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Showing posts with label Disaster Crisis. Show all posts
Showing posts with label Disaster Crisis. Show all posts
10/30/2012
New York wakes up to devastation after superstorm Sandy
3/25/2011
Official death toll tops 10,000 in Japan
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| Debris litters a railroad track March 17, 2011, six days after an earthquake and tsunami struck Japan. UPI/Keizo Mori |
The National Police Agency also announced that 17,541 people remained unaccounted for, Kyodo News reported.
The report said about 250,000 people remained at about 1,900 evacuation centers in the disaster-hit northeast region.
In Miyagi Prefecture, police sought help in identifying more than 2,000 bodies by posting such information as clothing and body type, the report said.
Photos: Recovery Efforts in Japan
A once-trendy hotel in Tokyo scheduled for demolition will serve as a shelter for evacuees from the recent disasters, officials said.
The Grand Prince Akasaka Hotel, a 40-story, 700-room showcase of the 1980s, will remain open through June to house as many as 1,600 people made homeless by the earthquake, tsunami and radiation leaks from the earthquake-crippled Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant, CNN reported.
3/16/2011
Anti-radiation tablet sales soar in US amid Japan nuclear crisis
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| Anti-radiation tablets have been selling fast in the US, despite advice that potassium iodide only works for those close to a 'nuclear event'. Photograph: Justin Sullivan/Getty Images |
Companies in North America have reported selling out of potassium iodide supplements, which can prevent the body absorbing radioactive iodine, while in the UK one chemical manufacturer has reported a "surge" in inquiries about the chemical.
Medical authorities in California have warned against taking the drug, which can cause side effects. But that has not prevented nukepills.com from receiving "a new order every 30 seconds". "We are quite slammed with orders, but we are working as fast as we can to get orders out. Our phones are swamped, so please do not try to call," the US website advises.
3/17/2010
State of Disaster Declared in Fiji
SUVA (AFP) – Fiji's government Tuesday declared a state of disaster as the first deaths were reported in the cyclone-ravaged Pacific nation where 17,000 people have fled to evacuation centres.The leader of the military regime, Voreqe Bainimarama, said although the full extent of the damage from Cyclone Tomas was yet to be determined, it had been devastating.
"It is evident that wherever Tomas has struck, the damage has been overwhelming," he said in a statement.
7/13/2008
Millions still homeless months after China quake
ChinaTwo months after a devastating earthquake rocked China's Sichuan province, 46 million people are homeless and in dire need of help rebuilding their lives, says the Canadian leader of the International Red Cross relief effort.
Millions of displaced people have been living in donated tents since the 8.0-magnitude quake rocked the southern part of the country on May 12. Now victims need help rebuilding their homes so they can begin returning to normalcy, said Yunhong Zhang, the agency's Asia Program Manager.
7/05/2008
War, drought and inflation threaten Horn with disaster
NAIROBI (AFP) - A deadly cocktail of calamities -- including war, drought and rising prices -- is engulfing the Horn of Africa, threatening its children with suffering of disastrous proportions, the UN's Children Fund warned Wednesday."A lethal mix of drought, expanding conflict, rising food and energy prices, disease, and high poverty is pushing children and their families in the Greater Horn of Africa to the brink of disaster," UNICEF said in a statement.
"Ethiopia and Somalia are the worst affected, but parts of Eritrea, Djibouti, Kenya and Uganda show ominously similar signs," it added.
"The time to act is now, to save children's lives," Per Engebak, UNICEF's regional director for East and Southern Africa, said in the statement.
6/24/2008
Midwest floodwaters could linger for weeks
CHICAGO (AFP)The worst of the flooding that has ravaged the midwestern United States is nearly over, but it will be weeks before the murky water recedes in many areas. Tens of thousands of people were evacuated from their homes in Iowa, Wisconsin, Illinois, Missouri and Indiana due to the heavy rains and deadly storms which swept through the region in recent weeks. Early estimates place the damage in the billions as roads were washed out, rail and barge traffic shut down and millions of acres of crops were swamped. Scores of levees collapsed or were overtopped by the rushing waters which swallowed entire towns. The extreme weather which began May 25 and included a series of deadly tornadoes claimed the lives of 22 people, 17 of whom were in Iowa. More than 11 million people in nine midwestern states were affected by the flooding and extreme weather. All the tributary rivers of the Mississippi above St. Louis, Missouri have now crested, but it will take three more days before the towns down river know whether their levies will hold. The river is expected to rise by about another six inches (15 centimeters) in areas up to 150 miles (240 kilometers) downstream. "A lot of these rivers won't go back below flood stage until mid-July." Image Above: Farmer boats throught a corn field6/19/2008
Flooding in Southern China Claims Scores of Victims
Skywatch-Media News: Special Report
South China
Some areas had THE MOST RAIN IN 100 YEARS.
