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"I learned that in extreme situations when human lives and dignity are at state, neutrality is a sin. It helps the killers, not the victims." Elie Wiesel, Holocaust Survivor who lost his family in the Holocaust - Nobel Prize Author
Socialism - Liberalism Quotation
"The American people will never knowingly adopt socialism, but under the name of liberalism they will adopt every fragment of the socialist program until one day America will be a socialist nation without ever knowing how it happened." – Norman Thomas
American socialist, 1948
Showing posts with label Natural Disasters. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Natural Disasters. Show all posts
The Christchurch, New Zealand earthquake has left behind billions of dollars of damage. The 7.0+ magnitude quake is the strongest to hit the South Island location in 80 years. Two men were seriously injured. No one died in the disaster that residents says is characterized more by the massive booming noise than by the shaking.
There would not be a house, there would not be a family in our city that has not in some way have damage done to their person, to their property."
From The Australian:
New Zealand sits on the so-called “Ring of Fire”, the boundary of the Australian and Pacific tectonic plates, and experiences up to 15,000 tremors a year. It averages at least one a day that is magnitude 4.0 or stronger.
Meanwhile, as residents took stock of the quake damage they also had an eye on looming bad weather with destructive gale-force winds up to 130 kilometres (80 miles) an hour predicted to arrive tomorrow.
Parker believes they will find significant damage below ground. A falling chimney hit one of the seriously injured and the other was cut by falling glass. This quake was the most destructive since 1931 when 296 died in Hawke's Bay.
A powerful 7.4 earthquake has hit about 19 miles west of Christchurch, New Zealand. No tsunami alert has been issued. The quake hit on Saturday morning, September 4th (Friday in the U.S.) at 4:35 a.m. at a depth of 21 miles below ground with the center near Darfield. The town of Darfield is located about 28 miles from Christchurch. Looking down for damage in Darfield. Ongoing updates as soon as available.
7.4 Earthquake Christchurch, New Zealand
There is not a lot of information about Darfield in general, or earthquake damage. It is the main town between Christchurch and West Coast, New Zealand on the Great Alpine Highway. It is a pastoral farming area and the gateway to the Waimakariri and Rakaia Rivers and the "Southern Alps." It is an area known as a great place for hot air ballooning. They have a weekly community paper, The Malvern News, which has nothing on the quake at this minute. There is a high school and "several shops." An Internet search shows several churches, and numerous restaurants.
Second-story Collapsed
There are reports of buildings collapsed in Christchurch and no electricity. Some sewer lines have been damaged - some road damage reported, with areas cordoned off and rubble strewn about. The airport is reportedly shutdown as it is checked for runway damage.
A resident described a "massive noise and boom." Another said the quake was "incredibly long and tortuous."
Photographer David Alexander, of suburban Opawa, told NZPA the aftershocks "just keep coming". His house still had power but street lights were out...
Christchurch man Chris Hutching said the water mains had burst in his St Albans neighbourhood and that "chimneys are down all around us".
Some residents say they hardly noticed the movement, because the noise was so loud and startling. Numerous aftershocks are reported.
Update about 3p.m. CDT: Rescue teams are searching for people under rubble. Two men have been reported seriously injured - other with less serious injuries. Two suburban neighborhoods are on alert to evacuate their homes if plumbing or flooding becomes a major problem. Christchurch Hospital was forced to use emergency generators.
Russian officials say one of 500 raging wildfires is nearing their "main nuclear centre," where a "secret town" houses it's "most sophisticated" research labs - as well as the "Russian atomic bomb." A recording breaking summer heat and lightening striking a pine tree sparked the deadly blazes. The U.S. is sending firefighting equipment. Do you think Russia will like us now?
Other reports are saying our equipment has arrived and the nuclear site is no longer endangered.
Joe Bastardi, one of the AccuWeather forecasters disputing the plethora of global warming claims, is predicting at least two hurricanes in Gulf oil spill area between now and the end of hurricane season. Three additional storms are predicted close enough to the spill area to affect clean-up areas. See a video below.
AccuWeather.com Hurricane Center meteorologists, led by Chief Long-Range Meteorologist and Hurricane Forecaster Joe Bastardi, are calling for a much more active 2010 season with above-normal threats on the U.S. coastline.
