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DISASTER ARCHIVES
DISASTER NEWS HISTORY ARCHIVE
Disaster News Archive - Archives
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Alberto
R Gonzales - 
Secret
- Emergency
- 
Terrorism
- 
Intelligence
- 
Eavesdropping
- 
Law
- 
Enforcement
- 
Politics
- "F.B.I.
Chief Gives Account at Odds With Gonzales’s." ...
"The director of the F.B.I. offered testimony Thursday that sharply conflicted
with Attorney General Alberto R. Gonzales’s sworn statements about a 2004
confrontation in which top Justice Department officials threatened to resign
over a secret intelligence operation." ... "The director, Robert S. Mueller
III, told the House Judiciary Committee that the confrontation was about
the National Security Agency’s counterterrorist eavesdropping program,
describing it as “an N.S.A. program that has been much discussed.” His
testimony was a serious blow to Mr. Gonzales, who insisted at a Senate
hearing on Tuesday that there were no disagreements inside the [Republican
President] Bush administration about the program at the time of those discussions
or at any other time." ... "The director’s remarks were especially significant
because Mr. Mueller is the Justice Department’s chief law enforcement official.
He also played a crucial role in the 2004 dispute over the program, intervening
with President Bush to help deal with the threat of mass resignations that
grew out of a day of emergency meetings at the White House and at the hospital
bedside of John Ashcroft, who was then attorney general." ... "Doubts about
Mr. Gonzales’s version of events in March 2004 grew after James B. Comey,
the former deputy attorney general, testified in May that he and other
Justice Department officials were prepared to resign over legal objections
to an intelligence program that appeared to be the N.S.A. program." ...
"In addition, in testimony last year, Gen. Michael V. Hayden, who was the
N.S.A. director when the program started and now heads the Central Intelligence
Agency, said the March 2004 meeting involved the Terrorist Surveillance
Program." -By David Johnston and Scott Shane
-NYTimes
Government
- 
Environmental
- 
Health
- 
Science
- Politics
- 
Children
- 
Air
- Safety
- Hurricane
Katrina - Emergency
- Manufactured
- 
Homes
- Construction
- 
Louisiana
- 
California
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
Suppressed Health Warnings for Workers, Katrina Victims:
Agency Rejected Environmental Testing on Formaldehyde Gas Levels." ...
"The Federal Emergency Management Agency [run by the Republican President
Bush administration] has suppressed warnings from its own Gulf coast field
workers since the middle of 2006 about suspected health problems that may
be linked to elevated levels of formaldehyde gas released in FEMA-provided
trailers, lawmakers said today." ... "Committee Chairman [California Democratic
Representative] Henry L. Waxman (D-Calif.) called FEMA's bureaucratic neglect
of storm victims "sickening."" ... "Nearly 5,000 pages of documents turned
over to the committee "expose an official policy of premeditated ignorance,"
Waxman charged. "Senior officials in Washington didn't want to know what
they already knew, because they didn't want the legal and moral responsibility
to do what they knew had to be done."" ... "In May, FEMA said its own tests
of 96 new trailers near Baton Rouge [Louisiana] last September and October
found formaldehyde at 1.2 parts per million, but levels dropped to 0.3
parts per million after four days of ventilation. FEMA said that is the
accepted threshold used by the Department of Housing and Urban Development
for its manufactured homes." ... "But Mary C. DeVany, an occupational health
and safety engineer advising the Sierra Club, testified that that exposure
limit of 0.3 parts per million is 400 times greater than the normal limit
for year-round exposure set by the CDC-affiliated Agency for Toxic Substances
and Disease Register. It is also three times the daily exposure limit recommended
by the National Institute on Occupational Safety and Health, she said."
... ""This misapplication and skewing of scientific results is at best
unethical and grossly misrepresents and attempt to minimize the adverse
health effects being experienced by thousands of travel trailer residents,"
DeVany said." ... "Formaldehyde is a common wood preservative used in construction
materials such as particle board, plywood, glue, curtains, molded plastic
and countertops." ... "The chemical can cause vision and respiratory problems.
It has been linked to higher rates of asthma, bronchitis and allergies
in children with long-term exposure." (1, 2,
3)
-By Spencer S. Hsu -WashingtonPost
Police
- 
Fire
- Emergency
- 
Communications
- 
Money
- Politics
- "US
Works to Fix Emergency Communications." ... "The
government will distribute nearly $1 billion to states and cities to fix
communications problems that still hamper police and fire departments six
years after the Sept. 11 terror attacks." ... "A total of $968 million
for interoperable communications grants was announced Wednesday by the
heads of the departments of Homeland Security and Commerce, after a review
earlier this year found that of 75 major U.S. cities, only six received
a top grade in emergency communications." ... "The money, said Commerce
Secretary Carlos Gutierrez, will answer "the urgent need for firefighters,
police and other first responders to be able to communicate effectively
with one another."" ... "Homeland Security Secretary Michael Chertoff said
the money should get the entire country up to a basic standard of effective
emergency communication by 2009 -- but only if the local authorities coordinate
with each other and avoid turf fights." -By Devlin
Barrett -AP
via -Salon
US
- 
Iraq
- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Emergency
- Money
- "Petraeus
Says Iraq Plan Won't Succeed By September (Update2)."
... "The odds of building a stable Iraqi government by September are slim,
even with the addition of 30,000 U.S. troops to give lawmakers in Baghdad
[Iraq's capital] security, said the top U.S. general in the Middle East
country." ... "The ``aggregate level'' of violence has not diminished since
the troop increase began five months ago, General David Petraeus said in
an interview on ``Fox News Sunday.'' Asked whether he thought the strategy
could succeed by early September when he's due to report to Congress, Petraeus
was negative." ... "``I do not, no. I think we have a lot of heavy lifting
to do,'' he said. ``This is a tough effort.''" ... "Congressional Democrats
were rebuffed in their earlier attempt to force Bush to change Iraq policy
when the president [Republican George Bush] vetoed about $100 billion in
emergency war spending because it was tied to a withdrawal of U.S. troops."
-By Demian McLean -Bloomberg
US
- Iraq
- 
Afghanistan
- 
Military
- Emergencies
- "Guard
running low on equipment." ... "National Guard units
in 31 states say four years of war in Iraq and Afghanistan have left them
with 60% or less of their authorized equipment, a USA TODAY review found."
... "Eighteen of those 31 states report having half or fewer of the vehicles,
aircraft, radios, weapons and other items they are authorized to have for
home-front uses, the 50-state review found." ... "Some of the Guard's equipment
has been destroyed or left behind in the Iraq and Afghanistan wars, the
review found." ... "Paul Brown, deputy chief of logistics for the Army
National Guard, said the Guard has 53% of the equipment it needs for domestic
emergencies." [CHART:
State - Equipment available Preparedness status] -By
William M. Welch -USATODAY
US
- Iraq
- Afghanistan
- 
Arizona
- 
Iowa
- 
New
Mexico - Disaster
- "How
ready is your state's National Guard?" ... "Most
representatives from National Guard units across the USA say they are ready
to handle whatever domestic disaster comes along. Some, however, are concerned
about equipment missing due to the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan, as well
as the need to replace aging equipment." ... "Correspondents from across
the USA spoke with governors, National Guard commanders and public affairs
officers to determine each unit's equipment and preparedness levels for
dealing with national disasters." [CHART:
State - Equipment available Preparedness status] " ... "Maj. Paul
Aguirre, spokesman for the Arizona National Guard, said they have 35% of
their equipment on hand for national emergencies. Aguirre emphasized that"
... "Iowa National Guard officials are more concerned about having enough
equipment available for combat training than for disaster response. Lt.
Col. Gregory Hapgood, the guard's spokesman, says Iowa has 45% of the equipment
on hand that the state needs." ... "The New Mexico National Guard has the
lowest equipment inventory level of any state or territory, according to
a report from the Government Accountability Office about Guard readiness
[34%]." -USATODAY
Emergency
- LA
- California
- "Woman
dies in ER lobby as 911 refuses to help: Tapes show
operators ignored pleas to send ambulance to L.A. hospital." ... "A woman
who lay bleeding on the emergency room floor of a troubled inner-city hospital
died after 911 dispatchers refused to contact paramedics or an ambulance
to take her to another facility, newly released tapes of the emergency
calls reveal." ... "In the recordings of two 911 calls that day, first
obtained by the Los Angeles Times under a California Public Records Act
request, callers pleaded for help for Rodriguez but were referred to hospital
staff instead." ... "“I’m in the emergency room. My wife is dying and the
nurses don’t want to help her out,” Rodriguez’s boyfriend, Jose Prado,
is heard saying in Spanish through an interpreter on the tapes." ... "“They’re
watching her there and they’re not doing anything. They’re just watching
her,” Prado said." -AP
via -MSNBC
Rudolph
Giuliani - Election
2008 - 
New
York
- Emergency
- Police
- Firefighter
- 
Workers
- Air
- Health
- Terrorism
- Families
- "Mystique
of 'America's Mayor' Tarnished: 9/11 Firefighters,
Families Protest Giuliani's Rise." ... "The mystique of "America's mayor"
shows signs of fraying." ... "The nation's largest firefighters' union
is planning to send out 280,000 videotapes attacking former New York Republican
Mayor Rudolph Giuliani [and 2008 election Presidential candidate] and his
pre-9/11 record -- including his decision to place New York City's emergency
operations center in the World Trade Center before Sept. 11, 2001." ...
"In recent months, families of 9/11 victims have planted themselves outside
Giuliani fundraisers, and several critical books and documentaries have
been released." ... "Reports have emerged sharply questioning Giuliani's
response to the 9/11 attacks, with critics portraying a bullying mayor
who, in his zeal for a quick cleanup, brushed aside health concerns about
the air at ground zero." ... "And Giuliani's former emergency management
director, Jerome Hauer, is now a prominent Giuliani critic, questioning
the former mayor's handling of the turf wars that divided the police and
fire departments before 9/11." ... ""In terms of preparedness, response
and leadership, Rudy fell down," said Jeff Zack, a spokesman for the International
Association of Fire Fighters, which is preparing the video for distribution
to its members." ... ""Rudy has created an image of himself that he likes
to expand upon: that he's the hero of 9/11," Zack said. "And it's not true,
especially from the point of view of the firefighters who lived through
that day and the families of those who died on that day."" (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Rick Klein -ABCNEWS.com
Weather
- Emergency
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
facing questions on '07 hurricane plans." ... "The
Federal Emergency Management Agency will come under fire again Tuesday
from coastal lawmakers concerned about its failure to come up with a national
response plan before the start of the 2007 hurricane season." -By
Ana Radelat -USATODAY
Government
- Weather
- Disaster
- Lawmakers
- "FEMA
says it's ready for hurricanes." ... "The government
has fixed most of the problems that undermined its response to Hurricane
Katrina, even though an updated federal disaster plan is not completed,
Federal Emergency Management Agency chief R. David Paulison told lawmakers
Tuesday." ... "At a House Homeland Security Committee hearing, Paulison
said the plan should be finished next month. He had previously notified
Congress that it wouldn't be ready by the June 1 deadline, the start of
the hurricane season." ... "This year's hurricane season, which runs through
Nov. 30, threatens to be "very active," according to forecasters at Colorado
State University, who predict as many as 17 tropical storms." -By
Brad Heath -USATODAY
Rudolph
Giuliani - Election
2008 - Politician
- New
York
- Terrorism
- Disaster
- Money
- Government
- Construction
- Firefighters
- Workers
- Air
- Environment
- Science
- Health
- 
Safety
- Enforcement
- Lawsuit
- "Ground
Zero Illnesses Clouding Giuliani’s Legacy." ... "[2008
election Republican Presidential candidate and former New York City Mayor
Rudolph Giuliani] Administration documents and thousands of pages of legal
testimony filed in a lawsuit against New York City [New York], along with
more than two dozen interviews with people involved in the events of the
last four months of Mr. Giuliani’s administration, show that while the
city had a safety plan for workers, it never meaningfully enforced federal
requirements that those at the site wear respirators [at the World Trade
Center cleanup]." ... "At the same time, the administration warned companies
working on the pile that they would face penalties or be fired if work
slowed. And according to public hearing transcripts and unpublished administration
records, officials also on some occasions gave flawed public representations
of the nature of the health threat, even as they privately worried about
exposure to lawsuits by sickened workers." ... "“The city ran a generally
slipshod, haphazard, uncoordinated, unfocused response to environmental
concerns,” said David Newman, an industrial hygienist with the New York
Committee on Occupational Safety and Health, a labor group." ... "City
officials and a range of medical experts are now convinced that the dust
and toxic materials in the air around the site were a menace. More than
2,000 New York City firefighters have been treated for serious respiratory
problems. Seventy percent of nearly 10,000 recovery workers screened at
Mount Sinai Medical Center have trouble breathing. City officials estimate
that health care costs related to the air at ground zero have already run
into the hundreds of millions of dollars, and no one knows whether other
illnesses, like cancers, will emerge." ... "From the beginning, there was
no doubt that Mr. Giuliani and his team ruled the hellish disaster site.
