Indonesia: Tsunami death toll rises to 370 as more bodies found

tsunami off western Indonesia has risen to 370 as more bodies

An official says the death toll from a tsunami off western Indonesia has risen to 370 as more bodies have been found in a search of the remote islands that were hardest-hit. Ferry Faisal, of the West Sumatra provincial disaster management agency, raised the official toll on Thursday to 370 from 311 earlier in the day. He says 338 people are still missing. Rescuers fear the numbers could climb higher, suspecting many of the missing may have been swept away to sea.

 

Mexico car wash shooting leaves 15 dead

President Calderon says the US is fuelling Mexico's violence

Prosecutors in Mexico say gunmen have killed at least 15 people at a car wash in the west of the country. At least two others were injured in the attack early on Wednesday in Tepic, Nayarit state. Local media reported that the victims were mostly young men who lived at a drug rehabilitation centre.  Police say rehab facilities are increasingly being targeted by drug cartels who suspect the clinics of harbouring members from rival gangs. The attack came only days after gunmen shot more than a dozen recovering addicts in Tijuana, in Baja California. And in September, 28 patients were killed in attacks on two rehab clinics in Ciudad Juarez. The victims in that attack were lined up against a wall and murdered in what police said were reprisal killings. 

Five men belonging to the powerful Sinaloa drug cartel have been arrested for the Ciudad Juarez murders. Some 28,000 people have died in drugs-related violence in Mexico since 2006. More than 7,000 people have died in the violence in 2010 - making it the bloodiest year since President Felipe Calderon dispatched some 50,000 troops to take on the drug cartels in 2006. Mr Calderon, who was attending a forum on security as news of the latest massacre broke, called a minute of silence for victims of the bloodshed, the Associated Press reported. The latest violence came shortly after Mr Calderon told the BBC the US should do more to reduce the demand for drugs that is fuelling violence in Mexico. He told the Hardtalk programme that more should also be done to stem the flow of illegal weapons from the US.  President Calderon and other regional leaders have urged Californian voters to reject moves to legalise marijuana in their state. Last week, police in Tijuana destroyed 134 tonnes of cannabis - the largest drugs haul ever seized in the country.

Building collapse kills Afghan wedding guests

building collapsed on guests at a wedding in northern Afghanistan

At least 60 people have been killed after part of a building collapsed on guests at a wedding in northern Afghanistan, officials say. The incident occurred in Jelga, a remote district in the northern province of Baghlan. Officials said most of the dead were women and children who were celebrating separately from the men, according to Afghan tradition. It was not clear if the roof or a floor had given way at the mud brick house. Munshi Abdul Majid, the governor of Baghlan, said the wedding party was being held in a three-storey house and one of the floors had collapsed. "This is such a tragedy at a time when the family was gathering for a happy moment," he told the BBC. Provincial police chief Jawad Bashart said the roof had collapsed on the women and children who were on the top floor of the house. He put the death toll at 65, while the Afghan Red Crescent said about 60 people had died. At least 40 people are reported to be injured. Baghlan health chief Dr Salim Rasouli said getting help to the victims in such a remote area was difficult.

"We don't have any access. The nearest clinic to that area is in the neighbouring district," he said. Baghlan government spokesman Mahmood Haqmal said the weight of so many people and the age of the house could have caused the collapse. "Phones don't work in the area and the flow of information is slow," he added. The country's Western-backed government has been embroiled in conflict against a Taliban-led insurgency since the Islamist group was ousted from power by a US-led invasion in 2001. More than 150,000 foreign troops remain in the country, although the conflict is focused in the south and east.

At least 112 dead, more than 500 missing after Indonesia quake

7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra

Relief organizations struggled to reach those in need Tuesday, one day after a 7.7-magnitude earthquake struck off Sumatra, Indonesia, triggering a tsunami and killing at least 112 people, officials said. Another 502 were reported missing. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Center said the quake generated a "significant" tsunami. Some of the missing may include people who are unaccounted for after fleeing to higher ground, said Henri Dori Satoko, head of the Mentawai Islands parliament. Although communication with remote areas was difficult, some witnesses in West Sumatra reported seeing a wave 6 meters (nearly 20 feet) high. Other reports described the tsunami as being about 3 meters (almost 10 feet) high. Satoko said at least one village with a population of about 200 people was swept away, with only 40 people recovered. Nine Australians on board a tourist vessel that had been feared missing were confirmed to be safe, the Australian Department of Foreign Affairs and Trade said. Those aboard the ship, the MV Southern Cross, were not aware that an earthquake and tsunami had taken place, it added.

