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Global Crisis News- Industrial Accidents and Global Inequity: The Contrasting Cases of Bhopal and BP Horizon Deepwater August 31, 2010
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Earthquake Alert in Philippines
On 3/25/2010 5:29:31 AM UTC an earthquake of magnitude 6.1 and depth 72.4km has struck an moderately populated area in the Southern Tagalog Province (population: 8.2 million) in Philippines. GDACS estimates the likelihood for need of international humanitarian intervention to be medium (Orange alert).
This earthquake can have a medium humanitarian impact since the affected region is moderately populated and has
Chile Economy Churning
The chilean economy begins recovery, but GDP should take a huge hit in the aftermath of massive earthquakes along the coastline.
SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)– Following the devastating earthquake that hit Chile in late February, the country’s central bank held its benchmark interest rate steady at a record-low 0.5% Thursday, but warned the temblor will have effects on inflation and growth in the near term.
Chile will see higher inflation and reduced growth due to the earthquake’s immediate disruptive effects.
As roads were cut off and factories and warehouses damaged, many tradable goods became scarcer and/or more expensive.
According to two recent surveys released by the central bank–one polling analysts, the other local market traders–the consumer price index likely will jump 0.8% on the month in March.
As to the medium-term effects of the fifth-strongest earthquake on record, the central bank said the economic outlook will be determined by the country’s productive capacity and reconstruction financing efforts, but that “a quantification of these elements is still premature.”
Since a total 775-basis-point cut in the benchmark rate in a seven-month period last year–from January to July–the bank has held the key rate, known by its local acronym of TPM, steady at its rock-bottom low.
“The central bank governing council considers that given the current circumstances, marked especially by the uncertainty associated with the effects of the catastrophe, holding the TPM at its minimum level at 0.5% until at least the second quarter of this year is coherent with inflation converging toward 3% in the policy horizon,” the bank said.
The monetary authority has an inflation target of 3%, plus or minus one percentage point in a 24-month policy horizon.
The central bank noted that prior to the Feb. 27 8.8-magnitude earthquake, and the tsunami it spawned, the domestic economy was showing signs of a reduced output gap and robust demand.
“This was reaffirmed with the national accounts data” published early Thursday that showed, the bank said, gross domestic product pulling out of negative territory in the final quarter of 2009 amid healthy domestic demand. Fourth-quarter GDP grew 2.1% on the year on the back of a 5.7% surge in demand.
“Consumption was picking up prior to the quake, but it will be affected as consumers have to spend their money on repairs or they see the value of their homes fall,” said Santander GBM economist Juan Pablo Castro.
This immediate reduction in demand will force the bank to delay its first rate hike into the third quarter, analysts said.
Rather than initiating the rate-normalization cycle sometime during the second quarter, the central bank is now expected to delay the first move to no earlier than the third quarter, said Goldman Sachs economist Alberto Ramos in a research note.
While the bank will likely begin to withdraw its significant monetary stimulus in the third quarter, policy will remain expansive for a while to boost reconstruction efforts, analysts said.
“It’s a dovish stance and we see the TPM at 2% at the end of the year,” Castro told Dow Jones Newswires.
Central bank President Jose De Gregorio on several occasions following the earthquake said interest rates would remain low.
“As we said before the earthquake and then in light of the initial consequences we’ve seen following it…monetary policy will remain very expansive,” De Gregorio recently said.
“Whether the rate will remain at 0.5% or slightly higher than that a few months down the road, that’s something that we’ll be discussing [in the central bank council]. But what’s really important is that for this year, rates will be low in comparison to what’s been our historic pattern,” he said.
In addition to changing the pace of its monetary policy decisions, the bank will also likely revise its 2010 economic outlook in light of the earthquake and the devastation it left behind when it releases its quarterly Monetary Policy Report in early April.
Haiti Relief Effort updates
Don’t forget the people in Haiti and the rebuilding effort.
If Bush and Clinton can come together on a cause, we can all unite to support Haiti quake relief efforts.
