Archive | October 5, 2014
Typhoon Vongfong emergency warning has been issued for the islands of Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan
Guam residents are preparing for a typhoon expected to bring ferocious winds to the Mariana Islands.
The Pacific Daily News reports a typhoon warning has been issued for the islands of Guam, Rota, Tinian, Saipan and their surrounding coastal waters.
Typhoon Vongfong was about 350 miles east-southeast of Guam as of Sunday morning.
The National Weather Service reports the storm has maximum sustained winds of 80 mph. The weather service expects the storm to intensify.
Guam public schools and universities have cancelled Monday classes to prepare.
Gov. Eddie Calvo is encouraging residents to stock up on supplies and listen to the latest storm updates.
Tamuning resident Melchor Roque bought food and water at a supermarket. He plans to put up shutters at home.
Major power outage hits over 85,000 and causes mayhem in New Zealand
Auckland’s power cut is costing retailers at one of the city’s largest shopping malls more than $1 million a day in sales.
The Sylvia Park mall at Mt Wellington, south of the central city, was shut yesterday and again today due to the power outage that at one stage left as many as 85,000 households across the city without electricity.
Chris Gudgeon, chief executive of the mall’s owner Kiwi Income Property Trust, said the Sylvia Park Pak ‘n Save was trading today but all the other stores were closed. Power was expected to be back on this evening.
Gudgeon said Sylvia Park’s retailers did a combined $460m in sales a year with about 12 million shopper visits to the mall annually.
“Obviously every trading day is different but that’s an average of $1.3m per day,” he said.
“It’s busier on weekends and in the school holidays, which we are in at the moment.
“Retail is recreation and it’s part of our leisure activity. It’s also good fun in the school holidays to come and partake in the activities at the mall.”
Prime Minister John Key Prime Minister John Key said a full inquiry would take place into a “freak fire” which cut power to 85,000 households in Auckland.
Banks Hit
All the major banks have branches and money machines closed by the Auckland power cut.
ANZ’s Sylvia Park, Eastridge and Remuera branches were shut today, while 11 ATM’s were also closed.
ASB said Eastridge, Lunn Ave, Meadowbank, Remuera, St Heliers and Sylvia Park branches were closed until further notice, with four ATM’s also unavailable.
Westpac’s St Johns, Sylvia Park and St Heliers branches are closed today, with ATM’s at Sylvia Park and Countdown Mt Wellington and St Johns unavailable.
Kiwibank’s St Heliers, Eastridge, Meadowbank, Sylvia Park, Panmure and Glen Innes branches were closed, while a spokesman said Remuera would be open by midday today.
A further seven ATM’s were also out of action in those areas.
A spokeswoman for payment network Paymark said there had been no noticeable fall in card transaction volumes on a nationwide basis yesterday, but Auckland-specific numbers were still being analysed.
Compensation
Gudgeon said the lost sales revenue at Sylvia park was an issue for tenants to deal with and most would have business interruption insurance. Power wasn’t the mall’s responsibility.
“We can’t guarantee the power supply,” he said.
Gudgeon said the mall had systems to last a couple of hours in the event of a brief power outage but not one lasting a couple of days.
“Having had these issues in the past, we, like most other Aucklanders thought this had been addressed and we had a first-world power supply, security of supply and redundancy,” he said.
“I can understand a short outage but with a prolonged outage you would really should be directing your questions to Vector or Transpower.”
Some retailers are also reported to have had to dump frozen stock that had spoiled.
Massive landslide kills 18 miners in Indonesia
At least 18 miners were killed in landslide at an illegal gold mine in Indonesia’s West Kalimantan province, an official said Sunday.
The accident occurred Saturday afternoon at Bengkayang district, when 18 people were working underground, Ali Mahfud, an official at the national disaster management and mitigation agency said.
Illegal mining is common in Indonesia and the lack of safety standard in operation has often caused incidents that have killed scores of miners.
Massive landslide blocks key Northeast highway connecting Guwahati and Meghalaya, India
Hundreds of vehicles have been left stranded on the National Highway connecting Guwahati and Meghalaya capital Shillong after a massive landslide on Sunday. The landslide occurred around 5.45 pm at Umling, around 43 km from Guwahati.
