the lahar continued to threaten nearby villages.

"It is true that lahar is flowing but it is not as strong as yesterday and only flowed 2 kilometers. But there is no buffer," Dali said by phone from the Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation Center in Bandung.

As of Saturday, some 350 families or more than 1,300 people had decided to remain in temporary shelters while others sought refuge in schools and churches.

"The displaced people are returning home during the day to work and perform their daily activities but coming back to the shelters at night," said Areros, saying that food aid had arrived from the Sangihe and North Sulawesi administrations.

But several residents are worried about what might happen if it rains, fearing their abandoned homes may be damaged by lahar.

"We hope there will be no more rain today (Saturday) and in the coming days so the lahar will not flow down toward our home," said Herry, an employee at East Siau district office.

Karangetan is the latest volcano to be put on top alert status after Mount Merapi in Central Java spewed hot gas, ash and lava for more than two months before cooling down.

An eruption would add to the string of disasters experienced by the country following a massive earthquake on May 27 in Yogyakarta and Central Java, and this month's tsunami that swept the southern coast of Java island.

[Soldier4Christ]

Lava from Philippine volcano edges close to coconut groves, attracts onlookers(updated 02:49 p.m.)


Lava from the Philippines' Mayon volcano threatened to burn coconut groves along its slopes Sunday as dozens of awed onlookers flocked to the edge of the flow, officials said.

The volcano came to life in a mild eruption on June 14, oozing lava from the crater of the 2,474-meter (8,118-foot) mountain.

The country's chief volcanologist said the lava flow is still moving very slowly down Mayon, which continued to show signs of a possible explosive eruption as opposed to the current mild episode.

There are coconut trees in the path of the lava, but there are no houses close to the molten rocks, said Renato Solidum, chief of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

Cedric Daep, disaster action officer for Albay province where the volcano is located, about 340 kilometers (210 miles) southeast of Manila, said local officials have started fumigating shelters to get rid of mosquitos in preparation for a possible mass evacuation.

Solidum, in Manila where he is receiving reports from scientists in the field, said sulfur dioxide gas readings _ indicators of impending eruption _ were "very high" at about 3,000-10,000 tons daily last week, compared to the normal level of 500 tons.

"The scenarios will be continuous lava flow or there might be a shift to an explosive phase," Solidum said.

He said that based on previous events, a steady increase in sulfur dioxide emissions could culminate in an eruption. A sudden decrease after very high readings could also result in a large explosion, characterized by tall ash columns and pyroclastic flows, which are clouds of extremely hot gases, ash and other debris that race down mountain slopes at high speed, incinerating everything in their path.

Earthquakes may signal rising magma levels and the "inflation" of the mountain, all signs of a possible violent eruption, Solidum said.

On Sunday, dozens of residents, visitors from nearby towns and local tourists, flocked to the village of Mabinit on the outskirts of Legazpi city, capital of Albay, to watch in awe as lava fragments crumbled, exposing molten rocks beneath.

One man went up to one of the rocks to light a cigarette. Some posed for pictures with the smoldering lava deposit more than five stories high behind them as a backdrop.

Vegetation close to the edge of the flow caught fire or was singed.

Local residents said a small private chapel made of wood, abandoned after an eruption in 2001, had already been covered by volcanic debris.

Mayon is one of the Philippines' 22 active volcanos. Its most violent eruption, in 1814, killed more than 1,200 people and buried a town in mud. A 1993 eruption killed 79 people.

The Philippines is in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," where volcanic activity and earthquakes are common.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tropical depression watch

A tropical wave approaching the Windward Islands has started to disintegrate removing the threat of an early development into a tropical depression. However forecasters are now watching another in the Caribbean Sea, hinting at possible development.

The National Hurricane Centre says that although the conditions remain marginally favourable, a tropical depression could still form in a couple of days.

The tropical wave with a 1012 millibar low on it was subjected to shear which essentially blew away the thunderstorms from the spinning centre. The system has not been able to recover and it is moving into an area where there is strong Saharan Dust in the atmosphere which will further dampen any rainfall.

In the meantime, another tropical wave over Hispaniola, Puerto Rico, and the US Virgin Islands has become better organised and there is the potential for the slow development of a tropical depression to form, says the National Hurricane Centre.

This wave was being watched just over a week ago with the hurricane centre suggesting that it could develop, however it started to fall apart (just like the present Atlantic wave) as it approached the Caribbean islands. Now that it is in the Caribbean Sea, thunderstorms have been firing up and it is becoming organised.

