A Barge Hits Ferry Bridge In Kentucky…Knocks It ‘Clean Out’….What Is Going On With Ship Captains This Month?!?!
Look at the photos, and then read this story….What was the captain thinking?!?!?
Bow of the Delta Mariner
Delta Mariner - even more amazing close up!
The bow of the Delta Mariner was covered in twisted steel and chunks of asphalt from the two-lane bridge. The boat hit the bridge Thursday night on the Tennessee River on its way to Cape Canaveral, Fla. Its cargo? The barge carries space rocket components to Florida’s coast for NASA and the Air Force however it is currently stuck on a western Kentucky river after it slammed into an aging traffic bridge.
The five-story high Delta Mariner was too tall to pass through the portion of the bridge that it struck, and the resulting collision left a 300-foot wide gap.
No injuries were reported on the bridge or boat, which was carrying space rocket parts from Decatur, Ala., to Cape Canaveral Air Force Station in Florida. The ship was traveling on its typical route to Florida’s Atlantic coast when it hit the aging steel bridge, which was built in the 1930s and handles about 2,800 vehicles a day.
The U.S. Coast Guard is investigating the collision. And it’s too early to speculate on exactly what caused the wreck until that probe is done, said Sam Sacco, a spokesman for ship owner and operator Foss Marine of Seattle. Sacco said the boat was not severely damaged, and some of the crew remained on the vessel Friday afternoon to make sure the cargo is safe.
The bridge at US 68 and Kentucky 80 opened in 1932, connecting Trigg County and Marshall County at the western entrance to Land Between the Lakes National Recreation Area. The transportation cabinet said the bridge was in the process of being replaced, and preconstruction work began months ago.
Déjà vu ….all over again! China Reports a Second Bird Flu Death in Less Than a Month
A man died in southern China two days ago from the H5N1 bird flu virus – the second such death in less than a month. The latest victim, an unidentified 39-year-old, fell ill on Jan. 6 and was admitted to a hospital in Guizhou Province the same day.
A 39-year-old bus driver in Shenzhen, died from bird flu on New Years Eve. Both deaths were notable because neither victim reported any contact with birds in the month preceding his illness. The virus is known to spread through contact with infected birds, eggs or bird feces, but experts said a pandemic could occur were it to mutate into a form that was more easily spread.
Yikes!
In the latest case, the victim “did not report obvious exposure history to poultry before the onset of symptoms.” One bit of good news is that the Chinese authorities, who are monitoring 71 people known to have been in contact with the victim, have found no other evidence of flu.
People who were in contact with the Shenzhen victim also have remained symptom-free, leading some experts to conclude that neither case involved transmission among humans.
Worldwide, bird flu has killed 343 of the 582 people who are known to have been infected, according to the WHO, including 28 of the 42 infected Chinese victims. With the world’s largest poultry population, and close contact between birds and people in rural areas, China is regarded as a major breeding ground for the disease.
Vietnam has reported 60 deaths, including that of an 18-year-old duck farmer last week. A victim in Indonesia also recently died.
Thai Floodwaters Are Gone…Supply Chain Issues Remain…Recovery is Months Away…Rainy Season Begins Again in Four Months
Disasters are so interesting…we hear about them during the urgent response phase and then they fade away from view. And many of us think the issues have been resolved. Actually, that is seldom the case. The floods in Thailand are a good example. The floodwaters receded weeks ago from the sprawling industrial zone, but the streets are littered with debris, phones don’t work and rusted machinery has been dumped outside warehouses. Production has ground to a crawl with no sign of returning to “normal” in the near future.
Before Thailand’s great flood of 2011, companies like Sony, Panasonic, JVC and Hitachi produced electronics and computer components that were exported around the world. Of 227 the factories operating in the affected area, an astonishing small number, only 15 percent, have restarted production.
