Flu Pandemic 'imminent'

Global health authorities warned Wednesday that swine flu was threatening to bloom into a pandemic, and the virus spread farther in Europe even as the outbreak appeared to stabilize at its epicenter. A toddler who succumbed in Texas became the first death outside Mexico.

Mexico, taking a drastic step as confirmed swine flu cases doubled to 99, including eight dead, announced it would temporarily suspend all nonessential activity of the federal government and private business from May 1-5.

"It really is all of humanity that is under threat during a pandemic," WHO Director General Margaret Chan said in Geneva. "We do not have all the answers right now, but we will get them."

It was the first time the WHO had declared a Phase 5 outbreak, the second-highest on its threat scale, indicating a pandemic could be imminent.

**FOR CONTINUOUS UPDATES ON THE GLOBAL VIRUS OUTBREAK VISIT SKYWATCH MEDIA NEWS AND ENTERTAINMENT **

Torrential rain floods Houston

HOUSTON (AP) — More than a half-foot of rain fell on the Houston area during the night, flooding streets and highways and marooning some morning commuters.

One rain gauge on Buffalo Bayou in far western Houston collected more than 6 inches of rain during the night and nearly 9 inches in 24 hours, the Harris County Office of Emergency Management said.

  

Image: Aubry Kennaugh carries her sister Ashton as they wade through floodwaters in their neighborhood Tuesday in Houston.

'Too late' to contain swine flu

The swine flu virus first detected in Mexico can no longer be contained and countries should focus on mitigating its effects, a top UN official said.

 

World Health Organization deputy chief Keiji Fukuda was speaking as the WHO raised its alert level to four, or two steps short of a full pandemic.
UN food inspectors are going to Mexico to examine reports that industrial pig farms were the source of the outbreak.
The number of probable deaths from the virus there has risen to 152. 
New Zealand confirmed at least three cases on Tuesday, and Israel one.
The US, Canada, Spain and Britain confirmed cases earlier but no deaths have been reported outside Mexico. 

WHO PANDEMIC ALERT PHASES

• Phase 1: No viruses circulating among animals causing infections in humans
• Phase 2: Animal influenza virus causes infection in humans, and is considered potential pandemic threat
• Phase 3: Influenza causes sporadic cases in people, but no significant human-to-human transmission
• Phase 4: Verified human-to-human transmission able to cause community-level outbreaks. Significant increase in risk of a pandemic
• Phase 5: Human-to-human transmission in at least two countries. Strong signal pandemic imminent
• Phase 6: Virus spreads to another country in a different region. Global pandemic under way 

Stay Tuned for Further Updates

Residents Brace for Volcanic Eruption

INDONESIA - Residents and government officials were preparing late on Monday for a major eruption from Central Java’s Mount Slamet volcano after the earth started shaking at a rate of 95 tremors a minute. "Even though the earthquake activity is increasing, we have not yet decided to raise Slamet to the highest alert level, or awas status, as we think the danger level will continue to fluctuate.” The mountain, 215 kilometers east-southeast of Jakarta, continued to spew bursts of lava and emit high levels of volcanic ash, which had caused some nearby residents to suffer upper respiratory infections. “The mountain has sprayed molten lava up to 600 meters into the air and we have recorded bursts of volcanic ash up to 112 times within a six-hours period.” The vulcanology agency is also currently monitoring 11 other volcanoes across the archipelago that have shown signs of increased activity over the last month. They include Soputan in North Sulawesi Province; Dukono on North Halmahera Island in Maluku Province; Mount Ibu in Maluku; Anak Krakatau in the Sunda Strait; Egon in East Nusa Tenggara Province; and Semeru and Bromo in East Java Province.

World's major rivers 'drying up'

Water levels in some of the world's most important rivers have declined significantly over the past 50 years, US researchers say.

They say the reduced flows are linked to climate change and will have a major impact as the human population grows.
The only area with a significant increase in water flows was the Arctic due to a greater snow and ice melting.
The study was published in the American Meteorological Society's (AMS) Journal of Climate.

Team Explores Undersea Volcano

Just 60 miles north of Guam, an undersea volcano is erupting. NW Rota-1 is located in the Marianas Volanic Arc, one of the most active volcanic chains on the planet. A team of scientists and engineers have been gathering data on NW Rota-1 for the past two weeks. NW Rota-1 has been erupting almost continuously for five years and has grown 130 feet in height since scientists visited in 2006. "There have been no reports that I am aware of that this eruption has had any effect on Rota, Guam or any of the surrounding islands."

Oxfam warns of climate disasters

The number of people hit by climate-related disasters is expected to rise by about 50%, to reach 375m a year by 2015, the UK-based charity Oxfam says.

