Indonesia Sends Aid to Cyclone-Hit Vanuatu

Jakarta Globe, Apr 05, 2015

Foreign Minister Retno Marsudi, center, sends off the Indonesian aid
delegation to cyclone-hit Vanuatu. (Antara Foto/Rivan Awal Lingga)

Jakarta. The Indonesian government has sent $2 million worth of aid to Vanuatu, which was smashed by a devastating cyclone last month that left 11 people dead and thousands homeless.

A Garuda Indonesia Airbus 330 and Cardig Boeing 737 left with the relief packages from Jakarta’s Soekarno-Hatta International Airport on Saturday.

“The aid will be a symbol of Indonesian commitment to strengthening bilateral relations with Vanuatu in terms of disaster mitigation,” the Foreign Ministry said in a statement.

The aid consists of $450,000 in cash, as well as 6,000 packages of nutrition supplements and food, 6,000 packages of ready-to-eat food and 2,000 packages of biscuits.

The shipment also contained 149 carts of baby food, 333 carts of pregnancy food, 500 packages of children’s clothing, 7,500 blankets, 26 carts of solar cells and 200 family tents.

Cyclone Pam affected more than two thirds of the South Pacific island nation, wiping out crops and destroying fishing fleets.

Vanauata’s government is now coordinating an international relief effort.

Related Article:

Extent of damage by Vanuatu storm 'worst' says President

Huge salvage vessel may help lift Costa Concordia wreck

BBC News, 10 October 2013

A computer graphic showing how the salvage operation would look.

Cruise disaster

• Salvaging ship
• Fall in profits
• Transcript
• What we know

The wreck of the Costa Concordia cruise ship could be loaded aboard a colossal salvage vessel after a deal was struck with a Dutch company.

The Dockwise Vanguard, capable of picking up oil rigs, has been recruited as an option to move the ship.

The vessel can sink under the Concordia then rise up to lift it clear of the water before sailing it to be scrapped.

Some 32 people died after the Concordia ran aground with more than 4,000 passengers and crew in January 2012.

Salvage teams moved the ship to an upright position last month, enabling divers to find the remains of one of two people who were still unaccounted for.

'Safe and swift'

Costa Crociere, Concordia's owner, said the Vanguard had been retained as one possible option for removing the wreck from its current location off Giglio island in 2014.

It said the $30m (£19m) contract to use the salvage vessel would offer a "safe and swift" method to transport the cruise ship to its as yet undetermined final destination.

The company said the operation is the biggest salvage ever attempted on a ship of the Concordia's size.

Some 32 people died after the Concordia ran aground in January 2012

The 275m-long (902ft) Vanguard has no bow and a flat stern, allowing it contain the longer cruise ship.

The Vanguard, described by its Dutch owner Royal Boskalis as the world's largest semi-submersible ship, uses vast ballast tanks to lower and raise itself around its cargo.

The company said modifications would need to be made before it is capable of carrying Concordia.

Related Article:

Costa Concordia upright after unique salvage bid

Costa Concordia upright after unique salvage bid

Google – AFP, Laure Brumont (AFP), 17 Sep 2013

The wreckage of the Costa Concordia cruise ship was turned upright

near Giglio island on September 17, 2013 (AFP/File, Andreas Solaro)

GIGLIO ISLAND, Italy — The Costa Concordia cruise ship was hoisted upright from its watery grave off Italy's Giglio island on Tuesday following the biggest-ever salvage operation of its kind, 20 months after it ran aground.

The 290-metre (951-foot) long, 114,500-ton vessel -- longer than the Titanic and more than twice as heavy -- emerged from the sea as horns sounded across the water in celebration, mixing with applause and cheers from onlookers in the port -- the climax to a 19-hour operation.

One side of the ship had lain underwater since the January 2012 tragedy in which 32 people died, and emerged a rusty brown contrasting with the brilliant white on the exposed side.

Nick Sloane, the South African salvage master who gave the orders from a control room on a barge next to the ship, said his team was "proud to have risen to such a challenge, all the more so because many people thought it couldn't be done.

"Without the shipbuilders and all the equipment which was delivered in time, we wouldn't be here today," the 52-year-old said, kissing his wife, who handed him a South African flag to celebrate a triumphant end to more than a year's work.

