Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.8 Earthquake hits the North Atlantic Ocean.
5.3 Earthquake hits southeast of Easter Island.
5.1 Earthquake hits Halmahera, Indonesia.
5.0 Earthquake hits Mindoro in the Philippines.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the North Atlantic: Hurricane Matthew is located about 20 mi…30 km E of Hilton Head South Carolina and about 50 mi…80 km SSW of Charleston South Carolina with maximum sustained winds…105 mph…165 km/h. Present movement…NNE or 30 degrees at 12 mph…19 km/h.
Tropical Storm Nicole is located about 445 mi…715 km S of Bermuda and about 520 mi…835 km N of San Juan Puerto Rico with maximum sustained winds…50 mph…85 km/h.4resent movement…S or 190 degrees at 7 mph…11 km/h.
In the Western Pacific: Tropical Storm 22w (Aere), located approximately 141 nm east-southeast of Hong Kong, is tracking northeastward at 01 knot.
Tropical depression 23w (Twenty-Three), located approximately 866 nm east-southeast of Iwo To, is tracking west-northwestward at 15 knots.
Newsbytes:
Haiti – The full scale of the devastation in hurricane-hit rural Haiti became clear on Friday as the death toll surged past 400, three days after Hurricane Matthew levelled huge swaths of the country’s south. Aerial footage from the hardest-hit towns showed a ruined landscape of metal shanties with roofs blown away and downed trees everywhere. Brown mud from overflowing rivers covered the ground.
Meanwhile, Georgia and the Carolinas brace for flooding as Hurricane Matthew heads north. In Florida more than 600 000 homes remain without power.
Thailand – Monsoon floods in Thailand have killed three people and submerged more than 68,000 households, officials said on Friday. Three bodies were found drowned in floodwaters in Nakornsawan province, 240 kilometres north of Bangkok, the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation said in its latest flood report. The inundation has affected more than 68,000 households nationwide.
Nature – Images
Interesting Images
Volcano Triplets Spotted Erupting
Three active volcanoes simultaneously erupting and unleashing giant plumes of smoke were spotted by a NASA satellite as it passed over a remote archipelago in the South Atlantic Ocean.
The three stratovolcanoes — a type of composite volcano built of layers of lava, ash and stone — are located on the South Sandwich Islands, which are about 1,700 miles (2,800 kilometres) southeast of Buenos Aires, Argentina. Volcanoes in the region are some of the least studied in the world, because of the remote location and inhospitable environment of the islands.
On Sept. 29, NASA’s Aqua satellite captured the plumes from these volcano triplets in a false-colour image. Clouds and ice in the region make it difficult for satellites to see volcanic activity in natural-colour imagery.
Disease
Wild polio and vaccine derived polio in Nigeria
After more than two years without the detection of wild polio in Nigeria, the Government reported three laboratory confirmed wild poliovirus type one (WPV1) cases with onset between July and August 2016.
Legionnaires Disease – Minnesota, USA
The Minnesota Department of Health says that 23 people who live or work in Hopkins have contracted Legionnaires’ Disease.
According to that news release, seven cooling towers in that city are being investigated in connection to this outbreak. As of September 29, 2016, all of those cooling towers have been or are being remediated by their owners. Remediation is complex process and can consist of heating the water in the building’s system to 157°F, draining tanks, cleaning them, chlorination, and frequent re-testing.
Cholera in Yemen
War-torn Yemen is suffering from a cholera outbreak, the UN’s children agency and the World Health Organisation have said, posing a further threat to infants in the impoverished nation.
The WHO, citing Yemeni health ministry figures, said that eight cholera cases mostly involving children had been recorded in one neighbourhood of the rebel-held capital Sanaa.
The agency says nearly three million people in Yemen are in need of immediate food supplies, while 1.5 million children suffer malnutrition, including 370,000 enduring very severe malnutrition that weakens their immune system.
Volcanos
Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity
Aso (Japan): The largest active volcano in Japan has erupted, sending a column of smoke and ash more than 11,000 meters (nearly 7 miles) into the air, the Japan Meteorological Agency reported early Saturday. Images from the area showed a layer of volcanic ash coating streets, roofs and vehicles. No injuries have been reported. JMA raised the alert level for the area to 3, with 5 being the highest level, and warned members of the public not to approach Mount Aso and to beware of falling rocks.