PLANETARY TREMORS: 6.1 Quake Hits South of Bali, Indonesia!

Map of the 6.1 magnitude earthquake.

According to the Real Time Seismicity of the European-Mediterranean Seismological Centre, a magnitude 6.1 earthquake has struck South of Bali, Indonesia at a depth of 61.3 km (38.1 miles). The quake hit at 03:16:32 UTC, Thursday 13th October 2011 and was located at 9.359°S, 114.647°E. The epicentre was 100 km ( 62 miles) southwest of Denpasar, Bali, Indonesia; 168 km (104 miles) southeast of Jember, Java, Indonesia; 182 km (113 miles) southwest of Mataram, Lombok, Indonesia; and 931 km (578 miles) southeast of Jakarta, Java, Indonesia. No tsunami warning was issued and there are no reports of any damage at this time.

Seismicity of the region.

A powerful earthquake struck off Indonesia's popular resort island of Bali on Thursday, sending people fleeing from their homes and hotels in panic. No tsunami alert was issued, and there were no immediate reports of injuries. The walls of some temples along the coast crumbled and witnesses told local radio and television stations they saw some houses with collapsed roofs. The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.0-magnitude quake was centered 60 miles (100 kilometers) southwest of the island. It hit 36 miles (60 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor. "It knocked me off my motorcycle," said one resident, Miftahul Chusna. Candy Juliani, a public relations officer for the Sanur Beach Hotel, said everything in the building was shaking. "The guests ran from their rooms in panic," she said. "We have special emergency routes for this type of situation but everyone was so scared, they just ignored them." Others reported seeing cracks in the walls of their offices or homes. Indonesia straddles a series of fault lines that makes the vast island nation prone to volcanic and seismic activity. A giant quake off the country on Dec. 26, 2004, triggered a tsunami in the Indian Ocean that killed 230,000 people, half of them in Indonesia's westernmost province of Aceh. - ABC.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Intensified Activities at Sakurajima Volcano!

Sakurajima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, located at the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay has been erupting and exploding since April 28th, with voluminous outbursts of lava, often accompanied by blue flashes, plasma discharge and lightning storms. The volcano, which is compose of three peaks, Kitadake to the north, Nakadake in its centre and Minamidake at the south is located at Kagoshima Bay, with a surface of 77 square kilometres, and rising to 1,117 metres or 3,665 feet above sea level. Sakurajima formulates part of the Aira caldera and had its most powerful eruption in 1914, which killed 35 people. The volcano has been quite active since the 1950s, erupting constantly.The construction of Sakurajima began about 13,000 years ago on the southern rim of Aira caldera and built an island that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about 4850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minamidake. Frequent historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on the Kagoshima Prefecture, one of Kyushu's largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8 km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76.

Concerns are now mounting in Japan, as the volcano has been showing increased levels of intensity. The following report is a rough translation from Asahi regarding actions being undertaken to deal with the possibilities of a major eruption.

Meteorological Agency Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions on the 11th, volcanic activity around the country, and Sakurajima in Kyushu future status report that summarizes the concerns have intensified volcanic activity... and Sakura Island is currently eruption alert level 3 regulations are made Iriyama... the eruption began in earnest in late January, has erupted repeatedly since then. The agency Global Positioning System (GPS) with a near continuous observations. Damari is in the basement of magma several kilometers northwest of..., but shrank rapidly after the eruption of January through February 1, has been found that the continued expansion thereafter. According to the same meeting, the underground magma, the magma emitted more than half of the eruption, which is seen as a new supply. Therefore, there is potential for future explosive eruptions, such that we need to be wary of cinder and ash. Meanwhile, Showa crater of Sakurajima, on September 45th of June, the number of explosive eruptions, including those to increase 204 times. Will increase the supply of magma, there could be more active eruption, volcanic and pyroclastic flows that need to be vigilant.

Meanwhile, the latest Weekly Volcanic Activity Report from the Smithsonian's Global Volcanism Program and the US Geological Survey's Volcano Hazards Program, provides the following report on the active composite volcano.

