What In the World is Happening?
By Rabbi Rob Miller
member www.uonyc.org

Up until December 25th, 2004 close to 300 natural and man-made catastrophes around the world had been registered this year, claiming the lives of more than 21,000 people, almost half were in Asia or Africa: causing total economic damage of approximately $105 billion, up from over $65 billion in 2003. The average annual loss over of the last 10 years has been $70 billion.
Earthquakes
"For ethnic group will rise against ethnic group, and nation against nation. And there will be famines, pestilences, and earthquakes in various places. (Matthew 24:7)"
January, the 5.4 earthquake in the Australian outback was the largest on record in the sparsely populated area.
February 5, Papua, Indonesian a 7.0 magnitude earthquake killed 31 people.
February 24, a 6.4 magnitude earthquake in northern Morocco near the coastal city of al Hoceima killed 628 people and left 15,000 homeless.
April, the strains on the southern San Andreas Fault in California are at their highest levels in some 1,500 years.
May, South Korea registered a 5.6 earthquake, its strongest quake in 26 years.
May 28, a 6.3 magnitude earthquake in Northern Iran killed 35 people.
July 12, a powerful 6.7-magnitude earthquake hit Tibet in the Gangdise mountains about 350 miles / 560km west of the Tibetan capital of Lhasa which has about 20 000 inhabitants.
July 16–18: in New Zealand floods and more than 30 earthquakes killed 2 people and led to the evacuation of 1500 people.
September, two 5.0 quakes in Russia were the strongest in Northern Europe for several decades. Experts say it is very unusual that an earthquake that far away was registered at such strength in the Oslo region. It is also unusual that two such strong quakes occurred within two-and-a-half hours.
Oct. 23, Niigata, Japan: A 6.6 magnitude earthquake, the deadliest in more than a decade, hit Japan, killing 40, injuring more than 3,100, and destroying more than 6,000 buildings. A series of quakes triggered more than 1,000 landslides, derailed a high-speed train, disrupted power, and damaged many roads in the area. Communications to the area were cut off leaving many without food and supplies. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated to shelters.
Nov. 11, Kepulauan Alor, Indonesia: A 7.5 earthquake, the largest in 2004, killed 28 people.
Nov. 20, San Jose, Costa Rica: A 6.4 earthquake, 30 mi south-southwest of San Jose, killed 8 people, several from heart attacks.
Nov. 26, West Papua province, Indonesia: A magnitude 7.1 earthquake destroyed 328 buildings and killed at least 32.
What this is telling me is that like at no other time in modern history the earth’s tectonic plates are on the move.
Weather
The greatest environmental catastrophe in recorded history is now unfolding. The Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute has announced that the North Atlantic Oscillation, meaning that the "heat pump" effect that draws warm water north is failing, and, along with it, the Gulf Stream. The Institute has observed, "the largest and most dramatic oceanic change ever measured in the era of modern instruments," in an analysis of Atlantic Ocean currents from pole to pole. Woods Hole has found that salt levels are changing in ways that they have changed in the past leading to periods of abrupt climate change. Polar waters are becoming far less salty.
Dr Ruth Curry, the study's lead scientist, says: "This has the potential to change the circulation of the ocean significantly in our lifetime. Northern Europe will likely experience a significant cooling."
In January – February snow, ice, and freezing cold spread across the mid-west, the northern Plains, and eastern U.S. from Atlanta, Georgia north through Pennsylvania. At least 56 deaths were blamed on the weather. Record cold and record snowfalls were seen: blizzard conditions in North Dakota, exceedingly heavy snowfalls in North Carolina, and heavy snowfall in the eastern Mediterranean and in western Europe.
On March 6th the central provinces of South Korea received the heaviest single-day snowfall since 1904 when the country began collecting weather data.
