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Parts of Asia were reeling after torrents of rain unleashed catastrophic floods and landslides last week, killing more than 1,400 people in Indonesia, Sri Lanka, Thailand and Malaysia. The disaster has also laid bare stark economic disparities in the region. Indonesia has borne the heaviest blow, recording at least 753 deaths, followed by Sri Lanka with 465. Sri Lankan President Anura Kumara Dissanayake said it's too early to determine the exact number of dead in his country. At least 185 people in Thailand and three in Malaysia have also been confirmed dead. Rescue teams on Wednesday were racing against time to reach isolated communities, as more than 1,000 remain missing and as villages lie buried under mud and debris amid ongoing power and telecommunications outages. Indonesia's President Prabowo Subianto visited a disaster zone Monday, promising aid and support for rebuilding though he has yet to declare a national emergency or sought international assistance like his counterpar
BJP leader Colonel (retired) Ajay Kothiyal has expressed regret that even four months after the cloudburst in Dharali of Uttarkashi district, the bodies of 147 people buried under the debris could not be recovered. "If the Army rescued seven out of 10 soldiers buried under the debris in Harshil, then why can't we rescue the 147 people buried in Dharali?" he asked, while participating in a discussion at the 'World Summit on Disaster Management' organised in Dehradun by Uttarakhand State Council for Science and Technology two days ago. Kothiyal alleged that nearly four months after the natural calamity, Dharali is still in tatters. Instead of finding proper ways for rehabilitation of the people there, disaster management officials, geologists, scientists and environmental experts are finding excuses to avoid the challenges, he alleged. On August 5 this year, a massive cloudburst over Dharali village in Uttarkashi district of Uttarakhand resulted in devastating floods and mudslides, .
Emergency crews raced to reach survivors and recover more bodies Tuesday after the death toll from last week's catastrophic floods and landslides surged past 1,200 in Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand, with more than 800 people missing. Days of heavy monsoon rains inundated vast areas, leaving thousands stranded and many clinging to rooftops waiting for help. The flooding and landslides killed at least 1,230 people, with 659 people confirmed dead in Indonesia, 390 in Sri Lanka and 181 in Thailand, authorities said Tuesday. In Indonesia, the hardest-hit nation, rescuers are struggling to access villages in Sumatra island, where roads have been washed out and bridges have collapsed. At least 475 people remain missing, according to the country's National Disaster Management Agency. Helicopters and boats have been deployed, but officials warn that worsening weather and damaged infrastructure are slowing operations. Military-led rescue teams in Sri Lanka continue to scour devastated ar
Nepal has extended an economic aid of USD 200,000 for relief and rescue operations in flood-hit Sri Lanka, underlining that it stands firmly with the island nation in this difficult time. Sri Lanka has been grappling with widespread flooding, landslides and infrastructure collapse triggered by Cyclone Ditwah, leaving several districts isolated and severely straining the country's disaster-response capacity. As of Sunday, 334 people have been killed, with 370 missing, in catastrophic floods and landslides caused by extreme weather conditions since November 16. "As a gesture of solidarity, the Government of Nepal has decided to extend an assistance of USD 2,00,000 for the relief and recovery operations," the Ministry of Foreign Affairs said in a press release on Sunday. Acknowledging the close bilateral ties with Sri Lanka, the ministry said Kathmandu stands firmly with Colombo in this difficult time. "The Government of Nepal offers its heartfelt condolences to the bereaved families
Recovery and aid efforts are underway in parts of Southeast Asia and South Asia where the full number of dead and missing are not yet known after heavy rains and flooding left a devastating toll in the past week. The severe weather killed at least 469 people in Indonesia, 162 in Thailand and 334 in Sri Lanka, authorities said. In Thailand, Prime Minister Anutin Charnvirakul on Saturday outlined recovery and compensation plans for the southern part of the country, where the Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitgiation said severe flooding in 12 southern provinces affected more than 1.4 million households and 3.8 million people. Sri Lanka authorities said Monday that rescuers are still searching for 370 missing people. Nearly 148,000 people are housed in temporary shelters after being battered in the past week downpours that flooded homes, fields and roads and triggered landslides, primarily in the tea-growing central hill country. Indonesia President Prabowo Subianto on Monday .