The numbers of dead and injured were in flux because information was trickling in from remote parts of Indonesia, a country made up of myriad islands. The area believed hardest-hit was the Mentawai Islands, a popular surfing destination. In particular, Pagai Island was thought to have been affected, said Ita Balanda, a program manager for World Vision in Padang. "There is no access for now," she said about the Mentawai Islands. "We want to get help to these children and their families as quickly as possible, but it's still too dangerous to reach the island by boat." Large waves were keeping rescue crews and aid workers from reaching the area. An Indonesian Red Cross assessment team had set out for the island but was forced to turn back because of high seas and debris in the water, said Gayat, spokeswoman for the agency, who like many Indonesians only uses one name. She said the team will try again Wednesday morning. The trip takes 10 hours, even under good conditions, Balanda said. U.S. President Barack Obama said Tuesday he and and first lady Michelle Obama were saddened by the loss of life, and he offered support to the hard-hit region.

"As a friend of Indonesia, the United States stands ready to help in any way. Meanwhile, our thoughts and prayers are with the Indonesian people and all those affected by this tragedy," Obama said in a statement. The quake struck at 9:42 p.m. Monday, triggering a tsunami warning that was later lifted when sea level readings indicated the threat had diminished or was over for most areas. Its epicenter was 240 kilometers (150 miles) south of Padang, at a depth of 20.6 kilometers (12.8 miles), according to the U.S. Geological Survey. The magnitude was revised upward from a preliminary magnitude of 7.5. "Big, slow, long earthquake last night, and a couple tremblers afterward," WavePark Mentawai Surfing Resort said on its website. "Turns out it was a 7.5 about 70 [kilometers] south of us." The resort said it saw "about six waves on the beach after about 20 minutes" but none was higher than usually seen during high tide. "No damage here, but reports of damage to other resorts and charter boats further south," the posting said. "The local residents in the Mentawai Islands reported seeing a tsunami as high as 3 meters [that] reached as far as 600 meters inland," said Mujiharto of the Indonesian Health Ministry. The Perfect Wave, a surf travel company that said it had 32 clients in the area, also described the wave in a statement as about 3 meters (10 feet) high, and said it washed through a bay where two boats with clients on board were docked. One boat hit the other, which caught on fire, and all the guests jumped overboard. Nine guests and five crew members were washed into the jungle and took more than an hour to make their way to safety, the company said. 

All those aboard were picked up by a third boat and were safe "apart from suffering some smoke inhalation and minor scratches," the statement said. A surf guide aboard the third boat reported "there was a lot of debris floating in the water including bar stools and other pieces of furniture from Macaronis Resort," the company said. "No news on the state of the village at Silabu." The resort, where six clients were staying, is "all but gone," the statement said. "It's very difficult to access the coast right now because the sea is quite bad," said Gilles Bordessoule, owner of the Siloinak Surf Resort. He said his property was unaffected, but his staff was attempting to help the Macaronis Resort, which was "completely destroyed" along with two others. Two of the Macaronis guests are missing, he said. He said the only means of communication with the affected area is by satellite phone, which is how he found out about the resort and received some other information. The fate of the other 130 kilometers (80 miles) of coastline is unknown, he said. 

