Page 87 - Disaster Accident
Report: 1.5 cr people affected, 5 lakh houses damaged in Odisha cyclone
Over 1.5 crore people were affected and more than five lakh houses damaged by the extremely severe Cyclone Fani, which hit Odisha's coast in Puri on May 3, according to a report released on Friday.The State Emergency Operation Center (SEOC) in its report said that 159 Blocks, 16,659 villages, and 1,50,94,321 population were affected in the cyclone. 5,08,467 Houses were damaged too across 14 districts of the cyclone-affected state.There were 21 human casualties were reported in Puri out of overall death toll of 41, the report said."The district of Puri and Khurdha have been extremely severely affected. For all families covered under Food Security, 50 kg of rice plus Rs. 2000 and polythene will be provided. Cuttack, Kendrapada and Jagatsinghpur districts are moderately affected. Rs 500 plus additional one month quota of rice will be provided in these districts," the SEOC said."Hon'ble Prime Minister has announced an ex-gratia from Prime Minister's National Relief Fund at Rs 2 lakh each
Restoration work picks up in cyclone-hit Odisha
Relief and restoration work in cyclone-ravaged coastal Odisha has gained pace, and Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik Friday said government offices in the five severely affected districts will remain open during the weekend. The state government has been able to ensure supply of drinking water in most parts of the 14 districts, including Puri and Khurda, affected in cyclone 'Fani', officials said. However, power supply is still to be restored as 1.56 lakh electric poles were either uprooted or severely damaged in the cyclone. Of them, 30,000 electric poles were damaged in Bhubaneswar. While about 50 per cent of Bhubaneswar residents have been provided power connection, entire Puri district continues to remain in darkness. The state government claimed that it would be able to fully restore power in Bhubaneswar by May 12 while a part of Puri town may get electricity by the same time. Lack of electricity is adding to the misery of the people who have to bear the mid-summer heat. "We have ...
IAF Sukhois intercept Georgian Antonov cargo plane trespassing into Indian territory from Pakistan
The aircraft, identified as Antonov-12 and carrying spares entered the air space into North Gujarat Sector at 3:15 pm. At the time of being intercepted, the plane was flying at 27,000 feet an official statement said.There has been a high alert on the air space in both India and Pakistan after the Balakot aerial strikes by the Indian Air Force in March.Not flying on the authorized Air Traffic Services (ATS) route, the aircraft was forced to land at Jaipur air base at 4:55 pm after it failed to respond to radio calls from Indian controlling agencies.The AN-12 entered the Indian air space around 70 kms north of an important air base in the Rann of Kutch from the air space, which is closed for civilian air traffic, government sources said.When challenged, the aircraft responded and informed that it was a non-scheduled An-12 aircraft that was airborne from Tbilisi (Georgia) for Delhi via Karachi.Sources said as soon as the air force bases detected the aircraft on their radars, they ...
Shivraj Singh Chouhan helps road accident victims
Former Madhya Pradesh Chief Minister Shivraj Singh Chouhan stopped his convoy to help two road accident victims in Bhopal on Friday.Chouhan ordered one of the vehicles from his convoy to take the two victims to the nearest hospital for receiving medical attention.The former chief minister is actively campaigning for BJP and has been targeting the Congress government in the state over the past few weeks over farm loan waivers and other issues.He has repeatedly attacked the incumbent Chief Minister Kamal Nath and Congress for allegedly failing to provide loan waivers to the lakhs of farmers in the state.Madhya Pradesh saw polling on April 29 and May 6 and will also hold polls on May 12 and 19 in the two remaining phases of the seven-phased Lok Sabha elections. The counting of votes will begin on May 23.
'Suspicious' Georgian aircraft forced by IAF to land in Jaipur
A Georgian An-12 cargo aircraft was forced by IAF jets to land at Jaipur airport on Friday after it created alarm by entering Indian air space from an unscheduled point in north Gujarat, official sources said.
Post Fani, Konark Temple to open within three days: Culture Ministry
The Konark Sun Temple, which suffered minor damages when cyclonic storm Fani hit the coast of Odisha, will be opened to the public within the next three days, the culture ministry said on Friday. A team of Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) officials led by Director General, Usha Sharma visited the temple and observed that there is no structural damage to the monument, the ministry said in a statement. "The team has informed that there is some dislocation in the scaffolding provided for chemical cleaning at upper level which is being set right. More than 200 trees have been damaged which are being cleared. The electric and illumination system including internet access has been affected, restoration of which will take some time," it said. "The monument will be opened to public in the next two to three days. The chemical cleaning and consolidation of eastern face will be completed on priority. The monument will be restored back to normal within a fortnight," it added. The Konark Sun ..