Additonal Earthquakes shock Chile as new president takes office
SANTIAGO, Chile — The earth shook and shook Thursday as dignitaries walked in for the swearing-in of Sebastian Pinera as Chile’s president. It shook some more as they waited for him to join them.
People in the balconies of the vast congressional hall in coastal Valparaiso shouted warnings as a massive light fixture rocked overhead, and heads of state nervously eyed the ceiling. But a steely calm prevailed, especially from Pinera himself as he strode in smiling.
The president and his ministers then quickly swore their oaths, and the audience of 2,000 headed for the exits and the hills, joining an evacution called out of concern that Thursday’s repeated aftershocks would set off another tsunami.
The Feb. 27 earthquake — the fifth-strongest since 1900 — killed 497 identified victims and potentially hundreds of others, destroyed or heavily damaged at least 500,000 homes and broke apart highways and hospitals. Recovery costs could soar above $15 billion, including $5 billion for infrastructure alone.
Thursday’s quakes terrified many who have been living in and around quake-weakened homes since last month’s massive temblor. Tall buildings swayed and windows rattled in downtown Santiago. Frightened people ran for safety across central Chile.
In the town of Talca, authorities closed supermarkets for fear of looting. Just outside coastal Constitution, which Pinera was visiting later Thursday, survivors and volunteers building 60 emergency shelters fled in panic.
The strongest of the aftershocks — magnitude 6.9 — was Chile’s most powerful since Feb. 27, and occurred along the same fault line, said geophysicist Don Blakeman at the U.S. Geological Survey in Golden, Colorado.
source
Disaster update: Flood in Kenya
While unrelated to the events in Chile, its important that we all understand the need for emergency aid for those in need. There was a major natural disaster in Kenya with many left homeless and in need of basic supplies and materials. We will keep them in our thoughts and prayers as we focus on earthquake prevention and awareness and respond to the events in Chile.
Analysis: March 8, 2010: Three more people have died as a result of floods in parts of Kenya, according to the latest statistics from the Kenya Red Cross and government officials. Kenya Red Cross communications director Titus Mung"e;ou on Saturday told th…
The flood started on 3/7/2010 and ended on 3/9/2010, with a duration of 3 days.
This flood has severity class 2 (i.e. this is an extreme event with an estimated recurrence interval greater than 100 years).
The main cause is Torrential Rain.
The alert score is based on the reported death and displaced. Red = 1000 or more people killed or 800000 or more people displaced. Orange = 100 or more people killed or 80000 or more displaced.
Impact
Reports indicate that 9 person(s) have been killed and 300 have been displaced. No reports on damage have been found. The flood affected a region of approximately 40320 km2.
Location
For the following locations damage has been reported: Marsabit North, Migori and Uriri districts in South Nyanza, Mandera
The approximate geographic location of this flood is .01 latitude and 34.5 longitude. This is the centroid of the affected area, as determined by the place names mentioned in the media.
Rivers in flood:
Maps (around approximate geographic location)
Population density map
source: http://www.gdacs.org/reports.asp?eventType=FL&ID=2010_32&country=Kenya&location=&system=asgard&alertlevel=Green&glide_no=
Chile looters return goods
Pressed by police and military patrols, Chileans returned hundreds of television sets, washing machines and other electronic and furniture items stolen from stores and warehouses.
The looting had broken out in the wake of the devastating 8.8-magnitude earthquake that hit Chile on February 27. It led to curfews and the deployment of some 14,000 soldiers – a move unprecedented since the 17-year dictatorship of Augusto Pinochet that ended in 1990.
Michelle Bachelet, the Chilean president, visited a depot of returned goods Sunday, promising justice. “This looting has nothing to do with survival,” Mrs Bachelet said. “It had everything to do with people trying to make a profit on the suffering of others,” she said, promising to apply the full weight of the law on looters.
Meanwhile, the national blue, red and white flag fluttered at half-mast from buildings across the country at the start of three days of national mourning, in a week in which president-elect Sebastian Pinera was due to be sworn in.
Religious ceremonies, some taking place in the open air, brought Chileans together to remember their dead – now officially estimated at 452 after officials revised down a first toll of 802.