Bordessoule said he had been in contact with authorities and residents of the area and was told between 150 and 180 people are dead and body bags are needed. World Vision's Balanda said her organization is working with the Indonesian government and the United Nations to figure out how to get to the hardest-hit area. Indonesian government resources have been sent to central Java, where Mount Merapi was erupting, she said, but said her group hopes one or two helicopters will be freed up to help with the quake and tsunami response. She said she is receiving information from a local nongovernmental organization as well as others in the region. The city of Padang and the Mentawai Islands are at the meeting place of two tectonic plates, making them vulnerable to earthquakes and tsunamis. n December 26, 2004, a 9.1-magnitude earthquake struck off northern Sumatra. A tsunami generated by that earthquake killed more than 225,000 people in 14 countries -- mainly India, Indonesia, Maldives, Sri Lanka and Thailand. The Indonesian region of Banda Aceh was hard-hit: About 150,000 died there.

triggering a tsunami and killing at least 112 people

Indonesia hit by deadly tsunami, volcanic eruption

tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia

A volcanic eruption and a tsunami killed scores of people hundreds of miles apart in Indonesia - spasms from the Pacific "Ring of Fire," which spawns disasters from deep within the Earth. Tuesday's eruption of Mount Merapi killed at least 18 people, forced thousands to flee down its slopes and spewed burning ash and smoke high into the air on the island of Java. Meanwhile, off the coast of Sumatra, about 800 miles (1,300 kilometers) west of the volcano, rescuers battled rough seas to reach Indonesia's Mentawai islands, where a 10-foot tsunami triggered by an earthquake Monday night swept away hundreds of homes, killing at least 113 villagers, said Mujiharto of the Health Ministry's crisis center. Up to 500 others are missing.The twin disasters happened hours apart in one of the most seismically active regions on the planet. Scientists have warned that pressure building beneath Merapi's lava dome could trigger its most powerful explosion in years.

But Gede Swantika, a government volcanologist, expressed hope the 9,737-foot (2,968-meter) mountain, which sent rocks and debris cascading down its southern slope, could be releasing steam slowly. "It's too early to know for sure," he said, adding that a big blast could still be coming. "But if it continues like this for a while, we are looking at a slow, long eruption." A 2006 eruption at Merapi killed two people, one in 1994 killed 60 people, and a 1930 blast killed 1,300. After refusing to budge from the volcano's fertile slopes, saying they wanted to tend to their crops and protect their homes, villagers started streaming by the thousands into makeshift emergency shelters late Tuesday. Many carried sleeping mats, bags of clothes and food as they settled in. Officials said earlier that by closely monitoring the volcano 310 miles (500 kilometres) southeast of the capital of Jakarta, they thought they could avoid casualties. But the death toll rose quickly. Police and volunteers were shown on Metro TV pulling at least 14 ash-covered bodies and carrying them to waiting vehicles. Among the dead was a two-month-old baby, said Mareta, a hospital worker who goes by only one name. The infant's tiny body was draped in a sheet as his mother cried.

Three people at Panti Nugroho hospital died of burns after being hit by a searing cloud of ash, said Agustinus Parjo, a spokesman. Even as they contended with the volcano - one of 129 to watch in the world's largest archipelago - officials were trying to assess the impact of Monday night's 7.7-magnitude earthquake off Sumatra that triggered the killer tsunami. The quake, just 13 miles (20 kilometers) beneath the ocean floor, was followed by at least 14 aftershocks, the largest measuring 6.2, according to the US Geological Survey. The fault also caused the 2004 quake and monster Indian Ocean tsunami that killed 230,000 people in a dozen countries. After Monday's quake and tsunami, many panicked residents fled to high ground and were too afraid to return home.

That could account in part for the more than 500 people still missing, said Hendri Dori, a local lawmaker, adding: "We're trying to stay hopeful." Hundreds of wooden and bamboo homes were washed away on the island of Pagai, with water flooding crops and roads up to 600 yards (meters) inland. In Muntei Baru, a village on Silabu island, 80 percent of the houses were badly damaged. With few relief workers able to get to the hardest-hit islands - reachable only by a 12-hour boat ride - fishermen searched for the living and dead. Corpses lay unburied because there was not enough outside help to dig graves, according to the Mentawai district chief, Edison Salelo Baja. The island chain, 175 miles (280 kilometers) from Sumatra, has long been popular with surfers. A group of Australians said they were on the back deck of their chartered boat, anchored in a bay, when the quake hit just before 10 pm Monday. It generated a wave that pushed their boat into a neighboring vessel. A fire soon ripped through their cabin.

