il pianeta si riscalda

["AlessandroGimona"<agimona at libero.it>]

Notizie dal mondo che indicano che la temperatura globale sta salendo.
Siccita' e ondate di caldo in vari paesi.

Saluti
Alessandro Gimona



INDIAN PRISONERS RIOT FOR WATER, SHOUT: 'GIVE US WATER OR KILL US'
Thousands of cattle have perished in India's blistering heat
BHUBANESHWAR, India  -- Thirsty prisoners, denied water for two days, 
rioted and shouted: "Give us water or kill us." Thousands of people 
carrying buckets mobbed a water train. A ticket collector died of the 
heat at a train station.
A severe drought has parched South Asia, affecting 50 million people in 
India, drying up water wells in southern Afghanistan and killing animals 
in southern Pakistan.
In India, the drought has cut a smoldering swath from west to east 
across the states of Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh, and Orissa on the 
east coast, where a cyclone and floods killed at least 10,000 last fall. 
Eleven of India's 31 states are facing a water crisis.
Last week, temperatures reached 118 degrees in Orissa state, dryi ng up 
streams, ponds and wells.
The hardest-hit area in Orissa is the western district of Bolangir, 
where half the 8,000 wells-the main source of drinking water- dried up 
in the past week, officials said Monday.  In the trading center of 
Titlagarh, all but one of the town's 58 wells have gone dry, said 
district information officer Subhas Nial.
When a train carrying 37,500 gallons of drinking water from
Calcutta pulled into the station on Saturday, thousands of men, women
and children mobbed it to carry away water in plastic pails and
pitchers
The 55 inmates at the jail in Titlagarh, some 200 miles west of the 
state capital, Bhubaneshwar, left without water for two days in cells 
without fans, tried to scale the walls Friday to break free.
They tossed their cooking pots and plates over the jail wall into the 
street and shouted, "Give us water or kill us," said jail superintendent 
Tarini Charan Behera. . [AP, May 4, 2000]

PAKISTAN FEARS MASS MIGRATION FROM DROUGHT AREA
QUETTA,
 -- Pakistani authorities said Saturday that 1 million 
people could abandon their homes in search of food and water in the 
drought-hit southwestern province of Baluchistan [Reuters, May 7, 2000]

DROUGHT AID COULD REACH $70 MILLION
Most of Md.'s Farmers Still Waiting for Funds
Maryland farmers could receive an estimated $70 million in federal 
aid-more than three times the amount paid two years ago-to compensate 
for both low market prices and damage done by last year's drought, 
Maryland's worst in a century, federal agriculture officials said. 
[Washington Post, May 4, 2000]
MARYLAND FARMERS STILL HURTING
BALTIMORE  -- While most of Maryland's farmers are recovering from the 
severe drought that cut crop production, agriculture officials predict 
that 2000 will bring low grain prices and reduced farm income.
High fuel costs, another possible drought and sluggish exports could 
also seriously affect the production of Maryland's farmers.
"In a word, the outlook for agriculture this year is terrible," said 
Bruce L. Gardner, an agriculture economist with the University of 
Maryland and former assistant secretary of the U.S. Department of 
Agriculture.
"Looking at two of the main sectors of farming in the state- grain and 
dairy-the prices are low, and I don't see any real, solid event on the 
horizon that would give farmers confidence that they will improve," 
Gardner said.  [AP, May 9, 2000]

