Ketsana Hits Cambodia September 29, 2009

The powerful typhoon that has hit the Philippines and Vietnam with deadly force is now battering Cambodia.

At least nine people have died in Kampong Thom province in central Cambodia.
When Typhoon Ketsana hit Vietnam, more than 30 people were killed and almost 200,000 people fled their homes; severe flooding remains in central provinces.
In the Philippines, where the typhoon hit over the weekend, at least 246 people are known to have died.
Relief officials in the Philippines, struggling to feed and shelter hundreds of thousands of displaced people, admit they have been overwhelmed by the disaster.
They warn that new storms are heading towards the country.
Cambodia caught
In Vietnam, Ketsana hit with torrential rains and winds of more than 150km/h before it headed inland towards northern Cambodia and southern Laos.
Typhoons usually weaken on reaching land, but Ketsana is still dangerous, officials said.
"At least nine people were crushed last night when their house fell down," said Chea Cheat, chief of the Red Cross office in Kampong Thom province, about 130 km (80 miles) north of the Cambodian capital Phnom Penh.
He added that at least 78 houses in his province were destroyed and that heavy rain and rising floods were continuing.
International organisations and government officials in Cambodia said they were distributing tents and food to affected people while assessing damage across at least five of the country's provinces.
Vietnam floods
The BBC's Guy De Launey in Phnom Penh said that Ketsana had been devastating when it headed toward the city of Danang, on central Vietnam's coast.
The airport and schools were closed. Railways and roads linking north and south Vietnam were cut off. Danang airport has since reopened.
The biggest floods in decades now threaten Vietnam's central provinces, correspondents said, with thousands of homes inundated with water.
Vietnamese state media reported that at least 33 people had died from floods and landslides in seven coastal and central highland provinces, and river waters in Quang Nam provinces could reach a level last seen in 1964.
Around 170,000 people were evacuated before the typhoon made landfall.
Vietnam's Deputy Prime Minister Hoang Trung Hai said late on Tuesday that he hoped power supplies would be restored quickly, particularly to Quang Ngai province where Vietnam's first oil refinery, Dung Quat, was due to reopen after an outage shut the plant's test runs last month.
Overwhelmed

In the Philippines, the government said it now believed 246 people had died after the storm struck on Saturday, a figure that is expected to rise as mud is cleared from the worst affected areas.
Almost two million people were affected by the flooding in Manila, the worst to hit the city in 40 years. At one point, 80% of the city was submerged.
Ketsana, with winds of up to 100km/h (60mph), hit the Philippines early on Saturday, crossing the main northern Luzon island before heading out toward the South China Sea. Officials say more than 40cm (16in) of rain fell on Manila within 12 hours, exceeding the average for the whole month of September.
Meanwhile forecasters said a new storm forming in the Pacific Ocean was likely to enter Philippine waters on Thursday and make landfall later on the northern island of Luzon.

