CHINA QUAKES EXCEEDS 12,000 DEAD

EARTHQUAKES

MATTHEW 24:7-8
7 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places.
8 All these are the beginning of sorrows.

MARK 13:8
8 For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom:(ETHNIC GROUP AGAINST ETHNIC GROUP) and there shall be earthquakes in divers places, and there shall be famines and troubles: these are the beginnings of sorrows.

LUKE 21:11
11 And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven.

Report: Death toll in China quake exceeds 12,000 By WILLIAM FOREMAN, Associated Press Writer MAY 13,08

DUJIANGYAN, China - The toll of the dead and missing soared as rescue workers dug through flattened schools and homes on Tuesday in a desperate attempt to find survivors of China's worst earthquake in three decades. The official Xinhua News Agency said the death toll exceeded 12,000 in Sichuan province alone, and 18,645 were still buried in debris in the city of Mianyang, near the epicenter of Monday's massive, 7.9-magnitude quake.The Sichuan Daily newspaper reported on its Web site that more than 26,000 people were injured in Mianyang.The numbers of casualties was expected to rise due to the remoteness of the areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.There was little prospect that many survivors would be found under the rubble. Only 58 people were extricated from demolished buildings across the quake area so far, China Seismological Bureau spokesman Zhang Hongwei told Xinhua. In one county, 80 percent of the buildings were destroyed.Rain was impeding efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a rescue mission to the epicenter due to heavy storms, Xinhua reported.More than two dozen British and American tourists who were thought to be panda-watching in the area also remained missing.Officials urged the public not to abandon hope.

Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up, Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, told reporters in Beijing.Premier Wen Jiabao, who rushed to the area to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible. His visit to the disaster scene was prominently featured on state TV, a gesture meant to reassure people that the ruling party was doing all it could.We will save the people, Wen said through a bullhorn to survivors as he toured the disaster scene, in footage shown on CCTV. As long as the people are there, factories can be built into even better ones, and so can the towns and counties.State media said rescue workers had reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county — where the number of casualties was still unknown. The quake was centered just north of the Sichuan provincial capital of Chengdu in central China, tearing into urban areas and mountain villages.

Earthquake rescue experts in orange jumpsuits extricated bloody survivors on stretchers from demolished buildings.Some 20,000 soldiers and police arrived in the disaster area with 30,000 more on the way by plane, train, trucks and even on foot, the Defense Ministry told Xinhua.Aftershocks rattled the region for a second day, sending people running into the streets in Chengdu. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6, some of the strongest since Monday's quake.Zhou Chun, a 70-year-old retired mechanic, was leaving Dujiangyan with a soiled light blue blanket draped over his shoulders.My wife died in the quake. My house was destroyed, he said. I am going to Chengdu, but I don't know where I'll live.Zhou and other survivors were pulling luggage and clutching plastic bags of food amid a steady drizzle and the constant wall of ambulances. Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county — a six-story building reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards high, according to Xinhua. Xinhua said 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan alone. At another leveled school in Dujiangyan, 900 students were feared dead. As bodies of teenagers were carried out on doors used as makeshift stretchers, relatives lit incense and candles and also set off fireworks to ward away evil spirits. Elsewhere in Gansu province, a 40-car freight train derailed in the quake that included 13 gasoline tankers was still burning Tuesday, Xinhua said.

Gasoline lines grew in Chengdu and grocery stores shelves were almost empty. The Ministry of Health issued an appeal for blood donations to help the quake victims. Fifteen missing British tourists were believed to have been in the area at the time of the quake and were out of reach, Xinhua reported. They were likely visiting the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate also was not known, Xinhua said, adding that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe. Another group of 12 Americans also on panda-watching tour sponsored by the U.S. office of the World Wildlife Fund remained out of contact Tuesday, said Tan Rui, WWF communications officer in China. Two Chinese-Americans and a Thai tourist also were missing in Sichuan province, the agency said, citing tourism officials. Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others. The Dalai Lama, who has been vilified by Chinese authorities who blame him for recent unrest in Tibet, offered prayers for the victims. The epicenter is just south of some Tibetan mountain areas that saw anti-government protests earlier this year. Beijing Games organizers said the Olympic torch relay will continue as planned through the quake-affected area next month. The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid, and Russia was sending a plane with rescuers and supplies, the country's Interfax news agency reported. But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area. We welcome funds and supplies; we can't accommodate personnel at this point, he said.