After final checks to secure the ship, the search will begin for two bodies that are still missing.

Franco Gabrielli, head of the civil protection agency and project overseer, said the search for the corpses of Indian waiter Russell Rebello and Italian passenger Maria Grazia Trecarichi would start "in the next few days at the latest".

"When the ship toppled, corridors became deep wells. Now she is upright, we can get to areas previously off limits," he said, adding that there would likely "still be areas it is difficult to access and search."

The missing victims' loved ones were expected on Giglio later Tuesday.

Trecarichi's husband Elio Vincenzi said: "I am still hoping to find my wife. This is a tense wait for me and for my daughter."

Gabrielli said the newly exposed side of the ship, with hundreds of crushed balconies, would require "major repairs" before it can be towed.

Removal of the doomed vessel to an Italian port for scrapping is planned only for the spring of next year at the earliest.

Local residents and survivors spoke of an eerie feeling as the ship rose, saying it reminded them of the way it looked on the night of the disaster.

Senior salvage master, Nick Sloan (C),

 speaks to journalists following the

successful raising of the Costa Concordia

(AFP, Andreas Solaro)

"Seeing it re-emerge is emotional for me," said Luciano Castro, a survivor who travelled to the picturesque Tuscan island to witness the salvage.

"I could not miss it. That ship could have been my end and instead I am here to tell the story," he said.

The salvage is the biggest ever undertaken for a passenger ship and the position of the hulk posed unique challenges for the 500-person international salvage team.

They also had to take special care since Giglio is in the heart of one of Europe's biggest marine sanctuaries.

The ship was dragged up with 36 cables across the hull and tanks the size of 11-storey buildings welded on the side of the ship which were filled with water to act as ballast.

It is now sitting on a vast underwater steel platform and the next step will see tanks fitted to the side of the ship which was on the rocks.

Water will then be drained from the tanks on both sides in order to float the ship.

The project has so far cost 600 million euros ($800 million) and insurers estimate it could run to $1.1 billion once it is completed.

Twin images of the Costa Concordia as it lays stricken and after being pulled

upright on September 17, 2013 (AFP, Vincenzo Pinto)

"I'm relieved. It was a bit of a rollercoaster," Sloane said as he was mobbed by dozens of journalists and well-wishers in the port before a celebratory drink.

"The scale of it was something we've never seen before," he said.

The Costa Concordia struck rocks just off Giglio after veering sharply towards the island in a bravado sail-by allegedly ordered by its captain, Francesco Schettino.

Dubbed "Captain Coward" and "Italy's most hated man" in the tabloids for apparently abandoning ship while passengers were still on board, Schettino is currently on trial.

Four crew members and the head of ship owner Costa Crociere's crisis unit have already been handed short prison sentences for their roles in the crash.

The ship had 4,229 people from 70 countries on board.

The order to abandon the vessel was delayed and problems with launching lifeboats saw some people forced to jump into the freezing water.

Related Article:

Jail terms for Concordia disaster in plea deals

Fukushima water handling 'like whack-a-mole': minister

Google – AFP, Shingo Ito (AFP), 26 August 2013

A Tepco picture from March 15, 2011 shows smoke rising from unit 3

reactor building at the Fukushima nuclear plant (TEPCO/AFP/File, TEPCO)

TOKYO — TEPCO's handling of radioactive water at Fukushima has been like "whack-a-mole", a minister said Monday after visiting the battered plant, pledging Japan's government would step up its involvement at the site.

The colourful comments come after 300 tonnes of toxic liquid was found to have leaked from one of the hundreds of tanks storing heavily polluted water used to cool broken reactors at the plant.

"With regard to TEPCO's handling of contaminated water, it has been just like whack-a-mole," said industry minister Toshimitsu Motegi, in reference to the anarchic fairground game in which players bash creatures that pop up from random holes.

"From now on, the government will play a greater role," he said.

Nuclear watchdog members inspect 

contaminated water tanks at Fukushima

 nuclear power plant on August 23, 2013

 (Nuclear Regulation Authority/AFP/File,

Nuclear Regulation Authority)

The trip by Motegi, who was apparently referring to TEPCO's hurried response to events rather than planning ahead, comes amid growing calls for the government to take charge of the clean-up at the plant.