Ondoy - Ketsana Wrecks Havock in Vietnam - September 29, 2009

By TRAN VAN MINH, Associated Press Writer – Tue Sep 29, 10:14 am ET
HANOI, Vietnam – Typhoon Ketsana roared into central Vietnam on Tuesday, killing at least 23 people as it brought flooding and winds of up to 90 mph (144 kph), disaster officials said. Some 170,000 were evacuated from its path.
Ketsana left more than 200 dead across the northern Philippines as a weaker tropical storm.
After gathering strength over the South China Sea, the typhoon made landfall in midafternoon, about 37 miles (60 kilometers) south of Danang, according to the National Weather Center.
Two people in Quang Nam province were killed by falling trees, and another died when struck by a power line, said Nguyen Minh Tuan, a provincial disaster official.
"The rivers are rising and many homes are flooded, and several mountainous districts have been isolated by mudslides," Tuan said.
Another three died in Thua Thien Hue province, disaster official Le Minh said. A man was killed by a falling tree, a woman died in floodwaters and a 3-year-old drowned in a flooded home.
As the storm moved inland toward Laos, nine people died in Kon Tum province in the Central Highlands, including a family of five whose house was buried in a mudslide, disaster official Nguyen Van Vy said.
Deaths were also reported in Danang and the province of Binh Dinh and Quang Ngai.
Some flooding was reported in Hoi An, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Quang Nam province, but no serious damage was reported.
The storm weakened as it approached Laos, and by Tuesday evening, the rain had stopped along some parts of the coast.
River levels were still rising, however, and more rains are forecast for the region Wednesday.
Authorities evacuated 170,000 people from six central provinces as the typhoon approached and heavy winds began lashing Vietnam's central coast in the morning, officials said.
"There's a blackout across our entire province," said Truong Ngoc Nhi, vice governor of Quang Ngai province, south of Danang. "Streets are strewn with fallen trees and utility poles. It looks like a battlefield."
Vietnam Airlines canceled all flights to the tourist destinations of Danang and Hue and travelers were stranded along the central coast.
The typhoon ruined the wedding of Bui Thi Anh Nguyet, a 24-year-old-bride who consulted a fortune teller before setting the date for her nuptials.
According to Vietnamese tradition, the groom comes to the bride's hometown, picks her up and brings her to his hometown for the wedding. Nguyet had planned to marry in Danang, but the wedding party got stuck in Binh Dinh province, some 300 kilometers (180 miles) from Danang.
"We had been preparing for this wedding since January, and we chose today as our most auspicious and happiest day, but now we are stranded," Tuyet said telephone. "Parts of the highway are flooded. I don't know how long we'll be stuck here."

Earthquake in Indonesia October 1, 2009

A second earthquake struck off the coast of western Indonesia on Thursday, a day after the region was hit by a more powerful quake that toppled buildings, trapping thousands of people under rubble and killing at least 200, officials said.

The shallow inland 6.8 magnitude earthquake hit 240 km south of Padang at a depth of just 24 kilometres, the U.S. Geological Survey said. There were reports the second quake badly damaged dozens of additional buildings.

The first quake, with a magnitude of 7.6, struck at 5:15 p.m. local time Wednesday. It had an epicentre about 50 kilometres off the coast of Sumatra, according to Indonesia's meteorological agency.

A higher death toll is expected once officials tally casualties in other areas of West Sumatra province, where communications and roads have been severed.

The massive underwater quake, which had a depth of 85 kilometres, briefly prompted the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center to issue a tsunami alert for Indonesia, Malaysia, India and Thailand. It was later lifted when there were no immediate reports of high waves.

Priyadi Kardono, a spokesman for the National Disaster Management Agency, said Thursday that about 500 buildings collapsed in the coastal city of Padang in the Southern Sumatra province as well as in other town and cities.

The 7.6-magnitude quake had an epicentre about 50 kilometres off the coast of Sumatra. (CBC)

The hospital in Padang is among the collapsed buildings, said Rustam Pakya, head of the country's Health Ministry.

Other collapsed buildings include homes, hotels, schools and shops, Indonesian Vice-President Jusuf Kalla told a news conference Wednesday.

The rubble of other collapsed buildings are thought to have trapped thousands of people, Pakya said.

A field hospital is being prepared to assist the injured and medical teams were on the way from neighbouring provinces, he said.

Piles of rubble

Witnesses said people ran out of homes and buildings in fear when the quake hit.

Television footage showed devastation, with piles of rubble and smashed houses in Sumatra.

The quake has also caused widespread power and phone line outages, according to officials, making communication difficult. Several injuries are being reported by witnesses.

An earthquake survivor receives medical treatment in Padang Panjang, West Sumatra, on Wednesday. (Tundra Laksamana/Associated Press)Bridges collapsed in Sumatra, according to reports, and landslides also cut off the coastal area.

There were also reports that the tremor caused several water pipelines to break, causing flooding in streets.

It is not yet clear if the quake had any impact on the country's large oilfields and liquefied natural gas terminal, which are also based on Sumatra.

Wednesday's tremor was felt in the capital of Jakarta, and in Singapore and Malaysia.

Geologists have long said Padang, with a population of 900,000, may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location.

Indonesia, a vast archipelago, straddles continental plates and is prone to seismic activity along what is known as the Pacific Ring of Fire. The quake was along the same fault line that spawned the massive December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people in a dozen countries.

Hours earlier, a tsunami had swept into Samoa, American Samoa and Tonga, killing at least 99 people after a strong underwater quake in the South Pacific.