China's Ministry of Finance said it had allocated $123 million in aid for quake-hit areas. The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976. Financial analysts said the quake would have only a limited impact on the country's booming economy. Associated Press writers Christopher Bodeen in Juyuan and Audra Ang in Chengdu contributed to this report.

From snowstorms to earthquake, 2008 turns out to be a tough year for China Mon May 12, 4:12 PM By Tini Tran, The Associated Press

BEIJING - China hoped 2008 would be a yearlong celebration, a time to bask in the spotlight of the upcoming Beijing Olympics. Instead, the Year of the Rat has also brought a wave of troubles - both natural and man-made - that are putting a heavy strain on the communist leadership. The 7.9 magnitude earthquake that struck Sichuan province Monday, killing thousands, is only the latest.
China has long experience with large-scale disasters - from coal mine explosions to chemical spills to floods that displace tens of thousands. The central government prides itself on its ability to quickly react, usually with deployments from China's huge military corps. The ruling party's mandate in part rests on being able to deliver aid in emergencies. But China's capacity to control disasters and how they play out in the media is being stretched this year. Its leaders are grappling with the fallout from multiple problems in the information-hungry Internet age when they had expected to focus only on the Olympics. The Olympics are an important symbol of China's effort to ... get on the same gauge with the rest of the world. So they have attached a lot of importance to them, said Roger Des Forges, a China historian at University at Buffalo, State University of New York.

But for most Chinese people, they are secondary to the quality of life that they are trying to achieve. So these questions of disasters are uppermost in people's minds, watching how the government is going to deal with them, he said. China was quick to show its public response to Monday's quake. Just hours after it struck, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao flew into Sichuan province to oversee the emergency relief effort. Speaking from Dujiangyan City, where a high school collapsed, burying some 900 students, Wen acknowledged on national TV the task will be especially challenging.
This year, China's problems began just before February's Lunar New Year, when the worst snowstorms in five decades hit the densely populated southern and central region. They left scores dead, knocked out power across cities, and stranded hundreds of thousands during the country's single busiest travel period. Meanwhile, its leaders also battled decade-high levels of inflation and struggled to improve the country's image as a global manufacturer following last year's tainted drugs and food scandal and defective toy exports. In March, huge anti-government riots erupted in the Tibetan capital of Lhasa, sparking sympathy protests in Tibetan areas across western China. The violent protests were the biggest challenge to Chinese rule in the Himalayan region in nearly two decades. The subsequent government crackdown brought sharp international criticism of Beijing's human rights record and its rule over Tibet. China has said that 22 people were killed, while Tibetan groups have said that many times that number died in the violence. Thousands of troops were deployed across a wide swath of the country to tamp down unrest and restore order. But their massive presence continued to draw an unwelcome spotlight on China's harsh rule in Tibet.

The negative attention spilled over to the Olympic flame's around-the-world tour. Meant to be a feel-good kickoff event to the Beijing Games, the relay turned into chaos as pro-Tibet protesters mounted demonstrations from the very start of the ceremonial lighting in Greece, and at stops including London, Paris, and San Francisco. The bad news kept coming. In May was China's worst train accident in a decade, leaving 72 dead and more than 400 injured when a high-speed passenger train jumped its tracks and slammed into another in rural Shandong province. Excessive speed was determined to be the cause, and five railway officials were promptly fired. This month also brought a sharp rise in the number of reported cases of hand, foot, and mouth disease, a normally non-deadly viral infection that has killed 39 children this year and infected nearly 30,000 others. Only last week's feat by a team of Tibetan and Han Chinese mountaineers in bringing the Olympic flame up Mount Everest gave China the positive publicity it craved, three months to the day before the start of the games. Beijing's leaders had carefully chosen Aug. 8 as the opening day for the 2008 games (8-8-08), believing that it was an especially auspicious day. Many Chinese people in this officially atheist country remain highly superstitious. The number eight, ba in Chinese, is closely associated with prosperity and good luck because it sounds similar to the word fa, which means rich. China spared no expense on its Olympic debut, spending an estimated $40 billion on improving infrastructure and building sports venues. Its money was apparently well-spent. None of the venues, 31 of them in Beijing alone, was reportedly damaged. Li Jiulin, a top engineer on the 91,000-seat National Stadium known as the Bird's Nest - the jewel of the Olympics - was conducting an inspection at the venue when the quake occurred. He said the building was designed to withstand up to an 8.0-magnitude quake.

