Page 438 - Disaster Accident
Hurricane Michael toll reaches 6
The death toll from hurricane Michael, one of the most powerful storms to make landfall in the US mainland, rose to six, with authorities warning that the toll could further increase as search and rescue efforts continue.
India lost $79.5 bn due to natural disasters in 20 years
India has suffered economic losses of $79.5 billion due to natural disasters during the last two decades, according to the UN.
7 dead, 9 missing in collapse of northern Mexico mall
A shopping mall under construction in the Mexican city of Monterrey collapsed Thursday, killing at least seven people and leaving another nine missing, officials said. Local council secretary Genaro Garcia told a press conference that 15 people were injured, in addition to the dead, and all the victims are believed to be construction workers. Work on the three-story structure in this northern industrial hub in Nuevo Leon state was being carried out without the necessary license, authorities said. The concrete slabs of the structure appear to have pancaked, falling one atop another. Images taken by civil defence officials showed emergency personnel hauling the injured men out of the rubble. About 150 emergency personnel were looking for more people who may be trapped. Late Thursday night, the civil defence office released a brief statement saying that nine people were still missing. In July, a newly opened shopping mall on the south side of Mexico City partially collapsed. A support ...
Mudslide kills 12 people in central Colombia
Colombian disaster officials say at least 12 people have died in a mudslide that swept through their mountainside homes. Officials say the slide occurred at about 2 am Thursday in the central Colombian town of Marquetalia and caught the victims while the slept. Four children were killed by the mudslide and 53 people were rescued. Heavy rains cause floods and mudslides that kill dozens of people every year in Colombia. Rescue workers say the latest mudslide destroyed seven homes and affected 16 families. Colombia's National Institute for Environmental Studies has warned that eight provinces in the country could face mudslides in the coming days.
5 dead, 12 missing in collapse of northern Mexico mall
At least five people are dead after the collapse of a shopping mall under construction in the northern Mexico city of Monterrey. The civil defense office in the state of Nuevo Leon, where Monterrey is located, said that two people had been pulled alive from the rubble and 12 were listed as missing. Photos taken by the office showed emergency personnel hauling the injured men out of the rubble. About 100 emergency personnel were looking for more people who may be trapped. The concrete slabs of the three-story structure appear to have pancaked, falling one atop another. All of the victims appear to have been construction workers employed at the building site. Between 20 and 25 workers were believed to be working there when the collapse occurred.
12 killed after minibus collides with truck in Russia
A minibus crashed with a truck in west Russia's Republic of Chuvashia on Thursday, killing at least 12 people and injuring 10 others, TASS news agency reported, citing the republican ministry of internal affairs.
Death toll from Hurricane Michael rises to at least five
The death toll from Hurricane Michael, which slammed into the Florida coast as a Category 4 storm, has risen to at least five, US television networks reported Thursday. Sergeant Anglie Hightower of the Gadsden County Sheriff's Office told local television that the storm left four people dead in the Florida Panhandle county. One death has also been reported in Georgia, where the storm moved after making landfall in the Panhandle, the finger-shaped strip of land along the Gulf of Mexico.
At least 15 dead as riverboat sinks in DR Congo
At least 15 people drowned when an overcrowded and dilapidated riverboat sank in northwest DR Congo, local sources said Thursday, in the latest shipwreck disaster to hit the vast central African country. The death toll may be much higher, with differing reports of how many people were aboard the boat, which had travelled from the Central African Republic before capsizing in the Ubangi River on Saturday night. "Fifteen of my constituents drowned in the shipwreck," Gbodi Kete, an official for the Bosobolo territory in DR Congo's North Ubangi province, told AFP. However Kete said there were also victims from the Central African Republic. An officer from the Congolese naval force said 26 people had died, but added it was difficult to determine the exact number aboard as the boat's manifest had not been found. The Liberte radio station in Gbadolite, the capital of North Ubangi, reported that a total of 42 people were dead or missing. "The sinking was caused by the poor condition of the ..
