October 9, 2015

What happened this week?

Guatemala: Landslide in El Cambray II, Santa Catarina Pinula. CONRED reported an update on Thursday, October 8, that 220 people dead, 350 are missing, 368 are in shelters, 386 have been evacuated, 27 are injures, and 120 homes have been destroyed... Read More

Mexico:

• A landslide in Huitzapula, Atlixtac collapsed 20 homes, another 45 are at risk. The state civil protection reported that they are providing humanitarian aid to those affected. Temporary shelters have been created, but most people have decided to stay with relatives... Read More

• Update on rains: The remnants of Hurricane Marty have left 35,000 people homeless in nine municipalities (Bácum, Cajeme, Empalme, Etchoja, Guaymas, Huatabampo, Navojoa, Benito Juarez, and San Ignacio Río Muerto) in southern Sonora... Read More 
• Drought. Producers raised an alarm due to the drought in Pujal-Coy where 75,000 hectares of soybeans were lost, severely affecting their families and the economy of that region, not only in San Luis, but also in Veracruz and Tamulipas... Read More 

United States: Flooding in the Southeast: Moderate to heavy rainfall and flooding/flash flooding continued across the region through the weekend - heaviest impact felt across South Carolina, an additional 3 inches is expected across the southern Mid-Atlantic through Tuesday morning. Numerous Interstates, local & state roads, and bridges were impacted, 4 fatalities, 1 injury, 26 shelters open in SC, 5 shelters open in NC, hundreds of people evacuated statewide in SC, multiple private dams breached or overtopped in SC. City of Columbia could be without water service for 3-4 days, local hospitals planning possible patient evacuation due to lack of water... Read More

Paraguay: Asunción. Overflowing of the Paraguay River forced families to evacuate. Although the Paraguay River levels are decreasing, about 22,500 people remain in shelters set up by authorities in Asunción... Read More

Nicaragua: Rains and landslides in Wamblán, department of Jinoteca, leave 70 homes at risk and forced local Government to evacuate five families... Read More

Panama: State of emergency declared in Puerto Caimito (District of La Chorrera, west of the province of Panamá) due to rain and swells that occurred on Tuesday, October 6; 246 families are waiting to be relocated... Read More

Uruguay: Department of Treinta y Tres: Rains affected homes and municipal land. Some departments in the North of the country also suffered damaged roads and paths. 13 people have been evacuated in Rivera; there is a significant increase in the level of the Quaraí River in Artigas... Read More

Interesting Facts

What earthquake maps should really look like. How much more powerful is a magnitude 7 earthquake than a magnitude 3? Most maps give the wrong impression... Read More

U.S. scientists use Twitter to track earthquakes. Since 2009, seismologists at the U.S. Geological Survey have teamed up with the social media company. The result? More accurate emergency alerts... Read More

Despite Midwest location, UW has seismic effect on earthquake research. A tricky science, one expert explains seismology with a question: 'What if meteorologists had no satellites, no technology and were blind?'... Read More

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

Addressing Disaster Risk Reduction in a post 2015 framework. The Association of Caribbean States (ACS) through its Directorate of Disaster Risk Reduction convened the 23^rd Meeting of the Special Committee on Disaster Risk Reduction at the ACS Secretariat in Port of Spain on 9^th October, 2015... Read More

Jamaica Gets US$6.8 Million To Fight Climate Change. Jamaica has received grant funding of US$6.8 million to be used for improving the quality and use of climate-related information, which will inform effective development planning and action at the local and national levels in order to reduce the impact of natural disasters... Read More

Earthquake simulator becomes a tourism attraction in Costa Rica's old colonial capital. The earthquake simulator is meant to sensitize people to take preventive measures and actions in the homes and communities toward this kind of situations... Read More