Showing posts with label Disaster. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disaster. Show all posts

Tuesday, 5 April 2011

Disaster Relief 2.0: While you looked…West

Ed note: The report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, commissioned the report, which was researched and written by a team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series provides a public forum for people from both the humanitarian and volunteer and technical communities to discuss ideas in this report and the future of disaster relief.

You can follow conversations about the report on Twitter using the hashtag #DisasterTech and on the UN Foundation’s Facebook page. Readers can submit questions to the report’s authors through those channels; a transcript with answers to select questions will be published on UN Dispatch on April 11, 2011.

While you looked…West

By Gianluca Bruni

Haiti.

Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Benin, Haiti, Haiti.
Kyrgyzstan. Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti. Pakistan, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti. DRC, Haiti, Haiti, Haiti. Somalia, how can IT help. Haiti, Haiti, Pakistan, Haiti, Haiti, Philippines, Haiti.

If you are involved in any role in humanitarian response, be that IT, planning, management, logistic or anything else, your 2010 has been similar to the above. You probably heard the word Haiti thirty times more than any other country. You’ve planned for it, you fundraised, you executed, you supported, you monitored, you learned the lesson. And very likely, you are now busy ensuring that the lessons we all learned from Haiti really sink into your organization and the ‘next Haiti’ will be better, faster, more cost-effective, more inclusive. You will access more information, you will share it better – and therefore, you will better cooperate with partners and ultimately provide better assistance to the people in need.

Benin, somewhere in West Africa, Q3 2010. “Thousands of homes damaged in heavy rains and hundreds of cholera cases reported” (the Guardian), “It is the worst flooding to hit the country – one of the poorest in the world – since 1963. Areas previously thought not to be vulnerable to flooding have been devastated and villages wiped out” (BBC). Two thirds of the country under water. 700,000 people homeless – it’s as if the entire population of Amsterdam was suddenly homeless. But it was not Amsterdam. The question is: how can the ‘new IT tools’ provide assistance in such a situation in Benin, where donor attention and resources are scarce, and therefore their optimal utilization is even more important?

Today, more than a year after Haiti, while learning the lessons, we need to keep in mind that Haiti was unique. It revolutionized the importance, the needs and services that we can and should provide in emergencies. But we need to think and ask ourselves how often there will be ‘another Haiti’, and how learning from Haiti can benefit the Benins, the Kyrgyzstans, the Myanmars and, why not, the DRC and the Somalia.

There is another challenge ahead of us: in situations… like Haiti… there are massive IT resources poured into the country. The private sector, the UN, the Non-Government Community, schools, universities, … individuals. Everyone wants to help. In WFP we have a saying that ‘everything that the humanitarian community needs in terms of IT has already been invented’ – and if it hadn’t before, it has been invented during Haiti. Our challenge is integrating all such tools, ensuring we don’t duplicate efforts and re-invent the wheel, and, mostly, that our IT efforts are all integrated and complement each other. And ensure that they can be used effectively by large and small, but not less important, humanitarian organizations.

The next humanitarian emergency won’t be IN Haiti. It won’t be LIKE Haiti. The next emergency is today, while I type, in Cote d’Ivoire, where the lives of humanitarian workers (yes, the people who are there to help) are at risk.

Ah. I fell in the same trap. Aside from the first paragraph, the word Haiti appears 11 times, while Benin only 3, and Cote d’Ivoire only once… It’ll be hard.

Gianluca Bruni is Chief of IT Emergency and Preparedness Branch for the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP). Since joining WFP in 1991, Gianluca Bruni has responded to many of the world’s most severe humanitarian emergencies. From the Great Lakes crises in Rwanda in 1995, to the tsunami in Indonesia and the recent earthquake in Haiti, Gianluca and his response team have been at the forefront of IT Emergency Response operations.  As Chief of the IT Emergency Preparedness and Response Branch, with offices spread between Dubai, Dakar, Rome, Bangkok and Kampala, Gianluca spearheads initiatives to increase efficiency and effectiveness of IT response to humanitarian emergencies around the world, and is behind some of the most successful emergency IT public / private partnerships.


View the original article here

Sunday, 3 April 2011

Fukushima Disaster Worse than Worse Case 3 Reactors 70% Melted

Arnie Gundersun Chief Nuclear Engineer Fairewinds Associates , this independent scientist explains in details that the situation is not as stable as the governments claim the consequences of the Fukushima disaster are here to stay with us for centuries and the real extent of the catastrophe will only be known in full in coming years....this is 4 time higher than Chernobyl says the scientist !!!!

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for the full story www.Trends2012.co.cc ]]

View the original article here

Fukushima Disaster Worse than Worse Case 3 Reactors 70% Melted

Arnie Gundersun Chief Nuclear Engineer Fairewinds Associates , this independent scientist explains in details that the situation is not as stable as the governments claim the consequences of the Fukushima disaster are here to stay with us for centuries and the real extent of the catastrophe will only be known in full in coming years....this is 4 time higher than Chernobyl says the scientist !!!!

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for the full story www.Trends2012.co.cc ]]

View the original article here

Saturday, 2 April 2011

Disaster Relief 2.0: Leveraging the power of new technologies, local media and local communities in humanitarian responses

Ed note: The report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, commissioned the report, which was researched and written by a team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series provides a public forum for people from both the humanitarian and volunteer and technical communities to discuss ideas in this report and the future of disaster relief.

You can follow conversations about the report on Twitter using the hashtag #DisasterTech and on the UN Foundation’s Facebook page. Readers can submit questions to the report’s authors through those channels; a transcript with answers to select questions will be published on UN Dispatch on April 11, 2011.

Leveraging the power of new technologies, local media and local communities in humanitarian responses

By Jacobo Quintanilla

In Haiti, local citizens and communities affected by the Jan 2010 earthquake participated in the relief effort in unprecedented ways. Through social media and communication tools, this local participation was a revolution in humanitarian aid. Despite the many question marks and variables still to be addressed on this front, there are two main outcomes that deserve to be highlighted.

One is that for the first time ever the volunteer and technology communities engaged in a very significant and permanent manner in a humanitarian operation. Ushahidi, Crisis Mappers, Crisis Commons and OpenStreetMap engaged volunteers from around the world to connect with responders and individuals on the ground through mobile and online tools. This level of input was new and valuable, and deserves the attention and inclusion that it is already getting from the more “traditional” aid community.

Secondly, and even more importantly, the humanitarian community is progressively realizing that responses to crises are too often undermined by a lack of information among the affected population. When a crisis hits, outside aid agencies simply don’t know enough about the local context, the local media landscape, or how information is consumed, to be able to disseminate life-saving information immediately and gather critical feedback from affected communities. Understanding and utilizing that information ecosystem is precisely what Internews, in partnership with local media, local populations and the humanitarian community, tries to do in all our humanitarian media projects around the world.

