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Disaster Response

Over 1,000 Feared Dead After Cyclone Slams Into Mozambique

           

Seen from a drone Praia Nova Village, one of the most affected neighbourhoods in Beira, razed by the passing cyclone, in the coastal city of Beira, Mozambique, Sunday March 17, 2019. Families are returning to the vulnerable shanty town following cyclone high winds and rain. More than 1,000 people are feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the southern African country. (Josh Estey/CARE via AP)

CLICK HERE - reliefweb - Tropical Cyclone Idai - March 2019

apnews.com - by Andrew Meldrum - March 18, 2019

More than 1,000 people were feared dead in Mozambique four days after a cyclone slammed into the country, submerging entire villages and leaving bodies floating in the floodwaters, the nation’s president said . . .

. . . Cyclone Idai could prove to be the deadliest storm in generations to hit the impoverished southeast African country of 30 million people.

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The Flood Was Extraordinary. So Was Australians’ Response.

           

A man helping strangers remove flood-damaged items from their home in a suburb of Townsville, in the Australian state of Queensland, on Thursday.  Credit Dan Peled/EPA, via Shutterstock

nytimes.com - by Livia Albeck-Ripka - February 7, 2019

. . . Community support is the biggest predictor of how well people recover from disasters, “over and above the horrors of the trauma” . . .

As climate change makes it likely that disasters will become more intense and frequent, researchers are studying how communities respond, and what they need to be resilient. Being part of a community response can be “protective” . . .

. . . the real danger zone is six to 12 months after a disaster strikes. It is then, experts agree, when the news coverage fades and others seem to move on, that residents who are still struggling with practical issues, like insurance claims, and emotional trauma, can feel abandoned.

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One Concern Uses AI to Streamline Disaster Relief Efforts

           

Image: One Concern

fastcompany.com - by Katharine Schwab - November 15, 2018

 . . . One Concern is launching a machine learning platform that provides cities with specialized maps to help emergency crews decide where to focus their efforts in a flood. The maps update in real-time based on data about where water is flowing to estimate where people need help the most. It’s the latest in a wave of AI-powered tools aimed at helping cities prepare for an era of severe, and increasingly frequent, disasters.

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Our platform provides unprecedented situational awareness and actionable insights for decision-makers.

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Typhoon Mangkhut: More Than 40 Bodies Found in Philippines Landslide

Video: As the storm moved toward southern China, the search for survivors started in the Philippines, where the death toll could surpass 100. By BARBARA MARCOLINI and SARAH STEIN KERR on Publish Date September 16, 2018. Photo by Jes Aznar for The New York Times.

nytimes.com - September 17th 2018

Emergency workers in the Philippines recovered more than 40 bodies from the muddied wreckage of a gold miners’ bunkhouse after Typhoon Mangkhut set off a landslide, burying the remote northern town of Itogon in a river of debris, officials said on Monday.

Mangkhut, a super typhoon that slammed into the northern Philippine province of Luzon on Saturday, continued a path of destruction across southern China on Sunday and into Monday.

In the Philippines, the police on Monday gave an unofficial death toll of 66 people nationwide, though that number was almost certain to rise. 

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Torrential Rains Destroy More than 200 Schools in Sudan

           

Torrential rains destroyed about 2,500 houses in En Nahud, West Kordofan, on July 23, 2018 (RD)

dabangasudan.org - August 3, 2018

The heavy rainfall in Sudan in the past weeks has caused the collapse of hundreds of homes and at least 211 school buildings. In eastern Sudan’s Kassala, rains and floods not only destroyed dozens of houses, but also a large number of crops. People in West Kordofan fear the spread of diseases . . .

 . . . People in En Nahud in West Kordofan, where flash floods destroyed a large number of houses on July 23, fear the spread of watery diarrhoea (suspected to be cholera) and other epidemics.

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This mock pandemic killed 150 million people. Next time it might not be a drill.

CLICK HERE - CLADE X LIVESTREAM (ARCHIVED)

A panel of experts play out a pandemic exercise on May 15 to demonstrate what policies and strategies the U.S. government should have in place. (Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security)

submitted by Mike Kraft - washingtonpost.com - by Lena H. Sun - May 30, 2018

A novel virus, moderately contagious and moderately lethal, has surfaced and is spreading rapidly around the globe . . .

. . . So began a recent day-long exercise hosted by the Johns Hopkins Center for Health Security. The simulation mixed details of past disasters with fictional elements to force government officials and experts to make the kinds of key decisions they could face in a real pandemic.

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Puerto Rico Closing 283 Schools Over Sharp Drop in Enrollment

           

Stack of school papers on a desk in an empty classroom in Puerto Rico.

cnn.com - by Nicole Chavez - April 6, 2018

Puerto Rico is closing 283 schools this summer following a sharp drop in enrollment in the past year, officials said.

Since May, schools have lost 38,762 students as the US territory works to rebuild following a devastating hurricane last year, the education department said in a statement.

"Half of the existing schools are at 60% of their capacity," it said. The department said only 828 schools will reopen in August.

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ALSO SEE SAME ARTICLE HERE

 

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For Puerto Rico, the Return to Business as Usual is Slow

           

In Humacao, a city on the eastern coast just north of where Hurricane Maria’s eye passed, power poles and lines still litter the ground in some areas. PHOTO: ARIAN CAMPO-FLORES/THE WALL STREET JOURNAL

Six months after Hurricane Maria, as many as 7,000 of the island’s small businesses remain closed

wsj.com - by Arian Campo-Flores - March 19, 2018

 . . . Though economic activity in Puerto Rico has picked up in recent months, businesses large and small are struggling. Electricity woes continue to plague the island, where 91% of power generation has been restored but the grid is prone to sudden outages. Insurance money has arrived slowly, with $1.7 billion paid in residential and business claims as of Jan. 31—about 40% of the expected total, according to the island’s Office of the Commissioner of Insurance.

And the market is shrinking as a result of an accelerating exodus of Puerto Ricans fleeing conditions on the island.

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FEMA Contract Called for 30 Million Meals for Puerto Ricans. 50,000 Were Delivered.

           

Residents of San Isidro, P.R., waited for food and water in October. Credit Erika P. Rodriguez for The New York Times

nytimes.com - by PATRICIA MAZZEI and AGUSTIN ARMENDARIZ - February 6, 2018

The mission for the Federal Emergency Management Agency was clear: Hurricane Maria had torn through Puerto Rico, and hungry people needed food. Thirty million meals needed to be delivered as soon as possible.

For this huge task, FEMA tapped Tiffany Brown, an Atlanta entrepreneur with no experience in large-scale disaster relief and at least five canceled government contracts in her past. FEMA awarded her $156 million for the job, and Ms. Brown, who is the sole owner and employee of her company, Tribute Contracting LLC, set out to find some help.

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