Italy quake: Search for survivors in Emilia Romagna

Rescuers in northern Italy are continuing to comb through the rubble for more survivors after a strong earthquake killed at least 16 people.

About 350 people were injured after the magnitude 5.8 quake hit the Emilia Romagna region - the second deadly tremor in just over a week.

A woman was pulled out alive in the evening in Cavezzo, but officials say at least one more person is missing.

The quake on 20 May killed seven people and left thousands homeless.

The 6.0 magnitude tremor also caused significant damage to Emilia Romagna's cultural heritage, destroying churches and historic buildings.

The number of people made homeless has now gone up from 6,000 to 14,000 after the two quakes, the Italian government says.

The woman who was saved in Cavezzo reportedly spent 12 hours in the rubble in her kitchen. The 65-year-old managed to survive because a piece of furniture had toppled over, preventing her from being crushed by the wreckage.

She was taken to hospital.

Prime Minister Mario Monti said earlier his government would do everything possible to restore normal life to the area, which was "so special, so important, so productive for Italy".

Government troops are now deployed in the affected areas, and an emergency cabinet meeting will be held on Wednesday.

Tuesday's quake struck 40km (25 miles) north of Bologna at a depth of 9.6km (six miles) at about 09:03 local time (07:03 GMT).

Thousands of residents ran out of buildings after the tremor, which was felt as far away as Venice and the Austrian border.

The towns of Mirandola, Medolla and Cavezzo were closest to the epicentre, but the northern cities of Milan and Bologna were shaken too.

Among the dead were four people in Mirandola, including two who were in a factory that collapsed. Three people also died in San Felice, and two in Cavezzo.

In Mirandola, the San Francesco church collapsed, leaving only its facade standing.

Three people were killed at a factory that had only been cleared for re-entry on Monday, following the earlier quake, the Corriere della Sera news website says.

A parish priest in the town of Rovereto di Novi is reported to have been killed by a falling beam when he went back into his church to save a Madonna statue.

"It's a disaster, I've never seen anything like it," Cavezzo Mayor Stefano Draghetti was quoted as saying by Reuters.

Christopher Gilbert, a Londoner living in Modena, told the BBC that he had felt "a rolling earthquake lasting around 15 seconds".

Chris Brewerton, living in Mantua, about 58km north of Modena, told the BBC: "The chair starts shaking and there's a feeling of waves below me.

"I rush out into the garden; the shutters and garage door are banging, the ground below me swaying."

There have been several aftershocks since, including a large one at about midday which sent people out into the streets in cities up to 100km away, the BBC's Mark Duff reports from northern Italy.

In Pisa, offices were evacuated as a precautionary measure while there were moments of panic in Venice, where a statue fell to the ground.

Pictures from the worst-affected areas show factories and office blocks reduced to rubble.

Calls to emergency services have overloaded the telephone network in some areas, causing a system blackout. Train services have been halted in some parts of northern Italy.

Emilia Romagna - one of Italy's most agriculturally productive areas famous for many delicacies - has been struggling to recover from the previous quake.

Reports say that Tuesday's tremor dealt a blow to the region's world-famous balsamic vinegar industry - after the previous quake nine days ago hit Parmesan production.

A friendly match between Italy and Luxembourg ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships, due to be played in the northern city of Parma on Tuesday, has been called off.

In 2009, an earthquake in L'Aquila, central Italy, killed nearly 300 people.

- BBC

Volcano Activity in Colombia on Tuesday, 29 May, 2012 at 14:20 (02:20 PM) UTC.

Colombian volcanologists indicated that the likelihood of an eruption at the Nevado del Ruiz volcano has increased, after an earthquake Tuesday morning in cental Colombia. Local authorities have raised the alert level from yellow to orange following a report issued by the Manizales Volcanological and Seismological Observatory. An orange alert does not mean an eruption is imminent. Web cameras in the area “show the emission of ash,” which “has been felt in the area surrounding the volcano,” according to Seismologic and Volcanic Observation director Gloria Patricia Cortes, who also noted the impact on city of Manizales and municipality of Villamaria. Cortes said that relief agencies in the area are prepped for immediate action, in case of emergency. “The recommendation now is to use masks in the city of Manizales because of the persistent rain of ashes,” said Cortes, who also said that she did not expect a lava flow but did not rule out that the emission of ash could continue for some time. According to officials, small amounts of ash could be dispersed from the volcano to remote areas depending on wind direction and strength. The volcano has been fluctuating at high activity levels for the past several months and was lowered to alert level yellow earlier this month. The last eruption of the volcano in 1985 killed an estimated 25,000 people and destroyed the town of Armero.

