Tropical Storm in Mexico killed 38 people

Mudslides triggered by intense rainfall in eastern Mexico killed 38 people during the weekend as saturated hillsides collapsed onto modest homes in the wake of now-dissipated Tropical Storm Earl. Luis Felipe Puente, head of national emergency services, said on Sunday that 28 people were killed in Puebla state and another 10 died in neighboring Veracruz state. He said the death toll could still rise. Images of the damage from Earl, broadcast on local television, showed massive mudslides burying entire hillsides, trees felled and buildings creaking under collapsed walls and roofs. Twenty-five of the 28 deaths in Puebla state were confirmed on Sunday near the town of Huauchinango, located in the rugged Sierra Norte de Puebla mountains, site of the worst destruction so far. Three other deaths were reported in the nearby town of Tlaola. Ten people have died in Veracruz state, buried in landslides after intense rainfall and flooding struck the Gulf coast state after Earl crossed the Yucatan peninsula. "We continue to monitor rivers that are above critical levels," Governor Javier Duarte said in a post on Twitter on Sunday. Before striking Mexico, Earl battered Belize last Thursday, smashing car windows and punching holes in the roofs of Belize City's wooden houses. It also flooded parts of the coast.

Terror Attack in Pakistan on August 08 2016

At least 53 people were killed and 56 injured when a loud explosion occurred on Monday in Quetta's Civil Hospital. The explosion occurred when Balochistan Bar Association President Bilal Kasi's body was being brought to the emergency department. He was gunned down at Mano Jan Road earlier today. Former Balochistan Bar President Baz Muhammad Kakar was injured in the attack. He later succumbed to his wounds at the hospital. Police said that unknown men opened fire after the blast. Panic tore through the hospital after the incident. The blast occurred near the emergency department of the hospital. Most of the injured are lawyers and journalists who had arrived at the hospital when they heard news of the attack on the two senior lawyers, eye witnesses said. An Aaj News cameraman was killed in the attack while a Dawn News cameraman was severely injured in the attack. Security forces have cordoned off the area. Mobile phone jammer have been installed in the surrounding areas of Civil Hospital. Emergency has been declared at hospitals in Quetta. No group has claimed responsibility of the attack. The provincial capital has been at the receiving end of several such acts of terror. In May this year two people were killed and five injured when an explosion occurred at the main entrance of Baluchistan University. Chief Minister Sanaullah Zehri claimed that the attack was carried out by Indian spy agency Research and Analysis Wing (RAW). He added that it was a suicide attack. Zehri said that the terrorists were attacking soft targets. "Even in times of war no one attacks a hospital," he said, adding that they will root out terrorists. The chief minister could not provide a death toll for the attack, but said that over 40 have been injured. Prime Minister Nawaz Sharif condemned the loss of precious life and ordered the provincial government to arrest the culprits. "No one will be allowed to disrupt the peace of the province," the prime minister said. He added that security forces had laid down their lives to establish peace in the province. He instructed the provincial government to give the best medical treatment to the injured. The Supreme Court Bar Association announced a week-long mourning over the attack. Lawyers in the Lahore High Court announced a protest demonstration today condemning the attack.

ΗΦΑΙΣΤΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΙΣ ΙΝ ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ

ΗΦΑΙΣΤΙΟΓΕΝΗΣ ΚΙΝΗΣΙΣ ΙΝ ΣΑΝΤΟΡΙΝΗ

Νέα κίνηση ηφαίστειο Καμένη συλλαμβάνονται από Envisat

Αρχείο δεδομένα από το δορυφόρο Envisat δείχνουν ότι το ηφαιστειογενές νησί της Σαντορίνης έχει εμφανιστεί πρόσφατα σημάδια αναταραχής. Ακόμα και μετά το πέρας της αποστολής της, Envisat πληροφορίες εξακολουθεί να αξιοποιηθούν για τη μακροπρόθεσμη παρακολούθηση των ηφαιστείων. Η Σαντορίνη είναι ένα γραφικό ελληνικό νησί στο νότιο Αιγαίο και την πιο ενεργό ηφαιστειακό κέντρο στο Νότιο Αιγαίο ηφαιστειακού τόξου. 
 

