Nepal: 25 killed, 45 hurt in Palpa bus mishap

Nepal: 25 killed, 45 hurt in Palpa bus mishap

Himalayan News Service

The mangled remains of the passenger bus that veered off the road and fell into a maize field at Laghuwa in Deurali VDC in Palpa on Monday.
Palpa, August 20:

Twenty-five persons were killed when a passenger bus heading from Butwal through Tansen to Gulmi’s Tamghas skidded off the road at Laghuwa in Palpa’s Deurali VDC this morning.


Forty-five others were injured in the mishap. They have been admitted to the mission hospital in Tansen, where four of them are in critical condition.
The dead included 12 women and four children.
The bus, Lu 1 Kha 3076, fell nearly 200 metres down into a maize field at 11:30 am. Driver Dil Bahadur Saru said the mishap occurred after he swerved to avoid a boulder that was rolling down from above towards the vehicle. Immediately after the mishap, Saru contacted the police, said police inspector at the Palpa district police office Dipak Shrestha. Nineteen died on the spot, while six died while undergoing treatment at the mission hospital.
Deputy superintendent of police Bhim Prasad Dhakal, who led the rescue mission, said the accident may have occurred due to the bad condition of the road and brake failure after the vehicle’s spring plate snapped.
An injured person, Dil Bahadur Gharti of Arwathok, Gulmi, said the bus was overloaded and the driver sped past a narrow bend when the incident occurred. “The driver ignored me when I asked him not to take too many passengers into the bus. The spring plate broke and the brakes failed. The driver then jumped off the vehicle and it fell down into a maize field,” he said.
Another wounded passenger Tek Bahadur Hamal said the accident could have been averted had the driver not jumped out.
A rescue team of police from the district headquarters Tansen reached the spot soon after the accident. Palpa CDO Shambhu Ghimire also reached the site. Locals, cadres of political parties, transport entrepreneurs, travellers, health workers, teachers and school students all rushed to aid in the rescue.

13 dead identified so far
Krishna Prasad Kharel, 52, of Aanpchaur-1, Gulmi; Basisara Thapa, 53, of Hugdi-3, Baglung; Tikaram Gyawali, 55, of Ruru-8, Gulmi; Sabitra Kunwar, 18, of Thulolumdek-8, Gulmi; Shir Bahadur Thapa, 28, of Jheri Gajera, Kapilvastu; Harikala Thapa, 19, of Ruru-4, Gulmi; Harikala’s two-year-old son Amit; Bishnu Thapa, 28, of Kailashnagar, Tansen; Umakanti Chandan, 42, of Birbas-2, Gulmi; Devka Kunwar, 37, of Swathi-8, Nawalparasi; Devka’s 10-year-old son Raju; Jung Bahadur Gautam, 60, of Rupakot-5, Gulmi; Mohan Singh Khatri, 40, Charpala, Gulmi.

UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods

UN sees looming health crisis from South Asia floods
source: Daily Times.com.pk

* Rain, blocked roads hinder relief efforts g Canada offers emergency aid relief

GENEVA: Millions of people could fall ill with malaria, dengue fever and other diseases if emergency aid does not reach those stranded by floodwaters in South Asia within days, the United Nations warned on Tuesday.

The UN Children’s Fund UNICEF said stagnant waters left behind after intense monsoons in India, Bangladesh and Nepal were “a lethal breeding ground” for diarrhoeal and water-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever. “Entire villages are days away from a health crisis if people are not reached in the coming days,” UNICEF’s health chief for India, Marzio Babille, said in a statement.

World Health Organisation (WHO) spokeswoman Fadela Chaib said acute respiratory and skin infections, food-borne ailments and snake bites were also threatening the 30 million people affected by flash flooding in the region. Many people in affected areas are relying on dirty surface water for their basic needs, with water sources contaminated or still submerged in the wake of the floods.

“The main problem is access to clean water and sanitation,” Chaib told a news briefing, noting that UN agencies, other aid groups and governments were working to ensure water, rehydration salts and other medical supplies reached those in need. Many remote communities and villages are only accessible by boat or through air drops, and security concerns in some areas has further hindered efforts to deliver humanitarian aid, UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said.

More rain and blocked roads have delayed efforts to help 300,000 people in southern Nepal hit by major flooding, amid fears of a rise in water-borne illnesses, officials said Tuesday. “We are concerned about water-borne diseases like diarrhea, dysentery and typhoid,” Arjun Bahadur Singh, Nepal’s health ministry spokesman, told AFP.

“There is no shortage of medicine. However, accessibility is a problem: highways are blocked, there is no transportation and it is very hard for our medical response teams to get to some of the worst affected areas,” he said.

Flooding eased in most parts of Bangladesh on Tuesday with major improvements expected over the coming days, the head of country’s flood centre said, but the death toll rose to 290. “All the major rivers are receding fast. Except in the eastern part of the capital, we will now see some dramatic improvement from later today (Tuesday),” said Saiful Hossain, the head of the Flood Forecasting and Warning Centre.

