India’s food bowl empty, cup of woes full

No rain: India’s food bowl empty, cup of woes full

Gautam Siddharth, TNN 22 July 2009, 03:50am IST

This is a dark cloud without any silver lining. The monsoon winds that send hearts and minds soaring throughout the country — and particularly in the food bowl of north India — have this year been dry, desert-like, leaving countless prayers shot upward, unanswered.
J S Sangha, general secretary of Jalandhar Potato Growers Association is depressed. ‘‘I have lost money heavily on diesel to run generators for tubewells,’’ he says. His fuel bill has crossed Rs 75,000 for sowing his 50 acre farm. Indeed, depression is the prevalent mood everywhere, from Punjab and Haryana to Uttar Pradesh and Bihar. Whereas Punjab’s villages are seeing up to 60% rain shortfall, UP and Bihar are no better. The plight of landless farmers, who can’t afford to sow paddy this time, is worse. ‘‘I know six farmers, who returned the leased land to the panchayat due to water and power crisis,’’ says Bhushan Kumar, a farmer near Barnala. The resultant power crisis has been unprecedented. Punjab has been assured additional 100 mw from the Centre’s un-allotted pool to tide over the crisis.

‘‘States that promised power on trading basis are unable to do so since their own domestic requirements have shot up while our power bill on paddy, which was Rs 2,200 crore last year, would spiral due to deficient rains,’’ said a senior power department official. In UP, there’s a drought-like situation in 40 out of 71 districts with 57% sub-normal rains so far. Average shower per district has been only 96mm as against 225.6mm normal. Worse, chances of monsoon revival are bleak. Around 60 lakh hectare (ha) land was earmarked for paddy in UP this year but only 52 lakh ha have been sown.

If rains elude the rest of July, the paddy yield may drop by 30% to 40%.

Around 70% farmland in UP is being irrigated through tube-wells and canals but agriculture scientists say that artificial irrigation can’t compensate for the natural conditions. The farmers have been asked by the state government to sow coarse grains like pulses, jwaar, bajra, makka, mustard which need less water. Free seeds are being distributed. But despite these measures, production of coarse grain is expected to be only around 240 lakh tonne as against a requirement of 254 lakh tonne.

Like Bihar, over 90% farmers in UP are marginal and small. They are worst hit by low rainfall. The villages get 6 to 8 hours of power supply which is insufficient for irrigation. So, farmers are relying on generators to run tube-wells. But the hike in diesel price has increased the input cost of crops and hit them where it hurts: their pockets.

For example, sugarcane is a major cash crop. Scant rainfall has resulted in increase of input cost by Rs 12-18 per quintal. A day’s rent on generator is Rs 800 and around Rs 2,800 is spent on diesel to irrigate one hectare of land which produces around 600 quintal of cane. This means Rs 6 per quintal on irrigation and a farmer has to irrigate land three times in June. Even the N-E, which boasts of being among the wettest places on earth, has witnessed the highest rainfall deficiency in 30 years: Nagaland is deficient by 67%, Assam by 34% and Arunachal by 29%. Meghalaya, famous for Cherrapunji that gets the second heaviest rainfall in the world, has recorded a reduction in monsoon by 55%. Not surprisingly, the summer temperatures in the region have risen by five degrees on an average over the last decade. Meteorologists say this is due to global warming — there being no other reason why a region surrounded by hills and rivers should not get due rainfall. Bihar has seen just one-third of normal rainfall. Against 399.2 mm, which the state would have recorded until now in a normal year, the state has received mere 142.1 mm rain — 64% below normal. What is alarming is that none of the 38 districts have received normal rainfall with deficiency varying from 21% in Purnia to 89% in Jamui.

Normatively, paddy is cultivated in around 35 lakh ha in Bihar. Although official records are not
ready yet, field reports suggest paddy sowing has been done on less than 25% of the area earmarked for paddy cultivation as there is no water in the fields. Bihar farmers, unlike their counterparts in Punjab, can’t afford generators to run tubewells which cost Rs 70 an hour. The state government said it would take special steps to minimise the impact of monsoon shortfall. At the moment these are as elusive as the rains.

(With inputs from Ashish Tripathi in Lucknow, Sanjeev Kumar Verma in Patna and Ramaninder Bhatia in Chandigarh)

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/articleshow/4805282.cms

Gunung Bawah Laut di Selatan Mentawai

Gunung Bawah Laut di Selatan Mentawai Belum Membahayakan

CGG Veritas

Gunung laut di selatan Mentawai terlihat dari hasil pemindaian menggunakan kapal The Geowave Champion milik CGG Veritas.

