(AFP) – Canadair water bomber aircraft from the Croatian military respond to areas hit by wildfires along Croatia’s Adriatic coast on 14 August. Flames ravaged a residential area near the town of Omis, on the central coast, overnight from Thursday to Friday, leaving one person dead, one missing, at least 40 injured and causing significant property damage.
Labuan Bajo (Indonesia) (AFP) – Guests evacuate a damaged hotel in Labuan Bajo, one of Indonesia’s main tourist destinations, after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Flores Island in eastern Indonesia. “We were on the fifth floor. We ran looking for the emergency exit. We managed to go down one floor, but just as we were about to go down further, stones were already scattered everywhere, and the shaking was still intense,” Kadek, one of the hotel guests, tells AFP.
Konotopie (Poland) (AFP) – Towering over farmlands around the Polish village of Konotopie, Europe’s tallest statue of the Virgin Mary is set to be consecrated on 15 August. At 55 metres (180 feet) high, the concrete and steel figure is the tallest Marian statue in Europe, and second in the world behind the 98.15 metre Mother of All Asia effigy in the Philippines.
Clacton-on-Sea (United Kingdom) (AFP) – Hard-right British politician Nigel Farage has been re-elected to his parliamentary seat in a by-election shunned by the major parties — handing his main rival, joke candidate Count Binface, a larger than expected share of the vote.
Sakura (Japan) (AFP) – Streets remain flooded, and cars are left abandoned in Japan’s eastern Chiba region the day after torrential downpours triggered landslide warnings and power outages. Forecasters issued the highest level heavy rain warning for the region for the first time as at least five people died after the heavy rain.
Catania (Italy) (AFP) – Molten lava pours out of the slopes of an erupting Mount Etna in Sicily, Italy, drawing in flocks of tourists to the active volcano site despite local guides’ concerns. The rising plumes have forced Italian authorities to stop flights, with the closure of Catania Airport. Mount Etna is the tallest active volcano in Europe.
Upper Hambleton (United Kingdom) (AFP) – England’s dry weather has revealed the remains of a former village, flooded in the 1970s to create a reservoir. It is located within the East Midlands, one of the many regions under drought after England and Wales experienced their driest July on record.
Cali (Colombia) (AFP) – Vickye Giraldo, a 56-year-old lawyer whose building was destroyed by the earthquake in Colombia’s Cali, happily greets Polux, one of her pet cats rescued from the rubble. Colombia’s magnitude 7.4 quake has killed at least 265 people, injured more than 3,500 and left almost 500 missing, according to local authorities, as the critical 72-hour window for finding people alive draws to a close.
Cali (Colombia) (AFP) – Volunteers and rescue workers in Cali continue to clear rubble and try to locate earthquake survivors as the critical 72-hour window for rescue operations neared its end. The magnitude 7.4 quake, the strongest to hit Colombia this century, has killed 265 people, injured more than 3,500 and left almost 500 missing, according to local authorities. IMAGES
Castellón de la Plana (Spain) (AFP) – Day briefly turns to night in Spain, as the country witnesses its first total solar eclipse in more than a century, plunging it into eerie darkness in one of nature’s greatest spectacles. “It’s one of the most beautiful things I’ve ever seen,” says 54-year-old Anabel Poveda.
Getxo (Spain) (AFP) – One of nature’s greatest spectacles –- a rare total solar eclipse –- casts its shadow, briefly turning day into night in Russia’s remote Arctic north and western Iceland before heading towards mainland Europe. Supplies of special viewing glasses were in high demand, as a partial eclipse was visible across Europe, as well as in Canada, the northern United States and northwest Africa.
Turkistan (Kazakhstan) (AFP) – In an effort to tackle severe droughts that plague the country, Kazakhstan has turned to cloud seeding, using special aircraft to disperse a substance that sticks to cloud droplets, making them heavy enough to fall as rain. Kazakh authorities are betting on the technique to reduce the impact of drought and water shortages in its southern Turkestan region, the country’s leading cotton-growing region. “We are not creating the cloud,” explains Adnan Yarmohammed, an Emirati official involved in the initiative, adding, “We are just enhancing the cloud that’s already available.”
