This study analyzes the exposure of energy and transport assets in Asia and the Pacific to climate change and earthquake hazards and highlights how multi-hazard assessment can help strengthen the resilience of crucial infrastructure. Geolocating and undertaking a multi-hazard assessment of more than 30,000 infrastructure assets, the study identifies significant …
survivors of the October 8, 2005, earthquake in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and northern areas of Pakistan risk deadly diseases such as hiv / aids, hepatitis B, cerebral malaria and syphilis. Chances of unscreened blood transfusions are rife. Farhana Memon, program manager and secretary, Sindh Blood Transfusion Authority (sbta) said, "There are …
On October 8, 2005, a powerful earthquake, measuring 7.6 on the Richter scale, rocked Pakistan and India's northern border. More than 30,000 died and there was widespread damage. The death toll is still rising as Down To Earth goes to press. The quake lasted for over a minute and its …
A NEW understanding of future earthquakes, especially in South Asia, has emerged from studies of the tremor that caused the devastating December 26, 2004 tsunami in the region. The findings of three studies on the Sumatra-Andaman quake have been published in the latest edition of the journal Science (May 20, …
Differences in the structure of the ocean floor off the coast of Sumatra could explain why the 2004 Indian Ocean earthquake created a much larger tsunami than a similar magnitude quake the following year, according to a study.
What do clothes and countries have in common other than the fact that both start with the same letter? Both can shrink, according to a US seismologist. Roger Bilham of the Colorado University in the US says Nepal is shrinking by 18 millimetre (mm) each year as a result of …
• Ukraine and Turkmenistan are going to propose the establishment of a consortium with Russia and Kazakhstan for transporting gas to Europe. This was announced by Ukraine's deputy prime minister Anatoly Kinakh after Turkmenistan's president Saparmurat Niyazov and Ukraine's president Viktor Yushchenko held talks during the latter's two-day official visit …
At 6.29 am, on the morning of December 26, 2004 an undersea earthquake erupts in Sumatra, triggering off tidal waves called tsunami. A minute later, the India Meteorological Department (imd) gets the news. In 15 minutes, imd tracks the tsunami to the Indonesian coastline. But they make no attempt to …
The monitoring and management of the Indian coastline has come under sharp focus after the tsunami disaster. There is now a strong demand to implement the Coastal Regulatory Zone (crz) notification of 1991. Let us look at why protecting coastal ecology is so critical. Natural protectors, such as sand dunes …
The Indian ocean covers 73,556,000 sq km, or 20 per cent of the world’s surface. Aspects like oceanography, geophysical phenomena, undersea exploration and economic and military uses have a bearing on ocean behaviour. How cognisant are our experts with this large water body? Other than isolated research programmes associated with …
It would be naive to assume that disasters will stop. We cannot change the nature of disasters. What we can change, certainly control, is the scale that a disaster wreaks. This is precisely what disaster preparedness
Scientists believe that the Sumatra earthquake made the earth wobble on its axis and permanently accelerated the Earth's rotation, shortening a day by a fraction of second and permanently altering the regional map. The devastating undersea earthquake off Sumatra in Indonesia has brought about some striking changes in the Indian …
Disasters are not predictable. They follow no standard operating procedures. Disaster preparedness is about managing the unknown, not a science but a social behaviour that’s responsive, predictive and imaginative.• Effective disaster management depends on four factors: • Preparedness: knowing where and when disaster will hit • Mitigation: through measures like …
Bells jingled, colourful carnivals spread cheer; Asia was filled with festivity, as the people celebrated the Nativity of Jesus Christ. The festival of joy had just begun. But death was just hours away. When the most powerful earthquake in more than 40 years struck deep under the Indian Ocean, the …
The archipelago of the Andaman and Nicobar islands consists of 572 islands; 35 are known to be inhabited. These are home to five tribes. The Jarawas, Sentinelese and Onges are Negrito tribes. The Andamanese have ceased to be a tribe and a pure-blood Andamanese is a rarity. The remaining two …
This video explains measures Japan took to prevent natural disasters. The video discusses barriers, embankments, dams, early warning systems, satellites, standard building codes, etc. Education plays an important role in disaster reduction in the future. Initiatives like community walks and children contests are shown. The video ends by showing examples …
The 2001 earthquake in Gujarat was among the costliest disasters in independent India. As per World Bank reports, the calamity is estimated to have caused losses of us $4.9 billion in terms of output. Adding the losses suffered by the informal sector can easily double this figure. Moreover, the state …
quakes can be triggered by tides, as per researchers from the us-based University of California. The tides are produced by the gravitational pull of the moon and sun on the earth, causing the ocean water to rise and fall periodically. This, in turn, raises and lowers the stress on the …
start telling stories: Being a maths wizard and a great storyteller may appear completely different, but a new study by Canada's University of Waterloo suggests that preschool children's storytelling abilities are predictive of their mathematical ability. In the study, children aged three and four were shown a book that contained …
function illus() { var popurl="image/20040831/26-illus.jpg" winpops=window.open(popurl,"","width=440,height=320,scrollbars=yes") } Disaster struck the Tehri dam site in Uttaranchal at 10:15 pm on August 2. A huge landslide inside the vertical shaft of a tunnel claimed the lives of 29 workers and left about 12 injured. According to Puneet Kansal, district magistrate, Tehri, one …
