Deadly mudslides

At least 400 people have been killed by the mudslide that swept through Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown, on Monday morning. Another 600 are still missing, as rescue workers desperately hunt for survivors.

Freetown is an overcrowded city of more than a million, many living in makeshift settlements which are easily washed away in frequent heavy rains and floods. A key objective at the moment is to avoid the disaster being made worse by water-borne diseases such as cholera, typhoid and diarrhoea.

Probably the deadliest mudslide ever was the one that hit Venezuela in the dying days of the last millennium in December 1999. It effortlessly swept away the shanty towns precariously perched on ridges around the capital Caracas.

But smart apartment blocks also found themselves buried under the mud. Most estimates put the number killed at around 30,000, with 140,000 left homeless, and more than 20,000 homes destroyed. For the story, see A Disastrous History of the World.

See also my post of 21 February 2010.

A mysterious Halloween air crash

ISIS has claimed responsibility for bringing down the Russian Airbus A321 over Sinai, though it is fair to say that at present, not many believe them, with the authorities blaming a technical fault. What is clear is that 224 passengers and crew have been killed.

Halloween saw another mysterious air crash in 1999, when an EgyptAir Boeing 767 from New York to Cairo crashed into the Atlantic about 60 miles off Nantucket Island, killing all 217 people on board.

America’s National Transportation Safety Board concluded that the aircraft had been deliberately crashed by the first officer. The cockpit voice recorder (pictured) revealed that the captain had left the cockpit to go to the toilet, and that the first officer then began constantly repeating: ‘I rely on God’, as the autopilot was disconnected, and the engines shut down, leaving the aircraft plummeting towards the sea.

The Egyptians, though, rejected this explanation, saying a mechanical fault was the ‘likely cause’.

*Here I am doorstepping Tony Benn, then the Secretary of State for Industry, as crisis envelopes the British motorcycle industry in 1974 -

http://www.macearchive.org/Archive/Title/atv-today-08111974-anthony-wedgwood-benn-in-birmingham/MediaEntry/22215.html

Earthquake museum, Taiwan

Just back from Taiwan where I visited the fascinating, disturbing 921 Earthquake Museum. The museum is built around the remains of Kuang-Fu Junior High School in Wufeng, where buildings collapsed and sports fields buckled, when the 7.3 force quake struck on September 21, 1999.

Fortunately, it was at about a quarter to two in the morning, so there were no pupils in the school, but across the island the disaster killed more than 2,400 people, and destroyed more than 50,000 homes.

The museum is designed to ensure the tragedy is not forgotten, and to help stimulate research on earthquakes and on disaster relief, and more than a million people have visited it since it opened in 2004. One room with a shaking floor simulates the terrifying experience of being caught in a quake.

The deadliest earthquake in Taiwan's history is believed to be the one that hit the Hsinchu and Taichung areas on 21 April, 1935, killing more than 3,270 people.

Tornadoes - poor Moore

 

Lightning may not strike the same place twice, but tornadoes do.  Moore, Oklahoma, which was devastated yesterday, was also hit in 1999 and 2003.

This time winds of up to 200 mph flattened whole neighbourhoods.  Schools were destroyed, and at least 24 people have been killed.  President Obama has declared it a major disaster.  Tornadoes, hail and high winds also hit Iowa and Kansas. 

The 1999 tornado (pictured) caused devastation for nearly 40 miles, killing 41 people, destroying thousands of homes, and inflicting damage that cost more than $1 billion.    In 2003, houses, businesses, two hotels and a church were among the buildings destroyed or damaged.

The most devastating twister in US history was the Great Tri-State Tornado of 1925, which wrought havoc in Missouri, Illinois and Indiana, killing around 700.  

* The fourth video in my series on Britain’s 20 Worst Military Disasters – the Anglo-Saxon Conquest is now up - https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iVC0oEVukmA

Landslides more deadly than realised

According to a study by Durham University in the UK, landslides kill up to ten times as many people as we thought.    Its authors said the worldwide death toll from 2004 to 2010 was 32,300, compared with earlier estimates of between 3,000 and 7,000.

The main author, David Petley, said most data tended to record only landslides in which ten or more people are killed, when many victims perish in much smaller events. 

The study identified the most vulnerable regions as being countries along the Himalayan Arc - India, Pakistan, Bhutan, Nepal and Bangladesh - plus China, and Central and South America.  It suggested that better management of forests and discouraging people from living in vulnerable areas were the best way of reducing the danger.

Perhaps the world’s deadliest landslide was the one that hit coastal areas of Venezuela after torrential rain in the last few days of the twentieth century.   Estimates of the number killed range as high as 30,000.   For the full story see A Disastrous History of the World.

