Himalaya and Other Mountainous Regions
Nepal (Eastern Himalayas)
Rescue operations continue following deadly avalanches earlier this month.
On November 3, an avalanche struck the base camp of Yalung Ri (5,630m) in Dolakha district, killing at least 7 climbers, including 5 foreigners (from the US, UK, and South Korea).
A separate incident on November 4 claimed 2 more lives on Panbari Himal in the Manaslu region, bringing the total to 9 confirmed deaths from these events.
Harsh weather has delayed full recovery efforts, with warnings issued for ongoing avalanche risks in the region due to unstable snowpack from recent warming trends.
Broader Mountain Concerns
A UN-backed report warns that at 2°C global warming, only 25% of Hindu Kush-Himalayan glaciers may survive by 2100, with current trends accelerating water scarcity and landslide potential across the range.
Major Disasters in Other Areas
Asia (Excluding Himalayas)
China (Sichuan Province)
The newly opened Hongqi Bridge (758 m long) partially collapsed on November 11 due to a massive landslide from adjacent mountain slopes, triggered by heavy rains and geological instability.
No casualties reported, as authorities detected cracks and closed the bridge to traffic a day prior.
This incident highlights vulnerabilities in high-elevation infrastructure linking to Tibet.
Indonesia (Maluku Islands)
A 5.3-magnitude earthquake struck 129 km northeast of Tual on November 11 at 21:40 local time, at a shallow depth of 10 km.
No immediate reports of damage or tsunamis, but light shaking was felt; monitoring for aftershocks ongoing.
Americas
United States (California)
An atmospheric river storm is bringing heavy rain and potential flooding to Southern California through November 15, with 2-4 inches expected in coastal areas and up to 6 inches in mountains.
Risks include mudslides in burn scar areas from recent wildfires; the storm peaked on November 11 with gusty winds up to 50 mph.
Jamaica
Humanitarian aid continues arriving for Hurricane Melissa’s impacts from late October, which caused widespread flooding and infrastructure damage.
God’s Pit Crew delivered urgent supplies on November 11, focusing on rural communities still without power.
Europe
Spain
Recovery from October’s devastating floods (worst in generations) persists, with 10,000 troops deployed for cleanup and reconstruction.
Over 200 deaths were reported, and economic damages exceed €10 billion; no new flooding today, but heavy rains forecast for the Mediterranean coast.
Africa
Senegal and Mali
Heavy seasonal rains from November 6-12 have caused flooding along the Senegal and Niger Rivers, displacing thousands in northern and northeastern regions.
At least 15 deaths and crop losses affecting 100,000+ people; humanitarian agencies warn of food insecurity through year-end.
Other Regions
Middle East (Syria)
Post-earthquake recovery strained by aid shortfalls and rising abductions, with 2023’s 7.8-magnitude quake’s effects lingering amid political instability.
No new seismic activity today, but UN reports highlight vulnerability to winter floods.
DRR & CCA Conferences, Workshops, Reports, Concerns and Incidences
COP30 Side Event (Crucial Conclusion)
The 5th World Symposium on Climate Change Adaptation (WSCCA- 2025) concludes today in Florianópolis and Palhoça, Brazil, as a key side event to COP30. The symposium focuses on innovative methods and case studies to implement the principles of climate change adaptation and advance the UN Sustainable Development Goals.
Loss and Damage Operationalization
On the opening day of COP30 (November 11), a historic milestone was reached with the launch of the first call for funding requests under the Fund for Responding to Loss and Damage (FRLD).
This is a crucial step for highly vulnerable areas in the Indian subcontinent, such as the Sundarbans.
Cryosphere Report Warning
The State of the Cryosphere Report was released at COP30 today, warning that accelerating ice loss equals global damage. It emphasizes that only the highest-ambition pathway towards a zero-carbon economy can limit the catastrophe, as the world is set to overshoot the 1.5o C warming limit.
Himalayan Catastrophic Failure of Systems
The true nature of the 2025 disaster season is being highlighted at the highest levels. Experts argue the destruction, such as the flash floods and landslides in Dharali, Uttarakhand, was not just a “cloudburst” but a “catastrophic failure of systems.”
This structural disaster is the “predictable outcome” of pursuing a concrete-heavy development model onto a dynamically fragile, climate-amplified geology. The catastrophe is compounded by the fact that migrant laborers from Nepal, Uttar Pradesh, and Bihar are disproportionately bearing the brunt, facing higher fatality rates than officially reported while working at construction sites and apple orchards in high-risk zones.
True Himalayan resilience must come from a fundamental shift to science-based land use and a move away from infrastructure that ignores the landscape’s memory (ancient debris paths), demanding adaptation rather than confrontation with the environment.
