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Tag Wise Current Affairs
Tag: Disaster & Disaster Management
GSI sets up 22 GPS-Geodetic stations across country
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management, Geography & Environment
Published on: 05 March 2019
World Bank loan for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 05 March 2019
NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction
Tags: Climate Change, Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 27 February 2019
Odisha Government to launch Lightning Protection System
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 06 March 2019
Cabinet approves Flood Management and Border Areas Programme
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 08 March 2019
Cyclone IDAI: India to provide aid to Mozambique
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 18 March 2019
International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure held in New Delhi
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 19 March 2019
Cyclone Fani: UNDRR commends India’s disaster preparedness
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 06 May 2019
Government issues Drought Advisory to 6 states
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management, Geography & Environment
Published on: 18 May 2019
IITM launches extended heat wave range prediction system
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 07 July 2019
Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 26 November 2019
Indonesia plans cloud seeding to halt floods
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 03 January 2020
Rising CO2 levels may double risk of floods
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 24 January 2020
WHO not to declare SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 28 February 2020
Undetected cases drive spread in community
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 21 March 2020
Study projects drastic increase in Coronavirus cases
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 27 March 2020
Air bubbles for international travel
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 25 June 2020
Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms
Tags: Disaster & Disaster Management
Published on: 07 June 2020
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Geological Survey of India (GSI) has launched 22 GPS-Geodetic observatories or stations across India to identify seismically hazardous zones and encourage mapping activities. Geodetic (pertaining to Geodesy) is science of earth measurement.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">GPS-Geodetic observatories</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">GSI is establishing and maintaining network of continuously operating 35 permanent GPS-Geodetic stations in a phased manner.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These global positioning system (GPS) stations are meant to <em>delineate high strain zones for earthquake probability</em>, <em>determine seismic motion on faults that may lead to rupture that may result in earthquake</em> and <em>produce thematic maps with high positional accuracy</em>.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">So far, GSI has set up 22 GPS permanent stations and another 13 will be operational by March 2020</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">22 GPS-Geodetic operational observatories are located in Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Pune, Kolkata, Dehradun, Jabalpur, Bhubaneswar, Chennai,Raipur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar Vishakhapatnam, Agartala, Itanagar, Mangan, Jammu, Lucknow, Nagpur, Shillong and Little Andaman.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Remaining 13 stations will be located in Aizawl, Faridabad, Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Cooch Behar, Zawar, North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Ranchi, Mangalore, Imphal and Chitradurga. They will be operation by March 2020.</span></span></span></li>
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<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Geological Survey of India (GSI) </span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is government organisation that conducts geological surveys and studies. It is one of premier organisations of earth science survey and research in world. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is attached to the Ministry of Mines. It was established in 1851 and is one of oldest of such organisations in the world. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Functions: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is prime provider of basic earth science information to government, industry and the general public.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It creates and updates national geoscientific information and mineral resource assessment through ground surveys, airborne and marine surveys.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also conducts mineral prospecting and investigations, multi-disciplinary geoscientific, geotechnical, geo-environmental and natural hazards studies.</span></span></span></li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Union Government has signed US $96 million loan agreement with World Bank to provide additional funds for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project. The loan will be from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), lending arm of World Bank and has 5 final maturity of 15 years with 5-year grace period. The additional funds will help Uttarakhand in its post-disaster recovery plans, ongoing since the floods of 2013, as well as strengthen its capacity for Disaster Risk Management. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project</span></strong></span></span></p>
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<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">World Bank, through this Project is supporting Uttarakhand Government since 2014 to restore housing and rural connectivity and build resilience of communities. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">So far, under it construction of more than 2,000 permanent houses and 23 public buildings has been completed and restored over 1,300 kilometers of roads and 16 bridges. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Additional financing of $96 million: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will further help in reconstruction of bridges, road and river bank protection works.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will also facilitate construction of training facility for State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will also help to increase technical capacity of state entities to respond promptly and more effectively to such crises in the future. </span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In June 2013, a heavy deluge had caused devastating floods and landslides in Uttarakhand. It was worst of its kind disaster India had faced since 2003 tsunami, hit more than 4,200 villages, damaged 2,500 houses, and killed 4,000 people. </span></span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
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'title' => 'NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction ',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted two-day national workshop on heat wave risk reduction in Nagpur, Maharashtra. This workshop was aimed at sensitising states about need of preparing and implementing specific Heat Action Plans. It was organised in collaboration with Maharashtra Government.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National workshop on heat wave</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It provided opportunity for community capacity building and awareness generation among vulnerable populations. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also discussed integration of long-term heat risk reduction measures into developmental plans as well as Climate Change Adaptation.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was attended by experts on heat wave as well as other stakeholders such as early warning and forecasting agencies, State governments and research institutions etc.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Heat wave has emerged as one of major severe weather events around globe in recent years. Climate change is driving temperatures higher as well as increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves. India too is experiencing increased instances of heat waves every year. NDMA has been closely working with vulnerable States to reduce adverse impacts of heat wave. Sustained efforts - timely release and effective implementation of national Guidelines on heat wave, preparation of Heat Action Plans by 13 vulnerable States, etc. have significantly brought down number of heat-related deaths in the past few years. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is apex statutory body mandated to lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in 2009 through Disaster Management Act, 2005. It functions under aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It is headquartered in New Delhi.<strong> </strong></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is governed by nine-member board chaired by Prime Minister of India (who is ex-officio chairperson).</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Functions:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> (i) It co-ordinates response to natural or man-made disasters and capacity-building in case of disaster resiliency and crisis response.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">(ii) It frame policies, lay down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
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'title' => 'Odisha Government to launch Lightning Protection System',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has decided to retrofit lightning protection system in multi-purpose shelters across 25 districts in the state. This is aimed at protecting people from lightning and thunderstorm.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Lightning Protection System</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In the first phase this initiative, total 640 shelters will be taken up with funding support from World Bank under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP). </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These multipurpose shelters buildings will be fitted with lightning arresting systems to strengthen outdoor lightning alert system.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">As part of this initiative, OSDMA in collaboration with US-based Earth Networks already have installed 6 lighting detection sensors for early warning in different parts of state. It provides prediction of lightning 30-45 minutes in advance.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its objective is to undertake suitable structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the effects of cyclones in coastal states and UTs of India.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It seeks to minimize vulnerability to cyclones. It also seeks to make people and infrastructure disaster resilient in harmony with conservation of coastal eco-system in the cyclone hazard prone states/UTs.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is implemented by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) in coordination with participating State Governments and the National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM).</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 4 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 395,
'title' => 'Cabinet approves Flood Management and Border Areas Programme ',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Union Cabinet has approved Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) for effective flood management works in entire country and river management activities and works related to border areas. It has been approved for period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with total outlay of Rs 3342.00 crores. It is merged version of two components of XII Plan schemes- ‘Flood Management Programme (FMP)’ and ‘River Management Activities and Works related to Border Areas’.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Flood Management and Border Areas Programme </span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It aims at completion of on-going projects already approved under FMP and will also cater to hydro-meteorological observations and flood forecasting on common rivers with the neighbouring countries<strong>. </strong></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be implemented throughout country for effective flood management, erosion control and anti-sea erosion.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Objective: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">(i) assist state governments to provide reasonable degree of protection against floods in critical areas by adopting an optimum combination of structural and non-structural measures (ii) enhance capabilities of state and central government officials in related fields.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Features of Scheme</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will protect towns, villages, industrial establishments, communication links, agricultural fields and infrastructure from floods and erosion. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Under it, catchment area treatment works will be undertaken that will help in reduction of sediment load into rivers. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These works will help to protect valuable land from erosion and flooding and help in maintaining peace along the border. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Under it, survey and investigations, preparation of DPR of water resources projects on common rivers with neighbouring countries like Sapta Kosi-Sun Kosi Projects, Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project in Nepal will be also undertaken.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Funding pattern</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects in general category states it will continue to be 50: 50 between centre and states. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects in seven north-eastern states, Sikkim and Himalayan states viz. Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand it will continue to be in 70: 30 ratio between Centre and State. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects under ‘River Management Activities and Works related to Border Areas’, it will be 100% funded as grant-in-aid or central assistance.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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(int) 5 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 493,
'title' => 'Cyclone IDAI: India to provide aid to Mozambique',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India has decided to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Mozambique affected by tropical cyclone ‘IDAI’. It has provided US $10 million to Mozambique for food grains after the country suffered food shortage due to natural this calamity.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">As part of assistance, Indian Navy has diverted three Indian naval ships to the port city of Beira in Mozambique. These ships will provide relief materials in the form of food, clothes and medicines. </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Cyclone Idai<em> </em></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It had originated from tropical depression that formed off eastern coast of Mozambique. </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It made landfall first in Malawi and later in Mozambique and remained a tropical cyclone throughout the entirety of its trek over land.</span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was strongest tropical cyclone to strike Mozambique since Jokwe in 2008. It was record-breaking seventh intense tropical cyclone of the 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season,</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Strong winds followed by heavy rainfall due to this cyclone has caused severe flooding (mostly flash floods) in three southern African countries Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, affecting over 1.5 million people.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'metatitle' => 'Cyclone IDAI: India to provide aid to Mozambique',
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(int) 6 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 502,
'title' => 'International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure held in New Delhi ',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The second International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) was held in New Delhi. It was organised by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and in partnership with Global Commission on Adaptation, UN Development Programme and World Bank.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">IWDR 2019</span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Objectives</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Identify good disaster risk management practices in key infrastructure sectors.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Identify specific areas and pathways for collaborative research on DRI (Energy, Transport, Telecom and Water), </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Discuss and co-create broad contours of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as well as notional roll-out plan for the next three years.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Build forum for members to work on areas of common interest and make specific commitments.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It saw participation of various countries, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, academia and research institutions, private sector, academics and policy think tanks</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It discussed and collaborated on promoting policies and practices towards achieving disaster resilience of large infrastructure systems (transport, telecom, energy, water). </span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Disaster resilient infrastructure plays important role in reducing infrastructure losses and also helps in reduction in mortality, number of affected people and economic losses due to disasters.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Various international agreements have reiterated importance and long-term benefits of investing in resilient infrastructure. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), 2015-2030 identifies investing in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for resilience and to build back better in reconstruction as priorities for action towards reducing disaster risk.</span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Goal 9 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes disaster resilient infrastructure as a crucial driver of economic growth and development.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)</span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The first IWDRI 2018 held in January 2018 had discussed about establishment of CDRI. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is envisaged as knowledge exchange and capacity development partnership. </span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India announced establishing of CDRI soon after 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which was held in New Delhi.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'metatitle' => 'International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 2019',
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
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'title' => 'Cyclone Fani: UNDRR commends India’s disaster preparedness',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has commended India’s "zero casualty" policy for cyclones and pinpoint accuracy of India Meteorological Department's (IMD) early warning system which have helped reduce possibility of deaths from recent cyclone Fani.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">UNDRR Commandment</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD's almost pinpoint accuracy of early warnings of Cyclone Fani helped authorities conduct well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise the loss of life during landfall of cyclone Fani. The pin point early warning allowed authorities to conduct very well targeted evacuation plan which resulted moving in 1.1 million people to about 900 cyclone shelters in short period of time. India's policy of minimising fatalities from cyclones has been proven by past performances as in cyclone Phailin in 2013 and is inline Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework).</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Cyclone Fani </span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It was high-end extremely severe cyclonic storm of category four. Its name Fani was suggested by Bangladesh and means ‘Snake’ or ‘hood of snake’. It was strongest tropical cyclone to strike India in a decade. It had originated from tropical depression that formed west of Sumatra in Indian Ocean. Later it had moved northwest wards and made landfall in temple town of Puri in Odisha. It was second named storm and the first severe cyclonic storm of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is mandated by UN General Assembly resolution (56/195) to serve as focal point in UN system for coordination of disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is also mandated to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities of UN system and regional organizations and activities in socio</span><span style="font-family:Cambria Math,serif">-</span></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">economic and humanitarian fields.</span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It was established in 1999 as dedicated secretariat to facilitate implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is an organisational unit of UN Secretariat and is led by UN Special Representative of Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG).</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is the focal point of UN system for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and custodian of Sendai Framework (2015-39). It supports countries and societies in implementation, monitoring and review of progress of this framework.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is mandated by UN General Assembly resolution (56/195) to serve as focal point in UN system for coordination of disaster risk reduction (DRR). </span></span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is also mandated to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities of UN system and regional organizations and activities in socio</span><span style="font-family:Cambria Math,serif">-</span></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">economic and humanitarian fields.</span></span></span></li>
</ul>
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'title' => 'Government issues Drought Advisory to 6 states',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Union Government has issued <strong>Drought Advisory</strong> to 6 states viz. <em>Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu</em>. It has asked these to use water judiciously as water storage in dams has dropped to a critical level.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">What is drought advisory?</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is issued by Union Government to states when the water level in reservoirs is 20</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years. It only recommends states to use water for drinking purpose only till the dams are replenished. As water falls under the state list, Union Government can only issue advisory to states, but it is upto state government to implement this advisory.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Central Water Commission (CWC) under Union Ministry of Water Resources monitors water storage available in 91 major reservoirs across the country. According to recent figures released, total water storage available is 22</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">% </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">of total storage capacity of these reservoirs</span></span></p>