Rescuers were hampered by damaged bridges and roads and a lack of heavy equipment Friday after flash floods and landslides on Indonesia's Sumatra island left 79 people dead and dozens missing. A tropical cyclone causing the damage is expected to continue hitting the Southeast Asian nation for days, said Indonesia's Meteorology, Climatology, and Geophysical Agency. Monsoon rains caused rivers to burst their banks in North Sumatra province on Tuesday. The deluge tore through mountainside villages, swept away people and submerged more than 3,200 houses and buildings, the National Disaster Management Agency said. About 3,000 displaced families fled to government shelters. Elsewhere in the island's provinces of Aceh and West Sumatra, thousands of houses were flooded, many up to roofs, the agency said. At least 48 people died, and 88 were missing as rescue teams were struggling to reach affected areas in 12 cities and districts of North Sumatra province, the province's police spokesperso
Sri Lanka closed government offices and schools Friday as the death toll from floods and landslides across the country rose to 56 while more than 600 houses were damaged, officials said. Sri Lanka began grappling with severe weather last week and the conditions worsened Thursday with heavy downpours that flooded homes, fields and roads, and triggered landslides across the country. More than 25 people were killed Thursday in landslides in the central mountainous tea-growing regions of Badulla and Nuwara Eliya, which is about 300 kilometres east of the capital, Colombo. Another 21 people were missing and 14 were injured in the Badulla and Nuwara Eliya areas, according to the government's disaster management centre. Others died in landslides in different parts of the country. As the weather conditions grew worse, the government announced the closing of all government offices and schools on Friday. Due to heavy rains, most reservoirs and rivers have overflowed, blocking roads. Authori
Torrential rains, floods and landslides have left 31 people dead in Sri Lanka with nearly 4000 affected in the last 11 days, as the Island nation grapples with one of its worst weather-related crises. Sri Lanka's Disaster Management Centre said on Thursday that 18 deaths were reported from the central hill districts alone due to landslides. In a terrifying incident, a passenger bus got trapped in rising floodwaters in Kumbukkana. Emergency teams managed to rescue twenty-three passengers successfully, Daily Mirror Online reported. Nearly 10 people have sustained injuries, while 14 persons are reported missing, Adaderana news portal reported. President Anura Kumara Dissanayake had called a crisis meeting to assess the deteriorating situation in 17 of the 25 administrative districts. According to the weather bureau, the island's southeast periphery had developed a low-pressure situation, which had developed into a depression and is centred 210 km southeast of Batticaloa. It is very
Torrential rains unleashed flash floods and triggered landslides on Indonesia's Sumatra island, killing at least 10 people and leaving six others missing, police said Wednesday. Rescue teams were struggling to reach affected areas in six regencies of North Sumatra province after the monsoon rains over the past week caused rivers to burst their banks, tearing through hilly villages as mud, rocks and trees tumbled down, leaving destruction in their wake, the National Police said in a statement. Rescue workers by Wednesday had recovered at least five bodies and three injured people in the worst-hit city of Sibolga and were searching for four villagers who were reported missing, the statement said. In the neighbouring district of Central Tapanuli, landslides hit several homes, killing at least a family of four, and floods submerged nearly 2,000 houses and buildings. Floods and landslides also uprooted trees that killed a villager in South Tapanuli district and hurt another, destroyed a
Several houses were flooded and vehicles swept away after a portion of a feeder tank of the Kerala Water Authority (KWA) collapsed at Thammanam here early Monday, officials said. The incident occurred between 2 am and 2.30 am when part of the water tank at the KWA feeder pump house collapsed. According to KWA officials, the tank has two chambers with a total capacity of around 1.38 crore litres. The wall of one chamber collapsed, and the gushing water first broke through the compound wall of the pump house before entering about 10 nearby houses. Ernakulam MLA T J Vinod said several vehicles parked in the area were swept away. Electronic gadgets and furniture in the ground floor of the houses were damaged. The water also entered a nearby health centre, destroying medicines and equipment, he said. Vinod said the tank was built more than 50 years ago. This feeder tank boosts water supply to Kochi city and Tripunithura areas. The damaged chamber stored water meant for Kochi city, he
