Tag Archives: Disaster

Ukraine Chernobyl victims remember on 30th anniversary

A man lights a candle at a memorial, dedicated to firefighters and workers who died after the Chernobyl nuclear disaster, during a night service in the city of Slavutych

By Alessandra Prentice and Natalia Zinets

KIEV (Reuters) – Ukraine held memorial services on Tuesday to mark the 30th anniversary of the Chernobyl nuclear disaster which permanently poisoned swathes of eastern Europe and highlighted the shortcomings of the secretive Soviet system.

In the early hours of April 26, 1986, a botched test at the nuclear plant in then-Soviet Ukraine triggered a meltdown that spewed deadly clouds of atomic material into the atmosphere, forcing tens of thousands of people from their homes.

President Petro Poroshenko attended a ceremony at the Chernobyl plant, which sits in the middle of an uninhabitable ‘exclusion zone’ the size of Luxembourg.

“The issue of the consequences of the catastrophe is not resolved. They have been a heavy burden on the shoulders of the Ukrainian people and we are still a long way off from overcoming them,” he said.

More than half a million civilian and military personnel were drafted in from across the former Soviet Union as so-called liquidators to clean-up and contain the nuclear fallout, according to the World Health Organization.

Thirty-one plant workers and firemen died in the immediate aftermath of the accident, most from acute radiation sickness.

Over the past three decades, thousands more have succumbed to radiation-related illnesses such as cancer, although the total death toll and long-term health effects remain a subject of intense debate.

Nikolay Chernyavskiy, 65, who worked at Chernobyl and later volunteered as a liquidator, recalls climbing to the roof of his apartment block in the nearby town of Prypyat to get a look at the plant after the accident.

“My son said ‘Papa, Papa, I want to look too’. He’s got to wear glasses now and I feel like it’s my fault for letting him look,” Chernyavskiy said.

The anniversary has garnered extra attention due to the imminent completion of a giant 1.5 billion euros ($1.7 billion) steel-clad arch that will enclose the stricken reactor site and prevent further leaks for the next 100 years.

The project was funded with donations from more than 40 governments and the European Bank for Reconstruction and Development.

Even with the new structure, the surrounding zone – 2,600 square km (1,000 square miles) of forest and marshland on the border of Ukraine and Belarus – will remain uninhabitable and closed to unsanctioned visitors.

The disaster and the government’s reaction highlighted the flaws of the Soviet system with its unaccountable bureaucrats and entrenched culture of secrecy. For example, the evacuation order only came 36 hours after the accident.

Former Soviet leader Mikhail Gorbachev has said he considers Chernobyl one of the main nails in the coffin of the Soviet Union, which eventually collapsed in 1991.

(Additional reporting by Margaryta Chornokondratenko, Sergei Karazy and Andriy Perun; Editing by Robert Birsel and Richard Balmforth)

Ecuador quake death toll rises to 350; billions needed to rebuild

Red Cross members, military and police officers work at a collapsed area after an earthquake struck off Ecuador's Pacific coast, at Tarqui neighborhood in Manta

By Julia Symmes Cobb and Ana Isabel Martinez

PEDERNALES/PORTOVIEJO, Ecuador (Reuters) – The death toll from Ecuador’s worst earthquake in decades rose to 350 on Monday while traumatized survivors rested amid the rubble of their homes and rescuers dug for survivors in the Andean nation’s shattered coastal region.

At least 2,068 people were also injured in Saturday’s 7.8 magnitude quake, which ripped apart buildings and roads and knocked out power.

Giving the new tally of fatalities from the city of Portoviejo inside the disaster zone, President Rafael Correa told Reuters he feared the number would rise even further.

“Reconstruction will cost billions of dollars,” he also said, chatting with victims and appearing deeply moved as he toured the shattered town in the OPEC nation whose economy was already reeling from the global slump in crude oil prices.

Further north, in the beach locality of Pedernales, survivors curled up on mattresses or plastic chairs next to flattened homes. Soldiers and police patrolled the hot, dark streets overnight while pockets of rescue workers plowed on.

At one point, firefighters entered a partially destroyed house to search for three children and a man apparently trapped inside, as a crowd of 40 gathered in the darkness to watch.

“My little cousins are inside. Before, there were noises, screams. We must find them,” pleaded Isaac, 18, as the firemen combed the debris.

Tents sprang up in the town’s still-intact stadium to store bodies, treat the injured, and distribute water, food, and blankets. Survivors wandered around with bruised limbs and bandaged cuts, while those with more serious injuries were evacuated to hospitals.

While the full extent of the damage remains unclear, the disaster is dreadful news for Ecuador’s economy, which was already forecast for near-zero growth this year due to plunging oil income.

