Bilderberg 2010

Join us this week on The Corbett Report as we take another peek behind the closed doors of the secretive Bilderberg group. We uncover the Bilderberg 2010 agenda with Daniel Estulin, organize counter-conference protests with Charlie Skelton of the UK's Guardian newspaper and confront David Rockefeller with the Sovereign Independent.

Please be patient while the rest of the video is being uploaded. A link to the mp3 of today's episode will be available shortly.

http://www.corbettreport.com

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_6aoer510uU&playnext_from=TL&videos=p_c24bIzSWg

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vAax_M6A6Zo&playnext_from=TL&videos=1KIqNI3Lf0c

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=J-wpvNs43cI&playnext_from=TL&videos=p1RiHSDT2qY

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Bilderberg 2010 Agenda Leaked

James Corbett The Corbett Report 28 May, 2010

Veteran Bilderberg researcher and bestselling author Daniel Estulin has once again acquired a copy of the agenda for the annual meeting of the world's power elite. In an exclusive interview with The Corbett Report earlier today, Estulin revealed what the Bilderbergers will be discussing at this year's confab in Sitges, Spain on June 3-6, 2010. Download an mp3 of the interview by clicking here or listen in the player below: According to the documents—which Estulin obtained from his sources inside the secretive group—issues to be discussed in this year's formal deliberations are:    1. Will the Euro Survive?    2. Development in Europe: Europe's Exit Strategy...On Hold?    3. Do We Have Institutions to Deal With the World Economy?    4. Greece: Lessons and Forward-looking Strategies    5. NATO and Afghanistan: The Practical Agenda for the Alliance    6. Iran and Russia: Economic and Financial Threats to the Alliance    7. The Consequences of War Against Terrorism    8. The Influence of Domestic Issues on American Foreign Policy    9.The Outlook for Japan's Economy    10. The Future of the U.S. Dollar: Alternative Scenarios That the Bilderbergers—essentially a talking shop for European and North American power players—are interested in discussing the current meltdown of the European economy should come as no surprise, especially as the group's attendee list includes many of the key financiers and string pullers who helped steer Europe into the crisis in the first place. Past attendees of the meeting include current EU President Herman Van Rompuy who got the job as the first non-elected head of the undemocratic European Union after a special wine and dine session with Bilderberg steering committee members. Last year he heralded the beginning of global government, praising the increased role of G20 in dealing with the global financial crisis. Other key Bilderbergers include Jean-Claude Trichet, who, as head of the European Central Bank, was instrumental in helping to craft the current European bailout which itself is designed to incentivize the bankruptcy of Europe. Trichet, too, also recently called for global government to regulate the world economic meltdown that his fellow Bilderbergers helped to create. Those familiar with the Bilderberg group's long-cherished dream of achieving global government through the creation of an international financial framework will be unsurprised to see that a debate on the question "Do We Have Institutions to Deal With the World Economy?" is the third order of business at this year's meeting. Nor will it be a surprise when the question is inevitably answered with the standard globalist line that international institutions like the IMF and the World Bank need to be "strengthened" and even given enhanced regulatory powers as a result of the crisis they have brought about, exactly as Bilderberg observers have been predicting for years. Indeed, as Estulin himself notes in his latest book, Shadow Masters, former U.S. Undersecretary of State George Ball expressed the ambition of the globalists in an address to the 1968 Bilderberg meeting in Mont Tremblant when he stated that they were interested in developing a "world company" to take over the "archaic political structure of nation states"

Other items on the agenda are exactly in line with the issues and plans made at last year's Bilderberg and those ideas debated at last year's G20 Finance Ministers meeting, both of which Estulin was able to infiltrate with his inside sources. The fact that the Iran-Russia alliance is on this year's agenda is doubly telling, not only because a strike against Iran was on the table at this year's Trilateral Commission meeting, but because, as Estulin notes in today's interview, it indicates that the real object of the Bilderbergers' aggression against Iran is the destabilization of Russia, a country that has traditionally been a thorn in the side of the globalists.

