Recent Natural Disasters | Calamities | Hazards

Tropical storm Jangmi (known locally as Seniang) in Mindanao, Philippines has claimed lives of at least three people and left one missing. Tropical storm Jangmi hit Surigao del Sur province on northern Mindanao in the early hours of Monday morning GMT.

Recent flooding in Sri Lanka has claimed lives of 24 people and left 8 others missing, Dailymirror has written quoting the National Disaster Management Centre. The floods have also destroyed 4,593 houses and damaged further 14,649 houses. According to the Daily News, eight bodies have been recovered in the Rilpola Haliela landslide affected area in Badulla and another seven persons are still missing.

The worst flooding in Malaysia in more than a decade has claimed lives of at least 10 people including five in the worst-hit state of Kelantan. The flood situation in Kelantan is still critical with 111,376 victims at the relief centres this afternoon, Bernama, The National News Agency of Malaysia reported.

M 4.6 moderate earthquake shakes Northern Algeria today, the European Mediterranean Seismological Centre (EMSC) reported. According to the EMSC, the quake's epicenter was located 4 km S of Bouinan and 27 km S of Algiers, Algeria.

It's important to know how we can prepare for natural disasters with proper emergency preparedness plan for less natural disasters damage. A natural disaster is a catastrophic event that occurs as a result of natural processes of the Earth. These events can cause significant damage to the environment, property, and human life. Examples include earthquakes, tsunamis , hurricanes, floods, droughts , wildfires, and volcanic eruptions . We have developed several natural disasters early warning system which provides warnings of natural disasters before they impact people and property. However, in spite of all the capabilities for advance warnings, we are still quite poor at preparing for these natural disasters. By 2015, on average over 375 million people per year are likely to be affected by natural disasters. This is over 50% more than have been affected in an average year during the last decades,  a 2009 Oxfam report has mentioned forecasting the natural disasters 2015

The Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) on Christmas day launched a SMS-based weather alert system for general public for disseminating of natural disaster information . IMD will send weather alert SMS to individuals who register themselves at the weather forecaster's official website - www.imd.gov.in. According to NDTV, the system will provide alerts on cyclones, tsunami and other weather-related natural calamities.