Officials from the Federal Emergency Management Agency, the Army Corps
of Engineers and the Occupational Safety and Health Administration, all
with extensive disaster response experience, arrived almost immediately,
only to be placed on the sideline. One Army Corps official said Mr. Giuliani
acted like a “benevolent dictator.”" ... "Despite the presence of those
federal experts, Mr. Giuliani assigned the ground zero cleanup to a largely
unknown city agency, the Department of Design and Construction. Kenneth
Holden, the department’s commissioner until January 2004, said in a deposition
in the federal lawsuit against the city that he initially expected FEMA
or the Army Corps to try to take over the cleanup operation. Mr. Giuliani
never let them." ... "Records show that the city was aware of the danger
in the ground zero dust from the start. In a federal court deposition,
Kelly R. McKinney, associate commissioner at the city’s health department
in 2001, said the agency issued an advisory on the night of Sept. 11 stating
that asbestos in the air made the site hazardous and that everyone should
wear masks." ... "Much has been said and written about Christie Whitman,
then the Environmental Protection Agency administrator, and her statement
a week after the towers fell that the air in New York was safe. But even
then, the air above the debris pile was known to be more dangerous than
the air in the rest of Lower Manhattan." ... "Whatever they were saying
publicly about the safety of the air, Mr. Giuliani and his staff were privately
worried. A memo to Deputy Mayor Robert M. Harding from his assistant in
early October said that the city faced as many as 10,000 liability claims
connected to 9/11, “including toxic tort cases that might arise in the
next few decades.”" ... "The warning did not lead to a crackdown on workers
without respirators. Rather, a month later, Mr. Giuliani wrote to members
of the city’s Congressional delegation urging passage of a bill that capped
the city’s liability at $350 million." (1, 2,
3)
-By Anthony DePalma -NYTimes
Missouri
- Weather
- Disaster
- 
History
- "Failing
Levees Spur Major Missouri Floods: Water Tops At
Least 20 Levees In Worst Flooding Since 1993." ... "At least 20 levees
have been overtopped as flood waters make their way down Missouri streams
and rivers, authorities said." ... ""It's a major flood," Suzanne Fortin,
a meteorologist with the National Weather Service in Pleasant Hill, said
Wednesday. "It won't be a record breaker, but it will be in the top three.""
... "The floodwaters would rank among the top three on the 102, Platte,
Grand and parts of the Missouri River near the cities of Sibley and Glasgow,
Fortin said." ... "And historic river levels have been reached on the Tarkio
River at Fairfax." ... "The Missouri River is at its highest level since
the 1993 floods, threatening small towns and even parts of Kansas City
and St. Louis, reports CBS
News correspondent Peter King (audio) [MP3]." (1, 2)
-AP via -CBSNews
Kansas
- Greensburg
- Tornado
- 
Vehicles
- Police
- "Kansas
Tornado Death Toll Rises: 11 Deaths Now Reported
After Injured Police Officer Taken Off Life Support." ... "Search and rescue
operations continued Tuesday in Greensburg [Kansas], where emergency responders
have struggled to determined if any of its 1,600 residents are missing
because many are staying with friends or relatives rather than in shelters."
... "The 1.7-mile-wide, Category F-5 enhanced tornado, with wind estimated
at 205 mph, destroyed about 95 percent of this farming town Friday." ...
"The government's response to the disaster was
undermined by ongoing National Guard deployments to the Middle East,
[Kansas Democratic Governor] Gov. Kathleen Sebelius said." ... ""I don't
think there is any question if you are missing trucks, Humvees and helicopters
that the response is going to be slower," Sebelius said. "The real victims
here will be the residents of Greensburg, because the recovery will be
at a slower pace."" -AP
via -CBSNews
US
- Iraq
- Kansas
- National
Guard - Disaster
- Vehicles
- "Wartime
Shortages Hamper National Guard: Iraq Deployments
Are Leading To A Lack Of Equipment At The State Level." ... "Kansas' governor
says tornado cleanup efforts are being hamstrung because the state National
Guard is on a mission in Iraq." ... "But the Kansas National Guard isn't
alone with its equipment shortages. According to the chief of the National
Guard, it's a national epidemic." ... "Listen to what he told a Senate
committee last month about the state of a Guard unit that had just returned
stateside from Iraq." ... ""He doesn't have a problem of old equipment.
He has a problem of no equipment," Lt. General H. Steven Blum said. "His
unit, when it came back in November, came back to two Humvees that were
left because they were not good enough to go to war — not suitable to go
to war — and that's the equipment that he has in his unit today."" ...
"The rest of the Humvees were either destroyed, damaged or left behind
in Iraq." ... ""You name it, we are short of — this is meat-and-potatoes
basic items," Blum said. "I'm talking about 'dozers, graders, loaders,
backhoes, dump trucks."" -CBSNews
Kansas
- Tornado
- Disaster
- US
- National
Guard - Iraq
- "Deadly
Kansas Tornado; Town Wiped Out." ... "The plains
states are recovering after a weekend of violent weather. Tornadoes left
10 people dead in Kansas, 9 of those from a twister Friday that nearly
destroyed the entire town of Greensburg [Kansas]." ... "[Kansas Democratic]
Governor Sebelius says that the situation is being made even harder by
the absence of Kansas National Guard soldiers and equipment due to the
war in Iraq." ... ""Not having the the National Guard equipment which used
to be positioned in various parts of the state to bring immediately is
really going to handicap this effort to rebuild.""
-KTTC.com
Kansas
- Emergencies
- US
- National
Guard - Iraq
- "Iraq
War Hampers Kansas Cleanup." ... "[Kansas Democratic]
Governor Kathleen Sebelius said much of the National Guard equipment usually
positioned around the state to respond to emergencies is gone." ... "The
Kansas National Guard has about 40 percent of the equipment it is allotted
because much of it has been sent to Iraq."
-AP via -KCBS.com
Health
- Science
- Consumer
- 
Food
- Drug
- Safety
- Terrorism
- Emergencies
- Lawmakers
- Politics
- Animal
- Pets
- 
Pennsylvania
- 
Colorado
- 
Michigan
- Calif
- Kan
- 
Mass
- "FDA
plan to close field labs draws fire." ... "A Food
and Drug Administration plan to close seven of 13 field laboratories has
angered some lawmakers, government workers and safety advocates, who fear
the move will chase away skilled veteran employees and hurt the FDA's ability
to respond to public health emergencies." ... "The FDA's field labs inspect
and analyze food, drugs, animal medications and feeds, medical devices
and other health products." ... "The labs check for compliance with federal
guidelines, protect consumers from unsafe, ineffective and mislabeled products,
and help investigate public health threats such as product tampering, bio-terrorism,
food-borne illnesses and contaminated blood supplies." ... "Several of
the facilities helped investigate the recent pet food scare and E. coli
and salmonella outbreaks in spinach and peanut butter. On the heels of
these crises, the proposed lab closings have been met with strong suspicion."
... "Over the next several years, the FDA wants to close labs in Philadelphia
[Pennsylvania]; Denver [Colorado]; Detroit [Michigan]; Alameda, Calif.
[California]; Lenexa, Kan.; San Juan, Puerto Rico; and Winchester, Mass
[Massachusetts]. Those operations and an estimated 250 employees would
then be moved to five multi-purpose "mega-labs" that could handle all types
of FDA testing." ... "But some fear that fewer labs would delay the testing
of food, biological medical products or drugs in the event of a public
health emergency." -By Tony Pugh
-McClatchy via
-RealCities
New
Orleans - Louisiana
- 
Flood
- Disaster
- Technology
- Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- 
Fla
- Government
- Politics
- Law
- "Corps
placed faulty pumps in New Orleans." ... "The Army
Corps of Engineers, rushing to meet President Bush's promise to protect
New Orleans [Louisiana] by the start of the 2006 hurricane season, installed
defective flood-control pumps last year despite warnings from its own expert
that the equipment would fail during a storm, according to documents obtained
by The Associated Press." ... "But the Corps and the politically connected
manufacturer of the equipment are still struggling to get the 34 heavy-duty
pumps working properly." ... "The 34 pumps — installed in the drainage
canals that take water from this bowl-shaped, below-sea-level city and
deposit it in Lake Pontchartrain — represented a new ring of protection
that was added to New Orleans' flood defenses after [hurricane] Katrina."
... "The drainage-canal pumps were custom-designed and built under a $26.6
million contract awarded after competitive bidding to Moving Water Industries
Corp. of Deerfield Beach, Fla." ... "MWI is owned by J. David Eller and
his sons. Eller was once a business partner of former Florida Gov. Jeb
Bush in a venture called Bush-El that marketed MWI pumps. And Eller has
donated about $128,000 to politicians, the vast majority of it to the Republican
Party, since 1996, according to the Center for Responsive Politics." ...
"The U.S. Justice Department sued the company in 2002, accusing it of fraudulently
helping Nigeria obtain $74 million in taxpayer-backed loans for overpriced
and unnecessary water-pump equipment. The case has yet to be resolved."
-By Cain Burdeau -AP
via -Yahoo
New
York
- Terrorism
- Emergency
- Firefighter
- Workers
- 2008
Election - "Firefighters
Claim Giuliani Ignored Needs After 9/11 (Update2)."
... "[New York Republican] Rudy Giuliani, who has parlayed his identity
as the hero of Sept. 11 into a front-running presidential candidacy [2008
Election], was attacked by the nation's firefighters union for rushing
to remove debris at New York's World Trade Center site before many remains
had been recovered." ... "The International Association of Fire Fighters
union said it wants its 260,000 U.S. members to know the ``real story''
of the former New York mayor, contending that Giuliani sought to curtail
search-and-recovery efforts at the World Trade Center site after the attacks
on Sept. 11, 2001, that claimed the lives of 2,752 people, including 343
union fire fighters." ... "``Mayor Giuliani's actions meant that fire fighters
and citizens who perished would either remain buried at Ground Zero forever,
with no closure for families, or be removed like garbage and deposited
at the Fresh Kills Landfill,'' said union President Harold Schaitberger
in a draft letter to affiliates." -By Kim Chipman
-Bloomberg
Firefighter- Workers
- 2008
Election - New
York
- Terrorism
- Emergency
- Money
- "Firefighters
union assails Giuliani." ... "One of the nation's
largest firefighters' unions has accused Republican presidential contender
Rudy Giuliani, the former New York City mayor, of committing "egregious
acts" against firefighters who died in the September 11 terrorist attacks."
... "In a letter to its members Friday, the International Association of
Fire Fighters excoriated Giuliani for his November 2001 decision to cut
back the number of firefighters searching the rubble of Ground Zero for
the remains of some 300 fallen comrades." ... "The 280,000-member union
accused him of carelessly expediting the cleanup process with a "scoop-and-dump"
operation after the recovery of millions of dollars in gold, silver and
other assets from the Bank of Nova Scotia that had been buried."
-AP via -CNN
Noteworthy
- Secret
- Military
- Law
- Enforcement
- Government
- Civil
Liberty - Disaster
- Health
- Terrorism
- Politics
- History
- "Making
Martial Law Easier." ... "A disturbing recent phenomenon
in Washington is that laws that strike to the heart of American democracy
have been passed in the dead of night. So it was with a provision quietly
tucked into the enormous defense budget bill at the Bush administration’s
behest that makes it easier for a president to override local control of
law enforcement and declare martial law." ... "The provision, signed into
law in October [2006 under the Republican controlled Congress], weakens
two obscure but important bulwarks of liberty. One is the doctrine that
bars military forces, including a federalized National Guard, from engaging
in law enforcement. Called posse comitatus, it was enshrined in law after
the Civil War to preserve the line between civil government and the military.
The other is the Insurrection Act of 1807, which provides the major exemptions
to posse comitatus. It essentially limits a president’s use of the military
in law enforcement to putting down lawlessness, insurrection and rebellion,
where a state is violating federal law or depriving people of constitutional
rights." ... "The newly enacted provisions upset this careful balance.
They shift the focus from making sure that federal laws are enforced to
restoring public order. Beyond cases of actual insurrection, the president
may now use military troops as a domestic police force in response to a
natural disaster, a disease outbreak, terrorist attack or to any “other
condition.”" ... "Changes of this magnitude should be made only after a
thorough public airing. But these new presidential powers were slipped
into the law without hearings or public debate."
-NYTimes
Mississippi
- Hurricane
Katrina - Homeowner
- Disaster
- Business
- Wind
- Water
-Weather
- "Katrina
storm surge damage not covered by homeowners insurance, judge rules."
... "A federal judge ruled Tuesday that an insurance company's policies
do not cover damage from wind-driven water in a decision that could affect
hundreds of upcoming cases related to property damage from Hurricane Katrina."
... "U.S. District Judge L.T. Senter Jr. ruled that a Mississippi Gulf
Coast couple cannot collect damages from storm surge caused by Katrina
because Nationwide Mutual Insurance's policies do not cover wind-driven
water damage." ... "Senter Jr. said Paul and Julie Leonard of Pascagoula
could be compensated for damage that they could prove was caused by high
winds." ... ""This reading of the policy would mean that an insured whose
dwelling lost its roof in high winds and at the same time suffered an incursion
of even an inch of water could recover nothing under his Nationwide policy,"
he wrote." -AP
via -USATODAY
California
- 
Elderly
- Disaster
- 
Energy
- Food
- Work
- Water
- Animal
- 
Oregon
- Wildfire
- "At
least 132 deaths likely linked to heat Calif. heat wave."
... "At least 132 deaths, mostly elderly residents, were likely linked
to a nearly two-week heat wave in California, county coroner's offices
reported Friday." ... "Both Northern and Southern California had been gripped
by triple-digit temperatures since July 16, with the Central Valley suffering
the most with temperatures as high as 115." ... "Before this week, the
utility's highest peak energy use was recorded at 5,661 megawatts. The
heat wave created a demand of 6,165 megawatts — shocking officials who
predicted usage wouldn't top 6,100 megawatts for another four years." ...
"In Northern California, a wildfire near the Oregon state line was threatening
major power transmission lines between California and the Pacific Northwest."
... "Farmers have been struggling as well, trying get work crews into the
fields in the early mornings to avoid the worst of the heat and running
water misters to keep cattle from dying. Vegetables, fruit and even wine
grapes could be affected." -By Olivia Munoz
-AP via -SFGate.com
Global
- Industry
- Climate
- Disaster
- Politics
- 
Earth
- Environment
- 
Entertainment
- 
UN
- Seattle
- 
Washington
- "Does
Gore overheat global warming?" ... "Al Gore's documentary,
"An Inconvenient Truth," continues to trigger heated discussions about
global warming, as well as Mr. Gore's political ambitions, real or imagined."
... "But how close to the mark is his representation of the science tying
humanity's industrial activity to changing climate aka anthropogenic global
warming?" ... "In short, say several climate researchers, he basically
gets it right, although one can question some aspects of the presentation."
... ""I worry that the movie is a little heavy on disaster scenarios,"
says David Battisti, professor of atmospheric science at the University
of Washington in Seattle and director of the university's Earth Initiative.
