2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
According to the Center for International Forestry Research (CIFOR), "between 1990 and 2001 the percentage of Europe's processed meat imports that came from Brazil rose from 40 to 74 percent" and by 2003 "for the first time ever, the growth in Brazilian cattle production, 80 percent of which was in the Amazon[,] was largely export driven." The Brazilian states of Pará, Mato Grosso, and Rondônia, located along the southern border of the Amazon rainforest, are in what is called the "deforestation arc".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Deforestation within Brazil is partially driven by growing demand for beef and soy exports, particularly to China and Hong Kong. In the first seven months of 2019, soy exports to China rose by 18% due to trading tensions between the United States and China. Brazil is one of the largest exporters of beef, accounting for more than 20% of global trade of the commodity. Brazil exported over 1.6 million tonnes of beef in 2018, the highest volume in recorded history. Brazil's cattle herd has increased by 56% over the last two decades.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Ranchers wait until the dry season to slash-and-burn to give time for the cattle to graze. Soybean production has increased from 75.32 million metric tons in 2010/11 to 118.8 million metric tons in 2018/19. The Amazon accounts for 14 million of the 284 million acres of soy plantations in Brazil. While slash-and-burn can be controlled, unskilled farmers may end up causing wildfires. Wildfires have increased as the agricultural sector has pushed into the Amazon basin and spurred deforestation. In recent years, "land-grabbers" (grileiros) have been illegally cutting deep into the forest in "Brazil's indigenous territories and other protected forests throughout the Amazon".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Past data from INPE has shown the number of fires with the BLA from January to August in any year to be routinely higher than 60,000 fires from 2002 to 2007 and as high as 90,000 in 2003. Fire counts have generally been higher in years of drought (2007 and 2010), which are often coupled with El Niño events.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Within international attention on the protection of the Amazon around the early 2000s, Brazil took a more proactive approach to deforestation of the Amazon rainforest. In 2004, the Brazilian government had established the Federal Action Plan for Prevention and Control of Deforestation in the Amazon (PPCDAM), with the goal to reduce the rate of deforestation through land use regulation, environmental monitoring, and sustainable activities, promoted through partnerships at the federal and private level, and legal penalties for violations. Brazil also invested in more effective measures to fight fires, including fire-fighting airplanes in 2012.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
By 2014, USAID was teaching the indigenous people how to fight fires. As a result of enforcement of PPCDAM, the rate of deforestation in the Brazilian Amazon dropped 83.5% of their 2004 rates by 2012. However, in 2014, Brazil fell into an economic crisis, and as part of that recovery, pushed heavily on its exports of beef and soy to help bolster its economy, which caused a reversal in the falling deforestation rates. The Brazilian government has been defunding scientific research since the economic crisis.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
To support PPCDAM, the INPE began developing systems to monitor the Amazon rainforest. One early effort was the Amazon Deforestation Satellite Monitoring Project (PRODES), which is a highly detailed satellite imagery-based approach to calculate wildfires and deforestation losses on an annual basis. In 2015, INPE launched five complementary projects as part of the Terra Brasilis project to monitor deforestation closer to real-time. Among these include the Real-Time Deforestation Detection System (DETER) satellite alert system, allowing them to capture incidents of wildfires in 15-day cycles. The daily data is published on the regularly updated Brazilian Environmental Institute government website, and later corroborated with the annual and more accurate PRODES data.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
By December 2017, INPE had completed a modernization process and had expanded its system to analyze and share data on forest fires. It launched its new TerraMA2Q platform—software which adapts fire-monitoring data software including the "occurrence of irregular fires". Although the INPE was able to provide regional fire data since 1998, the modernization increased access. Agencies that monitor and fight fires include the Brazilian Federal Environment and Renewable Resources Agency (IBAMA), as well as state authorities. The INPE receives its images daily from 10 foreign satellites, including the Terra and Aqua satellites—part of the NASA's Earth Observation System (EOS).


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Combined, these systems are able to capture the number of fires on a daily basis, but this number does not directly measure the area of forest lost to these fires; instead, this is done with fortnightly imaging data to compare the current state of the forest with reference data to estimate acreage lost.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Jair Bolsonaro was elected as President of Brazil in October 2018 and took office in January 2019, after which he and his ministries changed governmental policies to weaken protection of the rainforest and make it favorable for farmers to continue practices of slash-and-burn clearing, thus accelerating the deforestation from previous years. Land-grabbers had used Bolsonaro's election to extend their activities into cutting in the land of the previously isolated Apurinã people in Amazonas where the "world's largest standing tracts of unbroken rainforest" are found.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Past deforestation and fires in Brazil
Upon entering office, Bolsonaro cut US$23 million from Brazil's environmental enforcement agency, making it difficult for the agency to regulate deforestation efforts. Bolsonaro and his ministers had also segmented the environmental agency, placing part of its control under the agricultural ministry, which is led by the country's farming lobby, weakened protections on natural reserves and territories belonging to indigenous people, and encouraged businesses to file counter-land claims against regions managed by sustainable forestry practices.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
INPE alerted the Brazilian government to larger-than-normal growth in the number of fires through June to August 2019. The first four months of the year were wetter-than-average, discouraging slash-and-burn efforts. However, with the start of the dry season in May 2019, the number of wildfires jumped greatly. Additionally, NOAA reported that, regionally, the temperatures in the January–July 2019 period were the second warmest year-to-date on record. INPE reported a year-to-year increase of 88% in wildfire occurrences in June 2019.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
There was further increase in the rate of deforestation in July 2019, with the INPE estimating that more than 1,345 square kilometres (519 sq mi; 134,500 ha; 332,000 acres) of land had been deforested in the month and would be on track to surpass the area of Greater London by the end of the month.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
The month of August 2019 saw a large growth in the number of observed wildfires according to INPE. By August 11, Amazonas had declared a state of emergency. The state of Acre entered into an environmental alert on August 16. In early August, local farmers in the Amazonian state of Pará placed an ad in the local newspaper calling for a queimada or "Day of Fire" on August 10, 2019, organizing large scale slash-and-burn operations knowing that there was little chance of interference from the government. Shortly after, there was an increase in the number of wildfires in the region.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
INPE reported on August 20 that it had detected 39,194 fires in the Amazon rainforest since January. This represented a 77 percent increase in the number of fires from the same time period in 2018. However, the NASA-funded NGO Global Fire Emissions Database (GFED) shows 2018 as an unusually low fire year compared to historic data from 2004–2005 which are years showing nearly double the number of counted fires. INPE had reported that at least 74,155 fires have been detected in all of Brazil, which represents an 84-percent increase from the same period in 2018.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
NASA originally reported in mid-August that MODIS satellites reported average numbers of fires in the region compared with data from the past 15 years; the numbers were above average for the year in the states of Amazonas and Rondônia, but below average for Mato Grosso and Pará. NASA later clarified that the data set they had evaluated previous was through August 16, 2019. By August 26, 2019, NASA included more recent MODIS imagery to confirm that the number of fires were higher than in previous years.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, 2019 Brazil dry season fires
By August 29, 80,000 fires had broken out in Brazil which represents a 77% rise on the same period in 2018, according to BBC. INPE reported that in the period from January 1 to August 29, across South America, and not exclusive to the Amazon rainforest, there were 84,957 fires in Brazil, 26,573 in Venezuela, 19,265 in Bolivia, 14,363 in Colombia, 14,969 in Argentina, 10,810 in Paraguay, 6,534 in Peru, 2,935 in Chile, 898 in Guyana, 407 in Uruguay, 328 in Ecuador, 162 in Suriname, and 11 in French Guiana.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, First media reports
While INPE's data had been reported in international sources earlier, news of the wildfires were not a major news story until around August 20, 2019. On that day, the smoke plume from the fires in Rondônia and Amazonas caused the sky to darken at around 2 p.m. over São Paulo—which is almost 2,800 kilometres (1,700 mi) away from the Amazon basin on the eastern coast.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, First media reports
NASA and US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA) also published satellite imagery from the Moderate Resolution Imaging Spectroradiometer (MODIS) on NASA's Terra satellite in alignment with INPE's own, that showed smoke plumes from the wildfires were visible from space. INPE and NASA data, along with photographs of the ongoing fires and impacts, caught international attention and became a rising topic on social media, with several world leaders, celebrities, and athletes expressing their concerns.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, First media reports
According to Vox, of all the concurrent wildfires elsewhere in the world, the wildfires in the Amazon rainforest in Brazil were the most "alarming".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
In the months prior to August 2019, Bolsonaro mocked international and environmental groups that felt his pro-business actions enabled deforestation. At one point in August 2019, Bolsonaro jokingly calling himself "Captain Chainsaw" while asserting that INPE's data was inaccurate. After INPE announced an 88% increase of wildfires in July 2019, Bolsonaro claimed "the numbers were fake" and fired Ricardo Magnus Osório Galvão, the INPE director. Bolsonaro claimed Galvão was using the data to lead an "anti-Brazil campaign". Bolsonaro had claimed that the fires had been deliberately started by environmental NGOs, although he provided no evidence to back up the accusation. NGOs such as WWF Brasil, Greenpeace, and the Brazilian Institute for Environmental Protection countered Bolsonaro's claims.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Bolsonaro, on August 22, argued that Brazil did not have the resources to fight the fires, as the "Amazon is bigger than Europe, how will you fight criminal fires in such an area? ".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Historically, Brazil has been guarded about international intervention into the BLA, as the country sees the forest as a critical part of Brazil's economy. Bolsonaro and his government have continued to speak out against any international oversight of the situation. Bolsonaro considered French President Emmanuel Macron's comments to have a "sensationalist tone" and accusing him of interfering in what he considers is a local problem. Of Macron and German Chancellor Angela Merkel, Bolsonaro stated: "They still haven't realized that Brazil is under new direction. That there's now a president who is loyal to [the] Brazilian people, who says the Amazon is ours, who says bad Brazilians can't release lying numbers and campaign against Brazil."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Bolsonaro's foreign minister Ernesto Araújo has also condemned the international criticism of Bolsonaro's reaction to the wildfires, calling it "savage and unfair" treatment towards Bolsonaro and Brazil. Araújo stated that: "President Bolsonaro's government is rebuilding Brazil", and that foreign nations were using the "environmental crisis" as a weapon to stop this rebuilding. General Eduardo Villas Bôas, former commander of the Brazilian Army, considered the criticism of world leaders, like Macron and Canadian Prime Minister Justin Trudeau, to be directly challenging "Brazilian sovereignty", and may need to be met with military response.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
With increased pressure from the international community, Bolsonaro appeared more willing to take proactive steps against the fires, saying by August 23, 2019, that his government would take a "zero tolerance" approach to environmental crimes. He engaged the Brazilian military to help fight the wildfires on August 24, which Joint Staff member Lt. Brig. Raul Botelho stated was to create a "positive perception" of the government's efforts. Among military support included 43,000 troops as well as four firefighting aircraft, and an allocated US$15.7 million for fire-fighting operations.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Initial efforts were principally located in the state of Rondônia, but the Defense Ministry stated they plan to offer support for all seven states affected by the fires. On August 28, Bolsonaro signed a decree banning the setting of fires in Brazil for a period of 60 days, making exceptions for those fires made purposely to maintain environmental forest health, to combat wildfires, and by the indigenous people of Brazil. However, as most fires are set illegally, it is unclear what impact this decree could have.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Rodrigo Maia, president of the Chamber of Deputies, announced that he would form a parliatary committee to monitor the problem. In addition, he said that the Chamber will hold a general commission in the following days to assess the situation and propose solutions to the government.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
After a report from Globo Rural reveal that a WhatsApp group of 70 people was involved with the Day of Fire, Jair Bolsonaro determined the opening of investigations by Federal Police.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
In a webcast issued November 28, 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro blamed actor and environmentalist Leonardo DiCaprio for the rainforest wildfires, alleging NGOs set the fires in return for donations. DiCaprio, Global Wildlife Conservation, and IUCN Species Survival Commission condemn Bolsonaro's accusations.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
Brazil banned clearing land by setting fire to it on 29 August 2019.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Responses of the Brazilian government
More measures taken by the Brazilian government of Jair Bolsonaro to stop the fires include:


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Protests against Brazilian government policies
In regards to the displacement of the indigenous people, Amnesty International has highlighted the change in protection of lands belonging to the indigenous people, and have called on other nations to pressure Brazil to restore these rights, as they are also essential to protecting the rainforest. Ivaneide Bandeira Cardoso, founder of Kanindé, a Porto Velho-based advocacy group for indigenous communities, said Bolsonaro is directly responsible for the escalation of forest fires throughout the Amazon this year. Cardoso said the wildfires are a "tragedy that affects all of humanity" since the Amazon plays an important role in the global ecosystem as a carbon sink to reduce the effects of climate change.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Protests against Brazilian government policies
Thousands of Brazilian citizens held protests in several major cities from August 24, 2019, onward to challenge the government's reaction to the wildfires. Protesters around the world also held events at Brazilian embassies, including in London, Paris, Mexico City, and Geneva.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Impact on the indigenous peoples of Brazil
In addition to environmental harm, the slash-and-burn actions leading to the wildfires have threatened the approximately 306,000 indigenous people in Brazil who reside near or within the rainforest. Bolsonaro had spoken out against the need to respect the demarcation of lands for indigenous people established in the 1988 Constitution of Brazil. According to a CBC report on Brazil's wildfires, representatives of the indigenous people have stated that farmers, loggers, and miners, emboldened by the Brazilian government's policies, have forced these people out of their lands, sometimes through violent means, and equated their methods with genocide.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Impact on the indigenous peoples of Brazil
Additionally, some indigenous groups that have traditionally used fire management practices for agricultural livelihoods are being criminalized. Some of these tribes have vowed to fight back against those engaged in deforestation to protect their lands. Kerexu Yxapyry, a leader from Santa Catarina's Kerexu tribe, describes this conflict as, "We know our struggle will be arduous. Maybe many of our leaders will be killed, but we are organized. And we are going to defend our rights."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, International responses
International leaders and environmental NGOs have condemned President Bolsonaro for the extent of the wildfires within the Brazilian portion of the Amazon.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, International responses
Several international governments and environmental groups raised concerns at Bolsonaro's stance on the rainforest and the lack of attempts by his government to slow the wildfires. Among the most vocal was Macron, given the proximity of French Guiana to Brazil. Macron called the Amazon wildfires an "international crisis", while claiming the rainforest produces "20% of the world's oxygen"—a statement disputed by academics. He said, "Our house is burning. Literally."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, International responses
Discussion about the fires came into the final negotiations of the EU–Mercosur Free Trade Agreement between the EU and Mercosur, a trade bloc of Argentina, Brazil, Uruguay, and Paraguay. With the wildfires on-going, both Macron and Irish Prime Minister Leo Varadkar have stated they will refuse to ratify the trade deal unless Brazil commits to protecting the environment. However, they have both been accused of using the fires as a pretext to scuttle an agreement that they already opposed on protectionist grounds.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, International responses
Finance minister of Finland Mika Lintilä suggested the idea of an EU ban on Brazilian beef imports until the country takes steps to stop the deforestation.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, International responses
The Secretary-General of the Rainforest Foundation Norway (RFN), Øyvind Eggen, said that neither the "official deforestation figures" published by Brazilian authorities on November 18, 2019 nor the number of wildfires in Amazon in 2019, were normal. According to the RFN,"We are approaching a potential tipping point, where large parts of the forest will be so damaged that [the rainforest] collapses."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Brazil, Preserving the Amazon: A Shared Moral Imperative
On September 10, 2019, the US House Foreign Affairs Committee held a hearing in Washington, DC entitled "Preserving the Amazon: A Shared Moral Imperative". In her testimony presented to the hearing, Peterson Institute for International Economics (PIIE) economist, Monica de Bolle likened the rainforest to a "carbon bomb", as the fires lit for deforestation "may release as much as 200 million tons of carbon into the atmosphere a year, which would spur climate change at a much faster rate, not to mention associated changes in rainfall patterns that may result from deforestation."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Background
In Bolivia, chaqueo is an annual seasonal agricultural practice and commonly relies on the controlled use of fire. Is was first authorized in 2001 during the government of Hugo Banzer Suarez.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Background
Bolivia has 7.7 percent of the Amazon rainforest within its borders. The Bolivian Amazon covers 19.402 million hectares (47.94 million acres) which comprise 37.7 percent of Bolivia's forests and 17.7 percent of Bolivia's land mass. Bolivia's forests cover a total of 51.407 million hectares (127.03 million acres), including the Chiquitano dry forests which is part of the Amazon biome and a transition zone between the Amazon rainforest and the drier forests of the southern Chaco region.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Background
By September 14, 2019, Bolivia—which is one-eighth the size of Brazil—lost nearly 6 million acres (2.4 million hectares) of "forest and savanna". The fires destroyed about the same area of rainforest than in Brazil.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
By August 16, Bolivia's Santa Cruz had declared a departmental emergency because of the forest fires. From August 18 to August 23, approximately 800 thousand hectares (2.0 million acres) of the Chiquitano dry forests were destroyed, more than what was lost over a typical two-year period. By August 24, the fires had already affected 1,011 thousand hectares (2.50 million acres) of forestland in the Santa Cruz and were burning near Santa Cruz, Bolivia. By August 26, wildfires had reached over 728 thousand hectares (1.80 million acres) of Bolivia's savanna and tropical forests, according to the Bolivian Information Agency (BIA). Over a period of five days, from August 18 to August 22, 450 thousand hectares (1.1 million acres) of forest near Roboré were burned.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
On August 25, 4,000 state employees and volunteers were fighting the fires. By August 25, the Chiquitano regions has seen 650 thousand hectares (1.6 million acres) of tropical forest burned within both the Amazon and the dry forests, mostly within the Santa Cruz province; like the Brazil fires, such fires occur during the dry season, but the number of fires in 2019 were larger than in previous years. Throughout August, wildfires have been spreading across four states. [ By August 26, fires in the Dionisio Foianini Triangle—the Brazil-Bolivia-Paraguay triangle had reached savannah and tropical forest "near Bolivia's border with Paraguay and Brazil".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
The Bolivian government intervened after it was clear that the fires had surpassed local and regional response capabilities. In the week of August 18, Morales dispatched soldiers and three helicopters to fight fires in an area about the size of Oregon. On August 22, Morales contracted the Colorado-based Boeing 747 Supertanker (also known as Global SuperTanker) to conduct firefighting missions over the Bolivian Amazon. The 747 Supertanker is the largest firefighting aircraft in the world, which can hold approximately 19,000 gallons of water per trip. Morales has stated that the governments of many countries including Spain, Chile, Perú, France, the EU, among others have reached out to him to provide help for fighting the fires.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
The government had been trying to determine the cause of the fires, with the Bolivian land management authority attributing 87% of the fires present in areas without authorization. Multiple NGOs assert that deforestation rates in Bolivia increased 200 percent after the government quadrupled available land for deforestation to small farmers in 2015.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
Political opponents of Morales alleged that the   August 25, 2019, at the Wayback Machine, a mandate to further beef production in the Amazon region, is a major cause of the Bolivian fires. However, this Supreme Decree only extends the authorized but regulated use of fire already legal in Santa Cruz to the Beni Department, where forest fire issues are not a significant issue.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Bolivia, Santa Cruz Department
By September 9, total forests that had been affected by fires in Bolivia was estimated as 1,700 thousand hectares (4.2 million acres), more than double from estimates two weeks prior, but far less extended than  the forest fires that occurred in 2004 and 2010. While some local government officials and opposition leaders have pled with Morales to update the situation from national emergengy to national disaster, but minister of communication Manuel Canelas said that Bolivia "is not overwhelmed" by fires to make this declaration, and that national emergency is sufficient to receive any type of foreign cooperation.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Paraguay's Pantanal
By August 22, fire emergencies in Paraguay's Alto Paraguay district and the UNESCO protected Pantanal region were issued by its federal government. Paraguay President Mario Abdo Benítez was in close contact with Bolivia's Morales to coordinate response efforts. By August 17, as wind direction changed, flames from fires in Bolivia began to enter northern Paraguay's Three Giants natural reserve in the Paraguayan Pantanal natural region. By August 24, when the situation had stabilized, Paraguay had lost 39,000 hectares (96,000 acres) in the Pantanal. An Universidad Nacional de Asunción representative lamented the disaster failed to attract as much media attention as the fires in the Amazon rainforest.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Paraguay's Pantanal
While most of the Pantanal regions—140,000 and 195,000 square kilometres (54,000 and 75,000 sq mi)—is within Brazil's borders in the state of Mato Grosso do Sul, the natural region also extends into Mato Grosso and portions of Bolivia. It sprawls over an area estimated at between 140,000 and 195,000 square kilometres (54,000 and 75,000 sq mi). Within the Pantanal natural region, which is located between Brazil and Bolivia, is the "world's largest tropical wetland area".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Paraguay's Pantanal
According one of the engineers charged with monitoring satellite data showing the "evolution of the fires", the Pantanal is a "complex, fragile, and high-risk ecosystem because it's being transformed from a wetland to a productive system". The Pantana is bounded by the Humid Chaco to the south, the Arid Chaco dry forests to the southwest, Cerrado savannas lie to the north, east and southeast, and the Chiquitano dry forests, to the west and northwest, where thousands of hectares burned in Bolivia.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Paraguay's Pantanal
A national parks researcher said that outsiders only know the Amazon, which is a "shame because the Pantanal is a very important ecological place". The Paraná River, which flows through Argentina, Brazil and Paraguay, is the "second largest river system in South America".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Fires in Peru
Peru had nearly twice the growth in the number of fires in 2019 than Brazil, with most believed to be illegally set by ranchers, miners, and coca growers. Much of the fires are in the Madre de Dios which borders Brazil and Bolivia, though the fires there are not a result of those started in the other countries, according to the regional authority. However, they are still concerned about the impact of downwind emissions, particularly carbon monoxide, on residents of Madre de Dios. There were 128 forest fires reported in Peru in August 2019.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Emissions
By August 22, NASA's AIRS published maps of increased carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide resulting from Brazil's wildfires. On the same day, the European Union's Copernicus Climate Change Service reported a "discernible spike" in emissions of carbon monoxide and carbon dioxide generated by the fires.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Emissions
Areas downwind of the fires have become covered with smoke, which can potentially last upwards of months at a time if the fires are left to burn out. Hospitals in cities like Porto Velho had reported over three times the average number of cases of patients suffering from the effects of smoke over the same year-to-year period in August 2019 than in other previous years. Besides hindering breathing, the smoke can exacerbates patients with asthma or bronchitis and have potential cancer risk, generally affecting the youth and elderly the most.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Biodiversity
According to the World Wildlife Fund, the jaguar, for example, is already "near threatened" and the loss of food supplies and habitat due to the fires make the situation more critical.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Biodiversity
Scientists at the Natural History Museum in London described how while some forests have adapted to fire as "important part of a forest ecosystem's natural cycle", the Amazon rainforest—which is "made up of lowland, wetland forests"—is "not well-equipped to deal with fire". Other Amazon basin ecosystems, like the Cerrado region, with its "large savannah, and lots of plants there have thick, corky, fire-resistant stems", is "fire-adapted".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Biodiversity
Mazeika Sullivan, associate professor at Ohio State University's School of Environment and Natural Resources, explained that the fires could have a massive toll on wildlife in the short term as many animals in the Amazon are not adapted for extraordinary fires. Sloths, lizards, anteaters, and frogs may unfortunately perish in larger numbers than others due to their small size and lack of mobility. Endemic species, like Milton's titi and Mura's saddleback tamarin, are believed to be beset by the fires. Aquatic species could also be affected due to the fires changing the water chemistry into a state unsuitable for life.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Environmental impacts of the fires, Biodiversity
Long-term effects could be more catastrophic. Parts of the Amazon rainforest's dense canopy were destroyed by the fires, therefore, exposing the lower levels of the ecosystem, which then alters the energy flow of the food chain. The fires affect water chemistry (such as decreasing the amount of dissolved oxygen in the water), temperature, and erosion rates, which in turn affects fish and mammals that depend on fish, such as the giant otter.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions
On August 22, the Bishops Conference for Latin America called the fires a "tragedy" and urged the UN, the international community, and governments of Amazonian countries, to "take serious measures to save the world's lungs". Colombian President Ivan Duque stated he wanted to lead a conservation pact with the other nations that share the Amazon rainforest with plans to present this to the UN General Assembly. Duque said, "We must understand the protection of our Mother Earth and our Amazon is a duty, a moral duty."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions
United Nations Secretary General António Guterres stated on August 23, that: "In the midst of the global climate crisis, we cannot afford more damage to a major source of oxygen and biodiversity."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions, G7 Summit and emergency aid
Attention to the wildfires increased in the week prior to the G7 summit discussions on August 24–26 in Biarritz, France, led by President Macron. Macron stated his intent to open discussions related to the wildfires in the Brazilian part of the Amazon and Bolsonaro's response to them. Merkel has also backed Macron's statements and planned to make the issue a part of the G7 discussions; via a spokesperson, Merkel stated: "The extent of the fires in the Amazon area is shocking and threatening, not only for Brazil and the other affected countries, but also for the whole world."


