Thursday, April 8, 2010

Typhoon-1737,India

First it was thought to be an earthquake, but more recent scientific studies have re-classified it as a typhoon - this tragedy killed some 300,000 in Calcutta.This was reported to be one of the disastrous natural calamity happened on South Asia in the decade

Wednesday, April 7, 2010

Earthquake-Japan, 1730

The second largest island of Japan, Hokkaido, was hit by a massive earthquake in 1730 which killed 137,000 people. The Magnitude for that earthquake is still unknown. This was one of the deadly natural disaster occurred in the face of Earth

Tuesday, March 30, 2010

The Great Plague - London,1665-66

The plague is well-named. The disease was the scourge of Europe from the fourteenth century onwards: arriving in Weymouth in 1348, it is estimated to have killed around half the population of England by the end of the century (Mortimer), coming in successive waves. The country continued to suffer outbreaks for over 300 years; and if the ‘Great Plague’ of 1665-66 wasn’t the worst, it was certainly one of the last major outbreaks.
The Plague – Causes and Symptoms

There are three different types of plague which affect humans – bubonic, pneumonic and septicaemic - and it is probable that all three types were present in Europe during the middle Ages. As no cure was developed until the twentieth century, the best chance of survival was to be taken ill with bubonic plague, which has a roughly 60% death rate: the other two were almost always fatal.

Plague was transmitted by fleas which lived on black rats; it could therefore be spread without direct human contact (which is how it reached the Derbyshire village of Eyam in 1665). Pneumonic plague doesn’t require flea bites and can also spread directly from person to person. Being highly contagious, this meant the disease rapidly took hold in crowded conditions, just like those which prevailed in the poorer parts of London in the seventeenth century.

The best-known symptoms of the disease were the so-called ‘buboes’, painful swellings on armpits, legs, groin and neck which were at first red, turning purple or black (hence the ‘black death’) before bursting. Other symptoms included high fever, delirium, vomiting, muscular pain, an intense lethargy and bleeding from the lungs. Death was rapid and generally occurred in 2-4 days.
The Plague in Seventeenth Century London

Though the so-called Great Plague which struck London and other parts of England in 1665 was by no means as devastating as earlier outbreaks, it was a significant outbreak. Estimates vary, but the National Archive suggests that the death toll was as high as 100,000 in London alone (a recorded figure of 68,596 deaths is thought to be an underestimate) and that 15% of Londoners fell victim: other sources have higher figures.



First cases were recorded in the spring of 1665 and the infection rate – and death rate – rose sharply in the summer. By August the monthly deaths were over 30,000 (Historic UK). While initially victims were buried in cemeteries, mortality rates grew so fast that the dead were buried in mass graves known as plague pits, in locations such as Aldgate and Finsbury Fields.

The disease retreated in the autumn and winter, returning in the spring. The rich, including the King and the court, reacted by leaving London whereas the poor were not only unable but forbidden to do so as movement was restricted by the authorities in order to stem the spread of the disease.

The small domestic fire which became the Great Fire of London began early in the morning on 2 September 1666 in a baker’s shop in Pudding Lane. At the time the city was not only made up of wooden buildings which were crammed together, but it was in the throes of a long hot period, so that the wood was dry and ripe for burning.

Under these conditions, the fire spread rapidly. It lasted for four days and could bee seen from miles around. The devastation it created was immense: only 15% of the city’s area was left untouched. The fire had claimed over 13,000 houses, 89 churches and four bridges while over 100,000 people were left homeless. For all this, however, the fire claimed few lives (the London Fire Brigade estimates indicate six deaths and the BBC eight).

It has long been taught in schools that the Great Fire caused the end of the Great Plague and that it was therefore not a bad thing to happen. In theory, the fire killed or drove away the rats and fleas which bore the disease. In reality, however, there is no evidence that this was the case.

Historian Justin Champion, quoted on the Channel 4 website, notes that the fire destroyed the areas within the city walls whereas in fact the plague was prevalent in the poorer areas which lay outside them. As deaths from the disease had peaked a whole year before the fire, in September 1665, it seems likely that it was in any case on the wane.

It’s certainly true, as the BBC notes, that plague didn’t recur in London after the Great Fire, but this may well have been a part of the natural progression of the disease. In fact the reasons for the decline of the plague are not yet understood and may well may well be attributable to independent factors such as changes in the nature of the bacteria which caused it.

