Emergency crews have discovered two more bodies on the luxury cruise ship that ran aground off the Italian island of Giglio, near Tuscany. According to the BBC, "The coastguard said divers had found the bodies of two unidentified elderly men trapped in a flooded area...on the third floor in a meeting area section of the ship." more ›

Yesterday afternoon, President Obama visited some of New Jersey's most Hurricane Irene-damaged areas—Paterson and Wayne. After being welcomed by Governor Chris Christie and Senators Lautenberg and Menendez in Newark, the President was greeted with cheers (see video). He said, "The entire country is behind you. I want to make it very clear that we are going to meet our federal obligations... We know it could have been worse, but we should not underestimate the heartache that's going through a lot of these communities and affecting a lot of these families. And we want to make sure that we're there to help." more ›

After Hurricane-turned-Tropical Storm Irene walloped New York State with devastating flooding, Governor Andrew Cuomo called for expedited federal aid, sending a letter to the White House, "I have determined that this incident is of such severity and magnitude that effective response is beyond the capabilities of the state and affected local governments, and that supplementary federal assistance is necessary." Now President Obama has answered with an official disaster declaration. more ›

Hurricane Irene is the big news story this week (earthquake, what earthquake?) and big news in the financial capital of the world inevitably turns to questions of cash. To that end, today FiveThirtyEight's Nate Silver did some number crunching and hoo boy, this thing could cost a pretty penny! "Apart from the potential loss of life in the most densely populated part of the country, history suggests that the economic damage could run into the tens of billions of dollars, depending on the severity of the storm and how close it comes to the city." more ›

After a 8.9-magnitude earthquake and subsequent tsunami struck Japan yesterday, the death toll is in the hundreds, but it may rise to over 1,300—and in one town, 9,500 people are missing. Today, two aftershocks—one 6.1 and one 6.4—have rocked the country and an explosion at a nuclear power plant (video below) has prompted more evacuations and radiation leak worries. A massive relief effort for the northeastern part of Japan has been launched and Japanese Prime Minister Naoto Kan called it "an unprecedented disaster." more ›

Yesterday, President Obama declared "major disaster" status for Staten Island and other parts of the state, allowing them to receive federal funding to recover from December's blizzard. The funding will not directly benefit homeowners; it will reimburse costs for temporary and overtime labor as well as the expenses of removing the island's 23 inches of snow. However petitions for funding for th Bronx, Queens and Brooklyn were denied. Were they not disasters as well? more ›

Remember last summer when New York City suffered through thirty seconds of tremors, and we noted that seismologists said there will probably be more to come? We also noted that the last big one was over 120 years ago (with an epicenter at Rockaway Beach), and then pointed to a 2008 Columbia University study which noted that the city has several fault lines (including one along 125th Street), and we're due for a quake in the 5.0 or higher range. Well, welcome to last July, internet! Today everyone is chattering about this Metro article which said pretty much the same thing, adding this bit of scaremongering from a seismologist: "New York City is due for another big quake... It can happen anytime soon. We can expect it any minute." more ›