The Olympic venues were not affected by the earthquake, said Sun Weide, a spokesman for the Beijing Olympic Organizing Committee. We considered earthquakes when building those venues.Ultimately, the series of crises could prompt China to reassess its true priorities, said Des Forges. I think there may be some way in which these crises are reminding the government that, as important as the games are, there are perhaps more important issues that need to be addressed, he said.

STORMS HURRICANES-TORNADOES

LUKE 21:25-26
25 And there shall be signs in the sun, and in the moon, and in the stars; and upon the earth distress of nations, with perplexity;(MASS CONFUSION) the sea and the waves roaring;(FIERCE WINDS)
26 Men’s hearts failing them for fear, and for looking after those things which are coming on the earth: for the powers of heaven shall be shaken.

Typhoon downgraded as it passes by Japan Tue May 13, 8:14 AM

TOKYO (AFP) - Japan's weather agency downgraded Typhoon Rammasun on Tuesday as it passed over Pacific waters off Tokyo after generating hours of strong winds and waves.Rammasun, which means god of thunder in Thai, was churning winds up to 83 kilometres (52 miles) per hour off Tokyo Bay by late afternoon, significantly weaker from a day earlier when its gusts reached 180 kph.The season's second typhoon was downgraded to an extra-tropical depression. It was moving east-northeast at 35 kilometres an hour, the Japan Meteorological Agency said.The typhoon came 10 days after a devastating cyclone hit Myanmar. The military-ruled country says 62,000 people are dead or missing.

Dozens die after a ferry capsizes in storm in Bangladesh
Mon May 12, 11:46 PMBy The Associated Press

DHAKA, Bangladesh - Officials say at least 36 people have died after a ferry capsized in a storm in northern Bangladesh. Local government administrator Sultan Ahmed said an additional 50 people were missing after the accident late Monday in Kishoreganj district. The area is 80 kilometres north of capital, Dhaka. Ahmed said the death toll can rise as some of the missing people are feared trapped inside the sunken ferry. Most bodies were recovered from inside the sunken ferry. Local police official Mizanur Rahman said the wooden ferry was packed with about 150 people.

Mid-Atlantic storm cuts power, prompts evacuations By RANDALL CHASE, Associated Press Writer Mon May 12, 7:56 PM ET

LITTLE CREEK, Del. - A wet, gusty storm that lashed the mid-Atlantic states Monday forced evacuations, flooded roads, fanned the flames of a deadly New Jersey fire and wrecked a research vessel off the Delaware coast, killing a crew member. Tens of thousands of electricity customers in several states lost power as up to 7 inches of rain fell Sunday and Monday and wind gusts in some places reached hurricane strength.A Coast Guard helicopter rescued the two crew members of the Russell W. Peterson research ship about 14 miles off Rehoboth Beach, but one crewman had no heartbeat and wasn't breathing, Petty Officer Nyx Cangemi said.

The crewman was declared dead at a Salisbury, Md., hospital; the condition of the second crew member was not immediately available.
The ship, named after a former Delaware governor, was rechristened in Wilmington just six weeks ago. Formerly used to service oil platforms in the Gulf of Mexico, the liftboat was being used for the study migratory bird routes by a company trying to win state approval for an offshore wind farm. It is owned by Aqua Survey Inc. of Flemington, N.J.Our hearts and prayers are with the family and friends of the lost mariner, company president Ken Hayes said in a prepared statement. He said the company was not releasing the names of the men.Hayes said Aqua Survey will work with the Coast Guard and other agencies to salvage the vessel.Monday morning's high tide sent waves crashing through low-lying areas, forcing the evacuation of more than 200 residents from coastal communities in central Delaware.At Pickering Beach east of Dover Air Force Base, National Guard trucks ferried about 50 residents to safety early Monday after the churning surf washed over the dune line and swirled around the pilings of the small cottages, burying some vehicles in sand and water.Charlie Hinkle awoke about 6:30 a.m., looked out his window and saw that his home was a virtual island. There was 4 feet of water underneath the house, he said.As the water receded, it left behind buckled asphalt and a layer of silty mud that covered much of the village.