- RSOE Edis

Italian Earthquakes - Further activity

Greg G0DUB reports on the IARU Region 1 site that two additional earthquakes have struck the Emilia Romagna region of Italy Tuesday afternoon, May 29.

He writes that 15 deaths have been reported. Following a request from the Italian Civil Protection department. RNRE have immediately sent one Mobile Unit with 5 radio amateurs to the area and two more units are ready to go when requested.

The HF frequency 7060kHz is in use by IQ1HQ (headquarter RNRE) and IQ0TK. (Civil Protection Department in Rome). VHF links are currently on 145.200MHz.

Raggruppamento Nazionale Radiocomunicazioni Emergenza in Google English
http://tinyurl.com/RNRE-Italy

IARU Region 1
http://www.iaru-r1.org/

Hailstorm in New Zealand on Tuesday, 29 May, 2012 at 00:47 (12:47 AM) UTC.

A freak hailstorm lashed the capital this morning - causing at least three minor crashes. Two were on the motorway between Thorndon and Aotea Quay and one on Wallace St in Mt Cook. Affected vehicles were not blocking traffic and there were no reports of injuries. Weather Watch spokesman Philip Duncan said the hailstorm was unexpected and is part of a swift southerly change that has been "dropping temperatures everywhere". "Wellington just got clipped by that southerly that's been coming up from the South Island," said Mr Duncan. He said the front was moving up the Hutt Valley and into the Wairarapa. Freak hailstorms are caused by volatility caused by the presence of "big fluffy cumulus clouds", a mixture of hot and cold air and the right amount of moisture in the air. "You have all the right ingredients that then send these raindrops up a lot further into the atmosphere where it's colder and then it freezes and then you start to get hail," said Mr Duncan. Once you get hail you can also get thunder, he said. "When the hail starts knocking around up there in the clouds it can produce static charges and thunderstorms so it's a possibility we might see an isolated thunderstorm in the lower North Island as well." Wellington Police spokesman Sergeant Andy Dow has asked drivers to drive to the conditions and to put dipped headlights on.

- RSOE Edis

Tropical Storm Beryl

Beryl first formed as a subtropical storm over the Atlantic Ocean on May 25, 2012. The U.S. National Hurricane Center (NHC) tracked the storm’s progress, and at 2:00 p.m. Eastern Daylight Time (EDT) on May 27, the NHC announced that the storm was located roughly 110 miles (175 kilometers) east of Jacksonville, Florida. Having strengthened into a tropical storm, Beryl had maximum sustained winds of 65 miles (100 kilometers) per hour.
The Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA’s Aqua satellite captured this natural-color image of Beryl on May 27, around 2:30 p.m. EDT. Beryl was making landfall along Florida’s east coast. The NHC warned that the hazards affecting land included high winds and flooding resulting from a combination of the storm surge and the tide.

1. References

2. National Hurricane Center. (2012, May 29) Tropical Storm Beryl Advisory Archive. Accessed May 29, 2012.

NASA image courtesy Jeff Schmaltz, LANCE MODIS Rapid Response Team, Goddard Space Flight Center. Caption by Michon Scott.

Instrument: 

Aqua - MODIS

SA National Severe Weather Warnings: 29 May 2012 16h00 SAST

Eastern Cape Province - Warning: Take action

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 29/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected between Plettenberg Bay and Port Edward, reaching 6m west of Port Alfred. Moderating from Thursday.

Northern Cape Province - Warning: Take action

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 30/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected on Wednesday, persisting into Thursday.

Western Cape Province - Warning: Take action

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 29/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. 1. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected, reaching 6m south of Cape Point. Moderating from Thursday.

All other Provinces - No warnings nor advisories in effect

Subject: No Alerts.
Detail: No Alerts.

- SAWS

SA Weather Satellite Image: 29 May 2012 19h00 SAST

Image: Eumetsat (Click on image for larger view.)

Sunset over the Southern Drakensberg

Wow...Sunsets over the Southern Drakensberg‬ are always incredibly beautiful. Observer Paul Audie ‏@DurbanFire

Intydse Weerwaarneming: Despatch (29 Mei 2012)

Ek heg twee fotos aan van sonsondergang in Despatch. Ek was vanoggend vroeg in Port Elizabeth. dit was n lieflike dag en die see was so glad en plat soos 'n spieël. W/N Johann Pretorius, Despatch.

New earthquake in northern Italy kills 15

A new earthquake has struck the Emilia region in northern Italy, killing at least 15 people and leaving several others trapped under rubble.

Tuesday's tremor, estimated at magnitude 5.8, hit the same region where a quake 10 days ago killed seven people and destroyed many buildings.

