March 11, 2016

What happened this week?

Paraguay. Families affected by floods from the Paraná River: To date, 120 families in Ciudad del Este, department of Alto Paraná that were affected are being forced to leave their homes. A shelter has been enabled; the remaining families are staying with relatives and in other temporary shelters... Read more

Honduras. Homes affected by strong winds: More than 50 homes were damaged as a result of hurricane-force winds which occurred on the evening of March 7, 2016 in several areas in the department of El Paraíso, in the eastern region of the country. COPECO and municipal authorities performed damaged assessment on affected homes... Read more

Bolivia. Heavy rain caused flooding in El Puente: Heavy rainfall caused the overflowing of the Grande River, which affected more than 10,000 hectares (24,711 acres) in the municipality of El Puente as of March 7... Read more

Argentina. More than 4,000 affected by flooding in Chaco Parana: Flooding due to the rising of the Parana River resulted in the evacuation of more than 4,000 people in the north eastern Province of Chaco, primarily from Cerrito Island (1,086) and Puerto Vilelas (2,000) as of March 7, 2016. Humanitarian assistance has been provided to the affected...

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United States. Severe storms affect Southern Plains/ Lower Mississippi Valley: Severe thunderstorms moved across northern Texas causing locally significant damage between March 8 and 9, 2016. The storms affected four states (TX, LA, AR, and OK). In Texas there was a preliminary report of three EF-1 tornadoes in north Texas, several homes and businesses damaged near Dallas, one unconfirmed fatality and three injuries reported. Near Denton, 6 children were trapped in a school bus. 30 homes (approximately 50 people) were evacuated in Haughton, LA due to flooding... Read more

Ecuador. 5 communities isolated due to overflowing of Bulubulu River: Five communities in Guayas province were isolated the morning of March 7, 2016 after the overflowing of the Bulubulu River. Relief agency members are trying to build a retention wall in Taura and thus access 800 isolated families. The overflow caused a meter and a half of water to accumulate, also inundating hundreds of hectares of farmland. In Duran, relief agencies are trying to gain access to two communities that have been isolated... Read more

Interesting Facts

Another Earthquake in Port-au-Prince, Haiti? Haiti’s densely populated greater Port-au-Prince area is seismically more active than previously thought, and there will be another earthquake there. It is impossible to predict when this will happen. A study by a team of French scientists helps to understand that some exceptional forces caused Haiti’s extremely destructive magnitude-7.0 earthquake on January 12, 2010 and that there is continuing seismic risk to the city of Port-au-Prince and its surroundings... Read more

Tornado forecast system shows promise. Researchers say they've come up with a way to predict the likelihood of tornadoes two or three weeks in advance... Read more

What's new in Disaster Risk Reduction?

UNISDR head calls for more women in disaster risk reduction. “Women play an important role in advancing disaster risk reduction policies and we want to see more of them engaged in disaster management,” Mr. Robert Glasser, Special Representative of the UN Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction,said, as the world marks International Women’s Day... Read more