5.6 Magnitude EQ – South Australia

At approximately 09:25:17 UTC on Friday, March 23rd, a 5.6 magnitude earthquake based on land struck at a depth of 10.7 km (6.6 miles) in the region of the South Australia, 217 km (196 miles) SSW of Alice Springs, Australia. Coords: 10.387°S, 161.262°E … (USGS)

According to Geoscience Australia, the initial arrival was from 09:25:44 – 09:29:14 (UTC).

Geoscience has the depth at 3 km at present. Australia itself does not run over any prominent fault lines, so earthquakes further inland, like this one, are a rarity, though not unheard of.

The epicentre itself was 370 kilometres west-north-west of Oodnadatta, near the Northern Territory-South Australian border.

…(Geoscience)

Cyclone Funso kills 12 in Mozambique

The MODIS instrument on NASA's Aqua satellite captured this visible image of a cyclone.

At least 12 people have been killed and thousands displaced when cyclone Funso hit central Mozambique at the weekend, state television said Monday.

“The deaths occurred in five districts in Zambezia” province, Mozambique Television said, citing the National Disaster Management Institute. Seven deaths were reported in Manganja da Costa, two in Nicoadala, one in Namacurra, one in Pebane and one in the provincial capital Quelimane, the report said. About 5,000 people were displaced when heavy rains pounded the region, causing damage to the only road linking the capital Maputo and the northern areas.

National Institute of Meteorology spokesman Sergio Buque predicted that Funso will continue to batter the coast of Zambezia, Sofala and north of Inhambane provinces, with heavy rains and gusts up to 120 kilometres (75 miles) per hour on Monday.

Cyclones accompanied by heavy rains often hit Mozambique in the early part of the year.

Five people died last week when tropical storm Dando pounded southern Mozambique, sending thousands of people fleeing to higher ground.

…(Times Live)

UFO Sightings Skyrocket Into 2012

This group of moving objects was captured over Campinas, Brazil, on Jan. 3.

During the first week of 2012, UFO reports streamed in from around the world as numerous eyewitnesses described and videotaped strange things in the sky.

Whether they were balloons, conventional aircraft or misidentified astronomical objects, the new year of UFO sightings is off and running as the worldwide proliferation of digital video cameras and phone cams makes it easier than ever to photograph unusual sights in the sky above us. The Colorado-based Mutual UFO Network, the largest UFO investigative organization in the world, received many reports of UFOs during the first week of the year from eyewitnesses in 36 out of 50 states. The 14 states that haven’t reported in so far are Alaska, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Maine, Minnesota, Montana, Nebraska, North Dakota, Rhode Island, South Dakota, Washington, Wisconsin and Wyoming — but the year is young.

“For the entire month of January 2011, MUFON recorded around 500 reports, and we’re already up to 233 after just the first week of 2012,” said MUFON international director Clifford Clift.

“For December, we had 810, compared to about 500 in December 2010,” Clift told The Huffington Post.

“Last year, we averaged over 6,000 total sightings, and if it continues at this pace, we’ll be up 50 percent, with about 10 percent of those reports ending up as unexplained after our investigation,” he said.

According to New Zealand’s WeatherWatch.co.nz, in the first 24 hours of the new year, it received “almost 80 reports and they’re still flooding in at about 10 an hour.”

“Many people around the world have been outside celebrating the new year. In the U.S., where most of the sightings came from, conditions were fairly mild and dry in many areas, so more people were outside to see things,” weather analyst Philip Duncan said in a statement.

…(Huffington Post)