Friday, 29 October 2010

Tectonic activity increases across Indonesia!

Mount Merapi volcano has erupted for a third time, with local people reportedly saying this was louder and stronger than the previous eruption on Tuesday. (BBC)

Alert levels have been raised on four other volcanoes, two of which are definitely showing signs of activity - Anak Krakatau and Mount Semeru.

Mount Anak Krakatau, is in the alert status and should not be approached within a radius of 3 kilometers.
the last few days on Mt Anak Krakatau was increasing volcanic earthquake activity.

"From the normally just under 20 times per day, is now volcanic earthquake to 35 times per day. Volcanic ash is also being seen higher, up to 1 kilometer, "said Henry. Friday (29/10/2010)

Now, in Indonesia there are several mountain that is now included in the alert status namely:

1. Karangetan Mount in North Sulawesi,

2. Ibu Mount in Ternate.

3. Sinabung Mount , Karo, North Sumatra

4. Mount Talang, Solok, West Sumatra

5. Mount Anak Krakatau, Lampung

6. Papandayan Mount Garut, West Java

7. Mount Slamet, Tegal, Central Java

8 Mount Dieng, Wonosobo, Central Java

9. Mount Semeru, Lumajang, East Java

10. Mount Bromo, Probolinggo, East Java

Tuesday, 26 October 2010

Indonesia Volcano Eruption

25th October 2010
Indonesia on volcano eruption alert
Residents urged to leave designated danger zone as seismologists warn of pressure
building up beneath smoking crater.

 (Reuters)
 Hazards
 "Indonesian scientists have warned of a pressure build-up beneath Mount Merapi's
lava dome, as authorities continue to evacuate tens of thousands of villagers to
temporary shelters.
An avalanche of rocks spilled down Merapi's slopes before dawn on Tuesday
and gusts of ash rose 50 metres into the air as the mountain continued to rumble.
Surono, a government volcanologist, said the greatest concern was pressure
building behind a massive lava dome that has formed near the tip of the crater."
 (Merapi Lava Dome 1982)
 Geology and Tectonic Setting
Merapi is a strato-volcano located in Central Java, Indonesia, about 30 km north
of Yogyakarta city which has more than one million inhabitants.
It is produced by subduction of the Australian plate under the Eurasian plate.
The Indonesian archipelago resulted from complex and diverse tectonic processes
(Simandjuntak & Barber, 1996, Wilson 1989, Hamilton, 1979).

 Merapi is the most active volcano in Indonesia, erupting regularly since 1548. It is a typical
andesitic Stratovolcano, historically producing effusive eruptions, which have become more
explosive in recent history producing pyroclastic flows from collapsing lava domes. Merapi
usually has poor gas content typically producing eruptions usually less than VEI 3 in size.
Regional Map
26th October 2010
Aftermath of eruption http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11633213
The death toll following the eruption of Indonesia's Mount Merapi volcano has risen to 25, 
officials say, amid fears of fresh eruptions.
Experts told the BBC that the ash levels had subsided a little, but that their readings
suggested there would be more volcanic activity soon.
Thousands fled their homes on Tuesday as ash spewed out of the volcano,
turning the landscape white.
But many people refused to leave, and rescuers fear the death toll may rise.

Current activity 
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mount_Merapi 

BBC Report
http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11625154

Previous Events
 On 13th May 2006 , the Alert Level was raised to the highest level 4, and about
4,500 people living near the volcano were evacuated. On 15th May pyroclastic
flows traveled up to 4 km west.On 8th June, the lava-dome growth rate at Merapi
was an estimated 100,000 cubic meters per day, with an estimated volume of
4 million cubic meters. (http://www.volcanolive.com/merapi.html)

In late November of 1994, collapse of a lava dome at Merapi generated pyroclastic
flows and surges that travelled as far as 5 miles (7.5 km) from the summit. The flows
and surges killed 43 people. The plume associated with the dome collapse rose 6 miles
(10 km) above the volcano. Over 6,000 people were evacuated. The eruption also started fires. (http://volcano.oregonstate.edu/oldroot/volcanoes/merapi/merapi.html)


Activity History
http://indahnesia.com/volcano/gunung_merapi/activity_history.php

Related Links@
http://indonesiandisaster.blogspot.com/2010/10/overview-of-merapi-volcano-central-java.html

Saturday, 25 September 2010

China's one-child policy - success or failure?