Based on information from JMA, the Tokyo VAAC reported that during 5-11 October explosions from Sakura-jima produced plumes that rose to altitudes of 1.2-3 km (4,000-10,000 ft) a.s.l. and drifted NW, N, SE, and S. During 6-8 October pilots observed ash plumes that rose to altitudes of 1.8-3.7 km (6,000-12,000 ft) a.s.l. Geologic Summary. Sakura-jima, one of Japan's most active volcanoes, is a post-caldera cone of the Aira caldera at the northern half of Kagoshima Bay. Eruption of the voluminous Ito pyroclastic flow was associated with the formation of the 17 x 23-km-wide Aira caldera about 22,000 years ago. The construction of Sakura-jima began about 13,000 years ago and built an island that was finally joined to the Osumi Peninsula during the major explosive and effusive eruption of 1914. Activity at the Kita-dake summit cone ended about 4,850 years ago, after which eruptions took place at Minami-dake. Frequent historical eruptions, recorded since the 8th century, have deposited ash on Kagoshima, one of Kyushu's largest cities, located across Kagoshima Bay only 8 km from the summit. The largest historical eruption took place during 1471-76.

WATCH: Closed-circuit television monitoring of the Sakurajima volcano.

GLOBAL ALERT: John Moore - Mega-Tsunami from the Canary Islands! UPDATE: Volcanic Alert in El Hierro as 4.3 Magnitude Earthquake Hits! UPDATE: Undersea Volcanic Eruption Viewed 7 Miles from El Hierro?! UPDATE: VOLCANIC RED ALERT Issued, Residents Start Evacuation?! UPDATE: La Restinga - A Ghost Town, Only Scientists Remain Behind! UPDATE: Two New Volcanic Eruption Locations Have Been Detected!

According to John Moore, in a recent interview with Dr. Bill Deagle on the Nutrimedical Report, there is an increased possibility of a super mega-tsunami coming from the Canary Islands in the coming weeks.

LISTEN: Moore reveals to Deagle, the "unprecedented and frenzied activities" surrounding the imminent eruptions and resulting tsunami from El Hierro and La Palma.

The island of El Hierro in the Spanish Canary Islands is bracing itself for a possible volcanic eruption. Situated in the Atlantic Ocean off the west coast of Africa, the Canary Islands are all volcanic, but there has been no volcanic activity on El Hierro since 1793. However, a series of small earthquakes have been registered by sensors in the past two months and a quake of grade 3 on the Richter Scale registered last Thursday have caused the threat of volcanic activity to be raised from green to yellow for the first time in recent history. Saturday produced another stronger tremor of 3.4 on the Richter scale which was felt all over the island. Speaking to the El Pais newspaper, volcanologist, Juan Carlos Carracedo admitted an eruption on El Hierro would not be a major surprise. "It is the youngest of the Canary Islands," he explained. "There is a ball of magma which is rising to the surface and it is stationed at the limit of the earth's crust. At the moment we do not know if that ball of magna will break the crust and cause an eruption." Rather than having one large crater, the volcano on el Hierro consists of around 250 small craters. "Any eruption would form cones on the high zones of the island and lava flows which would flow to the sea, although they would do so at a speed that would be slow enough for the population to be evacuated. It is something that could happen in days, weeks or months," said Carracedo. El Hierro currently has a population of around 10,000 and regional government officials have begun informing them of evacuation protocols in case the worst should happen. The last volcanic eruption in the Canary Islands took place on the island of La Palma in 1971, while the mainland town of Lorca was devastated by an earthquake of 5.2 on the Richter scale in May this year. - CRI English.

At the Yellow Alert Level the chances of an eruption are still remote at 15%, although not ruled out to. The most recent activity is located in the west and least populated island beyond the enclaves of the Gulf and La Restinga. This does not stop the 10,000 residents of El Hierro worrying about the latest developments as they follow this event with concern and possible face evacuation of the Island. The Directorate General of Security of Government has initiated a program in collaboration with the residents to discuss various recommendations in case of a volcanic eruption. These recommendations will include: Respond to Yellow Alert Level and consist of Self Protection measures in order to provide greater effectiveness in the event the evacuation is initialized.

HISTORY OF EL HIERRO VOLCANO:

El Hierro Volcano: Is one of the smallest of the Canary Islands, the origins of the island date back some 100 million years when the ocean floor shifted with the movement of the Earth's mantle. The crust cracked into a three pointed star releasing flows of magma. After 3 eruptions, the island emerged from the ocean as an imposing volcano more than 2,000 meters high. It has now been over 200 years since the last eruption but El Hierro. Although being the smallest island, it has the largest number of volcanoes with over 500 open sky cones and another 300 covered by the most recent outflows. There has been uncertainty surrounding reports of a historical eruption taking place in 1793.

Meanwhile, as I have highlighted here before scientific research is also predicting that an eruption of the Cumbre Vieja volcano, at La Palma in the Canary Islands would result in a massive mega-tsunami that would reach the East Coast of America.

