Natural Disaster

Volcano in Alaska causes disturbance

Submitted by news on Wed, May 22, 2013 - 9:18am
One of Alaska's most active volcanos has forced regional flight cancellations and dusted some nearby communities with ash.

Mount Pavlof has been belching ash and spewing lava since last week.

According to the Alaska Volcano Observatory, it has sent up ash as high as 6.7 kilometres, with the cloud blowing eastward and the eruption showing no signs of abating.

Tornado devastates Oklahoma City

Submitted by news on Wed, May 22, 2013 - 8:19am
At least 24 people are dead after a powerful 3km-wide tornado tore through the Oklahoma City suburb of Moore yesterday.

The tornado destroyed entire blocks of homes and trapped two dozen school children beneath rubble. About 237 people are injured.

Winds of up to 320 kilometres per hour touched down mid-afternoon (local time) on Monday. Rescue workers, including the National Guard, are searching for survivors.

3,000 homes were in the tornado's path and hundreds of people are still missing.

Calls for state run insurance

Submitted by news on Mon, May 20, 2013 - 11:26am
The Urban Development Institute of Australia said the state government needed to consider instigating an insurance program in the face of rising premiums, and to ensure the most vulnerable members of the community were protected after natural disasters.

Mark McGrath, from the Mackay-Whitsunday branch of the organisation, said insurance was a basic right and that privately owned companies were failing to provide the coverage we need.

The state government is currently considering adding a charge to water, gas and power bills to raise money for infrastructure in the state.

An amendment for state insurance could mean more Queenslanders will be covered.

Myanmar and Bangladesh evacuate ahead of cyclone

Submitted by news on Thu, May 16, 2013 - 10:29am
Hundreds of thousands of people have been evacuated as a cyclone bears down on the coastal areas of Bangladesh and Myanmar.

More than eight million people could be at risk from Cyclone Mahasen which is expected to make landfall on Thursday or Friday, United Nations warned.

Bangladesh has already evacuated 700 000 people however, many of the Muslim Rohingya people in low lying areas of Myanmar are too scared to move after the bloodshed between authorities and Buddhists last year.

The mistrust of the Muslim Rohingya people trying to flee increased when 58 went missing after their boat capsized when they were trying to seek high ground on Monday.

Bundaberg's costly waste dumping to cease

Submitted by news on Wed, May 1, 2013 - 10:01am
More than a year's supply of waste has been dumped at Bundaberg's tips two months after the floods in the southern Queensland city.

Councillor Vince Habermann said it has cost the council hundreds of thousands of dollars to not only employ contractors to remove the rubbish but also for lost revenue as usual waste-dumping fees have been waived.

Free dumping of flood and tornado debris at Bundaberg council's waste and recycling facilities ends today.

Flash floods kill 11 in north Afghanistan

Submitted by news on Thu, Apr 25, 2013 - 10:34am
Eleven people are confirmed dead after flash flooding in north Afghanistan on Tuesday morning.

The floods hit the Kishindih, Sholgara and Nahri Shai districts of Balkh province.

Provincial Government spokesperson Munir Ahmad Farhad said that three people were still missing and the “floods have damaged thousands of homes”.

Earthquake kills 30 people in Iran

Submitted by news on Wed, Apr 10, 2013 - 10:38am
At least 30 people have been killed and another 800 injured in an earthquake that hit close to Iran’s only nuclear power plant.

Shocks from the 6.1 magnitude quake, that hit near the southern city of Bushehr, were felt across Kuwait, the Gulf in Bahrain and the United Arab Emirates.

Bushehr provincial Governor Fereydoon (Fer-ay-doon) Hasanvand (Has-an-vand) says no damage has been caused to the nuclear power plant in Bushehr.

Rat shuts down cooling systems at Fukushima nuclear plant

Submitted by news on Thu, Mar 21, 2013 - 11:17am
The Fukushima nuclear plant has dangerously overheated after a ‘rat-like animal’ caused the plant’s cooling systems to short circuit, operators reported.

It took the plant’s operator Tepco 24 hours to restart the cooling systems, while the thousands of used fuel rods in the plant caused temperatures to rise to dangerous levels.

Temperatures are now returning to normal levels, but the plant remains in a fragile state.

Oswald causes $6.6 million damage

Submitted by news on Fri, Mar 15, 2013 - 12:40pm
It has been estimated it will cost more than $6.6 million to restore public assets damaged on the Gold Coast by Ex-Tropical Cyclone Oswald, without including damages to beaches.

The report to council's Engineering Services Committee details the city's response to the storms and the damage experienced to transport infrastructure, libraries and schools.

Council has up to two years to make repairs and reclaim expenses under the State's National Disaster Relief and Recovery Arrangement.

Telstra networks damaged in floods

Submitted by news on Thu, Mar 14, 2013 - 10:43am
Telstra has revealed that its network cables in the Cape York region were irreparably damaged in January’s floods.

Representatives from Telstra met with Cape York mayors on Wednesday night to discuss ways to prevent telecommunications outages during natural disasters in the future.

Cook Shire Mayor Peter Scott said that Telstra will create a dedicated phone line for the region that will connect via satellite.

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