Ondoy - Kethsana Worst Storm in 40 years

(UPDATE) Ondoy's death toll climbs to 246
abs-cbnNEWS.com | 09/29/2009 8:17 AM




MANILA - The government on Tuesday has confirmed a total of 246 people dead and nearly 40 people still missing following devastating floods and landslides in Luzon caused by tropical storm Ondoy.

As of 3 p.m., the National Disaster Coordinating Council (NDCC) said it has accounted for 246 dead people with 101 of the fatalities coming from Metro Manila and 105 from Region IV-A.

The NDCC said 38 people remain missing and 5 people were injured due to flashfloods and landslides that hit several areas in Luzon on Saturday.

The number of those affected by the tropical storm’s onslaught on Saturday has climbed to 1.93 million.

The agency said 319,547 people were sheltered in 607 makeshift evacuation camps and schools around Metro Manila, Rizal and other areas in Luzon placed by the government under a state of national calamity.

Another 247,870 people are outside evacuation centers, mostly with relatives, the NDCC said.

The cost of damages to property and crops by Ondoy has also risen to P4.69 billion, the NDCC added.

In a press conference on Monday afternoon, NDCC chairman and Defense Secretary Gilberto Teodoro said the Philippine government will send requests for international assistance thru the United Nation Resident Coordinator.

The government, television networks, movie stars and non-government groups have been going out and pleading for relief goods, cash and medicine for the thousands of affected families staying in cramped evacuation centers.

Classes in all school levels in Metro Manila, Laguna, Batangas and other areas remained suspended on Tuesday.

Teodoro said he and education officials will meet on Tuesday to decide if there is a need to extend class suspensions.

He said the NDCC is preparing for another possible storm to enter while floods in some parts of Rizal province have yet to recede.

Fair weather

The government's weather bureau PAGASA said the southern part of Luzon and western section of Visayas will experience mostly cloudy skies and rainshowers on Tuesday due to an enhanced southwest monsoon.

PAGASA weather bureau chief Prisco Nilo on Monday said that he expects fair weather in the next 2 to 3 days in Metro Manila.

"We don't expect prolonged strong rains in Metro Manila area," he added.

"What happened is that, the southwest monsoon is enhanced by Ondoy although it's far away already and so we're still experiencing some rains in Metro Manila and adjacent areas," Nilo said.

However, he said the weather situation could change significantly.

Nilo said the PAGASA has monitored two "cloud clusters" that may affect the Philippines in the coming weeks.

"These are only cloud clusters. They're not tropical depressions yet," he said.

as of 09/29/2009 10:14 PM

Tsunami in South Pacific

A tsunami triggered by a strong quake in the South Pacific has killed at least 34 people in Samoa, say reports.
Samoa's delegate to the US Congress, Eni Faleomavaega, told AFP thousands of people had been left homeless.
Dr Lemalu Fiu, at a hospital in the Samoan capital, Apia, said the number of casualties was expected to rise as people arrived from coastal areas.
An 8.3-magnitude quake struck at 1748 GMT, generating 15ft (4.5m) waves in some areas of Samoa and American Samoa.
The Samoa islands comprise two separate entities - the nation of Samoa and American Samoa, a US territory - with a total population of about 250,000 people.
A tsunami warning was issued, but it has now been cancelled.
President Barack Obama has declared a major disaster in American Samoa, enabling federal funding to made available to help victims.

Floating cars

"Some of the areas there are only a few feet above sea level, so you can imagine the devastation," said Mr Faleomavaega. "It caused severe damage to property, there are cars floating everywhere. "Mase Akapo, a National Weather Service meteorologist in American Samoa, told the AP news agency that at least 14 people had been killed in four different villages on the main island of Tutuila.
He said another 20 people had died Samoa

The water was swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk



Talutala Mauala, Secretary General of the Red Cross in Samoa, said she was travelling to the country's south coast, where injuries had also been reported.
"We won't know the full extent of the damage until we get there and see for ourselves," she said.

Ms Mauala said it could take many months for people to rebuild their homes.
An Associated Press reporter said he had seen "bodies everywhere" in the main hospital in Lalomanu, on Samoa's main island of Upolu, including at least one child.
South Korea's Yonhap news agency has reported that three South Koreans were among the dead and one is still missing.

