Beijing Government is pondering whether smog is a natural or man-made disaster and have already taken various measures in recent years to tackle air pollution. However, city’s annual average PM2.5 levels, referring to the airborne microscopic particulates considered most dangerous to human health, still stood at 80.6 micrograms/cubic meter last year, eight times the safety... Read More

Two powerful earthquakes measuring 5.9 and 6.4 struck the coast of Ecuador ten minutes apart on July 11, 2016 killing 661 people and leaving more than 29,000 homeless in an area that is still recovering from a devastating 7.8-magnitude quake that rattled Ecuador’s northwestern coast in the predawn hours of April 16, 2016.   A... Read More

Part 2   Many health care facilities are damaged or destroyed in opposition controlled areas of Syria .The delivery of humanitarian aid is hindered with supply roads cut off. Rough estimates place civilian casualties between 90,000 to 130,000   and more than 500,000 injured. .   Rape and sexual violence, enforced disappearances, forcible displacement, recruitment of child... Read More

Part 1 The Syrian conflict is now ranked as the worst humanitarian crisis in decades with the largest ever number of people affected from a single conflict since World War 2. The magnitude of human suffering and public health catastrophe is overwhelming. The Government of President Assad and the rebel forces are engaged in bitter... Read More

The use of technology may emerge as a key to develop sustainable and disaster resistant infrastructure and planning. Technology plays a crucial role in terms of disaster management with satellite based Geographic Information System (GIS) and computer simulations providing for disaster mapping, vulnerability assessment and disaster response preparedness/planning. Researchers at North Carolina State University have... Read More

In remarkable demonstration of effectiveness of adequate preparedness, the disaster resilient villages of Aceh province reported zero casualties when the latest deadly earthquake struck this year.   Earthquakes and other natural disasters are a feature of Indonesia’s mountainous northernmost province. The December 2004 earthquake and resultant tsunami caused 230,000 deaths in Indonesia with majority in... Read More

The Parisians in addition to air pollution are fighting severe infestation by rats. Who would have thought that a famed metropolis like Paris would be fighting the ancient scourge of rats in the modern day 2016? It is one of the most visited cities by tourists in the world and the pride of the French.... Read More

The Bhopal Gas Tragedy, 1984 was a catastrophe that had no parallel in the world’s industrial history. In the early morning hours of December 3, 1984, a rolling wind carried a poisonous grey cloud from the Union Carbide Plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh (India). Forty tons of toxic gas (Methy-Iso-Cyanate, MIC) was accidentally released from... Read More