 China's One-Child Policy
On 25 September 1980, the Politburo of the Communist Party issued an "open letter" to all members of the party and the Communist youth league, urging them to take the lead in having only one child.
This is widely seen as the beginning of the controversial one-child policy.

A personal look at China's one-child policy by 

Thursday, 23 September 2010

Worlds Largest Wind Farm

The worlds largest offshore wind farm spins into life of the the Kent (Thanet) coast part of the UKs grand plan to provide 20% if its energy by renewable methods.Costing £780 and providing power for over 240,000 homes equivalent to half the houses in Kent, rising two and a half times the height of Nelsons Column.



Links
http://www.engadget.com/2010/09/23/worlds-largest-offshore-wind-farm-spins-into-action-off-the-coa/

Monday, 30 August 2010

Katrina -Then and Now

A day five years ago that changed the lives of thousands of Americans: the day that Hurricane Katrina made landfall. The water rushed in, the lights went out and for thousands of Gulf Coast residents nothing was ever the same.

CNN have released a video showing with pictures showing the days immediately after hurricane Katrina and now.

However U.S. PRESIDENT BARACK OBAMA: states " I don't have to tell you that there are still too many vacant and overgrown lots. There are still too many students attending classes in trailers. There are still too many people unable to find work. And there are still too many New Orleans folks who haven't been able to come home."



Related Resources @

Free Technology for Teachers (Fiver resources for lesson about Hurricanes)
http://www.freetech4teachers.com/2010/08/five-resources-for-lessons-about.html

Monday, 9 August 2010

The Monsoon and Impacts.

Pakistan Case Studies 2010



Rescuers are struggling to reach 27,000 people still cut off by the floods, which are the worst in 80 years.

At least 1,100 people have died and thousands have lost everything.

"In the worst-affected areas, entire villages were washed away without warning by walls of flood water," the Red Cross said in a statement.

There are fears diarrhoea and cholera will spread among the homeless. Food is scarce and water supplies have been contaminated by the floods.

Video from CNN



Pakistan floods threaten key barrage in southern Sindh

Waters have exceeded the danger level at a key flood barrier in Pakistan's southern province of Sindh.

The Sukkur Barrage flooding means Sindh faces as much devastation as that seen further north in Khyber Pakhtunkhwa and Punjab provinces, say experts.

Enraged survivors have been physically attacking government officials in flood-hit areas, amid widespread anger at the pace of the relief effort.

At least 1,600 people have died in the region's worst deluge in 80 years.

With more than 14 million people already affected, the monsoon rains show little sign of abating.

On Monday, a new international radio initiative called "info-as-aid" made its first broadcasts in Urdu and Pashto in an effort to spread information about accessing aid and also about countering disease.

TV channels 'jammed'

Flood waters have roared down from the north to the agricultural heartland of Punjab and on to Sindh along a trail more than 1,000km (600 miles) long.

In the early hours of Monday morning, the water flow coming down the Sukkur Barrage was recorded at up to 1.4m cusecs (cubic feet per second). It is only designed to withstand 900,000 cusecs.

Upper Sindh is already under water, and rescuers are continuing to evacuate people from the province, where the Indus river banks are at risk of bursting. Two million people have already left the area.

Meanwhile, two major private Pakistani television channels, Geo and Ary, have reportedly been blocked in Karachi and other parts of Sindh.

Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani said the country had been set back years, as he visited Sindh on Sunday.

The entire Swat valley, in north-west Pakistan, was cut off at the weekend, with even helicopters unable to reach it because of the poor weather.

With roads, bridges and railway tracks washed away, and deadly landslides increasing the isolation of many of the worst-hit areas, aid workers are having to use donkeys to deliver relief.

"It's hard to get supplies there. I would like to emphasise we are moving by foot or donkey. We are unable to get in to most places of Swat valley," Maurizio Giuliano, spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs, told news agency Reuters.

In the far north of the country, dozens of people were killed on Saturday when two villages were buried in mud and rocks. Nearly 30 bodies were recovered from rubble after landslides in Gilgit-Baltistan province.

The UN has said that Pakistan will need billions of dollars in aid to recover.

Meanwhile, charities with links to militants have been delivering aid to thousands of flood victims, as they did during the earthquake that devastated part of Pakistani-administered Kashmir in 2005.





Related Links

Uncertainties surround future monsoons(2009)  

Pictorial Record of the disaster.

Smos Satellite Tracks Pakistani Floods