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(int) 9 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
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'title' => 'Odisha releases Flood Hazard Atlas',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released unveiled a Flood Hazard Atlas for managing floods in the state more efficiently. It was unveiled atlas at State Level Natural Calamity Committee meeting. This atlas will help identify the disaster prone areas of the state so that necessary plans can be made to tackle the situation.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Odisha Flood Hazard Atlas</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It has been prepared by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad and Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It will help management of the flood in the state as Odisha is a flood prone state as flood causes extensive damage to life and property.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It has been made after ascertaining flood inundation data captured through satellite imagery between 2000 and 2018. It keeps the most flood hit areas in focus.</span></span></span></span></li>
<li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Significance:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> It is expected to help the State manage floods more efficiently.</span></span> <span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It will help to create systematically plan flood control measures. It will help to control developmental activities on floodplains. It will also help authorities to carryout relief and resuce operations. It will also help to plan relief shelters and health centres.</span></span></span></span></li>
</ul>
<p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Flooding in Odisha</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Every year vast areas of Odisha are inundated when there is flooding in major rivers, namely, Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Subarnarekha and Rushikulya. Some of the rivers like, Budhabalanga and Vamsadhara, also cause flash floods due to instant run-off from their hilly catchments. Around 14 lakh hectare of agriculture land is being affected by floods every year in Odisha</span></span></span></span></p>
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(int) 10 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
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'title' => 'IITM launches extended heat wave range prediction system',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have developed extended range prediction system for real time prediction of heat waves two to three weeks in advance. The prediction system has been successfully transferred to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which has been using it since 2017. IMD had used this system to predict heat waves this year.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Extended range prediction system</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It shows in advance date of onset, duration and demise of heat waves, with a small spatial and temporal error. It can predict heat waves with 70% accuracy and probability.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Significance:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> The short-range forecast two-three days before the onset of heat wave condition can provide more reliable information about the time and location of the heat wave condition</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Findings:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> Based on observation data available from 1981 to 2017, researchers found that places in two regions – northwest India and southeast coastal regions – are prone to heat waves conditions. Places in these two regions experience heat waves for more than eight days during 2019 summer season.</span></span></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD’s heat wave criteria</span></span></strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD defines heat wave day when the maximum temperature is above 44 degree C or when all the three following conditions are seen — when region is facing unusually hot temperature, when temperature is more than 36 degree C and when departure from the normal temperature is more than 3.5 degree C.</span></span></span></span></p>
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(int) 11 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 2474,
'title' => 'Bhopal gas tragedy',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The centre may soon run out of fund to pay compensation for the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The problem has been caused by the Centre’s attempts to tap a fund first, as in 2010, it had estimated 48,000 claimants, but close to 50,000 have already been compensated so far, leading to shortfall of allocated funds.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Bhopal gas tragedy</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Bhopal gas tragedy was a gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster as over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The UCIL factory was built in 1969 to produce the pesticide Sevin (UCC's brand name for carbaryl) using methyl isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate. An MIC production plant was added to the UCIL site in 1979.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The chemical process employed in the Bhopal plant had methylamine reacting with phosgene to form MIC, which was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Effects of gas exposure</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The initial effects of exposure were coughing, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation, burning in the respiratory tract, blepharospasm, breathlessness, and stomach pains and vomiting.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Mortality</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Primary causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stillbirth rate increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by around 200%. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Long term effects</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Eyes: Chronic conjunctivitis, scars on cornea, corneal opacities, early cataracts.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Respiratory tracts: Obstructive and/or restrictive disease, pulmonary fibrosis, aggravation of TB and chronic bronchitis.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Neurological system: Impairment of memory, finer motor skills, numbness etc.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Psychological problems: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Children's health: Peri- and neonatal death rates increased. Failure to grow, intellectual impairment, etc.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 2518,
'title' => 'Mega typhoon in Japan',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Japan is facing one of the worst typhoons in 6 decades, called as Hagibis. It is predicted that this storm will be destructive enough to cause large scale damage in Japan.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The storm has brought heavy rainfall in wide areas of Japan ahead of its landfall, including the capital Tokyo. This incident is bound to cause power outages and damage homes and infrastructure.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Typhoons</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This region is referred to as the North western Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for almost one-third of the world's annual tropical cyclones.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Tropical cyclones across the globe</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean: Cyclone</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Caribbean and US: Hurricane</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pacific Ocean and South China Sea: Typhoon</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Australia: Willy Willy</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reasons for tropical cyclones</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low pressure center, a pre-existing low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Normally, an ocean temperature of 26.5 °C spanning through a depth of at least 50m is considered the minimum to maintain the special mesocyclone that is the tropical cyclone. These warm waters are needed to maintain the warm core that fuels tropical systems. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A minimum distance of 500 km (300 mi) from the equator is normally needed for tropical cyclogenesis. Whether it is a depression in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) or monsoon trough, a broad surface front is required to begin tropical cyclogenesis.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even with perfect upper level conditions and the required atmospheric instability, the lack of a surface focus will prevent the development of organized convection and a surface low.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Vertical wind shear of less than 10 m/s between the ocean surface and the tropopause is required for tropical cyclone development. Typically with Pacific typhoons, there are two outflow jets: one to the north ahead of an upper trough in the Westerlies, and a second towards the equator that can make cyclone formation possible.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 13 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 2662,
'title' => 'California forest fires',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">California is suffering from one of the worst bout of wild fires that has engulfed major parts of the state including cities like Los Angeles. The fires have threatened natural forests as well as orchards and farms.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The dry months in America are very susceptible to forest fires through flammable material. The vast areas of grasslands as well as constant winds have enabled the fires to spread wide.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Fire fighters scrambled to protect valuable citrus and avocado crops in harm's way, as well nearby oil industry infrastructure. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blaze also threatened high-voltage power lines in the vicinity, along with radio and communications towers.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The latest recurrence of seasonal Santa Ana winds coincided with extremely low relative humidity levels and a prolonged lack of rainfall that has left vegetation tinder-dry in the region has allowed fires to spread quickly.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Wild fires</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One of the most prevalent causes of global deforestation and destruction of wildlife is fire.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Forest or wildlife fires spread at different speeds depending on vegetation, weather conditions, and physical features.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Causes</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Human causes</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Human activities near or within forested areas are the number one cause of forest fires. Smoking near vegetation can cause a widespread fire when a smoker throws a cigarette into vegetation without completely extinguishing.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Equipment such as machinery used in logging and hunting can also cause fires. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bullets hitting on some dry vegetation may result in fires.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Petroleum products used in logging equipment can cause fires when there is a leak onto the vegetation.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Other causes include campfires that are not well monitored or put off entirely. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">People have deliberately caused fires during hunting to corner wild animals while others burn forests to clear the way for agriculture or development activities.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Electric faults from facilities or electricity plants near forests can also cause fires.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Natural causes</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Lightning is the biggest natural cause of forest fires. The different lightning strokes of varied electric voltages cause fire through directly igniting vegetation with high currents.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Volcanic activities such as eruptions and lava flow can cause fires.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Prevention</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Awareness campaigns on the causes of fires to reduce human initiated fire incidences.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Artificially burning susceptible plants can prevent fires from spreading.</span></span></p>
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(int) 14 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 2828,
'title' => 'Avalanche in Siachen',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Four soldiers and two civilian porters were killed after an Army patrol was hit by an avalanche at Siachen Glacier in Ladakh.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The avalanche had taken place in the Northern Glacier where the altitude is around 19,000 feet and above. Avalanche and frost bites are the major reasons for death of defence personnel in Siachen, more than battle injuries.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Siachen glacier</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The major passes on this ridge are, from north to south, <strong>Sia La</strong>, <strong>Bilafond La</strong><strong> </strong>and <strong>Gyong La</strong>.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the <strong>Nubra</strong> River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the <strong>Shyok </strong>River.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Shyok in turn joins the <strong>Indus</strong> River which flows through Pakistan. Thus, the glacier is a major source of the Indus.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><img alt="Avalanche in Siachen 19 Nov Daily Current Affairs" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a86d/w25tonkaxirnmuh6g.jpg" style="height:223px; width:325px" /></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Avalanche</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An avalanche (also called a snowslide) is an event that occurs when a cohesive slab of snow lying upon a weaker layer of snow fractures and slides down a steep slope. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Avalanches are typically triggered in a starting zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they entrain more snow.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 15 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 2890,
'title' => 'Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have successfully developed and tested a high-tech device that can detect the small movements and changes in the Earth’s seafloor which is often a precursor to deadly natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shallow water buoy device was installed off Egmont Key in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and has been producing data on the three-dimensional motion of the sea floor.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The seafloor geodesy system is an anchored spar buoy topped by high precision global positioning system (GPS). The system will be able to detect small changes in the stress and strain of the Earth’s crust.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The buoy’ orientation is measured using a digital compass that provides heading, pitch, and roll information that helps to capture the crucial side-to-side motion of the Earth that can be diagnostic of major tsunami-producing earthquakes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Technology typically works best in the deeper ocean where there is less noise interference eventhough there are other sea floor measuring techniques.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Offshore strain accumulation and release processes are critical for understanding mega-thrust earthquakes and tsunamis.The experimental buoy rests on the sea bottom using a heavy concrete ballast and has been able to withstand several storms.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The technology has several potential applications in the offshore oil and gas industry and volcano monitoring in some places, but the big one is for improved forecasting of earthquakes and tsunamis in subduction zones.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The system is designed for subduction zone applications in the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” where offshore strain accumulation and release processes are currently poorly monitored.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Earthquakes</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earthquake is a sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks. Seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.” </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earthquakes occur most often along geologic faults, narrow zones where rock masses move in relation to one another. The major fault lines of the world are located at the fringes of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth’s crust.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Earthquake waves</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>P-waves</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">P-waves, also known as <strong>primary waves</strong> or pressure waves, travel at the greatest velocity through the Earth. When they travel through air, they take the form of sound waves. They are the <strong>first waves to be recorded</strong> by a seismograph during an earthquake.They propagate through a material by alternately <strong>compressing and expanding</strong> the medium, where <strong>particle motion is parallel to the direction of wave propagation</strong>.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>S-waves</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">S-waves, also known as <strong>secondary waves, shear waves or shaking waves</strong>, are transverse waves that travel <strong>slower</strong> than P-waves. In this case, <strong>particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Surface waves</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Surface waves are similar in nature to water waves and travel just under the Earth’s surface. They are typically generated when the source of the earthquake is close to the Earth’s surface. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although surface waves travel more slowly than S-waves, they can be much larger in amplitude and can be the most destructive type of seismic wave. There are two basic kinds of surface waves:</span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Rayleigh waves</strong>, also called ground roll, travel as ripples similar to those on the surface of water. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Love waves</strong> cause horizontal shearing of the ground. They usually travel slightly faster than Rayleigh waves</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><img alt="Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/c196/gdvl0j4hw54imse6g.jpg" style="height:293px; width:392px" /></span></span></p>
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(int) 16 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 3260,
'title' => 'Indonesia plans cloud seeding to halt floods',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Indonesia will carry out cloud seeding in order to prevent further rainfall over the capital Jakarta, after deadly flash floods and landslides occured due to some of the heaviest rains in more than 20 years.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The floods followed torrential rains on Dec. 31 and into the early hours of New Year’s day and inundated swathes of Jakarta and nearby towns.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">With more deluges forecast, two small planes have been readied to break up potential rain clouds in the skies above the Sunda Strait.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President Joko Widodo blamed delays in flood control infrastructure projects for the disaster, including the construction of a canal that has been delayed since 2017 due to land acquisition problems.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Widodo last year announced he will move Indonesia’s capital to East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, to reduce the burden on Jakarta, which is overpopulated and sinking. Jakarta and its surroundings are home to more than 30 million people.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cloud seeding, or shooting salt flares into clouds in an attempt to trigger rainfall, is often used in Indonesia to put out forest fires during the dry season.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Cloud seeding</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that improves a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by artificially adding condensation nuclei to the atmosphere, providing a base for for snowflakes or raindrops to form. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After cloud seeding takes place, precipitation falls from the clouds back to the surface of the Earth.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Most cloud seeding operations use a compound called silver iodide (AgI) to aid in the formation of ice crystals. Silver iodide exists naturally in the environment at low concentrations, and is not known to be harmful to humans or wildlife.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Benefits</strong> </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> It creates rain.</strong><br />
One big benefit of cloud seeding is being able to create rain in regions that are most affected by droughts, lessening the impact of the harsh climate. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It makes all areas more hospitable.</strong><br />
There are dry regions of the world that are not habitable or even unsuitable for a visit due to drought. However, cloud seeding can allow for increased rainfall in these areas, making them more hospitable.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It could regulate the weather.</strong><br />
Many of the best areas to grow crops face severe weather, which can bring about damage to the produce.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reduces pollution</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Artificial rainfall in polluted areas can take down harmfull PM 2.5 particles that has the potential to cause problems to human population.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Drawbacks</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It uses potentially harmful chemicals.</strong><br />
It is important to know that cloud seeding does involve the use of chemicals into the air, which means that it can potentially harm the environment, especially plants and animals.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It is not really proven to be effective.</strong><br />
After some evaluation of its effectiveness, cloud seeding is found not to be foolproof as of the moment.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It may affect the weather in a negative way.</strong><br />
Though it is believed to regulate the weather, cloud seeding is feared to ultimately change climatic patterns that exist on Earth.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It requires huge amounts of investments.</strong><br />
