There will be more deaths this year as compare to last year

climate change in Pakistan  but no solution for this

 the biggest heat stroke is coming in the Pakistanlast year as per government of

Pakistan death tool approx 2 thousond in karachi

Turkey earthquake, no one is safe, and natural disasters to strike everywhere

An earthquake measuring 7.3 on the eastern Turkey on Sunday with the Institute of seimological estimate up to 1000 people have been lying dead under the rubble of dozens of buildings collapsed.A powerful earthquake struck, and the strongest earthquake to hit the country for years, and its aftershocks, the east of the big city and most of the population of the Kurds."The estimated between 500 and 1,000 people were killed in the earthquake," said Professor Mustafa Erdik, director of the Institute Kandilli seismology in Istanbul, at a news conference.Were not talking in the earlier reports of injuries, but not many feared trapped under the rubble of collapsed buildings and officials warned they were struggling to assess the extent of the damage.The death toll passed 600, and now 601. The number of tents provided to 43367 (8639 from international sources). Has provided 165,531 blankets. That a lot of blankets if you can imagine the weight! But remember that it is very cold in the province of Van in the moment, it's so high up! . The number of aftershocks also to 1561, with some of those additional count in the lower numbers.The number of casualties in 4152 is still injured.And killed 596 people.4440 now search and rescue 0.1710 medical workers, search dogs and 18 651 construction equipment and vehicles, including 146 ambulances, generators 143, Width 77.95 portable toilets 0.42711 tents (including 8166 of foreign aid), and 54 tent shelters collective 0.69 in tents purpose, and 65 prefabricated houses 0.2300 homes Maulana 0.160360 blankets and 1179 quilts and 37 mobile kitchens, and kitchen appliances 3051.6899 stoves, catalytic, and sleeping bags 5792, and 1 mobile kitchen exist.Number of aftershocks is now 1400.

Strong earthquakes in India, 6.8 degrees

An earthquake with a magnitude of 6.8 struck a remote area in northeastern India on Sunday night, causing panic as far as the capital of neighboring Bangladesh, but officials did not report losses in the first large-scale damage.The U.S. Geological Survey on its website the quake's epicenter 64 kilometers (40 miles) north-west of Gangtok, capital of the northeastern state of Sikkim. Was 10 kilometers (6.2 miles) deep."We have developed cracks in some buildings in Gangtok. Most of the telephone lines and the bottom and there is no electricity now. People came out in the streets," said Bobby Dahal Gangtok residents.
"It is too early to make sure no harm. We are trying to get in touch with the state government of Sikkim to see if they need any help from us," a national disaster Sujata Saunail, joint secretary of the management authority.Sikkim is the least populous state in India, located in the Himalayas between Nepal, Bhutan and Tibet.The quake was felt along the way to Bangladesh, shaking buildings in the capital and surrounding areas, but there were no reports of casualties or damage immediately. Ran thousands of panic-stricken families in Dhaka from high-rise buildings on the street and the earth shook under their feet.Several earthquakes hit northern and eastern India this year, but none of them did not cause serious damage or injuries."We do not expect major damage and the quake was moderate, despite being strong. But we expect some of the disciples," said GC Debnath, the director in the unity of Calcutta's state-run Indian Meteorological Department.There were no immediate reports of casualties or damage.

The world under the title of natural disasters "historic flooding"

Still fighting the effects felt in the country in New England, and countries such as Vermont, where there is a massive amount of flooding, and President Barack Obama in the state of Vermont House.The White on Monday that the floods historic centers of cities were submerged by the United and left the States to the normal of Irene Katrina , blamed for at least 29 cities including New York deaths.Major evacuation measures taken unprecedented and was largely spared the full wrath of Hurricane Irene, which was reduced on Sunday to a tropical storm and drenched displays a wide range extends from the United States in the Middle Coast.But devastating storm that began a week ago in the Caribbean and refused to go out with a whimper, and destroyed almost the entire state of Vermont before crossing into Canada, where it also caused authorities said damage.Vermont may be the worst floods in the mountainous state since 1927. And closed offices, including in Montpelier the capital, where the water level began to recede Monday morning. a town on the peninsula in coastal Virginia, and the girl who died in the north is linked to Carolina. New York newspapers, six deaths of Erin, including the man who was electrocuted while trying to save a child who went to the streets flooded with wires that have been shot down. He said police spokesman Eric Benoit of Quebec and the child was in Canada condition.In dangerous, a man swept away in Yamaska, about 105 km (65 miles) northeast of Montreal, after two cars crashed in a gap created when the road washed away. Hurricane earlier last week killed at least five people in the Caribbean, and two each from the Dominican Republic and Haiti and one in the U.S. territory of Puerto Rico Rico.But hurricane was not as severe as some people had prepared for. The Wall Street rose Monday in part to mitigate the damage is limited to the infrastructure of the metro in the world's largest economy.New New York, which was closed Saturday in an unprecedented act of caution and open on Monday morning, despite the suburban trains connecting the suburbs in the state of New Jersey , New York, Connecticut and Westchester suspended.National the Amtrak rail operator has also seen major disruptions, with the major lines were closed north of Philadelphia where crews clear the debris and inspect the tracks. New York airports to open, but with a delay.

