March 06, 2014 - SPACE - Don’t
forget to look both ways. You can hardly cross the street but another
asteroid comes flying by. Last night astronomers discovered a new object
named 2014 EC.
This one’s tiny – only 33 feet (10 meters) across or about half the
size of the asteroid that blasted to bits over Chelyabinsk, Russia last
February.
It zooms by Earth TODAY, March 6 around 3 p.m. CST at a distance of
just 48,000 miles (77,000 km). Again, there’s no threat of a strike.
Asteroids can pass very close to the planet without getting “sucked in”
by gravity because they’re moving forward in their orbits at tens of
thousands of miles an hour.
The asteroid has been assigned a condition code of 9 by NASA's Jet
Propulsion Laboratory Solar System Dynamics.
The condition code is an
estimate of the orbital uncertainty, from 0-9, with 0 being good, and 9
being highly uncertain. See more HERE.
That’s a lot of momentum.
As this is another Earth-approaching asteroid like 2014 EX110,
there’s always a possibility it could smack out planet in the future.
And I do mean future. At the moment, there’s a one in 2.7 million chance
of an impact in 2025. Once more observations are in and the orbit
refined, those chances will likely be even less.
The minimum distance from our planet will be of 80.000 km (73.000 km from Earth surface),
that is 0.21 times the mean distance of our Moon. Credit: The Virtual Telescope Project
This is where 2014 EC was on March 5, as it heads towards its close Earth flyby today. Credit: NASA/JPL
Amateur astronomers living in Europe, the Middle East and Africa will
be able to spot this little rock shining dimly at around magnitude
13.5-14.0 for a couple of hours centered on closest approach as its
tears across the constellations Hydra, Antlia and Vela. You’ll need at
least an 8-inch telescope to spot it.
For those of us without giant telescopes or living where it daytime
during the close passage, the Virtual Telescope Project will feature a live webcast of 2014 EC’s flyby. Tune in around 1:30 p.m. CST. If that link isn’t working, please check SLOOH’s live-cast HERE. - Astro Bob.
March 06, 2014 - CRIMEA - A referendum on the status of Crimea will be held March 16, the
region’s deputy prime minister announced. Crimeans will be asked to
decide if the autonomous republic stays part of Ukraine or joins Russia.
AFP Photo/Vasily Batanov
"The referendum will take place March 16," said the autonomous region’s First Deputy-Premier Rustam Temirgaliev, according to ITAR-TASS.
The new date is two weeks earlier than the one announced last week.
There will be two questions on the ballots.
WATCH: Crimea parliament backs joining Russia, sets referendum for March 16th.
“The first one: Are you in favor of Crimea becoming a constituent territory of the Russian Federation. The second one: Are you in favor of restoring Crimea’s 1992 constitution,” Temirgaliev said.
According to the 1992 constitution, the autonomous republic is part of Ukraine but has relations with Kiev, defined on the basis of mutual agreements.
Sevastopol residents will take part in the referendum, despite the city enjoying a special status and not officially being a part of Crimea, according to Sergey Shuvainikov, a Crimean MP.
“We will give Sevastopol an opportunity to have its say,” he said, as cited by RIA Novosti.
Meanwhile the Crimean MPs have unanimously voted for the region to become a part of Russia.
"To become part of the Russian Federation as its constituent territory,” says the text of the Crimean parliament’s statement, obtained by RIA Novosti.
When the decision was announced to the people outside the parliament building, they welcomed the news with cheers and screams of “Russia!”
There are currently several thousand people in front of the parliament building, according to ITAR-TASS.
The parliament has also made a decision to ask the Russian leadership to “launch the procedure of Crimea becoming part of Russia.”
The speaker of the Crimean parliament, Vladimir Konstantinov, explained that the parliament’s decision on the region joining Russia still has to be approved at a referendum.
Russia’s State Duma (parliament) could possibly debate the bill on Crimea joining Russia next week, said leader of the ‘Fair Russia’ party, Sergey Mironov.