The flood centre monitors the water level of all the major rivers in Bangladesh and India. However, at least eight more deaths were reported Tuesday, mostly children who drowned in swirling waters, taking the death toll from the last two weeks’ floods to 164, government spokesman Golam Kibria said.

Canada offers aid relief:Canada pledged one million dollars (950,000 US dollars) in emergency aid relief Monday for victims of devastating floods that have hit India, Bangladesh and Nepal. “Canada is deeply saddened by the tragic loss of life and by the destruction that has occurred over the past few weeks in Bangladesh, India and Nepal,” Foreign Minister Peter MacKay said in a statement. “Canada stands with these countries as they carry out their relief efforts,’ he said. agencies

1,600 Flood-hit Residents to be Evacuated in Banke

1,600 Flood-hit Residents to be Evacuated in Banke

Surendra Kafle
Nepalgunj, August 8

Plans are afoot to shift 1,600 residents of Holiya and Betahani -- who are under the threat of the swollen Rapti river -- to a secured location.
A total of 1,302 families of some areas in Betahani and Holiya will be evacuated and relocated to save them from land erosion and inundation, the Banke chief district officer, Narendra Raj Sharma, said.
The Uchuwa area in Jhora jungle of Betahani VDC ward no-6 is being considered a safe place.
Floodwaters from the Laxmanpur dam inundate the two villages every year, damaging houses and destroying crops.
A high-level technical committee that will study the flood situation was sent to the areas on Tuesday following demands and pressure from the flood- hit people there, CDO Sharma said.
The committee is expected to prepare a report in a few days and a detailed planning would be done after that, he said.
The high-level panel had been formed at the direction of the Ministry of Home Affairs. Home Minister Krishna Prasad Sitaula had toured the areas recently.

Monsoon Floods Hit South Asia, Affecting Millions of People

Monsoon Floods Hit South Asia, Affecting Millions of People

By Ed Johnson

Aug 3: (Bloomberg) -- Monsoon rains caused flooding across northern India, Bangladesh and Nepal, killing hundreds of people and leaving millions more homeless as relief agencies battled to provide emergency supplies and prevent the outbreak of disease.

``Huge areas are underwater,'' Oxfam's Aditi Kapoor said in an interview aired by the British Broadcasting Corp. today from the Indian capital, New Delhi. ``This situation will worsen and will probably continue for another two months.''

Among the hardest hit regions are the Indian states of Assam, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh where at least 165 people were killed and about 14 million lost their homes and farmland, state-run broadcaster Doordarshan reported.

South Asia experiences monsoon rains from June to September, which are vital for the region's agriculture, although frequently cause flooding and landslides that devastate crops, destroy homes and trigger diseases such as diarrhea and dysentery.

``Food is a real problem in the short term,'' Kapoor told the BBC. ``In the long term, we will probably see a lot of distressed migration in these areas.''

In Bangladesh, a low-lying delta nation of 145 million people, about 5 million are displaced or marooned and at least 46 died after rivers burst their banks, Associated Press reported.

`Natural Calamity'

Nepal is experiencing a ``natural calamity,'' Matthew Kahane, a humanitarian relief coordinator for the United Nations, said in a statement two days ago.

Three weeks of incessant rain in the Himalayan kingdom have caused floods and landslides that have affected more than 230,000 people and driven 4,000 families from their homes, the UN said. About 86 people have died, Nepalnews.com reported, citing the Home Ministry.

In India's northeastern Assam state, about 5.5 million people, a quarter of its population, have been displaced by floods, Doordarshan reported. Railway services are suspended and flood waters washed away highways, AP said, citing state government officials.

``The situation is grim,'' the news agency cited Bhumidhar Barman, a minister in the Assam state government, as saying yesterday.

Indian authorities deployed troops to help evacuate people in the worst-hit areas, including northern Uttar Pradesh state, AP said.

``I have not seen such flooding in the last 24 years,'' the agency cited Santosh Mishra, a villager in the state's Gonda district, as saying. ``There are no signs of houses, temples or trees.''

To contact the reporter on this story: Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@bloomberg.net .

Last Updated: August 2, 2007 22:14 EDT

Be prepared for natural disasters

Be prepared for natural disasters

Bharati Chaturvedi
July 23, 2007
First Published: 00:55 IST(23/7/2007)
Last Updated: 01:00 IST(23/7/2007)

Source of article: Hindustan Times
This decade has been one of global large scale natural disasters. Usually, this crank up our charitable selves, and everyone's thrust is on disaster relief for the victims. But what happens when the disaster strikes in conflict zones? The meticulous Worldwatch Institute believes some good can come out of disasters here, because of the space created for traditional foes to be brought to the negotiation table. In their perspective, disasters are a moment of freezing of everyday relations and that instance should be grabbed strategically. For that a range of actors — from diplomats to environmentalists — must work together. Unfortunately, going by precedence, disaster preparedness in its initial phase of distribution of resources underscores existing divides. In fact, Worldwatch’s candid case studies of the Kashmir Earthquake and Tsunami in Sri Lanka show that this ‘moment’ did not happen.