The contribution of the Great Fire to public health is more general. Rebuilding in stone, and to a more spacious street plan, meant an end to the previous overcrowded conditions where contagion could spread so quickly. This not only affected the plague but other diseases as well. It is not possible, however, to ascribe the end of the plague with any certainty to the cleansing effects of the fire, no matter how tempting a solution that might seem.

Monday, March 29, 2010

Shaanxi earthquake-1556

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Jiajing earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake and is also the deadliest earthquake on record, killing approximately 830,000 people in China. It occurred on the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, during the Ming Dynasty. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected. An 840-kilometre (520 mi)-wide area was destroyed, and in some counties 60% of the population was killed. Most of the population in the area at the time lived in yaodongs, artificial caves in loess cliffs, many of which collapsed during the catastrophe with great loss of life.

The Shaanxi earthquake's epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, near the cities of Huaxian, Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the tens of thousands. The situation in Weinan and Huayin was similar. In certain areas, 20-metre (66 ft) deep crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death were everywhere, affecting places as far as 500 kilometers (310 mi) from the epicenter. The earthquake also triggered landslides, which contributed to the massive death toll.

The rupture occurred during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in Chinese historical record, this earthquake is often referred to as the Jiajing Great Earthquake

Modern estimates, based on geological data, give the earthquake a magnitude of approximately 8 on the moment magnitude scale or XI on the Mercalli scale. While it was the deadliest earthquake and the third deadliest natural disaster in history, there have been earthquakes with considerably higher magnitudes.

Following the earthquake, aftershocks continued several times a month for half a year
The earthquake damaged many of the Forest of Stone steles badly. Of the 114 Kaicheng Stone Classics, 40 were broken in the earthquake.

The scholar Qin Keda survived the earthquake and recorded details. One conclusion he drew was that "at the very beginning of an earthquake, people indoors should not go out immediately. Just crouch down and wait. Even if the nest has collapsed, some eggs may remain intact." This may indicate that many people were killed trying to flee while some who stayed put may have survived.

Friday, March 26, 2010

Seville Plague - Spain, 1649

This was considered as one of the major disasters happened on earth.The deadly dangerous plague that spread out in Seville,Spain that took the life of over 80,000. The plague result in the death of a lot of people there by minimizing the total population to half.This is considered to be one of the deadly dangerous natural disaster in the history of World.

Wednesday, March 10, 2010

Kaifeng Flood- 1642 China

Kaifeng, a prefecture-level city in eastern Henan province, People's Republic of China, located along the southern bank of the Yellow River, was flooded in 1642 by the Ming Dynasty army with water from the Yellow River to prevent the peasant rebel Li Zicheng from taking over. Roughly half of the 600,000 residents of Kaifeng were killed by the flood and the ensuing peripheral disasters such as famine and plague, making it one of the deadliest single acts of war in history (excluding systematic genocide) and the second greatest single loss of human life of its time.

The flood is sometimes referred to as a natural disaster due to the role of the Huang He river and is currently listed as the 7th deadliest natural disaster in history with a death toll of some 300,000.

The city was once the capital of China, but it did not experience the same population growth as its surrounding provinces and after this disaster the city was abandoned until 1662 when it was rebuilt under the rule of the celebrated Qing emperor Kangxi. It remained a rural backwater city of diminished importance thereafter and experienced several other less devastating floods.

The flood brought an end to the "golden age" of the Jewish settlement of China, which is said to span from about 1300 to 1642. By the time of the flood the Jewish population of China had reached about 5,000, mostly in Kaifeng.

Shaanxi earthquake-1556 China

The 1556 Shaanxi earthquake or Jiajing earthquake was a catastrophic earthquake and is also the deadliest earthquake on record, killing approximately 830,000 people in China. It occurred on the morning of 23 January 1556 in Shaanxi, during the Ming Dynasty. More than 97 counties in the provinces of Shaanxi, Shanxi, Henan, Gansu, Hebei, Shandong, Hubei, Hunan, Jiangsu and Anhui were affected. An 840-kilometre (520 mi)-wide area was destroyed, and in some counties 60% of the population was killed. Most of the population in the area at the time lived in yaodongs, artificial caves in loess cliffs, many of which collapsed during the catastrophe with great loss of life.