Two of the most important channels for communicating information during crises are the existing local media, known and trusted by the local population, and the emerging mobile Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). We saw this in Haiti, documented in the report “Lessons from Haiti: Media, information Systems and Communities.

However, despite a great display of potential in the response to the earthquake in Haiti, new technologies, humanitarians, local media and affected populations have yet to connect in a predictable, reliable, and sustainable manner to improve the effectiveness of relief operations and increase community resilience. The lack of communication also undermines transparency and accountability of humanitarian actors and makes the people we serve feel further disengaged from the aid response.

As a community, we need to invest energy, expertise and resources into increasing the capacity of local media and local communities to prepare and respond to disasters effectively. In today’s 2.0 context, this includes understanding the effective utilization of a variety of new technology and social media tools to ensure that local media and local communities are better equipped to be the first responders in any emergency or disaster. Internews efforts to connect community radio stations by mobile network in Central Africa Republic and enable journalists in Kenya to use FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi outside of crisis situations are ways we’re working to build this capacity locally.

Emergencies are not the best time to experiment with untested initiatives. We learned in Haiti that trying to introduce new technologies during an active operation can be unnecessarily frustrating, ineffective, and even a disruptive exercise. This was highlighted, along with many of the important achievements and opportunities for partnership and dialogue between the humanitarian and the technology community, in the report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies.

We need to know what tools work and what processes they can improve. The key component is still to figure our how communication tools and processes can be further localized to serve the needs of local communities. This effort takes specific investments of time and resources in advance of the next disaster.

We may never be truly ready for an emergency, but we can help local communities and local media to be better prepared. We also need to keep in mind that we still need to get the low-tech solutions right first. At the end of the day, everything goes back to basics: human interaction.

Jacobo Quintanilla is Humanitarian Director at Internews, an international media development organization, and Board Member of the infoasaid project, an Internews/BBC World Service Trust joint initiative that aims at improving how aid agencies communicate with disaster affected communities. Jacobo was part of the Internews Emergency Response Team to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and later became the first Coordinator of Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) in Haiti. In 2011, Internews launched a new Center on Media, Innovation, Research & Learning aimed at maximizing the potential of digital technologies and innovative approaches to solve new challenges in the rapidly changing global information and communication landscape.


View the original article here

Disaster Relief 2.0: Leveraging the power of new technologies, local media and local communities in humanitarian responses

Ed note: The report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, commissioned the report, which was researched and written by a team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series provides a public forum for people from both the humanitarian and volunteer and technical communities to discuss ideas in this report and the future of disaster relief.

You can follow conversations about the report on Twitter using the hashtag #DisasterTech and on the UN Foundation’s Facebook page. Readers can submit questions to the report’s authors through those channels; a transcript with answers to select questions will be published on UN Dispatch on April 11, 2011.

Leveraging the power of new technologies, local media and local communities in humanitarian responses

By Jacobo Quintanilla

In Haiti, local citizens and communities affected by the Jan 2010 earthquake participated in the relief effort in unprecedented ways. Through social media and communication tools, this local participation was a revolution in humanitarian aid. Despite the many question marks and variables still to be addressed on this front, there are two main outcomes that deserve to be highlighted.

One is that for the first time ever the volunteer and technology communities engaged in a very significant and permanent manner in a humanitarian operation. Ushahidi, Crisis Mappers, Crisis Commons and OpenStreetMap engaged volunteers from around the world to connect with responders and individuals on the ground through mobile and online tools. This level of input was new and valuable, and deserves the attention and inclusion that it is already getting from the more “traditional” aid community.

Secondly, and even more importantly, the humanitarian community is progressively realizing that responses to crises are too often undermined by a lack of information among the affected population. When a crisis hits, outside aid agencies simply don’t know enough about the local context, the local media landscape, or how information is consumed, to be able to disseminate life-saving information immediately and gather critical feedback from affected communities. Understanding and utilizing that information ecosystem is precisely what Internews, in partnership with local media, local populations and the humanitarian community, tries to do in all our humanitarian media projects around the world.

Two of the most important channels for communicating information during crises are the existing local media, known and trusted by the local population, and the emerging mobile Information and Communication Technologies (ICT). We saw this in Haiti, documented in the report “Lessons from Haiti: Media, information Systems and Communities.

However, despite a great display of potential in the response to the earthquake in Haiti, new technologies, humanitarians, local media and affected populations have yet to connect in a predictable, reliable, and sustainable manner to improve the effectiveness of relief operations and increase community resilience. The lack of communication also undermines transparency and accountability of humanitarian actors and makes the people we serve feel further disengaged from the aid response.

As a community, we need to invest energy, expertise and resources into increasing the capacity of local media and local communities to prepare and respond to disasters effectively. In today’s 2.0 context, this includes understanding the effective utilization of a variety of new technology and social media tools to ensure that local media and local communities are better equipped to be the first responders in any emergency or disaster. Internews efforts to connect community radio stations by mobile network in Central Africa Republic and enable journalists in Kenya to use FrontlineSMS and Ushahidi outside of crisis situations are ways we’re working to build this capacity locally.

Emergencies are not the best time to experiment with untested initiatives. We learned in Haiti that trying to introduce new technologies during an active operation can be unnecessarily frustrating, ineffective, and even a disruptive exercise. This was highlighted, along with many of the important achievements and opportunities for partnership and dialogue between the humanitarian and the technology community, in the report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies.

We need to know what tools work and what processes they can improve. The key component is still to figure our how communication tools and processes can be further localized to serve the needs of local communities. This effort takes specific investments of time and resources in advance of the next disaster.

We may never be truly ready for an emergency, but we can help local communities and local media to be better prepared. We also need to keep in mind that we still need to get the low-tech solutions right first. At the end of the day, everything goes back to basics: human interaction.

Jacobo Quintanilla is Humanitarian Director at Internews, an international media development organization, and Board Member of the infoasaid project, an Internews/BBC World Service Trust joint initiative that aims at improving how aid agencies communicate with disaster affected communities. Jacobo was part of the Internews Emergency Response Team to the January 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and later became the first Coordinator of Communicating with Disaster Affected Communities (CDAC) in Haiti. In 2011, Internews launched a new Center on Media, Innovation, Research & Learning aimed at maximizing the potential of digital technologies and innovative approaches to solve new challenges in the rapidly changing global information and communication landscape.


View the original article here

The Truth About Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster

March of 2011 may end up setting records when it comes to devastating disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather and more. However, nothing really comes close to the two edged threat caused by the March 12, 2011 Earthquake which may be one of the most severe of all time. Rated at between 9.0 and 9.4, depending on who you listen to, the quake and subsequent aftershocks have caused 310 billion dollars in damage as of this writing, thousands of lives with over six thousand dead and seventeen thousand people still missing. It had also created a potential nuclear nightmare.

