A powerful earthquake in the Aegean Sea has toppled buildings in the Turkish city of İzmir and caused damage in several Greek islands
Continue reading...Category Archives: Natural Disasters
Turkey: sea water floods İzmir after powerful earthquake – video
An earthquake of approximately magnitude 7.0 in the Aegean Sea has caused sea water to rise and flood parts of the coastal city of Izmir, carrying furniture and other items with it. The quake struck at 2.51pm local time on Friday, according to the country's disaster agency
Powerful earthquake rocks Turkish coast and Greek islands
Continue reading...Turkey earthquake footage captures moment building collapses in İzmir – video
Witnesses capture the moment a building falls in the city of İzmir during a magnitude 6.6 earthquake in Turkey's Aegean region on Friday. The nation's disaster agency said the quake occurred at 2.51pm at a depth of 10 miles (16.5km)
• Powerful earthqake rocks Turkish coast and Greek islands
Continue reading...Aftermath in İzmir as 7.0-magnitude earthquake hits Turkey and Greece – video
An earthquake has struck in the Aegean Sea, flattening buildings in Greece and Turkey. Footage shows buildings reduced to rubble in the Manavkuyu neighbourhood of İzmir, a city on Turkey's Aegean coast.
The US Geological Survey measured the earthquake at magnitude 7.0 and said tremors were felt as far away as Athens and Istanbul
Continue reading...Australia must prepare for future shaped by extreme climate, bushfire royal commission warns
Report into the apocalyptic 2019-20 bushfires says Australia must radically change its approach to fighting fires under new climate conditions
Australia’s bushfire disaster last summer was just a glimpse of what global heating will deliver to the country in the future, with major changes needed to the way the nation responds, according to the final report of the royal commission.
The royal commission has made 80 recommendations, including calls for a more co-ordinated approach and new legislation to allow the prime minister to declare a national state of emergency.
Continue reading...Firefighters battle to contain blaze on Kilimanjaro
Fears for climbers who may have been in area of fire on slopes of Africa’s tallest mountain near Tanzanian border with Kenya
A huge fire has broken on Kilimanjaro, Africa’s highest peak and a key attraction for tourists in Kenya and Tanzania.
According to Tanzanian national park authorities, the fire broke out on Sunday afternoon and is yet to be contained.
Continue reading...New Zealand bushfire that demolished village leads to climate crisis debate
Scientists say hotter and longer summers make such an unusually fierce fire more likely
A bushfire that destroyed most of a village in New Zealand’s South Island has sparked a fierce debate between high-country farmers and conservationists, as those affected struggle to understand the unusually fierce nature of the blaze.
Lake Ōhau village is located at the foothills of the Ben Ohau mountain range, and is home to just 15 permanent residents but its numbers swell significantly during the holiday season. On Sunday morning, a fire tore through the foothills and into the village, forcing 90 people to evacuate.
Continue reading...Wildfires tear through drought-racked Paraguay amid record heat
Country faces more than 5,000 fires, with yellow smoke reaching the capital as neighbouring Brazil and Argentina face blazes
Devastating wildfires have broken out across across Paraguay, as drought and record high temperatures continue to exacerbate blazes across South America.
A total of 5,231 individual wildfires broke out across the country on 1 October – up 3,000 on the previous day. Most of were concentrated in the arid Chaco region in the west of the country, but thick yellow smoke had reached as far as the capital, Asunción.
Continue reading...‘We had minutes’: California Glass wildfire rips through wine country – video report
A destructive wildfire is being driven by strong winds through wine country north of San Francisco in California.
The Glass fire burned through Napa and Sonoma counties burning down buildings including wineries in the area.
The fire began Sunday as three fires merged and drove into vineyards and mountain areas, including part of the city of Santa Rosa. Around 70,000 people were under evacuation orders
- Charred homes and crumbled walls: tallying the destruction of a California wildfire
- 'There's a lot of hurt': four years of fire take toll on California's wine country
US runs out of Atlantic hurricane names as frenetic season continues
- Naming shifts to Greek letters after 21-name list is exhausted
- Texas coast prepares for tropical storm Beta
So many powerful storms have formed over the Atlantic this year that for only the second time, the US National Hurricane Center (NHC) has run out of names, meaning it is now naming tropical storms and hurricanes with letters from the Greek alphabet.
There are 21 names available each year. The list ends with those beginning with W and excludes Q, U, X, Y and Z. Once that list is exhausted, the nomenclature system switches to the Greek alphabet.
