Tag Archives: natural disasters

The Guardian reports: A powerful 6.4 magnitude earthquake has hit Turkey’s southern province of Hatay, terrifying those left in a region devastated by powerful twin earthquakes two weeks earlier. The quake, less powerful than the initial 7.8 and 7.5 magnitude earthquakes which tore a path of destruction through southern Turkey and northern Syria on 6 February, albeit threatened yet more …

NPR reports: As Turkish President Recep Tayyip Erdogan struggles to defend his response to last Monday’s devastating 7.8 magnitude earthquake, videos from a few years back have emerged showing him hailing some of the housing projects that crumbled, killing thousands of people. The videos have fueled public outrage over slow efforts to help residents in the aftermath of the massive …

NBC News reports: Natural disasters forced an estimated 3.4 million people in the U.S. to leave their homes in 2022, according to Census Bureau data, underscoring how climate-related weather events are already changing American communities. The overwhelming majority of these people were uprooted by hurricanes, followed by floods, then fires and tornadoes. Nearly 40% returned to their homes within a …

Politico Europe reports: The death toll from a massive earthquake in Turkey and Syria is likely to “double or more” from its current level of 33,000, United Nations relief chief Martin Griffiths told Sky News. “I think it is difficult to estimate precisely as we need to get under the rubble, but I’m sure it will double or more,” said …

The New York Times reports: With anger swelling in Turkey on Saturday over the government’s slow response to Monday’s devastating earthquake and what critics say was shoddy construction, the government began detaining building contractors across the country who it blamed for some of the collapses that have helped drive the death toll above 21,000. More than 100 people were detained …

The Associated Press reports: Turkey has for years tempted fate by not enforcing modern construction codes while allowing — and in some cases, encouraging — a real estate boom in earthquake-prone areas, experts say. The lax enforcement, which experts in geology and engineering have long warned about, is gaining renewed scrutiny in the aftermath of this week’s devastating earthquakes, which …

The Associated Press reports: Rescuers raced Tuesday to find survivors in the rubble of thousands of buildings brought down by a 7.8 magnitude earthquake and multiple aftershocks that struck eastern Turkey and neighboring Syria, with the discovery of more bodies raising the death toll to more than 5,000. Countries around the world dispatched teams to assist in the rescue efforts, …

Reuters reports: More than 1,500 people were killed and thousands injured on Monday when a huge earthquake struck central Turkey and northwest Syria, pulversing apartment blocks and heaping more destruction on Syrian cities already devastated by years of war. The magnitude 7.8 quake, which hit in the early darkness of a winter morning, was the worst to strike Turkey this …

CNN reports: A 6.4 magnitude earthquake shook Northern California’s Eureka area early Tuesday, according to the US Geological Survey, and thousands are without power in its wake. The quake, recorded at 2:34 a.m. PT, was centered in the Pacific just off the coast, about 7.5 miles from the Humboldt County city of Ferndale, the survey said. Most homes and businesses …

The Associated Press reports: Hawaii’s Mauna Loa, the world’s largest active volcano, has started to erupt, prompting volcanic ash and debris to fall nearby, authorities said Monday. The eruption began late Sunday night in the summit caldera of the volcano on the Big Island, the U.S. Geological Survey said. Early Monday, it said lava flows were contained within the summit …

CNN reports: The Treasury Department announced on Tuesday it is launching an assessment of worsening extreme weather and its impact on the cost of insurance. As climate change is making storms stronger and more destructive, Treasury officials told CNN they want to take a hard look at how climate-related disasters are driving up insurance rates around the country. The department’s …

Reuters reports: An earthquake of magnitude 6.1 killed 920 people in Afghanistan early on Wednesday, disaster management officials said, with more than 600 injured and the toll expected to grow as information trickles in from remote mountain villages. Photographs on Afghan media showed houses reduced to rubble, with bodies swathed in blankets lying on the ground. Helicopters were deployed in …

The BBC reports: A massive volcanic eruption in Tonga that triggered tsunami waves has smothered the Pacific islands in ash, cut power and severed communications. New Zealand Prime Minister Jacinda Ardern said the tsunami had wreaked “significant damage”, washing boats ashore and battering beachside shops. Locals say Tonga looks “like a moonscape” after being coated in a layer of volcanic …

Reuters reports: Tsunami-hit Tonga remained largely uncontactable on Sunday with telephone and internet links severed, leaving relatives in faraway New Zealand praying for their families on the Pacific islands as casualty reports had yet to come through. An underwater volcano off Tonga erupted on Saturday, triggering warnings of 1.2-metre tsunami waves and evacuation orders on the shores of Tonga as …

The BBC reports: Tsunami waves caused by a giant underwater volcanic eruption have hit the Pacific country of Tonga. Social media footage showed water washing through a church and several homes, and witnesses said ash was falling over the capital, Nuku’alofa. A tsunami warning sent residents scrambling to higher ground. The eruption of the Hunga Tonga-Hunga Haʻapai volcano was heard …

The Texas Tribune reports: Texas has added 36 more deaths to the official death toll from the February snow and ice storm, bringing the total to 246 in what was one of the worst natural disasters in the state’s history. The Department of State Health Services disclosed the new total in a report on the storm that was released Friday …

The Associated Press reports: A Colorado official says nearly 1,000 homes were destroyed, hundreds more were damaged, and that three people are missing after a wildfire charred numerous neighborhoods in a suburban area at the base of the Rocky Mountains northwest of Denver. The cause of the blaze was under investigation. Boulder County Sheriff Joe Pelle said utility officials found …

The Independent reports: Customers rushed to evacuate a Costco retail store and a Chuck E Cheese restaurant in Superior, Colorado, on Thursday after a wildfire started spreading rapidly across the area due to gusty winds. Thousands of people in Colorado have been evacuated as hundreds of homes were destroyed by wildfires that tore through parts of the state. A video …

The Denver Post reports: A wind-whipped grassfire roared east from Boulder Thursday afternoon, destroying at least 500 homes, closing major highways and causing the evacuation of more than 30,000 people in two towns, including hospital patients. The Marshall fire, which officials said likely was sparked by downed power lines in the winds that reached gusts of more than 100 mph, …

The Louisville Courier-Journal reports: President Joe Biden is planning to come to the Bluegrass State in the aftermath of the devastating tornadoes that ripped through the commonwealth over the weekend. Biden is planning to travel to Fort Campbell on Wednesday for a storm briefing and will also visit Mayfield and Dawson Springs, two of the towns hit hardest by Friday’s …