The first fruit of the earthquake was a huge tsunami which stretched from the orient, all the way to the west coast of the United States. America managed to avoid the kind of wholesale destruction seen in Japan. The Japanese are known for being prepared when it comes to such things as earthquakes, but this one caught them off guard. It was just too powerful and created the additional nightmare of a tsunami that came ashore with heights that ranged from thirty to eighty feet.

Earthquakes that happen under the sea often create the most damaging tsunami waves. Waves of that type can be thirty to eighty feet high when they hit shorelines. The speed and power of the tsunami wave is irresistible and devastating to anyone and anything in its path. Ships, land vehicles, buildings and people are often tossed about like tiny toys in a bathtub. Even the natural shape of the land can be altered by the power of this phenomenon. In the aftermath of the huge waves, the receding water can easily draw people and things out into the ocean.

Residents of towns along the Japanese coast had little time to prepare for what would become record-setting wave heights that worked their way inland, past areas thought to be tsunami safe. One wave that was twenty-three feet high raced ashore at the speed of a jumbo jet and managed to get six miles inland before it began to recede. People, vehicles and buildings of all sizes were laid waste by the giant waves. Nothing could stand up before this huge force of nature and survive.

Along with power outages, lack of clean water supplies, food shortages and thousands of dead bodies washing up on to the beaches of the Japanese coast, came the sudden possibility of a nuclear disaster. Several reactors and containment buildings for their spent fuel were damaged in the earthquake. Despite valiant efforts on the part of employees at several nuclear power generating sites, the threat looms worse than ever. Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has become increasingly somber and pessimistic as he has addressed the Japanese People and the world.

The most frustrating thing for the average American is the inability of our national news media to speak the truth concerning the extent of the nuclear problem now facing Japan and the world. It's almost as if it either doesn't exist, or will never reach the shores of the Americas. Even religious leaders and broadcasters seem to be ignoring the nuclear situation. Most of them are more focused on using the earthquake and tsunami as fundraising tools for their individual programs and worldwide ministries.

Several days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, one national religious broadcaster was in the midst of an annual fundraising effort. Although they run a text graphic at the bottom of the screen asking people to pray for the Japanese, they did not mention the twin disasters during their live show and made no mention whatsoever of the nuclear threat posed by the power plants that were damaged. Instead, the preacher in charge asked people to send him ten dollars for a new internet ministry to receive financial blessings. If you didn't have the ten dollars, he suggested that folks go to their neighbors, borrow the money and send it off to him.

It's time for people to understand what is really happening in Japan. Within forty-eight hours of the earthquake, a spokesperson for the Union of Concerned Scientists appeared on The Today Show and stated that the area around the Fukishima facility was registering one million times above normal trace radiation levels. As of this writing, that same area is now said to have radiation levels ten thousand times above safe limits. The sea water around the Fukishima reactors has become highly contaminated with levels now over 1000 times normal.

More frightening than the current situation is the possibility that radiation from one or more nuclear reactors in Japan has been leaking into the world's natural environment for over a year. Several scientists have pointed out that the reactors have not been properly inspected for over ten years. They also say that previous earthquakes and tremors in Japan may have caused damage that was not detected and might explain the enigmatic deaths of fish and birds throughout the world during the last several years.

On March 9, 2011 over one million dead sardines clogged a marina in Redondo Beach, California. The cause of death remains unknown, but many were said to have had high levels of radiation in them. So much so that many could not be used for fertilizer as originally planned. Several fishing vessels within a thousand miles of Japan have reported pulling up nets full of dead fish within weeks of the earthquake. These fish also showed higher then normal levels of radiation when tested.

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland during the early months of 2011. Since December of 2010, 100 tons of fish have washed ashore near Paran?, Paranagu?, and other coastal towns in Brazil. New Zealand reported that hundreds of dead snapper fish washed onto the beaches of Coromandel on the North Island. Not all of these odd occurrences may be related to some unknown or unreported release of radioactive materials, but I cannot recall a time when so many unexplained events of this type have happened so often throughout the world.

In early January over five thousand blackbirds and starlings fell out of the sky and were already dead when they hit the ground in Arkansas. Five hundred birds fell dead out of the sky in Louisiana less than a month later. In all, the U.S. Geological Survey has reported that at least ninety mass deaths of birds and other wildlife occurred between June and December of 2010. None have been explained to the satisfaction of scientists and most wildlife preservation societies; a few have involved over one thousand birds inexplicably dropping out of the sky dead.

It's upsetting to watch news and weather professionals basically lie to people about the potential danger to the United States and other nations posed by the Japanese nuclear disaster. They keep saying that any radiation carried to other areas by seawater currents will be completely dispersed, but is that really true? If loads of dead fish are being pulled up in nets by fishing boats within one thousand miles of Japan and reports now indicate that one or more reactors may have been leaking for a over a year or more, can we not assume that at least some of the damage is already done?

As of this writing, on March 27, 2011, Japanese officials report that several pools of radioactive water now exist in containment and/or nuclear reactor buildings that are ten million times above normal. How long can this kind of contamination be contained? That is especially true when you consider the fact that the people trying to solve the problem have admitted that they really do not know how bad the leak is or even if that is the problem in the first place. We must remember that certain types of radiation exposure tend to create damage on humans and animals from the inside out.

Let's take a look at the situation from a scientific, Biblical and prophetic standpoint:

As early as March 12, 2012, newspapers and broadcasters were making statements like "It's not good" about the nuclear disaster in Japan. The reactors in question are forty years old and have not been inspected properly for some ten years. The record-setting Earthquake in Japan may have merely added to a problem or leak that already existed. At least five reactors now have problems or are in danger of a core meltdown.

Just in the past few days, sometime around March 24,2011, three workers from one plant were admitted to the hospital after they were exposed to a pool of contaminated water that may have contained radioactivity that was a million times above the normal levels. The workers were shielded by a large tarp to keep from public from seeing what has happened to them. It's possibly and probably burned by exposure to radiation. It appears that the news media and their carefully chosen expert spokespeople are simply ignoring the reality of radiation science and making things up as they go along, attempting to quell panic among their readers, listeners and viewers.

The worst offenders are the people that claim to speak for the Lord. They stand in their pulpits and remain silent about the threat and the fact that Bible Prophecy is coming true while we watch. God has warned people about ignoring Him and disobeying His Will. For example, the Bible says in Psalm 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." There are many people in many nations that believe that God is merely a concept; that his Word is a book of fairy tales; that his prophecy and judgments are merely made up stories designed to frighten people. But, guess again!

During the past year we have witnessed a number of disasters and odd events that have been predicted in the Word of God. These include numerous and powerful earthquakes, devastating floods, pestilences, strange and unidentified objects seen in the skies all over the world, wars, conflicts, rebellions, the shrinking and then enlargement of the moon, famines and much more.

ON THE EARTH: According to the U.S. Geological Society, there have been over 50 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from three all the way to the 9.0-9.4 (depending on which expert you listen to) earthquake in Japan from January of 2010 to March of 2011. Record cold weather has destroyed or delayed crops in many U.S. States. A new type of citrus pest is killing orange trees and citrus cops in the southeast and also threatens the southwest. Hoards of up to a million wild boars are roaming the Southern and a few Midwestern U.S. States. They destroy crops, damage property and are difficult to kill.

