Record Snow Brings Travel Misery to China, South Korea

8/14/2019 Record Snow Brings Travel Misery to China, South Korea

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Record snow brings travel misery to China, SouthKorea

BEIJING (AFP) Record snow disrupted air and road travel innortheast Asia on Monday, grounding

dozens of planes in China andSouth Korea and forcing schools to close in Beijing, with more freezing

weather on the way.

One person was killed and at least two others were missing in the mountains of central Japan after snow

fell across the region.

The Chinese capital on Sunday received its heaviest daily snowfall in nearly six decades, the state

Xinhua news agency reported.

The Central Meteorological Administration reported that up to 30 centimetres (12 inches) had fallen on

Beijing and Tianjin over the weekend. While skies were clear in the capital Monday, more snow was

expected in northeast China.

At Beijing's international airport -- where nearly 1,200 flights were cancelled or delayed on Sunday --

workers had cleared the runways and the situation was returning to normal, an airport spokesman told

AFP.

More than 100 flights were nevertheless delayed and two dozen cancelled as of early Monday, the

spokesman said, adding that workers needed to de-ice the snow-covered planes that were stuck at theweekend.

"I don't remember ever seeing such heavy snowfall in the city," one female Beijinger surnamed Zhou told

theChina Daily.

In the South Korean capital Seoul, around 26 centimetres (10 inches) of snow fell Monday, marking the

biggest snowfall since record-keeping began in 1937, according to the Korea Meteorological

Administration (KMA).

The blanket of thick white snow forced the cancellation of dozens of domestic flights and about

40international flights were delayed, airport officials said.

On the roads, up to 30 highways in Beijing and the surrounding areas were closed or only partially open

to traffic on Monday, the China News Service reported. Inner-city roads remained icy and covered with

snow.More than 5,000 volunteers were deployed to keep order at crowded bus stops, Xinhua quoted Song

Jianguo, head of the Beijing Traffic Management Bureau, as saying.

In Seoul, traffic was chaotic, forcing the late start of a cabinet meeting, with ministers stuck in the wintry

mess. More snow was expected in Seoul later Monday, but clear skies were forecast for Tuesday and

Wednesday.

The city government in the South Korean capital said it was mobilising 3,500 civil servants and 1,200

vehicles to remove snow from all major roads and streets.
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More than 3,500 schools in Beijing and Tianjin were forced to shut their doors on Monday, giving more

than 2.2 million students an extra day of New Year's holiday, state media reported.

Temperatures in Beijing were expected to drop to minus 16 degrees Celsius (three Fahrenheit) on

Monday, the coldest in the capital in decades, the China Daily reported.

In northern Heilongjiang province, the mercury has already plummeted to minus 36 Celsius, the paper

said.Farther east in Japan, police said they had found the body of a climber on Mount Hodaka in central Gifu

prefecture. It was not immediately clear if it was the body of one of three climbers who went missing there

at the weekend.

Another party of seven were rescued safely after becoming stranded on Mount Terachi, also in Gifu

prefecture, due to the heavy snow, he said.The South Korean weather office said snow also fell in North Korea, with at least eight centimetres

reported in the western port of Haeju

Flooded Australian town declared disaster zone

SYDNEY Authorities declared two flooded farming regions in southwestern Australia natural disaster

zonesMonday as residents in one town nervously watched a rising river in hopes that it wouldn't break its

levees.

Parts of Coonamble and Bourke districts inNew South Wales, several hundred miles northwest ofSydney,

have been isolated by floodwaters since heavy rains last week. While meteorologists said the worst of the

rain was over, rivers and reservoirs were still rising from the extra water, and Coonamble's Castlereagh

Riverwas expected to peak later Monday.

New South Wales state Premier Kristina Keneally declared the two districts disaster zones Monday, entitling

them to state emergency funds including loans and subsidies.

"That will provide much needed longer term help to residents,primary producers , business owners and

councils," Keneally said while on a tour of Coonamble. "It will help them to rebuild."On Sunday, emergency officials advised 1,200 residents in Coonamble to relocate to safer parts of town

away from the rising Castlereagh River. People rode away in motorboats and ranchers herded horses

and cattle through the deep waterto higher ground. Brown water submerged main roads into town.