Perhaps the only thing that is surprising about this year's leaked agenda is that the secretive group, which has gone to great length to conceal itself from media and public scrutiny, has failed to take precautions to prevent Estulin and his sources from acquiring the information yet again. "I'm a little bit disappointed in the Bilderbergers," he said on the line from Spain, where he currently resides. "I would think they would have taken certain precautions and measures, especially coming to my part of the world."

While the agenda is only a guide for the larger group discussions and the real decision-making takes place among the core members of the group behind closed doors, it does serve as an indicator of the issues and events that are preoccupying the globalists at this sensitive stage of their operation, just as they begin to realize their dream of instituting global government by manufacturing a global depression. Even as these plans begin to come to fruition, the people of Iceland, Greece, and other developed countries are beginning to rise up en masse to throw off the yoke of financial oppression and key Bilderbergers are openly talking of their fears of a global political awakening.

This year's conference marks a new level of exposure and opposition to the Bilderberg group itself. Daniel Estulin will be making an historic speech to the European parliament on June 1^st along with Mario Borghezio, Nigel Farage, and other key MEPs. Then Charlie Skelton, reporting once again for the UK's Guardian newspaper, will be taking part in a mass counter-conference where those opposed to the Bilderbergers and their secret proceedings will gather to draw attention to the group.

Stay tuned to corbettreport.com for all of the latest information on this year's conference, including an update from Estulin about what his sources are able to reveal about the meeting's proceedings. Coverage starts this Sunday with the release of Episode 131 of The Corbett Report podcast, "Bilderberg 2010."

Related works from The Corbett Report:

Estulin: After G20, Oligarchs Moving on African Union, Population Reduction (article)

Bilderberg 2009 Intel Already Proving Accurate (article)

http://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20100528_bilderberg_agenda.htmhttp://www.corbettreport.com/articles/20100528_bilderberg_agenda.htm

Weird weather ~ / Signs in the heavens

Lightning knocks chunks off church
CANOE
By CHRIS KITCHING, QMI Agency A bolt of lightning struck the bell tower of a historic downtown Winnipeg church during a thunderstorm Friday morning

Lightning Bolt Causes Strange Chain Of Events In Northern Virginia

 Alex Trevino  

FALLS CHURCH, Va. (WUSA) -- A lightning bolt caused a man hole cover to blow off on Annandale Road and Beechtree Lane.

Adam Jeantet said, "It was pretty amazing to see pieces of the road had flipped over."

Nearby residents told 9 News Now, big chunks of asphalt torn out, were the result of a rare lightning strike.

Adam Jeantet said, he saw the bolt of lightning strike a transformer, three telephone poles down the street, from his bedroom window.

"Best we could tell it traveled through the telephone wire and came to the man hole cover and blew up from there," explained Jeantet.

Virginia Department of Transportation said, phone lines were damaged, disrupting land lines for a short period of time. Crews patched up the mess by noon on Friday.

The hole in the ground swallowed up part of a woman's car. That's when Jeantet and his roommates rushed to the scene to help the driver. "She had driven over because it was raining so hard she couldn't see what she was doing when she drove over this 8 inch piece of asphalt here and down into the big crater there,"said Jeantet. "She was actually alright, we helped her in gave her a towel because it was still raining pretty hard at that time and had her relax because that's a pretty crazy experience."

http://www.wusa9.com/news/local/story.aspx?storyid=101907&catid=188
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Ash-Covered Guatemala Lashed By Storm

Katie Cassidy, Sky News Online

Heavy rains in Guatemala blamed for the deaths of 12 people were threatening to turn ash from an erupting volcano into a double disaster for the country's capital city.

Tropical storm Agatha has battered the area three days after the Pacaya volcano began shooting rock and ash into the air.

Authorities were concerned the rains would mix with the ash and create a cement-like mud and block evacuation routes.

At least a dozen people are dead following the storm after it triggered deadly mudslides both in the capital and in a number of villages outside the major city.

In one instance, a large boulder came away in the sodden earth, landing on a house and killing two children and two adults who were inside.

While the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, the rain has not subsided and there were fears for other vulnerable hillside settlements.

Guatemala City's valley was deluged by more than four inches of rain (10cm) in a 12-hour period.