"This year has the chance to be an extreme season," said Bastardi. "It is certainly much more like 2008 than 2009 as far as the overall threat to the United States' East and Gulf coasts."
Bastardi is forecasting seven landfalls. Five will be hurricanes, and two or three of the hurricanes will be major landfalls for the U.S.
He is calling for 16 to 18 tropical storms in total, 15 of which would be in the western Atlantic or Gulf of Mexico, and therefore a threat to land.
There are a number of physical drivers that have Bastardi concerned for this upcoming hurricane season. These include:
--The rapidly weakening El Niño.
--Warmer ocean temperatures in the typical Atlantic tropical breeding grounds compared to last year (tropical storms draw energy from warm water).
--Weakening trade winds which reduce the amount of dry air injected into the tropics from Africa.
--Higher humidity levels which provide additional upward motion in the air and fuel tropical storm development.
Bastardi compared a number of years to the upcoming season in terms of storm setup, including 1964, 1995, and 1998. All were major impact seasons for the U.S. coast.
Have you been inside the Opryland Hotel, or do you have future reservations? The levee on the Cumberland River was topped. The video below estimates there is about 10' of water in the beautiful hoteI. I heard on my local Tulsa radio station that a station employee and her husband were at Opryland and were evacuated without collecting their belongings. They are flying back to Tulsa because their car is under water.
...it is too early in the recovery stage to determine how long the hotel may be flocsed for, but it looks as if it will take several months before it may reopen. Gaylord Entertainment Company [the owner of Opryland] also stated that areas of the hotel are submerged under 10 feet of flood waters.
Opryland Hotel
Opryland Hotel Atrium
The Grand Ole Opry is also flooded with several feet of water. The original Grand Ole Opry house, the Ryman Auditorium is located in downtown Nashville and at this time there is no imminent threat.Here's the video.
An unnamed diplomat says several NATO F-16s have engine damage from flying through the Iceland volcano ash cloud. "Glasslike" particles were found inside the jet engines after a mission to patrol European airspace.
Iceland Volcanic Ash Cloud
Volcanic ash tends to stick to a jet engine's interior parts, such as the turbines, where it melts to form a glassy coating. This restricts air flow and heats up the engine, leading to engine failure.
There was no word on when the damage was done to the F-16s, whether in the earlier days of the eruption of The Eyjafjallajokull or more recently. Lufthansa reports that their test flights had no damage to their aircraft. Some flights will resume service over Europe tomorrow.
A magnitude 6.9 7.1 earthquake struck near the site of Yushu county in Qinghai Province, China today. The last reports some 400 589 are dead and rescue efforts are underway to save others trapped below the rubble in this high-altitude, mountainous area. See a video below. See update late 4-14-10 below.
The earthquake hit at 7:49 a.m. local time, which was about 7:49 p.m. EST. The Yushu area is "hundreds of miles" from an airport, which will stifle rescue efforts and supplies coming in to the area (although FOX reports an airport in Yushu was opened last year). FOX News is reporting that 5,000 tents and 100,000 coats and blankets are being rushed to the province which sits at about 13,000 feet above sea level, and where night temps drop to below freezing.
The depth of the earthquake was 6.2 miles below the earth surface, and about 150 miles NNW of Qamdo, Xizang, Tibet.
The BBC says people are buried in collapsed houses:
A lot of one-storey houses ave collapsed. Taller buildings have hel up, but there are big cracks in them. One official told journalists more than 85% of buildings near the epicentre had collapsed. The official added that "a lot of students" had been buried after part of a vocational school collapsed.
The USGS says this is the strongest quake to hit the area since 1976. Power, phones and water are off. Six strong aftershocks are reported - all but one at or above 5.0 magnitude (this reports 18 aftershocks). See a good interactive map of Yushu area here.
The streets in Jiegu are thronged with panic, full of injured eople, with many of them bleeding from their injuries," Zhuohuaxia, a local spokesperson, told Xinhua news agency. "The biggest problems now is that we lanc tnets, medical equipment, medicine and medical workers."
According to the provincial government about 10,000 are injured.
From GlobalVoicesOnline:
At least one school dormitory collapsed killing 56 children; another shool in Yushu collapsed, trapping 30 students...A spokesperson for the Red Cross Society of China has said that 70% of schools in the area have collapsed...[the area is] currently also experiencing sandstorms...
