Major landslide kills at least 17 people with at least 200 trapped in Maharashtra state, India

A mudslide surrounds a building in Malin village, where up to 200 people remain trapped, a rescue official said

A landslide has struck a village in western India following heavy monsoon rains, killing at least 17 people and leaving as many as 200 trapped, officials said.

Emergency services rushed to the remote village of Malin in the Pune district of Maharashtra state, where debris from a hill collapsed on to homes while residents were sleeping.

“Six victims have been rescued and 17 dead bodies recovered so far,” said Tripti Parule, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Authority.

She earlier said 150 to 200 people were feared trapped, citing district officials.

Nine teams have been mobilised by the national disaster response force (NDRF) with 378 trained personnel to help with the rescue effort in the village, Parule said, although ongoing rains have been hampering operations.

Television footage showed a chunk of hillside giving way and a cascade of mud, rocks and trees sparking clouds of dust below. About 50 houses were thought to have been damaged in the disaster.

The prime minister, Narendra Modi, described the loss of life as saddening on Twitter, while footage showed workers carrying a victim on a stretcher towards vehicles as a crowd watched.

Heavy machinery has been mobilised to try to rescue those trapped, while about 30 ambulances were at the scene, local government official Saurav Rao told the Press Trust of India news agency.

“Exact number of casualties is not known as we are moving slowly to ensure that those trapped are removed safely,” Rao said.

Divisional commissioner Prabhakar Deshmukh said the rescue operation was a challenge. The area is 15 to 20km (nine to 12 miles) from the nearest medical facility, and the NDRF had difficulty reaching the scene because of damage caused to the roads.

Heavy rains have been falling for days in Maharashtra as a result of the annual monsoon. Building collapses are common in India, especially during the rainy season, with millions living in dilapidated old structures, or newly built but illegal constructions made from substandard materials.

An apartment tower under construction was razed in the southern city of Chennai in late June following heavy rains, killing 61 people, most of them labourers. A similar accident on the outskirts of Mumbai last year left 74 dead.

Last year, the Guardian gathered statistics showing that 2,651 people had been killed across India in 2012 from the collapse of 2,737 structures, including houses and bridges.

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Massive sinkholes are appearing in Russia. How did they get there?

Three large sinkholes have suddenly surprised the country of Russia the past few weeks and their appearances have surprised many experts. The first sinkhole was found a few weeks back in the Yamal Peninsula in northern Russia, near the arctic circle. The size of it was pretty large, at 160 feet around and 230 feet deep, about the size of half a soccer field. The second sinkhole was much smaller but found only 18 miles away from the first one.

The third one was just discovered and is the smallest of the three. But how did these sinkholes appear? How did they get there? Some experts now believe they have the answer.

This area is a large producer of natural gas, but no one believes that the production companies have caused them, they think it was all mother nature herself.

This region of the globe was covered by a large sea over 10,000 years ago. When the sea dried up the salt, water, sand and gas all froze in the soil under ground. But since the earth is warming at an alarming rate, it is melting all the elements and creating pressure. This pressure is great enough to act like champagne in a bottle and eventually the top blew right off.

More sinkholes could appear in the coming days, but no one really knows. It all depends on if the earth has released enough pressure with the three sinkholes already found.

http://tinyurl.com/k5qt23l

Typhoon Warnings in Place as Halong Moves over Guam

Tropical Storm Halong (Probable Typhoon) continues to rapidly develop as it bears down on the Mariana islands today packing winds up to 83 Gusting to 126kph as of Wednesday morning.

 

Winds at Anderson AFB continue to climb as well as the storm approaches, even at 8AM tropical storm strength winds have already been reported at the airport.

 

The storm is expected to pass through the Rota channel near Rota about 74km north of Guam during the early afternoon hours local time.  A Typhoon Warning is in effect for Rota. A Typhoon Watch remain in effect for Guam. A Warning means destructive typhoon force winds of 75 mph or greater are possible within the next 24 hours. A Typhoon Watch means those winds are possible within 24 to 48 hours., Tropical Storm Warnings are also in effect for Guam.

