Cyclone death toll could reach 250,000

Breaking Earth News
Myanmar (Burma)

THE death toll from Burma's worst natural disaster in living memory could reach 250,000, and millions people will be homeless, a commentator says.

Cyclone Nargis savaged Burma's densely populated rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta region and Rangoon with winds of up to 200km/h at the weekend.

The hardline military dictatorship which rules Burma has so far put the number of deaths at 22,000.

But Larry Jagan, former BBC Asia affairs editor, says military sources put the fatalities around 30,000.

"This is the worst natural disaster that Burma has suffered in living memory. It's very much like Burma's tsunami,'' he told ABC Television.

"I fear the death toll could mount to something like a quarter of a million people.''

Midwest Floods: Taste of Things to Come

NOAA Warns of Flood Risk From Maine to Texas
Image: A group of homes are surrounded by flood waters from the Tippecanoe River south of Monticello , Ind., Wednesday, Jan. 9, 2008. Floodwaters began a slow withdrawal across a swath of northern Indiana where surging rivers and streams killed three people and damaged hundreds of homes. (Michael Conroy/AP Photo)

Story: From Texas to Pennsylvania thousands of people were forced to flee floodwaters in more than 250 towns and cities. And the National Weather Service says this week is a taste of things to come. The government issued its outlook for the next three months yesterday, and predicted an UNUSUAL RISK OF FLOODING IN A BROAD ARC from the Northeast to the mouth of the Mississippi. The culprits, said forecasters, are continued rain patterns and melting snow from a rough winter in many states.

MISSOURI - As flooding continues to torment southern Missouri, weather watchers in Kansas City are not just worried about what is happening today. They are worried about what could happen tomorrow. “The next couple of months could really be problematic.” Soils are saturated. Ponds are full. Streams are running strong, sometimes too strong. Add it all up, and even average rainfall totals for the next several months could spell disaster. “We’re on the edge of what could become a major problem. No doubt about it, there’s a very, very high likelihood of above-average precipitation. We got wet in October, and it hasn’t stopped yet.” No question, it has been a wet and wacky few months, from the RARE winter flooding now afflicting parts of the state, killing at least five people, to the 24.1 inches of snowfall at Kansas City International Airport this winter, to the tornadoes that swept through southwest Missouri in January. “It indicates we’re going to have a more active season. Whether the events will be catastrophic, whether they will be record-breaking, that’s tough to say. But it appears there will be more events this spring. If we had tornadoes as far north as Springfield this winter, it does give one pause.” Conditions are so soggy that the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers has cut way back on the amount of water it is releasing into the Missouri River from upstream reservoirs. To ensure that water levels are high enough during the river’s commercial navigation season, which starts April 1, the corps generally releases about 30,000 cubic feet of water per second into the river in March. “We’ve been holding steady at about 9,000, which is very low. The tributary conditions have been so high that all of the needs of the users along the river are met.” 2.63 inches of precipitation have already fallen at Kansas City International Airport in March, above average for the entire month. For the year, the airport is already at 6.7 inches, nearly 3 inches above normal. “Normally, the winter is the driest time of the year. But because we’ve been wet for the past several months now, any heavy rains we get are likely to lead to flooding. The soil just can’t absorb it, so the water just runs right off into the rivers and streams.”

Ecuador extends floods emergency

Ecaudor
Has extended a state of emergency to the entire nation after torrential rains triggered floods and mudslides across the country. Nearly a month of flooding has claimed at least three lives and forced thousands to flee their homes. More than 50,000 people have been affected by the flooding. A state of emergency was declared in nine provinces on 31 January, but the incessant rains have led it to be extended to cover all of the country's 24 provinces.

Africa quake toll rises as homeless add to aid crisis

Breaking Earth News Update
Africa
Image: A Rwandan man clears bricks from a destroyed house after an earthquake

RWANDA - The death toll from a series of earthquakes that hit central Africa rose Monday to 44 as a major aid operation for hundreds of injured and thousands of homeless gathered pace amid new aftershocks. At least 38 people were killed in Rwanda's Western Province and six around the Democratic Republic of Congo city of Bukavu, which was near one epicentre, while more than 450 were hurt. Sunday's quakes, the biggest of which measured 6.0 on the open-ended Richter scale, caused huge communications problems after they struck close together along the western Rift Valley fault, cracking open the walls of houses and buildings. They caught many people in church for Sunday services, trapping them under rubble when the buildings collapsed.

