disaster

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Dozens Killed in China Highway Collapse

Cars tumbled down slope in Guangdong Province

(Newser) - A section of a highway collapsed after heavy rains in a mountainous area in southern China, sending cars tumbling down a slope and leaving at least 36 people dead, authorities said Thursday. The Meizhou city government said that 23 vehicles were found after a 58.7-foot long section of the...

35 Bodies Found in Well After Temple Collapse

Authorities in India say weight of crowd caused cover to collapse

(Newser) - Thirty-five bodies have been found inside a well at a Hindu temple in central India after dozens of people fell into the muddy water when the well’s cover collapsed, officials said Friday. Video of Thursday’s collapse at the temple complex in Indore in Madhya Pradesh state showed chaos...

Bill Sets Day of Remembrance for Worst US Sports Disaster

Most of Marshall University's football team died in 1970 plane crash in West Virginia

(Newser) - A bill has won final legislative approval in West Virginia that would establish an annual day of recognition for the worst sports disaster in US history, a plane crash that killed most of Marshall University's football team. On Nov. 14, 1970, a chartered jet crashed in fog and rain...

Only 1 in 10 Counties Was Spared Disaster in Last Decade

Report looks at weather-related disasters between 2011 and 2021

(Newser) - Some 90% of the counties in the United States suffered a weather disaster between 2011 and 2021, according to a report published Wednesday. Some endured as many as 12 federally declared disasters over those 11 years. More than 300 million people—93% of the country’s population—live in these...

It Was Worse Than the Titanic. You Likely Haven't Heard of It

The Joola capsized 20 years ago

(Newser) - As far as maritime disasters go, the Titanic stands alone—at least in our minds, but not in the history books, at least as far as victims go. In a piece for the New York Times, Elian Peltier revisits the Joola, the passenger ferry that departed on a 17-hour journey...

In Deadliest US Sub Tragedy, 'No Cover-Up' Is Found

Retired Navy skipper sued for release of documents

(Newser) - The release of about 3,000 pages of documents delving into the deadliest submarine disaster in US history has not yielded any sinister effort to hide the truth, a retired Navy skipper says. Instead, documents show the Navy’s policies and procedures failed to keep pace with fast-moving technological advances...

At Least 20 Killed in China Ultramarathon

Organizers blamed themselves

(Newser) - At least 20 people running a mountain marathon cross-country ultramarathon race have died in northwestern China after hail, freezing rain and gale winds hit the high-altitude track, rescuers said Sunday. The rescue headquarters quoted by the official Xinhua News Agency said participants suffered from physical discomfort and the sudden drop...

Nation Fights Oil Spill With Human Hair

Emergency volunteers in Mauritius are using whatever works to contain the spill

(Newser) - Facing a nightmare oil spill , people in Mauritius are cutting off their hair. Salons nationwide are offering free haircuts—and some abroad are sending in fresh locks—to help soak up roughly 2,500 tons of oil spilled by a Japanese tanker in late July, Gizmodo reports. Emergency volunteers are...

Bank Warns of Potential Disasters Worse Than Pandemic
Bank Warns of
Potential Disasters
Worse Than Pandemic
in case you missed it
Jun 21, 2020 7:30 AM CDT

Bank Warns of Potential Disasters Worse Than Pandemic

Deutsche Bank says there is a 1 in 3 chance of a worse catastrophe in the next decade

(Newser) - Financial markets are starting to rebound from the coronavirus pandemic amid promising signs from world economies—but Deutsche Bank doesn't pay its analysts to be optimists. In a report issued Tuesday, those analysts warned that there is a one-in-three chance of an event even more devastating than the pandemic...

23 Dead: 'This Is a Day of Destruction for Lee County'

Powerful tornado hit eastern Alabama Sunday

(Newser) - At least 23 people—ranging in age from children to people in their 80s—were killed when a powerful tornado left a path of destruction in eastern Alabama on Sunday. Authorities say the tornado, one of several reported as a severe weather system hit the area, traveled straight down a...