The United States, Caribbean, Gulf of Mexico and parts of the Atlantic Basin were hit by a series of hurricanes in August and September. For the first time since 1886, three hurricanes, Charley, Frances and Jeanne, made landfall in the same state – Florida; Ivan made landfall in Alabama, but continued its path across Florida. Hurricane Jeanne killed another 2,900 on Haiti that had already been ravaged by flooding that claimed more than 3,300 lives in May. All four hurricanes caused losses in the billions. Charley wrought economic damage of $16 billion, including insurance claims of $7 billion, killing 31 people in storm-related deaths in the U.S., 4 in Cuba, and 1 in Jamaica. The figures for the other hurricanes were: Frances $10 billion and 5 billion, respectively, killing 33 people; Jeanne $8 billion and 4 billion, respectively; and Ivan $22 billion and 11 billion with a death toll is at least 52, respectively. In the last 10 years we have seen more hurricanes than in any decade in the past 150 years.
Aug. 29–31, S.C., N.C., and Va.: Tropical storm Gaston made landfall in McClellanville, South Carolina and then moved through North Carolina and Virginia. Heavy rains dumped up to 14 inches on Richmond, Va. and the surrounding area, devastating the historic downtown area. The death toll from Gaston; 8 people.

Japan experienced the highest number of typhoons for decades in the period June to October. A "Hurricane" and "typhoon" the same thing, namely, a tropical cyclone with winds of 65 knots (75 m.p.h.) or more. When these storms occur in the Western we call them hurricanes. When they occur in the North Pacific Ocean west of the International Date Line, we call them typhoons. Typhoon Songda caused total economic losses of $6.2 billion, including property claims of 2.5 billion killing 31 people. The figures for Typhoon Tokage were $1.4 and 0.8 billion killing more than 100 people, respectively; and for Typhoon Chaba, $1.8 billion and 0.7 billion, respectively. In addition, the region of Niigata, already reeling from Typhoon Tokage, was hit in October by the Chuetsu earthquake (registering 6.9 on the Richter scale).
May 18, Philippines: Typhoon Nida hit the Philippines killing more than 25 people.
June 29 – July 3, Philippines: Typhoon Mindulle struck the Philippines, killing 30. It also killed at least 27 people and left 13 missing in Taiwan.
July, Hurricane Alex made the record books as the most northerly major hurricane on record.
Aug. 12, Zhejiang Province, China: Typhoon Rananim, the most powerful storm of the season, killed 164 people and caused extensive damage.
Aug. 24–25, Taiwan and China: Typhoon Aere swept through Taipei, Taiwan, causing flooding and landslides that killed 39 people in Taiwan and 12 in the Philippines. Aere moved on to China where nearly 1 million people were evacuated.
Aug. 29, southwestern Japan: Typhoon Chaba, with record high winds, killed at least 9 people and caused flooding. Earlier in the month, Typhoon Megi killed 9 in Japan.
September, the total number of tornado reports in the United States reached a record high for the second month in a row because of land-falling hurricanes, according to the NOAA Storm Prediction Center. Preliminary numbers indicate a total of 247 tornadoes reported during the month of September. This significantly tops the previous September record of 139 tornadoes set in 1967. Hurricane Frances produced the most tornadoes ever, topping Hurricane Beulah's 115 tornadoes in September 1967. September's record follows a record-breaking 173 reports during August, partially due to Tropical Storm Bonnie and Hurricane Charley. With a total of 292 tornado reports associated with land-falling tropical systems, this has been the most active period since 1967. The total number of tornadoes reported in 2004 so far is 1,516, already surpassing 1998's record total of 1,424 tornadoes for the year.
2004 is the wettest summer on record for Texas.
Nov. 29, eastern coast and Quezon province, Philippines: Flash floods and landslides from Typhoon Winnie killed more than 500 people and hundreds are still missing. Because of the many landslides, many areas were inaccessible to rescue and clean-up crews. The landslides were caused by the deforestation from both illegal and legal logging.
Dec. 2–3, eastern coast and Luzon, Philippines: Typhoon Nanmadol, a major storm, hit an area already devastated by two previous torrential storms that struck the northeastern region of the Philippines in the last two weeks. More than 1800 people died in storm related deaths from the three storms since November. It was the worst storm season for the Philippines in 13 years. Much of the devastation is due to massive landslides resulting from the deforestation by both legal and illegal logging. President Gloria Macapagal Arroyo has canceled all logging permits and security forces are cracking down on illegal logging.
