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'Tropical cyclones to rise in next 20 years'

Thu, 23 Feb 2012 14:41:46 GMT

Washington: Despite a projected drop in the frequency of tropical cyclones, the risk they pose is likely to rise over the next two decades, with the number of people exposed to these storms increasing nearly 12 percent every year, a new study has claimed.

Scientists have already suggested that while the overall global frequency of tropical cyclones might drop in the future, they might strengthen in intensity, thanks to global warming. To see what impact this shift might have in the future, a group of researchers took into account how many people will live in vulnerable areas, the levels of poverty there, and the levels of government action.

They found many unknowns in terms of the risk people may face from tropical cyclones due to a lack of global data. In the absence of such global data, the researchers looked at proxies such as poverty, which indicated that people might not have the means to build high-quality structures.

The fact that both human populations and tropical cyclone intensity are projected to increase over the next 20 years suggests there will be a rise in the number of people exposed per year to these storms of nearly 12 percent.

"Regardless of climate change, the increase in population is the main trigger that will increase exposure to tropical cyclones," study author Pascal Peduzzi, an environmentalist at the United Nations Environment Program, told OurAmazingPlanet.

Their findings, published in the journal Nature Climate Change, suggested that approximately 150 million people will be threatened by tropical cyclones by 2030, compared with about 133.7 million now.

The highest increase in annual exposure to these cyclones will take place in Asia, with a rise of 10.7 million exposed people along its Pacific Rim and 2.5 million along its Indian Ocean coast.

Tropical cyclones -- hurricanes and typhoons -- usually form in the world's tropical regions and each spins around a centre known as an eye. They can wreak havoc with extreme winds, torrential rains, high waves, extensive coastal flooding and damaging landslides.

The past 50 years or so have seen the highest death tolls and greatest damages on record for these kinds of storms. "All exposed governments should take actions for reducing disaster risk," Peduzzi said.

"Early warning systems, including storm surge warnings, should be improved; building codes and shelters should be also improved. International efforts on mitigating climate change by lowering greenhouse gas emissions should be pursued. Critical and vulnerable infrastructures should be reviewed and retrofitted if they are located in tropical-cyclone-prone areas."

Peduzzi also said that the researchers would like to continue working with climate change scenarios, "including sea level rise and related beach erosion in relation with potential impacts from storm surges".

"The potential role of ecosystems in mitigating these impacts," Peduzzi said, "such as the role of coral reefs, mangroves and other marine and coastal systems, would be interesting," he said.

"I'm not saying that ecosystems can solve all the issues, but so far, most of the efforts for protecting coastal infrastructures and populations are mostly based on engineering solutions, whereas we don't know how much we can do by protecting or restoring ecosystems," he added.

Missouri earthquake shakes nine states

Wed, 22 Feb 2012 11:26:31 GMT

ST. LOUIS (AP) — Just days after the 200th anniversary of a series of massive earthquakes in southeast Missouri, residents woke up Tuesday to a rumbling reminder that they live in one of the continent's most active seismic areas.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the epicenter of a magnitude-4.0 earthquake at 3:58 a.m. was located near the town of East Prairie, Mo., roughly midway between St. Louis and Memphis. Several people in five states — Missouri, Illinois, Arkansas, Kentucky and Tennessee — felt the quake, along with scattered people in four others, as far away as North Carolina and Georgia, according to responses to the U.S. Geological Survey website.

Only minor damage was reported, such as items falling from shelves, broken windows, minor cracks in walls and sidewalks, said Amy Vaughan, a geophysicist for the Geological Survey office in Golden, Colo. No injuries were reported.

East Prairie City Administrator Lonnie Thurmond said the quake lasted perhaps seven seconds. "It seemed like everybody I've talked to, it woke 'em up," Thurmond said.

The earthquakes on Dec. 16, 1811, and Jan. 23 and Feb. 7, 1812, were among the strongest ever in the U.S., their magnitudes estimated to have ranged from 7.7 to 8.1. Shockwaves spread as far as New York and the force of the temblors reportedly rang church bells in Boston. The Mississippi River reversed flow for a time.

Those quakes, like the one on Tuesday, occurred in the New Madrid Seismic Zone, a 150-mile stretch between Memphis and St. Louis that crosses parts of Arkansas, Illinois, Indiana, Kentucky, Missouri and Tennessee.