Το νησί είναι ο τόπος μιας από τις μεγαλύτερες ηφαιστειακές εκρήξεις της ιστορίας, περίπου 3600 χρόνια πριν. Το γεωλογικό αρχείο κατά τα τελευταία εκατομμύρια χρόνια αποκαλύπτει μια εκτενή ιστορία των εκρήξεων, με την πιο πρόσφατη τριετία σε 1950.  

	José Achache (GEO)

Όμως, παρά το γεγονός ότι σε αδράνεια για περισσότερο από μισό αιώνα, οι δορυφόροι έχουν ανιχνευθεί μικρές κινήσεις.

Αυτά και άλλα ευρήματα παρουσιάστηκαν στοΔιεθνές Φόρουμ για την Παρατήρηση της Γης Δορυφορική γεωλογικών κινδύνων για τη διαχείριση των κινδύνων , που βρίσκονται σε εξέλιξη στη Σαντορίνη το ίδιο.

Διοργανώνεται από τον ΕΟΔ σε συνεργασία με την Ομάδα Παρατήρησης της Γης (GEO), το φόρουμ επικεντρώνεται στην επιστήμη και τις εφαρμογές της δορυφορικής παρατήρησης της γης να υποστηρίζει τη διαχείριση των κινδύνων που συνδέονται με γεωφυσικών κινδύνων.

Σεισμική δραστηριότητα στη Σαντορίνη, όπως το underground κίνημα του μάγματος, από τον Ιανουάριο του 2011 έως σήμερα έχει προκαλέσει παραμόρφωση του εδάφους, που εντοπίστηκε από το ραντάρ του Envisat.
 

Παραμορφώσεων του εδάφους

Ακόμα και από μια τροχιά περίπου 800 χλμ. πάνω από το έδαφος, παραμορφώσεις των λίγων εκατοστών μπορεί να ανιχνευθεί μέσω δορυφόρου ραντάρ.

Όταν συνδυάζονται δύο ή περισσότερες εικόνες ραντάρ από την ίδια περιοχή, οι αλλαγές στο αντανακλάσεις των σημάτων μεταξύ τους μπορεί να μετρηθεί. Αυτή η τεχνική ονομάζεται διαφορική Interferometric Ραντάρ Συνθετικού Παραθύρου - ή DInSAR - έχει γίνει ένα χρήσιμο εργαλείο για τον εντοπισμό παραμορφώσεων του εδάφους.

Envisat δείχνει ότι το βορειοανατολικό τμήμα της Νέας Καμένης ηφαίστειο της Σαντορίνης παρουσίασαν ανύψωση περίπου 5 εκ. το 2011, ενώ άλλες περιοχές του ηφαιστείου αυξήθηκαν περίπου 3-4 εκατοστά.

"Η παρακολούθηση για την ανίχνευση κάθε αλλαγή του καθεστώτος του ηφαιστείου παρουσιάζει ένα περαιτέρω βήμα προς την κατανόηση των φυσικών διεργασιών που σχετίζονται με ηφαιστειακές εκρήξεις που μπορούν να οδηγήσουν σε φυσικές καταστροφές", δήλωσε ο καθηγητής Issaak Παρχαρίδης από το Τμήμα Γεωγραφίας του Χαροκοπείου Πανεπιστημίου Αθηνών .

Κατά τη διάρκεια των πρώτων μηνών του τρέχοντος έτους, Σαντορίνη είδε μια πτώση στην ταχύτητα της παραμόρφωσης, η οποία συνοδεύεται από μείωση της σεισμικής δραστηριότητας.
 