The Meteorological Department warned Pakistan in the range of deadly rains (from August 29 to September 3).

Criticized the widespread rain of many cities in the state of Punjab and the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa on Sunday as fresh, and the wave of monsoon rains for a week began with the prospects for generating floods in different parts of the country. Can be very heavy rain in some places because of the intensification of a continuous wave on the western parts of the country's north, and the incursion from the Bay of Bengal in the stream of moist semi-mountainous areas of the state of Punjab and the development of a low pressure area over India. It was reported respectively.It heavy shower in the nests and subsequent Noorpur with the two cities to receive 97mm 84mm rain, light rain, but continued in Lahore, which kept the weather nice. The maximum temperature recorded in the provincial capital at 27.5 degrees Celsius and the minimum at 24 degrees Celsius with humidity of 92 per cent in the morning and 88 per cent in the Bureau of Meteorology said evening.The strong weather system developing over the central India, can cause heavy rainfall on widely in Pakistan next week. Heavy rain to heavy very likely to generate severe flooding in the lower parts of Sindh and flooding in local rivers / nullahs Punjab, Pakhtunkhwa Khyber and Eastern system Balochistan.The, will affect the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa from Sunday to Thursday, and the Punjab starting on Sunday, Saturday, adding that the rainfall rains may cause flooding in local rivers / nullahs Punjab, especially in Rawalpindi, Sargodha, and the Directorate General of Gujranwala divisions.Lower Khan will be affected by the bond from Monday to Tuesday. It is expected widespread rain and thunderstorms with isolated heavy rain from Wednesday to Saturday in most parts of the province, including Karachi. This has caused heavy rainfall in the severe flooding in Sindh, especially in the lower parts of the Department of Meteorology province.The officials advised the irrigation water to reduce the bond the flow of water channels during the next week to avoid floods and called for close monitoring of the migration of the bank downstream left to avoid the rain thunderstorm breaches. Scattered and is likely to hit the northeast of Balochistan on Monday and Tuesday, while the eastern parts of the province are likely to be exposed to rain, thunder and widely from Wednesday to Friday.that rain isolated / thunderstorm is likely in Gilgit Baltistan - on Monday, and rain clouds from the Tuesday to Sunday. According to the Meteorological Department of the authorities concerned to remain alert during the next week (from August 29 to September 3). Khanpur and 22mm, Faisal 18mm, Joharabad 16mm, for Bahawalnagar and Sahiwal each 14mm, 12mm Bhakkar, and Kalat Jhang 11mm each Khuzdar, Peshawar 10MM each, Bahawalpur and Toba Tek Sargodha 9MM Singh every city of Lahore, and Chhor Risalpur 7mm each, and Shirat Parachinar 5mm each them, DI Khan, Dir Lower, Multan, Kotli, Gilgit, and Bannu Kamra 3mm each, Hunza, Kotli, Islamabad zero, and Mandi Bahauddin Gupis 2mm and each of them, and Jhelum and Malamjabba 1MM each.Kakul 79mm of rain on Sunday, Muzaffarabad 67mm , Mori and Rawalakot each 45mm, 41mm Saidu Sharif, Garhi Dupatta and 36mm Mangla each, Balakot 34mm Chakwal, DG Khan and 24MM each.