Buildings damaged by the first quake have now collapsed in Mirandola, Finale Emilia, San Felice and Cavezzo, Italian media report.

Milan and Bologna were shaken too.

The quake struck 40km (25mi) north of Bologna and 60km east of Parma, at a depth of 9.6km (six miles), Reuters reports. It was felt as far away as Venice and the Austrian border.

Many people ran out of buildings when they felt the tremor, which hit at 09:03 local time (07:03 GMT).

There have been several aftershocks since, including a large one at about midday which sent people back out into the streets, a BBC correspondent reports in Modena.

Among the dead were four people in Mirandola, including two who were in a factory that collapsed. Three also died in San Felice, and one in Cavezzo, some 30km (20mi) from Modena.

Many historic buildings now lie in ruins in Cavezzo, where the roof of a church damaged by the earlier quake collapsed on Tuesday, Il Messaggero news website reports.

Calls to emergency services have overloaded the telephone network in some areas, causing a system blackout. Train services have been halted in some parts of northern Italy.

Workers were told to leave their offices in Bologna and there are reports of evacuations elsewhere too.

Prime Minister Mario Monti has pledged to help all those affected.

"I would like to assure everyone that the Italian state will do everything we must do and is possible to do in the shortest possible time to guarantee a return to normal life in this area, that is so special, so important, so productive for Italy," he said.

Chris Brewerton, living in Mantua, told the BBC that Tuesday's quake appeared stronger than the one on 20 May, which was 6.0 in magnitude. Mantua is 58km (36 miles) north of Modena.

"The chair starts shaking and there's a feeling of waves below me," he said. "I rush out into the garden; the shutters and garage door are banging, the ground below me swaying. It lasted about 15 seconds - it was frightening."

A Londoner living in Modena, Christopher Gilbert, said he felt "a rolling earthquake lasting around 15 seconds - people were quite frightened.

"I was having a coffee when the quake struck and felt a swaying motion so I clutched onto a bar in the cafe to steady myself. Schools and offices were evacuated," he told the BBC.

A friendly match between Italy and Luxembourg ahead of the Euro 2012 football championships, due to be played in the northern city of Parma on Tuesday, has now been called off.

The 20 May quake destroyed many centuries-old buildings of cultural value. It was the worst to hit Italy since the L'Aquila tremor that killed nearly 300 people in 2009.

Some 7,000 people who fled that quake are still living in dozens of tented camps erected in public spaces, AFP news agency reports. There have been many tremors in the region since that quake.

- BBC

Doha fire: SA govt sends condolences

Johannesburg - Two expatriate South Africans, including a toddler, were killed in a fire at an upmarket shopping centre in Doha, Qatar, which claimed 19 lives, the international relations department confirmed on Tuesday.

"The two [South Africans were] a 28-year-old female teacher who worked at the mall’s day care centre and an 18-month-old toddler who was at the day care centre," said spokesperson Nelson Kgwete in a statement.

The South African embassy in Doha were in contact with the families of the deceased, named earlier by The Star as Shameega Charles and Umar Emeran.

"The South African government would like to express its heartfelt condolences to the government and people of Qatar, and especially the families of the deceased..." Kgwete said.

Associated Press reported that the fire broke out in a crèche at the Villaggio Mall.

Thirteen children were among those killed.

- SAPA/News24

UPDATE 2: Many felt earthquake in Swaziland (27 May 2012 21h00 SAST)

According to Swaziland Geo science officials, earthquake of magnitude four is confirmed. It may be the reason (issue reported earlier, see below) that no major seismological centers reported this quake (mostly records M 4.5+ for international country).

-The earthquake tremor was even felt across South Africa. It was widely felt across Newcastle, Ladysmith, Dundee, Mkuze, Piet Retief, and Pongola.
-Minor aftershocks were also felt in KwaZulu-Natal midlands.

Read more: http://disaster-report.blogspot.com/2012/05/earthquake-in-swaziland.html#ixzz1wHBncWou

Pretoria shack blaze

Netcare911 Paramedics have responded to a blaze which gutted nearly ten shacks in the Plastic View informal settlement in Moreleta Park, Pretoria, this afternoon.

The cause of the fire will form the subject of a South African Police Force investigation.

Common cause information suggests that an unwatched candle may have sparked the fire, which spread quickly and razed several shacks to the ground.

Netcare911 Paramedics are standing by. No injuries or fatalities have been reported at this stage.


