Page 656 - Disaster Accident
K'taka govt ignoring women's safety in Bengaluru: Maneka Gandhi
Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi today said the Karnataka government is ignoring the issue of women's safety in Bengaluru, citing a recent incident of harassment of a woman passenger by a cab driver. Gandhi cited a media report according to which a woman passenger in Bengaluru was harassed by a driver attached to cab aggregator Ola on Tuesday after she refused to cancel her trip. "This is the third case of harassment of a woman passenger by a cab driver in #Bengaluru, in less than a month. My directions to @CPBlr (Bengaluru Police Comissioner T Suneel Kumar) to invoke criminal liability of cab aggregators like @Olacabs and @Uber_India has had no effect," the minister said in a tweet. "I am worried about how the Karnataka government is totally ignoring women safety in the city. Karnataka Chief Minister H D Kumaraswamy should pay attention to this critical issue," she added. Gandhi had earlier said that she took up the issue of cab safety with Union Road Transport and .
Maha: Man's body found 40 hours after he fell into nullah in
A search operation mounted by teams of the NDRF, Fire Brigade and the district's Disaster Management Cell today succeeded in retrieving the body of a man who had fallen into a nullah, near a creek, amidst heavy rains on July 10. The body of Harshad Jimkal (24) was found in the morning today in the marshes along the nullah, in Navidivli area of Dombivali in the district, said Santosh Kadam, chief of the Regional Disaster Management Cell of the Thane Municipal Corporation. Kalyan-Dombivali Chief Fire Officer Dileep Gund said that the personnel who were part of the search operation faced tough conditions due to the depth of the nullah, which leads to Kopar creek, and the slippery conditions in the marshes. A release from the civic body said that a speed boat was provided for the search operation by the office of Additional Superintendent of Police, Thane (Rural), Prashant Kadam. Help was also sought from the Navy, it said.
Six die in gas leakage in Andhra steel plant
Six workers died and two others were taken ill in a gas leakage at a multinational steel company in Andhra Pradesh's Anantapur district on Thursday evening, police said.
Guv announces exgratia for Amarnath pilgrims killed in accidents
Jammu and Kashmir Governor N N Vohra today announced an ex-gratia of Rs three lakh each to the next of kin of eight pilgrims, who died in various accidents during the Amarnath yatra. While five pilgrims were killed after being hit by shooting stones on Baltal holy cave route, three others died in road accidents. The governor, who is also chairman of the Shri Amarnathji Shrine Board (SASB), announced the relief during a review meeting held with Chief Executive Officer of the SASB Umang Narula. Narula informed the Governor that the SASB has given Rs 24 lakh as ex-gratia and spent Rs 5 lakh as transportation cost to take the mortal remains of the pilgrims to their home towns along with one attendant till July 11. Expressing grief over the deaths, the Governor conveyed his condolences to the bereaved families and issued instructions to the CEO to provide immediate relief of Rs three lakh to the next of kin every pilgrim who lost his life.
Aviation Ministry refuses to declare Puri grand road 'no fly zone'
The Civil Aviation Ministry has rejected the request of Odisha Police to declare 'Bada Danda' (the grand road) as a "no fly zone" during the Ratha Yatra of Lord Jagannath and his siblings.
Assam flood situation grim; CM asks NEEPCO not to release water from Ranganadi dam
The flood situation continued to remain grim in Assam today, with over 24,000 people being affected in three districts, officials said. The flood situation remained unchanged during the last 24 hours with 24,226 people of 35 villages affected across Lakhimpur, Dhemaji and Biswanath districts, the daily bulletin of the Assam State Disaster Management Authority (ASDMA) said. Meanwhile, Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal reviewed the flood situation in the worst hit Lakhimpur district and asked the state owned power utility North Eastern Electric Power Corporation (NEEPCO) not to release water from its Ranganadi dam without warning. "In view of the deluge in Lakhimpur district created by sudden release of excess water by NEEPCO from its Ranganadi dam during previous years, Sonowal strongly warned the NEEPCO authorities not to repeat the mistake this year," a release from the Chief Minister's Office said. The total number of persons losing their lives in flood in the state stands at ...
Karnataka government ignoring women safety: Maneka
Union Women and Child Development Minister Maneka Gandhi on Tuesday alleged that the Karnataka government was "totally ignoring women safety" which was evident from the rising instances of harassment.
NGT orders sealing of handpumps extracting mercury in western UP
The National Green Tribunal (NGT) on Thursday ordered the Uttar Pradesh government to seal all the hand pumps and borewells extracting mercury in six districts of the state.