Sichuan earthquake "facts" China 2008 eartquake

The earthquake with a magnitude of 7.9 in the Eastern Sichuan, western China on Monday, May 12, 2008 at 02:28 local time. It occurred at a depth of about 19 kilometers (11.8 miles). The earthquake destroyed many communities, leaving an estimated five million people homeless. Were badly damaged due to landslides and flooded rivers made the land upstream. The government estimated that killed about 70,000 people a direct result of the earthquake. It is expected that the disease and hunger to claim thousands of lives for several months after the earthquake due to hit supplies of clean drinking water and food. The quake was felt across China and other parts of Bangladesh, India, Japan, Mongolia, Nepal, Pakistan, Russia, Taiwan, Thailand and Vietnam. Several strong aftershocks caused extensive damage after the collapse of thousands of homes and killed thousands of people. Sichuan earthquake on May 12, 2008, occurred as a result of the movement to reverse hit north-east of a fault or defect on the sidelines of the North West direction from the Sichuan Basin. Epicenter of the earthquake and the coordination mechanism consistent with the existence of an event as a result of movement on the Longmenshan error or an error related to tectonically. Earthquake reflects the stresses of tectonic resulting from a convergence of crustal material slowly moving from the Tibetan plateau is high, and to the west, against the crust strong potential in the Sichuan Basin and South East China.On range, continental, and seismic activity in Central and East Asia is the result of convergence north of the Panel for the Panel, India against Eurasia, with a speed of about 50 mm / d. And large-scale convergence of plates that absorb the lifting of the Asian highlands and the movement of crustal material to the east away from the margin of Tibet progress Plateau.The northwest of the Sichuan Basin has previously devastating earthquakes. Killed earthquake measuring 7.5 on August 25, 1933, and more than 9,300 people.

What is a landslide?

A landslide in the first place is a set of geological processes, which include several movements such as land slope failure and a wide range, falling rocks, and debris flow. This may be terrestrial movements occur in the coastal marine environment, and land. Gravity is the main force that causes landslides, in addition to other benefits that affect the stability of the ground.Usually, the characteristics of the ground, especially the development of subsurface soil conditions that cause the failure of the slope. However, the collapse of the real need to trigger before you can start on it. It is usually possible to identify the origin of the main players landslide victory. Process may be the trigger with respect to weather, or the stimulus that produces an immediate reaction of the slope. Typically, the establishment of such a movement because of a change in the stresses of the slope. These types of geological formations are common in mountainous areas. It will be necessary to install the slopes to reduce the likelihood of landslides.
Triggers landslide:
May be caused by landslides due to many reasons may be active individually or together. Some of the main reasons are:
Rain wide:
Landslide on the trigger was the most rainfall intensity for long periods and heavy. May also occur on the trigger, even if the density of moderate rain, but rain and a high pore pressure. The global survey revealed overwhelming, which was held in 2003, which was activated 90% of the landslides and signed by the heavy rainfall. In the first place, and this is due to step up pressure of water in the pores of the soil.
Melting ice:
In many places the mountain cold, melting snow and frequent, and may be vital to the process of landslides. This is particularly important when the rapid increase in temperature quickly begins melting snow. Production of water seeping into the ground under the layers of impermeable surface. And pore water pressure increased rapidly, causing a landslide at the beginning of the process. This result is particularly important when it is complete weather is hot before adding the rainfall into the groundwater and increase the rate of melting.
Rivers:
Can damage the slopes of the rivers, especially during floods, which caused a landslide. Disorder increases the slope of the gradient slope, and the reduction of stability. In some countries, has been observed in many cases, this process after the floods caused by glacial erosion of a finger along the canal. The flood waves pass, and the earth and the wide sliding usually occurs. This volatility will last for a long time, especially during the subsequent periods of heavy rain and flooding.
Change in water level:
May lead to rapid changes in the ground water level along the slope leading to landslides. This is especially true when the slope of the nearby river or other body of water. As the water level near the slope decreases rapidly, ground water can not dissipate quickly, causing a high water table. Exposed to high shear stress ramp that leads to potential instability. This is one of the most important way in which the river bank fails.
Seismic shaking:
Seismic waves through the rocks and the ground accelerations that creates a change from the forces of gravity on a slope. Change the vertical acceleration, respectively, the load on the slope. Acceleration caused by the horizontal shear force due to inertia overwhelming. This complex process, and can be sufficient to cause the failure of the slope. These operations are large in mountainous areas where seismic waves cause an increase in the acceleration of the earth. This is called the development of topographic amplification. The greatest acceleration usually occurs at the top of the slope or near the line of hills.
Liquefaction:
Can not be the movement of earthquake waves through the earth produces liquefaction. During this process, and the shaking causes the lower area of ??the pores. High density of pore pressure increase in the ground. Granular materials are changed to the flow of slides that are fast and can be very devastating.
Landslide warning technology:
And the physical destruction and loss of life caused by landslides fears of many people. So, put the sensors that are used for landslide warning and detection by monitoring the slope, displacement, and rainfall, and flow. A careful analysis of these data help to identify weaknesses and pressure of underground water. Data on the rate of movement of the slide are available that can predict the state of the landslide. Geotechnical analysis can, including the study of the stability of the slope, and seismic behavior, and assessment of the site is useful to provide early warning of a landslide. Sensors can also provide early information about severe weather, and slope conditions that are unsafe.

