Earthweek: a diary of the planet
Earthquakes
A sharp temblor originating off the coast of Ecuador caused items to fall off shelves in Ecuador and Peru but caused no significant damage.
• Earth movements were also felt in northern Panama, metropolitan Los Angeles, northeastern Spain, central Greece, the Iran-iraq border region, Taiwan and New Zealand’s North Island.
Climate impacts
The United Nations warned that the impact of climate change around the world continues to intensify as efforts to curb greenhouse gas emissions fall short of the goals already agreed to. A new report by the World Meteorological Organization says that carbon emissions rose in all regions of the world last year with the exception of Europe. “Climate change is moving faster than our efforts to address it,” said U.N. Secretary-general António Guterres during a press conference about the report. It points out that 2018 was the fourth-hottest on record while ocean temperatures warmed to levels never seen before. Sea levels have responded by rising even higher as more intense storms and other weather extremes linked to a warmer world ravaged parts of the planet. The consequences of global warming seem to have continued into 2019 with the devastation left in the wake of Cyclone Idai.
Popo eruption
Mexico’s disaster agency raised the alert level for Popocatépetl volcano after the mountain produced several explosions that sent fireballs shooting down its slopes. The latest yellow alert is the highest issued before the red phase, during which people living near “Popo” would be told to prepare for evacuation.
Ebola crisis
Health officials have been progressively losing the battle to contain the latest outbreak of the deadly Ebola virus in the Democratic Republic of the Congo. Armed attacks on health centers by militia and a growing resistance to treatment by those living in the affected regions have allowed the death toll to soar to more than 675. The World Health Organization announced in March that the outbreak of the hemorrhagic fever was largely contained and likely to be over by September. But setbacks since then have brought the infection rate to a new record high.
Amphibian peril
Populations of frogs, toads and salamanders around the world face annihilation by a single pathogen that is unleashing what authors of a new report call the most destructive wildlife disease ever recorded. Chytridiomycosis, caused by two chytrid fungi, has already wiped out 90 amphibian species by eating their skin and triggering heart attacks. The fungus is believed to have spread around the world from Asia during the 1980s through the legal and illegal pet trade, as well as other human activities.
Cyclone aftermath
The death toll across southeastern Africa approached 1,000 in the wake of Cyclone Idai, which struck the region in mid-march. After the unprecedented storm’s widespread destruction and flooding, officials say cholera is now spreading across the region. A massive international relief effort is underway to bring food and other supplies to the hundreds of thousands of people displaced from their homes.
Reptilian rarity
Australian researchers say they have documented the previously unknown ability of a three-toed skink to lay three eggs, then weeks later give birth to a live baby from the same litter. Camilla Whittington from the University of Sydney said it was the first time a vertebrate animal has been seen with such an ability. Skinks are normally “bimodally reproductive,” giving birth in some places while laying eggs in others.
©2019 Earth Environment Service