A magnitude 7.8 earthquake has struck Northern Sumatra according to the USGS at 5:15 a.m. Sumatra time, 6:15 p.m. EDT on April 7th local, April 6th in the U.S. Some 45 minutes after the earthquake there are no early reports of injury or damage. Continuing updates as available.
Sumatra Earthquake - Magnitude 7.8
According to the USGS, the region is Northern Sumatra, Indonesia, 145 miles SW of Medan, Sumatra, Indonesia, 125 miles WNW of Sibolga, Sumatra, Indonesia. The depth of the quake's epicenter occurred at 28.6 miles beneath the Indian Ocean.
FOX News has David Piper (7:00 p.m. EDT) reporting that if there is a tsunami, it will happen on the western coast of Sumatra within the next hour.
A tsunami warning is not in effect for Alaskan coasts, California, Oregon, Washington or British Columbia.
Update 7:40 p.m. EDT:
A tsunami warning has just been issued for Thailand.
Update 9:30 p.m. EDT: The tsunami alert for Sumatra has been lifted. Still no reports of injuries.
Fauzi, an official at the meterology agency's Jakarta office who uses a single name, said there were no immediate reports of damage or casualities but officials were monitoring the situation.
Local media reports said the quake, which struck as people in the region were preparing for morning prayers, caused panic in North Sumatra's capital of Medan and other cities in the province. Electricity was cut in Medan.
A magnitude 7.2 earthquake centered about 108 miles east of Tijuana, near Mexicali in a relatively uninhabited area, was felt in San Diego and Los Angeles today; as far north as Santa Barbara and as far east as Yuma and Phoenix, Arizona. The quake struck at 3:40 p.m. PDT. About 9 minutes later, a separate quake measuring 4.1 magnitude was felt north of San Francisco in Santa Rose, California. Continuing updates as available. See update 4-3-10 below.
Buildings rattled on the west side of L.A. and in the San Fernando Valley. Water sloshed from swimming pools. The Coronado Bridge over San Diego Bay was closed for a short time by the Highway Patrol. So far, no major damage or injuries have been reported, and no power outages in L.A.
The L.A. Fire Department is in 'earthquake mode,' and are checking elevators for stranded people, buildings and bridges for structural damage. Infrastructure, power lines, conventions centers, Dodger Stadium, universities - all must be checked for possible damage.
Update
4-3-10 9:35 CDT: One person is reported dead in the collapse of a house in Mexicali,
Mexico. Hotels in the area are empty as aftershocks continue. Mexicali's population is about 1 million people. See a photo slideshow here.
Palm Desert, CA felt the Baja quake. A WorldNewsVine journalist said the earth shook for about 2 minutes, and was the strongest quake felt in the 10 years the reporter has lived in the area.
The cost of the Haiti earthquake to the U.S. and to citizens has been staggering. The U.S. Navy hospital ship, USNS Comfort, arrived in Haiti on January 16th to treat those injured in the devastating Haiti earthquake of January 12th. Using a minimum of 2 million gallons of fuel, the ship treated fewer than 1,000 people, bringing the cost of treatment per patient to a minimum of $9,184 - for fuel only. Actual treatment costs have not been determined. In the video below, you will hear that the Comfort expected to treat 500 patients per day. Instead, the ship was innundated with patients suffering from ailments unrelated to the earthquake.
USNS Comfort
Strong message to U.S. politicians. Stop sending our money to underdeveloped countries in an attempt to feed the people. Let other countries do that. Put our aid into infrastructre and agriculture. Send Americans there to build it and see it through to the end. Start using our money to actually make a difference in people's lives beyond the dinner hour. Someone will feed the people for today. We can give them the opportunity to feed themselves forever.
“You can’t expect the Comfort to bring the entire country up to the standards of the U.S. health care system, but there has to be some bailout capacity,” Pollak said.
Military physicians say privately that the Haiti relief mission was complicated by the endless need for advanced care for patients whose conditions were unrelated to the Jan. 12 disaster.
In Haiti primarily to treat fractures and crush injuries from the earthquake, the crew was inundated with patients suffering from diseases, heart trouble, infections and other ailments that owed more to the country’s lack of development than to the earthquake.