Beaches gone
The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre (PTWC) said the quake struck at a depth of 33km (20 miles) some 190km (120 miles) from Apia. Waves of 5.1ft (1.57m) hit Apia and Pago Pago in American Samoa.

People fled for higher ground as the waves approached
Radio New Zealand quoted Samoan residents as saying that villages were inundated and homes and cars swept away.

Graeme Ansell, a New Zealander near Apia, told the radio station the beach village of Sau Sau Beach Fale had been "wiped out".

"There's not a building standing. We've all clambered up hills, and one of our party has a broken leg. There will be people in a great lot of need around here," he said.
Samoalive News said local radio stations had been receiving reports of high sea swells hitting coastal areas on the eastern and southern side of Upolu island
"School has been called off for the day with tsunami warnings calling for people to head to higher grounds," the website said.

Witnesses have reported scenes of destruction.



"It's horrible... The village is gone and my once beautiful beach front villa has now been submerged in water," Josh Nayangu told the BBC after fleeing the area on a small fishing boat with his wife and son.
Ula Osasa-Mano, who was visiting family on the island, told the BBC the water along the Apia seawall was turbulent.
"The water was kind of swirling like a spa pool outwards [towards] the rim of the lagoon and in a few seconds the water sunk," Ula Osasa-Mano said.
General alert

The PTWC - a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration - issued a general alert for the South Pacific region.
Stuart Weinstein, the deputy director of the PTWC, told the BBC that the agency was monitoring the situation, but said the wave was expected to be "much smaller" than the 2004 Asian tsunami which killed about 230,000 people in 11 countries.
Mr Weinstein said Tuesday's quake had only had 3% of the energy generated by the 2004 quake.

He said he expected the quake to be destructive in the areas closest to the epicentre, but said it "remains to be seen" how far any devastation would spread.
By 2200 GMT, the tsunami warning had been cancelled.

Black Carbon Warms the Planet Second Only to CO2

ISIS Report 28/09/09

Eighty percent of black carbon emissions come from fossil fuels and biomass burning associated with deforestation; reducing black carbon emissions may be the quickest, cheapest way to save the climate Dr. Mae-Wan Ho

New research shows that airborne soot, or black carbon (BC) aerosols resulting from incomplete combustion, are warming the earth much more than previously thought [1]. According to Veerabhadran Ramanathan at the Scripps Institution of Oceanography San Diego and Greg Carmichael at the University of Iowa, the warming effect of black carbon is 55 percent that of CO2, the biggest contributor to global warming.

The annual emission of BC (for year 1996) was estimated at about 8 Tg (1012g); of which 20 percent comes from biological fuels (wood, dung and crop residues), 40 percent from fossil fuels (diesel and coal) and 40 percent from open biomass burning (associated with deforestation and crop residue burning). High BC emissions occur in both northern and southern hemispheres, the former from fossil fuels and the latter from open biomass burning. BC is often transported long distances, mixing with other aerosols on the way such as sulphates, nitrates, organics, dust and sea salt, to form transcontinental plumes of brown clouds that extend vertically 3 to 5 km. BC is removed from the atmosphere by rain and snowfall; that and direct deposition limits the atmospheric lifetime of BC to about a week.

Major BC sources coincide with atmospheric solar heating and surface dimming

Until about 1950s, North America and Western Europe were the main sources of soot emissions, but now developing nations in the tropics and East Asia are the major source regions. Field observations and satellite sensors reveal that BC concentrations peak close to major source regions, giving rise to regional hotspots of solar heating in the Indo-Gangetic plains in South Asia, eastern China, most of Southeast Asia including Indonesia, regions of Africa between sub-Sahara and South Africa, Mexico and Central America, and most of Brazil and Peru in South America.

Whereas CO2 heats the earth surface through the greenhouse effect, BC heats the earth by decreasing its albedo in several ways. (Albedo is the fraction of solar energy not absorbed but reflected from the earth back into space.) First it heats the atmosphere by absorbing solar radiation reflected by the earth’s surface to the atmosphere. This is referred to as ‘top of atmosphere’ or TOA heating. Second, soot inside cloud drops and ice crystals decrease the albedo of clouds by enhancing absorption of solar energy. Third, when airborne black carbon particles, or soot, is deposited over snow and sea ice, it darkens the surfaces and decreases the otherwise high albedo, contributing to the melting of Arctic ice.