Over the course of the coming century, he says, average conditions are
likely to change in ways that should prompt action now; it doesn't require
extreme examples to make the point." ... "After viewing the film, he says,
his impression is that nothing in it "misstated the science in a qualitative
way."" ... "Indeed, his colleague Eric Stieg, also with the University
of Washington, has noted that the film includes research that is only a
few months old and clearly relevant to the discussion - research that won't
appear in the next UN summary of climate science, slated for release early
next year. The newest studies were too late to be included in the next
UN summary, which is published about every six years and widely cited in
public debates." -By Peter N. Spotts -CSMonitor
Indonesia
- Earthquake
- Homeless
- Food
- U.N.
- "Trickle
Of Aid Reaches Quake Survivors: Death Toll Tops 5,400;
About 200,000 People Made Homeless In Indonesia." ... "A trickle of aid
began reaching survivors of the Indonesian earthquake that killed more
than 5,400 over the weekend, but desperate villagers said the meager deliveries
were not enough." ... ""We have 300 families in this village and have only
gotten two sacks of rice," said Lastri, 27, begging beneath the blazing
sun, a 5-month-old baby in her arms. "It's not enough."" ... "More aid
was on the way — a U.N. World Food Program was scheduled to arrive near
the quake zone on Java island on Tuesday with high-energy biscuits and
blankets, tents and generators, and U.N. trucks traveled roads lined with
increasingly desperate children, women and elderly seeking handouts."
-AP via
-CBSNews
- John
Edwards - Cheney
- Noteworthy
- 2008
Election - "Edwards
Bashes Cheney, Bush: 2004 vice presidential contender
blasts Bush and readies to run again." -With George
Stephanopoulos -ThisWeek-ABCNEWS.com
US
- Iraq- Edwards
- Cheney
- Disaster
- Energy
- Health
- Government
- Intelligence
- Law
- History
- 2008
Election - 
NC
- "Edwards:
Bush Worse than Nixon." ... "Former Sen. John Edwards,
D-N.C., says George W. Bush is the "worst president of our lifetime," and
"absolutely" worse than Watergate-tainted President Richard M. Nixon."
... "In an exclusive appearance on "This Week with George Stephanopoulos,"
the former presidential and vice presidential contender said of Bush, "He's
done a variety of things -- things which are going to take us forever to
recover from." ... ""You have to give Bush and Cheney and gang credit for
being good at politics -- you know, good at political campaigns," Edwards
added. "They're very good at dividing the country and taking advantage
of it. What they're not good at is governing, and it shows every single
day in this administration. And the country is paying a huge price for
that."" ... ""It is not an accident that he's [Vice President Cheney] unbelievably
poorly thought of," Edwards said. "He is one of -- if not the --principal
architects of this disaster in Iraq. He put us on an energy path that the
American people are paying an enormous price for right now. He paid little
to no attention to making sure the government was prepared to respond to
the kind of disaster that hit our Gulf Coast. We've got a health care crisis
going on, he's had no proposal of any kind that I know of. And people don't
trust him anymore, which is understandable. I wouldn't trust him."" ...
"Edwards made the pitch for a Democratic president in 2008, claiming the
Bush has "intentionally ignored" the law and constitution in the NSA wiretapping
controversy." (1, 2,
3,
4)
-By Ed O'Keefe-ABCNEWS.com
Emergency
- Air
- 
West
Virginia - Labor
- "Mine
blast survivor says some men's air packs didn't work."
... "The sole survivor of the Sago Mine explosion says some of the emergency
air packs his fellow miners carried didn't work." ... "In his most detailed
account of the Jan. 2 blast, Randy McCloy describes in a letter how four
miners sought to share emergency air supplies with others trapped in the
mine when it appeared theirs malfunctioned." ... "In the letter, McCloy
refers to the emergency air packs, called self-contained self-rescue devices,
as "rescuers."" ... "Federal and state officials said the air packs, which
were tested after the blast, were functional." -By
Emily Bazar -USATODAY
Mississippi
- Trent
Lott
- Government
- Emergency
- Military
- Transportation
- Hurricane
Katrina - Money
- "Mississippi
Senators' Rail Plan Challenged: War Bill Includes
Millions to Move Just-Rebuilt Line." ... "Mississippi's two U.S. senators
included $700 million in an emergency war spending bill to relocate a Gulf
Coast rail line that has already been rebuilt after Hurricane Katrina at
a cost of at least $250 million." ... "Republican Sens. Trent Lott and
Thad Cochran, who have the backing of their state's economic development
agencies and tourism industry, say the CSX freight line must be moved to
save it from the next hurricane and to protect Mississippi's growing coastal
population from rail accidents. But critics of the measure call it a gift
to coastal developers and the casino industry that would be paid for with
money carved out of tight Katrina relief funds and piggybacked onto funding
for the wars in Iraq and Afghanistan." ... "Budget watchdogs are already
tagging the Lott-Cochran provision the "railroad to nowhere."" -By
Jonathan Weisman -WashingtonPost
Terrorism
- Emergency
- 
Airport
- Transportation
- Communications
- Technology
- Money-
"Report:
TSA Got Little for $1 Billion." ... "A company awarded
a $1 billion contract for airport security equipment performed so poorly
that the Homeland Security Department's inspector general recommended that
the project be put out for bid again." ... "The inspector general, Richard
Skinner, found in a report released Thursday that Unisys received most
of the $1 billion without providing the Transportation Security Administration
much of the equipment "critical to airport security and communications.""
... "The federal officials who head airport security at hundreds of airports
complained that Unisys supplied antiquated equipment and that their radios
didn't always communicate with each other inside the same concourse _ a
crucial function during an emergency." -By Leslie
Miller -AP
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Government
- Terrorism
- Disaster
- Hurricane
Katrina - Money
- Politics
- "Bush
Orders DHS to Create Center for Faith-Based Aid."
... "President Bush ordered the Department of Homeland Security yesterday
to create a center for faith-based and community initiatives within 45
days to eliminate regulatory, contracting and programmatic barriers to
providing federal funds to religious groups to deliver social services,
the White House announced last night." ... "Pressed both by churches that
have not received privately raised Hurricane Katrina relief funds as promised
and by the outpouring of help of religious groups to Gulf Coast storm victims,
Bush also called on the department by September "to identify all existing
barriers . . . that unlawfully discriminate against, or otherwise discourage
or disadvantage the participation" of such groups in federal programs."
-By Spencer S. Hsu with contributions by Jacqueline
L. Salmon and Michael A. Fletcher-WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - Government
- Disaster
- "Brown
shouldn't be administration's scapegoat, experts say."
... "Bolstered by Wednesday's release of a videotape and transcripts of
federal disaster response sessions in the days just before and after Katrina,
Brown and his hurricane team are seen as sounding the alarm of an impending
disaster. In contrast, President Bush and Homeland Security Secretary Michael
Chertoff appear impassive the day before Katrina struck as officials predicted
that the levees around New Orleans could fail. The president asked no questions."
... "Now the Bush administration is stepping up the attacks on the former
Federal Emergency Management Agency director for sidestepping the chain
of command, and the same disaster experts who excoriated Brown, some even
cracking jokes about his previous experience with the International Arabian
Horse Association, are coming to his side." ... "On Thursday, Knight Ridder
interviewed 12 longtime disaster experts, and most believe Brown should
not be the scapegoat for the administration." -By
Seth Borenstein -KnightRidder
via -MercuryNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Weather
- Government
- Politics
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
- "Video
Shows Bush Being Warned on Katrina: Officials Detailed
a Dire Threat to New Orleans." ... "A newly leaked video recording of high-level
government deliberations the day before Hurricane Katrina hit shows disaster
officials emphatically warning President Bush that the storm posed a catastrophic
threat to New Orleans [Louisiana] and the Gulf Coast, and a grim-faced
Bush personally assuring state leaders that his administration was "fully
prepared" to help." ... "The footage, taken of a videoconference of federal
and state officials on Aug. 28, offered an unusually vivid glimpse of real-time
decision making by an administration that has vigorously guarded its internal
deliberations." -By Spencer S. Hsu and Linton Weeks-WashingtonPost
US
- Iraq
- Emergencies
- Weather
- Water
- Wind
- Fire
- "Bush
Policies Are Weakening National Guard, Governors Say."
... "Governors of both parties said Sunday that Bush administration policies
were stripping the National Guard of equipment and personnel needed to
respond to hurricanes, floods, tornadoes, forest fires and other emergencies."
... "In a recent report, the Government Accountability Office, an investigative
arm of Congress, said that "extensive use of the Guard's equipment overseas
has significantly reduced the amount of equipment available to governors
for domestic needs."" ... "Since 2003, the report said, the Army National
Guard has left more than 64,000 pieces of equipment, valued at more than
$1.2 billion, in Iraq. The Army has not kept track of most of this equipment
and has no firm plans to replace it, the report said." -By
Robert Pear -NYTimes
West-Virginia
- 
Kentucky
- Labor
- Business
- Law
- Enforcement
- "Mine
Where Explosion Occurred Was Cited for Hazards (Update2)."
... "Federal authorities issued 21 citations last year for a build-up of
combustible materials at the West Virginia mine where 12 men died, according
to U.S. Labor Department statistics." ... "The Sago mine, owned by billionaire
investor
Wilbur Ross's International Coal Group Inc., was cited for a total of 208
federal safety violations last year, up from 68 in 2004, according to the
Labor Department. The largest individual fine last year was $440; the citations
for combustible materials carried fines of $60." ... "When asked about
the facility's safety record at a news conference yesterday, Ben Hatfield,
International Coal's chief executive officer, said the Ashland, Kentucky-based
company has improved safety conditions since acquiring the mine last year."
... "Phil Smith, the communications director for the United Mine Workers
of America, in Washington, said the fines assessed for safety violations
are too small to force large corporations to make improvements." ... "``We
could get pulled over for speeding and pay more than that,'' said Smith,
who said the Sago mine was nonunion. ``The problem with the current laws
is enforcement.''" -By William McQuillen
-Bloomberg
West-Virginia
- History
- "Grief
And Outrage At W.Va. Mine." ... "In a stunning and
heartbreaking reversal, family members were told early Wednesday that 11
of 12 trapped coal miners found were dead — three hours after they began
celebrating news that they were alive." ... "International Coal Group Chief
Executive Officer Ben Hatfield blamed the wrong information on a "miscommunication."
The news spread after people overheard cell phone calls, he said. In reality,
rescuers had only confirmed finding 12 miners and were checking their vital
signs. At least two family members in the church said they received cell
phone calls from a mine foreman." ... "The explosion was the state's deadliest
mining accident since November 1968, when 78 men — including the uncle
of [West Virginia Governor Joe] Manchin — died in an explosion at Consol's
Farmington No. 9 mine in Marion County, an hour's drive north of here.
It was that disaster that prompted Congress to pass the Mine Health and
Safety Act of 1969." (1, 2)
-AP -CBSNews
West-Virginia
- Disaster
- "Rescuers
race against time at West Virginia mine." ... "Rescue
workers raced against time on Tuesday with fading hopes of saving 13 trapped
coal miners, and officials said it would take a miracle for the men to
be found alive." ... "There had been no communication with the miners since
they were trapped after an explosion at 6:30 a.m. (11:30 a.m. British time)
on Monday at the Sago mine in central West Virginia." ... "Officials, who
reported poisonous gas in the mine, feared Tuesday night offered the last
hope of finding survivors." -By Jonathan Barnes with
contributions by Chris Swaney, Claudia Parsons, and Adam Entous -Reuters.co.uk
Texas
- 
Oklahoma
- Homes
- Disaster
- "Five
die in wildfires sweeping US: At least five people
have died in the wildfires which have swept across parts of the US states
of Texas and Oklahoma." ... "The fires, fanned by strong winds and dry
weather, have destroyed nearly 200 homes and scorched thousands of acres
of land in the past two days." ... "An estimated 124 homes were destroyed
in Texas and 50 in the neighbouring state of Oklahoma." ... "Worst hit
was the central Texan town of Cross Plains, where the fires forced its
1,000 inhabitants to leave."-BBC
/News
Florida
- Business
- Disaster- Water
- Divers
- "Chalk's
grounds fleet for inspection after fatal crash off Miami Beach."
... "An airline voluntarily grounded its fleet Wednesday for inspection
after investigators said cracks in the support beam of a wing apparently
caused it to fall off a seaplane that then crashed, killing all 20 people
aboard." ... "Chalk's Ocean Airways operates four other seaplanes, all
the same model that crashed. The grounding came the same day federal investigators
said they were trying to determine why the airline had apparently not discovered
the cracks." ... "Salvage crews and divers worked for a second day Wednesday
to haul up the plane's wreckage from about 35 feet of water in a channel
off the southern tip of Miami Beach [Florida], where it went down Monday."
-By Curt Anderson -Sun-Sentinel
via -Newsday.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Government
- Politics
- "Battle
brews over a bigger military role: The Pentagon tilts
toward taking more authority in major disasters - worrying governors, lawmakers."
... "The lessons learned from hurricane Katrina appear to be putting the
Pentagon on a collision course with governors and lawmakers worried about
the expanding role of the military in disaster response." ... "Gaining
currency at the highest levels of the Pentagon is the idea that during
a catastrophic event - either natural or terrorist - the Department of
Defense should replace the Department of Homeland Security as the agency
in charge of the federal response." ... "In many ways, the notion is limited,
affecting only how the federal government deploys its own resources. Yet
in a nation founded on a distrust of military control, any suggestion of
giving the armed forces greater authority on American soil faces centuries-old
skepticism. Moreover, it comes at a time when governors are already feeling
besieged by an administration that, they feel, is too eager to wrest power
from them." -By Mark Sappenfield -CSMonitor
UK
- Oil
- Disaster
- Water
- Environment
- "UK
oil depot fire 'largest of kind'." ... "Firefighters
are battling blazes at three tanks still burning after Sunday's massive
explosions at a fuel depot north of London while investigators search for
clues as to what caused powerful explosions that started the blaze." ...
