Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 Earthquake hits Tonga.
5.1 Earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.1 Earthquake hits eastern New Guinea, Papua New Guinea.
5.1 Earthquake hits north of Halmahera, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits central Peru.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms
No current tropical storms.
NewsBytes:
China – The death toll following the recent torrential rains in China has risen to 26. Eleven people died in Hunan, five in Jiangxi and four in Fujian. Guizhou, Guangxi and Chongqing each reported two deaths. Flash floods and landslides have toppled more than 8,700 houses, damaged another 66,000 homes.
Philippines – Heavy rains have caused floods and landslides in four southern Philippines provinces, displacing thousands of villagers. Authorities have declared a state of emergency in the provinces of Cotabato, Maguindanao and Bukidnon, where 91 villages have been flooded. More than 13,000 families are receiving food aid and other assistance in evacuation centres. Thirty-five schools in Maguindanao province have been inundated and closed since last week.
New Zealand – A brief tornado blew through the West Coast township of Rutherglen on Saturday, lifting a shed off the ground and throwing it into a fence.
Drought
Drought – India
National drought fears loom as India gets deficient rainfall. India is staring at the spectre of a possible drought as the progress of the monsoon has been abysmally slow. If the city of Pune doesn’t receive a good rainfall by June 25, “tough measures” will be taken to tackle the looming water scarcity. Pune is the seventh largest metropolis in India and the second largest in the state of Maharashtra. The dams that supply water to the city hold a storage which can only last till July 25.
“We have water storage that will last a month. Every year the city receives at least some rains in the first fortnight of June. This year, however, there hasn’t been any rainfall in the city nor in the catchment areas of the dams which provide water to the city. We shall see how monsoon behaves for a couple of days. If it doesn’t rain we will call a review meeting on June 25 and will take some tough measures.”
Drought -North Korea
North Korea is suffering such a serious drought that soldiers have been mobilized to irrigate fields and paddies.
Disease
Lassa Fever Outbreak Reported In Nigeria
At least four people have died and another 11 are infected in the latest Lassa fever outbreak recorded in Jos-North, Jos-South and Bassa Local Government Areas of Plateau State.
Lassa fever virus is endemic in Nigeria and is now a serious problem in 23 of the 36 states of that country.
Malaria Outbreak in Tipura – Bengal
The death toll in recent malaria outbreak in the state of Tripura has gone up to 41, including 31 children and 10 adults. More than 22,000 people have fallen ill due to the sudden outbreak of malaria in the hilly areas of Tripura.
Volcanos
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Poas (Costa Rica): Phreatic explosions from the acid crater lake continue to occur at the volcano. During a field campaign on 18 June, OVSICORI scientists observed 5 eruptions during 3 hours. Some of them damaged solar panels of measuring instruments. A strong eruption on 20 June ejected a dense plume of steam and mud up to 200m above the lake. As the pictures show, it also produced a circular base surge (fast-traveling turbulent pyroclastic flow), typical for explosive magma-water interaction.
Ubinas (Peru): Activity has been lower during the past days. Ash emissions have become less frequent and smaller.
Piton de la Fournaise (La Réunion): The new eruption at the SE flank of the Dolomieu crater appears to have ended already during the night Saturday to Sunday 22 June. It had produced a series of small lava flows that traveled down to the base of the cone and remained well inside the Enclos. It was one of the volcano’s shortest and smallest eruptions in recent years, which is surprising given the relatively long interval of repose.