'No Way Did They Do That': Outrage Over Netflix Clips

2 productions used actual footage from Lac-Megantic disaster

(Newser) - The mayor of Lac-Megantic, Quebec, says she was appalled to discover that footage of the most horrific day in her town's history was presented as fiction in two Netflix productions. Footage of the 2013 runaway train disaster that killed 47 people and destroyed most of the small town's...

166 Missing in Lake After Ferry Disaster

Overcrowded boat sank in Sumatra Monday night

(Newser) - As distraught and angry relatives pleaded for a bigger search effort, Indonesian officials revealed that 166 people are missing from a ferry sinking early this week at a popular lake in Sumatra, a much higher number than previously believed. The boat, overcrowded with passengers and motorbikes, didn't have a...

S. Korea Hit by Deadliest Fire in More Than a Decade

At least 41 dead in hospital blaze

(Newser) - Less than two weeks before the Winter Olympics open, South Korea has suffered its deadliest fire in more than a decade. At least 41 people were killed and scores more injured, some of them critically, in a blaze at the Sejong Hospital in the city of Miryang, about 170 miles...

He Celebrated His Birthday, Died in Mudslide the Next Day

4 kids among 17 confirmed dead in Calif. disaster

(Newser) - The oldest victim swept away in a California mudslide was Jim Mitchell, who had celebrated his 89th birthday the day before. He died in the Santa Barbara County enclave of Montecito with his wife of more than 50 years, Alice. The youngest, 3-year-old Kailly Benitez, was one of four children...

We Spent More Money Than Ever on Weather Disasters

Credit 3 hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and drought in 2017

(Newser) - With three strong hurricanes, wildfires, hail, flooding, tornadoes, and drought, the United States tallied a record high bill last year for weather disasters: $306 billion. The US had 16 disasters last year with damage exceeding a billion dollars, the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration said Monday. That ties 2011 for...

Trump Declares Major Disaster in California

Move means feds will cover costs of devastating wildfire

(Newser) - President Trump has declared a major disaster in California over a wildfire that destroyed more than 1,000 buildings as fierce winds whipped it through Ventura and Santa Barbara counties last month, the AP reports. The declaration makes federal funding available to state and local governments and some nonprofit organizations...

'Oh the Humanity' Was 80 Years Ago Today

Disaster made aviation, broadcasting history

(Newser) - "Oh, the humanity!" It was 80 years ago Saturday that a radio announcer from Chicago stood at Lakehurst Naval Air Station in New Jersey and uttered those words into a microphone as the German airship burst into flames, killing 35 of the 97 people on board and one...

$12K Tickets to Luxury Music Festival Definitely Not Worth It

Fyre Festival in Bahamas postponed amid chaos, confusion

(Newser) - Thousands of people who had paid as much as $12,780 to attend a luxury music festival on a private island in the Bahamas arrived Thursday to find what they're describing as a "scam," a "sham," and a "complete cluster." The New York ...

Meet the Man Who's 'The Best at the Worst Job in the World'
Meet the Man Who's 'the Best
at the Worst Job in the World'
IN CASE YOU MISSED IT
Dec 25, 2016 10:12 AM CST

Meet the Man Who's 'the Best at the Worst Job in the World'

Robert Jensen makes sense of the aftermath of the world's disasters

(Newser) - Robert Jensen is "the best at the worst job in the world"—and it's a job you've probably never given any thought to. Jensen handles the aftermath of terrorist attacks, natural disasters, plane crashes, and more, GQ reports in a haunting profile of the head of...

Wrong-Way Driver Kills 5 Teens in Vermont
Wrong-Way Driver Kills
5 Teens in Vermont
UPDATED
Oct 9, 2016 4:00 PM CDT

Wrong-Way Driver Kills 5 Teens in Vermont

Victims were high school juniors

(Newser) - A man driving the wrong way on an interstate highway in Vermont spawned several crashes that left five teenagers dead, an unknown number injured, and at least two vehicles in flames, including a stolen police cruiser, state police said Sunday. A Vermont school principal said the five teenagers, who were...

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