Toxic leak from Angola diamond mine kills 12 in DR Congo - BBC News

A toxic leak from a massive diamond mine in Angola killed at least 12 people and left 4,500 sick, a minister in neighbouring Democratic Republic of Congo says.

Riesgo de catástrofe ecológica en Florida

 

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UN Warns of Greatest Crisis in Decades: More than 20 Million Facing Starvation

The world is facing the largest humanitarian crisis since 1945, the UN's humanitarian chief told the international body on Friday.

Canadian wildfire city : Wildfire spared 90 percent of Fort McMurray

Fort McMurray is largely intact despite a week of damage from the wildfires devastating Canada's oil sands region, Alberta's premier said after touring the ghost town.

Alberta wildfire could cause record insurance losses in Canada

The wildfire that destroyed the Fort McMurray region in Canada's Alberta province is expected to incur the largest insured property losses from a single disaster in Canadian history.

Canada steps up efforts to battle Alberta wildfire

Canada is responding at a nationwide level to fight the "catastrophic" wildfire in northern Alberta which caused the largest evacuation in the province's history, officials said Wednesday.

EU pledges 20 mln euros to nuclear safety account fund

The European Commission on Monday pledged around 20 million euros (22.6 million US dollars) to the Nuclear Safety Account (NSA) fund, among efforts to step up contribution to nuclear safety.

COP21: 'Climate change refugees are already a reality'

The threat of a future tide of refugees is being cited often by world leaders as they push for a new global pact at the COP21 climate summit in Paris. But on some islands in the Indian Ocean, climate refugees are already a reality.

BP to pay record $18.7bn over 2010 Deepwater Horizon oil spill

Under the agreement reached by BP and five US states along the Gulf of Mexico, the British oil major will pay out $18.7 billion over 18 years. The deal resolves the firm of remaining liabilities from the biggest oil spill in US history.

Haiti marks fifth earthquake anniversary

Haiti has marked the fifth anniversary of the massive earthquake that devastated an already impoverished nation, as officials struggle to resolve a political standoff that has stalled elections for three years.

Eco Isotop and Geo Introspect Flash News (January 2015 - A)

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Les pertes économiques liées aux désastres et catastrophes naturelles sont évaluées à 113 milliards de dollars (90,7 milliards d’euros) en 2014, en recul de 16% par rapport à 2013 - où ce montant atteignait 135 milliards de dollars - selon une première estimation du groupe suisse de réassurance Swiss Re publiée mercredi......................Dans l’ordre, les pertes les plus importantes ont été causées par les tempêtes de neige au Japon en février dernier

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(December 2014 -b) 
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(December 2014 -a)

Israel's Greatest Ecological Catastrophe Unfolding in Arava Desert

The crude oil spill in the Arava Desert, southern Israel, is 'twice as bad as initially estimated,' according to the Israeli Eilat Ashkelon Pipeline Company....

"The volume of crude oil that spilled into the Arava Desert last week is 60 percent larger than the amount that was originally reported, the company responsible for the pipeline acknowledged on Sunday night," Haaretz, the Israeli news agency reported.

Climate catastrophe? Weather anomalies to double in 20 years – expert

Both experts and residents of various continents are surprised at the twists and turns of this winter’s weather. Christmas thaw was something the residents of many Central Russian cities have never seen. The coldest temperature of the century left the Niagara Falls icebound. A persistent heat wave in Australia with temperatures reaching 42 degrees above zero Celsius prompted the organizers to cancel the prestigious Australia Open tennis tournament.


Director of the Climate and Energy Programme of the World Wildlife Fund, Alexei Kokorin, believes that weather extremes will grow increasingly frequent in the next few decades due to the ongoing climate change. Weather freaks on all continents stem from one process and are related to atmospheric and ocean physics.

Vers des cyclones plus violents et pluvieux .

AFP - Les climatologues n'ont toujours pas établi de lien formel entre cyclones et réchauffement climatique, mais ils s'attendent à des phénomènes de plus en plus violents liés à la montée de la température des océans.
Au moment même où les Philippines comptaient leurs morts, dont le total pourrait dépasser les 10.000 après le passage du typhon Haiyan, la 19e conférence de l'ONU sur le changement climatique s'ouvrait lundi à Varsovie: plus de 190 nations épaulées par une armée d'experts forts de très peu de certitudes.
L'étude des cyclones manque cruellement, il est vrai, de "bases de données assez homogènes car il n'y avait pas de satellites avant les années 70", fait remarquer Fabrice Chauvin, chercheur au Centre national de recherches météorologiques, à Toulouse.

Frantic search for China quake survivors .... Rescuers overcome landslides and 1,100 aftershocks to reach Sichuan region where earthquake killed at least 203 people.

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Thousands of rescuers are fighting to thwart a rising death toll as they search earthquake-shattered villages in southwest China for survivors.

'Catastrophic': Hundreds of wildfires rage in Australia amid record heat wave (VIDEO, PHOTOS RT)

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A heat wave that has already caused devastating fires on the Island state of Tasmania, with 100 people still missing, has now moved to mainland Australia and is reaping havoc in New South Wales, as the heat wave looks to smash records.
­In some areas temperatures have shot up by as much as 20C in three hours and combined with 50 mph winds have created disastrous fire conditions.

With disasters on the rise, relief is the problem

The popular perception that natural disasters are on the rise has now been confirmed. Private insurers are preparing for rough weather, and governments would do well to heed calls for more precautionary measures.

Munich Re, the world's largest re-insurer, had little good news to report in its January 3 wrap-up of disasters in 2012. Hurricane Sandy, droughts in the American Midwest, an Italian earthquake, a series of Midwest tornadoes and Typhoon Bopha in the Philippines were just five of the more than 900 events worldwide that caused $160 billion-worth of damage (122 billion euros) to the worldwide economy.
Since 2006 it has been rare for worldwide disasters to number under 900 in any given year. This is in stark contrast to the 1980s, when a terrible year might have seen a mere 500 disasters.