The Comfort left Haiti this week. Since January 12th, the U.S. has donated $712.7 million in aid, far more than any other country, and President Obama pledged more this week when Haiti's President, Rene Preval visited the White House.
Freaky news today. Two are dead and six injured after a 26 foot wave hit the Louis Majesty cruise ship off the coast of France. Neary 2,000 people are on board. Glass windows and windshields were smashed. Two passengers are dead, a German of unknown gender and an Italian man. Six fourteen others have light injuries. See updates below. New video of wave washing inside the ship. See second video below.
Louis Majesty Cruise Ship
"The windows in a public area on deck 5 on the forward part of the vessel smashed resulting (in) the fatal injury of two passengers of German and Italian nationality while 14 more passengers suffered light injuries," the line says in a statement.
The Majesty was in the midst of a 12-night Western Mediterranean cruise out of Genoa that included calls in Tunisia, Morocco, the Canary Islands and Spain. It had been scheduled to return to Genoa on Thursday but instead will head back to Barcelona, it's last port of call, the line says.
The Greek Louis Cruise Line said their ship was hit by three "abnormally high" waves, near the port of Marseilles, sailing from Barcelona, Spain to Genoa, Italy. The ship had 1,350 passengers and a crew of 580. The ship is now sailing back to Barcelona.
Update 3-4-10:
The names of the dead have not been released. The German man was 69-years-old and was from North Rhine Westphalia. The Italian man was 52-years-old. The two men reportedly died before they could be taken to the ship's hospital. Among the injuries is an elderly woman with two broken legs from the incident, and passenger with a broken hand. Twenty-seven nations were represented on the cruise, including Americans.
The 18 year-old ship was hit in the "forward section."
The waves smashed windows on deck five in public areas -- on the forward part, or bow, of the 14-deck ship. Two male passengers -- a German and an Italian -- were killed, Maratheftis said.
A" yellow alert" was out for land and near the coast. The ship was 24 miles off the coast, and this report says the ship was just off the coast of Spain.
The incident occurred 24 miles off Cabo de San Sebastian, near the Spanish town of Palafrugell, Maratheftis said.
The ship was on the last day of its voyage after a week-long cruise, and was expected to dock in Genoa, Italy.
Cruise Ship Hit with 26' Wave (video)
Wave washes inside Louis Majecty Cruise Ship (video)
ABC news just reported a 6.3 aftershock in Concepcion, Chile, which has triggered another tsunami alert. Much of Concepcion has been leveled in the 8.8 magnitude quake last week. I'll have details and updates as available.
Update 12:40 PM CST: Megyn Kelly is reporting that people in the already devastated town of Concepcion panicked. She also said there is no danger of a tsunami, so there are conflicting reports.
Update 2:16 PM CST: David Lee Miller on FOXNews reports that the tsunami alert has been cancelled. Along with the 6.0 aftershock were three others in the range of a high 5 magnitude. The aftershocks were long and rolling.
Chile's 8.8 magnitude earthquake early yesterday morning has wreaked havoc on the country that already held the unfortunate record of being the home of the strongest earthquake on record, a 9.5 magnitude, now takes second place as well. Today we hear more than 700 are dead, 2 million are homeless, one million buildings are damaged, 500,000 of them homes, and the cities are dealing with downed bridges and upheaved highways. The video below is raw footage from a security camera as the quake hit. Update 3-3-10 795 reported dead this morning. Update 3-3-10 see reports of a 6.3 aftershock in Concepcion here.
Chile - raw security camera footage
Aftershocks in massive numbers and strong magnitudes continue to rock the people fighting for survival. Some 90 aftershocks have been recorded, with the worst being 6.2, 6.0, 6.9, 6.1, 6.0, with many in-between measuring close to 6.0., and one today measuring 6.1.
In the coastal areas, where damage is heavy from both tremblors and tsunami waters, people are desparate for food and clean water, and looting has begun.
In Constitucion, located near the city of Concepcion and the quake's epicenter, 350 people died as tremblors and tsunami waves hit the town. Constitucion, located about 220 miles south of the capital city of Santiago. Large fishing boats were swept onto land and cars flipped in this seaside town of about 38,000.