Critics accuse TEPCO (Tokyo Electric Power Co) of being incapable of dealing with the vast -- and growing -- volumes of radioactive water at the site.

Last week's leak was dubbed the most serious single incident since the plant went into meltdown in March 2011 after being hit by a quake and tsunami.

Prime Minister Shinzo Abe in early August described as "urgent" the battle to stop contaminated water escaping into the ocean.

Chief Cabinet Secretary Yoshihide Suga said in Tokyo that Abe had ordered his industry minister to take "every possible measure", including the use of reserve funds from the national budget.

"The leak of contaminated water from the tank was extremely regrettable," Suga told a news conference. "Failing to manage tanks properly is a big problem."

"As a government, we will do whatever we can do to resolve the problem."

Inspectors from Japan's nuclear watchdog who toured the plant Friday declared water storage at the site was "sloppy".

TEPCO said Saturday the tank that sprang a leak was one of three to have been relocated from its original spot because of subsidence.

The utility has not yet pinpointed the reason for the problem with the first tank, but at the weekend began emptying the other tanks that were moved with it in 2011.

A Tokyo Electric Power worker walks next

 to waste water tanks at Japan's Fukushima

 nuclear plant on June 12, 2013 (Pool/AFP/

 File, Noboru Hashimoto)

On Sunday Japanese Foreign Minister Fumio Kishida visited Chernobyl in Ukraine, the site of a 1986 nuclear disaster, and was due to hold talks with his Ukrainian counterpart on Monday.

Kishida hopes to share experience in overcoming the consequences of nuclear disasters, a spokesperson said.

More than two years after the disaster at Fukushima, TEPCO continues to struggle with the clean-up, a project expected to take around four decades.

A catalogue of mishaps, often accompanied by a perceived unwillingness publicly to reveal the extent of problems, is leading to a growing chorus warning of the need for outside experts to step in and take control of the operation.

While no one is officially recorded as having died as a direct result of the radiation released by the meltdowns, large areas around the plant had to be evacuated.

Tens of thousands of people are still unable to return to their homes, with scientists warning some areas may have to be abandoned for human habitation.

Fukushima nuclear disaster (AFP Graphic)

Obama critic praises his "wonderful" storm response

Channel News Asia, AFP, 30 October 2012

Destroyed sections of an an old boardwalk are seen in an area that flooded
by the  beach on October 30, 2012 in Atlantic City, New Jersey. (Mario
Tama/Getty Images/AFP)

   

WASHINGTON: President Barack Obama won glowing praise for his "wonderful" handling of superstorm Sandy Tuesday from a fierce foe who backs Mitt Romney, as political reverberations of the storm began to be felt.

New Jersey Governor Chris Christie, a blunt critic of the president and a key Romney ally, produced a glowing character reference for Obama.

"The president's been great... I spoke to him three times yesterday, he called me for the last time at midnight last night, he asked me what I needed," Christie told MSNBC.

Christie, a brash political brawler known for cutting take-downs of opponents including Obama, said he had asked the president to cut through bureaucratic "mumbo jumbo" and help New Jersey, and he "got on it."

"The president has been all over this, he deserves great credit ... He gave me his number at the White House, told me to call if I needed anything, and he absolutely means it.

"It's been very good working with the president, and his administration has been coordinating with us great -- it's been wonderful."

The praise from Christie, who is mentioned as a possible 2016 Republican presidential candidate should Romney lose, represented the kind of publicity that a campaign, for all the hundreds of millions of dollars spent on it, simply cannot buy.

"I don't give a damn about Election Day after what has happened here. I am worried about the people of New Jersey," the outspoken governor tweeted later.

Sandy, which dominated news coverage and drowned out the normal frenzy of the last week of an election campaign, amounted to an "October Surprise" -- the kind of unpredictable event that can reshape late stages of elections.

Its impact on voting next week was unclear. But the storm allowed Obama to leverage the power of incumbency by marshaling the full force of the US federal government to help those in need.

Romney meanwhile will likely struggle to get news coverage. And he had to turn scheduled political events in Wisconsin and Ohio into storm relief efforts to collect donations for storm victims.

