natural disaster

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More Levees Doomed: Fargo Mayor

(Newser) - The bloated Red River briefly breached a dike early today, pouring water into a school campus in Fargo, ND. The mayor called it a "wakeup call" for a city that needs to be vigilant for weaknesses in levees that could give way at any time. "The campus is...

300 Feared Dead in Australia Fires

Task Force begins investigation

(Newser) - More than 300 people may have died in the devastating bushfires that have torched 850 square miles of southeast Australia, reports the Sydney Morning Herald. While the official death toll stands at 173, an official warned that number would rise “steeply” as rescuers discover more bodies. Several people are...

Yellowstone Quakes Spark Volcano Fears

(Newser) - The recent rash of earthquakes at Yellowstone National Park has geologists intrigued but unworried; that’s not the case with online doomsayers who think the park's volcano is getting ready to blow, the AP reports. About 900 quakes, most undetectable by humans, hit in the week following Christmas. “Something...

Evacuees Return to Battered Galveston

Damage varies widely in Texas town hit by Ike

(Newser) - Heaps of furniture and electronics lined Galveston's streets as evacuees returned to the Texan island to salvage their belongings, the Galveston County Daily News reports. Some were spared from Hurricane Ike’s wrath altogether, while others discovered their homes completely flattened. In the city's central housing projects, first-floor residents found...

Ike's Message: Don't Build on Sandbars
 Ike's Message: 
 Don't Build on Sandbars 
ANALYSIS
Sep 14, 2008 3:37 PM CDT

Ike's Message: Don't Build on Sandbars

The costs of living seaside on a barrier island can be huge

(Newser) - The barrier islands along the Gulf and Atlantic coasts entice inhabitants with their balmy beachfronts, but prove an equal draw for often devastating tropical storms. As Hurricane Ike's path of destruction across Galveston Island shows, building houses on what amounts to an oversized sandbar can be a critical mistake—though...

Fla. Keys Evacuation Order Canceled
Fla. Keys Evacuation Order Canceled
Sep 8, 2008 12:13 PM CDT

Fla. Keys Evacuation Order Canceled

Residents urged to stay put as Hurricane Ike menaces mainland

(Newser) - Hurricane Ike is now a Category 2 storm, and officials have rescinded orders to evacuate the Florida Keys, the Miami Herald reports. Residents still on the archipelago shouldn't go anywhere, and those who've already left are being asked not to return until after the storm passes. It's expected to continue...

Texans Steel for Stormy Edouard

National Guard prepares to pitch in for aftermath

(Newser) - Coastal Texas residents are preparing for Tropical Storm Edouard to make landfall in just hours as the state deploys its National Guard to help clean up and distribute food and water, the Galveston Daily News reports. The storm is expected to bring 10 inches of rain to some areas and...

5 Man-Made Natural Disasters
 5 Man-Made Natural Disasters
OPINION
Aug 3, 2008 9:29 AM CDT

5 Man-Made Natural Disasters

Floods to mud, there's lots we can take responsibility for besides global warming

(Newser) - Humans can do a righteous job of messing up the planet in the long term. We're also more than capable of wreaking short-term havoc with these man-made natural disasters, reports the New Scientist:
  1. Mud volcanoes: While we can't create the real thing, shoddy mining practices in East Java have made
...

Mother Nature's Wrath Creates Prosperity

Disasters spur economic growth, but at what cost?

(Newser) - Casualties aside, natural disasters may not be so devastating after all. Catastrophes like the recent earthquake in China destroy old buildings and roads, making way for new and improved infrastructure that may not have been created otherwise and pumping cash into the economy. In the long term, updated technology and...

Flood Recedes, But Only 1 Well Remains

Cedar Rapids restricts water use for next few days

(Newser) - Floodwaters receded today after 24,000 people fled Cedar Rapids, Iowa, but only one well is uncontaminated to service the city, CNN reports. Officials say it will run down if people take showers and flush toilets over the next 3 or 4 days. "Water is still our primary concern,...