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions, G7 Summit and emergency aid
Macron further stated that possible international statute to protect the rainforest may be needed "if a sovereign state took concrete actions that clearly went against the interest of the planet". Bolsonaro expressed concern to United States president Donald Trump, that with Brazil not part of the G7, the country would be unrepresented in any such debate. Trump offered to take the position of the Brazilian government to the meeting and said that the US government did not agree to discuss the issue without Brazil's presence. Trump himself was absent from the environmental portion of the summit held on August 26, 2019, that discussed the fires and climate change, though members of his advisory team were in attendance.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions, G7 Summit and emergency aid
During the summit, Macron and Chilean president Sebastián Piñera negotiated with the other nations to authorize US$22 million in emergency funding to Amazonian countries to help fight the fires. The Trump administration did not approve of the measure as the funding set certain requirements on its use. When the final negotiations were completed, Bolsonaro stated that he would refuse those funds for Brazil, claiming that Macron's interests were about protecting France's agricultural business in French Guiana from Brazil's competition.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions, G7 Summit and emergency aid
Bolsonaro also criticised Macron by comparing the Amazon fires to the Notre-Dame de Paris fire earlier in 2019, suggesting Macron should take care of their internal fires before reaching out internationally. The governors of the states of Brazil most affected by the fires pressured Bolsonaro to accept the aid given. Bolsonaro later clarified that he would accept foreign aid for the fires, but only if Brazil has the authority to determine how it is used.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, International actions, Amazon country summit
Brazil's Bolsonaro stated on August 28, 2019, that the countries sharing the Amazon rainforest, excluding Venezuela, will hold a summit in Colombia on September 6, 2019, to discuss the ongoing Amazon fire situation. Representatives from seven countries attended: Brazil, Colombia, Peru, Ecuador, Bolivia, Guyana and Suriname. The countries signed a pact to coordinate monitoring of the Amazon forest and disaster response, and a better information network to coordinate their responses. The pact will also seek cooperative efforts to reduce the need for illegal deforestation in their countries.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, 2019 wildfires in the media
The media coverage had also broadly overshadowed the Amazon fires in Bolivia, Peru, and Paraguay by the fires and international impact of those in the BLA. The Amazon wildfires also occurred shortly after major wildfires reported in Greenland and Siberia after a globally hotter-than-average June and July, drawing away coverage of these natural disasters.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, 2019 wildfires in the media
Some of these photographs shared on social media were from past fire events in the Amazon or from fires elsewhere. Agence France-Presse and El Comercio published guides to help people "fact-check" on misleading photos.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Celebrity responses to Amazon wildfires
American actor Leonardo DiCaprio said his environmental organization Earth Alliance is donating $5 million to local groups and indigenous communities to help protect the Amazon. In a webcast on November 28, 2019, President Jair Bolsonaro said DiCaprio's donations encourage NGOs to set the fires in return for donations, a charge DiCaprio, Global Wildlife Conservation, and IUCN Species Survival Commission vehemently denied.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Celebrity responses to Amazon wildfires
Instagram has been a platform for many celebrities who have spoken out about the wildfires such as Cara Delevingne, who posted a picture of the wildfires with the caption "#PrayForAmazonia".