US President Barack Obama (R) is greeted by New Jersey

 Governor Chris Christie (AFP, Jewel Samad)

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HMS Bounty: Woman killed in tall ship's sinking loved the sea
HMS Bounty crew member dies and captain missing in stormy seas
Dramatic Video of Tall Ship Rescue During Sandy

The HMS Bounty, a 180-foot sailboat, submerged in the Atlantic
Ocean during Hurricane Sandy approximately  90 miles southeast
of Hatteras, N.C., Monday.  (AP Photo/U.S. Coast Guard, Petty 
Officer 2nd Class Tim Kuklewski)

This Election Will Clear the Way for Obama  – Nov 5, 2012 (Archangel Michael channeled by Linda Dillon) - New

"... GW: Okay. That’s wonderful. Now, I was going to ask this question earlier, but since it appears to be tied into what you have just shared, Michael, I think I’ll go to this question.

One of the states that was hit hard was the state of New Jersey. The governor of that state, Chris Christie, is a Republican and has historically been a very strong and very vocal critic of Obama. Yet in the last week he has been showering praise to no end upon Obama, and doing it publicly.

I don’t wish to spend much time on this, but is this merely two humans demonstrating their true humanity ahead of politics, or is this potentially a sign connected to a larger change that will unfold within the political structures?

AAM: It is actually both. It is a governor seeing and moving away from simple rhetoric and the rhetoric of party politics, of alignment in terms of self-interest and the desire for power, to a place of actually entering into his own humanitarian heart and seeing that the reason that he got involved in the political arena in the first place wasn’t for reasons of power or greed or control.

It brought him back to his own first principles, which was he really cared about people. He really cared about people within his geographic area, the state. And then what he has witnessed and what he has seen is that there is a camaraderie with the President and that in fact there is no difference and, the rhetoric aside, that they both care about the same things.

But in the bigger picture, as you have asked, what you are also seeing is that people are going to put away many of the labels. There has been a huge emphasis on labels, rather, “I am this,” “I am that,” whether it is political power or not. The shift is to, “I am a human. I am a galactic human. I am part of my community. I am part of this family,” and the need for the labels is dissipating.

Because when you see someone drowning, whether it is emotionally, physically or mentally, you do not call out and say, “What is your political affiliation?” Do you? No, from the core of your heart and from your physical body you reach out your hand and you assist however you can. And that in fact is exactly what the gate-keepers, the showers of the way, are doing. They are reaching out their hands and helping others to a higher realm, to a different understanding.

So what you are seeing is a catalyst, yes, a very dramatic — what one would say — very devastating catalyst that is opening people’s hearts. ...."

SaLuSa: November 5, 2012 – (Channelled by Mike Quinsey)

“The Storm Sandy was a natural occurrence needed by Mother Earth to prepare for her Ascension, and will take place wherever there are deep-rooted negative energies. On another level you are aware that this type of cleansing is going to happen, and when as a result people pass on it is not accidental in the way you normally perceive it. We say again that nothing happens by chance but all is pre-ordained. The raising of the collective consciousness has overcome the need for a more drastic cleansing, so you are to be congratulated for bringing it about. What you now understand is a clear example of your power to create your own reality.”

Matthew message (Channeled by Suzanne Ward, Nov 1, 2012)

“... The storm named Sandy that flooded the northeast coast of the United States was not manmade.  Mother Earth was cleansing herself by releasing negativity that was especially deeply entrenched in and around New York City and Washington, DC, and transmuting it into light. The Illuminati no longer have access to the technology that for many years they misused to initiate earthquakes and major storms. ....”

"Gaia’s Message: Each of You have Responded”  – Oct 31, 2012 (Gaia channeled by Linda Dillon)

“… Because I am anxious. I am already underway and they are needed, no, not in violence, but in love for a little cleanup. And the purpose of this hurricane is more profound and more deep than you imagine.

There are several layers that are taking place and we bless and we thank those who offered and are sacrificing their homes, their energy, their jobs, and their security in order to allow this cleansing to take place.

St. Germain stands with me and as you know this is the country, the nation of freedom and yet so many are still enslaved, in illusion, delusion, poverty, and hunger in the richest place on Earth.