A man shovels ash off a footpath in Guatemala City

Cesar George, of Guatemala's meteorological institute, said almost 12in (30cm) of rain fell over the community of Champerico in 30 hours.

"It rained in one day what it usually gets in a month," he said.

President Alvaro Colom also warned that rivers in the country's south were flooding, or close to it.

More than 4,000 people were already in shelters, but officials said the number was likely to rise as figures come in from around the country.

But the crisis of the torrential rain was made worse by the continuing eruptions of the nearby volcano, located about 25m south of the capital.

Some 800 homes have already been destroyed by lava and Guatemala City had been covered in ash.

A clean-up effort has been mobilised in the capital, with residents lending a hand to sweep the ash off roads.

Tropical storm Agatha has battered the area three days after the Pacaya volcano began shooting rock and ash into the air.

Authorities were concerned the rains would mix with the ash and create a cement-like mud and block evacuation routes.

At least a dozen people are dead following the storm after it triggered deadly mudslides both in the capital and in a number of villages outside the major city.

In one instance, a large boulder came away in the sodden earth, landing on a house and killing two children and two adults who were inside.

While the storm has been downgraded to a tropical depression, the rain has not subsided and there were fears for other vulnerable hillside settlements.

Guatemala City's valley was deluged by more than four inches of rain (10cm) in a 12-hour period.

A clean-up effort has been mobilised in the capital, with residents lending a hand to sweep the ash off roads.

http://news.sky.com/skynews/Home/World-News/Guatemala-Storm-Leaves-12-Dead-Heavy-Rain-And-Mudslides-Agatha-Hits-Country-Amid-Volcano-Eruptions/Article/201005415640626?f=rss

Drills Continue ~

Hospital uses armed man in unannounced drill

Test of security procedures results in frightening moments

By Marshall Allen 

Saturday, May 29, 2010 | 2:01 a.m.

Sun archives

• Hospital ER reopens after fatal police shooting (3-11-2009)

How's this for an ill-conceived emergency preparedness drill? An off-duty cop pretending to be a terrorist stormed into a hospital intensive care unit brandishing a handgun, which he pointed at nurses while herding them down a corridor and into a room.

There, after harrowing moments, he explained that the whole caper was a training exercise.

The staff at St. Rose Dominican Hospitals-Siena Campus, where the incident took place Monday morning, found the exercise more traumatizing than instructive.

Hospital employees would have been justified in fearing for their lives.

Just last year, Henderson police shot and killed an armed, hostile man in the emergency room. So it would make sense that security and emergency preparedness have been a focus at the hospital.

But in Monday's incident, which occurred in a unit that houses the hospital's sickest patients, nurses, patients and their families did not know it was a drill, said Renee Ruiz, organizer of the California Nurses Association, which represents staff at the hospital.

"There are significant safety issues here," Ruiz said. "We would never condone a drill like this. We put the safety of the patients and nurses and hospital staff first and foremost."

Ruiz said the union is investigating the incident. Many people saw the gunman, she said, and the union is gathering statements and talking to hospital administrators.

Andy North, director of public policy and external affairs for the hospital, apologized for any distress caused by the incident. There's been an "ongoing effort to try and make (emergency preparedness drills) as realistic as possible," he said, but the goal is not to scare or harm anyone.

He said as many as 10 employees were involved in the incident and no one was hurt. The actor was from a local police department, North said.

The staff was supposed to have been told in advance of the exercise, but there was a "disconnect," North said. That won't happen again, he said.

State regulators who license hospitals said Friday the incident may warrant investigation, depending on whether patient care was compromised.

http://www.lasvegassun.com/news/2010/may/29/hospital-uses-armed-man-unannounced-drill/

Pestilence/ disease

Phoenix-area hospitals fight highly toxic 'supergerm'

  by Ginger Rough - May. 29, 2010 12:00 AM
The Arizona Republic

Maricopa County health officials have confirmed that a relatively new, extremely toxic strain of bacteria has been found in hospitals and other health-care facilities in the Valley.

The germ, known as Clostridium difficile, has long plagued the medical profession and is blamed for an increasing amount of illness in patients.

