Category Archives: natural disaster

Atmospheric Rivers in California Create a Perfect Storm of Public Health Risks

Public Health Risks

After a torrential downpour, most post-storm damages are impossible to miss: submerged cars, houses torn in half by fallen trees, debris floating through the streets. But in California, extreme weather is also mixing up a soup of rain and disease.

‘Life is hell’: Zimbabwe flood survivors lament loss of land, livelihoods

Zimbabwe flood survivors

Every day for the past 10 years, Trymore Wadyachitsve has regretted living in Chingwizi, a community 500km (310 miles) south of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Until February 13, 2014, he lived in the Tugwi Mukosi area 150km (90 miles) away from his home today. But then floods displaced 60,000 people in and around the area, which is home to the largest inland dam in the Southern African country – measuring 90.3 metres (296 ft) tall and creating a 1.75-billion-cubic-metre (385-billion-gallon) reservoir.

Airline resumes flights to quake-hit airport in central Japan

quake-hit airport

All Nippon Airways resumed its flights to and from an airport in central Japan on Saturday, almost a month after a magnitude-7.6 earthquake hit the region on New Year’s Day and left its runway damaged.

PM Kishida to vow stronger steps for recovery of central Japan quake

recovery of central Japan quake

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will pledge to take stronger steps for the recovery of a central Japan region devastated by a New Year’s Day earthquake when he delivers his policy speech in the upcoming Diet session, government sources said Wednesday.

Quake death toll in central Japan tops 80, with 72-hr window closing

Quake death toll

Search and rescue operations continued in central Japan after it was struck by a powerful earthquake on New Year’s Day, with the death toll rising above 80 and some 180 unaccounted for in Ishikawa Prefecture as of Thursday.

Earthquake slams Japan; residents flee some coastal areas

Earthquake

A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, triggering warnings for residents to evacuate some areas on its west coast, knocking out power to thousands of homes and disrupting flights and rail services to the affected region.

These shocking photos show the torrential flooding of 2023

torrential flooding of 2023

After a period of extreme drought, 2023 brought heavy rains to California. In a three-week period alone in January, nine atmospheric rivers—corridors of moisture concentrated in the atmosphere—pummeled the state with rain, leading to landslides, flooding, and levee breaches. 

ARCS Seeks Aid for Herat Earthquake Victims

Herat Earthquake Victims

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) held an online meeting with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other aid agencies to seek assistance for those affected by the recent earthquake in Herat province.

M6.5 quake triggers small tsunami in Japan’s Izu islands in Pacific

tsunami

Small tsunami waves arrived in parts of Japan’s Izu island chain following an earthquake with a preliminary magnitude of 6.5 in the Pacific Ocean on Thursday morning, with no damage reported.