This density cannot be. This is a starting point of our travels together. Yes, I know that the channel speaks that it is not of levels, that it is a circle of vibrations. But I say that your vibrations are rising with mine, in tandem with me. And I thank you, not only for hearing my death pleas, but the intermittent pleas I put out urgently. …”

“… I ask that each of you that greet them stay calm and smile a lot and extend to them all over the planet this greeting. I finish by telling you that those who have been affected by this being called [Hurricane] Sandy will be attended to in ways of love, responsibility, accountability and effective action. It will mean a great deal. …”

Source: 2012 Scenario

You are already in a state of liberation from the old systems - Oct 29, 2012 (Constant Companions channeled through Aisha North)

"The N in Kundalini" – Oct 20, 2012 (Kryon channeled by Lee Carroll)

Indian ferry capsizes, killing over 100

Deutsche Welle, 1 May 2012

Hopes have dimmed of finding further survivors of a ferry accident in north-eastern India. The overcrowded boat capsized after hitting a storm in one of the worst such accidents in recent years.

Rescue workers continued searching for over 100 people still missing on Tuesday after an overloaded ferry capsized in heavy wind and rain in the Brahmaputra River in India's Assam state.

Officials said 103 bodies had been recovered from the river. Strong wind and rain were hampering the rescue efforts for the remaining passengers.

"I will be ordering an inquiry into the cause of the accident, but right now our priority is to account for every person who was on the ferry," said Chief Minister Tarun Gogoi, Assam's top elected official.

About 350 people were thought to have been on the two-deck ferry, which had a capacity of 225, when it broke into two pieces late Monday. Around 150 people were rescued or swam to safety. The ferry had neither life boats not life vests.

It was one of the worst ferry accidents in India in recent years.

ncy/pfd (AP, dpa, AFP)

Kodeco Platform Paralyzed After Cargo Vessel Crash

Jakarta Globe, Rizqon Bilhuda | August 15, 2010

Indonesia. Kodeco Energy’s platform off the coast of East Java, about 80 kilometers north of Gresik, has been hit by an unidentified cargo vessel, causing a delay in oil production at the site.

Kodeco, which is involved in oil and natural gas exploration and exploitation in the country, operates under the West Madura production sharing contract.

“At this point, it is understood that Kodesco’s KE 40 [platform] is relatively safe. There has been no loss of life, no oil spill and no fire,” Budi Indianto, the deputy of operations for Indonesia’s upstream oil and gas regulatory body, BPMigas, said on Saturday.

Budi said the regulator had conducted a preliminary inquiry into the incident, which took place on Wednesday, but that more investigation was needed.

Also involved in the investigation are the Directorate General for Oil and Gas at the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, Kodeco Energy and the Coast Guard and Navy, which are searching for the cargo vessel.

“Our investigation of Wednesday’s accident is still continuing,” he said.

Budi said there had been no signs yet of an oil spill but that BPMigas and Kodesco would continue to monitor the site and make the necessary preparations in case a leak was detected later.

He said Kodeco had prepared oil booms to safeguard the location, supported by equipment provided by HESS, Santos, JOB Pertamina-Petrochina East Java and Kangean Energy.

“All the basic equipment was moved to the site just three hours after the incident,” Budi said.

According to the Web site of the Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources, the crash caused the platform to tilt by 40 degrees and caused some other damage, forcing the company to stop operations immediately.

The head of public and institutional relations for BPMigas, Elan Biantoro, said it was estimated that the incident might cause a production loss of 1,600 barrels of oil a day, or 15 million standard cubic feet per day.

Elan said that officials were assessing the stability and safety of the damaged platform, to determine where operations would be able to continue.

He predicted that if cleared, it would take two to three weeks before work at the platform could get back to full-scale production.

Related Article:

Thai company will pay for Timor oil spill

Indonesia, US navies conduct disaster handling exercise

Antara News, Thursday, July 29, 2010 19:28 WIB

Ambon, Maluku (ANTARA News) - The United States and Indonesian navies held a joint exercise on Wednesday on the handling of natural disasters in integrated ways, a spokesman said.

The exercise which involved about 40 personnel from the Indonesian Defense Forces (TNI), the United States Navy (USN) and Maluku`s Search and Rescue (SAR) team lasted one day, spokesman of the US hospital ship USNS Mercy T-H 19 for Pacific Partnership 2010 Affairs, Daniel Bernardi, said.