The Castlereagh River was expected to peak at about 17.4 feet (5.3 meters), according to the Bureau of

Meteorology. The levee stands 19 feet (5.9 meters) high in most places; in others it is as low as 17.7 feet

(5.4 meters).

Some of the 4,900 residents of the district, however, have refused to leave their properties.

"I think they've seen the river up and down the last few days, and people don't believe there is a threat,"

Coonamble Mayor Tim Horan said Monday. "Once we get a peak, we'll know what's going on, but as far

as we're concerned, the evacuation order is still in place, and we still have to encourage people to stick

by it."

But longtime resident Ken Baker said he was confident the levees would hold, and refused to leave his

house while his wife and daughter evacuated.

"I know the river quite well," he told Macquarie Radio. "I've lived here all my life. I'm quite certain in my

own mind that I don't need to evacuate."

Bourke, a district with a population of about 4,400, was deluged by some of its heaviest rain in a decade,

leaving dozens of properties cut off from roads and forcing some farmers to fly livestock to higher ground.

The Darling Riveris expected to overflow in Bourke by Thursday, causing further minor flooding as it

swells from rainfall further upstream, the Bureau of Meteorology predicts.


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Tajikistan earthquake leaves 20,000 homeless

DUSHANBE, Tajikistan About 20,000 people were left homeless in the impoverished Central Asian

nation ofTajikistan after an earthquake leveled their homes in a mountainous region, officials said

Sunday.

No deaths were reported after the magnitude 5.3 quake struck thePamir Mountains on Saturday, the

Emergency Situations and Civil Defense Committee said.

Hundreds of mud-brick houses in several villages in the Gorno-Badakhshansky region were damaged.The quake also cut electricity and communications and blocked the main road between the regional

centerof Vanch and nearby villages.

Those left homeless were placed in emergency shelters in schools and other public buildings or moved in

with relatives, Azimjon Shamsiddinov, the deputy chief regional administrator, was quoted as saying by

the Interfax news agency.

Earthquakes are common in the mountains of Tajikistan, one of the poorest of the former Soviet states.

The country of 7.3 million people lies north ofAfghanistan and west ofChina.

Cold spell kills dozens of homeless in north India

NEW DELHI More than 30 people have died in cold weather-related incidents in northern India in the

past 24 hours, including 10 people killed in train accidents caused by dense fog, police said Sunday.

A cold snap left at least two dozen homeless people dead in Uttar Pradesh state since Saturday, taking the

death toll from exposure in the region to 40 over the last week, police spokesman Surendra Srivastava

said. Last winter the state reported 151 cold-related deaths.
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Authorities began distributing blankets and firewood to the homeless last week.

The cold caused dense fog that also led to two separate train collisions that killed 10 people and injured

47 others Saturday in Uttar Pradesh, police said.

In other areas of northern India, includingNew Delhi, poor visibility grounded or delayed dozens of flights

Saturday, said Shashanka Nanda, a spokesman for the Delhi International Airport Limited. Conditions had

improved by Sunday, he said.Local television channels showed footage of hundreds of frazzled passengers and large piles of luggage

crowding the airport terminals in the Indian capital.

Continued low visibility also disrupted rail schedules across large swathes of northern India stranding

thousands of people, railway official N.K. Srivastava said in Lucknow, the capital of Uttar Pradesh.

On Saturday the temperature dipped below 41 degrees Fahrenheit (5 degrees Celsius) in parts of Uttar

Pradesh and colder weather is expected, the local meteorological office said.

10 dead, 47 injured in train accidents in India

AP

LUCKNOW, India Four trains collided Saturday in two separate accidents caused by dense winter fog in

northern India, killing 10 people and injuring 47 others, police and railway officials said.

The first accident took place near the town ofEtawah, about 170 miles (270 kilometers) southwest

ofLucknow, the capital ofUttar Pradeshstate, when a train entering a station rammed another train that had

stopped there. Ten people, including the driver of one of the trains, were injured, according to Brij Lal, a

senior police official.

