BRUMADINHO, Brazil (AFP) — The number of people killed by the collapse of a dam at a Brazilian mining complex rose to 58, with those still missing rising to 305, civil defense officials said Sunday. After search operations, “the number has increased to 305 people missing and 58 dead,” Minas Gerais state civil defense spokesman Lieutenant Colonel Flavio Godinho told reporters. He said rescuers had found a bus filled with human bodies. © Agence France-Presse
Tag: Disaster
Indonesia flood, landslide death toll rises to 26
MAKASSAR, Indonesia (AFP) — The death toll from flash floods and landslides in Indonesia jumped to 26, a disaster agency official said Thursday, as rescuers race to find still-missing victims. Thousands have been evacuated from their homes as heavy rain and strong winds pounded the southern part of Sulawesi island, swelling rivers that burst their banks and inundating dozens of communities in nine southern districts. Parts of the provincial capital Makassar have also been affected. […]
South Korea awards ferry sinking survivors compensation
SEOUL, South Korea (AFP) — A South Korean court on Monday awarded compensation to some survivors of the Sewol ferry sinking, almost five years after the accident killed more than 300 people in one of the country’s deadliest maritime disasters. The 6,825-tonne Sewol was carrying 476 people — most of them high-school students on a school trip — when it capsized off the southern coast in April 2014. Almost all the victims were children, many […]
Tech to the rescue: New products aim to improve disaster relief
by Julie CHARPENTRAT Agence France Presse LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) — After catastrophic wildfires in southern California late last year, the Israeli startup Watergen sent in its devices which pull clean water out of the atmosphere for firefighters and relief workers. The machines, which have been deployed in other global disaster areas, were among the technologies on display at the 2019 Consumer Electronics Show to highlight innovations which can be used in various kinds […]
Hyundai shows off walking car project
LAS VEGAS, United States (AFP) — South Korean car maker Hyundai on Monday gave a look at work it is doing on a vehicle with robotic legs to let it walk or crawl over treacherous terrain. Hyundai showed off its Elevate project on the eve of the Consumer Electronics Show gadget extravaganza, billing it an unprecedented “Ultimate Mobility Vehicle” that combines technology from electric cars with robotics. “What if a car designed with robotics could […]
Indonesia trims tsunami death toll, hikes injury tally
JAKARTA, Indonesia (AFP) — The number of people evacuated after Indonesia’s deadly tsunami has nearly doubled to some 40,000 while more than 7,000 were injured in the disaster, officials said Friday, as they trimmed the official death toll. Authorities said 426 people had been killed — down from a previous tally of 430 — with double-counting by different districts blamed for the change. Two dozen people remain missing almost a week after the disaster. The […]
‘All lives matter’: Indonesia saves tsunami-stranded turtles
KALIANDA, Indonesia (AFP) — Searching a debris-strewn beach for victims of Indonesia’s deadly tsunami, a rescue team happened upon a giant sea turtle trapped in a pile of marine trash. It took four staff to haul the endangered creature back to sea, just the latest in a string of turtle rescues along the country’s devastated coast. “The turtle was really large and it got stuck in a pile of rubbish, lying almost upside down,” Adi […]
Indonesia hikes danger level for deadly tsunami volcano
CARITA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesia on Thursday raised the danger alert level for a volcano that sparked a killer tsunami at the weekend, after previously warning that fresh activity at the crater threatened to trigger another deadly wave. Authorities also widened a no-go zone around Anak Krakatoa to five kilometers (three miles) — up from a previous two kilometers — and warned shell-shocked residents to stay away from the coast, after more than 400 were […]
Indonesians urged to evacuate amid post-tsunami floods
CARITA, Indonesia (AFP) — Flooding is endangering survivors of the volcano-triggered tsunami that killed over 430 people in Indonesia, as police warn residents and urge them to evacuate. https://youtu.be/LSPgKEzlYgk
Indonesia rescuers scramble to reach isolated tsunami-struck towns
by Sonny Tumbelaka Agence France Presse CARITA, Indonesia (AFP) — Indonesian search and rescue teams Wednesday plucked stranded residents from remote islands and pushed into isolated communities still desperate for aid in the aftermath of a volcano-triggered tsunami that killed more than 400. Medical workers have warned that clean water and medicine supplies were running low — stoking fears of a public health crisis — as thousands of displaced survivors cram shelters and hospitals. Many […]
Sick, hungry Indonesia tsunami survivors cram shelters as death toll nears 400
by Harry PEARL Agence France Presse CARITA, Indonesia (AFP) — Desperately needed aid flowed into a stretch of Indonesia’s tsunami-struck coastline Tuesday, but humanitarian workers warned that clean water and medicine supplies were dwindling as thousands crammed makeshift evacuation centres. Fears about a public health crisis come as the death toll from Saturday’s volcano-triggered disaster rose to nearly 400 with thousands more displaced from flattened homes. “A lot of the children are sick with […]
222 dead as volcano-triggered tsunami hits Indonesia
by Muhammad Ary A volcano-triggered tsunami has left at least 222 people dead and hundreds more injured after slamming without warning into beaches around Indonesia’s Sunda Strait, officials said Sunday, voicing fears that the toll would rise further. Hundreds of buildings were destroyed by the wave, which hit the coast of southern Sumatra and the western tip of Java about 9:30 pm (1430 GMT) on Saturday after a volcano known as the “child” of Krakatoa erupted, […]