Geological evidence suggests that during a future eruption, Cumbre Vieja Volcano on the Island of La Palma may experience a catastrophic failure of its west flank, dropping 150 to 500 km3 of rock into the sea. Using a geologically reasonable estimate of landslide motion, we model tsunami waves produced by such a collapse. Waves generated by the run-out of a 500 km3 (150 km3) slide block at 100 m/s could transit the entire Atlantic Basin and arrive on the coasts of the Americas with 10-25 m (3-8 m) height. Lateral collapses of oceanic island volcanoes rank amongst the most spectacular natural events on Earth. Although no such lateral collapse punctuates the historical past, residual debris found on the seafloor evidence their abundance in recent geological time. Moore (1964) first identified the remains of lateral collapses off the flanks of Hawaii. Since then, dozens have been recognized adjacent to island volcanoes in nearly every ocean (Moore et al. 1994; Keating and McGuire, 2000). These observations constrain not only the geography and frequency of lateral collapses, but also their magnitude (up to 5000 km3 of material), extent (to 300 km length) and ferocity (underwater speeds to 140 m/s). - Kuleuven. (PDF)

UPDATE: Volcanic Alert in El Hierro as 4.3 Magnitude Earthquake Hits!

A 4.3 magnitude earthquake struck El Hierro, the smallest of The Canary Islands, late on Saturday night. It was the strongest earthquake to be recorded on the Spanish island since an unprecedented earthquake swarm commenced during the summer. The Instituto Geografico Nacional (IGN) has reported an increase in the intensity of earthquakes recorded on El Hierro, the smallest of The Canary Islands, during the last 48 hours. The number of earthquakes recorded since July 17 , 2011 on El Hierros has now reached 10,000, figures from the IGN confirm. The IGN also confirmed surface deformations exceeding 35mm on the 280-sqkm island, where residents have been put on alert for a possible volcanic eruption.  However, seismologists have moved to reassure the local population that a volcanic eruption is not imminent. The agency confirmed on Friday that 886 earthquakes, most of them located in the sea to the SW of the island, have been recorded in the 7 days since 02 October, 2011.  During this period, 71 earthquakes were felt by the island’s estimated 10,000 residents. Since Friday morning, there have been more than two dozen earthquakes exceeding 3.0 on the Richter Scale with epicentres both North and South of the NW Ridge and depths between 10 and 15 km have been recorded.  The strongest of the tremors measured 4.3 magnitude on the Richter Scale, many times stronger than other earthquakes recorded on the island since mid-July. It was recorded on Saturday night at a depth of 12 km. The quake produced small rockslides but no injuries were reported.

Hierro, a shield volcano, has had a single historic eruption from the Volcan de Lomo Negro vent in 1793. The eruption lasted approximately one month and produced lava flows. The recent surge in the number and intensity of earthquakes prompted officials from the IGN and The Canary Islands Government to raise the alert level for the Hierro volcano to ‘Yellow’ late last month. The alert remained in place on Sunday. Seismologists say the majority of the earthquake activity has shifted from El Golfo in the island’s northwest to beneath the Las Calmas Sea in the south. However, magma is now on the move upwards while the depth of earthquakes has become increasingly shallow in recent days with most being recorded at a depth of 9 to 14 kilometres. Movement of magma towards the surface signifies that a volcanic eruption is likely to happen, but the timing of such remains unclear. - Irish Weather Online.

WATCH: 4.3 magnitude quake hits El Hierro

UPDATE: Undersea Volcanic Eruption has been Observed 7 Miles from El Hierro!

Seismic observation services have seen a submarine eruption at 1,200 meters deep at sea and seven kilometers from the island of El Hierro. The phenomenon is ongoing and has occurred at 10.43 (local time) in the sea calms and has been a sudden change in the seismic process, as it has paralyzed for weeks tremors felt in the Canary Islands, as reported by experts to Canary Autonomic Radio. The Director General of Security and Emergency of the Canary Islands, Juan Manuel Santana, has informed press conference gases were detected at 600 meters below the sea. With these clues, Santana suggests that an eruption will occur, which would be underwater and not cause danger to the public.