IN THE SKIES: Last year scientists told us that the Moon was shrinking; now they say it's growing larger. A huge object appeared over North and South American and moved slowly across the sky. It was photographed and filmed by thousands of people. Scientists were unable to identify this object which did not appear to be a meteor or easily recognizable astronomical object. It did not break apart and may have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The following Bible verses give us a preview of things to come as God's Judgment plays out on the Earth:

Matthew 24:3-8: "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Luke 21:5-11: And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

Isaiah 34:4: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree."

Ezekiel 22: 25-31: There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 14:12: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

It's important for people to understand that the world will probably not end tomorrow, but the events that are unfolding worldwide are certainly a sign that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. God's patience is running out and it's time for people to examine their lives and their relationship with the Creator of our world! Do not be fooled by the happy talk of news media pundits and preachers sold out to the idea that having people support their lavish lifestyles is more important than telling the truth as it's revealed in God's Word.

For more information and TRUTH from the Word of God, please visit the God's House of Worship website at http://pastorbenjohn.tripod.com

The Truth About Japan's Earthquake, Tsunami and Nuclear Disaster

March of 2011 may end up setting records when it comes to devastating disasters. Earthquakes, floods, tsunamis, volcanic eruptions, extreme weather and more. However, nothing really comes close to the two edged threat caused by the March 12, 2011 Earthquake which may be one of the most severe of all time. Rated at between 9.0 and 9.4, depending on who you listen to, the quake and subsequent aftershocks have caused 310 billion dollars in damage as of this writing, thousands of lives with over six thousand dead and seventeen thousand people still missing. It had also created a potential nuclear nightmare.

The first fruit of the earthquake was a huge tsunami which stretched from the orient, all the way to the west coast of the United States. America managed to avoid the kind of wholesale destruction seen in Japan. The Japanese are known for being prepared when it comes to such things as earthquakes, but this one caught them off guard. It was just too powerful and created the additional nightmare of a tsunami that came ashore with heights that ranged from thirty to eighty feet.

Earthquakes that happen under the sea often create the most damaging tsunami waves. Waves of that type can be thirty to eighty feet high when they hit shorelines. The speed and power of the tsunami wave is irresistible and devastating to anyone and anything in its path. Ships, land vehicles, buildings and people are often tossed about like tiny toys in a bathtub. Even the natural shape of the land can be altered by the power of this phenomenon. In the aftermath of the huge waves, the receding water can easily draw people and things out into the ocean.

Residents of towns along the Japanese coast had little time to prepare for what would become record-setting wave heights that worked their way inland, past areas thought to be tsunami safe. One wave that was twenty-three feet high raced ashore at the speed of a jumbo jet and managed to get six miles inland before it began to recede. People, vehicles and buildings of all sizes were laid waste by the giant waves. Nothing could stand up before this huge force of nature and survive.

Along with power outages, lack of clean water supplies, food shortages and thousands of dead bodies washing up on to the beaches of the Japanese coast, came the sudden possibility of a nuclear disaster. Several reactors and containment buildings for their spent fuel were damaged in the earthquake. Despite valiant efforts on the part of employees at several nuclear power generating sites, the threat looms worse than ever. Japan's Prime Minister, Naoto Kan, has become increasingly somber and pessimistic as he has addressed the Japanese People and the world.

The most frustrating thing for the average American is the inability of our national news media to speak the truth concerning the extent of the nuclear problem now facing Japan and the world. It's almost as if it either doesn't exist, or will never reach the shores of the Americas. Even religious leaders and broadcasters seem to be ignoring the nuclear situation. Most of them are more focused on using the earthquake and tsunami as fundraising tools for their individual programs and worldwide ministries.

Several days after the earthquake and tsunami hit Japan, one national religious broadcaster was in the midst of an annual fundraising effort. Although they run a text graphic at the bottom of the screen asking people to pray for the Japanese, they did not mention the twin disasters during their live show and made no mention whatsoever of the nuclear threat posed by the power plants that were damaged. Instead, the preacher in charge asked people to send him ten dollars for a new internet ministry to receive financial blessings. If you didn't have the ten dollars, he suggested that folks go to their neighbors, borrow the money and send it off to him.

It's time for people to understand what is really happening in Japan. Within forty-eight hours of the earthquake, a spokesperson for the Union of Concerned Scientists appeared on The Today Show and stated that the area around the Fukishima facility was registering one million times above normal trace radiation levels. As of this writing, that same area is now said to have radiation levels ten thousand times above safe limits. The sea water around the Fukishima reactors has become highly contaminated with levels now over 1000 times normal.

More frightening than the current situation is the possibility that radiation from one or more nuclear reactors in Japan has been leaking into the world's natural environment for over a year. Several scientists have pointed out that the reactors have not been properly inspected for over ten years. They also say that previous earthquakes and tremors in Japan may have caused damage that was not detected and might explain the enigmatic deaths of fish and birds throughout the world during the last several years.

On March 9, 2011 over one million dead sardines clogged a marina in Redondo Beach, California. The cause of death remains unknown, but many were said to have had high levels of radiation in them. So much so that many could not be used for fertilizer as originally planned. Several fishing vessels within a thousand miles of Japan have reported pulling up nets full of dead fish within weeks of the earthquake. These fish also showed higher then normal levels of radiation when tested.

Tens of thousands of dead fish washed up on the shores of the Chesapeake Bay in Maryland during the early months of 2011. Since December of 2010, 100 tons of fish have washed ashore near Paran?, Paranagu?, and other coastal towns in Brazil. New Zealand reported that hundreds of dead snapper fish washed onto the beaches of Coromandel on the North Island. Not all of these odd occurrences may be related to some unknown or unreported release of radioactive materials, but I cannot recall a time when so many unexplained events of this type have happened so often throughout the world.

In early January over five thousand blackbirds and starlings fell out of the sky and were already dead when they hit the ground in Arkansas. Five hundred birds fell dead out of the sky in Louisiana less than a month later. In all, the U.S. Geological Survey has reported that at least ninety mass deaths of birds and other wildlife occurred between June and December of 2010. None have been explained to the satisfaction of scientists and most wildlife preservation societies; a few have involved over one thousand birds inexplicably dropping out of the sky dead.

It's upsetting to watch news and weather professionals basically lie to people about the potential danger to the United States and other nations posed by the Japanese nuclear disaster. They keep saying that any radiation carried to other areas by seawater currents will be completely dispersed, but is that really true? If loads of dead fish are being pulled up in nets by fishing boats within one thousand miles of Japan and reports now indicate that one or more reactors may have been leaking for a over a year or more, can we not assume that at least some of the damage is already done?

