Krakatoa volcano erupts spewing plumes of ash 1,600 feet into the air as people hear 'loud rumbles' 90 miles away in Jakarta

Krakatoa volcano has erupted in Indonesia shooting ash into the stratosphere

Satellite imagery captured plumes and lava flows coming from the cater

'Loud rumbles' could be heard 150km away in Indonesian capital Jakarta

First eruption since December 2018 which caused a tsunami killing over 400

The volcano's historic 1883 eruption killed more than 36,000 people

By WILLIAM COLE FOR MAILONLINE PUBLISHED:11 April 2020

The infamous Krakatoa volcano has erupted off the coast of Indonesia, spewing plumes of ash 500m into the air.

Two eruptions were recorded by the country's volcanology centre on Friday night between 9.58pm and 10.35pm local time, and have continued into today.

Residents of capital city Jakarta, 150km away, reported hearing 'loud rumbles' shortly after the eruptions.

A webcam image taken from Anak Krakatau Island, which is in the Sunda Strait, shows lava flowing from the volcano.


The Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation’s (PVMBG) magma volcanic activity report said that the first eruption lasted one minute and 12 seconds starting at 9:58 p.m., when it spewed out ash and smoke 200 meters high.

The infamous Krakatoa volcano has erupted off the coast of Indonesia,

 spewing plumes of ash 500m into the air. 

Pictured: A man watches the eruption in Serang, the closest

 mainland province to the volcano

A webcam image taken from Anak Krakatau Island, in the Sunda Strait, 

shows lava flowing from the volcano Krakatoa volcano begins to erupt

 spewing out ash and lava

The volcanology center reported a second eruption at 10:35 p.m. that lasted for 38 minutes and 4 seconds, spewing out a 500-meter-high column of ash that blew to the north.

'PVMBG monitoring shows that the eruption continued until Saturday morning at 5:44 WIB [Western Indonesian Time],' said the National Disaster Mitigation Agency’s head of data.

Satellite images detected a 'large magmatic eruption' with ash and plume shooting 15km (47,000ft) into the sky.

It is believed to be the strongest activity since an eruption in December 2018.

The volcano lost more than two-thirds of its height following the blast which triggered a deadly tsunami that killed 400 people.

People also took to Twitter to report sounds of an eruption, thousands of kilometres away.

Experts have issued a warning over a potential burst of lava materia and heavy ash rain within a radius of 2 km of the active crater




Images from MAGMA Indonesia show volcanic activity around the island

'We are fighting coronavirus. Please, go to sleep,' one person in Indonesia tweeted.

'Guys I just want to let you know that mount Krakatoa is erupting [right now], I keep hearing noises here in Indonesia,' another woman said.

Towering 357m (1,200ft) above the tropical stillness of the Sunda Strait in Indonesia, Krakatoa is one of the most terrifying volcanoes the world has ever known.

With an explosive force 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima, the 1883 eruption of Krakatoa killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards.

The eruption was so violent and catastrophic that no active volcano in modern times has come close to rivalling it, not even the spectacular eruption of Mount St Helens in the US in 1980.

Official records of the time show that the deadly eruption, together with an enormous tsunami it generated, destroyed 165 villages and towns, seriously damaged a further 132 and killed 36,417 people outright.

It follows the eruption of Whikaari, or the White Island volcano, in New Zealand in December 2019 which killed 21 people. 

Mesmerising footage shows volcanic lightning striking from Krakatau

Incredible footage shows a rare display of lightening spewing out of the Indonesian volcano Krakatoa in 2018. The volcano, which annihilated 36,000 people in an eruption in 1883, hurled glowing rocks into the sky

THE VIOLENT PAST OF KRAKATOA

In around 416 AD, an ancient volcanic island in the Sunda Strait between Java and Sumatra collapsed, forming a 4-mile (7-km) wide caldera.

As a result, the islands of Krakatau, Verlaten, and Lang were formed, although Krakatau was substantially bigger than it is today.

After 1,400 years of relatively unrecorded activity, the volcano once again became active, and for months sent plumes of ash rocketing into the sky.

The 1883 eruption of Krakatoa, on August 27, killed more than 36,000 people and radically altered global weather and temperatures for years afterwards.

Official records of the time show that the 1883 eruption, together with the enormous tsunami it generated, destroyed 165 villages and towns, seriously damaging a further 132.

The eruption was so violent and catastrophic that no active volcano in modern times has come close to rivalling it, not even the spectacular eruption of Mount St Helens in the U.S. in 1980.

Its explosive force was 13,000 times the power of the atomic bomb that annihilated Hiroshima in Japan in 1945.

The 1883 eruption was heard thousands of kilometres away, with people reportedly hearing the sound of the eruption 4,800km away near Mauritius and 1,000km away in Perth in Western Australia.

The volcano was renamed Anak Krakatau, meaning Child of Krakatau, when a crater emerged from the sea in December 1927, and continues to grow in height

The force of the explosion almost entirely destroyed the island, sending rocks large enough to create temporary islands hundreds of metres out of the crater, and turning the central volcanic cone into a crater.

The volcano was renamed Anak Krakatau, meaning Child of Krakatau, when a crater emerged from the sea in December 1927, and continues to grow in height.

Over 150 years on, the region in the Indonesian archipelago has become densely populated, with small farmers working the rich soils nearby, and Indonesia's capital growing expansively.

It is not inconceivable that another massive eruption could now kill hundreds of thousands of people.

Marco Fulle, an Italian scientist andvolcano expert, said: 'These volcanoes repeat explosionslike that of 1883 many times during their life.'

'The commonopinion is that Krakatoa will again become really dangerous when itreaches the size it had been in 1883. It was two-times taller thannow.'

