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Natural Disasters
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Sudden Volcano Eruption Causes Mass Evacuation [PICS]
14 Sep 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Yesterday afternoon, Guatemala’s Volcán de Fuego (Volcano of Fire), an active volcano near Antigua, Guatemala unexpectedly began erupting, causing panic and the forced evacuation of over 33 000 people. The eruption caused volcanic ash to fall more than half a kilometre down the mountain.
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A New Earthquake In Japan Could Kill 320 000 People
30 Aug 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A new study based on lessons learned from last year’s Great East Japan Earthquake indicates that if another major earthquake strikes Japan it could be one of the most fatal earthquakes in history.
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Volcano In New Zealand Erupts After Lying Dormant For 115 Years [VIDEO]
07 Aug 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Holy rocks and ash! Mount Tongariro, located in the central North Island of New Zealand, has erupted after lying dormant for 115 years. The eruption brings with it a massive cloud of ash, 115 years worth, reminding us all of the chaos of Eyjafjallajökull. Luckily it’s not so serious this time around.
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Footage Of SA Tourists Trapped In Lesotho Snow Over Weekend [VIDEO]
17 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A major rescue operation on Sunday saw 41 people trapped on the Butha Buthe Pass en route to Afri-Ski and the Oxbow Lodge, in Lesotho, brought to safety. Check out video footage inside.
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Japanese Parliamentary Panel: “Fukushima A Man Made Disaster”
05 Jul 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A Japanese parliamentary panel has said in a report that the crisis at the Fukushima nuclear plant was “a profoundly man-made disaster”, and that the disaster “could and should have been foreseen and prevented”. The report also blamed cultural conventions and a reluctance to question authority.
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National Geographic Is Live-Updating Their Mount Everest Ascent [GALLERY]
24 Apr 2012 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
It’s Mount-Everest-climbing season, apparently – with the National Geographic team attempting to recreate the route used in the first American ascent of the mountain, the 1963 NG-sponsored American Mount Everest Expedition. The team is live-updating their progress online, with a live stream of photos, blog posts, and twitter updates. I think one of them’s using Instagram, too.
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Tornadoes Toss 18-Wheel Trucks And Cricket Ball-Sized Hail [VIDEO]
04 Apr 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Yesterday, between six and 12 tornadoes hit Dallas County, Texas, throughout the day. That estimate alone is enough reason to rejoice that twisters are not a regular phenomenon in South Africa. Add to the equation that they’re powerful enough to fling 18-wheeler trucks like toys, and you’ve got a legitimate reason to break into song and dance down the main street.
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Cyclone Irina Lashes KZN, Durban Surfers Froth
05 Mar 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
At least six people have reportedly died as a result of tropical storm Irina, which struck the KwaZulu-Natal coast over the weekend. Rescue teams, emergency workers, and the police worked continuously yesterday to help KwaZulu-Natal residents through the worst of the storm. Durban surfers, however, enjoyed themselves.
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Flood Chaos At Kruger Park [PICS]
19 Jan 2012 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Large parts of the Kruger National Park have been completely closed off until further notice, and more than two dozen people have had to be airlifted to safety following heavy rains and flooding in the area.
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Google’s Updated Streetview of Fukushima
13 Dec 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
True to the pledge it made back in July to digitally archive images of the parts of Japan affected by the March earthquake and tsunami, Google has uploaded imagery of post-earthquake Fukushima to Street View. They’ve also set up a ‘Build the Memory’ website which compares before-and-after shots of the affected towns.
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Thailand Flooding Ingenuity [PICS]
16 Nov 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Thailand’s Thai Disaster Prevention and Mitigation Department confirmed that a total of 562 people have already died during the more than three-month long flooding taking place there, which is the worst in over 50 years. Nevertheless, some Thai residents affected by the flooding have begun dealing with the lemons that life has thrown at them in unique ways.
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Nervous Japanese MP Drinks Fukushima Nuclear Water
01 Nov 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
A Japanese government official has risen to a challenge set by journalists to prove that water collected from the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant was safe to drink. Albeit with some trepidation. MP Yasuhiro Sonoda downed a glass of water during a televised news conference and seems to have survived, although his shaky hands certainly betrayed his nerves.
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Science To Tear Space A New One With Ultra Powerful “Laser”
01 Nov 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A new laser is to be built that is as powerful as “concentrating the rays of the sun for the entire earth onto the tip of a pen”. Scientists claim it could allow them boil the very fabric of space, AKA the vacuum. Because that’s a fantastic idea. It is official, mankind has a death-wish.
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Anxious Bangkok Prepares For Month Long Floods
26 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
Anxious Bangkok residents are steeling themselves against floods moving down from the northern part of Thailand, which are the worst to hit the country in decades. With Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra keeping everyone on edge with statements such as “I’m fifty percent confident that the inner zone of Bangkok will not be completely flooded,” it must be increasingly difficult to remain buoyant.
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Rescue Mission To Free Earthquake Survivors Continues In Turkey
24 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The 7,2 magnitude earthquake which struck Eastern Turkey yesterday afternoon has already taken the lives of 200 and injured more than 1 000. But brave rescue teams are hard at work to free the many other people who are believed to be trapped under the rubble and debris from the quake.