Many of the nation’s 16.8 million inhabitants joined a wave of solidarity alongside public and international aid efforts, and looters handed back stolen goods under threat of arrest.
Demolition and reconstruction efforts have slowly begun in badly-hit areas. Aid has poured in from across the world but, with severed bridges, fractured freeways and villages washed off the map, the nation has struggled to deliver relief to many, including some two million homeless survivors.
Costs to repair damaged infrastructure, not including repairs on public buildings or damaged ports, would amount to as much as £759 million ($1.2 billion), Sergio Bitar, the minister of public works, estimated on Sunday. However, he added: “Chile’s infrastructure held up well.”
source
Taiwan Rumbles: 6.4 Magnitude Earthquake Hits Taiwan
Tectonic plates all over the pacific are going crazy as Taiwan gets shocked by a 6.4 Magnitude quake.
source: http://su.pr/1Nl0hk
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Change in Earth’s Axis
The energy released from the Chilean Earthquake was massive and impacts all of humanity. Find out how you can help.
The earthquake that struck Chile was certainly less deadly than that which hit Haiti. But the Chilean tremors were so powerful that they have shifted Earth’s axis and shortened the day.
The change is not very evident because the days have become shorter by only a fraction of a second. As per the analysis of scientists, the earthquake has moved the planet’s figure axis, the axis on which Earth’s mass is balanced, by 8 centimeters, or 3 inches.
According to scientists at the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA), the 8.8 magnitude earthquake that hit Chile has moved planet’s axis enough to speed up Earth’s rotation. As a result, our days have become shorter by 1.26 microseconds compared to last week.
The earthquake that struck Chile on Feb. 27 was caused due to the sliding of ocean tectonic plate under the South American plate. The built-up stress along the fault zone due to the quake in 1960 had resulted in South American plate springing upwards, thus resulting in tremors.
This has led to the vertical redistribution of large amount of planet’s mass, resulting in a shift in Earth’s figure axis. The effect is that the planet has started rotating faster. According to geophysicists, occurrences like earthquakes, volcanoes, and any major changes in the atmosphere can lead to a tilt in the planet’s axis and change the shape of the globe.
In other words, any occurrence that moves a large amount of Earth’s mass from one part to the other leads to changes in planet’s rotation. The 2004 Indonesian earthquake affect Earth’s rotation, too. For instance, the earthquake that hit southeast of Sumatra Island, Indonesia in 2004 was so powerful that it made the planet vibrate on its axis, permanently altering the regional map.
US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut that year had stated, “Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the southwest coast of Sumatra may have moved to the southwest by about 20 meters. That is a lot of slip.”
Further, that quake had tilted the axis by about 2.3 milliarcseconds and shortened the days by 6.8 microseconds.
Chile Earthquake death toll now over 800
Chile death toll on the rise:
source: cnn.com
Just like your golf score, this is a number you don’t want to see go up. You can help victims of this natural disaster: Support our cause
Chilean copper let off lightly
Power disruptions following Saturday’s massive earthquake in Chile have forced Anglo American and Codelco to suspend several of their mining operations.
Chile is the world’s largest copper producer and concerns over the impact of the quake on supply sent copper prices almost 6 per cent higher when markets re-opened on Monday, although they have subsequently eased back. The 8.8 magnitude quake was centred near Concepcion, Chile’s second city, which lies some 250 miles to the south of the capital, Santiago. With most of Chile’s production located in the north of the country, the majority of mines weren’t affected. But several mines closer to Santiago were hit. Anglo suffered disruptions at four of its operations: Los Bronces, El Soldado and Mantoverde mines and the Chagres copper smelter. Between them, the three affected mines produced 341,300 tonnes of copper last year – over half of Anglo’s total output of copper. Anglo reported that power has been partially restored and that production started to ramp up again on Sunday. Codelco has restored production at its two affected mines.
source: http://www.investorschronicle.co.uk/Companies/ByEvent/Risk/Analysis/article/20100303/712cbcee-26b9-11df-a37a-00144f2af8e8/Chilean-copper-let-off-lightly.jsp