Category:

Disaster & Management

UK identifies new South African coronavirus variant tightens lockdown

Like the UK variant identified earlier, the new variant of the novel coronavirus is also driving a massive resurgence of the disease in South Africa, with experts warning the country is probably facing a much larger second wave.

“Both cases of the new variant are contacts of cases who have travelled from South Africa over the past few weeks,” Hancock said, addressing a briefing from 10 Downing Street.

“This new variant is highly concerning because it is yet more transmissible and it appears to have mutated further than the new variant that has been discovered in the UK,” he said.

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Emergency no 112 to be available for disaster relief in 2 yrs;alert protocol in 4 yrs: NDMA official

”The MHA (Ministry of Home Affairs) is working on public safety… it is 112 single number emergency response system. It is being implemented for police, fire emergency, women and child protection and the next evolution is for disaster on which we are working. This will be rolled in two year or so,” NDMA Advisor, Operations and Communications, Brig Ajay Gangwar said

he said the government is also working on priority call routing which will give precedence to officials and agencies that will be first point of response for relief and rescue operations during any disaster like earthquake, cyclone or floods. Gangwar said NDMA has done a pilot project for common alert protocol which sends out automated alerts to people and it will implemented across country in four years.

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India announces new controls on sourcing telecoms gear

New Delhi will announce a list of trusted sources and products for Indian telecoms providers – and possibly a blacklist – as part of the new directive, which will likely be launched next year.

“This is a very important decision with respect to national security,” Prasad said.

Telecoms providers will have to use new devices which have been approved as trusted products, he said, though he added that the policy does not require wireless carriers to replace gear already being used.

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How pandemic bonds became the world’s most controversial investment

Here’s how the pandemic bonds worked.

The World Bank would sell $320 million of debt to investors. In the event of a pandemic, that debt would be written off and the principal would accrue to the bank to be distributed to needy countries. Premiums were juicy – the safest slice of the offering paid 6.9% over the Libor benchmark rate, similar to returns typically found on junk-rated corporate bonds and far greater than the 2.2% available on 10-year U.S. government debt at the time. For the second tranche, which had looser triggers for a writeoff, premiums were a whopping 11.5%.

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270 million people face starvation, says WFP as it receives Nobel Peace Prize

“Because of so many wars, climate change, the widespread use of hunger as a political and military weapon, and a global health pandemic that makes all of that exponentially worse — 270 million people are marching toward starvation,” David Beasley said from the WFP headquarters in Rome, upon receiving the Nobel medal and diploma.

“Failure to address their needs will cause a hunger pandemic which will dwarf the impact of COVID. And if that’s not bad enough, out of that 270 million, 30 million depend on us 100% for their survival,” he added.

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Prudence Foundation launches 2nd edition of its Tech Awards to find life-saving technologies for disaster resilience

Winners will have access to financial support, coaching and networking opportunities to help scale their innovative technology solutions
Since 2000, more than 40 per cent of global disaster events have taken place in the Asia Pacific region, resulting in around 800,000 deaths and affecting 3.2 billion people. This year, the COVID-19 pandemic which has infected more than 11 million people and expected to result in over $2.7 trillion in economic losses[ has magnified the importance of disaster preparedness and collaboration across all sectors in reducing the threat and impact of natural disaster events.

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4 of 5 cyclones this year were in severe cyclonic storms category and above

India Meteorological Department (IMD) Director General Mrutunjay Mohapatra said since 1990 four cyclones have formed every year in the seas along the eastern and western coasts (Bay of Bengal and Arabian Sea) of the country.

“It is normal to have five cyclones a year,” he said.

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