Aside from the health of plants and animals, the cost of cloud seeding is another big concern, as it could be really costly to deliver chemicals to the sky and have them released into the air.</span></span></p>
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(int) 17 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 3467,
'title' => 'Rising CO2 levels may double risk of floods',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The risk of extreme floods or storms could double every 13 years at the rate carbon-dioxide concentrations are building up in the atmosphere, according to scientists.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As climate is being altered due to increase in global warming potential gases, effects are visible on hydrological cycle as well, causing extreme events such as floods.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The number of intense “hydro-meteorological” disasters could increase by 5.4% annually for an “average” country facing annually nearly one “extreme disaster” (defined as one that causes 100 or more fatalities and/or affects 1,000 or more people).</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India faces 5-10 times as many extreme events as the average country. One more extreme event in India [such as the Kerala floods of 2018 that killed at least 400] would strain the ability of the country to cope.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors relied on econometric modelling which, they say, complements the traditional approach of climate modelling to explore the factors that have contributed to the increase in the frequency of flood and storm events. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Econometric modelling involves accounting for a country’s vulnerability to hazards and its GDP, population density and changes in mean rainfall.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Hydro-meterological disasters</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hydrometeorological hazards include tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes), thunderstorms, hailstorms, tornados, blizzards, heavy snowfall, avalanches, coastal storm surges, floods including flash floods, drought, heatwaves and cold spells. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hydrometeorological conditions also can be a factor in other hazards such as landslides, wildland fires, locust plagues, epidemics, and in the transport and dispersal of toxic substances and volcanic eruption material.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 3569,
'title' => 'Operation Vanilla',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India handed over relief material and stores to the authorities of Madagascar, as part of its effort to provide relief to cyclone <strong>Diane</strong> hit areas, codenamed operation <strong>Vanilla</strong>.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Indian Navy Ship <strong>Airavat</strong>, which was en-route to Seychelles was diverted to Madagascar for rendering assistance. The island nation was lashed with cyclone causing heavy flooding and landslides leading to massive loss of life and property. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">INS Airavat handed over urgently needed relief material comprising disaster relief stores, tents, blankets, clothing, food and medicines to local government authorities.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Medical Team from the ship is holding a medical camp in coordination with local authorities. Indian Navy was the first international respondent to this evolving humanitarian crisis in Madagascar.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India’s assistance to Madagascar is in consonance with Indian Navy’s Foreign Cooperation initiatives in line with India’s vision of '<strong>Security and Growth for all in the Region</strong> (<strong>SAGAR</strong>)'.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar is also a member of inter-governmental organisation <strong>Indian Ocean Rim Association</strong> (<strong>IORA</strong>).</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>INS Airavat</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">INS Airavat is an amphibious assault ship and as part of the mission-based deployment has Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) as part of its missions and carries relief material in the form of HADR bricks. This enables ships on deployment to respond rapidly to any emergent situation.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Madagascar</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of East Africa. It is the world's 2nd largest island country.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries, according to the United Nations.[14] Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros and the French territory of Mayotte to the north west. The nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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(int) 19 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) {
'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 3799,
'title' => 'WHO not to declare SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made it abundantly clear that WHO will not declare COVID-19 a pandemic at this moment. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A pandemic is defined as the worldwide spread of a new disease. The last pandemic reported was the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, which killed hundreds of thousands globally.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to 2017 pandemic influenza risk management guidelines, the WHO uses pandemic influenza phases, interpandemic, alert, pandemic and transition, to reflect its risk assessment of the global situation regarding each influenza virus with pandemic potential infecting humans.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Fourteen countries have managed to contain the spread of the virus and no new case has been reported for more than a week. And nine countries, including India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, have not reported any additional cases in the last two weeks. This highlights that the virus can be stopped in its track if countries take appropriate and timely actions.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Except Antarctica, novel coronavirus cases have been reported from all continents. In the past week, 20 countries have <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2Fasia%2Flive-news%2Fcoronavirus-outbreak-02-27-20-intl-hnk%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7Cnetalert%40thehindu.co.in%7Cb52c041cd57b4e30236d08d7bbabfcb1%7Cc8f171fb8e124c1286ff9108c97b8963%7C0%7C1%7C637184219680444855&sdata=PAqHX9mrL2kU4VHbtrt9y%2Br0EPxUE4uC98XBHex4K38%3D&reserved=0" title="Original URL: https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-27-20-intl-hnk/index.html. Click or tap if you trust this link.">confirmed</a> their first coronavirus cases.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">South Korea has the most number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections, 1,766 (and 13 deaths) outside mainland China. Italy (528), <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-coronavirus-deaths-jump-to-26/article30933426.ece">Iran</a> (245) and Japan (189) are the other countries with most number of cases.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Measures to stop spread</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The priority should be to detect cases early and isolate people who test positive for the virus. Once a case is detected, the focus should be to trace the contacts and treat them if already infected. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Though the average incubation period is five-seven days, a few have shown up symptoms at the end of 24 days. Efforts should also be focussed on preventing outbreaks in hospitals and spread in the community. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One way to stop the spread in the community is to avoid mass gathering in enclosed spaces.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 3970,
'title' => 'Radioactive dumping in Fukushima',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The nuclear disaster at Fukushima sent an unprecedented amount of radiation into the Pacific. But, before then, atomic bomb tests and radioactive waste were contaminating the sea, the effects are still being felt today.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Exactly how the water should be dealt with has become highly controversial in Japan, not least because the nuclear disaster caused extreme contamination off the coast of Fukushima.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 1.2 million liters (320,000 gallons) of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is to be released into the ocean.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contaminated water has since been used to cool the destroyed reactor blocks to prevent further nuclear meltdowns. It is currently being stored in large tanks, but those are expected to be full by 2022.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Radiation levels in the sea off Fukushima were millions of times higher than the government’s limit of 100 becquerels. And still today, radioactive substances can be detected off the coast of Japan and in other parts of the Pacific. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The research found that even the smallest possible dose, a photon passing through a cell nucleus, carries a cancer risk. Although this risk is extremely small, it is still a risk.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the past few decades, more than 250 nuclear weapons tests were carried out on the high seas. Most of them (193) were conducted by France in French Polynesia, and by the US (42), primarily in the Marshall Islands and the Central Pacific.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But the ocean wasn’t just being used as a training ground for nuclear war. Until the early 1990s, it was also a gigantic dump for radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From 1946 to 1993, more than 200,000 tons of waste, some of it highly radioactive, was dumped in the world’s oceans, mainly in metal drums.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The US had dropped more than 90,000 barrels and at least 190,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste in the North Atlantic and Pacific. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Other countries including Belgium, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands also disposed of tons of radioactive waste in the North Atlantic in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The long-term consequences are clear. The radiation will be “absorbed by the marine animals surrounding it. They will eventually end up caught in fishing nets, and come back to our plates.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
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'title' => 'Undetected cases drive spread in community',
'description' => '<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Eighty-six percent of people in China who were infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were not tested in the two-week period before travel restrictions came into force on January 23 in Wuhan and other cities. And these undetected cases contributed to the majority of virus spread in the community, according to a study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers used a computer model that draws on observations of reported infection and spread within China in conjunction with mobility data from January 10-23 and January 24-February 8.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">People who experienced mild, limited or no symptoms were not detected but spread the virus anyway. About half as infectious per person as a documented case who has more severe symptoms and maybe shedding more.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even though the undetected cases are only 55% contagious compared with those who exhibit severe symptoms and are detected, due to their greater numbers, they facilitated the rapid spread of the virus throughout mainland China. The undetected cases were the source of infection for 79% of documented cases.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The undocumented infections which tend to be milder are distributing the virus broadly. They’re contributing essentially to what is called self transmission of the virus because it’s really undetected and it’s flying below the radar.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The modeling study suggests that a “radical increase” in identifying and isolating people who have not been tested yet would be needed to fully control the spread of the virus.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The paper says that steps taken by many individuals and governments to restrict travel, shut down schools, prevent large gatherings, isolation of suspected cases, and the use of face mask and regular handwashing could have helped slow down the spread of the virus. And some countries have also started community testing.</span></span></li>
<li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors say that while travel restrictions and other control measures could have reduced the spread of the virus in the community, the study does not provide evidence that such control measures would be sufficient to end the spread locally and prevent a rebound once travel and other restrictions are removed or relaxed.</span></span></li>
</ul>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The paper concludes by saying that there are already four coronavirus strains that are circulating in the human population. And if the novel coronavirus follows the pattern of H1N1, then it would spread globally and become the fifth coronavirus to become endemic in the human population.</span></span></p>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 4014,
'title' => 'Community spread',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is yet to establish the source of infection of a 20-year-old Delhi resident who tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, sending alarm bells ringing and raising questions if this is India’s first case of community transmission of the deadly contagion.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In countries such as Italy or South Korea, the number of Covid-19 cases and related fatalities surged once community transmission of the disease began, making it difficult for governments to contain the rapid spread of the infection.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ICMR had picked 1,020 random samples of people with severe acute respiratory illness pneumonia and influenza-like symptoms for testing for Covid-19. The results of 500 samples are negative, a sign that community-level transmission of the coronavirus may not be taking place in India still.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If a positive case turns up in these random samples, the ICMR said, it would indicate community transmission and they would enforce localised quarantine and testing measures in the areas from where samples were collected.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community (“community spread”) in some affected geographic areas.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Community spread</span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> means people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
'id' => (int) 4022,
'title' => 'Janata curfew',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the nation on the coronavirus pandemic and urged all citizens to support a 'janata curfew' on Sunday, March 22.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Coronavirus is a communicable disease that spreads among people through contact. To prevent its spreading, human contacts should be reduced as much as possible and social distancing is one such measure.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Modi said it will apply to everyone and urged all citizens to stay inside their homes. He said those in emergency and essential services should do their regular duties.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The PM also urged all state governments to take the lead in ensuring that the Janata Curfew is implemented across the country.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He urged the entire nation to stay at home for the coming few weeks to arrest the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He said senior citizens aged over 65 years should stay indoors at all cost for the next few weeks.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The COVID-19 Response Team suggests two “fundamental strategies” to tackle the coronavirus spread. The first is mitigation, focusing on slowing the epidemic spread so as to reduce peak healthcare demand while protecting those most at risk. The second is suppression, which aims to reverse epidemic growth by reducing case numbers to low levels and maintaining that situation indefinitely.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mitigation, which will be a mix of home isolation of suspect cases, home quarantine of those living in the same household as suspect cases, and social distancing of the elderly and others at most risk, could potentially reduce peak healthcare demand by two-thirds and deaths by half.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Suppression would be left as the preferred policy option for countries that can do this. The Janata Curfew can be seen as a step in this direction, though initially just for a day.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The team says suppression will minimally require a combination of social distancing of the entire population, home isolation of cases and household quarantine of their family members, supplemented by school and university closures. However, there will be a need to do this for longer periods to get the desired impact.</span></span></li>
</ul>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management',
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'title' => 'Study projects drastic increase in Coronavirus cases',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The 21-day lockdown has brought enormous misery and suffering to some of India’s most vulnerable people, however, in the absence of aggressive government intervention, the infection could spread rapidly, says a new study.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study published by scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan among other American universities, uses data until March 16 and does not reflect the impact of government interventions made before (such as airport screenings and quarantines) and after that date.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Social distancing measures like the ban on travel and stopping of trains and flights would likely have slowed the spread of the novel coronavirus.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study acknowledges that the most severe form of interventions would drastically bring down the number of infected people, and restrict the spread to just about 13,800 cases by May 15, instead of 58,600. In this situation it is highly appropriate to adopt draconian measures.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study does not specify what the “draconian measures” or “severe” interventions might be, but it does discuss the possible impact of social distancing, travel ban and lockdown, without which the number of infected people could rise to even 1.31 lakh by June 15.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study found that an infected person in India was passing on the infection to at least two more people on average. The range of 2 to 3.5 (persons per infected person) is sensible for COVID-19 in early phase without intervention.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The study acknowledges uncertainties in their predictions, which is largely due to many unknowns arising from model assumptions, population size, accuracy of diagnostic tests for COVID-19, heterogeneity in implementation of different government-initiated interventions and community-level protective measures.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'title' => 'Can COVID-19 relapse in patients?',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the last few days, there have been reports of recovered COVID-19 patients testing positive a second time. Since the exact behaviour of the novel coronavirus is still being studied, immunity against it is not fully understood. </span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Previous coronavirus outbreaks have been inconsistent: a study on the coronavirus that caused MERS revealed that patients are unlikely to get re-infected within a short duration of the original infection; but, after the SARS outbreak, cases of relapse that were reported.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Various factors can cause relapse in patients recovered from COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is like viruses that cause any other flu.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There is always a probability of mutation as in the case of influenza viruses. The mutation, theoretically, can make an individual vulnerable to reacquire the COVID-19 infection.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Patients who test positive for COVID-19 develop protective antibodies. Theoretically, there can be a relapse even in patients who have antibodies. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At this stage, it is not fully understood as to how the long the antibodies provide protection against the viral infection.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Also, in the absence of any vaccination, it is not known whether the immunity acquired by the persons is permanent. Another scenario that can lead to relapse is when immunity is compromised, if the patients have underlying conditions and if they are dependent on immunosuppression drugs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Experts also have pointed out that a “false negative” RTPCR test, the RNA test being conducted to diagnose COVID-19 infection, can lead to a patient testing positive a second time after testing negative in between. There have reports from Spain about imported RNA test kits giving inaccurate results.</span></span></p>
</li>
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'title' => 'Virus transmission term ‘R0’',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While billions of people around the world are currently living under a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still in the process of understanding the nature of its transmission. In these studies, the mathematical figure ‘R0’, which indicates how fast an infection is spreading, is considered essential.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Numerous studies are being done to understand how contagious the virus is. This is important as it helps governments make more informed decisions on how to lift lockdown measures while safeguarding lives.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">R0 (pronounced “R-naught”) is the rate at which a virus is transmitted. Also called the basic reproduction number, it indicates the average number of people who will contract the virus from a person who has already been infected, in a population that does not have immunity for the said disease.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">R0 is the division of the number of new infections by the number of existing infections, or the average number of new infections over an infectious period (R0= new infections/existing infections). The higher the R0, the more contagious the infection.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To illustrate with an example, if the number of people diagnosed with a disease increases from four to eight in two days, it is likely to increase to 16 two days later, or in four days from the start. This makes the R0 two.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When the R0 is 1, it means the number of infected persons in a population is constant. For every person who is cured of the disease or dies due to it, there will be one fresh case in the population.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By this logic, the ideal scenario is when the R0 is below 1. This means the infection is transmitted to fewer people. When such a rate is maintained over a considerable period of time, the disease is eradicated.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Disease transmission is not fixed, and the rate can be reduced by pharmaceutical interventions (like vaccines) or non-pharmaceutical interventions (screenings, lockdowns), or both.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Once such measures are put in place, contagiousness is measured in terms of Rt, or the actual rate of transmission at time t. The same strategy has been used in the past for eliminating diseases such as polio and smallpox.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While many studies have differed in their conclusions, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the R0 for coronavirus at 1.4 to 2.5. In China’s Wuhan, where the disease originated, lockdown measures brought the Rt (effective rate) down to 0.3, thus significantly slowing the number of new infections.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Governments around the world which have enforced such measures are hoping to follow the same path, although experts fear a second wave of infections once lockdowns are lifted.</span></span></p>