Hot gases, rocks, and lava were released in an eruption in April 2008, with scientists warning people to remain outside a 3 km zone around the island


An eruption on 22 December 2018, which led to the collapse of the volcano's cone, generated a powerful tsunami - a potential hazard which had been predicted prior to the eruption

The volcano's eruption alert status of Anak Krakatau was raised to Level 3 in 2009 as a result of continued activity.

Finally, an eruption on 22 December 2018, which led to the collapse of the volcano's cone, generated a powerful tsunami - a potential hazard which had been predicted prior to the eruption.

Waves up to five meters in height made landfall, with the country's disaster agency giving a death toll of 437, with 14,059 injured.

The tsunami affected more than 186 miles of coastline in Sumatra and Java. More than 420 people died, and 40,000 were displaced.

Volcanic activity has since been observed around a newly-reconstructed crater as the volcano continues to increase in height and remodel the areas destroyed in 2018.

Anak Krakatau volcano continued to spew hot ash following the major 2018 eruption into January 2019

Krakatoa volcano erupts 'spewing plumes of ash several kilometres into the air'

Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano erupts, ash rises over 1,600 feet
By Sommer Brokaw

Anak Krakatau erupted twice Friday night. Photo courtesy of PVMBG

April 11 (UPI) -- Indonesia's Anak Krakatau volcano erupted overnight, spewing ash and smoke more than 1,600 feet high, scientists said Saturday.

The first eruption occurred at 9:58 p.m. Friday and lasted 1 minute and 12 seconds with ash and smoke spewing about 650 feet high, the Center for Volcanology and Geological Disaster Mitigation's magma volcanic activity report said.

The second eruption at 10:35 p.m. lasted 38 minutes and 4 seconds, spewing out volcanic gray ash from the bottom crater 1,640 feet high, blowing north, Volcano Observatory Notice for Aviation shows.

"PVMBG monitoring shows that the eruption continued until Saturday morning at 5:44 [ Western Indonesian Time]," Agus Wibowo, head of data, information and communication center for the National Disaster Mitigation Agency, said in a statement.

"Based on our observation, no volcanic ashes or sulfurs smell have been reported until Saturday morning," the Regional Agency for Disaster Management in Lampung said. "So far, there have been no damage reports."

The situation was being monitored, but local residents have returned home.

Some residents in Indonesia's metropolitan area said they heard "a loud rumble," but PVMBG head Pat Kasbani said that might have been "unrelated to the eruption."

Still, volcanology expert Surono, who uses only one name, said citizens in the metropolitan area may have been able to hear the eruption since there was less activity in Indonesia's capital, Jakarta. It was the first day of a partial lockdown to control the spread of the coronavirus.

The eruption was small compared to other eruptions in the past couple years, Kasbani said, but Earth Sky reported that it was the longest eruption since 2018.

The volcano, also known as Krakatoa, is an island in a caldera between the islands of Java and Sumatra in the Indonesian province of Lampung. It emerged in 1883 from a caldera that destroyed the island of Krakatau formed.

Since the word "Anak" means "child" in Indonesian, the volcano is also called Child of Krakatau.

THIRD WORLD USA
‘Unforgettable’ footage of endless lines of cars at food banks illustrates coronavirus crisis in the US

“It is outrageous that in the richest country in the history of the world, people are going hungry,” said Sen. Sanders.

April 10, 2020 By Common Dreams
A drone captured aerial images of the long line of cars in Sunrise, 

Florida, where motorists hoped to receive food from 

Feeding South Florida, a local food bank. https://t.co/cSiOZKd6qD
— theGrio.com (@theGrio) April 10, 2020

by Eoin Higgins

Images and video of miles of cars lined up at food banks in San Antonio and other cities across the U.S. present a striking example of the economic effects of the ongoing coronavirus outbreak, which has thrown at least 16 million Americans out of work in recent weeks and increased pressure on the distribution centers to provide key staples for a flood of needy people in the country.

“Unforgettable image: thousands of cars lined up at a San Antonio food bank today, the desperate families inside kept safely apart,” tweeted CNN senior editor Amanda Katz. “Breadline, 2020.”

On Thursday, San Antonio Food Bank creative manager Robert R. Fike posted a time-lapse video of the line of cars waiting to get supplies.

This is what I saw. Blistering heat. Folks in line since 7pm the night before. To get food. Hundreds of volunteers busting it to serve, so families could go home (probably to pass some out to their neighbors too) & get the nourishment they need.
This is the COVID-19 Crisis. pic.twitter.com/CL8Be0wNwI
— Robert R. Fike (@robfike) April 9, 2020

“It was a rough one today,” San Antonio Food Bank president and CEO Eric Cooper told the San Antonio Express News. “We have never executed on as large of a demand as we are now.”

The onset of the coronavirus outbreak brought with it economic paralysis across the U.S. and the world, shutting down businesses around the world as people use social distancing and isolation to curb the spread of the disease. In the U.S., where lawmakers have largely dragged their feet on providing unemployed people with help, Americans are increasingly turning to charities like food banks to provide the means of survival.

Se. Bernie Sanders (I-Vt.), an outspoken advocate for economic relief efforts, tweeted on Friday that the scenes from food banks were indicative of the need for immediate Congressional action.

It is outrageous that in the richest country in the history of the world, people are going hungry. Congress must radically increase food assistance programs and offer grocery delivery options to ensure all people are able to eat safely during this crisis. https://t.co/zkvsGFdHOA— Bernie Sanders (@SenSanders) April 10, 2020

According to the New York Times, food banks across the country are facing funding shortfalls in the face of increasing demand despite donations from the superrich:

Feeding America, the nation’s largest network of food banks, with more than 200 affiliates, has projected a $1.4 billion shortfall in the next six months alone. Last week, Jeff Bezos, the founder of Amazon, announced that he was donating $100 million to the group—the largest single donation in its history, but still less than a tenth of what it needs.