Jeffrey Wicks
Media Liaison Officer - Gauteng
Netcare Limited
Netcare 911

Earthquake: M5.8 - 3km SSE of Medolla, Italy

Summary

Location and Magnitude contributed by: USGS, NEIS, Golden, Colorado (and predecessors)

Event Time

2012-05-29 07:00:03 UTC
2012-05-29 09:00:03 UTC+02:00 at epicenter
2012-05-29 09:00:03 UTC+02:00 system time

Nearby Cities

3km (2mi) SSE of Medolla, Italy
5km (3mi) WSW of San Felice sul Panaro, Italy
8km (5mi) S of Mirandola, Italy
11km (7mi) NNW of Crevalcore, Italy
146km (91mi) NW of San Marino, San Marino

Tectonic Summary

Seismotectonics of the Mediterranean Region and Vicinity

The Mediterranean region is seismically active due to the northward convergence (4-10 mm/yr) of the African plate with respect to the Eurasian plate along a complex plate boundary. This convergence began approximately 50 Ma and was associated with the closure of the Tethys Sea. The modern day remnant of the Tethys Sea is the Mediterranean Sea. The highest rates of seismicity in the Mediterranean region are found along the Hellenic subduction zone of southern Greece, along the North Anatolian Fault Zone of western Turkey and the Calabrian subduction zone of southern Italy. Local high rates of convergence at the Hellenic subduction zone (35mm/yr) are associated with back-arc spreading throughout Greece and western Turkey above the subducting Mediterranean oceanic crust. Crustal normal faulting throughout this region is a manifestation of extensional tectonics associated with the back-arc spreading. The region of the Marmara Sea is a transition zone between this extensional regime, to the west, and the strike-slip regime of the North Anatolian Fault Zone, to the east. The North Anatolian Fault accommodates much of the right-lateral horizontal motion (23-24 mm/yr) between the Anatolian micro-plate and Eurasian plate as the Anatolian micro-plate is being pushed westward to further accommodate closure of the Mediterranean basin caused by the collision of the African and Arabian plates in southeastern Turkey. Subduction of the Mediterranean Sea floor beneath the Tyrrhenian Sea at the Calabrian subduction zone causes a significant zone of seismicity around Sicily and southern Italy. Active volcanoes are located above intermediate depth earthquakes in the Cyclades of the Aegean Sea and in southern Italy.

In the Mediterranean region there is a written record, several centuries long, documenting pre-instrumental seismicity (pre-20th century). Earthquakes have historically caused widespread damage across central and southern Greece, Cyprus, Sicily, Crete, the Nile Delta, Northern Libya, the Atlas Mountains of North Africa and the Iberian Peninsula. The 1903 M8.2 Kythera earthquake and the 1926 M7.8 Rhodes earthquakes are the largest instrumentally recorded Mediterranean earthquakes, both of which are associated with subduction zone tectonics. Between 1939 and 1999 a series of devastating M7+ strike-slip earthquakes propagated westward along the North Anatolian Fault Zone, beginning with the 1939 M7.8 Erzincan earthquake on the eastern end of the North Anatolian Fault system. The 1999 M7.6 Izmit earthquake, located on the westward end of the fault, struck one of Turkey's most densely populated and industrialized urban areas killing, more than 17,000 people. Although seismicity rates are comparatively low along the northern margin of the African continent, large destructive earthquakes have been recorded and reported from Morocco in the western Mediterranean, to the Dead Sea in the eastern Mediterranean. The 1980 M7.3 El Asnam earthquake was one of Africa's largest and most destructive earthquakes within the 20th century.

Large earthquakes throughout the Mediterranean region have also been known to produce significant and damaging tsunamis. One of the more prominent historical earthquakes within the region is the Lisbon earthquake of November 1, 1755, whose magnitude has been estimated from non-instrumental data to be about 8.0. The 1755 Lisbon earthquake is thought to have occurred within or near the Azores-Gibraltar transform fault, which defines the boundary between the African and Eurasian plates off the west coast of Morocco and Portugal. The earthquake is notable for both a large death toll of approximately 60,000 people and for generating a tsunami that swept up the Portuguese coast inundating coastal villages and Lisbon. An earthquake of approximately M8.0 near Sicily in 1693 generated a large tsunami wave that destroyed numerous towns along Sicily's east coast. The M7.2 December 28, 1908 Messina earthquake is the deadliest documented European earthquake. The combination of severe ground shaking and a local tsunami caused an estimated 60,000 to 120,000 fatalities.

- USGS

'The Qatar fire has united us in anger and in grief'

Yesterday in Doha, 13 children died when fire ripped through their nursery at a popular shopping centre. Expat Victoria Scott explains how the tragedy has affected the community.

This morning, I packed my son’s bags for nursery with a heavy heart. As my husband and son left in the car, I fought the urge to grab them, bring them back inside and lock the door. All morning, I checked my phone incessantly for urgent messages. Naturally, I was behaving irrationally. I’m willing to bet, however, that I’m not the only parent in Doha who felt this way.