"Using fire suppressant foam and water, the firefighters successfully put
down fires in 10 other tanks at Buncefield Oil Depot near Hemel Hempstead
and kept the flames away from seven more after the blasts, which injured
43 people and were felt 40 kilometers (25 miles) away in London." ... "The
fire department said they were "making good progress" against the fire."
... "Fire and environmental officials spent much of the night discussing
how to tackle the blaze without polluting local water supplies."
-AP -CNN
Illinois
- Transportation
- Disaster
- "Southwest
plane slides off Chicago runway, 1 dead." ... "A
Southwest Airlines plane landing in a snowstorm in Chicago slid off a runway
on Thursday and crashed through a fence and onto a busy road, colliding
with two cars. A boy in one of them was killed." ... "The Boeing 737, which
had flown to Midway Airport from Baltimore with 98 passengers and five
crew, ended up in an intersection with its nose on the ground after the
front gear collapsed, a Federal Aviation Administration spokesman said."
(1, 2)
-By Andrew Stern -Reuters
Government
- Disaster
- Hurricane
Katrina - "FEMA
Chief Was Warned In 2004." ... "FEMA's top official
was told more than a year before Hurricane Katrina that the agency's emergency
response teams were unprepared for a major disaster and were operating
under outdated plans, documents show." ... "An 11-page memo to Michael
Brown, former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, from June
2004 described teams of national response managers that were not prepared
and were getting "zero funding for training, exercise or team equipment.""
... "Those responders "provide the only practical, expeditious option for
the (FEMA) director to field a cohesive team of his best people to handle
the next big one," wrote William Carwile, one of FEMA's federal coordinating
officers." ... "Carwile told Senate aides in a meeting this week that his
memo largely was ignored at FEMA's headquarters, as were four budget requests
over an 18-month period for money for the teams."-AP
via -CBSNews
Iran
- Military
- Disaster
- "More
than 100 killed in Tehran plane crash." ... "At least
110 are dead after an Iranian military aircraft crashed into a 10-storey
building in a densely populated district of Tehran [Iran] on Tuesday."
... "According to reports, the C-130 transport plane crashed into the building
while trying to make an emergency landing at Mehrabad international airport
and exploded in a ball of fire." -CTV.ca
Pakistan
- Earthquake
- Disaster
- Flying
- "Pakistan
Earthquake Aid Flights Interrupted by Winter Storms."
... "Winter storms in Pakistan's mountainous Kashmir region forced relief
organizations to interrupt helicopter flights bringing aid to more than
3 million people left homeless by last month's earthquake." ... "Flights
carrying supplies to villages above 1,500 meters (5,000 feet) were suspended
over two days beginning on Nov. 26, the International Organization for
Migration said in an e-mailed statement late yesterday from Pakistan's
capital, Islamabad. More bad weather is forecast for the rest of this week,
it said." -By Khalid Qayum and Paul Tighe -Bloomberg
Pat
Robertson
- Pennsylvania
- 
School
- Science
- Disaster
- 
TV
- Politics
- "Evangelist
says voters reject God: A US Christian evangelist
has told a Pennsylvania town not to ask for God's help if disaster strikes
after it voted against teaching intelligent design." ... "On Tuesday, Dover
[Pennsylvania] voters ousted the local school board, which had tried to
introduce the concept as an alternative to the theory evolution." ... "Pat
Robertson told his TV show that the town had turned its back on God." ...
""I'd like to say to the good citizens of Dover: If there is a disaster
in your area, don't turn to God, you just rejected Him from your city,"
Mr Robertson said on The 700 Club." ... "The founder of the conservative
Christian Broadcasting Network and Christian Coalition has faced criticism
for past provocative statements." ... "Following his comments on Thursday,
Mr Robertson issued a statement saying that he was simply trying to point
out that "our spiritual actions have consequences"" ... ""If they have
future problems in Dover, I recommend they call on Charles Darwin. Maybe
he can help them.""-BBC
/News
Pakistan
- UN
- "Death
Toll in South Asia Quake at 87,350." ... "One month
after South Asia's massive Oct. 8 earthquake, the regional death toll jumped
to 87,350 Tuesday following a new count of Pakistan's casualties, officials
said." ... "The U.N. stepped up its appeals for more money to help victims
centered in Pakistan's portion of Kashmir, urging donors to be as generous
as with other recent disasters and saying it urgently needs $42.4 million
to keep bringing help through November." -By Sadaqat
Jan -AP via
-Guardian.co.uk
Indiana
- Kentucky
- Disaster
- History
- "Indiana
Assesses Damages After Deadliest Tornado in 55 Years."
... "Rescue workers in southern Indiana and western Kentucky began to clear
debris and assess the damage left by the region's deadliest tornado in
more than half a century, which killed 22 people as it ripped apart mobile
homes." ... "The twister touched down in Evansville, Indiana, around 2
a.m. local time yesterday, after crossing the Ohio River from Henderson,
Kentucky. This tornado caused the most deaths in a single twister in the
58 counties covered by the National Weather Service's Paducah, Kentucky,
office since before 1950, said meteorologist Beverly Poole." -By
Heather Burke -Bloomberg
Pakistan
- 
People- Earthquake
- History
- Homes
- "Pakistan
seeks more medical aid as quake toll rises." ...
"Pakistan appealed for antibiotics and painkillers on Tuesday as it raised
the toll from last month's devasting earthquake to 57,597 killed and nearly
79,000 injured." ... "The updated figures from Pakistan Federal Relief
Commission brought the total official toll from the disaster to nearly
59,000 -- including 1,309 confirmed deaths and 6,622 injuries on on the
Indian side of the devasted Kashmir region." ... "At 7.6 magnitude, the
quake was the strongest to hit the South Asian region in 100 years. It
destroyed huge numbers of houses and left more than three million people
homeless or in need of emergency shelter with a brutal winter just weeks
away." -By Robert Birsel with contributions by David
Brunnstrom -Reuters
via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
Pakistan
- Earthquake
- Weather
- US
- Military
- "Worsening
weather threatens more misery for Pakistan quake survivors."
... "The U.S. military promised to keep flying helicopter relief missions
to help survivors of Pakistan's worst earthquake through the harsh winter,
as a bleak weather forecast for Tuesday loomed over hundreds of thousands
of people living without shelter." ... "With the brutal Himalayan winter
approaching, the relief effort is rushing to deliver tents, food and medicine
to victims of the Oct. 8 quake before villages are cut off by snow and
helicopter-grounding fog." (1, 2)
-By Zarar Khan -AP
via -Canada.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Hurricane
Wilma - Disaster
- Politics
- "FEMA
Extends Ex-Chief's Contract." ... "The former head
of the Federal Emergency Management Agency on Wednesday defended the agency's
decision to keep him on the job another 30 days as a "completely legitimate
thing to do."" ... "Michael Brown, who resigned under fire Sept. 12 after
being heavily criticized for the federal government's slow reaction to
the hurricane, told The Associated Press that he would help the agency
complete its review of the response to Hurricane Katrina." ... "Brown initially
was permitted to stay on the FEMA payroll for 30 days at his $148,000 annual
salary. Chertoff defended the decision to extend Brown's employment for
another 30 days during an interview Wednesday as he flew to view Hurricane
Wilma's damage in Florida." -AP
via -CBSNews
Pakistan
- Earthquake
- Disaster
- UN
- "Pakistan
quake toll could double without swift help." ...
"More people could die of hunger, cold and injuries in the wake of Pakistan's
earthquake than during it unless rich countries meeting in Geneva come
up with more money fast, a top U.N. aid official said on Wednesday." ...
""The disaster is looming large. We have thousands and thousands of very
vulnerable people," U.N. chief aid coordinator Rashid Khalikov said hours
before 65 nations were due to meet at the United Nations in Geneva to talk
about how to help." ... ""This disaster may have the number of people who
died after the disaster bigger than those killed by the earthquake," he
said outside his tent office in the destroyed Pakistani Kashmir capital
of Muzzafarabad." (1, 2)
-By Robert Birsel -Reuters
UN
- Pakistan
- Earthquake
- People
- Health
- "U.N.:
Berlin-Type Airlift Needed in Asia." ... "The top
U.N. relief coordinator warned Thursday that bold initiatives like the
Berlin Airlift are needed to save as many as 3 million people left homeless
by the South Asian earthquake as winter approaches in the Himalayas." ...
"The World Health Organization, meanwhile, reported three quake survivors
died of tetanus, reinforcing fears that disease and infected injuries could
drive the 79,000 death toll far higher." ... "Jan Egeland, the U.N. relief
coordinator, appealed to NATO and other potential donors to step in with
an army of helicopters to fly in relief supplies and evacuate perhaps hundreds
of thousands of people." -By Munir Ahmad
-AP via -SFGate.com
Pakistan
- Earthquake
- Disaster
- "Number
of dead in Pakistan over 79,000." ... "A series of
fresh landslides have been triggered by two strong aftershocks from south
Asia's earthquake, inflicting more damage on the already hard-hit cities
of Balakot and Muzaffarabad in northern Pakistan." ... "The 5.8-magnitude
aftershock struck 129 kilometres north of Islamabad, near the epicentre
of the first earthquake, and was strong enough to be felt in the capital."
... "It was followed less than an hour later by another strong tremor measuring
5.6." ... "But the suffering continues and now officials, using figures
from local governments and hospital sources, are projecting the number
of dead from the disaster at over 79,000."
-CBC.ca
Pakistan
- Earthquake
- Parents
- People
- School
- Psychology
- "Grim
future for young quake survivors: Schoolchildren
learn to cope with losing classmates." ... "Imagine being the only child
in class to survive after friends and teachers were all buried beneath
the rubble." ... "This is the scenario now facing young student Mohammad
Waseem after his school in Muzaffarabad [Pakistani-controlled Kashmir]
was destroyed by the South Asia earthquake." ... "Children were among the
hardest hit by the disaster since many were in school when the magnitude
7.6 tremor struck." -By Matthew Chance
-AP -CNN
Pakistan
- Earthquake- Disaster
- Homes
- UN
- Food
- "Aid
still failing to reach most of Pakistan's 4m earthquake survivors."
... "Humanitarian aid has reached only a small proportion of the 4m people
whose homes have been destroyed or damaged by the devastating earthquake
that struck Pakistan four days ago, according to a disaster assessment
by UN officials." ... ""This is a huge catastrophe and the more we see
the worse it's getting," said Andrew Macleod, a member of the UN's disaster
assessment team, yesterday. "It's no criticism of Pakistan to say that
it's only a small proportion of the affected population that has received
any aid, and that there are areas that may not for some time."" ... "The
UN yesterday appealed for $272m (€225m, £150m) to support its
efforts for six months, of which $62.5m would be spent on shelter and non-food
items and $50m on food. It said strong aftershocks had left survivors afraid
to go back inside damaged houses and many preferring to sleep in fields."
-By Jo Johnson and Farhan Bokhari
-FT.com
Pakistan
- 
India
- Earthquake
- Disaster
- "Disease
threat for quake zone: Top U.S. diplomat will visit
Pakistan." ... "Weather is hampering relief efforts to survivors of the
deadliest quake in South Asia for a century, as health experts warn the
Himalayan region could become a fertile breeding ground for disease." ...
"Millions of people remain homeless in the mountainous areas of northern
Pakistan and India following the quake, which is estimated to have claimed
more than 41,000 people." ... "As Wednesday arrived, new threats loomed
for the people left without shelter following the quake; international
health experts warned of potential disease threats from the devastated
public sanitation systems." -With contributions by
Andrew Stevens, Satinder Bindra, Matthew Chance, Ram Ramgopal, Becky Anderson,
Syed Mohsin Naqvi, John Raedler, Mukhtar Ahmed, Tom Coghlan and
-AP -CNN
Pakistan
- India
- Earthquake
- Disaster
- "Food
arrives as toll tops 42,000." ... "The death toll
from the massive South Asia earthquake soared above 42,000 as the first
trickle of humanitarian aid began to flow into the region, authorities
said." ... "Meanwhile, 120 metric tons of ready-to-eat food arrived Tuesday,
enough to feed 240,000 people for five days, a World Food Programme spokesman
told CNN." ... "Another 80 million metric tons of food aid is in the pipeline,
Amjad Jamal said." ... "But he acknowledged the need was great and said
appeals were being made to the international community for additional donations
of food, supplies and money." ... "Even with many far-flung areas still
not reached, the death toll has hit 41,000 in Pakistan alone, with another
1,239 dead in India and one reported death in Afghanistan, officials have
said." -By Andrew Stevens, Satinder Bindra, Matthew
Chance, Ram Ramgopal, Syed Mohsin Naqvi and John Raedler with contributions
by Mukhtar Ahmed and Tom Coghlan -CNN
Pakistan
- India
- Earthquake
- People
- Military
- "Quake
relief fights tough terrain: The Asian temblor is
being described as the worst disaster in Pakistan's history." ... "Relief
workers and military officials on both sides of the border in the Himalayan
region of Kashmir struggled to reach hundreds of villages cut off by the
worst earthquake to hit this region in a century. Estimates of the death
toll ranged Monday between 20,000 and 30,000. Relief agencies have put
out a massive appeal for food, tents, and medicines for an estimated 2.5
million people who are thought to be homeless - a number similar in scope
to the Indian Ocean tsunami." ... "Just as Americans voiced anger at the
slow response of emergency relief agencies in the wake of hurricane Katrina,
many Kashmiris in both the Indian and Pakistani portions of the divided
territory decried what they called a slow emergency response." ... "The
earthquake of Oct. 8 could be a crucial test of both the military-dominated
government of President Pervez Musharraf, as well as renewed peace efforts
between India and Pakistan, who both claim the quake-ravaged state of Kashmir."
