57: Chirinkotan Volcano erupts in Kuril Islands of Far East Russia

 

May 24, 2013 – RUSSIA, FAR EAST - The remote volcano in the northern Kuriles is probably in eruption, the latest SVERT report and satellite images suggest. A plume of gas and steam, and possibly some minor amounts ash was seen with the MODIS sensor onboard the NASA Terra satellite this morning. Satellite data also indicate that activity had likely already started in early May, because a small thermal anomaly can be traced back on archive pictures to 7 May. One should take into account that frequent dense cloud cover often prevents such observations, so activity could have started earlier than that. It is not known what kind of activity is occurring at the volcano. Possibilities include some minor explosive (strombolian ?) activity at the summit, or lava flows that might be reaching the sea and produce the steam plume observed. The last eruption of the volcano was (probably) in 2004. –Volcano Discovery

Eruption continues in Mexico: Mexico’s Popocatepetl volcano unleashed another wave of powerful exhalations and explosions in the early hours of Thursday (May 23), officials reported. Hundreds of individual exhalations reaching up to 2.5 km (1.5 miles) of smoke and ash spewed out of Popocatepetl in the latest escalation in activity. An explosion at 02:54 local time (06:54 GMT) also sent fragments out over 1.5 kilometers (0.9 miles), Mexico’s National Centre for Disaster Prevention reported. -WSBRADIO

Airborne: H7N9 bird flu found to spread through the air

 

May 24, 2013 – CHINA - The H7N9 bird flu virus can be transmitted not only through close contact but by airborne exposure, a team at the University of Hong Kong found after extensive laboratory experiments. Though the virus appears to have been brought under control recently, the researchers urged the Hong Kong authorities to maintain strict surveillance, which should include not only poultry but humans and pigs. “We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known,” said Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, a research assistant professor at HKU’s School of Public Health. There have been 131 confirmed human infections, with 36 deaths, the World Health Organization said. All but one of the cases was on the mainland. The virus appears to have been brought under control largely due to restrictions at bird markets and there have been no new confirmed cases since May 8. But Zhu said that although there was no evidence of sustained human-to-human transmission, their study provided evidence that H7N9 was infectious and transmissible in mammals. In the study, to be published today in the journal Science, ferrets were used to evaluate the infectivity of H7N9. It was found the virus could spread through the air, from one cage to another, albeit less efficiently. Inoculated ferrets were infected before the appearance of most clinical symptoms. This means there may be more cases than have been detected or reported. We also found that the virus can infect pigs, which was not previously known. Dr Maria Zhu Huachen, HKU’s School of Public Health, “People may be transmitting the virus before they even know that they’ve got it,” Zhu said. Additional tests using pigs, a major host of influenza viruses, showed that they could also get infected with H7N9. Zhu warned that H7N9 may combine with pig viruses to generate new variants. On a more positive note, it was found that the virus is relatively mild. “Most of the fatal H7N9 cases had underlying medical conditions, so there are probably some other factors that contribute to this kind of fatality,” Zhu said. To avoid H7N9 becoming endemic in poultry populations, which would create a greater opportunity for human transmission, the researchers suggested a rethink on how live poultry markets are managed. Zhu believed the Hong Kong government had “done a very good job” in this area and should continue to do so. The government implemented a surveillance program on local and imported poultry in 1998. It includes monitoring the live poultry supply chain, pet shops, parks and the wild bird environment. She said the government had collaborated with HKU on intensive surveillance of both birds and pigs. Zhu added that people who regularly had close contact with live poultry or pigs should take precautions, have routine body checks and report their case immediately if they feel unwell. –South China Morning Post