In January 2019, Business Insider calculated Bezos makes roughly $4,474,885 every hour, making his donation to Feeding America the equivalent of around 22-and-a-half hours of passive wealth generation.

Hundreds of cars wait to receive food from the Greater Community Food Bank in Duquesne. Collection begins at noon. @PghFoodBank @PittsburghPG pic.twitter.com/94YFaO7dqX
— Andrew Rush (@andrewrush) March 30, 2020

This report from Pittsburgh shows the miles-long line to get to the local food bank.
Trump’s America, 2020.
Watch. Share. Donate to your local food bank if you can. #DemCast
pic.twitter.com/ZK9CWLeHqN
— Nick Knudsen

 

#DemCast (@DemWrite) April 4, 2020

Drive thru food bank in #Inglewood
Lots of people in need right now @NBCLA pic.twitter.com/RMxsCM8Ce4
— Darsha Philips (@DarshaPhilips) April 10, 2020

This morning, in the pouring rain, our office joined @BenHueso & @NoraVargasSD – and the @SDFoodBank in helping distribute 30lb food boxes to 1000 South Bay families! The need is heartbreaking, but the Food Bank is doing an incredible job! pic.twitter.com/ppkHaFtOVs
— Lorena (@LorenaSGonzalez) April 10, 2020

Over 1,000 vehicles received food today at PPG Pants Arena thanks to the Greater Pittsburgh Community Food Bank #stayconnectedtogether https://t.co/CxuIOqZuwH
— Newsradio 1020 KDKA (@KDKARadio) April 10, 2020


The United Center is helping with food storage for a local food bank in Chicago. MORE @ https://t.co/UMPaB9UZ9d pic.twitter.com/C1UkTO1syg
— BarDown (@BarDown) April 10, 2020


Feeding South Florida executive vice president Sari Vatske noted in an interview with the Daily Mail that with stay-at-home orders in her state curtailing the available workforce to handle an unprecedented surge in those needing aid, there may be trouble ahead in how to efficiently distribute the food.

“The math is not on our side,” said Vatske.

Richest GOP congressman accused of ‘insider trading’ on coronavirus — by a Republican AG

April 10, 2020 By Matthew Chapman

On Friday, The Montana Post reported that the gubernatorial campaign of Republican Attorney General Tim Fox is accusing Rep. Greg Gianforte (R-MT) of “insider trading” off of the coronavirus pandemic.

“It’s an incredible claim, no doubt based on the research that shows Gianforte, rather than putting his investments into a blind trust as promised, has invested hundreds of thousands of dollars over the past three months in companies hoping to profit from COVID-19, including the French manufacturer of Hydroxychloroquine,” wrote Don Pogreba.

Gianforte, who gained nationwide infamy after body-slamming a reporter on the eve of his special election in 2017, is competing with Fox for the gubernatorial nomination to replace departing two-term Democratic Gov. Steve Bullock, who is mounting a challenge to Republican Sen. Steve Daines.

The winner of the primary will face off against either Lt. Gov. Mike Cooney or businesswoman Whitney Williams, who are competing for the Democratic nomination.

Trump uses coronavirus briefing to tout pastor who said 9/11 attack was God punishing America

April 10, 2020 By Sky Palma


During a press briefing today to address the nation’s response to the coronavirus pandemic, President Trump was asked about certain Christian pastors who plan to defy state lockdown orders and hold Easter church services this Sunday.

“I’ve had talks with the pastors, and most of the pastors agree … that they are better off doing what they are doing, which is, distancing,” Trump said, adding that the pastors want to “get back to church so badly." FLEECING THEIR FLOCKS

Trump then referred to a notorious pastor who sits on his religious advisory council.

“I’m going to be watching Pastor Robert Jeffress, who’s been a great guy,” Trump said. “He’s a great guy and I’m going to be watching on a laptop.”

Jeffress is known for his litany of statements demonizing the LGBT community, abortion, and secular people. One of his most reviled comments came in 2015 when he said the 9/11 attacks were God’s punishment on America for abortion.

“People ask me all the time,” Jeffress said during a speech at Liberty University. “‘Well, I just don’t understand why God wouldn’t protect our nation and he would allow these radical Muslims in 2001 to kill 3,000 of our citizens and why God doesn’t protect us. Surely, God doesn’t use pagans to bring judgment upon his own people, does he?’”

Watch Trump’s press briefing below:

COVID-19 Pandemic Could Push Half A Billion People Into Poverty: Report

The virus could erase decades of progress in raising living standards.

By Kyla Mandel, HuffPost US

The economic impacts of the coronavirus pandemic sweeping the world could lead to 580 million people ― 8% of humanity ― being pushed into poverty and see an increase in global poverty for the first time since 1990.
These findings come from a new report released by researchers at King’s College London and the Australian National University, which looks at the impact of declines in household consumption.

As the global economy comes to a standstill due to the pandemic, stories of distress are becoming familiar in almost every country ― but especially in the developing world where social safety nets are thin or often missing. Stories like that of Micah Olywangu, a taxi driver in Nairobi, Kenya, and a father of three.

Over the last three weeks, as Nairobi’s airport shut down and the tourism industry effectively disappeared, his income has completely dried up, making it impossible to pay this month’s rent. While his landlord has been understanding, it’s unclear how long such patience will last.

“This virus will starve us before it makes us sick,” Olywangu said.

“Just imagine that [experience] times half a billion going on all over the developing world right now,” said Max Lawson, head of inequality policy for the development organization Oxfam International. “That is deeply, deeply concerning.”
BILLY MUTAI/SOPA IMAGES/LIGHTROCKET VIA GETTY IMAGES

A health volunteer walks through slums in Nairoba, Kenya, informing residents about the coronavirus pandemic. More than 2.5 million people live in impoverished conditions in the city.