-By Scott Baldauf and Laura Winter with contributions
by Anuj Chopra -CSMonitor
Secret
- US
- 
Philippines
- Emergency
- Leandro
Aragoncillo
- 
Dick
Cheney
- Government
- Military
- Intelligence
- Police
- Politics
- 
New
Jersey - Law
- "Spy
Probe Widens to Years Suspect Was at White House:
Ex-Marine Allegedly Sent Files to Philippine Opposition." ... "The Justice
Department is investigating whether a naturalized U.S. citizen from the
Philippines stole classified documents while he worked in the office of
[Republican] Vice President Cheney and provided the information to opposition
politicians in Manila [Philippines capital], [Republican] Bush administration
officials said yesterday." ... "The possibility that Leandro Aragoncillo
was passing the material while stationed as a U.S. Marine security official
at the White House marks a dramatic expansion of the case against him and
a former Philippine police official, Michael Ray Aquino. Both were arrested
and charged in federal court in Newark [New Jersey] last month with sending
classified information obtained this year to the Philippines -- more than
two years after Aragoncillo left the White House and went to work as an
FBI intelligence analyst." ... "Officials from the White House, Justice
Department and FBI declined to comment late yesterday, other than to confirm
that Aragoncillo first went to work at the White House in 1999, when [Democratic
Vice President] Al Gore was vice president. ABC News reported last night
that Aragoncillo had admitted taking classified documents while he worked
in Cheney's office." ... "Joseph Estrada, the former Philippine president
who was forced from office four years ago by mass demonstrations, has acknowledged
receiving documents from Aragoncillo while the suspect was still in the
Marines." ... "A document from late July reportedly detailed coup discussions
at a secret conclave of about two dozen young army and naval officers in
Manila. Another account, citing a clandestine source, described Arroyo
calling an emergency meeting of her commanding generals to ensure their
backing." (1, 2,
3)
-By Dan Eggen and Alan Sipress
-WashingtonPost
Government- Military
- Police
- Disaster- Terrorism
- Politics
- "GI's
as postdisaster police? Think again." ... "The US
military has long done more than fight wars. It's built roads, run jobs
programs, snagged drug dealers, integrated schools, created the Internet,
and provided hurricane relief. Why? It's seen as the government's only
lean, mean, can-do machine." ... "Now President Bush asks if the military
should also take the lead in domestic disasters, even serving as police
- conducting arrests, searches, and seizures of American citizens." ...
"But such concerns would not even need to be raised if Mr. Bush and Congress
simply challenged an unspoken assumption: that the United States is incapable
of having an organization that can act as effectively and efficiently in
a time of major crisis as can the Army, Navy, Air Force, Marines, and Coast
Guard." ... "With the possibility of more frequent and powerful hurricanes
as well as a major terrorist attack on a US city, the country needs a force
dedicated specifically to disasters, but it's not the military."-CSMonitor
New
York
- Michigan
- Travel
- Water
- Transportation
- Seniors-
"21
Dead After Tour Boat Sinks." ... "A seemingly ideal
day of sailing along a calm but busy mountain lake turned abruptly tragic
Sunday when a tour boat carrying a group of senior citizens overturned,
killing 21 people and injuring dozens more." ... "The 40-foot boat was
carrying a tour group from the Trenton, Mich., area, and was sailing just
north of the village of Lake George, a popular tourist destination about
50 miles north of Albany [New York] in the Adirondack Mountains. With calm
waters, clear skies and temperatures in the 70s, it seemed perfect boating
weather." (1, 2)
-AP via
-CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- "FEMA
Discontinues $2,000-a-Household Benefit." ... "The
Federal Emergency Management Agency has discontinued its $2,000-per-household
emergency assistance program for victims of Hurricane Katrina, switching
to a more regimented aid package intended to encourage families to leave
shelters." ... "In the aftermath of the storm, FEMA gave displaced families
a payment of $2,000, saying they could use the money for clothing, food
or rental housing. More than 752,000 households signed up, collecting just
over $1.5 billion, officials said." -By Eric Lipton
-NYTimes
Hurricane
Katrina - LA
- MS- AL
- FL
- GA
- TX
- Disaster
- Weather
- History
- "Morgue
boss: 'These are horrible times': Katrina qualifies
as the third deadliest storm in U.S. history." ... "Louisiana's death toll
stood Wednesday at 896. Katrina has claimed a total of 1,130 lives in Louisiana,
Mississippi, Alabama, Florida and Georgia -- making it the third deadliest
storm in U.S. history." ... "A Category 4 storm killed an estimated 8,000
people in Galveston, Texas, in 1900. Another storm killed 1,836 people
in South Florida 28 years later." -CNN
Louisiana
- New
Orleans - Hurricane
Katrina - Television
- "Katrina
Takes a Toll on Truth, News Accuracy: Rumors supplanted
accurate information and media magnified the problem. Rapes, violence and
estimates of the dead were wrong." ... ""It [the Louisiana Superdome] just
morphed into this mythical place where the most unthinkable deeds were
being done," [National Guard spokesman Major Ed] Bush said Monday of the
Superdome." ... "His assessment is one of several in recent days to conclude
that newspapers and television exaggerated criminal behavior in the wake
of Hurricane Katrina, particularly at the overcrowded Superdome and Convention
Center." ... "The New Orleans Times-Picayune on Monday described inflated
body counts, unverified "rapes," and unconfirmed sniper attacks as among
examples of "scores of myths about the dome and Convention Center treated
as fact by evacuees, the media and even some of New Orleans' top officials.""
(1, 2)
-By Susannah Rosenblatt and James Rainey with contributions
by Scott Gold
-LAtimes
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans - Government
- Disaster
- "Brown
Shifts Blame for Katrina Response." ... "Former FEMA
director Michael Brown blamed others for most government failures in responding
to Hurricane Katrina on Tuesday, especially Louisiana Gov. Kathleen Blanco
and New Orleans Mayor Ray Nagin. He aggressively defended his own role."
... "Brown also said that in the days before the storm, he expressed his
concerns that ``this is going to be a bad one'' in phone conversations
and e-mails with President Bush, White House chief of staff Andy Card and
deputy chief of staff Joe Hagin." ... "And he blamed the Department of
Homeland Security - the parent agency for the Federal Emergency Management
Agency - for not acquiring better equipment ahead of the storm." -By
Lara Jakes Jordan -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
Florida- Weather
- Hurricane
Katrina - Hurricane
Rita - Medical
- 
Nuclear
- MIL
- Disaster
- "AP:
Report Warned of Hurricane Health Woes." ... "Eight
months before the devastation of hurricanes Katrina and Rita, an internal
Homeland Security Department review warned that the nation was woefully
unprepared for a medical disaster and lacked a coherent plan for taking
charge of mass casualties." ... "Government medical teams had difficulty
coordinating and delivering help during 2004 hurricanes in Florida, said
the report obtained by The Associated Press. The report also said there
was inadequate planning for dealing with a surge of patients during a disaster
like a biological or nuclear attack." ... "It called for creation of a
uniformed medical reserve corps, including specialists, fashioned after
the National Guard." -By Cheryl Wittenauer
-AP via-WashingtonPost
Netherlands
- US
- New
Orleans - LA
-
-
- "Dutch
Can Relate to New Orleans Disaster: Netherlands Toughened
Dams, Levees After Deadly 1953 Storm." ... "Half of the Netherlands sits
below sea level, so the tragedy in New Orleans hits home with the Dutch."
... "They have been through it themselves: In 1953, a huge flood in the
Netherlands killed nearly 2,000 people and left 70,000 homeless." ... "The
flood led to dramatic changes. The Netherlands spent $8 billion over 30
years fortifying the coastline with a sophisticated system of dikes, dams
and levees." ... "Ted Sluiter, a spokesman for Waterland Neeltje Jans,
a recreational park and information center set up at the base of a major
dam, said the hydraulic sea wall that is considered the crown jewel of
the system would protect the country against all but a biblical flood.
The dam is constructed in a way that protects the region's wetlands, environmentally-sensitive
areas that serve as natural storm buffers." (1, 2)
-Originally reported by David Wright for "World News
Tonight" on Sept. 11, 2005 -ABCNEWS.com
Alabama
- Arizona
- Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
-
-
- "Looking
for a Corpse to Make a Case: Senators look for a
wealthy casualty of Katrina as evidence against the estate tax." ... "Federal
troops aren't the only ones looking for bodies on the Gulf Coast. On Sept.
9, Alabama Senator Jeff Sessions called his old law professor Harold Apolinsky,
co-author of Sessions' legislation repealing the federal estate tax, which
was encountering sudden resistance on the Hill. Sessions had an idea to
revitalize their cause, which he left on Apolinsky's voice mail: "[Arizona
Sen.] Jon Kyl and I were talking about the estate tax. If we knew anybody
that owned a business that lost life in the storm, that would be something
we could push back with."" ... "If legislative ambulance chasing looks
like a desperate measure, for the backers of repealing the estate tax,
these are desperate times. Just three weeks ago, their long-sought goal
of repeal seemed within reach, but Katrina dashed their hopes when Republican
leaders put off an expected vote." -By Massimo Calbresi
with contributions by Amanda Ripley
-TIME.com
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Disaster
- "President
Discusses Hurricane Relief in Address to the Nation."
[Below are selected portions of US President George W. Bush's speech from
New Orleans, Louisiana]: ... "The Department of Homeland Security is registering
evacuees who are now in shelters and churches, or private homes, whether
in the Gulf region or far away. I have signed an order providing immediate
assistance to people from the disaster area. As of today, more than 500,000
evacuee families have gotten emergency help to pay for food, clothing,
and other essentials. Evacuees who have not yet registered should contact
FEMA or the Red Cross. We need to know who you are, because many of you
will be eligible for broader assistance in the future. Many families were
separated during the evacuation, and we are working to help you reunite.
Please call this number: 1-877-568-3317 -- that's 1-877-568-3317 -- and
we will work to bring your family back together, and pay for your travel
to reach them."
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- NY
- VT
- GOV
- "Senate
kills bid for Katrina commission." ... "Senate Republicans
on Wednesday scuttled an attempt by Sen. Hillary Clinton to establish an
independent, bipartisan panel patterned after the 9/11 Commission to investigate
what went wrong with federal, state and local governments' response to
Hurricane Katrina." ... "The New York Democrat's bid to establish the panel
— which would have also made recommendations on how to improve the government's
disaster response apparatus — failed to win the two-thirds majority needed
to overcome procedural hurdles. Clinton got only 44 votes, all from Democrats
and independent Sen. Jim Jeffords of Vermont. Fifty-four Republicans all
voted no." ... "In a CNN/USA Today Gallup poll taken Sept. 8-11 [2005],
70% of those surveyed supported an independent panel to investigate the
government's response to Katrina. Only 29% were opposed."
-AP via -USATODAY
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans - NY
- FL
-
-
- "Regional
death toll reaches 648." ... "The death toll in the
aftermath of Hurricane Katrina has continued to swell, reaching 648 on
Wednesday, making this possibly the third-deadliest storm ever to slam
into the United States." ... "The regionwide death toll has surpassed that
of the fourth-worst storm in U.S. history, an unnamed hurricane that devastated
the New England and New York coast in 1938, killing 600. The third-worst
hurricane raked the Florida Keys in 1919, killing 600 to 900 people, including
500 on ships at sea." ... "The crews going house-to-house in New Orleans
[Louisiana] have moved almost entirely from rescue to body recovery. But
16 days after the hurricane, a national guard crew did find and rescue
a 74-year-old man, dehydrated and barely alive, after spotting, through
a window, his foot hanging over the end of a couch." -By
Brian Knowlton -IHT.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
-
-
- "President
Says He's Responsible in Storm Lapses." ... "President
Bush said on Tuesday that he bore responsibility for any failures of the
federal government in its response to Hurricane Katrina and suggested that
he was unsure whether the country was adequately prepared for another catastrophic
storm or terrorist attack." ... ""Katrina exposed serious problems in our
response capability at all levels of government, and to the extent that
the federal government didn't fully do its job right, I take responsibility,"
Mr. Bush said in an appearance in the East Room with President Jalal Talabani
of Iraq. "I want to know what went right and what went wrong."" ... "In
response to a reporter who asked if Americans, in the wake of the hurricane,
should be concerned about the government's ability to respond to another
disaster or a terrorist attack, Mr. Bush said: "I want to know how to better
cooperate with state and local government, to be able to answer that very
question that you asked: Are we capable of dealing with a severe attack
or another severe storm? And that's a very important question."" -By
Elisabeth Bumiller and Richard W. Stevenson
-NYTimes
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- GOV
- MIL
- Transportation
- Politics
- Tennessee
- "FEMA
Convoy Gets Ice to Cities Not in Need." ... "About
200 tractor-trailer trucks with ice and water for victims of Hurricane
Katrina took a convoluted, weeklong trip to a storage depot in Memphis
[Tennessee], partly because of what the U.S. Army Corps of Engineers called
``miscommunication.''" ... "The drivers were sent to cities that didn't
end up needing water or ice and were final directed to Memphis, said Corps
spokesman Bob Anderson." -By Woody Baird
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana
- New
Orleans - GOV
- 
Media- Politics
- "U.S.
won't ban media from New Orleans searches: CNN filed
suit for right to cover search for bodies of Katrina victims." ... "Rather
than fight a lawsuit by CNN, the federal government abandoned its effort
Saturday to prevent the media from reporting on the recovery of the dead
in New Orleans." ... "Joint Task Force Katrina "has no plans to bar, impede
or prevent news media from their news gathering and reporting activities
in connection with the deceased Hurricane Katrina victim recovery efforts,"
said Col. Christian E. deGraff, representing the task force." ... "U.S.
District Court Judge Keith Ellison issued a temporary restraining order
Friday against a "zero access" policy announced earlier in the day by Army
Lt. Gen. Russel Honore, who is overseeing the federal relief effort in
the city, and Terry Ebbert, the city's homeland security director."
-CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- "FEMA's
Brown Resigns in Wake of Hurricane Response (Update1)."
