At least 16 evacuees have died in shelters and hospitals as Mount Sinabung in Karo district of North Sumatra keeps erupting intensively, officials said here on Wednesday.
“Data shows 16 people have been dead,” Syamsul Maarif, head of the national disaster management agency, said at the State Palace.
Mount Sinabung’s eruption continued on Wednesday, spewing column of ash as high as 7,000 meters into the air, the highest since last September, he said.
Maarif confirmed that lava flood was threatening several villages at downstream of rivers as the lava has flowed into the rivers.
“The threat of cold lava is lingering. In recent days, lava has flowed into the rivers and we are concerned that it bloated the rivers and burst their banks,” said Maarif.
The agency so far has allocated 21 billion rupiah (2.1 million U.S. dollars) for emergency relief aid, he said.
So far, the number of evacuees has went up to 26,088, from 25, 516 recorded on Saturday evening.
The 2,457-meter-high Mount Sinabung has been back to life since September last year after remaining quiet for around 400 years. It has erupted intermittently since then, but went into overdrive frequently last November and December.
Mount Sinabung is among the 129 active volcanoes in the archipelago country, which is prone to seismic upheavals as it sits on the Pacific “Ring of Fire” encircling the Pacific Ocean.
Small Plane Makes Crash Landing Near Salt Lake City International Airport
A private plane made a crash landing about a mile north of Salt Lake City International Airport on Wednesday afternoon.
Airport officials reported there were no injuries to the pilot. Initially, there were reports of two people on board, but airport spokeswoman Barbara Gann confirmed there was only one.
The Cessna Centurion crashed in the area of 2100 North and 1700 West, near an ATV park just before 2 p.m.
Gann said the pilot had reported having mechanical issues with the plane, possibly because his gas tank was low or empty. She said the pilot looked for a field to make an emergency landing.
Johnny Longhaul was working with a road construction crew near the area the plane went down.
“For whatever reason, we just looked up and saw this plane. Because the airport is not right there but the altitude was so low, you thought, ‘What’s this dude doing?'” he said. “He was losing altitude in a hurry and then turned around, like did a sharp banking turn. He was westbound and losing altitude, and he was really, really low at this point. I would guess maybe … 100 feet in the air when he did that turn.”
Longhaul said the plane looked like a crop duster because it was flying so low. He said it appeared the pilot was experienced because of the quick maneuvering he made to prevent the aircraft from crashing hard.
Longhaul said he and his partner later drove by the airplane and talked to some of the firefighters at the scene.
“From what we could see, (the plane) was pretty much intact. It was upright with the tail still intact,” he said.
Longhaul said one official mentioned the plane possibly ran out of gas.
As per protocol when a plane goes down, Gann said the airspace around the airport was closed for about 20 minutes after the accident, meaning no flights could take off or land.
One Southwest plane flying into Salt Lake City diverted and landed in Ogden, Gann said. The plane waited for Salt Lake City International Airport to reopen before taking off again and completing its original flight.
MAGNITUDE 4.4 – GREATER LOS ANGELES AREA, CALIF.
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=353196
Subject To Change
Depth: 5 km
Distances: 74 km E of Los Angeles, United States / pop: 3,792,621 / local time: 01:35:19.0 2014-01-15
15 km W of San Bernardino, United States / pop: 209,924 / local time: 01:35:19.0 2014-01-15
5 km N of Fontana, United States / pop: 196,069 / local time: 01:35:19.0 2014-01-15
MAGNITUDE 4.9 – MID-INDIAN RIDGE
http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000m1ga#summary
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 317km (197mi) NNE of Amsterdam Island,
2269km (1410mi) SE of Ile Rodrigues, Mauritius
2618km (1627mi) SE of Mahebourg, Mauritius
2620km (1628mi) SE of Plaine Magnien, Mauritius
2652km (1648mi) SE of Port Louis, Mauritius
MAGNITUDE 5.4 – SAN JUAN, ARGENTINA
Subject To Change
Depth: 88 km
Distances: 354 km NE of Santiago, Chile / pop: 4,837,295 / local time: 05:38:07.0 2014-01-15
63 km NE of San Juan, Argentina / pop: 447,048 / local time: 06:38:07.0 2014-01-15
51 km NE of San Martín, Argentina / pop: 10,140 / local time: 06:38:07.0 2014-01-15
A Boeing 787 Dreamliner has been grounded after white smoke was spotted coming from the plane – the latest in a series of problems that have plagued the model.
Japan Airlines said cockpit warning lights on the plane indicated potential problems with the main battery and charger, and a battery cell appeared to have been leaking.