Tidal flooding also forced the closure of schools and roads in parts of coastal New Jersey. Wind gusts reached 50 mph in many parts of the state, and hurricane-strength gusts of 76 mph were recorded in Sea Isle City.Strong wind contributed to a fatal fire Monday morning in Newark, fanning flames of a blaze that killed a 50-year-old man, damaged three buildings and left 35 people homeless.

The foul weather also prevented the Coast Guard from resuming a search for a female passenger who fell overboard from a cruise ship northeast of Atlantic City, N.J., on Sunday night. The Norwegian Dawn was headed for Bermuda from New York City when the passenger fell.Wind and rain also caused average delays of up to 2 1/2 hours for flights heading into New York's three major airports.Up to 7 inches of rain fell in Calvert County, Md., and about 4 inches fell in the District of Columbia and northern Virginia from Sunday afternoon to Monday evening, National Weather Service meteorologist Luis Rosa said.Utilities reported more than 60,000 customers without power in New Jersey, 50,000 in Maryland, about 6,200 in Delaware, 16,000 in Virginia and 4,500 in the District of Columbia. Power was restored to many of those customers by the evening.

Weather service meteorologist Lee Robertson said the storm differs from a nor'easter because it is a combination of two weather systems, one from the Ohio Valley that contributed to weekend tornadoes and a second from just south of the Delmarva region of Delaware. Associated Press Writers Brian Westley in Washington, Todd Hallidy in Baltimore and Wayne Perry in Atlantic City, N.J., contributed to this report.

U.S. tornado deaths underscore risks of taking shelter in cars Mon May 12, 5:24 PM By Alan Scher Zagier, The Associated Press

SENECA, Mo. - Nearly half of the 21 people killed by a tornado that smashed parts of Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend died in cars, troubling experts who say vehicles are among the worst places to be during a twister. It's like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor, said Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol, surveying the damage in Newton County near the Oklahoma line, the hardest hit area. This is devastating.Among those killed were a woman who took shelter in a broken-down car outside someone's home; three people who were rushing to reach a relative's house in their car; and four family members - Rick Rountree, his wife, his 13-year-old son, and his mother-in-law - who were in a van on the way to a friend's wedding when the twister, packing winds near 275 km/h, struck the Seneca area on Saturday night. They were on the road when the warnings came, said Rountree's brother-in-law, Larry Bilke. About 100 people have died in U.S. twisters so far this year, the worst toll in a decade, according to the National Weather Service, and the season isn't over yet. Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall. This could also prove to be the busiest tornado season on record in the United States, though the final figure on the number of twisters is not yet in.

All together, at least 24 people died in Missouri, Oklahoma, Georgia and Alabama after the severe storms erupted Saturday over the Southern Plains and swept east. According to data from the National Weather Service's Storm Prediction Center, 49 of the 705 deaths - or about seven per cent - attributed to tornadoes from 1997to 2007 were people who were in vehicles when the storm struck.

They can cover more ground than you can in your car, so unless you know you are moving away from the tornado the best thing you can do is find a strong structure, said National Weather Service meteorologist Andy Foster. The twister that struck Newton County was covering ground at about 80 to 100 km/h, Foster said. One car was found almost a kilometre from the tornado track. Authorities were still piecing together how some of the other victims died over the weekend. But the Missouri Highway Patrol said at least two other car passengers were killed when their vehicle was thrown from the same road where the Rountree family was killed. Another woman died in Missouri after she took shelter in a broken-down car outside Susan Roberts' home in Seneca. That is what is tearing me up, Roberts said, adding she had warned the woman about the approaching tornado. In Picher, Okla., 50 kilometres away, a man and a woman died when their car was blown into a lagoon. The body of another man from the car wound up in a tree nearby. A 13-year-old girl who was riding in the car was injured. Fire Chief Jeff Reeves said they were not trying to outrun the twister. I think they were actually trying to get to a family member's house on the south side of town to help them and they just didn't make it over, Reeves said.