"We threw whatever we could that floated - surfboards, fenders - then we jumped into the water," Rick Hallet told Australia's Nine Network. "Fortunately, most of us had something to hold on to ... and we just washed in the wetlands, and scrambled up the highest trees that we could possibly find and sat up there for an hour and a half." Ade Edward, a disaster management agency official, said crews from several ships were still unaccounted for in the Indian Ocean. The quake also jolted towns along Sumatra's western coast - including Padang, which last year was hit by a deadly 7.6-magnitude quake that killed more than 700. Mosques blared tsunami warnings over their loudspeakers. "Everyone was running out of their houses," said Sofyan Alawi, adding that the roads leading to surrounding hills were quickly jammed with thousands of cars and motorcycles.

Mexican officials ID 13 people killed in Tijuana drug rehab center

Mexican federal police investigate the shootings at a Tijuana rehab facility on Sunday

Mexican officials have identified 13 people killed Sunday night in a Tijuana drug rehabilitation center, the state-run news agency said Monday. Four heavily armed men stormed into the Centro de Rehabilitacion El Camino and opened fire, the Notimex news agency said. The reported ages of those killed ranged from 19 to 56 years old. The assailants escaped in a vehicle, the news agency said. The dead were identified as: Irineo Godinez Garcia, 47; Antonio Mesa Contreras, 56; Bernabe Alvarez Piceno, 35; Jose Lopez Sauceda, 28; Fabian Gonzalez Zea, 19; Juan Daniel Casi Esquer, 32; Wilson Ramírez Pena, 42; Joaquin García Hernandez, 39; Jorge Palacio Goya, 37; Pedro Villegas, 30; Juan Roberto Sanchez Ortega, 30; Edwin Vargas Avila, 33; and Salvador Bustos, 30. The slayings occurred one day after armed men burst into a house party in Ciudad Juarez and opened fire, killing 14 people and wounding 14, Notimex said. The ages of those killed in Juarez ranged from 14 to 30, Notimex said. Children as young as 7 and 11 were among the injured, the agency reported.

The attack in Juarez was reminiscent of an incident in January, when drug cartel gunmen stormed a house party and killed 15 people. Most of the victims were youths who had no ties to organized crime. Investigators said the January shooting was a case of mistaken identity caused by bad intelligence. It sparked widespread outrage in the violent border city, including calls for Mexican President Felipe Calderon to resign. The Tijuana slayings also were similar to previous attacks carried out at drug rehab centers. A massacre at a Juarez rehab facility in early June left 19 dead. Twenty-seven people were killed in September 2009 in two attacks at separate drug facilities in Ciudad Juarez, the bloodiest city in the nation. Officials said the previous attacks were done by drug gangs killing members of other gangs. At least 2,500 people have been reported killed in drug violence this year in Ciudad Juarez. Nationwide, more than 28,000 people have died in drug-related violence since December 2006, when Calderon took office and stepped up efforts to fight organized crime and narcotrafficking cartels.

Nine people stabbed at Philippines school, three dead

An ex-convict stabbed nine people at a Philippines elementary school

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An ex-convict stabbed nine people at a Philippines elementary school on Friday in the south of the country, killing three, before parents wrestled away his knife and stabbed him to death with it, police said. The man killed a teacher, a fifth-grader and an elderly man who was among those who tried to grab the attacker's knife, police Superintendent Hado Edding said. The man first barged into a room at the Talisayan Elementary School in Zamboanga City and fatally stabbed the teacher, the police official added. He then went to another room, forced fifth grade students into a restroom and stabbed them one by one until the adults were able to stop him. Four students and two teachers were being treated at Zamboanga's Brent Hospital, including an 11-year-old girl and one teacher in a serious condition, according to a doctor at the hospital

Police said the attacker was Fely Mateo, who had served a prison sentence for murder. Medical officials could be seen placing Mateo's dead body onto a stretcher. Police described Mateo as mentally disturbed but it wasn't clear what prompted the attack. One of the students, who was forced into the restroom, said Mateo threatened to kill everyone inside the school if police did not let him go. "There was a man who went on top of the restroom he kicked the ex-convict out of the room so we were able to escape, a lot of people attacked the offender that is why we were able to survive," said Liza, a student at the elementary school.