In photos: 'Britain Floods'

Flood water surrounds The Boat public house in Coalport near Ironbridge, Shropshire, England, 22 January 2008, as the River Severn broke its banks after days of rain. EPA/Sam Bagnall

UK Features

In photos: 'Britain Floods'

By M&C News Jan 22, 2008

1 | 2 | 3 | 4 | 5 | 6 | 7 | 8 | 9 | 10

Disasters quadruple over last 20 years

Earth Changes

LONDON (Reuters) - Weather-related disasters have quadrupled over the last two decades, Oxfam said in a report published on Sunday.

From an average of 120 disasters a year in the early 1980s, there are now as many as 500, with Oxfam attributing the rise to unpredictable weather conditions cause by global warming.

"This year we have seen floods in South Asia, across the breadth of Africa and Mexico that have affected more than 250 million people," said Oxfam's director Barbara Stocking.

"This is no freak year. It follows a pattern of more frequent, more erratic, more unpredictable and more extreme weather events that are affecting more people.

The number of people affected by disasters has risen by 68 percent, from an average of 174 million a year between 1985 to 1994 to 254 million a year between 1995 to 2004.

"Action is needed now to prepare for more disasters otherwise humanitarian assistance will be overwhelmed and recent advances in human development will go into reverse," Stocking said.

15,000 homeless in Chile quake

BREAKING EARTH NEWS
CHILE
Image: A man walks by cars covered with debris in Tocopilla, Chile, Thursday, Nov. 15, 2007, a day after a 7.7 magnitude quake hit Chile. The powerful earthquake hammered the country's north on Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 150. (AP Photo/Miguel Mercado) More Photos

TOCOPILLA, Chile - Strong aftershocks from a powerful earthquake hit northern Chile on Thursday as the government erected a working military hospital and promised hundreds of other portable dwellings for 15,000 left homeless by the quake.

Government and army workers scrambled to distribute tons of food, water and medicine after the 7.7 magnitude quake struck near the desert village of Quillagua in the foothills of the Andes on Wednesday, killing at least two people and injuring more than 150.

Major aftershocks shook the region Thursday, including one of magnitude 6.2 and another of magnitude 6.8, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

The earthquake destroyed or damaged 4,000 houses and the local hospital, blocking roads, crushing cars and knocking out power across northern Chile, officials said.

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Thousands trapped in Mexico floods

Residents of Villahermosa, the capital of the state of Tabasco, are rescued by the Mexican Navy. Rescuers have worked on rescuing hundreds of thousands of people trapped by the worst floods ever recorded in Mexico's southern state of Tabasco, with more than one million resident affected.(AFP/Gilberto Villasana)

Breaking Earth News
Mexico
Crisis called one of the country's worst ever disasters

Thousands of people have been trapped in their homes in Mexico by the worst floods to ever hit the south of the country.

More than one million residents have been affected by the floods in the southern state of Tabasco, which is the size of Belgium and is now 80% underwater.

Officials expect more rain in the coming days. The state's governor has said that 'New Orleans was small' in comparison to the floods.

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Mexico fears disease outbreak from flood

VILLAHERMOSA, Mexico - Military trucks hauled bottled water, food and clothing to Mexico's flooded Gulf coast Friday as rescue workers in helicopters and boats worked furiously to retrieve thousands of victims stranded on rooftops.

With flooding across nearly all of the Gulf coast state of Tabasco and food and drinking water scarce, health officials warned against epidemics of cholera and other waterborne diseases.

An estimated 900,000 people had their homes flooded, damaged or cut off, and as of Thursday 300,000 still had not been rescued, Tabasco Gov. Andres Granier said. Police, soldiers and military workers were still trying to reach them.

Massive Flooding

Rain-fed calamities cause havoc

Breaking Earth News
Bangladesh
Image: People trying to salvage a vehicle inundated in rainwater as downpour caused by a low over the Bay of Bengal flood many areas of Chittagong city yesterday. Photo: STAR