Scientists have detected a change in the type of waves, which could be due to the deep sea are occurring gas emissions and even lava, according to Santana. The president of the Cabildo de El Hierro, Alpidio Armas, has said that the eruption "is underway," though not known in what stage is, if the gas release or has passed to a second phase which also being ejected magma. However, he stressed the message of peace to ensure that the eruption is in itself a story "excellent" and that means that the stored energy is removed during this time. According to the president island, the islanders are not going to feel the rash, due also to its distance from the coast of La Restinga, in the municipality of El Pinar. While it was originally prohibited from fishing and diving, the authorities allow the fishermen go to sea, except at the epicenter of the eruption. Also, divers "can also be quiet" and practice this activity, according to Arms.

Confirmed that the submarine eruption continues, would be the first on record in Spain since 1971, when it emerged Teneguía volcano on the island of La Palma, Canary Islands too. The eruption may have started this morning on the southern coast of the island, the least populated. A submarine eruption has added a 2.9 magnitude earthquake centered in the area of La Restinga, in the town of Frontera. The quake occurred at 9.58 hours with a depth of 15 kilometers and lasted only five seconds. - El Mundo. (Translated.)

UPDATE: Volcanic Red Alert Issued As Residents Are Evacuated From El Hierro Town!

Here is the latest update from Irish Weather Online:

Spain’s Instituto Geográfico Nacional (IGN) confirmed on Tuesday that an underwater eruption has occurred five kilometres off the southern coastline of El Hierro, the smallest of the Canary Island. The eruption is Spain’s first since the eruption in 1971 of the Teneguía volcano on the island of La Palma (Canary Islands). The IGN says all three of its seismic stations on El Hierro in the Canary Islands have registered a volcanic tremor of low frequency in the south of the island at La Restinga, the southern-most village in the Canaries.  The estimated 537 residents of the town were summonsed to a local football field on Tuesday afternoon to be briefed on evacuation procedures. A Red Alert has since been issued by local authorities for the town. A notice posted on the Emergencia El Hierro website on Tuesday evening stated: “Phase pre-eruptive. It involves the initiation of a preventive evacuation. Make yourself available to the authorities.” Spanish Prime Minister José Luis Rodríguez Zapatero and cabinet colleagues will attend an emergency briefing on the developing situation on Tuesday evening.

Scientists from IGN and CSIC (Consejo Superior de Investigaciones Científicas), meanwhile, have conducted a reconnaissance flight over the sea to the area south of the island, where they have located dead fish floating on the surface five kilometres from the coast. The dead fish were identified in an area where lower seismic magnitude occurred on October 9, at a depth of approximately 2 km. The present volcanic activity is understood to be occurring at a depth of 600 metres (just under one kilometre) below sea level, in the Las Calmas sea. Scientists from IGN, CSIC and the University of Cadiz have established their monitoring base at La Restinga. Efforts are underway to determine if the subsea volcanic vent is widening and if so, in which direction (away or toward El Hierro). Initial reports of the eruption were received from crews on board four separate ships. Local media agency Canarias7 reported on Monday that Government authorities have suspended ferry activities to and from the 285 square-kilometre island. English language newspaper  islandconnections.eu reported: “The martime chief for the province of Santa Cruz de Tenerife Antonio Padrón has issued a recomendation that boats should not sail closer than four miles off El Hierro. Divers have also been told to suspend all activities.”

Read more HERE.

Given the preceding images from the Instituto Geográfico Nacional, it now seems that the undersea eruption is actually growing in size and a major eruption is quite imminent, as the magma continues to create a wider area to flow upwards to the surface. This also means that the eruption could be quite larger than originally forecast, since major activity would take place above and below the sea.

UPDATE: La Restinga - A Ghost Town, Only Scientists Remain Behind!

El Hierro, La Restinga looked like something out of the end of the world last night after the evacuation took place of the town, which was on the order of the government of Gran Canaria, the only people left behind were the scientists who worked throughout the night. On the way from the center of the island to the town, very few cars passed and the sense of desolation was felt after a day of intense bustle of people leaving the area, with occasional attack of the nerves among some, which was controlled by the Security and emergency services. The entrance Road to the coastal town of El Pinar was later blocked by the Guardia Civil only allowing entrance to people in case of an emergency for example someone who may of left medication behind in their house forgotten by the rush of the eviction.

An uneasy calm followed, however many asked how long before they could return to their homes as more than 600 were evacuated. Researchers from the National Geographic Institute have a tough task ahead, the increase in tremors announces that the magma is moving as the seismographs show an indication it is approaching the coast. Scientists warn that this change in trend confirms that another opening has formed of the volcano but this time closer to the mainland. The silence and dark roads of the island painted a picture of calm, tense, waiting for a geological event that the inhabitants of El Hierro have had to get used to. Scientists are continuing to keep a close eye on the situation and the authorities have taken the necessary measures and protocols required in these situations. - LA Opinion.