PHOTO: Crimeans chant 'Glory to Russia' after parliament vote to join Russian Federation http://on.rt.com/noxide
“I think that taking into consideration the date of the referendum – March 16 – we have time to consider the bill as part of normal business. The Bill is going to be debated next week,” Mironov said as cited by RIA Novosti.
More than half the Crimean population are Russian and use only this language for their communication.
Crimean authorities denounced the self-proclaimed government in Kiev and declared that all Ukrainian law enforcement and military deployed in the peninsula must take orders from them. The majority of troops in Crimea switched sides in favor of the local authorities.
United States And NATO In Tenuous Sabre Rattling Over Ukraine
Reuters/Tony Gentile
Under the pretext of “deterring Russian aggression” in Ukraine, the US Defense Department has announced plans to add several fighter jets to US aircraft squadrons based near Russian borders, in a move to embolden the Baltic states and Poland.
Following NATO Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen announcement that alliance officials would put “the entire range of NATO-Russia cooperation under review,” Pentagon head, Chuck Hagel, outlined plans on Wednesday to broaden military cooperation with Poland and the Baltic states, without elaborating on the details.
An unnamed source told Reuters that the Pentagon plans to send six additional F-15 fighter jets, and a Boeing KC-135 refueling Stratotanker, to beef up the squadron of four F-15 currently flying air patrols over the Baltic states. NATO has been carrying out patrols in the Baltic states for the last 10 years.
In Poland the US Air Force has a training squadron of F-16 fighters and Lockheed C-130 Hercules transport planes, and the same source said that more aircrafts might be added there.
Washington is accusing Moscow of deploying troops to the Ukrainian region of Crimea and has already called off all planned exercises and training with the Russian military in protest.
It should be noted that according to a Russian-Ukrainian treaty signed in 2010, Moscow has an agreed and constant military presence in the Crimean peninsula. Russia pays Ukraine $97.75 million annually for use of the naval base in Sevastopol. The treaty underpins Russia’s right to bolster personnel in the Crimea to up to 25,000 troops.
WATCH: Propaganda Watch - War of words amid Ukraine unrest .
Earlier this week, President Vladimir Putin said that Russia’s military involvement in Ukraine would take place only as a “last resort.”
“If we see this lawlessness starting in eastern regions, if the people ask us for help – in addition to a plea from a legitimate president, which we already have – then we reserve the right to use all the means we possess to protect those citizens. And we consider it quite legitimate,” he said.
Last week Russia’s Federation Council unanimously approved President Vladimir Putin’s request to use Russian military forces in Ukraine if civil rights of the Russian minority in the country are violated.
Western capitals remain skeptical of Moscow’s policy and continue to blame Russia of “military intervention” in Ukraine.
“This morning the Defense Department is pursuing measures to support our allies,” Hagel told American lawmakers, specifying that this will include expansion of aviation training in Poland and deployment of additional US aircraft for patrol missions in the skies above Estonia, Latvia and Lithuania.
It is “time for all of us to stand with Ukrainian people in support of their territorial integrity,” Hagel told the Senate Armed Services Committee.
The general dismissed Moscow's assertion that Russian troops are not deployed in the Crimea peninsula in Ukraine and called to “deter further Russian aggression.”
Hagel also said that the head of the US European Command, General Philip Breedlove, also planned to hold consultations with central and eastern European defense chiefs.
'Deterring Russian aggression'
After Crimea’s self-defense forces took control of the peninsula, Poland requested a NATO emergency meeting under the pretext of ‘Article 4’, which empowers any NATO member to request consultations if it believes its security, independence or territorial integrity are under threat.
“Regardless of the limited trust the world and Poland have to words spoken in Moscow, it must be said that we treat some of President Putin’s remarks as proof that pressure … to stop a brutal intervention, a paramilitary intervention in Crimea is working,” the Polish prime minister said last Tuesday, urging Russia to “abandon its aggressive plans toward Ukraine.”
This statement was made after Russian President Vladimir Putin accused Poland and Lithuania of inciting protests in the capital of Ukraine, and training the protesters who battled against police forces in Kiev.