What are natural disasters? Awareness about natural disasters

And natural disasters and disasters caused by nature, such as floods, volcanic eruptions, earthquakes, avalanches and lahars (mudslides, volcanic eruptions), landslides, sewage, snow storms, droughts, hailstorms, heat waves, hurricanes and tropical storms, hurricanes and ice ages, and hurricanes, and forest fires. The epidemics in some cases caused by bacteria or viruses, natural disasters, but in some cases to a different category. Can also be biological threat such as locusts or poisonous mushrooms are natural disasters disaster.Some is on the edge of the natural and unnatural. May be caused by famine and chronic food shortages, through a combination of natural and human factors. Two space groups originating from natural disasters, both human beings rarely impact on the surface, including collision of asteroids and solar flares. Although the risk of asteroid impact in the short term may be low, and some scientists say that in the long term, and the possibility of death, the asteroid is similar to that of death from natural disasters, conventional, such as natural disasters, deadly disease.The and famine, and claimed the 70 million people during the century 20 units, 30 million die of famine in China during 1958-1961. In the Soviet Union there were many man-made famine that killed millions, the blame on the policies of Stalin's mass, the leader of the country at that time. Famines have a history of highlighting the worst in people, including atrocities and cannibalism.Increasing awareness of natural disasters all over the world and make people around the planet recognize the importance of preparing for a wide range of crisis. The third world and rich countries alike vulnerable to death and destruction from a multitude of nature deadly rescue and relief efforts acts.Since backward often days behind the event, personal, family, community and disaster preparedness is the key to disaster statistics survival.Recent reveal that survival depends on more than just ignore the initial impact of nature's fury, and the key to live often lies in the planning for such an event before it happens. May be the difference between life and death in days or weeks after the disaster lies in the existence of a simple and keep working to find out what take.information meet the special needs of the most vulnerable of our citizens, and the very young and those with special needs and the elderly. Planning for their care, individual and community can save lives and grief that does not describe

"we must anticipate big disasters" china flood killed more than 700 people

Flooding in China that has killed more than 700 people this year However officials, in the first high-level media briefing on weeks of deadly flooding plaguing much of the country's southern half, said a disaster on the scale of historic 1998 flooding on the Yangtze River would likely be averted.A total of 701 people have died so far this year in flooding that has also left 347 people missing, Liu Ning, head of the country's flood control authority and vice-minister of water resources.the annual rainy season would continue at least through August, and that more downpours were expected, further straining reservoirs and other water control projects, especially as the East Asian typhoon season has just begun.During this period there will be heavy rainfall and serious floods. The rainfall will continue.meteorologists expected heavy rains could spread to northern China, possibly causing flooding along major rivers such as the Huai, Yellow and Songhua.In these rivers they haven't seen major floods in many years and they are very likely to see some soon. So we must anticipate big disasters.Tens of thousands of homes and other structures have been destroyed in floods and landslides, and economic losses have hit at least 142 billion yuan ($A23.8 billion), with 110 million people affected.The number of deaths and figures for damage are China's worst in 10 years.The floods have dominated the country's attention for weeks, with state television each day broadcasting dramatic images of villagers being rescued from raging rivers or plucked from rooftops in inundated villages.The situation has triggered fears China could see a repeat of the disastrous flooding of 1998, when heavy rain swelled the Yangtze, China's longest river, and many tributaries, leading to a series of devastating levee collapses.At least 4150 people were believed to have died, 18 million were evacuated and millions of homes were destroyed in the floods, the country's worst in recent memory.rainfall levels, although extremely high, have remained 20 per cent lower than those of 1998.And although the upper reaches of the Yangtze drainage basin have seen the highest flood peak since 1987,the dam would prevent flood surges on the river's upper and lower reaches from "converging" as they did in 1998.the government was now feverishly co-ordinating the release of water by dams throughout the region to maintain a smooth flow.The Three Gorges Dam is now playing an effective role in flood control.