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Celebrity responses to Amazon wildfires
Other celebrities who made public contributions include actresses Vanessa Hudgens and Lana Condor, and Japanese musician Yoshiki.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Celebrity responses to Amazon wildfires
On August 26, 2019, Europe's richest man, Bernard Arnault, declared that his LVMH group will donate $11 million to aid in the fight against the Amazon rainforest wildfires.


2019 Amazon rainforest wildfires, Celebrity responses to Amazon wildfires
American restaurateur Eddie Huang said he is going vegan as a result of the 2019 Amazon fires. Khloé Kardashian urged her 98 million Instagram followers to adopt a plant-based diet for the same reason. Leonardo DiCaprio told his Instagram followers to "eliminate or reduce consumption of beef" as "cattle ranching is one of the primary drivers of deforestation."


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis
The Ambazonian leadership crisis is an ongoing internal conflict within the Interim Government of Ambazonia. The crisis started on May 2, 2019, when a document signed by the first president of Ambazonia, Sisiku Julius Ayuk Tabe, acting from detention in Yaounde and in contact with Cameroon interior ministry officials, declared the dissolution of the cabinet of interim president Samuel Ikome Sako and restored its predecessor led by Ayuk himself. The move surprisingly sidelined the outcome of the election of interim president Sako in an expanded electoral college on 4 February 2018, combining the predecessor cabinet, country and regional representatives of Ambazonia.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Background
Following the arrest of the Ayuk Tabe cabinet in January 2018 in Nigeria, Samuel Ikome Sako was elected the acting president of the Interim Government. His presidency saw attempts to unite the separatist camp under one roof (notably the creation of the Southern Cameroons Liberation Council in April 2019), but faced criticism for alleged incompetence, divisiveness and misappropriation of funds.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
On May 2, 2019, Ayuk Tabe - still in prison - declared that the Sako-led cabinet had been dissolved, and that the cabinet led by himself had been restored. While the document recognized the Sako cabinet for its sincere efforts, it claimed that it was ultimately not fit to continue;


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
Considering  that despite  all efforts  by well-meaning Ambazonians  responding to my appeals to keep the Interim Government afloat by accommodating the caretaker cabinet while these issues of infighting in the struggle involving grave improprieties both in the management of material and human resources are sorted out, the caretaker cabinet has lost the ability to reconcile our people and, in doing so, has imperiled  the identity and mission of the interim government to complete the decolonization of Southern Cameroons through advancing our collective national interests.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
It is incumbent on me as a servant-leadership fiduciary to bring redress to the Southern Cameroons-Ambazonians, to their struggle and their nation, from their slow descent into a footnote of our own history.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
I hereby declare and direct that the caretaker cabinet is forthwith dissolved and that, the cabinet as was  in office on January 5th  2018, when myself  and parts  of the leadership were abducted be reconstituted, restored  and reactivated.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
At some point after making this declaration, Ayuk Tabe reached out to former SDF parliamentarian Wirba Joseph, asking him to assume leadership of the revolution. Wirba declined the request, believing the Interim Government to be an "imaginary structure" and detrimental to the cause.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
However, the Sako-led cabinet did not recognize Ayuk Tabe's authority to dismiss the interim cabinet, and consequently refused to step down. In June 2019, the Ambazonia Restoration Council "impeached" Ayuk Tabe for "treasonous misconduct", and declared that he had lost his mandate to speak on behalf of Ambazonia.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Leadership crisis
The leadership crisis complicated the already delicate allegiances among Ambazonian separatist movements. The Ambazonia Governing Council (AGovC), which traditionally has had a complicated relationship with the Interim Government, voiced support for Ayuk Tabe. Wirba Joseph called the impeachment of Ayuk Tabe "absurd". In November 2019, pro-separatist sources reported that Sako and his supporters had changed his title from Acting Interim President to President, aiming to permanently replace Ayuk Tabe even if the latter would ever be released.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Consequences
The leadership conflict led to the seeming emergence of two governments, an elected leadership under president Sako in the Diaspora and a putative leadership under AyukTabe in Yaounde, each claiming legitimacy. This paradigm shift may have complicated and delayed the prospect of direct talks with the Cameroonian government. During the later half of 2019, Switzerland emerged as mediator for peace talks between Ambazonian nationalists and the Cameroonian government. These talks in Switzerland were boycotted by the Ayuk Tabe faction which threatened to derail an initiative supported by the United Nations, African Union and European Union except France. In July 2020, Cameroonian officials met with Ayuk Tabe to discuss a ceasefire absent any international mediator or guarantor. The Sako-led government responded to the meeting by declaring that prisoners cannot negotiate. The AGovC, which had supported Ayuk Tabe against Sako, took a similar stance.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Ambazonian Coalition Team
On September 22, 2019, the interim government of Dr Sako brought together leaders and representatives of 10 Ambazonian nationalist movements to create the Ambazonia Coalition Team (ACT), or Team Ambazonia and a “joint platform for negotiations” with the Cameroon government.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Attempts at resolution
On 13 October 2020, Ayuk Tabe called from prison in Yaounde to settle the dispute and cooperating against Cameroon. President Ikome Sako reiterated his refusal to recognize Ayuk Tabe's cabinet, stating that "there is only one Interim Government". He further insisted that Ayuk Tabe declare the dissolution of his cabinet before any reconciliation could take place.


2019 Ambazonian leadership crisis, Later developments
The leadership crisis resurfaced in mid-2021, when pro-Auyk Tabe AGovC announced an alliance with the Indigenous People of Biafra (IPOB), a Biafran independence movement. Sako denounced the alliance on grounds of the importance of goodwill from Nigeria, and argued that AGovC had put the hundreds of thousands of Anglophone refugees in Nigeria at danger. The Sako-led government preferred instead to repair relations between Ambazonia and Nigeria. The AGovC fired back, stating that "those who liberated Rwanda came from refugee camps in Uganda" and that "Nigeria has shown itself not to be our friend". IPOB also dencounced Sako's claim to the Ambazonian presidency, declaring him one of many "traitors and selfish fellows".


2019 Amber Valley Borough Council election
Elections to Amber Valley Borough Council in Derbyshire, England took place on Thursday 2 May 2019. One third of the council seats were up for election. The Labour Party gained overall control of the council, taking a total of five seats from the Conservatives. In addition, the Green Party gained representation for the first time. After the election, the composition of the council was:-


2019 Amber Valley Borough Council election, Ward results
Percentage change in party votes are from wards contested during the previous election cycle, which was 2015. Percentages might not add up to 100 percent due to rounding.


2019 Amber Valley Borough Council election, Ward results, Belper Central
Candidate Neil Ploughman was suspended by the Labour Party when alleged anti-Semitic Facebook posts were discovered, however he remained on the ballot. After being elected, he initially sat as an independent on the authority. He was subsequently reinstated by the party with no charge to answer, and sits as a Labour councillor.


2019 Ambon earthquake
On 26 September 2019, a strong magnitude 6.5 earthquake struck Seram Island in Maluku, Indonesia, near the provincial capital of Ambon. The earthquake struck at 07:46:44 Eastern Indonesia Time (23:46:44 on 25 September UTC) with a shallow depth of 18 km. The tremor could be felt throughout the island, with an intensity of very strong (VII) reportedly felt in the provincial capital of Ambon.