Continue reading...California firefighters battle El Dorado fire – video
Firefighters in Southern California continue to tackle one of 27 huge wildfires blazing across the state which has already burned more than 21,600 acres (8,741 hectares) of forest.
A firefighter has died while battling the El Dorado fire which has been burning in San Bernardino National Forest since 5 September.
A front of humid and rainy weather has brought some relief to western states that have suffered a historically devastating fire season
- California firefighter dies battling blaze while rainy weather brings some relief
- Wildfire smoke closes Yosemite but forecast offers hope for US north-west
Hurricane Sally: level-two storm hits Florida and Alabama – video
Hurricane Sally, a huge grade two storm with 100mph winds and torrential rain, has hit the US’s Gulf coast, reaching Florida and Alabama with fears of ‘life-threatening flooding’.
The storm was moving at only 2mph before dawn on Tuesday, centered about 115 miles south-south-east of Biloxi, Mississippi, and 60 miles east-south-east of the mouth of the Mississippi river
- Hurricane Sally forecast to bring ‘life-threatening’ flooding to US Gulf coast
- Hurricane Sally: storm hits Gulf coast with ‘life-threatening floods’ still expected
Record-breaking wildfires in Brazil threaten endangered species – video
Record-breaking wildfires are threatening thousands of acres of one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, Brazil's Pantanal region.
'Sometimes we are a bit frustrated, but we try to have hope and to rescue the few animals we can,' said 26-year-old vet Karen Ribeiro at one of the shelters, where rescue units and volunteers are bringing in animals including jaguars for evacuation
Continue reading...Dozens missing in Oregon as historic fires devastate western US
- At least 23 dead in California, Oregon and Washington
- Washington governor: ‘We have to think of it as a climate fire’
- Follow for live updates of the wildfires
Dozens of people are missing and at least 23 people are believed to have been killed as historic wildfires in the western US forced evacuations, stretched fire crews thin and spawned misinformation.
Residents of Portland, Oregon, awoke on Friday to air thick with smoke pollution that dimmed the sun and turned the skies blood-orange red. Hundreds of firefighters are battling two large wildfires that threatened to merge near the most populated part of Oregon, including the suburbs of Portland, and the governor said dozens of people are missing in other parts of the state.
Continue reading...Western wildfires rage in California, Oregon and Washington – in pictures
More than 85 significant wildfires are burning across the west, where a record 2.5m acres have been destroyed in the latest batch of blazes. At least seven people have died and the dense plumes of smoke have turned skies red and amber
Continue reading...Western wildfires rage in California, Oregon and Washington – in pictures
More than 85 significant wildfires are burning across the west, where a record 2.5m acres have been destroyed in the latest batch of blazes. At least seven people have died and the dense plumes of smoke have turned skies red and amber
Continue reading...Pyrotechnic device at gender-reveal party causes California wildfire – video
A fire in California that has burned more than 7,000 acres was caused by a 'pyrotechnic device used at a gender reveal party', according to the the California Department of Forestry and Fire Protection.
Almost 12,500 firefighters are battling 22 major fires across the state, according to Cal Fire
Continue reading...‘Devastation everywhere’: Louisiana city wakes up to storm’s aftermath
Lake Charles felt the full force of Hurricane Laura and now residents who rode out the disaster are picking up the pieces
Classie Ballou lives on the fifth floor of Chateau du Lac, an eight-story retirement home in the Louisiana city of Lake Charles. “I made it through Rita,” he said from a park bench in the rubble of downtown as he reflected on the fury of Hurricane Laura that had just roared through his home town. “Honestly, I thought it wasn’t going to be that bad.”
He shook his head. “If I were doing it over, I would leave.”
Continue reading...U.S. needs a different role in Yemen
In other parts of the globe, like the Republic of Yemen, lethal forces are stalking victims whom Americans cannot always picture in complicated political scenarios we may not quickly grasp. So the average American blinks, and in that blink opportunists make deals with undemocratic, unprincipled bullies.
Study: Houston Needs $2B More in Federal Funds to Fix Harvey Housing Damage
An estimated 130,000 Houstonians affected by Harvey were overlooked in the city's original housing needs assessment, according to the Houston Housing and Community Development Department. To fix the previously neglected damage, the city needs an extra $2 billion in federal resources, the agency said in an Oct. 5 report.