Sunday 5 August 2012

N. Korean Floods Leave 400 People Missing, 212,000 Homeless

North Korea said 400 people were missing and about 212,000 were left homeless following heavy rains and floods that lasted through July.

The floods killed 169 people and injured 144, while destroying more than 8,600 houses and submerging 43,770 residential buildings, the official Korean Central News Agency said yesterday.

At least 65,280 hectares of farmland was damaged, KCNA said. Inundation of coal mines north of Pyongyang threatens to hurt the isolated communist country that relies on exports of underground minerals as one of few legitimate ways to earn foreign currencies.

North Korea, now under the leadership of Kim Jong Un, has been grappling with decades of food shortages and economic mismanagement, while its nuclear weapons and missile programs have cut international support. North Korean Premier Choe Yong Rim toured Anju, where almost all public buildings and industrial facilities were flooded or destroyed, with water and power supplies cut off, KNCA said in a separate report.

Choe was briefed on the damages in the city and held a meeting, the agency said. United Nations staff members based in North Korea made visits on July 31 with the Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations to two storm-struck counties to investigate and assess damage and needs, Christopher de Bono, Unicef’s chief of communications for East Asia and the Pacific, wrote in an e-mail last week.

UN Visit The visits were made at the request of the North Korean government, according to a July 30 statement on the website of the UN’s North Korea office.

The UN expanded sanctions against the North after it conducted a long-range missile test on April 13. The test also cost Kim a deal with the U.S. for 240,000 metric tons of food promised in exchange for a moratorium on nuclear and missile tests.

North Korea’s rainy season began on July 18 as Typhoon Khanun struck the Korean peninsula, hitting northwestern coastal areas the hardest.

The monsoon season set in after the country’s worst drought in a century threatened wheat, barley and potato harvests.

Sunday 5 august 2012

http://www.businessweek.com/news/2012-08-04/north-korean-floods-leave-400-people-missing-212-000-homeless

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Death toll from Beijing rainstorm climbs to 78


The death toll from rain-triggered disasters and accidents in Beijing on July 21 has climbed to 78 as one more body was recovered, the Beijing flood control and drought relief headquarters said Saturday.

The victim found in the worst-hit suburban Fangshan district in southwestern Beijing, where 43 died, was identified as Li Ruixin, a 65-year-old native of Hebei province, said Liu Hongwei, a spokesman for the headquarters.

Of the 78 victims, 10 remained to be identified, Liu said.

The severe landslides and flash floods complicated the search for missing people as well as the victims' identification, but the work never stopped, the official said.

The Beijing city government substantially raised the death toll to 77 from 37 on the night of July 26, releasing their names, ages and reasons of death, following public outrage over the government's lack of transparency in tackling the disaster and also its insufficient weather alert and disaster rescue.

Beijing was battered by the heaviest rain in six decades on July 21. Average precipitation hit 170 mm, while a township in the suburban district of Fangshan recorded 460 mm of rain.

Sunday 5 August 2012

 http://www.china.org.cn/china/2012-08/05/content_26132213.htm

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Bodies Recovered in Flooded Mine in China

Beijing - Rescue workers have recovered the bodies of eight mine workers trapped in a flooded coal mine in the northern Chinese province of Shanxi, while an investigation into the cause of the accident is under way.

Twenty-two out of 34 workers who were working underground at the time the mine flooded last Wednesday could escape, while the rest were trapped.

Four of them were rescued on Friday.

The coal mine belongs to Ji'anda Coal Mining Co. Ltd. of the Shanxi Luhe Coal-Chemical Group

Saturday 4 August 2012

http://www.cadenagramonte.cu/english/index.php?option=com_content&view=article&id=11797:bodies-recovered-in-flooded-mine-in-china&catid=3:world&Itemid=14

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Tamil Nadu Express fire toll 34

The death toll in the Tamil Nadu Express fire mishap rose to 34 on Saturday with Sukhdev Singh of Amritsar dying of burns at the Narayana Hospital here. Sukhdev Singh, 23, suffered 55 per cent burns in the July 30 accident.

His father Gurdeep Singh, a plumber at the Northern Railway Mechanical Workshop, Amritsar, is making arrangements to take the body back home by a flight from Chennai.

A student of the Indian Maritime University, East Coast Road, Chennai, Sukhdev was returning with three co-students after visiting Amritsar.

On Friday, one of the passengers, M.V. Sambasiva Rao, died of burns. Relatives of Avinash, a passenger and native of Warangal who had been missing, could not identify him.

Till now, no one has claimed the bodies of a woman and a man lying at the mortuary of the DSR District Headquarters Hospital here.