/

SABTU, 30 MEI 2009 | 13:57 WIB

PADANG, KOMPAS.com — Sebuah gunung api ditemukan berada di bawah laut di selatan Kepulauan Mentawai. Sementara ini, gunung api yang terletak di barat Pulau Sumatera itu belum membahayakan. Para peneliti masih meriset tingkat keaktifan gunung api ini.

Ketua Ikatan Ahli Geologi Indonesia (IAGI) Komda Sumatera Barat, Ade Edward, mengatakan, penelitian pakar geologi Indonesia, Amerika Serikat, dan Perancis itu menegaskan sejumlah isu yang selama ini mencuat mengenai keberadaan gunung api di bawah laut.

"Isu tentang gunung api di bawah laut sudah ada sejak lama. Hasil penelitian para ahli ini memberikan jawaban atas isu tersebut," ujar Ade di Padang, Sabtu (30/5).

Bahkan menurutnya, kemungkinan ada dua buah gunung laut. Keduanya masih berbentuk kerucut utuh sehingga dipastikan bahwa kedua gunung api itu belum pernah meletus. Hanya saja, hasil penelitian saat ini baru sebatas memastikan keberadaan gunung tersebut. Sementara, status gunung itu aktif atau tidak masih belum bisa dipastikan.

Gunung api yang masih aktif ditandai dengan material yang dikeluarkan dari gunung, seperti material padat, cair, atau lava. Bila tidak ada material yang dikeluarkan oleh gunung api, maka gunung itu merupakan gunung api yang mati. Pengeluaran material inilah yang masih diteliti oleh para ahli.

Hasil penelitian ini, menurut Ade, masih bersifat informasi. Karena belum bisa dipastikan keaktifan gunung api tersebut, maka para peneliti belum memberikan rekomendasi langkah tertentu ke badan penanggulangan bencana. Pemda yang wilayahnya berada di sekitar gunung api itu juga belum mendapatkan instruksi untuk mengambil langkah tertentu untuk menyikapi keberadaan gunung api di bawah laut.

Selatan Mentawai

Kedua gunung api itu berada di selatan Pulau Pagai Selatan. Pulau ini merupakan pulau paling selatan dari gugusan empat pulau besar di Mentawai.

Dari sisi ancaman, energi yang tersimpan pada gunung api ini tidak sebesar energi yang bisa membangkitkan gempa dan tsunami. Namun, sebagai bagian dari sistem tektonik lempeng, seluruh aspek yang ada di bawah laut ini perlu dipelajari.

Data tentang gunung api bawah laut ini perlu diperoleh karena gunung berada di daerah rawan tsunami, yakni di zona penghujaman lempeng Eurasia dan lempeng India-Australia. Selama ini masih berkembang prediksi ahli bahwa adanya energi besar yang tersimpan dari pertumbukan lempeng itu.

Sejauh ini, riset yang dilakukan para ahli belum final. Setidaknya, hasil riset memastikan kecurigaan sejumlah orang atas keberadaan gunung api di bawah laut.

ART

http://sains.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/05/30/13575766/ada.dua.gunung.bawah.laut.sementara.belum.membahayakan.

Bencana :: #BC#

Tremors may indicate risk of big California quake: journal AFP/Getty Images/File –

Matahari tenggelam di balik lembah

San Andreas Fault, dekat Palmdale California.

Fri Jul 10, 1:53 pm ET

LOS ANGELES (AFP) – Meningkatnya getaran-getaran yang terjadi di kedalaman di bawah San Andreas fault California diduga merupakan awal atau pertanda akan terjadinya gempa bumi besar. Hal tersebut sesuai dengan hasil studi yang dikeluarkan dalam Science jurnal Jumat ini.

Seismologist Robert Nadeau dari Universitas California di Berkeley mengambil kesimpulan itu setelah melakukan analisa getaran-getaran yang terjadi sepanjang bagian San Andreas Fault

dekat Parkfield, California.

Nadeau menemukan bahwa setelah tahun 2003 terjadi gempa berskala 6.5 di San Simeon dan tahun 2004 terjadi gempa dengan skala 6.0 di Parkfield, keduanya terletak di pertengahan antara

San Francisco dan Los Angeles. Getaran-getaran tersebut menjadi

makin sering dan tegangan di lapisan bawah semakin meningkat di bagian ujung dari segmen yang terkunci pada San Andreas fault….#BC120709SA#

Hal diatas merupakan bukti bahwa bukan hanya di Indonesia potensi bencana yang terjadi tetapi di seluruh dunia. Termasuk cuaca ekstrim, topan dan kekeringan berakibat

kebakaran hebat yang diperkirakan akibat pemanasan global. Di Indonesia tsunami yang meluluhlantakan Sumatra terutama Aceh, gunung berapi yang silih berganti aktif (masih bersyukur tidak terjadi serentak), kejadian di Sidoarjo dan tempat lain yang mirip, ditemukannya gunung raksasa di laut barat daya Sumatra dan kejadian-kejadian lainnya. Semua itu apakah baru awal dan belum puncaknya kembali pada para ahli yang dapat menilainya…#BC120709IN#

