Recent Natural Disasters | Calamities | Hazards

Flash flood aftermath in Boma, DR Congo  (The Government of Kongo Central Province)​ December 30, 2016:  At least 50 people died and 10,000 became homeless after flash floods hit Boma, Democratic Republic of the Congo on Tuesday. Heavy rainfall caused the Kalamu River, to overflow  into the River Congo leading the outbrust into the banks in the city of Boma.

December 25, 2016: This post has been written to notify about the 100% chance of an earthquake today. Yes, you heard it right! We received several messages asking of possible earthquakes to be occurred on a particular date. As always, we give same answers; sorry no earthquake can be predicted with 100% accuracy for a definite place at definite time. Now, a rumor has spread of an earthquake to be occurred in Nepal on the day of Christmas, December 25, 2016. There's a 100 percent chance of an earthquake today somewhere in the world. But no one can predicted a particular location with accurate time; not even in Nepal. The news of an earthquake was widely shared in Facebook after it was published on an earthquake prediction site (www.earthquakepredict.com) on December 14, 2016.  Five different dates were predicted for possible earthquake in Nepal starting from December 16 to December 25, 2016 with possible locations. Proposed Dates 16th Dec  (27.49N 85.07E) 18th

December 18, 2016: At least 24 people died in central Vietnam due to flooding caused by torrential rainfall. The highest fatality has been reported from Coastal Binh Dinh province where 16 people have been killed. The flooding disaster since December 12 have caused damage total $32 million with more than 32,000 hectares of crops destroyed. Hundreds of people have died due to flooding in central Vietnam since October.

Update December 14, 2016 At least eighteen people have been killed in six districts of Tamil Nadu in rain-related incidents linked to Cyclone Vardah. Five each died in Chennai and Tiruvallur districts. Four persons died in Kancheepuram district, one each in Villupuram and Nagapattinam districts and two in Tiruvannamali district.

December 13, 2016: An earthquake warning post on Facebook by a man named Nigel Antony Gray has gone viral in New Zealand. Nigel Antony Gray has predicted a major earthquake in East Cape today. Nigel Antony Gray is the same person who claimed to have predicted last month's 7.8 magnitude Kaikoura earthquake .

December 5, 2016: A research paper published in the journal Earth and Planetary Science Letters claims fault near Kathmandu could produce magnitude 8 or greater earthquake. An international team, including researchers from the University of Nevada, Reno warned Kathmandu and other areas along the Himalayan Frontal Fault could be due for an even more powerful event.   Researchers dug two deep trenches near the mouths of major rivers at Tribeni and Bagmati and studied soils and fault lines looking back over the past 2,000 years.

Flash floods have caused chaos across southern Spain (Getty/Express.co.uk) December 6, 2016: Severe rainfall caused the worst flooding in Spain in nearly 30 years prompting the  meteorological service to issue a 'red alert', the highest level of warning for extreme risk. Recent floods have claimed the lives of at least two people and killed around 200 animals in Malaga.

November 30, 2016: Eight miners have been confirmed died at the Rudna copper mine in south-western Poland after an earthquake in the region. Magnitude 3.4 earthquake caused rockfalls hundreds of metres below the surface at Europe’s largest copper mine.

December 3, 2016: At least 13 people have died in flood disaster brought by torrential rain since late November this year, the government and state media said on Sunday. Six people died in floods in Binh Dinh provinces. Four others died in Quang Ngai province.

November 28, 2016: Magnitude 5.6 moderate earthquake hit the border of Ramechhap and Solukhumbu district Monday morning, Nepal Seismological Center reported.   Update -Earthquake triggered an avalanche at the base camp of Amadablam mountain. A Nepali Sherpa mountaineer, Lakpa Thundu Sherpa, a permanent resident of Pangboche, Solukhumbu district died in the avalanche disaster . Similarly, British national Ciaran Hill got injured due to avalanche and having treatment in Kathmandu. -An individual was injured after jumping from a hotel building in Syabrubesi, Rasuwa. -Two houses were damaged in Chaurikharka. Another one house in Pokhara.

November 22, 2016: A tsunami has been detected after magnitude 7.3 hit off the coast of Fukushima Prefecture at a depth of about 10 kilometers. According to the Japan Meteorological Service (JMA), the earthquake struck on Tuesday morning at about 06:00 local time (21:00 GMT Monday).

November 19, 2016: A sinkhole on an Algerian highway has swallowed several cars, injuring 11 people. The sinkhole opened up on Friday night swallowing five cars on the Ben Akoun highway west of the capital Algiers.

Gurgaon earthquake epicenter map November 17, 2016: A 4.4 magnitude earthquake has been recorded on the Delhi-Haryana border this morning with tremor felt in New Delhi and parts of National Capital Region (NCR). The tremor was well felt in Delhi and neighbouring Gurgaon and Ghaziabad around 4:30 am early Thursday morning. 

November 15, 2016: Recent flooding in five sub-districts in Karawang, West Java of Indonesia have affected nearly 20,000 people, the National Disaster Mitigation Agency reported on Monday evening. The flood affected at least 19,669 people prompting the evacuation of around 6,373 people.

According to the GeoNet, a 7.5 magnitude earthquake hit New Zealand's South Island at midnight, some 20 km SE of Hanmer Springs and 95 km from Christchurch on November 14, 2016. A tsunami alert has been issued for all coastal areas of New Zealand. Below are latest updates: Updates -Two people confirmed dead. One of them died after being trapped in a collapsed building in Kaikoura. Another person died in Mt Lyford. -The tsunami warnings were downgraded to coastal warnings on Monday later morning. -Helicopters were deployed to move people and resources to Kaikoura. A Welfare Centre was open at the Kaikoura Marae. Update 15:30 UTC Find the latest media release from the Ministry of Civil Defence & Emergency Management.

Q: Please share the United States President Donal Trumph tweet on Climate Change? A: On November 6, 2012, Donald Trump tweeted: "The concept of global warming was created by and for the Chinese in order to make U.S. manufacturing non-competitive." On October 19, 2015, he then tweeted: "It's really cold outside, they are calling it a major freeze, weeks ahead of normal. Man, we could use a big fat dose of global warming!" According to the Twitter, Trump’s tweet on climate change was the most retweeted post during the debate.

Contrails in Nepal's sky (Dinesh Dhakal's Facebook) November 11, 2016: The Taurid meteor shower will peak on November 11-12, 2016. According to in-the-sky.org , the Taurid meteor shower will reach its maximum rate of activity on 12 November 2016. 

Sinkhole near Fukuoka's Hakata Station, Japan (The Japan Today) November 8, 2016: A massive sinkhole swallowed a five-lane street near Fukuoka's Hakata Station on Tuesday morning. The sinkhole occurred around 05:00 local time near Hakata Station, the busiest in Fukuoka city in the southern island of Kyushu.

Tornado overturned cars as well as uprooted tress (Rex Features via The Sun) November 7, 2016: At least two people died after tornado lashed Italian coast overturning cars and uprooting trees on its way. Tornado on the coast north of Rome claimed life of an Indian man. Another man died when a tree fell on his car and many others were injured across central Italy.

Flooding at Gillooly's interchange in JHB (Twitter/TrafficSA)  November 10, 2016: At least six people died due to flash floods in Johannesburg, South Africa Wednesday afternoon. According to Johannesburg's Mayor Herman Mashaba, a 3-year-old girl still remains missing.