The HKH Snow Update 2025 highlights a significant decline in seasonal snow across the Hindu Kush Himalaya region, with snow persistence 23.6% below normal — the lowest in 23 years. This trend, now in its third consecutive year, threatens water security for nearly two billion people. All twelve major river …
The "super cyclone' will leave a permanent environmental impact on the coastal ecology of the region. According to eyewitnesses, the affected districts have lost more than 90 per cent of their green cover. "There is hardly any tree left on the landscape,' the chief minister said immediately after the cyclone. …
What is the lesson we have learnt from the Orissa cyclone? The poor, as individuals, learn from each cyclone or flood and adopt measures that reduce their vulnerability. But, as far as a system of emergency management goes, we need to make more efforts to learn from each natural disaster. …
prevention pays, but only when we invest in it. It will not pay dividends, without sustained, suitable and strategic community-level investments across the country and across development sectors. Disasters will continue to take up an increasing amount of time, cost large amounts of money and require endless efforts, not only …
local governments in Japan have voiced concern over their own vulnerability to quakes. Experts say that an earthquake with a magnitude of 8 on the Richter scale could strike at any time along the three fault lines in Shizuoka, Kanagawa, and Nagano prefectures. There are over 2,000 fault lines in …
for the residents of Izmit, Turkey, the nightmare began in the wee hours of August 17. As the entire nation was violently jolted awake by the century's most powerful earthquake, the town's oil refinery near Golcuk went up in flames
The hazards posed by the blazing oil refinery caused by Tuesday morning's earthquake in Izmit, Turkey, though reported to be under control, may have far-reaching and serious consequences. Six of the 30 storage tanks containing 700,000 tonnes of crude oil went up in a blaze. Some 12 hours later, the …
Meteorologists have warned that the current drought in Uganda is likely to worsen in the coming months and called on the government to formulate a strategy to cushion the country against its effects. Principal meteorologist Abushen Wamubi Majugu said: "The drought will become severe. What is required now is information …
the damage was staggering and the destruction, complete. One of worst cyclones in Pakistan’s history left a trail of death and devastation in the districts of Thatta and Badin in the southern province of Sindh on May 20, 1999. Tidal waves as high as six metres hit many villages in …
Till date, there were no truly "reliable" methods of quake prediction. Most of the existing methods predicted quakes only a short time before they actually occurred. But recently, Panayiotis Varotos from the University of Athens developed a technique that can predict earthquakes weeks in advance. Using changes in electrical conductivity …
> Floods and cyclones play havoc with irrigation processes in the coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh. On the other hand, the Rayal-seema and Telengana regions with semiarid to arid climatic conditions are frequently affected by droughts. The worst affected are the rural people who are not adequately warned about the …
Electrical utility transformers that use oil as an insulating barrier between the high and low voltage wire windings often fail because moisture and explosive gases build up in the oil, forming a pathway for a sudden, dangerous electric arc between the windings. Larson-Davis Inc of Provo, Utah, us , have …
IMAGINE a building swaying like a pendulum so that it doesn't crumble during an earthquake. Engineer Victor Zayas of Earthquake Protection Systems in San Francisco has designed just such a system (Science, Vol 262, No 5139). The new Friction Pendulum System (FPS) is quite unlike others, which dissipate tremor energy …
NATURAL disasters may be proposed by God, but they are disposed by man. Though it may not be possible to prevent such disasters, their devastation potential can be contained, depending on the state of human preparedness and economic conditions. The earthquake in Marathwada on September 30 has once again, so …
ANALYSIS of scientific data reveals that geysers -- the hot springs that intermittently throw up columns of water -- can indicate in advance the arrival of an earthquake (Science, Vol 257 No 5075). Scientists Paul G Silver and Nathalie J Valette-Silver of the Carnegie Institution in Washington DC say variations …
The department of science and technology (DST) is to launch three missions to focus on the crucial issues of biotechnology and genetic engineering, improving prediction of natural disasters and increasing leather exports. The missions will function as part of the department but draw on expertise from the department of biotechnology …
Can earthquakes be forecast? After investing one billion dollars in a 30-year earthquake prediction programme, Japanese scientists have virtually admitted failure (Nature, Vol 358 No 6835). A recent review of the programme by Japanese officials indicated several abnormal phenomena could not be objectively identified as quake precursors. For instance, earthquake …