Storms and flooding in the Philippines from mid-November to early December were responsible for over 1,700 deaths.
In March 8, Antalaha, Madagascar: Cyclone Gafilo with winds of 160 mph and heavy rains left hundreds of thousands homeless and killed 295 people. More than 100 were on a ferry that sank off the island of Comoros.
On the same day, in Baltimore, Md: Thunderstorms and strong winds gusting to 55 mph swept through Baltimore overturning a water taxi in the inner harbor, killing 5.
March 28, Santa Catarina, Brazil: The first documented hurricane in the South Atlantic, since records began in 1966, struck Brazil, killing 3 people.
April 20, Utica, Ill.: More than 52 tornadoes struck Illinois and other Midwest states devastating Utica, Ill., southwest of Chicago, and killing 8 people in the basement of the Millstone Tavern.
May, the strongest tornado in eight years hit southwestern Ontario, Canada.
May 23, Chandpur, Bangladesh: A storm on the Meghna River sank two ferries, killing more than 200 people.
May 29–30; Midwest, U.S.: Over the Memorial Day weekend tornadoes, high winds, and heavy thunderstorms from Louisiana to the Great Lakes killed 10 people, closed roads, caused power outages, flooded towns, and destroyed homes and buildings.
July, rainfall in June has broken records across Texas. In the northern part of the state, it has rained for 18 days in a row.
July 5–11, Romania: A heat wave killed 22 people in Romania and left many more sweltering in southern Europe.
Sept. 3–8, Sichuan province, China: Five days of downpours have left 172 people dead.
Nov. 7, Southern Philippines was hit by tropical storm Lingling sending flash floods and landslides that killed at least 115.
December snow fell in Southeast Texas. In Angleton TX. (40 mi south of Houston) they received 8” of snow on the 25th (2004). A few locations just west of us received over a foot of snow. According to the National Weather Service, our area has not seen snow like this in over 100 years.
Drought
“There will be…drought…(Luke 21:11)”
January, the current drought is possibly the worst drought to hit Southern Africa in nearly a century. At least 15 million people face shortages.
Australia reached record maximum temperatures for February 2004. They have had the most extraordinary run of hot weather, breaking record temperatures all over the country.
March, Arizona is facing its worst drought on record. The mountain snowpack was at half or less of the normal March level in many areas of the western U.S.
April, Peru has begun rationing water to its capital, Lima, following one of the worst droughts in a decade.
After five years of drought in southwest Kansas they have had their driest May on record.
June, Cuba's worst drought in a decade has dried up reservoirs and stunted crops. The severe drought enveloping eastern Cuba has eroded 40 percent of the farmland.
The drought in the Western U.S. could be the region's worst in 500 years, and the arid conditions there may persist for several decades. Drought has gripped some parts of the West for as many as seven consecutive years.
The Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region in north China and neighboring northeastern provinces are sustaining the severest drought since Communist China was founded in 1949.
Sydney, Australia's main source of drinking water, Warragamba Dam, has dropped to its lowest level in more than 20 years.
July, the long and crippling drought in New South Wales, Australia continues to create new records - this time forcing the earliest ever bushfire warning. Farmers in Queensland, Australia are still struggling from the effects of the nation's worst drought in a century.
September, over 6.5 million people are at risk from Afghanistan's worst drought in recent history.
October, San Diego, California tied a record for the longest period without rain. The last time it rained in the San Diego area was 180 days ago – on April 17. San Diego broke the record just last year, so that's two years in a row with record streaks of no measurable rainfall in the area.
Sydney, Australia's dam levels fell to 42 per cent on the hottest October day on record.
November, the worst drought in two decades in Thailand's northeastern province of Yasothon.
Poor autumn rainfall has caused the worst drought conditions in South China in nearly 50 years.
