Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global
5.5 earthquake hits Costa Rica.
5.3 earthquake hits the South Sandwich Islands.
5.2 earthquake hits Taiwan.
5.2 earthquake hits Romania.
Storms and Floods
Tropical Storms – Roundup of Tropical Storms:
There are currently no active tropical storm systems.
Newsbytes:
Brazil – At least 5 municipalities in Ceará State in northeastern Brazil have declared a state of emergency after days of heavy rain triggered flooding and landslides. Dozens of people have been displaced and at least 3 fatalities reported. Three people from the same family died after heavy rain triggered a landslide which destroyed their home in Aratuba on 16 March 2023. A further 15 homes were damaged or deemed unsafe by authorities, forcing around 50 people to evacuate. Elsewhere in the state, over 30 families were pre-emptively evacuated from homes in neighbourhoods of Itapipoca City on 17 March due to flood and landslide threats.
California, USA – Swaths of California still saturated by ruthless storms will get walloped by another atmospheric river, spawning fears of renewed flooding and forcing some residents to flee. The state has already been hammered by at least 11 atmospheric rivers this season. An atmospheric river is like a fire hose that carries saturated air from the tropics to higher latitudes, dumping relentless rain or snow. The last, which struck California last week, left soil overly saturated and vulnerable to new flooding and rapid runoffs, the National Weather Service said. The next atmospheric river is expected to slam California from late Monday night through Wednesday.
Global Warming
UN Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change Report
The UN’s final IPCC report warns that drastic action must be taken immediately, but staving off disaster is within humanity’s grasp. The world needs immediate action now to defuse a “climate time bomb” that will unleash catastrophic environmental effects and climate breakdown, United Nation (UN) scientists have said in the last of its four major assessment reports to governments on Monday (March 20).
Governments must make “rapid, deep and immediate” cuts to global carbon dioxide emissions, a greenhouse gas that is the largest contributor to human-caused climate change, in order to start to decrease annual emissions by 2025 and halve them by 2030, according to the final summary report by the UN’s Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC). These carbon dioxide cuts must be made globally and across all industries if temperature changes are to remain at or below the dangerous threshold of 2.7 degrees Fahrenheit (1.5 degrees Celsius) above pre-industrial temperatures, the IPCC said.
Scientists have warned that crossing this 1.5 C threshold greatly increases the risks of encountering tipping points that could unleash irreversible climate breakdown — such as the total collapse of most of the Greenland and West Antarctic ice sheets; extreme heat waves; severe droughts; water stress; and extreme weather across large parts of the globe.
Disease
Rift Valley Fever – Uganda
In a follow-up on the confirmed Rift Valley Fever (RVF) outbreak in Mbarara District, Uganda, the outbreak has increased to 20 human cases, including four fatalities.
Monkeypox – Japan
The Japanese Ministry of Health reported Monday that the Tokyo, Osaka, and Ibaraki Prefectures reported 13 cases in men have been confirmed as monkeypox (mpox) as a result of laboratory tests.