Tidak kurang bencana akibat kelakuan manusia sendiri seperti pemanasan global akibat polusi

dan penebangan hutan secara semena-mena termasuk pengembangan senjata yang berlebihan seperti senjata nuklir dan kimia yang akibatnya tidak terperikan bila digunakan dengan alasan apapun apalagi bila jatuh ketangan yang salah. Harus timbul kesadaran untuk memelihara dan melindungi bumi ini untuk generasi penerus yang akan datang dan peradaban manusia ingin terus berlanjut….#BC120709WL#

Indonesia Punya tidak kurang 5 Gunung Api Bawah Laut

Indonesia Punya 5 Gunung Api Bawah Laut

KOMPAS/LASTI KURNIA

Gelembung keluar dari celah-celah batuan di kawah Banua Wuhu, gunung bawah laut yang berada hanya 300 meter dari sisi barat daya Pulau Mahengetang, Kepulauan Sangihe, Sulawesi Utara.

SABTU, 30 MEI 2009 | 10:19 WIB

BANDUNG, KOMPAS.com — Gunung api di bawah laut hanya ada lima di Indonesia. Sementara ini aktivitas vulkaniknya tidak berbahaya.

Menurut Kepala Pusat Vulkanologi dan Mitigasi Bencana Geologi Surono, hanya ada lima gunung api bawah laut di Indonesia. Di perairan Sulawesi Utara ada Gunung Sub Marine yang meletus tahun 1922 dan Banuawalu (1919). Selain itu, di perairan Banda ada Niuwewerker (1927) dan Emperor of China. Gunung api di bawah laut lainnya adalah Hobal (1999) di perairan Nusa Tenggara Timur.

"Aktivitas mereka sejauh ini tidak berbahaya. Bila sedang aktif biasanya hanya menimbulkan buih air berasap," katanya di Bandung, Sabtu (30/5).

Menanggapi klaim penemuan gunung api berukuran besar di bawah laut dekat perairan Mentawai, Surono mengatakan, kemungkinan itu bisa saja terjadi. Namun, ia menegaskan, gunung itu belum menjadi bagian dari 129 gunung api Indonesia.

CHE

http://sains.kompas.com/read/xml/2009/05/30/10191939/indonesia.punya.5.gunung.api.bawah.laut

Hundreds injured in south China quake

Hundreds injured in south China quake: agency

Fri Jul 10, 1:04 am ET

BEIJING (Reuters) – Hundreds of people were injured and thousands of homes damaged by a 6.0 magnitude earthquake in southwest China'sYunnan province on Thursday, Xinhua news agency said.

The government of Yao'an county estimated 30 severe injuries among more than 300 hurt, and put the number of collapsed homes at 10,000 in a hasty initial estimate.

The quake struck at 7:19 pm in Guantun township, in a mountainous area about 200 km (125 miles) northwest of the provincial capital Kunming.

The U.S. Geological Service estimated the severity of the quake at 5.7 at a depth of about 10 km.

The area has regularly suffered earthquakes and aftershocks since an 8.0 quake in neighboring Sichuan in May 2008 killed about 80,000 people.

(Reporting by Lucy Hornby, edited by Richard Meares)

Related Searches:

http://news.yahoo.com/s/nm/20090710/wl_nm/us_quake_china_2

7.8 earthquake strikes off New Zealand

7.8 earthquake strikes off New Zealand, spurs small tsunami

THE ASSOCIATED PRESS

Wednesday, July 15th 2009, 9:48 AM

WELLINGTON,New Zealand- A 7.8-magnitude earthquake struck off New Zealand's western coast Wednesday generating a small tsunami. No injuries or major damage were reported.

ThePacific Tsunami Warning CenterinHawaiiwarned that a tsunami was generated, but it later said the waves were less than 8 inches (20 centimeters) in height and the warning was canceled after about an hour.

TheJoint Australian Tsunami Warning Centrealso issued a tsunami alert for easternAustraliathat was still in effect late Wednesday.

"All available New Zealand and international data about the earthquake and sea levels showed that there is no tsunami threat to New Zealand," saidJohn Hamilton, director of theMinistry of Civil Defense and Emergency Management.

The quake's epicenter was 100 miles (161 kilometers) west ofInvercargill, off the west coast of New Zealand's South Island at a depth of 21 miles (33 kilometers), theU.S. Geological Surveysaid.

It hit at 0922 GMT on Wednesday.

The quake was felt widely across South Island. Police in the town of Tuatapere said they had reports of minor cracks in buildings and stock falling from supermarket shelves.