Tornadoes, mudslides and boat and trawler capsizes killed at least nine persons and injured over 100 across the country while 32 others have remained missing as heavy rainfall fell, caused by a well-marked low in the Bay which inundated the Chittagong region. The low pressure developed in the northern Bay of Bengal and started moving towards the shore in the evening. It may turn into a land depression and may cause heavy rainfall in Chittagong, Dhaka and Sylhet divisions until this afternoon. All fishing boats have been advised to stay in shelter until further notice. Movement of vehicles smaller than 65 feet in length on 108 river routes was also suspended until further orders. Torrential rainfall completely paralysed normal life yesterday. Logged water has made movement of city dwellers completely impossible in most areas. Rickshaws and vans became the only modes of transport for the people stuck at different places. The rain also caused immense suffering to day labourers and low-income people. The city kitchen markets faced a serious dearth of supply of essentials. Three people including two children were killed and two others were injured in a landslide caused by the onrush of heavy shower in Kaukhali upazila of Rangamati yesterday morning. Sources said a large chunk of earth fell straight on the thatched house around 8.30am yesterday. In Bandarban, road connection with other districts was snapped due to heavy rainfall and mudslide from hills. In Khagrachhari, over 20,000 people were marooned and took shelter on high land and structures yesterday as the onrush of hill water and heavy rain flooded 25 villages under six upazilas. In Patuakhali, four trawlers with 29 fishermen were capsized in rough sea. A Kuakata-bound trawler rescued 24 fishermen swimming in the sea. Relatives of the missing fishermen gathered in Kuakata and Mohipur areas to see if they returned. At least five people were killed and more than one hundred injured when tornadoes ripped through the southern coastal districts and the south-central parts of the country on Monday night. Over 100 fishermen were reported missing as 18 fishing trawlers capsized in the River Passur during storms caused by land depression. The gale also damaged hundreds of thatched houses and crops and uprooted trees in their thousands and some electrical poles, disrupting road communication and snapping power supply in the districts. A tornado that lashed five remote villages of Shahrasti upazila on Monday injured at least 25 people and damaged around 100 houses.

Thousands in Africa wait for aid amid catastrophic floods

KAMPALA (AFP) - African nations that bore the brunt of the continent's worst floods in three decades face a new epidemic threat and on Friday stepped up appeals for international help.

At least 300 people in 20 countries have died in floods over the past two months, according to figures from governments, hospitals and humanitarian sources compiled by AFP.

As the extent of the damage begins to emerge epidemic warnings are growing. Image Above: Two men wade through water covering a road in Teso, the north-eastern region of Uganda 24 September 2007.

Disaster Relief News
African Flood Losses Getting Worse -- "It's consistent with predictions of Global Warming" The American Red Cross

The Red Cross said Friday that it had observed a "worrying" eightfold
increase since 2004 in the number of African flood disasters it has to
deal with.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies
said the number of floods in Africa where the movement provided relief
aid jumped from five in 2004 to 32 in 2006.

By mid September, with widespread flooding stretching across more than
20 countries from west to east Africa, the number of floods on the
continent that mobilised Red Cross aid so far this year stood at 42.

"While the figures only cover those flooding situations that the Red
Cross and Red Crescent responded to, they still make worrying
reading," Federation acting policy director Encho Gospodinov said.

The floods are consistent with predictions of climate change,
according to Gospdinov, raising the risk of both drought and flooding
in different parts of Africa.

African deluge brings misery to 1.5m people

Breaking Earth News
John Vidal in Soroti, Uganda
Thursday September 20, 2007

Map of areas affected by flooding
According to the UN yesterday, 18 of the poorest and normally driest countries in Africa, from Senegal, Mauritania, Mali and Burkina Faso in the west, to Kenya, Sudan and Ethiopia in the east, have been seriously hit by months of torrential rains which, meterologists forecast, will continue in places for many more weeks.

"We believe at least 650,000 homes have been destroyed, 1.5 million people affected and nearly 200 people so far drowned," said Elisabeth Brys, at the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (Ocha) in Geneva. "This is harvest time for many countries and there are already food shortages."

The rains, linked to ocean temperature changes of El Niño, have caught governments off guard. Many of the worst affected regions are remote from capitals and assessments are still being made.

Burkina Faso, Togo and Ghana have declared an official disaster and appealed for emergency international aid. More nations are expected to follow.

Photo: An aerial view of a truck stuck in the floods at Akelai, in the Soroti district in Uganda. Photograph: Dan Chung

Gulf Coast Recovering From Humberto

Breaking Earth News
Texas, USA
Texas Governor Declares Three Counties As Disaster Areas

Houston, TX (AHN) - The sound of generators hummed in portions of Texas and Louisiana through the night as the region picked up the pieces from Hurricane Humberto. The storm which sneaked up on forecasters marked the first hurricane to hit the United States in two years.

Following the category one storm and then eventual downgraded tropical storm power was knocked out to thousands and flooding occurred in areas already saturated with water from previous rains and flooding.

Humberto eventually fizzled into a tropical depression however in its aftermath huge swaths of the region were deluged and left in the dark. One death is being blamed on the storm.

Texas Gov. Rick Perry declared three southeastern counties disaster areas. "We're pushing in generators, water and ice to affected areas, particularly those who have lost power," said Robert Black, Perry's spokesman. "We're working with the private sector to get power restored as quickly as possible."