But what after this first burst? We know environmental restoration is important to overcome some aspects of disasters. But, and here’s the thing: when environmentalists make their plans, they have to remember the politics of the place and work in the most equitable ways as resources are, so to speak, redistributed afterwards. Particularly because skewed resource access leads to several conflicts.

I thought about this report a lot. How could we have done this during the Gujarat earthquake, for example, which was followed by the mass killings just a few years later? How could we have done this in Bihar or Assam, frequently flooded and steeped in waves of conflict? My response is this. You can’t do much in an immediate post-disaster situation, unless you already have been working before that and built equitable, non-patronizing relationships with communities already. In part, it’s because of the sheer enormity of the crisis and the everyday stress of handling it. In part, it requires some more information and keen understanding of the situation to make any meaningful intervention, and a crisis is just the wrong place to start collecting that kind of data. In part, it is the situation of the victims, who may be impacted in ways that render them unable to fully participate in the process from point zero at the critical juncture. If you are in a dialogue, then you may have some chance to implement your own disaster preparedness.

Green options

Here is a thought on living green. Although we are moving to ‘greener’ bulbs to reduce greenhouse gases, there is already talk of how the mercury will be handled. Will new systems be created to collect these? Will new facilities be set up? One suggestion is to reduce our dependence on artificial light. Any takers?

Four dead, 79 injured in U.S. bridge collapse

Four dead, 79 injured in U.S. bridge collapse

Source: Xinhua
www.chinaview.cn 2007-08-02 22:24:36

A three-way bridge in Minneapolis, Minnesota is shown collapsed into the Mississippi River on August 1, 2007.(Xinhua/Reuters Photo)




WASHINGTON, Aug. 2 (Xinhua) -- Four people were confirmed dead and at least 79 others injured when an eight-lane freeway bridge in Minneapolis, Minn., collapsed into the Mississippi River below Wednesday, according to updated casualty figures.

Minneapolis police chief Tim Dolan said 20 to 30 people are still missing.

He and other officials expected the death toll to rise as rescuers search for missing people or bodies.

"We have a number of vehicles that are underneath big pieces of concrete, and we do know we have some people in those vehicles," Dolan said.

"We know we do have more casualties at the scene," he said.

City fire chief Jim Clack said that emergency work was no longer a rescue operation and had become a recovery operation.

In Washington, U.S. President George W. Bush offered his condolences to victims of the collapse and promised that the federal government would help ensure that the bridge will be rebuilt as quickly as possible.

"We in the federal government must respond, and respond robustly, to help the people there not only recover, but to make sure that lifeline of activity -- that bridge -- gets rebuilt as quickly as possible," Bush told a press conference at the Rose Garden of the White House.

White House spokesman Tony Snow said an inspection two years ago had found structural deficiencies in the bridge, but "this doesn't mean there was a risk of failure."

He said First lady Laura Bush will visit Minneapolis on Friday.

Snow said the Minnesota state has not made a formal request for Bush to issue a disaster declaration, but people are being sent to the scene from a number of federal agencies, including the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Environment Protection Agency and the Federal Bureau of Investigation and the National Transportation Security Board.

In addition, he said the federal government will give local officials 5 million U.S. dollars to re-route traffic and remove debris.

Meanwhile, members of the state's congressional delegation are flying home with Transportation Secretary Mary Peters.

The Interstate 35W bridge collapsed at about 6:05 p.m. local time (2305 GMT) during Wednesday's rush hour, plunging cars into the river.

Security camera video showed the bridge's center section collapsing into the river in less than four seconds. The northern end of the span appeared to drop first and the southern end followed.

At present, rescuers are continuing their search in the Mississippi River below the bridge among the submerged cars and twisted steel left by the collapse. Their hopes of finding survivors have dimmed.

Flood leaves thousands stranded in Nepal

Flood leaves thousands stranded in Nepal


www.chinaview.cn 2007-07-28 12:10:34 Print

KATHMANDU, July 28 (Xinhua) -- Flood triggered by torrential monsoon rainfall was continuing to strike Nepal's southern plains, killing four more persons, a leading Nepali website, nepalnews.com reported Saturday.

A 50-year-old woman was swept away by a swollen canal in Banigama of Morang district in Eastern Development Region on Thursday night. Likewise, a lady died after being crushed by a house that collapsed due to flooding in Khadihani of Dhanusha district in the region.

A boy was killed by flood in Mahottari district in Central Development Region while another perished in a landslide in Ramechhap in the region.

According to the website, over 14,000 families have been displaced due to flood in various parts of the country.

Nepalgunj in Mid-Western Development Region has been one of the worst affected regions. The city is waterlogged and floodwaters have rushed inside homes. Educational institutions, factories, government offices, schools and markets are closed down. The city has been reeling under power blackout since last two days.

Even water supply has been affected. Local FM radiobroadcasts and newspapers coming out of the city have also stopped. People have rushed towards higher grounds -- rooftops and community buildings -- fearing inundation.

According to the report, quoting Home Ministry's records, about 50 persons have died in this year's monsoon season due to floods and landslides.


Editor: An Lu