October 30, 2015

What happened this week?

Mexico: Hurricane Patricia made landfall as a Category 5 hurricane on October 23, 2015 near Cuixmala, Jalisco with sustained winds of 270 km/h) On October 24, 2015, Patricia had downgraded to a Tropical Depression. So far, no major injuries or deaths have been reported. Over 50,000 people were evacuated from coastal areas prior to the storm, since then improved weather conditions have allowed much of the population to return to their homes. The federal, state, and municipal Mexican governments are conducting assessment and monitoring the situation on the ground in affected areas... Read More

United States: Flooding in the Southern Plains: Conditions over eastern Texas continue to improve. Flood waters will move down the Trinity River into Lake Livingston through the remainder of the week. Texas Emergency Operation Center (EOC) returned to Normal Operations; Louisiana State EOCs are Partially Activated. Texas National Guard is providing 105 personnel for flood response operations. No widespread/significant damage and no injuries or fatalities reported... Read More

Guatemala: Rainfall in the village of Milagro, Masagua, Escuintla: The Guacalate River overflowed. About 48 people were affected by the flooding and at least five houses suffered damage... Read More

Costa Rica: Rains, floods, and landslides affected eight communities in the Central Valley, leaving two dead, at least 7 families evacuated, and 125 reports of incidents. 77 homes were affected in the province of Heredia... Read More

Brazil: 

• Drought: The Ministry of National Integrity declared state of emergencies in 382 municipalities in six states, mostly due to drought. 170 in Paraíba, 150 in Ceará, and 56 in Pernambuco. Also in the cities of Bahía, Minas Gerais, and Paraná... Read More
• Rains: The National Civil Defense is assisting 49 municipalities in Rio Grande do Sul due to heavy rains... Read More

Interesting Facts

Researchers find cascading elastic perturbation likely contributed to small earthquakes in Japan. A team of researchers with members from Los Alamos National Laboratory, MIT and the University of Tokyo, has found evidence that suggests elastic disturbance caused by one earthquake may be one of the causes of another earthquake occurring in a far distant location... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

What the Nepal earthquake teaches us about disaster resilience. Catastrophic events exact massive causalities and damage, severely disrupting populations, infrastructure, economies, and the environment. How can we, as a global community, prevent or limit such adverse effects in the future?... Read More

Costa Rica joined more than 100 nations on the protection of persons displaced by disasters. Representatives of the Government of Costa Rica were part in the global intergovernmental consultation of the initiative Nansen which was held in Geneva, Switzerland, as an act of conclusion for actions that support the "Agenda for the protection of cross-border displaced persons in the context of disasters and climate change"... Read More