The energy industry appeared largely intact although the main refinery of Esmeraldas was closed as a precaution. However, exports of bananas, flowers, cocoa beans and fish could be slowed by ruined roads and port delays.

The quake could also alter political dynamics ahead of next year’s presidential election.

The government’s response seemed relatively speedy, with Vice President Jorge Glas flying into the disaster zone within hours and Correa coming straight back from a trip in Italy.

But some survivors complained about lack of electricity and supplies, and aid had still not reached some areas.

AFTERSHOCKS

About 230 aftershocks have rattled survivors, who huddled in the streets, worried the tremors could topple their already cracked homes.

“We’re scared of being in the house,” said Yamil Faran, 47, surrounded by some 30 people in a street in Portoviejo. “When … the aftershocks stop, we’re going to see if we can repair it.”

About 130 inmates in Portoviejo took advantage of the destruction and chaos to climb over the collapsed walls of the low-security El Rodeo prison. More than 35 had been recaptured, authorities said Sunday night.

On Monday, people swarmed into the middle of Portoviejo in search of any materials of value among destroyed buildings, including a social security office. Desks and papers lay strewn around as locals carried off aluminum window frames and cables.

“I have to take some advantage from this horrible tragedy. I need money to buy food. There’s no water, no light, and my house was destroyed,” said Jorge Espinel, 40, who works in the recycling business.

About 13,500 security personnel were mobilized to keep order.

Some $600 million in credit from multilateral lenders was immediately activated for the emergency, the government said.

Domestic aid funds were being set up and Venezuela, Chile and Mexico were sending personnel and supplies.

The Ecuadorean Red Cross mobilized more than 800 volunteers and staff and medical charity Medecins Sans Frontieres said it was sending a team from Colombia.

Two Canadians were among the dead. Jennifer Mawn, 38, and her 12-year-old son, Arthur, died when the roof of their coastal residence collapsed.

Residents on the Galapagos islands, far off Ecuador’s coast and home to numerous rare species, said they had not been affected by the quake.

The tremor followed two large and deadly quakes that have struck Japan since Thursday. Both countries are on the seismically active “Ring of Fire” that circles the Pacific, but the U.S. Geological Survey says large quakes separated by such distances would probably not be related.

(Additional reporting by Alexandra Valencia; Writing by Alexandra Ulmer and Andrew Cawthorne; Editing by Bernadette Baum and James Dalgleish)

Wildfires Burning in Oklahoma, Kansas

An aerial photo of the "350 Complex" fire that has hit an area of about 55,000 acres (22,250 hectares) located about 130 miles (210 km) northwest of Oklahoma City i

Reuters) – Wildfires in Oklahoma and Kansas this week have burned thousands of acres, scorched numerous structures and prompted hundreds of people to evacuate their homes, officials said on Wednesday.

The largest fire was the “350 Complex” fire, about 130 miles (210 km) northwest of Oklahoma City, that has hit an area of about 55,000 acres (22,250 hectares) and is mostly uncontained, Oklahoma Forestry Services said.

The fire has burned numerous structures. The state has deployed about 115 personnel and several firefighting aircraft to extinguish the blaze, the service said, adding that other areas of the state were also at risk.

“As fire weather conditions deteriorate, with dry and extremely gusty winds, new fires have started in multiple counties across Oklahoma,” it said.

There have been multiple wildfires in Kansas, which borders Oklahoma to the north, with the largest in Geary County, about 60 miles (100 km) west of Topeka.

A fire that burned about 500 acres (200 hectares) in Riley County, about 30 miles (50 km) north of Geary, has been contained, the Kansas Forest Service said.

No major injuries have been reported in either state.

(Reporting by Jon Herskovitz in Austin, Texas; Additional reporting by Heide Brandes; Editing by Jonathan Oatis and James Dalgleish)

India Overpass Collapse Kills 14

An air view of the collapsed overpass

By Supriyo Hazra

KOLKATA, India (Reuters) – An overpass under construction in the bustling Kolkata, India collapsed on Thursday on to vehicles and street vendors below, killing at least 14 people with more than 100 people feared trapped.

Residents used their bare hands to try to rescue people pinned under a 100-metre (110-yard) length of metal and cement that snapped off at one end and came crashing down in a teeming commercial district near Girish Park.

“The concrete had been laid last night at this part of the bridge,” resident Ramesh Kejriwal told Reuters.

“I am lucky as I was planning to go downstairs to have juice. When I was thinking about it, I saw that the bridge had collapsed.”

Video footage aired on TV channels showed a street scene with two auto rickshaws and a crowd of people suddenly obliterated by a mass of falling concrete that narrowly missed cars crawling in a traffic jam.