... "Michael Brown resigned as director of the Federal Emergency Management
Agency three days after being ousted from the Hurricane Katrina relief
effort because of protests over his handling of the U.S.'s worst natural
disaster." ... "Brown, 50, had come under fire from congressional lawmakers
because of his lack of credentials and for what many described as a sluggish
federal response to the hurricane." ... "Brown became a lightning rod for
criticism partly because he had few qualifications for emergency management
when he came to FEMA as deputy director in 2001. He became director in
2003. From 1991 to 2001 he was a commissioner for the International Arabian
Horse Association, according to a 2001 White House announcement." -By
Michael Forsythe -Bloomberg
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Politics
-"Firms
with White House ties get Katrina contracts: FEMA
taps Halliburton subsidiary, Shaw Group, Bechtel for cleanup." ... "Companies
with ties to the Bush White House and the former head of FEMA are clinching
some of the administration's first disaster relief and reconstruction contracts
in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina." ... "At least two major corporate
clients of lobbyist Joe Allbaugh, President Bush's former campaign manager
and a former head of the Federal Emergency Management Agency, have already
been tapped to start recovery work along the battered Gulf Coast." ...
"One is Shaw Group Inc. and the other is Halliburton Co. subsidiary Kellogg
Brown and Root. Vice President Dick Cheney is a former head of Halliburton."
-Reuters via -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- "Shake-up
at FEMA sends chief back to D.C.." ... "The Bush
administration returned the chief of the Federal Emergency Management Agency
to Washington on Friday amid widespread criticism of his oversight of the
federal response to the hurricane catastrophe along the Gulf Coast." ...
""Brownie, you're doing a heck of a job," President Bush told appointee
Michael Brown on Sept. 2 during a tour of the crippled region." ... "But
with many members of Congress calling for Brown to be fired, Homeland Security
Secretary Michael Chertoff on Friday appointed Coast Guard Vice Adm. Thad
Allen to replace Brown as the principal federal official overseeing the
government response in the affected states." -By Julie
Mason -HoustonChronicle.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
-
- "How
Reliable Is Brown's Resume? A TIME investigation
reveals discrepancies in the FEMA chief's official biographies." ... "Before
joining FEMA, his [Federal Emergency Management Agency director Michael
Brown's] only previous stint in emergency management, according to his
bio
posted on FEMA's website, was "serving as an assistant city manager
with emergency services oversight." The
White House press release from 2001 stated that Brown worked for the
city of Edmond, Okla., from 1975 to 1978 "overseeing the emergency services
division." In fact, according to Claudia Deakins, head of public relations
for the city of Edmond, Brown was an "assistant to the city manager" from
1977 to 1980, not a manager himself, and had no authority over other employees.
"The assistant is more like an intern," she told TIME. "Department heads
did not report to him."" -By Daren Fonda and Rita
Healy with contributions by Jeremy Caplan, Carolina A. Miranda, Nathan
Thornburgh, Levi Clark, Massimo Calabresi, and Mark Thompson -TIME.com
- Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
- Photos-
- "Journalist
Groups Protest FEMA Ban on Photos of Dead." ... "Forced
to defend what some critics consider its slow response to the devastation
caused by Hurricane Katrina, the Federal Emergency Management Agency said
on Tuesday it does not want the news media to take photographs of the dead
as they are recovered from New Orleans [Louisiana]." ... "FEMA, which is
leading the rescue efforts, rejected requests from journalists to accompany
rescue boats as they went out to search for storm victims, Reuters reported."
... "Rebecca Daugherty of the Reporters Committee for Freedom of the Press
said: "The notion that, when there's very little information from FEMA,
that they would even spend the time to be concerned about whether the reporting
effort is up to its standards of taste is simply mind-boggling. You cannot
report on the disaster and give the public a realistic idea of how horrible
it is if you don't see that there are bodies as well."" -EditorAndPublisher.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Mississippi
- "Damage
control of another kind: In the aftermath of Hurricane
Katrina, a political blame game." ... "On all fronts Thursday, it was administration
damage control." ... "Vice President Dick Cheney was dispatched to tour
the hurricane zone, where he explained, "The president asked me to come
down to take a look at things to begin to focus on the longer term."" ...
"At a school in Mississippi, it was first lady Laura Bush defending the
government's response to Katrina. "I think we've seen a lot of the same
footage over and over that isn't necessarily representative of what really
happened in both - in a lot of ways," she said. "Overall, it was a very
good response."" -David Gregory
-MSNBC
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- TX
- "Katrina
evokes memories of long ago in Galveston." ... "The
same beaches lined today with blue and purple umbrellas and full of children
frolicking in the surf were on Sept. 8, 1900 - exactly 105 years ago today
- the site of the deadliest natural disaster in all of U.S. history." ...
"A hurricane without a name but of about the same strength as Katrina overran
the entire island, leveled thousands of buildings and killed at least 6,000
men, women and children." ... "Although the Galveston storm does not loom
as large as some other disasters in the nation's consciousness, a book
by Stephen J. Spignesi titled "The 100 Greatest Disasters of All Time"
points out that the death total was higher than the number of people killed
in the Johnstown flood, the San Francisco earthquake, the 1938 New England
hurricane and the Great Chicago Fire combined."
-JSOnline
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
-
- "Poll:
Katrina sparks shift in American priorities: Majority
says Bush's focus should be on domestic issues." ... "Hurricane Katrina
has made Americans heartsick. They're depressed about the images of destruction
and despair they see from the storm zone and they increasingly want President
Bush to shift his attention toward home, a poll released Thursday found."
... "More than half of Americans now say it is more important for the president
to focus on domestic policy - the first time since Sept. 11, 2001 that
domestic matters have been viewed as a higher priority than the war on
terrorism in polling by the Pew Research Center." ... "Two-thirds said
the president could have done more to get relief efforts going quickly,
according to the survey." -AP
via -MSNBC
- Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Photos
- Free
Speech -
-
- "Media
groups say FEMA censors search for bodies." ... "When
U.S. [FEMA: Federal Emergency Management Agency] officials asked the media
not to take pictures of those killed by Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath,
they were censoring a key part of the disaster story, free speech watchdogs
said on Wednesday." ... ""It's impossible for me to imagine how you report
a story whose subject is death without allowing the public to see images
of the subject of the story," said Larry Siems of the PEN American Center,
an authors' group that defends free expression." ... ""This is about managing
images and not public taste or human dignity," [Columbia University's journalism
school's Project for Excellence in Journalism director Tom] Rosenstiel
said." (1, 2)
-By Deborah Zabarenko
-Reuters
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- "Bush
Promises to Seek Answers to Failures of Hurricane Relief."
... "Under relentless political fire over the federal response to Hurricane
Katrina, President Bush on Tuesday tried to steer the public debate toward
progress in the region, promising to investigate earlier stumbles, as anxious
lawmakers returned to the Capitol pledging inquiries of their own and aid
money for the storm victims." ... "Mr. Bush also resisted renewed calls
to fire Michael D. Brown, the director of FEMA, who became a lightning
rod for attacks last week when he said he was unaware of a crisis at the
New Orleans convention center, news of which had been televised for days.
Instead, Mr. Bush accused critics of playing the "blame game" and said
he would remain focused on the immediate crisis as evacuees fanned out
across the country." -By Anne E. Kornblut and Carl
Hulse -NYTimes
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- New
Orleans - Louisiana
- -
-
-
-
- "Katrina
Takes Environmental Toll: Warning Issued On Water;
Federal Probes Of Relief Loom." ... "The dank and putrid floodwaters choking
this once-gracious city [New Orleans, Louisiana] are so poisoned with gasoline,
industrial chemicals, feces and other contaminants that even casual contact
is hazardous and safe drinking water may not be available for the entire
population for years to come, state and federal officials warned Tuesday."
... "As hundreds of police officers, emergency workers and volunteers waded
through flooded neighborhoods trying to coax remaining residents from their
ruined homes, health officials offered the first tentative assessments
of the environmental damage wrought by Hurricane Katrina and its resulting
floods: They ranged from contaminated water to the destruction of coastline
that acts as a buffer against hurricanes and other severe weather." ...
"State officials also released new tallies of Katrina's destruction, with
up to 160,000 homes in Louisiana destroyed and nearly 190,000 public school
students displaced by the storm and its aftermath." (1, 2,
3)
-By Timothy Dwyer, Jacqueline L. Salmon, and Dan Eggen
with contributions by David Brown, Juliet Eilperin, Michael A. Fletcher,
Spencer S. Hsu, Shankar Vedantam and Lucy Shackelford -WashingtonPost
-
- 
- 
- 
- Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- "Offers
of Aid Immediate, but U.S. Acceptance Delayed for Days."
... "Offers of foreign aid worth tens of millions of dollars -- including
a Swedish water purification system, a German cellular telephone network
and two Canadian rescue ships -- have been delayed for days awaiting review
by backlogged federal agencies, according to European diplomats and information
collected by the State Department." ... "Since Hurricane Katrina, more
than 90 countries and international organizations offered to assist in
recovery efforts for the flood-stricken region, but nearly all endeavors
remained mired yesterday in bureaucratic entanglements, in most cases,
at the Federal Emergency Management Agency." -By Elizabeth
Williamson-WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Animals
- Pets
- TX-
- "Pets
Homeless, Too, After Katrina." ... "Tales of survival
coming out of New Orleans include the rescue of dogs, cats and other family
pets that had to be abandoned by families fleeing the rising water." ...
"Evacuees transported from Louisiana to Texas were not allowed to take
their pets with them. Some were forced to leave their pets on the side
of the road while they boarded buses. Others were lucky enough to hide
small pets in their shirts, pants and bags." ... "Nearly 400 animals arrived
this way. Once passengers arrived at the Astrodome, however, they were
not allowed inside with pets. The Houston SPCA sent volunteers to meet
the buses and take the pets back to its shelter until the owners could
care for them again."
-CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - New
Orleans - Louisiana
- Animals
- Pets
-
- TX
-
- "Sad
story of boy and his dog grips nation." ... "Among
the thousands of crushing moments from last week's deadly hurricane, one
image brought the anguish home to many: a tearful little boy torn from
his dog while being shuttled to safety." ... "It tugged at the heartstrings,
prompting an outpouring from around the country of people on the hunt for
both the boy and his dog Snowball in hopes of a reunion." ... "The boy
was among the thousands sheltered at the [New Orleans, Louisiana] Superdome
after the hurricane. But when he went to board a bus to be evacuated to
Houston [Texas], a police officer took the dog away. The boy cried out
-- "Snowball! Snowball!" -- then vomited in distress. The confrontation
was first reported by The Associated Press. Authorities say they don't
know where the boy or his family ended up." ... "Many of the animals --
dogs, cats, ferrets and birds -- that police collected at the Superdome
were herded into a stairwell until the human evacuation was complete. Of
the 50 animals rescued from the Superdome on Sunday, not all of them survived."
-By Matt Sedensky with contributions by Paul J. Weber
and Brian Skoloff -AP
via -Boston/Globe
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
-
-
-
- "Thousands
assess damage; 10,000 urged to leave city: Search
for survivors, bodies continues; toll still unknown." ... "As thousands
streamed back into the city's suburbs to assess the damage to their homes,
authorities pleaded with the estimated 10,000 remaining in flooded areas
of New Orleans [Louisiana] to get out of a city that was, in the words
of the deputy police chief, destroyed by ''the greatest catastrophe on
American soil."" ... "As police in boats conducted a building-to-building
search for survivors and bodies, New Orleans Mayor C. Ray Nagin said he
thought the death toll could rise as high as 10,000. [Louisiana] Governor
Kathleen Blanco said ''several thousand" could be dead. But with the official
body count at 71, authorities said it would be weeks before an accurate
death toll could be established." -By Kevin Cullen
and Keith O'Brien -Boston/Globe
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- Louisiana
- TX
-
-
- "4,000
evacuees in Houston to be relocated to cruise ships."
... "The transfer of about 4,000 Katrina evacuees from Houston [Texas]
to cruise ships in Galveston is expected to begin later today, officials
announced late Monday." ... "Under criteria set by Louisiana Gov. Kathleen
Blanco, evacuees age 60 and over will have the top priority for the transfer
to the ships, said Tom Costello of the Federal Emergency Management Agency."
... "Next in line are single guardians with children ages 4 and younger,
followed by single guardians of children ages 8 and younger, and ages 12
and younger." ... "The ships will not sail but will remain docked in Galveston,
officials said." -By Carol Christian
-HoustonChronicle.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- New
Orleans -
- Animals
- Pets
-
- "Pet
rescue in New Orleans is gathering steam." ... "With
progress made in evacuating people from New Orleans [Louisiana], some are
turning their attention to other living creatures affected by the flooding
-- pets." ... "People left thousands of dogs, cats and other family pets
behind in the rush to escape either Hurricane Katrina or the flooding that
followed." ... "Many of those animals sit forlornly on the rooftops of
flooded homes, slowly starving to death as rescue boats ignore them, looking
for people instead. Some have even tried swimming to boats, only to be
rebuffed by the rescuers." ... "One fear is that after seven days in the
hot sun, with no food and drinking nothing but polluted water, the dogs
might be dangerous." ... "On dry land, stray dogs have formed packs to
scavenge the city for food." -With contributions by
Jed Kahane and Paul Bliss -CTV.ca
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disasters
-
- "Gulf
Coast Grimly Counts Its Losses: Officials fear thousands
killed by Katrina. Surviviors: Rescuers in boats search reeking city [New
Orleans, Louisiana]." ... "James Christesson, the boat captain, has been
steering it through waters laced with raw sewage and spilled fuel. Bottles,
garbage cans, sunken cars and wooden chairs have scraped against the boat's
flat bottom. The city smells foul. The reek of low tide clashes with the
stench of decomposing flesh." ... "The thousands of refugees who filled
the Convention Center and the Superdome are gone. The only people left
in the city are those who chose to stay, those who have been unable to
get out of their homes and those who died trying. Thousands may be dead."
