Disaster strikes again: A massive tornado roared through Moore and south Oklahoma City on Monday afternoon, grinding up neighborhoods and ravaging at least one elementary school in its path. Terror quickly spread as the Emergency Medical Services Authority rushed ambulances to Briarwood Elementary School in the Moore School District and to several homes, businesses and intersections […]
Tag: Disaster Recovery
At least two killed, dozens wounded in blasts at Boston Marathon finish line
Terrible news out of the Commonwealth of Massachusetts: Two people were killed and at least 23 people were injured in two explosions that rocked the Boston Marathon steps away from the finish line. A senior U.S. intelligence official said two more explosive devices were found near the area, and they were being dismantled. The first blasts […]
Authorities release the names of those killed yesterday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary
Authorities in Connecticut have now released the names of the children and faculty killed yesterday morning at Sandy Hook Elementary in Newtown, Connecticut. The overwhelming majority of those killed were very young children, only six years old, as has been reported. Three of the children were seven years old. The adults (all women) ranged in […]
Amtrak partially restores some service in Northeast; but no trains to or from New York
Amtrak announced earlier today that it has begun to partially restore some service in the mid-Atlantic states, but it won’t be possible to travel to or from New York City by rail for at least several days due to badly flooded tunnels. Here’s the advisory Amtrak released not long ago: Amtrak will provide modified Northeast Regional service between […]
President Obama to travel to New Jersey tomorrow, inspect damage with Chris Christie
President Barack Obama will travel to New Jersey tomorrow to inspect damage caused by Superstorm Sandy with Republican Governor Chris Christie. The President will spend his time “talking with citizens who are recovering from the storm and thanking first responders who put their lives at risk to protect their communities”, White House Press Secretary Jay […]
The morning after Sandy: Rescue, recovery efforts underway in New York, New Jersey
Last night, Hurricane Sandy — which is now being called Superstorm Sandy — made landfall in New Jersey, near Atlantic City. The worst hours have now passed, but as news broadcasts show, Sandy’s arrival was every bit as destructive as meteorologists and local officials had warned it could be. Schools, airports, the New York Stock Exchange, […]
Hurricane Sandy barrels towards East Coast, bringing commerce and travel to a halt
One of the most destructive storms ever to threaten the United States is hours away from slamming into the Atlantic seaboard, meteorologists are warning. Hurricane Sandy, which has already killed dozens of people in the Carribbean, is projected to make landfall sometime tomorrow evening between the Chesapeake and the mouth of the Hudson River. The […]
Tsunami warning issued for Pacific Northwest as East Coast prepares for “Frankenstorm”
It’s turning out to be a busy weekend for scientists at NOAA’s National Weather Service (NWS) and the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS). The National Weather Service has spent the last few days tracking Hurricane Sandy, which is now projected to make landfall somewhere along the mid-Atlantic, perhaps off the coast of Virginia or Delaware. Hurricane […]
Earthquake strikes near D.C.: Nation’s capital gets a taste of a major hazard we live with
An hour ago, a significant earthquake struck near one of the United States’ most populated areas, causing minor damage, disrupting travel, and prompting evacuations of buildings. But unusually, the populated area that this quake affected was not in California, or on the Left Coast, or even west of the Rocky Mountains, where earthquakes are an […]
Republicans continue assault on emergency preparedness, even after Tohoku megaquake
Readers may recall our ire was raised during the Republican response to President Obama’s 2009 State of the Union Address, when Louisiana Governor Bobby Jindal dismissed funding for volcano monitoring as a triviality. As residents of the Pacific Northwest, we are all too aware of the presence of volcanoes in our region and the destruction […]
Aftermath of Tohoku megaquake demonstrates the folly of nuclear power
Two days have elapsed since Japan was pummeled by one of the largest earthquakes humanity has ever documented. In that time, we’ve begun to see the tragic and painful extent of the disaster. The earthquake (which registered 8.9 on the moment magnitude scale) and the ensuing tsunami it spawned have laid waste to several previously […]