A second similar accident occurred nearKanpur, about 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of Lucknow,

and left 10 people dead and 37 others injured, some seriously, Lal said.

"Both these accidents were due to dense fog," said railway official N.K. Srivastava. He said the trains

were traveling at low speeds in both accidents.

Fog, which is a usual winter occurrence across northern India, has disrupted railway schedules across

Uttar Pradesh, Srivastava said.

Fog also delayed dozens of domestic and international flights in and out ofNew Delhi, the Press Trust of

India news agency reported.
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Volcano erupts in eastern Congo,

KINSHASA, Congo A government official says a volcano has erupted in eastern Congo, sending lava

toward a national park.

Feller Lutahichirwa said Saturday that the Nyamulagira volcano had erupted at dawn. While the area

where the lava was headed is sparsely populated, wildlife officials say it is home to about 40 endangeredchimpanzees.

Lutahichirwa says government observers are monitoring the situation with help from U.N. helicopters.

The director ofVirunga National Parksays the eruption is "of great concern" and that rangers have been

deployed to monitor the lava flow.Wildlife officials say fortunately no mountain gorillas are believed to live near the affected area. Virunga

National Park is home to 200 of the world's 720 remaining mountain gorillas

Australia floods declared natural disaster

SYDNEY (AFP) Australian authorities declared a natural disaster Monday in a southeastern farming

town where raging floodwaters forced the evacuation of hundreds of people.
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The swollen Castlereagh Riverpeaked at 5.14 metres (17 feet) just before midday (0100 GMT) in

Coonamble, the weather bureau said, after 1,200 residents in theNew South Wales town were urged to

leave their homes for higher ground.

Forecasters had feared the river would surge to a 40-year record of 5.5 metres and break its banks,

putting hundreds of homes in the town at risk.

But the threat eased late in the morning when it appeared water levels had gone down slightly, the Bureauof Meteorology said in a statement.

"This indicates that the river is at its peak with major flooding," it said.

Heavy rains have pelted the drought-parched region since late December, with hundreds of centimetres of

rain unleashed by ex-tropical cyclone Laurence.

Several towns have already been cut off by the once-in-a-decade deluge but no lives have been lost.

New South Wales Premier Kristina Keneally declared the town a natural disaster zone, making emergency

funds available to hundreds of farmers and other residents.

Flooding rains were also recorded further north, in the neighbouring state of Queensland, while fires

raged in the country's west.

An out-of-control blaze at Brigadoon on the outskirts of Perth razed sheds and damaged some buildings

but no homes were lost, while severe fire warnings were in place for much of the state of Western

Australia, authorities said.

The state's worst wildfire in 50 years devastated the isolated rural community of Toodyay last week,

levelling 38 homes and destroying thousands of hectares (acres) of scrub and farmland.

It follows last February's "Black Saturday" fires, in which 173 Australians died and more than 2,000

homes were flattened -- the country's worst natural disasterof modern times.

One thousand forced to flee Australia floodwaters

SYDNEY (AFP) More than 1,000 people were forced to evacuate their homes in southeastern Australia

Sunday as the worst floodwaters to hit the area in a decade threatened to swamp a remote farming town,

officials said.Residents of Coonamble, in centralNew South Wales, were ordered to leave their homes as the local river

threatened to burst its banks, after days of punishing rain unleashed by ex-tropical cyclone Laurence.

"We are looking at a flood peak in the early hours of Monday morning at around 5.5 metres (18 feet),"

said Phil Campbell, from the State Emergency Service (SES).

"That particular flood height does give us some concern regarding the levee that does protect 224

properties within Coonamble and, as such, an evacuation order has been issued," he told state radio.
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Several towns have already been cut off by the deluge, which has been soaking the drought-ravaged

state since Christmas, the SES said.

The weather bureau warned farmers to prepare for week-long isolation ahead of the Christmas floods,

and a bureau spokesman said the rain had been the heaviest in the area in a decade.

"As I guess most people are aware, it's been fairly dry for some time ... 5.5 metres would probably be the

biggest peak (for Coonamble) in the last 10 years," he said."Probably the last peak of this sort of magnitude was in 2000."