UPDATE: Two New Volcanic Eruption Locations Have Been Detected!

2 new eruption locations have been detected this afternoon.  The eruption sites discovered today are much nearer to the coast than the initial location at 5 km out of the La Restinga coast. Today’s most remote location is at a depth of 750 meter and 2 nautical miles out of the coast. The second at a depth of 500 meter and 1.5 nautical miles from the coast. (1 nautical mile = 1.85 km). Authorities told the press that fissures has been opened which resulted in green water spots with a strong sulfurous odor. Just like Monday a lot of dead fish have been detected at the surface waters too. Scientist are hoping that the present submarine eruptions will decrease the pressure on the main island and are hopeful that the tremors will weaken. The new fissures have been opened when we reported the strong change in seismicity during the afternoon... The new eruption spots have been detected by a  fisherman and people waiting in a cue to get their belongings from La Restinga. Closest to the eruption locations is the old port of Puerto Naos. - Earthquake Report.

MONUMENTAL EARTH CHANGES: The Great Deluge - Worst Flooding in Decades in Thailand, 281 Deaths, 4 Missing, 8 Million People Affected, 60 Provinces, over Half a Million Square Kilometres, the Size of Spain!

"This is the worst flood in our historical site in 16 years."

The capital of Thailand was bracing for unprecedented flooding Wednesday, amid the monsoon rains that have overwhelmed much of the country as well as Laos, Cambodia and the Philippines in recent weeks.

"It's going to be clearer over the next couple days" whether Bangkok can be spared the brunt of the flooding said Matthew Cochrane, spokesperson for the International Red Cross in Bangkok. So far, 281 people have been killed and four people are missing in Thailand, according to the country's Flood Relief Operations Command. Some 60 of the country's 76 provinces have so far been affected, impacting some eight million people. "It's really quite serious, these are the worst floods in Thailand since 1949," Cochrane said. "These floods started in June really and started to move south and have really caused huge damage the whole way down," Cochrane said. "They've affected hundreds and hundreds of villages and towns, they've wiped out 2.5 million acres of farmland. This is a very, very serious disaster."

Over half a million square kilometers -- an area the size of Spain -- are affected by the floods in Thailand, Cambodia, Vietnam and Laos, according to CNN meteorologist Jenny Harrison. In Bangkok officials beefed up flood prevention measures as waterways, including the main Chao Phraya River, became bloated by rising water. "There are walls still being built in the north of the city," Cochrane said Wednesday. "One of the challenges is the areas where flood waters are typically diverted to protect the capital and protect the economic center of the country, those areas are already flooded, so there's potentially not much room for those waters to go." "For Bangkok we are still confident that the inner part of the city will be safe from (flooding)," said Thitima Chaisaeng, Thailand government spokesperson, but the eastern and western parts of Bangkok face flooding...

Multiple tropical weather systems have moved over the region in recent weeks, enhancing monsoon rains and leading to the flooding. Heavy rains are expected in Southeast Asia through the end of October. Meanwhile the UNESCO-listed Ayutthaya historical park, which includes the ruins of the old city of Ayutthaya, has been submerged since last week, according to local authorities. "This is the worst flood in our historical site in 16 years," said Somsuda Leeyawanich, from the Thai Fine Arts Department. She said the water level in the park is almost three meters, compared to levels of around 80-90 centimeters during the floods of 1995. "We are very concerned that if the site is under water more 30 days it may cause serious damage," she added. "The temples are over 400 years old." - CNN.

WATCH: Fears mount in Bangkok as Thailand flood waters rise.

GLOBAL VOLCANISM: Shinmoedake Volcano in Kyushu, Japan Has Massive Magma Buildup - May Become Active Again Claim Experts!

Mount Shinmoedake in the central part of the volcanic Kirishima mountain range in southern Kyushu could resume its volcanic activities within several months as magma continues to be piled up deep underground, the Coordinating Committee for Prediction of Volcanic Eruptions said on October 11.

Within about four months, the amount of accumulated magma is likely to increase close to levels registered in late January when the volcano became active, the committee said. According to the group, GPS monitoring found that the 1,421-meter volcanic mountain has been swelling steadily -- an indicator of the increasing size of accumulated magma.