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/nine-people-stabbed-at-philippines-school-three-dead-61698?cp

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Typhoon Megi triggers deadly Taiwan landslides

Multiple landslides hit a coastal highway in Taiwan, stranding cars and buses

A tourist bus was feared buried and three people were killed in multiple landslides as Typhoon Megi brought torrential rain to Taiwan. A torrent of mud struck a Buddhist temple in Suao, killing three people and leaving six more missing. Teams are also searching for a Chinese tourist bus feared buried when landslides struck a coastal highway, causing it to partially collapse. The landslides stranded 400 drivers; half have now been taken to safety. Typhoon Megi caused havoc in the Philippines, killing at least 26 people and causing extensive damage to houses in some regions. 

The storm is now heading for south China's Fujian province, where flights have been cancelled, fishing vessels recalled to port and more than 100,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas. In Taiwan, Megi brought 45 inches (114 cm) of rain to Ilan county in the northeast over a 48-hour period. In Suao city, rescue teams dug through mud at the White Cloud Buddhist temple in search of six people believed to be trapped. A search was also under way for a bus carrying 19 Chinese tourists. It was known to have been travelling along a highway in Ilan that was hit by multiple landslides, causing a 500m section to collapse. Air force helicopters were searching for the bus, while other teams were helping to evacuate drivers and passengers in other vehicles stranded on the highway by the rockfalls. 

Officials: Toll in Haiti's cholera outbreak now above 150

Deadly cholera outbreak in Haiti

The death toll from a cholera outbreak in Haiti has risen to more than 150 confirmed deaths, according to health officials with the U.S. Centers for Disease Control and the U.S. Agency for International Development. At a joint news conference held Friday, Dr. Rob Quick and Dr. Carleene Dei discussed the outbreak and efforts to work out a containment strategy. The CDC will send an 11-member team to Haiti over the next few days to find out which antibiotics will be most effective in treating the cholera outbreak. US AID will provide supplies needed to set up treatment centers. The group has already prepositioned 300,000 oral re-hydration kits and are distributing water purification kits in affected areas. Officials also confirmed that all the reported cases are in the Artibonite and Central Plateau regions, north of Port-au-Prince. They said they're working to contain the outbreak there and prevent its spread to the densely populated capital.

Chaos reigned acrooss the Artibonite and Central Plateau regions Friday, as hospitals overflowed with people rushing to get help from the fast-moving cholera outbreak. Eric Lotz, Haiti's national director for the nonprofit Operation Blessing, described a "horrific" scene outside St. Nicolas hospital, the main medical facility in the city of St. Marc, as patients and their family members fought to get care. "There was bedlam outside the gate," said Lotz. "Inside (the hospital), every square inch is covered with people." Some people waited 24 hours or more to get help outside the hospital, many of them on stretchers, said Terry Snow, Haiti director for the nonprofit Youth With a Mission. Snow said he tried to take one man with cholera to various clinics, only to end up at St. Nicolas hospital and be told that it was full. The man died soon thereafter in the back of his truck, he said. "It's very chaotic," Snow said of the scene in St. Marc and more rural agricultural areas nearby. "People are trying to figure out what to do. People are lost." Sandrellie Seraphin, who works for Partners in Health and the Clinton Foundation, visited the hospital Wednesday. "It's terrible," she told CNN by phone, describing the crowds of people trying to get help. "There's a great fear among the people" about the disease.

1,526 people have been sickened in the outbreak, said Imogen Wall, the U.N. humanitarian spokeswoman in Haiti. This comes after recent heavy rains caused the banks of the Artibonite River to overflow and flood the area. Dammed in 1956 to create Lac de Peligre, the Artibonite River is Haiti's dominant drainage system, according to the U.S. Library of Congress. Snow said that "constant miscommunication and confusion" have hindered aid efforts, though he expressed hope things may improve Friday as more help comes in. On Friday, Haitian Prime Minister Jean-Max Bellerive called the cholera outbreak "unprecedented" and said authorities were working with the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention to understand what happened. "We have to determine ... where (the cholera) came from," he said. Cholera is caused by a bacterial infection of the intestine and, in severe cases, is characterized by diarrhea, vomiting and leg cramps, according to the U.S.-based Centers for Disease Control and Prevention. In such cases, rapid loss of body fluids can lead to dehydration and shock. "Without treatment, death can occur within hours," the agency says.

