At least 95 dead, scores injured in 6.8 magnitude earthquake near holy city in Tibet, Chinese media reports
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(TIBET) — At least 95 people were killed and more than 100 others were injured as a 6.8 magnitude earthquake struck near Tibet’s holy city on Tuesday, according to Chinese state media.
The earthquake occurred in Dingri County, Shigatse City, Tibet, just after 9 a.m. with a focal depth of 10 kilometers, according to China Earthquake Networks Centre.
The U.S. Geological Survey placed the earthquake’s magnitude at 7.1, pinpointing the epicenter in Xizang, China, the local name for the Tibet Autonomous Region.
“The region near the India and Eurasia plate boundary has a history of large earthquakes,” the USGS said in a summary of the quake. “In the past century, there have been 10 earthquakes of magnitude 6 and greater within 250 km of the January 7, 2025, earthquake.”
The Dalai Lama, Tibetan Buddhism’s exiled spiritual leader, said in a statement that he was “saddened” to learn of the deadly earthquake.
“It has caused the tragic loss of many lives, numerous injuries, and extensive destruction to homes and property,” he said. “I offer my prayers for those who have lost their lives and extend my wishes for a swift recovery to all who have been injured.”
The Chinese media also reported that as of 10 a.m. local time, multiple aftershocks were recorded, the largest of which was 4.4.
The death toll had previously been reported at 53, with about 60 other injured.
This is a developing story. Please check back for updates.
Tanya Dzafarowa/Suspilne Ukraine/JSC “UA:PBC”/Global Images Ukraine via Getty Images
(LONDON) — Russia launched a major missile and drone attack on Ukraine overnight into Sunday targeting power plants and energy infrastructure across the country.
The barrage was the largest attack on Ukraine since late August and the third largest so far this year. Missiles and drones targeted cities including the capital Kyiv, forcing people into basements, subway stations and other underground shelters.
Ukrainian authorities reported that at least five people were killed.
Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelenskyy wrote on Telegram early Sunday that the “massive strike” targeted areas in “all regions of Ukraine.”
Zelenskyy said around 120 missiles and 90 drones were fired into the country, with Ukrainian air defenses downing more than 140 targets.
Ukraine’s air force said that at least eight Kinzhal hypersonic missiles — among Moscow’s most advanced weapons — were among the projectiles used in the attack. So too were one Zircon hypersonic cruise missile and more than 100 Kalibr cruise missiles.
The air force said Ukrainian defenders downed 144 targets — 102 missiles and 42 drones. The Russian aircraft involved in the assault included Tu-160 and Tu-95 strategic bombers, the air force said, as well as Su-34, Su-27 and MiG-31 jets.
“We are grateful to all our air defense,” the president said, noting that American-made F-16 fighter jets were involved in the defense.
Strikes and explosions were reported in Kyiv, Odesa, Zaporizhzhia, Kryvyi Rih, Dnipro and in western Ukraine. The Black Sea port city of Odesa was reportedly left without power following the strikes.
Zelenskyy said a drone impact in the southern city of Mykolaiv killed two people and injured six others, including two children.
Poland’s military, meanwhile, said the Russian missile barrage prompted it to scramble fighter jets to protect its skies.
Ukrainian Energy Minister German Galushchenko confirmed in a post to social media that the strikes were targeting Ukraine’s grid. The attack prompted authorities to impose emergency energy shutdowns in Kyiv and at least one other region.
Russia has targeted Ukraine’s grid as winter looms. The country’s centralized heating systems having been turned on in the past couple of weeks as temperatures drop below freezing. The strikes threaten to leave millions without power.
Moscow has launched missile and drone barrages against Ukraine since the beginning of the full-scale war in February 2022. Russia has generally expanded long-range strikes as winters approach hoping to collapse the Ukrainian energy grid.
This year appears no different, with recent months bringing an intensification of drone and missile attacks across the country as the change in U.S. administration prompts talk of renewed peace negotiations.
Zelenskyy told Radio Ukraine on Saturday that Kyiv expects Russia to “continue combined strikes” through the winter period. “We need to prepare for everything,” he added.
Ukrainian Foreign Minister Andrii Sybiha said the attack was Russian President Vladimir Putin’s “true response” to recent conversations with world leaders — an apparent jab at German Chancellor Olaf Scholz who spoke with Putin Friday for the first time in two years, against Ukraine’s objections.
“Russia launched one of the largest air attacks: drones and missiles against peaceful cities, sleeping civilians, critical infrastructure,” Sybiha said. “This is war criminal Putin’s true response to all those who called and visited him recently. We need peace through strength, not appeasement.”
(NEW YORK) — A once long-dormant volcano in Iceland is erupting again and impacting activity in a populated region nearby.
The volcano, on the Reykjanes peninsula in southwestern Iceland, began erupting at Sundhnukar on Wednesday night and peaked at about 2 a.m. local time Thursday, according to the Icelandic Meteorological Office. It has prompted evacuations at the Blue Lagoon, an iconic tourist destination, and the nearby town of Grindavik.