Junta Closing Cyclone Shelters
 Junta Closing Cyclone Shelters 
May 30, 2008 12:16 PM CDT

Junta Closing Cyclone Shelters

UN official denounces coerced moves

(Newser) - The Burmese junta has reportedly begun closing shelters and telling cyclone victims to return to their decimated villages, a move that drew strong condemnation from a UN official, the BBC reports. Military leaders, apparently worried that the camps will become permanent aid centers, have given victims tents and bamboo poles...

8 Killed as Tornadoes Hammer Midwest

Storms in Iowa and Minnesota chew up towns

(Newser) - Midwestern tornadoes killed seven people in Iowa and a toddler in Minnesota yesterday as they tore paths of destruction through communities, CNN reports. The southern half of a town in Iowa was unrecognizable after a twister demolished the local high school, commercial areas  and some 200 houses. At least 50...

Poorly Built Schools Stood No Chance in Earthquake

Up to 10K kids died; parents blame gov't

(Newser) - As a massive earthquake shook Sichuan province, subpar construction turned many Chinese schoolrooms into the mass graves of as many as 10,000 children, the New York Times reports, and grieving parents are pointing fingers at Beijing. The government, aware of the problem, had issued warnings on school safety in...

China Death Toll Nears 40,000
 China Death Toll Nears 40,000 
May 20, 2008 8:28 AM CDT

China Death Toll Nears 40,000

Foreign medical workers arrive as focus shifts toward aiding survivors

(Newser) - The official quake death toll climbed to nearly 40,000 in China’s Sichuan province today, the Guardian reports, as foreign medical teams and equipment arrived on the scene. Relief efforts began shifting away from finding survivors to aiding the more than 200,000 injured and 5 million left homeless....

'Disaster Fatigue' Shuts US Wallets

Burma, China donations pale compared to tsunami, Katrina charity

(Newser) - Americans’ donations to disaster relief this year fall far short of money given to victims of the 2004 tsunami and Hurricane Katrina—and it’s likely due to “disaster fatigue," say experts. With tragedies like Burma’s cyclone and China’s earthquake quickly piling up, people may feel...

Junta Leader Visits Nargis Victims as UN Envoy Arrives

General meets survivors for first time since cyclone hit

(Newser) - The head of Burma's junta emerged today for the first time since cyclone Nargis struck two weeks ago to meet with survivors, CNN reports. Gen. Than Shwe visited a refugee camp 200 miles south of Yangon, touching the faces of infant survivors. The visit came as the UN's humanitarian secretary...

133K Dead, Missing: Junta
 133K Dead, Missing: Junta 
May 16, 2008 5:05 PM CDT

133K Dead, Missing: Junta

Military admits full impact of storm

(Newser) - Nearly 78,000 are confirmed dead and another 56,000 missing in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, Reuters reports. Torrential rains continued to pound Burma today, complicating rescue efforts. The EU’s chief aid official met with military leaders to press for increasing foreign rescue workers' involvement, but he met...

Cyclone's Toll Worsens
 Cyclone's Toll Worsens 
May 14, 2008 8:04 PM CDT

Cyclone's Toll Worsens

UN says 2.5M people have been 'severely affected' by the storm

(Newser) - The UN today nearly doubled its estimate of the number of people "severely affected" by the cyclone in Burma to up to 2.5 million and said they were in dire need of immediate aid, Reuters reports. The frustrated UN chief urged the creation of a "high-level pledging...

Quake Moves Xinhua Past Propaganda
Quake Moves Xinhua Past Propaganda
May 13, 2008 7:01 PM CDT

Quake Moves Xinhua Past Propaganda

Chinese news agency focuses coverage on victims, not government

(Newser) - Xinhua, the Chinese state news agency, is better known for People’s Republic propaganda than hard-hitting journalism. But in the aftermath of the catastrophic Sichuan earthquake, the Wall Street Journal reports, the agency has published hundreds of up-to-the-minute accounts, many of them on the anguish of the victims and the...

2008 Twister Deaths Highest in a Decade

22 fatalities over weekend make 98 for year

(Newser) - With 22 tornado-related deaths in the South over the weekend, 2008 is shaping up to be the deadliest year for twisters in a decade, USA Today reports. With 98 total fatalities, “we are on a pace that continues a record number” of tornadoes since modern record-keeping began in 1950,...

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