Already we have seen reports of light debris being tossed about amidst this storm as well as heavy rainfall.  For those who are on Guam try to remain in doors until the storm passes.

 

 

All government offices on the islands have also been closed on Wednesday. Furthermore all flights in and out of Guam have been cancelled.

 

 

Conditions are expected to remain gusty through Wednesday but slowing tapering off by the evening hours. By Thursday morning the scattered showers will still be in the area but Halong will have moved off to the west.

http://tinyurl.com/l7qpaf2

Ebola virus: ‘We should be more worried about viruses in the UK’ says infectious diseases expert

An infectious diseases expert has revealed that there are diseases in the UK which pose more of a threat to the UK than the Ebola virus.

The Ebola outbreak in West Africa is the world’s biggest and most widespread to date and Dr Chris van Tulleken also told This Morning that a case in London was “not impossible”.

Speaking to hosts Ruth Langsford and Eamonn Holmes, he said: “It’s very interesting that we’re getting excited about it. Ebola has been going for many, many months. If we’re going to get excited about it there are many, many more diseases in our own country, that pose more risk, that’s what we should be worried about… It’s not impossible that we will see cases in London.”

However, when asked about the risks to the population Dr Chris said: “It’s not terribly contagious.

“It is a category grade 4 virus which means it’s both relatively easy to spread and extremely deadly if you get it.”

Dr Chris van Tulleken tells This Morning that diseases in the UK “pose more risk” than deadly Ebola

 

He added: “It’s not a very well understood virus but one of the major mechanisms is bleeding which leads to multi-organ failure.”

“The incubation period is from 2-21 days but it can happen very quickly.”

When asked why the virus is spreading in West Africa, replied: “It is extremely difficult to contain this kind of virus in that part of the world.”

http://tinyurl.com/okbony3

Nine killed in flash floods in China

Nine people have been killed in flash floods in southwest China’s Yunnan province, the ministry of civil affairs said Tuesday. 

 

More than 1,600 people have been affected and 100 hectares of crops destroyed in the cities of Baoshan, Lincang and Dali, Xinhua quoted the ministry as saying in a statement. 

 

Five people have been reported missing in the floods.

 

The flash floods Monday struck Baoshan, a city in the western part of the province. 

 

Relief material including quilts, blankets and tents have been sent to the area. 

 

Heavy rain and flooding also hit Jiangsu, Jiangxi and Sichuan, the ministry added. 

 

The flash floods come in the wake of Typhoon Matmo that struck eastern China provinces this week, while southern regions were dealing with the aftermath of Rammasun, the strongest typhoon to strike the country in four decades.

http://tinyurl.com/otb3s92

CME TO STRIKE THE MAGNETOSPHERE ON 1st_2nd AUGUST

***URGENT***

CME TO STRIKE THE MAGNETOSPHERE

  ON 1st_2nd AUGUST 2014

***BE ON ALERT***

MAGNITUDE 5.7 BOUGAINVILLE REGION, P.N.G.

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000rykv#summary

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 119km (74mi) SW of Panguna, Papua New Guinea
132km (82mi) SW of Arawa, Papua New Guinea
423km (263mi) SE of Kokopo, Papua New Guinea
550km (342mi) ESE of Kimbe, Papua New Guinea
615km (382mi) WNW of Honiara, Solomon Islands

MAGNITUDE 5.5 SOUTHERN MID-ATLANTIC RIDGE

http://earthquake.usgs.gov/earthquakes/eventpage/usb000ryhe#summary

Subject To Change

Depth: 9 km

Distances: 779km (484mi) WSW of Jamestown, Saint Helena
2633km (1636mi) WSW of Namibe, Angola
2643km (1642mi) S of Harper, Liberia
2656km (1650mi) SSW of Tabou, Ivory Coast
2812km (1747mi) S of Monrovia, Liberia

MAGNITUDE 5.5 SOUTHERN IRAN

http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=393092

Subject To Change

Depth: 10 km

Distances: 214 km NW of Dubai, United Arab Emirates / pop: 1,137,347 / local time: 05:32:10.4 2014-07-30
47 km W of Kīsh, Iran / pop: 20,922 / local time: 06:02:10.4 2014-07-30