But this is the first time the new strain, known in medical circles as "NAP1," is believed to have been linked to patient illness and deaths in Arizona, health officials said. It carries at least 20 times as much toxin as the original strain.

According to the county, at least 10 patients have fallen severely ill from this new type of C. diff since early March. Two of those who were infected have died, though the germ has not been named conclusively as the cause of death. All the patients were elderly and suffered from health problems.

"Assuming this continues to evolve, it is going to be a real pain for our health-care communities," said Dr. Bob England, director of the Maricopa County Department of Public Health.

Like other "supergerms," all strains of C. diff are resistant to powerful antibiotics, and the infection is difficult and expensive to treat. The germ causes pronounced diarrhea and, in severe cases, can lead to inflammation of the colon, which can be fatal.

Healthy and younger people usually don't get C. diff. Most cases occur in health-care facilities, and those represent only a small fraction of the tens of millions of admissions to U.S. hospitals and nursing homes every year. But the number of cases has risen sharply over the past decade, to nearly 500,000 in 2007, according to the latest data from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention.

The Arizona Republic first learned of an ongoing C. diff outbreak last month after filing a state Public Records Law request to obtain a health alert issued by the Arizona Department of Health Services.

The alert contained no information about how the outbreak started, which hospitals were involved or how many patients were affected. County officials maintained that they were not obligated to provide that information.

This week, officials with the county Public Health Department and Banner Health, a non-profit group, met with a reporter and an editor from The Republic. Banner revealed that Banner Baywood Medical Center in Mesa had identified the strain after seeing some patients become very ill.

The hospital alerted the county to the problem in early March.

"If there's a cluster, an outbreak, we want to report that," said Dr. John Hensing, executive vice president and chief medical officer at Banner Health, a Phoenix-based non-profit health-care group.

Banner officials say they believe that most, if not all, patients came to Banner Baywood with an active C. diff infection, rather than contracting it at the facility. Some arrived from long-term-care facilities and nursing homes or went to the emergency room after falling sick at home.

The patients were elderly, suffered from other health problems and had been on extensive antibiotics. Prolonged antibiotic use can heighten a patient's susceptibility to C. diff because the drugs can kill off the body's "good" bacteria, allowing it to flourish.

Arizona, like many other states, does not track incidences of C. diff.

But a Republic analysis of hospital-discharge records shows that from Jan. 1, 2008, to Dec. 31, 2009, patients at Arizona hospitals were identified as having a C. diff infections more than 15,400 times.

The bug is becoming a major problem for hospitals because it spreads easily. Traditional cleansers and hand sanitizers fail to neutralize its spores, which are often spread through fecal-oral contact. The best ways to deter C. diff is with bleach and aggressive hand-washing.

Banner said officials at Baywood took immediate steps to control the outbreak, including isolating patients who exhibited symptoms of illness.

They also sanitized surfaces and equipment throughout the hospital with bleach and instituted new hand-washing protocols for all patients, including those too sick to get out of bed.

Nurses now bring them bottles of water so they can scrub their hands with soap without getting up, officials said.

They believe they have the outbreak under control.

This is not the first time Banner Baywood has dealt with a spike in germ-related infections.

In April 2008, hospital officials noticed a spike among post-surgical patients. Nineteen cases involved a supergerm known as methicillin-resistant Staphylococcus aureus, or MRSA. Seven infections were tied to the E. coli bacterium, and about a dozen others were caused by various other bacteria, according to the hospital. The facility implemented a series of aggressive procedures over several months to eliminate the problem.

County public-health officials say it's likely that this strain will continue to crop up in community and health-care facilities.

Officials from the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention agree. The CDC said Tuesday that the NAP1 C. diff strain has been spreading rapidly since it was first identified in health-care settings in six states from 2000 to 2003.

It has now been officially identified in 39 states, although it's likely throughout the country, CDC officials said.

"Do I think it just got here? No. But this is the first time it was reported to public health," said Dr. Rebecca Sunenshine, medical epidemiologist for the county's Public Health Department. "So, I would start operating under the assumption that every strain we see is this new strain."

http://www.azcentral.com/news/articles/2010/05/29/20100529phoenix-hospitals-fight-supergerm.html

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Breakthrough in fight against fatal Ebola as new drug saves 100% of monkeys tested

By Daily Mail Reporter

A gene silencing approach can save monkeys from high doses of the most lethal strain of Ebola virus in what researchers call the most viable route yet to treating the deadly and frightening infection.