Shocked residents survey Australia wildfirewreckage

SYDNEY (AFP) Shocked residents returned to survey the wreckage on Thursday after Western

Australia's worst wildfire in 50 years engulfed 38 homes in an isolated rural community.

Emotional householders were given the all-clear to go back to Toodyay, north ofPerth, where the inferno

raced across thousands of hectares (acres) of scrub and farmland destroying buildings, vehicles and

cattle.

Emergency crews worked through a second night to contain the blaze, and another major conflagration

further north, and were felling unstable trees near roadsides to allow residents to return.

The devastation evoked painful memories of February's "Black Saturday" fires, which swept through

entire communities in the state of Victoria killing 173 and razing more than 2,000 homes.

The Fire and Emergency Services Authority (FESA) said Western Australia had not lost so many homes to

wildfire in half-a-century, and praised rescuers for saving hundreds more properties and lives.

Only four people were hurt in the Toodyay blaze, including three firefighters who were treated forsmoke

inhalation and dehydration. Hundreds of ground crew fought the flames backed by water-bombing

helicopters.

"Firefighters worked hard getting the fire contained yesterday in difficult conditions and have done a great

job protecting communities and saving hundreds of homes and lives," FESA said in a statement.

The government announced emergency assistance, including a 3,000 dollar (2,700 US) grant for clothes

and food for people who have lost all their belongings, after a natural disaster was declared.

"These fires are an enormous blow to the people whose homes and property have been affected by the

fire," said Gary Gray, parliamentary secretary for Western Australia.

"My thoughts, and the thoughts of all Western Australians, are with them."

Television pictures showed firefighters inspecting gutted homes, farm outhouses with collapsing roofs,

burned-out cars and large swathes of charred crops.
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Several residents, left with little more than the clothes they were wearing, described terrifying scenes as

they abandoned their properties to flames that reached higher than the rooftops.

Householder Caroline Coate said she saw "something I could only describe as rivers of lava and I knew

my home was gone" as she fled in her car.

"You've got no idea how bad it was," she said. "I was just glad I got out when I did."

Deanna Flavell choked back tears after realising her home and possessions had gone up in smoke."There's nothing left, it's all gone," she told Sky News. "We've lost the whole house, the sheds, the lot."

Lesley Hugg, who runs two caravans parks in Toodyay, said one of her parks was now a gathering point

for people who have lost their homes.

"It's just devastating," she told ABC radio. "You want to bawl your eyes out. I'm just trying to stay strong to

support and look after everybody, and just bring everybody together.""The community spirit in Toodyay has just been wonderful. Everybody's offering vans and we've had so

many people coming around here asking what can they do to help, so, it's been great."

Australian residents return to razed homes

PERTH, Australia Residents returned Thursday to nearly 40 homes razed in Australia's most destructive

wildfires in almost year, which left four people injured.Wildfires possibly sparked by fallen power lines scorched a swath of western Australian farm and forest

land Tuesday and Wednesday, and hundreds of fighters worked to contain them by Thursday, emergency

authority spokesman Allen Gale said.

The fires destroyed 38 homes around the township of Toodyay, 50 miles (80 kilometers) north of the

coastal city of Perth. A woman resident required hospital treatment for burns while three firefighters were

treated forsmoke inhalation and a heat-related illness, Gale said.

About 150 people who had been evacuated from the fire path Tuesday were given permission Thursday

morning to pass the police blocks and return to the destruction zone, he said. It was their first opportunity

to assess the damage to their property.

Gale said that destroyed houses may still be smoldering, and that even houses that had survived

undamaged were without power.

"There will still be heat in some of those buildings," Gale said. "It's not the time to go sifting through the

remains and the debris; it's time to see what the situation is and make an assessment," he added.

The federal government Thursday joined the Western Australia state government in offering financial

assistance to communities affected by what has been declared a natural disaster. The declaration

Wednesday made victims eligible for thousands of dollars in state government handouts.

Fires near Toodyay and further north near the town of Badgingarra scorched a combined total of more

than 33,000 acres (13,400 hectares) of sheep and wheat farms and forests.