A person can get cholera by drinking water or eating food contaminated with the bacteria. During epidemics, the source of the contamination is often the feces of an infected person, and infections can spread rapidly in areas where there is poor sewage treatment and a lack of clean drinking water, according to the CDC. "If the environmental conditions are not right, anybody who ingests that food or water can get ill," said Dr. William Schaffner, a professor of preventive medicine at Vanderbilt University in Nashville, Tennessee. "This is the disease that can cause more severe dehydration than any other." All the reported cases in the Lower Artibonite involve severe diarrhea and vomiting, Wall said. Ian Rawson, director of Hopital Albert Schweitzer Haiti near Verrettes, said patients began showing cholera-like symptoms Saturday. The pace picked up significantly Tuesday and beyond, though he said the situation was under control Friday at his 80-bed facility about 16 miles east of Saint Marc. "So far, we've been able to manage it," Rawson said, noting that new patients were now coming in via pick-up trucks about every 10 minutes. Temperatures in the mid-90s exacerbated the dual concerns about dehydration and people contracting cholera by drinking tainted water. People lined roadsides in and around villages with buckets, according to Lotz, hoping that passerby might have clean water.

He said that his organization on Thursday helped install one water filtration unit, capable of providing 10,000 gallons of clean drinking water, and planned to install another two Friday. But some parts of the impoverished nation remained out of reach, he said. One village had been totally cut off by floodwater. Operation Blessing was among many nonprofit organizations, nations and international bodies in the region offering help. In a State Department briefing Friday, spokesman P.J. Crowley said members of several U.S. agencies were "on the ground" to facilitate and provide clean water and ensure sound sanitization. U.N. staff, too, have sent tents and rehydration supplies to the region, Wall said. Haiti is still trying to bounce back from a catastrophic 7.0-magnitude earthquake on January 12 that destroyed much of the capital city. The U.N. mission in Haiti credited access to clean water and free medical facilities for preventing feared outbreaks of cholera and tuberculosis. But Snow said he has noticed a rise in new illnesses -- from skin infections to flu-like viruses -- in the region since tens of thousands of people moved to the area after the earthquake and the opening of a new canal off the Artibonite River. Whatever the cause, Lotz said the scene this week at hospitals in and around St. Marc eerily resembled what happened in Port-au-Prince after the colossal quake. "It's the same scene, without the wounds, just the same numbers of people inundating the hospital," said Lotz, who was in the Haitian capital last January.

Dozens dead in Haiti from suspected cholera outbreak

Hundreds of people received treatment in the car park of a hospital in Saint-Marc

A suspected outbreak of cholera has killed at least 135 people in central Haiti, officials have said. The director-general of the health department, Dr Gabriel Thimote, said he was awaiting laboratory test results to confirm cholera was the cause. The victims suffered diarrhoea, acute fever and vomiting. More than 1,500 people were infected, officials said. The outbreak is centred in the Artibonite and Central Plateau regions, north of the capital Port-au-Prince. Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by a bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food. The source of contamination is usually the faeces of infected people. It causes diarrhoea and vomiting leading to severe dehydration, and can kill quickly if left untreated. It is easily treated though rehydration and antibiotics, however.Dr Thimote told the Reuters news agency that of the 15 specimens so far tested, 13 led him to believe there was a cholera outbreak.

Health Minister Alex Larsen also said he believed it was cholera. Dr Thimote said the worst-affected areas were Douin, Marchand Dessalines and areas around Saint-Marc, about 100km (60 miles) north of Port-au-Prince. Local hospitals were "overwhelmed", and a number of people were being evacuated to clinics in other areas, he added. At one point on Thursday, hundreds of people lay in the car park of St Nicholas hospital in Saint-Marc, with intravenous drips in their arms to treat dehydration, until it began to rain and they were rushed inside. Some patients said they drank water from a public canal, while others said they bought purified water. "I ran to the bathroom four times last night vomiting," 70-year-old Belismene Jean Baptiste told the Associated Press.