Ukraine is not a NATO member country, yet the recent developments in Ukraine caused Secretary General Anders Fogh Rasmussen to make a statement that NATO plans to “intensify our partnership” and “strengthen our cooperation” with Ukraine in order to “support democratic reforms.”
Russia's NATO envoy, Aleksandr Grushko, told reporters “that NATO still has a double standard policy” and that “Cold War stereotypes are still applied towards Russia.”
“Ukraine cannot join NATO because the West realizes what Kiev’s NATO membership would mean for Russia,” noted Deputy Foreign Minister Vasily Nebenzya . - RT.
March 06, 2014 - MINNESOTA, UNITED STATES - For moose, this year’s winter-long deep freeze across the Upper Midwest
is truly ideal weather. The large, gangly creatures are adapted to deep
snow: Their hollow fur insulates them like fiberglass does in a house.
And the prolonged cold helps eradicate pests that prey on moose, like
ticks and meningeal worm, or brain worm. Yet moose in Minnesota are
dying at an alarming rate, and biologists are perplexed as to why.
Moose in Minnesota are dying at an alarming rate, and biologists are racing to
understand what's behind the rapid decline.
In
the 1980s, moose numbered about 4,000 in the northwest part of the
state; today, there are about 100. In Northeast Minnesota, the
population has dropped by half since 2006, to 4,300 from more than
8,800. In 2012, the decline was steep enough — 35 percent — that the
state and local Chippewa tribes, which rely on moose meat for
subsistence, called off the moose hunt.
The mortality rate rebounded
slightly this year, but moose continue to die at twice the normal rate
to sustain a population. Researchers elsewhere, along the southern edge
of moose territory in New Hampshire and Montana, are also beginning to
notice declines in the animals’ numbers.
Seth
Moore, a wildlife biologist in Grand Portage, theorizes that recent
years of warmer, shorter winters and hotter, longer summers have
resulted in a twofold problem. The changing climate has stressed out the
moose, compromising their immune systems. And warmer temperatures have
allowed populations of white-tailed deer, carriers of brain worm — which
is fatal to moose — to thrive.
Still,
“I’m not necessarily convinced that brain worm is the silver bullet
that’s killing all of the moose,” Dr. Moore said. “There are a number of
different issues.”
WATCH: A Moose Mystery.
Michelle
Carstensen, who is leading a $1.2 million moose mortality study by the
Minnesota Department of Natural Resources that is now in its second
year, has been trying to pinpoint an underlying cause. Ms. Carstensen’s
team has captured and collared more than 200 moose, outfitting them with
GPS devices that beam the animals’ coordinates and temperature data
every few hours.
Yet
the data coming back have been anything but conclusive, and Ms.
Carstensen said that even if it can be confirmed that climate change is
to blame, there may be little to be done.
“If
we can really pinpoint the overlying cause, then can we even do
anything about it?” she said. “Or are we really just documenting a
species on its way out of our state?" - NY Times.
March 06, 2014 - WASHINGTON STATE, UNITED STATES - There is something seriously wrong in the fertile Yakima Valley region
of Washington. A surging number of babies are being born with major
birth defects, and the reasons why are eluding state health officials.
Rare: Anencephaly only affects one or two births per 10,000 in the U.S.
As
reported by CNN, a nurse in the area, Sara Barron, was the first to
report on a particularly horrifying condition: anencephaly -- a
condition in which babies are born without much of their brain and
skull.
"I was just stunned," she told the network in an
interview. "Three in a couple-of-month period of time... that's unheard
of, and they have such tragic, terrible outcomes."
The condition: A baby born with anencephaly lacks the
telencephalon, encompassing the part of the brain responsible for
cognition.
Her shocking
finding and report eventually prompted an investigation by the state
health department. Investigators found some disturbing results.
Over
a three-year period, there were 23 cases concentrated in three southern
Washington counties -- Yakima, Benton and Franklin. That's a rate (8.4
per 10,000 live births) that is four times the national average (2.1 per
10,000 live births), CNN reported.
What could be causing such a phenomenon? Is it just one of those weird coincidences, or is something more sinister at play?