Val Castor, one of the many spotters who bring dramatic video of tornadoes to local TV stations in Oklahoma, said the number of people on the road during tornadoes seems to have increased every year since 1996, when the movie Twister, which depicts meteorologists chasing tornadoes, came out. He said driving during severe weather is extremely dangerous for the inexperienced because they don't know where a tornado will form or what direction it will go. Heavy traffic or a broken-down vehicle can stop people from getting away from the funnel cloud. The best advice is to make sure the tornado is completely gone before you venture out, he said. After the tragedy, Missouri Gov. Matt Blunt warned people to stay out of vehicles when a tornado is nearby. Weather experts say motorists and their passengers should find a sturdy shelter or lie flat in a ditch or other low spot, covering their heads with arms, coats or blankets if the tornado is moving in their direction. Overpasses and bridges should also be avoided, since an overpass can create a wind-tunnel effect, and bridges can collapse. The death toll from tornadoes this year is the highest since 130 people were killed in 1998, according to the weather service. The highest number of tornado-related deaths came in 1953, when 519 people died. To date this year, 858 tornadoes have been reported in the United States, although that number probably includes numerous duplicate sightings of the same twister. Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said the highest number of tornadoes ever recorded through May 11 of any year was in 1999, when 676 tornadoes were counted. Brooks said he expects the number of confirmed tornadoes through mid-May of this year to end up in the 650-to-700 range. Altogether, 15 people died in Missouri from the same storm that devastated Picher, where six were killed. Two more people were killed in Georgia, where forecasters said at least six tornadoes touched down. One of those twisters struck McIntosh County's emergency management centre, destroying the fire trucks and ambulances inside. Another man was killed in Alabama when his truck was hit by a tree limb as he was surveying storm damage.

The Environmental Protection Agency said it would check for high lead levels in Picher after the tornado blew through the heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds. Miles Tolbert, Oklahoma secretary of the environment, said he did not believe there was any immediate hazard to the 800 residents. But he said more testing was needed.

More storms headed for tornado-damaged Mo., Ark. By ALAN SCHER ZAGIER, Associated Press Writer Tue May 13, 9:31 AM ET

SENECA, Mo. - Another round of storms headed toward tornado-ravaged areas of Missouri, Arkansas and several other states early Tuesday where residents are still picking up from the weekend's killer twisters. The National Weather Service said thunderstorms carrying hail were likely through midmorning in parts of southwest Missouri. More ominously, the agency said conditions later in the day could be similar to those that spun funnel clouds and killed 27 people Saturday and Sunday in the Plains and the Southeast.Even if the latest storms aren't particularly violent, they'll make for a soggy cleanup in towns such as Picher, Okla., where Tressie Gilmore and four family members emerged from a pile of debris that used to be their house Saturday evening, shaken but with nothing worse than bruised ribs.On Monday, the 25-year-old joined family and friends in salvaging what they could from what remained of her mother and stepfather's home after the tornado — packing wind estimated at 165 to 175 mph — slammed into Picher, killing seven.It felt like evil, she said. It didn't feel like Mother Nature. It felt personal.Eight of the 23 victims in Oklahoma and Missouri died in cars, troubling experts who say the inside of a vehicle is one of the worst places to be during a twister.It's like taking a handful of Matchbox cars and rolling them across the kitchen floor, Sgt. Dan Bracker of the Missouri State Highway Patrol said, surveying the damage in and around Seneca, near the Oklahoma line. This is devastating.

Two people were killed in Georgia, where meteorologists said at least six tornadoes touched down. Another man was killed in northern Alabama when his truck was struck by a falling tree limb as he was surveying storm damage.A southern Illinois woman was killed Sunday when wind toppled a tree onto her car, according to the Randolph County Sheriff's Office.Authorities say drivers and their passengers should find a sturdy shelter or even lie flat in a ditch or other low spot, covering their heads with arms, coats or blankets if a tornado is moving in their direction. Overpasses and bridges should also be avoided — overpasses can create a wind-tunnel effect, and bridges can collapse.Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, which determines whether residents qualify for federal assistance, were in Missouri and Oklahoma. FEMA Director David Paulison and Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff were scheduled to visit the hardest hit areas Tuesday.

