SOME OLD SOME NEW
| I think you all should see this and avoid San Fransisco at all costs!! | |
18 And on My menservants and on My maidservants
I will pour out My Spirit in those days;
And they shall prophesy.
19 I will show wonders in heaven above
And signs in the earth beneath:
Blood and fire and vapor of smoke.
20 The sun shall be turned into darkness,
And the moon into blood,
Before the coming of the great and awesome day of the LORD.
Volcano Tungurahua throws ash and stones during an explosion near Cotalo, Ecuador Photo: AP
A view of the Tungurahua volcano Photo: APPresident Alvaro Colom of Guatemala declared a 15-day state of emergency around the Pacaya volcano, 30 miles south of the capital, Guatemala City.
The volcano erupted again Friday after first bursting back to life Wednesday, killing two people, including a television reporter covering the event.
Alaska volcano Mount Redoubt erupts 3 times
Alaska's Mount Redoubt volcano has begun erupting over night, sending smoke billowing some 50,000 feet above sea level.
Geologists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory said the volcano, which is roughly 100 miles from southwest of Anchorage, erupted three times late on Sunday and early on Monday.
"This is a fairly large eruption, close to the larger cities in Alaska," said John Power, a geophysicist.
Japan warns of volcano eruption within 48 hours
Tens of thousands of people living near Japan's volatile Mount Asama have been told to brace themselves for a major volcanic eruption within 48 hours.
The volcano is one of Japan's most active and last erupted in September 2004 when molten rock and ash blanketed areas more than 125 miles from the crater.
Even by Japanese standards, Mount Asama is an active volcano, with frequent bouts of activity over recent years. The most famous eruption came in 1783 and caused the deaths of more than 1,500 people and widespread damage.
Japan's Meteorological Agency yesterday raised the alert level for the 8,420ft peak, warning of an imminent eruption and forbidding anyone to scale the mountain.
More than 45,000 nearby residents have been put on alert and told to be ready to leave their homes within two hours notice.
In towns at the foot of the volcano, local disaster preparedness authorities are touring districts most at threat in vehicles and ordering people through loudspeakers to prepare to evacuate. Alerts broadcast on radio and television are also warning local people to listen to disaster warnings.
Japanese television has been showing images of the snow-covered peak and local residents' preparations to leave their homes in the event of the volcano erupting.
A road that traverses a flank of the mountain has already been closed to traffic.
According to scientists at an observation station operated by Tokyo University, there was a sharp increase in volcanic earthquakes in the region in January, with their epicentres directly below the peak of the mountain. That volcanic activity accelerated on Sunday morning and was accompanied by crustal change, apparently caused by increased magma movement beneath the peak.
Experts are predicting an eruption is possible in a matter of hours and an initial blast could hurl volcanic rocks up to 2.5 miles.
During the last eruption, pebbles measuring several centimetres across rained down on districts up to four miles from the crater and volcanic ash was reported 190 miles away.
The 1783 eruption began with small scale activity in May, building up in intensity and scale before the main detonation in early August. According to reports from the time, a towering column of ash and smoke blacked out the sky, while loud blasts terrified local people.
Lava overflowed the crater rim and flooded down the sides of the volcano before the most devastating explosion, at 10am on August 5, that was heard almost 200 miles away. Lava blocks – up to 35 metres in diameter – were hurled into the air and caused avalanches on the northern slopes.
Four villages were obliterated, while the lava flow caused a flood in the Agatsuma River that wiped out more settlements.
Japan – part of the Pacific "rim of fire" – has more than 100 active volcanoes and is regularly subject to seismic activity. The heavily populated Kanto region, centred on Tokyo and Yokohama, has experienced four relatively minor earthquakes in the last two weeks, the most recent striking northwest of Tokyo shortly before 7am on Sunday.
He said no cities have yet reported any ash fall from the volcano, but he added that it is still early.
Geologists said seismic activity around the volcano has been intense in recent days, and they expect that the volcano would blow soon.
Mount Redoubt, the highest mountain within the largely volcanic Aleutian Range, last erupted nearly 20 years ago. The eruption in 1989 spewed volcanic ash to 45,000 feet and caught a KLM Airlines flight in its plume of smoke, though the flight later landed safely in Anchorage.
Scientists at the Alaska Volcano Observatory warned in late January that eruption was imminent.
In Ecuador, the Tungurahua volcano exploded into action on Friday, forcing the evacuation of at least seven villages and closing down the airport and public schools in Guayaquil, the country's largest and most populated city.
As 8,372 feet, the Pacaya volcano exploded anew on Friday, with billowing clouds of ash and dust. Mr Colom said La Aurora International Airport, in Guatemala City, would remain closed until Saturday "because we've got to clean the runways and surrounding areas" of ash.
The airport closures were reminiscent of the massive blanket of ash Iceland's Eyjafjoell volcano spewed out last month causing the biggest aerial shutdown in Europe since the Second World War, affecting more than 100,000 flights and eight million passengers.
President Colom said the eruptions of Pacaya since Wednesday had killed two people, injured 59, left three children missing and destroyed 100 homes.
The Emergency Management Co-ordinator said between 1,700-1,900 people have been evacuated from their homes to nearby shelters in three departments affected by the emergency decree.
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