A 6.1 earthquake has just struck 37 km (23 miles) S (183 degrees) of Hua-lien, Taiwan.

Update: The earthquake was a shallow one and only lightly felt in Taipei. No damage or casulaties have been reported.

The United States geological Service has just reported (15:35 EST) a massive 7.6 magnitude earthquake in Indonesia. Here is the location details:
150 km (95 miles) WNW of Manokwari, Papua, Indonesia
170 km (105 miles) ENE of Sorong, Papua, Indonesia
1335 km (830 miles) N of DARWIN, Northern Territory, Australia
2955 km (1830 miles) E of JAKARTA, Java, Indonesia

There are currently no tsunami warnings.

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Are we on the verge of the next Great Depression? The last one happened just like this one is unfolding. First there was a housing bubble burst followed by a tech bubble burst…both have just occurred.

Are banks are one step away from nationalization. Somethign that happened during the Depression.

Our economy is in tatters and we are reeling from one bad story to the next. Unless you have been living under a rock, you know what I am talking about.

Our 401K’s have been ravaged, we are at war in 2 countries and we owe just about everyone more then we can pay back in 2 decades.

Ford Motor and GM are trading at $2 and $4 a share- their capital nearly exhausted, they stand ready to disappear.

What can happen next?

Related articles:

• The End of Prosperity?
• http://www.cnn.com/2008/US/02/28/beck.commentary/index.html

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The United States Geological Service is reporting that a 6.0 magnitude earthquake has hit central Afghanistan at 6:56 PM (EST) approximately 40 miles South Southeast of KABUL, Afghanistan and 60 miles West Southwest of Jalalabad, Afghanistan.

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This is a joint announcement with NASA and the University of Colorado at Boulder. The National Snow and Ice Data Center (NSIDC) is part of the Cooperative Institute for Research in Environmental Sciences at the University of Colorado at Boulder. NSIDC scientists provide Arctic Sea Ice News & Analysis content, with partial support from NASA.
The Arctic sea ice cover appears to have reached its minimum extent for the year, the second-lowest extent recorded since the dawn of the satellite era. While slightly above the record-low minimum set in 2007, this season further reinforces the strong negative trend in summertime sea ice extent observed over the past thirty years.

NSIDC will issue a formal press release at the beginning of October with full analysis of the possible causes behind this year’s low ice conditions, particularly interesting aspects of the melt season, the set up going into the winter growth season ahead, and graphics comparing this year to the long-term record.

Full NSIDC announcement: http://nsidc.org/arcticseaicenews/
NSIDC press office: srenfrow@nsidc.org or +1 303.492.1497

NASA announcement: http://www.nasa.gov/topics/earth/sea_ice_nsidc.html
NASA visualizations: http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3556 and http://svs.gsfc.nasa.gov/goto?3547

Related articles:

• NASA: Arctic sea ice at second record low
• 50-50 chance of first iceless summer for North Pole: scientist
• An Ice-Free North Pole?

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The USGS is reporting that a 6.1 magnitude earthquake has hit the area near Tonga at approximately 5:19 PM (EDT) this evening. Early details are as follows:

200 km (125 miles) ENE of NUKU’ALOFA, Tonga
235 km (145 miles) SSE of Neiafu, Tonga
410 km (255 miles) WSW of Niue Island
2130 km (1320 miles) NE of Auckland, New Zealand

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The National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration is reporting that the combined average global land and ocean surface temperatures for the period March-May  2008, ranked seventh warmest, with May being the eighth warmest since worldwide records started in 1880. This is  according to an analysis by NOAA’s National Climatic Data Center in Asheville, N.C.

Related articles

• Scientists take 2007’s temperature [via Zemanta]
• Official Urges US Climate Service [via Zemanta]
• 2007 shaping up as 5th hottest year on record [via Zemanta]
• 2007 may be 5th hottest year on record [via Zemanta]

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3:00 PM (EDT) – Not since 1993, has Des Moines, Iowa seen a flooding disaster of this degree.  Only this time it is worse then it was back then. One resident referred to it as “our version of Katrina”.

As of this writing, the University of Iowa Art Campus has been abandoned despite residents best efforts, and it has succumbed to flooding from the already over-swollen Iowa river.

Despite officials’ best attempts to forestall the flooding with a sand berm,  the effort has been abandoned and hundreds of additional homes not already flooded are now at risk from the natural disaster that has gripped the city over the last few days due to unprecedented torrential rains.

Cedar Rapids has already succumbed to massive flooding and city officials are saying it will take days before the 400 city blocks that are under water can begin to be pumped out. Nearly 20% of the city’s nearly 120,000 residents have been forced to evacuate from their homes.

Additional quakes/aftershocks continue to hit Honshu, Japan which yesterday received a massive 6.9 earthquake that killed 6 people and injured over 144 people.

The additonal quakes ranged in magnitude from 5.0 – 5.5 and occured near midnight last night and as early as 10:42 AM this morning (EDT).

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8:50 PM (EDT) – The USGS Service is reporting a 6.9 magnitude earthquake near Eastern Honshu, Japan. The quake was registered at 7:43 P.M. EDT this evening at a depth of 10.3 km (6.4 miles). Its epicenter was reported approximately:

80 km (50 miles) SW of Morioka, Honshu, Japan
85 km (50 miles) SSE of Akita, Honshu, Japan
100 km (60 miles) NNW of Sendai, Honshu, Japan
390 km (240 miles) N of TOKYO, Japan