If the amount of accumulated magma reaches levels registered in late January, Mount Shinmoedake, which straddles Miyazaki and Kagoshima prefectures, could resume its volcanic activities on a scale comparable to that for late January, the committee said. Mount Shinmoedake has erupted seven times since mid-June after remaining quiet for about two months since mid-April. Committee chairman Toshitsugu Fujii said, "There could be various scenarios. It is hard to think the volcanic activities will stop quickly." He said the mountain could erupt on a scale larger than that for late January, and other craters in the Kirishima mountain range could also erupt. The Meteorological Agency maintained its volcanic alert at level 3, banning people from entering the mountain. - MDN.

CHERNOBYL 2: FUK-U-SHIMA Dead Zone - Radiation Spreads in Japan!

Radioactive strontium exceeding normal quantities has been detected in sediment from atop an apartment building in Yokohama, some 250 kilometers from the damaged Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant, city officials said Wednesday.

While the discovery of 195 becquerels of strontium 90 in the rooftop sediment has fueled concerns that leaked radiation may have spread further than the government had expected, the officials said the city office is carefully examining where the material came from. This is the first time strontium at a concentration of over 100 becquerels per kilogram has been found beyond 100 km from the Fukushima plant. The strontium 90 was detected in Yokohama, south of Tokyo, by a private agency that conducted the test upon the request of a resident. Strontium 90, with a half-life of 29 years, has been detected at concentrations roughly between 10 to 20 becquerels at various places across Japan prior to the nuclear crisis triggered by the March 11 earthquake and tsunami. - MDN.

The government has unveiled plans to sharply expand a government-funded decontamination project to areas with annual radiation emissions of 1 millisievert or more, prompting mixed reactions from local government officials and residents. Under the plan, the Environment Ministry is to designate those areas with annual radiation exposure of 1 millisievert or more as "priority contamination inspection areas" by the end of November. In collaboration with the central government, local governments are supposed to decide on areas which need to be decontaminated and ways of decontaminating them. The central government will shoulder all the costs. According to monitoring conducted by the Ministry of Education, Culture, Sports, Science and Technology, there are locations with annual radiation exposure of more than 1 millisievert in Tokyo, Fukushima, Miyagi, Tochigi, Gunma, Ibaraki, Chiba and Saitama prefectures. Drawing on the findings and results of other tests carried out by local municipalities, the Environment Ministry is expected to designate contaminated municipalities as "priority inspection areas". Relatively high levels of radiation have been detected in the northwestern part of Chiba Prefecture. - MDN.

GEOLOGICAL UPHEAVAL: Massive Landslide of 1,700 Feet in Length, Buries the State Route 14 in Utah, Under 100 Feet of Huge Debris?!

The Utah Department of Transportation will rely on aerial surveying and mapping in an effort to get an accurate assessment of a massive landslide that displaced a section of State Route 14 eight miles east of Cedar City over the weekend.

Latest ground estimates place the slide at 1700 feet in length, having slid over 100 feet down slope with a rough volume of 1.5 million cubic yards of dirt, rock, vegetation and debris. The slide debris is as deep as 100 feet in at least one location. The aerial surveys will provide detailed points and measurements that can then be used by engineers to design a new roadway. Upon completion of design work, UDOT anticipates contracting most of the work to a private construction company.   Re-opening of the roadway is now estimated to take three to four months. While the area appears stable at this time, it is still being analyzed.

Authorities have received no reports of any missing persons as a result of the event and stream water temporarily backed up behind debris early Saturday morning resumed flowing on its own early the same day posing no risk downstream. The magnitude of the slide is reminiscent of a similar slide repaired in the winter of 1992 and 1993 in the same general vicinity. The slide is located at milepost 8 immediately adjacent to the location where rockfall covered the roadway in December 2008 but left most of it intact. The road remains closed between milepost 5 and the junction of state Route 148.  Businesses on both sides of the slide are accessible through alternate routes. - StGeorgeUtah.

ALERT: INFLAMMATION OUTBREAK - Encephalitis kills 400 in India!

"It is unbelievable tragedy. There are five to 10 children dying every day."

More than 400 people, mainly children, have died in an outbreak of viral encephalitis in northern India, health officials say.

So far 2,300 patients have been admitted to a hospital in the affected Gorakhpur area of Uttar Pradesh state. A doctor told the BBC that it was a "tragedy beyond imagination" with children dying every day. Nearly 6,000 children have died of encephalitis in the hospital since the first case was detected in 1978. Most of the deaths this year have happened since July, doctors say. The disease occurs regularly during the monsoon in the Gorakhpur region bordering Nepal in the foothills of the Himalayas. The low-lying areas are prone to floods and water-logging. Lack of sanitation provides a breeding ground for mosquitoes and leads to contamination of water supplies. This happens because most people defecate in the open in villages of the area, while water is consumed mainly using shallow hand pumps.