[Soldier4Christ]

Chicago Braces For Day Two Of Latest Heat Wave
Residents Urged To Keep Cool, Drink Plenty Of Water, And Check On Neighbors

CHICAGO For the second day in a row on Sunday, the Chicago area is sweltering amid another intense heat wave.

The National Weather Service says the heat blanketing Illinois won't let up until Wednesday. Until then, excessive heat warnings have been issued for the Chicago and St. Louis areas through Tuesday evening. The weather service says the combination of heat and humidity could make it feel like 105 degrees.

As CBS 2's Holly Gregory reports, city officials stress that heat exhaustion can sneak up on even young, healthy people quickly and quietly. And emergency workers are working hard to stay ahead of the problem because during a heat wave, each day becomes progressively more dangerous.

So far, no deaths in Chicago have been blamed on the latest heat wave, but in Cicero, officials said the death of a 6-month-old baby on Friday might have been related to the heat. According to the Cook County medical examiner's office, an autopsy on Saturday revealed only that the cause of death was "pending further studies."

And on Saturday 20 people were hospitalized because of heat-related illness, including seniors at two Chicago Housing Authority high rises on West Schiller Street which lost power. The Fire Department brought in a cooling bus until power could be restored.

Battalion Chief George Korda said, "If you see people in your neighborhood, older folks that you haven't seen or people you know that aren't feeling good, go up and knock on that door and see if they're doing okay."

Despite the heat, people packed the lakeshore for the annual "Venetian Night," using paper plates and flip-flops as makeshift fans.

Spectator Diane Monroe said, "I've just been fanning like I'm fanning and I've got a wine cooler with some ice in it in a cup, so I'm cool. And I've got water, and I've got gatorade, so I'm straight."

The City of Chicago also activated its "Joint Operations Center" on Saturday to help handle the heat crisis.

"We've actually been planning for this event since about Thursday night," said Don Zoufal of the Office of Emergency Management.

"Our first concern is those people in places where they do not have air-conditioning. We want to make sure people get plenty of food, and if they don't have air-conditioning, they need a couple or few hours a day where they can get cool," said Dr. Terry Mason, Commissioner of the Deptartment of Public Health.

On Saturday, the city's Office of Emergency Management and Communications fielded 7,300 heat-related calls to the city's 311 non-emergency line. Workers helped many seniors and others get to cooling centers.

Dr. Mason says a brief break from the heat could mean the difference between life and death for some.

"It helps bring the core temperature down, and therefore it will help the body repair what might've happened if that had not happened," Mason said. "That's why it's critical that people get an opportunity to cool down."

_______________

Praise God for my A/C's. It is record breaking temps here today.

[Shammu]

By Jupiter, scientists find 'Red Spot Jr.'

WASHINGTON (Reuters) -- Jupiter's Great Red Spot -- a high-pressure storm on the big planet's surface -- has been around for centuries, but Monday astronomers released images of a new, smaller Jovian storm they call Red Spot Jr.

Using the Keck II telescope on Hawaii's Mauna Kea, scientists from the University of California, Berkeley, and the W.M. Keck Observatory captured a high-resolution picture of both spots on July 20.

Red Spot Jr. is about as wide as Earth's diameter and formed from the merger of three white spots very recently, sometime between 1998 and 2000, and only turned red in December 2005, the astronomers said in a statement.

The Great Red Spot is nearly twice its smaller companion's size and has been circling Jupiter for at least 342 years. But the two are located in the same area and appear to be racing each other around the planet.

The two spots are about the same color when seen in visible light, but Red Spot Jr. was much darker when viewed at infrared wavelengths, the scientists said.

That difference could mean the smaller storm's cloud tops are lower than the big storm's.

Jupiter, scientists find 'Red Spot Jr.'

[Soldier4Christ]

Tropical Storm Chris forms in Atlantic: NHC

Tropical Storm Chris has formed in the Atlantic Ocean, strengthening from a tropical depression, the U.S. National Hurricane Center said in a report Tuesday.

It forecast the storm, packing winds near 40 miles per hour, would reach the Bahamas by the weekend and Florida by early next week.

Although the storm will strengthen over the next five days, it will not turn into a hurricane before reaching the Bahamas, the NHC predicted.

If the storm crosses Florida and gets into the Gulf of Mexico, energy traders said it could disrupt U.S. oil and natural gas production and refining facilities located there.