Rocket bound for ISS fails, crew survives emergency landing
A two-man crew bound for the International Space Station was forced to make an emergency landing when their Soyuz rocket failed shortly after blast-off on Thursday, in a major setback for Russia's beleaguered space industry. US astronaut Nick Hague and Russian cosmonaut Aleksey Ovchinin were rescued without injuries in Kazakhstan. Russian investigators said they were launching a criminal probe into the incident, the first accident on such a manned flight in the country's post-Soviet history. The Russian space industry has suffered a series of problems in recent years, including the loss of a number of satellites and other spacecraft. "The emergency rescue system worked, the vessel was able to land in Kazakhstan... the crew are alive," the Russian space agency Roscosmos said in a tweet. "An accident with the booster, two minutes, 45 seconds," the voice of Ovchinin could be heard saying calmly in live-streamed footage of the launch from Kazakhstan's Baikonur cosmodrome. The incident ..
Cyclone Titli: PM speaks with CMs of AP, Odisha
Prime Minister Narendra Modi Thursday spoke with the chief ministers of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha and assured them all possible help to deal with the aftermath of cyclone Titli. "Spoke to Shri @ncbn Ji and Shri @Naveen_Odisha Ji regarding the situation arising due to cyclone related conditions in parts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha. Assured all possible help from the Centre," the prime minister tweeted. He also prayed for the safety and wellbeing of those affected by the cyclone. The cyclone packing winds of up to 150 kmph and widespread rains hit eastern India Thursday, killing eight people in Andhra Pradesh and one in Odisha, damaging homes, uprooting trees and power lines in the two states.
Cyclone Titli: 8 dead in Andhra Pradesh, one in Odisha
A very severe cyclonic storm packing winds of up to 150 kmph and widespread rains hit eastern India Thursday, killing eight people in Andhra Pradesh and one in Odisha, damaging homes, uprooting trees and power lines in the two states. Cyclone 'Titli' made landfall on the eastern coast early Thursday, wreaking havoc mainly in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of Andhra Pradesh and Odisha's Gajapati and Ganjam districts. Traffic on the Chennai-Kolkata National Highway was hit after uprooted trees blocked some sections of the road. The South Central Railway as well as the East Coast Railway cancelled several trains while some were terminated midway, officials said, adding a few express trains were also diverted. Train services between Khurda Road in Odisha and Vizianagaram in Andhra Pradesh also remained suspended since 10 pm Wednesday. According to the India Meteorological Department, Cyclone 'Titli' made landfall near Palasa in Srikakulam district, southwest of Gopalpur in Odisha ..
Cyclone 'Titli' leaves eight dead in AP, causes widespread
The "very severe" cyclonic storm, "Titli", left eight people dead, besides causing widespread damage in Srikakulam and Vizianagaram districts of north coastal Andhra Pradesh Thursday, the State Disaster Management Authority (SDMA) said. The cyclone threw normal life out of gear as heavy to very heavy rains started lashing the two districts since late Wednesday night. Eight people were killed in different storm-related incidents such as house and tree collapses in Srikakulam district, the SDMA said. More than 3,000 people from highly vulnerable areas have been evacuated to safety while over 1,000 houses were damaged in the cyclone. Heavy loss of cattle and crops was also reported, mostly from Srikakulam district, officials said. Chief Minister N Chandrababu Naidu reached Srikakulam late Thursday night and reviewed the situation with the district authorities. A high wave and wind alert, valid till 11.30 pm of October 12 has been issued, with over 3 metre high waves along .
IAF chopper makes emergency landing in Arunachal
An MI-17 helicopter of the IAF with 16 Air Force personnel on board Thursday made an emergency landing in West Tuting of Arunachal Pradesh near India-China border due to technical problem, officials said. The chopper was on routine sortie from Jorhat to West Tuting, IAF PRO Wing Commander Ratnakar Singh said. He said all the 16 Indian Air Force personnel on board were safe. The technical snag occurred when the chopper was returning from West Tuting, he said.
Titli cyclone: 3 Lakh people shifted in over 1 thousand shelter camps
After tropical-cyclone 'Titli', closed in towards Odisha-Andhra Pradesh coast, as many as 300,000 people have been shifted from vulnerable areas to shelter camps as part of relief and rescue operation, informed Odisha's special relief commissioner Bishnupada Sethi."Since there was a warning about Titli, we identified vulnerable areas and shifted people to our shelters. We have built large number of multi-purpose cyclone shelters all over the state. In more than 1100 shelters we evacuated and kept about 300,000 people overnight. Pregnant women were shifted to hospital. It was a very elaborate operation and we wanted to ensure that our target of achieving zero casualties is achieved and we are successful in doing that."Elaborating on state's preparedness, the relief commissioner said, "We had been taking all warnings and forecast very seriously and have been tracking the movement of the cyclone, from the time IMD had declared the low depression and now the very severe cyclone. We had ...
