Category Archives: Natural Disasters

The typhoon that hit my island didn’t make the news. This is what the climate crisis looks like

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Palau was hit by Typhoon Surigae last week, but even the typhoons that don’t claim lives or flatten cities are devastating for those who live through them

My adopted home country of Palau, in the northern Pacific, was hit by a typhoon last week. Thankfully no one died here, though it did lead to deaths in the Philippines.

The impact on Palau of Typhoon Surigae didn’t make headlines overseas and this might be the first you will have heard of it. Compared to other natural disasters and other cyclones or typhoons in the Pacific, it was a relatively “good” one. But it left me shaken, exhausted and our community rattled.

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Streets coated with ash after Caribbean volcano eruption – video

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Video from Georgetown, a community several kilometres away from La Soufrière volcano on the Caribbean island of St Vincent, shows buildings blanketed in a layer of ash after the volcano spectacularly erupted after decades of inactivity.

The eruption of La Soufrière on Friday caused dark clouds of ash to blow about 10km into the air, prompting an evacuation request from the government. Assessing the thick ash covering parts of St Vincent, the disaster response team predicted things may not return to normal for a 'very long time'


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Cyclone Seroja aftermath: ‘I prayed and prayed in the dark’

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In Kupang, Indonesia, residents wait for aid after torrential rain, destructive winds and flooding forced thousands into shelters

On Sunday at midnight, Linda Tagie, 29, rested her three-year-old baby on the bed. Linda, who lives together with her husband, 79-year-old mother-in-law and only child in Sikumana, Kupang, East Nusa Tenggara province of Indonesia, was shocked by a strong wind and heavy rain. The electricity suddenly went off.

“I prayed and prayed in the dark,” she said. The wind eventually stopped on Monday morning. She walked out of the house and found the roof gone from the back part of the house. “Electricity cables, tin roofs, and trees lie on the street in front of our house,” she said.

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‘When I woke, the house was full of water’: daunting cleanup follows Timor-Leste floods

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At least 150 people killed in Indonesia and Timor-Leste after tropical cyclone Seroja hit region

In Tasitolu, a suburb in the west of the capital, Dili, Batista Elo balances his young daughter on his hip as he stands in flood waters that reach up his thighs.

“I saved my family first and after that just got into the belongings, but there were some things that didn’t get saved,” recalls Batista of the wild Saturday night when his home was suddenly flooded.

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Australia floods: NSW inundated with torrential rain – in pictures

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Three weather systems are colliding to cause extreme rainfall and flooding across New South Wales, with intense rainfall likely to continue until late on Tuesday.

The state’s mid-north coast is facing a once-in-a-century flood and residents are bracing for the worst.

Some areas of the northern NSW coast have had more than 70cm of rain since last Thursday.

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Drowned land: hunger stalks South Sudan’s flooded villages

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Two years of torrential rains have left 1.6m people in Jonglei province without crops and with their homes flooded. But, with extraordinary resilience, people in Old Fangak are working together to rebuild their lives.

  • by Susan Martinez, photography by Peter Caton for Action Against Hunger

After the unprecedented floods last summer, the people of Old Fangak, a small town in northern South Sudan, should be planting now. But the flood water has not receded, the people are still marooned and now they are facing severe hunger.

Unusually heavy rains began last July, and the White Nile burst its banks, destroyed all the crops and encroached on farms and villages, affecting Jonglei and other states, leaving people to scramble for a few strips of dry land.

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Strong earthquake off Fukushima shakes Japan – video

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A 7.3-magnitude earthquake that shook Fukushima and Miyagi prefectures off the coast of Japan, injuring more than 100 people, was an aftershock of the devastating 2011 quake that caused the Fukushima nuclear meltdown, the nation’s meteorological agency has said.

The Japanese prime minister, Yoshihide Suga, expressed his sympathy to all affected and injured, although no deaths have been reported

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‘Fighting for life’: Bangladesh shrimp farmers destitute in wake of cyclone

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Natural disaster compounded by the collapse of a lucrative export during the pandemic has thrust people into poverty

This time last year the west coast of Bangladesh was a thriving place for shrimp farmers. It was a decent enough living and there was a healthy export market.

Majnu Sardar, who lives in Koyra upazila (administrative region) in Khulna district, used to earn enough to feed, clothe and educate his family of six. Now they are living in a small mud hut, with a canopy of leaves as a roof, on the banks of the Kapotaksha River after Cyclone Amphan buried his house and land in May.

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Rescuers search for 171 missing people after Indian glacier causes devastating flood

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Twenty six confirmed dead as military look for survivors in Himalayan state of Uttarakhand

Twenty six bodies have been recovered in the Indian Himalayas and scores more people are still missing after a second day of rescue efforts after a glacier break that caused an avalanche of water and debris to engulf a river valley and demolish two dams.

