Disaster Prep

A natural disaster prediction come true?

MANGALORE: A Manglorean academic's prediction of natural disaster following whale deaths at New Zealand on August 20, has come true.

Dr Arunachalam Kumar, professor at KS Hedge Medical Academy, had espoused the theory that the unexplained whale deaths are linked to natural disasters over the years and has been proved to be spot-on this time also.

After whale deaths of the New Zealand coast, he had received an e-mail query regarding the possible outcome of this event. He had said the incident was prelude to eruption of a volcano in Indonesia within seven days and an earthquake would follow within two weeks.

Both predictions, based on the observations of Dr Kumar on changes in whale behaviour, have turned out to be absolutely right. On August 29, Mt Sinabung, a long dormant volcano in Sumatra erupted suddenly, forcing the evacuation of thousands of people from its vicinity. On September 4, Christchurch, New Zealand, was rocked by one of the most powerful earthquakes in its history.

The doctor had in December 2004 predicted the coming of the titanic Asian tsunami a full three weeks before it struck, killing 150,000 people.

56 pilot whales die after stranding on NZ beach

WELLINGTON, NEW ZEALAND (AP) - Only 24 of several dozen pilot whales stranded on a remote northern New Zealand beach survived a stormy first night ashore despite rescuers' desperate efforts to save them, officials said Thursday.

Large waves and strong winds lashed Spirits Bay as rescuers struggled to move survivors above the tide-line. It was the second mass beaching in the region in a month.

"As of this morning, there have been 24 live animals moved out of the tide up onto the beach out of harms' way," Department of Conservation spokeswoman Caroline Smith said. "The weather is terrible up there. We have 20 knot winds and 1.5 to 2 meter (5 to 7 foot) swells, so it is not possible to refloat them at Spirits Bay.

"The 80 animals were spread out over a three-mile (five-kilometer) stretch, Smith said. Officials were planning to use big nets to lift the creatures onto the back of trucks, and move them to more sheltered Rarawa Beach, about an hour south, where they will be refloated.

Rescuers spent Wednesday night on the beach keeping the whales cool and damp. Teacher Te Aroha Wihapi took students there to help cover the whales with wet sheets and tarps.

"It was quite traumatic for some of the younger ones," Wihapi told the New Zealand Herald. "Two of them wanted to hug one of the whales because they saw its eye was weeping."

Department of Conservation area manager Jonathan Maxwell said at least 25 of the animals were already dead when officials first arrived at Spirits Bay on Wednesday, and another 15 had died by nightfall. Another 50 were spotted just offshore, some of which later beached themselves. Officials euthanized some of the weakest and most stressed animals.

"Pilot whales have very strong social bonds and they try to help each other, so more keep getting stuck," said Mark Simpson of marine mammal protection charity Project Jonah.In mid-August at nearby Karikari Beach, 58 pilot whales stranded. Despite hundreds of helpers fighting to save them, just nine were eventually floated off the beach and returned to sea.A pod of 101 pilot whales stranded on the same beach in 2007.

Melting Ice Forces 10,000 Walruses Ashore in Alaska

(Sept. 15) -- Female walruses traditionally like to spend the summer lounging on slabs of sea ice with their young, occasionally dipping into shallow Arctic waters for a fishy treat. But over the past few weeks, thousands of these mammals have given up their free-floating lifestyle and taken up residence along the Alaska side of the Chukchi Sea.

An estimated 10,000 to 20,000 Pacific walruses -- mainly mothers and calves -- are resting along the coastline, gathered together in tightly clustered pods, according to the U.S. Geological Survey. (Bulls normally splash around the Bering Sea in summer months.) Because only 20 percent of walruses normally come to shore, the Alaska Dispatch notes, scientists suspect another 80,000 walruses could be swimming close by. This is the third time such a sea-to-land migration -- common in Russia, but historically unprecedented in Alaska -- has taken place in the last four years.

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