</li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The styrene gas that leaked from LG Polymers, has killed many and created panic in several areas of Visakhapatnam.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The source of the leak was a styrene plant owned by South Korean electronics giant LG, located at RRV Puram near Gopalapatnam, about 15 kms from the coast city.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Styrene gas is a synthetic chemical that is used to manufacture synthetic rubber and plastic packaging. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Styrene is also found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and in natural foods like fruits and vegetables.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The colourless liquid evaporates easily, and can be fatal if inhaled or ingested in high quantities.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">High exposure can cause coma and pulmonary edema (chest swelling) while low and moderate exposure can result in burning sensation, skin irritation and affect the nervous system.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the US-based Environment Protection Agency (EPA), short-term exposure to the substance can result in respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes, irritation in the mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal issues. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">And long-term exposure could drastically affect the central nervous system and lead to other related problems like peripheral neuropathy. It could also lead to cancer and depression in some cases. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">However, EPA notes that there is no sufficient evidence despite several epidemiology studies indicating there may be an association between styrene exposure and an increased risk of leukaemia and lymphoma.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Symptoms</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Symptoms include headache, hearing loss, fatigue, weakness, difficulty in concentrating etc. Animal studies have reported effects on the CNS, liver, kidney, and eye and nasal irritation from inhalation exposure to styrene.</span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
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'title' => 'Air bubbles for international travel',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has proposed to set up air travel bubbles with several countries including the United States, Germany, and France to manage fully or partially to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This aims at moving away from controlled and managed aviation evacuation of Indian citizens in different parts of the world and foreign nationals from India.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The concept of a travel bubble, or an air bridge, is reciprocal in nature, which means that both sides, the departure point and the arrival point, have to be on board. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also means that travel restrictions such as quarantining or testing of passengers have to be discarded among the countries in the bubble.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The finalizing of travel bubbles could be a huge step in the direction of resuming scheduled international air travel, which has been suspended for three months now. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The decision was made public a day after the U.S. served an ultimatum of 30 days to Air India, threatening to ban it from conducting repatriation charters under the Vande Bharat Mission. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">New Zealand, which had successfully controlled the spread of coronavirus with zero fresh cases for weeks, relaxed the restrictions on travel into the country, only to almost immediately start recording new cases. </span></span></p>
</li>
</ul>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Air bubbles</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Creating a travel bubble involves reconnecting countries or states that have shown a good level of success in containing the novel coronavirus pandemic domestically. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Such a bubble would allow the members of the group to rekindle trade ties with each other, and kickstart sectors such as travel and tourism.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Travel bubbles or bridges have been implemented by the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which have opened their borders to one another without mandating self-isolation. </span></span></p>
</li>
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'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management',
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'title' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms',
'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have discovered a new novel technique of preventing locusts swarm from causing damage to crops. This technique uses chemical inhibitors to trigger behavioural changes in the insects, leading to their reduced numbers.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the last few days, there has been a lot of news about the latest locust swarming from the Rajasthan/Gujarat desert region, all the way into Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, causing extensive damage to the crops.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insect biologists have long since known that the locust is by nature a recluse and a singleton, not mixing with others in the same group, Yet, when the harvest season arrives, these singletons team up with others as an army of swarms to attack plants for food.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is important to know the mystery behind the biological mechanism by which this sociological transformation occurs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed that when solitary locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation causes their behaviour to change. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together. And if more locusts come nearby, the crowding starts, and what was once a simple looking insect becomes larger in size and shape, and its colour and morphology changes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed substantial changes in some molecules that modulate the central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin, which regulates mood and social behaviour.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Serotonin is indeed responsible for swarm formation. During research, they did a lab experiment wherein they placed locusts in a container one by one, and as the numbers increased, the coming together triggered mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding (‘gregarisation’) occur within a few hours.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Interestingly, when they started adding substances that inhibit the production of serotonin (for instance, molecules such as 5HT or AMTP), the crowding was significantly less. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insecticides (mainly malathion) sprayed on the swarms need to be looked at for side-effects. Though many studies have cleared it as not very harmful, we need to work on biopesticides which would be environmentally and animal/human health-friendly, using natural and animal products of India.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The potential method of prevention of locusts attack is to spray serotonin inhibitor molecules as the swarm begins to form so that the number keeps dwindling and pose far less threat.</span></span></p>
</li>
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'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have discovered a new novel technique of preventing locusts swarm from causing damage to crops. This technique uses chemical inhibitors to trigger behavioural changes in the insects, leading to their reduced numbers.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the last few days, there has been a lot of news about the latest locust swarming from the Rajasthan/Gujarat desert region, all the way into Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, causing extensive damage to the crops.</span></span></p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p>
<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p>
<ul>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insect biologists have long since known that the locust is by nature a recluse and a singleton, not mixing with others in the same group, Yet, when the harvest season arrives, these singletons team up with others as an army of swarms to attack plants for food.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is important to know the mystery behind the biological mechanism by which this sociological transformation occurs.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed that when solitary locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation causes their behaviour to change. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together. And if more locusts come nearby, the crowding starts, and what was once a simple looking insect becomes larger in size and shape, and its colour and morphology changes.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed substantial changes in some molecules that modulate the central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin, which regulates mood and social behaviour.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Serotonin is indeed responsible for swarm formation. During research, they did a lab experiment wherein they placed locusts in a container one by one, and as the numbers increased, the coming together triggered mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding (‘gregarisation’) occur within a few hours.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Interestingly, when they started adding substances that inhibit the production of serotonin (for instance, molecules such as 5HT or AMTP), the crowding was significantly less. </span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insecticides (mainly malathion) sprayed on the swarms need to be looked at for side-effects. Though many studies have cleared it as not very harmful, we need to work on biopesticides which would be environmentally and animal/human health-friendly, using natural and animal products of India.</span></span></p>
</li>
<li>
<p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The potential method of prevention of locusts attack is to spray serotonin inhibitor molecules as the swarm begins to form so that the number keeps dwindling and pose far less threat.</span></span></p>
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Geodetic (pertaining to Geodesy) is science of earth measurement.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">GPS-Geodetic observatories</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">GSI is establishing and maintaining network of continuously operating 35 permanent GPS-Geodetic stations in a phased manner.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These global positioning system (GPS) stations are meant to <em>delineate high strain zones for earthquake probability</em>, <em>determine seismic motion on faults that may lead to rupture that may result in earthquake</em> and <em>produce thematic maps with high positional accuracy</em>.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">So far, GSI has set up 22 GPS permanent stations and another 13 will be operational by March 2020</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">22 GPS-Geodetic operational observatories are located in Thiruvananthapuram, Jaipur, Pune, Kolkata, Dehradun, Jabalpur, Bhubaneswar, Chennai,Raipur, Bhopal, Chandigarh, Gandhinagar Vishakhapatnam, Agartala, Itanagar, Mangan, Jammu, Lucknow, Nagpur, Shillong and Little Andaman.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Remaining 13 stations will be located in Aizawl, Faridabad, Pithoragarh, Uttarkashi, Cooch Behar, Zawar, North Andaman, Middle Andaman, South Andaman, Ranchi, Mangalore, Imphal and Chitradurga. They will be operation by March 2020.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Geological Survey of India (GSI) </span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is government organisation that conducts geological surveys and studies. It is one of premier organisations of earth science survey and research in world. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is attached to the Ministry of Mines. It was established in 1851 and is one of oldest of such organisations in the world. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Functions: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is prime provider of basic earth science information to government, industry and the general public.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It creates and updates national geoscientific information and mineral resource assessment through ground surveys, airborne and marine surveys.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also conducts mineral prospecting and investigations, multi-disciplinary geoscientific, geotechnical, geo-environmental and natural hazards studies.</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'gsi-sets-up-22-gps-geodetic-observatories', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a5ae/xlow36y6x6erhxk6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a5ae/xlow36y6x6erhxk6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'GSI sets up 22 GPS-Geodetic stations across country', 'metakeyword' => 'In Science and Technology Current Affairs, Geological Survey of India, GSI,22, GPS-Geodetic observatories ,stations, seismically hazardous zones, encourage mapping activities', 'metadescription' => 'Geological Survey of India (GSI) has launched 22 GPS-Geodetic observatories or stations across India to identify seismically hazardous zones and encourage mapping activities. Geodetic (pertaining to Geodesy) is science of earth measurement', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/g59qflizxl1c06y/5Mar_GSI_sets_up_22_GPS-Geodetic.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 1 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 346, 'title' => 'World Bank loan for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Union Government has signed US $96 million loan agreement with World Bank to provide additional funds for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project. The loan will be from International Bank for Reconstruction and Development (IBRD), lending arm of World Bank and has 5 final maturity of 15 years with 5-year grace period. The additional funds will help Uttarakhand in its post-disaster recovery plans, ongoing since the floods of 2013, as well as strengthen its capacity for Disaster Risk Management. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">World Bank, through this Project is supporting Uttarakhand Government since 2014 to restore housing and rural connectivity and build resilience of communities. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">So far, under it construction of more than 2,000 permanent houses and 23 public buildings has been completed and restored over 1,300 kilometers of roads and 16 bridges. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Additional financing of $96 million: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will further help in reconstruction of bridges, road and river bank protection works.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will also facilitate construction of training facility for State Disaster Response Force (SDRF). </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will also help to increase technical capacity of state entities to respond promptly and more effectively to such crises in the future. </span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In June 2013, a heavy deluge had caused devastating floods and landslides in Uttarakhand. It was worst of its kind disaster India had faced since 2003 tsunami, hit more than 4,200 villages, damaged 2,500 houses, and killed 4,000 people. </span></span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'world-bank-loan-uttarakhand-disaster-recovery-project', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/b7dc/9kwd2n2cnzzi4h86g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/b7dc/9kwd2n2cnzzi4h86g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'World Bank loan for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project', 'metakeyword' => 'In Environment Current Affairs, Government, sign, $96 million, loan agreement, World Bank, Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project', 'metadescription' => 'Union Government has signed US $96 million loan agreement with World Bank to provide additional funds for Uttarakhand Disaster Recovery Project', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/f1yhw1560w6mba7/5Mar_World_Bank_loan_for_Uttarakhand.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 2 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 276, 'title' => 'NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction ', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) conducted two-day national workshop on heat wave risk reduction in Nagpur, Maharashtra. This workshop was aimed at sensitising states about need of preparing and implementing specific Heat Action Plans. It was organised in collaboration with Maharashtra Government.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National workshop on heat wave</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It provided opportunity for community capacity building and awareness generation among vulnerable populations. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It also discussed integration of long-term heat risk reduction measures into developmental plans as well as Climate Change Adaptation.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was attended by experts on heat wave as well as other stakeholders such as early warning and forecasting agencies, State governments and research institutions etc.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Heat wave has emerged as one of major severe weather events around globe in recent years. Climate change is driving temperatures higher as well as increasing the frequency and severity of heat waves. India too is experiencing increased instances of heat waves every year. NDMA has been closely working with vulnerable States to reduce adverse impacts of heat wave. Sustained efforts - timely release and effective implementation of national Guidelines on heat wave, preparation of Heat Action Plans by 13 vulnerable States, etc. have significantly brought down number of heat-related deaths in the past few years. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA)</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is apex statutory body mandated to lay down policies, plans and guidelines for Disaster Management to ensure timely and effective response to disasters.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was established in 2009 through Disaster Management Act, 2005. It functions under aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs (MHA). It is headquartered in New Delhi.<strong> </strong></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is governed by nine-member board chaired by Prime Minister of India (who is ex-officio chairperson).</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Functions:</span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif"> (i) It co-ordinates response to natural or man-made disasters and capacity-building in case of disaster resiliency and crisis response.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">(ii) It frame policies, lay down guidelines and best-practices and coordinating with State Disaster Management Authorities (SDMAs) to ensure holistic and distributed approach to disaster management.</span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'ndma-conducts-national-workshop-heat-wave-risk-reduction ', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/85fa/rc2ge49rbnqmzb36g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/85fa/rc2ge49rbnqmzb36g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'NDMA conducts national workshop on heat wave risk reduction ', 'metakeyword' => 'In National Current Affairs, NDMA,two-day, national workshop, heat wave, risk reduction, Nagpur, Maharashtra', 'metadescription' => 'NDMA conducted two-day national workshop on heat wave risk reduction in Nagpur, Maharashtra.', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/zw464m9wrz59qu3/27feb_NDMA_conducts_national_workshop.pdf', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 3 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 360, 'title' => 'Odisha Government to launch Lightning Protection System', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has decided to retrofit lightning protection system in multi-purpose shelters across 25 districts in the state. This is aimed at protecting people from lightning and thunderstorm.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Lightning Protection System</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">In the first phase this initiative, total 640 shelters will be taken up with funding support from World Bank under National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP). </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These multipurpose shelters buildings will be fitted with lightning arresting systems to strengthen outdoor lightning alert system.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">As part of this initiative, OSDMA in collaboration with US-based Earth Networks already have installed 6 lighting detection sensors for early warning in different parts of state. It provides prediction of lightning 30-45 minutes in advance.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">National Cyclone Risk Mitigation Project (NCRMP)</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Its objective is to undertake suitable structural and non-structural measures to mitigate the effects of cyclones in coastal states and UTs of India.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It seeks to minimize vulnerability to cyclones. It also seeks to make people and infrastructure disaster resilient in harmony with conservation of coastal eco-system in the cyclone hazard prone states/UTs.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is implemented by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) under the aegis of Ministry of Home Affairs(MHA) in coordination with participating State Governments and the National Institute for Disaster Management (NIDM).