West Iceland’s volcano is a rift activity volcano, which involves the earth being pulled apart in two different directions through the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, rather than a cone erupting magma through a central pipe, Thomas Algeo, a professor of earth sciences at the University of Cincinnati, told ABC News. The style of eruption is “much less dangerous, because most of the activity involves slow moving basaltic lava flows,” he added.
“It’s a style of volcanic activity that is effusive, slow flowing, not violently eruptive, like would be the case with a subduction zone volcanic system” Algeo said.
The fissure that was created on Wednesday night stretched about 1.8 miles long, according to the country’s meteorological office. This is the volcano’s seventh eruption this year, according to Iceland’s Department of Civil Protection and Emergency Management.
These types of eruptions are “spectacular” sights, because once a fissure opens up, a large supply of magma oozes out, Tobias Fischer, director of the Volatiles Laboratory at the University of New Mexico, told ABC News.
The eruption activity is “typical” for these types of systems, said Shawn Willsey, a geology professor College of Southern Idaho who has been conducting livestream tours using drones above the lava flows on YouTube. Once the lava erupts, the pressure is relieved and magma starts to fill into the shallow storage zone below — repressurizing the system and setting the stage for the next eruption, Willsey said.
“It’s known that this region goes through these episodes where there are a lot of these eruptions,” said Fischer, who has flown drones into eruption gas clouds to collect samples and analyze the composition of the carbon for his research.
By Thursday afternoon, the lava had reached the parking lot of the Blue Lagoon and consumed a service building, The Associated Press reported. There is no danger to the area, and the flights out of the Keflavik International Airport have not been affected, according to the civil protection agency.
Gas emitted from the eruption is expected to move south and out to sea, according to emergency officials.
Video taken from Grindavik show rivers of fast-moving lava flowing from the rift zones, where the lava can be seen spewing from the ground.
The ongoing eruption is “significantly smaller” than the eruption that took place in August, according to the meteorological agency.
Iceland is known as a “hot spot” for volcanic activity, Algeo said.
There are 32 active volcano systems in the region spread across three rift zones spread to the north, south and west — all part of the Mid-Atlantic Ridge, a mountain range that mostly runs down the middle of the Atlantic Ocean.
But in Iceland, the mountain range comes above the ocean certain due to “an excessively high production of magma in that area,” Algeo said.
Iceland’s western rift zone, also known as the Reykjanes-Langjökull rift zone, was active prior to the 13th century. These types of eruptions tend to have every 1,000 or so years, Fischer said,
“The big question is, is this going to continue on for centuries?” Willsey said.
In 2021, the volcano in western Iceland became active again. There have been 10 eruptions since there, seven of which have occurred in 2024, according to Icelandic officials said.
During the last 800 years, the majority of volcanic activity were in the north and east volcanic zones — both lightly populated regions, Algeo said. But western Iceland, which includes the capital of Reykjavik, is highly populated.
“They were in a nice little valley up in the mountains, and so that lava was pretty well contained,” Willsey said, adding that lava in those regions are “tourist-friendly” eruptions that can be enjoyed with little threat.
The recent eruptions in western Iceland have damaged infrastructure and property and forced residents to relocate, according to AP.
Previous eruptions throughout history have caused destruction in Iceland, Algeo said.
A large eruption that took place in 1783, known as the Laki eruption, is one of the worst in recorded history. It spewed so much toxic volcanic gasses across the landscape that it killed off most of the local farm animals and reduced the harvest, leading to starvation for about 25% of the population, Algeo said.
Eruptions on the Reykjanes peninsula in December 2023 triggered toxic gas warnings, causing emergency managers to fear that the pollution would spread to the capital.
A disruptive eruption at the Eyjafjallajokull volcano in 2010 disrupted trans-Atlantic air travel for months due to ash being spewed into the air.
(NEW YORK) — The climate crisis is not a distant threat; it’s happening right now and affecting what matters most to us. Hurricanes intensified by a warming planet and drought-fueled wildfires are destroying our communities. Rising seas and flooding are swallowing our homes. And record-breaking heatwaves are reshaping our way of life.
The good news is we know how to turn the tide and avoid the worst possible outcomes. However, understanding what needs to be done can be confusing due to a constant stream of climate updates, scientific findings, and critical decisions that are shaping our future.
That’s why the ABC News Climate and Weather Unit is cutting through the noise by curating what you need to know to keep the people and places you care about safe. We are dedicated to providing clarity amid the chaos, giving you the facts and insights necessary to navigate the climate realities of today — and tomorrow.
Study finds use of renewable energy sources reduces risk of blackouts
The Texas freeze of 2021 knocked out power for more than 10 million people, leaving some without heat for days. In the aftermath of the storm, Texas Gov. Greg Abbott told a national news network that “Wind and solar got shut down.” He added, “They were collectively more than 10% of our power grid, and that thrust Texas into a situation where it was lacking power on a statewide basis.”
