AMU Emergency Management Public Safety

EDM Monday Briefing: Magnitude 6.3 Earthquake Kills Eight in Philippines; Bombings Kill 290 in Sri Lanka

By
earthquake Arsenault

Emergency and disaster management briefing for April 22, 2019: Carbon monoxide poisoning sickens nearly a dozen people in an apartment building in Yonkers; a lawsuit filed against the USDA alleges meat and chicken still passes inspection with fecal matter contamination; multiple law enforcement agencies were sent to the scene of a brawl involving 300 juveniles that broke out at an amusement park in Missouri; multiple bombings killed at least 290 and injured nearly 500 in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday at churches and hotels across the nation; Sri Lanka invoked an emergency law that gives widespread powers to police and military to detain suspects without court orders; multiple EMS units responded to an American Airlines flight that landed in Boston with a group of sick passengers on board; workers are still searching for survivors after a landslide buried a rural village in the Rosas municipality in Colombia; and at least eight people are dead and many others are trapped after a magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Philippines Monday morning.

1) Carbon monoxide is responsible for sickening nearly two dozen people in an apartment building on Friday morning in Yonkers, New York. A resident returned home Friday morning after working the night shift and was unable to waken members of his family after a carbon monoxide leak that spread through two apartments in the building. Fire officials stated that it is unclear how the leak started and how long the 11 people in the two apartments had been exposed to the carbon monoxide, which caused vomiting and red faces in several of the residents. Others could not be wakened.

2) A lawsuit filed against the U.S. Department of Agriculture alleges that the agency does not adequately regulate fecal matter in chicken and meat production. According to the group that filed the lawsuit, the Physicians Committee for Responsible Medicine, a zero-tolerance fecal contamination policy in place only addresses fecal matter visible to the naked eye and does not address contamination by invisible fecal matter. The group based their lawsuit on a 2011 study that allegedly found fecal matter on 48 percent of the products tested. However, USDA officials claim that bacteria, both good and bad, are present and are destroyed during the cooking process.

3) An off-duty Clay County sheriff’s deputy reported a large number of fights breaking out at an amusement park in Kansas City, Missouri, on Saturday night, prompting a strong police response to the park. The fights, which broke out at the Worlds of Fun amusement park, began outside Camp Snoopy at around 9:00 p.m. and involved mostly teenagers. Multiple law enforcement agencies reported to the scene, where about 300 juveniles were fighting. With the assistance of park authorities, those involved in the large brawl were removed from the amusement park.

4) Multiple bombings at churches and hotels in Sri Lanka on Easter Sunday killed at least 290 people and wounded another 500 people or more. The worst attack appeared to hit a church in Megombo, just about 20 miles north of the capital city of Colombo. Three hotels that were bombed in the capital city were frequented by foreign tourists. A total of eight bombs took place across the nation, the majority of which involved suicide terrorists. Several U.S. citizens were among those killed in the blasts.

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5) A van blew up on Monday in Sri Lanka as a bomb squad and the Air Force attempted to defuse an explosive device that was found near one of the churches that was bombed on Sunday. No injuries were reported as a result of the blast, although 87 bomb detonators were also found at the city of Colombo’s main bus terminal, causing residents to feel on edge Monday. The nation of Sri Lanka has also declared an emergency — which will go into effect on Monday night — and the emergency law will give police and military extensive powers to detain suspects without court orders.

6) Multiple EMS units responded to an American Airlines flight from Miami that landed at Boston Logan International Airport on Sunday morning. The units were called to attend to the flight after multiple passengers — who were members of a student group — fell ill during the trip from Miami to Boston. The students, ages 15 to 17, were returning from Ecuador, where they had all dined at the same restaurant the night before landing in Miami to make their connecting flight to Boston. The group of students was taken by ambulance to Massachusetts General Hospital with symptoms that were minor in nature, according to first responders.

7) Seventeen people are dead and another five are injured following a landslide in Columbia that occurred on Easter Sunday morning. The landslide, according to the country’s disaster relief agency, was caused by heavy rainfall in the area and occurred in the Province of Cauca, in a rural area in the Rosas municipality. Authorities are searching for survivors, while also working to clear debris that is blocking a major local roadway in the area of the slide.

8) A magnitude 6.3 earthquake struck the Philippines on Monday and killed at least eight people. It also toppled power lines and buildings, damaged and destroyed homes, halted elevated rail lines, and caused at least eight provinces to experience power interruptions. According to officials, the eight people died when the quake toppled two buildings and some houses in the Pampanga Province. At least 30 people were trapped in a building in Porac. According to the U.S. Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake was centered about 37 miles northwest of Manila and struck at a depth of approximately 24 miles.

 

Kimberly Arsenault serves as an intern at the Cleveland/Bradley County Emergency Management Agency where she works on plan revisions and special projects. Previously, Kimberly spent 15 years in commercial and business aviation. Her positions included station manager at the former Midwest Express Airlines, as well as corporate flight attendant, inflight manager, and charter flight coordinator. Kimberly currently holds a master's degree in emergency and disaster management from American Public University.

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