Earthwatch: A Diary of the PlanetFoot and Mouth Panic

An outbreak of foot and mouth disease in the United Kingdom is spreading panic across much of Europe while threatening to disrupt food supplies as well as daily life for millions of people. Thousands of animals suspected of being contaminated were being burned in huge funeral-like pyres across several European countries one week after the first case of the disease was identified in Britain. Trails and footpaths across Great Britain have been closed, as well as a number of highways, as a battle against the outbreak is said to be underway in every field and farm in the country. Although humans rarely contract the disease, they can carry it on their shoes and clothing. Travelers from Britain are required to walk over sponges filled with disinfectant when they arrive on the Continent. Border officials are enforcing a ban on all meat and dairy products from Britain.

Earthquakes

At least three people were killed, 24,000 homes destroyed and nearly 60,000 others damaged in a magnitude 6.0 earthquake that hit a remote part of southwestern China’s Sichuan Province on Feb. 23.

The strongest earthquake to strike Washington’s Puget Sound in more than 50 years killed one person, caused widespread structural damage and knocked out power to tens of thousands of residents.

Earth movements were also felt in the San Francisco Bay Area, southwestern Utah, the El Salvador aftershock zone, the French Riviera, western Greece, northern Pakistan, northeastern India, Russia’s Lake Baikal region, northern Japan and Indonesian islands surrounding the Maluku Sea.

Tropical Cyclones

An area of disturbed weather near New Caledonia formed into tropical cyclone Paula, which passed between the island and the neighboring South Pacific nation of Vanuatu. Paula was predicted to skirt Fiji late in the week with gale-force winds.

Weaker tropical cyclone Abigail lost force as it made landfall on the southwestern coast of Australia’s Gulf of Carpentaria.

Mozambique Inundations

Emergency teams in Mozambique worked frantically to move tens of thousands of residents threatened as waters gushing from open sluice gates on the Cahora Bassa Dam began to reach the central city of Tete. Higher parts of the city appeared to become islands as the floodwaters rose above many neighborhoods. The dam was forced to release water flowing in from the countries of Zambia and Zimbabwe following incessant rains upstream, and additional heavy downpours are predicted. Mozambique is still recovering from destructive floods that devastated the country at the beginning of last year, killing more than 700 people and destroying much of the country’s infrastructure.

Winter Twister

At least 10 people were killed in winter storms that lashed the southern United States, spawning a tornado nearly 600 feet wide that cut a swath of destruction through Pontotoc County in Mississippi.