As of this writing, on March 27, 2011, Japanese officials report that several pools of radioactive water now exist in containment and/or nuclear reactor buildings that are ten million times above normal. How long can this kind of contamination be contained? That is especially true when you consider the fact that the people trying to solve the problem have admitted that they really do not know how bad the leak is or even if that is the problem in the first place. We must remember that certain types of radiation exposure tend to create damage on humans and animals from the inside out.

Let's take a look at the situation from a scientific, Biblical and prophetic standpoint:

As early as March 12, 2012, newspapers and broadcasters were making statements like "It's not good" about the nuclear disaster in Japan. The reactors in question are forty years old and have not been inspected properly for some ten years. The record-setting Earthquake in Japan may have merely added to a problem or leak that already existed. At least five reactors now have problems or are in danger of a core meltdown.

Just in the past few days, sometime around March 24,2011, three workers from one plant were admitted to the hospital after they were exposed to a pool of contaminated water that may have contained radioactivity that was a million times above the normal levels. The workers were shielded by a large tarp to keep from public from seeing what has happened to them. It's possibly and probably burned by exposure to radiation. It appears that the news media and their carefully chosen expert spokespeople are simply ignoring the reality of radiation science and making things up as they go along, attempting to quell panic among their readers, listeners and viewers.

The worst offenders are the people that claim to speak for the Lord. They stand in their pulpits and remain silent about the threat and the fact that Bible Prophecy is coming true while we watch. God has warned people about ignoring Him and disobeying His Will. For example, the Bible says in Psalm 9:17, "The wicked shall be turned into hell, and all the nations that forget God." There are many people in many nations that believe that God is merely a concept; that his Word is a book of fairy tales; that his prophecy and judgments are merely made up stories designed to frighten people. But, guess again!

During the past year we have witnessed a number of disasters and odd events that have been predicted in the Word of God. These include numerous and powerful earthquakes, devastating floods, pestilences, strange and unidentified objects seen in the skies all over the world, wars, conflicts, rebellions, the shrinking and then enlargement of the moon, famines and much more.

ON THE EARTH: According to the U.S. Geological Society, there have been over 50 earthquakes ranging in magnitude from three all the way to the 9.0-9.4 (depending on which expert you listen to) earthquake in Japan from January of 2010 to March of 2011. Record cold weather has destroyed or delayed crops in many U.S. States. A new type of citrus pest is killing orange trees and citrus cops in the southeast and also threatens the southwest. Hoards of up to a million wild boars are roaming the Southern and a few Midwestern U.S. States. They destroy crops, damage property and are difficult to kill.

IN THE SKIES: Last year scientists told us that the Moon was shrinking; now they say it's growing larger. A huge object appeared over North and South American and moved slowly across the sky. It was photographed and filmed by thousands of people. Scientists were unable to identify this object which did not appear to be a meteor or easily recognizable astronomical object. It did not break apart and may have crashed into the Atlantic Ocean.

The following Bible verses give us a preview of things to come as God's Judgment plays out on the Earth:

Matthew 24:3-8: "And as he sat upon the Mount of Olives, the disciples came unto him privately, saying, Tell us, when shall these things be? and what shall be the sign of thy coming, and of the end of the world? And Jesus answered and said unto them, Take heed that no man deceive you. For many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and shall deceive many. And ye shall hear of wars and rumours of wars: see that ye be not troubled: for all these things must come to pass, but the end is not yet. For nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: and there shall be famines, and pestilences, and earthquakes, in divers places. All these are the beginning of sorrows."

Luke 21:5-11: And as some spake of the temple, how it was adorned with goodly stones and gifts, he said, As for these things which ye behold, the days will come, in the which there shall not be left one stone upon another, that shall not be thrown down. And they asked him, saying, Master, but when shall these things be? and what sign will there be when these things shall come to pass? And he said, Take heed that ye be not deceived: for many shall come in my name, saying, I am Christ; and the time draweth near: go ye not therefore after them. But when ye shall hear of wars and commotions, be not terrified: for these things must first come to pass; but the end is not by and by. Then said he unto them, Nation shall rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom: And great earthquakes shall be in divers places, and famines, and pestilences; and fearful sights and great signs shall there be from heaven."

Isaiah 34:4: "And all the host of heaven shall be dissolved, and the heavens shall be rolled together as a scroll: and all their host shall fall down, as the leaf falleth off from the vine, and as a falling fig from the fig tree."

Ezekiel 22: 25-31: There is a conspiracy of her prophets in the midst thereof, like a roaring lion ravening the prey; they have devoured souls; they have taken the treasure and precious things; they have made her many widows in the midst thereof. Her priests have violated my law, and have profaned mine holy things: they have put no difference between the holy and profane, neither have they shewed difference between the unclean and the clean, and have hid their eyes from my sabbaths, and I am profaned among them. Her princes in the midst thereof are like wolves ravening the prey, to shed blood, and to destroy souls, to get dishonest gain. And her prophets have daubed them with untempered morter, seeing vanity, and divining lies unto them, saying, Thus saith the Lord GOD, when the LORD hath not spoken. The people of the land have used oppression, and exercised robbery, and have vexed the poor and needy: yea, they have oppressed the stranger wrongfully. And I sought for a man among them, that should make up the hedge, and stand in the gap before me for the land, that I should not destroy it: but I found none. Therefore have I poured out mine indignation upon them; I have consumed them with the fire of my wrath: their own way have I recompensed upon their heads, saith the Lord GOD.

Zechariah 14:12: "And this shall be the plague wherewith the LORD will smite all the people that have fought against Jerusalem; Their flesh shall consume away while they stand upon their feet, and their eyes shall consume away in their holes, and their tongue shall consume away in their mouth."

It's important for people to understand that the world will probably not end tomorrow, but the events that are unfolding worldwide are certainly a sign that we are witnessing the beginning of the end. God's patience is running out and it's time for people to examine their lives and their relationship with the Creator of our world! Do not be fooled by the happy talk of news media pundits and preachers sold out to the idea that having people support their lavish lifestyles is more important than telling the truth as it's revealed in God's Word.

For more information and TRUTH from the Word of God, please visit the God's House of Worship website at http://pastorbenjohn.tripod.com

Thursday, 31 March 2011

Disaster Relief 2.0: What the UN could not have done without the Volunteer Technical Community

Ed note: The report Disaster Relief 2.0: The Future of Information Sharing in Humanitarian Emergencies analyzes how the humanitarian community and the emerging volunteer and technical communities worked together in the aftermath of the 2010 earthquake in Haiti, and recommends ways to improve coordination between these two groups in future emergencies.  The UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), together with the United Nations Foundation and Vodafone Foundation Technology Partnership, commissioned the report, which was researched and written by a team at the Harvard Humanitarian Initiative.

The Disaster Relief 2.0 Blog Series provides a public forum for people from both the humanitarian and volunteer and technical communities to discuss ideas in this report and the future of disaster relief.

