Miscellaneous

Citation

(1999), "Miscellaneous", Disaster Prevention and Management, Vol. 8 No. 1. https://doi.org/10.1108/dpm.1999.07308aac.006

Miscellaneous

Miscellaneous

6 February 1998 ­ Maputo, Mozambique

A cholera epidemic that has hit parts of Mozambique since mid-August has killed more than 400 people and is continuing its rampage, Deputy Health Minister Abdul Razak Noormahomed said today. In the previous 48 hours alone, 73 cholera victims died and 605 new cases were diagnosed, Noormahomed told a media briefing. He said the city of Beira was the worst-affected, describing it as "dramatic and worrying" because of the poor sanitation conditions in the city. The outbreak in Beira began two weeks ago, but has already claimed 109 lives with nearly 2,000 more infected. In the capital Maputo, where the epidemic began in August, the total number of cases reported was over 9,000, of whom 234 had died. Nearly 300 new cases have been reported over the past two days. Although the number of deaths in Maputo has fallen to a trickle, health authorities are urging residents to maintain their vigilance.

16 March 1998 ­ Lima, Peru

Nine people were reported drowned and more than 20 others were feared dead after two minibuses and other vehicles plunged into a fast-flowing river today when a road bridge collapsed in Peru. Of some 40 people who fell into the river, 16 people saved themselves by grabbing onto branches overhanging the river as the fast-flowing current, swollen by El Nino-driven rains, swept them away. The river carried five of the survivors about 6 miles downstream from the accident before they could cling onto another bridge on the out-skirts of the city of Piura 660 miles north of Lima. Two minibuses, a truck, a car and a three-wheel motor-cycle taxi skidded into the river as the central 60-yard stretch of the two-way bridge collapsed, authorities said. Rescuers fished nine bodies from the swollen river and said they believe most passengers died trapped underwater inside the vehicles. If the estimated death-toll of about 30 people is confirmed, it will be one of the worst single incidents since violent El Nino rains began wreaking havoc throughout Peru late last year. Rescue teams searched the river's banks by helicopter for more survivors. Scuba-divers, who tried to swim to the vehicles half-buried three yards below the surface on the sandy riverbed, could not reach the trapped bodies because of the fast current. Hundreds of relatives, onlookers and firefighters lined the banks peering into the turbulent, dirty brown water. After the swollen river battered the central pillars of the bridge for weeks, local transport officials closed the road to vehicular traffic at the weekend. But they reopened it today believing the threat of collapse had eased.

17 March 1998 ­ Mumbai, India

Several people were feared trapped when a six-storey building collapsed in the north-western suburb of Malad in Mumbai, India's financial capital, today, fire brigade officials said. "We do not have any immediate estimate of the casualties", a fire brigade spokesman said. "It is a residential building". "It came down like a pack of cards", a resident of a neighbouring building said.

17 March 1998 ­ Rescue workers in Mumbai used bright lights and bulldozers today to sift rubble for 25 people thought trapped by a building collapse that killed one person, officials said. "We are searching for at least 25 people feared trapped", a top police official said. Civic officials said the six-storey residential building, home to 18 families in the suburb of Malad, 40 km north-west of the main business district, collapsed late this afternoon. The officials said the building had been recently evacuated after residents were warned that it was in dangerous condition. But some families stayed on. Authorities cordoned off the rescue site. The narrow lane on which the building stands, connecting a railway-station to a nearby highway, was choked with traffic. Although the building itself was nearly empty at the time of the collapse, the rubble fell on an adjoining two-storey structure, trapping at least 25 residents, officials said.

14 March 1998 ­ Leepa Valley, Pakistan

At least 13 people are dead and many others injured as a result of a landslide at Reshian, in Leepa Valley, yesterday. Reports said torrent mud and rocks triggered by a landslide caused 30 houses to cave in, leaving at least 13 dead. Some bodies have been recovered, while efforts are under way to search for the others by civil administration, in collaboration with army personnel.