"global warming"heavy rain and disastrous flood and cliamte experts

One group of researchers looked at the strongest rain and snow events of each year from 1951 to 1999 in the Northern Hemisphere and found that the more recent storms were 7 per cent wetter. That may not sound like much, but it adds up to be a substantial increase, said the report from a team of researchers from Canada and Scotland.The study did not single out specific storms but examined worst-of-each-year events all over the Northern Hemisphere. While the study ended in 1999, the close of the decade when scientists say climate change kicked into a higher gear, the events examined were similar to more recent disasters: deluges that triggered last year’s deadly floods in Pakistan and in Nashville, Tennessee, and this winter’s paralyzing blizzards in parts of the United States.The change in severity was most apparent in North America, but that could be because that is where the most rain gauges are, scientists said.
Both studies should weaken the argument that climate change is a ‘‘victimless crime,’’ said Myles Allen of the University of Oxford. He co-authored the second study, which connected flooding and climate change in Britain. ‘‘Extreme weather is what actually hurts people.’’Jonathan Overpeck, a University of Arizona climate scientist, who did not take part in either study, praised them as sensible and ‘‘particularly relevant given the array of extreme weather that we’ve seen this winter and stretching back over the last few years.Not all the extreme rain and snow events the scientists studied cause flooding. But since 1950, flooding has killed more than 2.3 million people, according to the World Health Organization’s disaster database.The British study focused on flooding in England and Wales in autumn of 2000. The disaster cost more than $1.7 billion in insured damages and was the wettest autumn for the region in more than 230 years of record-keeping.Researchers found that global warming more than doubled the likelihood of that flood occurring. Similar studies are now under way to examine whether last year’s deadly Russian heat wave and Pakistan floods . which were part of the same weather event _ can be scientifically attributed to global warming.For years scientists, relying on basic physics and climate knowledge, have said global warming would likely cause extremes in temperatures and rainfall. But this is the first time researchers have been able to point to a demonstrable cause-and-effect by using the rigorous and scientifically accepted method of looking for the ‘‘fingerprints’’ of human-caused climate change.The scientists took all the information that shows an increase in extreme rain and snow events from the 1950s through the 1990s and ran dozens of computer models numerous times. They put in the effects of greenhouse gases _ which come from the burning of fossil fuels _ and then ran numerous models without those factors. Only when the greenhouse gases are factored in do the models show a similar increase to what actually happened. All other natural effects alone don’t produce the jump in extreme rainfall. Essentially, the computer runs show climate change is the only way to explain what’s happening.In fact, the computer models underestimated the increase in extreme rain and snow. That is puzzling and could be even more troubling for our future, said Michael Oppenheimer of Princeton University, who was not part of the study.Similar fingerprinting studies have found human-caused greenhouse gas emissions triggered changes in more than a dozen other ecological ways: temperatures on land, the ocean’s surface, heat content in the depths of the oceans, temperature extremes, sea level pressure, humidity at ground level and higher in the air, general rainfall amounts, the extent of Arctic sea ice, snowpack levels and timing of runoff in the western United States, Atlantic Ocean salinity, wildfire damage, and the height of the lower atmosphere.All those signs say global warming is here, said Xuebin Zhang, a research scientist for the Canadian government and co-author of the Northern Hemisphere study. ‘‘It is affecting us in multiple directions.’’Most of the 10 outside climate experts who reviewed the papers for The Associated Press called the research sound and strong.The terrible floods killed more than 2,000 people and left more than 20 million injured or homeless in Pakistan. The flooding began in July and at one point it was estimated that 20 per cent of Pakistan’s total land area was under water.Robert Houze, a University of Washington atmospheric sciences professor, and colleagues examined radar data from the Tropical Rainfall Measuring Mission satellite.They were able to see that rainfall that caused Indus River in Pakistan to overflow was triggered over the Himalayas, within a storm system that had formed over the Bay of Bengal in late July and moved unusually far to the west. Because the rain clouds were within the moisture-laden storm from the east, they were able to pour abnormal amounts of rain on the barren mountainsides, which then ran into the Indus.The progress of storm system stood out in the satellite radar data, Houze said. The storms were associated with a wind pattern that could be traced in satellite data back to its origin over the Bay of Bengal.

JAPAN EARTHQUAKE TSUNAMI IS VERY POWERFULL........