2019 Ambon earthquake
In the aftermath of the quake, severe damages were reported throughout the island. More than 6,000 structures were damaged or destroyed throughout Maluku. A total of 41 people were killed by the quake and another 1,578 people were injured. More than 150,000 people evacuated and set makeshift camps due to aftershocks and fear of building collapse. As of 6 October, more than a week after the earthquake, approximately 1,105 aftershocks had been recorded by local geological stations in Maluku.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake
According to the Indonesian Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency (BMKG), the earthquake's epicenter was located inland of Seram Island, some 42 kilometres (26 mi) northeast of the city of Ambon, the capital of Maluku and 10 km from the town of Kairatu. BMKG reported a magnitude of Mw  6.8, while the United States Geological Survey (USGS) reported a Mw  6.5 earthquake. It struck at 23:46:44 UTC, with a depth of 18.2 kilometres (11.3 mi) according to the USGS. BMKG later revised the magnitude of the earthquake to Mw  6.5. The agency reported that the earthquake was caused by a strike slip fault mechanism.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake
Indonesian National Earthquake Centre reported that the fault that was responsible for the quake hadn't been previously mapped by scientists. They stated that the fault had "shifted" due to deformation on the fault. The fault, however, was not considered as a new fault. The Indonesian Institute of Sciences stated that energy released by the earthquake was equivalent to that released in the 1945 nuclear bombing of Hiroshima.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake
Strong shaking were felt in the provincial capital of Ambon and in several other regencies in Maluku. Following the earthquake, roads were jammed with vehicles as mass panic occurred throughout Ambon. Panicked residents of Ambon had attempted to rush to higher ground due to tsunami fears, though BMKG stated that there was no risk of a tsunami. Several people were injured in the chaos and a woman was reportedly killed after she fell from her motorcycle during the evacuation. Road accidents reportedly occurred due to the mass panic. A man was apprehended by police for yelling "tsunami" out loud in the midst of a crowd of evacuees.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake
The Indonesian BMKG disclosed the information of the intensity of the earthquake felt by the resident in Maluku, with an intensity of V (moderate) in the provincial capital of Ambon and II (weak) in Banda Islands. The USGS, however, reported that the intensity of the earthquake was VII (very strong) in Ambon and its surrounding area.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake, Aftershocks
By morning of 27 September, BMKG reported that they have detected 239 aftershocks. On 6 October, the agency reported that more than 1,000 aftershocks had been recorded, of which the strongest was a magnitude 5.6, which struck Ambon at a depth of 10 km, less than an hour after the mainshock.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Earthquake, Aftershocks
On 11 October, a 5.2 magnitude earthquake struck Ambon at a depth of 10 km. The quake struck with a strike-slip mechanism, with its epicenter located offshore, approximately 16 km east of the city. The powerful quake managed to damage several buildings in Ambon. Several buildings including a music shop and an ICU suffered significant damages and a high school reportedly collapsed, killing a student. A government-owned office building also reportedly collapsed due to the aftershock. A total of 8 people were injured in the aftershock. Due to the powerful aftershock, shops were closed and dozens of people evacuated.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Damage
In the immediate aftermath of the earthquake, significant damages were reported in the provincial capital Ambon. Ambon's iconic Merah Putih Bridge, then the longest bridge in Eastern Indonesia, suffered cracks on its expansion joint. Buildings in Pattimura University, Ambon's oldest university, suffered cracks on the walls and caved ceilings. State Islamic University of Ambon reported cracks and wall collapse. The university's auditorium and library were also damaged in the quake. A lecturer and a student were injured and taken to the hospital, while another lecturer and another student were reportedly killed due to fallen debris. A major fire was also reported in a neighborhood in Ambon. Malls and public institutions reported slight damages. Places of worship such as churches and mosques also reportedly suffered slight damages


2019 Ambon earthquake, Damage
In Tulehu, a floating market collapsed onto the sea due to the shaking. Patients in Tulehu Hospital were evacuated to Darussalam University due to the damages in the hospital. In Central Maluku Regency, the main hospital, dr. H. Ishak Umarella Regional Hospital, suffered significant damages. Fearing that the hospital might collapse, emergency tents were set up outside of the hospital, with patients treated outside. Hundreds of houses were severely damaged in Central Maluku Regency. At least 4 villages reported moderate to heavy damages to many homes and structures in the villages.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Damage
Soil liquefaction was reported in a village in Ambon, with mud and "coral" spewing out from the ground. There were also reports on multiple sand boil in the village. Rockfalls and landslides were also reported in the region. At least one person was killed after a landslide struck an elementary school in Ambon. Another 8 people were killed after a mine collapse onto miners in Ambon.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Damage
Ambon's local disaster mitigation agency reported 25,000 people in temporary shelters following the earthquake, with 224 houses reported damaged. On 3 October, the figure rose to 6,000 damaged houses, of which nearly 2,000 were severely damaged or destroyed. Further examination revealed that more than 6,700 structures across the region were damaged or destroyed in the quake. Preliminary report showed that a total of 21 schools were damaged in Ambon. As of 9 October, at least 172 schools and campus were damaged, most of which reportedly suffered moderate damage.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Casualties
By the evening of 27 September, local time, 23 fatalities had been confirmed from the earthquake, primarily due to falling rubble from damaged buildings. Over a hundred people were reportedly wounded. A majority of the casualties occurred in the Central Maluku Regency, where 14 deaths were reported.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Casualties
On 29 September 2019, seven other people were found dead or had succumbed to their injuries, bringing the death toll to 30. Four more deaths were announced on September 30. The death toll rose to 36 on October 2 and 38 on October 4. On October 8, at least 39 people were declared dead, with 1,578 reported injuries. 41 deaths were finally reported on October 18.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
President of Indonesia Joko Widodo expressed his condolences for the earthquake, and stated that affected victims would have their medical fees covered by the government. At least 2,000 emergency packages were sent to Maluku. The Indonesian National Board for Disaster Management released Rp 1 billion (c. USD 70,000) in immediate funding and Rp 515 million in logistical support. The Ministry of Social Affairs released a further Rp 1.1 billion in funds, later announced that those who had relatives killed by the quake would be compensated with a total of Rp15 million rupiah.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
The Indonesian Ministry of Public Works and Public Housing provided sanitation and gallons of drinkable water to Maluku. The Ministry announced that "habitable houses" will be built in Maluku to those who had lost their homes in the quake. Approximately 3,000 houses will be built across 11 cities and regencies in Maluku.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
Immediately after the disaster, the provincial government of Maluku declared a state of emergency for 14 days. It later made a plea to Jakarta to help with the rehabilitation process. Four days after the earthquake, Ambon local government declared a disaster declaration for 2 weeks. On 9 October, due to the increasing number of evacuee, the provincial government of Maluku extended the state of emergency to an unspecified time amount. The local government of Ambon, however, stated that they would not extend the state of emergency , effectively ending the state of emergency period in Ambon on 9 October.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
Due to the "unusual" number and "aggressiveness" of earthquakes and aftershocks in the region, the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency announced that it would conduct a joint study with experts from Bandung Institute of Technology (ITB) on the seismic zone and the fault mechanism in the area. Consequently, a total of 11 seismographs were installed in the region. The study later proposed an earthquake-proof structural design for educational institutions in Indonesia. The agency also announced that a total of Rp 2 billion rupiah of emergency funds would be provided to ease the relief efforts in Maluku. It also provided economic relief programs to the evacuees.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
The Indonesian National Police sent logistics and essential supplies to the evacuees. The Regional Police of Maluku provided trauma healing and counseling to treat PTSD, with check-ups routinely held every day.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
Multiple political parties, community organisations and universities also sent aids to Maluku. Perempuan Bangsa (Nation's Women), which is under the affiliation of Indonesian National Awakening Party, assisted with emotional counseling for the affected. National Democrat Party (Nasdem) sent a team of medical health professionals to Maluku. Government-owned health insurance company BPJS and major aid organisation Rumah Zakat sent hundreds of logistics to Maluku. Meanwhile, University of Indonesia sent the local government of Ambon an Earthquake Warning Alert System (EWAS). Fundraisers were also set up by youth organisations in the country.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
Moluccan community in Waalwijk, Netherlands made a plea to the local government to send aid to Ambon. The majority of the council members overwhelmingly accepted the motion. Ex-senator from Netherlands' GroenLinks Party Samuel Richard Pormes stated that he hoped for the willingness of the Indonesian National Disaster Mitigation Agency to cooperate for the aids distribution.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
There were many complaints from evacuees that they had not received aids, donations and logistics from the government. Maluku's government admitted that relief effort and aids delivery were hampered due to the inaccessibility of some villages in the region. They later added that there was a shortage of blankets, tarps and tents in some evacuation centres.


2019 Ambon earthquake, Response
On 29 October, 9 days after his second inauguration, Indonesian President Joko Widodo visited several evacuation centres in Maluku to check with the evacuees. He stated that the government would send more aids and emergency funds and that houses that had been either damaged or destroyed would be rebuilt or repaired. A total compensation of Rp50 million would be handed to those who had their houses heavily damaged by the quake, while a total of Rp25 million and Rp10 million would be handed to those with moderate and slight damages, respectively. He later promised that the aid funds would be available for the evacuees in 6 months.


2019 America East Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2019 America East Conference Baseball Tournament was held from May 22 to 25, 2019. The top six teams out of the league's seven members met in the double-elimination tournament held at Varsity Field in Vestal, New York, the home park of Binghamton. The tournament champion, Stony Brook, received the conference's automatic bid into the 2019 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2019 America East Conference Baseball Tournament, Seeding and format
The top six teams from the regular season were seeded one through six based on conference winning percentage only. The No. 1 and No. 2 seeds received a first-round bye. The teams then played a double-elimination tournament.


2019 America East Conference Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 America East Conference Women's Soccer Tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the America East Conference held from November 3 through November 10, 2019. The five-match tournament took place at campus sites, with the higher seed hosting. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The defending champions were the Albany Great Danes, who were unable to defend their title after losing in the Quarterfinals to Hartford. Stony Brook won their second tournament in three years after a 2–1 victory in the final. It was the first victory for first year head coach Tobias Bischof.


2019 America East Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 America East Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the America East Conference, which was held on March 9, 12, and 16, 2019. All tournament games were played on home arenas of the higher-seeded school. Vermont defeated UMBC 66–49 in the championship game and received the conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. This was the seventh time Vermont has won the America East tournament championship, which ties them with former member Northeastern for the most all time.


2019 America East Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
The top eight teams in the conference standings qualified for the tournament. The teams were seeded by record in conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.


2019 America East Men's Basketball Tournament, Bracket and results
Teams are reseeded after each round with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.


2019 America East Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 America East Men's Soccer Tournament was the 31st edition of the tournament. The tournament decided the America East Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament began on November 9 and concluded on November 16.


