Dhaka: At least 14 people were killed today as cyclonic storm Mahasen battered Bangladesh's southwestern coastlines, damaging thousands of thatched houses and forcing evacuation of over one million people from low-lying areas. "All the deaths were reported from the southwestern coastlines where the cyclone hit with its maximum strength before being weakened gradually," a disaster management ministry spokesman said.
Officials from coastal areas earlier reported the deaths mostly from offshore islands of southwestern Barisal region with the highest toll recorded in Barguna district, the worst affected area where the storm levelled hundreds of thatched houses and standing crops and uprooted trees. They said the deaths were caused by drowning or the victims were hit by falling trees.
The cyclone first struck the southern Patuakhali coast with wind speed up to 90 kilometres per hour, but it gradually weakened into a tropical storm and then dissipated, causing far less damage than had been feared. "The cyclone gradually lost its strength as it headed towards India's Tripura state crossing (Bangladesh's) Bandarban (hill district) this afternoon," meteorology department's deputy director Shamsuddin Ahmed told PTI.
MeT office director Shah Alam earlier said the Mahasen first hit the Khepupara of Patuakhali and then it proceeded towards the Noakhali and Chittagong Coast through the confluence of the Tentulia and Meghna rivers. Disaster management officials said the people have started returning home from cyclone shelters as situation turned normal....
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11:39 PM, May 16, 2013
Agartala: With cyclone Mahasen likely to hit Tripura on Thursday, the state may witness heavy rains and a gale of 50-60 Kmph, the met office said. "There is likely to be heavy rain in the state in the next two days with wind blowing in 50 to 60 Km speed per hour," Met Director Dilip Saha said. "The effects of the cyclone might slightly be felt in southern and eastern...
04:37 PM, May 16, 2013
Aizawl: The death toll in Saturday's landslide in Mizoram's capital Aizawl rose to 17 on Monday, as Mizoram Chief Minister Lal Thanhawla announced setting up of an inquiry commission to probe the circumstances leading to the disaster. Aizawl SP (Traffic) Lallianmawia said four bodies were recovered since Sunday night, while two more bodies were trapped under concrete slabs in such a way that it was difficult retrieve them. "Some parts...
07:59 AM, May 14, 2013
New York: The magnitude-8.6 earthquake that struck the Indian Ocean in 2012 may have had a calming effect on the other quakes in the world, a new study has claimed. The powerful quake near Sumatra, Indonesia, seemed to have actually quietened the global earthquakes, according to two reports presented at the Seismological Society of America's annual meeting in Salt Lake City. The April 11, 2012 quake was the largest strike-slip...
05:16 PM, Apr 21, 2013
The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) was set up with the express mandate to chalk out a response strategy to large-scale natural or man-made disasters. But with the abnormal growth of the cities, with rampant unplanned construction, are India's metro cities sitting ducks in case a large earthquake struck one of them? Maj. Gen. Raj Kaushal, Senior specialist, policy and plans, National Disaster Management Authority, joined IBNLive readers for an...
06:47 PM, Apr 17, 2013
Lhasa: As many as 83 workers were buried alive Friday when a major landslide hit a mining area in China's Tibet region, authorities said. The accident occurred at about 6 am in the capital Lhasa's Maizhokunggar county, Xinhua reported. The affected area of the landslide, caused by natural disasters, is spread over three kilometres, with about 2 million cubic metres of mud, rock and debris, said an official of the...
08:59 AM, Mar 30, 2013
A tornado swept through nearly two dozen villages southeast of the Bangladeshi capital Dhaka, killing at least 20 people, tearing roofs off houses and uprooting trees and power pylons, officials said. The death toll could rise sharply as more than 300 people were injured when the twister struck Brahmanbaria district, more than 100 km (60 miles) southeast of Dhaka, on Friday evening. ...
11:50 AM, Mar 23, 2013
1. A Northbound Hurricane Hurricane Sandy is moving slowly toward the north-northeast but is expected to turn to the north and west later Sunday and Monday, forecasters say. At some point, it's expected to become what's known as an extratropical storm. Unlike a tropical system like a hurricane, which gets its power from warm ocean waters, extratropical systems are driven by temperature contrasts in the atmosphere. Although Sandy is currently...
10:56 PM, Oct 28, 2012
Bloomsburg: The National Weather Service has downgraded Sandy from a hurricane to a tropical storm but warns that "widespread impacts" are still expected into next week for the US East Coast. The storm was expected to increase in speed and move away from the Bahamas and parallel to the southeast coast of the United States later this weekend. Maximum sustained winds dropped to near 70 mph early Saturday, pushing it...
02:56 PM, Oct 27, 2012
Mumbai: It's been seven years since more than 400 people were killed in Mumbai's worst-ever natural disaster. Reeling from the massive scale of destruction wreaked by the unprecedented deluge, authorities were quick to draw up ambitious and expensive plans for what they vowed would be a complete overhauling of the city's storm water drainage system. As the clouds part again this year, MiD DAY did a little bit of digging...
01:15 PM, Jun 29, 2012
New Delhi: Notwithstanding fears of a tsunami following a powerful earthquake off Indonesia on Wednesday, the navies of India and the US carried out their joint exercises off the coast of Chennai. The 10-day long annual exercise codenamed 'Malabar', in the Bay of Bengal which started on April 7, will continue without restriction, Indian Navy officials said in New Delhi. Tackling natural disasters such as Tsunami is part of the...
09:04 PM, Apr 11, 2012
Kathmandu: Army Chief Gen VK Singh on Thursday met Nepal President Ram Baran Yadav and wished peace and prosperity for his country. Singh, who is in Nepal to attend the three-day Regional Seminar on Natural Disaster Management and Humanitarian Assistance, called on President Yadav at the Rastrapati Bhawan in the capital. Indian Ambassador to Nepal Jayant Prasad was also present at the meeting. Singh during the brief meeting wished "for...
09:51 AM, Apr 05, 2012
Over the next few weeks, with full moon, it looks we are going to see higher tides. ...
10:17 AM, Mar 19, 2011
The world is coming to an end. Or maybe not. An American astrologer says the moon will trigger natural disasters on Saturday night. ...
11:09 PM, Mar 18, 2011
New Delhi: The world is coming to an end. Or maybe not. An American astrologer says the moon will trigger natural disasters on Saturday night. Although some scientists are still skeptical about the same. Richard Nolle who is an astrologer, not a scientist, says that the Moon is triggering horrible natural disasters on Earth. The Moon orbits Earth in an oval shaped or elliptical orbit. Its distance from Earth varies,...
11:00 PM, Mar 18, 2011
Geneva: India ranks second in the world for natural disasters after China, a top UN official has said underlining that unplanned urbanisation and failure to address the issue of climate change pose a grave threat worldwide. The two rapidly growing countries in the world, China and India, rank first and second in the number of reported natural disasters. While China witnessed 22 natural disasters, India came second with 16. About...
06:18 PM, Jan 24, 2011
Washington: During the biannual event called the Random Hacks of Kindness (RHoK), hackers worldwide develop software that can help identify and reduce risks from natural hazards. It's a far cry from the darker side of hackers who recently disrupted the computer operations of companies trying to shut down WikiLeaks, says Christian Science Monitor. During these events, hackers develop and improve tools aimed at helping emergency managers respond more effectively to...
06:49 PM, Jan 14, 2011
The Ladakh Ecological and Developmental Group and SEEDS were selected for the dedicated work they put in after Leh flash floods. ...
09:26 AM, Dec 17, 2010