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Hot Shots: Part Deux – Iceland’s Other Volcano Is Getting Antsy
14 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Just when you thought Mother Earth was through spanking us all thoroughly with natural disasters, seismologists in Iceland have nervously let us all know that Katla, the bigger, nastier sister of Eyjafjallajökull (the volcano that gave Europe an ash wedgie earlier this year), is getting antsy.
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How To Escape The Next Tsunami: The Noah Disaster Shelter
04 Oct 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The Japanese have proved that they are some of the most resilient people on earth. With the earthquake and tsunami that struck earlier this year, numerous acts of heroism emerged. Now they’ve invented the Noah Disaster Shelter as a very probable device for protection when particular natural disasters strike.
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Blouberg Oil Spill Has Caused ‘Minimal’ Cost To Wildlife – But It’s Still A Mess
05 Sep 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The cleanup of the oil spill at Bloubergstrand continues, and City of Cape Town Disaster teams are still assessing whether the beach can be re-opened this afternoon. The wreckage of the Seli One carrier, which was stranded off the Blouberg coast two years ago, leaked oil onto the beach over the weekend following rough seas.
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New Yorkers Brace Themselves For Hurricane Irene
26 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Last night the people of New York were told they had better prepare themselves for a direct hit by Hurricane Irene over the weekend. In fact, it seems that being a victim of the hurricane, which has already caused devastation in the Bahamas, will not be acceptable if and when it hits NYC.
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How Much Is That Robo-Seal In The Window?
02 Aug 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The future is officially nuts. It’s getting to a point where stuff like this probably won’t shock you anymore. It should. Be shocked. These robo-seals, called ‘Paro’, not only bring comfort to recovering Japanese tsunami patients, they also sing, clap, and even take part in the residents daily exercise routines.
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Tornado Twists The Heart Out Of US Midwest [PICS]
23 May 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A chain of particularly violent storms ripped through the American Midwest on Sunday. Joplin, Missouri, has become iconic of the increasingly-depressing storm season blighting the US.
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Dramatic New Images Released Of The Tsunami Striking Fukushima Plant
20 May 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
The Tokyo Electric Power Company has released dramatic new photographs showing the immense power and immediate devastation the tsunami waves caused at Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant on March 11. The moment-of-impact images were taken from the fourth floor of the radioactive waste disposal building.
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Obama On Alabama Twister Devastation
29 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
A further tornado outbreak yesterday has killed at least 210 people in Alabama, prompting President Barack Obama to sign a disaster declaration to assist the clean up of the aftermath of the twisters. Tornados have been ravaging the southern states of the USA for days now, and the death toll has risen to 300.
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Tornado Drama From Inside An Airport – Video
28 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Tornadoes are just fascinating, aren’t they? So much force and destructive power wrapped up in a crazy cone of wind. In the last few days, the southern states of the USA have been hit by a spate of storms which have given birth to deadly tornadoes. Check out this video, captured by CCTV cameras from inside Lambert Airport, in St Louis.
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Tornado Takes Man’s Hamburger And Drink [VIDEO]
21 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Obviously it’s not actually humorous to make fun of natural disasters, and that’s not what we’re doing here. Instead we’re laughing at the unique situation that Eric Hubbard landed up in, shall we say. So, go ahead and make of this fellow what you will. He is rather superbly animated with his storytelling execution.
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Veld Fire Destroys Somerset West Hotel
18 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Nature showed her claws again this weekend in the Western Cape, when Somerset West’s Straightway Head Hotel was ravaged by a veld fire along with 15 other houses on Saturday. Built in 1939, The Straightway Head was a well-known luxury establishment which many of your grandparents would have been familiar with, even if you weren’t.
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Level Five Becomes Level Seven – The Reality Of Japan’s Nuclear Crisis [VIDEO]
12 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
As reported in morning spice headlines this morning, Japan has decided to raise its assessment of the accident at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant to the worst rating on an international scale: from a level five to a level seven, putting the disaster on par with the 1986 Chernobyl explosion in the former Soviet Union.
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Yet Another Tsunami Warning Issued For NE Japan
11 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / No Comments
Watch out for Japan in the next 100 years, because if this continual natural bombardment doesn’t galvanize a national stoicism, ingenuity and will to survive of epic proportions, then nothing will.
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Japan Braces Itself: Tsunami Warning Issued For North East Coast
07 Apr 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 2 Comments
In what is quickly becoming a cosmic joke, the North East shore of Japan is expected to be struck by a tsunami in a matter of hours. An earthquake with a magnitude of 7,4 struck off the coast of Honshu, with local reporters in the North East of the country citing concern over an unusually strong aftershock.
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Nature, You Are Horrific: Spiders Take Over Trees In Wake Of Pakistan Floods
31 Mar 2011 by Jasmine Stone / 1 Comment
Human displacement aside, the floods in Pakistan have caused massive changes in the local ecology. With more than a fifith of Pakistan submerged, millions of spiders have escaped the rising waterline by moving into trees – quickly covering riverside treelines in cocoons of spiderweb. It’s creepy-looking.
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