Earthwatch: A Diary of the Planet

Nuclear Accident

At least 22 workers at a South Korean nuclear power plant were exposed to radiation when a major leak of heavy water occurred during repair operations. Authorities said that none of the technicians were seriously irradiated. Heavy water, which can be highly toxic, is used in nuclear plants as a coolant for the nuclear reaction process. About 12 gallons of the heavy water were released in the accident at the power station in Wolsung, 190 miles southeast of the capital city of Seoul. Twenty additional technicians were sent in to clean the area, and all were exposed to the radioactive gas emanating from the water.

Champagne Fish Kill

Thousands of fish were killed in France’s Marne River after the residue of the last seasonal pressing of champagne grapes was washed into the river by heavy rains. The organic pollution consumed most of the oxygen in the river and caused a bacteria, which was deadly to the fish, to multiply. Large numbers of pike, roach and tench were killed as the pollution affected a 20-mile stretch of the river. Firemen and the military worked side by side to scoop out the dead fish, piling them six feet high along the banks of the river. The kill has sparked heated disagreements between wine growers and local fishermen, who said it could take up to 10 years for the stocks of fish to return to normal levels. The champagne industry has been striving to meet the increased demand for its wine due to the anticipated millennium celebrations worldwide.

Earthquakes

At least 100 people were injured when a magnitude 5.2 earthquake, followed by 20 aftershocks, shook the city of Marmaris in Turkey’s Aegean province of Mugla. Many of the injured were tourists who had come to the seaside resort to relax after living through the numerous earthquakes that have recently plagued the country.

* A magnitude 5.5 earthquake struck in the Andes Mountains of central Peru, causing buildings to sway and damaging some homes.

* Earth movements were also felt in coastal Peru, northern Chile, Costa Rica, the northern Philippines, eastern Taiwan, northeastern Japan, the Aleutian Islands, the Salton Sea area of Southern California, northwest Iran, Jordan and the Athens aftershock zone.

Floods

At least 110 people have been killed and 157,000 others forced to evacuate their homes in the raging floods that are the worst to hit southeastern Mexico in 40 years. A subsequent mudslide buried between 40 and 60 people at a temporary shelter where they had taken refuge from the inundations. The storms moved into Mexico after ravaging Central America, where they left 74 people dead.

* At least two people in southern Yemen have been killed in floods triggered by the heaviest rains to strike the region since 1982. The inundations also killed a large number of livestock and destroyed cropland in Lahj, south of the capital city of Sanaa.