	Νέα Καμένη

"Μετά την αξιολόγηση της τοπικής σεισμικής δραστηριότητας, παραμόρφωση και φυσικοχημικές μεταβολές, [εμείς] κατέληξε στο συμπέρασμα ότι κατά τους τελευταίους μήνες το ηφαίστειο παρουσιάζει μια πολύ περιορισμένη δραστηριότητα, πολύ χαμηλότερο από εκείνο του 2011," δήλωσε ο κ. Κοσμάς Στυλιανίδης, επικεφαλής της Ειδικής Επιστημονικής Επιτροπής για την παρακολούθηση του ηφαιστείου της Σαντορίνης.

"Η Επιτροπή, σε μηνιαία έκθεσή της του Απριλίου στην κυβέρνηση, συμβουλεύει την εφαρμογή του περιοριστικού μέτρου δεν αφορά την κινητικότητα του πληθυσμού."

Επικοινωνήστε με Envisat χάθηκε στις 8 Απριλίου, αλλά δέκα χρόνια αρχειοθετημένα δεδομένα από την αποστολή θα συνεχίσει να χρησιμοποιείται από τους επιστήμονες για την παρακολούθηση ηφαίστεια και πολλές άλλες μελέτες.

Η συνέχιση της παρακολούθησης από τον ερχομό δορυφορικές αποστολές, όπως η οικογένεια των φρουροί κάτω Παγκόσμια Παρακολούθηση της Ευρώπης για το Περιβάλλον και την Ασφάλεια του προγράμματος, είναι ζωτικής σημασίας για την εξασφάλιση της ροής δεδομένων για τους επιστήμονες και λειτουργική τους χρήστες που ασχολούνται με την επικινδυνότητα και την αξιολόγηση του κινδύνου. 

http://www.esa.int/Our_Activities/Observing_the_Earth/Nea_Kameni_volcano_movement_captured_by_Envisat#subhead1

Επεισόδια στο Ρίο:Κάτοικοι πετούσαν νερό και σκουπίδια στην ολυμπιακή φλόγα (Video)

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Λίγες μόνο ώρες πριν την έναρξη των Ολυμπιακών Αγώνων του Ρίο και η λαμπαδηδρομία της ολυμπιακής φλόγας φτάνει στο τέλος της.

Ωστόσο, τα πράγματα  στους δρόμους του Ριο δεν είναι τόσο ομαλά όσο θα τα περίμενε κανείς καθότι οι πολίτες διαμαρτύρονται για το υψηλό κόστος των Αγώνων καθώς και για τις καθυστερήσεις στους μισθούς των δημόσιων υπαλλήλων.

Αυτή τη φορά η κατάσταση ξέφυγε από τον έλεγχο στη γειτονιά του Μπέλφορντ Ρόξο, που πολίτες προσπάθησαν να σβήσουν την φλόγα πετώντας νερό αλλά και…σκουπίδια.

ΕΙΣΒΟΛΗ ΑΡΚΟΥΔΩΝ ΓΙΑ ΜΠΑΝΙΟ ΛΟΓΩ ΚΑΥΣΩΝΑ (VIDEO)

Σε μια λίμνη στην Καλιφόρνια οι λουόμενοι έχουν εκπλαγεί από μια οικογένεια αρκούδα. Η μητέρα αρκούδα και τα δύο αγόρια της ενώθηκαν μαζί τους, αλλά και πιτσιλιστεί μια βουτιά στο δροσερό νερό.

Super Pit relic revealed as new mineral

Kalgoorlieite, originally found in the Super Pit, was added to the International
Mineralogical Association's list of known minerals at the end of March.
Credit: iStock

Kalgoorlie-Boulder's famous Golden Mile and Super Pit has not only produced more than 50 million ounces of gold but it has now produced one more precious nugget in the form of a new mineral unique to Kalgoorlie-Boulder, called kalgoorlieite.

Kalgoorlieite was discovered by Curtin University's Department of Applied Geology researcher Kirsten Rempel in January last year.

Dr Rempel was making detailed examinations of historic samples at the WA School of Mines' Kalgoorlie campus when she found the mineral.

"I first found the mineral using a scanning electron microscope (SEM) which showed me the basic chemical composition of the mineral" Dr Rempel says.