</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'odisha-lightning-protection-system', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1bab/q6pgugjpp6qhric6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1bab/q6pgugjpp6qhric6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Odisha Government to launch Lightning Protection System', 'metakeyword' => 'In Environment Current Affairs, Odisha Government, launch, Lightning Protection System', 'metadescription' => 'Odisha Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA) has decided to retrofit lightning protection system in multi-purpose shelters across 25 districts in the state.', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/1x859999r91tu15/6MAR_Odisha_Government_to_launch.pdf', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 4 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 395, 'title' => 'Cabinet approves Flood Management and Border Areas Programme ', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Union Cabinet has approved Flood Management and Border Areas Programme (FMBAP) for effective flood management works in entire country and river management activities and works related to border areas. It has been approved for period from 2017-18 to 2019-20 with total outlay of Rs 3342.00 crores. It is merged version of two components of XII Plan schemes- ‘Flood Management Programme (FMP)’ and ‘River Management Activities and Works related to Border Areas’.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Flood Management and Border Areas Programme </span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It aims at completion of on-going projects already approved under FMP and will also cater to hydro-meteorological observations and flood forecasting on common rivers with the neighbouring countries<strong>. </strong></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will be implemented throughout country for effective flood management, erosion control and anti-sea erosion.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Objective: </span></strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">(i) assist state governments to provide reasonable degree of protection against floods in critical areas by adopting an optimum combination of structural and non-structural measures (ii) enhance capabilities of state and central government officials in related fields.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Features of Scheme</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It will protect towns, villages, industrial establishments, communication links, agricultural fields and infrastructure from floods and erosion. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Under it, catchment area treatment works will be undertaken that will help in reduction of sediment load into rivers. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">These works will help to protect valuable land from erosion and flooding and help in maintaining peace along the border. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Under it, survey and investigations, preparation of DPR of water resources projects on common rivers with neighbouring countries like Sapta Kosi-Sun Kosi Projects, Pancheshwar Multipurpose Project in Nepal will be also undertaken.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Funding pattern</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects in general category states it will continue to be 50: 50 between centre and states. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects in seven north-eastern states, Sikkim and Himalayan states viz. Jammu and Kashmir, Himachal Pradesh and Uttarakhand it will continue to be in 70: 30 ratio between Centre and State. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">For projects under ‘River Management Activities and Works related to Border Areas’, it will be 100% funded as grant-in-aid or central assistance.</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'flood-management-border-areas-programme ', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/0400/jfpaq50v97ich5y6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/0400/jfpaq50v97ich5y6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Cabinet approves Flood Management and Border Areas Programme ', 'metakeyword' => 'In Government Schemes Current Affairs, Cabinet, Flood Management and Border Areas Programme, FMBAP, effective flood management works, entire country, river management activities in border areas.', 'metadescription' => 'In Government Schemes Current Affairs, Cabinet, Flood Management and Border Areas Programme, FMBAP, effective flood management works, entire country, river management activities in border areas.', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/afuwnqnkfxnmyhu/8Mar_Cabinet_approves_Flood_Management.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 5 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 493, 'title' => 'Cyclone IDAI: India to provide aid to Mozambique', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India has decided to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Mozambique affected by tropical cyclone ‘IDAI’. It has provided US $10 million to Mozambique for food grains after the country suffered food shortage due to natural this calamity.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">As part of assistance, Indian Navy has diverted three Indian naval ships to the port city of Beira in Mozambique. These ships will provide relief materials in the form of food, clothes and medicines. </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Cyclone Idai<em> </em></span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It had originated from tropical depression that formed off eastern coast of Mozambique. </span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It made landfall first in Malawi and later in Mozambique and remained a tropical cyclone throughout the entirety of its trek over land.</span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It was strongest tropical cyclone to strike Mozambique since Jokwe in 2008. It was record-breaking seventh intense tropical cyclone of the 2018–19 South-West Indian Ocean cyclone season,</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Strong winds followed by heavy rainfall due to this cyclone has caused severe flooding (mostly flash floods) in three southern African countries Mozambique, Zimbabwe and Malawi, affecting over 1.5 million people.</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'cyclone-idai-india-provide-aid-mozambique', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/220d/a48gnjnza6kpmot6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/220d/a48gnjnza6kpmot6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Cyclone IDAI: India to provide aid to Mozambique', 'metakeyword' => 'In International Current Affairs, India, provide, humanitarian assistance, Mozambique, affected by tropical cyclone IDAI. ', 'metadescription' => 'India has decided to provide humanitarian assistance to the people in Mozambique affected by tropical cyclone ‘IDAI’. It has provided US $10 million to Mozambique for food grains', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/3937kyo96zoy66b/18_Mar_Cyclone_IDAI.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 6 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 502, 'title' => 'International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure held in New Delhi ', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The second International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) was held in New Delhi. It was organised by National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) in collaboration with United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNISDR) and in partnership with Global Commission on Adaptation, UN Development Programme and World Bank.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">IWDR 2019</span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Objectives</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Identify good disaster risk management practices in key infrastructure sectors.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Identify specific areas and pathways for collaborative research on DRI (Energy, Transport, Telecom and Water), </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Discuss and co-create broad contours of Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI) as well as notional roll-out plan for the next three years.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Build forum for members to work on areas of common interest and make specific commitments.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It saw participation of various countries, multilateral development banks, UN agencies, academia and research institutions, private sector, academics and policy think tanks</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It discussed and collaborated on promoting policies and practices towards achieving disaster resilience of large infrastructure systems (transport, telecom, energy, water). </span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Background</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Disaster resilient infrastructure plays important role in reducing infrastructure losses and also helps in reduction in mortality, number of affected people and economic losses due to disasters.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Various international agreements have reiterated importance and long-term benefits of investing in resilient infrastructure. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction (SFDRR), 2015-2030 identifies investing in Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR) for resilience and to build back better in reconstruction as priorities for action towards reducing disaster risk.</span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Goal 9 of Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) recognizes disaster resilient infrastructure as a crucial driver of economic growth and development.</span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">Coalition for Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (CDRI)</span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">The first IWDRI 2018 held in January 2018 had discussed about establishment of CDRI. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">It is envisaged as knowledge exchange and capacity development partnership. </span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand",serif">India announced establishing of CDRI soon after 2016 Asian Ministerial Conference on Disaster Risk Reduction, which was held in New Delhi.</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'international-workshop-disaster-resilient-infrastructure-new-delhi ', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1901/aamhui671fw3xzw6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1901/aamhui671fw3xzw6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure 2019', 'metakeyword' => 'In Environment Current Affairs, 2nd, International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure, IWDRI, New Delhi, NDMA, UNISDR,UNDP, World Bank.', 'metadescription' => 'The second International Workshop on Disaster Resilient Infrastructure (IWDRI) was held in New Delhi.', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/5w6w6x6bbxw4bwm/19_Mar_International_Workshop_on_Disaster.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 7 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 1023, 'title' => 'Cyclone Fani: UNDRR commends India’s disaster preparedness', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has commended India’s "zero casualty" policy for cyclones and pinpoint accuracy of India Meteorological Department's (IMD) early warning system which have helped reduce possibility of deaths from recent cyclone Fani.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">UNDRR Commandment</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD's almost pinpoint accuracy of early warnings of Cyclone Fani helped authorities conduct well-targeted evacuation plan and minimise the loss of life during landfall of cyclone Fani. The pin point early warning allowed authorities to conduct very well targeted evacuation plan which resulted moving in 1.1 million people to about 900 cyclone shelters in short period of time. India's policy of minimising fatalities from cyclones has been proven by past performances as in cyclone Phailin in 2013 and is inline Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015-2030 (Sendai Framework).</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Cyclone Fani </span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It was high-end extremely severe cyclonic storm of category four. Its name Fani was suggested by Bangladesh and means ‘Snake’ or ‘hood of snake’. It was strongest tropical cyclone to strike India in a decade. It had originated from tropical depression that formed west of Sumatra in Indian Ocean. Later it had moved northwest wards and made landfall in temple town of Puri in Odisha. It was second named storm and the first severe cyclonic storm of the 2019 North Indian Ocean cyclone season</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is mandated by UN General Assembly resolution (56/195) to serve as focal point in UN system for coordination of disaster risk reduction (DRR). It is also mandated to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities of UN system and regional organizations and activities in socio</span><span style="font-family:Cambria Math,serif">-</span></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">economic and humanitarian fields.</span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR)</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It was established in 1999 as dedicated secretariat to facilitate implementation of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).</span></span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is headquartered in Geneva, Switzerland. It is an organisational unit of UN Secretariat and is led by UN Special Representative of Secretary-General for Disaster Risk Reduction (SRSG).</span></span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is the focal point of UN system for disaster risk reduction (DRR) and custodian of Sendai Framework (2015-39). It supports countries and societies in implementation, monitoring and review of progress of this framework.</span></span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is mandated by UN General Assembly resolution (56/195) to serve as focal point in UN system for coordination of disaster risk reduction (DRR). </span></span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:Quicksand,serif">It is also mandated to ensure synergies among disaster reduction activities of UN system and regional organizations and activities in socio</span><span style="font-family:Cambria Math,serif">-</span></span><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif; font-size:10pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">economic and humanitarian fields.</span></span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'cyclone-fani-undrr-commends', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d33b/qhecxk1m6o1l1lr6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d33b/qhecxk1m6o1l1lr6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Cyclone Fani: UNDRR commends India’s disaster preparedness', 'metakeyword' => 'UNDRR, commended, India, zero casualty policy for cyclones, pinpoint accuracy of IMD, early warning system,Cyclone Fani', 'metadescription' => 'United Nations Office for Disaster Risk Reduction (UNDRR) has commended India’s 'zero casualty' policy for cyclones and pinpoint accuracy of India Meteorological ', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/pm01ahal31bbj0w/Cyclone_Fani.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 8 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 1123, 'title' => 'Government issues Drought Advisory to 6 states', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Union Government has issued <strong>Drought Advisory</strong> to 6 states viz. <em>Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu</em>. It has asked these to use water judiciously as water storage in dams has dropped to a critical level.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">What is drought advisory?</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It is issued by Union Government to states when the water level in reservoirs is 20</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">%</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> less than the average of live water storage figures of the past 10 years. It only recommends states to use water for drinking purpose only till the dams are replenished. As water falls under the state list, Union Government can only issue advisory to states, but it is upto state government to implement this advisory.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Background</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Central Water Commission (CWC) under Union Ministry of Water Resources monitors water storage available in 91 major reservoirs across the country. According to recent figures released, total water storage available is 22</span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">% </span></span><span style="font-size:10.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">of total storage capacity of these reservoirs</span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'govt-issues-drought-advisory-6-states', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e9a4/4lwk3ezcae43zml6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e9a4/4lwk3ezcae43zml6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Government issues Drought Advisory to 6 states', 'metakeyword' => 'Union Government has issued Drought Advisory to 6 states viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu', 'metadescription' => 'Union Government has issued Drought Advisory to 6 states viz. Maharashtra, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Telangana and Tamil Nadu', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/2mnz6d4ywdfaizv/Government_issues.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 9 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 1517, 'title' => 'Odisha releases Flood Hazard Atlas', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released unveiled a Flood Hazard Atlas for managing floods in the state more efficiently. It was unveiled atlas at State Level Natural Calamity Committee meeting. This atlas will help identify the disaster prone areas of the state so that necessary plans can be made to tackle the situation.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Odisha Flood Hazard Atlas</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It has been prepared by National Remote Sensing Centre (NRSC), Hyderabad and Odisha State Disaster Management Authority (OSDMA).</span></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It will help management of the flood in the state as Odisha is a flood prone state as flood causes extensive damage to life and property.</span></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It has been made after ascertaining flood inundation data captured through satellite imagery between 2000 and 2018. It keeps the most flood hit areas in focus.</span></span></span></span></li> <li style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Significance:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> It is expected to help the State manage floods more efficiently.</span></span> <span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It will help to create systematically plan flood control measures. It will help to control developmental activities on floodplains. It will also help authorities to carryout relief and resuce operations. It will also help to plan relief shelters and health centres.</span></span></span></span></li> </ul> <p style="text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Flooding in Odisha</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Every year vast areas of Odisha are inundated when there is flooding in major rivers, namely, Mahanadi, Brahmani, Baitarani, Subarnarekha and Rushikulya. Some of the rivers like, Budhabalanga and Vamsadhara, also cause flash floods due to instant run-off from their hilly catchments. Around 14 lakh hectare of agriculture land is being affected by floods every year in Odisha</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'odisha-release-flood-hazard-atlas', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/520c/akfmby6el7np8fd6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/520c/akfmby6el7np8fd6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Odisha releases Flood Hazard Atlas', 'metakeyword' => 'Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released unveiled a Flood Hazard Atlas for managing floods in the state more efficiently.', 'metadescription' => 'Odisha Chief Minister Naveen Patnaik released unveiled a Flood Hazard Atlas for managing floods in the state more efficiently.', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/am7alzf7ux88y3a/odisha-release-flood-hazard-atlas.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 10 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 1661, 'title' => 'IITM launches extended heat wave range prediction system', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have developed extended range prediction system for real time prediction of heat waves two to three weeks in advance. The prediction system has been successfully transferred to Indian Meteorological Department (IMD), which has been using it since 2017. IMD had used this system to predict heat waves this year.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Extended range prediction system</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">It shows in advance date of onset, duration and demise of heat waves, with a small spatial and temporal error. It can predict heat waves with 70% accuracy and probability.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Significance:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> The short-range forecast two-three days before the onset of heat wave condition can provide more reliable information about the time and location of the heat wave condition</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">Findings:</span></span></strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif""> Based on observation data available from 1981 to 2017, researchers found that places in two regions – northwest India and southeast coastal regions – are prone to heat waves conditions. Places in these two regions experience heat waves for more than eight days during 2019 summer season.</span></span></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD’s heat wave criteria</span></span></strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:0in; margin-right:0in; text-align:justify"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><span style="font-size:9.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Quicksand","serif"">IMD defines heat wave day when the maximum temperature is above 44 degree C or when all the three following conditions are seen — when region is facing unusually hot temperature, when temperature is more than 36 degree C and when departure from the normal temperature is more than 3.5 degree C.</span></span></span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'iimt-launches-extended-heat-wave-range-prediction-system', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4a83/bup0lqbup84zd006g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4a83/bup0lqbup84zd006g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'IITM launches extended heat wave range prediction', 'metakeyword' => 'Researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have developed extended range prediction system for real time prediction of heat waves two to three weeks in advance', 'metadescription' => 'Researchers at Pune’s Indian Institute of Tropical Meteorology (IITM) have developed extended range prediction system for real time prediction of heat waves two to three weeks in advance', 'author' => 'Nikhil Paigude', 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/ba8064b7rqivqe2/IITM_launches_extended_heat_wave_range_prediction_system.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 11 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 2474, 'title' => 'Bhopal gas tragedy', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The centre may soon run out of fund to pay compensation for the Bhopal gas tragedy survivors.