May 24th, 2011 -- Posted in Tornado |
by Victoria M. Johnson
On Sunday, May 22, 2011 a tornado ripped through Joplin, Missouri stripping trees, hurling vehicles, and damaging homes. Rescue workers toiled through the night, sifting through the rubble, hoping to find survivors. According to the Weather Channel, 10 survivors were pulled from the debris. But at least 116 lives have been claimed in the nation’s deadliest single twister in 60 years and the second major tornado disaster in less than a month. The tornado tore a path a mile wide and four miles long. The National Weather Service stated the storm had winds of 190 to 198 miles per hour.
Joplin, Missouri Tornado Wreckage with American Flag
The Huffington Post has a terrifying video of a first-person account of the tornado. People in a convenience store ran into a storage cooler as the tornado ripped the building apart. They recorded the experience while deafening sounds of the destruction paralyzed them and the tornado threatened their lives. Miraculously none of them were seriously hurt.
March 14th, 2011 -- Posted in Earthquakes, Tsunami |
by Victoria M. Johnson
10,000 people are now feared dead. As the heartbreaking news of the enormous loss of life unfolds, strong aftershocks (6.2 magnitude) continue to strike and the nuclear power plant meltdown threats increase (though officials insist the reactors remain intact). To add further to the images of desolation, Japan now has hundreds of thousands of survivors without food, water and electricity. As if all this wasn’t enough to break the spirit, tsunami warnings broke out again in the Fukishima area.
A Collapsed Home After the Japan Quake and Tsunami
Reports have come out that the village hardest hit, Minamisanriku, had residents who received a 30-minute warning between the 8.9 earthquake and the tsunami. Thirty minutes to recover from a violent shaking of the earth, gather loved ones, and escape. Those residents then tried to flee the village all at the same time, blocking roadways and becoming trapped. As families still wait to hear from loved ones, they can only hope and pray.
March 11th, 2011 -- Posted in Earthquakes, Tsunami |
by Victoria M. Johnson
Earthquake, tsunamis, fires, aftershocks, and now a looming nuclear power plant disaster. Japan has been hammered in the last 24 hours. As the death toll rises and reports of over 700 hundred missing and thousands injured continues, we can only imagine what the survivors are experiencing.
National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) map on 11 March 2011 shows the predicted travel times of the tsunami.
The USGS reports that since the 8.9 earthquake hit Japan, at least 124 quakes magnitude 5 or higher have rattled the area. But it could be worse in the disaster-struck country. According to the New York Times, “from seawalls that line stretches of Japan’s coastline, to skyscrapers that sway to absorb earthquakes, to building codes that are among the world’s most rigorous, no country may be better prepared to withstand earthquakes than Japan.”
However, the quake has forced the closure of five nuclear power plants in Japan. Kyodo News reported at 2:00pm that radiation 1,000 times higher than normal is being detected at the Fukushima nuclear plant. MSNBC.com interviewed, Edwin Lyman, a senior scientist with the Union of Concerned Scientists. “It’s just as bad as it sounds,” he said. But Steve Kerekes, spokesman for the U.S.-based Nuclear Energy Institute, said that while the situation was serious, a meltdown remains unlikely.