"This exercise is held to provide knowledge on how to handle a natural disaster in an integrated way because a natural disaster in one country is different from that in another one," Bernardi said.

So, he said, if a natural disaster happens in a country, rescue workers sent to help mitigate the victims can provide assistance effectively because they already know how to handle it.

He said the joint exercise was divided into two sessions, one was on theories organized at the office of the Maluku governor`s office while the other one was field practice.

Bernardi said that during the Sail Banda event, the Pacific Partership 2010 held a lot of exercises, among others in the health field, emergencies and other types of exercises.

"We call the exercise SMET (Subject Matter Expert Training) which sometimes involve Australia, Singapore, Indonesia and the United States," he said.

The USNS Mercy is in Maluku on a Pacific Partnership 2010 mission and to support Operation Surya Bhaskara Jaya which is part of the international yachting event, Sail Banda.

The Pacific Partnership 2010 is an annual humanitarian program of the United States consisting of exercises on the handling of natural disasters in Indonesia.

Avertible catastrophe

Lawrence Solomon, Financial Post, Saturday, Jun. 26, 2010

Some are attuned to the possibility of looming catastrophe and know how to head it off. Others are unprepared for risk and even unable to get their priorities straight when risk turns to reality.

The Dutch fall into the first group. Three days after the BP oil spill in the Gulf of Mexico began on April 20, the Netherlands offered the U.S. government ships equipped to handle a major spill, one much larger than the BP spill that then appeared to be underway. "Our system can handle 400 cubic metres per hour," Weird Koops, the chairman of Spill Response Group Holland, told Radio Netherlands Worldwide, giving each Dutch ship more cleanup capacity than all the ships that the U.S. was then employing in the Gulf to combat the spill.

To protect against the possibility that its equipment wouldn't capture all the oil gushing from the bottom of the Gulf of Mexico, the Dutch also offered to prepare for the U.S. a contingency plan to protect Louisiana's marshlands with sand barriers. One Dutch research institute specializing in deltas, coastal areas and rivers, in fact, developed a strategy to begin building 60-mile-long sand dikes within three weeks.

The Dutch know how to handle maritime emergencies. In the event of an oil spill, The Netherlands government, which owns its own ships and high-tech skimmers, gives an oil company 12 hours to demonstrate it has the spill in hand. If the company shows signs of unpreparedness, the government dispatches its own ships at the oil company's expense. "If there's a country that's experienced with building dikes and managing water, it's the Netherlands," says Geert Visser, the Dutch consul general in Houston.

In sharp contrast to Dutch preparedness before the fact and the Dutch instinct to dive into action once an emergency becomes apparent, witness the American reaction to the Dutch offer of help. The U.S. government responded with "Thanks but no thanks," remarked Visser, despite BP's desire to bring in the Dutch equipment and despite the no-lose nature of the Dutch offer --the Dutch government offered the use of its equipment at no charge. Even after the U.S. refused, the Dutch kept their vessels on standby, hoping the Americans would come round. By May 5, the U.S. had not come round. To the contrary, the U.S. had also turned down offers of help from 12 other governments, most of them with superior expertise and equipment --unlike the U.S., Europe has robust fleets of Oil Spill Response Vessels that sail circles around their make-shift U.S. counterparts.

Why does neither the U.S. government nor U.S. energy companies have on hand the cleanup technology available in Europe? Ironically, the superior European technology runs afoul of U.S. environmental rules. The voracious Dutch vessels, for example, continuously suck up vast quantities of oily water, extract most of the oil and then spit overboard vast quantities of nearly oil-free water. Nearly oil-free isn't good enough for the U.S. regulators, who have a standard of 15 parts per million -- if water isn't at least 99.9985% pure, it may not be returned to the Gulf of Mexico.

When ships in U.S. waters take in oil-contaminated water, they are forced to store it. As U.S. Coast Guard Admiral Thad Allen, the official in charge of the clean-up operation, explained in a press briefing on June 11, "We have skimmed, to date, about 18 million gallons of oily water--the oil has to be decanted from that [and] our yield is usually somewhere around 10% or 15% on that." In other words, U.S. ships have mostly been removing water from the Gulf, requiring them to make up to 10 times as many trips to storage facilities where they off-load their oil-water mixture, an approach Koops calls "crazy."