"The spectra showed a combination of elements arsenic (As) and tellurium (Te) which had never been reported before, so that was when I began to think this was something new."

A further test using a more advanced SEM in the John de Laeter Centre in Perth verified the composition.

"The chemistry needed to declare a new mineral is very detailed," Dr Rempel says.

"So I took kalgoorlieite to an electron microprobe at UWA and got the composition further analysed down to fractions of a per cent, and found traces of gold, silver and other metals."

She then had to detect kalgoorlieite's structure using a technique called Kikuchi diffraction and by comparing it with an already known synthetic compound with the same structure currently used in thermoelectric applications, she was able to match and confirm a formula for kalgoorlieite, As2Te3.

The final step before submission was to determine how much light kalgoorlieite reflects.

"We couldn't measure this in Australia so it had to be done at the Natural History Museum in London," Dr Rempel says.

Kalgoorlieite was added to the International Mineralogical Association's list of known minerals at the end of March.

"You're not allowed to name the mineral after yourself so I called it kalgoorlieite," she says.

"This mineral could provide important information about the widely contested genesis of the Golden Mile."

Kalgoorlieite's simple composition and the fact that it has a limited stability in terms of pressure, temperature and chemistry of its surroundings gives more precise constraints on the conditions under which the Golden Mile deposit was formed.

It's unlikely that natural kalgoorlieite will have any commercial value because of it's rarity and a synthetic compound has been produced for several years for thermoelectric applications. 

Tropical Storm Earl activity report in Carib Sea at 4th August 2016

Tropical storm Earl has been intensifying as it moves through the Caribbean Sea. The GPM satellite spotted hot towers, towering thunderstorms within Earl that indicate the storm may intensify.

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite passed over intensifying tropical storm Earl in the Caribbean Sea northeast of Honduras on August 2, 2016 11:56 p.m. EDT. GPM found powerful storms around Earl's forming eye were dropping extremely heavy rainfall at a rate of over 251 mm (9.8 inches) per hour and cloud heights of over 16 km (9.9 miles).

Credits: NASA/JAXA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

The National Hurricane Center (NHC) now predicts that Earl will be a hurricane before it hits Mexico's Yucatan Peninsula tomorrow afternoon. Earl is predicted by NHC to remain in a light to moderate vertical wind shear environment over very warm sea surface temperatures until landfall.

The Global Precipitation Measurement mission or GPM core observatory satellite passed over intensifying tropical storm Earl in the Caribbean Sea northeast of Honduras on Aug. 2, 2016 at 11:56 p.m. EDT (Aug. 3, 2016 at 0356 UTC). GPM's Microwave Imager (GMI) and Dual-Frequency Precipitation Radar (DPR) showed that powerful storms around Earl's forming eye were dropping extremely heavy rainfall. DPR found that rain was falling at a rate of over 251 mm (9.8 inches) per hour in a band of powerful convective storms.

 

On Aug. 2, 2016 at 11:56 p.m. EDT, the GPM core satellite found powerful storms around Earl's forming eye were dropping extremely heavy rainfall at a rate of over 9.8 inches (251 mm) per hour and cloud heights of over 9.9 miles(16 km).

Credits: NASA/JAXA/SSAI, Hal Pierce

GPM's Radar (DPR Ku band) were used to show in 3-D the towering thunderstorms near Earl's center reaching heights of over 16 km (9.9 miles). These strong thunderstorms called "hot towers" often lead to rapid intensification in a tropical cyclone. NASA research has shown that whenever there is the presence of hot towers, the storm usually intensifies within six hours. GPM is a joint mission between NASA and the Japan Aerospace Exploration Agency.

On Aug. 3, 2016 a hurricane warning is in effect for Puerto Costa Maya, Mexico, southward to the Belize/Guatemala border and for the Bay Islands, Honduras. A tropical storm warning is in effect for the north coast of Honduras from Cabo Gracias a Dios westward to the Honduras/Guatemala border and north of Puerto Costa Maya to Punta Allen, Mexico.

