Indian
landslide: Dozens trapped in Pune village of Malin
At
least 20 people are confirmed to have died after a landslide buried
some 40 houses and trapped up to 200 people in a village in west
India, officials say.
BBC,
30
July, 2014
Teams
of emergency workers have so far rescued 10 people in Malin village,
near the city of Pune in Maharashtra state, where the disaster
happened.
Rescuers
trying to reach survivors are being hampered by bad weather.
The
landslide hit the village early in the morning while people were
sleeping.
BBC
Hindi's Devidas Deshpande, who is at the scene, says it took hours to
raise the alarm. A local bus driver alerted officials on discovering
that Malin and the road leading to it were no longer to be seen.
The
whole village except its school has been washed away or buried, our
correspondent says.
Landslides
are common in some parts of India during the monsoon rains, which run
from June to September.
An
official from India's National Disaster Response Force (NDRF) said
hilly terrain was making rescue work difficult.
Prime
Minister Narendra Modi described the loss of lives in the landslide
as "saddening".
He said Home Minister Rajnath Singh would travel to Pune to assess
the situation.
Looking
at the scale of destruction, pulling out any survivors would be no
less than a miracle.
It's
been raining heavily for the past two to three days in this remote
area, and residents of nearby villages say they were woken up by a
loud noise at 0300 local time. Some said it sounded like a massive
bomb had gone off.
A
large part of a nearby hill collapsed on Malin, and its population of
150 to 200 tribal people were covered with tonnes of loose earth, mud
and rocks.
Its
homes, mostly shanties made of mud and grass, were flattened and
buried under the debris, giving its sleeping residents little chance
of escape.
It
was not until midday that residents from nearby villages managed to
inform administrators.
Rescue
teams have been delayed by the narrow single-lane road that is the
only approach to the village, and incessant rains are hampering the
rescue operations.
More
than 12 hours after disaster struck, rescuers are digging through the
debris to try to reach survivors, but as evening falls, hopes are
getting dimmer.
Senior
local official Prabhakar Deshmukh told the Associated Press news
agency that rescue workers were being hampered by rains and poor
roads.
"According
to the district officials 150-200 are feared trapped," Tripti
Parule, a spokeswoman for the National Disaster Management Authority,
said in an email to the BBC.
Indian
television channels showed dramatic footage of a huge chunk of a
hillside giving way, with mud, rocks and water flowing below.
Local
official Saurav Rao told the Press Trust of India that heavy
machinery and ambulances had been sent to the village.
"The
exact number of casualties is not known as we are moving slowly to
ensure that those trapped are removed safely," Mr Rao said.
More
than 500 people died and several thousand people were listed as
missing after floods and landslides hit the northern state of
Uttarakhand in June last year.
30 July, 2014
Japan Heat Wave Kills 15, Thousands More Are Hospitalized
30 July, 2014
As
the U.S. East Coast enjoys a mild break from blazing summer heat,
there are major problems brewing on the other side of the world.
Japan
has been gripped by a serious heat wave that has claimed the lives of
at least 15 people, Yahoo! News reports, and another 8,600 people or
so have been sent to hospitals with heat-related illnesses.
Temperatures
surpassed 95 degrees on Sunday, and on that one day alone, six people
died from the heat, the report adds. More than half of those
hospitalized were elderly patients – a frequent issue during
Japan's heat waves because about 25 percent of the country's
population is 65 or older, according to New York Magazine. Compare
that to America, where 14 percent of the population is 65 or older,
the magazine adds
Temperatures
in Tokyo surpassed 90 degrees multiple times during the deadly heat
wave and are expected to hit 90 or above for the rest of the week, if
not longer.
A
similar heat wave hit Japan hard last year, when record-high
temperatures in excess of 105 degrees were recorded, CBS News
reports. Summer temperatures are often stifling in Japan, but the
summer of 2013 was the hottest on record for the country, according
to Channel News Asia.
"Japan
is normally very sultry in late July anyway, but temperatures have
been a bit higher than average over the past week or so in the major
cities," said weather.com meteorologist Nick Wiltgen. "Osaka,
for instance, had lows in the 80s for four straight days, and the
high reached 99 there on July 25."