The slow recovery is having global consequences. Before the floods, Thailand produced about 40 percent to 45 percent of the world’s hard disk drives, the storage devices of the digital age. It is now becoming clear that it will be months – that’s right months – before production of hard drives returns to pre-flood levels. This is significantly longer than anyone had imagined. This will likely result in prolonged period of higher prices for hard drives for consumers worldwide. In the United States, certain models are currently 40 percent to 50 percent more expensive than before the floods, prices that may remain high for several more months.
Many buildings bear the telltale scar of the floodwaters — a high water mark about two meters above street level. Most companies have to literally start over. The hopes of recovering machinery seems to have been dashed by the prolonged exposure to corrosive, polluted water — in some cases two months.
Time will tell as how quickly the country and companies recover. And oh by the way, the impending rainy season is only a short four months away.
Limited Regulations for Large Floating Cities…Cruise Ships Face New Scrutiny In Face of Costa Concordia Disaster…29 still missing, 6 dead
Who ultimately watches over your safety on a cruise ship? As the world witnessed watching the Costa Concordia disaster…don’t necessarily count on the crew or the ship owners! Turns out that the entire industry operates without much regulation…and as in many industries, if no one makes you do something…you don’t.
That very fact appears in this case with the ship’s detained captain, Francesco Schettino, who deviated from a fixed, computerized course to show off his beautiful $450 million boat, carrying more than 4,200 passengers and crew members, to the people of Giglio Island on a still Friday night. This action apparently resulted in the ship crashing onto a submerged rock. Amazing!
What this entire disaster raises in many peoples minds is how the cruise industry is supervised and controlled. Those issues included how much safety information and training are required for the crew and passengers, and how much discretion a captain has to alter routes, especially in an age when electronic radar, charts, GPS and other guidance systems are supposed to keep these large, sleek ships on course.
More than 72 hours after the accident killed at least six people, confusion still reigned over how many were missing. Italy’s coast guard abruptly raised the total to 29 late Monday after having said 16, including 2 Americans, remained unaccounted for. Worries also grew that the ship’s half-million gallons of fuel could leak into a marine wildlife sanctuary.
While airline pilots are directed and guided by controllers on the ground, sea captains are considered to be in complete control. Rather, at most cruise lines, company directors determine the routes, which are then transmitted to the captain and a navigating officer, who scrutinize the charted course but are meant to follow it. The captain, who may face criminal charges of manslaughter, failure to offer assistance and abandonment of the ship, had said he struck an uncharted rock.
For many years, the global cruise line industry has operated under a loosely defined system that tends to escape scrutiny by courts and regulators. Cruise line instances of crime, pollution and safety and health violations have often gone unpoliced because no single authority is in charge.
A United Nations agency, the International Maritime Organization, oversees maritime safety through international conventions, including one for the Safety of Life at Sea, known as Solas, adopted in 1914, which grew out of the global anger that stemmed from the loss of the Titanic in 1912. But the agency has no policing powers.
Ships themselves are certified and inspected by independent classification societies, like Lloyd’s Register Group and the Italian RINA S.p.A. These groups perform annual checks of ship safety conditions, lifeboats and other safety equipment. They approve vital components like fire protection, navigation, radio communication equipment, deck gear, cables and anchors.
Passengers described delays and confusion, with unclear instructions and inexperienced crewmembers. Guests described the scene, as “it was every man for himself.” Cruise passengers are supposed to attend a safety briefing within 24 hours of boarding however many guests described the briefing on the Costa Concordia as a sales pitch for cruise excursions.
The company estimated the financial impact of the disaster to be as much as $95 million, with the ship out of service for the rest of 2012. But the impact is bound to be much more. Many wary public will think twice about selecting a cruise as a vacation option given the images of the tilted ship and the dead passengers.
In the meantime, the shares of the ship’s parent company — Carnival Corporation of Miami, the world’s biggest cruise line operator — slid by nearly a fifth and the owners and insurers are trying to add up the cost of the disaster.
Planning a cruise this summer? Pay attention to all safety instructions, think about your strategy in case of disaster and be aware of your surroundings at all times. You life may be literally in your hands.