They used small interfering RNAs or siRNAs, a new technology being developed by a number of companies, to hold the virus at bay for a week until the immune system could take over. Tests in four rhesus monkeys showed that seven daily injections cured 100 per cent of them.

U.S. government researchers and a small Canadian biotech company, Tekmira Pharmaceuticals, worked together to develop the new approach, described in the Lancet medical journal on Thursday.

Deadly: A government hospital in Uganda quarantined to handle an outbreak in Ebola cases

'The delivery system is the real key,' said Thomas Geisbert of Boston University School of Medicine, who did some of the work while at the U.S. Army Medical Research Institute of Infectious Diseases in Fort Detrick, Maryland.

Ebola viruses are a family of viruses that can often cause very serious hemorrhagic fevers. They have caused dozens of frightening and deadly outbreaks across Africa and threaten endangered gorilla populations as well as people.

There is no treatment and no vaccine against Ebola, which passes via close personal contact.

The siRNAs are stretches of genetic material that can block the action of a specific gene. This particular one attaches to three different areas on the Ebola virus, preventing it from replicating.

Geisbert's team worked with a strain called Zaire that comes from the Democratic Republic of Congo and kills up to 90 per cent of those infected.

'We have just had very difficult times developing treatments - antivirals or just any kind of a strategy,' Geisbert said. 'It's been a very tough nut to crack.'

The team has announced a number of near-successes, most recently a vaccine that provided partial protection in monkeys in 2006.

Geisbert then teamed-up with Ian MacLachlan at Tekmira.

Serious infection: The Ebola virus viewed under a microscope

Tests in guinea pigs suggested the siRNAs delivered in lipid particles would work. But to get Ebola to sicken rodents requires changing it substantially from the strain that attacks people and monkeys, Geisbert said.

The treatment holds the virus in check while the immune system gears up to fight it, Geisbert said. 'There is a critical threshold for virus load and if you go over that, you die,' he said. 'This drug is knocking down enough of the virus so it tips the balance.'

Now the company and researchers are seeking U.S. federal funding to continue their work, Geisbert said. For new drugs to treat lethal infections, the Food and Drug Administration requires proof that the treatment does not hurt people and is effective in at least two animal species.

Tekmira has deals with a number of pharmaceutical companies, including Bristol-Myers Squibb and Pfizer.

Last week a team at the National Institutes of Health reported it had developed a vaccine that protects monkeys against several strains of Ebola.

http://www.dailymail.co.uk/health/article-1282559/Ebola-virus-Scientists-discover-breakthrough.html

Quakes Tsunamis & Volcanos

Continuing Gaua activity at the NASA Earth Observatory 27 April 2010

Posted by admin

As reported here last week, activity is continuing at Gaua volcano in Vanuatu, with the government planning for evacuations of Gaua Island. The NASA Earth Observatory has been providing some excellent satellite imagery of Gaua, most recently the above image, captured on 24 April 2010 by the Advanced Land Imager aboard NASA's Earth Observing-1 (EO-1) satellite. The brown areas on the left of the image, to the west and south-west of the volcano, show where volcanic emissions and ashfall have damaged and killed vegetation.

The world is paying little attention to the activity at Gaua, but it is shaping up to be a very nasty, hazardous and disruptive eruption. Ashfall, poisonous gases, volcanic bombs and mudflows are being produced by the active cone, Mount Garet, and emissions are tainting local crops and water supplies. Rising water levels in the crater have been reported, increasing the risk of still more dangerous mudflows. The population of Gaua has already had to abandon the western side of the island and seek refuge in the east, away from the worst of the volcano's ash and fumes, but as the activity increases they may have to evacuate completely. Radio Australia News quotes Vanuatu Geohazards Technical Advisor: 'The current risk is mainly ash falls and then mudflows. It's true that we have an increase in activity but not like a level 3. Evacuation is ready the plan is ready the location is ready, it's a very tough situation for the local population of Gaua, they're scared they're afraid, it's a very new situation for them'.