Mandy
Stahre, with the Washington State Department of Health, conducted the
investigation into the high rates of anencephaly. She says she and other
investigators are stumped.
"We have not found an answer, and
that's a very frustrating part, because this is such a devastating
diagnosis for a woman to have," she told CNN.
Barron, however, says she wonders if state health authorities did not find anything because they didn't look hard enough at all possible causes.
'We have to weigh how invasive we want to be'
For one thing, she said, the health department has not spoken to any of the parents of the babies who had birth defects.
So they don't know what the parents may have eaten, or what
environmental conditions they have been exposed to, or what kind of
chemicals or substances they all might have come in contact with --
like, perhaps, the pesticides that are routinely sprayed in the heavily
agricultural region in which they live.
Andrea Jackman, whose
daughter Olivia was born with spina bifida, another type of neural tube
defect, said she wasn't asked anything by state investigators.
Baffled: Authorities are unsure why the Washington
counties of Yakima, Benton and Franklin are reporting higher than
average rates of anencephaly.
"Nobody's asked me anything," she told the network.
So,
exactly how did the state conduct its investigation? Stahre said
investigators examined data in each parent's medical record -- what sort
of prescription drugs they were taking and preexisting medical
conditions.
"The study examined medical records from January 2010
through January 2013 and looked at possible risk factors including
family history, pre-pregnancy weight, health risk behaviors such as
supplemental folic acid and medication use, and whether the woman's
residence received drinking water from a public or private source. No
significant differences were found when comparing cases of anencephaly
with healthy births in the three county area," said a health department press release.
"But
medical records don't have details about diet or pesticide exposure,"
CNN's Elizabeth Cohen reported, "two key considerations for this type of
birth defect."
Indeed, the health department -- in its press
release -- even admitted: "Medical record reviews might not have
captured all information, preventing a cause from being identified."
So why not talk to the mothers?
"Well,
we have to weigh that," said Stahre. "This is a devastating diagnosis,
and we know that for a lot of these women, they had to make some hard
choices. We do have to weigh about how invasive we want to be with these
types of reviews." Engineered end of humanity?
At
least one mother -- Jackman -- said she would have "been fine" with
being questioned. She wants answers so that other mothers don't have to
go through the same thing.
On the surface, this looks like yet another example of poisoning that Natural News
editor and founder Mike Adams, the Health Ranger, wrote about recently
when he said humanity doesn't stand a chance of surviving this onslaught
of corporate-sponsored genocide:
Defect: Anencephaly occurs in the early weeks of pregnancy.
After having now analyzed over 1,000 foods, superfoods, vitamins,
junk foods and popular beverages for heavy metals and other substances
at the Natural News Forensic Food Labs, I have arrived at a conclusion so alarming and urgent that it can only be stated bluntly.
Based
on what I am seeing via atomic spectroscopy analysis of all the dietary
substances people are consuming on a daily basis, I must now announce
that the battle for humanity is nearly lost. The food supply appears to
be intentionally designed to end human life rather than nourish it.
March 06, 2014 - TECHNOLOGY - With so much going on, you might have missed it this week. But President Obama revealed details of this secret project and promised to "blast off" himself.
President Obama Says That The United Sates Is Building Iron Man
The real news sometimes passes us by, as we eke out our survival and freak out at the state of our lives.
I am grateful, therefore, to have been sent this snippet that might just change the way you think and live.
For here, at a White House press conference earlier this week, is President Obama revealing a "secret project we've been working on for some time."
What could this project be? A crowdsourced surveillance program? A health insurance Web site that works?
No, America is building Iron Man.
WATCH: Obama - "We're building Iron Man".
You don't have to take my word for it.
For here the president began by saying that he would be joined by America's finest researchers, digital cloud designers, and important people from the Pentagon.
He then uttered these words: "Basically, I'm here to announce that we're building Iron Man."
The journalists in the room erupted with laughter. In an attempt to quiet them, perhaps, the president then explained: "I'm going to blast off in a second."
That didn't work. So he had to add that this wasn't really a secret project America's been working on for some time. Or maybe it was.
