Tag: across

Monsoon toll rises across South Asia

Source: gulfnews.com

New Delhi: More than eight people were killed when a house collapsed in northern India following heavy monsoon rain which has left more than 85 dead across South Asia, officials said Monday.

Floods and landslides caused by torrential downpours have killed at least 67 people across Nepal while 30 more are missing, police said.

In overcrowded Rohingya refugee camps in southeast Bangladesh, 10 people have died and thousands of shanty homes have been destroyed since April.

In the latest monsoon-related tragedy, a four-storey building on a hillside in the northern Indian state of Himachal Pradesh collapsed, killing 13 people.

The structure – located near popular tourist destination Shimla – came down on Sunday following days of heavy downpours.

Rescue workers searched the rubble for survivors, while heavy machinery removed heaps of mangled steel and wires from the muddied debris.

Earlier, local official K.C. Chaman said eight people had died in the collapse, adding that rescuers were looking “for at least seven other people” trapped in the debris.

One soldier – who was pulled out alive from the rubble – said they had gathered for a party in the building’s restaurant, “but suddenly the building shook and collapsed”.

Such incidents are common across the region during the monsoon because of dilapidated structures that buckle under the weight of continuous rain.

The June to September monsoon causes widespread death and destruction across South Asia each year.

Floods have devastated much of the northeastern Indian state of Assam where four people died on Sunday after being swept away by sudden torrents.

The state’s Kaziranga National Park, a UNESCO-recognised reserve and home to two-thirds of the world’s one-horned rhinos, has also been seriously affected by the weather.

In the eastern state of Bihar, five rivers were flowing over the danger levels with more rain forecast over the next few days.

The downpours have eased in Nepal but authorities still fear the death toll could rise, said police spokesman Bishwaraj Pokharel, who gave the latest number of dead and missing from floods and landslides.

“There are the challenges of resettlement of the displaced as many houses.. have been swept away. We are also cautious about the risk of epidemics due to polluted water,” Pokharel told AFP.

Weather across India: Bihar heatwave claims 61 lives, rain brings respite for Northern states | 12 points

Source: indiatoday.in

The weather in India has been difficult for the population of the country with the heatwaves dominating the weather for the past few weeks. According to reports, there have been 32 heatwaves this year in India, the second-longest spell of high temperatures in the country’s recorded history. The heatwave conditions prevailing in most parts of the country has claimed at least 44 lives in Bihar in a day, even as rain brought down the mercury in some western and northern states on Sunday.

Here are the weather conditions in various states

1. Rain and thunderstorm has been predicted on Monday in Uttar Pradesh, where sweltering heat continued unabated with Allahabad in the eastern part being the hottest at 45.3 degree Celsius, six notches above the normal. Sultanpur, Varanasi and Basti in the state recorded 45 degrees Celsius, 44.2 degrees Celsius and 44 degrees Celsius respectively.

2. Blistering heatwave condition continued unabated in Bihar, where at least 61 people died on Saturday. The state government has ordered closure of schools till June 19. According to officials, 22 people died in Aurangabad, 20 in Gaya and two in Nawada districts due to the heatwave. Chief Minister Nitish Kumar has expressed grief over the deaths and announced an ex gratia of Rs four lakh for the next of kin of the victims.

3. In Delhi, traces of rain and strong wind reduced the daytime temperature which settled at 36.3 degrees Celsius, three notches below the normal. The weatherman has predicted overcast conditions and thunderstorm accompanied with light rains on Monday.

4. Parts of Rajasthan witnessed rain since Saturday, bringing respite from the sweltering conditions. The state capital recorded 9.2 mm of rains on Sunday, the meteorological department said. Bhim in Rajsamand gauged 7 cm of rains followed by 4 cm in Tibi of Hanumangarh and 3 cm each in Chirawa, Sri Ganganagar, Hanumangarh and Sangaria since Saturday.

5. Similarly, rainfall in Ahmedabad and rest of Gujarat brought respite from the scorching heat. The maximum temperature in Ahmedabad hovered around 37 degree Celsius, the IMD said. North Gujarat and Saurashtra-Kutch regions are likely to receive heavy rain on Monday under the influence of Cyclone Vayu, the MeT department said. On Sunday morning, the cyclone remained centred about 470 km west-southwest of Porbandar, 440 km southwest of Dwarka and 545 km southwest of Bhuj, the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said in a bulletin.

Monsoon is expected to advance further up north as Cyclone Vayu loses intensity paving the way for the wind system to move towards the Arabian Sea, the weatherman said Sunday.

