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Ocean water rising unevenly; Washington, D.C. may be submerged
Rather than spreading out evenly across all the oceans, water from melted Antarctic ice sheets will gather around North America and the Indian Ocean;this is bad news for the U.S. East Coast, which could bear the brunt of one of these oceanic bulges
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Items in FEMA food kits may contain salmonella-tainted peanut butter
Food kits FEMA distributed to thousands of storm evacuees in Kentucky may contain peanut butter contaminated with salmonella
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University of California-Berkeley prepare for the Big One
Cal students train in disaster response and are equipped with the supplies that are necessary to help
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Scientists: weight of water in reservoir may have triggered China quake
The May 2007 magnitude-7.9 quake in Sichuan province killed 70,000 and forced 5 million to be relocated; Just 550 yards from the fault line and 3.5 miles from the epicenter stands the 511-foot-high Zipingpu dam; scientists say that the immense weight of Zipingpu reservoir’s waters — 315 million tons — likely affected the timing and magnitude of the quake
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Napolitano orders immediate review of Katrina recovery
FEMA was stung by Katrina, and new DHS chief wants a review of that event and the response to it
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2008 natural disasters cause record loss of life, damage
More than 220,000 people died in events like cyclones, earthquakes and flooding; overall global losses totaled about $200 billion, with uninsured losses totaling $45 billion
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Virulent strain of bird flu hits Vietnam poultry farms
Until recently Vietnam led the world in H5N1 infection, but drastic measures by the government helped contain the disease; a recent outbreak, coupled with a cold and wet winter, may set back that effort
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Asia at risk of era of mega-disasters
Asian countries are heading toward an era of mega-disasters; cities in the Himalayan belt, China, Indonesia, and the Philippines could experience earthquakes where the death toll could top one million
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Political squabbles hobble H5N1 research
Indonesia has had the most cases of human H5N1 flu since 2005; it refuses to share the virus samples with Western pharmaceutical companies unless these companies agree to share with Indonesia the profits from the vaccine these companies develop — and also guarantee Indonesia access to a vaccine in case of a pandemic
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Sun Belt residents more likely to die in natural disasters
People who live in the U.S. Sun Belt — that is, in the southern part of the country — are much more likely to die of natural disasters than their fellow countrymen on live in the north; “small” disasters such as heat waves, floods, and ice storms kill many more people to headline-grabbing hurricanes and tornadoes
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Economic downturn to hurt medical emergency preparedness
Progress made better to protect the United States from disease outbreaks, natural disasters, and bioterrorism is now at risk, due to budget cuts and the economic crisis
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U.K. launches dedicated network for emergency communication
The U.K. government has contracted with BT to develop the National Resilience Extranet — which will enable the secure exchange of information in response to civil emergencies such as floods and outbreaks of agricultural diseases
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Day of smart grid nears
Major blackouts may be a thing of the past: the world’s first high-voltage Li-ion system can connect to the grid, without a transformer, and immediately turn on if there is a disruption in power
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Experts call for establishing near-earth asteroid surveillance network
Scientists have identified almost 6,000 near-earth objects (NEOs) whose orbits intersect with the Earth’s; five-hundred to 1,000 NEOs have a diameter of over 150 kilometers
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Seattle successfully tests emergency response policy
Can local public health providers can handle a major earthquake, pandemic flu, or some other really big disaster? King County, Washington, says it is ready
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The long view
Huge Areas May Face Possibly Fatal Heat Waves if Warming Continues
A new assessment warns that if Earth’s average temperature reaches 2 degrees C over the preindustrial average, widespread areas may become too hot during extreme heat events for many people to survive without artificial cooling.
Trump’s Cuts to Federal Wildfire Crews Could Have “Scary” Consequences
President Donald Trump’s moves to slash the federal workforce have gutted the ranks of wildland firefighters and support personnel, fire professionals warn, leaving communities to face deadly consequences when big blazes arrive this summer. States, tribes and fire chiefs are preparing for a fire season with minimal federal support.