Scientists from the Environmental Protection Agency arrived in Oklahoma on Monday to check for high lead levels in Picher, a heavily polluted former mining town where lead-filled waste is piled into giant mounds.Miles Tolbert, Oklahoma's secretary of the environment, said he did not believe there was any immediate hazard to the 800 residents. But he said more testing was needed.The weather service said about 100 people have died in U.S. twisters this year. This could become one of the deadliest tornado years in recent history.The weather service's Storm Prediction Center in Norman, Okla., said 130 people died in U.S. tornadoes in 1998, the eighth deadliest year since 1950. The highest number of tornado-related deaths came in 1953, when 519 people died.To date this year, 910 tornadoes have been reported, though not all have been confirmed by the weather service. That compares with 1,093 confirmed twisters for all of last year.Harold Brooks of the National Severe Storms Laboratory said the highest number of tornadoes ever recorded through May 11 of any year was 676 in 1999. Brooks said he expects the number of confirmed tornadoes through mid-May of this year to end up in the 650-to-700 range.Tornado season typically peaks in the spring and early summer, then again in the late fall. Associated Press writer Murray Evans in Picher, Okla., contributed to this report.

Rain lashes Myanmar cyclone survivors By Aung Hla Tun mAY 13,08

YANGON (Reuters) - Heavy rains pelted homeless cyclone survivors in Myanmar's Irrawaddy delta on Tuesday, complicating the already slow delivery of aid to more than 1.5 million people facing hunger and disease.As more foreign aid trickled into the former Burma, critics ratcheted up the pressure on its military rulers to accelerate a relief effort that is only delivering an estimated tenth of the supplies needed in the devastated delta.The response of the regime in Burma to this crisis has been absolutely callous and those paying the price of this callousness have been the long-suffering Burmese people, Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd told parliament.An Australian air force plane landed in Yangon, Myanmar's main city, with 31 tonnes of emergency supplies, a day after the first U.S. military aid flight arrived in a country Washington has described as an outpost of tyranny.Two more U.S. flights arrived on Tuesday as part of a confidence building effort to prod Myanmar's reclusive generals into allowing a larger international relief operation 11 days after the disaster left up to 100,000 dead or missing.France, Britain and Germany called on Tuesday for the world to deliver aid without the junta's agreement, using a little used U.N. principle of the responsibility to protect.
Myanmar state television said the official death toll had risen to 34,273 from nearly 32,000 and 27,838 were missing.

DISEASES

Tens of thousands of people throughout the delta are crammed into Buddhist monasteries and schools after arriving in towns that were on the breadline even before the disaster.Lacking food, water and sanitation, they face the threat of killer diseases such as cholera. Heavy tropical rains added to their misery.Where I am now there's over 10,000 homeless people and it's pouring rain, Bridget Gardener of the International Red Cross said during a rare tour of the delta by a foreign aid official.While a steady stream of aid flights have landed in Yangon, only a fraction of the relief needed is getting to the delta due to flooding and the junta's desire to keep most foreign aid and logistics experts either out of the country or in Yangon.The World Food Program said it was able to deliver less than 20 percent of the 375 tonnes of food a day it wanted to move into the flooded delta.Myanmar state television said six ships carrying 500 tonnes of supplies had left Yangon for the delta on Tuesday.International relief organizations say their local staff are stretched to breaking point, while Medicins Sans Frontieres said its workers faced increasing constraints.One Yangon businessman just back from a personal aid mission to Bogalay, a delta township where at least 10,000 people were killed, said soldiers were appropriating aid.There are still some villages in the worst-hit areas that nobody has got to, the man, in his late 30s, told Reuters.Around Bogalay, private donors are not allowed to distribute their assistance to the victims themselves. We had to hand over what we had.

