Page 3 - Natural Disasters

Massive California wildfire grows, becomes state's largest in 2025

Rising temperatures on Wednesday posed new challenges for firefighters who have made incremental progress against a massive wildfire in central California that has injured four people as it has become the biggest blaze in the state so far this year. More than 870 remote homes and other structures at the northern edge of Los Padres National Forest are threatened by the Gifford Fire, which grew only slightly overnight after burning out of control for days. The fire has scorched at least 339 square kilometres of Santa Barbara and San Luis Obispo counties, with just 9 per cent containment. It surpassed the 326-square-kilometer Madre Fire, which erupted last month in southeastern San Luis Obispo County, as the state's largest fire of 2025. Crews working in steep, inaccessible terrain will be dealing with temperatures in the mid-90s (35 Celsius) on Wednesday and above 100 (38 Celsius) on Thursday, said Capt. Scott Safechuck with the Santa Barbara County Fire Department. We have hot weath

190 people rescued from Uttarkashi's Dharali village: Uttarakhand CM

Uttarakhand Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami on Wednesday said 190 people have been rescued from Uttarkashi's Dharali village which was hit by a flash flood triggered by a cloudburst that struck the upper catchment of the Kheer Ganga river. Talking to PTI Videos here, the chief minister said plans are being prepared to evacuate the pilgrims stuck in Gangotri Dham through Nelong Valley. "All arrangements have been made and they will be evacuated very soon," he added. "After the incident which took place yesterday, 190 people have been rescued from there. All of them are safe and are at secure places," he said, adding, "The injured have been admitted to hospitals while some have been sent to the military camps and higher centres." Five people have been killed and several have been injured in the flash flood which hit Dharali on Tuesday. Dhami said the state government employees are doing their work. "I am also camping here. Till all rescue work is streamlined and they catch speed,

Datanomics: Natural disasters kill at least 1,000 people annually

More than 1,000 people die every year due to natural disasters in the country

Latest updates | Uttarkashi cloudburst: Over 100 missing, 4 dead | Dharali floods | Uttarakhand

Cloudburst triggered flash floods in Uttarakhand’s Uttarkashi district on August 6 have claimed at least four lives. Over 60 people are feared trapped or missing.

Unscientific mining in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar risks disasters: Govt panel

A government-appointed panel has warned that unscientific mining in Uttarakhand's Bageshwar district is destabilising slopes, threatening villages and agriculture besides disrupting water sources in the fragile Himalayan region. The "Geological Assessment and Recommendations For Sustainable Mining Practices in Bageshwar District" report, submitted to the National Green Tribunal on July 30, called for sweeping reforms in mining practices and stringent monitoring to mitigate the risks. The assessment was conducted following rising complaints of landslides, cracks in houses, drying springs and crop losses in several villages around Bageshwar. The tribunal had sought an expert evaluation after local residents alleged that mining in the district was being carried out without regard for environmental safeguards. The panel, comprising experts from the Geological Survey of India, the Uttarakhand Landslide Mitigation and Management Centre, the Department of Geology and Mining and the Indian

Centre approves ₹125 crore project for landslide mitigation in Uttarakhand

The Centre has approved a project of Rs 125 crore for landslide mitigation in Uttarakhand and has released Rs 4.5 crore for it in the first phase, officials said here on Friday. Welcoming the approval of the project, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said, "The project is a decisive initiative towards finding a long-term solution to landslides in disaster-sensitive areas of the state". Five sensitive sites most frequently hit by landslides have been selected for the project on a priority basis, he said. These places are Mansa Devi Hill Bypass Road in Haridwar, Galogi Hydroelectric Project Road in Mussoorie, Bahuguna Nagar Land-Subsidence Area in Karnaprayag, Chamoli, Charton Lodge in Nainital and Khotila-Ghatdhar Landslide Area in Dharchula, Pithoragarh, he said. With the approval of the project, state authorities hope a long-term solution will be found for recurring landslides in the most vulnerable areas of the state, On the instructions of the chief minister, the State Disaste

Disaster management mock drill carried out at 55 locations across Delhi

A field-level, multi-agency disaster management mock drill was carried out at 55 locations across the national capital on Friday morning, according to officials. The exercise began with the triggering of a simulated earthquake scenario followed by chemical leaks in industrial and transport zones in all the 11 districts of the city. The exercise is being conducted simultaneously in Delhi as well UP and Haryana districts in the National Capital Region, the officials said. The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA), in collaboration with the Indian Army and the governments of Delhi, Haryana, and Uttar Pradesh, is organizing 'Exercise Suraksha Chakra' that culminated with a field-level mock drill. The Delhi Disaster Management Authority (DDMA) is the lead agency for coordinating the mock drill to test the preparedness of Delhi-NCR in case of earthquake and industrial chemical hazards scenarios, said a statement from the Authority.

