Page 77 - Disaster Accident
Delhi govt orders special drive to check quality of edible oil, food at eateries
The Delhi government has ordered a special drive for collecting samples of edible oil and prepared food from eateries across the national capital to check quality. Food safety officers have been directed to carry a device which will help in detection of "good and bad quality" of edible oil. According to the food safety department's order, the drive, which started on May 15, will continue till the end of this month. The order was issued on May 15. "All designated officers are hereby directed to conduct special drive in their respective districts w.e.f 15.05.2019 to 31.05.2019 by deploying food safety officers and other staff for lifting samples of (i) edible oil and (ii) prepared food," the department said in its order. It stated that to operate the device, the officials concerned may take assistance of supporting persons deputed by the Food Safety and Standards Authority of India (FSSAI). "The special drive will be conducted along with official and routine field work," it added.
S.Korea to give $8 million in aid to N.Korea
South Korea on Friday announced it would donate $8 million in humanitarian aid to North Korea through international agencies, at a time when its neighbour faces a possible food shortage and drought.
Sonowal briefs Governor on law and order situation in Assam
Assam Chief Minister Sarbananda Sonowal called on Governor Jagdish Mukhi at the Raj Bhavan here on Friday and briefed him on the law and order situation in the state. The chief minister briefed the governor about the prevailing situation in Assam, especially in the aftermath of the grenade blast near the state zoo in the city on Wednesday, said a Raj Bhavan release. Twelve persons, including two SSB jawans, were injured in the grenade blast by ULFA. Sonowal apprised the governor of the current law and order situation prevailing in the Brahmaputra and Barak Valleys. The meeting also took note of the Central and state government schemes and their assiduous implementation to ensure the transfer of benefits of the governance to the people at the lowest level, the release said. Mukhi enquired about the state administrations preparedness to tackle any natural calamity, more particularly the perennial floods in the state and its plan to provide relief and rescue to the ...
Honeywell says employee among 4 killed in Dubai crash
A Honeywell employee was among four people killed in a plane crash near Dubai airport, the US tech giant said on Friday, denying it owned the aircraft. The UK-registered Diamond Aircraft plane went down Thursday five kilometres (three miles) south of the international hub, the United Arab Emirates state news agency WAM said, citing civil aviation authorities. "The four-seat plane crashed while on a mission to calibrate terrestrial navigation systems at the airport, with all crew members, three British and one South African, killed," WAM said. A statement from Honeywell received by AFP said one of those killed was a company employee, although it did not give the victim's nationality. "We are deeply saddened by the news that a small, chartered plane crashed in Dubai yesterday evening and our heartfelt condolences are with the victims' families," it said. "A Honeywell employee was among the four victims. The plane was not owned or operated by Honeywell but by a third party engaged by ...
Maha drought: Cong's Chavan criticises CM's reliance on tech
Maharashtra Congress president Ashok Chavan Friday criticised Chief Minister Devendra Fadnavis for "failing" to ensure effective drought relief measures in the state. Addressing a press conference, Chavan said Fadnavis should come out of his "air conditioned office and use of technology" to oversee drought relief measures and asked him to tour the state instead to know people's hardships. He was referring to the "audio bridge technology" that Fadnavis uses to get updates on the drought on his mobile phone. Chavan, a former CM, also targeted Fadnavis for making it mandatory for cattle camps to use software produced by a particular company for bar-coding and tagging animals there. Chavan also said TDS has been deducted on GST levied to procure fodder in cattle camps. "This was found by our committee which traveled in drought affected areas to see if whether relief measures are being implemented," he said. Chavan said Prime Minister Narendra Modi had declared Jalyukt ...
'Air India will be given preference in allocation of Jet Airways' slots'
New Delhi [India], May 17 (ANI): An Aviation Ministry official on Friday said that national carrier Air India will be given preference during the allocation of international slots of grounded Jet Airways.The ministry has already issued a couple of overseas slots to Air India, sources said.This comes after Aviation Secretary Pradeep Singh Kharola held a meeting with representatives of all airlines to discuss the allocation of international slots.However, the ministry clarified that no decision has been taken yet for 100 per cent slots.The abrupt departure of Jet Airways last month left various national and international slots vacant. Thereafter, various airlines approached the Ministry to get Jet Airways' slots.Reportedly, airlines others than Air India have officially given their choices.The national carrier also confirmed that it was offered the vacant slots of Jet Airways.The ministry held meetings with Air India officials on Wednesday and Thursday. Air India was offered the vacant .