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The problem has been caused by the Centre’s attempts to tap a fund first, as in 2010, it had estimated 48,000 claimants, but close to 50,000 have already been compensated so far, leading to shortfall of allocated funds.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Bhopal gas tragedy</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Bhopal gas tragedy was a gas leak incident on the night of 2–3 December 1984 at the Union Carbide India Limited (UCIL) pesticide plant in Bhopal, Madhya Pradesh.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is considered to be the world's worst industrial disaster as over 500,000 people were exposed to methyl isocyanate (MIC) gas.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The UCIL factory was built in 1969 to produce the pesticide Sevin (UCC's brand name for carbaryl) using methyl isocyanate (MIC) as an intermediate. An MIC production plant was added to the UCIL site in 1979.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> The chemical process employed in the Bhopal plant had methylamine reacting with phosgene to form MIC, which was then reacted with 1-naphthol to form the final product.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Effects of gas exposure</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The initial effects of exposure were coughing, severe eye irritation and a feeling of suffocation, burning in the respiratory tract, blepharospasm, breathlessness, and stomach pains and vomiting.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Mortality</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Primary causes of deaths were choking, reflexogenic circulatory collapse and pulmonary oedema. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Findings during autopsies revealed changes not only in the lungs but also cerebral oedema, tubular necrosis of the kidneys, fatty degeneration of the liver and necrotising enteritis.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The stillbirth rate increased by up to 300% and neonatal mortality rate by around 200%. </span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Long term effects</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Eyes: Chronic conjunctivitis, scars on cornea, corneal opacities, early cataracts.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Respiratory tracts: Obstructive and/or restrictive disease, pulmonary fibrosis, aggravation of TB and chronic bronchitis.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Neurological system: Impairment of memory, finer motor skills, numbness etc.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Psychological problems: Post traumatic stress disorder (PTSD).</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Children's health: Peri- and neonatal death rates increased. Failure to grow, intellectual impairment, etc.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'bhopal-gas-tragedy', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/08cd/5rj2a5iyo0s1zgj6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/08cd/5rj2a5iyo0s1zgj6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Bhopal gas tragedy', 'metakeyword' => 'Bhopal gas tragedy', 'metadescription' => 'The problem has been caused by the Centre’s attempts to tap a fund first, as in 2010, it had estimated 48,000 claimants,', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/wkegituwi149lq3/Bhopal_gas_tragedy.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 12 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 2518, 'title' => 'Mega typhoon in Japan', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Japan is facing one of the worst typhoons in 6 decades, called as Hagibis. It is predicted that this storm will be destructive enough to cause large scale damage in Japan.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The storm has brought heavy rainfall in wide areas of Japan ahead of its landfall, including the capital Tokyo. This incident is bound to cause power outages and damage homes and infrastructure.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Typhoons</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A typhoon is a mature tropical cyclone that develops between 180° and 100°E in the Northern Hemisphere. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This region is referred to as the North western Pacific Basin, and is the most active tropical cyclone basin on Earth, accounting for almost one-third of the world's annual tropical cyclones.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Tropical cyclones across the globe</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bay of Bengal and Indian ocean: Cyclone</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Caribbean and US: Hurricane</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Pacific Ocean and South China Sea: Typhoon</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Australia: Willy Willy</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reasons for tropical cyclones</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There are six main requirements for tropical cyclogenesis: sufficiently warm sea surface temperatures, atmospheric instability, high humidity in the lower to middle levels of the troposphere, enough Coriolis force to develop a low pressure center, a pre-existing low level focus or disturbance, and low vertical wind shear.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Normally, an ocean temperature of 26.5 °C spanning through a depth of at least 50m is considered the minimum to maintain the special mesocyclone that is the tropical cyclone. These warm waters are needed to maintain the warm core that fuels tropical systems. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A minimum distance of 500 km (300 mi) from the equator is normally needed for tropical cyclogenesis. Whether it is a depression in the Intertropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ) or monsoon trough, a broad surface front is required to begin tropical cyclogenesis.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even with perfect upper level conditions and the required atmospheric instability, the lack of a surface focus will prevent the development of organized convection and a surface low.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Vertical wind shear of less than 10 m/s between the ocean surface and the tropopause is required for tropical cyclone development. Typically with Pacific typhoons, there are two outflow jets: one to the north ahead of an upper trough in the Westerlies, and a second towards the equator that can make cyclone formation possible.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'mega-typhoon-in-japan', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/bd33/x7nalznj72lbcwj6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/bd33/x7nalznj72lbcwj6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Mega typhoon in Japan', 'metakeyword' => 'Mega typhoon in Japan', 'metadescription' => 'Japan is facing one of the worst typhoons in 6 decades, called as Hagibis. It is predicted that this storm will be destructive enough to cause large scale damage in Japan.', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/sx9btcrdoq4vctn/Mega_typhoon_in_Japan.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 13 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 2662, 'title' => 'California forest fires', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">California is suffering from one of the worst bout of wild fires that has engulfed major parts of the state including cities like Los Angeles. The fires have threatened natural forests as well as orchards and farms.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The dry months in America are very susceptible to forest fires through flammable material. The vast areas of grasslands as well as constant winds have enabled the fires to spread wide.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Fire fighters scrambled to protect valuable citrus and avocado crops in harm's way, as well nearby oil industry infrastructure. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The blaze also threatened high-voltage power lines in the vicinity, along with radio and communications towers.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The latest recurrence of seasonal Santa Ana winds coincided with extremely low relative humidity levels and a prolonged lack of rainfall that has left vegetation tinder-dry in the region has allowed fires to spread quickly.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Wild fires</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One of the most prevalent causes of global deforestation and destruction of wildlife is fire.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"> Forest or wildlife fires spread at different speeds depending on vegetation, weather conditions, and physical features.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Causes</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Human causes</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Human activities near or within forested areas are the number one cause of forest fires. Smoking near vegetation can cause a widespread fire when a smoker throws a cigarette into vegetation without completely extinguishing.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Equipment such as machinery used in logging and hunting can also cause fires. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Bullets hitting on some dry vegetation may result in fires.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Petroleum products used in logging equipment can cause fires when there is a leak onto the vegetation.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Other causes include campfires that are not well monitored or put off entirely. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">People have deliberately caused fires during hunting to corner wild animals while others burn forests to clear the way for agriculture or development activities.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Electric faults from facilities or electricity plants near forests can also cause fires.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Natural causes</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Lightning is the biggest natural cause of forest fires. The different lightning strokes of varied electric voltages cause fire through directly igniting vegetation with high currents.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Volcanic activities such as eruptions and lava flow can cause fires.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Prevention</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Awareness campaigns on the causes of fires to reduce human initiated fire incidences.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Artificially burning susceptible plants can prevent fires from spreading.</span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'california-forest-fires', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/ae45/6o7r9np0c87cxcp6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/ae45/6o7r9np0c87cxcp6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'California forest fires', 'metakeyword' => 'California forest fires', 'metadescription' => 'California is suffering from one of the worst bout of wild fires that has engulfed major parts of the state including cities like Los Angeles.', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/59tbdek56j7p5vq/California_forest_fires.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 14 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 2828, 'title' => 'Avalanche in Siachen', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Four soldiers and two civilian porters were killed after an Army patrol was hit by an avalanche at Siachen Glacier in Ladakh.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The avalanche had taken place in the Northern Glacier where the altitude is around 19,000 feet and above. Avalanche and frost bites are the major reasons for death of defence personnel in Siachen, more than battle injuries.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Siachen glacier</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Siachen Glacier is a glacier located in the eastern Karakoram range in the Himalayas just northeast of the point NJ9842 where the Line of Control between India and Pakistan ends.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is the longest glacier in the Karakoram and second-longest in the world's non-polar areas.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The entire Siachen Glacier, with all major passes, is currently under the administration of India since 1984.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The major passes on this ridge are, from north to south, <strong>Sia La</strong>, <strong>Bilafond La</strong><strong> </strong>and <strong>Gyong La</strong>.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The glacier's melting waters are the main source of the <strong>Nubra</strong> River in the Indian region of Ladakh, which drains into the <strong>Shyok </strong>River.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Shyok in turn joins the <strong>Indus</strong> River which flows through Pakistan. Thus, the glacier is a major source of the Indus.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p><img alt="Avalanche in Siachen 19 Nov Daily Current Affairs" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/a86d/w25tonkaxirnmuh6g.jpg" style="height:223px; width:325px" /></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Avalanche</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">An avalanche (also called a snowslide) is an event that occurs when a cohesive slab of snow lying upon a weaker layer of snow fractures and slides down a steep slope. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Avalanches are typically triggered in a starting zone from a mechanical failure in the snowpack. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After initiation, avalanches usually accelerate rapidly and grow in mass and volume as they entrain more snow.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'avalanche-in-siachen', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/0786/696i8m11aeruhoc6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/0786/696i8m11aeruhoc6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Avalanche in Siachen | Siachen Glacier in Ladakh', 'metakeyword' => 'Avalanche in Siachen, Siachen Glacier in Ladakh', 'metadescription' => 'Four soldiers and two civilian porters were killed after an Army patrol was hit by an avalanche at Siachen Glacier in Ladakh.', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/x47mls7qdje79m9/Avalanche_in_Siachen.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 15 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 2890, 'title' => 'Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Scientists have successfully developed and tested a high-tech device that can detect the small movements and changes in the Earth’s seafloor which is often a precursor to deadly natural hazards, such as earthquakes, volcanoes and tsunamis.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The shallow water buoy device was installed off Egmont Key in the Gulf of Mexico last year, and has been producing data on the three-dimensional motion of the sea floor.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The seafloor geodesy system is an anchored spar buoy topped by high precision global positioning system (GPS). The system will be able to detect small changes in the stress and strain of the Earth’s crust.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The buoy’ orientation is measured using a digital compass that provides heading, pitch, and roll information that helps to capture the crucial side-to-side motion of the Earth that can be diagnostic of major tsunami-producing earthquakes.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Technology typically works best in the deeper ocean where there is less noise interference eventhough there are other sea floor measuring techniques.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Offshore strain accumulation and release processes are critical for understanding mega-thrust earthquakes and tsunamis.The experimental buoy rests on the sea bottom using a heavy concrete ballast and has been able to withstand several storms.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The technology has several potential applications in the offshore oil and gas industry and volcano monitoring in some places, but the big one is for improved forecasting of earthquakes and tsunamis in subduction zones.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The system is designed for subduction zone applications in the Pacific Ocean’s “Ring of Fire” where offshore strain accumulation and release processes are currently poorly monitored.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Earthquakes</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earthquake is a sudden shaking of the ground caused by the passage of seismic waves through Earth’s rocks. Seismic waves are produced when some form of energy stored in Earth’s crust is suddenly released, usually when masses of rock straining against one another suddenly fracture and “slip.” </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Earthquakes occur most often along geologic faults, narrow zones where rock masses move in relation to one another. The major fault lines of the world are located at the fringes of the huge tectonic plates that make up Earth’s crust.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Earthquake waves</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>P-waves</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">P-waves, also known as <strong>primary waves</strong> or pressure waves, travel at the greatest velocity through the Earth. When they travel through air, they take the form of sound waves. They are the <strong>first waves to be recorded</strong> by a seismograph during an earthquake.They propagate through a material by alternately <strong>compressing and expanding</strong> the medium, where <strong>particle motion is parallel to the direction of wave propagation</strong>.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>S-waves</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">S-waves, also known as <strong>secondary waves, shear waves or shaking waves</strong>, are transverse waves that travel <strong>slower</strong> than P-waves. In this case, <strong>particle motion is perpendicular to the direction of wave propagation.</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Surface waves</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Surface waves are similar in nature to water waves and travel just under the Earth’s surface. They are typically generated when the source of the earthquake is close to the Earth’s surface. </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Although surface waves travel more slowly than S-waves, they can be much larger in amplitude and can be the most destructive type of seismic wave. There are two basic kinds of surface waves:</span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Rayleigh waves</strong>, also called ground roll, travel as ripples similar to those on the surface of water. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Love waves</strong> cause horizontal shearing of the ground. They usually travel slightly faster than Rayleigh waves</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><img alt="Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast" src="https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/c196/gdvl0j4hw54imse6g.jpg" style="height:293px; width:392px" /></span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'hi-tech-device-to-improve-tsunami-and-earthquake-forecast', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/6a67/spgzyjsji3prs6n6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/6a67/spgzyjsji3prs6n6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast', 'metakeyword' => 'Hi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecastHi-tech device to improve Tsunami and earthquake forecast', 'metadescription' => 'Scientists have successfully developed and tested a high-tech device that can detect the small movements and changes in the Earth’s seafloor ', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/barwostqm12yhis/Hi-tech_device_to_improve_Tsunami_and_earthquake_forecast.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 16 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3260, 'title' => 'Indonesia plans cloud seeding to halt floods', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Indonesia will carry out cloud seeding in order to prevent further rainfall over the capital Jakarta, after deadly flash floods and landslides occured due to some of the heaviest rains in more than 20 years.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The floods followed torrential rains on Dec. 31 and into the early hours of New Year’s day and inundated swathes of Jakarta and nearby towns.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">With more deluges forecast, two small planes have been readied to break up potential rain clouds in the skies above the Sunda Strait.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">President Joko Widodo blamed delays in flood control infrastructure projects for the disaster, including the construction of a canal that has been delayed since 2017 due to land acquisition problems.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Widodo last year announced he will move Indonesia’s capital to East Kalimantan province on Borneo island, to reduce the burden on Jakarta, which is overpopulated and sinking. Jakarta and its surroundings are home to more than 30 million people.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cloud seeding, or shooting salt flares into clouds in an attempt to trigger rainfall, is often used in Indonesia to put out forest fires during the dry season.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Cloud seeding</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Cloud seeding is a weather modification technique that improves a cloud’s ability to produce rain or snow by artificially adding condensation nuclei to the atmosphere, providing a base for for snowflakes or raindrops to form. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">After cloud seeding takes place, precipitation falls from the clouds back to the surface of the Earth.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Most cloud seeding operations use a compound called silver iodide (AgI) to aid in the formation of ice crystals. Silver iodide exists naturally in the environment at low concentrations, and is not known to be harmful to humans or wildlife.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Benefits</strong> </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong> It creates rain.</strong><br /> One big benefit of cloud seeding is being able to create rain in regions that are most affected by droughts, lessening the impact of the harsh climate. </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It makes all areas more hospitable.</strong><br /> There are dry regions of the world that are not habitable or even unsuitable for a visit due to drought. However, cloud seeding can allow for increased rainfall in these areas, making them more hospitable.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It could regulate the weather.</strong><br /> Many of the best areas to grow crops face severe weather, which can bring about damage to the produce.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Reduces pollution</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Artificial rainfall in polluted areas can take down harmfull PM 2.5 particles that has the potential to cause problems to human population.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Drawbacks</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It uses potentially harmful chemicals.</strong><br /> It is important to know that cloud seeding does involve the use of chemicals into the air, which means that it can potentially harm the environment, especially plants and animals.