I reckon not many of us had much sleep last night, either. Every time I closed my eyes I was haunted by the shocking images I’d seen, and far worse, the images I hadn’t seen but could only imagine. Every time I saw a discarded toy, shoe or sock in a forgotten corner of our house, I thought of the parents who were returning home to hundreds of objects like these, never to be used again. I was glad when dawn came.

I’m a member of a group called Doha Mums, which has over 1,000 members, all expat mothers like me. The group has a busy forum which is usually full of posts like requests for advice on the best hospitals to give birth at, the right shop to go to for imported baby food, and child-friendly holiday destinations. Today, the day after the fire at Villagio Mall, it’s full of messages of condolence, offers of help to grieving families, requests for information on where to buy smoke detectors, and discussions on safety at our children’s nurseries and schools.

I always tell people that Qatar is one of the safest places I’ve ever lived, and by that I’ve always meant that there’s very little crime here, and that we never feel threatened. Now I realise that this warm, friendly environment has lulled me into a false sense of security when it comes to our safety. How could I only have just asked the nursery school management today about their evacuation plans? Why hadn’t we asked about fire safety procedures when we looked round initially? My relief at discovering today that they have a fire escape right next to our son’s classroom was incredible. Why hadn’t I seen it before? I just didn’t think I needed to.

I’ve just received an email from my son’s nursery detailing their plans, the equipment they have, and plans for more frequent fire drills. Most of my friend’s children’s nurseries have done the same. My fellow Doha Mums members all woke up with a collective thought this morning: that we must do what we can to make Qatar a safer place. The look on the faces of the nursery staff suggested they’d also come to work determined to do the same.

This afternoon, people are meeting in our largest park to remember the dead and show our support for those who are grieving. It seems that all those killed in the fire were expats, not an unlikely statistic in a country where locals are very much in the minority. Still, the effect of the tragedy is being felt across the whole community, local and expat alike. The deaths of 19 innocent souls in an accident which many feel was entirely avoidable have brought a country – so often divided by nationality and faith – together. We are united by our anger, and our grief.

- The Telegraph

Canadian authorities check reports of debris falling from airliner

(CNN) -- Canadian authorities are investigating reports that debris fell Monday from a troubled airliner and caused damage to vehicles in southern Ontario.

The incident centers on Air Canada Flight 001, which took off from Toronto at 2:10 p.m. ET, destined for Tokyo's Narita Airport, with 318 passengers and 16 crew members aboard.

One of the Boeing 777 aircraft's engines shut down after takeoff, prompting the flight crew to follow "standard procedure" and return to Toronto Pearson International Airport, said Air Canada spokesman Peter Fitzpatrick.

The crew requested an emergency landing, which Fitzpatrick said was standard because it gives certain planes first priority, though he also noted the aircraft involved is designed to run on a single engine if necessary.

The plane landed normally, and passengers returned to the gate, according to Fitzpatrick. Constable George Tudos, spokesman for police in the regional municipality of Peel, said the aircraft returned to Toronto's airport at 3:53 p.m.

Yet more than an hour before that, around 2:30 p.m., people began reporting seeing smoke, and one spotted what may have been debris coming from a large airliner, according to the spokesman.

Peel Regional Police ended up receiving several calls from people reporting vehicles had been damaged by things that plunged from the sky, said Tudos. As of about 4:30 p.m., three to five such vehicles were being investigated for damage.

Sarabjit Sandhu told CNN affiliate CP24 that she and her husband had just gotten gas at a Petro-Canada station in Mississauga when they "heard a big noise, a bump, like boom."

"The first thing I said (was), 'Oh my God, what is this?' " Sandhu said.

A number of vehicles around the parking lot were damaged, including a Nissan Altima with its back window shattered to pieces while its owner was inside the gas station's convenience store.

Pieces of gray, heavy material littered the scene, according to CP24.

"It was so hot you couldn't even touch it," Sandhu said of the material.

No injuries have been reported on the plane or on the ground, added the spokesman.

Fitzpatrick, the Air Canada spokesman, noted around 5 p.m. that there had been "no confirmation at this time" that debris had fallen from his company's plane.

"There will be a full investigation into this incident, as there always is, and that will determine what happened," said Fitzpatrick.

Tudos, the Peel police spokesman, said officials from the national transportation agency Transport Canada are investigating.

"Transport Canada will follow up with the company to ensure compliance with safety regulations," agency spokesman Kelly James told CNN on Monday by e-mail. "The department will not hesitate to take immediate action if safety issues are identified."