The magnitude-8.9 quake struck at 2:46 p.m. local time and was the biggest to hit Japan since record-keeping began in the late 1800s. It ranked as the fifth-largest earthquake in the world since 1900 and was nearly 8,000 times stronger than one that devastated Christchurch, New Zealand, last month, scientists said.The quake shook dozens of cities and villages along a 1,300-mile (2,100-kilometer) stretch of coast and tall buildings swayed in Tokyo, hundreds of miles from the epicenter. Prime Minister Naoto Kan was attending a parliamentary session at the time.Large fishing boats and other vessels rode the high waves ashore, slamming against overpasses or scraping under them and snapping power lines along the way. A fleet of partially submerged cars bobbed in the water. Ships anchored in ports crashed against each other.The tsunami roared over embankments, washing anything in its path inland before reversing direction and carrying the cars, homes and other debris out to sea. Flames shot from some of the homes, apparently from burst gas pipes.
Waves of muddy waters flowed over farms near Sendai, carrying buildings, some of them ablaze. Drivers attempted to flee. The tarmac at Sendai's airport was inundated with thick, muddy debris that included cars, trucks, buses and even light planes.Highways to the worst-hit coastal areas buckled. Telephone lines snapped. Train service was suspended in northeastern Japan and in Tokyo, which normally serves 10 million people a day. Untold numbers of people were stranded in stations or roaming the streets. Tokyo's Narita airport was closed indefinitely.Police said 200-300 bodies were found in Sendai, although the official casualty toll was 185 killed, 741 missing and 948 injured. A ship with 80 dock workers was swept away from a shipyard in Miyagi. All on the ship was believed to be safe, although the vessel had sprung a leak and was taking on some water, Japan's coast guard said. Officials declared the first-ever state of emergency at a Japanese nuclear power plant and ordered evacuations after the earthquake knocked out power to a cooling system at the Fukushima Daiichi facility near the city of Onahama, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. They said radiation levels inside the facility had surged to 1,000 times more than normal. Some radiation had seeped outside the plant, the nuclear safety agency said early Saturday, prompting calls for more evacuations of the area. Some 3,000 people have already been urged to leave their homes.The group watched homes and vehicles carried away in the wave and found their hotel mostly destroyed when they reached it. A large fire erupted at the Cosmo oil refinery in the city of Ichihara and burned out of control with 100-foot (30-meter) flames whipping into the sky. Also in Miyagi prefecture, a fire broke out in a turbine building of a nuclear power plant, but it was later extinguished, said Tohoku Electric Power Co.Japanese automakers Toyota, Nissan and Honda halted production at some assembly plants in areas hit by the quake. One worker was killed and more than 30 injured after being crushed by a collapsing wall at a Honda Motor Co. research facility in northeastern Tochigi prefecture, the company said. Jesse Johnson, a native of Nevada who lives in Chiba, north of Tokyo, was eating at a sushi restaurant with his wife when the quake hit. Tokyo was brought to a near standstill. Tens of thousands of people were stranded with the rail network down, and the streets were jammed with cars, buses and trucks trying to get out of the city. The city set up 33 shelters in city hall, on university campuses and in government offices, but many planned to spend the night at 24-hour cafes, hotels and offices. Jefferies International Ltd., a global investment banking group, estimated overall losses of about $10 billion. The tsunami hit Hawaii before dawn Friday, with most damage coming on the Big Island. The waves covered beachfront roads and rushed into hotels. One house was picked up and carried out to sea. Low-lying areas in Maui were flooded by 7-foot waves. On the U.S. mainland, marinas and harbors in California and Oregon bore the brunt of the damage, estimated by authorities to be in the millions of dollars. Boats crashed into each other in marines and some vessels were washed out to sea. Rescue crews were searching for a man who was swept away in northern California while taking pictures. Two people with him tried to rescue him, although they were able to return to shore. Thousands fled homes in Indonesia after officials warned of a tsunami up to 6 feet (2 meters) high, but waves of only 4 inches (10 centimeters) were measured. No big waves came to the Northern Mariana Islands, a U.S. territory, either. Islands across the South Pacific were hit by bigger than normal waves, but no major damage was reported. Surges up to 26 inches (66 centimeters) high were reported in American Samoa, Nauru, Saipan and at the far northern tip of New Zealand. The quake struck at a depth of six miles (10 kilometers), about 80 miles (125 kilometers) off Japan's east coast, the USGS said. The area is 240 miles (380 kilometers) northeast of Tokyo. Several quakes hit the same region in recent days, including one measured at magnitude 7.3 on Wednesday that caused no damage. Japan's worst previous quake was a magnitude 8.3 in Kanto that killed 143,000 people in 1923, according to USGS. A 7.2-magnitude quake in Kobe killed 6,400 people in 1995. Japan lies on the "Ring of Fire"  an arc of earthquake and volcanic zones stretching around the Pacific where about 90 percent of the world's quakes occur, including the one that triggered the Dec. 26, 2004, Indian Ocean tsunami that killed an estimated 230,000 people in 12 countries. A magnitude-8.8 temblor that shook central Chile in February 2010 also generated a tsunami and killed 524 people.

