Earth Report – Global Disaster Watch
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 earthquake hits Alberta, Canada.
5.3 earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
5.2 earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
5.2 earthquake hits Fiji.
5.2 earthquake hits the Pacific-Antarctic ridge.
5.1 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits the Ryukyu Islands off Japan.
5.1 earthquake hits Reykjanes ridge.
5.1 earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
5.0 earthquake hits the Aegean Sea.
5.0 earthquake hits Tonga.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are currently no tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
Cameroon – A massive landslide struck in the city of Yaoundé, capital of Cameroon, on 27 November 2022. Media report at least 14 fatalities. The landslide occurred late on 27 November in the Antenne Damas neighbourhood in Yaounde, Centre Region. The victims were gathered for a religious service near a soccer pitch at the base of a 20 metre high soil embankment, which then collapsed. The cause of the collapse is not clear. Some media reports speculated that it was triggered by heavy rain.
Salmonella – Norway
Norway’s Institute of Public Health, or Folkhälsomyndigheten (FHI) discovered a national outbreak caused by the gastrointestinal bacterium Salmonella Agona. So far, infection has been detected in 31 people living in several counties.
Monkeypox – Chile
The Chile Ministry of Health reported the second monkeypox death in the country. The patient was a older male who was unvaccinated and diagnosed on October 20. He had underlying pathologies and a weakened immune system (immunosuppression).
The World Health Organisation has decided to rename ‘monkeypox’ as ‘mpox’ due to a perceived discriminatory connotation in third world societies.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.2 earthquake hits southern Xinjiang, China.
5.2 earthquake hits south of the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits Seram, Indonesia.
Australia fires damaged ozone layer – caused major warming
Australia’s fire season in late 2019 and early 2020 was extreme. It blew smoke some 20 miles into the sky, not unlike what a nuclear blast might cause. Smoke from the fires circled the globe and hovered in plumes over the Pacific.
Now, a study published Thursday in the journal Scientific Reports suggests the smoky aerosols caused the highest temperatures in the stratosphere in about three decades and probably damaged the ozone layer — which has been slowly recovering since the substances that deplete it were largely phased out through the 1987 Montreal Protocol.
Hawaii
Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, is erupting for the first time in nearly 40 years.
Dozens of earthquakes — one of them a magnitude 4.2 quake — have swarmed the region after the volcano’s Moku’āweoweo summit caldera erupted on Sunday (Nov. 27) night. Officials have issued an ashfall advisory for Hawaii’s Big Island and residents have been asked to remain vigilant. So far the eruption’s lava flows pose no risk to people living downhill from the eruption and air travel is currently unaffected.
Covid-19
The countries with the 10 greatest number of Covid-19 cases:
Cholera – Kenya
The Kenya Ministry of Health announced a multicounty cholera outbreak on October 19. The first cases of Vibrio cholerae -01 Ogawa serotype were detected following a wedding festival that was held in Limuru sub-county, Kiambu County October 8, 2022. As of 13 November 2022, a total of 568 cases with 281 confirmed (48 cases by culture and 233 by rapid diagnostic test) and 15 deaths (CFR = 2.6%), have been reported so far. This is the second cholera outbreak to be declared in almost one month this year for Kenya.
Ebola – Uganda
Uganda health officials reported today an additional Ebola Virus Disease (EVD) case and death, the first in eleven days.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
6.1 earthquake hits the Azores.
5.4 earthquake hits Tonga.
5.2 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits the Pacific Antarctic ridge.
5.0 earthquake hits southern Xinjiang, China.
5.0 earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits the Mariana Islands.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are currently no tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
Italy – Heavy rainfall triggered massive landslides and floods on the island of Ischia in southern Italy early on 26 November 2022. Houses in northern parts of the island were damaged or destroyed as a torrent of mud, flood water and debris crashed down slopes of Mount Epomeo. Some areas were under mud and debris several metres deep. Dozens of vehicles were swept into the sea in areas of Casamicciola Terme. As of 27 November authorities reported the bodies of 3 victims have been found. Four people are still missing. Poor weather conditions have hampered rescue and damage assessment efforts.
The Dead Sea is Dying
The Dead Sea is the lowest exposed place on Earth. It is 10 times saltier than the ocean. So you don’t sink in it. You float. The mud and the waters are full of minerals – great therapeutic for your skin. But the Dead Sea is dying. The lake level is dropping 4 feet every single year. The cause is that in the last several decades, the freshwater sources that feed into the Dead Sea have been diverted for drinking water and irrigation. Also, Israeli and Jordanian companies pump out and evaporate Dead Sea water to harvest its rich minerals for export. Cavities along the shore open up into sinkholes.
Climate change makes this worse. The area is getting hotter. Rainfall is dropping. Populations are growing, and there’s not enough water for drinking and irrigation, let alone for saving the Dead Sea.
Dengue Fever – Bangladesh
The Bangladesh Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) reported an additional 513 dengue fever cases and three fatalities today, bringing the country’s total to 56,130 cases and 257 deaths year to date.
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.7 earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.3 earthquake hits Easter Island.
5.1 earthquake hits Taiwan.
5/1 earthquake hits the Banda Sea.
5.1 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.1 earthquake hits the Kermedec Islands.
5.1 earthquake hits Mindanao in the Philippines.
5.0 earthquake hits Tonga.
5.0 earthquake hits the Kuril Islands.
5.0 earthquake hits the Izu Islands off Japan.
5.0 earthquake hits near the coast of Nicaragua.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are currently no tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
Trinidad and Tobago – Several parts of Trinidad and Tobago are experiencing flooding as an active low-level tough traverses westward over the country. Affected areas include Biche, Ortoire, Santa Cruz, St Joseph, Maracas, Caparo and Arouca. There have also been reports of landslides.
The warming Arctic Ocean is bringing more snowfall to Siberia
Global warming has increased the evaporation and retreat of sea ice in the Arctic Ocean. The climate change-induced impacts in the Arctic Ocean could be responsible for an increase in snow cover in Siberia, a new study has suggested.
Enhanced evaporation deposits more moisture in the Arctic atmosphere, which makes its journey towards the western parts of Siberia where the moisture is deposited as snow.
It was also found that increased snow cover in western Russia increased the risk of summer heat waves in Europe and Northeast Asia. More research needs to be done to fully understand the interplay for global weather effects consequent on a rapidly warming Artic.
Wildfires – Europe
Over 20 wildfires raged across Portugal and several burned in western Spain yesterday, menacing villages and disrupting tourists’ holidays amid a heatwave that meteorologists expect to push temperatures into the high 40s Celsius.
In Spain’s western region of Extremadura bordering Portugal firefighters evacuated a few hundred villagers overnight as a precaution and continued to battle a blaze that on Tuesday swept into Salamanca province in the region of Castile and Leon.
In France too, about 800 firefighters, supported by six water-bomber aircraft, were battling two wildfires in the southwest, which have already prompted the evacuation of thousands of campers. About 2 700 hectares were burned.