Stock losses have yet to be assessed.
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Gale said the fires had destroyed more property than any other in Australia since February when the

nation experienced its worst wildfire disaster on record.

Hundreds of blazes raced across huge parts of southeastern Victoria state, killing 173 people and

destroying more than 2,000 homes in a single day.Gale said the fires were the most destructive in Western Australia state since 1961 when a series of

blazes southwest ofPerth destroyed 160 buildings and 860,000 acres (350,000 hectares)

125 pilot whales die on NZ beaches, 43 saved

WELLINGTON, New Zealand Some 125 pilot whales died inNew Zealand after stranding on beaches

over the weekend but vacationers and conservation workers managed to coax 43 others back out to

sea.

Rescuers monitored the survivors as they swam away from ColvilleBeach onNorth Island's Coromandel

peninsula, and by Monday morning they were reported well out to sea.

Department of Conservation workers and hundreds of volunteers helped re-float the 43 whales at high tide.

The volunteers covered the stranded mammals in sheets and kept them wet through the day.

"Some 63 pilot whales stranded ... but it looks pretty good, we've got 43 live ones," Department of

Conservation ranger Steve Bolten said as the pod swam out to sea.

Bolten said one of the whales may have been sick, or their sonar may have led them into the shallow

harbor and they couldn't find their way out again.

Meanwhile on South Island, 105 long-finned pilot whales that stranded died Saturday, conservation

officials said Monday.

Golden Bay biodiversity program manager Hans Stoffregen said they were discovered by a tourist plane

pilot and only 30 were alive when conservation workers arrived.

"They were in bad shape. By the time we got there two-thirds of them had already died. We had to

euthanize the rest," he said.

The whales had been out of the water for a long time.
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"It has been quite hot and they were very distressed. You could see the pain and suffering in their eyes,"

he was quoted telling the Southland Times newspaper

Because the site is part of a nature reserve, the 105 whale carcasses were left to decompose where they

stranded, Stoffregen said.

Large numbers of whales become stranded on New Zealand's beaches each summer as they pass by on

their way to breeding grounds from Antarctic waters. Scientists so far have been unable to explain whywhales become stranded.

Giant iceberg off Australia breaking up

SYDNEY A massive iceberg edging slowly toward Australia's southwestern coast is breaking up into

hundreds of smaller icebergs as it drifts into warmer waters, creating potentially hazardous conditions for

ships trying to navigate the region, a scientist said Tuesday.

The iceberg, known as B17B, was spotted last week on satellite imaging about 1,100 miles (1,700

kilometers) offWestern Australia state, prompting Australia's Bureau of Meteorology to issue a shipping alert.

Since then, it has shrunk from 54 square miles (140 square kilometers) to 44 square miles (115 squarekilometers), or around 11 miles (18 kilometers) long and 5 miles (8 kilometers) wide, said glaciologist Neal

Young of the Australian Antarctic Division.

The iceberg has broken up into hundreds of smaller icebergs, some up to several miles (kilometers) wide,

and spread over more than 620 miles (1,000 kilometers) of ocean, he said.

"I expect it to dissipate," Young said. But exactly when, he added, is anyone's guess.

The iceberg is one of several that split off in Antarctica in 2000 when parts of two major ice shelves the

Ross Sea Ice Shelf and Ronne Ice Shelf fractured.

New Zealand issued a shipping alert last month after authorities spotted a flotilla of icebergs heading

towardSouth Island. Those icebergs have since moved east, away from New Zealand.

Icebergs are routinely sloughed off as part of the natural development of ice shelves.

B17B is expected to continue moving east.

'Monster' iceberg shedding hundreds of offshoots
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SYDNEY (AFP) An island-sized iceberg is breaking up as it drifts closer to Australia, producing

hundreds of smaller slabs spread over a massive area of ocean, experts said Monday.

The 140-square-kilometre (54-square-mile) block of ice, known as B17B, was seen some 1,700

kilometres (1,054 miles) south-southwest ofAustralia's western coast on December 9, prompting a maritime

alert for vessels in the area.