U.N. CRITICISM

The junta has welcomed aid from any nation but has made it very clear it does not want outsiders distributing it.At the United Nations in New York, Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon delivered his most critical comments to date.I want to register my deep concern --and immense frustration -- at the unacceptably slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis, he told reporters on Monday.We are at a critical point, he said. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's crisis.With three U.S. and one French warship laden with aid and helicopters steaming towards Myanmar, EU foreign policy chief Javier Solana again raised the question of unauthorized aid drops into the delta -- which could be seen as an act of war.We have to use all the means to help those people, he said. When pressed, he replied: Whatever is necessary to help the people who are suffering.France's junior minister for human rights Rama Yade told reporters as EU development ministers' met to discuss emergency aid for Myanmar, that the three EU powers would propose imposing the aid to the U.N. Security Council, but acknowledged that they did not have unanimous support in the 27-nation EU.Speaking after the first U.S. military aid flight to Myanmar on Monday, U.S. President George W. Bush condemned the junta for failing to act more quickly to accept international help, saying either they are isolated or callous.It's been days and no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response, he told CBS News.The storm raged through an area home to nearly half of Myanmar's 53 million people, as well as its main rice-growing region. About 5,000 sq km (1,930 sq miles) of land remain under water.Most of the casualties were killed by a 12-foot (3.5 meter) wall of water churned up by the cyclone's 190 kph (120 mph) winds.(Additional reporting by Carmel Crimmins in Bangkok; Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Ed Cropley)

MYNAMAR SLIDESHOW
http://ca.news.yahoo.com/photos/ss/events/wl/070921_myanmar

UN warns of second catastrophe in Myanmar MAY 13,08

YANGON (AFP) - The United Nations warned Tuesday that Myanmar faced a second catastrophe after its devastating cyclone, unless the junta immediately allows massive air and sea deliveries of aid.But Myanmar's military rulers again rejected growing international pressure to open the door to a foreign-run relief effort, insisting against all the evidence that they could handle the emergency alone.

The United Nations aired its increasing frustration at not being able to bring more help to 1.5 million of the neediest survivors, and said the crisis in the country's remote, flooded south posed an enormous logistic challenge.It requires at least an air or sea corridor to channel aid in large quantities as quickly as possible, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman in Geneva for the UN's emergency relief arm.We fear a second catastrophe, she said.But the junta said Tuesday that the needs of the people after the storm, which has left around 62,000 dead or missing since ripping through the southern Irrawaddy delta on May 3, have been fulfilled to an extent.

The nation does not need skilled relief workers yet, Vice Admiral Soe Thein said in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper, a mouthpiece for the military which has ruled the nation with an iron grip for nearly half a century.Many survivors said they had still not received aid from the government 10 days after the disaster, and could not understand why their leaders have snubbed offers of help that have poured in from around the world.Aid agencies warn that as every day passes without sufficient food, water and shelter, more are at risk of joining the staggering death toll, estimated by the UN at 100,000.The World Health Organisation said it had dispatched supplies of body bags, as experts warned that corpses were going uncollected and that the putrefying remains pose a major health risk.Heavy rains overnight deepened the misery for many, seeping through the flimsy plastic sheeting of makeshift shelters of tens of thousands of people whose homes were sunk or blown away in the storm.These new rains are bringing us more misery, said Taye Win, a survivor sheltering at a monastery outside the country's main city Yangon. I don't know how long we can withstand this.

The UN said that child traffickers are targeting the youngest and most vulnerable survivors of the catastrophe, and that two suspects have already been arrested after trying to recruit children at a relief camp.Just hours after the United States sent its first aid plane into the country since the tragedy -- following days of negotiations -- US President George W. Bush said the world should be angry and condemn the junta.Either they are isolated or callous, he said Monday. There's no telling how many people have lost their lives as a result of the slow response.UN Secretary General Ban Ki-Moon also took aim at the regime, using unusually strong language to insist that outside aid experts be allowed in immediately to help direct the fumbling relief effort.We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's current crisis, he said.I therefore call in the most strenuous terms on the government of Myanmar to put its people's lives first. It must do all it can to prevent this disaster from becoming even more serious.
The country has welcomed donations of aid, even from the United States, which was expected to send two more aid flights Tuesday.

Myanmar is struggling to feed its people in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis -- in part because the regime has been forcing some farmers to stop growing rice in a plan to produce.But the generals remain deeply suspicious of the outside world and fearful of any foreign influence which could weaken their control on every aspect of life in this poor and isolated nation, formerly known as Burma.