Floods
“So shall they fear the name of Yahweh from the West, and His glory from the rising of the sun. When the enemy comes in like a flood, the Spirit of Yahweh will raise up a standard against him (Isaiah 59:19).”
April 1–6, New Mexico, Texas, Mexico: Flash flooding from torrential rains in the Rio Grande and Escondido rivers closed roads, and forced many to evacuate their homes, killing 37 Mexicans. A foot of hail fell in Fort Stockton. Mexican President Vincente Fox declared a state of emergency.
May, two weeks of torrential rain have caused flooding so severe in the Dominican Republic that they are calling this the worst natural disaster to have affected their nation in the last 100 years.
July, more than 10 million people in southeastern Asia were hit by what officials are calling the most severe monsoon floods for a decade. In Sylhet, Bangladesh, the flooding is the worst since 1988, when two-thirds of the country was submerged.
September, Bangladesh's capital Dhaka was hit by the worst flooding in decades. Nearly all main roads in the city are under water. Officials say such severe flooding is "unprecedented". Meteorological officials believe recent rainfall is the worst for many years, overshadowing July's floods when the rest of the nation experienced its worst floods in six years. 341mm of rain had fallen in Dhaka, the highest recorded level in 50 years and two more days of rain are forecast.
Man’s Inhumanities to Man
“When you hear of wars and commotions, do not be terrified, for these things must come to pass…(Luke 21:9)”
The number of terrorist attacks declined in Israel with only 6 all year long, while they went up world wide.
Jan 29, Jerusalem, Israel 11 were killed and 50 wounded when Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade terrorists blew up a bus.
Feb. 22, Jerusalem, Israel 8 were killed 60 wounded again by the Al Aqsa Martyr’s Brigade terrorists.
March 11, Madrid, Spain: Europe had to cope with fewer natural catastrophes than in previous years. However, 10 bombs exploded on morning commuter trains in Madrid, killing 202, injuring more than 1,400, causing the worst terrorist attack in Europe. Several Moroccans and Indians with ties to Al-Qaeda were later arrested.
Mar 14, 10 people were killed and 16 wounded when Fatah terrorists attacked the port of Ashdod, Israel.
April 17, Israel a 20 year old Israeli Boarder policeman was killed and three others wounded when a Hamas terrorist blew himself up.
April 21, Riyadh, Saudi Arabia: A suicide car bomber who was stopped short of the former General Security building detonated the vehicle, killing at least 5 and wounding 148. This was the third successful bombing in Riyadh in the past year. Several other potential car bombs were defused this week by security forces. A pro-al-Qaeda group claimed responsibility for the attack.
April 27, Damascus, Syria: Terrorists set off explosives near the British embassy and a former UN building. At least four people were killed.
May 4, Athens, Greece: Three bombs exploded in Athens just 100 days before the start of the Olympics, causing increased concern about security for the games. There were no serious injuries.
July 11, Tel Aviv, Israel, a 19 year old Israeli army Sergeant was killed and 33 wounded when a bomb blew up at a bus stop.
Aug. 24, Moscow, Russia: Two Russian planes, a Siberia Airlines Tu-154 and a Volga-Avia Express Tupolev 134 aircraft, both departing from Moscow's airport, crashed within minutes of each other, killing a total of 89 people. Investigators discovered evidence of explosives on both flights. It is suspected that Chechen women, one on each flight were involved. The terrorist group, Islambouli Brigades, vowing support for Chechen rebels, claimed responsibility.
Aug. 31 Beersheba, Israel Palestinian homicide bombers blew up two busses killing 16 and wounding over 100. Hamas claimed responsibility.
Sept. 1, 2004: Chechen rebels took more than 1,200 hostages in a school in southern Russia, which ended two days later in a wave of explosions and gunfire as hostages tried to flee, and special forces and armed civilians tried to aid them. All the terrorists and 326 hostages, half of them children, were killed.
September 22, two Boarder Policemen were killed and 17 wounded in northern Jerusalem when a female terrorist of the Al Aqsa Brigade blew herself up.