The Pan American Health Organization (Paho) had sent two teams to the south of Artibonite, near Saint-Marc, a doctor with Paho told the BBC. Pending the final test results, officials from Paho and the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) attributed the deaths to "acute diarrhoea". They said they were concerned by the severity of the outbreak and the high number of reported deaths. "Nothing can be verified at the moment. We have no numbers, no epidemiological data," said Dr Michel Thieren of Paho. The symptoms could be associated with a number of diseases, he added. The victims range in age, but the young and the elderly appear to be the most affected. There were fears of a cholera outbreak in the aftermath of January's devastating earthquake, which killed some 250,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. Many people are still living in makeshift camps with unsanitary conditions and little access to clean drinking water, but there were no outbreaks, according to the World Health Organization (WHO). The Artibonite department was not badly damaged in the earthquake but thousands of people who lost their homes have moved into camps or are living with relatives there. "We have been afraid of this since the earthquake," said Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor, which was preparing to airlift donations of antibiotics, oral dehydration salts and other supplies.

Three California hikers found, but two more missing

3 hikers rescued on Mount Whitney; 2 others missing

Three experienced hikers were rescued from California's Mount Whitney, but a father and son in a separate group are missing, the National Park Service said.  Battling heavy snow, rescue personnel and a California National Guard helicopter reached the three men around noon (3 p.m. ET) Thursday. The men were part of a group of 10 hikers who set out on their journey up the mountain on Monday. About 45 people looked for the three hikers -- Phillip Michael Abraham, 34; Dale Clymens, 45, and Stevan James Filips, 45 -- the National Park Service said in a statement. All three were able to walk and move during a general health assessment. Two other hikers on a 36-mile cross-country loop were supposed to return Tuesday. They are Sinh Baghsohi, 27, and his father, whose first name is unknown, park officials said. Both men are originally from Iran, but their current residences are not known. The younger Baghsohi is 6 feet, 5 inches tall and weighs about 287 pounds. His father is 6 feet tall and weighs 180 pounds.

They had hiked in with a friend, who became ill and hiked out, the park service said. Dave Paladino, an Omaha, Nebraska, resident and leader of the larger group, said extreme weather dumped up to three feet of snow and drastically lowered visibility in Sequoia and Kings Canyon national parks. The group of 10 hikers shared a love of climbing, outdoor activities and adventure, Paladino said. They set out on their hike shortly after 4 a.m. Monday in several sub-groups, including one led by Paladino and another including all three missing hikers. "Every single one had been training for this event for years," said Paladino. The snow began for Paladino's group when they reached 10,000 feet up what he called the "10-mile hill," and picked up significantly as they went up another 2,000 feet. His group reached the summit around 3:30 p.m. Monday, staying briefly at a shelter there before going back down the mountain. The climb back down was much more difficult than expected, according to Paladino, due to the heavy snow. "It was by far the hardest thing we've ever done," said Paladino, who said he has climbed Mount Rainier in Washington state, among other peaks.

At one point, his group met and talked briefly with the climbers who later went missing. Abraham later sent several texts, the last of which was between 4 a.m. and 6 a.m. Tuesday in which they said they couldn't find the trail because of the snow and were heading to the summit shelter. The three climbers did not have snow shoes, said Paladino. However, they likely had enough food and water to last several days, he said. Temperatures near the mountain's peak were in the 20s, Paladino added, not low enough to make frostbite a major concern. A rescue operation involving two hikers was begun and aborted Wednesday because of the snow. On Thursday morning, "bigger and more experienced teams" were brought in, said Paladino. "We wanted to do this," said Paladino. "These guys were doing what they loved, and we'll continue to do what we love."

