Category:

Disaster & Management

Climate change set to drive more deadly heat in South Asia

If warming hits 2C, the number of South Asians exposed to unsafe temperatures could rise two-fold, and nearly three times as many people could face lethal heat, the study said. In a region home to a quarter of the world’s population that could have a big impact on the ability of workers to produce crops in breadbasket regions such as West Bengal and Uttar Pradesh in India and Punjab and Sindh in Pakistan, study authors said.

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Lloyd’s launches pioneering parametric earthquake insurance policy in New Zealand

The new product Bounce is designed to provide New Zealanders with affordable earthquake insurance and fast claims payments, to support customers’ needs following an earthquake and quickly cover immediate expenses incurred. It does this by tracking Peak Ground Velocity (PGV) which triggers payment at levels of 20 centimetres per second and above.

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No link between Uttarakhand floods, highway construction for Char Dham project: Govt

“As per reports received from Government of Uttarakhand, Geological Survey of India (GSI) and Defence Geo-informatics Research Establishment (DGRE), construction and widening of roads for the Char Dham project did not contribute to the Uttarakhand floods disaster,” Road Transport and Highways Minister Nitin Gadkari told the Rajya Sabha in a written reply.

As per scientific evidence available with the state government, this was is purely a natural event with no indication of human footprint directly attributable to its cause, he added.

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Need chopper landing facilities at eco-sensitive zones for rescue operations: Par panel

The committee ”stressed the need for close monitoring of ecological changes using the latest technology available, to prevent such natural disasters.
It also advised the ministry to actively engage with National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) regularly. On February 7, 2021, a glacier broke off in Joshimath in Uttarakhand’s Chamoli district killing more than 65 people while over 130 were missing. The burst caused a massive flood in the Dhauli Ganga river and endangered lives and disrupted activities of people living along its banks and nearby areas.

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Heavy rains in Australia’s east bring worst floods in 50 years

“Yesterday, we were hoping it will only be a one-in-20-year event, now it looks like a one-in-50-year event,” New South Wales Premier Gladys Berejiklian said at a televised briefing. People in parts of Sydney’s northwest were ordered to flee their houses in the middle of the night as fast-moving waters caused widespread destruction. Late on Sunday, about another 1,000 people were asked to evacuate, after Berejiklian said that some 4,000 people may be asked to leave their houses.

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Natural disasters occurring three times more often than 50 years ago: new FAO report

The least developed and low to middle income countries have fared worst of all. From 2008 to 2018, natural disasters have cost the agricultural sectors of developing economies more than $108 billion in damaged crop and livestock production.

Over the same period, Asia was the most hard-hit region, with overall economic losses of $49 billion, followed by Africa at $30 billion, and Latin America and the Caribbean at $29 billion.

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