Ramanathan and Carmichael estimate that TOC heating (the first pathway), is 0.9 W/ m2 (range 0.4 to 1.2 W/m2), which is 55 percent of the CO2 warming of 1.66 W/m2; greater than that due to other greenhouse gases including methane, and much larger than the 0.2 to 0.4 W/m2 estimated previously by the IPCC.

BC also absorbs solar energy directly, a heating effect estimated at 2.6 W/m2. This direct absorption reduces the solar radiation reaching the earth surface, resulting in a dimming effect estimated at -1.7W/m2.

The calculations are complicated by the mix of aerosols that originate from some sources of BC which co-emit organic carbon compounds (such as benzene, ethane and ethyne from wood burning, all harmful to human health [2]) and sulphate, also harmful to human health [3], that tend to have a cooling effect by direct light scattering and interaction with clouds.

BC melting glaciers and Arctic ice

Models that include only the BC contribution leads to a warming from the surface to about 12 km altitude by as much as 0.6 ˚C over most of the northern hemisphere including the Arctic region, comparable to that due to greenhouse gases [1].

BC atmospheric heating may be an important contributing factor to the melting of Himalayan glaciers. Analysis of temperature trend reveals warming in excess of 1 ˚C since the 1950s [4]. Models suggest that movement of the warm air heated by BC from South and East Asia over the Himalayas contributes warming as much as 0.6 ˚C of the region, which is as large as the warming trend due to greenhouse gases [5]. More than two-thirds of the Himalayan glaciers have retreated, with disastrous consequences for downstream agriculture.

BC contributes substantially to melting of snow through direct soot deposition over snow and sea ice. It darkens the snow and enhances solar absorption significantly. Model simulations showed that the deposition of BC from sources in North America and Europe over the Arctic sea ice may have resulted in an Arctic surface warming trend of as much as 0.5 to 1 ˚C [6]. In addition, the study estimated that BC-induced reduction of snow albedo contributes a major warming of 20 W/m2.

Measurements of BC in ice cores indicate that sources and concentrations of BC in Greenland varied greatly since 1788 as the result of forest fires and industrial activities. Beginning about 1850, industrial emissions resulted in a seven-fold increase in BC concentration, with most change occurring in winter. At its maximum between 1906 and 1910, the estimated surface warming effect in early summer from BC in Arctic snow was about 3 W/m2, 8 times the typical pre-industrial average [7]. The direct absorption of sunlight by BC heats the Arctic atmosphere by approximately the same amount as human-injected CO2 in spring and summer, when snow and ice are most vulnerable to melting [8]. Black carbon also warms the Arctic, including in winter, by thickening low-level clouds that trap more of Earth’s emitted heat (TOA heating, see above).

A draft white paper from the US Environment Protection Agency point to diesel and open burning (both agricultural and wildfires) as the major sources of BC that reach the Arctic from the eight Arctic Council nations: the United States, Canada, Iceland, Norway, Sweden, Finland, Denmark, and Russia [9]. These sources also comprise the greatest part of BC emissions in near-Arctic regions (north of approximately forty degrees latitude), including much of the European Union, Ukraine and China north of Beijing. With increased shipping expected in and near the Arctic due to sea ice loss, marine sources of BC will be more important. The draft white paper concludes that “There is sufficient evidence to support the reduction of BC emissions from the identified sources (diesel, burning and marine) as a means to slow the rate of warming in the Arctic over the next few decades.” It recommends practical measures such as retrofits of diesel engines with particulate diesel filters, management of springtime biomass burning; and also pointing to significant mortality and morbidity averted due to air quality benefits from reducing particulate emission.

BC perturbs the monsoons

Rainfall has been decreasing over the past 50 years over many regions of the tropics, particularly Africa, South Asia and northern China. These drying patterns cannot be explained solely by global warming. Models are now investigating the effects of BC and associated atmospheric brown clouds (ABC) formed by BC with other aerosols [1].