Pelluhu, Chile a popular seaside resort with a population of about 1,000 is said to be destroyed. Summer is underway in Chile and the town may have had many more tourists when the quake hit. Jim Hoft at GatewayPundit has some awesome photos of Pellehu.
Concepcion, a city of about 690,000 regionally, 200,000 in the city proper, is located only about 70 miles from the epicenter. The downtown area is said to be mostly rubble. There is no power. The country's death toll was boosted this morning as it is feared 60 - 100 people may be found dead in the collapse of a new 15-story apartment building in Concepcion.
Concepcion, Chile - new apartment building
It took rescuers 24-hours to get 16 people out alive and another 6 dead. Rescue efforts were stalled as police fired tear gas at looters. In photos linked below, you can see a rescue using a cable to slide a young man down to safety. President Bachelet said the list of missing is growing.
She [President Bachelet] signed a decree giving the military control over security in the province of Concepcion, where looters were pillaging supermarkets, gas stations, pharmacies and banks.
Today, large waves were continuing their assault near Concepcion in the Bio-Bio region.
President Bachelet announced that she is sending army troops into Concepcion to help restore order and assist in rescue and recovery:
Crowds overran supermarkets in the port city of Concepcion, which sustained widespread damage, and were making off with food, water and diapers but also television sets. Several banks also were hit. Police in armored vehicles sprayed looters with water cannons and made several arrests, mostly of young men.
The Juan Fernandez Islands are reporting dead and missing. On Robinson Crusoe Island, the largest of the Juan Fernandez Islands, a tsunami surged over two miles inland into San Juan Bautista village where at least 5 are dead and 11 missing.
A Concepcion resident said he an his daughter escaped their building "in terror amid shattering glass and an ungodly roar," because he was able to throw clothing on the floor to protect their feet as they exited the nightmare that was once their home.
For anyone in an earthquake-prone-area (like my son), I'm struck by the constant advice to always keep shoes close to your bed, or wherever you are resting shoeless, as cuts are the major cause of amputations after an earthquake.
...the century-old national Fine Arts Museum was badly damaged, and an apartment building's two-story parking lot pancaked, smashing about 50 cars whose alarms rang incessantly.
A car dangled from a shattered overpass and overturned vehicles lay scattered below. "I can now say in all surety that seat belts save lives in automobiles," said Cristian Alcaino, who survived the fall in his car.
Though most modern buildings survived, a church bell tower collapsed and several hospitals were evacuated because of damage.
Santiago's Arturo Merino BenÃtez International Airport was closed, with smashed windows, collapsed ceilings, and destroyed walkways in the passenger terminals. The capital's subway was also shut, and hundreds of buses were stuck behind a damaged bridge.
Marco Vidal, a program director for Grand Circle Travel traveling with a group of 34 Americans, was on the 19th floor of the Crowne Plaza Santiago Hotel when the quake struck.
To strip away any need for looting, Bachelet announced that essentials on the shelves of major supermakrets would be given away for free, under the supervision of authorities. Troops and police will also distribute food and water, she said.
In the country's main seaport town of Valparaiso two oil refineries are closed and damage assessment are underway. Elsewhere, Codelco's copper mining facilities were shutdown just after the quake but are gearing up to restart. Chile is the No. 1 copper-producing country and Codelco is the biggest copper-producing company.
While workers in the U.S. Embassy have been reported "okay" and "all accounted for," U.S. Ambassador Paul Simons says three Embassy "wardens" in Concepcion have not been in contact.
If all works correctly, the video below should be live streaming video - on air - from Hawaii. At 12:05 PM Hawaii time (5:05 PM EST), reports are coming through that tsunami effects are being to be seen in Hawaii. Waters are receding, and the surge is beginning. In Hilo no water over the breakwall. Wave action with little to no impact at 12:13 PM Hawaii time - more than one hour later than large waves were expected. The tsunami warning for Hawaii has been lifted. Read a report from Hilo below the live stream.