However, in the aftermath, a research study found that renewable energy sources (RES) weren’t to blame. Instead, the researchers found that Texas “failed to sufficiently winterize its electricity and gas systems after 2011.”
Other blackouts have also been blamed on RES, including the 2016 blackout in South Australia and a 2019 outage in the U.K., both of which involved disruptions to wind farms.
Now, according to a new study from The University of Tennessee, grids with higher renewable energy penetration are actually less vulnerable to blackouts than those more reliant on traditional, non-renewable sources.
The analysis found that as the proportion of renewable energy in the grid increases, the intensity of blackouts — measured by the number of affected customers and the length of outages — decreases. This finding challenges the notion that renewable energy inherently makes power grids more fragile.
The researchers analyzed over 2,000 blackouts across the U.S., looking specifically at how renewable energy levels and various weather patterns influenced outage severity. They discovered that high levels of renewables didn’t contribute to an increase in weather-related blackouts.
In grids where renewables made up more than 30% of the energy supply, blackout events were generally less intense and shorter in duration. This trend held even during extreme weather, like high winds and storms, which can place heavy demands on power systems.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Researchers say they’ve devised the perfect placement for EV chargers
When you buy a gas-powered car, you rarely worry about where to fill it up. That’s because gas stations are everywhere. A 2022 McKinsey survey found that more than 40% of prospective electric vehicle (EV) buyers want that same degree of convenience when it comes to public charger availability for EVs.
Engineers at Cornell University say they have devised a solution for where to place EV charging stations so they are convenient for drivers and profitable for companies.
Using Bayesian optimization, a mathematical method that efficiently analyzes complex data to achieve these results, the research team discovered that for urban areas that it’s best to install an equal percentage of medium-speed and fast chargers. And because motorists use different speed chargers for different reasons, the researchers said it is essential to consider how they are being used when placing them around town.
For example, the engineers found that fast charging is more important at grocery stores when consumers are only inside for 20 minutes. Work and home charging stations should be medium speed because drivers usually park for hours at a time at those locations.
The researchers say their approach can boost investor returns by 50% to 100% compared to random placement strategies.
The team simulated the behavior of 30,000 vehicles over 113,000 trips in the Atlanta region, considering various traffic patterns and driver decisions. This method allowed them to determine optimal charging station placements.
Yeuchen Sophia Liu, the study’s lead author, told the Cornell Chronicle that, “Placing publicly available charging stations around cities sounds like a simple thing, but mathematically, it’s actually very hard.”
She added, “Economically strategic placement of charging stations could play a pivotal role in accelerating the transition to zero-emission vehicles.”
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Nearly 40% of the world’s trees face extinction, according to new assessment
Climate change, deforestation, invasive pests and disease all threaten to permanently wipe out nearly 40% of the earth’s trees, according to a new assessment by the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
The organization, comprised of 1,400 member organizations worldwide and 16,000 experts, said more than one in three tree species across 192 countries is now facing extinction, especially trees found on islands.
development and agriculture, as well as the other threats faced by tree species across the globe.
Since 1964, the IUCN has hosted its “Red List,” a database of threatened species from around the world. The research group found that 16,425 of the 47,282 tree species on their list are at risk of extinction — more than 2,000 of which are used for medicines, food, and fuels.
“Trees are essential to support life on Earth through their vital role in ecosystems, and millions of people depend upon them for their lives and livelihoods,” said Grethel Aguilar, IUCN director general, in a statement.
According to their analysis, “the number of threatened trees is more than double the number of all threatened birds, mammals, reptiles and amphibians combined.”
The group is calling for more habitat protection and restoration to protect these species and the creation of seed banks and botanical gardens to ensure they don’t disappear forever.
“The significance of the Global Tree Assessment cannot be overstated, given the importance of trees to ecosystems and people. We hope this frightening statistic of one in three trees facing extinction will incentivize urgent action and be used to inform conservation plans,” said Eimear Nic Lughadha from the Royal Botanic Gardens, in a statement.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Matthew Glasser
Report finds climate change increased heat deaths among older adults by 167%; worsened food security
The health and economic costs of climate change are rising worldwide, according to the newly released 2024 Lancet Countdown, a yearly report hosted by University College London and involving more than 300 researchers.
According to the report, “Of the 15 indicators monitoring climate change-related health hazards, exposures, and impacts, ten reached concerning new records in their most recent year of data.”
With global communities facing an additional 50 days of “dangerous heat,” heat-related deaths among older adults increased by a record-breaking 167% in 2023 compared to the 1990s, according to the report’s findings.
In addition to the heat impact, the Lancet report found that climate change is significantly worsening food insecurity, with 151 million more people facing shortages compared to previous decades. And more than 3 million people died in 2021 because of air pollution and fine particulate matter.
The researchers also found that global extreme weather costs have increased by 23% from 2010-14 to 2019-23, amounting to $227 billion annually.
-ABC News Climate Unit’s Kelly Livingston and ABC News Medical Unit’s Sony Salzman
