Power, water shortages as Cyclone Ita stalks Australia
PUBLISHED ON APR 13, 2014
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This NASA Earth Observatory handout satellite image received on April 12, 2014 acquired by Aqua’s Moderate Resolution
Imaging Spectroradiometer at 2 pm local time (0400 Universal Time) on April 11 shows Tropical Cyclone Ita as it bore
down on Australia’s Cook Peninsula. -- PHOTO: AFP
SYDNEY (AFP) - Thousands of homes were without power and residents of worst-hit
Cooktown were warned clean water was about to run out as cyclone Ita rolled along
Australia's Barrier Reef coast on Sunday.
Downgraded from a category four to a category one storm after making landfall late Friday,
Ita continued to bring heavy weather as it tracked along the coast, with roads, power and
water cut and warnings of flash flooding from torrential rain.
Some 16,000 homes were without electricity and several roads were shut due to flooding,
according to emergency officials. No deaths or major destruction have been reported.
In Cooktown, which bore the brunt of the storm as it barrelled into the coast, water was
rationed to drinking and "minimal" sanitation only, with severe shortages due to storm
damage.
"Police are around patrolling now because naturally people say 'oh, we've got the water back,
we'll hose off our house or driveway or whatever'. That can't happen otherwise we will run
out of water this afternoon," Cook shire council CEO Steven Wilton told ABC radio.
Queensland premier Campbell Newman inspected the damage in Cooktown, where four
buildings were destroyed and another 50 were damaged by the storm. Banana plantations in
the region were flattened.
Elsewhere, Newman said rain had damaged up to 20 homes and another 30 had been cut off
in the tourist town of Port Douglas by flooding.
"We can expect significant rainfall right down the coast. Falls of up to 300mm (12 inches) in
locations. That means we are going to see significant flooding on various coastal rivers and
creek systems," he said.
"It means that roads will be blocked and again I urge people - restrict their travel to only the
vital travel.
"The best way people can remain safe is to sit in their homes and wait this one out."
Mr Newman appointed a disaster recovery coordinator to take up residence in the area for the
next three months and oversee the clean-up.
Squalling winds and heavy rains lashed towns further south as Ita tracked parallel to the coast,
with the weather bureau warning it would remain a "vigorous extra-tropical system" even
after being downgraded from cyclone strength. That was expected to occur sometime on
Tuesday.
On Sunday, rainfall of up to 400mm (16 inches) was expected in some areas, bringing flash
flooding, and "abnormally high tides" were forecast with wind gusts of up to 110kph
(68mph), the Bureau of Meteorology said.
Before weakening offshore, Ita had threatened to be stronger than the monster Cyclone Yasi
system that tore through the region just over three years ago, ripping homes from their
foundations and devastating crops.
Marine researchers said they expected extensive damage to the Great Barrier Reef's corals in
Ita's path. When Yasi crossed in 2011 coral cover on exposed reefs was reduced to less than
two percent.
Tropical cyclones are common in Australia's northeast and northwest during the warmer
months.
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Act fast to curb global warming, or extract CO2 from air: UN report
PUBLISHED ON APR 13, 2014
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This file picture dated Dec 3, 2009 shows smoke billowing from the chimneys of petrochemical factory on in Feyzin near
Lyon, eastern France. Faster action is needed to keep global warming to agreed limits and delays until 2030 could force
reliance on technologies to extract greenhouse gases from the air, a UN report said on Sunday, April 13, 2014. -- FILE
PHOTO: AFP
BERLIN (REUTERS) - Faster action is needed to keep global warming to agreed limits and
delays until 2030 could force reliance on technologies to extract greenhouse gases from the
air, a UN report said on Sunday.
The study, drawing on the work of more than 1,000 experts, said a shift from fossil fuels to
low-carbon energy such as wind, solar or nuclear power was affordable and would shave only
about 0.06 percentage point a year off world economic growth.
"We have a window of opportunity for the next decade, and maximum the next two decades"
to act at moderate costs, said Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chair of a Berlin meeting of the
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC).
