Natural Disasters

India extends relief assistance worth $500K to earthquake-hit Vanuatu

The MEA in a release stated, India extended its deep condolences to the Government and the people of Vanuatu for the damage and destruction caused by this unprecedented disaster

Year ender 2024: Devastating tragedies that sent shock waves across world

From earthquakes to mass shootings: Here are the most devastating global tragedies of 2024

SDMA issues guidelines to Chamoli DM to take measures for avalanches

The high-altitude areas of Uttarkashi district received snowfall, while the lower areas witnessed light rains on Saturday

2004 Indian Ocean tsunami set off work to be ready for the next big wave

That changed the day after Christmas in 2004, when a 9.1-magnitude earthquake west of the Indonesian island of Sumatra set off a mammoth wave that was recorded as high as 16 stories

Year-ender 2024: Disasters aplenty, but are we ready for changing climate?

Yet another year passed by with nature raising red flags about the crises unfolding before our eyes and with disasters that could have been prevented

Bold but flawed: CM Sukhu's governance under scrutiny in Himachal

Sukhu was brimming with ideas when he took office. His slogan was "vyavastha parivartan" (institutional change)

Major landslide occurs in Uttarakhand's Pithoragarh, no casualty reported

A major landslide occurred on Dharchula-Tawaghat-Lipulekh road here in Uttarakhand, resulting in the closure of the road. There was no casualty, officials said. The landslide occurred around 11 am near Tawaghat in Pithoragarh, District Magistrate Vinod Goswami said. While there was no casualty in the incident, the landslide led to the closure of the road, he said. "SDM Dharchula and BRO officials have reached the spot and work on opening the road to Lipulekh on India-China border is on," he said. The road will be reopened soon, the DM added. The landslide probably occurred when debris from another road that is under construction above the main road started sliding, Goswami said. Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said traffic has been affected due to the landslide on Tawaghat-Dharchula National Highway. Expressing relief over the fact that there was no casualty in the landslide, he said efforts are on to open the route as soon as possible. "The district administration and the ..

Rescuers comb debris for survivors in cyclone-hit French territory Mayotte

Cyclone Chido devastated large parts of the archipelago off east Africa over the weekend with winds of more than 200 kph (124 mph), strewing homes over hillsides

Cyclone Chido death toll in Mayotte reaches 'several hundred': Official

The tropical cyclone blew through the southeastern Indian Ocean, also affecting the nearby islands of Comoros and Madagascar. Mayotte was directly in the path of the cyclone and suffered extensive

WHO tells South East Asian nations to intensify efforts to prevent drowning

The World Health Organization (WHO) has called on countries in the South-East Asia region to strengthen measures to prevent drowning, which it says disproportionately affects children and vulnerable populations. According to WHO's first Global Status Report on Drowning Prevention, South-East Asia reported 83,000 drowning fatalities in 2021, accounting for 28 per cent of the global drowning burden. This contributes substantially to the nearly 30 lives lost to drowning every hour globally. Nearly 43 per cent of drowning fatalities in the region involved children aged 14 years or younger, the report said. Drowning is the third leading cause of death for children aged 5-14 years and the fourth leading cause of death for children aged 1-4 years, the WHO report said. "To save lives and ensure equitable safety for all, expanding and scaling up proven drowning prevention interventions across the region is not just essential, but a moral imperative," said Saima Wazed, WHO Regional Director

IIT report flags flood, drought risk in 11 Bihar, Kerala, Odisha districts

At least 11 districts, including Patna, Alappuzha and Kendrapara, are at a "very high" risk for both floods and droughts, necessitating immediate intervention, according to a climate risk assessment report compiled by two IITs. The report was released by the Indian Institutes of Technology (IIT) Guwahati and Mandi, in collaboration with the Centre for Study of Science, Technology and Policy (CSTEP), Bengaluru. According to the report titled "District-Level Climate Risk Assessment for India: Mapping Flood and Drought Risks Using IPCC Framework", 51 districts in India face "very high" flood risk, with 118 more categorised as "high" risk. Vulnerable regions include Assam, Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, West Bengal, Gujarat, Odisha, and Jammu and Kashmir. The report has flagged that 91 districts were identified with "very high" drought risk and 188 districts faced "high" drought risk, primarily in Bihar, Assam, Jharkhand, Odisha and Maharashtra. Alarmingly, 11 districts, including Patna (Bihar

Landslides, floods hit Indonesia's Java island; 10 dead, 2 missing

Indonesian rescuers recovered 10 bodies that were swept away in flash floods or buried under tons of mud and rocks that hit hilly villages on the country's main island of Java, officials said Monday. Two people are still missing. Torrential rains since last week have caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through more than 170 villages in Sukabumi district of West Java province, as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down mountainside hamlets, said Lt Col Yudi Hariyanto, who heads a rescue command post in Sukabumi. Landslides, flash floods and strong winds devastated 172 villages and forced more than 3,000 people to flee to temporary government shelters, Hariyanto said. Authorities have warned nearly 1,000 people to evacuate as more than 400 houses are threatened by extreme weather. The disasters also destroyed 31 bridges, 81 roads and 539 hectares of rice fields, while 1,170 houses were flooded up to the roof. Extreme weather has also damaged more than 3,300 other houses and building