"It's classified," he concluded.
This may well be, but in a world in which what is classified emerges through the recalcitrance of a 29-year-old with an old USB stick, there might be some truth in this joviality.
We really need to do something positive with our billionaire techies, whose priorities seem more skewed than a rapper's hat.
We really ought to co-opt them into saving our culture, rather than let it disappear into the sinkhole of flappy birds and snoopy glasses.
Please imagine Sergey Brin and Mark Zuckerberg, with iron suits and will, soaring in to save us from our enemies and our own worst excesses.
We haven't seen all that much of these young men lately. Might they already be in training? - CNET.
Scientists Develop Tech To Connect Human Brain To Computers
Tufts University scientists are developing revolutionary tech that
will directly link the human brain with computers and enhance
individuals’ abilities to do anything from recommending movies to
managing air traffic control.
The key component of the bleeding-edge tech coming out of the
school’s Human Computer Interaction Lab is a headband that
uses functional infrared spectroscopy to scan how much light the brain
is currently absorbing, which is a direct indicator of the amount of
brain power being used.
Scanning the brain in this way lets computers assess whether the
human brain is capable of a task, bored, or tired. In the case of an air
traffic controller, the headband could read the exact time a
controller’s brain becomes overworked, and automatically transfer a
portion of their workload to a fellow controller.
A test of the system in a simulation by developers found that one grad student was capable of controlling four to seven aircraft at a time while the headband monitored constantly for the first sign of fatigue.
“Computers have gotten phenomenally better in the last 50 years — faster, more powerful — and humans haven’t,” computer scientist Robert Jacob told the Boston Globe. ”The bottleneck is now with the human, not the computer. So it’s important to put resources into communicating better with computers.”
Jacob, along with biomedical engineer Sergio Fantini, want to include their developments in the emerging market of wearable tech like Google Glass, which they believe will eventually lead to human beings interacting with computers through thoughts and mental commands.
The tech has a similar sound to that of a Pentagon Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency development called ”Systems-Based Neurotechnology for Emerging Therapies” — a $70 million project to develop implants for humans that record and read brain signals in real-time, according to an RT report.
“We’re basic researchers — it would be delightful if these things do filter into the world, but I’d like to believe that’s not our mission,” Jacob said. “Our mission is to invent new scientific ideas and spread them, and hope they are useful to someone.”
While Jacob and Fantini have no plans to go into business with a
start-up of their own, the researchers indicated they would entertain
proposals from businesses interested in licensing their technology. - Daily Caller.
March 06, 2014 - WORLDWIDE VOLCANOES - The following constitutes the new activity, unrest and ongoing reports of volcanoes across the globe.
Tolbachik (Kamchatka): Here are the latest images of Russia's Tolbachik volcano, in spectacular eruption.
The sun going behind the horizon and the erupting Tolbachik volcano whose lava paths illuminated the night.
[Photo: Andrey Lu/Whitehotpix /imaginechina]
[Photo: Andrey Lu/Whitehotpix /imaginechina]
[Photo: Andrey Lu/Whitehotpix /imaginechina]
[Photo: Andrey Lu/Whitehotpix /imaginechina]
Ubinas (Peru): Experts have detected magma rising up through the volcano, leading to an official recommendation that nearby town Querapi be evacuated.
(Photo: Julio Angulo/El Comercio)
Scientists monitoring the Ubinas volcano in southern Perú have officially recommended that the town closest to the volcano, a village called Querapi, be evacuated in light of increased activity at the site.
According to El Comercio, scientists from the Peruvian Geophysical Institute have detected magma rising within Ubinas, as well as changes in the physical shape of the crater. El Comercio reports that these signs point to a possible increase in the volcano’s explosive activity.
As well as recommending the evacuation of Querapi, the IGP team has also asked the regional government to perform maintenance work on nearby roads that would be used to escape the area in the event of dangerous activity at the volcano site, as well as restricting access to the volcano itself.
El Comercio reports that Querapi residents will be temporarily moved to Sacoaya, a town about 12 kilometers from Ubinas.