The alert level for Gaua is still at level 2, according to the Vanuatu Geohazards Observatory.

http://volcanism.wordpress.com/2010/04/27/continuing-gaua-activity-at-the-nasa-earth-observatory/

====================

VANUATU
Geographic coordinates:            13.952S, 166.661E
Magnitude:                        5.0 Mb
Depth:                            35 km
Universal Time (UTC):             29 May 2010  11:47:42
Time near the Epicenter:          29 May 2010  22:47:42
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  05:47:42

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 183 km (114 miles) NNW (344 degrees) of Santo (Luganville), Vanuatu
=====================
SOUTHERN CALIFORNIA
Geographic coordinates:            32.717N, 115.882W
Magnitude:                        3.8 Ml
Depth:                            1 km
Universal Time (UTC):             29 May 2010  14:50:00
Time near the Epicenter:          29 May 2010  07:50:00
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  08:50:00

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 11 km (7 miles) ESE (103 degrees) of Ocotillo, CA
 20 km (12 miles) WSW (245 degrees) of Seeley, CA
 31 km (20 miles) WSW (255 degrees) of El Centro, CA
================
SOUTHERN GREECE
Geographic coordinates:            37.848N,  21.328E
Magnitude:                        4.4 Mb
Depth:                            50 km
Universal Time (UTC):             29 May 2010  19:05:14
Time near the Epicenter:          29 May 2010  22:05:14
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  13:05:14

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 56 km (35 miles) SW (220 degrees) of Patras, Greece
 115 km (71 miles) NW (323 degrees) of Kalamata, Greece
 207 km (128 miles) SSE (168 degrees) of Ioannina, Greece
 212 km (132 miles) W (266 degrees) of ATHENS, Greece
==============
VANUATU
Geographic coordinates:            13.691S, 166.376E
Magnitude:                        4.8 Mb
Depth:                            33 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  01:21:30
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  12:21:30
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  19:21:30

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 220 km (137 miles) NNW (338 degrees) of Santo (Luganville), Vanuatu
 496 km (308 miles) NNW (335 degrees) of PORT-VILA, Vanuatu
=================
BANDA SEA
Geographic coordinates:             5.327S, 123.385E
Magnitude:                        4.9 Mb
Depth:                            41 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  02:19:56
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  10:19:56
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  20:19:56

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 87 km (54 miles) ENE (77 degrees) of Baubau, Sulawesi, Indonesia
 434 km (270 miles) E (93 degrees) of Ujung Pandang, Sulawesi, Indonesia
============
LIBERTADOR O'HIGGINS, CHILE
Geographic coordinates:            34.747S,  71.511W
Magnitude:                        4.7 Mb
Depth:                            35 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  02:27:43
Time near the Epicenter:          29 May 2010  22:27:43
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  20:27:43

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 81 km (50 miles) N (10 degrees) of Talca, Chile
 159 km (99 miles) SSW (209 degrees) of SANTIAGO, Chile
============


SOUTHERN PERU
Geographic coordinates:            15.240S,  73.291W
Magnitude:                        4.5 Mb
Depth:                            102 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  08:48:22
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  03:48:22
Local standard time in your area: 30 May 2010  02:48:22

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 105 km (65 miles) ESE (123 degrees) of Puquio, Peru
 229 km (142 miles) NW (305 degrees) of Arequipa, Peru
 238 km (148 miles) SW (217 degrees) of Cuzco, Peru
 536 km (333 miles) SE (131 degrees) of LIMA, Peru

=============

FOX ISLANDS, ALEUTIAN ISLANDS
Geographic coordinates:            52.717N, 167.111W
Magnitude:                        4.3 Mb
Depth:                            14 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  10:06:13
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  02:06:13
Local standard time in your area: 30 May 2010  04:06:13

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 120 km (75 miles) E (101 degrees) of Nikolski, AK
 136 km (84 miles) SSW (197 degrees) of Unalaska, AK
 181 km (112 miles) SSW (209 degrees) of Akutan, AK
==================
HINDU KUSH REGION, AFGHANISTAN
Geographic coordinates:            36.253N,  71.378E
Magnitude:                        4.5 Mb
Depth:                            98 km
Universal Time (UTC):             30 May 2010  13:53:51
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  18:23:51
Local standard time in your area: 30 May 2010  07:53:51

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 68 km (42 miles) NW (309 degrees) of Chitral, Pakistan
 119 km (74 miles) SE (142 degrees) of Feyzabad, Afghanistan
=================

Thousands flee volcanos in Ecuador and Guatemala

Thousands of people have been forced to flee their homes as two volcanos erupted in Guatemala and Ecuador.