'Swarm' of earthquakes hit Alaska's western Aleutian Islands without damage

A series of moderate to strong earthquakes that struck Alaska's western Aleutian Islands and offshore areas Sunday comprised what scientists call a swarm," but the state's earthquake monitors said the seismic events should not cause residents to worry. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries in the area around Adak, Amchitka and Kiska islands some 2,200 km west of Anchorage. Of the three remote islands, only Adak Island, with a population of about 300 people, is inhabited. Nine quakes measuring at least magnitude 5.0 struck on or near the islands and in a cluster offshore to the south Sunday morning and afternoon, according to the Alaska Earthquake Centre. Three of the quakes measured 6.0 or stronger, with the biggest a 6.3 temblor offshore. In a summary posted on its website Sunday night, the earthquake center said the 6.3 magnitude quake at a depth of about 18 km did not raise concern on its own because of its offshore location and the lack of damage reports, while

People of Wayanad looking for actions, not excuses: Priyanka Gandhi

Congress MP Priyanka Gandhi Vadra on Friday asserted that disasters should not be about politics and said the people of landslides-hit Wayanad are looking towards the state and central governments with hope and "don't need excuses". She asserted that the people of Wayanad need urgent help to be able to rebuild their lives with dignity. "Disasters should not be about politics. Efforts to support the victims of such disasters must prioritise humanity and compassion," the Wayanad MP said on X. "The people of Wayanad are looking towards the State and Central Governments with hope, they don't need excuses, they need urgent help to be able to rebuild their lives with dignity," the Congress general secretary said. She said India stands strongest when every level of government works together to heal wounds and rebuild lives. The Centre and State must step up and fulfil its responsibility to the people of Wayanad, she asserted. Priyanka Gandhi also shared what she said was Home Minister A

Telangana hit by 5.3 magnitude earthquake: Here's why it is unusual

A 5.3-magnitude earthquake shook Telangana's Mulugu district on Wednesday morning, which was unusually high for a state falling under low damage risk zone

Over 30 killed, thousands displaced due to floods in Malaysia, Thailand

Severe floods caused by monsoon rains killed more than 30 people and displaced tens of thousands in Malaysia and southern Thailand, officials said Tuesday, with both countries preparing shelters and evacuation plans in anticipation of more heavy rain. Malaysian Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim said five days of heavier-than-expected rain that battered the country's east coast last week was equal to the rainfall over the past six months, wreaking havoc in the northeastern state of Kelantan and neighbouring Terengganu. The heavy downpours damaged roads and houses in Kelantan and other parts of Malaysia. Rescue workers used boats to distribute food to victims trapped in their homes. Anwar said it would cost the government an estimated 1 billion ringgit (USD 224 million) to repair infrastructure damaged by the floods. The rain eased over the weekend, but the Meteorological Department forecast heavy rains later Tuesday. Anwar said the government is bracing for another monsoon surge that is .

Cyclone Fengal kills 19 in India and Sri Lanka; triggers flooding in TN

In Sri Lanka, 16 people were killed, with heavy rains affecting a total of 138,944 families, the latest data from the Disaster Management Centre in Colombo showed

Heavy rains trigger flooding in Sri Lanka; 8, including 6 children, missing

Eight people, including six children returning from school, have gone missing in Sri Lanka when the farm tractor they were traveling on was swept away by floods triggered by heavy rains, police said Wednesday. Army and navy troops were deployed to rescue victims and provide food and other essentials to those affected. Sri Lanka has experienced heavy downpours and strong winds over the past two days that have flooded homes, fields and roads and forced authorities to suspend train services in tea-growing mountain areas. In the worst incident, a farm tractor carrying 11 school children was swept away Tuesday evening in the eastern region of the country, police said. Five children were rescued while six other children along with the driver and another adult are still missing in the incident near the town of Karaitivu. A search operation is underway, police said in a statement. Separately, a woman died when a brick wall collapsed on her in the mountainous region of Badulla in the centr

Bomb cyclone knocks out power, downs trees across northwest US; 1 dead

A major storm swept across the northwest US on Tuesday evening, battering the region with strong winds and rain and causing widespread power outages and downed trees that killed at least one person. The Weather Prediction Centre issued excessive rainfall risks through Friday and hurricane-force wind warnings were in effect as the strongest atmospheric river a large plume of moisture that California and the Pacific Northwest has seen this season overwhelms the region. The storm system is considered a bomb cyclone, which occurs when a cyclone intensifies rapidly. Downed trees struck homes and littered roads across northwest Washington. In Lynnwood, Washington, a woman died Tuesday night when a large tree fell on a homeless encampment, South County Fire said in a statement on X. In Seattle, a tree fell onto a vehicle, temporarily trapping a person inside, the Seattle Fire Department reported. The agency later said the individual was in stable condition. Trees are coming down all ov

LDF, UDF hold hartal in landslide-hit Wayanad over lack of Central aid

The dawn-to-dusk hartal called by the ruling LDF and opposition UDF in Wayanad district in Kerala on Tuesday saw shops largely remaining closed and vehicles blocked in many areas. The CPI(M)-led LDF and the Congress-headed UDF announced hartals separately to protest against the lack of Central assistance for the landslide victims in the mountain district even months after the disaster. Both the ruling and the opposition parties wanted the BJP-led union government to declare the landslide calamity as a national disaster and provide required assistance for the relief and rehabilitation of the survivors at the earliest. While the LDF alleged that the denying of Central assistance to Wayanad was due to political reasons and the union government had grudges towards the state, the UDF criticised the Left government in the state for the continuing plight of the landslide survivors. In many places, those supporting the hartal blocked vehicles, causing traffic snarls since morning. The ...