Speaking at the national conference on 'Safe transportation of hazardous, dangerous goods through land, air, sea and pipelines in Ahmedabad on Monday, member of the NDMA J R Bharadwaj said that there was a gap between disaster mitigation and preparedness. "We have all the rules and regulation in place for crisis management, but the main problem lies in its implementation," Bharadwaj said.
The Kerala State Pollution Control Board (KPCB) is on high alert after a Liberian vessel carrying hazardous cargo sank off the Kerala coast. While no calcium carbide containers have washed ashore yet, a thin layer of oil spill has been detected. The KPCB is working to contain the spill and prevent it from reaching the shore, but rough conditions at sea have hampered efforts to spray dispersants. The board is also taking steps to prevent the oil from reaching the Ashtamudi and Vembanad lakes.
Houses in low lying areas of Kerala were flooded in the heavy rains, while the accompanying strong winds uprooted trees, damaged homes and caused power disruptions, throwing normal way of life into disarray across the state.
Normally, the southwest monsoon makes its onset over Kerala by June 1 and covers the entire country by July 8. It starts retreating from northwest India around September 17 and withdraws completely by October 15.
Drawing lessons from security protocols of Parliament, the state is working closely with agencies like the Defence Research and Development Organisation and the Electronics Corporation of India Ltd to design a multi-layered safety mechanism.
Hydrology experts suggest that India cannot be directly blamed for the devastating monsoon flooding in Pakistan this year, citing greater destruction upstream of the border and lack of evidence for intentional action.
The Supreme Court of India dismissed a plea seeking directions on crowd management at the New Delhi railway station, following a stampede that resulted in the deaths of at least 18 people. The court questioned the claim of 200 deaths and suggested the petitioner approach the Delhi High Court.
States are mandated to develop and implement 'heat HAPs' for prevention of heat-induced diseases. But most do not go beyond standard advisory on heat prevention.
Issuing a notification, the Revenue and Disaster Management Authority claimed that the intelligence agencies have informed the government of several cases of attempted transfer of land by fraudulent means in some places.
A Bharatiya Janata Party leader and Right to Information activist on Saturday accused the Harish Rawat government of paying Rs 47.19 lakh out of disaster relief funds to a firm, in which singer Kailash Kher has a stake, for a tourism video featuring cricketer Virat Kohli.
The bodies of the last four of the trapped labourers were pulled out from the site of the avalanche-hit Border Roads Organisation (BRO) camp in Chamoli on Sunday, taking the death toll to eight as authorities ended the nearly 60-hour rescue operation.
Local officials in Herat said that over 30 people have died and more than 600 others have been injured in several earthquakes in this province, reported the Pajhwok Afghan News.
'When an establishment operates despite demolition or closure orders, without proper fire exits, evacuation plans or safety audits, and yet is allowed to host large crowds, the state cannot hide behind the language of accident.' 'The authorities were aware of the risks and of the violations, but chose not to act decisively because doing so would have inconvenienced those with influence and financial stakes.' 'In such a scenario, the moral and legal responsibility for the resulting deaths moves from negligence towards culpability; calling it 'murder' is a way of underlining that these lives were sacrificed at the altar of greed and complicity, not fate.'
'While it is very easy to blame the chief minister, the bureaucracy should be held accountable. Chief ministers come every five years but bureaucracy is a permanent setup. The bureaucracy is trained for handling such situations with alacrity.'
'The larger story of systematic destruction, which can and has been quantified, goes mysteriously missing from any political and/or public discourse about the ongoing devastation in the Ghats,' notes Prem Panicker.
Rat-hole mining may be illegal but the talent and experience of rat-hole miners were used in the rescue operation to save the 41 workers trapped in the Silkyara tunnel, a National Disaster Management Authority member said on Tuesday.
The statements on Joshimath are creating confusion not only among affected residents but also among citizens of the country.
Heavy rains lashed several parts of Maharashtra, including Mumbai, on Monday, resulting in one death and the rescue of 48 people from inundated areas. The state received widespread rainfall, with Pune, Satara, Solapur, Raigad, and the Mumbai Metropolitan Region (MMR) experiencing significant precipitation. Mumbai recorded 135.4 mm of rainfall in the past 24 hours, leading to waterlogging and power outages in some areas. The India Meteorological Department has predicted more rain in Mumbai over the next 24 hours, accompanied by thunderstorms and strong winds.
