Disaster management agencies need to speed up response time: Rijiju

India's response to disasters is not "adequate" and multiple agencies involved in this task need to step up their preparedness to a level ensuring that no person dies of human error, Union Minister Kiren Rijiju said on Monday.

Coastal cities need to plan for climate change
Coastal cities need to plan for climate change

Coastal cities in India need to plan and implement climate risk management strategies as an integral part of city development, experts said Friday.

Japan launches weather satellite
Japan launches weather satellite

Japan on Tuesday launched a weather satellite in a bid to improve the accuracy of weather forecasts related to natural disasters.

Uttarakhand CM orders deployment of SDRF perosnnel on Char Dham route

In a bid to put a fool-proof security system into place before the Char Dham yatra begins in May, Uttarakhand CM Harish Rawat has ordered substantial deployment of SDRF personnel in danger zones.

Costs of natural disasters in China surge to $69 billion

Natural disasters including droughts, floods and earthquakes cost China 421 billion yuan in 2013, official data showed on Monday, nearly double the total in the previous year.

`Runaway` heat behind deep earthquakes

Researchers have gained insight into the mechanism that causes deep quakes in the Earth to spread and eventually lead to an earthquake.

10 deadliest natural disasters in the Philippines


Steps to deal with natural disasters

Government Monday took a series of steps, including strengthening of forecasting capabilities, advance information on quakes and landslides, maintaining road and telecommunication networks, to deal with natural disasters and reduce causalities.

`Eight lakh may die if magnitude 8 quake hits Himalaya region`

Over eight lakh people may die if an earthquake measuring 8 on the Richter scale occurs in the seismically-active Himalayan states from Jammu and Kashmir to Arunachal Pradesh, National Disaster Management Authority`s Vice Chairman M Shashidhar Reddy has warned.

Twitter launches emergency alerts


Pre-fabricated houses come up in Kedarnath

With pilgrimage to Kedarnath likely to resume next month, pre-fabricated houses with power and water connectivity have been built at the Himalayan shrine to accommodate 100 people.

`Human activities increasing risk of calamities in Kedarnath`

Increasing human activities are augmenting the risk of natural disasters in the ecologically sensitive region of Kedarnath, a latest study claims.

Hot spots for world`s powerful earthquakes identified

Researchers have pinpointed the locations - like Indonesia`s Sumatra Island - where the world`s largest earthquakes are most likely to take place, with greater accuracy than ever before.

Natural disasters make 2011 costliest year

Natural disasters cost the global economy 380 billion dollars last year, making it the costliest year ever recorded.

Wildlife under threat from natural disasters

Scientists from the Zoological Society of London (ZSL) have come up with a method to identify wildlife populations likely to experience drastic changes when faced with extreme events such as natural disasters.

`India, China most prone to natural disasters`

Emerging economies like India, China face the highest economic risk from natural disasters, says a report by Maplecroft.

Central America launches its Google of weather

Oficials launched a database dubbed the `Google of Central American weather`, designed to predict natural disasters.

Scientists develop tool to predict tsunamis, landslides

Landslide probabilities can be predicted by establishing rainstorm threshold totals for any area on the globe.

`Natural disasters to cost $185bn yearly`

Annual global losses from natural disasters could triple to a whopping USD 185 billion by the end of this century.

Indo-Pak precedent of help during natural disasters: Qureshi

Pakistan`s foreign minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi on Saturday said that New
Delhi and Islamabad had a past record of providing assistance
to each other when faced with natural disasters.