TIG Post

Tag: Pacific Ocean

  • At least 23 People buried by landslip in Colombia

    At least 23 People buried by landslip in Colombia

    A big landslide in north-west Colombia has caused the death of at least 23 people and hurt about 30 others, according to local officials.

    The road between Medellín and Quibdo was blocked by landslides, so many people had to stop and find shelter in a nearby house near the town of Carmen de Atrato, as told by a local official.

    Another big pile of rocks and dirt fell onto the road, covering them and some cars.

    The mayor of the town said that some people are still stuck under the rubble.

    The area in Choco province near the Pacific Ocean has a lot of trees and has had a lot of rain in the last day.

    Pictures on social media and TV showed cars wrecked and partly buried by mud and rocks.

    Many people left their cars and went to a house near Carmen de Atrato, according to an official from the Choco governor’s office.

    “Unfortunately, a big pile of rocks and dirt came down and covered them,” the official also said.

    Colombian President Gustavo Preto promised to give all the support possible to the Choco region.

    Colombia’s Vice President Francia Marquez said on social media that about 30 people had gotten hurt.

    The mayor of Carmen de Atrato, Jaime Herrera, said on TV that some people were really hurt and others were still stuck under the mud. He didn’t say how many.

    Colombia is in a dry spell right now, but before that, the country’s weather experts warned about heavy rain in some areas near the Pacific Ocean and the Amazon rainforest.

  • ‘Baby’ island appears in Pacific Ocean after underwater volcano erupts

    The Central Tonga Islands has welcomed the birth of a new baby; a baby island.

    This baby island emerged in the southwest Pacific Ocean, where underwater volcanoes are plentiful.
    In a statement, NASA Earth Observatory explained that one of these submerged volcanoes awoke on September 10, spewing lava, steam, and ash.

    Just eleven hours after the volcano began to erupt, the new island had emerged above the water’s surface.  NASA captured images of the nascent island with satellites.

    The newborn island grew quickly in size, according to NASA. On September 14, researchers at Tonga Geological Services estimated the island covered just 4,000 square meters — around one acre.
    But by September 20, the island had grown to cover 24,000 square meters, or around 6 acres. The new island sits on the Home Reef seamount in the Central Tonga Islands, southwest of the archipelago’s Late Island.
    You might not want to get too attached to the baby island: islands created by underwater volcanoes “are often short-lived,” says NASA. But sometimes the ephemeral islands can persist for years or even decades.
    The Home Reef volcano was still erupting as of Friday, according to a Facebook post from the Tonga Geological Services. But the volcano’s activity “poses low risks to the Aviation Community and the residents of Vava’u and Ha’apai,” two island groups in central Tonga.
    “No visible ash in the past 24 hours was reported,” added the agency. “All Mariners are advised to sail beyond 4km away from Home Reef until further notice.”