Don Sullivan of Denver, Colo., was vacationing in Hilo when he was awoken at 6 a.m. local time by tsunami warning sirens and forced to evacuate to high ground. Sirens continued to blare every hour after than, he said. "The evacuation seemed smooth, but there were huge gas lines," he said. He drove to a nearby scenic overlook about 100 feet above the beach, where he had a good view of the tsunami waves as they arrived. The sky was full of helicopters, he said, but there was no sense of panic among the evacuees. Two hours before the first wave hit, at about 2 p.m. ET, Sullivan said "The whales (were) going nuts, very, very active," he said. Then, about an hour before that wave, only a single whale remained in view. [He was] "About 100 yards out, young, looks like he is confused, bobbing up and down, he is in trouble," Sullivan said. Then, just after 4 p.m. ET, the water receded with eery calm away from the coast. "The beach line quickly (got) wider," he said. A few minutes later, the water rushed back in. "The bay (looks) bizarre, like a blender," he said. The churned up bay filled with dirty water, he said. There was no sign of the struggling whale after the second wave, he said. Then, at around 5:45, after three "surges" of water, the whales reappeared, suggesting to Sullivan that nature might be getting back to normal. "The choppers are leaving and the whales are returning," he said. But public officials continue to issues warning that the tsunami was still dangerous, so Sullivan, 47, had no idea what to do next. "We don't really know what to do with ourselves," he said. "I've been up since yesterday morning and we don't know if we will be allowed to go back to our hotel."
The first waves are expected to arrive in Hawaii at 11:05 AM local time, 4:05 PM EST. Continuing updates as available. At 6:00 AM Hawaii time, 11AM EST, FOXNews reports live, that sirens are sounding now in Hawaii. There remains about 5 hours to evacuate tsunami zones. Hilo Bay area may receive the highest waves. The tsunami warning for Hawaii has been lifted.Read the story of an American tourist on Hilo below.
12:05 PM Hawaii Time (5:10 PM EST) The first surge is nearing the island of Hawaii.
At 11:55 AM EST, Malia Zimmerman with the Hawaiian Reporter says waves are expected to be 6'-12', in long continuing waves - lasting several hours. Some sirens are not working.
WARNING from Charles McCreery: Do not go to the beaches to see the waves. The waves are unpredictable and you may not be able to get out of the way. Go to higher ground.
The tsunami is said to be moving across the Pacific Ocean at the speed of a jet liner.
Charles McCreery, director of The Ewa Beach, a Hawaii-based center, called for "urgent action to protect lives and property." McCreery said the waves are expected to be the biggest to hit Hawaii since 1964.
The state planned to sound warning sirens statewide at 6 a.m. to
alert residents and tourists of the incoming tsunami, said Shelly
Ichishita, spokeswoman for state civil defense.
People in coastal areas, such as tourist-filled Waikiki, will then be
instructed on a possible evacuation. The sirens will also be sounded
again three hours prior to the estimated arrival time.
"If you're in an evacuation zone, police or civil defense volunteers
would instruct you to evacuate, or instructions will come out over the
radio and TV," she said.
If coastal areas are evacuated, visitors in Waikiki would be moved to
higher floors in their hotels, rather than moved out of the tourist
district, which could cause gridlock.
At 11 AM EST Rick Reichmuth at FOX says warning sirens are sounding, which indicates that ocean buoys are indicating that there are tsunami waves forming.
Update 2-27-10:
Eucadorean President Rafael Correa said a tsunami has passed the Galapagos Islands, causing a swell but no damage.
In Hawaii, tourists in Waikiki may be moved to higher floors in hotels.
10:40 EST - This report says Hilo on Hawaii Island may receive the biggest waves. "The shape of the Bay [Hilo Bay] favors the waves gaining in height. Beaches throughout the Hawaiian Islands are being evacuated.
Get off the shore line. We are closing all the beaches and telling
people to drive out of the area," said John Cummings, Oahu Civil
11:40 EST - The Mayor of Honolulu, on FOXNews said tourists will be moved to the third floor of hotels or higher.
Don Sullivan of Denver, Colo., was vacationing in Hilo when he was awoken at 6 a.m. local time by tsunami warning sirens and forced to evacuate to high ground. Sirens continued to blare every hour after than, he said.
"The evacuation seemed smooth, but there were huge gas lines," he said.
He drove to a nearby scenic overlook about 100 feet above the beach, where he had a good view of the tsunami waves as they arrived. The sky was full of helicopters, he said, but there was no sense of panic among the evacuees.