Commissioned by Oxfam, the new research shows that the global pandemic could erase decades of progress on eradicating poverty. And the ripple effects would impact a wide range of matters, from access to health care and education to malnutrition and maternal mortality.

“The effects could be absolutely incredible,” researcher Andy Sumner, a King’s College professor of international development who works with the United Nations University-WIDER, which helped publish the report, told HuffPost. “There’s very likely to be a substantial increase in poverty, mainly because there’s so many people living not that far above the poverty line.”

Sumner added: “They’re very susceptible to these kinds of economic slowdowns or health shocks that can effectively push people back into poverty very suddenly.”

The report looked at what would happen if economic consumption ― measured as either a decline in household income or household spending in a given country ― dropped by 5%, 10% or 20%, and how that would impact people in the developing world living in poverty.

Even a conservative estimate of a 5% decline would see income-based poverty increase for the first time in 30 years. At this level, the number of people living in poverty would increase by 1% to 2%, to between 85 million to 135 million people across the developing world.

A 10% drop in consumption would result in an estimated 180 million to 280 million people falling into poverty. And at 20%, some 420 million to 580 million people would be pushed into poverty.

MOHAMED EL-SHAHED/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGES

Men wearing masks wait outside an Egyptian Food Bank centre in Cairo to receive cartons with foodstuffs as the charity distributes aid to people who lost their jobs due to the coronavirus pandemic.

While presumably no part of the developing world will be spared from the pandemic’s economic impacts, the report expects that the hardest-hit regions will include the Middle East and North Africa, sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, where poverty is expected to fall back to 1990-levels. Those levels range from roughly 10% to nearly 100% of the population, depending on the region and the figure for poverty-line income. This is “either because of their relatively slow progress in reducing poverty over the last years or because of their already high poverty levels,” the report states.

Even a 10% drop in consumption would be “enough to erase the progress achieved in reducing extreme poverty in recent years” in sub-Saharan Africa, the study warns.

Each of the millions affected by the estimates of the downturns “is a human being with lives, dreams and hopes,” Lawson said. “It’s a huge impact. I mean, it’s significantly worse than the financial crisis. And it’s quite hard to see an end to it at this point.”

Access to food is a critical concern, especially for workers in urban areas who aren’t able to grow their own food.

“Basically, if you haven’t got money for food in Nairobi, then you’re going to go hungry tonight. So, I [expect] big increases in malnutrition and hunger,” Lawson said. “I hope not, but I also think it’s quite possible that you will see increases in crime. People are just going to get a lot more desperate.”

MOHAMMED HUWAIS/AFP VIA GETTY IMAGESA volunteer in Sanaa, 

Yemen, sprays disinfectant on the hands of a boy in the one of the city's

 poor neighborhoods on March 30.

How badly this plays out and how severely the impacts are felt depends on “how the national governments and the international community reacts,” the report said. In large part, Sumner said, it depends on whether governments “are willing to introduce or expand” social safety net programs.

Doing this obviously costs a lot of money ― a main reason that in the lead-up to the International Monetary Fund’s (IMF) annual spring meeting next week, Oxfam is calling on the international community to immediately cancel $1 trillion worth of debt payments in 2020 for developing countries. Doing so, the organization said, would free up essential money for these countries to spend on critical services like health care, supporting people’s incomes and increasing education about the best practices to limit the risk of coronavirus spreading.

“Like everything with this virus, every day that goes by, the impact of your actions is going to be less,” Lawson said. Developing countries “need a significant boost to their health spending as quickly as possible.”

Oxfam is also calling on nations to agree to make an additional $1 trillion in international IMF funding available to developing countries, in order to help them increase their health-care spending. However, to do so relies on a majority of nations voting in favour of such a measure ― including the U.S., which under current political circumstances seems unlikely, Lawson said.

Understandably, all nations are suffering from the pandemic and that means for developed countries such as the U.S. and the U.K., the focus remains on stemming the danger facing their own citizens, Sumner said. “I guess, what we’re hoping, is to try and open it up a bit … We need to worry about people all over the world, many of whom may not have the coping mechanisms that the rich countries have at their fingertips.”


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Alberta Closes Emergency Isolation Support Benefit As CERB Applications Open

Jason Kenney promised financial support, but many Albertans couldn’t access the application.

By Melanie Woods

Albertans looking to apply for the one-time Alberta Emergency Isolation Support payment were met with grim news Monday, as the province shuttered the program to pave the way for the federal Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB).

Many are frustrated after spending weeks trying to get approved through the province’s online application, only to see it suddenly halted. Many applicants who say they met the requirements encountered broken links, missing web pages and denied applications despite meeting all of the requirements.

Dustin Milne, who is self-employed in audio/visual production, says he spent days trying to access the overloaded application system.

“It took six days to actually get on the website — it kept saying ‘unavailable’ or ‘won’t load’,” he told HuffPost Canada. “I finally got in and I was number 37,000 in line.”


Alberta Premier Jason Kenney initially announced the benefit March 19, and opened applications that week.

“Albertans are doing their part to keep each other safe and prevent the spread of COVID-19. We are doing ours by assisting Albertans and their families, protecting jobs and supporting workers and employers,” Kenney said.

The one-time payment of $1,146 was open to Albertans required to isolate by public health guidelines or who had to take care of a dependent who was isolating, who also had a significant decrease in income and no other source of compensation. 

According to the province, the Alberta Emergency Isolation Support program was meant to “bridge the gap” while awaiting federal financial support in the form of the CERB.

But over the past few weeks, many Albertans who went to apply for the benefit say they were faced with long wait times and denied applications for seemingly no reason. 