In September 2013, when Ubinas became active after several years of dormancy, Peru21 reported that authorities were planning to permanently relocate Querapi. The village is located just five kilometers from the volcano.
The September explosions spewed harmful silicon ash over Querapi, causing respiratory and gastrointestinal irritation in humans and animals alike.
Kilauea (Hawai'i): Kilauea summit tiltmeters recorded the start of another DI deflationary
tilt at 3:30 am this morning - lava lake at summit drops 3m (6ft)
Santa MarÃa / Santiaguito (Guatemala): Activity remains dominantly effusive. Viscous lava flows are active
mainly at the S and NE flanks of the dome, causing constant avalanches.
Santiaguito's lava dome on March 3, 2014.
Pacaya (Guatemala):
While lava flow effusions probably has stopped, weak and sometimes
moderate strombolian explosions continue at the summit vent, producing
small ash plumes rising 100-150 m.
Current seismic signal from Pacaya (PCG station, INSIVUMEH)
Tungurahua (Ecuador):
Activity has decreased at the volcano. IGPEN characterizes it still as
moderate, but there have been no new significant explosions.
March 06, 2014 - IRAN - Iran's powerful Revolutionary Guard said it had acquired missiles
with multiple warheads, the latest armaments advance to be claimed by
the country.
Iran said the new models ushered in a new era of missile technology [AP]
At a ceremony held on Wednesday, Defence Minister Hossein Dehghan announced four types of ballistic missiles named Qiam, Qadr H1, Fateh-110 and Persian Gulf.
The Qadr H1 and Qiam, he said, were equipped with multiple warheads, greatly boosting their destructive power.
"These missiles are able to hit and destroy enemy targets with precision, and they meet a variety of the armed forces' needs," Dehghan said.
"The weapons have strengthened Iran's deterrence power and military might," he added, in comments posted on the Guard's website.
The semi-official Fars news agency said the medium-range Qiam missile was developed from work by General Hassan Tehrani Moghaddam, the father of Iran's missile programme who died in a testing accident in 2011.
Fars said Qiam was specifically built to target US bases in the region, which he said have encircled Iran. With a range of 800km, the six-tonne missile has been described in Iranian media as ushering in a new era of ballistic missile production for the country.
"It sums up the country's 25-year defence industry experience in aerospace. Qiam's wingless design is one of the characteristics that gives it greater speed and the capability to be launched from various launchers," Fars said.
The liquid-fuel Qiam is 16m long and its warhead has a weight of 746kg, Fars added.
Iran regularly announces breakthroughs in military technology that are impossible to independently verify.
Dehghan said Western sanctions have not stopped Iran from boosting its ability to deter its enemies, a reference to Israel and the US.
"Comprehensive sanctions enforced strictly by enemies ... didn't cause the slightest crack in our determination and will," he said. - Al Jazeera.
Israel Seizes Gaza-Bound Rocket Shipment From Iran
A missile on an intercepted ship in the Red Sea Photo: IDF/AP
The Israeli navy seized a ship in the Red Sea on Wednesday that was carrying
dozens of advanced Iranian-supplied rockets made in Syria that were intended
for Palestinian militants in the Gaza Strip, the military said.
It said the Panamanian-flagged cargo vessel Klos-C was boarded in international waters without resistance from its 17-strong crew, and would be escorted to the Israeli port of Eilat within days.
"It was a complex, covert operation," military spokesman Lieutenant-Colonel Peter Lerner said of the seizure some 1,000 miles (1,800 km) from Israel.
Dozens of M302 rockets were found aboard the Klos-C, a weapon which could have struck deep into Israel from Gaza and would have significantly enhanced the firepower of Palestinian militant groups such as Hamas.
"The M302 in its most advanced model can strike over 100 miles, and if they would have reached Gaza, ultimately that would have meant millions of Israelis under threat," said Lerner.
Israeli television footage showed what appeared to be marines inspecting a rocket on the floor of a ship hold, with cement bags labeled "Made in Israel" in English next to it.
