Things are very, very bad for the foreseeable future in the Philippines:
Tormented survivors of Philippine typhoon raid the dead (via AFP)
Tormented survivors of a typhoon that is feared to have killed more than 10,000 in the Philippines rummaged for food Sunday through debris scattered with corpses, while frenzied mobs looted aid convoys. Two days after one of the most powerful storms…
This is a horror that will become the new normal:
TACLOBAN, Philippines (AP) — The death toll from one of the strongest storms on record that ravaged the central Philippine city of Tacloban could reach 10,000 people, officials said Sunday after the extent of massive devastation became apparent and horrified residents spoke of storm surges as high as trees.
Regional police chief Elmer Soria said he was briefed by Leyte provincial Gov. Dominic Petilla late Saturday and told there were about 10,000 deaths in the province, mostly by drowning and from collapsed buildings. The governor’s figure was based on reports from village officials in areas where Typhoon Haiyan slammed Friday.
Tacloban city administrator Tecson Lim said that the death toll in the city alone “could go up to 10,000.” Tacloban is the Leyte provincial capital of 200,000 people and the biggest city on Leyte Island.
About 300-400 bodies have already been recovered, Lim said. A mass burial was planned Sunday in Palo town near Tacloban.
This, as one of the world’s most powerful typhoon in recorded history (195 mph winds) batters the Philippines:
On Anniversary of Superstorm Sandy, CNBC Host Joe Kernen Mocks Climate Investments (via Desmogblog)
This is a guest post by Brad Johnson, cross-posted from Hill Heat. CNBC host Joe Kernen marked the one-year anniversary of Superstorm Sandy by questioning the wisdom of investing to protect utility customers from extreme weather. In an interview with…
You can watch the broadcast here:
On a stretch of lonely beach in the heavily contaminated no-go zone surrounding the crippled Fukushima nuclear plant, one man is on a hopeless but ceaseless mission. His seven-year-old daughter is the only person unaccounted for after a five story tsunami crushed the nearby town of Okuma in March 2011. The authorities stopped looking for her long ago. Norio Kimura has not and never will.
‘I know it’ll be very hard to find Yuna, but I can’t stop. I’ll only stop when Yuna is found, or when I die.’ NORIO KIMURA, father of missing tsunami victim.
It’s unlikely he’ll find his little girl and yet he trudges on, looking for clues.
In a private children’s hospital well away from the no-go zone, parents are holding on tight to their little sons and daughters hoping doctors won’t find what they’re looking for.
Thyroid cancer.
Tests commissioned by the local authorities have discerned an alarming spike in the incidence of thyroid cancer in Fukushima children and while specialists and experts are reluctant to draw a definitive link between the tumours and the nuclear radiation that erupted from the stricken power station, they’re nonetheless deeply concerned.
“The doctors in Fukushima say that it shouldn’t be coming out so soon, so it can’t be related to the nuclear accident. But that’s very unscientific, and it’s not a reason we can accept.” AKIRA SUGENOYA Former Thyroid Surgeon & Chernobyl Volunteer
From the day the waves came, to the now concluding days of his posting, North Asia Correspondent Mark Willacy has covered every corner of this epic, unfolding drama. Among his reporting some very powerful work for Foreign Correspondent including the award winning ‘The Boy On The Bike’ and ‘The Fukushima Syndrome’.
Mark’s book ‘Fukushima’ is also a finalist in this year’s Walkley Awards.
Now he returns a final time to investigate worrying new claims a cancer cluster has developed around the radiation zone and the victims are children.
Via Daily Kos. The Fukushima reactor fuel rod removal begins Friday. So naturally, TEPCO hired the Yakuza to help — because gangsters are noted for their careful attention to environmental hazards. Hopefully it’ll all work out!
Japan nuclear watchdog urges ‘bold’ Fukushima action (via AFP)
Japan’s nuclear watchdog on Monday urged “bold and drastic” action to fix problems with radioactive water at Fukushima, as it warned of the growing risks over coming months. Shunichi Tanaka, chairman of the Nuclear Regulation Authority, told the president…
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I wonder when Australia voters will realize they have to stop burning coal?
Three large wildfires burning in southeastern Australia could merge into one colossal “mega-fire” and threaten the suburbs of Sydney, officials warned Monday.
A state of emergency was put into effect in New South Wales on Sunday after more than 200 homes were destroyed and many more damaged beyond repair by the country’s most widespread bushfires for more than a decade.
More than 60 wildfires were burning across the state on Monday, including 14 which were out of control. The largest blaze has a 190-mile front and was burning just a two-hour drive from Australia’s largest city.
[…] “We are worried these fires have the potential to join up and become a mega-fire,” New South Wales Fire Inspector Andrew Luke told NBC News. “We are focusing back-burning operations in an attempt to stop this happening but conditions over the next 48 hours are deteriorating and it’s really going to come down to how these develop.”
A powerful typhoon headed for Fukushima!
10-13-13 death toll mounts in India cyclone (via Repost Video News)
Death toll rises after cyclone hits India.
http://youtu.be/mlrqpqEIuPg
Firefighters say they’ve never seen fires burn the way they did in 2013.
That sentiment has been heard before. In 1988, 2000 and 2007, fires grew in size and ferocity across the American West, exceeding the experience and knowledge of firefighters and scientists alike.
This year, fire returned to places that had burned before: Colorado Springs, Pine, Ketchum, Yellowstone and Yosemite. The fires of 2013 burned through many of our previous ideas about how we can live with fire.
What’s different this time? Science is connecting hotter, bigger fires and a longer, more intense fire season with changes in the climate.
–Long before fire season, the mountains are undergoing change. Winters are warmer, meaning smaller snowpacks that melt sooner. That means runoff ends earlier and the forests dry out earlier; fire season starts earlier and lasts longer. When summer arrives, hotter, drier Julys get fires started earlier and bigger. In August and September, low humidity, wind and other unstable atmospheric conditions create erratic burning that overwhelms the best prevention and firefighting tactics.
–During fire season, fire bosses are changing tactics. They might pull their crews out of the way of extreme fires and evacuate communities more promptly. The bosses work to “herd” fires into previously burned areas, making them easier and cheaper to fight. Communities can clear brush and other fuels away from homes, providing firefighters with “defensible space.” But those measures have to be regularly renewed. In some rural residential areas, topography and fuel still make them nearly indefensible, as the Fall Creek area west of Pine found this summer. And once homes in the “urban interface” do start burning, wildland firefighters have to adopt urban tactics.
Continue reading “A whole new ball game when it comes to wildfires”