A stressful week

Victoria Thomson and her husband run a small plumbing business in rural central Alberta. She said she’s immunocompromised and has lost work because of the pandemic.

Thomson said the past week has been “incredibly stressful” as she’s tried repeatedly to access the funds.

“In total, it was about four days of trying with no results,” Thomson told HuffPost. “The second time I tried I did get past [the first] page, put in my application, and got, within 15 minutes, an email saying I was denied with no reason or explanation.”


Thomson said she tried again, but was unable to get an application through.

“There’s really no reason, I met all the criteria on the page,” she said. “They just made it really hard for people and just denied people arbitrarily. It’s, you know at this point in time there is just no excuse, this is downright cruel.”

Milne said he was a “prime candidate” for the benefit as someone suddenly out of work because of the pandemic, and that “every little bit helps.”

“We won’t be doing concerts and stuff, that even if this thing does ramp down by the end of summer I doubt there’s going to be any mass gatherings for the rest of the year. So I’m kind of predicting that I will not work for the rest of the year,” he said.

But like Thomson, Milne said once he finally got through the application — having to stop and restart several times — he was ultimately denied.
At this point in time there is just no excuse, this is downright cruel.Victoria Thomson

After reaching out to the government to ask why he was denied, Milne said he was told it was because the system flagged he was under 18 — which he is not.

“Clearly this is not getting interfaced by humans. Nobody’s looking at the computer system,” he said. “The computer is taking applications, doing whatever algorithm and spitting it out.”

Milne criticized the government for rolling out the benefit too quickly without building the necessary infrastructure to handle the volume of applications. As an applicant, he said it felt like the luck-of-the-draw if he would receive the support money or not.

“It seems like throwing $100,000 in a pit and whoever can grab a $5 bill gets it,” Milne said.

During an address Monday, NDP Labour critic Christina Gray acknowledged applicants’ struggles with the process.

“The UCP claimed the provincial benefits would serve as a bridge to the federal program, and nobody would fall through the cracks while waiting for federal support. But for many Albertans, it has been a bridge to nowhere,” she said.

Gray accused Kenney’s government of simply offloading the financial burden to the federal government, by shuttering the program the same day CERB applications opened.

“Well, the UCP will point to the federal program as the solution,” she said. “We know that the federal program has been delayed and been able to get money out to people and won’t be enough for many Albertans to make ends meet, and still doesn’t include all people.”

The CERB has come under fire in recent days, after a report suggested up to a third of in-need Canadians would not actually qualify for it. On Monday, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said support was coming for those left out, but did not provide details. 

Twice as generous as anticipated”

During Monday’s daily COVID-19 briefing, Kenney addressed the criticism of the benefit, acknowledging that the system was not designed for the number of applications that came in.

“We had some technical problems with the website,” he said. “So when we go back and learn lessons from this period, we’’ll obviously have to invest more in expanding the capacity of the provincial government website to handle 10's of thousands of concurrent applications.”
Kenney said the government actually handed out more money than the $50 million the province planned to. According to the provincial government, over 79,596 Albertans successfully received payments totaling around $91.7 million as part of the program.

ACTUALLY IT COMES TO $88.7 MILLION WHO POCKETED THE EXTRA $3 MILLION

In Q1 2020, Alberta's population reached 4.41 million, up 77,378 or 1.8% from Q1 2019. 
SO IN KENNEY TYPE BROAD TERMS THESE NEW ARRIVALS OFFSET THOSE APPLYING, STATISTICALLY SPEAKING FOR A NET SUM GAIN OF NOTHING
It seems like throwing $100,000 in a pit and whoever can grab a $5 bill gets it.
Dustin Milne
 WHILE THE REST OF MILLIONS OF ALBERTANS WATCHED KENNEY GIVE OUR TAX DOLLARS TO BIG OIL WHILE CRYING HAVOC AND UNLEASHING THE DOGS OF AUSTERITY ON EDUCATION WORKERS, DOCTORS AND NURSES

He said Service Alberta will be going back through applications in the coming days to reassess some applications and distribute extra money, bringing the total to $106 million.

“So, the program turned out to be twice as large twice and generous as anticipated,” Kenney said.  BULLSHIT

YOU KNOW FOR A PARTY THAT ONLY CHANGED IT'S NAME BUT RULED ALBERTA FOR 44 YEARS THIS IS NOT THEIR FIRST TIME TO THE RODEO

But for Milne and Thomson, it’s too late. Both said they’re part of the hundreds of thousands of Canadians who applied for the CERB Monday, and found the application quick and easy to navigate.

“The website wasn’t even slow,” Milne said.



Melanie WoodsAssociate Editor, HuffPost Canada

Opposition Parties Reach Deal With Feds Over $73-Billion Wage Subsidy Bill
The Liberals’ wage subsidy bill is up for debate as Parliament reconvenes Saturday.

IT WAS THE NDP THAT GOT THE CERB INCREASED FROM LIBERALS 10% TO 75% OF WAGES THOUGH FOR SOME SCROOGE EMPLOYERS EVEN THAT WAS NOT ENOUGH

Canadian Press

OTTAWA — The Trudeau government has struck a deal with opposition parties to swiftly approve a massive $73-billion wage subsidy program aimed at helping businesses and workers survive the economic ravages of the COVID-19 pandemic.

Passage of legislation needed to implement the program was assured Saturday after Conservatives dropped their attempt to tie the bill to the longer-term question of how Parliament should function in the midst of a national health crisis.

At a morning news conference just hours before the House of Commons met for a rare emergency sitting on the Easter long weekend, Conservative Leader Andrew Scheer said his party had agreed to support passage of the bill and to continue discussions on the future of Parliament later.