3 of family killed as bike hits lorry
: A couple and their son died while their daughter escaped with minor injuries in a road accident near Avanashi in Tirupur district early Friday, police said. The couple and their children, aged 6 and 3, were riding a two-wheeler when it hit a lorry, the police said The family belonged to Sulur and they were returning home from Gudiyatham in Vellore district, they said.
Tanzania floods kill five, leave around 2,500 homeless
Flooding in Tanzania has killed five people and forced about 2,500 to flee their homes after a week of torrential rain in the country's south, an official said Friday. Schools have closed in Kyela, a district on the border of Lake Malawi, and families fled to shelters after losing everything in the rising waters. "The damage from these floods is enormous," Salome Magambo, the district's administrative secretary, told AFP. "Since the beginning of the week we have reported five people killed and 2,570 homeless, some of whom are staying with friends or in schools and churches." Food and medical services have been extended to those stranded, she added. Farming land in the district known for its rice production has also been inundated, destroying crops and raising fears of food shortages in coming months. In April 2018 at least 14 people were killed in torrential rains and flooding in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania's economic capital.
Better machines, manpower need of the hour in disaster-prone
With Odisha coast prone to natural disasters, better machines and manpower training are required to overcome the challenges posed by the calamities in a more effective manner, a senior official has said. Presiding over the Executive Council of Disaster Management (ECDM) meeting here Thursday, Chief Secretary A P Padhi said that Odishas disaster management should be more effective in future. Taking a lesson from cyclone Fani which devastated the entire coastal region of the state, the ECDM decided to give priority on training human resources to face the post-cyclone situation more effectively. Though the state has raised 20 units of ODRAF (Odisha Disaster Rapid Action Force) for natural calamities, it should be strengthened with more training programmes for its personnel and better equipment. Padhi also directed officials to purchase more implements that came in handy during the post-Fani restoration work and sufficiently equip the OSDMA, police and fire stations with ...
Small plane crashes near Dubai's busy airport, killing 4
A small plane involved in upgrading a runway at Dubai International Airport crashed Thursday night, killing four people and halting traffic at the world's busiest airport for international travel for nearly an hour. Authorities gave no explanation for what caused the crash of the Diamond DA62 aircraft with a tail number belonging to Flight Calibrations Service Ltd. of Shoreham, England. The UAE's General Civil Aviation Authority said the three British citizens and one South African on the plane were killed. Early Friday morning, police, paramedics and flight investigators worked at the crash site, some 8 kilometers southeast of the airport in Mushrif Park near the city-state's water reservoirs. Police told Associated Press journalists they could not visit the crash site, which was hidden from view by sand dunes. The airport, home to long-haul carrier Emirates, is the world's busiest for international travel. It halted flights from 7:36 p.m. until 8:22 p.m. over the crash. Flight ...
2 Sikh youth killed in US car crash
Two Sikh youths were killed in a car crash in the US state of Indiana, the media reported.
Despite security issue, N Korea should be given food: South Korea
Asserting that humanitarian issue should be separated from a security issue, South Korea on Friday said North Korea, which is facing severe drought, should be provided food-aid despite its recent missile launches."I think the food issue should be reviewed, irrespective of the security issue, from the humanitarian aspect, especially as the same compatriots," Yonhap News Agency quoted Chung Eui-yong, head of the presidential National Security Office, as saying.Meanwhile, South Korea is drawing up plans to provide food, possibly including rice, to North Korea in the hope of helping alleviate the situation there and to help keep the stalled negotiating process alive.North Korea has been criticising South Korea and the US over their joint military training, with the foreign ministry spokesperson saying that South Korean military has "no qualification to vilify" the North over its recent exercises.Breaking the months of truce, North Korea, earlier this month, test-fired two short-range ...