Farakka Express derailment: Railway suspends two officials
The Indian Railways on Thursday suspended two officials a day after New Farakka express derailed.The initial investigation indicated that a wrong signal was given to the train.On Wednesday as many as seven people died and 21 were injured after nine coaches of New Farakka Express derailed in Raebareli.Following the accident, Union Railway Minister Piyush Goyal had ordered an inquiry into the matter and directed Commission of Railway Safety, Northern Circle to take charge of the same.Goyal had also announced an ex-gratia of Rs 5 lakh to the kin of those killed in the train derailment.The train's engine and coaches derailed 50 m away from Harchandpur railway station.
Soyuz crew safely lands after Rocket launch failure, Commission opens probe
A carrier failure occurred during the launch of the Russian Soyuz MS-10 manned spacecraft from the Baikonur space center to the International Space Station (ISS) on Thursday, which made the capsule with the crew return to Earth in a ballistic descent mode.The crew safely landed in Kazakhstan and got in touch with rescue teams. Crew members, Russian cosmonaut Alexey Ovchinin and NASA astronaut Nick Hague are in good condition.The launch failure was announced during live stream by the Russian State Space Corporation Roscosmos.According to a Sputnik source, the capsule with the spacecraft crew was jettisoned from the carrier automatically by the emergency system.Russia's Central Military District announced that military paratroopers parachuted from an AN-26 aircraft to the scene, where the Soyuz MS-10 crew members were found after the failure of carrier rocket, to facilitate the evacuation.Oleg Orlov, the director of the Institute of Biomedical Problems of the Russian Academy of ...
IAF chopper forcelands in Arunachal, all safe
An Indian Air Force (IAF) helicopter force-landed in the west of Tuting in Arunachal Pradesh's Upper Siang district on Thursday, a Defence Ministry official said.
102 MPs contribute Rs 43.67 cr from MPLADS fund for flood-hit Kerala
As many as 102 parliamentarians contributed a total of Rs 43.67 crore from their Member of Parliament Local Area Development Scheme (MPLADS) fund for rehabilitation works in flood-affected Kerala, according to the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation. Of them, 56 Rajya Sabha members contributed Rs 29.57 crore and 46 Lok Sabha members gave Rs 14.10 crore for the relief works. The data of the MPLADS division under the Ministry of Statistics and Programme Implementation shows that 102 members of Parliament (MPs) have contributed Rs 43.67 crore from MPLADS fund for rehabilitation works in Kerala till October 8, 2018, a ministry statement said. As many as 30 MPs contributed Rs 1 crore each which is the maximum that an MP can contribute. Eleven MPs gave Rs 50 lakh or more, while 14 MPs contributed Rs 25 lakh. Rest contributed between Rs 1 lakh and Rs 25 lakh. As per the guideline of the scheme, an MP can contribute up to 1 crore from their MPLADS fund for the area affected by
Seven killed in 'massive landslide' in Uganda: Red Cross
At least seven people were killed in a "massive landslide" after heavy rains in eastern Uganda Thursday, the local Red Cross said. "The preliminary report indicates that the number is likely to increase from the reported seven but we are yet to establish the actual numbers," Uganda Red Cross spokeswoman Irene Nakasiita said in a statement. Nakasiita described the situation as tense with "community members... scared and fleeing from their homes." "In the meantime, the whole district, Bududa is still experiencing heavy downpour and we are expecting more of the same in other landslide prone areas." Bududa district in the foothills of Mount Elgon, which lies on the border between Uganda and Kenya, is a high risk area for landslides. At least 100 people were reported killed in a landslide in Bududa in March 2010 and in 2012 landslides destroyed three villages. Government efforts to move vulnerable people to neighbouring districts have faced resistance from residents.
Encroachment, inadequate storm-water drains flooding urban centres: Puri
Flooding in urban areas is due to inadequate storm-water drains and large-scale encroachments along natural waterways, said Union Minister of State for Housing and Urban Affairs Hardeep Singh Puri on Thursday.