But as it has tracked further north and east the iceberg has shrunk to some 115 square kilometres -- still

formidable at about twice the size of Manhattan.

"There are now many more smaller icebergs calving off B17B, measuring up to several kilometres in

length, and spread over more than a thousand kilometres of ocean," said Australian Antarctic

Division glaciologist Neal Young.

Young, who has tracked B17B using satellite images fromNASA and the European Space Agency, said the

iceberg was some 400 square kilometres in area and 40 metres high when it first broke off

from Antarctica.

"If you didn't know about the early picture you would still say it's a monster," Young told AFP.

Young said he expected B17B to totally dissolve but was unable to predict when this would happen.

"Might be two weeks, might be several weeks. The key thing at the moment is it's getting thinner," he

said.

"It's got its feet in what it thinks is warm water -- about six to eight degrees Celsius (45 F) -- we think that'sfreezing cold but for an iceberg that's quite warm.

"So it's thinning from the bottom and that's what's going to lead to it breaking up."

The iceberg, which calved from the eastern end of the Ross Ice Shelfnearly 10 years ago, is expected to

continue tracking in a more easterly direction.Australian authorities last week issued a shipping alert over the possible hazard from icebergs

Volcano erupts in Colombia; no reports of injuries

BOGOTA The Galeras volcano in southeastern Colombia erupted Saturday night, but there were noimmediate reports of deaths or injuries, authorities said.

Carlos Ivan Marquez, national aid director for the Red Cross, said officials might need to evacuate 8,000

people as a precaution. He said temporary shelters and aid supplies were available.

The volcano erupted at 7:43 p.m., according to the Volcanology and Seismological Observatory in Pasto,

the provincial capital of 500,000 people that is just over 10 kilometers (6 miles) from Galeras.
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The 4,276-meter (14,110-foot) volcano has a long history of activity, including several eruptions in the first

months of 2009. It sits near the border with Ecuador, some 520 kilometers (320 miles) southwest

ofBogota.

Galeras has been considered Colombia's most active volcano since coming back to life in 1989. A 1993

eruption killed nine people, including five scientists who had descended into the crater to sample gases.

In November 2005, the volcano spewed ash that fell up to 50 kilometers (30 miles) away

Brazil nuclear plants may close as floods kill 68

ANGRA DOS REIS, Brazil (AFP) Two nuclear plants close to a southern Brazilian town hit by landslides

may shut down as a precaution, the mayor said, as the regional toll from deadly floods rose to 68.

"There are no operational problems at Angra I and Angra II... but if landslides persist in the hills, we'll

need to shut them down," Mayor Tuca Jordao told a press conference in this seaside town some 150

kilometers (93 miles) south ofRio de Janeiro.

Angra overlooks Ilha Grande island, where 29 people were killed in Friday's landslides, including 28 in a

luxury hotel nestled at the foot of a jungle-covered hill. Another 17 people were killed in the center of

Angra.

The mudslides were triggered by incessant rains that have killed at least 68 people across Rio de Janeiro

state since Wednesday and left dozens missing. More than 4,000 people have had to evacuate their

homes,Civil Defense officials said.

Rescue crews Sunday continued to search for victims among the mud and rubble at the Hotel Sankay,

which catered to Brazilian and foreign tourists seeking a remote beachside hideaway. Some 40 guests

were staying at the hotel when the landslide hit.

It is still not known if there were foreigners among the dead.

Some 200 firefighters and rescue workers were digging in the worst affected areas, hoping to unearth

survivors, but hopes were fading fast.

Mayor Jordao said he has requested the two nuclear plants be shut down warning that in case of a

catastrophe there was no way to quickly evacuate the city's more than 35,000 inhabitants, since the main

road leading out is partly blocked by landslides.

The plants' closure would not affect electricity supplies to Rio de Janeiro, which has alternative power

sources, the company running the plants said.

Jordao has also alerted local residents to emergency evacuation plans.

"This summer (in the southern hemisphere), high rainfall levels have been forecast. To the people ofAngra

dos Reis: please, at the slightest sign of rain" abandon your homes, he said.