Another death during Amarnath Yatra
The Indo-Tibetan Border Police on Thursday carried another dead body to the nearest road head in Amarnath Yatra from the Baltal route.The 52-year-old man has been identified as Sambhaji from Sangali, Maharashtra probably died due to cardiac arrest. He died near Moradabad Bhandara, Railpathri on the Baltal route.The man died early Thursday morning at around 6:30.The ITBP jawans carried the body to the nearest road head to Domail on a stretcher and handed it over to the local administration.The official Twitter handle of ITBP shared a video of the same.Earlier in the day, a tempo carrying the Amarnath pilgrims crashed into a parked truck at Birma Bridge in Udhampur. Out of the 13, three were seriously injured.The injured passengers were immediately shifted to District Hospital, Udhampur for treatment and they are now out of danger.As many as 13 Amarnath Yatra pilgrims were injured on Thursday after the tempo they were travelling in crashed into a parked truck near Birma Bridge in ...
Heavy rains in Kolhapur, water level of rivers rises
Kolhapur city and parts of the district witnessed heavy rains today, which led to swelling of major rivers. Talukas located in the western parts of the district, including Gaganbawda, Chandgad, Radhanagari, Panhala, were lashed by heavy showers, that affected the normal life in these parts. As a result of the continuous downpour, the water level of Panchganga river that flows near Kolhapur city has been rising steadily. Water-logging in low-lying areas in the city affected the normal life to some extent. Due to the heavy rains, 32 Kolhapur type (KT) weirs have started overflowing, leading to complete disruption of transport services to seven villages. The Anuskura mountain pass has been shut for vehicles following incidents of landslides.
Death toll climbs in Nigeria cattle rustling raids
The death toll from raids by suspected cattle thieves in northwest Nigeria has risen from 26 to 32, the National Emergency Management Agency said today. "The fatalities have increased to 32, with the recovery of six more bodies by rescue teams," NEMA coordinator for Sokoto Suleiman Kadir told AFP. Bandits on motorcycles attacked several villages on both sides of the border between Sokoto and Zamfara states on Monday and Tuesday, shooting residents, burning homes and stealing cows. Kadir said there were now some 2,000 people made homeless by the violence -- double the number reported yesterday. Two women were also kidnapped during the raids. Police have said five villages were razed in the attacks -- two in the Rabah district of Sokoto and three in Zamfara, where kidnapping and cattle rustling gangs are known to operate. Meanwhile, six people were killed in violent clashes between ethnic Fulani herdsmen and Bachama farmers in Adamawa state, northeast Nigeria. The unrest happened late ..
3 killed in Nepal landslide
At least three people died while several others were affected by the monsoon-induced floods and landslides across the Kathmandu valley on Thursday.
Rescuers search for survivors of Afghan landslide: officials
Rescue efforts were under way for survivors of a landslide in remote northeastern Afghanistan today that officials said had killed at least six people and destroyed hundreds of buildings. Melting snow in the mountains of Panjshir, a province north of Kabul known for its snowcapped peaks, had flooded a lake, sending water and mud cascading over villages below, the disaster management ministry and local officials said. At least 10 villages had been "badly affected" with hundreds of homes, shops and cars destroyed, the Panjshir governor's office said in a statement. The torrent of water and mud had caused the Panjshir River, which snakes through the valley, to burst its banks. At least six people had been confirmed dead, the governor's statement said, warning the toll could rise. Omar Mohammadi, a spokesman for the disaster management ministry, earlier told AFP that 10 people had been confirmed dead. Jamil Ahmad was lying in bed just before midnight when he said he heard a sound like ...
Two IndiGo planes avert mid-air collision over Bengaluru
Nearly 330 passengers had a narrow escape after two IndiGo planes averted a mid-air collision over the Bangalore airspace on Tuesday, prompting authorities to launch a probe into the incident, industry sources said. The aircraft involved in the incident were operating on Coimbatore-Hyderabad and Bangalore-Cochin routes. Spokespersons of IndiGo as well as the Bangalore International Airport Limited (BIAL) confirmed the incident. The Hyderabad-bound plane had 162 passengers while the other aircraft was carrying 166 passengers. Sources told PTI that the vertical separation between the two aircraft was only about 200 feet and a mid-air collision was averted after the Traffic Collision Avoidance System (TCAS) alarms went off. Sources said Aircraft Accident Investigation Board (AAIB) has started an investigation into the incident that happened on July 10. "The TCAS-Resolution Advisory system was triggered on two of our aircraft operating Coimbatore-Hyderabad and ...