Oct. 6, Taba, Egypt: Three car bombs targeting Israeli tourists exploded at Egyptian resort areas on the Sinai Peninsula. The largest explosion at the Hilton Taba hotel killed at least 34. The other two bombs exploded in Ras Shitan, a camp area 35 miles to the south of Taba. An Al-Qaeda connection to the bombings is suspected.
Oct. 8, Paris, France: A bomb exploded outside the Indonesian Embassy in Paris, wounding 10. Neither person nor organization has claimed responsibility.
November 1, 3 people were killed and 30 wounded when PLO terrorists detonated a bomb at a market in Tel Aviv.
Dec. 6, Jiddah, Saudi Arabia: Five Al-Qaeda militants attacked the U.S. consulate leaving a total of nine dead (five consulate employees and four attackers), none were American. The militants drove up to the consulate gates, then jumped out and opened fire with machine guns and hand grenades, and entered the compound. Saudi security forces stopped the raid and secured the compound within 30 minutes. The attackers claimed to be members of the Falluja Brigades. Attacks in Saudi Arabia have killed more then 75 since May 20, 2003.
Dec. 7, a 20 year old Israeli Army Sergeant was killed when he inspected a booby trapped chicken coup at a Gaza crossing. 4 other soldiers were wounded.
Dec. 12, Manila, Philippines: A bomb exploded in a crowded market of Christmas stalls, killing 15 people and wounding 65.
In 2004, the Sudanese Arab government has exterminated 30-50 thousand Christians.
War
“Nation will rise against nation…(Luke 21:10)”
The war in Iraq has claimed 12,000 lives. Multiple terrorist attacks in Iraq following the official end of the war on May 1, 2003, have caused 1,481 coalition troop deaths, 1,331 of them Americans, 75 Britons, seven Bulgarians, one Dane, two Dutch, two Estonians, one Hungarian, 19 Italians, one Latvian, 16 Poles, one Salvadoran, three Slovaks, 11 Spaniards, two Thai and nine Ukrainians in the war in Iraq as of December 27, 2004.
Sudan civil war pitting black Christians and animists in the south against the Arab-Muslims of the north has cost 2 million lives in war and famine-related deaths.
Jan 2004: Arab Israeli war, Israel - Second Intifada. 3,000+ deaths. (700+ Israelis, 2,300+ Palestinians). Since Israel won its independence in 1948 there has been 8-12 thousand Israelis killed, 36-60 Arabs killed and 50,000 of them were civilians.
Pestilence
“There will be…pestilence…(Luke 21:11)”
August, a war on locusts has been declared as the New South Wales, Australia Government braces for the worst plague in 30 years.
October, Israel hit by their worst locust plague since the 1950s.
But the most sinister pestilence is the micro-organisms. The threat of germ warfare has brought to the forefront long-forgotten diseases like plague, anthrax, and smallpox. Recent television news programs have highlighted secret projects in the former Soviet Union to develop antibiotic-resistant strains of genetically engineered viruses and bacteria. Newer plagues and pestilence include AIDS, SARS, West Nile Virus, Mad Cow Disease, Ebola Virus, and more. We might soon be seeing bio-terrorism play a role here, and a new term, “Agri-terror”; that is, the deliberate infection of livestock with deadly plagues both to animals and humans.
Ebola hemorrhagic fever is one of the deadliest and most feared diseases in the world; in southern Sudan. Five people have already died and 120 others are under observation. Officials do not know to what extent the disease has spread.
Rift Valley Fever is an African disease is spread by mosquitoes. In humans it is more deadly than West Nile virus, but poses the greatest threat to livestock, killing nearly 30 percent of all infected animals. If spread to the United States would be very difficult to contain.
Local Chinese health officials recently announced the death of a man who contracted anthrax from an infected cow. Authorities around the globe keep finding terrorists trying to cook diseases like anthrax and smallpox to be used as weapons in bioterror attacks.
Malaria has been successfully treated for many years with an over-the-counter drug called chloroquine, however now the disease has mutated and is resistant to drugs and is spreading throughout Africa, South America, and Southeast Asia.
