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 …
Sirens wailed and loudspeakers ordered residents of coastal towns and villages from Indonesia's Aceh province to Sri Lanka to seek safety during an Indian Ocean-wide tsunami practice drill on Wednesday. The exercise, a U.N.-backed initiative to test the warning systems and overall preparedness of nations in the region, is supposed …
Sri Lanka will be among 18 countries around the Indian Ocean Rim which will participate in an ocean-wide tsunami exercise on October 14 to coincide with World Disaster Reduction Day. The exercise will for the first time test and evaluate the effectiveness of the Indian Ocean Tsunami Warning and Mitigation …
The powerful earthquake that struck off the west coast of Sumatra on September 30th, killing many hundreds of people and trapping thousands more under rubble, was not the giant seismologists had feared. But its impact was still horrendous to behold, and came after a few days when nature had wreaked …
The Geological Survey and Mines Bureau yesterday said the displacement of plates which had resulted in the recent earthquakes in Indonesia had created a possibility of tsunamis. Geological Survey and Mines Bureau Deputy Director Geology S. M. A. T. B. Mudunkotuwa told the Daily Mirror that the movement of displaced …
Lalomanu (Samoa): Grieving Samoans buried their dead in unmarked beachside graves on Thursday as the task of recovering bodies from villages destroyed by four tsunamis continued and an aftershock shook the region. Some Samoans started rebuilding their South Pacific paradise, clearing debris from shattered homes, but others remained in nearby …
This report is the result of the effort to highlight the use of scientific and technical knowledge as an essential foundation for disaster risk reduction, and to make recommendations on key issues and priorities, including ways that specialist scientific and technical information can be more effectively adopted and put into …
Samoa Villages Flattened By 20-Ft Waves Apia (Samoa): A massive tsunami unleashed by a powerful earthquake flattened Samoan villages and swept cars and people out to sea, killing more than 100 people and leaving dozens missing on Wednesday. The death toll was expected to rise. Survivors fled the fastchurning water …
A powerful 7.9 magnitude earthquake in the Pacific off American Samoa generated a tsunami, US government agencies said on Tuesday. Sea level readings indicated a tsunami was generated in the Pacific, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre, a branch of the US National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration, said. The agency earlier …
The Sri Lanka Red Cross in its latest report has stated that a total of 11,000 businesses were destroyed due to tsunami that hit the island in 2004. This was revealed by the SLRC at the recent launch of the book titled
The Asian Development Bank (ADB) and the Netherland Government have provided Rs. 2480 million to rehabilitate tsunami affected costal areas of the Southern Province. Under this project 176 roads in Galle, 125 roads in Matara and 178 roads in Hanbantota districts have been completed, the Nation Building Ministry said. Nation …
The Government of Japan has decided to provide 340 million Japanese Yen as food aid grant to the Maldives. The Exchange of Notes between the Governments of Japan and Maldives was signed on September 15, 2009 at the Ministry of Foreign Affair. H.E Mr. Kunio Takahashi, Ambassador of Japan to …
Speakers at a function here have said that the country had been experiencing dismal climate change causing a grave concern to agriculture, food, human health, irrigation, navigation, soil, bio-diversity, environment, livelihood and water levels. " The increasing trends of tidal surge, cyclone Sidr and hurricane, tsunami, fluctuation in temperature, irregular, …
Drying streams, lesser snowfall, and dengue fever cases in Thimphu, the March 26 rain and storm. All these are indication that climate change is happening here in Bhutan, said the deputy minister of national environment commission, Dasho Nado Rinchen. Introducing climate change to a half-filled hall on a symposium titled
Quakes, volcanic eruptions, giant landslides and tsunamis may become more frequent as global warming changes the earth's crust, scientists said on Wednesday. Climate-linked geological changes may also trigger "methane burps," the release of a potent greenhouse gas, currently stored in solid form under melting permafrost and the seabed, in quantities …
Sri Lanka Government has constructed its third tsunami warning tower at Mahawewa area in Puttalam. This tsunami warning center will be operated jointly by the Disaster Management Centre and the Meteorological Department. An awareness programme was also held at the Mahawewa beach area yesterday to inform the public on how …
The death toll from a powerful earthquake in Indonesia, which killed at least 42 people and forced thousands to flee buildings, is likely to rise, government agencies said early on Thursday morning. The 7.0 magnitude quake shook buildings in the capital Jakarta on Wednesday afternoon and flattened homes in villages …
Threats of hazards are still not taken seriously in Pakistan to the extent of taking precautionary measures in an institutional form. The country has been facing socio-economic losses as hazards are converted into disasters. Earthquakes, floods, droughts, tsunamis and cyclones have occurred in different parts of the country in the …