Several Caribbean islands have already issued tropical storm warnings and watches, including Antigua, Barbuda, Anguilla, St. Kitts, Nevis, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, St. Martin, St. Maarten, Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands and the British Virgin Islands.

At 5 a.m. EDT (0900 GMT), the center of the storm was located about 175 miles east of Antigua.

Chris was heading west-northwest at nearly nine mph. Over the next 24 hours. The storm will move over or near the northernmost Leeward Islands (the Virgin Islands, Anguilla, St Maarten, Saba, St. Eustatius, St. Barthelemy, Antigua, Barbuda, St. Kitts, Nevis, Montserrat, Guadeloupe and Dominica) by later tonight or early Wednesday morning.

A U.S. Air Force reconnaissance aircraft was to investigate the storm this afternoon to provide a more accurate estimate of its strength and location.

[Soldier4Christ]

Tropical storm heads towards China

A tropical depression that lashed the northern Philippines and left five people dead grew into the region's eighth major storm of the season on Tuesday as it headed toward China.

Tropical Storm Prapiroon, packing winds of 75 kilometers (45 miles) per hour and gusts of up to 95 kph (60 mph), was moving fast across the South China Sea and was forecast to become a typhoon as it makes landfall over Central Hainan Island in China on Friday.

In the northern Philippines, which was battered by back-to-back storms in July, the year's rainiest month, strong winds caused a tree to fall on a man riding a motorcycle, killing him instantly.

Two farmers were also killed late on Monday by lightning while planting rice in northern Isabela province, police Senior Superintendent Jude Santos said.

Another farmer was reported drowned while crossing a swollen river atop his water buffalo, and the body of a 1-year-old was recovered from another river in Pampanga province, just north of Manila.

In China, at least 35 people were killed and dozens missing from last week's Typhoon Kaemi.

Prapiroon is the Thai word for rain god.

[Soldier4Christ]

Volcano ejecting more gas

LEGAZPI CITY—Mayon Volcano yesterday ejected a high volume of sulfuric steam, indicating its eruption is imminent, scientists said.

They said Monday’s gas emission rate of 12,548 tons a day was a record high compared with last week’s 9,275 tons, and that meant the volcano was pushing new magma up to the crater in preparation for a violent explosion.

“Our study shows that there seems to be some swelling in Mt. Mayon’s edifice,” meaning fresh magma continued to enter the volcano’s vent, said Ernesto Corpuz, head of the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology’s monitoring team.

Mayon continued to disgorge molten rocks cascading 100 meters down the Mabinit channel, which is 5.6 aerial km from the crater.

The toe of the lava at the Mabinit channel was inching its way to the boundary of the 6-km permanent-danger zone, threatening the villages of Mabinit, Matanag, Bonga, and Buyuan, scientists said.

The lava front continued to move toward a forested area at the foot of the volcano and threatening to ignite it, they said.

Lava and flying rocks at the southeast slopes triggered 388 tremors.

“With the high degassing rate caused by magma intrusion, the probability is high for an explosive eruption to take place,” volcanologist Ed Laguerta said.

“This is the eruption stage, but whether it will lead to an explosive eruption, that is what we are monitoring now.” Mar Arguelles and Jaime Pilapil

[Soldier4Christ]

Villagers refused to leave areas outside volcano-zone in Indonesia

A volcano in eastern Indonesia spewed hot gas and debris 1 1/2 kilometers (a mile) down its slopes on Monday, but hundreds of villagers were refusing to leave areas just outside the danger-zone, officials said. No injuries were reported.

Mount Karangetang, one of the country's most active mountains, has been at a state of high alert for two weeks.

More than 1,000 people have been evacuated from villages near the peak, but 500 living further down the mountain are refusing to budge, saying they want to tend to livestock and crops, said Replein Areros, a district official.

On Monday, the 1,784-meter (5,850-feet) volcano shot out at least 30 bursts of lava and hot ash, said Saut Simatupang, chief researcher at the government's vulcanology agency

The government could not force villagers to leave or prevent them from returning to check on their property, he said, adding that there were no reports of injuries or major damage.

The last deadly eruption of Karangetang _ located on Siau, part of the Sulawesi island chain _ was in 1992, when six villagers died.

Indonesia, the world's largest archipelago, is prone to seismic upheaval due to its location on the so-called ``Ring of Fire,'' an arc of volcanos and fault lines encircling the Pacific Basin