Some areas had THE MOST RAIN IN 100 YEARS.
Entire cities under several feet of water as monsoon rains continue - In many areas waters has reached rooftops and many roads have been cut off by rising flood waters or rain-induced landslides. Even in Guangzhou and Shenzhen, huge metropolitan areas with tens of million of people, are partly under water. Weather forecasts expect more torrential rain for the whole week in Guangdong, Hunan, Hubei, Jiangxi and Sichuan. The eastern provinces of Gansu, Zhejiang, Anhui, Guizhou, Yunnan and Fujian have also been affected. Rain-triggered floods have toppled 134,000 houses and caused economic losses estimated at 27.7 billion yuan (US$ 4.2 billion). Now dams are at risk and the authorities have rushed hundreds of people to shore them up and more than 40 rivers are exceeding their warning levels as tens of thousands of people continue to be evacuated. In quake-devastated Sichuan, non-stop rains threaten to cause landslides. Again uncontrolled deforestation has been blamed for the flooding. In many areas entire hills are denuded of trees and left without protection against raging waters, a situation that easily triggers landslides. 
Up to 3,000 schools in Guangxi have been damaged due to the flooding. Since the rainy season began in late May, rains have deluged large swathes of southern China, while the northeast of the country is experiencing the complete opposite in the form of an UNUSUAL heatwave. Harbin, the capital of Heilongjiang province usually known as the "Ice City", reported an ABNORMALLY HIGH TEMPERATURE of 37.1 degrees Celsius (99 degrees Fahrenheit) Tuesday - the SECOND HIGHEST IN THE CITY'S HISTORY. In quake-hit Sichuan province, where millions of refugees are living in tents and makeshift shelters, the evacuation of up to 110,000 quake refugees from dangerous mountainous areas threatened by rain-induced landslides in Aba prefecture was slated to finish today. In the south in Guangdong and the neighbouring Guangxi region, the rains have either swamped hundreds of roads or left them cut off by landslides. Thousands of transport trucks have been stranded in both provinces, cutting off food supplies to urban centres and fuelling price rises.Mississippi overflows levees, crops threatened
Breaking Earth NewsMidwest, USA
Image: An aerial photograph shows the railroad tracks completely covered by floodwaters from the Mississippi River, bringing train traffic to a halt just East of Burlington, Iowa, June 18, 2008. The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least 12 more levees on Wednesday, as floodwaters swallowed up more U.S. farmland, adding to billion-dollar losses and feeding global food inflation fears. REUTERS/Ron Mayland (UNITED STATES)
In Photos: Catastrophic Flooding in Midwest
FORT MADISON, Iowa (Reuters) - The swollen Mississippi River ran over the top of at least 12 more levees on Wednesday, as floodwaters swallowed up more U.S. farmland, adding to billion-dollar losses and feeding global food inflation fears.
Volunteers and aid workers were piling sandbags up and down the most important U.S. inland waterway to try to protect more levees and thousands of acres of prime crop land threatened as the river's crest moves south after last week's torrential rains.
About 10 levees were breached earlier this week, bringing the total to 22 on Wednesday. The levee breaches lowered the river level by letting water spill onto the surrounding land.
5/27/2008
Chinese troops tackle quake lake
ChinaImage: Aerial view of Tangjiashan quake lake
Story: On Sunday six people died from the effects of a strong 6.0 aftershock. Nearly 300,000 homes were wrecked in the aftershock, and more than 1,000 people injured. The official death toll from the May 12 earthquake rose to 65,080 on Monday, with another 23,150 missing. There have been more than 8,000 aftershocks; the biggest was this 6.0. Troops in China are trying to clear a river blocked during the recent earthquake, amid fears millions could be at risk of flooding. Dozens of lakes were formed when landslides triggered by the massive 12 May earthquake blocked rivers. Heavy rain forecast for the next few days could cause the barriers blocking the lakes to burst and flood nearby areas.
The latest figures show more than 45 million people have now been affected by the Wenchuan earthquake. The death toll has risen to 67,183. Over 20,000 people are missing and nearly 362,000 have been injured. More than 15 million people have been evacuated or relocated from the quake zone. The China Seismological Bureau reported no aftershocks measuring above magnitude 4 from noon on Monday to noon on Tuesday. But there were 226 tremors measuring less than 3.9 on the Richter Scale
5/24/2008
Quake's hard-hit town empties
Breaking Earth NewsChina
Image: The ruins of collapsed buildings lay among those still standing in Beichuan. On Thursday, workers in white protective suits and black rubber boots sprayed disinfectant on buildings, trees, car wheels and the soles of shoes of people leaving the town, where thousands are still likely buried.
