China quake death toll could rise to 50,000

Breaking Earth News
China
Image: A couple builds a shelter on the ruins of their house at Luoshui, near Shifang, in China's southwest Sichuan province Thursday May 15, 2008.

LUOSHUI TOWN, China - China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a public appeal Thursday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster.

More than 72 hours after the quake rattled central China, rescuers appeared to shift from poring through downed buildings for survivors to the grim duty of searching for bodies — with 10 million directly affected by Monday's temblor.

In Luoshui town — on the road to an industrial zone in Shifang city where two chemical plants collapsed, burying hundreds of people — troops used a mechanical shovel to dig a pit on a hilltop to bury the dead.

Police and militia in Dujiangyan pulverized rubble with cranes and backhoes while crews used shovels to pick around larger pieces of debris. On one sidestreet, about a dozen bodies were laid on a sidewalk, while incense sticks placed in a pile of sand sent smoke into the air as a tribute and to dull the stench of death.

Update: China quake toll passes 20,000

Breaking Earth News
China
The full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge today as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000 and rising by the hour. The message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago. "Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to the ground." The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building levelled.

China quake 'worse than expected' - First reports from the epicentre of Monday's earthquake in China's Sichuan province suggest the number of dead could be higher than feared. In Yingxiu, in Wenchuan County, the devastation was worse than expected, as roads were blocked and children buried in debris. Out of the town's population of 10,000, only 2,300 have been found alive after Monday's 7.9 quake. The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply. Poor weather has continued to hamper aid efforts, and rescuers have been forced to trek to areas cut off by the quake damage and search through the rubble with their bare hands. An army team in Yingxiu said they could hear cries under the rubble of collapsed buildings. The troops have rescued about 1,000 people in Wenchuan County, but an estimated 60,000 people remain missing. In Juyuan, more than 1,000 people were thought to be trapped in a collapsed school building. China's one child policy means that, for most of the relatives desperately waiting outside, their only offspring is under the rubble. About 18,000 people are reported to be trapped at Beichuan, close to the epicentre. In one city, Mianyang, 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble, and in nearby Mianzhu, at least 4,800 are reported trapped. In Shifang, where two chemical plants collapsed, releasing a huge toxic cloud, about 600 people were reported dead and up to 2,300 still buried. People have set up tents or makeshift shelters on almost any piece of open land, even in the middle of road junctions.

UPDATE: Cyclone Death Toll Rises

Photo: Hhaing The Yu, 29, in rain falling on the ruins of his home, in a township outside Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday. Officials are expressing worry about disease.

Breaking Earth News
Myanmar (Burma)
United Nations estimates the dead at 62,000 to 100,000.

Story: MYANMAR’s state media reported Monday that the death toll from the recent cyclone had risen to just under 32,000. Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, washed away villages and left an estimated 1 million people homeless. Today is the 11th day since typhoon Nargis hit Myanmar.

Myanmar state radio says cyclone death toll soars above 22,000

*Map showing areas worst-hit by Tropical Cyclone Nargis. More than 22,000 people were killed in Myanmar's devastating cyclone, with thousands more feared dead after the storm left rice fields littered with corpses. (AFP Graphic)

^Slideshow^

Breaking Earth News
Myanmar (Burma)
YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from the cyclone that battered Myanmar last weekend rose above 22,000 Tuesday as the international community prepared to rush in aid, state radio reported.

A news broadcast on government-run radio said that 22,464 people have now been confirmed dead from Cyclone Nargis, which tore through the country's rice bowl and biggest city of Yangon early Saturday.

The broadcast added that thousands more are missing.

Relief efforts for the stricken area, mostly in the low-lying Irrawaddy River delta, have been difficult, in large part because of the destruction of roads and communications outlets by the storm.

China snow leaves millions in cold and dark

Breaking Earth News
China
Image: Police and soldiers stand guard as tens of thousands of passengers crowd Guangzhou Railway Station. Slideshow: Blizzards hit China

GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Millions of Chinese faced a humanitarian crisis on Friday, as petrol and food reserves dwindled and yet more bad weather was forecast for a country paralyzed by record-breaking cold and snow.

More than 160 counties and cities in central China were suffering blackouts and water shortages, Xinhua news agency said, including Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city of 4 million that has been without power and water for more than a week.

"Many trees are severed and power lines have collapsed. It's like we have experienced an air raid or lost a battle," a Chenzhou hotel worker told Reuters by telephone. "It is a complete mess. We are hungry and cold.

West Coast storms flood British Columbia and Nevada

Breaking Earth News
Western North America
Image: A neighboorhood near Farm District Road in Fernley, Nev., sits under flood waters as some residents collect valuables on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, (AP / Brad Horn)

North America's west coast continues to be pounded by powerful winter storms, flooding areas in British Columbia and dumping metres of snow on some areas of the U.S.

The storm has left parts of British Columbia flooded, with more trouble expected today. More than 24 homes in Prince George, B.C., are being threatened by severe flooding caused by an ice jam that has developed over the past couple of weeks.

Officials say the ice jam in the river has caused record water levels in the region. Crews are using sandbags and pumps to get rid of the water from homes and several businesses.

The snow and wind is at the northern end of a strong storm system expected to continue terrorizing western U.S. states, including California, Oregon and Washington.

A heavy dose of snow fell on ski areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains over the weekend, with nearly three metres in some higher elevations.

The storm has crippled California's power system, leaving more than 145,000 homes and businesses without power late Sunday evening and flooding sections of Nevada.

Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons declared one county an emergency area after an estimated 1,500 people were displaced by flooding. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared emergencies in three counties.

Western Oregon and Washington are facing storm warnings on Monday. The area has been told to expect heavy snowfall up to 60 centimetres high by Tuesday afternoon.

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Nevada Town's floods turning to ice
FERNLEY, Nev. — Hundreds of homes sat in as much as 8 feet of water Sunday after a canal rupture as freezing weather spread sheets of ice over yards and streets, hindering efforts to get the water to drain away.
Image: Cassie and David Russell assess the damage to their Jenny's Lane home in Fernley, Nev., on Sunday after being evacuated Saturday.

Aussie 'disaster' from 3C rise

Breaking Earth News/Analysis
Australian News Alert

“We can't afford to pretend anymore." WWF Australia's chief executive, Greg Bourne

A climate change report has painted an alarming picture of the effect on Australia if global temperatures increase by more than an average three degrees Celsius. Under that scenario, heat-related deaths would triple, people would be displaced en masse from the coast and national icons like the Great Barrier Reef would almost certainly be lost. The frequency of bushfires would double and there would be major extinctions of animal and plant life. “If warming reaches three to four degrees Celsius then the thresholds for irreversible change will almost certainly be crossed.”

Africa flood crisis deepens

NAIROBI: Fresh rainfalls and slow relief have deepened the humanitarian crisis caused by record floods in Africa which have affected more than 1.5mn people and killed at least 300, aid agencies warned yesterday.
The worst floods in three decades have now affected 22 countries, displacing hundreds of thousands and starkly raising the risk of epidemics since the deluge hit parts of the continent in July.
Image: Students carry their belongings as they wade through flood waters yesterday in Lira, Uganda