You can follow conversations about the report on Twitter using the hashtag #DisasterTech and on the UN Foundation’s Facebook page. Readers can submit questions to the report’s authors through those channels; a transcript with answers to select questions will be published on UN Dispatch on April 11, 2011.

What the UN could not have done without the Volunteer Technical Community

By Andrej Verity

The office that I work for – UN OCHA – recently took a big leap forward by engaging the VTCs for responding to the Libyan and Japan crises. We dove into a collaboration with the VTCs in a first effort to try to make the responses better. However, the most common questions I have received are “So what?” and “What was the impact?”.

When the Libya crisis broke out, I asked permission in OCHA to call a meeting between OCHA and many of the VTCs. In the first teleconference, the Stand By Task Force (SBTF), an organized group of 150+ volunteers skilled in online Crisis Mapping, was activated to map out the social media and traditional media reports from within the country – the result: LibyaCrisisMap.net. So what?  Well, given that the UN had virtually no access to the country, we now had situational awareness. How much is that worth to a agency planning its response?  Could you plan with virtually no information? I know the site was being used by agencies such as the World Food Programme, the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNCHR) the Red Cross,and USAID to perform certain types of analysis and to aid in their planning.

In addition, we requested the SBTF to help with collection of Who’s-doing-What-Where (3W) information and baseline indicators values.  Within 48 hours, we had 100+ activities collected and compiled. Let’s put that in perspective: the same amount of data took about 4 weeks in the Philippines, 2 weeks in Haiti, and 2 weeks in Pakistan to be made avalable.  See an improvement? Combining this data with Libya Crisis Map, we can now overlay the reported health needs with the actual health response – gap analysis. In regards to the baseline indicator compilation task, it had never been done before so I cannot even compare it to past experience. More future potential.

Crisis Commons compiled data sources under the framework of the Common Operational Datasets (CODs) for Japan. Within minutes of our request, they had a Japan Data Profile wiki online. They automated Google searches as well as Google Translate to search Japanese sites. I understand that the compiled data was used by MapAction responders (supporting UNDAC), NetHope partners, and others providing relief.  The comprehensive search and compilation would not have happened without the VTCs.

This was our first step and we have learned many lessons.  In combination with these lessons learned and the recommendation from the Disaster Relief 2.0 report, I believe that we are just starting to find our footing in the collaboration space with the VTCs. I am hopeful that we have found a concrete way forward.  I am excited. OCHA is planning a lessons-learned session with the VTCs in June, but the question is: “will we have time to stop and review?”.  I am already getting emails from partners such as Open Street Map and Internews asking when we will be starting a Crisis Map for Cote D’Ivoire.  We have taken one step, but might have to run sooner than we thought.

Andrej has been an Information Management Officer in UN OCHA for the past 7 years. He responded to three recent major emergencies in less than one year: typhoons in the Philippines, earthquake in Haiti and floods in Pakistan. In two instances, he was the lead OCHA Information Management Officer on the ground.  Although a strong advocate for collaboration with the V&TCs, he is also a realist and knows that a lot of work is required to reach the true potential of such collaboration.


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Friday, 25 March 2011

Think The Japanese Disaster Is Just What The Keynesian Doctor Ordered? Mo Says No

That would be Mohamed El-Erian from Pimco, by the way, who first among the lunatic fringe (here's looking at you Goldman and Kudlow), admits that contrary to what all the Koolaid guzzlers claim, the Japanese quake may not be what the Keynesian doctor ordered after all. We urge readers to read this piece as a counterpoint to Goldman's stern defense that the Japanese quake is but a scratch, and one that will lead to world peace, prosperity and a doubling (give or take) of global GDP. In fact, El-Erian tells all the pundits who in addition to permabulls are also suddenly nuclear physicists and geologists, to shut the hell up, "as tempting as they may be, analytical shortcuts are best avoided at this early stage. It will take time and thorough analysis to specify the true consequences of Japan’s triple calamity, including the longer-term impact on its economy and that of the rest of the world. The Japanese have shown admirable courage in the face of unthinkable tragedy. I have no doubt that a successful reconstruction program will lead their country to recovery. In the meantime, however, the urgency of restoring a sense of normalcy and hope to a dramatically wounded society warrants thoughtful and deep analyses." On this matter, we couldn't agree more.

From PIMCO:

Understanding Japan’s Disasters, by Mohamed El-Erian

Japan’s reconstruction challenge will likely be more difficult than after the Kobe earthquake.Negative wealth and income effects this time around will be more severe, and the recovery process will probably take longer and be more complex.Japan's disasters will add to the global economy’s headwinds.

As we all struggle to comprehend the economic and financial impact of Japan’s calamity, it is tempting to seek historical analogies for guidance. Indeed, many have been quick to cite the aftermath of the terrible 1995 Kobe earthquake. But, while that example provides some insights, it is too limited to understand what lies ahead for Japan, and excessive reliance on it could undermine appropriate policy responses, both in Japan and abroad.

First, let us consider the similarities between Japan’s current tragedy and that of 1995. Both involved terrible earthquakes that resulted in tremendous human suffering and large-scale physical damage. Both required the Japanese government to display considerable agility in its rescue efforts. Both triggered multiple offers of help from friends and allies around the world. In both cases, wealth destruction was accompanied by disruptions to daily economic life.

There are also important forward-looking similarities. As with the aftermath of Kobe, the current focus on rescuing survivors will be followed by a huge reconstruction program. Massive budgetary allocations will be made (2% of GDP in the case of Kobe). Affected households will receive financial assistance to help them restore some normalcy to their lives. Roads, housing, and much other infrastructure will be repaired and upgraded.

These similarities have led several economists to provide early predictions of the national and global economic consequences, including a sharp V-like recovery in Japan’s growth rate in 2011, as the initial downturn is followed by a surge in economic activity, implying a rapid recovery in Japan’s tax base and level of GDP. Such predictions counsel caution against over-reaction by policymakers outside Japan. Rather than immediately incorporating Japanese developments into their thinking, policymakers should treat the effects on the global economy as “transitory” – that is, temporary and reversible – and thus “look through” them in designing their responses.

But there is a risk that this approach could understate the Japanese disaster’s domestic and international consequences. As such, it could contribute to insufficient responses in Japan itself – from the government to individual companies and households – as well as in other countries. Indeed, such a mal-diagnosis could delay what I believe will be an eventual solid recovery in Japan.

Five factors suggest that Japan faces a uniquely difficult and uncertain set of challenges. First, the economic damage from Japan’s three calamities (a horrifying earthquake, a devastating tsunami, and a nuclear crisis) may well be double that of Kobe. And, unlike Kobe, these calamities did affect Tokyo – indirectly, fortunately – where some 40% of Japan’s industrial production is located.

Second, Japan’s public finances are weaker than in 1995, and demographic factors are less favorable. Domestic public debt today stands at roughly 205% of GDP, compared to around 85% in 1995. The country’s sovereign rating is AA-, not AAA, as it was 16 years ago. This erodes the flexibility and ultimate effectiveness of fiscal responses.