Six Cases of Totally Drug Resistance (TDR) TB in India…Man Escapes Bangalore Hospital with TDR…Can’t Be Found…Gulp!
Following the discovery of 4 cases of totally drug resistant tuberculosis (TDR-TB) in a Mumbai hospital 3 days ago, 2 confirmed cases with the deadly new strain of TB have been detected at the Rajiv Gandhi Institute of Chest Diseases (RGICD) in Bangalore. But the scarier scenario is this: one of them, a 56-year-old man, has gone missing, raising the threat perception many levels higher, considering that he could infect others with the deadly strain.
The revelation of 2 confirmed totally drug resistant-tuberculosis (TDR-TB) cases at RGICD has shaken the health ministry and officials who had instantly gone into a denial mode, even as they blame the RGICD for not bringing the cases to their notice. Dr Shashidhar Buggi, director, RGICD, said: “If they ask us, we will let them know. We are a national institute; if the state government asks us for the report, we will definitely give it to them.”
TDR-TB is a strain of tuberculosis that cannot be treated by any available drug. This means that a person afflicted by this strain faces a 100 percent mortality rate and, until death, can infect many others.
Both the TDR-TB cases in Bangalore were confirmed after the RGICD sent their sputum (phlegm) samples to Chennai’s Intermediate Reference Laboratory, where the samples tested positive for the deadly TDR-TB strain. The other patient suffering from the TDR-TB is a 29-year-old woman.
There are two major issues for concern.
- One of the confirmed TDR-TB patients has gone missing AND
- State and National health department officials seem to remain in the dark.
This does not spell well for India and for the rest of the health of the world. So in the meantime practice good health and cough hygiene...cover your cough, wash your hands and don't touch your face!
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_tdr-tb-threat-ramdas-says-rgicd-is-guessing_1636519
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_its-deadly-a-tdr-tb-patient-on-the-loose_1636131
http://www.dnaindia.com/bangalore/report_tb-in-its-new-avatar-arrives-in-bangalore_1636125
Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters & Bioterrorism…New Study Released from Trust for America’s Health – Ready or Not?
Ready or Not? Protecting the Public from Diseases, Disasters, and Bioterrorism, the newly released report from the Trust for America’s Health (TFAH), finds key programs that detect and respond to bioterrorism, new disease outbreaks and natural or accidental disasters are at risk due to federal and state budget cuts. 
The report, supported by the Robert Wood Johnson Foundation (RWJF), identifies some key programs at risk due to continued cuts to federal public health emergency preparedness funds include:
- 51 of the 72 cities in the Cities Readiness Initiative are at risk for elimination; the Initiative supports the ability to rapidly distribute and administer vaccines and medications during emergencies.
- All 10 state labs with “Level 1” chemical testing status are at risk for losing top level capabilities, which could leave the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and Prevention (CDC) with the only public health lab in the country with full ability to test for chemical terrorism and accidents.
- 24 states are at risk for losing the support of Career Epidemiology Field Officers – CDC experts who supplement state and local gaps to rapidly prevent and respond to outbreaks and disasters, such as during the H1N1 flu pandemic and responding to the health impact of the Gulf Oil Spill in 2010.
- The ability for CDC to mount a comprehensive response to nuclear, radiologic and chemical threats as well as natural disasters is at risk due to potential cuts to the National Center for Environmental Health. All 50 states and Washington, D.C. would lose the support CDC provides during these emergencies.
To be honest with you, public health is one of those things that the “joe public” or for that matter the politicos just don’t think about…Why? It has been too long since we have had a true public health emergency (remember polio, TB?) when we really understood the value of this key and valuable community and national resource. The bad news is that when you really need it, it needs to be there, standing strong, practiced and competent.
"We're seeing a decade's worth of progress (since 9/11) eroding in front of our eyes," said Jeff Levi, PhD, Executive Director of TFAH. "Preparedness had been on an upward trajectory, but now some of the most elementary capabilities - including the ability to identify and contain outbreaks, provide vaccines and medications during emergencies, and treat people during mass traumas - are experiencing cuts in every state across the country."