In Guatemala, the Pacaya volcano began spewing lava, rocks and debris on Thursday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 50 others.

In Ecuador, the Tungurahua volcano forced the evacuation of seven villages and shut the airport and schools in Guayaquil, the country's largest city.

There is no suggestion the upsurge in volcanic activity is related.

In Guatemala, at least 1,700 people have fled the eruption, some 30km (19 miles) south of the capital city.

President Alvaro Colom has declared a state of emergency in Escuintla region, Guatemala City and areas surrounding the capital.

He said two people had died and three children were missing.

One man was killed when he fell from a building while sweeping up the ash. A TV reporter also died while covering the eruption.

In the village of Calderas, close to the eruption, Brenda Castaneda said her family hid under furniture as molten rocks fell on her house.

"We thought we wouldn't survive. Our houses crumbled and we've lost everything," she told the Associated Press from a temporary shelter.

The volcano has covered parts of Guatemala City in ash - up to 7cm (2.7in) thick in some areas - forcing the closure of the country's main international airport.

Seismologists have warned of more eruptions "in the coming days" from Pacaya - one of the most active volcanos in Central America.

Health concerns

In Ecuador, the Tungurahua volcano sent ash plumes six miles (10km) into the air.

Several thousand people have been evacuated near Tungurahua

Several thousand people have evacuated their homes in the area, 95 miles (150km) south-east of the capital Quito.

Strong winds blew the ash over the country's most populous city, Guayaquil, and forced aviation officials to close the country's main airport.

Julio Castro, who lives in Guayaquil, said he was worried about the health of children.

"Suddenly, without warning, the ash started to fall, and it was heavy, some even got into my eyes," he told the Associated Press.

"I can't see well now, it is annoying and we are worried for the children, above all."

There were reports that the ash cloud was dissipating as it drifted out over the Pacific Ocean.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/world/latin_america/10189054.stm
=====
OFF COAST OF CENTRAL AMERICA
Geographic coordinates:            12.324N,  88.490W
Magnitude:                        4.9 Mb
Depth:                            10 km
Universal Time (UTC):             29 May 2010  16:11:43
Time near the Epicenter:          29 May 2010  10:11:43
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  10:11:43

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 113 km (70 miles) S (183 degrees) of Usulután, Usulután, El Salvador
 132 km (82 miles) SSW (195 degrees) of San Miguel, San Miguel, El Salvador
===========
VANUATU
Geographic coordinates:            19.476S, 169.186E
Magnitude:                        5.0 Mb
Depth:                            167 km
Universal Time (UTC):             29 May 2010  18:02:35
Time near the Epicenter:          30 May 2010  05:02:35
Local standard time in your area: 29 May 2010  12:02:35

Location with respect to nearby cities:
 11 km (7 miles) NW (307 degrees) of Isangel, Vanuatu
 213 km (133 miles) SSE (154 degrees) of PORT-VILA, Vanuatu
 264 km (164 miles) NNE (31 degrees) of Tadine, Loyalty Islands, New Caledonia
=============

Pacific Northwest faces higher risk of more frequent earthquakes: Study

 

 

By Philip Ling, Canwest News Service

 

 

The risk of a major earthquake striking the Pacific Northwest within the next half-century is greater than once thought, researchers have found using a new series of geological observations -- another reminder to British Columbians to be prepared.

Photograph by: Ian Lindsay, Vancouver Sun Files

The risk of a major earthquake striking the Pacific Northwest within the next half-century is greater than once thought, researchers have found using a new series of geological observations — another reminder to British Columbians to be prepared.