Stronger drug-resistant strains of Cholera and Tuberculosis have also mutated.
There are at least 15 different types of bird flu around the world. The current outbreak is highly contagious among birds and rapidly fatal and has mutated so that it now can be transmitted to humans, causing severe illness and death. It has been known to mutate rapidly, and has resurfaced as an epidemic in eastern Asia.
Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome caused by a newly mutated rodant virus that killed nearly 800 people worldwide, symptoms are similar to the bird flu, although easier to contain. The initial outbreak is under control and scientists have been able to use antibodies to treat patients, but there is still the possibility of the disease re-emerging.
The human immunodeficiency virus (HIV), AIDS effects more than 40 million people worldwide, 30 million of whom live in the developing world. The AIDS epidemic remains as much a political issue as it is a humanitarian one, much to the detriment of those suffering from the disease. At the Global AIDS Conference in Bangkok, controversy erupted over whether abstaining from sex or using condoms was more effective in preventing AIDS.
Accidents
“There shall be fearful sights…(Luke 21:11)”
Jan. 3, Sharm el-Sheikh, Egypt: A Egyptian charter Boeing 737 crashed into the Red Sea shortly after take-off, killing 148 people many of whom were French tourists going home from holidays.
Jan. 13, Tashkent, Uzbekistan: All 37 people, including the top UN official in Uzbekistan, killed in Uzbek plane crash in dense fog while landing at Tashkent airport.
Jan. 23, New Delhi, India: Sixty-four people, including the groom, perished in a wedding hall in southern India as people panicked in the narrow stairwell.
Feb. 1, Mecca, Saudi Arabia: At the Hajj pilgrimage, attended by more than two million people, a stampede during the stone-throwing ritual killed 251 pilgrims. This annual ritual by Muslims involves throwing stones at three columns of stone that symbolizes the devil.
Feb. 10, United Arab Emirates: An Iranian Fokker-50 enroute from Tish Island to Sharjah, Iran, crashed while landing, killing 43 people. There were 3 survivors in critical condition.
Feb. 18, Neishabour, Iran: Rail cars loaded with fertilizer, petrol, and sulphur products broke away from the locomotive, rolled 31 miles down the rails, caught fire, and subsequently exploded, killing more than 320 and devastating five villages.
Feb. 26, Sarajevo, Bosnia: The crash of a twin-engine turboprop plane in fog in the south of Bosnia, killed Macedonia's President Boris Trajkovski and eight others. Trajkovski was praised for his work in uniting his ethnically divided country after the break up of Yugoslavia.
April 22, Ryongchon, North Korea: Two trains carrying flammable liquids collided, causing a huge explosion near the Chinese border, killing 150, and injuring more than 1300. North Korea declared a state of emergency.
April 29, Bogota, Colombia: A construction backhoe rolled off its trailer, fell over a ledge, and crushed a school bus, killing 22 children ages 5 to 16 and two adults.
May 19, Dallas, Tex.: Two freight trains collided derailing 20 cars, killing one person.
June 29, Sierra Leone: A United Nations helicopter carrying peacekeepers and others crashed, killing all 24 on board.
July 22, Sakarya province, Turkey: A high-speed train from Istanbul to Ankara derailed, killing 37 people.
Aug. 9, Mihama, Japan: Non-radioactive steam leaked from a nuclear power plant north of Kyoto, killing 4 workers and severely burning 7 others.
Aug. 22, Carabobo, Venezuela : A Venezuelan air force plane crashed in bad weather, killing all 25 aboard.
Oct. 19, Kirksville, Mo.: A commuter plane, Corporate Airlines Flight 5966, crashed 4 mi outside of the Kirksville Regional Airport, killing 13 of the 15 on board.
Oct. 24, Martinsville, N.C.: A private plane, belonging to the Rick Hendrick NASCAR team, crashed in heavy fog in North Carolina killing 10, including his son, brother, and other close relatives of Hendrick and several members of the organization.
