Out of Control Bushfires Rage through an Australian Town

February 7, 2011
This is a news story on the bushfires that hit Australia located in and near Perth in southwestern Australia in February 2011 and the extent of the damage that these fires can cause.

November 24, 2011
Bushfires have been damaging and destroying properties in southwestern Australia in late November 2001. A raging fire swept through an Australian town destroying their homes and forcing residents to evacuate. More than 100 firefighters have been trying to stop the fire which has so far destroyed 20 homes and 750 hectares of bushland in the coastal town of Prevelly, Australia. The fires began with a controlled burn in Leeuwin-Naturaliste National Park which soon became out of control. The blaze became unpredictable and began traveling towards residential areas going 200 meters an hour and there have been speculations as to why they would start a fire when winds had been blowing very hard that day and could easily get out of control. 50 residents in the near by Kilcarnup area were also evacuated and were sent to a popular tourist town incase the fires headed their direction. Firefighters are hoping to be able to control the fires once the wind dies down, right now it is difficult with the great amount of wind that has been occurring. The fires became out of control not only because of the heavy winds, but the temperatures around the state rose and even the Fire and Emergency Services Authority warned that western Australia was facing its most dangerous bushfire seasons in recent history. Bushfires are a regular occurrence in Australia with 64 homes being destroyed in February due to bushfires and the major fires that raged in 2009 named "Black Saturday" killing 65 people, but they are hoping that this current bushfire is able to get under control soon so as no more homes are damaged to the same extent as the February fires.
http://au.news.yahoo.com/thewest/a/-/world/11964469/raging-bushfire-sweeps-through-australian-town/

Largest Eruption for Africa's Nyamuragira Volcano this Century

November 16, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=ZZeDUnC8gjg
This is a video reporting on the eruption of Africa's Democratic Republic of Congo's Nyamuragira volcano. Scientists believe that it is the volcanoes largest eruption to happen in a century.

Africa's most active volcano Nyamuragira  located in Democratic Republic of Congo began erupting on Sunday night. The volcano is located about 25 miles north of the town of Goma and is located where there is a critically endangered population of mountain gorillas. The volcano erupted 27 times since 1938 and this eruption was one of the largest for the volcano to happen this century. Scientists monitoring the volcanic activity say that the surrounding population located in Goma, the gorillas and the wildlife does not appear to be in danger at this time, so no evacuations have been made. The eruptions have been described as an amazing fire show and tourist treks to the mountain are continuing as usual.
http://www.globalpost.com/dispatch/news/regions/africa/111108/drc-congo-nyamuragira-volcano-erupts-virunga-mountain-gorillas

Powerful Storm Hits West Coast of Alaska

Video with raw footage of the Alaskan super storm to hit the west coast on November 9, 2011.
November 9, 2011
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=p6SbZrp8b3k

November 9, 2011
In nearly 40 years a powerful storm with snow and hurricane-force winds hits western Alaska on Wednesday November 9th battering coastal communities and forcing residents to evacuate to higher ground as power has been knocked out and roofs have been ripped up. As the storm was approaching residents and emergency responders braced themselves for possible sea water surges into the coastal communities. Water has already reached four Native villages including Tununak and Kipnuk. So far no reports of injuries, and damages are mainly windows blown out and torn up roofs along with scattered power outages. Highest wind gust recorded for this storm was 85 mph hitting Wales at the western tip of the Seward Peninsula. The community of Nome with one of the biggest coastal communities of about 3,600 people had wind gusts of about 61 mph and power outages for several hours. Residents along Front Street located less than 100 feet form the seawall protecting the town from the Bering Sea were asked to evacuate to higher ground for a night prior to the storm hitting.
http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-505245_162-57321706/powerful-storm-batters-alaskas-western-coast/

Thailand Flood Killing 506 People and the Rising Waters in Bangkok

October 4, 2011
This is a video from a month earlier explaining the situation of the post flood measures and the threatening of the flooding to reach the center capital city of Bangkok

