Russia, Pakistan and China still dominate disaster headlines this week, while domestically, flood watches have scattered the Midwest and South, while tornadoes continue to pester Minnesota and North Dakota.
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Pakistan
The floods in Pakistan still dominate the headlines right now, as disease from unsanitary conditions and looting is becoming rampant in the South Asian country, of which 20% is now effectively underwater.
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said today that the Pakistan flooding is the worst natural disaster the world has ever seen. The tolls there now stands at some 1,600 dead and 20 million homeless. The World Health Organization (WHO) is claiming that as many as 300,000 people will contract cholera and up to seven million will contract diarrhea. Ban pledged an additional $10 million from the United Nations central emergency response fund.
Said Ban, "This has been a heart-wrenching day - I will never forget the destruction and suffering I have witnessed. In the past I have witnessed many natural disasters around the world, but nothing like this. I am here...to share my sympathy and solidarity of the United Nations together with the people and government of Pakistan at this time of trial.I am here also to urge the world community to speed up their assistance to Pakistan. Waves of flood must be met with waves of support from the world."
Fires continue in Russia, radioactive fear abated
Wildfires continue to ravage Russia, but many of them have been brought under control. One big scare this week was a fear that fires near areas contaminated by the 1986 Chernobyl nuclear disaster would send plumes of radioactive smoke into the atmosphere. Russia's nuclear energy agency head, Sergei Kiryenko said that there was absolutely no danger from radioactive smoke.
“There are no departures from normal radiation levels anywhere in the country,” he said.
While countries around the world are heeding the call and pitching in more in relief efforts, Pakistan has been a hard sell for many. With widespread poverty, an anemic economy, and much of the country being lost to strengthening al-Qaida and Taliban elements offering support to insurgents in nearby Afghanistan, relief efforts are coming with much less enthusiasm as they have in previous world tragedies, such as the January earthquake in Haiti.
Three minutes of silence in China
Government media in China reported that sirens and horns across the nation stood in tribute to the victims of a mudslide in Gansu Province, along with three minutes of silence. Some 1,248 have so far been listed as dead with 496 still declared missing.
As the nation mourns the disaster, many experts outside China claim the vast toll from the mudslide can be blamed upon the rapid expansion taking place in China. With an effort to expand industry throughout China, the nation has seen unprecedented growth of it cities. While large cities like Shanghai and Bejing have coped well with the expansion, far-flung outposts ike those in Gansu Province has relied on quickly built structures that many say are far short of the kind of safety protocol needed for the kinds of floods, earthquakes and mudslides common to the region.
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Earthquakes
Earthquakes rippled across the Pacific this week, the largest of which was a 7.2 magnitude rumbler near Guam and Northern Mariana Island. No tsunami alerts were issued however by the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center, and no injuries were reported by the quakes. A 6.3 magnitude quake shook near the coastline of Indonesia as well this week, but similarly did not not spark any Pacific-wide tsunami fears. The US Geological Survey did warn however that "earthquakes of this size sometimes generate local tsunamis" that can affect areas up to a few hundred kilometers from the epicenter. No damager was reported, however.
Fires
Wildfires continue to burn in the US. Utah's Twitchell Canyon is currently experiencing a 4,000 acre fire caused by lightning that started July 20th, and authorities there have decided to manage the fire by containing it and promote forest health by letting it burn.
Other West Coast fires continues to burn 170 acres in the Washington/Oregon border area, as well as another in southern Oregon that has so far burned 500 acres. Lighting is blamed for the first fire, while the second remains under investigation.
Yet another fire was contained this weekend in Southern California, near Camp Pendleton in the Cleveland National Forest. No injuries were reported and the cause of the fire is still under investigation.
Tornadoes
Cleanup continues in Hayfield, Minnesota after a tornado ripped through town Friday night. No one was injured from the EF1 twister, but the cleanup has been tedious as authorities as trying to clear the trees still stren in the Midwestern town.
The National Weather Service is investigating what is believed to be an EF3 tornado that struck near Bismark, North Dakota that injured one and killed another.
Fox News reported that a water spout in Volusia County damaged a few roofs and dropped a small boat onto a pickup truck, but the oddest part of the story, was that of nine-year-old Marshall Labiak. The Florida boy was standing outside his clubhouse when he saw the waterspout barreling down a nearby canal. While his mother watched in horror, the boy was picked up five feet, spun around and dropped. Miraculously, Labiak was unhurt, but described the experience as "very scary" akin to "a real fast roller coaster ride." Said Labiak, "You could feel it take you up and spinning very fast then you felt it letting you down."
Hurricanes, New Orleans, and the BP oil spill
A tropical depression near New Orleans has been broken up and pushed southeast towards the Florida panhandle, but the National Weather Service predicts a 30 percent likelihood that the system could reform or even increase in strength into a tropical storm. The organization pointed to 88 degree water temperatures from satellites and predicted such a storm (to be dubbed Tropical Storm Danielle) would be likely to drift back west into Louisiana in that event.
President Obama is planning a trip to New Orleans on August 29, to commemorate the fifth anniversary of Hurricane Katrina. The President is planning to deliver a speech at Xavier University. The president also plans to check in on cleanup efforts related to the BP oil spill. The president and his family spent today in Panama City, Florida to restore faith in the region's tourism and fisheries, riding in boats and swimming in the Gulf.
"As a result of the cleanup effort, beaches all along the Gulf Coast are clean, safe, and open for business," the president said. "That's one of the reasons Michelle, Sasha, and I are here."
According to the UK Daily Mail, BP has declared itself "not guilty of gross negligence" over the Gulf of Mexico oil spill that affect most of the US Gulf Coast. The company performed a full internal investigation in order to estimate the damages the corporation will likely pay to the United States government, and to defend individual investigations planned by the White House, Congress, and the Department of the Interior. It will also be used in it's legal battles with the Texas-based Anadarko, who BP has sent a bill for $1.1 billion for its share in the cleanup, as well as $418 billion to Japan-based Mitsui.
According to the report, fines can be expected to be approximately 3 and a half times more than they would be if the company is found guilty of negligence.