Nov. 21, Baotou, China: China Eastern Airlines commuter plane, a Bombardier CRJ-200, exploded and plunged into a frozen lake just after take-off from Baotou, a city in northern China. All 53 people on board and 1 on the ground were killed
Nov. 30, Solo, Indonesia: A Lion Air MD-82 plane skidded off the runway in Solo, Indonesia, killing 31 and injuring at least 62.
Fire
“I have come to bring fire upon the earth and Oh how I wish it were already kindled (Luke 12:49).”
Feb. 15, Eastern China: Two deadly fires claimed the lives of more than 90 people. One fire was in a department store in the city of Jilin; the other was in a temple in Zhejiang province.
Feb. 18, Neishabour, Iran: Rail cars loaded with fertilizer, petrol, and sulphur products broke away from the locomotive, rolled 31 mi down the rails, caught fire, and subsequently exploded, killing more than 320 and devastating five villages.
May 1–6, southern Calif.: Six blazes raged through 20,000 acres this week. Many were evacuated from their homes and eight buildings at the Dorland Mountain Arts Colony retreat burned to the ground.
June-Aug., Alaska: Lightning struck forests and tundra almost 15,000 times over in the first few days of June, setting a record for the most bolts in a single day and sparking 47 new wildfires. Wildfires in Alaska this summer have burned more than 5 million acres, the worst season on record. A new record that signals possible changes in climate conditions and the composition of the vast forests.
July, record wildfires are blazing across the American West, caused by the worst drought in at least 500 years.
July 16, Southern India: The thatched roof of a private elementary school caught fire in southern India, killing 94 children. There were numerous safety hazards and many children who died were trapped in a room with one exit.
Aug. 1, Asunción, Paraguay: Fire, caused by a gas leak, swept through a supermarket in a three-story shopping center, killing at least 400 people, many of whom were trapped inside because security guards locked the doors to prevent theft. There are still 130 people missing.
Sept. 8, Kure, Turkey: Fire swept through a Turkish copper mine, trapping and killing 19 miners.
Oct. 20, Henan province, China: A coal mine blast in central China killed 148. Insufficient ventilation led to a build up of gas and then sparks from mine machinery ignited the fire.
Nov. 27, Shaanxi Province, China: A gas explosion at Chenjiashan Coal Mine in northwest China killed 166 miners making it the worst mine disaster in China in years. It was the third large mine disaster in China in 6 weeks with 148 deaths in the October mine blast. More than 4,500 miners have died in China this year.
In the Heavens
“There will be … great signs from heaven. (Luke 21:11)”
July, sunspots are reaching a 1000 year high - the Sun is more active now than at anytime in the past 1,000 years, according to an analysis of ice cores and sunspots by Swiss-based researchers.
The concentration of carbon dioxide, one of the heat-trapping greenhouse gases blamed for global warming, in the lower atmosphere is now at its highest level and stands 34 percent above its level before the Industrial Revolution.
At least one potentially dangerous asteroid is being discovered every night and the rate is increasing rapidly. “More than 300 asteroids with orbits that cross Earth's were found last year, and this year the discoveries are coming faster,” said Dr Steel, one of six foreign scientists on Nasa's Spaceguard Committee.
A giant asteroid, "2003 QQ47," is heading for Earth and could hit in 2014, U.S. astronomers have warned. The chances of a catastrophic collision are just 1- in - 909,000.
There's a 1-in-300 chance that a recently discovered asteroid, 2004 MN4, believed to be about 1,300 feet long, could hit Earth in 2029, a NASA scientist said Dec 23.
We already had a near miss this year. Astronomers spotted an asteroid, named 2004 YD5, this week after it had flown past Earth (great after-the-fact going guys) on a course that took it so close to the planet it was below the orbits of some satellites.
Asteroid 1999 AN10, is scheduled to be cruising by at one lunar distance (see ya Moon!) on August 7, 2027.
But these, of course, are just the ones we know about. Based on current analysis, 90% of the asteroids that could devastate the Earth have not been identified.