- CNN

Qatar probes deadly shopping mall blaze

(CNN) -- Qatar's government says it's investigating complaints that sprinklers and alarms weren't working during a fire at an upscale Doha shopping mall that killed 19 people, most of them children in a nursery.

The fatalities at the Villaggio shopping mall included seven girls, six boys, four teachers, and two other adults, the Persian Gulf monarchy's interior ministry said Monday. Rescuers were unable to reach the nursery from the inside and had to break into it from the rooftop, Health Minister Abdullah bin Khalid Al Qahtani told the state news agency QNA.

The government has set up a committee to investigate "the causes and circumstances" of the blaze, QNA announced Monday night. The agency quoted Brig. Gen. Othman al-Duhaimi, the operations chief for Qatar's civil defense agency, as saying alarms went off in some shops, and that some of the pipes that carried water for the sprinklers may have been leaking -- and that those issues would be addressed in the investigation.

Christine Wigton, an American living in Doha, told CNN she heard "a buzzer, not very loud" as she walked into the mall, but heard no loud alarms as smoke built up inside. Elementary school-age children were eating at some of the restaurants and no one was trying to escape, she said.

"When I got a little bit closer, I realized the smoke was just increasing and people were still shopping. And the smoke kept getting heavier and heavier," Wigton said. She said she left when the smoke became "too much."

"There were no sprinklers, and there was nothing that would tell somebody that something was wrong," she said.

Built in 2006, the mall advertises itself as "the newest and the largest entertainment center in Doha." The Venice-themed complex features gondola rides down an indoor canal, an artificial sky, a 13-screen movie theater, a theme park, skating rink and a bowling alley.

Qatar's interior minister, Sheikh Abdullah Bin Nasser Bin Khalifa Al Thani, said the civil defense office reviews safety standards for commercial buildings before they grant a license.

"The investigation will clarify all the circumstances of the incident and find out the shortcomings and question those who are responsible in order to tackle the matter in the future," he said in remarks carried by QNA.

Along with the children and teachers, two would-be rescuers died in the blaze, Interior Minister Abdullah bin Nasser bin Khalifa Al Thani said in a statement posted on the ministry's Facebook page. Another 17 people were injured, including four children, but most of them were firefighters, he said.

Several of the dead were from Qatar's expatriate community. Four were Spanish nationals, a spokeswoman for Spain's Foreign Ministry said Monday.

And New Zealand Prime Minister John Key said Tuesday that it was "likely" that three of the dead were triplets, estimated at between two and three years of age, from "a New Zealand family."

Key said a consular official based in the Saudi capital Riyadh would soon go to Qatar "to support the family," while the children's grandparents were also heading there as well.

"Obviously, there are some very serious questions that will need to be answered," said Key, who did not identify the children or their parents. "But at the moment, we're really just trying to wrap around all the support we can for a family that will be grieving."

Al Thani said everyone was believed to have been accounted for late Monday.

- CNN

- cnn

Fukushima radiation seen in tuna off California

(Reuters) - Low levels of nuclear radiation from the tsunami-damaged Fukushima power plant have turned up in bluefin tuna off the California coast, suggesting that these fish carried radioactive compounds across the Pacific Ocean faster than wind or water can.

Small amounts of cesium-137 and cesium-134 were detected in 15 tuna caught near San Diego in August 2011, about four months after these chemicals were released into the water off Japan's east coast, scientists reported on Monday.

That is months earlier than wind and water currents brought debris from the plant to waters off Alaska and the U.S. Pacific Northwest.

The amount of radioactive cesium in the fish is not thought to be damaging to people if consumed, the researchers said in a study published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences.

Without making a definitive judgment on the safety of the fish, lead author Daniel Madigan of Stanford University's Hopkins Marine Station noted that the amount of radioactive material detected was far less than the Japanese safety limit.

"I wouldn't tell anyone what's safe to eat or what's not safe to eat," Madigan said in a telephone interview. "It's become clear that some people feel that any amount of radioactivity, in their minds, is bad and they'd like to avoid it. But compared to what's there naturally ... and what's established as safety limits, it's not a large amount at all."

He said the scientists found elevated levels of two radioactive isotopes of the element cesium: cesium 137, which was present in the eastern Pacific before the Fukushima Daiichi disaster in the spring of 2011; and cesium 134, which is produced only by human activities and was not present before the earthquake and tsunami hit the Japanese plant.

Because cesium 134 is generated only by human activities - nuclear power plants and weapons - and there was none in the Pacific for several years before the Fukushima accident, they reckoned that any cesium 134 they found in tuna off California had to come from Fukushima.