BEICHUAN, China - Wrecking machines on Thursday started toppling the few buildings left standing in this quake-struck town that was once home to 30,000, and the search for survivors is over.
The government announced a sharp increase in the number of confirmed deaths above its projected total of 50,000, and said tents were needed the most. Some 30,000 people were still unaccounted for, amid a seething mass of newly homeless numbering 5 million.
Ten days after China's worst disaster in a generation, it appears the search for survivors — and even the dead — was giving way to the first steps toward reconstruction.
Story continues5/15/2008
China quake death toll could rise to 50,000
Breaking Earth NewsChina
Image: A couple builds a shelter on the ruins of their house at Luoshui, near Shifang, in China's southwest Sichuan province Thursday May 15, 2008.
LUOSHUI TOWN, China - China warned the death toll from this week's earthquake could soar to 50,000, while the government issued a public appeal Thursday for rescue equipment as it struggled to cope with the disaster.
More than 72 hours after the quake rattled central China, rescuers appeared to shift from poring through downed buildings for survivors to the grim duty of searching for bodies — with 10 million directly affected by Monday's temblor.
In Luoshui town — on the road to an industrial zone in Shifang city where two chemical plants collapsed, burying hundreds of people — troops used a mechanical shovel to dig a pit on a hilltop to bury the dead.
Police and militia in Dujiangyan pulverized rubble with cranes and backhoes while crews used shovels to pick around larger pieces of debris. On one sidestreet, about a dozen bodies were laid on a sidewalk, while incense sticks placed in a pile of sand sent smoke into the air as a tribute and to dull the stench of death.
5/14/2008
Update: China quake toll passes 20,000
Breaking Earth News
China
The full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge today as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000 and rising by the hour. The message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago. "Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to the ground." The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building levelled.
China
The full horror of the devastating China earthquake began to emerge today as rescuers discovered whole towns all but wiped off the map, pushing the death toll well above 20,000 and rising by the hour. The message that came back from this mountainous corner of southwestern Sichuan province was that town after town was flattened by the 7.9-magnitude quake that struck two days ago. "Some towns basically have no houses left. They have all been razed to the ground." The destruction around the epicentre in remote Wenchuan county is massive, with whole mountainsides sheared off, highways ripped apart and building after building levelled.
China quake 'worse than expected' - First reports from the epicentre of Monday's earthquake in China's Sichuan province suggest the number of dead could be higher than feared. In Yingxiu, in Wenchuan County, the devastation was worse than expected, as roads were blocked and children buried in debris. Out of the town's population of 10,000, only 2,300 have been found alive after Monday's 7.9 quake. The official death toll is more than 12,000, and looks set to rise sharply. Poor weather has continued to hamper aid efforts, and rescuers have been forced to trek to areas cut off by the quake damage and search through the rubble with their bare hands. An army team in Yingxiu said they could hear cries under the rubble of collapsed buildings. The troops have rescued about 1,000 people in Wenchuan County, but an estimated 60,000 people remain missing. In Juyuan, more than 1,000 people were thought to be trapped in a collapsed school building. China's one child policy means that, for most of the relatives desperately waiting outside, their only offspring is under the rubble. About 18,000 people are reported to be trapped at Beichuan, close to the epicentre. In one city, Mianyang, 18,000 people are said to be buried under the rubble, and in nearby Mianzhu, at least 4,800 are reported trapped. In Shifang, where two chemical plants collapsed, releasing a huge toxic cloud, about 600 people were reported dead and up to 2,300 still buried. People have set up tents or makeshift shelters on almost any piece of open land, even in the middle of road junctions.
5/13/2008
UPDATE: Cyclone Death Toll Rises
Photo: Hhaing The Yu, 29, in rain falling on the ruins of his home, in a township outside Yangon, Myanmar, on Sunday. Officials are expressing worry about disease.Breaking Earth News
Myanmar (Burma)
United Nations estimates the dead at 62,000 to 100,000.
Story: MYANMAR’s state media reported Monday that the death toll from the recent cyclone had risen to just under 32,000. Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, washed away villages and left an estimated 1 million people homeless. Today is the 11th day since typhoon Nargis hit Myanmar.
Myanmar (Burma)
United Nations estimates the dead at 62,000 to 100,000.
Story: MYANMAR’s state media reported Monday that the death toll from the recent cyclone had risen to just under 32,000. Cyclone Nargis devastated the country, washed away villages and left an estimated 1 million people homeless. Today is the 11th day since typhoon Nargis hit Myanmar.