"I'm not saying it's costless. I'm not saying climate policy is a free lunch. But it's a lunch
worthwhile to buy," he said.
The report, endorsed by governments, is meant as the main scientific guide for nations
working on a UN deal to be agreed in late 2015 to rein in world greenhouse gas emissions
that have hit repeated highs, led by China's industrial growth.
Governments have promised to limit temperature rises to a maximum 2 degrees Celsius (3.6
Fahrenheit) above pre-industrial times to avert ever more heat waves, floods, droughts and
rising sea levels that the IPCC says are linked to man-made warming.
IPCC scenarios showed that world emissions of greenhouse gases would need to peak soon
and tumble by between 40 and 70 percent from 2010 levels by 2050, and then close to zero
by 2100, to keep temperatures below 2C.
Such cuts are far deeper than most governments are planning.
"Ambitious mitigation may even require removing carbon dioxide from the atmosphere," the
IPCC said. Delay in acting to cut emissions until 2030 would force far greater use of such
technologies, a 33-page summary for policymakers said.
RISKY OPTIONS If countries delay, the world will have to deploy little-tested options, said
Mr Edenhofer, a German scientist from the Potsdam Institute for Climate Impact Research.
One method mentioned by the IPCC is to burn wood, crops or other biomass to generate
electricity and capture the greenhouse gases from the exhaust fumes and bury them
underground.
The experimental technology would reduce the amount of carbon in a natural cycle of plant
growth and decay. But there are risks, for instance that vast areas of land will be needed to
grow biomass, displacing crops and pushing up food prices.
Simpler methods to extract greenhouse gases from the air are to plant trees, which soak up
greenhouse gases as they grow.
The IPCC report is the third and final part of a massive United Nations series, updating
science for the first time since 2007. A summary of findings will be issued in October.
The UN's climate chief, Christiana Figueres, said the world should step up action to cut
emissions. "We cannot play a waiting game where we bet on future technological miracles to
emerge and save the day," she said in a statement.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said that every year the world defers action, the costs only
grow.
"These technologies can cut carbon pollution while growing economic opportunity at the
same time," he said in a statement.
"This report makes very clear we face an issue of global willpower, not capacity."
The IPCC says it is at least 95 percent probable that man-made emissions, rather than natural
variations, are the main cause of warming. But many voters are doubtful and few
governments have policies consistent with a 2C target.
Low-carbon energies, which accounted for 17 percent of world energy supplies in 2010,
would have to triple or quadruple their share by 2050, displacing conventional fossil fuels as
the top source of energy, IPCC scenarios showed.
Low-carbon energy can include coal-, natural gas or oil-fired power plants if they use carbon
capture and storage (CCS) to bury emissions underground. That technology, however, is
mostly experimental.
Saskatchewan Power Corp in Canada will start a US$1.35 billion (S$1.69 billion) Boundary
Dam coal-fired CCS project this year, capturing a million tonnes annually of carbon dioxide
in what it says is the world's first post-combustion coal-fired CCS project.
Oil and gas firms say they are tackling global warming. On March 31, Exxon Mobil Corp
said that all energy sources, including fossil fuels, had to be exploited to meet growing world
demand.
Environmentalists said the focus should be on shifting to renewables rather than nuclear
power or CCS.
"We need to put our money into the future ... with a focus on renewables and energy
efficiency," said Samantha Smith of the WWF conservation group.
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UN climate goal feasible but energy reform vital: Panel
PUBLISHED ON APR 13, 2014
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BERLIN (AFP) - The world has a likely chance of meeting the UN's warming limit of two
degrees Celsius (3.6 degrees Fahrenheit) if it cuts annual greenhouse gas emissions 40-70
percent by 2050, especially from energy, a top expert panel said on Sunday.
The longer it takes to switch from carbon-polluting fuels to cleaner energy sources, the harder
and more expensive the target will become to reach, it said.
It warned that on present trends the planet will be 3.7-4.8 C warmer by 2100 - a level
scientists say could be catastrophic.