Tsunami warnings ease for US, Japan after quake; S America on alert

Fears of a devastating tsunami faded Wednesday for the US and Japan after one of the strongest earthquakes ever recorded struck off a sparsely populated Russian peninsula, but new alerts along South America's Pacific coast forced evacuations and closed beaches. Warnings in the first hours after the 8.8 magnitude quake sent residents fleeing to rooftops in Japan and forced tourists out of beachfront hotels in Hawaii, snarling island traffic. In Russia, several people were hurt while rushing out of buildings, including a hospital patient who jumped from a window. Millions of people were told to move away from the shore or seek high ground because they were potentially in the path of the tsunami waves, which struck seaside areas of Japan, Hawaii and the US West Coast but did not appear to cause any major damage. The dire warnings following the massive quake early Wednesday off Russia's Kamchatka peninsula evoked memories of catastrophic damage caused by tsunamis over the last ...

Wildfires threaten Turkiye's fourth-largest city as locals evacuated

Wildfires that have engulfed Turkiye for weeks threatened the country's fourth-largest city early Sunday, causing hundreds of people to flee their homes. Overnight fires in the forested mountains surrounding Bursa in northwest Turkiye spread rapidly, bringing a red glow to the night sky over the city's eastern suburbs. Bursa governor's office said in a statement Sunday that 1,765 people had been safely evacuated from villages to the northeast as more than 1,100 firefighters battled the flames. The highway linking Bursa to the capital, Ankara, was closed as surrounding forests burned. Orhan Saribal, an opposition parliamentarian for the province, described the scene as an apocalypse. By morning, lessening winds brought some respite to firefighters, who continued efforts to bring down the flames. However, TV footage revealed an ashen landscape where farms and pine forests had earlier stood. Turkiye has been hit by dozens of wildfires daily since late June. Forestry Minister Ibrahim

Govt constitutes crisis management body to deal with major disasters

The Centre on Wednesday constituted the National Crisis Management Committee (NCMC), headed by the cabinet secretary, for dealing with any situation of major disaster having national ramifications. In a notification, the Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA) said exercising the powers conferred by sub-section (2) of section 8A of the Disaster Management Act, 2005 (53 of 2005), the central government constituted the NCMC. While the cabinet secretary will be the chairperson, Union home secretary, defence secretary, secretary (co-ordination), cabinet secretariat and member and head of department, the National Disaster Management Authority, will be the members of the committee. The committee shall be the apex body for dealing with the situation arising out of a major disaster, which has national ramifications, the notification said. The chairperson of the NCMC may co-opt any expert or any officer either from the central government or the state government or any organisation, depending on the

Released ₹9578.4 cr to 22 states in FY26 as share under SDRF: Union govt

The government has released Rs 9578.40 crore to 22 states in the current financial year till July 15 as central share under SDRF to support those affected by natural disasters, Lok Sabha was informed Tuesday. In a written reply, Minister of State for Home Affairs Nityanand Rai said the financial assistance under State Disaster Response Fund (SDRF)/ National Disaster Response Fund (NDRF) in the wake of natural disasters is by way of relief and not for compensation of loss as suffered and claimed. "An Inter-Ministerial Central Team (IMCT) has been constituted for Himachal Pradesh, without waiting for the memorandum, to visit the affected areas of the state for assessment of damages caused by the flash flood/floods, cloudburst and landslides," the minister said. He said according to the National Policy on Disaster Management (NPDM), the primary responsibility for disaster management, including disbursal of relief assistance on ground level, rests with the state governments ...