2019 America East Men's Soccer Tournament
Defending champion, New Hampshire, was the number one seed coming into the tournament. Both New Hampshire and Vermont were statistically tied for first place in the conference. New Hampshire broke the tie by defeating Hartford twice, while Vermont split their games with Hartford. New Hampshire was seeking a consecutive tournament win since UMBC 2013-2015 seasons. In the final round of the tournament, New Hampshire played #3 seed Hartford, and the first and only goal of the game was kicked in by New Hampshire 3:27 into the game. This was New Hampshire's second America East conference title in school history.


2019 America East Men's Soccer Tournament
New Hampshire was the conference's lone bid into the NCAA Tournament. They hosted Fairleigh-Dickinson in the first round, defeating Fairleigh-Dickinson 1-0 at home. They would then travel to 10 seed #13 Virginia Tech where they fell 1-4. This was New Hampshire's fourth appearance in NCAA Men's Soccer Tournament. New Hampshire finished the season nationally ranked 22nd by the United Soccer Coaches.


2019 America East Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 America East Women's Basketball Tournament began on March 6 and concluded with the championship game on March 15. Maine won the championship game over Hartford to earn the automatic bid to the NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.


2019 America East Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records.


2019 America East Women's Basketball Tournament, Schedule
All tournament games are nationally televised on an ESPN network:


2019 America East Women's Basketball Tournament, Bracket and Results
Teams are reseeded after each round with highest remaining seeds receiving home court advantage.


2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament was held at Spectrum Field in Clearwater, Florida from May 21 through May 26. The event, held at the end of the conference regular season, determined the champion of the American Athletic Conference for the 2019 season. The winner of the double-elimination tournament, Cincinnati, will receive the conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Baseball Tournament.


2019 American Athletic Conference Baseball Tournament, Format and seeding
The top eight baseball teams in The American were seeded based on their records in conference play. The tournament used a two bracket double-elimination format, leading to a single championship game between the winners of each bracket.


2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game was a college football game played on December 7, 2019, at Liberty Bowl Memorial Stadium in Memphis, Tennessee, to determine the 2019 champion of the American Athletic Conference. The conference's 5th championship game featured the champion of its East Division, the Cincinnati Bearcats, against the West Division champion, the Memphis Tigers. The game was televised on ABC.


2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game
The game is hosted by the divisional champion with the better winning percentage in conference games. Memphis claimed hosting rights with a 34–24 home win over Cincinnati to close out the regular season on November 29. This left both teams with a 7–1 conference record, with Memphis holding the tiebreaker due to the Tigers' head-to-head win. Navy ultimately tied Memphis for the West Division crown, but the Tigers also held that tiebreaker due to a head-to-head win.


2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, Teams, Cincinnati
The Cincinnati Bearcats clinched the AAC East, and a berth in the Championship Game, with a win over Temple on November 23. This is Cincinnati's first-ever Championship Game appearance.


2019 American Athletic Conference Football Championship Game, Teams, Memphis
Memphis clinched at least a share of the West Division title with their November 29 win over Cincinnati, and also claimed hosting rights by virtue of holding all possible tiebreakers.


2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
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2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament was the postseason men's basketball tournament for the American Athletic Conference. It was held from March 14 through March 17, 2019 at the FedEx Forum in Memphis, Tennessee. Cincinnati defeated Houston 69–57 in the championship to earn the American Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the NCAA Tournament. It was the second consecutive tournament championship for Cincinnati.


2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All 12 conference teams will participate in the conference tournament. The top four teams receive a bye into the quarterfinals. Teams are seeded by record within the conference, with a tiebreaker system to seed teams with identical conference records. Tiebreakers: win/loss record, head-to-head record, record against the highest ranked team outside of the tied teams, record against the second highest ranked team outside of the tied teams, etc.


2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament was the 7th edition of the American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament decided the American Athletic Conference champion and guaranteed representative into the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. The tournament began on November 9 and concluded on November 16. For the first time in tournament history the six teams in the field were identical to the same teams that played in the previous year's tournament.


2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament
Two-time defending champions, SMU, successfully three-peated in the AAC Tournament, defeating UCF 1–0 in the championship.


2019 American Athletic Conference Softball Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Softball tournament was held at Cougar Softball Stadium on the campus of University of Houston in Houston, Texas from May 9 through May 12, 2019. The tournament was to determine the champion of the American Athletic Conference for the 2019 NCAA Division I softball season. The tournament winner would have earned the American Athletic Conference's automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Softball Tournament. All games of the tournament aired on American Digital Network. Due to Weather conditions the last quarterfinal game between Houston and UConn, along with the two semifinal games, and championship game were canceled. Therefore the Automatic bid was awarded to the regular season champion South Florida.


2019 American Athletic Conference Softball Tournament
Entering the event, Tulsa had won three straight championships, while UCF had won in 2015. Former member Louisville won the first Tournament in 2014.


2019 American Athletic Conference Softball Tournament, Format and seeding
The American's eight teams were seeded based on conference winning percentage from the round-robin regular season. They then played a single-elimination tournament.


2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament was a postseason tournament held from March 8 through 11, 2019 in the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. UConn was the winner of the American Athletic Tournament and earned an automatic bid to the 2019 NCAA Division I Women's Basketball Tournament.


2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Seeds
All teams in the American Athletic Conference qualified for the tournament. Teams were seeded based on conference record, and then a tiebreaker system was used. Teams seeded 5–12 played in the opening round, and teams seeded 1–4 received a bye to the quarterfinals.


2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Basketball Tournament, Schedule
All tournament games are nationally televised on an ESPN network:


2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament
The 2019 American Athletic Conference Women's Soccer Tournament was the postseason women's soccer tournament for the American Athletic Conference held from November 3 to November 10, 2019. The first round was hosted by the higher seed, and the Semifinals and Final took place at the home field of the regular season champion. Memphis. The six-team single-elimination tournament consisted of three rounds based on seeding from regular season conference play. The Memphis are the defending tournament champions. Memphis was unable to defend its title, losing 2–0 to South Florida in the final. USF's win was the program's second and also the second for coach Denise Schilte-Brown.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season
The 2019 American Athletic Conference football season is the 28th NCAA Division I FBS Football season of the American Athletic Conference (The American). The season is the seventh since the former Big East Conference dissolved and became the American Athletic Conference and the sixth season of the College Football Playoff in place. The American is considered a member of the Group of Five (G5) together with Conference USA (C–USA), the Mid-American Conference (MAC), the Mountain West Conference and the Sun Belt Conference. The entire schedule was released on February 7, 2019.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Previous season
After winning their first twelve games of the season, UCF extended their school record winning streak to 25 consecutive games, dating back to the start of the 2017 season. The Knights also secured their second consecutive undefeated regular season and American Athletic Conference title by defeating Memphis in the 2018 AAC Championship game, a rematch of the 2017 game.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Previous season
Seven teams participated in bowl games during the 2018 season; the league went 2-5.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Previous season
Tulane defeated Louisiana 41–24 in the 2018 Cure Bowl. USF lost to Marshall, 38-20, in the Gasparilla Bowl. Memphis lost to Wake Forest 38–35 in the 2018 Birmingham Bowl. Houston lost to Army 70–14 in the Armed Forces Bowl. In this game, Army tied records for the largest victory margin and most points scored in an FBS bowl game. Temple lost to Duke 56–27 in the Independence Bowl. Cincinnati defeated Virginia Tech 35–31 in the Military Bowl.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Previous season
In the New Year's Six Game, No. 8 UCF lost to No. 11 LSU 40–32 in the Fiesta Bowl.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Preseason, Impending departure of UConn
The most significant development in the conference during the 2019 preseason was the announcement that UConn would leave The American after the 2019–20 school year to join several of its former conference rivals in the current non-football iteration of the Big East Conference. The move was first reported on June 21, 2019 by a Boston-area sports news website and quickly picked up by national media outlets. On June 27, the Big East and UConn jointly confirmed the Huskies' impending conference move, but that announcement did not specify a date. The Huskies' Big East entrance date was confirmed for July 1, 2020 after UConn and The American reached a buyout agreement. At the time this agreement was announced, UConn also announced that its football team would become an FBS independent once it joined the Big East.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Preseason, American Athletic Conference Media Days
The American Athletic Conference conducted its 2019 American Athletic Conference media day on July 17 in Newport, Rhode Island.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Preseason, American Athletic Conference Media Days, Preseason Media Poll
The preseason Poll was released at the 2019 American Media Day on July 16, 2019.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Head coaches, Coaching changes
On November 29, 2018, East Carolina fired head coach Scottie Montgomery. On December 3, 2018 ECU hired James Madison head coach Mike Houston as their new head coach.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Head coaches, Coaching changes
On December 7, 2018, Geoff Collins left Temple to become head coach at Georgia Tech. On December 13, 2018, The Owls initially named Miami defensive coordinator Manny Diaz as the new head coach. However, on December 30, 2018 Diaz left to return to Miami as head coach after Mark Richt's retirement. On January 10, 2019 Temple announced Rod Carey as head coach.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Head coaches, Coaching changes
On December 30, 2018 Major Applewhite was fired after a blowout loss in the 2018 Armed Forces Bowl. Houston replaced Applewhite by hiring Dana Holgorsen from West Virginia.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Head coaches, Coaches
Note: All stats current through the completion of the 2019 season