Shari Villarosa, the top US diplomat in Myanmar, emphasised the urgent need for specialists who know how to deliver aid despite daunting logistical hurdles.Outside experts have had experience in working with these disasters around the world where you have had these donors pouring in massive amounts all at the same time, she told AFP.Although aid flights are increasing, there are serious bottlenecks in getting supplies to the delta.In an internal document seen Tuesday, the United Nations said it is receiving reports of the military of their devastated villages and into other less-affected areas of the country.

FIRES AND EXPLOSIONS

REVELATION 8:7
7 The first angel sounded, and there followed hail and fire mingled with blood, and they were cast upon the earth: and the third part of trees was burnt up, and all green grass was burnt up.

FIRE VIDEO STORY
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Dozens of homes lost as Florida battles wildfires By TRAVIS REED, Associated Press Writer MAY 13,08

PALM BAY, Fla. - Relentless wildfires burned Tuesday morning across Florida's Atlantic coast, taxing firefighters and overwhelming residents trying to save their homes with garden hoses.

Firefighters in Brevard County were working for a third day trying to stop flames that have destroyed four homes and damaged about 70. The state's largest blaze has charred about 3,800 acres, or nearly 6square miles, in the neighboring towns of Palm Bay and Malabar. Every time I turn around another house is on fire. We don't have enough resources on our own to do a job like this, said Palm Bay spokeswoman Yvonne Martinez.Officials expressed concern early Tuesday after flare-ups overnight. Flare-ups when humidity is higher can be a bad sign because fire spreads even more quickly during the drier and windier daylight hours, said Palm Bay Assistant Fire Chief Jim Stables.It's going to be challenging to get the fire under control, he said.All 18 schools in Palm Bay, including charter schools, were closed Tuesday. Smoke and the proximity of the flames have caused the intermittent closure of major highways in the area, including a 34-mile section of Interstate 95 south of the fires that was closed again midmorning Tuesday.Flames are coming onto the interstate, Florida Highway Patrol Trooper Kim Miller said.One of the homes destroyed in Malabar belonged to Butch Vanfleet, who built the home in 1980 and tried in vain to protect it with a garden hose.It's devastation, he said. All you see is nothing but ash in between the palm trees and the palmetto. There's no grass. The fire just came so quickly, we barely got out of there.Gov. Charlie Crist declared a state of emergency Monday as dry, windy weather worsened conditions. His orders allow Florida to use federal funds and bring local emergency workers under state control. It also allows Florida to call on other states for help, if necessary.Firefighters may get some help Tuesday, since winds on the coast were expected to slow to 10 to 15 mph, according to the National Weather Service.Authorities said the fire may be the result of arson. A witness saw someone in a car drop something into an open field, and the fire started shortly afterward, an arson investigator said.About 80 miles north in Daytona Beach, an 800-acre fire forced an evacuation order for about 500 homes, but residents were allowed to return Monday evening. No structures were reported damaged, though officials warned embers could fly more than a mile from the blaze and spark new hot spots.Ray Ademski, a 68-year-old retiree, left his Daytona Beach home with his wife and their important papers when he saw columns of smoke Sunday night around the subdivision. He hosed down the roof and turned on the sprinklers in his yard before the couple left for a hotel.

I could feel the heat from both sides, said Ademski, who returned by bicycle Monday to survey the damage. The smoke was going straight into my eyes. It was terrible.Hundreds of firefighters worked the state's blazes, bulldozing highly flammable brush and vegetation and leaving behind less flammable dirt to keep the fires from advancing. At least three firefighters were injured Monday, according to the Florida Division of Emergency Management. Meanwhile, firefighters in Southern California were battling a 30-acre wildfire Tuesday that was scorching forest land about 45 miles northeast of Los Angeles.The blaze on Mt. Baldy, in Angeles National Forest, was burning at about 7,000 feet Tuesday as stiff winds began blowing, said U.S. Forest Service spokeswoman Kathy Peterson. No evacuations have been reported, and it's unclear what started the blaze. Associated Press writers Jennifer Kay, Antonio Gonzalez, Kelli Kennedy and Suzette Laboy in Miami contributed to this report. On the Net: National Interagency Fire Center: http://www.nifc.gov.