The Shaanxi earthquake's epicenter was in the Wei River Valley in Shaanxi Province, near the cities of Huaxian, Weinan and Huayin. In Huaxian, every single building and home was demolished, killing more than half the residents of the city, with a death toll estimated in the tens of thousands. The situation in Weinan and Huayin was similar. In certain areas, 20-metre (66 ft) deep crevices opened in the earth. Destruction and death were everywhere, affecting places as far as 500 kilometers (310 mi) from the epicenter. The earthquake also triggered landslides, which contributed to the massive death toll.

The rupture occurred during the reign of the Jiajing Emperor of the Ming Dynasty. Therefore, in Chinese historical record, this earthquake is often referred to as the Jiajing Great Earthquake

Modern estimates, based on geological data, give the earthquake a magnitude of approximately 8 on the moment magnitude scale or XI on the Mercalli scale. While it was the deadliest earthquake and the third deadliest natural disaster in history, there have been earthquakes with considerably higher magnitudes.

Millions of people at the time lived in artificial Loess caves on high cliffs in the area of the Loess Plateau. Loess is the name for the silty soil that windstorms deposited on the plateau over the ages. The soft loess clay had formed over thousands years due to wind blowing silt into the area from the Gobi Desert. Loess is a highly erosion-prone soil that is susceptible to the forces of wind and water. The Loess Plateau and its dusty soil cover almost all of Shanxi, Shaanxi, and Gansu provinces and parts of others. Much of the population lived in dwellings called yaodongs in these cliffs. This was the major contributing factor to the huge death toll. The earthquake caused landslides, which destroyed the caves.

Tuesday, March 9, 2010

Black Death- Europe 1347-1350

The Black Death was one of the deadliest pandemics in human history, peaking in Europe between 1348 and 1350. It is widely thought to have been an outbreak of bubonic plague caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis, but this view has recently been challenged. Usually thought to have started in Central Asia, it had reached the Crimea by 1346. From there, probably carried by fleas residing on the black rats that were regular passengers on merchant ships, it spread throughout the Mediterranean and Europe.

The Black Death is estimated to have killed 30% to 60% of Europe's population, reducing the world's population from an estimated 450 million to between 350 and 375 million in 1400. This has been seen as creating a series of religious, social and economic upheavals which had profound effects on the course of European history. It took 150 years for Europe's population to recover. The plague returned at various times, resulting in a larger number of deaths, until it left Europe in the 19th century

The Black Death is categorized into three specific types of plague: bubonic plague (infection in the lymph nodes, or [hence] buboes), pneumonic plague (the infection in the lungs), and septicemic plague (the infection in the blood and the most deadly of the three). Scientists and historians at the beginning of the 20th century assumed that the Black Death was an outbreak of the same diseases, caused by the bacterium Yersinia pestis and spread by fleas which primarily made use of highly mobile small animal populations like that of the black rat (Rattus rattus). Once infected by the Yersinia pestis bacterium, it is estimated that victims would die within three to seven days. However, this view has recently been questioned by some scientists and historians, and some researchers, examining historical records of the spread of disease, believe that the illness was, in fact, a viral hemorrhagic fever.

Sunday, March 7, 2010

September 27, 1290 China

The strong Earthquake in Gulf of Chili China, reportedly kills 100,000,which again is one of the highest death rate recorded in the history of our world

Friday, March 5, 2010

Netherlands, 1227 & 1287

This tragedy referred to as a Flood in The Netherlands,which happened in Holland as it was a part of Netherlands that time.In 1227 flood around 100,000 lose their life and many become shelter less.A similar flood occurred in 1287 which took away the life of more than 50,000 in Holland and around 500 lives in England.This was considered to be one of deadly flood in the earth History

Thursday, March 4, 2010

Egypt and Syria,Earthquake 1201

The earthquake on May 20, 1202, has been incorrectly reported as from 2 to 4 events covering the period 1201-1204. Excerpts from reference #2799 summarizing the analysis of this earthquake are listed below:

