Latest Disaster planning and response News

FILE - In this Aug. 20, 2020, file photo The CZU August Lightning Complex fire consumes trees and a fence along Empire Grade Road in the Santa Cruz Mountains community of Bonny Doon near Santa Cruz, Calif. Months-old embers from a deadly California fire were blown back to life Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, by powerful winds that raked the state and prompted safety blackouts to tens of thousands of people. The state's firefighting agency says Tuesday it has responded to at least a dozen vegetation fires in San Mateo and Santa Cruz counties in 12 hours. (Shmuel Thler/The Santa Cruz Sentinel via AP, File)

California winds easing after sparking fires, power outages

Jan. 20, 2021 9:14 PM EST

LOS ANGELES (AP) — A windstorm that fanned brushfires, toppled trees and left thousands of Californians without power focused its remaining energy Wednesday on the southern end of the state, where forecasters warned of the additional threat of heavy rain and flash flooding. Strong winds that began Tuesday...

President-elect Joe Biden and his wife Jill arrive for a COVID-19 memorial, with lights placed around the Lincoln Memorial Reflecting Pool, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021, in Washington. (AP Photo/Alex Brandon)

Plunged into virus 'dark winter,' Biden must lead US out

Jan. 19, 2021 5:54 PM EST

WASHINGTON (AP) — President-elect Joe Biden predicted he would take office amid a “dark winter,” and the outlook is only getting bleaker. No matter his first acts in the White House, the raging coronavirus pandemic could take another 100,000 American lives in his first month as president...

FILE - In this Wednesday, Jan. 22, 2020 file photo, Health Officials in hazmat suits wait at the gate to check body temperatures of passengers arriving from the city of Wuhan, at the airport in Beijing, China. A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. (AP Photo Emily Wang, File)

Panel: China, WHO should have acted quicker to stop pandemic

Jan. 19, 2021 1:44 PM EST

GENEVA (AP) — A panel of experts commissioned by the World Health Organization has criticized China and other countries for not moving to stem the initial outbreak of the coronavirus earlier and questioned whether the U.N. health agency should have labeled it a pandemic sooner. In a report issued to the...

In this photo released by the Indonesian Presidential Palace, President Joko Widodo, center, talks to an official as he inspects an earthquake-damaged government building, in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Tuesday, Jan. 19, 2021. Widodo visited the areas where a deadly earthquake left thousands of people homeless in an effort to reassure them the government's response is reaching those struggling after the quake. (Indonesian Presidential Palace via AP)

After seeing floods, Indonesian leader visits quake zone

Jan. 19, 2021 6:02 AM EST

MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — Relief workers struggled Tuesday to clear the rubble of collapsed buildings on an Indonesian island where a strong earthquake killed at least 90 people and left thousands homeless. The 6.2 magnitude earthquake on Friday was one of a series of recent disasters to hit Indonesia....

Motorists ride past buildings collapsed in Friday's earthquake in Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Monday, Jan. 18, 2021. Aid was reaching the thousands of people left homeless and struggling after an earthquake that killed a number of people in the province where rescuers intensified their work Monday to find those buried in the rubble. (AP Photo/Yusuf Wahil)

Aid effort intensifies after Indonesia quake that killed 84

Jan. 18, 2021 6:02 AM EST

MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — Aid was reaching the thousands of people left homeless and struggling after an earthquake that killed at least 84 people on an Indonesian island where rescuers intensified their work Monday to find those buried in the rubble. More rescuers and volunteers were deployed in the...

People talk outside their homes at a neighborhood affected by flood in Banjarmasin, South Kalimantan on Borneo Island, Indonesia, Sunday, Jan. 17, 2021. many thousands of people have been evacuated and a number have been killed in recent days in flooding on Indonesia's Borneo island, officials said Sunday. (AP Photo/Iman Satria)

Tens of thousands evacuated amid Indonesia floods

Jan. 17, 2021 8:17 AM EST

JAKARTA, Indonesia (AP) — Tens of thousands of people have been evacuated and more than a dozen have been killed in recent days in flooding on Indonesia's Borneo island, officials said Sunday. National Disaster Mitigation Agency spokesperson Raditya Jati said floods brought by intense rains caused...

In this Tuesday Jan. 12, 2021 photo provided by the Catholic Relief Services, people affected by the conflict in Tigray load food aid provided by USAID and Catholic Relief Services onto a donkey cart to be tansported to their home, outside Mekele, Ethiopia. From “emaciated” refugees to crops burned on the brink of harvest, starvation threatens the survivors of more than two months of fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. Authorities say more than 4.5 million people, or nearly the entire population, need emergency food. The first humanitarian workers to arrive after weeks of pleading with Ethiopia for access describe weakened children dying from diarrhea after drinking from rivers, and shops that were looted or depleted weeks ago. (Catholic Relief Services via AP)

'Extreme urgent need': Starvation haunts Ethiopia's Tigray

Jan. 17, 2021 4:08 AM EST

NAIROBI, Kenya (AP) — From “emaciated” refugees to crops burned on the brink of harvest, starvation threatens the survivors of more than two months of fighting in Ethiopia’s Tigray region. The first humanitarian workers to arrive after pleading with the Ethiopian government for access...

Motorists make their way through a road affected by an earthquake-triggered landslide near Mamuju, West Sulawesi, Indonesia, Saturday, Jan. 16, 2021. Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered Indonesia's rescuers after a strong and shallow earthquake left a number of people dead and injured on Sulawesi island. (AP Photo/Yusuf Wahil)

Damaged roads, lack of gear hinder Indonesia quake rescue

Jan. 16, 2021 10:12 AM EST

MAMUJU, Indonesia (AP) — Damaged roads and bridges, power blackouts and lack of heavy equipment on Saturday hampered rescuers after a strong earthquake left at least 49 people dead and hundreds injured on Indonesia's Sulawesi island. Operations were focused on about eight locations in the hardest-hit city...

Colorado Avalanche left wing Gabriel Landeskog, front, smiles after he was congratulated as he passed the team box after scoring his second goal in the second period of an NHL hockey game against the St. Louis Blues, Friday, Jan. 15, 2021, in Denver. (AP Photo/David Zalubowski)

Landeskog scores 200th goal, Avalanche rout Blues 8-0

Jan. 16, 2021 1:04 AM EST

DENVER (AP) — Gabriel Landeskog scored two goals to reach 200 for his career, helping the Colorado Avalanche rebound from an opening-night loss with an 8-0 rout of the St. Louis Blues on Friday. Nathan MacKinnon had a goal and two assists, Mikko Rantanen scored the 100th goal of his career and added an...

A man and woman wearing masks to help protect themselves from the coronavirus share a smartphone on the street in Wuhan in central China's Hubei province on Thursday, Jan. 14, 2021. A global team of researchers for the World Health Organization arrived Thursday in the Chinese city where the coronavirus pandemic was first detected to conduct a politically sensitive investigation into its origins amid uncertainty about whether Beijing might try to prevent embarrassing discoveries. (AP Photo/Ng Han Guan)

The Latest: China says COVID-19 hospitalizations above 1,000

Jan. 14, 2021 9:40 PM EST

BEIJING — China says it is now treating more than 1,000 people for COVID-19 as numbers of cases continue to surge in the country’s north. The National Health Commission said Friday that 1,001 patients are under care for the disease, 26 of them in serious condition. It says 144 total new cases were...

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