-By Anna Badkhen with contributions by Michael Macor
-SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
- "Pumps
sucking water from flooded city: Deputy chief says
New Orleans 'completely destroyed'." ... "Even as the Army Corps of Engineers
made progress removing water from New Orleans [Louisiana], the city's deputy
police chief urged remaining residents Monday to get out because there
was no power, drinkable water or food supply." ... "Many New Orleans streets
are still filled with stagnant, fetid waters streaked with iridescent oil
and smelling of garbage, human waste and death." ... "The failures of the
levee system left about 80 percent of the city flooded with water up to
20 feet deep." ... "The Army Corps of Engineers said Monday that repair
crews had patched the ruptured levee along the 17th Street Canal and have
begun pumping out water." -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana-
- "Red
Tape Snarls Katrina Volunteers." ... "From all corners
of this country, hundreds of would-be rescuers are wending their way to
the beleaguered Gulf Coast in buses, vans and trailers. But government
red tape has hampered many who ache to help Katrina's victims." ... "Louisiana's
Jefferson Parish is desperate for relief, but parish President Aaron Broussard
says officials of the Federal Emergency Management Agency turned back three
trailer trucks of water, ordered the Coast Guard not to provide emergency
diesel fuel and cut emergency power lines." ... "Why? FEMA has not explained.
But the outraged Broussard said Sunday on NBC's "Meet the Press" that the
agency needs to bring in all its "force immediately, without red tape,
without bureaucracy, act immediately with common sense and leadership,
and save lives."" ... "The government says it is doing the best it can
in the face of a massive and complicated disaster." (1, 2,
3)
-AP via
-CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- 
-
- "Kanye
West criticizes Bush on TV benefit show." ... "Hip-hop
star Kanye West added his voice to those from the U.S. African-American
community who see race as a reason for the poor emergency response to the
disaster in New Orleans." ... ""(U.S. President) George Bush doesn't care
about black people," he declared Friday night on a benefit concert broadcast
on NBC -- before the camera cut away from him." ... "West also said America
is set up "to help the poor, the black people, the less well-off as slow
as possible."" -With contributions by Graham Richardson
-CTV.ca
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- "Macabre
scene ahead as water drained: Officials urge people
to focus on the future, not dwell on failures." ... "Government officials
have faced harsh criticism for the failure to prepare for and handle the
chaos that gripped the storm-battered region after Hurricane Katrina."
... "Much of the criticism has come from Republican and conservative leaders,
and President Bush himself called the federal response unacceptable." ...
""Shameful" was the adjective used by Bill Kristol, editor of the conservative
Weekly Standard, on Fox News Sunday . "We've been not well-governed
for the past week."-By Samantha Levine
-HoustonChronicle.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana
- "Police
department under nearly unbearable strain: In New
Orleans [Louisiana], 2 officers have committed suicide, and 200 others
have walked away." ... "Reeling from the chaos of this overwhelmed city,
at least 200 New Orleans police officers have walked away from their jobs,
and two have committed suicide, police officials said Saturday." ... "Some
officers officially told their superiors they were leaving, police officials
said. Others worked for a while and then stopped showing up. Still others,
for reasons that are not always clear, never made it in after the storm."
... "The absences come during a period of extraordinary stress for the
New Orleans Police Department. For nearly a week, many of its 1,500 members
have had to work round the clock, trying to cope with flooding, an overwhelming
crush of evacuees, looters and occasional snipers." -By
Joseph B. Treaster -NYTimes
via -HoustonChronicle.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
-
- "Carnival
Sending Three Ships for Refugees." ... "Three Carnival
Cruise Lines ships have been pressed into service by the government to
provide shelter for as many as 7,000 hurricane victims." ... "The Ecstasy,
the Sensation and the Holiday will be pulled from regular use starting
Monday at the request of the Federal Emergency Management Agency. The cost
of the charters was not disclosed." -By Travis Reed
-AP via-WashingtonPost
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- TX
-
-
-
- "New
Orleans evacuations under way: Health emergency declared;
thousands may be dead." ... "The first of New Orleans' evacuees began arriving
in Texas early Thursday as the Gulf Coast began to grasp the magnitude
of what President Bush called "one of the worst natural disasters in our
nation's history."" ... "Hurricane Katrina and its aftermath damaged beyond
repair tens of thousands of homes and businesses in the region and left
more than 78,000 people in emergency shelters, the president said." ...
"Bush announced a massive federal mobilization to help victims, warning
that "the challenges that we face on the ground are unprecedented."" ...
""This recovery will take years," Bush said in an address from the White
House Rose Garden, hours after viewing parts of the Gulf Coast from aboard
Air Force One." -CNN
-
- "Japan
Airlines Boss Quits." ... "Japan Airlines said Monday
its chairman is resigning, an announcement that came a day after a drop
in cabin pressure forced a JAL flight from New York to Tokyo with 355 people
aboard to make an emergency landing." ... "Isao Kaneko, will resign at
the end of the month to take responsibility for a string of safety lapses
at Japan's largest carrier, company spokesman Teiji Murayama said."
-AP via -CBSNews
Hurricane
Katrina - Disaster
- Louisiana
-
-
-
- "New
Orleans shelters to be evacuated: Floodwaters rising,
devastation widespread in Katrina's wake." ... "New Orleans [Louisiana]
resembled a war zone more than a modern American metropolis Tuesday, as
Gulf Coast communities struggled to deal with the devastating aftermath
of Hurricane Katrina." ... "Deteriorating conditions in New Orleans will
force authorities to evacuate the thousands of people at city shelters,
including the Louisiana Superdome, where a policeman told CNN unrest was
escalating." ... "The officer expressed concern that the situation could
worsen overnight after three shootings, looting and a number of attempted
carjackings during the afternoon." ... "The U.S. Coast Guard said its crews
assisted in the rescue Monday of about 1,200 people stranded by high water
in the New Orleans area, and thousands more were rescued Tuesday morning."
-Contributions made by Anderson Cooper, Kathleen Koch,
David Mattingly, Jeanne Meserve, Miles O'Brien, Jim Spellman, Gary Tuchman
and John Zarrella -CNN
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
- Sports
- TX
-
-
- "New
Orleans Mayor Says `Thousands' Might Be Dead (Update1)."
... "New Orleans [Louisiana] Mayor Ray Nagin said Hurricane Katrina probably
killed hundreds and ``most likely, thousands'' of residents as officials
sought to evacuate 23,000 refugees to Houston." ... "The refugees, mostly
in the Superdome sports stadium, will be taken by 500 buses to the Astrodome
in Houston [Texas] 328 miles (508 kilometers) away, officials said. It
may be weeks before people are allowed to return, they said." ... "``There
is nothing in New Orleans that will sustain them,'' said Lieutenant Kevin
Cowan, a spokesman for the Louisiana Office of Homeland Security and Emergency
Preparedness. ``There is no water, no electricity, no food, no sanitation.
People cannot live in New Orleans.''" -By Heather
Burke -Bloomberg
-
-
- - Disaster
- "Baghdad
Stampede Kills 800 Shiite Pilgrims." ... "Panicked
by rumors of a suicide bomber, thousands of Shiite pilgrims broke into
a stampede on a bridge during a religious procession Wednesday, crushing
one another or plunging 30 feet into the muddy Tigris river. About 800
died, mostly women and children, officials said." ... "The tragedy was
the single biggest loss of life known in Iraq since the March 2003 U.S.-led
invasion." ... "The marchers were commemorating the death in the year 799
of Imam Moussa ibn Jaafar al-Kadhim, one of the 12 principle Shiite saints
who is buried in a mosque in the northern Baghdad neighborhood of Kazimiyah."
... "Television reports said about 1 million pilgrims from Baghdad and
outlying provinces had gathered near the shrine on Wednesday." -By
Sameer N. Yacoub with contributions by Qassim Abdul-Zahra and Omar Sinan
-AP
via -SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Mississippi
- Louisiana
- Disaster
-
-
-
- "Hurricane
damage 'enormous'." ... "The Gulf Coast on Tuesday
began to confront the aftermath of one of the most devastating hurricanes
ever to hit the United States." ... "Officially, the regional death toll
was put at 55 Tuesday morning, but officials warned that it was certain
to rise; Governor Haley Barbour of Mississippi said the toll in just one
county in his state could be as high as 80." ... "Some of the worst damage
reports came from east of New Orleans [Louisiana]. An estimated 40,000
homes were reported flooded in St. Bernard Parish. In Gulfport, the storm
left three of five hospitals without working emergency rooms, beachfront
homes wrecked and major stretches of the coastal highway flooded and impassable."
-By Joseph B. Treaster, Kate Zernike, and Ralph Blumenthal
with contributions by Abby Goodnough, Michael M. Luo, James Dao, Jeremy
Alford, Diane Allen, Terence Neilan, Christine Hauser and Shadi Rahimi
-NYTimes
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Disaster
-
-
-
-
- "Crews
Pass Dead to Reach Storm Survivors." ... "Rescuers
along the hurricane-ravaged Gulf Coast pushed aside the dead to reach the
living Tuesday in a race against time and rising waters, while New Orleans
sank deeper into crisis and Louisiana's governor ordered storm refugees
out of this drowning city." ... "Two levees broke and sent water coursing
into the streets of the Big Easy a full day after New Orleans appeared
to have escaped widespread destruction from Hurricane Katrina. An estimated
80 percent of the below-sea-level city was under water, up to 20 feet deep
in places, with miles and miles of homes swamped." ... "Federal Emergency
Management Agency director Mike Brown warned that structural damage to
homes, diseases from animal carcasses and chemicals in floodwaters made
it unsafe for residents to come home anytime soon. And a mass return also
was discouraged to keep from interfering with rescue and recovery efforts."
-By Brett Martel with contributions by Holbrook Mohr,
Mary Foster, Allen G. Breed, Brett Martel, Adam Nossiter and Jay Reeves
-AP via -SFGate.com
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Disaster
-
-
-
- "Katrina
Death Toll Climbs to 60 People; New Orleans Is Flooded."
... "Hurricane Katrina devastated parts of Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama,
killing dozens of people, cutting off power to 2 million and leaving most
of New Orleans flooded by water as deep as 20 feet. U.S. and state officials
say it may be the nation's worst natural disaster." ... "The Federal Emergency
Management Agency is moving 23 disaster medical assistance teams into areas
hit by Katrina, the Homeland Security Department said in a statement. The
agency also has sent urban search and rescue task forces as well as water,
ice, generators and other supplies into the Gulf region." ... "The National
Guard has mobilized about 7,500, or 42 percent, of 31,500 available personnel
to distribute military meals and water, clean up debris and assist law
enforcement officials if needed, said spokesman Jack Harrison." ... "More
than 40 Coast Guard aircraft with more than 30 boats are conducting search,
rescue and humanitarian aid operations, the Homeland Security Department
said." -By Heather Burke -Bloomberg
Hurricane
Katrina - Louisiana
- Mississippi
- Alabama
- Disaster-
- "Katrina
damage called 'catastrophic': New Orleans reported
to be 80% underwater, ports closed." ... "The head of the Federal Emergency
Management Agency said Tuesday that Hurricane Katrina had caused "catastrophic
damage" to Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama." ... "Michael Brown, the
director of FEMA, also said it would be "quite a while" before displaced
residents could return to the affected areas, according to the Associated
Press." ... "New Orleans was reported to be 80% underwater, ports in the
region were closed until further notice, and at least one levee break cause
more flooding in the hard-city city." ... "New Orleans was pounded Monday,
and, although it escaped the eye of the storm, two flood levees broke,
and 80% of the city was reported to be underwater. New Orleans Mayor Ray
Nagin warned of the possibility of a "significant" death toll in the city
of almost half a million with a metropolitan population of 1.3 million."
(1,
2)
-MarketWatch
Hurricane
Katrina - Mississippi
- Tennessee
- Louisiana
- Alabama
- Disaster
- "Katrina
kills 50 in one Mississippi county: Tropical storm
heads toward Tennessee, Ohio River Valley." ... "Hurricane Katrina left
at least 56 people dead Monday, about 50 of them in one Mississippi county,
CNN confirmed, and the toll was expected to climb following one of the
most powerful hurricanes to hit the northern Gulf Coast in a half century."
... "More than 75,000 people are being housed in nearly 240 shelters across
the region, and Red Cross President Marty Evans told CNN, "We expect that
to grow" as people who can't return home seek somewhere to stay." ... "More
than 1.3 million homes and businesses in Louisiana, Mississippi and Alabama
were without electricity, according to utility companies serving the region."
-Contributed to by Miles O'Brien, Anderson Cooper
and Kathleen Koch -CNN
-
-
- "Landslide
destroys 17 homes: 1,000 flee California neighborhood."
... "Houses cracked, telephone poles snapped and streets buckled as a landslide
sent homes sliding down a hill in Laguna Beach [California] before dawn
Wednesday, leaving large homes dangling in the air." ... "The landslide
destroyed 17 homes in a neighborhood of multimillion-dollar dwellings.
Another 11 were damaged, authorities said." ... "Streets had buckled onto
themselves, manholes had risen into the shape of volcanoes and telephone
poles were toppled." ... "Geologists say the Bluebird Canyon landslide
was made more likely by last winter's near-record rains that have taken
months to saturate deeper into the soil and bedrock." -By
Mai Tran, William Lobdell and Christine Hanley with contributions by John
Spano, Daryl Strickland and Don Kelsen
-LAtimes via
-ChicagoTribune
- "At
least 76 dead, 456 hurt in Japan train derailment; more bodies inside."
... "Rescuers pulled two survivors from the gnarled wreckage of Japan's
worst train crash in decades Tuesday, and investigators raided the rail
operator's offices for clues as to why the train jumped the tracks, killing
at least 76 people." ... "National broadcaster NHK said more than 10 bodies
were still in the wreckage of the 580-passenger train that derailed Monday,
and the death toll likely would increase. At least 456 people were injured."