contribution Bone Idle

Deep 8.3 magnitude earthquake strikes Sea of Okhotsk in Russia’s Far East

May 24, 2013 – KAMCHATKA – A magnitude 8.3 earthquake struck off Russia’s eastern coast on Friday, briefly prompting a tsunami scare but causing no casualties or substantial damage, Russian emergency authorities said. The epicenter of the quake was located at a depth of 385 miles in the Sea of Okhotsk, 244 miles west of the nearest city, Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The quake was felt in Petropavlovsk-Kamchatsky, the main city on the Kamchatka peninsula and home to a nuclear submarine base, and on Sakhalin Island, where Russia’s largest liquefied natural gas project is located. The earthquake struck 608 km (377 miles) below the ocean- diminishing any tsunami risks. Regional emergency authorities issued a tsunami warning for Sakhalin and the Kurile Islands, advising residents of dangerous areas to seek high ground, but lifted the warning several minutes later. Residents of northern Japan felt the quake but there was no tsunami warning from Japan’s meteorological agency. It’s the second major earthquake to strike the planet in 24 hours. A 7.4 earthquake struck the region of Tonga, in the South Pacific, hours earlier.  –Reuters

Pacific Plate turbulence increases: At 103 million square kilometers, the Pacific plate is the largest of the tectonic plates and consequently the most violent. Geological forces are tearing at the integrity and stability of this large lithospheric cross-section of the planet. As I reported several days ago, seismic tension was mounting along the Pacific tectonic plate. The cascading series of earthquakes over the last 24 hours are yet one more indication that dynamic geological change is accelerating within the interior of the planet. These processes of change will have profound implications for the entire Ring of Fire and all subduction zones located within this region.

Shallow 5.7 magnitude northern California earthquake felt across two states

May 24, 2013 – CALIFORNIA - An earthquake in far northeastern California was felt by thousands of people as far away as San Francisco and in two other states, but there have been no reports of injury or serious damage. The magnitude-5.7 quake broke dishes and shook mirrors when it struck at 8:47 p.m. Thursday, officials said. It was centered near Greenville, about 25 miles southwest of Susanville in far northeastern California, said Rafael Abreu, a geophysicist with the U.S. Geological Survey’s National Earthquake Center in Golden, Colo. There have been several aftershocks, including a magnitude 4.9 that struck early Friday morning. Slight damage has been reported including objects falling from shelves and dishes rattled or broken, according to a report from the National Weather Service. Susan Shephard and her husband Alan Shephard, who run the Quail Lodge at Lake Almanor near Greenville very close to the epicenter, said they were watching “The Hunger Games” on TV when the whole building started shaking. “All of a sudden things started falling off the shelves, mirrors fell off the wall, vases fell down to the floor, everything started crashing,” Shephard told the Redding Record-Searchlight. “It felt like the end of our world.” The Susanville Fire Department said it had received no reports of damage, and a Plumas County Sheriff’s Office dispatcher said calls were flooding into its office but no reports of damage. Thousands of people reported feeling the quake, as far away as the San Francisco Bay area and across the borders into Oregon and Nevada, according to the USGS website. KCRA-TV in Sacramento reported that the Plumas County temblor was felt in downtown Sacramento, about 145 miles south of the epicenter. People in Yuba and Sutter Counties, south of Plumas, said they felt a rolling quake, according to the Marysville Appeal-Democrat. “People in the area felt a strong jolt, but it was not enough to generate serious damage, based on early field reports,” Abreu said. –ABC News

Alert level raised on Chile’s Copahue volcano to orange after ash emissions

May 24, 2013 – CHILE - SERNAGEOMIN has raised the alert level to orange. Since May 15, a progressive increase in seismic activity as well emissions of gas and now some ash have been observed. Both earthquakes related to rock fracturing and fluid movements have picked up in numbers and possibly indicate a new magmatic intrusion on its way. This scenario is confirmed by the start of small ash emissions and glow at the crater which is visible at night. The plume of gas and ash could be seen from space by the MODIS sensor, stretching about 100 km to the southeast. Copahue volcano had already experienced a first increase of activity in December, and a second one in January. No eruption followed and alert was lowered to green in April before returning to yellow again soon after. –Volcano Discovery

