Fridays are all inspiring. Not quite. Fridays are all warming. No. Fridays are awesome!
Welcome to Friday, October 17.
I`m Carl Azuz with your commercial free newscast from CNN.
Hurricane Gonzalo is churning in the North Atlantic Ocean. Yesterday, it grew to category
four strength on the Saffir-Simpson scale, which measures a hurricane`s sustained wind
speed. Category four brings winds of 130 to 156 miles per hour. It can cause catastrophic
damage.
Last night forecasters predicted Gonzalo would brush by the island of Bermuda. But they weren`t
sure of its path, so a direct hit is possible.
Bermuda is under a hurricane warning, damaging winds, heavy rains and flooding are expected.
Gonzalo already hit the Virgin Islands Monday, but it was weaker then and caused mostly outages
and property damage.
but I can`t foresee your case where we should re- introduce large ground combat forces into
Iraq. But again, war is discovery, ISIL is a national security threat. If we get to that
point, I`ll make the recommendation.
General Martin Dempsey is the chairman of the joint chiefs of stuff. He`s the top U.S.
military advisor to the president.
And he`s talking about a controversial point in the U.S.-led war against ISIL or ISIS.
The Islamic State terrorist group. President Obama has repeatedly said, no U.S. boots on
the ground, meaning he won`t send U.S. troops in the direct contact with ISIS, though hundreds
are in Iraq now advising and helping others fight ISIS.
But several experts are saying, U.S. troops may be what`s needed to ultimately defeat
the terrorists.
Massive explosions in northwestern Syria. Activists say, these are tunnels full of explosives
being detonated by militants.
As clashes broke out between the regime and opposition forces. Just the latest in escalating
violence across Syria and Iraq.
Around the besieged city of Kobani on the Syria-Turkey border, 21 coalition airstrikes,
the largest number of strikes since operation began. Finally, stepping up attacks against
ISIS positioned to protect the town. But the White House still cautioning airstrikes can
only have so much impact in Kobani.
That impact is constrained by the fact that there are forces on the ground that can follow
up on these airstrikes to end that siege.
Pentagon officials say don`t expect the change in strategy. They long warned U.S. air power
could only do so much.
I also want to emphasize that no one is under any allusions - under any allusions that airstrikes
alone will destroy ISIL.
Iraq`s Anbar province, the Western approach to Baghdad, may be running out of time. ISIS
has surrounded and is preparing to attack al-Assad airbase, one if Iraq`s largest, according
to security sources.
If they succeed, ISIS will have a new cache of weapons.
It comes as General Martin Dempsey, chairman of the Joint Chiefs holds the largest meeting
of the coalition today. 22 nations sending their military chiefs to Washington to review
the war against ISIS.
The U.S. has used Apache helicopters and AC-130 gunships at lower altitude to virtually strive
(ph) ISIS forces. But ISIS continues to regroup and train for battle, raising the question
once again, is there a solution?
It is looking more and more like Chairman Dempsey is going to have to go back to the
president and ask the president to authorize the introduction of U.S. combat, forces in
Iraq.
Your teachers might remember today`s date from 1989. Especially if they lived in California
at the time. The San Francisco Bay area was violently jolted by its worst earthquake in
more than 80 years. It hit just after 5:00 p.m. local time. Before the start of Game
Three of the World Series.
Those who were watching on TV just saw this. The Oakland Days and San Francisco Giants
wouldn`t actually play that game until ten days later.
A slip in the St. Andrea`s fault had shaken the ground. It lasted 15 seconds, its magnitude
6.9. It killed dozens of people, injured thousands and damaged or destroyed property all over
the region.
That includes the San Francisco Oakland Bay Bridge. Part of its top deck just collapsed.
Building technology has improved since then, and it`s a good thing.
October 17, 1989. It`s as if the entire bay area has been beaten. 10 billion in damages.
It could have been so much worse.
I define a major big one as $100 billion. We are expecting residential damage of 100,000
buildings, commercial building damages and the tens of thousands. You could be looking
at deaths on the order of 1800 to over 3,000.
The epicenter of the 1989 earthquake was 60 miles south of the Bay. And registered 6.9.
30 times less powerful than the 1906 quake centered inside San Francisco.
It wasn`t the big one. For just northern California, seismologists say, there`s a more than 60
percent chance that there will be an earthquake of 6.7 or higher in the next 23 years.
The Hayward is really our biggest concern.
The Hayward Fault.
It`s geographically in the center of the region. And it`s the most heavily populated. 2 million
people sit directly on top of the Hayward Fault.
Stress from moving geological plates along faults cause earthquakes, and the Hayward
is due for a big one.
The Hayward had an earthquake in 1868. It moves on average every 150 to 60 years.
In other words, it produces a big tumbler (ph) about every century and a half. 1868
plus 150 is 2018.
We are basically right there. And that`s an average. IT could wait 20-30 years, it could
happen tomorrow.
And because it could happen tomorrow, the Bay Area has been preparing since 1989.
We`ve done a lot. It really started the retrofitting going in this area.
Bridges have been retrofitted or replaced, utilities reinforced. There`s now a San Francisco
law requiring owners strengthen housing built on landfill with garages on the first floor.
And San Francisco`s high pressured water system is being upgraded.
Do I think we`ll see the big one in the Bay Area in my lifetime? I hope not. I fear we
will. And I hope it`s ten, 20 years from now, because we will have accomplished a lot more.
We are starting in the south and working all the way northwest to the far east. It will
all make sense.
Hebron Middle School in Shepherdsville, Kentucky, welcome to the roll. Good to see the Panthers
watching today. Pendleton High School in Pendleton, Oregon, hello to the Buckaroos (ph). Awesome,
mascot. And across the Pacific to Tokyo, Japan, we are shouting out the American school in
Japan. Great to see you.
Soccer is fine with the soccer ball, but it`s even awesomer with a bubble ball. Why? Because
bubble ball. You just slipped your upper body into a giant bubble with handles and then
you take a game with sessions, possessions and divisions and add the fun of collisions.
Who said soccer wasn`t a contact sport? Bubble ball is best played like bumper cars. Sure,
you can drive the car or the ball, but the fun is in the bumps.
In bubble ball, everyone catches air, everyone gets a rebounce and everyone has a ball. It`s
a great way to deflate and inflate an ego without actually bursting anyone`s bubble.
I`m Carl Azuz. Hope you are around Monday when we bounce back your way. Have a great
weekend.