A surge of water, thought to be triggered when a glacier broke off from Nanda Devi mountain in the state of Uttarakhand, left a trail of devastation when it hit on Sunday morning.

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Scores feared dead after glacier causes dam burst in India – video

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As many as 150 people are feared dead in northern India after a Himalayan glacier broke and crashed into a dam, with floods forcing the evacuation of villages downstream. Videos from the scene show water surging through the dam site, washing away equipment

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150 feared dead as glacier crashes into dam in northern India

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Floods force evacuation of villages and witnesses report avalanche creating wall of dust, rock and water

As many as 150 people were feared dead in northern India after a Himalayan glacier broke and crashed into a dam early on Sunday, with floods forcing the evacuation of villages downstream.

“The actual number has not been confirmed yet,” but 100 to 150 people were feared dead, Om Prakash, the chief secretary of Uttarakhand state where the incident occurred, said.

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Indonesia earthquake: dozens dead after tremors and landslides hit Sulawesi

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Thousands flee for safety and higher ground after island’s second quake in 24 hours

At least 37 people have been killed and hundreds injured following a strong earthquake that shook the island of Sulawesi in Indonesia early on Friday morning, prompting landslides and destroying houses.

Thousands of people fled their homes to seek safety when the 6.2-magnitude earthquake hit just after 1am local time on Friday morning. The epicentre was 6km north-east of Majene city in West Sulawesi.

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Indonesia earthquake: rescue workers search rubble with dozens reported dead – video

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WARNING: This video contains scenes some viewers may find distressing.

A 6.2-magnitude earthquake on Indonesia’s Sulawesi island has killed dozens of people, injured hundreds and damaged many buildings, the country’s disaster mitigation agency said. The epicentre of the quake was six kilometres north-east of Majene city at a depth of 10 kilometres and hit at 1am local time. Rescuers are still probing the rubble

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Silence of the bush: Mallacoota residents look back over a year of loss and regrowth after fire devastation

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Photographer Rachel Mounsey has documented the year after the blazes tore through her home region

Standing in my backyard under a searing midday sun, the bricklayer’s sinewy arms are splayed out, rollie in one hand, trowel in the other. Bart the brickie reenacts the moment he thought might have been his last.

He is reliving putting out embers with his flannelette shirt and driving over flames in his old Holden Commodore. He throws the trowel down and with his finger draws a fire map in the wet cement. His fingers dash and dot to signify embers falling from the sky, and a looming fire front creeping down from the ridge.

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Landslide injures at least 10 in Norwegian town of Ask

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Landslide north of Oslo prompts evacuation of 700 residents, with more than 20 people still unaccounted for

A landslide has smashed into a residential area near the Norwegian capital, injuring at least 10 people, leaving 21 unaccounted for and destroying several homes, authorities said. About 700 people have been evacuated amid fears of further landslides.

Norwegian police were alerted at 4am to the slide in the village of Ask, in the municipality of Gjerdrum, some 20km (12 miles) north-east of Oslo.

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Typhoon Vamco: extensive damage in the Philippines seen from sky – video

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Coastguard footage shows extensive flooding triggered by the typhoon in the northern Isabela province. Dozens of people were killed and thousands were rescued from fast-flowing floodwater, as the Magat Dam released water in the region.

Though waters have mostly receded since Wednesday, rescue teams continued to help people in places where waters remained high

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‘Overwhelming’: Central America braces for new storms in wake of Hurricane Eta

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Nicaragua, Honduras and Guatemala worst affected with scores dead and more than 200,000 people evacuated from their homes

Central America is braced for further storms this weekend as the region reels from the devastation caused by Hurricane Eta, the Red Cross has warned.

Forecasters believe a weather front forming in the Caribbean has a 90% chance of becoming a cyclone, making it the 30th named Atlantic storm of 2020 in a record-breaking hurricane season, shattering the previous worst year of 28 storms in 2005.

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Typhoon Vamco: torrential rains force evacuations in Philippines – video

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Torrential rains from Typhoon Vamco have lashed the Philippines' main Luzon Island, causing flooding and widespread damage.

People sought shelter on higher ground due to flash floods on Thursday, and have been asked to move to evacuation centres in the capital, Manila, despite fears of the spread of Covid-19.

Vamco is the 21st such storm to hit the Philippines this year, following close after Super typhoon Goni which devastated the east of the nation in early November

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Deadly Storm Eta lashes Central America – video report

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Storm Eta has unleashed torrential rain, causing catastrophic landslides and flooding in Central America. Dozens of people have been killed and more than 300,000 displaced after raging torrents tore through cities.

Eta, one of the fiercest storms to hit Central America in years, struck Nicaragua as a category 4 hurricane on Tuesday with 150mph (241kph) winds, before weakening as it moved inland and into neighbouring Honduras

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