Nocere – Earth Disasters

A deadly mudslide in Columbia covered a bus as it was traveling out of the central city area of Manizales. The bus was covered with mud when a hill side slid down upon it and pushed it off the road.

The slide was caused by the massive amounts of rainfall that have been falling on the area recently.

There are possibly more then 14 dead. Rescuers are trying to locate 6 other passengers that are still missing.

The past year has been rough for Colombia as it has experienced widespread flooding taking the lives of over 300 people and causing 2 million to leave their dwellings.

Emergency personnel have been very busy trying to dig out the people who perished in the accident. The bus was totally covered with mud and rocks.

There have been many in Manizales that have been told to leave their homes as a precaution of more mudslides.

This rainy season this year in Colombia has been the worst season in Colombia’s records. It has caused massive flooding and billions of dollars in damage.

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Intense rainfall that began in the southern parts of Brazil on Friday has left ten individuals dead and over 8000 have no homes to return to. By Monday, the rain had basically left the area leaving a mess behind it.

Two of the individuals that died were found underneath mud from a landslide that hit the area on Sunday. The landslide was a result of the intense rainfall that had been beating down on the area.

In Parana, over 23,000 individuals were suffering from the amount of rainfall and there are 8 or more that have died. 453 individuals have been left without homes to return to. Over 2,700 dwellings were ruined by the rainfall.

Landslides cut off some of the larger roadways in the state. They did succeed in clearing a few of the roadways by Sunday evening.

One person died in the next door state of Santa Catarina. The person was driving a vehicle that went off the road and into the river on Saturday. They did not pull the vehicle out until Monday. The driver of the car had drowned.

According to authorities, there were 7 individuals in Rio do Sul that died and there are 2 individuals still listed as not found. One is in Rio do Sul and the other is in Parana.

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A massive landslide caused by unstable activity left 8000 families without homes to return to. As of now, no deaths or reports of people being injured have been reported.

The unstable activity caused the mud to loosen and slide down causing damage to roadways and dwellings.

The activity was caused by a fault that was from 80 to 100 hectares or 200 to 250 acres long.

The area has been declared a disaster zone.

A school has been set up as a shelter for those who are not able to return to their homes.

The Vice President Alvaro Garcia Linera has told the people that the government will help them rebuild their homes. He said that they would not leave them without help.

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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.

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On Monday, the Brazilian army deployed 700 soldiers to try and reach areas that have been cut off from receiving help. The residents are in dire need of supplies of food and water. They also are needing help in locating missing people that are still possibly buried in the mudslide that killed possibly more then 665 people.

The soldiers put together a bridge to help them get to the city of Teresopolis which is a city where vacationers like to visit. It is located in the mountains.

There are still possibly more then 10 main roadways that are still blocked off in the rugged area located on the north side of Rio where the mudslides happened. It is making it difficult to bring in the big machines that area necessary to start the heavy work load needed to get the area cleaned up. They also need to get to the victims that are buried under the huge amounts of mud and debris.

The soldiers are planning to set up movable bridges that are able to span 200 feet. The bridges are strong enough to carry the many units of heavy equipment needed for the clean up of the mud and rescue operations.

There were tons of mud, rock and intense violent streams of water rushing down the steep wooded mountain sides on Wednesday. It all ran right into towns that were the entrance ways to Rio.

On Monday, it was announced that the deaths from the slides had reached 655 between the cities of Teresopolis, Nova Friburgo, Petropolis and Sumidouro.

Helicopters were put to use flying in supplies to 20 areas that were still without fresh supplies. They used approximately 12 helicopters to fly in supplies and firefighters. The flying was dangerous with poor visibility and sharp peaks of the mountains . There are also not many safe areas to land. Where there did seem to be openings, there would be electrical lines draping across the opening.

Many residents have been left wondering what is going to happen next. Where they and their families will find places to live. Some have lost everything and have no money to pay rent for new places.

There is a need for 5000 new homes to be built or more. That is the estimated need to house the now homeless.

In Teresopolis, over 3000 residents are now without homes. Major Jorge Mario Sedlacek said that there are over 2000 tents being brought in which up to 10 people can live in.

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It seems that floods have being dominated in some countries, Australia has been hit by the biggest flood of the century and now, flood has murdered at least 39 citizens in South Africa and  decimated thousands of homes in neighboring Mozambique, officials said on Monday.

The continuously and heavy rains from late December and through majority of January have led to floods in the pair continent, with torrential downpours at the weekend again bulging rivers. South Africa’s Cooperative Governance Ministry guessed at least 32 have been murdered whereas police said on Monday another seven went absent in Centurion, near Pretoria, after they were swept away via high waters. The army has been placed on stand-by to evacuate citizens from fields near main dams.

South African logistics team Transnet said final week heavy rains had disrupted its freight rail operations, impacting coal and corn exports. South Africa’s 2009/10 corn excess is possible to prevent any provide dearth of the grain this year but the extremely wet conditions may have an impact on the soy bean and sunflower harvest, the chief executive of farmers’ team Grain SA confided Reuters in an interview final week.

Meanwhile, in Mozambique, approximate 13,000 citizens have perceived harm to the their homes or been evacuated due to floods and heavy winds, state-run Radio Mozambique reported on Monday. At least ten have been murdered in the country.

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47 people have died, another 1.5 million have been affected in some way according to the country’s national disaster agency. The eastern island of Mindano has been hit the hardest with the largest number of residents being affected. The count is over 600,000 at this time.

Areas of the country have been being hit with heavy downpours of rain now for many weeks. The after affects of a monsoon, heavy rainfall, floods and mudslides have hit several different provinces.

A lot of the deaths are people who range in age from 1 years of age to 80. Most died from drowning, mudslides, or being electrocuted. As of today, Sunday, there are still 4 or more people that have not been located.

Many are now homeless with 503 homes being destroyed and another 1,914 messed up.

There is an aircraft bringing in a medical team today which will be landing in Siruma, Camarines Sur. It is bringing medical supplies to help out with the 450 households where diarrhea is a problem. It is a dangerous condition for members in those homes.

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Huge number of death victims from massive flooding and landslides in Brazil reached 500 onto Friday as redeveloped rainfall risked towards complicate efforts via rescue teams to extend survivors stranded in isolated areas.

It was reported that in one of the country’s worst natural disasters, streams of mud tore across towns within the mountainous Serrana region outside Rio de Janeiro, leveling houses, throwing cars above halls and deserting thousands of civilians seeking shelter.

The flooding killed at lowest 529 civilians, according towards locally and state administration, but rescuers are exposing many victims buried below spoiled houses and toppled buildings. More than 13,500 civilians possess been deserted homeless. The disaster necessarily inflicted billions of dollars within injuries and has showed President Dilma Rousseff with her former crisis alone two weeks as soon as taking office.

By the loss of life and premises, the injuries from the rains could further boost food prices within branches of southeastern Brazil, a principal concern for the government. The Serrana region is an meaningful maker of fruit and vegetables for the Rio frontier but the floods possess not affected Brazil’s primary crops such as soy, sugar cane, oranges and coffee.

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