Hazards being seen all over the world

Natural Hazards are always occurring. Most of them we never we hear about, earthquakes that are too minor to report, storms that don't quite make it hurricane status. This week has seen some serious incidents around the world.

1. The UK
Heavy rain has been seen all over the UK. Localised flooding has been experienced in many areas, causing disruption to traffic and people. Over a months worth of rain has fallen in 24 hours in some places. Devon has been worst hit. One man died after his car came off the wet road. Events such as motor car racing and music concerts have been cancelled (including the Godiva festival in Coventry)
Click here to read more about English floods

2. Russia
If you think our rain has been bad, they've had much worse in Russia. In one area at least 155 people have been killed after they experienced 5 times more rain than normal and severe floods occurred.
Click here to read more about Russian floods

3. India
In NE India, over 120 people have been confirmed killed after heavy Monsoon rains flooded towns and approximately 2000 villages. 2.2 million people have been displaced (made homeless).Hundreds of animals have also been killed.
Click here to read more about India floods

4. USA
It's not rain that is the problem (yet) in America, but the heat. A heat wave has killed 42 people across the East of the country. The temperatures should drop by Monday (9th July) but there could be thunderstorms and floods afterwards.
Click here to read more about USA heatwave

So, as we wonder if we're ever going to have some sun and a summer, be grateful were not experiencing the loss of life that some parts of the world, rich and poor, are experiencing.

SDME exam: 60min podcast for students

As the Year 11s prepare for the SDME exam on the 24th Jan, some of you may find it useful to listen to this podcast, where Mark Howell, a teacher from a school in Northamptonshire, goes through the pre-release booklet and explains sources and gives advice on how to answer questions. Because it's a podcast, you can download it and listen to it whenever you get a spare moment, in small chunks. Click on the title and you'll be taken to the podcast on iTunes. If you do decide to listen to it or download it, leave a comment for the producer, maybe thanking him for the effort!

Philippines Flood Death Toll Nears 1,000

2011 ends with yet another natural disaster. This one has claimed the lives of 1000 people in the Philippines. The flooding was caused by tropical storm Washi, which swept through the southern Philippines on Friday evening, dropping a month's worth of rain in 24 hours. About 143,000 people were affected in 13 southern and central states.

Conditions remain chaotic at the evacuation centres, mainly schools and gymnasiums, and with no running water fire trucks were being used to deliver supplies. Officials warned that the crowded conditions could lead to outbreaks of leptospirosis, diarrhoea, cholera, hepatitis A, typhoid fever, and dysentery, with children and pregnant women the most vulnerable. 

"The problem is we only have one or two toilets per school, and they have to cater to 3 000 or 4 000 users," said Iligan health officer Levy Villarin.

Click on the headline to read more on the story or click here to be taken to the recent Channel 4 documentary "The Year the Earth went wild"

Pakistan Floods

At least 369 people have died and 700,000 are living in refugee camps because of flooding in southern Pakistan, the country's national disaster authority said Thursday.

The flooding in Sindh province has destroyed 1.5 million homes in 41,000 villages, the government said. About 8.2 million people have been affected. Along with the deaths, more than 740 people have been injured.

About 67 percent of food stocks have been destroyed and nearly 37 percent of the livestock has been lost "or sold to avoid loss," Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, said earlier this week.
"At least 5 million surviving animals are at risk, lacking feed and shelter and facing increased exposure to debilitating diseases and worm infestations," Byrs said.
The United Nations' World Food Programme has been distributing food to thousands of people.
More than 6,000 schools have been damaged by the floods and 1,363 education facilities are currently being used as relief distribution sites in Sindh, officials said.


Click on the title to be taken to more details and some video footage from the Telegraph.
Click on the photo to be be taken to more images of the flood.

Cornwall Flooding

More than 100 homes have been evacuated after floods and gale-force winds caused disruption across Cornwall. People were trapped in their cars and homes by the rising floodwaters, which reached up to 6ft (2m) deep in places.

Up to 40mm (over 1.5ins) fell in an hour in some places, causing rivers to burst their banks and quickly overwhelming drains and culverts.

Main roads have been closed, landslides have disrupted train services in and out of Cornwall and some schools are shut.