Combined federal, state and local budget cuts mean public health departments can no longer sustain a number of basic elements of preparedness. In the past year, 40 states and Washington, D.C. cut state public health funds – with 29 of those states and D.C. cutting their budgets for a second year in a row and 15 states for three years in a row. Federal funds for state and local preparedness declined by 38 percent from fiscal year (FY) 2005 to 2012 (adjusted for inflation) – and additional cuts are expected under budget sequestration.
The report includes a series of recommendations that will be important for improving America’s preparedness, including:
- Assuring dedicated funding and strengthening the public health preparedness core capabilities;
- Improving biosurveillance to rapidly detect and track outbreaks or attacks;
- Improving research, development and manufacturing of vaccines and medications;
- Enhancing the ability to provide care for a mass influx of patients during emergencies;
- Providing better support to help communities cope with and recover from disasters; and
- Coordinating food safety with other preparedness efforts through the strategic implementation of the FDA Food Safety Modernization Act of 2011.
It is a good read…albeit a bit depressing around the edges…to discover what we have lost or are about ready to lose.
H5N1 (Bird Flu) Virus Study Controversy Continues…Report Released Today Summarizes How the Virus Spreads
Since the announcement of a government financed study to determine how the H5N1 virus spreads was announced last week, there has been a great deal of controversy about the release of the data. There is one point on which the factions agree: The ability of a virus to spread easily from person to person is the key to determining whether it can cause a pandemic.
Scientists do not know everything about what makes a virus transmissible — and much they must learn before they are able to prevent another flu pandemic. Contagion (communication of disease from one person to another by close contact not the movie) depends on a complex interplay between a virus and its victim, including where it enters the body, the types of cells in which it can reproduce and whether it can then escape to reach another human.
If the H5N1 virus were to ever easily transmit between humans it would easily become one of history’s worst global pandemics. And would look very much like the movie Contagion.
The work to make the virus more transmissible was done by two separate groups, one at Erasmus Medical Center in Rotterdam, in the Netherlands, and the other at the University of Wisconsin. The experiments were performed on ferrets, because flu behaves in them almost exactly as it does in humans.
In Rotterdam, a team led by Dr. Ron Fouchier made a strain of bird flu that could drift through the air into nearby cages and infect other ferrets. To become airborne, the virus required a range of genetic modifications. Dr. Fouchier noted that the most successful virus would be one that:
- Lives in the upper airways (versus the lower lungs as H5N1 does now) to ease release as an aerosol.
- Shed, or expelled, as individual particles instead of in clumps, where it would be more easily spewed out in the tiny droplets of a cough.
- Induces coughing or sneezing.
Turns out that these modifications can help make the bird flu virus much more contagious and in fact, it took only a few mutations to make the new virus.
To increase transmissibility usually depends on changes in at least two of eight genes: one that helps the virus invade cells, and one that helps it copy itself. In birds, flu is primarily a gut disease, shed in feces, whereas in people it is primarily a nose, throat and lung disease, shed in saliva and mucus. Researchers have found that a small change in a gene called PB2 helps make a type of bird flu contagious in ferrets by enabling the virus to copy itself at the temperatures found in a mammal’s nose, which is 4 degrees Celsius cooler than a bird’s intestines.
Excerpts of the studies are being released today for those who are dying to know more…
Here we go again…A new human death to bird flu in China – What does it mean?? Good question!
On January 1, it was revealed that a 39-year-old bus driver, surnamed Chen, had died of the H5N1 (or bird flu) virus in Shenzen, a Chinese city bordering Hong Kong. Unfortunate for him and his family, but other than that you are probably thinking, so what? Since 2003, there have been only 573 confirmed cases of H5N1, according to the World Health Organization (WHO), and though 60% of the victims have died, that’s still a vanishingly tiny number of people in a global population of 7 billion.
As long as the H5N1 virus doesn’t jump easily from person to person — which it manifestly does not — it will remain a danger only to those who happen to come in contact with infected poultry.
