At least 242 million students in 85 countries had their schooling disrupted by extreme climate events in 2024, including heatwaves, tropical cyclones, storms, floods, and droughts, exacerbating an existing learning crisis, according to a new UNICEF analysis released today. Heatwaves were the predominant climate hazard shuttering schools last year, with …
B D Nagchaudhuri who passed away on June 24, 2006, was among the pioneers of nuclear and environmental sciences in India. Handpicked by the illustrious Meghnad Saha to do a PhD at Berkeley, Nagchaudhuri was among the first Indians to study at that institution. He returned to India, after completing …
STRAIT FORWARD A 150-year-old dream acquires shape The channel across the Palk Straits between India and Sri Lanka is expected to be operational by 2008: it will allow ships sailing between the east and west coasts of India a straight passage through India's territorial waters, instead of circumnavigating Sri Lanka. …
For over a decade, Orissa has been teetering from one extreme weather condition to another: from heatwaves to cyclones, drought to floods. The state has been declared disaster-affected for 95 of the last 105 years. Why is this happening? Is it the result of global warming and climate change? Richard …
Orissa has a long history of cyclones. Devastation and death toll were very high during 1999 super cyclone. The response to the cyclone in India and from abroad was also tremendous. The objective of this paper is to assess the activities of the government and NGOs providing relief, rehabilitation and …
After the deluge, it's usThe bustle's gone out of Tharangambadi. The once-prosperous Dutch-controlled port was before last year's tsunami a contented fishing village
The southwest monsoon current in the form of a crossequatorial low level jetstream (LLJ) with its core at an altitude of about 1.5 km and core wind speeds of 80
India being mainly an agricultural country the economy and further its growth purely depends on the vagaries of the weather and in particular the extreme weather events. The information on extreme weather events lie scattered in the scientific and technical papers and in the research work of many authors and …
Tropical cyclones—variously defined as hurricanes, typhoons, and cyclones—regularly impact human populations and periodically produce devastating weather-related natural disasters. The epidemiology of tropical cyclones is fundamentally determined by the physical forces of massive cyclonic systems intersecting with patterns of human behavior. The destructive forces of cyclonic winds, inundating rains, and storm …
The authors in this paper present a factual and a brief review of the extreme weather events that occurred in India during the last 100 years (1991-2004). The socio-economic impacts of the extreme weather events such as floods, droughts, cyclones, hail storm, thunderstorm, heat and cold waves have been increasing …
A succession of severe natural disasters has wreaked havoc in the poverty-ridden state of Orissa. First the state experienced a severe flood in the august, 1999 affecting six coastal blocks. Next came the severe cyclonic storm on 17-18th October 1999, which hit the coastal district causing widespread and unprecedented damages …
Searching through the rubble of his home for anything still whole, Laksmiah Poleh can see life's options quite clearly. He can give up and move his family back to their home state on the mainland and, if he's lucky, find work as a tenant farmer making Rs 1,700 a month. …
As Asia prepares to rebuild itself after the killer wave, it will take a lot more than just political bickering to prevent a similar situation from recurring The Tsunami that has caused havoc across several South Asian countries has taken a human toll of more than 125,000, a figure that …
An empirical model for predicting the maximum surface wind speed associated with a tropical cyclone after crossing the east coast of India is described. The model parameters are determined from the database of 19 cyclones. The model is based upon the assumption that tropical cyclone winds decay exponentially after landfall. …
Sethusamudram Shipping Canal Project, when completed, will transform parts of the southern coromandal coast qualitatively. Since historical times, this portion of the coast (Palk Bay, Adam’s Bridge) is used only to fleets of small crafts involved in coastal trading and fishing. Sethu Canal will transform this into a coast that …
In October 1999, two cyclones devastated coastal Orissa, leaving nearly 30,000 dead in 14 districts. Immediately after, the Orissa State Disaster Mitigation Authority (osdma) was formed. So why is it that, 5 years later, Orissa simply isn't prepared for disaster? For one: multiple agencies, and complete non-coordination. osdma's administrative authority …
A National Contingency Action Plan (CAP)for dealing with contingencies arising in the wake of natural disasters has been formulated by the Government of India and it had been eriodically updated. It facilitates the launching of relief operations without delay. The CAP identifies the initiatives required to be taken by various …
calamities kill and maim. That they also leave the survivors mentally scarred is completely ignored in India. While the authorities believe in providing compensation and bare basic relief, a report reveals that such measures are not enough to provide succour to the victims. Even months after the cyclone struck coastal …
