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 …
The world's relief agencies will be overwhelmed by a rise in the number of people affected by climate-related disasters by 2015 unless the quantity and quality of aid improves, a report said on Tuesday. "There is nothing inevitable about a future in which greater numbers of people die and are …
On December 26, 2004 Sri Lanka and a few other countries in the region faced the destructive power of nature. The tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean left about 300,000 people dead. This disaster also demonstrated the regenerative power of human compassion. Sri Lanka became just one household where …
Protection against coastal disasters has been identified as an important service of mangrove ecosystems. Empirical studies on this service have been criticized, however, for using small samples and inadequately controlling for confounding factors. We used data on several hundred villages to test the impact of mangroves on human deaths during …
The tsunami of December 26, 2004, devastated many coastal areas in Sri Lanka. Curiously, the tsunami spared several areas which had mangroves - dense forests of salt-resistant trees and shrubs that grow in brackish, low-lying coastal swamps in the tropics and subtropics. This clearly manifested in Bangladesh, which recorded very …
Thousands of families in the Southern province depending on the coir industry have lost their livelihood due to the shortage of coconut husks. They said the fragmentation of coconut estates as housing blocks and tsunami sites has resulted in this state of affairs and that the devastation caused by the …
The Geological and Mines Bureau has requested the External Resources Department and donor agencies like JICA and the Russian government to install four short period network systems to monitor local earth tremors like Wednesday's since the monitor at Pallekele was a Broad Band station to monitor the whole region, Director …
: Sri Lanka has decided to amend the Disaster Management Act soon, the Disaster Management Centre said. A spokesman for the Centre said that it has decided to amend the Act due to the practical difficulties in the Act. The Act was enacted in 2005 following the tsunami disaster that …
A magnitude-6.6 quake struck off Indonesia's Sumatra island, the US Geological Survey reported on Wednesday. The quake, quite shallow at a depth of 26.6 miles (42 km), struck 130 miles (209 km) northwest of the Sumatra town of Bengkulu at 3:01 a.m. on Thursday (2001 GMT on Wednesday). It followed …
Environmental experts have expressed concern over the reduction of mangrove forests along the Sindh coast, warning that if the mangroves are not protected, the city fears a greater risk of being hit by a tsunami in the future.
The 22nd Session of the Governing Council of the United Nations Human Settlement Program (UN Habitat) was held from March 30 to April 3, 2009 at the UN Habitat Headquarters, Nairobi, Kenya under the theme
A strong earthquake struck north of the Indonesian island of Sulawesi, although there was no tsunami warning issued or immediate reports of damage or casualties, the country's meteorological agency said on Saturday. The quake measured 6.5 on the Richter scale and was at a depth of 10 km (6 miles) …
According to the year 2000 statistics there have been only 21 widows hit this amount has now increased more than ten folds, said Suneeka Perera addressing the journalists in Hambantota district at Chandrika Hotel Tissamaharama. It was organised by the Hambantota branch of CARE International. She said that the ten …
Five towers to give prior warning of a tsunami will be installed along the seacoast in the Kalutara district by the Distress Management Unit. These towers will be located at Wadduwa, Katukurunda, Beruwala Abinaramaya Temple, and Maggona St. Mary
Four years after the tsunami, the people of Poompuhar lead a well-settled life. You can see resettled villages of fishing and farming communities with neat rows of houses. There are well laid out roads flanked by neon street lights. The transformation of 10 villages in this panchayat is the handiwork …
When the tsunami struck the coast of Tamil Nadu four years ago, the village of Poompuhar in Sirkali taluk of Nagapattinam district as one of the worst affected. When the waves withdrew, more than death stalked the coastline. With livelihoods and homes gone, Nagapattinam was a land of the living …
This case study is part of the ODI HPG research programme on the role of the affected state in humanitarian action and aims to describe the essential elements of approach to disaster management as seen in its response to the 2001 Gujarat earthquake and the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami. It …
Forty eight families in Lunawa, Moratuwa who lost their homes during the 2004 tsunami and up to now living in temporary shelters, have moved into new permanent houses built by the Red Cross. Apartments in six blocks comprising of common amenities such as water supply, electricity and roads is a …
The tsunami of the recent past has put into perspective the need for assessing tsunami hazard in vulnerable coastal areas of India. Following the disastrous tsunami in the Indian Ocean on December 26th 2004, the Ministry of Earth Sciences initiated action towards setting up of the Tsunami Warming System at …
Long live the emperor: Emperor penguins, the only penguin variety that breed during the harsh Antarctic winters, are headed towards extinction, said a research published in the journal Proceedings of the National Academy of Sciences. If climate change continues to melt ice at rates published in the last report of …