Two hours before the first wave hit, at about 2 p.m. ET, Sullivan said "The whales (were) going nuts, very, very active," he said. Then, about an hour before that wave, only a single whale remained in view. [He was] "About 100 yards out, young, looks like he is confused, bobbing up and down, he is in trouble," Sullivan said.
Then, just after 4 p.m. ET, the water receded with eery calm away from the coast.
"The beach line quickly (got) wider," he said. A few minutes later, the water rushed back in. "The bay (looks) bizarre, like a blender," he said. The churned up bay filled with dirty water, he said. There was no sign of the struggling whale after the second wave, he said.
Then, at around 5:45, after three "surges" of water, the whales reappeared, suggesting to Sullivan that nature might be getting back to normal.
"The choppers are leaving and the whales are returning," he said.
But public officials continue to issues warning that the tsunami was still dangerous, so Sullivan, 47, had no idea what to do next.
"We don't really know what to do with ourselves," he said. "I've been up since yesterday morning and we don't know if we will be allowed to go back to our hotel."
A massive earthquake hit Chile this morning. Tsunami warnings are out, and there are reports of a 131-foot wave the Juan Fernandez Islands. Continuing updates as available. NBC reportes a tsunami wave is expected to reach Hawaii's coastline at 11:19 AM local time and 4:19 PM EST. Continuing updates as available. See updates below. If you are concerned about loved ones in Chile, call the U.S. State Department at 1-888-407-4747. See video below. See the latest update here.
Chile 8.8 Earthquake
Two million people in Chile have been affected.
The quake hit at 3:30 AM local time, and less than 100 miles north of the city of Concepcion, the second largest city in Chili. Power and phone lines are out-of-service. In Santiago, hospitals have been evacuated and the airport is closed. Santiago is located 200 miles from Concepcion.
Santiago, Chile Earthquake Devastation
Concepcion is the country's second-largest country. More than 200,000
people live along the Bio Bio river. It is reported that the Nuestra Senora de la Providencia church was heavily damaged and the bell tower collapsed.
Reports from Santiago, Chile, said 85122147214 300 are known dead in the southern Maule region. President Michelle Bachelet declared a "state of catastrophe."
Chile Earthquake
The U.S. Geological Survey said the earthquake struck 56 miles northeast
of the city of Concepcion at a depth of 22 miles at 3:34 a.m. (1:34
a.m. ET).
Jessica Sigala, a geophysicist with the USGS told NBC News that the
quake released 500 times more energy than the than the one that hit
Port-au-Prince, Haiti, on January 12. The quake was felt in Buenos
Aires, Argentina, which is located more than 800 miles away.
Tsunami warnings were issued for Hawaii, South America, Australia and New Zealand, Japan, the Philippines, Russia and many other Pacific islands.
Chile is the home to the world's biggest earthquake, measuring 9.5 magnitude, in 1960. At least 1,655 people died and 2 million were left homeless.
Today's earthquake is 64 times stronger than the one that Haiti in January 2010. It is deeper than the Haiti quake and due to the depth, it is hoped there will be fewer casualties.
Continuing updates as available for the Chile 8.8. earthquake.
Updates on Americans in Chile:
P.J. Crowley, a U.S. State Department spokesman says there are 100 Embassy personnel in Chile and "all are okay and accounted for."
Update 2-27-10:
As of 10:20 AM EST, no American deaths have been reported.
Aftershock Updates:
6.9 reported the largest as of 11:20 AM EST.
USGS reported 11 aftershocks, of which five measured 6.0 or above.
On FOXNews at 10:40 EST: the largest aftershock at this time is 6.9
Tsunami Updates:
A USGS spokesman speaking on FOXNews at 10:40 AM EST just said a tsunami wave is expected to hit the coastline somewhere in Hawaii at 4:19 PM EST.
11:00 AM Ecuador time: 11:0 AM EST - Ecuador's president, Rafael Correa said a tsunami has passed the Galapagos Islands, causing a swell but no damage.
A "huge" wave hit the Robinson Crusoe Islands 410 miles off the Chilean coast. There are no reports of injuries or major damage at this time.
British experts said a giant wave was now spreading from the epicentre
in
Chile towards the famous Easter Islands and then outwards in to the
Pacific.