But if you think like me you might be remembering the science project that was in the news just a couple of weeks ago. Two different groups of scientists from two different countries revealed that they had engineered a strain of bird flu that does make the jump among humans — or at least makes the jump between ferrets, which serve as good models for how humans become infected. And you also might remember that this research poised enough of a real danger that the U.S. National Science Advisory Board for Biosecurity (NSABB) took the unprecedented step of asking the journals Science and Nature not to publish their reports of the work — or at least to redact enough material to make it
And just in case you were wondering, there is absolutely no evidence of any kind that the virus, jointly created by scientists at the University of Wisconsin in Madison and Erasmus University in Rotterdam, escaped either lab, much less made its way to China. Meantime, there is plenty to suggest that wild bird flu was at large in China.
What is the latest? Hong Kong authorities late on Saturday suspended imports of live poultry and poultry products from parts of neighboring Shenzhen after our bus driver died from a lethal strain of avian influenza. The import ban, which is to last 21 days, comes as the city’s government remains on high alert as the bird flu strain known as H5N1 has resurfaced in recent weeks. Those are exactly the steps that should be taken to control a possible contagion, though they are not a guarantee that no one — such as our 39-year-old bus driver — will get sick.
http://healthland.time.com/2012/01/01/a-bird-flu-death-in-china-what-it-means-and-doesnt-mean/
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Happy New Year!! Is it over yet?!?! 2011 has been quite the year for disasters…Lets hope that 2012 is a bit better!
What a year….Hurricane Irene. The earthquake in Washington. Droughts and wildfires in Texas, and dust storms in Phoenix. Twisters in Joplin, Mo., and in Tuscaloosa, Ala. A snowmageddon in Chicago and the Missouri River floods. And that’s just in America.
Chicago Storm (Feb 2011), Vermont Floods (Hurricane Irene), Texas Wildfires (seems like all year)
Outside the U.S., 2011 was equally disastrous. Japan faced an earthquake and tsunami of devastating proportions. New Zealand had a giant quake, the worst natural disaster in 80 years. Australia had a biblical flood. The worst drought in Africa in 60 years endangered millions of lives. Turkey’s quake was followed by an unusual, fatal cold, and Thailand in parts is still flooded. And as the year ends, the Philippines is experiencing torrential floods.
What is in store for us as we enter into 2012?!? One can never be too sure…the only thing we can do is to prepare our families and our businesses and mitigate our risks wherever possible. And on that note…
Have a great holiday and a safe new year! And may all of your disasters be tiny!
I Always Carry My Daggers Onto An Airplane?? Right! TSA Finds Two Daggers In Hollowed Out Carry On Book
Right…perhaps they were one of those special Christmas presents that the traveler didn’t want to check for fear that they may disappear from their checked bag. The TSA has announced that last week that screeners at DCA better known as the Reagan-Washington National Airport discovered two throwing daggers hidden inside a hollowed-out book in a passenger’s carry-on bag.
The two daggers concealed in a hard cover book in a carry-on bag measured over six inches long. And is the holiday spirit, the passenger was not arrested and was allowed to continue on his flight to Chicago.
In another case of serious Christmas spirit, on December 5, the TSA announced that baggage screeners discovered five grenades in a woman’s checked bag at Newark Liberty International Airport en route to Belgium. TSA said the woman was allowed to board the flight to Belgium after explosives experts said the grenades were inoperable, and never posed a threat.
Just in case you were curious, the TSA reportedly found stun guns, firearm components, ammunition, replica firearms, brass knuckles, nunchucks, switchblades, butterfly knives, collapsible batons, and several knives with blades up to 8 inches long – the week leading up to Christmas. All gifts I am sure….
On the TSA website, it explains: “Just because we find a prohibited item on an individual does not mean they had bad intentions, that’s for the law enforcement officer to decide. In many cases, people simply forgot they had these items in their bag.”
http://www.examiner.com/homeland-security-in-chicago/tsa-finds-daggers-on-chicago-bound-flight