Ri Bhoi DSP (Traffic) Rymphang Pde said, “It will take several hours to clear the debris.”
Half-a-dozen bulldozers have been pressed into service to clear the highway, which is not the only road link between the two capital, but also vital lifeline for Tripura, Mizoram and Barak Valley in southern Assam.
Mayan Volcano to erupt soon; 55,000 people and 19,000 animals evacuated in the Philippines
After evacuating about 55,000 people, Philippine authorities said on Sunday they were labouring to move thousands of farm animals from areas threatened by the country’s most active volcano.
About 3,000 animals, mostly water buffaloes, cows and goats, are still in the six-kilometre (3.8-mile) “danger zone” around Mayon volcano which is showing signs of possible eruption, said provincial governor Joey Salceda.
“We have been doing this for two weeks so there may be about 3,000 animals left that we have to chase after,” he said on radio station DZMM.
He said about 6,000 pet dogs and other “pets” and 10,000 farm animals had already been moved to safety.
The pigs owned by people in the danger zone had already been slaughtered or sold, he added.
Regional civil defence director Bernardo Alejandro said that the animals were being taken to government agricultural centres until the danger had passed.
He told AFP that moving the animals was crucial so that farmers in evacuation centres don’t frequently return to the danger zone to take care of them.
The 2,640-metre (8,070-foot) Mayon, located about 330 kilometres southwest of Manila, is a draw for local and foreign tourists but an enduring danger for anyone getting too close.
The volcano has been simmering for months, indicating an eruption could take place, said the resident volcanologist for Mayon, Ed Laguerta.
He told AFP that if rainwater gets trapped in the volcano’s edifice, this could cause a steam explosion which in turn could trigger an outflow of magma.
Residents living in the danger zone have since been moved to makeshift evacuation centres, usually schools and other government buildings.
Four foreign tourists and their local tour guide were killed when Mayon last erupted in May 2013.
In December 2006, 1,000 people died as a strong typhoon hit near Mayon, unleashing an avalanche of volcanic mud from an eruption four months earlier.
In 1814, more than 1,200 people were killed when lava flows buried the town of Cagsawa.
MAGNITUDE 5.0 ICELAND REGION
Subject to change
Depth: 2.3 km
Depth: 2.3 km
Distances: Latitude, Longitude 64.609 -17.484
(4.1 km SSE of Bárðarbunga)
Earthquake location 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
Time and magnitude of earthquake 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
MAGNITUDE 4.0 ICELAND REGION
Subject to change
Depth: 2.1 km
Depth: 2.1 km
Distances: Latitude, Longitude 64.669 -17.452
(4.8 km NE of Bárðarbunga)
Earthquake location 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
Time and magnitude of earthquake 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
MAGNITUDE 3.6 ICELAND REGION
Subject to change
Depth: 1.5 km
Depth: 1.5 km
Distances: Latitude, Longitude 64.668 -17.464
(4.3 km NE of Bárðarbunga)
Earthquake location 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
Time and magnitude of earthquake 05 Oct 20:45 GMT
YELLOWSTONE REGION MAGNITUDE 2.8 CHALLIS, ID
http://www.seis.utah.edu/req2webdir/recenteqs/Quakes/mb14492534.html
Subject To Change
Depth: 5.4 km
Distances: Challis, ID – 14 km (9 miles) NW (326 degrees)
Clayton, ID – 39 km (24 miles) N (9 degrees)
Stanley, ID – 65 km (41 miles) NE (48 degrees)
Salmon, ID – 72 km (45 miles) SSW (208 degrees)
Boise, ID – 188 km (117 miles) NE (53 degrees)
MAGNITUDE 5.1 FIJI REGION
http://www.emsc-csem.org/Earthquake/earthquake.php?id=402935
Subject To Change
Depth: 10 km
Distances: 189 km NW of Nuku‘alofa, Tonga / pop: 22,400 / local time: 06:16:49.4 2014-10-06
590 km E of Suva, Fiji / pop: 77,366 / local time: 05:16:49.4 2014-10-06
805 km SW of Apia, Samoa / pop: 40,407 / local time: 07:16:49.4 2014-10-06
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