As the U.S. East Coast enjoys a mild break from blazing summer heat, there are major problems brewing on the other side of the world.
Plane sinks in melting asphalt at Moscow airport
RT,
29
July, 2014
A
passenger aircraft got stuck at Domodedovo airport for over 4 hours
after its landing gear sank in melting asphalt of one of the taxiways
due to a strong heat wave that hit Moscow.
As
temperatures peaked at 35 degrees Celsius (95 Fahrenheit) on Tuesday,
an S7 flight from Domodedovo Airport enroute from Moscow to
Novosibirsk took off at 16:00 local time instead of a scheduled
take-off at 11:15.
“At
11.15 our aircraft, Boeing 737, had to take off,” Evgeny,
a passenger on board the flight told Komsomolskaya Pravda. “However,
we were informed that the flight is delayed by 45 minutes due to the
fact that the plane still has not arrived. At 11.50, when it finally
arrived, we were allowed to go on board. The Boeing then drove off
and having left the airport building stood up to wait in line for
take-off.”
The
Boeing 737 could not take off, since the rear landing gear was stuck
in a pothole about 10-15 centimeters deep as the heat melted asphalt
underneath the weight of the plane.
“But
when it came time to fly, he could not budge. The asphalt melted and
rear wheels sunk in it by 10-15 centimeters,” Evgeny
says.
The
passengers had to disembark as the maintenance crew worked on getting
the plane back in take-off mode.
“Abnormally
high temperatures have led to minor defects to the local seat covers
of aircraft parking,”Daria
Korshunova, a spokeswoman for the airport told Komsomolskaya Pravda.
Korshunova also said that flights coming in and out of Domodedovo
airport were not affected.
The
temperatures in Moscow region are expected to climb in the coming
days. Wednesday's forecast calls for 31-33 C in the city, with 35 C
predicted by the weekend. Meanwhile ecologists from environmental
monitoring agency issued a “red” alert pollution warning.
The
warning extends to those suffering from cardiovascular and
respiratory diseases, pregnant women and the elderly. The hottest
temperature ever recorded in the city for July 29 was in 2010 when
the air hit a scorching 38.2 C (100 F).
Every
two hours, some 600 specially equipped trucks spray the streets of
the Russian capital to cool the pavement. Water is also being handed
out to metro passengers and at railway stations.
"In
the subway, at 10 stations where there are problems in terms of
temperature based on historical observation, paramedics are stationed
there,” Maksim
Liksutov, the head of Moscow's Transportation Department was quoted
by Moscow city portal, FlashNord.
Liksutov
also said that “184
metro stations are equipped with water coolers, as well as water
distributors at all Moscow's railway stations." In
addition, Moscow authorities announced that specially designed“cool
rooms” are
available for public use in the center of the city.
Moscow's
health authorities said that since the beginning of the heat wave,
only 2-3 people a day have asked medical assistance related to heat
strokes, in comparison to over 7,000 patients that seek medical care
in Moscow daily.
Meanwhile
in Japan, a heatwave there has taken away the lives of at least 15
people over the past week. Over 8,000 Japanese sought medical
attention with heatstroke symptoms, official figures showed Tuesday,
AFP reports.
As
35 degrees Celsius (95 degrees Fahrenheit) temperatures struck the
island nation with high humidity on Saturday, nearly 8,600 people
went to emergency rooms for heat-related symptoms by Sunday, Japan’s
Fire and Disaster Management Agency said. Fifteen people have died.
In
2013 Japan experienced its hottest summer on record, with a record 41
degrees C (105.8 Fahrenheit) in some parts of the country, causing
tens of thousands to suffer heat-related symptoms.
Freak
flood footage: Romania ravaged by deadly deluge
Two
people died and several hundreds were forced to evacuate as surging
floodwaters submerged villages in Romania on Tuesday. Footage filmed
in Arges County on Wednesday showed emergency workers rescuing people
stranded by the floods, wrecked buildings and overflowing rivers.
Storm warnings for Europe
Storms warnings for Europe, including RedAlerts for extreme high temperatures in Poland and rain and flooding in Germany.
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