Tag: Disaster

The chewing disaster

Gutka, a bizarre mixture, has become a favourite pastime in underprivileged and middle class localities, mostly in Karachi, Hyderabad, Badin and Thatta. Betel quid...

Radical structural reforms needed to avoid foreknown economic disaster: PEW

The Pakistan Economy Watch (PEW) on Sunday said that the economy of the country is going down by the passage of every day which...

PCB’s manner likely to invite further disaster

The ICC Pakistan Task Team's (PTT) report containing 63 recommendations for the furtherance of Pakistan cricket and its structure has received a “withering response”...

Death toll in Russian boat disaster reaches 100

The confirmed death toll in a Russian riverboat accident reached 100 on Wednesday after divers recovered more bodies from the sunken vessel, an Emergency...

NDMA, CDPM discuss co-op in disaster management

National Disaster Management Authority Chairman Zafar Iqbal Qadir visited the Centre for Disaster Preparedness and Management University of Peshawar and discussed ways and means...

PDMA wants Badin among tsunami-vulnerable districts of province

The Provincial Disaster Management Authority (PDMA) Sindh has recommended that Badin be included among the districts of the province that are vulnerable to a...

MQM lawmakers say country’s economy on the brink of disaster

KARACHI - The economy of Pakistan is on the brink of a disaster and if the people at the helm of affairs do not take corrective measure on urgent basis, it would have devastating consequences for the country, Muttahida Qaumi Movement (MQM) parliamentarians observed on Monday at the Khursheed Begum Memorial Hall of the MQM headquarters Nine-Zero in Azizabad where the overall economic position of the country was being discussed. Members of the MQM Coordination Committee were also

Good samaritans at disaster sites end up creating problems for rescue...

KARACHI - The common people who rush to disaster sites for helping victims, instead create problems for the rescue workers in shifting the injured to hospitals, said renowned philanthropist Abdul Sattar Edhi.
He said this while talking with Pakistan Today after delivering his speech at a lecture session titled 'Emergency Medical Care During Disasters' organised by the Aga Khan University Hospital on Thursday.
"In case of any disaster, most people rush to the site and want to

Economic impact of Japan disaster ‘worse than thought’

TOKYO - The economic impact of the earthquake and tsunami that devastated Japan is worse than previously thought, a Japanese minister was quoted as saying Tuesday.
Economy and fiscal policy minister Kaoru Yosano said the ripples of the disaster that struck the country last month would be felt widely.
"The blow to the economy is bigger than initially thought," Yosano said, the Nikkei business daily reported.
The damage "is wide-ranging. (The tsunami) hit the region that

PU organises disaster management workshop

LAHORE - Punjab University (PU) Vice Chancellor (VC) Prof Dr Mujahid Kamran inaugurated the "Disaster Risk Management" workshop at the varsity's Undergraduate Block on Monday. The workshop was organised by the Geography department in collaboration with National Institute of Disaster Management (NIDM). Dr Kamran said disasters were bound to happen but the citizens should remain prepared to cope with the losses. He said Punjab University performed relief work for the victims of

Cup dream born of disaster says Tendulkar

NEW DELHI - India's victorious, record-breaking batsman Sachin Tendulkar said on Tuesday he started dreaming of the World Cup after a humiliating first-round exit in the last edition in the Caribbean.
"That (winning the World Cup) was my dream after we lost in 2007. I took up that challenge," said Tendulkar.
"When we got to know that the next (World Cup) is in India and the final would be held in Mumbai, that is when I felt that this is the place where we have to lift the

Leak found in reactor pit, Japan PM tours disaster zone

TOKYO - Japan's prime minister made his first visit to the country's tsunami-devastated region on Saturday as officials grappling to end the worst nuclear crisis since Chernobyl said they may have discovered why radiation has been leaking into the sea. Tokyo Electric Power Co (TEPCO) said it had found a crack in a concrete pit that was leaking water at its No.2 reactor in Fukushima, measuring 1,000 millisieverts of radiation per hour. "With radiation levels rising in the seawater near

The mother of all disaster zones

KARACHI - If an earthquake strikes, Karachi faces the mother of all disasters, while construction in the city has been completed without technical monitoring; in fact the whole construction industry is being run here without an active monitoring mechanism.
The Gulestan-e-Johar area would be worse affected due to massive construction of buildings that have been constructed without initial geo-technical monitoring reports that are necessary to design a building, yet inefficiency of

Merkel party faces German state poll disaster

BERLIN - German Chancellor Angela Merkel braced for a bitter setback Sunday as voters in a state her party has ruled for half a century headed to the polls in an election clouded by events in Japan.
Merkel's conservatives have ruled Baden-Wuerttemberg in southwestern Germany since 1953, but anger over her nuclear policy as well as decisions on Libya and the euro suggest voters could turf her Christian Democrats (CDU) out of power.
A poll released Friday indicated a potential

World’s costliest natural disaster

TOKYO - After a massive earthquake and tsunami devastated northeast Japan and crippled a nuclear power station, the risk of uncontrolled radiation is very high.
Many shops in Tokyo have run out of bottled water after radiation from a damaged nuclear plant makes tap water unsafe for babies.
Chiba prefecture, adjacent to the capital, has detected radioactive substances in its water purification system in amounts above what is considered safe for infants.
Singapore and

10 days on, rebuilding begins in Japan’s disaster zone

RIKUZENTAKATA - Temporary housing is taking shape next to an evacuation centre in this northern Japanese town, among the first places where rebuilding from the devastating earthquake and tsunami 10 days ago has begun.
Authorities aim to start moving families out of the cramped shelters where they have lived on mats - separated from neighbours by only cardboard - and into the houses by the end of the month.
"They have no privacy. They can't even stretch their legs at night

Japan disaster dead, missing toll nears 15,000: police

TOKYO - The official number of dead and missing after a devastating earthquake and tsunami that flattened Japan's northeast coast is approaching 15,000, police said on Thursday. The number of confirmed dead from Friday's twin disasters rose to 5,457 while the official number of missing increased to 9,508, the National Police Agency said in its latest update. A total of 2,409 people were injured in the disaster. But reports have indicated that the final toll could be much higher.