6. By now, monsoon should have reached the central India, including parts of Madhya Pradesh, Rajasthan, eastern Uttar Pradesh and Gujarat, but it is yet to reach Maharashtra. It still remains over Mangalore, Mysore, Cuddalore over the southern peninsula and Passighat, Agartala in the northeast, according to the India Meteorological Department.

7. The western coast – from Maharashtra to Gujarat – has been receiving rainfall due to the cyclone. Only coastal Karnataka and Kerala have received rains due to monsoon.

8. Monsoon is likely to set in in Telangana around June 20 and in Andhra Pradesh by June 18, according to the India Meteorological Department (IMD).

9. The public in Tamil Nadu has been advised not to expose themselves to direct sunlight between 11.00 am and 4.00 pm to avoid sunstroke, a Regional Meteorological Centre has said. Chennai and its neighbouring areas and several other northern districts in Tamil Nadu have been reeling under heatwave-like conditions for the past several days with the mercury hovering over 41 degree Celsius.

10. This year’s heatwave has not even spared the Himalayan state of Jammu and Kashmir. Jammu recorded a maximum temperature of 39.6 degrees Celsius on Sunday, the weatherman said.

11. The weather remained mainly dry in Himachal Pradesh on Sunday even as the maximum temperature fell by 3 to 4 degrees from normal, Shimla MeT Centre director Manmohan Singh said.

12. Some states experienced pleasant conditions with little to moderate rain. Sirsa, Fatehabad, Mahendergarh in Haryana and Amritsar, Gurdaspur and a few other areas in Punjab received welcome showers.

According to meteorological department forecast, light to moderate rain is likely at a few places on June 16, 17 and 18 in Haryana, Punjab and Chandigarh. Meanwhile, four people, including two brothers, were killed in separate incidents of lightning strike during rain and thunderstorm in northern part of Chhattisgarh on Saturday, police said.

Blood banks across Jharkhand struggle with severe shortage

Source: hindustantimes.com

An unprecedented crisis in blood banks of medical colleges and hospitals across Jharkhand has put patients in a spot and the lives of many are on line as doctors are not able to carry on with treatment due to lack of blood. In the last 72 hours, two patients have died at the Patliputra Medical College Hospital (PMCH) in Dhanbad and surgeries of over a dozen critical cases in different wards are on hold due to the blood crisis.

The crisis in blood banks has been attributed to several factors by authorities of hospitals such as PMCH, RIMS and MGMMCH. Many have cited the long duration of the recently concluded Lok Sabha elections, which meddled with the regular stocking up of blood at the blood banks.

PMCH authorities on Thursday held an emergency meeting and sent an SOS alert to donor clubs across the district for bailing out the institution immediately, as several critical patients continued to suffer.

On Thursday, relatives of three bullet-injury patients, Manoj, Nageswar and Sanjay, had to look for blood donors from their homes district of Giridih, so that the trio could be operated upon at PMCH. All three were admitted to PMCH in a critical condition on Wednesday night. Since the PMCH blood bank was nearly empty, doctors had to call for donors from Giridih.

Earlier on Tuesday, two gynaecology department patients Jyoti Kumari (20) and Shahjadi Khatoon ( 35) died allegedly due to lack of blood. However Dr AK Singh, an official at the PMCH blood bank said that both were severely complicated cases by the time they arrived from nursing homes. Under Janani Shishu Siraksha Yojana, both patients were entitled to get free blood from hospital. “The hospital had provided blood to them in time,” Dr AK Singh said.

PMCH Dhanbad requires 50 units of blood per day to cater to the requirement of patients. But on Thursday, the hospital’s blood bank was left with merely seven units of blood. “Of course there is an unprecedented crisis of blood as incoming flow is almost choked. However, we do not let the patients of hospital to suffer by linking them with donors”, said Dr AK Singh of PMCH.

Patients at hospitals Rajendra Institute of Medical Science (RIMS) in Ranchi and Mahatma Gandhi Memorial Medical College Hospital (MGMMCH) in Jamshedpur are suffering from a similar crisis. Dr KK Singh, blood bank in-charge of RIMS Ranchi on Thursday said the crisis had aggravated badly but now the situation has improved. RIMS requires an average of 82 units of blood per day. On Thursday, the blood bank at RIMS had a stock of 200 units.

MGMMCH had 150 units of blood stocked on Thursday. The hospital requires 20 to 25 units of blood per day to cater to the requirement of patients. “We were facing a major crisis of blood for the past few days but now the stock has improved “, said Dr VVK Chaudhary, blood bank in-charge of MGMMCH Jamshedpur.