Local authorities said around 500 houses in high-risk areas have been condemned or declared out of

bounds in the city.

The Angra neighborhood ofVila Velha has been cut off from the rest of the city for three days, aslandslides left it without power, running water and roads, Agencia Brasil said.

The only way to get to Vilha Velha, it added, is by boat.

Although the rains stopped on Friday, authorities put Rio de Janeiro on alert because of fears of

potentially devastating mudslides in its densely populated hillside favelas, orshanty towns.

"You don't play around with nature. Our problem is the rain and you can't live like that, clinging to the

hillsides," Rio state Governor Sergio Cabral said when he visited the disaster areas.


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Angra dos Reis was hit by devastating floods in 2002 -- 40 people were killed and rescue operations lasted

three months.

Death toll from Brazil mudslides rises to 76SAO PAULO (Reuters) At least 76 people have died in flooding and mudslides in Brazil's three largest

states over the past four days, O Estado de S. Paulo newspaper reported on Sunday.

The death toll in the state ofRio de Janeiro rose to 63. Firefighters and rescue workers removed 18 bodies

from a lodge and homes that were destroyed in the early hours of Friday when a hillside collapsed in

theluxury beach resort ofAngra dos Reis, the newspaper said, citing authorities.

Ten people died in Sao Paulo state, the country's most populous. Three people died in Minas

Gerais as heavy rains triggered flooding and landslides.

Rescue crews spent Saturday and early Sunday searching for victims in Angra, where up to 41 people

have been found dead, Estado said. The government is advising tourists to leave Angra, the nearby

island ofIlha Grande and other tourist towns on the southern coast of Rio state.Television footage showed rescue workers removing mud around the Sankay lodge and surrounding

homes that were buried under a mountain of reddish-brown mud.

So far, there have been no reports of foreign victims.

After an early break in the weather on Sunday, heavy rains are forecast for the coming days.

(Reporting by Guillermo Parra-Bernal in Sao Paulo and Isabel Versiani in Brasilia, editing by Alan Elsner)

Quake shakes wide area of US-Mexico border

regionSAN DIEGO A magnitude-5.8 earthquake rocked the U.S.-Mexico border region Wednesday, causing

hospitals to evacuate in the Mexican industrial city of Mexicali as buildings swayed more than 100 miles

to the west in San Diego and southwestern Arizona.

There were no reports of injuries or major property damage.

The main quake was centered about 20 miles southeast Mexicali, according to the U.S. Geological Survey.

It was followed quickly by a 4.8 quake and dozens of other aftershocks.

In Mexicali, five hospitals were briefly evacuated, 90,000 customers lost electricity for 14 minutes and cell

phones failed to work for20 minutes, said Rene Rosado, director of the city's civil defense.

City government offices closed for the day after the quake struck at 10:48 a.m. local time. About 300

employees emptied City Hall.

"People were very frightened throughout the city," Rosado said.

There was "minor damage" to several buildings in Mexicali, a city of 750,000 people and capital ofBaja

California state, said Alfredo Escobedo, the state civil defense director.

In Calexico, a California city of 40,000 people across the border from Mexicali, crews found no damage to

bridges, buildings or roads, said City Manager Victor Carrillo.

"Basically it was a quick, shake-and-bake, jolt-type of thing that seemed to last 15, 20 seconds, 30

seconds at the max," said Carrillo, who was in a meeting at City Hall during the quake. "I have quite a few

items on the shelves in my office and they're all intact."


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Citizen reports to the USGS indicated it was also felt in southern Nevada and metropolitan Los Angeles.

In Yuma, Ariz., Sally Zeller, a 31-year-old waitress at Brownie's cafe, said she and most everyone in her

restaurant felt the quake for several seconds.

"It rumbled under our feet and the soup counter rumbled against my hip," Zeller said. "The chandeliers

were swaying. It was like, 'Whoa!'"

The quake was centered in a seismically active desert valley near cities with low-rise buildings.It occurred 4.3 miles deep and was considered a shallow quake. Shallower quakes have the potential to

cause more damage than deeper ones.