However, no reports of serious damage or injuries were received, police said. Scientists with New Zealand'sInstitute of Geological and Nuclear Scienceswere working with theirU.S.counterparts late Wednesday to reconcile their readings with those taken overseas.

The quake was reported locally at 6.6 magnitude before reports from the U.S. listed it at 7.8 magnitude and as high as 8.2.

"We've had big differences in the measurements of the quake, ranging from 6.6 byGNS Science, to 8.2 by a tsunami warning center in Hawaii. We're issuing a precautionary message,"Vince Cholewa, an emergency management spokesman in Wellington, told the domestic news agency NZPA.

Scientists in New Zealand reported aftershocks, the first of 6.1 magnitude occurring 19 minutes after the main temblor.

New Zealand sits above an area of the Earth's crust where the Pacific and Australian tectonic plates collide and records more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, though only about 150 are felt by residents.

Fewer than 10 temblors a year do any damage

http://www.nydailynews.com/news/us_world/2009/07/15/2009-07-15_78_quake_strikes_off_nz_small_tsunami_generated.html

El Nino may hit UPA growth curve:: India

Monsoon fading: El Nino may hit UPA growth curve

TNN 23 June 2009, 12:43am IST

NEW DELHI: The risk of a failed monsoon has risen manifold with the World Meteorological Organisation warning of a "substantially elevated risk" of this being an El Nino year.

El Nino is a periodic weather anomaly that saps the monsoon of its strength on most of the occasions it occurs. It is marked by warming of Pacific waters that slow down the trade winds blowing from South America towards South East Asia.

WMO, the apex UN body on climate, warned that there was a more than 50% chance of El Nino this year -- double the normal probability in any other year.

For a government already on the edge with a two-week break in monsoon, the warning couldn't have come at a worse time. The path to economic stability in the past two quarters has been built on robust results from the farm sector and economists have been hoping that continued buoyancy in agriculture could keep India on a relatively decent growth rate. The WMO's warning could force revisions in growth rate predictions.

The monsoon system, sucked of some of its moisture by the cyclonic storm Aila over the Bay of Bengal, has already recorded a substantial delay in travelling up north leaving large parts of central, north and northwest scorching and devoid of rains.

Actual rainfall for the country as a whole for the first half of June (up to 17) has been recorded at 39.5mm against a normal of 72.5mm a deficit of 45% with 28 of the 36 meteorological subdivisions experiencing less than normal rains. With WMO warning that the El Nino effect could pick up in the third quarter of this year, the chances of monsoon being wrecked further turn higher.

"The trend over last five months, according to the best models, shows that El Nino could develop this year," said B P Yadav, spokesperson for IMD. "It is factored into the model based on which we shall be making our fresh predictions for the months of July and August on June 25. It is well known that El Nino years have impact on Indian monsoon, so we are keeping a watch," he added.

However, IMD as well as WMO did point out that El Nino is not an isolated factor to affect different weather systems, including monsoon, and the weatherman would have to factor in other parameters too to see how it would impact various regions.

The last two times El Nino occurred, in 2002 and 2004 it caused deficient rains in the subcontinent. Historically, El Nino has roughly impacted monsoon 2/3rds of the occasions it has occurred.

In view of the fears of a failed monsoon, IMD has decided to hold a full-scale press conference on June 25 instead of the normal practice of releasing its estimates.

Top echelons of the government are already worried over the monsoon with the Cabinet deciding to set up a committee of secretaries to keep a watchful eye at the skies. The committee has asked crucial states to make up contingency plans in case monsoon fails and is going to meet again on June 25.

For the government burdened with reviving an economy hit by global slowdown, trouble could brew on several fronts if the monsoons do not revive with expected force.

While the crops would suffer the most in rain-fed areas -- roughly 65% of the sown area would be directly hit -- in irrigated lands, the demand for irrigation and therefore power consumption is bound to get higher, increasing the government's woes.

But with water levels in almost all reservoirs having gone below their 10-year average as well as last year's levels for this period, worries are already mounting on the power front as well.

A good crop last season, supported by social spending through programmes like NREGS, was the bulwark of continued demand in the last two quarters, keeping the economy relatively healthy even as the manufacturing sector slowed down. A failed sowing in Kharif is bound to make it difficult for the government to secure the economic recovery UPA made a pre-poll promise of.

Another poll time commitment of UPA, the food security act, could become a post poll headache if crops fail. Falling food stocks as threats of drought loom large and rising food prices, that are high even in present times of historical negative inflation, would be the worst time for the government to test the ambitious project. But, it would naturally be the time when the expectations of the government to put the act in place would be the highest.

http://timesofindia.indiatimes.com/NEWS/India/Monsoon-fading-El-Nino-may-hit-UPA-growth-curve/articleshow/4689655.cms