The Americans, overwhelmed by the catastrophic consequences of the BP spill, finally relented and took the Dutch up on their offer -- but only partly. Because the U.S. didn't want Dutch ships working the Gulf, the U.S. airlifted the Dutch equipment to the Gulf and then retrofitted it to U.S. vessels. And rather than have experienced Dutch crews immediately operate the oil-skimming equipment, to appease labour unions the U.S. postponed the clean-up operation to allow U.S. crews to be trained.

A catastrophe that could have been averted is now playing out. With oil increasingly reaching the Gulf coast, the emergency construction of sand berns to minimize the damage is imperative. Again, the U.S. government priority is on U.S. jobs, with the Dutch asked to train American workers rather than to build the berns. According to Floris Van Hovell, a spokesman for the Dutch embassy in Washington, Dutch dredging ships could complete the berms in Louisiana twice as fast as the U.S. companies awarded the work. "Given the fact that there is so much oil on a daily basis coming in, you do not have that much time to protect the marshlands," he says, perplexed that the U.S. government could be so focussed on side issues with the entire Gulf Coast hanging in the balance.

Then again, perhaps he should not be all that perplexed at the American tolerance for turning an accident into a catastrophe. When the Exxon Valdez oil tanker accident occurred off the coast of Alaska in 1989, a Dutch team with clean-up equipment flew in to Anchorage airport to offer their help. To their amazement, they were rebuffed and told to go home with their equipment. The Exxon Valdez became the biggest oil spill disaster in U.S. history--until the BP Gulf spill.

- Lawrence Solomon is executive director of Energy Probe and author of The Deniers.

(Photo: ANP)

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Earthquake preparations 'a disgrace', says seismologist

BBC News,

More quakes will happen and more planning is needed, scientists say

The lack of earthquake planning by the international community is a "disgrace", a leading seismologist has said.

Professor John McCloskey said that governments must prepare for quakes, rather than act after the event.

The University of Ulster expert led the analysis of the quake that started the Indian Ocean 2004 tsunami.

"It is an international disgrace that we appear not to have made the smallest progress in preparation," he said.

"The 'international community' is very good at preparing for war but has failed completely to prepare to help the poor, who are always the ones to suffer in these events.

"If we want to claim to be civilised we need to ensure that we never see these scenes again."

In a letter to the journal Nature Geoscience he and his team warn that a huge wave-generating quake capable of killing as many people as in the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami could strike off the Indonesian island of Sumatra, with the city of Padang in the path of destruction.

The danger comes from a relentless increase in pressure over the last 200 years on a section of the Sunda Trench, one of the world's most notorious earthquake zones, which runs parallel to the western Sumatra coast.

This section, named after the Mentawai islands, "is near failure," the letter warned.

Professor McCloskey said that governments were "refusing the accept the inevitable".

"Earthquakes happen, they kill people, they will kill more and more people if we don't organise ourselves properly," he said.

He said the earthquake which rocked Padang, western Sumatra in September last year killing more than 1,000 people was not the "great earthquake" scientists were waiting for but it may have made the next massive earthquake more likely.

Professor McCloskey is the head of the Geophysics Research Group at the UoU's Environmental Sciences Research Institute.

He said that while earthquake prediction was "as far off as ever" all the indicators are pointed to western Sumatra as a massive quake location.

"Scientists cannot forecast the exact size of the earthquake but in this case there is complete agreement that it will be very strong, probably bigger than magnitude 8.5, dwarfing the energy release in the Haitian quake," he said.

"We also cannot say for sure what size the tsunami will be but it has the potential to be very destructive - maybe even worse than 2004.

"But the future need not look like Haiti. We know this earthquake is coming and we might have years or even decades to prepare.

"Given the unfolding scenes of carnage following the Haiti earthquake and the completely inadequate speed of the international response, the responsibility on the Indonesian government, the international community and the international NGOs is enormous.

"We must work urgently to prepare for this earthquake if we are not to witness again the awful scenes of children dying for want of a few stitches or a cast for a broken leg."

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Earthquake Expert Gives Stark Warning: West Sumatra Beware

Tsunami-generating quake possible off Indonesia, say scientists