The fault, coming almost one year since the global 787 fleet was grounded by regulators after two batteries overheated, raised fresh concerns about the model’s safety and reliability.
Boeing said it was “aware of the 787 issue that occurred on Tuesday afternoon at Narita, which appears to have involved the venting of a single battery cell”.
It referred to the process of fumes and heat being channelled outside the aircraft.
In the wake of the news, Boeing shares fell 0.6% to $139.87 on the New York Stock Exchange.
United Airlines spokeswoman Christen David said the company was looking into the matter. United is the only US carrier that uses the 787.
Japan Airlines said maintenance engineers who were in the cockpit saw white smoke outside the plane. When they went outside the aircraft the smoke had dispersed.
On returning to the cockpit, the engineers found warning lights indicating possible faults with the main battery and charger. When they checked the battery they found one of eight cells was leaking a liquid.
The plane, due to depart from Tokyo Narita airport for Bangkok, was taken out of service, and the 158 passengers due to board the plane were put on a separate 787, JAL said.
Aerospace experts said the incident was troubling, but were cautious about drawing broader conclusions.
Almost exactly a year ago, All Nippon Airways grounded its 787 fleet after two 787 batteries overheated on two different planes in less than a fortnight.
Global regulators grounded the worldwide fleet days later, with all Dreamliners left out of action for more than three months while Boeing redesigned the battery, charger and containment system to ensure battery fires would not put the aircraft at risk.
The cause of the battery problems has not been determined.
The Virgin Islands has joined the short list of Caribbean islands with confirmed cases of a mosquito-borne virus that is new to this hemisphere, government announced Monday.
Three Jost Van Dyke residents have been diagnosed with chikungunya, which is rarely fatal but causes similar symptoms as dengue, according to the Ministry of Health and Social Development.
“It is important to note that these confirmed cases were not exposed to travel, which alerts us that the virus is already in our mosquito population,” said Dr. Ronald Georges, a medical officer in the ministry.
So far, there have been nearly 130 cases of the virus recorded in the Caribbean since it was first detected in St. Martin in December. The French side of that island has confirmed 98 cases, while the neighbouring Dutch side has recorded one.
Nearby Martinique has recorded 13 cases, Guadeloupe three, and St. Barthelemy seven, according to the United States Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.
Three confirmed cases of swine flu at the Elmwood jail has spurred authorities to restrict visiting and access to three cell blocks while instituting a series of health measures to prevent further spread of the virus that has caused more than a dozen deaths in the Bay Area this season.
The Santa Clara County Sheriff’s Office confirmed Tuesday that three inmates at the lower-security holding facility in Milpitas are ill with the H1N1 virus, commonly known as swine flu. The infections, the first of which was reported Friday, affect two male dormitories and one female dormitory. Sgt. Kurtis Stenderup, a spokesman for the agency, said jail staff were also dealing with at least four other suspected cases.
Since the beginning of flu season in October, the nine Bay Area counties and Santa Cruz County have recorded at least 17 flu deaths, four of them in Santa Clara, which is the highest individual county total. The bulk of those deaths have been reported since the beginning of the year.
Solano County on Tuesday reported its first flu death.
With a single-dorm capacity of 64, nearly 200 Elmwood inmates have been exposed to the virus. Stenderup said the jail was taking a multitude of health-safety measures but do not plan to seal off the affected areas.
“We’re not up to quarantine status, but we’re trying to take precautions to reduce unnecessary exposure to staff, inmates and the community,” he said.
Among those precautions has been to cancel visiting through Friday for the A and D dorms in the M8 men’s building, and the D dorm in the W2 women’s building. Inmates in those areas are undergoing daily health screenings by jail medical staff and the infected are receiving treatment, Stenderup said.
Access to the dorms is limited to essential personnel, which includes jail staff, law-enforcement personnel and inmate attorneys. They are being provided with masks and gloves and are being advised of the risks of visiting the cells.
Stenderup said inmates cannot be compelled to wear masks if they refuse. Inmate transport between affected and unaffected dorms has been restricted to “essential movements,” which essentially cover extraordinary circumstances.
Flu shots are among the first services offered to inmates upon booking, but they’re only administered with consent. Stenderup said in light of the swine flu cases, inmates who initially refused the shots are being reminded of their availability.
H1N1 appears to be the predominant strain this flu season, causing concern because unlike other strains it can result in deadly pneumonia even in young, healthy people.
Please Donate To Support My Work
Earth Extremities 
Comments