Third, benchmark interest rates are already near zero, and have been for a while. This undermines the potency of monetary policy notwithstanding bold and imaginative efforts by the Bank of Japan to inject liquidity into the economy.

Fourth, the addition of destabilizing nuclear uncertainty to the terrible impact of the natural disasters amplifies the reconstruction challenges. Given the damage and dangers, it will take time for Japan to restore fully its power-generation capabilities, affecting the potential GDP growth rate. Food safety is also a concern, as is the economic impact of nuclear uncertainties on the Japanese psyche.

Finally, Japan’s external environment today is more challenging. During the post-Kobe reconstruction period, world demand was buoyant and global productivity surged, owing to China’s gathering boom, America’s information-technology and communications revolution, and political and economic convergence in Europe.

Today, aggregate demand in advanced economies is still recovering from the global financial crisis, while systemically important emerging economies like Brazil and China are tapping their policy brakes in order to counter economic overheating. Meanwhile, on the supply side, countries are dealing with high and volatile commodity prices, including an oil-price spike as a result of the Middle East uprisings.

If this analysis proves correct, it implies that Japan’s reconstruction challenge will be more difficult than after the Kobe earthquake. Negative wealth and income effects this time around will be more severe, and the recovery process will probably take longer and be more complex.

At the national level, this calls urgently for a degree of unity and decisiveness that has been absent from Japanese politics for years. Without it, the authorities will find it difficult to communicate and implement a medium-term economic vision that puts rapid sustained growth, and not just reconstruction, at the core of the policy response.

Japan's disasters will add to the global economy’s headwinds – be they the impact of the initial fall in consumption in the world’s third-largest economy, or disruptions to global supply chains (particularly in technology and autos). And Japan’s nuclear crisis will mean greater uncertainty about nuclear power in other countries.

There is also a financial angle, the importance of which depends on the mix of new government borrowing, debt monetization, and repatriation of Japanese savings that is used to fund Japan's reconstruction program. The greater the repatriation component, the larger the negative impact on some financial markets.

So, as tempting as they may be, analytical shortcuts are best avoided at this early stage. It will take time and thorough analysis to specify the true consequences of Japan’s triple calamity, including the longer-term impact on its economy and that of the rest of the world.

The Japanese have shown admirable courage in the face of unthinkable tragedy. I have no doubt that a successful reconstruction program will lead their country to recovery. In the meantime, however, the urgency of restoring a sense of normalcy and hope to a dramatically wounded society warrants thoughtful and deep analyses.

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Monday, 21 March 2011

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The BP Disaster Never Ended

From Stuart H. Smith

A large oil slick – 12-miles wide by 100-miles long – was spotted yesterday off Grand Isle, Louisiana, by pilot Bonny Schumaker, who heads up the California-based environmental nonprofit “On Wings of Care.” Ms. Schumaker confirmed that the slick is rapidly expanding, and reports that she will be returning to the site as soon as possible to further investigate the situation. New Orleans photographer Jerry Moran, who was flying with Schumaker, filed aerial photos.

This new oil spill is New Huge Spill is in the undersea Mississsippi Canyon System – the same area as BP’s Deepwater Horizon disaster.

Throughout the month of February, Corexit and other dispersants have still been sprayed in the Gulf and many people asked themselves why this would be necessary. After all BP and the Government assured us the well was capped and the danger was over, right? But reports of huge undersea cracks still seeping oil from the sea floor remained. And now, the evidence is too huge to cover up: the oil is obviously still leaking, and if throwing more dispersant at it is their only solution, then it appears BP is powerless to stop the leak at its source (or sources).

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Saturday, 19 March 2011

Max Igan Japan Disaster - Understand & Prepare

March 17, 2011 Christopher Everard and Max Igan join the discussion on the recent events in Japan, the threat upon the world and how we can prepare ourselves for the worst. will japan which a country the size of California become a dead zone ????Man thought that the free-will granted? to him by his Creator allows him to perform a coup d'etat against the Creator. The objective is to take over the

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Disaster in Japan: The REAL Impact

Excuse my French, but all hell is breaking loose around the globe.

The disaster in Japan has completely overshadowed news of the still-raging Middle East crisis.

And before that, the Middle East crisis violently shoved aside the historic budget battles in Washington, Wisconsin, Ohio, Illinois and elsewhere.

This triple-punch to the gut is hammering world’s investment markets.

And now, things are getting really strange …

As Japan’s nightmare unfolded, most experts expected investors to move their money out of Japan and into the U.S. or other major markets.

But in reality, the exact opposite is happening!

Yesterday, for instance, the Dow fell 242 points, the S&P 500 plunged 25 points, the Nasdaq declined 50, as global investors dropped U.S. stocks like hot potatoes. It was the market’s largest one-day decline in 7 months!

Even more telling, the Japanese yen soared to its highest level of all time!

But why? The answers are disturbing:

First, the U.S. market is vulnerable for a host of reasons — the continuing depression in housing, surging wholesale prices, rising long-term interest rates, and more!

Second, on the other side of the Pacific, Japan’s insurance companies are expecting to take massive hits. The insurance claims from Japan’s earthquake, tsunami and nuclear nightmare are bound to be both extremely large — and extremely difficult to estimate — for a long time.
I know because when I was a young analyst for a Japanese brokerage firm in Japan 30 years ago, and our primary clients were Japan’s largest insurers.

That’s how I learned that Japan’s Ministry of Finance (MOF) had been preparing Japan’s insurers for this disaster for many years.

They knew the next “Big One” was coming someday — an earthquake that could cause unprecedented volumes of claims both to property and casualty insurers as well as life and health companies.

They also they’d need liquid assets OUTSIDE of Japan to help pay the claims. So they mandated that insurers hold a solid chunk of their reserves in U.S., German and other foreign government securities.

How much? Huge amounts! Because they feared the earthquake might hit Tokyo. Instead, thankfully, Tokyo was spared a direct hit. But no one planned for a giant tsunami — let alone a nuclear disaster all at the same time.

Now the Japanese insurers have to start cashing in their foreign holdings, with most of those in U.S. markets. That means they’ve got to sell dollars, buy Japanese yen and then repatriate that money to help pay claims.

That’s a key reason the yen is surging, while the dollar plunges against the yen.

Third, the Bank of Japan will liquidate additional amounts of their U.S. assets to pump into the domestic economy and help finance reconstruction efforts.

Fourth, global investors aren’t dumb: They know that, to support the U.S. bond market, the U.S. Federal Reserve is going to print money hand over fist.

That not only hurts the U.S. dollar over the long haul … it also drives more money into all those assets that rise when the dollar falls, especially silver and gold.
My overall view …

An American Apocalypse
Has Now Begun

This new crisis could not have come at a worse time for American families. Unless our government makes an abrupt, 180-degree turn, it can only add fuel to the fires that have already been burning — a falling dollar, surging food and energy prices, higher U.S. interest rates, and more.