The heavy rainfall rates seen by GPM are evident in the forecast from the National Hurricane Center (NHC). The NHC forecast noted that Earl is expected to produce total rain accumulations of 8 to 12 inches over portions of Belize, Honduras, Guatemala, and the Yucatan peninsula of Mexico through Thursday night. Very heavy rain will reach the Mexican states of Tabasco and Veracruz between Thursday night and Saturday morning.  Isolated maximum amounts of 16 inches are possible in Belize and Mexico. 

At 2 p.m. EDT (1800 UTC), the center of Tropical Storm Earl was located near latitude 16.8 North, longitude 85.6 West. Earl is moving toward the west near 14 mph (22 kph), and this general motion is expected to continue with some decrease in forward speed during the next 48 hours. On the forecast track, the core of Earl is expected to pass near the Honduras Bay Islands this afternoon, and then make landfall in Belize tonight or early Thursday.

Maximum sustained winds remain near 70 mph (110 kph) with higher gusts. Additional strengthening is forecast during the next 12 hours or so, and Earl is expected to be a hurricane by the time it makes landfall along the coast of Belize.

At least seven children reported killed in the past two months alone in mines

Blood Mica: Key findings of investigation into child deaths in India's illegal mica mines

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A five-year-old girl collects mica flakes from an open cast illegal mica mine in Giridih district in Jharkhand, India, January 22, 2016. REUTERS/Nita Bhalla

KODERMA/BHILWARA/SYDAPURAM, India (Thomson Reuters Foundation) - In the depths of India's illegal mica mines, where children as young as five work alongside adults, lurks a dark, hidden secret - the cover-up of child deaths with seven killed in the past two months, a Thomson Reuters Foundation investigation revealed.

Here are some of the key findings of a three-month long investigation in the states of Jharkhand, Bihar, Rajasthan and Andhra Pradesh into child labour involved in producing mica, the mineral that puts the sparkle into make-up and car paint:

* Investigations by the Thomson Reuters Foundation found children working in and around mica mines in northern Jharkhand, southern Bihar and in Rajasthan

* At least seven children reported killed in the past two months alone in mines

* Mine operators and victims' families are covering up these deaths, not reporting them but accepting payments for fear of ending the illegal mining that brings much needed income to poor areas, according to campaigners and victims' families

* Farmer Vasdev Rai Pratap's teenage Madan was killed in a mica mine in June but he has not reported his son's death and is awaiting a promised a $1,500 payment from the mine operator

* Workers at Nobel laureate Kailash Satyarthi's child protection group Bachpan Bachao Andolan (BBA) say the teenager's death is the tip of the iceberg, estimating less than 10 percent of mica mine deaths are reported to the police

* BBA documented over 20 mica-related deaths in June, including Madan and two other teenagers - double the monthly average

* BBA uncovered four deaths in July

* Government officials admit child labour is a problem in some mines but have no reports of children dying in mica mines

* Indian government officials say mica mining is a matter for state governments and out of their hands

* Leading Indian colour and effect pigment maker Sudarshan said experts estimate about 70 percent of mica production in India is from illegal mining in forests and abandoned mines

* Figures from India's Bureau of Mines show the country produced 19,000 tonnes of mica in 2013/14 but the same data shows exports were 128,000 tonnes with the biggest buyers China, Japan and the United States

* Dutch campaign group SOMO says up to 20,000 children are involved in mica mining in Jharkhand and Bihar

* By Indian law children aged under 18 cannot work in mines

* "I know it's dangerous but that's the only work there is," says Basanti, collecting mica in Jharkhand's Giridih area as her 10-year-old son Sandeep descends 3 metres (10 ft) down a make-shift shaft to pound on the wall with a pick-axe.

* Dhanraj Sharma, a commissioner in Rajasthan's Labour Ministry, said he was not aware of child workers in the mines: "They may be playing there, they may be doing some small things for the parents. That doesn't mean they are working."