Tornadoes > Help Missourians recover from recent disasters - Official MO State website

Donations for Missouri Disaster Relief

Help Missourians recover from recent disasters

Missourians who would like to donate to assist with disaster relief efforts in Missouri, the rest of the nation and the world should consider that making financial contributions to a recognized disaster relief organization is the most effective donation. Monetary donations allow voluntary organizations to fund response and recovery efforts, obtain goods and services locally and provide direct financial assistance to disaster survivors to meet their own needs.

A list of major non-profits that operate regularly in Missouri can be found by visiting the National Donations Management Network Web site. At the site you can donate directly to your preferred charitable organization by clicking on the organization’s name. In addition to making financial donations, you may donate products and services, or lend equipment to relief efforts. For more details or to make a donation, click the link above or call (800) 427-4626.

Additional information about donating or volunteer opportunities is available from 211 Missouri, which can be reached by dialing 211, or (800) 427-4626. This information is also available at the 211 Missouri Web site.

Donate to help Missouri’s flood and tornado victims

Your contribution will support disaster relief efforts to help those affected by the floods and tornadoes throughout Missouri; providing shelter, food, emotional support, other supplies and assistance. 

Donate to Assist in Long Term Recovery Efforts

Often it takes a long time, months and even years, for communities and individuals to recover from a disaster. Your donation can make a difference.  Full article

Joplin MO > Three neighboring states offer aid to stricken Joplin, MO

Three neighboring states offer aid to stricken Joplin, MO

Tue, 2011-05-24 09:37 AM

By: Jacob Goodwin

Fans at Kansas Speedway will donate to help relief efforts in Joplin

Because it is located in the far southwest corner of the State of Missouri, the devastated City of Joplin is sitting only short distances from its neighboring states of Kansas, Oklahoma and Arkansas, all of which have offered immediate assistance.

Missouri Governor Jay Nixon has activated the Missouri National Guard to respond in the Joplin area. “The State Emergency Management Agency is helping to coordinate the deployment of search and rescue teams, a disaster medical assistance team, communications vehicles, mobile command vehicles, heavy equipment and an incident support team,” announced the Missouri Department of Public Safety on May 23. Full article

Joplin, MO Tornado > Two MO National Guard units assisting in Joplin

[Missouri does not have a State Defense Force; I wonder if the CERT teams have helped out any...stay tuned...-SDFBlogger]
Two MO National Guard units assisting in Joplin

Tue, 2011-05-24 10:07 AM

By: Mark Rockwell

249th Engineer in Joplin

About 140 Missouri National Guard troops are helping local authorities in Joplin, MO, in a number of missions following the killer tornado that hit the city on May 22, according to the Department of Defense and the Missouri National Guard.

The Missouri National Guard soldiers are helping with search and rescue missions at the direction of local authorities, according to a statement by the Missouri National Guard on May 23. They are expected to conduct a number of missions in the upcoming days, including emergency route clearance, communications support, door-to-door safety visits and security, according to the DoD’s Armed Forces Press Service.

Among those responding are soldiers of the 117th Engineer Team, of Monett, and 294th Engineer Company, of Carthage and Anderson, MO. Additionally, a Joint Task Force Communications Kit out of Jefferson City, MO is en route to assist local authorities, according to the DoD.  Full article

Japan > Fuel Melted in Additional Japan Nuclear Reactors: Operator

Fuel Melted in Additional Japan Nuclear Reactors: Operator

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

photo courtesy channel4.com

Nuclear material melted down inside three reactors at Japan's Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant after a March 11 earthquake and tsunami severely damaged the facility, according to an initial Tokyo Electric Power assessment made public on Tuesday (see GSN, May 23).  

The finding suggests fuel in the six-reactor Fukushima plant's No. 2 and No. 3 reactors sustained a level of damage comparable to what Tokyo and independent specialists said the No. 1 reactor's material had experienced in the aftermath of the the March 11 events, Reuters reported. The devastating earthquake and tsunami left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan (Shinichi Saoshiro, Reuters I, May 24).

“We have analyzed data, which showed that it was highly likely that most of the fuel rods have melted. But it is unlikely that melting fuel rods could worsen the crisis because the melted fuels are covered in water,” the Associated Press quoted firm spokesman Takeo Iwamoto as saying (Associated Press/Washington Post, May 23).Full article

Small Pox > Decision Delayed on Eliminating Smallpox Stocks

Decision Delayed on Eliminating Smallpox Stocks

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

photo courtesy  ki4u.com

The World Health Assembly on Tuesday pushed back to 2014 any decision on setting a deadline to eliminate smallpox virus strains held by Russia and the United States, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 23).  

Moscow and Washington have said they need to hold onto the world's last known variola virus stocks to allow for continued research and development of additional vaccines and antivirals. They had pressed for delaying a decision on the matter for five years.

While the European Union and nations such as China and Israel backed that position, a bloc of some 20 countries led by Iran had reportedly pressed for a schedule to be set at this meeting of the decision-making body for the World Health Organization. The gathering ended on Tuesday, following two days of consideration of the matter.