November, 6, 2011
The current flooding in Thailand has been the worst in a half a century with the death toll continuing to rise and reaching past 500 deaths and counting. New evacuation have been ordered in the city of Bangkok as polluted black water is continuing to flow into the city and threatening the subway system. So far there have been 11 of Bangkok's 50 districts with evacuations ordered along with partial evacuations in 7 more districts. The evacuations are not mandatory so most people are staying to protect their homes and businesses, but the orders show how the flooding is continuing to progress and the government is having troubled controlling the situation. Rainfall has been drenching Thailand since late July killing 506 people most being killed by drowning, but a handful have been killed by flood related electrocutions as well. A few days earlier workers finished a 3.7 mile flood wall made from large sandbags to try and divert some of the water that is flowing towards central Bangkok, but a large amount of the water is already past the wall and continuing to push towards the center of the city. Prime Minister Yingluck Shinawatra says that there is a plan that would allocate $3.3 billion dollars for post-flood reconstruction.
http://abcnews.go.com/International/wireStory/death-toll-thailand-floods-rises-past-500-14890736#.TrcNnVYUkZQ

Hudson Volcano Releasing Ash Clouds has Chile and Argentina on Alert

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=M3L5QN28fh4
October 27, 2011
This is a video describing the warning of the possibility of a major eruption to occur at the Hudson Volcano located in southern Chile and how people have been evacuated.

October 28, 2011
The Hudson volcano located in southern Chile in Patagonia has released 3 large columns of steam and ash that have formed into a cloud more than 3 miles high. This has authorities in Chile and Argentina on alert for the possibility of a much larger eruption to occur. The Hudson volcano has erupted 2 times in the past 60 years and the most recent in 1991 piled up 18 inches of ash and killed an estimated 1.5 million sheep on the Argentine side of the Andean mountains. 119 people have been evacuated from the immediate area and people nearby are prepared to flee with the melting of the snow and ice causing the Aysen river to overflow onto its banks since the volcano is covered by a glacier. If a major eruption were to occur then prevailing winds could possibly blow the ash across the continent of South America, cutting off supply routes and air travel to the southern area of Argentina. The steam and ash are erupting from three craters ranging from 650 feet to 1,600 feet wide and with earthquakes causing a shaking of the mountain, a major eruption could happen within days not to mention a plume of ash and steam have already spread 7.5 miles toward Argentina. It is good that there has been an evacuation of people and that authorities are aware that a possible major disaster could occur if the volcano was to erupt again with more force.
http://www.seattlepi.com/news/article/Ash-cloud-rises-above-restive-Chilean-volcano-2240851.php#photo-1706062

Damaged Reactors at Japanese Nuclear Plant Could Take 30 Years to Retire

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Y67S54Q0QBk&feature=related
Above is a video from MSNBC reporting in March on the explosions at the Fukushima nuclear power plant and the beginnings of the distribution of radiation in the area. The article below reports on the progress or the continuation of the issues with the nuclear power plant.

November 1, 2011,
After the March 11, 2011 earthquake and tsunami that hit Japan and damaged the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant along the coast, it is estimated that the decommissioning or four reactors will likely take more than 30 years to complete. Japanese officials report that the decommissioning at Fukushima is complicated and the goal to start taking out debris and finish decommissioning within a 10 year period is estimated to extend to 30 years. Temperatures in the three reactors of the nuclear plant since the disaster have been brought down to 100 degrees Celsius, but the company needs to maintain the conditions for a while before the reactors are declared to be in cold shutdown and then debris will be able to be removed. The removal of fuel at the plant is expected to take years as well because the extent of the damage was very severe. It is expected to take years to clean up the worst nuclear disasters since Chernobyl since hydrogen explosions blew apart the No.1 and No.3 reactor housings, the No. 2 reactor is also suspected to have experienced a hydrogen blast and the No. 4 reactor housing experienced damage from fires caused by heat of the fuel. Volunteers collecting data around Japan have found that a significant amount of radiation has contaminated the water and released into the Pacific Ocean and it will take a lot of time for the contamination to be dispersed and diluted. Radioactive particles from the nuclear plant has displaced around 80,000 people living within 20 kilometer radius of the plant along with residents of a village about 40 kilometers northwest of the plant.
http://www.cnn.com/2011/11/01/world/asia/japan-nuclear/index.html?hpt=wo_c2