Tag - disasters

 
 

DISASTERS

Japan Times
WORLD
Oct 1, 2017
Weak columns, extra floors led to Mexico City school collapse, experts say
A Mexico City school that collapsed in a powerful earthquake on Sept. 19, killing 19 children and seven adults, buckled under the heavy weight of floors added over the years with scant steel support, according to experts and witnesses.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 28, 2017
'Flying doctors' unveil special aircraft that can reach disaster areas in Japan and nearby countries
A team of "flying doctors" providing emergency care in disaster areas showed off its specially adapted aircraft on Thursday at Saga airport.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2017
Japanese personnel end search and rescue efforts in quake-hit Mexico
A Japanese rescue team sent to Mexico to aid search and rescue efforts in the aftermath of a magnitude 7.1 earthquake last week ended its mission on Monday, the Japanese Embassy in Mexico City said.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 26, 2017
Spent nuclear fuel removal at Fukushima plant pushed back again
The government says new technical issues and the need to take safety precautions led to the latest change, the third delay in the removal plan since its inception.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 24, 2017
Dubai starts replacing skyscraper facades after series of fires
Dubai authorities have begun telling owners of high-rise buildings across the emirate to make the facades more resistant to fire, the government said on Saturday, after a string of skyscraper blazes.
Japan Times
WORLD
Sep 21, 2017
Legendary 'mole' rescuers heroes again on Mexico City home turf
After earning fame burrowing into piles of rubble in disasters the world over, including the 2001 attacks on the World Trade Center in New York City, Mexico's "mole" rescue workers are on tragically familiar ground, pulling people from ruins in their home city.
COMMENTARY / World
Sep 12, 2017
Being better prepared for the spike in floods and storms
Just as governments try to cushion financial shocks, so they must invest in reducing disaster risk.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Sep 1, 2017
Missiles join quakes, typhoons in annual disaster drills
Marking the anniversary of the 1923 Great Kanto Earthquake on Friday, municipalities nationwide and companies used the opportunity not only to test their preparedness for disasters but also to raise public awareness about a variety of threats including typhoons, floods and a potential North Korean missile...
WORLD / Science & Health
Sep 1, 2017
Study links climate change to record U.S. road deaths
Climate change — not increased use of cell phones — might be to blame for an unusual spike in road deaths that hit the United States two years ago, said a study published on Thursday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2017
Only about 50% of schools designated as shelters in times of disaster have emergency toilet facilities: survey
Only about half of public schools in Japan designated to serve as shelters in times of disaster had the ability as of April 1 to provide alternative toilet facilities if water supplies were cut off, an education ministry survey showed Tuesday.
JAPAN
Aug 29, 2017
Police to deploy large helicopters for border security, remote-isle incidents
The National Police Agency plans to deploy large helicopters to prefectural police forces in Okinawa and Fukuoka to transport officers to remote islands and assist in disaster rescue operations, sources said Tuesday.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 25, 2017
Government opens multilingual web portal to unify disaster information ahead of Olympics
Accessing reliable information in the aftermath of a disaster is not easy, especially in an era where vast quantities of information are scattered across the internet.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 23, 2017
Mount Ontake's volcanic alert warning set to lowest level since deadly 2014 eruption
The weather agency has slashed the volcanic alert level for central Japan's Mount Ontake to the lowest notch for the first time in about three years following a September 2014 eruption that left 58 people dead and five missing.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 20, 2017
Hiroshima remembers victims of deadly landslides on third anniversary of the disaster
A memorial service was held Sunday in Hiroshima to commemorate the third anniversary of the landslides that claimed the lives of 77 people.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 17, 2017
First 57 temporary homes built for displaced residents of disaster-hit Fukuoka
Construction of 57 temporary homes for northern Kyushu residents displaced by massive downpours last month has been completed, local authorities said Thursday.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 17, 2017
Food aid reaches thousands devastated by Sierra Leone mudslide
Food aid is reaching thousands who survived a mudslide on the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital, Freetown, the United Nations World Food Programme said on Wednesday, two days after 400 people died and more than 3,000 were left homeless.
Japan Times
WORLD
Aug 15, 2017
Mayor says 270 bodies recovered from Sierra Leone mudslide as rescue efforts continue
Rescue workers have recovered 270 bodies so far from a mudslide in the outskirts of Sierra Leone's capital Freetown, the mayor said on Tuesday, as rescue operations continued and morgues struggled to find space for all the dead.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 14, 2017
Disaster-hit Fukushima village names rescue dog a PR ambassador
A village affected by the 2011 Fukushima nuclear disaster has turned to an unlikely public relations ambassador with the appointment of a locally born search and rescue dog.
Japan Times
JAPAN
Aug 2, 2017
Kyushu city's historic water wheels begin turning again after deluges
Japan's oldest working water wheels resumed operation Wednesday in the city of Asakura about a month after torrential rains devastated the area and claimed dozens of lives.
Japan Times
WORLD
Jul 31, 2017
80% of Thai warning system crumbling 12 years after surprise tsunami
Up to 80 percent of Thailand's tsunami warning system needs maintenance work, the deputy director-general of its disaster prevention department said on Monday, more than a decade after the region was hit by a tsunami that killed 226,000 people.

Longform

Traditional folk rituals like Mizudome-no-mai (dance to stop the rain) provide a sense of agency to a population that feels largely powerless in the face of the climate crisis.
As climate extremes intensify, Japan embraces ancient weather rituals