Order of the National Green Tribunal in the matter of In Re: News Item titled "Are missing palm trees causing more lighting deaths in Bihar appearing in ‘The Times of India’ dated 29.05.2025". The original application was registered suo-motu based on the news item titled "Are missing palm trees causing …
natural disasters are unpredictable, but the way the situation was managed in the recent Gujarat earthquake, for instance, has unearthed many flaws in the existing disaster management system. Unfinished rescue operations, food and water shortage and insufficient medical aid has shown that the country is not geared up to tackle …
Dhanna Lal, a casual labourer with the Airport Authority of India's Pratapgarh (Rajasthan) office, believes that earthquakes are a cosmic curse. So when his dried village well, some 300 km away from Bhuj, was filled with water immediately after the earthquake, he was baffled. Similar stories abound in even parched …
If the experience of the government's handling of situations in Orissa and Gujarat earlier show anything, they show that the role of the government in managing relief after a tragedy has been questionable. Today a sizeable amount of money has been collected in the name of disaster relief and the …
There cannot be a bigger irony. As the nation was preparing to smugly display its military might and scientific prowess on Republic Day, a mighty earthquake flattened a large part of Gujarat. The quake, however, did not quite shake the ruling elite, who till afternoon participated in the long ceremonial …
D eath and earthquakes do not come by appointment. However, an earthquake gives definitive indications of its arrival. In Gujarat, there were many. A 4.2 magnitude quake rocked the Rann of Kachhch on December 24, 2000. Its epicentre was 22 km away from Bhuj. Bhavnagar, near Bhuj, also felt several …
T he Gujarat earthquake has proved that even in the highly seismic zones like Bhuj, Uttarakhand and the Northeast, our preparedness and crisis management is a monumental failure. Bhuj is one of the 13 hotspots on India's seismic hazard map that was prepared three years ago. The assessment was that …
There is no dearth of scientific knowledge in our country, but it does not get built into our daily lives Disasters come and go, they are just temporary in nature, but our governance has become a permanent disaster. India is a country blessed with one natural disaster after another. If …
more than 683 people were killed, 2,412 injured and hundreds reported missing when an earthquake hit Guatemala and El Salvador, two central American nations, on January 13, 2001. The highest number of deaths were reported from Santa Tecla, a suburb of San Salvador, the capital city of El Salvador. Following …
if one finds air pollution on normal days choking, then January 2, 2001 must have been a nightmare. As the northern electricity grid broke down, seven states of north India plunged into darkness. With water supplies cut, telephone lines down and disrupted railway services, generators in all shapes and sizes, …
A year after the devastating cyclone in Orissa, the rebuilding process is still going on. On the environmental front, however, the state government is yet to take large-scale programmes to regenerate the area. In the aftermath of the cyclone, a group of non-governmental organisations (NGOs) had proposed to the government …
tornadoes, blizzards and floods are making the already miserable weather of Britain more unpredictable. Now, scientists are holding global warming responsible for the disasters, the most recent being the flash floods that ravaged many parts of the country. The weather crisis being faced by Britain is a result of mankind's …
british politicians are facing one disaster after another but the way they are facing them should be a lesson for the tribe that exists in India. As in our country, the high fuel prices have become a source of major contention and with fuel blockades being threatened there is panic …
A developing country like India, with a variety of building practices and social and economic structure, needs to evolve its own strategies for seismic hazard evaluation. Occurrence of few damaging earthquakes during the last decade has pointed to our shortcoming in risk reduction programmes.
floods sweep through the village, the land is left uncultivable, the wells get filled with pebbles and mud. Agriculture becomes impossible. A cry of despair and despondency from the unfortunate residents would be a common sequel to this. Not in the villages of the Chaksu Block of Jaipur, Rajasthan. Thanks …
flash floods have not only swamped many areas of Andhra Pradesh, it has also left many questioning the effectiveness of the state government in handling disasters, let alone drafting a preparedness plan. The state administration could do little to undo the mess. Incessant rains lashed the cyber state in the …
It is a story that the Indian administrative set up has learned to mouth mindlessly every year after floods wreak havoc. All governments in states affected by the recent floods are blaming the respective governments upstream for causing deforestation and not going ahead with dam projects across major rivers. As …
At least 50 people were killed and hundreds were rendered homeless in Bhutan due to flash floods and mudslides caused by fierce rains. Lynpo Khandu Wangchuk, the minister for trade, said that rescue workers were still engaged in ascertaining the exact death toll, which according to media was more than …
the floods have once again ravaged Bihar. Claims made by the government that all precautionary measures were taken, embankment and anti-erosion work completed in time and that the floods would not be allowed to occur
at least 90 people were killed in a landslide that crushed an entire slum in Mumbai. The Azad Nagar slum in Ghatkopar was located at the foot of a hillock, which collapsed due to heavy rainfall sending down a mass of mud on about 100 houses. More than 150 firebrigade …