The extent of the tsunami's strength is not yet known, but it has
already
reached the southern Juan Fernandez Islands, about 400 miles off the
coast
of Chile, where it was reported to have caused "serious damage".
"Tsunami waves in the deep ocean travel about the same speed as a jet
plane
and would take about 15 hours to reach Hawaii and about 20 hours to
reach
the other side of the Pacific," he added.
Tsunami warnings were issued for Guam, American Samoa and other Pacific islands.
All Hawaiian coastlines are under Tsunami warning, including Waikiki.
Update 2-27-10 12:20 EST: Four people died in a tsunami on Juan Fernandez islands.
In the City of Concepcion, a city of 670,000, a 15-story apartment building collapsed, along with many of the adobe houses. There is darkness tonight, light coming from bonfires.
A 7.0 magnitude earthquake hit Okinawa, Japan today. A tsunami warning was issued, but has been cancelled. The epicenter was 81km off of the island of Okinawa. A 5.1 magnitude earthquake also hit the Philippines on 2-27-10, 140km south of Davao on Mindanao Island. No deaths reported either in Japan or the Philippines.
U.S. Army Warrant Officer Chris Lust was serving in Port-au-Prince, Haiti distributing food to victims when he because ill. Lust was immediately sent to the U.S. Navy ship, Comfort, off the shores of Haiti, and then to a Tampa Veterans Hospital, where he was diagnosed with a rare disease endemic to Haiti, Leptospirosis.
Warrant Officer Chris Lust
Leptospirosis is characterized as a "rare and severe bacterial infection. It is also known as Well's disease. It is rarely found in humans, but infects dogs reptiles, mammals, birds and amphibians. The disease is believed to be transmitted by animal urine to humans through a break in the skin, the eyes and the mucous membranes.
The WHO reports infection in humans may occur when the bacteria come into contact with the skin, typically through contact with unclean water that has been infected by animals.
"It’s kind of like they’re writing a blank check when they go into these places and it might cost them their life," said Lorilei Lust, Chris' mother.
His mother says he has suffered seizure-like symptoms, painful headaches, fevers spiking as high as 105 degrees, and extreme body aches. He was in the hospital's I.C.U. until Saturday, February 20th. As soon as he is physically able to be transferred, he will be moved to San Antonio for follow-up care.
The U.S. Military is not commenting on Lust, or the possibility of other soldiers stricken with Lpetospirosis.
Hundreds of people on a seawall at Mavericks Beach, California were hit with a massive 20' rogue wave, crashing into the wall and knocking people off of their feet.The Mavericks Surf Contest went on anyway. See two videos below.
Chris Bertish - Winner Mavericks Beach Surf Contest
More than a dozen people suffered broken legs, arms and hands, and at least one had a punctured lung after being hit by the 20" swell.
Then it happened again as high tide came in, as officials tried to clear the shoreline, but their speaker system was washed out to sea:
Waves up to six feet high also knocked over barricades, a spectator
stand and scaffolding holding loudspeakers that were broadcasting the
contest.
...two more rogue breakers hit the shore, knocking down more spectators and causing others to flee in panic. Nobody was injured or swept out to sea in the second bout of tidal
chaos, but spectators did lose cameras, mobile phones, and backpacks.
A man on a beach near Carmel, California was swept out to sea while swimming yesterday. He has not been found. A woman walking with friends at shoreline on Sharp Park Beach in Pacifica was carried out to sea. She was recovered, but died in-hospital.
The Mavericks Surf Contest, the most lucrative surf contest in the world paid a purse of $150,000 to South African, Chris Bertish who said "I took the worse beating of my life out there.
Half Moon Bay Rogue Wave Slams Mavericks Beach (video)
Dr. Richard Bruno, a professor at Lynn University, has been recovered from the rubble of Hotel Montana in Port-au-Prince, Haiti.
Dr. Richard Bruno (bottom-middle)
Dr. Bruno was 59 years old when the earthquake hit, collapsing the hotel where he and others from Lynn were staying while on a mission trip. He had been on staff at Lynn for 4 years.
In the last two days, the bodies of three other students and another professor have been recovered. Students Christine Gianacaci and Stephanie Crispinelli, and Dr. Patrick Hartwick were located yesterday, and Courtney Hayes was located two days ago.
Still remaining on the missing list is Britney Gengel.
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