A large earthquake was widely felt in the Middle East around daybreak on the morning of 20 May 1202. Contemporary sources indicate that the shock was felt from Lesser Armenia, parts of Anatolia and northwest Iran down to Qus in Upper Egypt, and from Sicily in the west to Iraq and Mesopotamia in the east. Along with this very large felt area, an ensuing seismic sea-wave and aftershock sequence, the earthquake was associated with extensive and serious damage in Syria and to a lesser extent in Cyprus, with great loss of life... Despite the conspicuous duality of accounts in almost all Muslim sources, probably reflecting protracted aftershock activity, there remains no evidence of more than one principal earthquake... The loss of life caused by this earthquake and its aftershocks is difficult to estimate. A figure frequently quoted in Arab sources is 1,100,000 dead for the year 597-598 H. (A.D. 1201-1202). This specifically includes those dying of famine and the epidemic consequent on the failure of the Nile floods. More realistically, the figure of 30,000 casualties is given, primarily; it would seem, in the Nablus area. No reliance can be placed on such figures, but the fact that the main shock occurred at dawn, when most people were in bed, without noticeable foreshocks, probably contributed to a high death toll.

Aftershocks were reported from Hamah, Damascus, and Cairo, for at least four days, one of which, apparently felt in Cairo and Hamah, must have been a large event. There remains the possibility that the aftershock sequence was terminated with a destructive shock that totally destroyed what was left of Nablus, but it seems preferable to consider both reports by Sibt b. al-Jausi as referring to the same one shock. Whatever the exact sequence of events, the cumulative effects of the earthquake were clearly catastrophic... the magnitude of the 1202 earthquake should be Ms = 7.6.

Earthquake hits Taiwan-2010

A powerful 6.4-magnitude earthquake rocked southern Taiwan on Thursday, causing widespread damage and disrupting communications around the island. Local news reports said several people were injured.

The quake was centered in the county of Kaohsiung, and struck at a depth of about 3.1 miles (5 kilometers). Kaohsiung is about 249 miles (400 kilometers) south of the capital Taipei.

No tsunami alert was issued.

Kuo Kai-wen, director of the Central Weather Bureau's Seismology Center, said the Taiwan quake was not geologically related to the temblor that hit Chile over the weekend, killing more than 800 people.

In the southern Taiwanese city of Tainan, a fire broke out in a textile factory shortly after Thursday's quake struck, sending huge plumes of black smoke billowing into the air. At least one train in southern Taiwan shifted slightly off its tracks, and authorities suspended service throughout the region. Subway service in the city of Kaohsiung was temporarily disrupted.

Power outages hit Taipei and at least one county to the south, and telephone service in some parts of Taiwan was spotty.

Buildings swayed in the capital when the quake struck.

The quake's epicenter was near the town of Jiashian, in the same area where a devastating typhoon struck last August. A Kaohsiung county official told CTI TV news that some temporary housing in the town collapsed as a result of the quake.

The Ministry of Defense said troops were dispatched to Jiashian to report on damage.

CTI reported one person was moderately injured by falling debris in Kaohsiung, and one woman was hospitalized after a wall collapsed on her scooter in the southern city of Chiayi. Also in Chiayi, one person was hurt by a falling tree, government-owned Central News Agency said.

A spokesman for Taiwanese President Ma Ying-jeou said authorities had been instructed to follow the quake situation closely and take steps to mitigate damage and dislocation.

Earthquakes frequently rattle Taiwan but most are minor and cause little or no damage.

However, a 7.6-magnitude temblor in central Taiwan in 1999 killed more than 2,300 people. In 2006 a 6.7-magnitude quake south of Kaohsiung severed undersea cables and disrupted telephone and Internet service to millions throughout Asia.

Wednesday, March 3, 2010

2010 Haiti earthquake

The 2010 Haiti earthquake was a catastrophic magnitude 7.0 Mw earthquake, with an epicentre near the town of Léogâne, approximately 25 km (16 miles) west of Port-au-Prince, Haiti's capital. The earthquake occurred at 16:53 local time (21:53 UTC) on Tuesday, 12 January 2010. By 24 January, at least 52 aftershocks measuring 4.5 or greater had been recorded. As of Feb. 12, an estimated three million people were affected by the quake; the Haitian Government reports that between 217,000 and 230,000 people had been identified as dead, an estimated 300,000 injured, and an estimated 1,000,000 homeless. The death toll is expected to rise. They also estimated that 250,000 residences and 30,000 commercial buildings had collapsed or were severely damaged.

The earthquake caused major damage to Port-au-Prince, Jacmel and other settlements in the region. Many notable landmark buildings were significantly damaged or destroyed, including the Presidential Palace, the National Assembly building, the Port-au-Prince Cathedral, and the main jail. Among those killed were Archbishop of Port-au-Prince Joseph Serge Miot, and opposition leader Micha Gaillard.The headquarters of the United Nations Stabilization Mission in Haiti (MINUSTAH), located in the capital, collapsed, killing many, including the Mission's Chief, Hédi Annabi.