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It is not really proven to be effective.</strong><br /> After some evaluation of its effectiveness, cloud seeding is found not to be foolproof as of the moment.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It may affect the weather in a negative way.</strong><br /> Though it is believed to regulate the weather, cloud seeding is feared to ultimately change climatic patterns that exist on Earth.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>It requires huge amounts of investments.</strong><br /> Aside from the health of plants and animals, the cost of cloud seeding is another big concern, as it could be really costly to deliver chemicals to the sky and have them released into the air.</span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'indonesia-plans-cloud-seeding-to-halt-floods', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4fb4/8coi57lresd5gfw6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4fb4/8coi57lresd5gfw6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Indonesia plans cloud seeding to halt floods', 'metakeyword' => 'Indonesia plans cloud seeding to halt floods', 'metadescription' => 'Indonesia will carry out cloud seeding in order to prevent further rainfall over the capital Jakarta, after deadly flash floods and landslides occured due to some ', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/1mfa6p9e7gpovsc/Indonesia_plans_cloud_seeding_to_halt_floods.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 17 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3467, 'title' => 'Rising CO2 levels may double risk of floods', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The risk of extreme floods or storms could double every 13 years at the rate carbon-dioxide concentrations are building up in the atmosphere, according to scientists.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As climate is being altered due to increase in global warming potential gases, effects are visible on hydrological cycle as well, causing extreme events such as floods.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The number of intense “hydro-meteorological” disasters could increase by 5.4% annually for an “average” country facing annually nearly one “extreme disaster” (defined as one that causes 100 or more fatalities and/or affects 1,000 or more people).</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India faces 5-10 times as many extreme events as the average country. One more extreme event in India [such as the Kerala floods of 2018 that killed at least 400] would strain the ability of the country to cope.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors relied on econometric modelling which, they say, complements the traditional approach of climate modelling to explore the factors that have contributed to the increase in the frequency of flood and storm events. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Econometric modelling involves accounting for a country’s vulnerability to hazards and its GDP, population density and changes in mean rainfall.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Hydro-meterological disasters</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Process or phenomenon of atmospheric, hydrological or oceanographic nature that may cause loss of life, injury or other health impacts, property damage, loss of livelihoods and services, social and economic disruption, or environmental damage.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hydrometeorological hazards include tropical cyclones (also known as typhoons and hurricanes), thunderstorms, hailstorms, tornados, blizzards, heavy snowfall, avalanches, coastal storm surges, floods including flash floods, drought, heatwaves and cold spells. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Hydrometeorological conditions also can be a factor in other hazards such as landslides, wildland fires, locust plagues, epidemics, and in the transport and dispersal of toxic substances and volcanic eruption material.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'rising-co2-levels-may-double-risk-of-floods', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/9995/0yskhjwl0i98wkk6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/9995/0yskhjwl0i98wkk6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Rising CO2 levels may double risk of floods', 'metakeyword' => 'Rising CO2 levels may double risk of floods', 'metadescription' => 'The risk of extreme floods or storms could double every 13 years at the rate carbon-dioxide concentrations are building up in the atmosphere,', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/aavykntvz33b4hv/Rising_CO2_levels_may_double_risk_of_floods.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 18 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3569, 'title' => 'Operation Vanilla', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India handed over relief material and stores to the authorities of Madagascar, as part of its effort to provide relief to cyclone <strong>Diane</strong> hit areas, codenamed operation <strong>Vanilla</strong>.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Indian Navy Ship <strong>Airavat</strong>, which was en-route to Seychelles was diverted to Madagascar for rendering assistance. The island nation was lashed with cyclone causing heavy flooding and landslides leading to massive loss of life and property. </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">INS Airavat handed over urgently needed relief material comprising disaster relief stores, tents, blankets, clothing, food and medicines to local government authorities.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The Medical Team from the ship is holding a medical camp in coordination with local authorities. Indian Navy was the first international respondent to this evolving humanitarian crisis in Madagascar.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India’s assistance to Madagascar is in consonance with Indian Navy’s Foreign Cooperation initiatives in line with India’s vision of '<strong>Security and Growth for all in the Region</strong> (<strong>SAGAR</strong>)'.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar is also a member of inter-governmental organisation <strong>Indian Ocean Rim Association</strong> (<strong>IORA</strong>).</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>INS Airavat</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">INS Airavat is an amphibious assault ship and as part of the mission-based deployment has Humanitarian Aid and Disaster Relief (HADR) as part of its missions and carries relief material in the form of HADR bricks. This enables ships on deployment to respond rapidly to any emergent situation.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Madagascar</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar is an island country in the Indian Ocean, approximately 400 kilometres (250 miles) off the coast of East Africa. It is the world's 2nd largest island country.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Madagascar belongs to the group of least developed countries, according to the United Nations.[14] Malagasy and French are both official languages of the state. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Neighboring islands include the French territory of Réunion and the country of Mauritius to the east, as well as the state of Comoros and the French territory of Mayotte to the north west. The nearest mainland state is Mozambique, located to the west.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'operation-vanilla', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/9ea7/iy541imo3n8ayjm6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/9ea7/iy541imo3n8ayjm6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Operation Vanilla | Vanilla | Vanilla Operation', 'metakeyword' => 'Operation Vanilla, Vanilla, Vanilla Operation', 'metadescription' => 'India handed over relief material and stores to the authorities of Madagascar, as part of its effort to provide relief to cyclone Diane hit areas,', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/ee38bfc8j5t0znt/Operation_Vanilla.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 19 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3799, 'title' => 'WHO not to declare SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made it abundantly clear that WHO will not declare COVID-19 a pandemic at this moment. </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">A pandemic is defined as the worldwide spread of a new disease. The last pandemic reported was the 2009 H1N1 flu pandemic, which killed hundreds of thousands globally.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">According to 2017 pandemic influenza risk management guidelines, the WHO uses pandemic influenza phases, interpandemic, alert, pandemic and transition, to reflect its risk assessment of the global situation regarding each influenza virus with pandemic potential infecting humans.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Fourteen countries have managed to contain the spread of the virus and no new case has been reported for more than a week. And nine countries, including India, Nepal and Sri Lanka, have not reported any additional cases in the last two weeks. This highlights that the virus can be stopped in its track if countries take appropriate and timely actions.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Except Antarctica, novel coronavirus cases have been reported from all continents. In the past week, 20 countries have <a href="https://apc01.safelinks.protection.outlook.com/?url=https%3A%2F%2Fedition.cnn.com%2Fasia%2Flive-news%2Fcoronavirus-outbreak-02-27-20-intl-hnk%2Findex.html&data=02%7C01%7Cnetalert%40thehindu.co.in%7Cb52c041cd57b4e30236d08d7bbabfcb1%7Cc8f171fb8e124c1286ff9108c97b8963%7C0%7C1%7C637184219680444855&sdata=PAqHX9mrL2kU4VHbtrt9y%2Br0EPxUE4uC98XBHex4K38%3D&reserved=0" title="Original URL: https://edition.cnn.com/asia/live-news/coronavirus-outbreak-02-27-20-intl-hnk/index.html. Click or tap if you trust this link.">confirmed</a> their first coronavirus cases.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">South Korea has the most number of confirmed novel coronavirus infections, 1,766 (and 13 deaths) outside mainland China. Italy (528), <a href="https://www.thehindu.com/news/international/iran-coronavirus-deaths-jump-to-26/article30933426.ece">Iran</a> (245) and Japan (189) are the other countries with most number of cases.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Measures to stop spread</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The priority should be to detect cases early and isolate people who test positive for the virus. Once a case is detected, the focus should be to trace the contacts and treat them if already infected. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Though the average incubation period is five-seven days, a few have shown up symptoms at the end of 24 days. Efforts should also be focussed on preventing outbreaks in hospitals and spread in the community. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">One way to stop the spread in the community is to avoid mass gathering in enclosed spaces.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'who-not-to-declare-sars-cov-2-a-pandemic', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/f17d/98vb4hbuvy4m1n46g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/f17d/98vb4hbuvy4m1n46g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'WHO not to declare SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic', 'metakeyword' => 'WHO not to declare SARS-CoV-2 a pandemic', 'metadescription' => 'WHO Director-General Tedros Adhanom Ghebreyesus made it abundantly clear that WHO will not declare COVID-19 a pandemic at this moment. ', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/3pvuukgy1wp6sav/WHO_not_to_declare_SARS-CoV-2_a_pandemic.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 20 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3970, 'title' => 'Radioactive dumping in Fukushima', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The nuclear disaster at Fukushima sent an unprecedented amount of radiation into the Pacific. But, before then, atomic bomb tests and radioactive waste were contaminating the sea, the effects are still being felt today.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Exactly how the water should be dealt with has become highly controversial in Japan, not least because the nuclear disaster caused extreme contamination off the coast of Fukushima.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0in"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0in"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Almost 1.2 million liters (320,000 gallons) of radioactive water from the Fukushima nuclear power plant is to be released into the ocean.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The contaminated water has since been used to cool the destroyed reactor blocks to prevent further nuclear meltdowns. It is currently being stored in large tanks, but those are expected to be full by 2022.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Radiation levels in the sea off Fukushima were millions of times higher than the government’s limit of 100 becquerels. And still today, radioactive substances can be detected off the coast of Japan and in other parts of the Pacific. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The research found that even the smallest possible dose, a photon passing through a cell nucleus, carries a cancer risk. Although this risk is extremely small, it is still a risk.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Over the past few decades, more than 250 nuclear weapons tests were carried out on the high seas. Most of them (193) were conducted by France in French Polynesia, and by the US (42), primarily in the Marshall Islands and the Central Pacific.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">But the ocean wasn’t just being used as a training ground for nuclear war. Until the early 1990s, it was also a gigantic dump for radioactive waste from nuclear power plants.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">From 1946 to 1993, more than 200,000 tons of waste, some of it highly radioactive, was dumped in the world’s oceans, mainly in metal drums.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The US had dropped more than 90,000 barrels and at least 190,000 cubic meters of radioactive waste in the North Atlantic and Pacific. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Other countries including Belgium, France, Switzerland and the Netherlands also disposed of tons of radioactive waste in the North Atlantic in the 1960s, 70s and 80s.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The long-term consequences are clear. The radiation will be “absorbed by the marine animals surrounding it. They will eventually end up caught in fishing nets, and come back to our plates.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'radioactive-dumping-in-fukushima', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/668a/t73wa93wmjwbi326g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/668a/t73wa93wmjwbi326g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Radioactive dumping in Fukushima', 'metakeyword' => 'Radioactive dumping in Fukushima', 'metadescription' => 'The nuclear disaster at Fukushima sent an unprecedented amount of radiation into the Pacific. But, before then, atomic bomb tests and radioactive waste were contaminating the sea', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/file/lb80kr72o2rqo1e/2.Radioactive_dumping_in_Fukushima.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 21 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 3995, 'title' => 'Undetected cases drive spread in community', 'description' => '<p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Eighty-six percent of people in China who were infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were not tested in the two-week period before travel restrictions came into force on January 23 in Wuhan and other cities. And these undetected cases contributed to the majority of virus spread in the community, according to a study.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The researchers used a computer model that draws on observations of reported infection and spread within China in conjunction with mobility data from January 10-23 and January 24-February 8.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-left:36pt; margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">People who experienced mild, limited or no symptoms were not detected but spread the virus anyway. About half as infectious per person as a documented case who has more severe symptoms and maybe shedding more.</span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Even though the undetected cases are only 55% contagious compared with those who exhibit severe symptoms and are detected, due to their greater numbers, they facilitated the rapid spread of the virus throughout mainland China. The undetected cases were the source of infection for 79% of documented cases.</span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The undocumented infections which tend to be milder are distributing the virus broadly. They’re contributing essentially to what is called self transmission of the virus because it’s really undetected and it’s flying below the radar.</span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The modeling study suggests that a “radical increase” in identifying and isolating people who have not been tested yet would be needed to fully control the spread of the virus.</span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The paper says that steps taken by many individuals and governments to restrict travel, shut down schools, prevent large gatherings, isolation of suspected cases, and the use of face mask and regular handwashing could have helped slow down the spread of the virus. And some countries have also started community testing.</span></span></li> <li><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The authors say that while travel restrictions and other control measures could have reduced the spread of the virus in the community, the study does not provide evidence that such control measures would be sufficient to end the spread locally and prevent a rebound once travel and other restrictions are removed or relaxed.</span></span></li> </ul> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The paper concludes by saying that there are already four coronavirus strains that are circulating in the human population. And if the novel coronavirus follows the pattern of H1N1, then it would spread globally and become the fifth coronavirus to become endemic in the human population.</span></span></p> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'undetected-cases-drive-spread-in-community', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d2e8/5747uretvk9u2666g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d2e8/5747uretvk9u2666g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Undetected cases drive spread in community', 'metakeyword' => 'Undetected cases drive spread in community', 'metadescription' => 'Eighty-six per cent of people in China who were infected with novel coronavirus (SARS-CoV-2) were not tested in the two-week period', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/040s0smu1ka9240/2.Undetected_cases_drive_spread_in_community.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 22 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4014, 'title' => 'Community spread', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The government is yet to establish the source of infection of a 20-year-old Delhi resident who tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu, sending alarm bells ringing and raising questions if this is India’s first case of community transmission of the deadly contagion.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In countries such as Italy or South Korea, the number of Covid-19 cases and related fatalities surged once community transmission of the disease began, making it difficult for governments to contain the rapid spread of the infection.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The ICMR had picked 1,020 random samples of people with severe acute respiratory illness pneumonia and influenza-like symptoms for testing for Covid-19. The results of 500 samples are negative, a sign that community-level transmission of the coronavirus may not be taking place in India still.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">If a positive case turns up in these random samples, the ICMR said, it would indicate community transmission and they would enforce localised quarantine and testing measures in the areas from where samples were collected.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The virus that causes COVID-19 seems to be spreading easily and sustainably in the community (“community spread”) in some affected geographic areas.</span></span></p> </li> <li><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Community spread</span></span><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif""> means people have been infected with the virus in an area, including some who are not sure how or where they became infected.</span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'community-spread', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/71d3/dxk90d58imbzepx6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/71d3/dxk90d58imbzepx6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Community spread', 'metakeyword' => 'Community spread', 'metadescription' => 'The government is yet to establish the source of infection of a 20-year-old Delhi resident who tested positive for coronavirus in Tamil Nadu', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/n05k64wasr9d3bj/1.Community_spread.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 23 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4022, 'title' => 'Janata curfew', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the nation on the coronavirus pandemic and urged all citizens to support a 'janata curfew' on Sunday, March 22.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Coronavirus is a communicable disease that spreads among people through contact. To prevent its spreading, human contacts should be reduced as much as possible and social distancing is one such measure.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">PM Modi said it will apply to everyone and urged all citizens to stay inside their homes. He said those in emergency and essential services should do their regular duties.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The PM also urged all state governments to take the lead in ensuring that the Janata Curfew is implemented across the country.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">He urged the entire nation to stay at home for the coming few weeks to arrest the spread of the coronavirus pandemic. He said senior citizens aged over 65 years should stay indoors at all cost for the next few weeks.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The COVID-19 Response Team suggests two “fundamental strategies” to tackle the coronavirus spread. The first is mitigation, focusing on slowing the epidemic spread so as to reduce peak healthcare demand while protecting those most at risk. The second is suppression, which aims to reverse epidemic growth by reducing case numbers to low levels and maintaining that situation indefinitely.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Mitigation, which will be a mix of home isolation of suspect cases, home quarantine of those living in the same household as suspect cases, and social distancing of the elderly and others at most risk, could potentially reduce peak healthcare demand by two-thirds and deaths by half.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Suppression would be left as the preferred policy option for countries that can do this. The Janata Curfew can be seen as a step in this direction, though initially just for a day.</span></span></p> </li> <li><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The team says suppression will minimally require a combination of social distancing of the entire population, home isolation of cases and household quarantine of their family members, supplemented by school and university closures. However, there will be a need to do this for longer periods to get the desired impact.