Earlier estimates forecasted that a major earthquake — similar in size to those which hit China, Mexico and Chile in recent months — is likely to strike the B.C. coast once every 500 years. That estimate was based on the long-accepted belief that the Cascadia Subduction Zone, which lies off the west coast of North America and runs from Northern California up to British Columbia, will trigger one large earthquake for the entire zone.

The west coast sits on the North American and Juan de Fuca tectonic plates. The plates are moving against each other; when that stress is finally released, a very powerful earthquake will result.

But new research by Oregon State University has revealed a more complex picture of the fault. Using carbon dating analysis of sediments on the Pacific Ocean floor, marine geologist Chris Goldfinger and his colleagues have determined that Cascadia isn't one big subduction zone, but rather at least four separate segments.

Their findings suggest that, instead of the entire fault rupturing at once, it will break in multiple, smaller parts, more frequently. The researchers predict a higher than a one-in-three chance of a major quake striking the Pacific Northwest within the next 50 years.

"It's not a question of if a major earthquake will strike," Goldfinger said. "It is a matter of when. And the 'when' is looking like it might not be that far in the future."

Because the Cascadia is not, as experts thought, a single subduction zone, Goldfinger's research suggest two different timelines for the long-predicted "Big One."

The last major earthquake to hit the northern subduction zone — which stretches from Seaside, Ore., to Vancouver Island — occurred in January 1700, triggering a 10-metre-high tsunami.

More recently, in 1946, a 7.3 magnitude quake struck on Vancouver Island causing considerable damage to Comox, Port Alberni and Powell River. The earthquake was stronger than one in Haiti earlier this year that left approximately 230,000 people dead.

The southern end of the fault running from Newport, Ore., to Northern California has a 37 per cent chance of triggering a major earthquake in the next half century, Goldfinger said, with an average rate of roughly one quake every 240 years.

In the northern end of the fault zone, the forecast is still for one quake every 500 years. But such a northern zone quake is likely to be much more intense and destructive than the more frequent southern quakes. The northern zone faces a 10 to 15 per cent chance of experiencing a devastating mega-quake over the next 50 years.

Canadians should still be concerned about a southern Cascadia quake, Goldfinger said, because the tsunami wave it would generate would strike Vancouver Island.

"I think people in Canada should consider now that there are additional sources (of tsunamis) that weren't previously known, and that increase the chance of having one in their lifetime," Goldfinger said.

"Earthquake prediction is still impossible. This is simply a forecast based on past data. It's no different than a weather forecast that uses past data."

John Cassidy, a seismologist at the Earthquakes Canada office in the Pacific Geoscience Centre in Sidney, B.C., said the new research is "a reminder that these giant magnitude-nine earthquakes occur along our region."

He said there is some dispute within the scientific community over what these newly discovered zones really mean. "We're in that window where we could expect one of these giant earthquakes at any time," he said. "We really don't know when they will occur."

Cassidy said new technology, such as sensors sitting on the sea floor, is helping outline parts of the fault zone that are more likely to trigger an earthquake.

"We're learning from subduction zones from around the world, from Chile, Sumatra, Indonesia, Japan and Alaska. We're looking for clues that might tell us where these earthquakes might start or stop, or control the rupture."

British Columbians have been learning to prepare for emergencies through "little events" like flooding and severe storms, said Maiclaire Bolton with Emergency Management B.C.

"These little events teach them that something big is going to happen at some point in time and they need to be prepared," she said. "And the first thing (people) can do to be prepared for an earthquake is to believe that it will happen."

The provincial government has emergency plans in place for an earthquake, and a tsunami warning system in place in coastal communities. The government has also spent 25 per cent of $1.5 billion earmarked to complete seismic upgrades to school buildings by the year 2020 or sooner.

"It's horrible to see bad things happen around the world," Bolton said, citing recent earthquakes and tsunamis worldwide, "but it does also remind us that we can be prepared and the only way to get through it is if we are prepared ahead of time."

http://www.vancouversun.com/entertainment/Pacific+Northwest+faces+higher+risk+more+frequent+earthquakes+Study/3070694/story.html#ixzz0pMiMREon