Turkish earthquake

Turkey’s second major earthquake of the year has now claimed at least 575 lives.   It struck the eastern town of Ercis, which has nearly 100,000 inhabitants, on Sunday.   More than 180 people have been pulled from the wreckage, including a 13 year old boy in the early hours of yesterday, but now hopes of finding anyone else alive are fading.

Tens of thousands of people have been made homeless, and the nights are freezing cold.   Most of those living in the region are Kurds – an ethnic minority that has been battling to have its own country - and the Turkish government had been criticised for what some saw as a sluggish initial response. 

I was in Istanbul at the time of the last earthquake in May, which struck the western Kutahya region, about 100 miles away, killing two people.    Some people in Istanbul said they felt the tremor, though I did not.

Perhaps the worst earthquake in Turkey’s history was the one that destroyed the famous city of Antioch in 526, killing up to 300,000 (see my blog of Jan 22, 2010).   The deadliest of recent years was the Izmit quake of 1999, which caused at least 17,000 deaths in the area, about 40 miles from Istanbul.

Brazil's worst ever natural disaster?

More than 800 people are known to have died in the floods and landslides that have been afflicting the south-east of Brazil, and 400 more are missing after torrential rain washed whole hillsides away. It is being described as the country’s worst ever natural disaster.

The worst hit town is Nova Friburgo, where more than 320 have been killed. According to one analysis of the figures, about a third of the victims are children and adolescents. Many communities can now be reached only by helicopter.

As with so many disasters, there are now fears that disease may follow in the wake of the initial catastrophe. A number of people are known to have contracted leptospirosis, an illness spread by water contaminated with rats’ urine.

The deadliest mudslide ever was probably the one that hit Venezuela’s coastal strip in December 1999, after 36 inches of rain fell in just a few days. An estimated 30,000 people died. (See also my blogs of April 17, Oct 10, Nov 12 and 19, 2009 and Feb 21 and Aug 12, 2010).

China's landslide

Heavy rain is continuing to disrupt rescue efforts after Sunday’s landslide in north-west China. Mudslides have blocked a road and river used for bringing in supplies, while emergency shelters have been flooded, and more downpours are forecast.

At least 1,117 people have been killed, and another 600 are still missing. Zhouqu county, where the disaster has happened, has suffered ten major landslides over the last two centuries, but there are complaints that the authorities’ cavalier attitude to the environment in recent times has made things worse.

More than 120,000 hectares of forest were felled between 1952 and 1990, and mining and the building of dams in the steep valleys is said to have made things worse. A report in 2006 by the University of Lanzhou – the provincial capital - had drawn attention to the dangers.

The deadliest landslide in history was probably the one that devastated Venezuela’s coastal region in December 1999. Thirty-six inches of rain fell in just a few days, and flash floods and mudslides are reckoned to have killed up to 30,000 people. (See also my blogs of 17 April, 12 and 19 November, 2009.)

Mudslides

Last week it was an avalanche in Pakistan, the week before another in Afghanistan (see my blog of Feb 18). Now heavy rains have brought floods and mudslides to the delightful holiday island of Madeira.

At least 40 people have been killed as tons of mud and stone were washed into the capital Funchal and other towns. The rescue effort has been hampered by the number of roads that have been blocked.

The deadliest mudslide ever was probably the one that hit Venezuela’s coastal strip in December 1999, after 36 inches of rain fell in just a few days. An estimated 30,000 people died – many of them inhabitants of the shanty towns that clung precariously to the ridges around the capital Caracas. (see also my blog of Oct 10, 2009).

Belated thanks to the Bernstein Crisis Management Blog for its welcome to my (then) new blog almost one year ago! http://bernsteincrisismanagement.blogspot.com/2009/01/dont-let-your-crisis-become-disaster.html

Thanks also to the Jersey Journal for its article on Disaster! – my new US book:-
http://www.nj.com/hobokennow/index.ssf/2010/02/hoboken_docks_fire_of_1900_fea.html

Landslides

Sixteen people – including nine children - have been killed by a landslide in the Central Asian republic of Kyrgyzstan. It struck a village in the south of the country after heavy rains, though overgrazing of mountain slopes is also thought to have contributed to the disaster.

Probably the deadliest landslide in history was the one that struck Venezuela’s coastal areas in December 1999. Torrential rain caused flash floods and mudslides, and the shanty towns that clung to the steep escarpments around the capital Caracas were simply washed away. More than 20,000 homes were destroyed, and 140,000 people made homeless, as President Chavez used his own residence to house children who had lost their parents. The death toll was estimated at about 30,000.

Another dreadful landslide struck the Khait area of another Central Asian country, Tajikistan in 1949. Details are sparse, but there are claims that 33 villages were destroyed and up to 28,000 people killed.