-By Mari Yamaguchi -AP
via -CBC.ca
-
- "Texas
Refinery Blast Leaves 14 Dead, 100 Hurt." ... "Fourteen
people died and about 100 were injured, some seriously, on Wednesday by
a powerful explosion at a BP oil refinery in [Texas City] Texas." ... "BP
said it could not immediately pinpoint the cause of the blast at the giant
470,000-barrel-per-day (bpd) Texas City facility, the third largest in
the United States." ... "But it has ruled out terrorism." ... "BP said
the fire at the sprawling 1,200-acre facility was isolated to an isomerization
unit, used to upgrade gasoline quality." (1, 2)-Reuters
- "Up
to 400 killed in Iran earthquake." ... "A strong
earthquake has hit southeast Iran, killing almost 400 people, injuring
hundreds and destroying villages, a local official has told Reuters." ...
"Tuesday's quake, which measured 6.4 on the Richter scale, was centred
on the town of Zarand in Kerman province, about 700 km (440 miles) southeast
of Tehran." -Reuters
via -FT.com
- "Powerful
quake pounds central Iran; at least 175 killed."
... "A powerful earthquake shook central Iran on Tuesday, destroying villages,
cutting power to the area, killing at least 175 people and injuring more
than 330, state-run television reported." -AP
via -USATODAY
- "Toll
Climbs to 161 in N.Korea Blast as Aid Sent." ...
"Aid workers initially put the toll at 154 dead and hundreds injured after
the explosion of two trains at North Korea's Ryongchon station near the
Chinese border just hours after North Korean leader Kim Jong-il had passed
through by train." ... ""We have heard from our people in North Korea that
the death toll has risen to 161," said Niels Juel, regional relief coordinator
for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies,
Sunday. Scores of primary school children were among those killed." ...
"Intravenous drips to administer antibiotics and painkillers to seriously
injured patients were scant, as were clean sheets and food." (1, 2,
3)
-By Kim Miyoung and Juliana Liu
-Reuters
- 
- "International
Aid Workers Rush to Site of N. Korean Train Explosion; Gov't Blames Carelessness."
... "In its first statement on the disaster, North Korea's official news
agency said the catastrophic explosion in the railway town was touched
off by "electrical contact caused by carelessness during the shunting of
wagons loaded with ammonium nitrate fertilizer." The chemical is sometimes
used in explosives." ... "Separately, the Chinese news agency Xinhua quoted
North Korean officials as saying trains loaded with oil and chemicals collided
and were ignited by a downed power line." -AP
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "N
Korea blast kills 'at least 54': The International
Red Cross says Thursday's huge train explosion in North Korea killed at
least 54 people." ... "In the first independent account of the disaster,
Red Cross officials at the scene say more than 1,200 people were injured
and 1,850 houses destroyed." ... "The explosion partially destroyed 6,350
houses, John Sparrow, a spokesman for the International Red Cross in Beijing
told the BBC." ... "South Korean media reports talked of up to 3,000 people
dead or wounded. Officials in Seoul say there is no way as yet of confirming
these figures." ... "However, diplomatic sources in Pyongyang say the casualty
figures are in the thousands." ... "They also say the blast - initially
thought to have been caused by two trains colliding -was triggered by an
electric wire dropping onto two wagons loaded with dynamite."
-BBC/News
- "Thousands
Dead or Injured in N.Korea Rail Blast-YTN." ... "Up
to 3,000 people were killed or injured when two trains loaded with fuel
collided and exploded at a North Korean station Thursday, hours after leader
Kim Jong-il had passed through, South Korea's YTN television said." ...
"The sources said cargo trains carrying gasoline and liquefied petroleum
gas collided at Ryonchon station 30 miles south of the border." -By
Jack Kim and Martin Nesirky -Reuters
via -ABCNEWS.com
- "Eight
Found Dead Day After Ill. Twisters." ... "Searchers
with shovels and buckets pulled eight bodies Wednesday from the rubble
of a [Utica, Illinois] tavern where residents had gathered to seek shelter
from a twister that flattened the century-old building." ... "Mayor Fred
Esmond said several people from a nearby trailer park had congregated in
the basement of the Milestone Tap on a night when dozens of twisters tore
through the Midwest. Nine people were removed alive from the ruins of the
country-western-themed watering hole." ... "The twister cut a wide swath
of destruction in this small town 90 miles southwest of Chicago, turning
homes and businesses into piles of brick and splintered wood" -By
Don Babwin -AP
via -Guardian.co.uk
- "Death
Toll Rises to More Than 300 in Iran Train Explosion."
... "The death toll in a fiery train crash in Iran has risen to more than
300 as recovery teams continued to retrieve bodies today from the wreckage
of the freight cars which derailed and exploded near villages in northeastern
Iran." ... "The runaway train, carrying chemicals and fuel, toppled off
the tracks on Wednesday, setting off a fire and then a massive explosion."
-By Nazila Fathi -NYTimes
via -Google-News
- "Iran
quake relief effort shifts focus to plight of survivors."
... "Ayatollah Ali Khamenei, Iran's supreme leader, and President Mohammad
Khatami yesterday visited Bam, the south-eastern city devastated by an
earthquake on Friday." ... "A spokesman for the provincial government said
that more than 21,000 bodies had been recovered and that "many, many more
people" were still buried." ... "President Khatami said the tragedy was
so deep that relief aid could not hope to meet "the demands of the victims"."
-By Mohsen Asgari and Gareth Smyth
-FT.com
- "Iran
asks 'Why are our earthquakes so deadly?'" ... "Poor
design, primitive materials and widely ignored building codes were prime
causes of the high death rate in the Bam earthquake, Iranian officials
and foreign experts said on Tuesday." ... "In stark contrast to a tremor
of similar strength last week in California that killed just two people,
the toll in Friday's Iranian quake could reach about 50,000." ... "Iran's
building codes have been tightened after quakes in recent decades killed
tens of thousands. But officials and independent scientists say enforcement
is woefully inadequate." -By Erik Kirschbaum
-Reuters via -AlertNet.org/Newsdesk
- "Iran
quake toll may hit 50,000." ... "The death toll in
Iran's earthquake could jump to 50,000, officials say, as relief workers
plead for more aid for survivors of one of the deadliest natural disasters
of modern times." ... ""If we consider that, on average, five people lived
in each house we can say the death toll will reach 50,000," a senior Interior
Ministry official said on Tuesday, sharply raising the projected tally
from the nearly 30,000 already buried." ... "Aid agencies say around 100,000
people are homeless and are appealing for warm clothing and blankets."
-By Edmund Blair and Parisa Hafezi
-Reuters via -Reuters.co.uk
- "Fall
Creek [Oregon] wildfire hits 1,200 acres, growing."
... "Word spread through the command center late Tuesday afternoon that
crews battling the stubborn Clark Fire in rugged terrain along Fall Creek
were no longer in danger of getting skunked." ... "After two full days
of scratching fire lines through steep ravines and running an endless parade
of helicopter water drops on the hottest flare-ups, firefighters made it
onto the command center's scoreboard - the 1,200-acre blaze was 5 percent
contained." ... ""They're trying to establish a line on the south end,
just to give us a little bit of a foothold," said Nancy Lee Wilson, fire
behavior analyst for the interagency command team." -By
Joe Mosley-RegisterGuard
- "Thousands flee
Arizona wildfire." ... "The governor [Janet Napolitano]
declared a state of emergency in two counties as a forest fire swept across
an Indian reservation, forcing thousands of people to leave their homes
as a precaution. Elsewhere in the Southwest, Mesa Verde National Park in
Colorado was closed to visitors for the second time in two years because
of wildfires." ... "As many as 5,000 people had fled their homes in Whiteriver
[Arizona], headquarters of the White Mountain Apache Tribe, and other communities
on the Fort Apache Indian Reservation. On Wednesday, the [Kinishba] fire
was just two miles west of Whiteriver, threatening 700 homes."
-AP via -MSNBC
-
-
- Tucson
News - "Firefighters
work to keep blaze from homes in exclusive Arizona enclave; cooler weather
helps." ... "Cooler, more humid weather gave firefighters
an assist Monday as a wildfire that already had ravaged a mountain community
burned to within a half-mile of an exclusive enclave in the foothills on
the [Tucson] city's northern fringe." ... "The Aspen fire, which started
June 17 and has burned at least 70,000 acres in the Santa Catalina Mountains,
skirted fire lines last week and destroyed six cabins higher in the mountains
during the weekend." -By Arthur H. Rotstein
-AP via -SFGate.com
- Tucson
News - "Firefighters
take to hills above Tucson." ... "Officials urged
residents and guests of a desert resort to evacuate an exclusive enclave
on the city's northern fringe Sunday after a wildfire sped downhill, surprising
firefighters and threatening about 200 homes." ... "The area, called Ventana
Canyon, is a high desert enclave in the foothills of the Santa Catalina
Mountains. It includes upscale homes and the 400-room Loews Ventana Canyon
Resort, said George Heaney, a bureau chief with the Pima County Sheriff's
Department." -AP
via -CNN
- "New
Wildfire Erupts In Arizona." ... "Crews battled a
wildfire Sunday in a ponderosa pine forest in central Arizona where residents
were urged to evacuate about 100 homes, while a 2½-week-old mountaintop
blaze in the southern part of the state destroyed six cabins." ... "The
latest fire erupted late Saturday about eight miles south of Prescott near
Walker, a community of cabins and houses in the Prescott National Forest,
said forest spokesman Steve Sams." -AP
via -CBSNews
- Tucson
News - "Wildfire
Spreads in Ariz.; Trees Thinned." ... "The fire pushed
toward the foothills of the Catalina Mountains, coming within about three
miles of the visitor center of Sabino Canyon, a popular recreation area.
Heavy smoke forced the canyon's closure Wednesday, and fire officials were
asking residents of about 50 upscale homes in the area to evacuate."
-AP via -Guardian.co.uk
-
- "Arizona
fire flares again; firefighters intensify effort."
... "High winds breathed new life into a southern Arizona wildfire that
has already destroyed more than 300 buildings, and threatened Thursday
to funnel the flames northeast into other developed areas." ... "The human-caused
fire, which started June 17, grew to 56,000 acres overnight and its containment
fell from 70 percent to 60 percent. The fire skirted control lines on the
southeast corner as it moved east and northeast." ... "Winds were continuing
to gust on Thursday, and fire weather forecasters issued a so-called red-flag
warning -- a combination of high winds, high temperatures and low relative
humidity creating the potential for extreme flames." -By
Arthur H. Rotstein -AP
via -SFGate.com
-
- Tucson
News - "Calmer
winds help out Arizona firefighters: Benefiting
from calmer winds, firefighters made progress Wednesday against a wildfire
northeast of Tucson, Arizona, that has charred more than 30,000 acres since
it began last week and has destroyed more than 300 homes and businesses."
... "Thursday's forecast calls for more of the same with winds at 10 mph
to 20 mph, instead of the 40 mph to 50 mph gusts seen only a few days earlier."
-CNN
- Tucson
News - "Wildfire's
growth rate slows: Arizona firefighters increase
containment." ... "The growth rate of a southern Arizona wildfire slowed
Tuesday evening as conditions improved and firefighters slowly built a
containment line around the fire that has raged for a week." ... "Firefighters
have faced six straight days of extreme fire conditions, the longest stretch
anyone involved in the firefighting effort can remember, said Rick Barton,
a spokesman for the firefighters. Conditions on Wednesday are forecast
to moderate." -CNN
- Tucson
News - "Arizona
wildfire now covers 19,500 acres: Blaze roars
through new timber, brush." ... "Despite the work of more than 900 fire
personnel, a wildfire northeast of Tucson has roared through new mountain
timber and desert brush, increasing its size dramatically, a fire official
said." ... "From Monday afternoon into Monday evening, the Aspen fire grew
from 12,400 acres to 19,500 acres, according to Dave Root, a spokesman
for the National Incident Management Team, an increase of 57 percent. He
said the blaze is 15 percent contained. (Satellite
image)" -CNN
- Tucson
News - "Arizona
Fire Only 15% Contained." ... "Firefighters moved
bulldozers north of Mount Lemmon on Monday to try to stop a raging wildfire
that destroyed more than 250 homes in a vacation community." ... "The blaze
has charred more than 19,500 acres of pine forest on the mountain just
north of Tucson and was only 15 percent contained, firefighters' spokesman
Gerry Engel said." ... "Crews planned to use the bulldozers to fight the
blaze's northward spread by digging a firebreak connecting roads, natural
features and an area that already was burned over last year."
-AP via
-CBSNews
-
- "Arizona
blaze only 5 percent contained." ... "Firefighters
armed with shovels and backed up by slurry bombers fought a pitched battle
with a wildfire that leapt across treetops and threatened surviving homes
in this mountain community." ... "The blaze has so far charred 11,400 acres
on Mount Lemmon just north of Tucson and more than 250 homes have been
destroyed. The blaze was only 5 percent contained early Monday." ... "On
Sunday, the wildfire was surging into a wilderness area down the north
slope of the mountain, and a youth camp and two ranches downhill were evacuated
as a precaution." -By Arthur H. Rotstein
-AP via -Salon
-
- 
-
- "Spanish
Peacekeepers Killed in Turkey Plane Crash." ... "A
plane carrying 62 Spanish peacekeepers returning from Afghanistan crashed
in Turkey early on Monday and all aboard, including 13 crew, were killed,
officials and Turkish media said." ... "The Ukrainian Yak-42 crashed as
it tried to land in thick fog near Turkey's Black Sea city of Trabzon."
... "The soldiers were mostly members of an engineers regiment based in
Burgos and had been in Afghanistan serving with the International Security
Assistance Force (ISAF) monitoring Kabul for four months, Spanish newspaper
El Mundo's Web Site said." -By Enis Yildirim-Reuters
- "Turkey
Quake Kills 100, Traps Students: Powerful Earthquake
in Turkey Kills 100, Traps Scores of Students Under Collapsed School."
... "Rescuers dug frantically in the rubble of a middle-school dormitory
Thursday, hunting for more than 100 children believed trapped after a powerful
earthquake rumbled through southeastern Turkey. At least 100 people were
killed and 1,000 injured, officials said." ... "The magnitude-6.4 quake
struck at 3:27 a.m. and was centered just outside Bingol, 430 miles east
of Ankara, the Kandilli seismology center in Istanbul said."
-AP via -ABCNEWS.com