Most of the earthquakes that frequently hit the zone are so small that virtually no one feels them. Even a magnitude-4.0 quake is rare, occurring in the New Madrid zone on average about once a year, said Bob Herrmann, a Saint Louis University geophysicist.

"It's been a while since we had a good shaker in the New Madrid region," Herrmann said. "It is a reminder that earthquakes occur and we cannot ignore them."

Expert opinion varies on the likelihood of another big Midwestern quake along the New Madrid fault, though many communities in the region have taken precautions by retrofitting bridges and other structures.

Earthquake drills are also becoming more common. On Feb. 7, nearly 150,000 Missourians and hundreds of schools in the state participated in a drill known as the "Great Central U.S. ShakeOut."

Experts suggest that the likelihood of a magnitude 6 or greater quake occurring along the New Madrid fault within a half century is somewhere between 28% and 46%.

"Unfortunately, we cannot predict earthquakes," Herrmann said. "We can look at historical trends and say one should exercise some caution and prudence."

New Zealand earthquake: final victims laid to rest as country prepares for one-year anniversary

Tue, 21 Feb 2012 12:47:37 GMT

In a simple, private ceremony the four, whose identities are known but who could not be formally identified, were interred in a single coffin in the city's Avonhead cemetery. They had all been in the city centre CTV building when it collapsed, claiming the lives of 115 among the 185 who died in the magnitude 6.3 quake on February 22, 2011.

Their sad burial service closes one more heartbreaking chapter for the South Island city, which has spent a year dazed and grieving, struggling to cope from day to day while planning for the future, and still shaking.
More than 10,000 aftershocks, large and small, have rocked Christchurch and rattled residents' frazzled nerves since the first big quake, a magnitude 7.1 that struck in September 2010. That first quake miraculously killed no one, which lulled some Cantabrians into a false sense of security despite the extensive damage it caused to buildings in the city centre.

‘Cloaking’ against earthquakes

Mon, 20 Feb 2012 13:06:01 GMT

While the idea of an invisible cloak reminds us of Harry Potter, “cloaking” technology actually exists in real life as well. Recently scientists have demonstrated various experimental cloaking systems that prevent small objects from being seen, and in one case, even from being heard. Such invisibility systems involve the use of metamaterials, which are man-made materials that exhibit optical qualities not found in nature. These are able to effectively bend light around an object, instead of allowing it to strike the object directly. Now, mathematicians from the University of Manchester are proposing technology based on the same principles that would allow buildings to become “invisible” to earthquakes.

Dr William Parnell is leading a team which has proposed that buildings in earthquake-vulnerable regions could be surrounded with pressurized rubber at their bases. This could theoretically keep the elastic waves traveling through the ground from registering the presence of the building, instead simply passing around either side of it.

“We showed theoretically that pre-stressing a naturally available material — rubber — leads to a cloaking effect from a specific type of elastic wave,” said Parnell. “Our team is now working hard on more general theories and to understand how this theory can be realized in practice … If the theory can be scaled up to larger objects then it could be used to create cloaks to protect buildings and structures, or perhaps more realistically to protect very important specific parts of those structures.”

Earthquake: 3.7 quake strikes near San Francisco Bay

Fri, 17 Feb 2012 10:20:03 GMT

A shallow magnitude 3.7 earthquake was reported Thursday morning two miles from Crockett, Calif., according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The temblor occurred at 9:13 a.m. Pacific time at a depth of 5.6 miles. According to the USGS, the epicenter was two miles from Vallejo, four miles from Rodeo and 23 miles from San Francisco City Hall.

In the last 10 days, there have been two earthquakes magnitude 3.0 and greater centered nearby. A shallow magnitude 3.7 earthquake was also reported Wednesday in the same area, also two miles from Crockett, according to the USGS. That temblor occurred at 6:09 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 5.6 miles.

Madagascar: Cyclone Kills at Least 16

Thu, 16 Feb 2012 10:44:32 GMT

About 16 people were killed this week when a cyclone lashed Madagascar, rescue authorities said Wednesday. About 65 people were injured and about 11,000 people were left homeless after Cyclone Giovanna pummeled the country’s eastern seaboard, causing power failures in parts of the port city of Tamatave, rescue officials said. The death toll could rise, they said. On Tuesday, the authorities cut off power in the capital, Antananarivo, and ordered drivers to stay off the roads and businesses to shut their doors as torrential rains persisted. Still, the worst of the storm appeared to be over.