The National Hurricane Center says rainfall from Humberto ranged from over 14 inches in Texas' East Bayou, to over 5 inches in Lake Arthur, Louisiana, and nearly 3 inches so far in Collinsville, Mississippi.

Humberto is now located about 10 miles northwest of Vicksburg, Miss., moving northeast at about 12 miles per hour, with maximum sustained winds of about 20 miles per hour.

Update: 9 dead, hundreds injured in Indonesia quake

Breaking Earth News
Indonesia

Sumatra Earthquake - Largest in 2007

JAKARTA -- (UPDATE 2) Nine people died and "hundreds" were injured in a powerful earthquake which struck Indonesia's Sumatra region on Wednesday, triggering tsunami warnings in the Indian Ocean, an Indonesian government official said.

The 8.4 magnitude earthquake also caused extensive damage to buildings along Sumatra's coast, according to Adam Malik of Indonesia's National Disaster Management Office.

"The emergency rescue system has mobilized and the president has ordered the military to help the rescue effort," he added.

Some buildings in Padang, the capital of West Sumatra had collapsed, witnesses reported, while Metro TV said some buildings had caught fire.

A Reuters witness said residents of Padang fled for higher ground.

"The city is in complete chaos. Everyone is heading to higher ground, I saw one house collapsed to the ground. I'm trying to save my family," said the witness in Padang, the provincial capital of West Sumatra, north of the tremor's epicenter.

A huge earthquake struck the same area on December 26, 2004, causing a massive tsunami and more than 230,000 deaths in countries across the region

S Asia flood devastation worsens

South Asia

The number of people made homeless by flooding in north-east India and Bangladesh has risen to some 1.5 million, officials say.

India's Assam state is suffering its third wave of floods this year, caused by heavy rains over the past four days.

The army has evacuated 800,000 people as the Brahmaputra rive and its tributaries flow at danger levels.

Downstream in Bangladesh, officials say half a million people are affected and many have been moved to safer places.

'Worst floods'

In Assam state, thousands of village homes, bridges, electricity poles and telecommunication towers have been washed away by the flooded rivers and 13 people have died.

The national highway that connects Assam - and all other northeast Indian states - to the rest of the country is under several feet of water in more than 10 places.

Thousands of trucks carrying essential supplies and buses carrying passengers are stuck on the highway .

"These are the worst floods this year. The losses are huge," Assam government spokesman Dinesh Deka said.

This is our tsunami. Our 9/11

Greece
A Major Catastrophic Disaster
Photo: An elderly woman cries in front of her burned stable in the Platania village in Peloponnese.

The fires that have reduced vast swaths of Greece to a stinking, charred vision of hell have shocked the world. For those who live in Greece, the catastrophe is the worst thing to have hit the country since the ravages of the second world war. Like the war, the fallout will almost certainly affect their lives for at least the next generation. "This is our tsunami. Our 9/11." The loss of life has been shocking. Who can forget the images of bodies blackened by the side of the road, the nightmarish midnight infernos swallowing up hillsides, or the story of a mother and her four children who died, clinging together in the car, trying to escape? Whole villages have been incinerated, and perhaps even worse, ancient olive groves and pine forests with their attendant history, livelihoods and futures, are now piles of ashes.

Related News
After devastating fires, heavy rains in Greece now raise fears of flooding

ATHENS, Greece (AP) — A massive cleanup, reconstruction and anti-flood effort was being launched Monday for fire-stricken parts of southern Greece as one fire front continued to burn while others abated, officials said.

After months of successive heat waves, heavy rainstorms flooded parts of northern Greece on Sunday. Rain and cooler weather were expected to move south early this week, helping firefighters extinguish any remaining blazes and prevent the possibility of smoldering fires rekindling. However, officials also fear that heavy rains could hamper relief efforts and lead to flooding.

Natural disasters 'more destructive than wars

Breaking International News
Singapore


From the United Nations Humanitarian Agency
Natural disasters are far more destructive than wars, and the damage will only worsen unless drastic change is taken to address global climate change, a former United Nations humanitarian chief said on Tuesday.

"Already seven times more livelihoods are devastated by natural disasters than by war worldwide, at the moment, and this is going to get much worse, the way the climate is developing," Jan Egeland said after addressing the top governing body of the Christian aid organisation World Vision.

"Climate change, it's happening. It's not a threat. It's happening today and those who suffer the most are the poorest in Africa. Where there was already drought, the droughts are getting worse. Where there was already flooding the floodings are getting worse, as we speak," said Egeland, the United Nations head of humanitarian affairs from 2003 to 2006.