A fast-moving typhoon barrelled across central Philippines on Monday after slamming ashore overnight from the Pacific, leaving at least one person dead, causing flooding and power outages, and displacing tens of thousands of people, officials said. Typhoon Kalmaegi was blowing over the city of Sagay in central Negros Occidental province mid-morning with sustained winds of up to 150 kph and gusts up to 185 kph after making landfall around midnight in the town of Silago town in the eastern province of Southern Leyte. Kalmaegi, the 20th tropical cyclone to batter the Philippines this year, was moving northwestward at 25 kph and was forecast to start shifting away from the western section of the archipelago into the South China Sea later Tuesday. An elderly villager drowned in floodwaters in Southern Leyte, where a provincewide power outage was also reported, officials said in an initial report without providing other details. Ahead of the typhoon's landfall, disaster-response official
Two people died in flooded New York City basements Thursday during a rainstorm that shut down roadways and caused airport delays, authorities said. A scuba team recovered the body of a 39-year-old man after firefighters received a call of a person trapped in a flooded basement in Brooklyn at about 4:30 pm, police said. The man, whose name was not released, was pronounced dead at a hospital. In Manhattan, a 43-year-old man was pronounced dead at the scene after witnesses said he lost consciousness and became unresponsive inside a flooded basement boiler room, police said. The cause of death was under investigation. Some spots around the city saw record rainfall. Preliminary reports showed 1.8 inch of rain fell in Central Park on Thursday, which would surpass the record of 1.64 inches set for the park in 1917, the National Weather Service said. LaGuardia Airport recorded 1.97 inch of rain, which would break the 1955 record of 1.18 inches for that airport. New York saw hours of rainfa
Union Home Minister Amit Shah has approved advance release of Rs 1,950.80 crore as second instalment of central share of State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF) to Karnataka and Maharashtra governments for 2025-26. Out of the total amount, Rs 384.40 crore has been approved for Karnataka and Rs 1,566.40 crore for Maharashtra to help the two states provide immediate relief assistance to people affected by extremely heavy rainfall and floods during the southwest monsoon this year, an official statement said. Under the leadership of Prime Minister Narendra Modi and guidance of the home minister, the central government is fully committed to provide all possible assistance to states affected by flood, landslides and cloudburst, the statement said. This year, the Centre has already released Rs 13,603.20 crore to 27 states under the SDRF and Rs 2,189.28 crore under the National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) to 15 states. In addition, Rs 4,571.30 crore has been released from the State Disaster
The Maharashtra government has sanctioned the disbursal of Rs 3,258 crore financial assistance to farmers who suffered losses due to excess rainfall and floods in 23 districts, state Minister Makarand Jadhav Patil said. The state relief and rehabilitation minister on Friday said that over the past two days, the government has approved the disbursement of Rs 5,364 crore through multiple resolutions to support farmers. The government has now sanctioned Rs 3,258 crore for 33.65 lakh farmers in 23 rain and flood-affected districts, he said in an official statement. The state government had, earlier this week, approved an aid of Rs 1,356.30 crore for 21.66 lakh affected farmers. Earlier this month, the government announced a compensation package of Rs 31,628 crore for farmers, asserting that the total assistance will be Rs 48,000 per hectare. Opposition parties have, however, dubbed the relief package as "too meagre" to help cultivators rebuild their lives. Heavy rainfall and floods i
When a river that winds through the mountains of central Mexico suddenly turned into a crushing wall of water this week, it practically wiped the 400-person village of Chapula off the map. Residents only had time to shout, warning neighbours living along the riverbanks, and desperately seek shelter from the deadly flooding and landslides that have cut off 300 towns in central and eastern Mexico from the outside world. Thousands of soldiers and workers scrambled on Tuesday to rescue civilians and unblock roads. "There is nothing left. It wiped out houses, it wiped out the bridge, it wiped out everything. The only thing left standing was the church and the warehouse where we were seeking refuge," said 21-year-old Stephanie Ramrez, who was part of a group of elderly, women and children who stumbled off a rescue helicopter on Tuesday. The government confirmed that at least 64 people have died due to the torrential rains. Dozens are still missing and officials warn the full extent of th