05/21/13

Massive Tornado in Oklahoma+Latest Developments

A massive tornado ripped through the Oklahoma City area on Monday, leaving behind a horrific path of destruction.

“It is a barren wasteland,” said Shannon Galarneau, of her hometown of Moore, Okla. Her 10-year-old neice is missing, she told Yahoo! News. “Everything is leveled.” This aerial photo shows the remains of homes hit by a massive tornado in Moore, Okla., Monday May 20, 2013. (AP Photo/Steve Gooch)

Charlene’s Source: yahoo news+AP

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(CNN) — Dozens of people — including several children — were killed when a massive tornado struck an area outside Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, officials said.

At least seven of those children were killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, according to a police official.

Early Tuesday, emergency personnel continued to scour the school’s rubble — a scene of twisted I-beams and crumbled cinder blocks.The tornado was estimated to be at least two miles wide at one point as it moved through Moore, in the southern part of the Oklahoma City metropolitan area, KFOR reported.

The preliminary rating of the tornado was at least EF4 (166 to 200 mph), the National Weather Service said.

Latest updates:

— President Barack Obama said, “Oklahoma needs to get everything it needs right away” to recover from powerful tornado that ripped through the Oklahoma City region Monday.

— Flags are expected to be lowered at the U.S. House of Representatives Tuesday morning in honor of the victims of a massive tornado that struck central Oklahoma the day before, House Speaker John Boehner said.

— Out of the 51 deaths initially reported in Monday’s powerful tornado in central Oklahoma, 24 bodies have been transferred to the Oklahoma City Medical Examiner’s Office, the agency said Tuesday. An update from the medical examiner was expected at 11 a.m. ET.

Previously reported:

— New York’s governor expressed his sympathy for Oklahomans in the aftermath of the “horrific tornado” that swept through the Oklahoma City region on Monday. “Here in New York we know firsthand the devastation and pain caused by natural disasters, and in difficult times like these we, more than ever, stand with our fellow Americans,” Gov. Andrew Cuomo said in a statement Tuesday.

— The storm system behind Monday’s twister and several on Sunday is threatening a large swath of the United States on Tuesday, putting 53 million people at risk of severe weather. In the bull’s-eye Tuesday are parts of north-central Texas, southeastern Oklahoma, and northern Arkansas and Louisiana, according to the National Weather Service.

— Oklahoma first and foremost needs donations to rebuild after tornadoes slammed the state, Gov. Mary Fallin told CNN on Tuesday.

— More than 40,000 customers remain without power Tuesday after a powerful tornado slammed the Oklahoma City region, a utility spokesman said. More than half of those customers were in the heavily damaged suburb of Moore, according to Brian Alford, a spokesman for Oklahoma Gas & Electric.

— Glenn Lewis, the mayor of tornado-ravaged Moore, Oklahoma, told CNN on Tuesday the rescue effort is continuing and “we’re very optimistic we might find one or two people.”

— Personnel have rescued 101 people from rubble in metropolitan Oklahoma City after a tornado hit the area Monday, Oklahoma Department of Emergency Management representative Terri Watkins said Tuesday morning. Watkins cited an Oklahoma Highway Patrol tally of rescues from all agencies.

— Some of the children killed at Plaza Towers Elementary School in Moore, Oklahoma, during Monday’s storm drowned in a basement area there, Oklahoma Lt. Gov. Todd Lamb told CNN Tuesday morning. “My understanding, this school … Plaza Towers, they had a basement. Quite frankly, don’t mean to be graphic, but that’s why some of the children drowned, because they were in the basement area,” he said. Officials have said the storm killed at least seven children at the school.

— The Oklahoma Medical Examiner’s Office has been told to expect about 40 additional bodies, including about 20 children, according spokeswoman Amy Elliott. The official death toll of 51 will not rise until the bodies are processed, she said earlier. The current toll already includes at least 20 children who were killed by the storm.

— At least 145 people have been hospitalized in the Oklahoma City, hospital officials said. The Children’s Hospital at OU Medical Center received 45 children for treatment on Monday, according Dr. Roxie Albrecht.