Strong 6.0 earthquake strikes off Oregon coast

Wed, 15 Feb 2012 10:23:44 GMT

The quake struck at 7:31 p.m. Pacific time at a depth of 6.2 miles in the Pacific Ocean 159 miles west of Coos Bay, Oregon. It was felt as far away as San Francisco, California, according to the USGS. A spokesman for the Portland police said he did not feel the quake. There were immediate reports of damage or injuries. No tsunami warning was issued by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center.

Japan piano sales jump post-earthquake

Mon, 13 Feb 2012 10:38:20 GMT

TOKYO — Sales of pianos in Japan jumped 11 percent last year, the first rise in 17 years, as people replaced instruments damaged in the country's devastating earthquake, a trade body said on Monday.
Takahiro Ito of the Shizuoka Instrument Manufacturing Association told AFP more than 18,100 pianos had been sold in 2011, up from around 16,300 the year before. "Last year, especially in the Tohoku region, pianos broke down after the quake and some customers wanted to buy new ones," he said. Tohoku, in northeastern Japan, was badly hit by the 9.0-magnitude earthquake and resulting tsunami of March 11, with huge swathes of the coastline destroyed.

Tropical Cyclone Jasmine's Eye Seen From Space

Thu, 09 Feb 2012 10:34:44 GMT

A dangerous tropical cyclone has been roaring through the South Pacific recently, but so far no casualties or damage has been reported. Tropical Cyclone Jasmine formed as a tropical storm over the South Pacific Ocean on Feb. 4, and strengthened to a tropical cyclone two days later. On Feb. 7, Jasmine's clouds stretched over the northern tip of New Caledonia, as can be seen in a new NASA satellite image.

The U.S. Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center (JTWC) reported that the storm had rapidly intensified, developing a ragged eye spanning 24 nautical miles (44 kilometers). Jasmine had maximum sustained winds of 115 mph (185 kph) and gusts up to 144 mph (230 kph).

In the South Pacific, a tropical cyclone is a storm with sustained winds of 35 mph (65 kph). A severe tropical cyclone has sustained wind speeds greater than 75 mph (120 kph). In the Atlantic basin, tropical cyclones are called tropical storms and hurricanes.

Jasmine is as strong as a Category 4 hurricane, and has clipped the island of Anatom, Vanuatu, according to AccuWeather. Storms this strong can cause major damage by sending waters rushing inland, downing trees and power lines and structurally damaging buildings.

The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Aqua satellite captured the above natural-color image on Feb. 7. Spanning hundreds of kilometers, the storm sports a distinct eye.

The JTWC forecast that Jasmine would move toward the southeast, past New Caledonia, before changing course toward the east. The storm was expected to modestly intensify over the next 24 hours, and then gradually weaken.

Philippines earthquake kills dozens

Wed, 08 Feb 2012 11:46:19 GMT

Rescuers dug through debris and mud in the central Philippines Tuesday in search of nearly 100 missing people a day after a 6.9-magnitude earthquake triggered landslides, collapsed houses and killed at least 48 people.

More than 400 soldiers were dispatched to several villages in the central province of Negros Oriental, about 356 miles southeast of Manila. The province suffered the most damage from Monday's quake, said army Col. Francisco Zosimo Patrimonio.

Patrimonio said up to 92 people were missing, mostly from Guihulngan City and La Libertad town in the province of Negros Oriental, where landslides buried a total of almost 100 houses in two villages. Patrimonio said rescuers were having difficulty moving around to help in the search for the missing.

"Many roads have been cut off so our trucks are unable to go in. There is no water. There is no electricity," he said. Guihulngan City Mayor Ernesto Reyes said search operations were also being hampered by strong aftershocks. The quake struck at 11:49 a.m. Monday and was felt in at least seven central provinces, including Negros Occidental, Iloilo, Cebu and Bacolod, according to the Philippine Institute of Volcanology and Seismology.

More than 900 aftershocks have been recorded since Monday, the strongest at magnitude 6.2. Thousands of residents in affected areas were sleeping outside for fear that their houses would collapse in the aftershocks, while some hospitals also moved patients outdoors overnight. The Philippines, located in the Pacific "Ring of Fire," suffered its worst earthquake in 1990 when a 7.7-magnitude temblor killed nearly 2,000 people on the northern island of Luzon.