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Schedule, Regular season
The regular season began on August 29, 2019, and will end on December 14. As a result of the calendar, all teams except Navy will have two bye weeks.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Schedule, Regular season, Week 6
*Note: The UConn/USF Kickoff was moved to noon as a safety precaution after receiving guidance from the Connecticut Department of Public Health regarding the mosquito-borne eastern equine encephalitis virus.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, The American vs other conferences, The American vs Power 5 matchups
This is a list of games The American has scheduled versus power conference teams (ACC, Big 10, Big 12, Pac-12, Notre Dame and SEC). Although the NCAA does not consider BYU a "Power Five" school, the ACC considers games against BYU as satisfying its "Power Five" scheduling requirement. Though the American does not consider BYU a power 5 team they consider them an equally strength opponent. All rankings are from the current AP Poll at the time of the game.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, The American vs other conferences, The American vs Group of Five matchups
The following games include The American teams competing against teams from the C-USA, MAC, Mountain West or Sun Belt.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, The American vs other conferences, The American vs FBS independents matchups
The following games include The American teams competing against FBS independents other than Notre Dame, which is universally considered a Power Five program, or BYU, which some but not all Power Five leagues consider to be a Power Five opponent for non-conference scheduling purposes. Of the remaining four independents, two are on American member schedules—Army and UMass.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Awards and honors, American Athletic Individual Awards
The following individuals received postseason honors as voted by the American Athletic Conference football coaches at the end of the season


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Awards and honors, All-Americans
The 2019 College Football All-America Teams are composed of the following College Football All-American first teams chosen by the following selector organizations: Associated Press (AP), Football Writers Association of America (FWAA), American Football Coaches Association (AFCA), Walter Camp Foundation (WCFF), The Sporting News (TSN), Sports Illustrated (SI), USA Today (USAT) ESPN, CBS Sports (CBS), FOX Sports (FOX) College Football News (CFN), Bleacher Report (BR), Scout.com, Phil Steele (PS), SB Nation (SB), Athlon Sports, Pro Football Focus (PFF) and Yahoo! Sports (Yahoo! ).


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, Awards and honors, All-Americans
Currently, the NCAA compiles consensus all-America teams in the sports of Division I-FBS football and Division I men's basketball using a point system computed from All-America teams named by coaches associations or media sources. The system consists of three points for a first-team honor, two points for second-team honor, and one point for third-team honor. Honorable mention and fourth team or lower recognitions are not accorded any points. Football consensus teams are compiled by position and the player accumulating the most points at each position is named first team consensus all-American. Currently, the NCAA recognizes All-Americans selected by the AP, AFCA, FWAA, TSN, and the WCFF to determine Consensus and Unanimous All-Americans. Any player named to the First Team by all five of the NCAA-recognized selectors is deemed a Unanimous All-American.


2019 American Athletic Conference football season, NFL Draft
The following list includes all AAC players who were drafted in the 2020 NFL draft.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season
The 2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season was the 7th season of men's varsity soccer in the conference. The season began on August 30, 2019, and concluded on November 5, 2019. The regular season culminated with the 2019 American Athletic Conference Men's Soccer Tournament, which was held from November 9 to November 16.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season
The defending regular season and tournament champions, UCF and SMU, respectively, successfully defended their title. Both UCF, SMU, as well as South Florida were selected by the NCAA Selection Committee to the 2019 NCAA Division I Men's Soccer Tournament. SMU reached the quarterfinals before losing to eventual national runners-up, Virginia. UCF lost to SMU in the Sweet Sixteen, and South Florida lost to Louisville in the first round.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Background, Previous season
The 2018 regular season was won by UCF, who finished conference play with a 5–1–1 record, and won on tiebreakers against SMU. SMU won the 2018 American Tournament, defeating UCF 5–4 in penalty kicks following a 1–1 draw in regulation and overtime. SMU earned the conference's automatic berth into the NCAA Tournament, while UCF and Connecticut received at-large berths into the tournament. In the NCAA Tournament, SMU lost in the first round to Oregon State. Connecticut beat rivals, Rhode Island, in the first round, before losing to Indiana in the second round. UCF was one of the 16 seeded teams (seeded 14th), allowing them to earn a bye into the second round. There, they lost in overtime to Lipscomb.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Background, Previous season
Following the season, Cal Jennings won the Offensive MVP award for the conference. Jacob Hauser-Ramsey of Connecticut won the Defensive MVP. Fellow UCF players, Louis Perez, Yannik Oettl, and Scott Calabrese won the AAC Midfielder, Goalkeeper, and Coach of the Year awards, respectively. Perez and Jennings were also named All-Americans by United Soccer Coaches.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Background, Previous season
Emil Cuello was the first AAC player to be drafted in the 2019 MLS SuperDraft, when he was selected by the LA Galaxy with the 19th overall pick in the first round of the draft.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Preseason, Preseason poll
The preseason poll was released on August 20, 2019. UCF was picked to win the regular season.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Preseason, Preseason national rankings
The preseason national rankings were announced in August 2019. United Soccer Coaches, Soccer America, and TopDrawerSoccer.com do a Top-25 preseason poll. CollegeSoccerNews.com do a Top-30 preseason poll.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Postseason, AAC Tournament
The 2019 Tournament will be held at the home ground of the regular season winner.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Postseason, Postseason awards and honors, Conference honors
Yannik Oettl, UCFCal Jennings, UCFGarrett McLaughlin, SMUHarris Partain, TulsaYoni Sorokin, UCFDayonn Harris, UConnGabriel Costa, SMUYanis Leerman, UCFJavain Brown, South FloridaAvionne Flanagan, South FloridaEddie Munjoma, South FloridaSam Ashton, Memphis


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Postseason, Postseason awards and honors, Conference honors
Simon Lefebvre, TempleLouis Perez, UCFDonovan Segree, CincinnatiRobin Lapert, UConnFelix Metzler, UConnBen Roberts, MemphisGurman Sangha, MemphisAdrian Billhardt, South FloridaKnut Ahlander, SMULukas Fernandes, TemplePierre Cayet, TempleMitchell Cashion, Tulsa


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, Postseason, Postseason awards and honors, Conference honors
Glademir Mendoza, UCFGino Vivi, UCFMo Williams, CincinnatiBen Awashie, UConnMoussa Wade, UConnPeter Chang, MemphisFord Hunt, MemphisJavain Brown, South FloridaSal Mazzaferro, South FloridaHenrik Bredeli, SMUSean Karani, Temple


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, MLS SuperDraft, Homegrown contracts
The Homegrown Player Rule is a Major League Soccer program that allows MLS teams to sign local players from their own development academies directly to MLS first team rosters. Before the creation of the rule in 2008, every player entering Major League Soccer had to be assigned through one of the existing MLS player allocation processes, such as the MLS SuperDraft.


2019 American Athletic Conference men's soccer season, MLS SuperDraft, Homegrown contracts
To place a player on its homegrown player list, making him eligible to sign as a homegrown player, players must have resided in that club's home territory and participated in the club's youth development system for at least one year. Players can play college soccer and still be eligible to sign a homegrown contract.


2019 American League Championship Series
The 2019 American League Championship Series was a best-of-seven series between the two winners of the 2019 American League Division Series, the Houston Astros and New York Yankees, for the American League (AL) pennant and the right to play in the 2019 World Series. The Astros defeated the Yankees in six games, advancing to face the 2019 National League champions, the Washington Nationals, who they lost to in seven games.


2019 American League Championship Series
The series was played in a 2–3–2 format, with the Astros hosting the first two and last two (if necessary) games at Minute Maid Park due to them having the best record MLB. The series was the 50th in league history, with Fox/Fox Sports 1 televising all games in the United States.


2019 American League Championship Series
For the third straight year, Major League Baseball sold presenting sponsorships to all of its postseason series; as with the NLCS, this ALCS was sponsored by GEICO and officially known as the 2019 American League Championship Series presented by GEICO.


2019 American League Championship Series, Background
The best-of-five American League Division Series were scheduled for October 4–10.


2019 American League Championship Series, Background
The top-seeded Houston Astros won their first two games against the Tampa Bay Rays, winner of the American League Wild Card Game. The Rays won the next two games to force a deciding Game 5, which Houston won to advance to their third straight ALCS; each game of the series was won by the home team. Houston was 1–1 in prior ALCS appearances. When they competed in the National League, Houston was 1–3 in NLCS appearances.


2019 American League Championship Series, Background
The second-seeded New York Yankees swept their series against the third-seeded Minnesota Twins to clinch their 17th ALCS appearance. New York was 11–5 in prior ALCS appearances.


