Nocere – Earth Disasters

As a truck and a bus tried to cross the swollen river, the water rushed towards the two vehicles, washing them off the crossing and down the river.

There was no bridge to use where the vehicles were crossing. It was an area that is dry most the time.  A storm just hours before with pelting hail and rainfall resulted in the river rising quickly and causing flash flooding in the area.

Many people were unexpectedly stuck in the river Molle Punku on Friday evening.

At this time there have been 30 victims and they are searching for possibly more. They are concerned there are more missing and are searching rural areas. Both the police and soldiers are helping out with rescue efforts.

There were 13 people from the incident that made it to the shore of the river.

Popularity: 6% [?]

On Saturday, at a little past 10:30 in the evening, two trains collided in Germany. One was a passenger train, the other a freight train.

10 people have been pronounced dead, 43 were wounded. 18 of the wounded are in serious condition.

The accident between the HarzElfeExpress which is a passenger train and the freight train was close to 2 miles away from Oschersieben.

Parts of the train continued to burn for close to two hours in the snow.

Rescue personnel and investigators searched carefully through the wrecked trains looking for any survivors or bodies.

There were many passengers that were tossed out of the train after the accident. They are not sure as to what the cause was.

There were still emergency personnel and investigators at the scene of the accident on Sunday morning.

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Flooding in Jeddah from a rainfall that dropped 4 inches of rain in only 3 hours time has cause havoc in the city.

10 people are known dead from the flood waters. There are possibly more.

Rescue operations are under way with ground operations having rescued 1451 people while helicopters rescued another 498.

There are over 1500 families that have required shelter during the flooding.

There has been water raging down the streets of Jeddah taking cars and people with it.

Nearly 5,000 residents had no electricity still on Thursday afternoon. Another 65,000 residents electric had been restored.

The Govenor of Makkah Region took a tour of Jeddah on Thursday. He feels the flooding is a result of improper drainage set up to help drain off floods and rain water

Popularity: 6% [?]

In Indonesia, as a ferry was journeying between the islands of Java and Sumatra, a fire started.

The ferry was in the Sunda Strait at the time the fire broke out. It was approximately 3 kilometers out from the port of Merak. The port of Merak is located at the far western tip of Java.

There are 11 known dead at this time. They are not sure if any of the passengers or crew are still missing. Another 427 people survived the fire.

A great deal of the passengers were taken to a hospital in Cilegon on the island of Java to be checked out and given necessary treatment.

It is thought that a vehicle on the ferry may have caused the fire.

Popularity: 2% [?]

As the US is preparing to depart Iraq at the end of the year, it seems that the violence has increased.

Over the last month there were numerous bombing that took the lives of over 170 people in Iraq.The bombings were pointed at the Shia pilgrims as are making their yearly trek to the holy city of Karbala.

There were 78 people injured and 48 people that died as a result of the bombing at the funeral . The funeral  was for pilgrims that were killed in last weeks bombings, they were killed as they were making the trip to Karbala.

Funeral attenders were angry at the lack of security at the funeral. They lashed out at police for not protecting them.

The car bomb went off around 1400 local time in Baghdad. The car that blew up was in the area of the funeral in Shula.

People are reporting that there were young men who were throwing rocks at the police, angry at the lack of security.

Police had to fire into the air to get the crowd under control. They had to fire back at people when gunmen started shooting at them.

The military was called in to quiet the area down.

Popularity: 2% [?]

Even though the mining industry has become safer in Columbia and the conditions have improved, there are still accidents happening.

The latest explosion that has taken the lives of 20 miners, injured 6 and left 12 or more still in the mine has left many not wanting to return to the mines to work.

It is doubtful that the miners that have yet to be brought up out of the mine are still alive.

The explosion happened on Wednesday at a coal mine located in the northeastern part of Colombia.

Columbia is the 5th largest exporter of coal in the world. It is mostly run by large mining companies whose mines are open pit type.

In Andean nation, there are still small mines that have been dug underground. The trouble with this type of mine is it allows methane gas to develop and can eventually cause explosions.

Popularity: 5% [?]

Domodedovo Airport in Moscow, one of Moscow’s busiest airports was struck by a suicide bomber on Monday. The bomber took the lives of 35 people and injured 180 others. Of the wounded 86 required hospitalization. The other 94 were checked over and treated as necessary.

The bomber entered the low security airport wearing a belt loaded with explosives and metal items. He intended to as much harm and cause as many deaths as possible.

The area of the airport hit was the international terminal.

Witness’s heard the loud explosion of the bomb, but were luckily out of the direct area to be hit. They saw massive amounts of smoke and pieces of bodies and blood scattered everywhere. Survivors in the area were blood soaked. Many had their clothing tore by the pieces of metal that had been placed in the bomb.

Security measures were immediately improved at the other Moscow airports and many transportation areas as ordered by the President Dmitry Medvedev.

The president also canceled his plans to take a flight on Tuesday to Davos. He was planning on telling how Russia is a safe and a profitable place to the world business leaders there.

There was no organization that has taken responsibility for the attack yesterday. It is thought that it could be the work of Chechen activists.

The attack happened at 4:32pm Monday.

There has been no identification of the bomber other then his head was located.

It is suspected that there were 3 people that had a part in the bombing, that were there at a distance to witness the event, then left.

It’s possible that the authorities had prior knowledge of the bombing happening. It is being said that they were told of a bombing this week at an international terminal of an airport.

They searched for people using flashlights in the dark smoke filled area after the blast. Many people were able to exit the area on their own, but others were taken out on stretchers.

Popularity: 3% [?]

The landslide last week that created a mass of damage close to the Rio de Janerio area has now been said to have taken 806 lives. It could even approach a total of 1000 by the time everyone is found that is still missing.

Rescue teams still are searching through the mud covered areas trying to find missing people, hopefully still alive.

This disaster has been ranked as the second worst disaster ever put on record in Brazil’s history. The other disaster that ranks first is a meningitis outbreak that took the lives of 1500 residents in 1974.

The landslide happened in the mountains as whole hillsides came down covering all below them about 60 miles on the northern side of Rio. It happened after in only a days time, the area received a months worth of rain.

There were still 207 people missing earlier in the week. This could bring the number of deaths to 1000.

Popularity: 7% [?]