SWIMMING THROUGH CESIUM

There was about five times the background amount of cesium 137 in the bluefin tuna they tested, but that is still a tiny quantity, Madigan said: 5 becquerels instead of 1 becquerel. (It takes 37 billion becquerels to equal 1 curie; for context, a pound of uranium-238 has 0.00015 curies of radioactivity, so one becquerel would be a truly miniscule proportion.)

The researchers figured that the elevated levels of cesium 137 and all of the cesium 134 they detected came from Fukushima because of the way bluefin tuna migrate across the Pacific.

Bluefin tuna spawn only in the western Pacific, off the coasts of Japan and the Philippines. As young fish, some migrate east to the California coast, where upwelling ocean water brings lots of food for them and their prey. They get to these waters as juveniles or adolescents, and remain there, fattening up.

Judging by the size of the bluefin tuna they sampled - they averaged about 15 pounds (6 kg) - the researchers knew these were young fish that had left Japanese water about a month after the accident.

Most of the radiation was released over a few days in April 2011, and unlike some other compounds, radioactive cesium does not quickly sink to the sea bottom but remains dispersed in the water column, from the surface to the ocean floor.

Fish can swim right through it, ingesting it through their gills, by taking in seawater or by eating organisms that have already taken it in, Madigan said.

Bluefin tuna typically have low levels of naturally occurring radioactive material, such as potassium 40, which was present in the world's oceans long before human beings walked the Earth.

Compared to these natural levels of radioactivity, the amount contributed by Fukushima raised the level about 3 percent, Madigan said.

He said there were probably much higher levels of cesium 134 present in bluefin tuna off Japan soon after the accident, as much as 40 to 50 percent higher than normal. Cesium 134 decays quickly, with a half-life of two years. Bluefin tuna excrete it on a daily basis and it also gets diluted in their bodies as they grow.

- BBC

- BBC

SA National Severe Weather Warnings: 29 May 2012 04h00 SAST

Eastern Cape Province - Watch: Be prepared

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 29/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. 1. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected between Plettenberg Bay and Port Alfred on Tuesday evening, spreading eastwards, reaching East London on Wednesday, persisting into Thursday.

Northern Cape Province - Watch: Be prepared

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 30/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. 1. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected on Wednesday evening, persisting into Thursday.

Western Cape Province - Watch: Be prepared

Subject: Heavy swell.
Detail: Valid: 29/05/2012 to 01/06/2012. 1. Heavy swell in excess of 4m is expected between Plettenberg Bay and Cape Columbine on Tuesday evening, spreading northwards, on Wednesday, persisting into Thursday.

All other Provinces - No warnings nor advisories in effect

Subject: No Alerts.
Detail: No Alerts.

- SAWS

SA Weather Satellite Image: 29 May 2012 06h00 SAST

Image: Eumetsat (Click on image for larger view.)

GFS Medium Range Forecasts of Vertical Velocity and Precipitation: 29 - 30 May 2012

Image: U.S. National Center for Environmental Prediction (NCEP) Click on image for larger view.

Swaziland earth tremor detected in Secunda

The tremor experienced in Swaziland and eastern parts of Mpumalanga was detected by the secundaweather seismometer.

Seismograms graphs are inserted below:

Images: Secundaweather (Click on images for larger view.)

SAWDOS: The SecundaWeather Seismometer detected the Swaziland tremor, although
not a very strong signal. - Cor Rademeyer

VIDEO: Brand verwoes winkels

Ses winkels in die Princess Crossing-winkelsentrum in Roodepoort is gisteroggend deur ’n brand in puin gelê.

Een van hulle, DisChem, is maar sowat ’n jaar gelede opgeknap. Voorraad ter waarde van R30 miljoen is vernietig, het Niall Hegarty, ’n direkteur van die Dis-Chem-groep, gesê.

Die brand het vroegoggend op die boonste vlak van óf Dis-Chem óf The Hub ontstaan, het Hegarty gesê. Die takke van The Hub, Contempo, Wimpy, Altech Autopage en Linens ’n Things is ook in die brand verwoes.

’n Groot skare mense het by ’n sirkel by die ingang van die sentrum langs Ontdekkersweg gestaan en kyk hoe 30 brandbestryders met agt brandweer­waens ’n verbete stryd voer om die vlamme te blus.

Robert Mulaudzi, woordvoerder van die Johannesburgse nooddiens, het gesê die eerste noodoproep is omstreeks 05:30 van ’n veiligheidswag by die sentrum ontvang.

“Ons was binne minute op die toneel,” het Mulaudzi gesê.

Brandbestryders het die dakvlamme vanuit ’n hyser probeer stuit, terwyl grondbemanning daarin kon slaag om die vlamme in die rigting van Pick n Pay te keer.