Divisional Railway Manager Pradeep Kumar said the Commissioner of Railway Safety conducted an inquiry on August 2 and 3.

He recorded the statements of railway officials, the Government Railway Police, the Railway Protection Force, the district administration and the Police and Fire departments.

Of the eight injured being treated at the Narayana Hospital, the condition of four is serious. An injured passenger, Kumud Kumar Bansal of Agra, is expected to be discharged on Monday.

Mr. Bansal faced money shortage as the compensation of Rs. 25,000 given by the Railways was exhausted. His relatives had sought the help of officials to take him back to Agra.

Sunday 5 August 2012

http://www.thehindu.com/news/states/tamil-nadu/article3727192.ece

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Multan fireworks explosion toll rises to seven

MULTAN: Another dead body was found from the rubble of building that collapsed as a result of bomb explosion in Hussain Aghai Chowk Bazar here, raising the death toll to seven.

According to rescue sources, an explosion occurred due to the fireworks material present in a house near a school at Hussain Agahi Chowk Bazaar.

Due to the blast, a building collapsed while several near-by buildings were also damaged.

A case had already been registered against the couple for keeping fireworks material. SHO Kup police station has been suspended over poor security while departmental investigation against DSP Haram Gate Sadiq Mehdi is underway.

Fire brigades were trying to control the blaze that broke out as a result of blast until the last reports.

Sunday 5 August 2012

 http://www.dinnews.tv/index.php/en/?option=com_content&view=article&id=6428

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Uttarkashi flash floods : 31 dead, 40 missing

Dehradun - In the worst tragedy to hit Uttarkashi in more than 30 years, 31 people have died and at least 40 are feared missing in the flash floods that occurred late on Friday night.

The MeT department has warned of more heavy rains today. A cloud burst in the middle of Friday night triggered landslides and flash floods, which destroyed hundreds of homes in the Uttarkashi area.

The cloud burst swept away bridges and a large chunk of the Gangotri national highway. Chardham yatra has been suspended to all four shrines with hundreds of pilgrims stranded.

ITBP and state disaster management forces are currently involved in the rescue operations. About 200 families have been evacuated from low lying regions of Uttarkashi to higher ground. "Nearly 2000 people have been affected in the floods.

200 families have been displaced and have been arranged to live in a relief camps like bhavans and schools. Seven people are missing till now in the Gangotri river," Uttarakhand Chief Minister Vijay Bahuguna said.

 In Varanasi, the level of Ganga has risen by more than an inch and the ghats, where daily ceremonies usually take place, have submerged in water.

Several residents have been evacuated from the affected area.

Sunday 5 August 2012

Read more: http://www.indiavision.com/news/article/national/331532/uttarkashi-flash-floods--31-dead-40-missing/#ixzz22gKjlmNu

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NDRRMC: Death toll from Typhoon Gener, monsoon rises to 45

The death toll from tropical cyclone "Gener" (Saola) and the southwest monsoon rose further to 45 Sunday, with four members of a family in Mindanao being the latest fatalities.

National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council (NDRRMC) head Benito Ramos said a mudslide fell on the house of the victims in Midsalip in Zamboanga del Sur Saturday.

The NDRRMC said the mudslide and a subsequent flash flood swept the victims' house after a tornado (buhawi) hit the area.

 It also said a person previously missing, 15-year-old John Marck Rigueros of Benguet in northern Luaon, was confirmed dead as of Saturday.

The NDRRMC said Gener and the southwest monsoon have so far affected 190,196 families or 858,534 people in 1,207 villages in 150 towns and 28 cities in 35 provinces.

Of these, 3,258 families or 14,181 people are being served in 94 evacuation centers.

Sunday 5 August 2012

http://www.gmanetwork.com/news/story/268372/news/nation/ndrrmc-death-toll-from-typhoon-gener-monsoon-rises-to-45

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Lessons for disaster management

If the Indian Railways fails to learn its lessons from tragedies like the one at Nellore, then it is condemning thousands of other passengers to a similar fate.

CHENNAI: At 4:30 a.m. on the morning of July 30, sleeping passengers in carriage S11 on the Chennai-bound Tamilnadu Express were awoken by a blazing fire, as the train approached the east coast town of Nellore, just two and a half hours shy of its final destination.

At least 32 people burned to death in the train, their bodies charred so badly that hospitals were forced to use DNA analysis to identify the victims for anxious families.

Officials have not ruled out a short circuit in the train toilet or sabotage, considering one survivor reported hearing a loud bang in the burning train car.