Many countries responded to appeals for humanitarian aid, pledging funds and dispatching rescue and medical teams, engineers and support personnel. Communication systems, air, land, and sea transport facilities, hospitals, and electrical networks had been damaged by the earthquake, which hampered rescue and aid efforts; confusion over who was in charge, air traffic congestion, and problems with prioritization of flights further complicated early relief work. Port-au-Prince's morgues were quickly overwhelmed; tens of thousands of bodies were buried in mass graves. As rescues tailed off, supplies, medical care and sanitation became priorities. Delays in aid distribution led to angry appeals from aid workers and survivors, and some looting and sporadic violence were observed.

On 22 January the United Nations noted that the emergency phase of the relief operation was drawing to a close, and on the following day the Haitian government officially called off the search for survivors.

8.8 earthquakes shake Chile on Feb 27 2010

On Saturday, Feb. 27, a massive earthquake hit the coast of Chile at 3:34 a.m. and caused a tsunami that came in three waves and surged over 200 meters high, according to an article on nydailynews.com.

As of Tuesday, 795 people were reported dead and over 1.5 million homes damaged or destroyed after the 8.8-magnitude quake shook the earth. This number is likely to grow as search-and-rescue teams discover more bodies in collapsed buildings and rubble, according to an article on cnn.com.

Japan and Hawaii were both put on high alert in fear of the tsunami, but the surges that reached the islands were smaller than expected, according to an article on nydailynews.com. On the Chilean island of Juan Fernandez the tsunami washed away villages and destroyed houses, yet no tsunami warning was issued to this or any other coastal area. On Monday, the Chilean defense minister, Francisco Vidal said the navy made the mistake, according to an article on theepochtimes.com.

"The truth even if it hurts [is that] a division of the navy made a mistake," Vidal said at a press conference on Sunday.

The country's north-south highway collapsed in multiple places, a 15-story sky-rise collapsed near the city of Concepcion and the airport in Santiago, the capital city, suffered great damage to its terminal. Santiago residents lost power, telephone service and water and a chemical fire spread to several buildings. Chilean President Michelle Bachelet postponed the start of the new school year, previously scheduled for Monday, until March 8.

"The forces of nature have hurt our country greatly. We now have to face adversity and stand again," Bachelet said in a televised statement Saturday night, according to cnn.com.

Scientists at NASA say the earthquake caused the earth's axis to shift, making days a negligible 1.26 microseconds shorter. They say that a large quake redistributes massive amounts of rock and changes the mass distribution of the planet, which influences the earth's speed while rotating. After the tsunami that devastated Indonesia in 2004, the length of days shortened by 6.8 microseconds, according to the article.

In the immediate aftermath, at least 1.5 million people were without power in the country. The quake was followed by 76 aftershocks of at least 4.9-magnitude, which killed a 58-year-old man and an 8-year-old boy in Argentina. The two deaths occurred in separate cities.

The quake was a "megathrust", the most powerful type of earthquake on the planet during which one tectonic plate dives beneath another. The quake occurred approximately 140 miles north of where the largest earthquake ever recorded struck -a 9.5-magnitude quake in 1960 that killed 1,200 people

U.S. Secretary of State Hillary Clinton arrived in Chile on Tuesday where she met with Chilean and congratulated Chilean President-elect Sebastian Piñera. Clinton said that the United States is ready to respond to the needs and request of Chile

Aleppo earthquake-1138

The 1138 Aleppo earthquake was an earthquake that was located near the town of Aleppo in northern Syria on 11 October 1138. The United States Geological Survey lists it as the fourth deadliest earthquake in history. However, the figure of 230,000 dead is based on a historical conflation of this earthquake with earthquakes in November 1137 on the Jazira plain and the large seismic event of 30 September 1139 in the Azerbaijani city of Ganja. The first mention of a 230,000 death toll was by Ibn Taghribirdi in the fifteenth century.

Aleppo is located along the northern part of the Dead Sea Transform system of geologic faults, which is a plate boundary separating the Arabian plate from the African plate. The earthquake was the beginning of the first of two intense sequences of earthquakes in the region: October 1138 to June 1139 and a much more intense series from September 1156 to May 1159. The first sequence affected areas around Aleppo and the western part of the region of Edessa (modern Şanlıurfa, Turkey). During the second an area encompassing north-western Syria, northern Lebanon and the region of Antioch (modern Antakya, in southern Turkey) was subject to devastating quakes.

