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 …
Tokyo: The nuclear accident at Fukushima was a manmade disaster rooted in government-industry collusion and the worst conformist conventions of Japanese culture, a high-level parliamentary inquiry concluded on Thursday, in a report that also warned that the plant may not have stood up to earthquake damage — a worrying concern …
Japan ended two months without nuclear power on Thursday when the No. 3 unit at Kansai Electric Power Co's Ohi plant became the first reactor to resume supplying electricity to the grid since a nationwide safety shutdown after the Fukushima disaster. Japan's last working reactor was idled in early May, …
The nuclear accident at Fukushima last year was a “man-made disaster” and not only due to the tsunami, a Japanese parliamentary panel said today in its final report on the catastrophe. “Government, regulatory authorities and Tokyo Electric Power Company (TEPCO) lacked a sense of responsibility to protect people’s lives and …
Tokyo: Two seismologists said on Tuesday that Japan is ignoring the safety lessons of last year’s Fukushima crisis and warned against restarting two reactors next month. Japan has approved the restart of the two reactors at the Kansai Electric Power Ohi nuclear plant, northwest of Tokyo, despite mass public opposition. …
Biometric cards for fishing workers will be distributed in three months. Minister for Fisheries and Excise K. Babu has said that projects worth Rs. 650 crore will be implemented this year for the development of fisheries sector. The projects will be implemented in association with the Fisheries department, Coastal Areas …
High Tide Hits Mamallapuram Temple In TN, Revives Tsunami Fears Mamallapuram: Giant waves, more than 12 feet high, hit the northern side of the famous shore temple at Mamallapuram, 60km from Chennai, on Tuesday evening, leaving the heritage monument three feet deep in water. The temple town was virtually empty …
Japan ordered nuclear reactors back online Saturday, defying public sentiment against atomic power following last year's meltdowns at Fukushima sparked by the quake-tsunami, reports said. Prime Minister Yoshihiko Noda, seeking to head off a summer energy crunch, told Kansai Electric Power (KEPCO) to re-fire two idled reactors at its Oi …
Says it is well protected from tsunami or other natural disasters The Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project is well protected from tsunami or other natural disasters, the Centre submitted before the Madras High Court on Tuesday. It made the submission while the First Bench of Chief Justice M.Y. Eqbal and Justice …
A 6.6 magnitude struck off the Pacific coast of Panama on Sunday, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The epicentre was 230 miles (370 km) south of David, Panama, at a depth of 6.0 miles (10.5 km). There was no tsunami threat, the Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said. The quake was …
Hundreds of Japanese anti-nuclear protesters gathered outside the prime minister’s office on Friday, beating drums and chanting slogans against the planned restart of reactors a year after the world’s worst nuclear disaster in 25 years. “We oppose restarts,” the crowd of about 1,000, which stretched for around 200 meters down …
The State of the environment Maldives 2011 report addresses the objective of providing an analytical overview of state of the environment focusing on 10 key environmental challenges confronting today. New issues including energy, chemical and toxicology and environmental governance have been included in this report widening the information and data, …
TOKYO, 28 MAY: Mr Naoto Kan, Japan's Prime Minister at the time of the Fukushima nuclear crisis, apologised today and said the government and its push for nuclear energy bore most of the responsibility for the disaster. “The nuclear accident was caused by a nuclear plant which operated as national …
What passes for normal at the Fukushima Daiichi nuclear plant today would have caused shudders among even the most sanguine of experts before an earthquake and tsunami set off the world's second most serious nuclear crisis after Chernobyl. Fourteen months after the accident, a pool brimming with used fuel rods …
Nearly three-quarters of Japanese companies support abandoning nuclear power after last year's Fukushima disaster, although a majority set the condition that alternative energy resources must be secured, a Reuters poll showed on Friday. The poll offers fresh evidence of the deep public distrust of nuclear power, the role of which …
British MPs and members of the European Parliament have signed a letter from South Asian anti-nuclear groups to Prime Minister Manmohan Singh expressing "deep concern" over human rights and environmental issues around the controversial Kudankulam Nuclear Power Project (KKNPP) which they argue "violates" the International Atomic Energy Agency (IAEA)’s safety …
An earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 4.8 hit eastern Japan on Friday, shaking buildings in the capital Tokyo. There were no immediate reports of damage or injuries, and no tsunami warnings were issued. On March 11 last year Japan's northeast coast was devastated by a magnitude 9 earthquake, the …
Concerned about the serious threat posed by huge toxic material left in Union Carbide’s Bhopal plant after the 1984 gas tragedy, the Supreme Court on Thursday summoned top officials of the Union and MP government to suggest measures for its early disposal. A bench of Justices G.S. Singhvi and S.J. …
Scientists from 15 countries are calling for a better political response to the provision of water and energy to meet the challenge of feeding a world of 9 billion people within 30 years. The joint statement by some of the world's leading science academies was issued on Thursday ahead of …
The Asia-Pacific region may be home to some of the world’s fastest growing economies including China, Japan, India and Indonesia. But, last year at least, it also was the most vulnerable to natural disasters that hampered expansion and disrupted trade. The United Nations Economic and Social Survey of the Asia …
Thousands of Japanese marched to celebrate the switching off of the last of their nation’s 50 nuclear reactors on Saturday, waving banners shaped as giant fish that have become a potent anti-nuclear symbol. Japan will be without electricity from nuclear power for the first time in four decades when the …