5/06/2008
Myanmar state radio says cyclone death toll soars above 22,000
*Map showing areas worst-hit by Tropical Cyclone Nargis. More than 22,000 people were killed in Myanmar's devastating cyclone, with thousands more feared dead after the storm left rice fields littered with corpses. (AFP Graphic)
Breaking Earth News
Myanmar (Burma)
YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from the cyclone that battered Myanmar last weekend rose above 22,000 Tuesday as the international community prepared to rush in aid, state radio reported.
Myanmar (Burma)
YANGON, Myanmar - The death toll from the cyclone that battered Myanmar last weekend rose above 22,000 Tuesday as the international community prepared to rush in aid, state radio reported.
A news broadcast on government-run radio said that 22,464 people have now been confirmed dead from Cyclone Nargis, which tore through the country's rice bowl and biggest city of Yangon early Saturday.
The broadcast added that thousands more are missing.
Relief efforts for the stricken area, mostly in the low-lying Irrawaddy River delta, have been difficult, in large part because of the destruction of roads and communications outlets by the storm.
2/01/2008
China snow leaves millions in cold and dark
Breaking Earth NewsChina
Image: Police and soldiers stand guard as tens of thousands of passengers crowd Guangzhou Railway Station. Slideshow: Blizzards hit China
GUANGZHOU, China (Reuters) - Millions of Chinese faced a humanitarian crisis on Friday, as petrol and food reserves dwindled and yet more bad weather was forecast for a country paralyzed by record-breaking cold and snow.
More than 160 counties and cities in central China were suffering blackouts and water shortages, Xinhua news agency said, including Chenzhou, in Hunan province, a city of 4 million that has been without power and water for more than a week.
"Many trees are severed and power lines have collapsed. It's like we have experienced an air raid or lost a battle," a Chenzhou hotel worker told Reuters by telephone. "It is a complete mess. We are hungry and cold.1/07/2008
West Coast storms flood British Columbia and Nevada
Breaking Earth NewsWestern North America
Image: A neighboorhood near Farm District Road in Fernley, Nev., sits under flood waters as some residents collect valuables on Sunday, Jan. 6, 2008, (AP / Brad Horn)
North America's west coast continues to be pounded by powerful winter storms, flooding areas in British Columbia and dumping metres of snow on some areas of the U.S.
The storm has left parts of British Columbia flooded, with more trouble expected today. More than 24 homes in Prince George, B.C., are being threatened by severe flooding caused by an ice jam that has developed over the past couple of weeks.
The snow and wind is at the northern end of a strong storm system expected to continue terrorizing western U.S. states, including California, Oregon and Washington.
A heavy dose of snow fell on ski areas in the Sierra Nevada mountains over the weekend, with nearly three metres in some higher elevations.
The storm has crippled California's power system, leaving more than 145,000 homes and businesses without power late Sunday evening and flooding sections of Nevada.
Nevada Governor Jim Gibbons declared one county an emergency area after an estimated 1,500 people were displaced by flooding. In California, Governor Arnold Schwarzenegger declared emergencies in three counties.
Western Oregon and Washington are facing storm warnings on Monday. The area has been told to expect heavy snowfall up to 60 centimetres high by Tuesday afternoon.
Related News
Nevada Town's floods turning to iceFERNLEY, Nev. — Hundreds of homes sat in as much as 8 feet of water Sunday after a canal rupture as freezing weather spread sheets of ice over yards and streets, hindering efforts to get the water to drain away.
Image: Cassie and David Russell assess the damage to their Jenny's Lane home in Fernley, Nev., on Sunday after being evacuated Saturday.
9/27/2007
Aussie 'disaster' from 3C rise
Breaking Earth News/Analysis Australian News Alert
“We can't afford to pretend anymore." WWF Australia's chief executive, Greg Bourne
A climate change report has painted an alarming picture of the effect on Australia if global temperatures increase by more than an average three degrees Celsius. Under that scenario, heat-related deaths would triple, people would be displaced en masse from the coast and national icons like the Great Barrier Reef would almost certainly be lost. The frequency of bushfires would double and there would be major extinctions of animal and plant life. “If warming reaches three to four degrees Celsius then the thresholds for irreversible change will almost certainly be crossed.”
Africa flood crisis deepens
NAIROBI: Fresh rainfalls and slow relief have deepened the humanitarian crisis caused by record floods in Africa which have affected more than 1.5mn people and killed at least 300, aid agencies warned yesterday.The worst floods in three decades have now affected 22 countries, displacing hundreds of thousands and starkly raising the risk of epidemics since the deluge hit parts of the continent in July.
Image: Students carry their belongings as they wade through flood waters yesterday in Lira, Uganda
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