Earthquakes

Magnitude 5+ Earthquakes – Global

6.0 Earthquake hits south of Panama.

5.4 Earthquake hits Taiwan.

5.4 Earthquake hits off the east coast of Kamchatka, Russia.

5.2 Earthquake hits southeast of Easter Island.

5.0 Earthquake hits south of Panama.

Wildfires

Wildfires – Australia

More than 700 firefighters were trying to contain fires burning in South Australia, Western Australia and Victoria on Wednesday, but authorities say none of the fires are posing a serious threat to homes.

At least 167 buildings, including 38 homes, have been destroyed in the Sampson Flat fire in the Mount Lofty Ranges, about 30km north-east of Adelaide.

The fire began on Friday and covers more than 12,500 hectares. Firefighters have established containment lines around 85% of its 240km perimeter and hope to have the fire fully contained before thunderstorms hit late Wednesday afternoon. About 600 firefighters – the largest shift so far – are working in the area.

Volcanos

Roundup of Global Volcanic Activity

Aso (Kyushu): The strombolian eruption continues at the Nakadake crater with little changes. The main vents has frequent small to moderate strombolian explosions. A second vent is glowing and producing a dense steam plume.

Sakurajima (Kyushu, Japan): The volcano is starting the new year with a phase of comparably intense activity. During the past few days, about 6-8 vulcanian explosions have occurred each day, often with ash plumes exceeding 10,000 ft (3 km) altitude. Milder, but near constant ash emissions occur during most of the intervals between the explosions.

Suwanose-jima (Ryukyu Islands): Intermittent activity continues at the volcano. A small eruption was reported to have occurred this morning, producing an ash plume that rose to 1.8 km and drifted NE.