He called for dramatic changes in lifestyles "if we are to avoid having disasters virtually every month in large parts of the world".

North Korea flood toll increases

North Korea

At least 600 people are dead or missing after devastating floods in North Korea this month. One million people have been affected by the downpours, with thousands injured. Some 240,000 houses were totally or partially destroyed, leaving 100,000 people homeless and 900,000 people flood-stricken. The country also suffered severe damage to its infrastructure after landslides and rain left hundreds of miles of roads and railways inundated.

Update: Floods, heat wave batter United States

David Morris retrieved a ladder from the smoldering debris of a house that burned Thursday after an electrical fire caused by the flooding of the Fox River near Wheatland, Wis

Breaking Earth News
USA
Mudslides and murky floodwaters hampered recovery efforts in Minnesota, Oklahoma, Texas, Ohio and Wisconsin where at least 23 people were killed after a week of heavy rains that prompted dramatic roof-top rescues. A fresh round of thunderstorms battered parts of the central United States for a fifth day on Thursday. Three people were killed in Madison, Wisconsin, yesterday when lightning struck a utility pole and knocked a live wire into a deep puddle at a bus stop. Meanwhile, Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama continued to wither under a RECORD-BREAKING HEAT WAVE blamed for the death of at least 25 people. Recovery workers in Oklahoma were searching yesterday for the body of a high school student who was sucked into floodwaters while running with his cross country team. Six other people were confirmed dead in the state after the remnants of tropical storm Erin dumped heavy rain there and triggered flooding over the weekend that continued to wreak havoc on the state. It was the third major flood the state has faced this summer and the deadliest so far because of the intensity of the storm. "What made this one so amazingly intense is we had an eye of a hurricane form over our state. We haven't seen it flood so fast and so high in recent memory." Texas was spared the brunt of hurricane Dean's wrath but was still cleaning up from the damage wrought by tropical storm Erin and months of endless rain which caused six deaths last week. This brought the state's flash-flood deaths to 40 so far this year, tying the record set in 1989. "We've had persistent, ongoing, relentless precipitation pretty much all year. It's our WETTEST YEAR ON RECORD so far... dating back to 1895."

Click the Photo to View Flood Images

Many people have lost their homes and most of their belongings.

Meanwhile, a crippling heat wave brought death and drought to the south eastern states of Tennessee, Georgia and Alabama. Thirteen deaths were reported in Memphis, Tennessee and a dozen were reported in Alabama. "These are a HUNDRED-YEAR-PLUS RECORDS THAT ARE BEING SHATTERED." One such RECORD was in Athens, Georgia which has had 13 days this month with temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit, compared to an average of one day a year in August. "That's a TREMENDOUS CLIMATOLOGICALLY EXTREME EVENT." Birmingham, Alabama BROKE RECORDS with 10 consecutive days of temperatures at or above 100 degrees Fahrenheit (38 Celsius), up from the previous record of eight days in the deadly heat wave of 1980.

Midwest Flooding Leaves Thousands Displaced

A patio is reflected in flood waters at an apartment complex Thursday, Aug. 23, 2007 in Goodview, Minn., as cleanup continues from the flooding caused by heavy rains last weekend in southeastern Minnesota where seven people lost their lives. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

Breaking Earth News
Midwest, USA

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Flooded Midwest, Plains try to recover

Photo: A trailer at Money Creek Haven Campground near Houston, Minn., sits atop a pickup truck Monday, Aug. 20, 2007 from flooding Money Creek following severe storms that deluged parts of the Midwest with as much as a foot of rain, killing six in southeastern Minnesota. (AP Photo/Jim Mone)

RUSHFORD, Minn. - Across southeastern Minnesota, surreal sights greeted the weary residents who returned to water-logged homes hoping to retrieve pets or medicine.

Orange Xs marked buildings that had been searched for survivors. Canoes lay in the streets. At a campground in Houston County, picnic tables hung from trees.

Storms in the Midwest and the Plains over the weekend flooded streams and roads, caused a sewage treatment systems to overflow in Iowa and left one town temporarily cut off in Missouri. At least 20 people died in three states, six of them in Minnesota.

The remnants of Tropical Storm Erin swamped buildings in Oklahoma, leaving six dead there. In Texas, eight deaths were blamed on the storm, and authorities were scrambling to recover before Hurricane Dean's heavy rain slaps the state.

More storms on Monday brought wind gusts of up to 82 mph and golf-ball sized hail to Nebraska. Trees and power lines were down and substantial street flooding was reported in Fremont and Omaha. Thousands of people were without power.

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