Under the bill, which is expected to pass the Commons and the Senate and receive royal assent later Saturday, the federal government will pay companies 75 per cent of the first $58,700 normally earned by employees, up to $847 per week for up to 12 weeks. The subsidy is retroactive to March 15 and will be available to companies that lost 15 per cent of their revenue in March or 30 per cent in April or May.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau said the money will begin to flow within two to five weeks, with the government working to get it started in the shortest possible time.

Scheer said that Conservatives had won some improvements to the bill over the past week of negotiations and that their support for the wage subsidy was never dependent on settling the matter of how or when Parliament should sit going forward.

That said, Scheer argued that the work of opposition parties to improve the legislation demonstrates how important it is to have the Commons sitting regularly so that the government can be held to account.

“This shows that during times of crisis, Parliament needs to play its role,” he said.

Scheer reiterated his party’s contention that the Commons should sit — with reduced numbers — four days a week.

This shows that during times of crisis, Parliament needs to play its role.Andrew Scheer

Prime Minister Justin Trudeau has argued that in-person sittings present a health risk for Commons clerks, administrators, security and cleaners who’d have to come to work at a time when all Canadians are being urged to stay home to curb the spread of the deadly virus. He’s also argued that small sittings — like Saturday’s sitting of just 32 MPs who are primarily within driving distance of the capital — would shut out MPs from all corners of the country.

Trudeau’s Liberals have been promoting the idea of virtual sittings of Parliament. Commons Speaker Anthony Rota has instructed Commons administration to consult with experts about the logistics and technology required for virtual sittings, with the goal of having them up and running within four weeks.

But Scheer said: “We can’t wait that long.”

He suggested that in-person sittings should be held until virtual sittings can be implemented.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh said he’s open to discussing either virtual sittings or “limited” in-person sittings. But Bloc Quebecois Leader Yves-Francois Blanchet said he would never agree to regular, in-person sittings.

ADRIAN WYLD/CPNDP Leader Jagmeet Singh speaks at a caucus
 meeting in Ottawa on Jan. 22, 2020.

For the past couple of weeks, the Commons finance and health committees have been meeting weekly via teleconference. As part of the deal to speedily pass the wage subsidy bill, government House leader Pablo Rodriguez said more committees — industry, government operations, human resources and procedure and House affairs — will also begin virtual meetings.

The latter committee will be specifically tasked with exploring the best ways for the Commons to function in the weeks ahead. It is to report back by May 15.

“We have to be creative,” Rodriguez said.

“On one hand, we can’t tell Canadians, ‘Stay home because that’s the way to fight this (pandemic)’ and then come here every day and meet.”

In the motion seeking unanimous consent to speed the bill through the Commons, the government also promised to implement measures “without delay” to fill some of the gaps left by the $2,000-per-month Canada Emergency Response Benefit and any other existing or proposed programs to ensure financial support for Canadians who don’t currently qualify for assistance — including students, owner-operators and those earning modest incomes from part-time work, royalties and honoraria.

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It also promised to ensure essential workers who are earning low wages will receive additional support.

As well, it promised partially non-repayable loans for small and medium-sized businesses to help them cover fixed costs, such as rent.

The NDP and Bloc Quebecois both claimed credit for getting those additional promises in writing.

NDP Leader Jagmeet Singh urged Trudeau to go further and drop all the eligibility criteria for the emergency benefit. However, the prime minister did not specifically respond to that suggestion.

Trudeau, who has addressed the nation daily at briefings outside his home for 26 days, spoke instead Saturday in the Commons, where he delivered a Churchillian speech invoking the heroic battles fought by Canadian troops in the First and Second World Wars.
And for them, and for their grandchildren, we will endure, we will persevere and we will prevail.Prime Minister Justin Trudeau


“This is not a war. That doesn’t make this fight any less destructive, any less dangerous but there is no front line marked with barbed wire, no soldiers to be deployed across the ocean, no enemy combatants to defeat,” he said.

“Instead, the front line is everywhere. In our homes, in our hospitals and care centres, in our grocery stores and pharmacies, at our truck stops and gas stations. And the people who work in these places are our modern day heroes.”

Trudeau said the last members of the “greatest generation” who lived through the Great Depression and the Second World War are now the elderly most at risk of dying from COVID-19. And he said all Canadians now have a duty to protect them.

“And for them, and for their grandchildren, we will endure, we will persevere and we will prevail.”

This report by The Canadian Press was first published April 11, 2020.

How To Apply For CERB, Canada’s New $2,000 Emergency Response Benefit

If you've lost your job because of COVID-19, this is another option alongside EI.

By Melanie Woods


If you lost your job or cannot work because of the COVID-19 pandemic, more help is on the way.

On Wednesday, the federal government passed a $107-billion emergency package, which included the new Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB) designed to support people economically impacted by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic.

“The hard truth is people are out of work because of this crisis and worried about what comes next. So I want you to know that we’ll be there to help you. Our government is doing everything we can to be there for you,” Prime Minister Justin Trudeau said.


The new benefit allows people to claim $2,000 a month for up to four months in emergency support. But how does it work? And do you qualify?
What is the Canada Emergency Response Benefit (CERB)?

The government previously announced two benefits in response to the pandemic. One was for those directly impacted by COVID-19 or caring for someone impacted by it, and one for people who lost their job as a result of the pandemic, but did not qualify for EI.

The Canada Emergency Response Benefit announced Wednesday is an amalgamation of those two benefits.

The benefit is $2,000 a month for up to four months, directly paid to Canadians impacted by COVID-19, whether you are not working because you are sick, or you’ve been laid off or lost work hours because of the pandemic.
Who qualifies?

The CERB covers Canadians who have lost their job, are sick, quarantined, or taking care of someone who is sick with COVID-19, as well as working parents who must stay home without pay to care for children because of school or daycare closures.

