Nocere – Earth Disasters

In Cameroon, over 100 people have perished from cholera since this past June.

In June, a warning was announced about a possible cholera outbreak. Then came the news of people dieing in the Far North area located in the northern parts of Cameroon.

At this time, there have been known to be over 600 people who have contacted cholera. Cholera causes severe diarrhea which causes people to dehydrate. If you are dehydrating and cannot get proper medical care, you can die from it within hours.

Cholera is a disease that is found in infected drinking water. People living in the Far North region, do not have the access to potable water for safer drinking and cooking with.

It is possible that all the flooding in the area has led to the spread of the disease.

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Brakes is a frozen food distributor in Tamworth located in Staffordshire.

An ammonia leak left 28 people with injuries. One man had very bad burns to his arms. He was in a compressor room at the time. The accident happened at approximately 1150 BST

Besides the man suffering burns, another 27 people suffered injuries of which 7 had to be taken to a hospital. No one was kept at the hospital. All were treated and released.

Close roads around the plant were closed down by police causing quite a serious congestion around the Brakes plant in Tamworth.

At first it was thought there were going to be a great many casualties, but luckily that isn’t the case.

The man who suffered the worse injury was the one in the compressor room. He is a 30 year old male and he had 15% burns that were infected with the ammonia.

The firefighters used water to rinse off his wounds and then he was transported to Queen Elizabeth Hospital located in Birmingham.

Of the ones taken to the hospital, 4 were having difficulty breathing, and 2 had minor injuries. There were more injuries that did not require a trip to the hospital that were taken care of at the scene.

Brakes was evacuated after the leak that happened during a typical maintenance at the plant. After noting the leak, the plant was evacuated and there is no need to be worried about the ammonia leak. All emergency services have been set in motion.

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In the northern state of Zamfara, children have been dieing. The villagers thought it was malaria.

The children’s deaths were discovered during the time for the yearly vaccinating  of the children by the country, something they do every year. They noticed that in a few of the villages in the distant northern state had very few children.

A group  from the international aid agency Medecins Sans Frontiers obtained blood samples from many of the village people. They found the blood samples contained a large amount of lead in them.

Zamfara State had brought in a company from China to excavate for gold in Zamfara.

Many of the locals had gone out on their own digging and searching for gold. Possibly digging in areas of high lead content.

It is possible that the villagers and children got ill from the lead that was  taken out during the act of refining the gold ore and it running off into the water polluting it.

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How long we ask is this going to go on? There is no end in sight.

It has now been 46 days since the start of one of the worlds worst natural disasters. The oil continues to spill out into the Gulf.

BP now has a plan to siphon the oil from the well and bring it to the top of the Gulf waters. Then they will try to get it to flow onto another drill ship called Discover Enterprise.

They already started doing this on Friday. BP is to shut 4 of the vents on the top of the cap which is allowing the oil to leak out into the Gulf. They are hoping if they close off these 4 vents that the flow will be cut back.

If the procedure is going to be successful or not was to be determined later on Friday.

President Obama once again visited the Gulf Coast on Friday to view the extinct of the damage. It has been said the he was “furious at this entire situation.”

Obama didn’t talk a lot about the efforts to cap off the well, but he did relay to the news that, “it does appear that the cap — at least for now — is holding.” He also said that it is, “way too early to be optimistic.”  We could possible know something in the next 24 to 48 hours according to Obama on Friday. That means we could possibly be hearing good news anytime, or I could have missed the announcement.

I do hope we hear that the oil is now being contained and will be capped.

Our wildlife have suffered and our beaches have balls of tar the size of silver dollars on them in Pensacola, Florida.

The oil has already become a threat to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama. Florida is next.

It was possible that the oil will reach Destin Florida by Saturday afternoon.

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The oil spill continues to flow into the Gulf after an explosion happened at a rig last week.

The well is located under the water and is allowing possibly 5,000 barrels a day of oil to spill into the Gulf.

The oil is a major threat to wildlife. Many are in their breeding time according to an environmental organization.

There were 11 people who worked on the oil rig that  have not yet been found and are thought to have perished. An explosion on the oil rig is what started the oil spilling into the gulf.

Birds are at this time in their time of building their nest and preparing for the arrival of their family.

There is a  major effort being put out by environmental groups to keep the oil from making the shorelines of Louisiana, Mississippi, Alabama and Florida. It could possibly not work. They are considering asking the US Military for help controlling the spill.

Not only are the birds at risk with the oil spill. The entire ecosystem is in danger of being damaged with oil. As the oil settles in the water, it will cover the basin which means  the oysters will be smothered with it and die.

The whole business of fishing will be affected by the spill.

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In Mexico City ,there have been 174 schools closed due to the large amount of rain falling and  high water.  Water overflowing from the sewers on Friday spilled out into the streets flooding the area with the sewage water. It has been spilling out since last Friday and will continue possibly for another 48 hours. There is talk that 165 of the schools could open their doors to the students next Monday.

There has been 33 people perish in the rushing waters and many thousands are without places to stay. With dirty water running through the city, many homes have become uninhabitable until throughly cleaned.

In Mexico’s Michoacan state, the floods have caused the deaths of possibly more then 22 people. There are also over 3,500 people who are without dwellings to live in.

At this time, there are 83 people that haven’t been located.

Michoacan is located in the west coastal area of Mexico and has had problems with drugs and violence the last few years.

On Saturday, there were possibly more then 11 people who perished in a mudslide that happened near Temascatepec and state that runs alongside Mexico state.

Officials in Mexico and the President of Mexico Felipe Calderon are trying to help people with children find some kind of shelter, food, medical supplies and some cash to help them get things together again.

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We are getting use to hearing of suicide bombings and war taking the lives of people, never agreeing with it, but accepting it.

Hearing that approximately 22 people have passed away due to the fact they never got a shot to prevent them from getting measles, is not acceptable.

The people who have perished are mostly young children under the age of 5.

They had not received a shot to prevent the disease. Their parents never got them to the clinic to get the shot.

There have been over 340 possible cases of measles in just Harare this year.  People are not getting their children vaccinated and they could have.

Measles is a disease that can be prevented with the shot.

The fact children and adults are dieing of measles is very unacceptable.

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On Friday, many of the residents living near a storage area for fuel, woke up to a tremendous explosion as oil tanks  exploded..

A short time after the midnight hour, residents looked out of their homes at what they described as a mushroom shaped cloud hovering in the distance.

Windows were blown out in near by  homes and local business’s. It has been said to be the most magnanimous fire ever in Puerto Rico.

There were 15 containers of fuel blazing hot with flames at the warehouse that only houses around 40 containers.

The fire was still burning ferociously 19 hours later after the initial explosions were heard.

The Carribbean Petroleum corporation is located in the town of Bayamon. It is situated near the San Juans Bay.

There has been a state of emergency announced. This is needed in order for Puerto Rico to receive federal aide.

There are many concerns about the water being contaminated.

About 350 people had to be moved out of the area to arena not too far away.

There was a lot of smoke and at least one person suffered from the smoke and had to be taken to a hospital.

About 150 firemen  from the local area and 215 National Guard members were fighting the fire  to try and get it under control.

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