Chief Minister Mamata Banerjee, whose center-left party is seeking re-election in the state of West Bengal next month, rushed to the scene.

“We will take every action to save lives of those trapped beneath the collapsed flyover. Rescue is our top priority,” she said.

Banerjee, 61, said those responsible for the disaster would not be spared. Yet she herself faces questions about a construction project that has been plagued by delays and safety fears.

A newspaper reported last November that Banerjee wanted the overpass – already five years overdue – to be completed by February. Project engineers expressed concerns over whether this would be possible, The Telegraph said at the time.

The disaster could play a role in the West Bengal election, one of five being held next month that will give an interim verdict on Prime Minister Narendra Modi’s nearly two years in power.

Indian company IVRCL <IVRC.NS> was building the 2-km (1.2-mile) Vivekananda Road overpass, according to its web site. Its shares closed down 5 percent after falling by up to 11.8 percent on news of the disaster.

IVRCL’s director of operations, A.G.K. Murthy, said the company was not sure of the cause of the disaster.

“We did not use any inferior quality material and we will cooperate with the investigators,” Murthy told reporters in Hyderabad where the firm is based. “We are in a state of shock.”

NO ACCESS

A coordinated rescue operation was slow to get under way, with access for heavy lifting gear and ambulances restricted by the buildings on either side of the flyover and heavy traffic.

Police said that 78 injured had been taken to Kolkata’s Medical College Hospital after the disaster struck at around noon.

“Most were bleeding profusely. The problem is that nobody is able to drive an ambulance to the spot,” said Akhilesh Chaturvedi, a senior police officer.

Eyewitness Ravindra Kumar Gupta, a grocer, said two buses carrying more than 100 passengers were trapped. Eight taxis and six auto rickshaws were partly visible in the wreckage.

“Every night, hundreds of laborers would build the flyover and they would cook and sleep near the site by day,” said Gupta, who together with friends pulled out six bodies.

“The government wanted to complete the flyover before the elections and the laborers were working on a tight deadline … Maybe the hasty construction led to the collapse.”

(Additional reporting by Rupam Jain, Tommy Wilkes, Neha Dasgupta and Aditya Kalra and Reuters TV in New Delhi; Writing by Douglas Busvine; Editing by Nick Macfie)

South Carolina Declared Major Disaster

President Obama has declared several counties in South Carolina as major disaster areas. With some areas of the state that have received up to 24 inches of rain, 18 dams that have breached, lakes and creeks overflowing as well as roadways completely washed away, South Carolina is indeed a major disaster. With billions of dollars in damage and over a dozen deaths reported, South Carolina is still waiting for the rivers and lakes to crest.  

Although the bulk of the rain has ended, high waters are still a very dangerous reality after the historic flood event in South Carolina. Rescue crews went door to door in South Carolina’s capital city of Columbia as officials continued to free residents that were trapped by severe flooding that swamped virtually the entire state.

In a press conference Tuesday morning, Governor Nikki Haley gave an update on the current recovery efforts. Over a dozen deaths have been reported with over 600 National Guard that are now in the state assisting with rescue and recovery efforts.  More than 31,000 homes are without power. Boil water advisories are in effect with up to 40,000 people currently without drinking water or reporting low water pressure.  State and Government officials are working closely with hospitals in Columbia that are reporting water problems and over 400 roads and over 150 bridges have been closed due to flooding conditions.   

Some rivers in the state and in states further south are not expected to crest for up to two weeks leading residents to realize that this flooding event is far from over.   

Over 360 Missing In Chinese Boat Disaster

Disaster teams have recovered 77 bodies from a cruise ship that capsized in the Yangtze River during a storm.  At least 360 other victims of the disaster are still missing.

Authorities say that only 14 people survived the ship’s capsizing on Monday night.  They say some of those survivors jumped from the ship at the start of the storm and were able to swim to shore.  Three survived in an air pocket in the capsized ship until rescuers were able to hear them yelling for help and sent in divers to save them.

Transport Ministry spokesman Xu Chengguang said that the mission has moved from rescue of survivors to recovery of bodies.  The ship is going to be brought upright through steel bars under the ship and two 500 ton cranes.

Xu told reporters despite cutting holes in the ship to try and find survivors, the likelihood of anyone alive is “very slim.”

Xu said righting the vessel “will enable an audit of all the cabins to be carried out as quickly as possible and will be good for searching for the missing in the shortest period of time” and allow them to act to “preserve the dignity of the dead.”

The ship, the Eastern Star, reportedly contained mostly retirees who were viewing the vista along the river.

Government officials had previously cited the ship for safety infractions.  At one point in 2013, it was held from operation because of safety issues according to the maritime bureau.