However, even more worrying may be one that has gone missing. Dr. Steel is concerned, "One, in particular, we need to find, 1998 OX 4, is about half a mile across. It was seen for only 10 days in 1998, and it looked as though it might be on a potential collision course within the next 30 years.”

The Roaring & Tossing of the Sea

"There will be signs in the sun, moon and stars. On the earth, nations will be in anguish and perplexity at the roaring and tossing of the sea. (Luke 21:25)"
This was the worst year in modern history for Catastrophes – then came the Tsunami. There is an estimated 150,000 people dead from Sri Lanka to India, Indonesia to Thailand, even to Africa. The total may exceed 200,000 before all the counting is done. President Bush expressed his condolences over the ''terrible loss of life and suffering.''
The highest death toll from a tsunami until now happened in 1896, when 27,000 people were drowned following an earthquake off the coast of Japan, according to the Guinness Book of Records.
This was all started by an 8.1 magnitude earthquake between Australia and Antarctica that caused the Australian tectonic plate to shift about 1:59 a.m. Dec. 24, then hours later the fourth largest earthquake recorded since 1900 at 9.0 on the Richter scale. The U.S. Geological Survey said the quake was the strongest since a 9.2-magnitude quake in Alaska in 1964 . The quake struck about 8 p.m. Sabbath, December 25th, Texas time and was centered about 100 miles (160 kilometers) off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island. In an instant, the great Sumatra quake began at a spot along an active fault 18.6 miles below the seafloor of the Indian Ocean near northern Sumatra. Within seconds, the break spread like lightning along the fault until it had sheared well over 6,000 square miles of rock. As rock thrust past rock, the seafloor and ocean itself heaved upward an average of 100 feet. For a few moments, about 135 cubic miles of water were hoisted above sea level. This caused massive tsunami waves to radiate outward in all directions bringing incredible death and destruction throughout the Indian Ocean. Impact of the deadly tsunamis was felt more than 4,000 miles away along the African coast.
The tsunami (Tidal Wave) was 30 feet high traveling at 500 miles an hour, as fast as a commercial jet, when it slammed into Sri Lanka moving it 100 feet to the south. “Based on seismic modeling, some of the smaller islands off the south-west coast of Sumatra may have moved to the south-west by about 20 meters. The north-western tip of the Indonesian island of Sumatra may also have shifted to the south-west by around 36 meters. That is a lot of slip,” said US Geological Survey expert Ken Hudnut Enzo Boschi, the head of Italy's National Geophysics Institute, likened the quake's power to detonating a million atomic bombs the size of those dropped on Japan during World War II, and said the shaking was so powerful it even disturbed the Earth's rotation. These huge waves swept about 7000 km as far as Africa. In southeast Madagascar, an estimated 1200 people were made homeless when the sea suddenly rose and engulfed 150 homes. More than 100 Somali fishermen were confirmed dead. Waves also struck Kenya, after hitting Mauritius, Reunion and the Seychelles on the way. A tourist from Nairobi died off the Kenyan coast at Malindi, literally being sucked under the water. This is the kind of devastation the Scriptures mean. Not just an earthquake and waves but ones of worldwide significance. There are 8000 kilometers of coast hit by the tidal wave belonging to countries among the most populated in the world.
The rich and famous were not immune to the devastation. The Grandson of Thai King Bhumibol Adulyadej, Prince Bhumi Jensen, 21, was reportedly jet-skiing when the deadly wave struck, was among those killed when tidal waves smashed into southern Thailand.
Czech supermodel Petra Nemcova managed to hang on for dear life, grabbing a tree as the wall of water by the devastating tsunami crashed through her bungalow and sucked her and her boyfriend, British fashion photographer Simon Atlee, out of the building while they were vacationing in the idyllic beach village of Phuket, Thailand. Nemcova , 24, and Atlee were on the fifth day of a planned two-week vacation in Thailand. "She said she doesn't know what happened to Simon. She lost sight of him...She started crying when she mentioned his name...She sounded beat-up.