ASI to assess Fani damage to Jagannath, Sun temples
A team of senior officials from the Archaeological Survey of India (ASI) on Friday reached cyclone-ravaged Odisha to assess the quantum of structural damages to the Jagannath Temple in Puri and the Sun Temple in Konark.
Bhubaneswar loses over one million trees in Cyclone Fani
Over one million trees that once stood tall and provided green cover to the Odisha capital have been felled by the raging winds of Cyclone Fani, the uprooted trunks and bare branches testimony to the intensity of the storm that barrelled through the state last week. The extremely severe cyclonic storm on May 3 did not result in major casualties but the environmental damage in the city is immense and it will take more than a decade to recover, officials said. Uprooted trees and fallen electricity poles can be seen through the city, which is picking up the pieces from the storm that killed 29 people, mostly in the coastal town of Puri. Over one million trees have fallen in this city, adding to the herculean clean-up task. Many in Bhubaneswar had an emotional attachment with the trees, carefully tended for over two decades. "We were in tears seeing these trees lying on the roads. We raised them like our kids. We are now working hard to rehabilitate the remaining trees. Our 40-member ...
Maha Cong teams to tour drought-hit areas from May 12-20
The Maharashtra Congress will set up teams to tour drought-affected areas of the state from May 12-20, the party's state unit chief Ashok Chavan said Friday. He also led a delegation to Governor C Vidyasagar Rao asking him to intervene and direct the Devendra Fadnavis government to take immediate drought relief measures. Speaking to reporters after a meeting of party leaders earlier in the day, Chavan said the Congress had taken stock of the drought situation and had come to the conclusion that mismanagement on the part of the BJP-led state government was causing hardships to people. Chavan said drought was declared in October last year and claimed the state's preparations, which were good on paper, failed to take off. "During the Lok Sabha polls, the state government completely neglected drought affected areas. There was no hurdle of election code of conduct for drought relief. The chief minister declared drought on time, but did not take subsequent measures to provide .
Light rains to bring down Delhi temperature; air quality likely to improve from Saturday
Delhiites can expect some relief from searing temperatures that touched 43 degrees Celsius on Friday with light rains, dust storm or thunderstorm likely in the coming week according to weather predictions.The air quality in the city, which continued to remain in the "very poor" category, is also expected to improve from Saturday.Dust blowing in the north-west region of the country is primarily responsible for pollution in the national capital. Particulate matter PM 10, mainly dust, is responsible for the majority of pollution in the country.The temperature in Delhi is expected to fall from Saturday owing to the possibility of light rains, dust storm or thunderstorm along with partly cloudy to the generally cloudy sky in the coming week according to the IMD's prediction for the coming week.Isolated to scattered rainfall and thunderstorm activity is very likely to occur over Punjab, Haryana, Chandigarh and Delhi, Rajasthan, Uttar Pradesh during many days of the week.Private forecaster ..
IAF Sukhois intercept Georgian Antonov cargo plane after trespassing into Indian territory from Pakistan
The aircraft carrying spares was forced to land at 4.55 pm in Jaipur and its crew is being questioned by the authorities concerned on the ground, senior government sources told ANI.The AN-12 entered the Indian air space around 70 kms north of an important air base in the Rann of Kutch from the air space, which is closed for civilian air traffic, sources said.The IAF will send its team from nearby bases to check the cargo contents of the aircraft."Today afternoon one AN-12 aircraft of Georgia after getting airborne for Delhi from Karachi deviated from it's scheduled flight path and entered Indian Air Space from an unscheduled point in North Gujarat. The aircraft was successfully intercepted by highly alert IAF Air Defence aircraft and was forced to land at Jaipur airfield," IAF spokesperson Gp Capt Anupam Bannerjee said.Sources said as soon as the air force bases detected the aircraft on their radars, they activated two air defence fighters SU-30MKI there."The Georgian aircraft was ...
Maha: 6 dead, 2 injured in road accident in Palghar
Six persons died and two others were injured in a road accident on Friday evening on the Mumbai- Ahmedabad Highway in Maharashtra's Palghar district, police said. The incident took place at 4:30pm near Amboli village in Kasa police station limits in the district's Dahanu tehsil, an official said. "Two cars and a motorcycle collided. Six people have died and two others have sustained serious injuries and have been rushed to a nearby hospital. Further details about the incident are awaited," Hemant Katkar, Palghar police PRO.