"There is a clear message from science: to avoid dangerous interference with the climate
system, we need to move away from business as usual," said Ottmar Edenhofer, co-chairman
of the UN expert group that compiled the document.
"Many different pathways lead to a future within the boundaries set by the two degrees
Celsius goal. All these require substantial investments."
The report is the third and final chapter of a mammoth overview by the UN's
Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) - its first since 2007.
Compiled by hundreds of experts over four years, it collates the available science on climate
change, seeking to inform national policies and the faltering global effort to formulate a pact
by 2015 on curbing climate-altering emissions.
US Secretary of State John Kerry said the report was a reminder of the threat from climate
change but also pointed to the entrepreneurial rewards from tackling it.
"We've already had wake-up call after wake-up call about climate science. This report is a
wake-up call about global economic opportunity we can seize today as we lead on climate
change," Mr Kerry said in a statement issued in Washington.
"The global energy market represents a US$6 trillion (S$7.5 trillion) opportunity, with six
billion users around the world. By 2035, investment in the energy sector is expected to reach
nearly US$17 trillion."
For a 66 percent or "likely" chance of meeting the 2C target, the report said, the concentration
of greenhouse gases in the atmosphere should be contained at about 450 particles per million
of CO2 equivalent (ppm CO2eq) in 2100 - compared to 430 ppm CO2eq in 2011.
This would entail a 40-70 percent emissions reduction from 2010 to 2050, nearing zero by
2100.
There would also be a "tripling to nearly a quadrupling" in the share of energy from
renewable and nuclear sources and from traditional fossil or new biofuel sources whose
emissions are captured - what the report described as "large-scale global changes in the
energy supply sector".
This will come at a cost, which the report estimated would clip some 0.06 percentage points
annually off growth in global consumption - which would otherwise have been about 1.6-3.0
percent per year over the century.
The calculation did not factor in the potential cost benefits from tackling emissions, including
healthier humans and ecosystems and energy security.
For an atmospheric concentration level of about 500 ppm CO2eq, which yields a lesser
chance of success, emissions by 2050 are 25-50 percent lower than in 2010, according to a
33-page summary of the report.
From levels of 550 ppm CO2eq by 2100, the chances of reaching the 2C target become less
than 50 percent, and worse.
The document - which listed options but made no recommendations - issued a stark warning
about emissions growth.
In the decade to 2010, it said, greenhouse gas emissions increased an unprecedented billion
tonnes a year on the back of rapid economic growth powered by fossil fuels.
On current trends, atmospheric levels by 2100 could be almost double or even triple those of
today, according to the report.
"So far all the efforts... did not really decrease emissions and did not also have any impact on
the growth rate of the emissions," Youba Sokona, another co-chairman of the group, told
AFP.
Despite the rise, the document says there remains a 15-year window for affordably meeting
the 2C target at which scientists believe we can avoid the worst-case scenario predictions for
an altered weather system.
"Delaying mitigation efforts beyond those in place today through 2030 is estimated to
substantially increase the difficulty... and narrow the range of options consistent with
maintaining temperature change below 2C," it said.
Options include phasing out fossil-fuel subsidies, investing in cleaner source, and rolling out
technology - still in its infancy - to capture and store carbon emissions from power plants that
burn coal, oil and gas.
The list also includes cutting energy waste and halting deforestation, boosting low-carbon
public transport systems and designing smarter cities that are less energy-hungry.
Mr Sokona said the report contained good news.
"We have challenges but it is not too late if we start acting," he said.
But he warned that "the more we wait, the more costly it will become, and the challenges will
begin escalating."
The Summary for Policymakers was adopted on Saturday after a line-by-line scrutiny by
government representatives and scientists.
The full report, over 2,000 pages, should be released within days.
In the first volume of its Fifth Assessment Report, released last September, the IPCC
predicted temperatures could rise 0.3 to 4.8 degrees C this century and sea levels creep up by
26-82 centimetres (10-32 inches).
The second chapter, published last month, warned of the rising risk of conflict, hunger, floods
and mass displacement from coastal erosion.