"There has been a lot of discussion around the smallpox issue," WHO official Pierre Formenty said to reporters. "Three years from now, we will resume the discussion" (Barbara Lewis, Reuters I/Yahoo!News, May 24).

Iran on Monday had taken the rare step of calling for a vote on establishing the smallpox destruction deadline, Reuters reported.

The 193-member state World Health Assembly typically makes decisions based on consensus. Tehran's proposal was dismissed by other countries who instead backed forming a working group to attempt to bridge disagreements on the schedule issue.  Full article

U.S. Sends Humanitarian Envoy to North Korea

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The United States on Tuesday dispatched an official envoy to North Korea in a rare trip aimed at assessing food scarcity in the impoverished state against the backdrop of a building push to resume the paralyzed aid-for-denuclearization talks, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 23).

photo courtesy:  dailyworldtrends.com

Special envoy for North Korean human rights Robert King and a small delegation of U.S. officials arrived "to consult humanitarian issues" between Washington and Pyongyang, the official Korean Central News Agency said in a brief dispatch.

The last formal trip by a U.S. official to the Stalinist state took place in December 2009.

"Since North Korea sees U.S. decisions on humanitarian aid through a political lens, the food aid assessment might be treated in Pyongyang as a political signal that the Obama administration might finally be open to a broader political dialogue with North Korea," North Korea specialist Scott Snyder stated on the Council of Foreign Relations website.

King's visit occurs while North Korean dictator Kim Jong Il is in China -- his third such trip in little more than a year. Experts and envoys believe Kim will use the trip to seek more financial and food assistance from its longtime ally. In exchange for providing badly needed aid, analysts anticipate Beijing will pressure Pyongyang to agree to South Korea's proposal for bilateral talks on North Korea's nuclear activities.

Washington shut off food aid to Pyongyang in 2008 and is waiting for the OK from Seoul to open up the pipeline, according to Reuters.

Opponents of providing further food to Pyongyang argue the regime has previously used the assistance to feed its large army and not its citizenry. Seoul says the North has the same food supplies as in 2010. South Korean officials are also suspicious that Pyongyang wants to build up its food supplies prior to a third nuclear test that would presumably result in further restrictions on foreign assistance (Jeremy Laurence, Reuters/Yahoo!News, May 24) Full article
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Bombed Syrian Facility Likely Contained Reactor: IAEA

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The International Atomic Energy Agency in a new safeguards report said a Syrian facility destroyed in a 2007 Israeli airstrike had quite possibly housed an undisclosed nuclear reactor nearing completion, the Associated Press reported on Tuesday (George Jahn, Associated Press/Washington Times, May 24; seeGSN, May 20).

"Features of the destroyed building are comparable to those of gas cooled graphite moderated
reactors of the type and size alleged," IAEA Director General Yukiya Amano asserted in the document. "Prior to the bombing, the configuration of the infrastructure at the site, including its connections for cooling and treated water, was able to support the operation of such a reactor and was not consistent with Syria’s claims regarding the purpose of the infrastructure," he added.

"In addition, a number of other features of the site add to its suitability for the construction and
operation of a nuclear reactor; analysis of samples from the site indicates a connection to nuclear related activities; and the features of the destroyed building and the site could not have served the purpose claimed by Syria," the report states.

Amano concluded: "Based on all the information available to the agency and its technical evaluation of that information, the agency assesses that it is very likely that the building destroyed at the Dair Alzour site was a nuclear reactor which should have been declared to the agency" (International Atomic Energy Agency safeguards report, May 24)  Full article
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Pakistan > Militant Strike Refreshes Doubts on Pakistani Nuke Security

Militant Strike Refreshes Doubts on Pakistani Nuke Security

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

The siege by militants on a Pakistani military base on Monday is expected to again increase concerns about the South Asian state's capacity to protect its nuclear arsenal, the Los Angeles Times reported (see GSN, May 23).

(May. 24) - Military personnel arrive on Monday at Pakistan's Mehran Naval Station following an attack on the installation by Taliban gunmen. The strike could heighten worries over Pakistan's capacity to secure its nuclear weapons (Rizwan Tabassum/Getty Images).

Four to six militants were initially believed involved in the physical operation that killed no fewer than 10 and hurt another 15 at the Mehran Naval Station in Karachi. The number of attackers as of Tuesday was being assessed at up to 12.

The attackers used two ladders and wire cutters to overcome the security perimeter of the installation, where they proceeded to destroy two high-tech spy aircraft provided by the United States. It took Pakistani authorities the better part of the day to overpower the attackers who were armed with grenades, rocket launchers and guns.

The Pakistani Taliban has taken credit for the siege, which it said was retaliation for the U.S. killing earlier this month of al-Qaeda leader Osama bin Laden (see related GSN story, today).  Full article

Military > Cartwright Passed Over for Top U.S. Military Post

Cartwright Passed Over for Top U.S. Military Post

Tuesday, May 24, 2011

By Elaine M. Grossman

Global Security Newswire

WASHINGTON -- President Obama has decided to pass over Gen. James Cartwright for the U.S. military's highest post as chairman of the Joint Chiefs of Staff, according to defense sources (see GSN, Dec. 17, 2010).