It also applies to anyone who was laid off and qualifies for EI. But unlike EI, it also applies to people who don’t, such as freelancers, contractors and people still technically employed but no longer receiving income due to the pandemic.

To qualify, applicants must have had $5,000 in employment income, self-employment income, or maternity or parental leave benefits for 2019 or in the 12-month period preceding the day they make the application.

So basically, it’s designed to fill any gaps left by existing income support programs when it comes to people who’ve lost work because of COVID-19.

What makes this different than employment insurance (EI)?

The EI system couldn’t handle the huge influx it experienced last week. Trudeau noted during his daily address Wednesday that nearly a million Canadians applied for EI in the past week, more than 10 times the previous one-week high.

“The EI system was not designed to process the unprecedented high volume of applications received in the past week. Given this situation, all Canadians who have ceased working due to COVID-19, whether they are EI-eligible or not, would be able to receive the CERB to ensure they have timely access to the income support they need,” said the government in a news release.

If you are already receiving EI regular and sickness benefits, you will continue to receive your benefits and should not apply to the CERB. If your EI benefits end before October 3, 2020, you can apply for the CERB after your benefits end.

Canadians who are eligible for EI regular and sickness benefits would still be able to access their normal EI benefits, if still unemployed, after the 16-week period covered by the CERB.

For a refresher on how to apply for EI if you lost your job because of coronavirus, click here.
How do you apply?

Trudeau said on April 5, that Monday April 6 is the first day people who are out of work because of COVID-19 can go online to apply.

Only those born in January, February and March can apply Monday. The rest of the months will go in order in groups of three on Tuesday, Wednesday and Thursday before it opens to everyone on Friday.

Trudeau says the government is doing everything it can to prevent the system from crashing.

You’ll be able to apply through the CRA MyAccount secure portal, your secure My Service Canada Account or over the phone.

If you’ve already applied for EI and your application hasn’t been processed yet, you’ll automatically be applied for the CERB instead.
When can you expect your first payment?

Trudeau says it will take three to five days for the money to arrive by direct deposit or 10 days by mail.

The CERB will be paid out in a $2,000 lump sum every four weeks, for up to 16 weeks.

EDMONTON
Workers May Face Pay Cuts With Coronavirus Federal Wage Subsidy

One business told its employees they'll only get 75 per cent of their usual wage.

By Althia Raj


ADRIAN WYLD/THE CANADIAN PRESS
Minister of Finance Bill Morneau responds to a question
during a news conference in Ottawa on March 27, 2020.


OTTAWA— An Edmonton man says he and his colleagues were told this week that they will have to take a 25 per cent cut on their next paycheques because the federal government won’t subsidize the rest of their wages. 

“It just blindsided us,” the man told HuffPost Canada by phone. “I thought that didn’t sound right.”

The worker, who asked for anonymity for fear of career repercussions, said no one at the plumbing company he works for has been laid off. No one, as far as he knows, was in line to be cut from the company payroll because of the COVID-19 crisis, but sales have declined by what he estimates to be at least 15 per cent, as few people want plumbers and other technicians entering their homes unless there is an emergency.

“[We] were just flabbergasted yesterday,” the man said. “It was a bit of a shocker driving home. Right off your plate — gone. And the reasoning was, the federal government is only going to pay 75 per cent, so we’ll keep you employed, but that’s going to be your salary from now on. Which I think is wrong, I think they misinterpreted that. The interpretation should be, yeah the federal government is going to give you 75 and you top it off to make it whole...”

“I thought that was wrong. And I still believe it’s wrong,” he said.

Parliament is expected to pass legislation on Saturday establishing a $73-billion program called the Canada Emergency Wage Subsidy. For employers who have seen at least a 15 per cent drop in revenue, the subsidy will provide payments worth 75 per cent of an employee’s pre-crisis weekly pay up to a maximum of $847 a week for up to 12 weeks.

The program was designed, according to the federal government, to prevent further job losses, encourage companies to rehire workers previously laid off as a result of COVID-19, and help Canadian companies resume normal operations when the crisis is over.

It wasn’t designed, however, for companies to use it as an excuse to cut their workers’ salaries and pay nothing towards their employees’ incomes.

Finance Minister Bill Morneau on Thursday encouraged employers to “do all they can to top up their employees’ pay to 100 per cent of pre-crisis pay levels.

“We all need to do our part to help each other through this challenge,” he said.

The Edmonton man, whose wife has already been laid off because of the coronavirus pandemic and government shutdowns, said he worries what the decrease in salary will mean for his insurance benefits if he is injured on the job, or, if he gets laid off, how it might affect his employment insurance.

Alberta isn’t the land of economic opportunity it once was, and he took a pay cut to take this job. Now, he’s scared.

“I can’t go out to someplace and apply for a job.”

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He’s also concerned for his colleagues, many of whom were already just scraping by.

“I watched the wind taken right out of them. They can’t say anything. They have no place to go. If something happened to them today, they would be absolutely zero.”

The most generous interpretation, he said, is that his employer doesn’t understand the program. In the back of his mind, however, he wonders if his employer is using the federal program as a way of skipping out on their responsibilities. 

I watched the wind taken right out of them. They can’t say anything. They have no place to go.

Edmonton worker

Instead of helping him, the program is hurting, he said, because it gives his employer an excuse to pay him less.

Asked Friday about this practice, Treasury Board President Jean-Yves Duclos said businesses are expected to meet their own obligations.

“We do hope and would expect that employers would add another 25 per cent so that full wages will be paid, but we are understanding that not all businesses will be able to fill the gap between the 75 per cent and the 100 per cent,” the minister said.

The Edmonton man hopes that when the crisis is over he and his colleagues will see their salaries return to what they once were.

“But that’s probably not going to happen,” he said.