In the mid-twelfth century, northern Syria was a war-ravaged land. The Crusader states set up by Western Europeans, such as the Principality of Antioch, were in a state of constant armed conflict with the Muslim states of Northern Syria and the Jazeerah, principally Aleppo and Mosul.

A contemporary chronicler in Damascus, Ibn al-Qalanisi, recorded the main quake on Wednesday, 11 October 1138. He wrote that it was preceded by an initial quake on 10 October and there were aftershocks on the evening of 20 October, on 25 October, on the night of 30 October-1 November, and finishing with another in the early morning of 3 November. However, Kemal al-Din, an author writing later recorded only one earthquake on 19–20 October, which disagrees with al Qalanisi's account. Given that al Qalanisi was writing as the earthquakes occurred and that accounts from other historians support a 10 or 11 October date, his date of 11 October is considered authoritative.

The worst hit area was Harem, where Crusaders had built a large citadel. Sources indicate that the castle was destroyed and the church fell in on itself. The fort of Atharib, then occupied by Muslims, was destroyed. The citadel also collapsed, killing 600 of the castle guard, though the governor and some servants survived, and fled to Mosul. The town of Zaradna, already sacked by the warring forces, was utterly obliterated, as was the small fort at Shih.

The residents of Aleppo, a large city of several tens of thousands during this period, had been warned by the foreshocks and fled to the countryside before the main quake. The walls of the citadel collapsed, as did the walls east and west of the citadel. Numerous houses were destroyed, with the stones used in their construction falling in streets. Contemporary accounts of the damage simply state that Aleppo was destroyed, though comparison of reports indicates that it did not bear the worst of the quake.

Further damage is recorded at Azrab, Bizaah, Tell Khalid and Tell Amar. The main quake and its aftershocks were felt in Damascus, but not in Jerusalem. Accounts of men being swallowed by holes opening in the ground at Ar Raqqah were erroneously attributed to the Aleppo earthquake, and based on the confused late twelfth century account of Michael the Syrian.

Tuesday, March 2, 2010

Landslide at Mt. Elgon kills scores of villagers

Following weeks of rain and days of torrential downpour in part of Eastern Uganda, a major landslide on the slopes of Mt. Elgon occurred yesterday, claiming the lives of nearly 100 people confirmed dead at the time of going to press, while hundreds more are feared to have perished, too, as they remain missing from the count of survivors.

Three villages in total were wiped out in the location, known as Bukalasi sub county. The missing reportedly also include about 100 school children who had taken shelter in one of the villages from the torrential downpour and who were swept away by the avalanche of water, mud, and rocks coming down the mountainside.

A health center, located between the villages, was also swept away, including patients and nursing staff, making first aid for injured survivors next to impossible in the immediate aftermath of the disaster.

When news reached further down the mountain, the Ugandan security services, police, and army immediately dispatched contingents supported by the Mbale branch of the Red Cross Society and other similar charitable organizations who arrived at the scene of the disaster with supplies and tents to provide shelter to the survivors and serve them with hot meals.

After assessing the area and the damage, an evacuation was ordered for other villages, too,as cracks on the mountain side and more heavy rains increased the chance of added landslides. Government ministers and area administrators were tasked to provide unbureaucratic help and assistance, and President Museveni has already indicated he would travel to the area to attend a memorial service after personally inspecting the relief efforts on site.

Reports of further landslides were also received overnight from other parts of Mt. Elgon, which has been inundated by rain over the weeks, prompting calls by aid organizations to evacuate all the villages on the higher mountain slopes to safer grounds until the rains ceased and the danger of imminent added landslides would subside as the ground dried up again.

Sources from the Uganda Wildlife Authority, insisting on absolute anonymity, also pointed out to this correspondent that the affected area was technically inside the national park but had been encroached, with villagers felling trees and cultivating on steep slopes, which may have been a contributing factor for the immense scale of the tragedy. The source did say that once the aftermath of the disaster has been dealt with, they will redouble their efforts to resettle encroachers and find them safer grounds away from areas prone to such natural disasters. This correspondent expresses his deep regret and sympathy to all the victims’ families and friends and offers prayers for the departed.