The global cost of disasters is growing: The economic burden of disasters is intensifying. While the direct costs of disasters averaged $70–80 billion a year between 1970 and 2000, between 2001 and 2020 these annual costs grew significantly to $180–200 billion. But the real cost is far higher. Disaster costs …
The weather is a complex system and a number of factors influence it. Chief among them are the rotation of the planet which helps give direction to the winds. This disturbance in the atmosphere takes the form of a giant heat exchange system with hot air moving from the tropics …
In the 1920s, Sir Gilbert Walker made the seminal connection between barometer readings of air pressure at sea level at stations on the eastern and western sides of the Pacific Ocean (Tahiti and Darwin, Australia). He observed that when pressure rises in the east, it usually falls in the west, …
Drought has claimed more than 400 lives in Indonesia. Doctors working with in the mountainous district of Jayawijaya since September say that people suffering from malnutrition and various drought-related ailments. J B Wenas head of the Jayawijaya's district said that in September around 262 people had died of drought-related causes …
The fear of famine has returned to haunt Ethiopia after poor harvests, with the northern region of Amhara and the south of the country especially under threat. Ethiopia had enjoyed a respite from famine for three years, but the Amhara disaster prevention officials were quoted as saying, that the people …
The drought that hit Argentina's 1996-97 cotton crop earlier this year, has stripped the country of an output of as much as 100,000 tonnes (t) of lint, said a leading Argentine cotton exporter. With the harvesting about 40 per cent complete, the extent of the damage to the cotton crop …
lack of rain, freezing temperatures and cold winds have brought fears of drought across Europe. Many farmers across Europe are now facing a 'catastrophe' according to Copa, the association of European farmers' unions. The worst hit countries are Italy, Spain and Portugal, while parts of France, Belgium and the uk …
Eastern Uganda has been hit below the belly by a severe famine owing to a continuous draught this season. An earlier report had stated that 19 out of 39 districts in the country are suffering from the dry spell. In fact, residents in the district of Kumi and the Ongino …
Northern Kenya is again facing the onslaught of droughts, having received scant rain in the last two years. The tell-tale signs are growing malnutrition, rising grain prices and falling cattle prices. The government of Kenya has been too slow to acknowledge the crisis. Only recently did it ask for help …
african nations could possibly find some avenue out of the endless series of droughts, under-production of food and resultant civil wars, if they manage to emulate India by urgently acquiring and utilising appropriate food technologies to boost production, preservation, packaging and distribution of local food stuff. This conclusion was reached …
THE mythic origins of Jodhpur's water crisis go back to the time when the Rao Jodha clan laid claim to the rocky outcrop that was to be the-Mehrangarh fort about 500 years ago. But to do so, they first had to dislodge the forts only inhabitant Chidiya Nathji1 a savant …
Aquatic weeds need no longer be just a nuisance. Kaiser Jamil, a scientist from the Indian Institute of Chemical Technology, Hyderabad, reports that weeds such as water hyacinth can remove toxic inorganic and organic pollutants from waterbodies. Air pollution ruins medicinal plants, says a study conducted by the botany department …