The rain and flood situation in northeastern states remained grim on Tuesday, with lakhs people affected in Assam, Mizoram and Manipur, even as the meteorological department predicted more rain in several parts of the region.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
Heavy rains in Maharashtra have caused floods, road blockages, and widespread damage, resulting in casualties and displacement. The state government is monitoring the situation and coordinating rescue efforts.
Heavy rains exacerbate the flood situation in Punjab, leading to 37 deaths and widespread crop damage. Rescue and relief operations are underway as authorities issue alerts and provide assistance to affected populations.
The Delhi Disaster Management Authority in its order on October 29 allowed Chhath celebrations at "designated sites" barring the banks of the Yamuna.
The NDMA member further stated that the health conditions of the rescued workers will be monitored for the next 48 to 72 hours.
An accurate early warning system that correlates rainfall and the potential for landslides. That is the imperative, say experts as rains create havoc in hills across India and the toll mounts in Kerala's Wayanad slopes where landslides buried entire homesteads and possibly hundreds of people.
The intention of the bomb hoax emails received by nearly 200 Delhi schools was to 'create mass panic and disturb public order', the Delhi Police says in a first information report (FIR) registered by its Special Cell.
The bodies of three labourers were on Saturday pulled from the rubble of a wall that collapsed at a construction site in the Vasant Vihar area in New Delhi amid heavy rain, officials said.
Delhi was under a lockdown from April 19 to May 30 during the second wave of the Covid pandemic. Markets were allowed to open from June 7 under a phased reopening plan of the city government.
The India meteorological department said heatwave conditions will persist for at least two more days.
Telecom service providers and the Maha Kumbh Mela administration are on their toes to ensure smooth connectivity at the grand event set to witness record teledensity.
Poor land-use planning, indiscriminate approvals of building plans and the absence of disaster-risk assessment in urban design have resulted in what experts term concentrated concretization, predisposing cities to disaster risks
After chairing an emergency meeting with senior officials to discuss the situation, Chief Minister Pushkar Singh Dhami said that heli services on the Char Dham route will remain suspended for two days, as the weather is bad and the safety of the passengers is the government's top priority.
Several Indian states bordering Pakistan have implemented stringent security measures, including school closures, blackouts, and cancellation of leave for police and administrative personnel, in response to escalating tensions between India and Pakistan. These measures were taken after India conducted airstrikes on terror infrastructure in Pakistan in retaliation for the April 22 Pahalgam massacre. Punjab, Haryana, Rajasthan, Gujarat, and West Bengal have all implemented these precautionary measures.
Lightning claims more lives in India annually than any other extreme weather event. Between April and July this year alone, 1,621 people died due to lightning strikes.
If they act now, they can reshape the strategic map of Asia without firing a shot. If they wait, the next opportunity will come only after a serious Taiwan Strait incident -- by which time the price will be far higher, and the room for boldness far smaller -- the opportunity may well be lost by then. The question is no longer whether this can or should be done, points out Varun Arya.
Forty-one Border Road Organisation labourers working to clear snow near the high altitude border village of Mana in Uttarakhand's Chamoli district were trapped under an avalanche on Friday.
A GLOF occurred in parts of Lhonak Lake, leading to a rapid rise in water levels with very high velocities downstream along the Teesta River Basin in the early hours of October 4. This resulted in severe damage in Mangan, Gangtok, Pakyong and Namchi districts.
Eight persons have been killed in floods and landslides in Assam as incessant rainfall caused massive inundation in 17 districts, affecting over 78,000 people, officials said on Saturday.
Former Union Minister Sharad Pawar has refuted claims made by Union Home Minister Amit Shah that the BJP's victory in the Maharashtra assembly polls ended the politics of betrayal and treachery started by Pawar in 1978. Pawar stated that he was the Chief Minister in 1978 and was unaware of Shah's whereabouts at the time. He also criticized the lack of communication between current political leaders and called for a return to respectful dialogue. He also highlighted Shah's past legal issues, including being externed from Gujarat. In response to speculation about the future of the MVA coalition, Pawar said discussions will take place within the next 10 days to address key issues. An editorial in the Shiv Sena (UBT) mouthpiece 'Saamana' also criticized Shah's remarks, calling them 'arrogant' and questioning the BJP's actions in relation to Pawar and Balasaheb Thackeray.
More than 750 houses and crops on over 33,000 hectares were damaged in Dharashiv district, where helicopters and boats had to be deployed to rescue stranded people, they said.