Emissions of BC and other aerosol precursors from South Asia have increased significantly since the 1950s. This results in a dimming trend of about 7 percent as detected by surface radiometers in India, with concomitant decrease in the evaporation of the Indian Ocean, where similar dimming has occurred, so less moisture is fed to the monsoons in South Asia. The dimming suppresses greenhouse warming over the North Indian Ocean while the greenhouse warming proceeds unabated over the southern Indian Ocean. As a result, the summer-time sea surface north-south temperature (SST) gradient is decreased, and has been decreasing since the 1950s. The decrease of the SST gradient weakens the monsoonal circulation, and hence the monsoon rains during summertime. At the same time, the atmospheric heating gradient has increased. BC solar heating of the atmosphere over South Asia strengthens the monsoon outflow with stronger rising motions over the subcontinent, accompanied by a bigger influx of moisture into south Asia. This effect increases rainfall and peaks during spring when BC heating is at its most intense.

These effects of BC have been invoked to explain the Sahel drought of the 1970s and 1980s.

BC impacts on health worse than previously thought

A new report released in June 2009 from the non-profit Health Effects Institute (set up by the Environmental Protection Agency in the US) finds that risk of premature death from cardiovascular disease from soot is twice as high as previously thought [10]. It goes up by 24 percent for people living in soot-laden areas instead of 12 percent. The study draws on data gathered from 350 000 people over 18 years, and an additional 150 000 people in more recent years. It included 116 American cities, with the highest levels of soot particles in the eastern suburbs of Los Angeles and the Central Valley of California, Birmingham, Alabama; Atlanta; the Ohio River Valley; and Pittsburgh. The sources of the fine BC particles include diesel engines, automobile tires, coal fired power plants and oil refineries.

The health impacts of BC are worse in developing countries [11], where an estimated 1.8 million people die every year from exposure to BC and other emissions from indoor fires. The health impacts of co-emissions such as organic carbons and sulphate aerosols are also known [2, 3]. The global annual infant and adult premature mortalities due to sulphate aerosol exposure are estimated to be nearly 0.14 and 0.85 million, respectively.

Reducing BC emission can result in immediate climate and health benefits

Because the average life time of BC in the air is or the order of 10 days, there is a real possibility of reducing warming quickly by cutting BC emissions, which is much cheaper than cutting CO2 emissions, Ramanathan told a journalist [12]. And it would deliver substantial benefits as a bonus. Given the concentration of BC emissions in Asia, which is also having dire local air pollution effects, reducing black carbon emissions should be an important part of international development projects.

China and India account for ~25 to 35 percent of global BC emissions, and their expanding economies could make them an even larger source. Technologies to reduce black-carbon emissions already exist: newer combustion techniques and after treatments (scrubbing) often reduce particle emissions by several orders of magnitude. Providing alternative energy-efficient and smoke-free cookers and transferring technology for reducing soot emissions from coal combustion in small industries could have major impacts both on health and on the climate.

Ramanathan and Carmichael [1] showed that simply replacing the biological fuels used currently with BC-free cookers such as solar, biogas and natural gas in South and East Asia would have a dramatic effect. Over South Asia, a 70 to 50 percent reduction in BC heating, and in East Asia, a 20 to 40 percent reduction.

ISIS has been proposing anaerobic digestion of organic farm and human waste to generate methane for both developing and developed countries [13-15] (Biogas Bonanza for Third World Development , SiS 27; How to Beat Climate Change & Post Fossil Fuel Economy, SiS 29; Organic Agriculture and Localized Food & Energy Systems for Mitigating Climate Change, SiS 40). This is all the more relevant now in the context of reducing BC emissions.

Andrew Grieshop and colleagues at University of British Columbia, Vancouver, in Canada point out that eliminating all present-day emissions of black carbon globally over the next 50 years would have an approximate climate mitigation effect equivalent to removing 25 Gt C from the atmosphere over the same period [16]. According to conservative estimates, one tonne of black carbon causes about 600 times the warming of one tonne CO2 over a period of 100 years.

Source: http://www.i-sis.org.uk/blackCarbonWarmsThePlanets.php

UERM Flood

Typhoon Ondoy brought a months rains in just 24 hours...

The video is from a school near where I am staying... about 2 km away.

I am not surprised this happened.

More about this story...