</span></span></li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'janata-curfew', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4b1b/8hwns49z8d3bzri6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/4b1b/8hwns49z8d3bzri6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Janata curfew', 'metakeyword' => 'Janata curfew', 'metadescription' => 'Prime Minister Narendra Modi had addressed the nation on the coronavirus pandemic and urged all citizens to support a 'janata curfew' on Sunday, March 22', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/yf4ok3ip7768ay7/4._janta.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 24 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4056, 'title' => 'Study projects drastic increase in Coronavirus cases', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The 21-day lockdown has brought enormous misery and suffering to some of India’s most vulnerable people, however, in the absence of aggressive government intervention, the infection could spread rapidly, says a new study.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study published by scientists at Johns Hopkins University and the University of Michigan among other American universities, uses data until March 16 and does not reflect the impact of government interventions made before (such as airport screenings and quarantines) and after that date.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Social distancing measures like the ban on travel and stopping of trains and flights would likely have slowed the spread of the novel coronavirus.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study acknowledges that the most severe form of interventions would drastically bring down the number of infected people, and restrict the spread to just about 13,800 cases by May 15, instead of 58,600. In this situation it is highly appropriate to adopt draconian measures.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study does not specify what the “draconian measures” or “severe” interventions might be, but it does discuss the possible impact of social distancing, travel ban and lockdown, without which the number of infected people could rise to even 1.31 lakh by June 15.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The study found that an infected person in India was passing on the infection to at least two more people on average. The range of 2 to 3.5 (persons per infected person) is sensible for COVID-19 in early phase without intervention.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The study acknowledges uncertainties in their predictions, which is largely due to many unknowns arising from model assumptions, population size, accuracy of diagnostic tests for COVID-19, heterogeneity in implementation of different government-initiated interventions and community-level protective measures.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'study-projects-drastic-increase-in-coronavirus-cases', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/5345/5xjwi0003fnqi0j6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/5345/5xjwi0003fnqi0j6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Study projects drastic increase in Coronavirus cases', 'metakeyword' => 'Study projects drastic increase in Coronavirus cases', 'metadescription' => 'The 21-day lockdown has brought enormous misery and suffering to some of India’s most vulnerable people, however, in the absence of aggressive', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/rkwztwvjalmhaet/3.Study_projects_drastic_increase_in_Coronavirus_cases.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 25 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4087, 'title' => 'Can COVID-19 relapse in patients?', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">In the last few days, there have been reports of recovered COVID-19 patients testing positive a second time. Since the exact behaviour of the novel coronavirus is still being studied, immunity against it is not fully understood. </span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Previous coronavirus outbreaks have been inconsistent: a study on the coronavirus that caused MERS revealed that patients are unlikely to get re-infected within a short duration of the original infection; but, after the SARS outbreak, cases of relapse that were reported.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Various factors can cause relapse in patients recovered from COVID-19. SARS-CoV-2, the virus that causes COVID-19, is like viruses that cause any other flu.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">There is always a probability of mutation as in the case of influenza viruses. The mutation, theoretically, can make an individual vulnerable to reacquire the COVID-19 infection.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Patients who test positive for COVID-19 develop protective antibodies. Theoretically, there can be a relapse even in patients who have antibodies. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">At this stage, it is not fully understood as to how the long the antibodies provide protection against the viral infection.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Also, in the absence of any vaccination, it is not known whether the immunity acquired by the persons is permanent. Another scenario that can lead to relapse is when immunity is compromised, if the patients have underlying conditions and if they are dependent on immunosuppression drugs.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Experts also have pointed out that a “false negative” RTPCR test, the RNA test being conducted to diagnose COVID-19 infection, can lead to a patient testing positive a second time after testing negative in between. There have reports from Spain about imported RNA test kits giving inaccurate results.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'can-covid-19-relapse-in-patients', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e771/ae1ag99opuft8it6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/e771/ae1ag99opuft8it6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Can COVID-19 relapse in patients?', 'metakeyword' => 'Can COVID-19 relapse in patients?', 'metadescription' => 'In the last few days, there have been reports of recovered COVID-19 patients testing positive a second time. Since the exact behaviour of the novel coronavirus', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/d3yq4uwr87dk3ny/4.Can_COVID-19_relapse_in_patients.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 26 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4194, 'title' => 'Virus transmission term ‘R0’', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While billions of people around the world are currently living under a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still in the process of understanding the nature of its transmission. In these studies, the mathematical figure ‘R0’, which indicates how fast an infection is spreading, is considered essential.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Numerous studies are being done to understand how contagious the virus is. This is important as it helps governments make more informed decisions on how to lift lockdown measures while safeguarding lives.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">R0 (pronounced “R-naught”) is the rate at which a virus is transmitted. Also called the basic reproduction number, it indicates the average number of people who will contract the virus from a person who has already been infected, in a population that does not have immunity for the said disease.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">R0 is the division of the number of new infections by the number of existing infections, or the average number of new infections over an infectious period (R0= new infections/existing infections). The higher the R0, the more contagious the infection.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">To illustrate with an example, if the number of people diagnosed with a disease increases from four to eight in two days, it is likely to increase to 16 two days later, or in four days from the start. This makes the R0 two.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">When the R0 is 1, it means the number of infected persons in a population is constant. For every person who is cured of the disease or dies due to it, there will be one fresh case in the population.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">By this logic, the ideal scenario is when the R0 is below 1. This means the infection is transmitted to fewer people. When such a rate is maintained over a considerable period of time, the disease is eradicated.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Disease transmission is not fixed, and the rate can be reduced by pharmaceutical interventions (like vaccines) or non-pharmaceutical interventions (screenings, lockdowns), or both.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Once such measures are put in place, contagiousness is measured in terms of Rt, or the actual rate of transmission at time t. The same strategy has been used in the past for eliminating diseases such as polio and smallpox.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">While many studies have differed in their conclusions, the World Health Organization (WHO) has estimated the R0 for coronavirus at 1.4 to 2.5. In China’s Wuhan, where the disease originated, lockdown measures brought the Rt (effective rate) down to 0.3, thus significantly slowing the number of new infections.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Governments around the world which have enforced such measures are hoping to follow the same path, although experts fear a second wave of infections once lockdowns are lifted.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'virus-transmission-term-r0', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d597/rhmcjmn81ac1pql6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/d597/rhmcjmn81ac1pql6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Virus transmission term ‘R0’', 'metakeyword' => 'Virus transmission term ‘R0’', 'metadescription' => 'While billions of people around the world are currently living under a lockdown due to the coronavirus pandemic, researchers are still in the process of understanding', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/gqwrr2vu5k2203t/1.Virus_transmission_term_%25E2%2580%2598R0%25E2%2580%2599.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 27 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4473, 'title' => 'Styrene gas', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The styrene gas that leaked from LG Polymers, has killed many and created panic in several areas of Visakhapatnam.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The source of the leak was a styrene plant owned by South Korean electronics giant LG, located at RRV Puram near Gopalapatnam, about 15 kms from the coast city.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Styrene gas is a synthetic chemical that is used to manufacture synthetic rubber and plastic packaging. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Styrene is also found in vehicle exhaust, cigarette smoke, and in natural foods like fruits and vegetables.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The colourless liquid evaporates easily, and can be fatal if inhaled or ingested in high quantities.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">High exposure can cause coma and pulmonary edema (chest swelling) while low and moderate exposure can result in burning sensation, skin irritation and affect the nervous system.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">As per the US-based Environment Protection Agency (EPA), short-term exposure to the substance can result in respiratory problems, irritation in the eyes, irritation in the mucous membrane, and gastrointestinal issues. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">And long-term exposure could drastically affect the central nervous system and lead to other related problems like peripheral neuropathy. It could also lead to cancer and depression in some cases. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">However, EPA notes that there is no sufficient evidence despite several epidemiology studies indicating there may be an association between styrene exposure and an increased risk of leukaemia and lymphoma.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Symptoms</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Symptoms include headache, hearing loss, fatigue, weakness, difficulty in concentrating etc. Animal studies have reported effects on the CNS, liver, kidney, and eye and nasal irritation from inhalation exposure to styrene.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'styrene-gas', 'image' => '', 'fbimage' => '', 'metatitle' => 'Styrene gas', 'metakeyword' => 'Styrene gas', 'metadescription' => 'The styrene gas that leaked from LG Polymers, has killed many and created panic in several areas of Visakhapatnam. The source of the leak was a styrene plant owned by South Korean', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => '', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 28 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4913, 'title' => 'Air bubbles for international travel', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">India has proposed to set up air travel bubbles with several countries including the United States, Germany, and France to manage fully or partially to contain the outbreak of COVID-19.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This aims at moving away from controlled and managed aviation evacuation of Indian citizens in different parts of the world and foreign nationals from India.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The concept of a travel bubble, or an air bridge, is reciprocal in nature, which means that both sides, the departure point and the arrival point, have to be on board. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It also means that travel restrictions such as quarantining or testing of passengers have to be discarded among the countries in the bubble.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The finalizing of travel bubbles could be a huge step in the direction of resuming scheduled international air travel, which has been suspended for three months now. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The decision was made public a day after the U.S. served an ultimatum of 30 days to Air India, threatening to ban it from conducting repatriation charters under the Vande Bharat Mission. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">New Zealand, which had successfully controlled the spread of coronavirus with zero fresh cases for weeks, relaxed the restrictions on travel into the country, only to almost immediately start recording new cases. </span></span></p> </li> </ul> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Air bubbles</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Creating a travel bubble involves reconnecting countries or states that have shown a good level of success in containing the novel coronavirus pandemic domestically. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Such a bubble would allow the members of the group to rekindle trade ties with each other, and kickstart sectors such as travel and tourism.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">Travel bubbles or bridges have been implemented by the Baltic countries of Estonia, Latvia, and Lithuania, which have opened their borders to one another without mandating self-isolation. </span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'air-bubbles-for-international-travel', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1ffb/5ji6055vhgzflpr6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/1ffb/5ji6055vhgzflpr6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Air bubbles for international travel', 'metakeyword' => 'Air bubbles for international travel', 'metadescription' => 'India has proposed to setup air travel bubbles with several countries including the United States, Germany, and France to manage fully or partially to contain', 'author' => null, 'downlaodpdf' => 'http://www.mediafire.com/file/z58ffqfcnnjpfxc/1._Air.pdf/file', '[new]' => false, '[accessible]' => [ [maximum depth reached] ], '[dirty]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[original]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[virtual]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[errors]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[invalid]' => [[maximum depth reached]], '[repository]' => 'currentaffairs' }, (int) 29 => object(Cake\ORM\Entity) { 'tag' => 'Disaster & Disaster Management', 'keyword' => 'disaster-disaster-management', 'id' => (int) 4773, 'title' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms', 'description' => '<p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Issue</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers have discovered a new novel technique of preventing locusts swarm from causing damage to crops. This technique uses chemical inhibitors to trigger behavioural changes in the insects, leading to their reduced numbers.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the last few days, there has been a lot of news about the latest locust swarming from the Rajasthan/Gujarat desert region, all the way into Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, causing extensive damage to the crops.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insect biologists have long since known that the locust is by nature a recluse and a singleton, not mixing with others in the same group, Yet, when the harvest season arrives, these singletons team up with others as an army of swarms to attack plants for food.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is important to know the mystery behind the biological mechanism by which this sociological transformation occurs.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed that when solitary locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation causes their behaviour to change. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together. And if more locusts come nearby, the crowding starts, and what was once a simple looking insect becomes larger in size and shape, and its colour and morphology changes.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed substantial changes in some molecules that modulate the central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin, which regulates mood and social behaviour.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Serotonin is indeed responsible for swarm formation. During research, they did a lab experiment wherein they placed locusts in a container one by one, and as the numbers increased, the coming together triggered mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding (‘gregarisation’) occur within a few hours.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Interestingly, when they started adding substances that inhibit the production of serotonin (for instance, molecules such as 5HT or AMTP), the crowding was significantly less. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insecticides (mainly malathion) sprayed on the swarms need to be looked at for side-effects. Though many studies have cleared it as not very harmful, we need to work on biopesticides which would be environmentally and animal/human health-friendly, using natural and animal products of India.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The potential method of prevention of locusts attack is to spray serotonin inhibitor molecules as the swarm begins to form so that the number keeps dwindling and pose far less threat.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'serotonin-triggers-desert-locust-swarms', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/144d/pel70u59dajrgka6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/144d/pel70u59dajrgka6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms', 'metakeyword' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms', 'metadescription' => 'Researchers have discovered a new novel technique of preventing locusts swarm from causing damage to crops. 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This technique uses chemical inhibitors to trigger behavioural changes in the insects, leading to their reduced numbers.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Background</strong></span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">During the last few days, there has been a lot of news about the latest locust swarming from the Rajasthan/Gujarat desert region, all the way into Madhya Pradesh and Chhattisgarh, causing extensive damage to the crops.</span></span></p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"> </p> <p style="margin-right:0cm"><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif"><strong>Details</strong></span></span></p> <ul> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Insect biologists have long since known that the locust is by nature a recluse and a singleton, not mixing with others in the same group, Yet, when the harvest season arrives, these singletons team up with others as an army of swarms to attack plants for food.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">It is important to know the mystery behind the biological mechanism by which this sociological transformation occurs.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed that when solitary locusts happen to come near each other (looking for food) and happen to touch each other, this tactile stimulation causes their behaviour to change. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">This mechanical stimulation affects a couple of nerves in the animal’s body, their behaviour changes, leading to their coming together. And if more locusts come nearby, the crowding starts, and what was once a simple looking insect becomes larger in size and shape, and its colour and morphology changes.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Researchers showed substantial changes in some molecules that modulate the central nervous system of the locust, the most important among them being serotonin, which regulates mood and social behaviour.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Serotonin is indeed responsible for swarm formation. During research, they did a lab experiment wherein they placed locusts in a container one by one, and as the numbers increased, the coming together triggered mechanical (touch) and neurochemical (serotonin) stimulations to make crowding (‘gregarisation’) occur within a few hours.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">Interestingly, when they started adding substances that inhibit the production of serotonin (for instance, molecules such as 5HT or AMTP), the crowding was significantly less. </span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11pt"><span style="font-family:Calibri,sans-serif">The insecticides (mainly malathion) sprayed on the swarms need to be looked at for side-effects. Though many studies have cleared it as not very harmful, we need to work on biopesticides which would be environmentally and animal/human health-friendly, using natural and animal products of India.</span></span></p> </li> <li> <p><span style="font-size:11.0pt"><span style="font-family:"Calibri","sans-serif"">The potential method of prevention of locusts attack is to spray serotonin inhibitor molecules as the swarm begins to form so that the number keeps dwindling and pose far less threat.</span></span></p> </li> </ul> ', 'created_date' => object(Cake\I18n\FrozenDate) {}, 'posturl' => 'serotonin-triggers-desert-locust-swarms', 'image' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/144d/pel70u59dajrgka6g.jpg', 'fbimage' => 'https://www.mediafire.com/convkey/144d/pel70u59dajrgka6g.jpg', 'metatitle' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms', 'metakeyword' => 'Serotonin triggers desert locust swarms', 'metadescription' => 'Researchers have discovered a new novel technique of preventing locusts swarm from causing damage to crops. 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