In 2024, the Emergency Events Database (EM-DAT) recorded 393 natural hazard-related disasters. These events caused 16,753 fatalities and affected 167.2 million people. Economic losses totaled US$241.95 billion. The year 2024 was marked by extreme temperature events in Asia that caused thousands of deaths, severe droughts in Africa affecting over 25 …
Monarch butterfly colonies in Mexico more than doubled in size this winter after bad storms devastated their numbers a year ago, conservationists said on Monday although the migrating insect remains under threat. Millions of butterflies make a 2,000-mile journey each year from Canada to winter in central Mexico's warmer weather …
SEVERAL countries in the Southern Hemisphere experienced their worst floods in decades in the past two months. While intense rainfall for over a month kept parts of Australia inundated for weeks, severe floods and landslides killed hundreds of people in Brazil and Sri Lanka, and affected more than one million. …
The maritime trade of Orissa with transoceanic countries is evident from the early historical period onwards. It has been observed that new ports were set up after the decline of old ports in the nearby vicinity; however, information on the decline of ancient ports is very sparse. The archival and …
Insurers are struggling to assess the risks from climate change, industry officials say, with the floods in Australia and Brazil highlighting the potential losses from greater extremes of weather. Scientists say a warmer world will cause more intense drought, floods, cyclones as well as rising sea levels and the insurance …
Luong Quang Huy describes a participatory research approach designed to empower local communities in adapting to socio-economic trends and climate change. The project resulted in a framework that encouraged local communities to use reflexively what they already have, such as their knowledge and connections, and to apply critical thinking on …
Md Nadiruzzaman argues that we need to learn more from past experience of the impact of natural hazards if we are to deal effectively with these events in the future.
Beaches along most of the shorelines of the world, exhibit variations in their geometric form over different time scales in response to the prevailing dynamic forces due to waves, tides and associated currents. The periods and intensity of erosion and accretion alternate over time and are generally coupled to nearshore …
Tamil Nadu has a coastline that is 1,076 km long, and most of the vital installations and infrastructure, are located along the coast, not to mention the mangroves. While the quantum of sea level rise is being debated, the fact that sea level would rise due to global warming is …
Transient eddies in the extratropical storm tracks are a primary mechanism for the transport of momentum, energy, and water in the atmosphere, and as such are a major component of the climate system. Changes in the extratropical storm tracks under global warming would impact these transports, the ocean circulation and …
Earthquake-hit Haiti escaped a fresh disaster threatened by Hurricane Tomas, but the storm caused flooding that killed eight people and increased the contagion threat from a deadly cholera epidemic, the government and aid workers said on Saturday. Amid widespread relief that the hurricane largely spared crowded camps in the Haitian …
This report focuses on preventing death and destruction from "natural" disasters, and concludes that governments can appreciably increase prevention. It looks at disasters primarily through an economic lens and shows that growing cities will increase exposure to hazards, but that vulnerability will not rise if cities are better managed. The …
Bhubaneswar: The Odisha government on Thursday issued a high alert to six coastal districts over a depression in the Bay of Bengal which is likely to intensify further and make landfall tomorrow. The alert was issued in the districts of Ganjam, Puri, Jagatsinghpur, Kendrapada, Bhadrak and Balasore, while others were …
BHUBANESWAR: The depression over the Bay of Bengal remained stationary on Thursday before making a late movement even as the State will be monitoring its progress for the next three days. The Dussehra celebrations began during the day and by the evening, mild drizzle had begun, pouring cold water on …
At least 200 fishermen were missing after 15 fishing boats capsized in the Bay of Bengal during a storm, boat operators said Thursday. A wall of water whipped up by strong winds also flooded coastal areas, forcing about 150,000 people to flee their homes, officials said. A storm surge over …
Bhubaneswar: At least 42 people including 10 women and eight children are missing in mid-sea off the Odisha coast and their boat remained untraced since yesterday due to a low pressure area in the Bay of Bengal. We have requisitioned a helicopter to trace the missing people in the sea, …
A study has been carried out by comparing the extreme wind speeds estimated based on NCEP/NCAR reanalysis data for 100 years return period using Fischer Tippet-1 (commonly known as Gumbel) and Weibull distributions for three locations (off Goa, Visakhapatnam and Machilipatnam) in the north Indian Ocean. The wind dataset for …
This report highlights how better legislation can help to significantly reduce the human suffering caused by the growing number of natural disasters. It highlights three areas where IFRC expects law to make a key difference in Asia Pacific and where the Red Cross and Red Crescent is supporting governments to …
At least 15 people were injured and 50 houses destroyed as a storm lashed Kuthurikona village under Madan upazila of the district yesterday afternoon. Of the injured, five were admitted to the upazila health complex in a critical condition. The five injured were identified as Abdul Hamid, 42, Phool Banu, …
Zijin Mining Group Co. said Wednesday that a pool designed to contain hazardous runoff from a tin mine collapsed due to heavy rains. Rain has presented surprisingly big challenges this year for Zijin, one of China’s largest mining groups and a company that boasts its technological prowess, even in harsh …