— President Barack Obama will make a statement at approximately 10 a.m. ET after he is briefed on the aftermath of the Oklahoma tornado devastation, a White House official told CNN. The statement will be delivered in the State Dining Room.

— Obama signed a disaster declaration for Oklahoma on Monday night, a White House statement said. The declaration means federal emergency aid will supplement local recovery efforts.

— The president told the Oklahoma governor that the federal government “stands ready to provide all available assistance” as part of the response to a series of deadly storms that have struck the Oklahoma City area, including Monday’s devastating tornado.

— Queen Elizabeth II sent her condolences to those affected by Monday’s massive deadly Oklahoma tornado, saying on Twitter: “Our deepest sympathies go out to all those whose lives have been affected, as well as the American people #Oklahoma #tornado.”

— Pope Francis urged people to join him in praying for the families of those who died in the massive tornado in central Oklahoma on Monday, “especially those who lost young children,” he said in a tweet Tuesday.

— French President Francois Hollande expressed his grief over the casualties caused by the ferocious Oklahoma tornado and saluted the “mobilization” of citizens who tackled “this exceptional situation with courage and determination.”

— German Chancellor Angela Merkel passed along her condolences to President Obama over the casualties and destruction caused by the mammoth tornado that tore through Oklahoma on Monday. “The pictures of this catastrophe render us speechless and can only hint at the scope of the hurt,” Merkel told the president Tuesday.

– Pakistan and Spain issued condolences to the people affected by the deadly Oklahoma tornado. “We are particularly grieved over the loss of innocent children and their teachers who were buried under the rubble,” the Pakistan government said. The Spanish government said “the Spanish people, at these tragic times, feel even closer to the American people, and share their pain.”

Charlene’s Source: CNN+yahoo news

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03/28/11

Update on Japan

Editor’s Note:

While some disasters have short-term effects, and only impact small regions or areas of the earth–a disaster such as the Earthquake/Tsunami in Japan on March 11th, with its subsequent Nuclear Plant catastrophes, has far-reaching effects for the whole earth. Thousands are dead in Japan, and thousands are missing and homeless.

While the effects of New Orlean’s Hurricane Katrina, and the earthquake in Haiti, along with other disaster areas are still being felt, Japan continues to experience aftershocks of the 8.9 Richter scale quake. The devastation of Japan predominately came from the resultant Tsunami, and here it is 17 days later and a 6.9 quake occurred in Japan this morning.

As far away as the United States east coast there are findings of radiation in the rain. Clouds cover a circuit of the world due to wind currents, and while experts are saying that the radiation levels are not detrimental here in the United States, I pray that does not change.

The food chain is already affected. Milk, water, and plants have been tested for radiation in Japan and here in the United States, and the government is “keeping an eye on it all” in the middle of every other crisis it is dealing with. I am sure that other localities between Japan and the U.S. are also affected. So where does that leave us everyday citizens at this point?

We need to learn to apply diligent prayer to this situation, and to exercise caution and common sense in what we take for granted as clean and safe. Drinking bottled water has been a habit in my family for several years, and be mindful that the soil will be affected if radiation is in an area.

The long-term effects of this potentially enormous nuclear disaster would be in altering DNA, subsequently affecting the children of radiation victims. Not only that, but the victims themselves have higher risk of cancer and other degenerative diseases. No one has mentioned Hiroshima nor Nagasaki, but the Japanese populace has been here before. It is very sad.

I am not writing this to ask you to panic, I am asking you to pray that all will be well; to support the relief effort in any way that you can, and to pray that the offspring of those on this earth today would not have to suffer for the unfortunate lack of planning and insight on the part of governments.

Ultimately, the people bear the brunt of these mistakes. and while we cannot blame Japan for the earthquake and should do all that is possible to help the Japanese people–it is sad that modern industry standards still cannot protect the people that it intends to serve.

2 Chronicles 7:14
If my people, who are called by my name, will humble themselves and pray and seek my face and turn from their wicked ways, then I will hear from heaven, and I will forgive their sin and will heal their land”.

Charlene