TOKYO JAPAN EARTHQUAKE :

For more than two terrifying, seemingly endless minutes Friday, the most powerful earthquake ever recorded in Japan shook apart homes and buildings, cracked open highways and unnerved even those who have learned to live with swaying skyscrapers. Then came a devastating tsunami that slammed into northeastern Japan and killed hundreds of people.
The violent wall of water swept away houses, cars and ships. Fires burned out of control. Power to a cooling system at a nuclear power plant was knocked out, forcing thousands to flee. A boat was caught in the vortex of a whirlpool at sea.
The death toll rose steadily throughout the day, but the true extent of the disaster was not known because roads to the worst-hit areas were washed away or blocked by debris and airports were closed.
Aerial scenes of the town of Ofunato showed homes and warehouses in ruins. Sludge and high water spread over acres of land, with people seeking refuge on roofs of partially submerged buildings. At one school, a large white "SOS" had been spelled out in English.
President Barack Obama pledged U.S. assistance following what he called a potentially "catastrophic" disaster. He said one U.S. aircraft carrier is already in Japan and a second was on its way. A U.S. ship was also heading to the Marianas Islands to assist as needed, he added.

Tokyo japan nuclear plant

TOKYO: The operator of the crippled nuclear power plant leaking radiation in northern Japan announced a plan Sunday that would bring the crisis under control within six to nine months and allow evacuated residents to return to their homes.The phased road map for ending the crisis at the Fukushima Dai-ichi nuclear power plant, announced by Tokyo Electric Power Co. chairman Tsunehisa Katsumata at a news conference, includes plans to cover the damaged reactor buildings to contain the radiation and eventually remove the nuclear fuel.Frustrations have been mounting over TEPCO’s failure to resolve the nuclear crisis more than a month after a catastrophic earthquake and tsunami hit Japan on March 11, knocking out power and cooling systems at the Fukushima Dai-ichi complex.
In the first three months of the plan, the company hopes to steadily reduce the level of leaking radiation, Katsumata said. Three to six months after that, it hopes to get the release of radioactive materials under control.
”We would like to see evacuees return to their homes as early as possible,” Katsumata said.
The company is focusing on cooling the reactors and spent fuel pools, decontaminating water that has been contaminated by radiation, mitigating the release of radiation into the atmosphere and soil, and measuring and reducing the amount of radiation affecting the evacuation area, he said.TEPCO Vice President Sakae Muto said that in addition to covering the reactor buildings, the company will also work with authorities to decontaminate areas affected by the radiation.In a show of support for a staunch American ally, US Secretary of State Hillary Rodham Clinton expressed admiration and sympathy for the Japanese as she visited Tokyo on Sunday.
”We pledge our steadfast support for you and your future recovery. We are very confident that Japan will demonstrate the resilience that we have seen during this crisis in the months ahead,” Clinton told reporters after meeting with Foreign Minister Takeaki Matsumoto.