WHY AM I NOT SURPRISED THAT AN EDMONTON EMPLOYER IS A DICK

ENCOURAGED AS THEY ARE BY KENNEY AND HIS ENDING OF ALBERTA

PAYMENTS TELLING US TO GO ASK THE FEDS FOR HELP

Is The CERB Basically An Interest-Free Loan Anyone Can Apply For?

The answer seems to depend on who you ask.

By Althia Raj

OTTAWA — Like thousands of Canadians, René Baron is wondering whether to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit — quick, needed cash — even though he knows he doesn’t qualify for it.

The 38-year-old full-time student is finishing the third year of his bachelor’s degree in sociology and law at Concordia University in Montreal.

Last year, he spent the summer working at a restaurant, earning just under $5,000 — the cut-off to qualify for CERB. During the rest of the year, Baron lived off of a training allowance he received as an Indigenous student, but he can’t legally claim it as income.

RENE BARON
René Baron is in a bind: the full-time student doesn't make enough to apply for the Canada Emergency Response Benefit, and he's too old and too late to apply to benefit from the Summer Jobs program.

On Friday, Carla Qualtrough, the minister of employment, workforce development and disability inclusion, confirmed that the CERB is being sent to anyone who applies for it.

When asked by HuffPost Canada whether Canadians who have lost income but don’t qualify for any government assistance should apply and use the money as an interest-free loan, Qualtrough sidestepped the query.

Although the CERB is intended for people who have lost all of their income because of COVID-19, Qualtrough said that, in the spirit of efficiency, the roll-out of the program was designed to pay people rapidly, then check whether they actually qualified.

But in the “upcoming weeks or at tax time next year,” she said, the federal government will be reconciling accounts “to make sure people didn’t game the system or fraudulently claim something that wasn’t true.”

A senior Liberal official told HuffPost Canada that Canadians in need can apply for the CERB without any penalties.

There will be “no fines” for misuse, the official said. The Canada Revenue Agency will send notification to people who have either received too much money or were not eligible for the payments that they have a certain amount of time to pay the money back without penalty, he said.

THE CANADIAN PRESS
Employment, Workforce Development and Disability Inclusion Minister Carla Qualtrough speaks during a news conference in Ottawa on Thurs. March 26, 2020.

For Baron, that qualification isn’t very assuring.

“It still makes me feel uneasy to apply for it, because I know based on the criteria I shouldn’t apply for it,” he said by phone Friday.

Qualtrough, in fact, stated during the ministers’ press conference that the government was asking people to be honest, “to truthfully state if they stopped working because of COVID.”

“People are more concerned about being overly honest in Canada ... you know, our fraud levels just aren’t high,” she said, pointing to use of other government programs.

Another MP, however, Toronto Liberal Adam Vaughan is encouraging people who don’t qualify for CERB to apply anyway, saying they should not “overreact and impose strict literal interpretations” on its qualifications.

Baron wonders whether he’s just sitting out money he should be claiming. He questions whether other groups, such as inmates from correctional facilities who have just been released from jail in Ontario to avoid the spread of COVID-19, will receive payments through the CERB. “Because how are you going to have income if you are just released from prison?” He said.

Watch: Here’s What You Should Have On Hand To Apply For The CERB. Story continues below.

“I asked myself, Should I apply for this $2,000 knowing that I’m not eligible and that I will have to pay it back? Or should I wait to see if [Prime Minister Justin] Trudeau makes an amendment to the eligibility tool and lets students apply? And even if he does, will I have to pay it back if I’m later found to be eligible, like in a month and I apply for it right now, would I still need to pay it back?

“There are a lot of questions about that that I have.”

Baron said he called the Canada Revenue Agency, which told him to call his band, because the federal government had announced funds for First Nations. Baron said his band told him they hadn’t received any money.

He called 1-800-O-Canada, where he was told they had no information about aid for students and he should “keep watching the news every day to find something out.”
NDP pushing for guaranteed basic income during pandemic

This week, Trudeau announced help for students through the Canada Summer Jobs program, but Baron is too old to qualify and the application was due back in February.

“If you’re an adult going back to school, if you’re doing your master’s — I mean there are a lot of over-30 students, thousands of them. We don’t qualify for the summer jobs program.”

Baron said he has looked for jobs — grocery stores, pharmacies — and there is nothing out there. He’s also scared and doesn’t want to get sick.

He’s also frustrated with the government and doesn’t understand why money couldn’t just be sent to everybody.

The NDP has been pushing for a guaranteed basic income of $2,000 to be sent to every adult monthly during the crisis. Kim Moody, of Moodys Gartner Tax Law LLP, also told MPs on the Finance committee Thursday he believes money should have been sent out to everyone who needs it, and the government’s focus is placed on how to claw it back from those who don’t.

So far, the Liberals have announced more than nine different versions of programs affecting people and businesses impacted by COVID-19.




CANADA.CA
The Canada Emergency Response Benefit page on the Canada.ca website advises applicants who may have received two payments in error on next steps.

“[This] is such an extraordinary situation that you’re putting people in a position where they have to make a choice that they know is wrong,” Baron told HuffPost.

“I may apply for it and pay it back through my taxes in subsequent years because I have no other options right now. I have to pay my rent, I have to pay my bills like everybody else … There are no other options really.”

Qualtrough announced Friday that 5.62 million Canadians have already applied for the CERB and five million claims have been processed.

She noted, however, that some have received funds they shouldn’t have — two $2,000 payments — that were likely sent to those who, unsure which one they qualified for, applied for both employment insurance and the CERB.

“Don’t worry, it’s fine. We’re on it. We’re sorting it out,” she said. She urged people not to call Service Canada to flag the error, saying the government will be in touch to ask for the money back and ensure no one gets more than the $8,000 over four months they are entitled to.

That means, she added, “if you got an additional extra payment this month, you must budget accordingly