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Disaster zone declared as 4 die in huge fire consuming Chile coastal city
PUBLISHED ON APR 13, 2014
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View of houses in flames during a fire in Valparaiso, 110km west of Santiago, Chile, on April 12, 2014. Four people have
died in a huge fire that on Sunday, April 13, 2014, was consuming the outskirts of Chile's port city of Valparaiso and was
advancing unchecked towards its Unesco-listed historic centre, destroying hundreds of homes along the way and forcing the
evacuation of more than 3,000 people. -- PHOTO: AFP
VALPARAïSO, Chile (AFP) - Four people have died in a huge fire that on Sunday was
consuming the outskirts of Chile's port city of Valparaiso and was advancing unchecked
towards its Unesco-listed historic centre, destroying hundreds of homes along the way and
forcing the evacuation of more than 3,000 people.
The military has taken over security in the city, located on the Pacific coast 110km northwest of the capital Santiago and with a population of 270,000, after the government declared
it a disaster zone.
"This is the worst catastrophe Valparaiso has ever seen," the regional government
administrator Ricardo Bravo told local reporters.
Many residents overnight watched, helpless, from distant vantage points as the hills burned
bright red. Thick smoke clouded the sky.
Hundreds of firemen, including ones dispatched from the capital, were hopelessly
outmatched in their battle to limit the spreading disaster. They were forced to retreat time and
again as flames reduced more than 500 homes to cinders, a wall of red towering above them.
The massive tongues of flame were advancing down the slopes of the city towards its port
and heritage-listed center, driven by strong winds.
"We have four people dead - three men and a woman," Interior Minister Rodrigo Penailillo
told Radio Cooperativa on Sunday, giving a provisional death toll.
He added that more than 700 people forced to leave their homes had been received in nearly a
dozen temporary shelters.
The city is spread out over more than 40 hills, hindering emergency vehicle traffic.
"My brother's house was entirely burnt. We had only finished it two weeks ago. We tried to
save something but it was truly an inferno," one resident Cristobal Perez told the Chilevision
television network.
"I started to become overcome by the smoke along with my two dogs. It was terrible impossible to breathe," another resident told the channel.
The vast blaze has caused cuts to power and drinking water in many areas of Valparaiso.
More than 200 inmates at a women's prison were evacuated due to "large amounts of smoke
produced by the fire", said Mr Tulio Arce, the regional prison guard director.
The cause of the fire, which began in woodland near the city late on Saturday, was being
investigated.
Chile's Interior Minister said the disaster decree issued on Saturday by President Michelle
Bachelet activated an "exceptional" constitutional provision allowing the military to be called
in to help.
The navy, which has a major base in the port city, immediately responded by taking over
security. It deployed uniformed personnel into the streets to maintain order and to help with
the evacuations.
Valparaiso is one of Chile's most important ports. It lived its era of glory from the mid-19th
century to the early 20th century as a stopover point for ships steaming down South America
and to round its southern tip into the Atlantic Ocean.
The center of the city still features the many colored houses dating from that period, built by
European immigrants. Its cobbled streets and funicular trams running up near-vertical rails
supported its 2003 listing as a Unesco-protected heritage site.
Fires occur frequently in central Chile, where summer sends temperatures soaring. In
February 2013, some 105 homes were destroyed in Valparaiso, affecting 1,200 people, after a
27-year-old man started a blaze.
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2nd quake in a day strikes off Solomon Islands, of magnitude 7.5; tsunami warning sparked
PUBLISHED ON APR 13, 2014
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WASHINGTON (Reuters) - A major earthquake of magnitude 7.5 struck off the coast of the
Solomon Islands in the Pacific Ocean on Sunday, triggering a tsunami warning in the area,
the United States Geological Survey and the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said.
The quake, initially reported as a magnitude 7.7, was shallow, only 35km below the seabed,
and centered 113km south of Kira Kira in the Solomon Islands, which have been racked by a
series of strong quakes in recent days.
The Tsunami Warning Centre said it was not yet known whether a tsunami had actually been
generated but a warning was in effect in the Solomon Islands, Vanuatu and Papua New
Guinea.
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