(May. 24) - Vice Chairman of the U.S. Joint Chiefs of Staff Gen. James Cartwright, left, stands with President Obama at a White House event earlier this month. Obama has decided against appointing Cartwright to the country's top military position, according to defense sources (Saul Loeb/Getty Images).

Said to be Obama's "favorite general," Cartwright enjoys bipartisan support in the Senate -- which would have been asked to confirm him -- and was believed to be the front-runner to take the post when Adm. Michael Mullen retires this summer.

However, serving as the nation's No. 2 military officer since August 2007, the Marine general has frequently crossed swords with Mullen. It is widely believed this discord jeopardized the 61-year-old officer's hopes of continuing his military career.

Cartwright's spokesman declined comment on the matter.

The Rockford, Ill., native did not actively lobby for the chairman's job but would have been happy to undertake the post, according to a number of military officials.

He is widely regarded as a brainy and enormously capable officer who has established close ties with top Pentagon and White House civilians, but has clashed with a number of his peers over both substantive issues and operating style.  Full article

Japan > Nuclear Plant Reactor Structure Opened to Personnel

Third Japan Plant Reactor Structure Opened to Personnel

Thursday, May 19, 2011

image courtesy of  gc.nautilus.org

Personnel on Wednesday moved inside the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear power plant's No. 3 reactor site for the first time since a March earthquake and tsunami devastated the Japanese facility, Reuters reported (see GSN, May 18).

Plant operator Tokyo Electric Power dispatched two workers who remained in the building for 10 minutes and received under three millisieverts of radiation in that period. Plant personnel have been battling to prevent new radiation releases from the six-reactor facility, both by restoring critical cooling systems and implementing measures to help prevent additional hydrogen explosions. The March 11 events left more than 20,000 people dead or missing in Japan.

Personnel previously ventured into the outer structures of the plant's No. 1 and No. 2 reactors, the other two segments of the plant that were active at the start of the crisis (Reuters I, May 19).

"Workers being able to enter the reactors is perhaps the biggest improvement" since Tokyo Electric Power announced the schedule for bringing plant components under control, one atomic power specialist told Reuters. "They have made the ventilation of the reactor building possible and it also enables [Tokyo Electric Power] to install heat exchangers and pumps" (Reuters II, May 19).

The plant is due on Friday to receive a massive steel containment system for holding 10,000 metric tons of radiation-tainted fluid that has flooded parts of the facility, hindering restoration efforts, the operator said. In excess of 90,000 metric tons of irradiated liquid is thought to be pooling within and near the site (Reuters I).

The discovery of additional damage to plant components has forced the firm to dramatically revise its site stabilization strategy, which now includes the planned installation of technology to reinsert leaked reactor coolant into the systems, the Asahi Shimbun reported. Tokyo Electric Power, though, says it remains on schedule to put the site into "cold shutdown" five to eight months from now.

The company must also contend with the threat of contaminated fluid seeping into the earth or the Pacific Ocean (Eisuke Sasaki, Asahi Shimbun I, May 19).

Tokyo is permitting the International Atomic Energy Agency to dispatch a team to gather information on the crisis, Japanese Chief Cabinet Secretary Yukio Edano said on Tuesday. The U.N. group is expected to include roughly 20 atomic experts (Asahi Shimbun II, May 19).

China and Japan are due on Friday to hold their first bilateral meeting of atomic specialists to address the crisis, Kyodo News reported (Kyodo News, May 19)
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Nuclear > Interpol Stands Up Nuclear Counterterrorism Unit

Thursday, May 19, 2011

Interpol on Wednesday said it has a established a unit to take on terrorism threats involving nuclear, radiological and other unconventional materials (seeGSN, Sept. 28, 2010).

The Radiological and Nuclear Terrorism Prevention Unit "crucially will expand the world police body’s antibioterrorism activities to take in chemical, biological, radiological, nuclear and explosive (CBRNe) threats by using an integrated approach that leverages international partnerships and expertise across all sectors," according to an Interpol release (see GSN, Feb. 24, 2010).

The update acknowledges the dangers that weapons of mass destruction pose to the 188 nations that participate in Interpol, organization Secretary General Ronald Noble said during a conference in Lyon, France, on preventing nuclear and radiological terrorism.

“Only one week after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, the United States was struck once again with the ‘anthrax case’, in which a single individual with scientific knowledge and access to the right biological strain was able to murder five people, injure 17 and temporarily shut down the entire mail system of the United States for an estimated loss of $1 billion, while terrorizing other countries in the process,” he said.

The primary goal of the event and of the new unit, Noble said, is “to build police capacity globally, to prevent the next bioterrorist attack. This objective requires police to have at its side the public, private and scientific sectors together as one in order to successfully address the whole threat spectrum."

One database developed by the International Atomic Energy Agency, Interpol and other organizations lists in excess of 2,500 incidents linked to the illicit movement of nuclear and radiological materials, the Interpol release states.

The updated counter-WMD effort at Interpol "will combine intelligence analysis via global information sharing, capacity building and training, and will also provide operational supporrt through the deployment of specialized teams," the organization said (Interpol release, May 18).