Doctors say affected patients come from 10-12 districts in the region, and are mostly poor. Until 2005, the majority of deaths were caused by Japanese encephalitis, caused by a mosquito-borne virus, doctors say. Both the diseases cause head aches and vomiting and can lead to comas, brain dysfunctions, seizures and inflammations of the heart and kidney. Doctors say children between the age of six months to 15 years are worst affected and most of the victims are poor people from rural areas. "It is unbelievable tragedy. There are five to 10 children dying every day," Dr KP Kushwaha, head of paediatrics at the BRD Medical College, the only hospital treating patients. - BBC.

EARTH CHANGES: Hurricane Jova Lashes Mexico!

Hurricane Jova slammed into Mexico's Pacific coast as a Category 2 storm early Wednesday, swamping beach towns and causing floods in the mountains above.

The storm toppled trees, knocked out power and flooded streets in the major port city of Manzanillo, but the full extent of damage was still unclear before dawn Wednesday. There were no immediate reports of deaths. The U.S. National Hurricane Center said Jova's maximum sustained winds were near 100 mph (160 kph) when it hit, but it was weakening steadily as it moves inland and winds were down to 75 mph (140 kph) by 7 a.m (8 a.m. EDT; 1200GMT). As the storm's leading rain bands began swatting at the coast Tuesday night, heavy rain fell in Manzanillo, Mexico's second-biggest non-oil cargo port. It was closed to navigation because of the storm. Callers told local station Radio Turquesa that water was several feet (more than a meter) deep in some neighborhoods and schools, some used for shelters, were closed for the day. The Hurricane Center in Miami warned that the storm surge could cause significant coastal flooding along the 210-mile (340-kilometer) stretch between Manzanillo and Cabo Corrientes, which is southwest of the resort city of Puerto Vallarta. Up to 20 inches (50 centimeters) of rain could fall on isolated areas as Jova moves inland, the center said. Before nightfall Tuesday, marines visited flood-prone areas in Manzanillo to advise people to leave. They found a home for elderly people whose homes were already flooded and evacuated dozens of people to stay with relatives, Adm. Jaime Mejia said. Forty others were evacuated in the nearby town of Tecoman, he said. Some people vowed to ride out the storm, while others took refuge at shelters in towns like Jaluco, just inland from the beach community of Barra de Navidad.

"My house has a thatch roof, and it's not safe," said Maria de Jesus Palomera Delgado, 44, a farmworker's wife who went to an improvised shelter at a grade school in Jaluco, along with her 17 children and grandchildren. "The neighbors told us the house was going to collapse" if hit by the hurricane, she added as the children slept nearby on folding cots packed into a classroom. In an another classroom, migrant farmworker Rufina Francisco Ventura, 27, fed her 2-month-old son. She said she had left the ranch where she plants chiles and tomatoes planning only to pick up some free blankets, but shelter workers "told me I shouldn't leave here, because it's going to hit hard." Jalisco state authorities evacuated about 200 people to shelters by Tuesday and issued alerts over loudspeakers placed in communities along the coast, telling people to take precautions as the hurricane approached, state civil defense spokesman Juan Pablo Vigueras said. The state had 69 shelters ready, he said. Authorities also set up shelters for residents of inland towns, where the mountainous terrain could cause flash floods and mudslides, which often pose the greatest dangers in hurricanes. The Mexican army said it had assigned about 1,500 soldiers to hurricane preparedness and relief efforts. By dawn, Jova was centered about 30 miles (50 kilometers) south-southeast of Puerto Vallarta and it was moving to the north at about 9 mph (15 kph). It was expected to hit the states of Jalisco, Colima and Nayarit the hardest. About 183,000 people live in the center of the storm's projected path, said Laura Gurza, chief of the federal Civil Protection emergency response agency. - AP.

WATCH: Hurricane Jova makes landfall in Mexico.

MYSTERY: Symbols of an Alien Sky, Man-Made or Natural Phenomena - The Latest UFO Sightings And Aerial Anomalies Around The World?

Here are several of the latest unidentified flying objects (UFOs) seen recently across the globe.