Mild earthquake of 2.9 magnitude recorded in Assam's Nagaon district

Earlier this month, on July 8, a stronger earthquake measuring 4.1 on the Richter scale struck the Karbi Anglong district of Assam

Home insurance: Ensure policy covers calamities, pays reconstruction cost

Disclose all extensions, additional structures at the time of purchase

20 states sue FEMA over cancelled disaster resilience grant programme

Twenty Democratic-led states have filed suit against the Federal Emergency Management Agency, challenging the elimination of a long-running grant programme that helps communities guard against damage from natural disasters. The lawsuit contends President Donald Trump's administration acted illegally when it announced in April that it was ending the Building Resilient Infrastructure and Communities programme. FEMA cancelled some projects already in the works and refused to approve new ones despite funding from Congress. "In the wake of devastating flooding in Texas and other states, it's clear just how critical federal resources are in helping states prepare for and respond to natural disasters," said Attorney General Andrea Joy Campbell of Massachusetts, where the federal lawsuit was filed on Wednesday. "By abruptly and unlawfully shutting down the BRIC programme, this administration is abandoning states and local communities that rely on federal funding to protect their residents .

Massive landslide hits Devprayag, two injured as houses collapse

According to Senior Superintendent of Police (SSP) Lokeshwar Singh, large boulders and debris fell onto homes following the landslide

Emergency crews suspend search for flooding victims in US amid new warnings

Emergency crews suspended their search for victims of catastrophic flooding in central Texas on Sunday morning amid new warnings that additional rain would again cause waterways to surge. It was the first time a new round of severe weather has paused the search since the flooding earlier this month. Ingram Fire Department officials ordered search crews to immediately evacuate the Guadalupe River corridor in Kerr County until further notice, warning the potential for a flash flood is high. Search-and-rescue teams have been searching for missing victims of the July 4 weekend flooding that killed at least 129 people and left more than 170 missing. As heavy rain fell Sunday, National Weather Service forecasters warned that the Guadalupe River could rise to nearly 15 feet (4.6 metres) by Sunday afternoon, about five feet above flood stage and enough to put the Highway 39 bridge near Hunt under water. Numerous secondary roads and bridges are flooded and very dangerous, a weather service

Texas inspectors cleared Camp Mystic's disaster plan 2 days before flood

Texas inspectors signed off on Camp Mystic's emergency planning just two days before catastrophic flooding killed more than two dozen people at the all-girls Christian summer camp, most of them children. The Department of State Health Services released records Tuesday showing the camp complied with a host of state regulations regarding procedures to be implemented in case of a disaster. Among them: instructing campers what to do if they need to evacuate and assigning specific duties to each staff member and counsellor. Five years of inspection reports released to The Associated Press do not offer any details of those plans at Mystic, raising new questions about the camp's preparedness ahead of the torrential July 4 rainfall in flood-prone Texas Hill Country. The National Weather Service had issued a flood watch for the area on July 3 at 1.18 pm. That danger prompted at least one of the roughly 18 camps along the Guadalupe River to move dozens of campers to higher ground. Camp Mysti

Datanomics: Displacements in India rise due to natural disasters, conflicts

According to the data from Geneva-based Internal Displacement Monitoring Centre, around 118,000 people were displaced by climate-induced disasters in India in 2024

Police continue search operation at Pune bridge collapse site

Police on Monday continued the search operation at the site where an iron bridge collapsed on the Indrayani River in Pune district, even as the National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) called off its efforts. Four people died, and 18 were seriously injured when a 32-year-old bridge over the Indrayani River in Maval tehsil collapsed on Sunday afternoon. "Since all missing persons have been accounted for as per directions of the district administration, the search operation has been closed," an NDRF official said. According to the authorities, the iron structure collapsed due to overcrowding by tourists who ignored the warning board at the spot. More than 100 people were on the bridge, a popular spot for tourists and picnickers, when it collapsed around 3.30 pm in Kundamala, which received heavy rains in the last few days, giving the river a steady flow, officials said. "While there is no possibility of anyone still being missing, as a precautionary step, we are continuing the search

India saw over 32 million disaster displacements in a decade: IDMC report

Natural disasters displaced 32.3 million people in India between 2015 and 2024, with floods and storms accounting for the bulk of the movement, according to the IDMC's latest report