Whether or not gas cylinders or other inflammable materials were aboard the train is yet to be established by the Railway’s formal inquiry.

For grieving family members, the inquiry might be too little too late. But if similar tragedies are to be avoided in the future, authorities must use this accident to draw lessons in disaster management for the colossal Indian railway network, which operates 9000 trains carrying 18 million passengers daily.

This number does not include the countless thousands who travel on train roofs, undeterred by the risk of fatal injuries inside mountain tunnels or the possibility of electrocution.

It quickly became apparent to disaster management experts, after the fire had been put out and the survivors pulled to safety, that the lack of emergency preparedness on most Indian trains is a huge liability.

It was the gatekeeper of a railway crossing who first noticed the fire in the passing carriage and notified the Nellore railway station, which halted the train. By then screaming passengers had already pulled at the emergency brake. The burning car was immediately separated from the train to prevent the fire spreading to other coaches. But this did not make up for the fact that there were no fire alarms in the train cars.

The public relations officer of the South Central Railway, Frederick Michael, confirmed to IPS that there were no fire hydrants in the sleeper car. “Since it was night time, the passengers had closed all the windows and one door of the vestibule that connects to the rear car was also locked for the night to prevent criminal elements’ entry and mischief,” he said.

The other vestibule door, according to reliable sources, was also closed for the night, resulting in a death trap for the passengers. Inflammable material like synthetic cushion covers and curtains, inadequate emergency exits and fire extinguishers, to say nothing of a poorly trained cabin crew are the main culprits in this avoidable disaster, experts told IPS.

No public address system 

Lower class train cars, which carry millions of Indians, do not contain a single fire extinguisher or hydrant. Nor are passengers instructed in basic emergency evacuation procedures. Further, there is no public address system on board the long-distance non-luxury trains.

Railway coaches are in dire need of inflatable life rafts with a rigid hull, disaster management experts aver. These rafts should automatically unfurl themselves as escape chutes from the hinges of the emergency exits in case of a fire, or during a water evacuation.

These can help save lives and can also double up as easy transport for frail, infirm and physically challenged passengers.

Wide emergency exits with collapsible shutters that can automatically open during emergencies need to be installed by the dozen in every train car.

Currently each car has only four emergency exits and four entry doors for carriages that accommodate 72 passengers and probably carry scores of other unreserved commuters.

The spokesman of the Integral Coach Factory (ICF) in Chennai told IPS that ICF only manufactures coaches for Indian Railways but is not responsible for the design of the carriages, nor the rolling stock – hardware such as wheels, steps or sleeper frames – within them. The fact that the Railway Authority does not provide for the needs of physically challenged persons is hazardous to all passengers during emergencies and seriously hinders rescue operations – with the infirm or the disabled getting left behind, or other passengers stuck behind them.

The average height of the train floor is at least 1.5 metres above the ground. The steps are arranged more like a ladder than a staircase, making it impossible for physically challenged passengers to use them unassisted.

Though the mobile “medical relief van” stationed at all railway stations reached the burning train within minutes, they found they could not access the passengers inside, as the inflammable material and burning heat had caused the doors’ locks to melt and fuse together.

 Ambulances rushed the critically injured survivors to the district general hospital after rescue teams cut through the burning car.

If the fire had occurred in the countryside it would have led to far more casualties, experts say.

A review needed 

CU Rao, general secretary of the Indian Red Cross Andhra Pradesh chapter, the state where the tragedy occurred, told IPS, “The Nellore branch of the Indian Red Cross scurried to (transport) injured passengers to various hospitals, installed freezers to keep the corpses awaiting DNA identification, brought their mobile blood bank to the site of the disaster, and distributed food packets to survivors in the immediate aftermath of the calamity.” But these services should be the responsibility of the railway authorities.

Emergency equipment should be installed in every railway station across the country as part of disaster mitigation efforts, especially since the railway network has been responsible for the deaths of 1,200 people in the last five years alone according to statistics provided by Indian Railways.

Michael believes that “a review of design is urgently called for; hereafter we will have to heed attention to alternative designs.” Wide collapsible doors that automatically roll up in the event of fires are far more effective than doors that have to be opened manually.

 Locks and emergency brakes need to be automated to ensure heat does not create vacuum chambers and seal doors shut.

If the Indian Railways fails to learn its lessons from tragedies like the one at Nellore, then it is condemning thousands of other passengers to a similar fate.

Sunday 5 August 2012

Read more: http://www.freemalaysiatoday.com/category/top-news/2012/08/05/lessons-for-disaster-management/#ixzz22gIjegm0

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