A quake the size of Wednesday's main shock rattles the region about every 10 years, said Kate Hutton, a

seismologist at the California Institute of Technology.

http://news.yahoo.com/video/local-15749667/17375854 for videos

http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17315193 videos

The nation's weather

The weather was forecast to become more wintry across the Central U.S. as a low pressure

system continued to strengthen Wednesday. Flow around this large system was expected to pull abundant

moisture into the Plains from the Gulf of Mexico. Forecasters expected the low pressure system, cool air

from the north and moist air mass to trigger sloppy winter weather.

The Central andNorthern Plains were to brace for 2 to 4 inches of snow during the day, with an additional 3

inches in the evening. TheUpper Midwest was forecast to see increasingly snowy conditions by evening

with snow totals near 3 inches.

A sloppy combination offreezing rain and snow was expected to make road conditions and any travel

dangerous in southern Iowa, Nebraska, and Kansas, where temperatures were forecast just above

freezing.

A winter weather storm watch was issued for most of the Central U.S.

Further south, the system was forecast to produce periods ofheavy rain showers over Missouri, whilea flash flood watch was issued over most of the state.

A low pressure system was expected to push eastward from the Great Basin and over the Central

Rockies, strengthening as it traversed the mountains and dropping another 3 to 7 inches of snow.

Otherwise the West Coast was forecast to remain cool and dry as high pressure hovered over the region.

Meanwhile, the Northeast and New England was to see a few light and scattered snow showers

with snowfall totals less than a half of an inch and highs in the 20s. Partly cloudy skies were forecast in the

Southeast, with highs near 60.

Deadly rainstorms paralyze Sao PauloSAO PAULO (AFP) Heavy rain brought Brazil's biggest city ofSao Paulo grinding to a halt on Tuesday

and reportedly claimed the lives of six people in landslides.

The bodies of four brothers aged five to 20 were recovered by firemen from a house that crumbled apart

in one landslide in a northwestern suburb, CBN radio, Globo Television and the Terra news website all

said.
http://news.yahoo.com/video/local-15749667/17375854http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17315193http://news.yahoo.com/video/local-15749667/17375854http://news.yahoo.com/video/world-15749633/17315193


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Reports also said two more people died in other parts of the city, while authorities evacuated 22 homes in

an eastern suburb because of fear the ground there could shift too.

The persistent rain brought traffic on key cross-city highways to a standstill as the adjacent Tiete and

Pinheiros rivers broke their banks.

Television images showed trucks and motorbikes driving through long stretches of water-covered roads,

while vehicles piled up for kilometers (miles) on other impassable routes.Access to the city's international airport ofGuarulhos was difficult, with the main road to the facility cut off.

The Climatempo weather service said it was the heaviest 24-hour period of rainfall Sao Paulo had seen

all year. Overnight alone, the city received half of its total average December precipitation.

The state Emergency Administration Center declared an alert, saying the rain would continue with "light to

moderate intensity," creating the "potential for new flooding."

Sao Paulo mayor Gilberto Kassab assured reporters that his services were prepared to handle the

consequences of the bad weather, and he denied repeated accusations that lack of investment in water

canalization was to blame.

Farther south, 161 towns in the state ofRio Grande do Sul bordering Uruguay declared a state of

emergencybecause of the rain. The region had already been lashed by storms over the past few weeks

that killed eight people and forced 14,000 from their homes

VIDEOShttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8437742.stmVOLCANIC ERRUPTION

http://english.sina.com/video/2010/0103/297313.htmlSNOWFALL IN BEIJING

This is just a part what I havecollected but according to the thingsgoing on in this world these are a

listed few. why are these disasterstaking place and is 2010 really gointo be a good year with all thesedisasters taking place in the very
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8437742.stmhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8437742.stmhttp://english.sina.com/video/2010/0103/297313.htmlhttp://english.sina.com/video/2010/0103/297313.htmlhttp://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/africa/8437742.stmhttp://english.sina.com/video/2010/0103/297313.html


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beginning is there anything that wecan do to protect our planet or is

2012 really going to take place.Please give ya opinions and do helpif you can

Thank youSachin kumar puli

Record Snow Brings Travel Misery to China, South Korea

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