OKLAHOMA FLOODING FORCES EVACUATIONS
TULSA, Okla.-Another night of heavy rain across already saturated 
northeastern Oklahoma forced evacuations in two towns today, flooded 
roads and bridges and shut down schools in three districts.
Craig County Sheriff George Vaughn said boats and volunteers were being 
brought in to rescue people trapped by flood water in Vinita and to 
remove elderly residents in anticipation of further flooding as rivers 
fed by rain in Kansas continue to rise.
Flooding in Oklahoma and Missouri over the weekend killed at least three 
people and damaged hundreds of ho
ating declared seven counties disaster areas, clearing the way 
for federal assistance [AP, May 9, 2000]
HUNDREDS FLEE NEW MEXICO WILDFIRES
RUIDOSO, N.M.-Hundreds of people were forced to flee as one of two large 
wildfires burning in New Mexico swept within a few feet of their homes 
and spread across more than 5,000 acres intensified by drought and high 
winds.  [AP, May 9, 2000]
THE HEAT IS ON
EAST COAST SIZZLES
It seems too early to be seeking relief from record heat to Ben Parker 
of Abilene, Texas.   'It's just miserable," Parker, 77, said as his West 
Texas city posted the nation's highest recorded temperature Monday at 
102 degrees. Three straight days of heat were making him feel his age.
"I would even like to go fishing, but it is too cotton pickin' hot for 
that," he said. "I've been here nearly all my life ... and I don't ever 
recall it being like this in May."
Temperatures in Texas first rose on Friday and reached record
highs over the weekend. It was 106 in Abilene on Sunday
A spring heat wave has sizzled from Texas to New England, stressing 
utilities as residents cranked up air conditioners. While parts of New 
England and Texas were expecting cooler temperatures, highs in the 90s 
were forecast again today from South Carolina into Connecticut.
The afternoon high in New York City's Central Park on Monday was 91 
degrees, 22 degrees above normal and tying a record set in 1936.  The 
American Red Cross handed out thousands of bottles of water.
Power companies in the mid-Atlantic region urged customers to conserve 
electricity as temperatures peaked above 90, well over usual spring 
readings in the 70s, the National Weather Service said.
Authorities in many areas issued heat stroke and air quality warnings, 
with few problems reported.
Any relief can't come soon enough for the animals at the Cape May 
Country Park & Zoo on the southern New Jersey coast. Zookeepers scurried 
from enclosure to enclosure helping out their charges in 90-degree heat 
Monday.
The goats hi
den walkway, cowering from the midday sun.  
Tosh, a 350-pound Bengal tiger, lolled around in the shade, pausing only 
for an occasional dip in his pool.
"They definitely don't like the heat, especially happening this early in 
the season," said zookeeper Sheri Hickok. "Most of these animals, you've 
got to give them a little help. ... The panda bears hate the heat. They 
don't like being hosed or misted, either, so we put ice blocks in their 
[AP, May 9, 2000]

GRAINS, SOYBEANS END MIXED
Grain and soybean prices finished mixed Thursday on the Chicago Board of 
Trade, with investors divided on whether mildly rainy forecasts will 
ease drought conditions in key growing areas. [AP, May 4, 2000]
FARMERS WARY OF DROUGHT
Mulberry, Indiana-Mike Beard's trowel poked through the moist topsoil of 
his farm, reaching the parched dirt underneath and uncovering the 
painful memories of 1988, a drought that year had sliced corn yields by 
a third for Beard and other Clinton County growers. And it's those 
memories of 1988 -- which produced this nation's third worst drought of 
the 20th century-that haunt farmers as they plant this year's crops.
Dry conditions choke the Midwest again this year, leaving a severe 
drought that covers much of the northern two-thirds of Indiana and parts 
of Illinois, Iowa and Missouri.
The obvious solution poses its own perils for farmers, though.  With 
spring planting in full swing, the heavy rains needed to replenish the 
parched subsoils might wash away their emerging crops.  "You're in a 
Catch-22," said Al Shipe, a water expert with the National Weather 
Service in Indianapolis. "If you get too much moisture in the soil, 
you're going to drown out the crops until they're big enough."
When April ended, 55 percent of Indiana did not have adequate subsoil 
moisture, said Ralph Gann, a statistician for the U.S.  Department of 
Agriculture.
Data released Saturday by the federal government's Climate Prediction 
Center showed five of nine regions in Indiana in a se
 forecasts, meanwhile, predict above-normal temperatures and 
below-normal rainfall across Indiana.  [AP, May 9, 2000]

HIGH HEAT IN PHILADELPHIA
The official Philadelphia temperature reached 90 degrees for the second 
day in a row yesterday, falling short of the record of 93, set in 1936, 
but still about 20 degrees higher than is usual on May 8.  Temperatures 
are expected to rise into the 90s again today. If that happens, it would 
mark the earliest three-day stretch of 90-plus temperatures since late 
April 1990.
The high temperatures drove electric demand to levels not usually seen 
until late June and forced the regional PJM Interconnection power grid 
to call for a 5 percent voltage reduction by utilities to maintain 
power. The grid also issued a call for voluntary cutbacks by major 
electric users. [Philadelphia Inquirer, May 9, 2000]

PSE&G WARNS OF POSSIBLE HEAT-RELATED POWER SHORTAGES
[Public Service Electric and Gas Co., New Jersey's largest electric 
utility, warned of possible energy conservation actions Tuesday because 
of the high cooling demand for power due to hot weather in the area. 
[Reuters, May 9, 2000]

HORN OF AFRICA:  DROUGHT AND STARVATION
Major drought in the Horn of Africa threatens an estimated 7.7 million 
people with severe food shortages.
On Monday, the United States announced its latest shipment of 30,000 
tons of food relief to Ethiopia, bringing to 116,000 tons the amount of 
U.S. food aid delivered to the country in the last two weeks, Tibor 
Nagy, the U.S. ambassador to Ethiopia, said.  [CNN, May 9, 2000]

WHY THE HORN OF AFRICA IS FACED WITH ANOTHER DROUGHT
Periodic drought seems to have been Ethiopia's lot for hundreds of 
years. Yet droughts are becoming more frequent and severe. A century ago 
the country suffered a drought every 10-15 years.   Today they come with 
alarming regularity every five years or less. Although the 
drought-caused famine of 1984-85 remains well known, less serious but 
nonetheless significant droughts were suf
 