2019 American League Championship Series, Background
This series was a sequel to the 2017 ALCS, which the Astros won in seven games, and the third overall postseason meeting between the two teams. The Astros and Yankees faced each other seven times during the 2019 regular season, with the Astros winning four of those games.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 1
Game 1 starting pitchers were Masahiro Tanaka for the Yankees and Zack Greinke for the Astros. The Yankees scored first with Gleyber Torres driving in DJ LeMahieu in the top of the fourth inning. They added two runs in the top of the sixth, on home runs by Torres and Giancarlo Stanton, and added two more runs in the top of the seventh, via four consecutive two-out singles, with Torres collecting two more RBIs.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 1
In the top of the ninth, the Yankees extended their lead to 7–0, via a leadoff homer by Gio Urshela and another RBI by Torres, this one coming on a fielder's choice, as LeMahieu scored from third on a groundout. Jonathan Loáisiga concluded matters, pitching the bottom of the ninth, with the game ending on a Michael Brantley fly out to Cameron Maybin as the Yankees took a 1–0 series lead. Tanaka earned the win, allowing just one hit while striking out four and facing the minimum in his six innings (18 batters). Greinke was charged with the loss, allowing three runs on seven hits in six innings while striking out six.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Game 2 starting pitchers were James Paxton for New York and Justin Verlander for Houston. Houston scored first, as Carlos Correa doubled in Alex Bregman who had singled to lead off the bottom of the second inning. Yankees manager Aaron Boone removed Paxton after 2+1⁄3 innings—Paxton had allowed one run on four hits while striking out three. The Yankees took a 2–1 lead in the fourth, with Aaron Judge homering after DJ LeMahieu had walked. Houston tied the game in the fifth, on a home run by George Springer.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 2
Verlander departed after 6+2⁄3 innings, having allowed two runs on five hits while striking out seven. With no further scoring through regulation, the game went to extra innings. After a scoreless tenth inning, Correa led off the 11th with a home run off J. A. Happ to give the Astros a 3–2 win and tie the series at 1, going into Yankee Stadium for the next three games.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Game 3 starting pitchers were Gerrit Cole for the Astros and Luis Severino for the Yankees. The Astros scored first on a home run by José Altuve in the first inning. Josh Reddick followed with another homer in the second. The game was delayed by 20 minutes before the top of the fifth inning, as home plate umpire Jeff Nelson had to leave the game, due to the effects of being hit by a foul ball during the top of the fourth inning; Kerwin Danley, who had been the second base umpire, took over behind the plate.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 3
Severino left the game in the fifth inning after allowing two runs on five hits, walking three and striking out six in 4+1⁄3 innings. Houston added two runs in the seventh on a wild pitch by Yankee relief pitcher Zack Britton that allowed Altuve to score, and a sacrifice fly by Yuli Gurriel that scored Michael Brantley. Cole pitched seven shutout innings for the Astros, allowing four hits with five walks and seven strikeouts. Gleyber Torres put the Yankees on the board in the eighth inning with a home run off Joe Smith. Houston closer Roberto Osuna pitched a perfect ninth inning for his first save of the postseason.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Game 4 was originally scheduled for October 16, but was postponed and rescheduled to October 17 due to the "bomb cyclone" that hit the Northeast. Umpire Jeff Nelson was removed from the umpiring crew after tests indicated he suffered a concussion during Game 3; he was replaced by Mike Everitt.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The Yankees scored once in the first inning, forcing in a run with two walks after having runners on first and second with two out. The Astros took a 3–1 lead in the third inning, via a three-run home run by George Springer. Houston starting pitcher Zack Greinke exited after 4+1⁄3 innings, having allowing one run on three hits and striking out five. New York starter Masahiro Tanaka was removed one batter into the sixth inning; he was replaced by Chad Green, who gave up a three-run home run to Carlos Correa three batters later.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
Tanaka was charged with four runs on four hits, while striking out one. A two-run home run by Gary Sánchez in the bottom of the sixth cut the Astros' lead to 6–3. A double by Alex Bregman followed by two Yankee errors gave the Astros a run in the eighth. With runners on first and third and nobody out, Yankee left-hander CC Sabathia entered the game in relief of Adam Ottavino and threw 20 pitches to five batters, retiring two, before leaving with a shoulder injury to a standing ovation from fans and players on both teams.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 4
The Yankees removed Sabathia from their roster the next day, rendering him ineligible to pitch in the World Series and ending his storied 19-year career. Houston extended their lead to 8–3 in the ninth inning, on an error, wild pitch, and single. The Yankees were unable to score in the bottom of the ninth, as Roberto Osuna concluded matters by retiring Gleyber Torres on a flyout to Springer and the Astros were a victory away from playing Washington in the World Series.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 5
Game 5 was originally scheduled for October 17, but was rescheduled to October 18 when Game 4 was postponed. Pitcher CC Sabathia, who had left Game 4 with a shoulder injury, was removed from the Yankees' postseason roster and replaced by Ben Heller.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 5
The Astros took an early 1–0 lead, as George Springer led off the game with an infield single, went to second on a passed ball, advanced to third on a ground out, and then scored on a wild pitch. DJ LeMahieu tied the game with a home run to lead off the bottom of the first, followed four batters later by an Aaron Hicks three-run homer that hit the right-field foul pole to give the Yankees a 4–1 lead. New York starting pitcher James Paxton left after six innings, having allowed one run on four hits while striking out nine.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 5
Houston starter Justin Verlander went seven innings, striking out nine while allowing four runs on five hits, and suffered the loss. With no scoring other than in the first inning, Aroldis Chapman set down the side in order in the top of the ninth, earning his second save this postseason, as he retired Springer on a groundout to Gio Urshela to send the series back to Houston and extend the Yankees' season. This was the first game in MLB postseason history (1,609 games) that both teams scored in the first inning, then were held scoreless the rest of the game.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 6
In a "bullpen game", the starting pitchers were Brad Peacock, who had pitched a scoreless eighth inning in Game 5 for Houston, and Chad Green for New York. Yuli Gurriel gave Houston an early lead, with a three-run homer in the bottom of the first inning. Green left after the first inning, having allowed three runs on two hits, while recording one strikeout. The Yankees closed to 3–1 in the second inning, after Didi Gregorius doubled and Gary Sánchez hit an RBI single with two out.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 6
Peacock left after 1+2⁄3 innings, having allowed a run on two hits while striking out two batters. A Gio Urshela home run in the top of the fourth inning trimmed Houston's lead to 3–2. In the bottom of the sixth, Alex Bregman hit into a fielder's choice, scoring the fourth run for the Astros. In the top of the ninth inning, an Urshela single was followed two batters later by a DJ LeMahieu home run that tied the game at 4.


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 6
After George Springer extended the bottom of the ninth with a two-out walk, José Altuve hit a walk-off two-run home run off Aroldis Chapman to win the game and send the Astros to their second World Series in three years. Altuve's pennant-winning homer was the fifth to end any LCS, after Chris Chambliss (1976 ALCS), Aaron Boone (2003 ALCS), Magglio Ordonez (2006 ALCS), and Travis Ishikawa (2014 NLCS).


2019 American League Championship Series, Game summaries, Game 6
Altuve was named series MVP for Houston, while with this loss the 2010s became the first decade since the 1910s not to have the Yankees play in a World Series, as their last appearance (and title) was in 2009, and the second decade that the Yankees did not win at least one World Series (lost to the Dodgers in 1981 in their only appearance in the World Series in the 1980s).


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
During clubhouse celebrations after the Astros won Game 6 of the 2019 ALCS, Astros assistant general manager Brandon Taubman taunted a group of nearby female reporters by aggressively praising Astros relief pitcher Roberto Osuna, an alleged domestic abuser. The Astros had received backlash after trading for Osuna near the 2018 trade deadline as he was serving a 75-game suspension after serious domestic violence accusations. Taubman, who was involved in the acquisition of Osuna, was defensive of Osuna's performance as a reliever and overall presence on the team.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
Taubman had previously complained about the fact that one of the reporters in the group had a practice of tweeting out a domestic violence hotline number whenever Osuna took the mound for the Astros. After the season, Taubman was placed on MLB's ineligible list through at least the end of the 2020 season as a result of his behavior.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
The Astros would go on to lose the 2019 World Series to the National League Champion Washington Nationals in 7 games with the road team winning all seven games, Washington won 1, 2, 6, and the deciding Game 7 at Minute Maid Park in Houston and Houston won all 3 games at Nationals Park in Washington, D.C.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
On December 18, 2019,  the Yankees signed free agent pitcher Gerrit Cole away from the Astros, only sparking the recent rivalry between the two clubs which started during the 2017 American League Championship Series.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
The animosity between the two teams only grew stronger in January of the next year, due to the revelations of the Houston Astros sign stealing scandal during the 2017 and 2018 seasons. Hours after MLB announced its findings, Astros owner Jim Crane fired Luhnow and Hinch, while a day later the Red Sox fired Alex Cora, who had been the bench coach for the 2017 Astros.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
A week later, the New York Mets and Carlos Beltrán, who was hired as their manager in the 2019–2020 offseason, mutually agreed to part ways, as he was the only then-Astros player called out by name for his involvement in the scheme. It was speculated by fans, the media, and even Yankees players that the Astros possibly cheated during the 2019 ALCS, but those allegations were denied by the Astros and Commissioner Rob Manfred.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
While the Yankees signed a current ace in Gerrit Cole during the off-season, their former ace C.C. Sabathia retired at season’s end. His Game 4 relief appearance was last of his career.


2019 American League Championship Series, Aftermath
The Astros and Yankees nearly met again for a chance at the American League pennant for the third time in four years, but the Yankees lost to the Rays in a winner-take-all elimination game in the 2020 American League Division Series. In that series, Aroldis Chapman also gave up a game and series clinching home run to Rays outfielder Mike Brosseau in the 8th inning.


2019 American League Division Series
The 2019 American League Division Series were two best-of-five-games series in Major League Baseball (MLB) to determine the participating teams of the 2019 American League Championship Series. The three divisional winners, seeded first through third, and a fourth team—determined by the AL Wild Card Game—played in two series. These matchups were: