Mudslides hit Colombia

On Tuesday, in Bello, Colombia, rescuers pulled more bodies from a giant mudslide. More than 100 people were buried from the mudslide that was caused by heavy rains and floods that hit the county. Evacuations have been made in the fear for more mudslides to occur as the country tries to recover from the large amounts of water that have hit the region. The floods have killed more than 200 people, damaged crops and livestock, and caused about 1.7 million people to be removed from their homes. This has been one of the worst natural disasters to hit the area for they have not experienced such events before in recent history. The government plans to spend around $550 million in disaster relief for people. Clearly the government is taking action in helping the citizens of Colombia. Neighboring countries are experiencing similar effects from the storms, such as Venezuela. The large amounts of rain are coming from a weather phenomenon called La Nina. The weather office in Colombia expects this event to continue into next year and could increase rainfall in the next rainy season in March. It appears the worst of is yet to come while the nation tries to recover and prepare for future floods.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101208/wl_nm/us_colombia_disaster

Landslide in Bosnia

In Tuzla, Bosnia-Herzegovina, 3 people were killed while many were left homeless due to a landslide on Sunday. The landslide was caused by heavy amounts of rain. This area had been experiencing heavy rain for over five days now causing some of the worst floods in a century. These floods have caused many people to be evacuated from their homes. A man was rescued from his three story home, told the Associated Press. Tragically, however, his wife, teenage son, and mother were unable to escape as the landslide slid the house downhill 20 meters before it crushed and buried the building.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101205/ap_on_re_eu/eu_europe_weather

Cold weather and heavy snow hit Northern Europe

With the official winter season just around the corner, it has already been affecting people around the world, especially in northern Europe. Sub-zero temperatures and heavy snow fall has caused travel chaos. Air flights have been canceled and trains have been halted due to this weather. More importantly, this winter weather has been have a significant impact on Europe's economy. It is projected that they are losing about 1.2 billion pounds ($1.87 billion) a day. This is some of the worst early winter weather Britain has experienced in nearly two decades. The second busiest airport in Britain, Gatwick, canceled all flights on Wednesday and is not expected to reopen until Friday. On top of Britain's criticism for handling severe winter weather like this to keep means of transportation moving, the weather does not seem to being easing up at all. 

http://news.yahoo.com/nphotos/Cars-stuck-wheel-loader-tries-get-snow-off-road-during/photo//101202/481/urn_publicid_ap_org0d58ad96ef76448eae4025ee45dbad8d//s:/nm/20101202/wl_nm/us_europe_weather;_ylt=Aq0oHJ0hObgjNEP8aA1Eqy1n.3QA;_ylu=X3oDMTE5ZWIwc2luBHBvcwMxBHNlYwN5bl9yX3RvcF9waG90bwRzbGsDY2Fyc2FyZXN0dWNr

Floods hit Sri Lanka

On Thursday, troops in Sri Lanka were sent out to rescue residents in the Capital city Colombo. This area experienced its heaviest rains in 18 years causing the city to flood which forced 300,000 people from their homes. At least one man was killed due to a lightning strike, while one woman was injured when her house collapsed. There are 12 temporary shelters around the capital for the victims to stay while this disaster is being sorted out. The flooding is believed to be caused by the loss of marches in Colombo which used to act as a sponge to soak up water for events such as this. Houses have since replaced these marshes for the growing city. In my opinion, some places are just not meant to be lived on for they serve a specific purpose such as these marshes. I found this article rather interesting because in our Environmental Hazards course we just started talking about floods. Another topic of discussion was the city of New Orleans and how it is located on a place where a city is not meant to be, similar to the houses in Colombo. People just need to realize that the environment is a powerful force that should not be messed with.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/afp/20101111/wl_asia_afp/srilankaweatherfloods

13 Dead from Landslide in Philippines

In the Philippines, specifically Manila, at least 13 people have been killed from floods and landslides which were caused from large amounts of rain for the past week. This northeastern part of the Philippines is was still trying to recover from a typhoon a month earlier. Although the rains eased up on Sunday, 200 families in the Kalinga province to be relocated because a side of a mountain gave away from all the water which then created a dam. If this dam were to not hold, the village would be smashed by rushing waters. Last week, 6 of the 13 people killed, were buried by a landslide in Isabela province. 2 others remain missing from this landslide.

Some people may not think of landslides as a threatening event. However, as you can see, they can be deadly. Hopefully the evacuation of these villages will help keep death tolls low.

http://asia.news.yahoo.com/ap/20101107/tap-as-philippines-floods-fe2a5de.html

Mount Merapi continues to erupt

In Indonesia, Mount Merapi continues to spew lava and smoke for a week now. However, on Wednesday the volcano had it biggest blast yet shooting ash miles into the air causing more and more people to be evacuated. The article described scenes from the lava flowing and debris of rocks and other material falling from the sky causing abandoned home to start fire and burning carcases of cattle along the hillsides.

There has not yet been an immediate casualty count after the blast lasting over an hour. Over 70,000 villagers have been evacuated from the Mount Merapi region. There have been 38 reported deaths and dozens of people with severe injuries, most of which are burns. According to the article, "Djarot Nugroho, the head of Central Java's disaster management agency, said funding for the refugees would run out in five days unless a national disaster was declared." Certaintly the people of Indonesia are going to need some outside help to survive this hazardous event.

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20101103/ap_on_sc/as_indonesia_disasters

Scientists urge for better ocean monitoring

On Sunday, October 31, ocean scientists urged many governments around the world to invest billions of dollars in ocean monitoring systems by 2015. According to the article, this monitoring system can do things from giving alerts for tsunamis to acidification linked to climate change. The scientists claim that this system would have large economic benefits. Oceans United, a scientific alliance, is going to present their plea to government in Beijing on November 3-5 which was set up in 2002 to for setting up such a system. The new system could cost up $10 billion to $15 billion to set and cost $5 billion annually to run and operate the system. This cost may seem like a large sum  compared to the current $1billion to $3 billion cost to monitor the oceans. However, if these new systems could help us with early alert systems for hazards such as tsunamis, large disasters could be avoided saving not only a lot of money but human lives as well. In the long run this new system could save us money and allow to gain more knowledge on the earth. We could then use this knowledge to help mitigate future disasters for people around the world.


http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20101031/ts_nm/us_climate_oceans