jakarta:worlds biggest nuclear plant

The skeleton of what will soon be one of the world’s biggest nuclear plants is slowly taking shape along China’s southeastern coast right on the doorstep of Hong Kong’s bustling metropolis.Three other facilities nearby are up and running or under construction.Like Japan’s Fukushima Daiichi plant they lie within a few hundred miles (kilometers) of the type of fault known to unleash the largest tsunami spawning earthquakes.Called subduction zones, these happen when one tectonic plate is lodged beneath another. And because the so-called Manila Trench hasn’t been the source of a huge quake in at least 440 years, some experts say tremendous stresses are building, increasing the chances of a major rupture.Should that happen, the four plants in southern China, and a fifth perched on Taiwan’s southern tip, could be in the path of a towering wave like the one that struck Fukushima.But China, Taiwan, India and several other countries frantically building coastal facilities have made little use of new science to determine whether these areas are safe. At least 32 plants in operation or under construction in Asia are at risk of one day being hit by a tsunami, nuclear experts and geologists warn.And even when nations have conducted appropriate seismic hazard assessments, in many cases they have not shared the findings with the UN International Atomic Energy Agency, leaving experts frustrated and in the dark.In assessing the tsunami risks to nuclear power stations, scientists focus on their proximity to subduction faults, volcanoes and areas frequently hit by underwater landslides all of which can trigger seismic waves. Because giant tsunamis recur, they also look at historic and scientific records, going back up to 4,000 years if possibleThe greatest threat comes from the subduction faults crisscrossing the globe, some far from the minds of policymakers, nuclear industry officials and the public because it has been so long since they exploded.In places where tectonic plates that form these faults are ”coupled,” or stuck together, the stresses are the biggest, especially if centuries have passed without a major energy releasing earthquake.When the strain eventually forces one plate to pop up or dive under the other, the resulting temblor can spawn mammoth waves like the one that struck off Japan’s northeast coast on March 11, triggering the nuclear crisis that has carried on for more than a month.While there is some ”coupling” at the Manila Trench, there is debate about just how much. Scientists say more research needs to be done to determine if pressure is building and along which segments.A computerized simulation by Yuen’s students shows a magnitude-9.0 quake along the Manila Trench sending waves racing along the South China Sea, before slamming Taiwan’s southern shore 15 minutes later. The tsunami reaches China’s southeast coast in around two hours. It also strikes Hong Kong, which sits just 30 miles from the nearest nuclear plant close enough to see increased radiation levels if a plant were to be damaged by a Fukushima-like event.
Scientists paint a worst-case scenario in which waves 15 to 24 feet high (5 to 8 meters) could strike the plants in China and Taiwan.Science has come a long way since the first nuclear plant was built in the 1950s.By carbon dating the ash, pollen or other organic material attached to tsunami sand deposits swept inland with the giant walls of water, geologists can determine to the decade, and sometimes even the year, when the wave hit and how big it was when it roared ashore.
That’s important because some tsunamis only strike once a millennium.

ONAGAWA, OSAKA,FUKUSHIMA,JAPAN EARTHQUAKE,TSUNAMI

 Hundreds of aftershocks have rocked the ground and frayed nerves in the five weeks since Japan’s massive earthquake and tsunami, forcing survivors to relive the terror almost daily.The incessant rumbling of the Earth’s stressed crust has held back relief work, imperilled already dangerous operations to contain a nuclear crisis and fuelled fears far beyond the coast that was devastated by the giant wave.Many now complain of “earthquake sickness” — the sensation that the ground is swaying beneath their feet even when it is not — a condition blamed on confused inner-ear balance receptors and a heightened state of anxiety.
For the tens of thousands living in spartan and crowded evacuation shelters in and near the tsunami wastelands, the creaking of already weakened buildings and the risk of another killer wave spark mortal fears.Since the 9.0-magnitude quake shifted the seafloor by 24 metres (yards) and sent a huge wave crashing into Japan, more than 400 quakes above magnitude 5.0 have hit, most below the sea but many beneath Japan itself.Maps show their epicentres spread out like an angry rash across the Pacific seafloor east of Japan, one of the world’s most quake-prone and volcanic places on the intersection of several tectonic plates.
Geophysicists agree that the jolts and rumbles will not stop any time soon.They only differ on whether they will go on for months, years or even a decade.
A powerful 7.1-magnitude aftershock struck on April 7 followed by a series of shocks above 6.0 this week, with the biggest one prompting a tsunami scare, one of several issued and lifted since the monster quake.At the Onagawa evacuation centre, the lights went off on April 7 and hundreds poured out of the buildings where they shivered in the cold for about an hour until the tremors subsided and they were allowed back inside.Aftershocks centred near the tsunami-damaged Fukushima nuclear plant have also repeatedly forced emergency crews there to evacuate, and led to fears the charred reactor buildings and water pipes may be further compromised.Radiation fears have also haunted some in the Onagawa evacuation centre, which lies just five kilometres (three miles) from a coastal nuclear plant of the same name that was also damaged on March 11 but went into full shutdown.I am afraid that another tsunami may knock out the Onagawa nuclear plant and cause it to leak radioactive material, like in Fukushima.