Teen 08:00 het groot dele van die sentrum se dak al inmekaargesak en verwoesting is oor sowat 70 m gesaai.

Die vlamme het kort ná 09:00 van DisChem na Linens ’n Things versprei.

Swart bolle rook het ure lank bo die sentrum gehang.

Die sowat 118 personeellede van DisChem sal volgens Hegarty by ander takke in die groter Johannesburg-omgewing ontplooi word. “Ons gaan hulle beslis nie afdank nie.”

Hegarty het klante aangemoedig om van alternatiewe apteke in die omgewing gebruik te maak om hul voorskrifmedisyne te bekom.

“Al ons apteke is met mekaar verbind. Ons kliënte kan steeds gehelp word.”

Niemand is in die brand beseer nie en die oorsaak van die brand word steeds ondersoek, het Mulaudzi gesê.

“Ons wil nie nou bespiegel nie. Die ondersoek kan selfs weke neem om te voltooi.”

- BEELD

SA teacher, toddler killed in Qatar nursery blaze

Cape Town - Two South Africans, a woman and an 18-month-old boy, were among those killed in a fire at an upscale mall in Doha, Qatar, on Monday.

A fire started at a nursery at the Villaggio mall, where 13 toddlers were killed, along with four female teachers, as well as two firefighters who were battling the blaze.

The woman, who her father confirmed to eNews to be 28-year-old Shameega Charles from Cape Town, was a teacher at the Gympanzee nursery.

Her father Faiek said they had last spoken to her on Saturday to wish her well for her birthday.

The 18-month-old child, also said to be from Cape Town, has not yet been named.

The children who died were aged between one and three and were trapped in the nursery, for more than two hours, Sky News reported.

Firefighters had to break through the roof to get to trapped children after a staircase to the first-floor nursery collapsed, Qatar's state minister for the interior Abdullah bin Nasser al-Thani said.

Dense smoke inside the mall combined with the fierce temperature from the flames made reaching the trapped children very difficult, a representative of the civil defence told a news conference.

Health Minister Khaled al-Qahtani said 17 people were injured in the blaze, mostly firefighters.

Reuters reported that it was not immediately clear what caused the blaze, and Qatar's interior ministry said an investigation was under way.

Witnesses questioned safety measures at the mall, saying there were no sprinklers, and that alarms were barely audible.

"There don't seem to have been any fire alarms or sprinklers at the mall," a relative of a 2-year-old child who died in the fire told the news agency, speaking by phone from Qatar's Hamad Hospital.

Another witness who spoke to Al Jazeera also said the sprinkler system was not working.

He told the news website that he initially saw green smoke, and soon after that it turned black and then very heavy.

An American woman living in Doha told CNN she was walking in the mall when she heard a buzzing noise.

"As I walked back to where I had parked and heard a buzzer, not very loud, and a little bit of smoke, it looked like a store had had a small fire," Christine Wigton said.

"When I got a little bit closer I realised the smoke was just increasing and people were still shopping. And the smoke kept getting heavier and heavier."

She told CNN that there were no sprinklers and there was nothing that would tell somebody that something was wrong."

The mall, which opened in 2006, is an Italianate-themed shopping complex with a hotel, theme park and canal plied by gondolas.

One of the Gulf country's largest and most popular shopping malls, it also contains a cinema, and an ice rink.

- News24

Tobacco death every 6 seconds

NATIONAL NEWS - Struggling to ditch the smoking habit? Perhaps the Cancer Association's statistics may help to cause an aversion to your daily dose: A person dies from tobacco every six seconds.

In a strong-worded press release aimed at publicising World No Tobacco Day on 31 May, Cansa describes the tobacco industry's marketing tactics as "dark", "harmful" and "clandestine" while enticing women and young people - in particular - to become smokers.

Cansa's CEO, Sue Janse van Rensburg says that they are aware that tobacco smoking has been made freely available and promoted at exclusive parties. "We have evidence of specific brands promoting cigarettes in a supermarket as well as at a restaurant as recently as November last year. Beautiful women are used to promote and even distribute free cigarettes in that environment, giving the impression that smoking is 'cool'."

Facts:

Tobacco smoking (including the inhaling of second-hand smoke) causes lung cancer, heart disease and other illnesses.
Hubbly-bubbly smoking is deadly. Smoking one hookah pipe can give you as much nicotine as smoking 10 cigarettes. It contains high levels of carbon monoxide and cancer-causing chemicals.
Worldwide 6-million people die from tobacco smoke a year, 44 000 in South Africa.
The Tobacco Control Act restricts tobacco advertising, including 'viral' marketing which is a favoured approach to target young people.

- George Herald