This is why I have just recorded and released a brand new video presentation — American Apocalypse.

In it, I show you why millions of Americans are likely to lose their incomes, their savings, their buying power, their homes.

I document the reasons why your liberty … your financial security … your retirement … your family’s physical safety … are now in grave danger.

Plus, I give you a clear plan to insulate yourself and your wealth as this historic catastrophe unfolds.

Click this link, and the video will begin playing on your screen right away.

Good luck and God bless!

Martin

Dr. Weiss began his career in 1971 when he founded Weiss Research, dedicated to evaluating the safety of financial institutions and investments for consulting clients.  He is the publisher and contributing editor of the financial newsletter, Safe Money, known for its track record in picking major turns in interest rates, and serves as co-editor for a number of Premium Services. He is also the author of The Ultimate Safe Money Guide and The Ultimate Depression Survival Guide.


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Friday, 18 March 2011

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Thursday, 17 March 2011

Disaster in Japan; Just When the World’s Third Biggest Economy Was Turning Up

By Mitchell Clark, B.Comm.


It’s difficult thinking about stocks, commodities and investing in general when you see the tremendous devastation in Japan. Stock picking seems like a flippant endeavor compared to dealing with the loss of life in this natural disaster. The markets are clearly reflecting the shock of it all, as well as the very real economic worries now affecting the globe’s third largest economy. Japan consumes a lot of the world’s exports and there will no doubt be an immediate adjustment to businesses selling product to that country. As Japan’s economic interests naturally turn inward to focus on recovery and restoring infrastructure, the country’s fiscal situation will no doubt worsen. All this, just when Japan’s economy was seemingly coming out of a long period of stagnation.


It’s difficult thinking about stocks, commodities and investing in general when you see the tremendous devastation in Japan. Stock picking seems like a flippant endeavor compared to dealing with the loss of life in this natural disaster. My cousin’s husband is a Japanese American executive with Coca-Cola in Tokyo. Their immediate family is all right, but, as they communicated over e-mail, the entire country is virtually shut down.


The markets are clearly reflecting the shock of it all, as well as the very real economic worries now affecting the globe’s third largest economy. Japan consumes a lot of the world’s exports and there will no doubt be an immediate adjustment to businesses selling product to that country. As Japan’s economic interests naturally turn inward to focus on recovery and restoring infrastructure, the country’s fiscal situation will no doubt worsen. All this, just when Japan’s economy was seemingly coming out of a long period of stagnation.


Domestic lumber stocks are slightly ticking higher as speculators bet on Japan’s new infrastructure requirements. This, of course, is mostly just trading noise at this point. It’s way too early for any economic analysis of Japan’s actual need, other than it is enormous. This kind of speculation is just as likely not to work out anyway. Japan may choose to rebuild with metal studs instead of spruce. I don’t even want to think about it.


From a purely financial point of view, my analysis of domestic capital markets is that they will withstand this natural disaster. The stock market is now in the “lull” between earnings seasons and is actually holding up well considering the severity of events. The stock market has been due for a correction and it seems like events in Japan are unfortunately the catalyst. As the first quarter of 2011 is quickly coming to an end, the expectation is for strong corporate profits once again and that’s what institutional investors care about. This is what’s keeping investor sentiment in stocks generally positive.


I want to repeat a sentiment I’ve been writing about recently. There isn’t any rush for investors to be making any bold new bets in this market. I remain bullish on equities this year, although the action in the Dow Jones Transportation Average is still worrisome. Investing in gold has been, and continues to be, a good idea, but that commodity is also due for a major pullback. Over the very near term, global capital markets will reflect the daily events taking place in Japan. Domestic markets are now in a correction.

Mitchell is a Senior Editor at Lombardi Financial specializing in small-cap stocks. He’s the editor of a variety of popular Lombardi Financial newsletters, such as Penny Stock Reporter, Micro-Cap Stocks, and Monster Profits. Mitchell, who has been with Lombardi Financial for thirteen years, won the Jack Madden Prize in economic history and is a long-time student of equity markets. Prior to joining Lombardi, Mitchell was as a stock broker for a large investment bank. While Mitchell is not working he enjoys fly fishing, motorcycling and tending to his hobby farm.

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Don’t Let Crisis of Japanese Earthquake Go To Waste! Natural Disaster or Local Agenda 21 Eugenics Programme Acceleration?

By Neil Foster – The Sovereign Independent -

As if the Japanese people haven’t suffered enough from the effects of radiation contamination going back to the two criminal bombings of WW II, they’re now having to contend with a nuclear disaster on their own terms which is looming on their Eastern seaboard and which it is reported could even contaminate the West coast of America.

This is of course blamed on that well know natural phenomenon of the earthquake which is a recurring feature in this region. However, when we consider the scale of this earthquake and the consequential fallout, if you’ll pardon the pun, we perhaps need to take a closer look at exactly what’s happening here.

The earthquake in itself, for the moment, we’ll take as a natural occurrence. The reasons for questioning this will be look at later. Suffice to say that the insanity of man has the capability to cause such disasters unnaturally and has done for decades. The 35 page report below is clear evidence from many sources, including the military, that weapons are available to cause such ‘natural’ disasters as volcanoes, earthquakes, tsunamis, floods and severe storms. This is not science fiction and the fact that it is stated in these documents that they can cause such devastation should be taken as proof that they must have tested these weapons somewhere on this planet, conceivably more than once to determine their operational effectiveness. This being the case, where and when did they test them and are they still doing so?

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Wednesday, 16 March 2011

Civility During Japanese Disaster

japanese-testing--for-radiation

One thing that I have noticed throughout the terrible disaster in Japan so far, is how well behaved the Japanese people seem to have been. The images and video that I’ve seen from media outlets in Japan, including those replayed on U.S. media outlets, nowhere have I seen or heard reports of unrest, looting, or violence. It is a refreshing thing to observe.

I cannot help but think that sadly, here in the U.S., there is an element that would be taking advantage of the situation. We’ve already seen it here during previous disasters. Sometimes one of the very first things we see on television is imagery of looting. The very minute that this element gets the sense that the rule of law has somehow temporarily been put aside, the looting begins.

The more people that maintain ‘cool heads’ so-to-speak, the better decisions will be made. This post is short, but I feel important to note, kudos to the Japanese people.


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NUCLEAR DISASTER IN JAPAN: The worst still to come

NUCLEAR DISASTER IN JAPAN: The worst still to come , The Japanese authorities are covering up the truth and down-scaling the magnitude of the disaster ,But these attempts to minimize, can not hide the obvious: things are getting worse, the situation is out of control and to prevent the meltdown in the reactor they will try to cool the plant with sea water and boric acid. Mike Rivero discusses

[[ This is a content summary only. Visit my website for the full story www.Trends2012.co.cc ]]

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