Earth Report – Global Disaster Watch
Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.3 earthquake hits the Saipan region, North Mariana Islands.
5.2 earthquake hits Seram, Indonesia.
5.1 earthquake hits offshore El Salvador.
5.1 earthquake hits southern Peru.
5.0 earthquake hits Vanuatu.
5.0 earthquake hits near the east coast of Honshu, Japan.
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
In the Western Pacific Ocean: Tropical depression 26w (Fengshen), located approximately 620 nm east-northeast of WFO, Guam, is tracking westward at 12 knots.
Tropical depression 27w (Kalmaegi), located approximately 447 nm east of Manila, Philippines, is tracking west-northwestward at 08 knots.
NewsBytes:
South Africa – The extent of severe storms and a tornado that hit parts of KwaZulu-Natal (KZN) between Richmond and Pietermaritzburg on Tuesday is yet to be determined, but two human casualties and 20 injuries had been reported by Wednesday morning. Many animals were reported to have been injured or killed in the area and power lines are also down. Numerous houses and public infrastructure were also damaged.
Italy – Heavy rain, hail, thunderstorms, and winds of more than 100 kilometres per hour hit many parts of southern Italy on Tuesday. Schools across many parts of the southern regions announced closures for Tuesday, and the Civil Protection Department warned drivers of the risk of falling trees and swollen rivers. While no injuries have been reported so far, there are widespread reports of damage to homes, businesses, electricity supplies and farmers’ crops across all four regions. A tornado was reported off the coast of Siracuse, Sicily. In Basilicata, the coastal town of Metaponto was also reportedly hit by a tornado while nearby Matera suffered serious flooding.
Venice, Italy – Venice, Italy’s famous city of canals, is as much on the front line of climate change as anywhere else, and now that line is under water. On Tuesday, rains helped bring the seasonal high tides known as acqua alta to near record levels, just seven centimeters short of what was seen during the historic floods of 1966. Flooding in Venice during the northern autumn season is a normal and expected occurrence, but high tide data from recent years shows the fingerprints of rising sea levels. St. Mark’s Square at the city center has gone from flooding four times a year in 1900 to over 60 times annually in recent years. The famous Basilica of the same name also flooded Tuesday for just the sixth time in twelve centuries – the fifth time was in 2018.
Climate change triggers a chain reaction that threatens the heart of the Pacific
The salmon catch is collapsing off Japan’s northern coast, plummeting by about 70 percent in the past 15 years. The disappearance of the fish coincides with another striking development: the loss of a unique blanket of sea ice that dips far below the Arctic to reach this shore.
The twin impacts – less ice, fewer salmon – are the products of rapid warming in the Sea of Okhotsk, wedged between Siberia and Japan. The area has warmed in some places by as much as 3 degrees Celsius (5.4 degrees Fahrenheit) since preindustrial times, making it one of the fastest-warming spots in the world, according to a Washington Post analysis of data from the nonprofit organization Berkeley Earth.
The rising temperatures are starting to shut down the single most dynamic sea ice factory on Earth. The intensity of ice generation in the northwestern Sea of Okhotsk exceeds that of any single place in the Arctic Ocean or Antarctica, and the sea ice reaches a lower latitude than anywhere else on the planet. Its decline has a cascade of consequences well beyond Japan as climate dominoes begin to fall.
When sea ice forms here, it expels huge amounts of salt into the frigid water below the surface, creating some of the densest ocean water on Earth. That water then sinks and travels east, carrying oxygen, iron and other key nutrients out into the northern Pacific Ocean, where marine life depends on it.
As the ice retreats, that nutrient-rich current is weakening, endangering the biological health of the vast northern Pacific – one of the most startling, and least discussed, effects of climate change so far observed.
Syphilis – Brazil
Health authorities in Brazil are reporting 158,000 cases of primary and secondary (P&S) syphilis syphilis this year, or 75.8 cases per 100,000 inhabitants. This is the highest number of cases since 2010.
Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever – Pakistan
The Pakistan Observer reports the 20th fatality due to Crimean Congo Hemorrhagic Fever (CCHF) in Karachi Monday. Health officials issued a health alert due to CCHF this past July.
Plague – China
Two people in China are being treated for plague, authorities said Tuesday. It’s the second time the disease, the same one that caused the Black Death, one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, has been detected in the region — in May, a Mongolian couple died from bubonic plague after eating the raw kidney of a marmot, a local folk health remedy.
Florida, USA Citrus in Danger
Bacteria is killing the second leading industry in Florida agriculture, specifically, our oranges. Florida’s orange production has been on decline for many years, in fact there are only a handful of citrus farms left in the state. Hurricanes and storms affect orange production, but a small insect, a psyllid, plays a part as well.
The insect originated in Asia and was spotted in South Florida around 2005. Although the insect does not produce the bacteria, it does spread it with ease, starting in the tree’s root and making its way up the leaves. Once infected the oranges are not orange, they are green, hence the name citrus greening. This disease is considered one of the most critical plant diseases in the planet, and there is no turning back once a tree is infected. “Ghost” orange groves in Florida are becoming more numerous as growers simply abandon their trees.