Earthweek: a diary of the planet
UK smog alert
A combination of polluted air blowing in from continental Europe and toxic air around London has created unhealthful levels of air pollution around the British capital. London’s mayor ordered an emergency air-quality alert due to the hazardous smog. “The shocking and illegal state of London’s filthy air means once again I am triggering a high air pollution alert today under my new comprehensive alert system,” said Sadiq Khan. The government has come under increased pressure to improve the United Kingdom’s air quality.
Earthquakes
Mexico was rocked by another powerful earthquake that sparked terror in a region already reeling from a quake catastrophe just a few days earlier. The new magnitude 6.2 quake in Oaxaca state killed six people. Earth movements also were felt in northwestern California, southern Utah, Indonesia’s province of Papua and northeastern Morocco.
Rare bison killed Conservation groups in Germany expressed outrage when the first wild bison to be seen in the country for more than two centuries was killed after a local official ordered hunters to shoot it. The World Wildlife Fund says it will file charges against the official, calling the killing of the animal by the river Oder near the northeastern town of Lebus a criminal offense. “After more than 250 years, a wild bison had been spotted again in Germany, and all the authorities could think to do is shoot it,” said WWF board member Chris Heinrich. It’s
believed the bison wandered into Germany from a national park in neighboring Poland.
Tropical cyclones
After causing catastrophic damage and misery to Puerto Rico and other islands of the eastern Caribbean, Hurricane Maria was relatively harmless as it passed off the southeastern coast of the United States. Hurricane Lee regenerated in the mid-Atlantic two weeks after gaining hurricane force for only a few hours near the Cape Verde Islands. Tropical Storm Pilar drenched western Mexico’s Sinaloa and Nayarit states, which are key growing areas for winter produce sold across North America.
Disfiguring outbreak
Cases of a flesh-eating bacterium that causes leprosy-like symptoms are spreading in southeastern Australia, prompting calls for more government funding to combat the outbreak. The Buruli ulcer is typically found in parts of Africa and was named after the Ugandan village where many cases emerged in the 1960s. It was first identified in patients of Australia’s Victoria state during the 1930s. Paul Johnson of Melbourne’s Austin Hospital said the recent outbreak appears to have emerged in opossums on the Bellarine Peninsula south of Melbourne. He says humans are contracting it through direct contact with the native marsupials or through biting insects.
Whale hunt ends
Japan’s whaling fleet ended its disputed scientific whaling season in the North Pacific after killing a total of 177 of the marine mammals. Three ships that sailed in June returned with 43 minke whales and 134 sei whales. Japan’s Fisheries Ministry says it is trying to prove the whale population has recovered enough to allow commercial hunting.
Eruption
Vanuatu’s government declared a state of emergency after a volcanic eruption pelted nearby homes with ash and incandescent rocks, destroying crops and forcing thousands to flee. Manaro Voui volcano, on the island of Ambae, roared back to life after weeks of increased rumbling. Officials have ordered the evacuation of Ambae Island’s entire population, which is about 11,000.