Current humanitarian systems are barely able to cope, an Oxfam study contends.
It warns agencies are in danger of being overwhelmed by events such as flooding, storms and drought.
The group called for a radical shift so that humanitarian aid is sent impartially, instead of on the basis of political or other preferences.

West Africa faces 'megadroughts'

Severe droughts lasting centuries have happened often in West Africa's recent history, and another one is almost inevitable, researchers say.

Analysis of sediments in a Ghanaian lake shows the last of these "megadroughts" ended 250 years ago.

Writing in the journal Science, the researchers suggest man-made climate change may make the situation worse.

But, they say, the droughts are going to happen again anyway, and societies should begin planning for them.

"It's disconcerting - it suggests we're vulnerable to a longer-lasting drought than we've seen in our lifetime," said Tim Shanahan from the University of Texas in Austin, who led the research team.

"What West Africa won't handle - and neither will California - is the 100-year-long, deep megadrought"
Professor Michael Schlesinger

Where are all the sunspots?

The Sun currently emits less radio noise THAN AT ANY POINT SINCE 1955. The solar wind pressure is currently LOWER THAN AT ANY OTHER RECORDED TIME (NASA first kept track in the 1960's). More galactic cosmic rays (GCRs) bombard the Earth now THAN AT ANY OTHER RECORDED TIME (due to the low solar wind pressure). This means you're soaking up an extra dose of GCRs if you fly in an airplane or live at a very high altitude. Satellites are currently experiencing less atmospheric drag than normal, resulting in greater orbital stability with less fuel expended for station-keeping. Since 2004, we've had 602 sunspot-free days. The typical Solar Minimum lasts for 485 days. 91 days in 2009 have been sunspot-free

EARTH TREMOR DUE TO NEW PLATE

The earth tremor which was felt in three provinces in Sri Lanka yesterday could be due to a new plate that had formed under the sea just off Sri Lanka. The new plate that was forming was discovered when surveys were made in the seas off Sri Lanka to demarcate the fishing area of the country. No one thought that Sri Lanka would be at risk of earthquakes until the tsunami struck in December 2004. “We have been experiencing tremors frequently and we may have this risk in the future." Yesterday’s tremor, which was felt in many areas in the Southern, Eastern and Uva provinces, registered under 4 on the Richter scale and has been recorded at the Pallekele monitoring station. However it has not been recorded at the California headquarters. Tiles of many houses and a temple had been displaced as a result of the tremor. The windows of one house have come off their hinges. Glass window panes in some houses were reported to have been blown off by the tremor. Meanwhile, a tsunami scare was reported from coastal areas in Polhena, Paramulla, Devinuwara, Gandara and Dikwella. The people in these areas were seen running in panic, leaving their homes after the tremor made the earth tremble.

Warming could devastate parks

National parks provide recreation, wildlife habitats and natural beauty that could be lost if officials don't act quickly to safeguard these reserves from the effects of climate change, experts told federal policymakers last week.

Rising temperatures and shifting weather patterns have the potential to cause "staggering" changes to federal lands, said Rep. Raul Grijalva, D-Ariz., chairman of the Subcommittee on National Parks, Forests and Public Lands.

"Science shows that climate change will cause a spread of invasive species, threaten native species, endanger watersheds, cause habitat loss and increase the intensity and length of the fire season on our public lands," Grijalva said Tuesday at a subcommittee hearing held near Joshua Tree National Park in California.

These aren't just future concerns, either, said Robert Keiter, an environmental-law expert at the University of Utah's S.J. Quinney College of Law.

"Many of (the parks) are already being impacted by climate change," Keiter told policymakers

UN sounds warning after Antarctica ice shelf rips

PARIS (AFP) — The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) said the breakway of a Jamaica-sized ice shelf from the Antarctic peninsula could accelerate global warming in this already vulnerable region.
Satellite pictures show a 40-kilometre (25-mile) ice bridge that was the Wilkins Ice Shelf's last link to the coast had now shattered at its narrowest point, about 500 metres (yards) wide, UNEP said.
The Wilkins Ice Shelf once covered around 16,000 square kilometres (6,000 square miles) before it began to retreat in the 1990s, and by last May the ice bridge was all that connected it to Charcot and Latady islands.
The loss of the bridge "may now allow ocean currents to wash away far more of the shelf," UNEP said.
Christian Lambrechts, a policy and programme officer with UNEP's Division of Early Warning and Assessment, said this would expose more of the sea's surface to sunlight, rather than reflect it, in turn "contributing to continued and accelerated warming."
Image: A chunk of ice that started to break away from the Antarctic Wilkins Ice Shelf in 2008

Water cut off in Mexican capital

Mexico City officials have shut down a main pipeline providing fresh water to millions of residents because reserves have fallen to record low levels.