The strange, glowing object that put Missouri on "UFO Alert" this week. Dozens of witnesses have reported seeing it, boosting Missouri to a "UFO Alert" level 3. The state had the 8th highest number of UFO reports in the United States last month. What's going on?

We saw this object that had shape of stealth bomber that had green and white lights hovering over the highway. At first I told my husband and children that I thought it was a blimp, but as we got closer it was doing weird maneuvers.   We turned around to get closer, and by the time we got close enough it shot if like a rocket. There was another object in sky that it flew over and the light on it was a white, very bright light. I then called my father - retired navy - to ask him if stealth bombers hover and have green and white lights - and he said 'no.' He said that it might be a Harrin. So I looked it up and it didn't look like it either. So what was it that I saw?

The closer we got, we realized the object was just hovering very low over the cars moving extremely slow," the reporting witness stated. "There were hundreds of huge, extremely bright lights completely covering the front of the craft. These lights were almost blinding, and resembled stadium lights. As we were trying to take pictures out of the window, the craft was over our car and began to turn south, no sound whatsoever was coming from it - dead silence other than the passing cars on the highway. The underneath and back of the craft didn't have as many lights as the front head on. It was gigantic. The front seemed rounded, then boomerang or arc-shaped as it turned. Not sure if it changed shape, but for sure two different shapes compared with head on to the back side of it. It took off a little bit faster, but still at fairly low speed compared with airliners or even stealth bombers which would both be very loud, this again, was silent. After it turned away, my husband thought it broke into three separate pieces. I thought it was just so big, it expanded and the three brightest lights appeared to be separate. - Eye-witnesses Report, MUFON.

WATCH: 82 reports of UFOs, three days in a row.

Interesting video of triangle shaped object recorded with Canada-France-Hawaii telescope, a world-class, 3.6 meter optical/infrared telescope. The CFH observatory is located atop the summit of Mauna Kea, a 4200 meter, dormant volcano located on the island of Hawaii.

WATCH: Triangle UFO filmed with telescope in Mauna Kea, Hawaii.

This video of flashing lights was recorded in the nights sky above Portugal on Sunday, 9th October 2011.

WATCH: Flashing UFO lights over Portugal.

New video of unknown bright objects slowly flying over Binghamton in New York on Saturday, 8th October 2011.

WATCH: Unknown lights over Binghamton, New York.

MASS ANIMAL DIE-OFF: 2,356 Birds near Naval Station Fallon, Nevada!

A total of 2,356 birds have died as a result of an avian botulism outbreak at the Six Man Club south of Naval Air Station Fallon, according to the U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service.

The botulism, which does not affect humans, emerged from one of the ponds at the private hunting club due to hot weather and stagnant water in August. Since then, the outbreak has spread to all 10 ponds at the club and has killed ducks, ibis and numerous other species including a red-tailed hawk. According to Kyle Neill of the Nevada Department of Wildlife, 1,339 ducks and 755 coots have died as a result of the outbreak. He added 414 birds have died since Friday. The outbreak has not spread to Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge or Carson Lake, according to the USFWS. According to state records, this could be one of the worst botulism outbreaks since 1949. According to Mike Goodard of the USFWS, teams of individuals from the service and the Nevada Department of Wildlife have been on-site to clean up the dead birds. The U.S. Fish and Wildlife Service and NDOW teams use air boats to roam the ponds and scoop of birds with fishing nets. Goodard said no one from the Six Man Club has joined in the recovery efforts.

On Friday, more than 200 dead birds were found and removed to one of several pits on the property. In addition, the USFWS has created a “Duck Hospital” at Stillwater National Wildlife Refuge and also has another pit for dead birds. The one open pit at the club was about 5 feet deep and 8 feet in length and littered with hundreds of carcasses with thousands of flies swarming the bodies. The other pits on the property had been filled with dirt to cover the carcasses. Bill Henry, a wildlife biologist for the USFWS, said the botulism originated from the ground, where it became active once the first pond was filled with water. The water, which remained stagnant, became warm due to hot summer temperatures. “All this good habitat is causing all this death,” Henry added. The botulism then moved into the drinking source for the birds and once the initial birds died, flies laid eggs, which soon became maggots. Henry said the maggots can ingest the botulism without being affected, but the birds will eat the maggots, become infected and eventually die if they are not rescued in time. He added the disease creates paralysis starting with the feet and then moves to the body and eventually the head and neck. The result of death is by drowning or heat exhaustion, Henry said. He added it can take less than 12 hours for a healthy bird to ingest water or maggots before dying. - Lahontan Valley News.