6 dead in road accident in UP's Deoria
Six people died and one person was severely injured in a road accident in Deoria in Uttar Pradesh on Thursday night.
North Korea seeing worst drought in a century: state media
North Korea is experiencing its worst drought in over a century, official media reported Friday, days after the World Food Programme expressed "very serious concerns" about the situation in the country. The isolated, impoverished North -- which is under several sets of sanctions over its nuclear weapon and ballistic missile programmes -- has long struggled to feed itself, and suffers chronic food shortages. It recorded its worst harvest for a decade last year, according to the United Nations, down by 500,000 tonnes as natural disasters combined with its lack of arable land and inefficient agriculture to hit production. In the year to Wednesday the North received just 56.3 millimetres of rain or snow, the Rodong Sinmun newspaper reported Friday, the lowest since 1917. Water was running out in the country's lakes and reservoirs, said the paper, the official mouthpiece of the ruling Workers' Party, adding: "The ongoing drought is causing a significant effect on the cultivation of wheat, .
Boeing completes 737 MAX software fix
Boeing said that it has completed software update and tests for the 737 MAX planes that have been grounded worldwide since March following two deadly crashes involving the aircraft model that took place within a span of five months.
Chinese authorities say 17 people trapped in flooded mine
Chinese authorities say 17 people have been trapped in a flooded iron mine in the country's northeast. The accident comes a day after 10 people were killed when a building being refurbished in the financial hub of Shanghai collapsed. The incidents underscore continuing problems with occupational safety despite a government drive to improve standards. The mine accident took place in Heilongjiang province's Cuihongshan at around 3 a.m. Friday. Of those working in the mine at the time of the flood, 26 escaped. Mine floods often occur when workers breach adjoining shafts, galleries or drifts that had previously been flooded. China has suffered a spate of industrial accidents in recent months. In March, 78 people were killed in a blast at a chemical plant in the eastern city of Yancheng.
100 displaced on remote island by Papua New Guinea quake
More than 100 people living on a remote tropical island were displaced by this week's massive earthquake in Papua New Guinea, according to responders who, days later, have finally reached affected communities. Disaster authorities said an elderly disabled woman was injured when one of several homes collapsed in the outlying Duke of York islands in the north of the country amid Tuesday's quake. Areas close to the epicentre have reported surprisingly little damage from the magnitude 7.5 tremblor, but even as power has returned to urban areas, the government has struggled to reach remote island communities. Provincial Disaster Coordinator Wilson Matava told AFP that his office was now planning to "provide tarpaulins for temporary shelter, food and water and also mosquito nets" for residents of the Duke of York Islands. The low lying isles sit on two tectonic plates and are at risk of being inundated by rising sea levels. The terrifying quake late Tuesday sent residents running from their
Toll in deadly Shanghai building collapse rises to 10
The death toll in the collapse of a Shanghai commercial building that was undergoing renovation rose to 10 overnight after three more victims were added to the grim tally, the city government said Friday. About half of the low-rise building collapsed around midday on Thursday, crushing construction workers under piles of toppled concrete pillars and shattered wooden beams. Authorities said 25 people had been found in the rubble, 10 of whom had succumbed to their injuries. The latest announcement on a city government social media account did not make clear whether any others were still missing, but added that search and rescue work was "basically finished." Medical personnel were making "all-out efforts" to treat the injured, the announcement said. Rescue personnel pulled bloodied and dust-coated workers out from the rubble throughout Thursday afternoon and evening, according to AFP journalists at the scene. The building had previously been used as a dealership for Mercedes-Benz cars, .
F-16 fighter crashes into California warehouse, pilot ejects
Authorities say an F-16 fighter jet has crashed into a warehouse just outside of Southern California's March Air Reserve Base. Maj. Perry Covington, director of public affairs at the base, says the pilot ejected before the crash Thursday and was not hurt. Television news shows a large hole in the roof of the building east of Los Angeles. Covington says there are no injuries on the ground. Officials say the plane is assigned to the Air National Guard. Interstate 215, which runs near the base, is closed in both directions.
737 Max software update complete, says Boeing
Boeing said it has completed software update and tests for 737 Max planes that have been grounded worldwide since March this year following two deadly air crashes in a short span of five months.