Heavy rains affects life in parts of Karnataka;Rivers in spate
Heavy rains under the active south-west monsoon continued to batter parts of Karnataka, affecting life and causing several rivers to be in spate, officials said here today. Life was badly affected in the southern districts of Chikkamagaluru, Shivamogga, Hassan, Kodagu and Bagalkot, which are being lashed by rains for the past several days. Rivers, including Cauvery, Tunga, Bhadravati and Krishna, and their tributary streams were in spate, they said. Authorities in the rain affected districts have ordered closure of schools depending on the local situation and asked people living near the swollen rivers to move to safer places. The Karnataka State Natural Disaster Monitoring Centre (KSNDMC) has issued a warning to people not to go near the rivers with high current. There is rainfall for so many days due to which inflow of water in all the reservoirs has increased. However, these rivers still have carrying capacity, KSNDMC Director Dr G S Srinivasa told PTI. In a fresh ...
Woman fatally knocked down by speeding bike in Kerala
A 45-year-old woman was killed and two others were injured when an overspeeding bike hit them while they were crossing the accident-prone Kowdiyar-Ambalamukku stretch here, police said. Jyothilakskhmi (45), a native of nearby Nedungadu, was seriously injured after the bike driven by a youth knocked her down this afternoon. Later, she succumbed to injuries at a nearby hospital, they said. Two other women also suffered fracture and injuries, they added. Two youth who came on the two-wheeler also sustained minor injuries, police said. Located in the heart of the state capital, Vellayambalam-Kowdiyar-Ambalamukku stretch is an accident-prone area, which used to witness illegal bike races. In view of increasing accident rates, authorities had recently installed hi-tech CCTV cameras in the region.
No helmet, no petrol rule in Kangra
No helmet, no petrol - that's now the rule at petrol pumps in Himachal Pradesh's Kangra district. If two-wheeler riders land up at any of the 71 petrol pumps in the district, they shall not be served, according to an order issued by the Kangra deputy commissioner. The order comes into effect tomorrow. DC Kangra Sandeep Kumar said the restriction is meant to teach people safety rules and cut down on road accidents. Police officers and sub divisional magistrates have been asked to ensure implementation of the new rule. He said all petrol pumps in the district are covered by CCTV cameras and employees who break the no helmet-no petrol rule shall be punished. Kumar said officials have been asked to check the CCTV footage regularly. This rule shall also be implemented on tourists who visit the district on two-wheelers from adjoining states, he said. Hoardings making this clear shall be put up at the entry-points to the district.
UNISDR ARISE Global Board elects India's Nirankar Saxena as member
Nirankar Saxena, Deputy Secretary-General, FICCI has been elected Board Member of UNISDR Private Sector Alliance for Disaster Resilient Societies (ARISE).The election results were announced by Mami Mizutori, Assistant Secretary-General and Special Representative of the Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction, United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR).ARISE is a UNISDR-led network of private sector entities, whose members commit to aligning with the Sendai Framework. ARISE is separate from but works closely with UN Global Compact. Members share information, experience, activities and projects, while the level of involvement and resources is at the discretion of each member. Most activities and interactions are at local and regional level.The setting up of ARISE is the direct result of the decision taken in September 2015 by UNISDR, based on Sendai Framework to reduce the loss and recognize the important role of private sector in resilient risk management. Natural
Progress in North Korea but long road ahead: UN aid chief
North Korea has made "lots of progress" in providing food and medical services to its people in recent years but the impoverished state still has a long, tough road ahead, the UN humanitarian chief said today. Mark Lowcock's visit to the isolated country this week is the first such trip by a UN undersecretary for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator since 2011. "If you go back 20 years or so there were very many large-scale humanitarian problems resulting in enormous loss of life and in the recent period there has been a lot of progress," Lowcock told reporters in the capital Pyongyang. North Korea has periodically been hit by famine, and hundreds of thousands of people died -- estimates range into millions -- in the mid-1990s. Nearly 30 per cent of the country's children were stunted from malnutrition in 2011 but the number has fallen to 20 per cent now, Lowcock said, admitting however even the current figure is "still a higher number". "So there are still ...
2020 Tokyo Olympics Torch Relay to depart from Fukushima
The Olympic Torch Relay for the Tokyo 2020 Games will start from Fukushima, one of the areas hardest hit by the 2011 earthquake and tsunami, a spokesperson of the Olympic organizing committee said on Thursday.