Video showing the Atami mudslide, 3 July 2021. At least two people were killed and more than twenty were missing after two days of record-breaking rainfall. Video: Eyepress via Reuters

2 killed, 20 missing after record rain triggers mudslide in Japan resort town – Two-day rainfall exceeded average for entire month of July

By Jan Wesner Childs 4 July 2021 (The Weather Channel) – Two people died and at least 20 remained missing after a wave of black mud, water and debris slammed into houses southwest of Tokyo Saturday amid days of heavy rainfall. Prime Minister Yoshihide Suga told reporters that 19 people had been rescued as more […]

A wildfire rages beside the Kolyma highway, 30 June 2021. The highway is the major connection between the Republic of Sakha’s capital Yakutsk and the port town of Magadan, on the Sea of Okhotsk. The highway had to be shut because the fire got too close to the road and was much too fierce for safe driving. Photo: The Siberian Times

Siberia’s “Road of Bones” closed as early wildfires rage – “We can’t see the sun because of the smog, flakes of ash are raining from the sky. We are struggling to breathe, we really need help.”

By Svetlana Skarbo 30 June 2021 (The Siberian Times) – More than 2,000 people are deployed in extinguishing wildfires raging around Russia’s coldest inhabited territory, Yakutia, now in the third year of an extremely intense season of wildfires. The first of them ignited as early as the beginning of May right outside the world-famous Pole […]

Satellite view of Cyclone Tauktae several hours before making landfall in India on 17 May 2021. The image was captured by NASA / NOAA / Suomi NPP satellite. Photo: Suomi NPP-VIIRS / NASA / NOAA

India lashed by strongest cyclone ever to hit west coast as it reels from Covid disaster – “This cyclone is a terrible double blow for millions of people in India whose families have been struck down by record Covid infections and deaths”

By Jessie Yeung and Esha Mitra 18 May 2021 NEW DELHI (CNN) – India was slammed on Monday by the strongest storm on record to reach its west coast, hampering authorities’ response to the Covid-19 crisis in some of the country’s hardest-hit regions. Tropical Cyclone Tauktae, a storm with wind speeds equivalent to a high-end Category 3 hurricane that […]

Fishermen try to move a fishing boat to a safer ground on the Arabian Sea coast in Mumbai, India, Monday, 17 May 2021. Cyclone Tauktae, roaring in the Arabian Sea was moving toward India's western coast on Monday as authorities tried to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people and suspended COVID-19 vaccinations in one state. Photo: Rafiq Maqbool / AP Photo

India braces for powerful cyclone amid deadly virus surge

NEW DELHI, 17 May 2021 (AP) – A powerful cyclone roaring in the Arabian Sea was moving toward India’s western coast on Monday as authorities tried to evacuate hundreds of thousands of people and suspended COVID-19 vaccinations in one state. Cyclone Tauktae, which had already killed 12 people, was expected to make landfall on Monday […]

Policemen stand next to the bodies buried in shallow graves on the banks of Ganges river in Prayagraj, India, Saturday, 15 May 2021. Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washing up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they were the remains of COVID-19 victims. Photo: Rajesh Kumar Singh / AP Photo

Hundreds of bodies found buried along Indian riverbanks – Scores of dead found floating in Ganges River – “Due to the shortage of wood, the dead are being buried in the water”

By Rajesh Kumar Singh and Biswajeet Banerjee 16 May 2021 PRAYAGRAJ, India (AP) – Police are reaching out to villagers in northern India to investigate the recovery of bodies buried in shallow sand graves or washed up on the Ganges River banks, prompting speculation on social media that they’re the remains of COVID-19 victims. In […]

Cumulative COVID-19 cases by country on 30 January 2020 and 11 March 2020. Graphic: The Independent Panel for Pandemic Preparedness and Response

Covid: Serious failures in WHO and global response, report finds – “It is due to a myriad of failures, gaps, and delays in preparedness and response”

12 May (BBC News) – The Covid-19 pandemic was preventable, an independent review panel has said. The panel, set up by the World Health Organization, said the combined response of the WHO and global governments was a “toxic cocktail”. The WHO should have declared a global emergency earlier than it did, its report said, adding […]

Uyghur men imprisoned at the Lop County #4 Re-Education Camp, Xinjiang, China. They are forced to listen to “de-radicalization” lectures. Photo: Weixin

Forced labor from China’s Uighur Muslims “behind global supply of solar panels”

By Sam Courtney-Guy 15 May 2021 (MetroUK) – A huge chunk of the world’s solar panels production depends on forced labour from China’ Uighur Muslims, according to new research. An investigation by Sheffield Hallam University estimates almost half of global supplies of polysilicon are produced by Uighurs under conditions ‘tantamount to enslavement’ in their home […]

Aerial view of funeral pyres for coronavirus victims at a makeshift cremation ground in New Delhi on 1 May 2021. Video: The Washington Post

India sets pandemic record with more than 400,000 new cases in one day – Covid mortality underreporting widespread – “We believe the true number of deaths is two to five times what is being reported”

By Joanna Slater 1 May 2021 NEW DELHI (The Washington Post) – In sheer numbers, it is the worst surge since the pandemic began — and it is still gathering speed. After a devastating week of soaring infections, India reported more than 400,000 new cases Saturday, a global record. Experts believe that number will climb […]

Covid-19 cases in India during the first and second waves, June-Sep 2020 and Feb-Apr 2021. Data: India Ministry of Health and Welfare. The rise in case numbers has been exponential in the second wave. On 18 June 2020, India recorded 11,000 cases and in the next 60 days, it added 35,000 new cases on average every day. On 10 February 2021, at the start of the second wave, India confirmed 11,000 cases - and in the next 50 days, the daily average was around 22,000 cases. But in the following 10 days, cases rose sharply with the daily average reaching 89,800. Graphic: BBC News

India health system cracks under strain of exponential surge in coronavirus cases – Oxygen supply disruption kills 22 patients – “A tsunami has indeed hit us now”

By Jeffrey Gettleman, Suhasini Raj, and Hari Kumar 21 April 2021 NEW DELHI (The New York Times) – India’s health care system shows signs of buckling under the strain of a second wave of coronavirus infections, as the authorities reported nearly 300,000 new cases on Wednesday and an accident at a Covid-19 hospital killed more […]

COVID-19 daily cases per 100,000 population in India, 4 April 2021. On 3 April 2021, the Indian Ministry of Health and Family Welfare confirmed 93,249 new cases, the highest single-day tally since mid-September 2020. The country’s daily case counts have been rising exponentially since early March 2021. Graphic: 91-DIVOC

India sees “alarming rate of growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths” – 47,913 new cases reported in a single day in Maharashtra, “which is more than double its earlier peak”

By Morgan Winsor 5 April 2021 LONDON (ABC News) – India has seen “an alarming rate of growth of COVID-19 cases and deaths” in recent weeks, the prime minister’s office said Sunday. More than 12.3 million people in India have been diagnosed with COVID-19 so far and at least 165,101 of them have died, making India one […]

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