Click the photo to go to the BBC website and see videos, photos and more news about the story

Click on the post title to read more about the floods

Floods in Cumbria: Army could build WW2 Bailey bridges

An emergency meeting is being held by the County Council this afternoon to discuss ways of bridging the Derwent at Workington, where residents currently face a 40-mile detour if they want to get from one side of the river to the other.
Structural engineers have told the council that prefabricated bridges could be built over the Derwent in a matter of days, if necessary, as they are strong enough to cross the river in a single span. Bailey bridges, named after their inventor, Donald Bailey, have been in use since the Second World War, when their light, modular design enabled soldiers to piece together bridges in a matter of hours without the need for cranes or specialist equipment. They are designed to hold the weight of a tank, and were credited by Field Marshal Bernard Montgomery as being one of the most important inventions of the war

Hundreds of people have been evacuated from their homes in Cumbria after flooding of 'biblical proportions'.

Record rainfall of 12.3 inches fell in the area in just 24 hours, causing rivers to burst their banks and flood waters to rise to 2.5m in some streets.
Hundreds of stranded residents have been rescued from their homes, roads have been blocked and four bridges have collapsed.
Workington MP Tony Cunningham said the flood was "of biblical proportions" and seen "once every 1,000 years".
The Environment Agency has six severe flood warnings in place - all in Cumbria - 29 flood warnings, and 65 less serious flood watches. More rain is expected on higher fells in Cumbria and across areas of the UK later today.
Flooding has also been reported in north-west Wales, Dumfries and Galloway in Scotland and other parts of north-west England.

Click on the title to go to photos of the floods and more information

91 die in El Salvador floods

At least 91 people have been killed in El Salvador by flooding following days of heavy rain, the government says.

Authorities have declared a state of emergency in five regions

Journalist Juan Carlos Barahona told the BBC that San Vicente had almost been completely cut off by landslides and collapsed bridges.

Mr Barahona, of the El Salvador daily La Prensa Grafica, told the BBC that the other worst affected areas were La Libertad, La Paz and Cuscatlan.

60 people are still missing, and about 7,000 more are in shelters.

'Day after tomorrow' map produced

This map has been produced by the Met Office and basically says Britain faces rising sea levels, floods and drought unless more is done to stop climate change. It predicts temperature rises may reach the dangerous tipping point by 2060 unless more is done to cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Click on the map to see a larger version

Houses that float?

After the floods that destoyed so much of New Orleans after Hurricane Katrina in 2005 (see further down the page for footage and more information), American designers have come up with a solution. They have designed houses that are meant to float should a flood arrive.

Click the headline to read more about this story.

There is an interview with the designer that you can listen to as well further down the page under the footage of Katrina.

Click here to learn more about flood management

Storm-Battered Philippines Struggles to Clean Up

More than a week after Typhoon Ketsana devastated the Philippines, large areas of the Manila metropolitan area and nearby provinces remain flooded, and residents face a host of other problems, including disease and ruined crops, according to relief and government officials.
Nearly half a million people were affected by flooding caused by Ketsana, with many of the displaced now in evacuation centers, while others remain marooned in homes surrounded by floodwaters. Several areas will probably have no power for weeks, officials say.

Click the title to read more about this story.

India floods leave 240 dead, 1.5 million homeless

New Delhi - Heavy floods in southern and western India have killed 240 people and left more than 1.5 million homeless, news reports said Monday.

Days of heavy rains led to the worst floods in southern Karnataka and Andhra Pradesh states in 60 years, inundating hundreds of villages in the region. Karnataka accounted for 178 deaths and neighbouring Andhra Pradesh registered 37 deaths, the PTI news agency reported. At least 25 people were killed in flood-related incidents in western Maharashtra state, the report said. In the worst-hit northern regions of the state, an estimated 1 million people were rendered homeless, officials told the NDTV network.

More than 300,000 flood victims were lodged in 1,200 relief camps in the state. The Government pledged to rebuild 200,000 homes that had been destroyed in the floods, with help from the private sector(businesses). NDTV reported that the river Krishna had turned into a sea in Andhra Pradesh, flooding thousands of homes and forcing residents to leave all belongings and take refuge in government relief camps. Government officials said 500,000 people had been evacuated from their homes across the state.

More than 1,400 people have died across 19 of India's 28 states during the monsoon rains this year. The monsoon season usually begins in June and wanes by September. Heavy cloud formations over the Arabian Sea to the west of India's southern peninsula and a depression over the Bay of Bengal in the east have caused the unusually heavy rains, according to the Meteorology Department.

Click the title to read more