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.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde came to the rescue of a woman patient in need of a kidney transplant by taking her on board his chartered plane from Jalgaon to Mumbai after she missed her flight from the North Maharashtra city to the state capital.
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.
The death toll in the Mahisagar river bridge collapse in Gujarat's Vadodara district climbed to 19 on Friday after one of the injured persons succumbed to injuries at a hospital, officials said.
The India meteorological department said heatwave conditions will persist for at least two more days.
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.
Mock drills were conducted on Saturday in states and Union territories adjoining the western border -- from Jammu and Kashmir to Gujarat -- to enhance wartime emergency preparedness and response capabilities, officials said.
"This entire period is highly sensitive in terms of law and order, healthcare, sanitation, education, and disaster management. Hence, all related departments and district administrations must work with coordination and accountability," Adityanath said, according to an official statement.
The avalanche hit the BRO camp between Mana and Badrinath between 5:30 am and 6 am on Friday, burying the workers inside eight containers and a shed, according to the Army.
Maharashtra Deputy Chief Minister Eknath Shinde on Monday attributed early arrival of the southwest monsoon and heavy rainfall in a short span for the inundation of low-lying areas in Mumbai, which disrupted road and railway traffic.
'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.
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.
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.
Digipin promises to revolutionise location-based services in India with safeguards.
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.
Fourteen people, including 10 polling personnel, have died due to heatstroke in Bihar in the last 24 hours, officials said on Friday afternoon.
Terming it a "very sorry state of affairs", the apex court said the state was just trying to find some excuse or the other.
India conducted nationwide civil defence mock drills simulating multiple hostile scenarios like air raids, fire emergencies, and rescue operations across several states and union territories. The drills, dubbed 'Operation Abhyaas,' aimed to enhance emergency preparedness in light of recent terror attacks. The exercises involved coordinated efforts by various agencies, including civil defence personnel, police, fire and emergency services, and the military. Mock drills were conducted at various locations, including railway stations, malls, and high-rise buildings, showcasing the response capabilities of authorities in different emergency scenarios. The drills highlighted the importance of public awareness and cooperation in dealing with real-time emergencies.
The Finance Ministry's annual report has revealed that the US Agency for International Development (USAID) funded seven projects worth USD 750 million in India during the 2023-24 fiscal year. The projects, implemented in partnership with the Indian government, cover areas like agriculture and food security, water and sanitation, renewable energy, disaster management, health, sustainable forests, and climate adaptation. This disclosure comes amidst controversy over USAID's alleged role in influencing Indian elections, with claims that the agency allocated USD 21 million to India for 'voter turnout'. However, the report clarifies that no funds were dedicated to enhancing voter turnout.
64 years after the Panshet Dam burst claimed 1,000 lives, the tragedy stands as both a haunting memory and a vital lesson in engineering caution.
The Indian Air Force's Chinook and MI17 helicopters on Friday joined the rescue operations in Uttarakhand to evacuate over 500 pilgrims stranded on the rain-ravaged trek route to Kedarnath, with 10 of them being airlifted in the first round.
Eight persons were killed and five others rescued after several vehicles fell into a river following the collapse of a portion of a four-decade-old bridge in Gujarat's Vadodara district on Wednesday morning, police said.
An official of the fire and emergency services department said that 11 fire tenders including one each from Panchkula and Mohali were pressed into service to quickly control the blaze.
The latest annual report of the finance ministry has disclosed that the agency funded seven projects worth USD 750 million in 2023-24.
A massive fire that tore through a budget hotel in the congested Mechuapatti area of Burrabazar in central Kolkata on Tuesday night claimed at least 14 lives and left 13 injured, triggering a political blame game and calls for accountability.
So far, over 30 people have died across Northeastern states due to heavy rainfalls, floods and landslides, according to media reports.
An Air India aircraft with 242 passengers on board heading to London crashed in the Meghaninagar area near Ahmedabad airport on Thursday afternoon, the police said.
Shiv Sena's Dadaji Bhuse is the new school education minister while Uday Samant continues to be the industries minister.
In a bid to enhance preparedness for disaster management among government officials involved in management of the annual Amarnath Yatra starting July 2, National Disaster Management Authority has planed to conduct a three-day mock drill.
Aizawl has been cut off from the rest of the country due to a landslide on National Highway 6 at Hunthar.
At least 12 people died and 34 persons were injured in a pharma plant explosion in Sangareddy district of Telangana on Monday, State Minister Damodara Raja Narasimha said.
At least 19 people from Bihar, who were on board the Coromandel Express, are still missing after the train accident in Odisha's Balasore district on June 2 in which 288 people were killed, said the state disaster management department (DMD).
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.
On Tuesday, the current lot of G20 visitors toured three colonial landmarks in south Mumbai -- the BrihanMumbai Municipal Corporation's heritage building headquarters, the magnificent Gateway of India and the Taj Palace hotel.
At present, the Met department is often unable to provide exact information on the exact amount of rain over a localised area.
'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.'
More than 45 lakh people in 30 out of the total 38 districts of the state have been affected by the calamity in two phases since last month, according to the Disaster Management Department.
A husband who refused to cry, a father insisting he didn't need a DNA test to identify his son, a crew member's family broken in spirit after waiting seven days for DNA confirmation.
The meteorological centre in Shimla issued a 'red' alert on Sunday for very heavy downpour in 10 districts of Himachal Pradesh, while services on the Shimla-Kalka rail line were suspended for hours till the debris and trees fallen on the tracks following overnight rains were removed.
Many areas witnessed waterlogging and at least 31 incidents of tree fall were reported.
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