natural disaster

An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.7 struck off the east coast of Taiwan on Wednesday, killing at least nine people and injuring more than 960 in the island's strongest temblor in 25 years, while small tsunami reached nearby islands in Japan's southwest.

After a torrential downpour, most post-storm damages are impossible to miss: submerged cars, houses torn in half by fallen trees, debris floating through the streets. But in California, extreme weather is also mixing up a soup of rain and disease.

Every day for the past 10 years, Trymore Wadyachitsve has regretted living in Chingwizi, a community 500km (310 miles) south of Harare, the Zimbabwean capital. Until February 13, 2014, he lived in the Tugwi Mukosi area 150km (90 miles) away from his home today. But then floods displaced 60,000 people in and around the area, which is home to the largest inland dam in the Southern African country – measuring 90.3 metres (296 ft) tall and creating a 1.75-billion-cubic-metre (385-billion-gallon) reservoir.

All Nippon Airways resumed its flights to and from an airport in central Japan on Saturday, almost a month after a magnitude-7.6 earthquake hit the region on New Year's Day and left its runway damaged.

Prime Minister Fumio Kishida will pledge to take stronger steps for the recovery of a central Japan region devastated by a New Year's Day earthquake when he delivers his policy speech in the upcoming Diet session, government sources said Wednesday.

Search and rescue operations continued in central Japan after it was struck by a powerful earthquake on New Year's Day, with the death toll rising above 80 and some 180 unaccounted for in Ishikawa Prefecture as of Thursday.

A powerful earthquake struck central Japan on Monday, triggering warnings for residents to evacuate some areas on its west coast, knocking out power to thousands of homes and disrupting flights and rail services to the affected region.

After a period of extreme drought, 2023 brought heavy rains to California. In a three-week period alone in January, nine atmospheric rivers—corridors of moisture concentrated in the atmosphere—pummeled the state with rain, leading to landslides, flooding, and levee breaches. 

The Afghan Red Crescent Society (ARCS) held an online meeting with the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) and other aid agencies to seek assistance for those affected by the recent earthquake in Herat province.

Kana’ani on Saturday offered his condolences to the Afghan people and caretaker government over the fatal earthquake in Herat province.