Washington state bridge collapses, throwing cars into water

May 24, 2013 – WASHINGTON - The Interstate 5 bridge over the Skagit River collapsed Thursday evening, dropping three vehicles into the water and injuring at least three people. Both the northbound and southbound portions of the bridge collapsed into the river sometime before 7 p.m., according to Washington State Patrol trooper Mark Francis. Marcus Deyerin of the Northwest Washington Incident Management Team said a number of cars were on the bridge at the time of the collapse, and three vehicles were dumped into the river. Xavier Grospe, 62, who lives near the river, said he could see three cars with what appeared to be one person per vehicle. The vehicles were sitting still in the water, partially submerged and partly above the waterline, and the apparent drivers were sitting either on top of the vehicles or on the edge of open windows. “It doesn’t look like anybody’s in danger right now,” Grospe said. Rescue crews in at least three boats were able to pull three people from the semi-submerged vehicles, which are tangled in the wreckage of the bridge. All three were taken to a local hospital and the extent of their injuries is not known. Nobody was killed in the collapse. Bart Treece with the Washington State Department of Transportation was unsure when the bridge was last inspected. “All of our bridges in the area are pretty old,” he said. The bridge is not considered structurally deficient but is listed as being “functionally obsolete” – a category meaning that their design is outdated, such as having narrow shoulders are low clearance underneath, according to a database compiled by the Federal Highway Administration. The bridge was built in 1955 and has a sufficiency rating of 57.4 out of 100, according to federal records. That is well below the statewide average rating of 80, according to an Associated Press analysis of federal data, but 759 bridges in the state have a lower sufficiency score. According to a 2012 Skagit County Public Works Department, 42 of the county’s 108 bridges that are 50 years or older. The document says eight of the bridges are more than 70 years old and two are over 80. Washington state was given a C in the American Society of Civil Engineers’ 2013 infrastructure report card and a C- when it came to the state’s bridges. The group said more than a quarter of Washington’s 7,840 bridges are considered structurally deficient of functionally obsolete. WSDOT’s Travis Phelps said his department is already speaking with contractors to rebuild the bridge, but he cautioned that the bridge will be out of commission for the foreseeable future. “This is going to be a long-term situation, so don’t expect this to be fixed by Monday,” he said. WSDOT bridge inspectors are now trying to determine what caused the collapse. They’re investigating reports that an oversized truck hit a portion of the bridge just prior to the collapse. –KOMO News

“As the country ages, infrastructure projects- roads, bridges, dams, electrical grid, water, sewer and waste treatment projects are also falling into increasingly perilous states of disrepair…Nearly five decades of neglect can be more disruptive than a terrorist attack, and nearly just as costly to repair if critical components of the nation’s infrastructure collapsed with little or no warning…there are untold millions of miles of transportation platforms, aging water and sewer lines, communication cables, and energy pathways that are vulnerable to critical system failure.” –The Extinction Protocol, pp. 256-257

contribution Tim – Irene

Powerful 7.4 and 6.3 earthquakes strikes off coast of Tonga

May 24, 2013 – TONGA – A strong quake has hit southwest of Tonga, reportedly shaking homes in the capital Nuku’alofa but no damage has been reported. A magnitude 7.4 earthquake has hit about 255 kilometers southwest of Tonga. A tsunami warning has been issued, but no damage is expected due to the quake’s depth of 171 kilometers, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said. The US Geological Survey says the undersea earthquake, which struck at 5:19am local time, was centered 282 kilometers southwest of Tonga’s capital Nuku’alofa. Local media says the quake shook homes and buildings in Nuku’alofa but no damage was reported. It was followed four hours later by a second powerful 6.6 tremor 84 kilometers northwest of the town. The second quake, at a depth of 103 kilometers, also generated a tsunami warning. The two quakes come 12 days after a similar magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the area, at a depth of 205 kilometers. Tonga lies on the so-called Pacific “Ring of Fire,” where continental plates collide causing frequent seismic activity. –Radio Australia

Tremors destroy homes in India: Over 60,000 houses and nearly 950 government buildings were damaged in Jammu and Kashmir’s Doda and Kishtwar districts in earthquakes that shook the region since May 1. As many as 33 tremors rocked Bhaderwah-Doda-Kishtwar belt since the beginning of this month with a maximum 11 occurring on May 1. A total of 40,155 houses and 779 government buildings were damaged in quakes in Doda district, officials quoting preliminary assessment reports said. As many as 29,000 houses were damaged partially, 10,500 severely and 655 fully, they said. In Kishtwar district, 18,000 houses were partially damaged, 2,700 severely and 70 fully, the officials said. –Times of India