Thailand hit by worst flood in decades

Thailand  have left 17 people dead over the past two weeks

Devastating floods spreading from northeastern Thailand  have left 17 people dead over the past two weeks as heavy rainfall has put entire villages underwater, destroyed crops and disrupted transportation and commerce. Thailand's relatively well organized government services appeared to have been caught by surprise and in some areas overwhelmed, with some survivors stranded for days without government aid. Officials describe the flooding, which follows deadly inundations in Vietnam and other nearby countries, as the worst in half a century. Damage is estimated at more than $650 million. Twenty-eight of the country's 77 provinces have been affected, including provinces just north of the capital, Bangkok. With the surge of water moving toward the mouth of the country's largest river system, the government has warned residents in some parts of the capital to prepare for flooding in the coming days.

Ten of 33 major reservoirs in Thailand are over capacity and are being forced to dump water downstream, according to the government's Department of Disaster Prevention and Mitigation. Water is rushing through one crucial barrier about 110 miles north of Bangkok, the Pasak Jolasit dam here in Lopburi Province, at more than two times the normal flow for October. Engineers said that despite many pleas from cities and towns downstream to hold back the water, they instead opened the gates wider when the dam's reservoir reached 122 percent of its planned capacity. "If we get any more water than this, we might have problems with the stability of the dam," Sornmith Singkanong, the head of water management, said from the dam's control room. The water level was the highest recorded in the 11 years since the dam was completed.

Mr. Sornmith said that the water levels in the reservoir appeared to have peaked -- the rainy season typically tapers off this month -- but that a surge could reach Bangkok within two days. Kallaya Witsahamunee, 59, a primary school teacher stranded on the second floor of her house in Lopburi Province, said that the floodwater arrived suddenly this week. "It's about neck-deep," Ms. Kallaya said by telephone. She said Thursday that no officials or aid organizations had reached her village since the flooding began and that neighbors were delivering food by boat. Ms. Kallaya said that she did not remember any flooding in at least 15 years in her area. "I guess that's why people got complacent," she said.

 

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/thailand-hit-by-worst-flood-in-decades-61485?cp

Read more at: http://www.ndtv.com/article/world/thailand-hit-by-worst-flood-in-decades-61485?cp

Ukraine: 43 killed in bus, train collision

The crowded passenger bus collided with a train in eastern Ukraine Tuesday, killing 40 people and leaving 11 in critical condition

A train locomotive rammed through a stalled passenger bus on a railroad crossing in eastern Ukraine on Tuesday, killing 43 people and injuring eight others as the bus was pushed 300 meters (yards) down the tracks. Investigators said the bus driver ignored the siren of the oncoming train, and the bus stalled on the tracks as the driver tried to shift gears. Witnesses said the driver also ignored a red light. The yellow bus was smashed into a pile of metal by the blue locomotive, which was not pulling any cars. Television footage showed emergency workers piling bodies alongside the tracks outside the town of Marhanets in the Dnipropetrovsk region. "The driver violated traffic rules," said Lyudmila Bolshakova, spokeswoman for local police. Ukraine's Railways said the train driver saw the bus heading toward the tracks from 500 meters (yards) away and sounded the distress siren, which the driver ignored. The train driver applied the emergency brake system, but the locomotive was traveling at a speed of 75 kilometers (47 miles) per hour and was unable to stop in time. Ukraine's ombudsman Nina Karpachova cited crash survivor Dmytro Olyinik, 30, who was headed to work in a nearby mine, as saying that the passengers tried to stop the driver from crossing the tracks when they saw the red light and heard the siren. They started screaming "Where are you going?" Olyinik was reported as saying.

Local railway officials said the bus was packed with commuters traveling from Marhanets to the nearby city of Nikopol, most of them heading for work. Relatives of those killed raced to the accident site and embraced one another as they wept with grief. Road and railway accidents are common in Ukraine, where the roads are in poor condition, vehicles are poorly maintained and drivers and passengers routinely disregard safety and traffic rules. But officials said this was the deadliest auto accident in the country's history. The Dnipropetrovsk branch of the Emergency Situations Ministry said 38 people died on the spot and five more in the hospital. The victims included a child and two teenagers. President Viktor Yanukovych declared a national day of mourning Wednesday. Prime Minister Mykola Azarov ordered his government to pay the family of each of the dead passengers 100,000 hryvna ($12,600). He also instructed transport officials to install automated crossing gates at all railway crossings to prevent cars, buses and trucks from ignoring signals.