1991-92, 1993-94, and 1999.
Global climate change may drive the increasing the frequency and 
intensity of drought here,.
Other factors have contributed to making Ethiopians more vulnerable to 
erratic or scarce rainfall.   A high population growth rate, dwindling 
farm size, unjust patterns of land tenure, inefficient farming 
techniques, deforestation, and degraded soils all contribute to chronic 
disaster.
In the meantime, in many parts of Ethiopia the rains haven't fallen or 
didn't fall when they normally do, and that phenomenon remains the most 
important factor in explaining the current crisis.  [All Africa News 
Agency, May 8, 2000]
CHILDREN ARE DYING AS AID TRICKLES INTO ETHIOPIA
Obdi Rahman gathered his wife, his three children and his donkey and 
headed out of their village of Farjano late last month, across the 
searing Ogaden desert. He undertook the trek despite 110-degree heat. He 
had to leave. His stores of water and food were exhausted.  The cattle 
were dying.  The journey was fateful. The first night, Rahman's 
1-year-old son died in his arms.  The next day, his 3-year-old daughter 
collapsed and died. . That night, his 2-year-old son died.
By the time they reached a tiny settlement, only Rahman, his wife and 
the donkey were left.  They found themselves among thousands of people 
clamoring for donated food, handed out by a local official.  It appears 
that an entire generation of children is battling to stay alive through 
one of the worst droughts here in several years. Until last week, it had 
not rained, other than a few light drizzles, for three years in much of 
eastern Ethiopia, where about 1.3 million people eke out a living. Many 
are semi-nomadic, moving with their small herds among sparse grazing 
places.
BUT RAIN BRINGS NEW DANGERS   Then last week, rain pounded down.  Far 
from a blessing, though, it brought new dangers. In some stricken areas, 
the dirt roads became impassable, halting aid deliveries.
There's concern that the sudden rain could n
of
malaria and cholera
Many animals have already died. Carcasses litter the desert- some frozen 
in their last moments, others picked clean by the winds and scavenging 
animals.
From the air, rivers appear to be dark smudges on the dry ground.
Up close, the wells are empty.
NO ONE CAN BE SURE OF THE HUMAN DEATH TOLL since the water sources began 
to run dry late last year.   Estimates run in the low thousands. United 
Nations officials say almost 8 million people in Ethiopia might face 
death due to food and water shortages. Another 8 million are at risk in 
nearby parts of Africa, especially in Burundi, Somalia and northern 
Kenya. Thousands, perhaps tens or hundreds of thousands of people could 
die, the United Nations says, if the next rains expected in October 
fail, or if the world does not quickly move water and food to these 
remote regions.
Sulub Abdulahi, 42, made it here after a three-day walk. But thirst and 
famine already had claimed three of his children. He lost his 7-year-old 
son in early January. Two weeks later, his 3-year-old daughter died. And 
10 days later, he buried another daughter, 5.  Abdulahi left his wife, 
who was six months pregnant, at home with their three remaining 
children. "There is nothing for them to eat," he says. "Only the leaves 
on the trees. I don't remember such a thing in all our history."
Ethiopia, of course, has been through this before. Droughts have 
devastated the country every decade or so for the past 100 years.  There 
have been five famines since 1970. The desert dwellers long ago 
developed their own survival skills: trading a few cattle for food or 
walking for weeks to other water sources.  As the cattle have withered 
and died, however, this drought has pushed the people beyond their 
limits, aid experts say.
Ethiopia's droughts are coming more frequently, and perhaps more 
intensely.
' 'There is definitely something going on with the climate," says Judith 
Lewis of Mississippi, who runs the U.N. World Food Program in Ethi
d a series of 
catastrophic earthquakes, hurricanes, droughts and floods the past few 
years. This part of Africa isn't the only region affected.  Drought is 
threatening more than 50 million people in parts of northern India, 
Pakistan and Afghanistan.
ONLY A TRICKLE OF AID has arrived.  So far, the U.S. and European 
governments have pledged about 700,000 tons of food, short of the 1 
million tons the U.N. food program estimates will be needed this year.
Ethiopians say help has come far too late. "Our organization was crying 
out since June 1999," says Muhammed Abdi, director of the Ogaden Welfare 
Society. "People didn't take us seriously. They thought we just wanted 
to raise money."
Though some grain and water is arriving, there is almost no medicine.
"Very few people are dying of actual starvation," Lewis says.
"They are dying of diarrhea, measles, bronchial infections: things
which kill because they are so weak and have no water."   CHILDREN
ARE FIRST TO FALL   [USA Today, May 9, 2000].