Replies to post #285866 on Zeev's Turnips Talk Politics (ZTTP)

[StephanieVanbryce]

Nature's fury unleashed

Gulf News Report
Published: August 16, 2007, 23:12


Dubai: Nature held the world in a vice-like and unforgiving grip by unleashing a wave of natural destruction through earthquakes, floods, forest fires and unseasonal heat waves coupled with freak weather patterns.

At least 700 were feared dead and thousands injured, or rendered homeless, as earthquakes and floods extracted a toll on human life from cities as far as Peru to North Korea.

An earthquake measuring 8.0 on the Richter scale, struck Peru's central coast, leaving at least 400 dead with more than 800 injured. The earthquake had its epicentre in the city of Ica, with a population of 120,000.

The quake struck at 1841 (2341 GMT) on Wednesday. Low-lying coastal areas in Peru, Chile, Ecuador and Colombia were later evacuated after a tsunami alert was issued, but the warning was later withdrawn.

In 1970, a 7.9-magnitude earthquake high in the Peruvian Andes triggered a landslide that buried the town of Yungay and killed 66,000 people.

In South East Asia almost 300 people were believed dead or missing as floods washed across North Korea forcing the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies to label it as the worst floods to hit the country in a decade.

About 300,000 people have been rendered homeless, while 11 per cent of the grain harvest - equivalent to some 450,000 tonnes - was lost in a country which largely needs foreign aid to feed its populace.

Meanwhile, Super Typhoon Sepat was also preparing to punch the Philippines, Taiwan and China with winds of up to 215 kph. India, Bangladesh and Nepal are already in the clutches of incessant rain and severe flooding.

Storm threat

In the Gulf of Mexico, Tropical Storm Erin had gathered steam homing in on the Texas coast, while Tropical Storm Dean strengthened in the open Atlantic and was expected to become the season's first hurricane.

The Solomon Islands was also hit with a 6.7 magnitude earthquake though no casualties, or damage were reported.

A forest fire, fanned by gale force winds also swept across Athens' northern suburbs yesterday torching homes and forcing people to flee even as the mercury in Japan soared to a record 40.9C in the western city of Tajimi and in the central city of Kumagaya claiming 13 lives across the country.

Last week, temperatures in the UAE also soared to record levels with a mean maximum so far in August being 41.5C.


http://www.gulfnews.com/world/Peru/10147243.html

[rollingrock]

tlc... why? They can't offer any proof
that man is causing global warming.