NEWSWORTHY
Hundreds of people unaccounted for in deadly California wildfire but true figure hard to estimate
More than 1,000 people are unaccounted for after a deadly Northern California wildfire, but authorities warned Friday that the roster is fluid and contains "raw data," including the possibility of duplicate names. Some of the people on the ever-evolving list compiled by the Butte County ...
California wildfire is deadliest in last 100 years, experts say
Wildfire experts say the Northern California wildfire that has killed at least 56 is the deadliest in a century. California officials say the fire burning in a rural area far north of San Francisco killed more people than any blaze in the state's recorded history. But ...
Paradise, California, had long prepared for wildfires. But only in its worst nightmares did it imagine the kind of "mega-fire" that last week destroyed most of the town — and is becoming a common occurrence in the state. Born of tinder-dry conditions and erratic winds, ...
Upper House enacts extra budget worth ¥936 billion for disaster recovery
Lawmakers in the House of Councilors on Wednesday enacted an extra budget worth ¥935.6 billion ($8.3 billion) for fiscal 2018 to fund recovery efforts in the wake of a string of natural disasters across the country earlier this year. The budget for the year through ...
Japan's nuclear watchdog approves extension for tsunami-hit plant to operate beyond 40-year cap
A 5.4-meter tsunami triggered by the March 11, 2011 quake left the plant without external power and incapacitated one of three emergency generators, although it managed to cool its reactor.
Household spending in Japan falls first time in three months
Households reduced spending for the first time in three months in September due to the effects of natural disasters, leading the government to lower its overall assessment, official data showed Tuesday. Spending by households with two or more people fell 1.6 percent from a year ...
Cooperation and information sharing key in disaster response, speakers tell Hiroshima workshop
Given Japan's vulnerability to natural disasters, and with accelerating climate change widely predicted to increase severe weather patterns, increased cooperation and information sharing is more important than ever to meet the needs of victims. That was the message delivered Monday in Hiroshima during a workshop ...
Study finds 80% of rescue hashtags were unrelated to emergencies during July deluge
A vast majority of uses of the hashtag #kyūjo — which means rescue in Japanese — posted on Twitter during the deadly flooding last summer were unrelated to calls for help.
NHK expands disaster-related push notifications to include Chinese language
Public broadcaster NHK said Thursday it will now provide push notifications in Chinese for disaster-related information via the NHK World news app amid a growing number of Chinese visitors to Japan. The move comes after Japan experienced a wave of natural disasters this year, including ...
Cities seek cash and tech as they plan a safer and greener future
As 1.4 million people move to cities each week, local abilities to keep residents safe can become strained, increasing the risk of disasters, warned the United Nations secretary-general. "The answer is to build resilience to storms, floods, earthquakes, fires, pandemics and economic crises," said Antonio ...
Indonesia's quake and tsunami hit city of Palu faces health crisis a month after disaster
Indonesia's quake- and tsunami-battered city of Palu is facing a public health crisis as torrential rains threaten to spread malaria and dengue fever to the devastated region a month after the disaster, aid agencies have warned. On Sept. 28, a magnitude 7.5 quake and a ...
Northern Mariana Islands regain some air and sea access after monster Typhoon Yutu
Some airport and shipping access has returned to a U.S. Pacific territory ravaged by a typhoon, but tens of thousands of residents still without power and sifting through rubble face a long road to recovery. Saipan International Airport reopened with limited service Sunday after Typhoon ...