Ten million people displaced internally by conflict in 2018: monitors
Conflict forced more than 10 million people to flee their homes to live elsewhere within their own country last year, bringing the total number of people internally displaced by violence to a record high, monitors said Friday. The new figure brings the total number of people currently living in internal displacement due to violence to 41.3 million, an all-time high, according to a report by the Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre (IDMC) and the Norwegian Refugee Council (NRC). "It is really a mind-boggling figure," NRC chief Jan Egeland told reporters in Geneva. "It takes extreme violence and fear of disasters to force a family out of their home, their land, their property, their community," he stressed. Including those uprooted from their homes by natural disasters as well as conflicts, a total of 28 million people were displaced internally in 2018, the report said. A full 10.8 million of new internally displaced people (IDPs) last year were fleeing conflict, with strife in the ..
Pilot flies plane unconscious for 40 mins in Australia
A trainee pilot flew unconscious for about 40 minutes through controlled airspace above Adelaide airport in Australia after he skipped breakfast on the morning of the flight.
3 Railway staff suspended after two trains run on same track
: Three Railway staff have been placed under suspension for ignoring safety protocol in giving line clearance and negligence which led to two trains running on the same track here, officials said Friday. Those suspended were the station masters of Kallikudi and Tirumangalam Railway stations,Beem Singh Meena and Jayakumar, respectively, and Controller Muruganandham, all from the Madurai division. The train bound for Sengottai from here had halted at Tirumangalam station at 5.30 p.m on Thursday when the Sengottai-Madurai train was received in the same track, the officials said. As passengers of both trains raised an alarm, the alertdrivers stopped the trains several metres apart. The Madurai-Sengottai train was delayed forabout two hours after the incident.
New report shows 41 million displaced by conflict, tensions
A leading advocacy group for refugees estimates a record 41 million people have been displaced within their countries, with many forced to flee conflict, violence and internal tensions in several African countries and Syria. The Norwegian Refugee Council said a global report on displacement by its monitoring centre for internal displacement found an increase in 2018 of more than a million people in the total tally accumulated over many years. The centre cited over 28 million new displacements because of conflict, violence and natural disasters last year. That figure counts every displacement movement, meaning it can include multiple movements by a single person. Extreme weather events spurred over 17 million of those displacements. The report released Friday focuses on internally displaced people, not refugees who have fled their home countries.
Fire breaks out at electric goods godown in Delhi's Naraina, doused
A major fire broke out at an electric goods godown in west Delhi's Naraina and continued for almost 16 hours before being brought under control Friday, officials said. According to the fire department, a call about the blaze was received at around 9 pm Thursday, following which 30 fire tenders were rushed to the spot. The fire broke out at an electric goods godown located in Naraina area, a senior official of the Delhi Fire Service said. The fire was brought under control at 1.40 pm on Friday, the official said, adding no casualties or injuries were reported. The official, however, said that the goods stored in the godown were completely destroyed in the fire. The cause of the fire is yet to be ascertained, the department said.
Famous Thai beach to remain closed till 2021
A Thai bay that was made iconic by its appearance in the 2000 Hollywood film "The Beach" will remain closed until 2021 since a sharp rise in visitors had severely damaged the environment.
Fire breaks out in SMS Hospital
A major fire broke out in a medical shop in the state-run SMS Hospital premises Friday morning following which the hospital administration shifted 125 patients to another ward, officials said. While hospital and fire officials said there was no loss of life in the fire incident, family members of a patient who died early morning alleged that smoke and suffocation caused his death. Chief Fire Officer Jagdish Chandra Phulwari said the fire broke out at 3 am in a medical store situated on the ground floor of the hospital which spread fast to the first floor. He said 12 fire tenders doused the fire in four hours. The fire apparently broke out due to short circuit However, exact reason will be come out after investigation. The fire officer said no loss of life was reported. SMS Hospital superintendent Dr D.S Meena said that 125 patients were temporarily shifted to a different ward. He denied any death due to smoke and suffocation and said the patient who died this morning was suffering ...
Central team to soon visit Odisha to assess crop damage due to cyclone Fani
A central team will visit Odisha in a day or two to assess the extend of damage to agricultural and horticultural crops in areas badly affected by recent cyclone Fani, a senior government official said Friday. "A team has been constituted and will leave for Odisha in a day or two to examine the extent of damage, based on which the relief amount will be decided," the official told PTI. Thousands of coconut and mango trees are reported to have been uprooted in the extremely severe cyclone that hit the coastal districts of the state a week ago. Even agricultural land closure to the coastal areas has been washed out, he said. According to the state government's preliminary assessment, more than 30 per cent crop has been damaged in Odisha due the cyclone. More than 1,00,000 hectares of agricultural land was badly affected in 14 districts of the state, the report said. The central government official also mentioned that the team may not visit Andhra Pradesh and West Bengal because not much .