Effects

The provinces of Anhui, Gansu, Henan, Hubei, Jiangsu, Shaanxi, Shandong and Shanxi were impacted by the drought.[3] As well as destroying wheat crops, the drought caused water shortages for an estimated 2.31 million people and 2.57 million livestock. Within the eight provinces, 20% of the farmland and 35% of the entire wheat crop was impacted.[4] By February 2011, the drought hit a total of up to 7,730,000 hectares (19,100,000 acres) of winter wheat that had already been planted.[1] Some lakes, including Lake Hong in Hubei province, dried up significantly, with the Hubei lake shrinking to one-eighth of its normal surface area and one-fifth its usual depth, forcing 3,234 local residents to relocate.[5] According to the United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization, the potential of damage to China's wheat harvest was likely a factor in an increase of worldwide wheat prices in early 2011.[2] By the start of June, the drought had affected 35 million people, including 4.2 million facing a drinking water shortage. Direct economic damage had reached 15 billion yuan (about 2.3 billion USD), while several provinces resorted to using cloud seeding to induce artificial rain.[5] On 24 June 3.65 million people and 3.47 million head of livestock were short of drinking water in the autonomous regions of Inner Mongolia and Ningxia and the provinces of Gansu and Shanxi despite the flooding in other parts of china.[6]

January 31 February 2, 2011 North American blizzard

the January 31 February 2, 2011 North American winter storm, also called the 2011 Groundhog Day Blizzard,[14][15][16] was a powerful and historic winter storm, situated around the US and Canadian holiday Groundhog Day.[14][17][18] In the initial stages of the storm, some meteorologists predicted that the system would affect over 100 million people in the United States.[19][20] The storm brought cold air, heavy snowfall, blowing snow, and mixed precipitation on a path from New Mexico and northern Texas to New England and Eastern Canada. The Chicago area saw between 1 and 2 feet of snow and blizzard conditions, with winds of over 60 mph.[21] With such continuous winds, the Blizzard kept going north and affected Eastern and Atlantic Canada. The most notable area affected in Canada was Toronto and the Greater Toronto Area. Blizzard conditions affected many other large cities along the storm's path, including Tulsa, Oklahoma City, Kansas City, St. Louis, Springfield, El Paso, Las Cruces, Des Moines, Milwaukee, Detroit, Indianapolis, Dayton, Cleveland, New York, New York's Capital District, and Boston.[22][23][24][25][26][27][28] Many other areas not normally used to extreme winter conditions, including Albuquerque, Dallas and Houston, experienced significant snowfall or ice accumulation. The National Weather Service in Central Illinois issued their 4th "Blizzard Warning" in the entire forecast office's 16 year history. Snowfall amounts of 20 to 28 inches were forecast for much of Northern and Western Illinois.

The magnitude 7.2 (Mw) Eastern Highlands earthquake occurred inland on 23 October 2011 at 13.41 local time, centered about 16 kilometres (9.9 mi) north-northeast of Van, Turkey and at an estimated focal depth of 7.2 kilometres (4.5 mi). Its focal region and much of easternmost Turkey lie towards the southern boundary of the complex zone of continental collision between the Arabian Plate and the Eurasian Plate, beyond the eastern extent of the Armenian and Asia Minor fault zones. Part of the convergence between these two plates takes place along the BitlisZagros fold and thrust belt.[8] The earthquakes's focal mechanism indicates oblique thrust faulting, consistent with the expected tectonics in the region of the Bitlis-Zagros Fault Zone, where thrust mechanisms dominate.[9][10] Due to its great intensity and shallow depth, the earthquake produced significant ground motions across a large area. Violent shaking measuring MM IX on the Mercalli scale occurred in Van, although widespread strong to severe (MM VIVIII) shaking was observed in many smaller and less populated areas around the epicenter.[11] Lighter but well-felt ground motions (MM VIII) spread much farther across the region, extending into surrounding countries such as Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, Iraq, Israel and Syria.[3][12][13]