Lerner said the rockets were flown from Syria to Iran, from which they were shipped first to Iraq and then toward Sudan. Had they reached the African coast, they would have probably been smuggled overland through Egypt to Gaza, he said.
Iran had orchestrated the shipment, Lerner said, describing the process as months in the making.
The maritime tracking site marinetraffic.com showed the last position of the Klos C as the Oman Gulf on Feb. 22.
Lerner said the crew came from a number of different countries and there was no immediate indication that they knew the nature of their cargo. - Telegraph.
March 06, 2014 - NEW JERSEY, UNITED STATES - A gas leak and subsequent explosion destroyed at
least 10 houses and damaged dozens of others at a suburban town house
development in New Jersey Tuesday, killing a woman and injuring seven
workers, authorities said.
An explosion at a housing development in Ewing, N.J. leveled at least one home and injured
seven utility workers Tuesday afternoon. @Josh_Forst via Twitter
The woman's body was discovered late in the day on a car near the site of the explosion on Crockett Lane in Ewing, N.J., authorities say. Lt. Ron Lunetta said officials were not able to identify the victim and will await an autopsy for positive ID and cause of death. He added that no one else was thought to be missing.
It also was not clear Tuesday night if the woman who was killed was inside a residence when the explosion occurred.
WATCH: A gas leak and explosion destroyed at least 10 houses in New Jersey.
At least 45 other units in the complex were damaged, police said. Officials were hoping that some of the displaced residents would be able to return to their homes by late Tuesday night, but said the majority of them would not be able to go home until Wednesday morning at the earliest.
Many of the displaced residents were being sheltered at a local fire house, while others were staying with family and friends. Officials said they would try to accommodate residents who were being kept out of their homes but wanted to briefly return there so they could get their pets or important items such as medications.
Aerial view of a gas explosion that leveled a home in Ewing Township, N.J. on Tuesday.
Kevin P. Coughlin/New York Daily News
Ewing police were at the site overnight to secure the area and continue the investigation where possible, noting that those efforts would be hampered by darkness and large amounts of debris.
A contractor worked to replace electric service to the house that exploded before the blast, officials from the utility PSE&G said. Around noon, the utility got a call that the contractor had damaged a gas line.
Crews were repairing the line about an hour later when, PSE&G spokeswoman Lindsey Puliti said, "there was an ignition."
The force from the explosion buckled windows in an apartment complex nearby, said resident Marsha Brown, and pictures fell from her walls.
"It felt like a bomb," she said.
WATCH: Massive explosion in New Jersey - Raw videos.
She ran to the townhouse complex, saw a home engulfed in flames and two utility workers on the lawn with injuries that apparently included broken bones. She said she saw another worker on a sidewalk crying, being held by a woman.
At least one home was a blackened pile of rubble, and others had damage, including windows that were blown out. Debris was widely scattered, with insulation hanging in some tree branches.
"My body was shaking. I like to say I am calm, but I was shaking," said Brown, who had a day off from her job as an infant hearing screener at a hospital. "You could feel the flames, everything."
A resident of the complex, Bryan Gentry, drove home minutes after he heard an explosion and as he got closer, saw a black smoke cloud. The fire was intensely hot, he said, and he saw one person walking away from the fire who appeared to be stunned.
"It was just unreal," he said, adding that emergency crews responded "really fast."
Children at a nearby elementary school were instructed to hide under tables and desks for as long as 20 minutes after the loud explosion rocked the area.
"It was like a boom," said 9-year-old Devin Rosario. He said some kids were scared and crying.
WATCH: Probe begins of deadly New Jersey gas explosion.
Police said all the children in the school were safe.
The seven people injured were all utility workers, authorities said. Three of the workers had to be hospitalized, but none of their injuries were life-threatening, said Dr. Louis D'Amelio, trauma chief at Capital Regional Medical Center in Trenton. Injuries included concussions, broken bones and minor shrapnel wounds, he said.
Normally during that time of day, most people in the neighborhood are at work and their kids are at school, Gentry said.
Though the damage to the pipeline caused a gas leak that could lead to an explosion, the pipeline itself did not explode, a spokesman for the utility said. - NBC New York.