The closure, due to last 36 hours, will affect five million people, or a quarter of the city's population.

Unusually low rainfall last year and major leakage are blamed for leaving reservoirs less than half full.

Hundreds of water trucks have been deployed in the areas worst affected by the cuts.

The local government says it will carry out emergency repairs to the water supply network.

More than 50% of the water carried by the pipeline leaks out before it reaches its destination.

This is the third time the capital has faced such a drastic form of water rationing this year, the BBC's Stephen Gibbs in Mexico City reports.

Related News

FLORIDA's worsening drought sparks water fights - A worsening drought is sparking battles over dwindling water supplies, with Florida's southwest coast demanding relief for rivers and estuaries. Everglades marshes and Big Cypress swamps are drying up. Estuaries at the mouths of the St. Lucie and Caloosahatchee rivers are turning too salty. Lake Okeechobee, brimming from Tropical Storm Fay less than a year ago, is slipping into the low zone again. Overall, the region has received less than 30 percent of its normal rainfall. ''If we don't get an inch of rain in the next three weeks, this will be the driest dry season on record." Water managers say the region lucked out last year when Tropical Storm Fay dumped 20 inches north of Lake Okeechobee, erasing the last long and damaging drought in a few days. ''That's all we have between us and disaster.''

Town 'ignored warning' of imminent earthquake

Town 'ignored warning' of imminent earthquake - a seismologist who claimed he could have given up to 24 hours notice of the disaster said his repeated warnings had been ignored. Even as Prime Minister Silvio Berlusconi declared an emergency and promised a record number of rescue teams, a bitter row was raging over whether lives could have been saved by evacuating homes before the quake struck at 3.32am. A flurry of earth tremors struck the L'Aquila area in mid-January, prompting Giampaolo Giuliani, a researcher at the National Institute of Nuclear Physics, whose laboratories are deep beneath the Gran Sasso mountain on L'Aquila's skyline to sound the alarm. In interviews before the earthquake struck he claimed that he had developed an early warning system based not on seismic waves but on radon which is only expelled from the earth under intense pressure. After his warnings, vans with megaphones toured L'Aquila urging people to leave their homes. But the mayor allegedly served the seismologist with a warning of criminal charges for scare-mongering, even though the region had experienced nine tremors since the start of April. "Now there are people who have to apologise to me and who will have what has happened on their conscience," Mr Giuliani said. The expert said he was helpless to act as it became clear to him on Sunday that a quake was imminent. "I didn't know who to turn to, I had been put under investigation for saying there was going to be an earthquake."  

Image: Rescuers search the remains of a building which collapsed during yesterday's earthquake

Parts of India Reeling Under Heatwave

Ahmedabad (PTI): The entire state of Gujarat is reeling under the heat wave with temperatures higher by 3-4 degree Celsius than normal levels, Indian Meteorology Department (IMD) officials said on Friday.

"There is a heat wave covering the entire state and it is expected to remain for the next couple of days," IMD Director Kamaljeet Ray told PTI here.

Uptick in Global Volcanic Activity

Alaska's Mt. Redoubt volcano is a sight to behold

It has been a while since Outposts shared images from Alaska's Mt. Redoubt volcano, which continues to rumble and bark and spew steam and ash high and far across a wintry landscape.

Redoubt continues to make breathing uncomfortable for many and to disrupt travel to and from Anchorage on Alaska Airlines (though there are currently normal operations and no ash fall warnings). Also, this weekend, six million gallons of oil at the nearby Drift River terminal will be moved to a safer location.The volcano's last major eruption was Tuesday and scientists with the Alaska Volcano Observatory say a lava dome is forming. That hardened lava atop the crater might ultimately become unstable and lead to more explosive eruptions. In fact, this tempestuousness might last months, as it did in 1989-90.

More Volcanic Activity
CHILE - Llaima volcano, one of the most active in South America, spewed out a river of lava more than 1,000 metres long on Saturday in a fresh eruption, prompting officials to order dozens of people to evacuate. The lava and hot gases from the latest eruption are melting snow on the sides of the volcano, and authorities say some towns are in danger of being hit by mudslides. An ash-swollen river near the volcano had swept away a pedestrian bridge, but there was no other damage. Bright red bursts of lava were visible in the night sky as Llaima erupted. 

COSTA RICA - Experts Predicting Major Activity From Arenal Volcano - Experts of the Red Sismológica Nacional UCR-ICE are warning that the volcán Arenal could spew out lava and ash in the coming days and has asked area residents to be on the alert and follow the directions of the Comisión Nacional de Emergencias, in the event of an eruption. The alert is based on a prognosis following 45 tectonic earthquakes in the colossus, registered during the month of March.