Climate Migration Crisis (Nepal/India)
Nepal’s climate crisis is fast becoming South Asia’s next major migration challenge.
Melting glaciers, expanding glacial lakes, and increasingly erratic rainfall patterns (droughts followed by intense floods) are severely impacting agriculture in the Terai plains, forcing people—especially those dependent on farming—to relocate to urban areas or across the border into India for unstable, low-paying labor. This unmanaged migration risks triggering a sequence of crises affecting the South Asian labor markets and urban centers.
India’s Climate Risk Ranking
New data released today confirms India’s extreme vulnerability. The Germanwatch Climate Risk Index 2026 ranks India ninth among the countries most affected by extreme weather events globally since 1995.
This ranking is due to the regularity with which the nation is hit by severe floods, cyclones, droughts, and heatwaves, leaving entire regions little time to recover before the next event strikes.
Zero-Carbon Urgency
The consensus at COP30, driven by the Cryosphere Report, is that there must be a fundamental paradigm shiftto limit the magnitude and duration of the 1.5°C temperature overshoot. This means immediate and rapid emission cuts across all sectors.
Climate Mobility (Human Rights)
The International Organization for Migration (IOM) is using COP30 to advocate for climate mobility, ensuring that solutions to the climate crisis “move with people” and that the rights and dignity of climate migrants and displaced persons are protected.
Air Pollution and Health
Reports confirm that fossil fuel-driven air pollution claimed 1.72 million lives in India in 2022, a catastrophic human-made disaster that is intrinsically linked to the energy sources driving climate change.
Historical Disasters on This Day (October 21)
1839: Coringa Cyclone – The Port That Vanished
On November 12, 1839, a ferocious cyclone ravaged the Coringa harbor in Andhra Pradesh, India, then a bustling trade hub rivaling Calcutta.
Winds howling at over 260 km/h (160 mph) unleashed a 12-meter (40-foot) storm surge that obliterated the port, shattering thousands of ships and homes in a single night.
Over 300,000 people perished—making it one of the deadliest cyclones in history—trapped as the surge turned the delta into a churning graveyard of debris and saltwater. The disaster decimated Coringa’s economy, reducing it from a thriving exporter of spices and textiles to a quiet fishing village that never fully recovered.
This event highlighted the vulnerability of colonial-era ports to Bay of Bengal storms, prompting early calls for cyclone-resistant infrastructure, though warnings remained rudimentary for decades.
1867: Mount Vesuvius Eruption Begins – Ash and Shadows Over Naples
The slumbering giant of Mount Vesuvius awoke on November 12, 1867, with a series of explosive eruptions that blanketed southern Italy in ash and pyroclastic flows.
Initial tremors escalated into a full paroxysmal event, ejecting lava bombs and toxic gases that buried villages like San Sebastiano al Vesuvio under meters of searing debris.
At least 100-200 lives were lost in the immediate blasts, with hundreds more succumbing to respiratory illnesses from the fallout.
The eruption, one of Vesuvius’s most violent in the 19th century, forced the evacuation of Naples and exposed the perils of living in the shadow of active volcanoes. It spurred the creation of Italy’s first volcano observatories and influenced global volcanology, reminding the world of the 79 CE Pompeii catastrophe that Vesuvius had echoed for millennia.
1928 – SS Vestris Sinking
The ocean liner SS Vestris sank off the Virginia coast, killing 111 people.
1942 – Naval Battle of Guadalcanal
The Naval Battle of Guadalcanal between Allied and Japanese forces began in the Solomon Islands. The ensuing three-day battle resulted in a decisive American victory.
1944 – Sinking of the Tirpitz
Royal Air Force bombers successfully sank the German battleship Tirpitz in a Norwegian fjord using massive 12,000 lb Tallboy bombs.
1945: Alberta Blizzard – The White Hell of the Canadian Prairies
In a stark contrast to tropical tempests, November 12, 1945, unleashed one of North America’s most brutal blizzards across Alberta, Canada.
A rapid Arctic front collided with warm Chinook winds, spawning a ferocious storm that dumped up to 60 cm (24 inches) of snow in hours, with winds gusting to 120 km/h (75 mph).
Visibility dropped to zero as drifts buried roads and railways, isolating communities and killing at least 50 people—many from exposure or vehicle accidents. Livestock perished en masse, crippling the province’s ranching economy.
Dubbed the “Blizzard of ‘45,” it prompted Canada’s first widespread use of snow-clearing machinery and influenced winter preparedness in prairie regions, where such “whiteouts” remain a seasonal threat.
1970: Bhola Cyclone – The Deadliest Storm in Recorded History
The Bhola Cyclone’s landfall on November 12, 1970, in East Pakistan (now Bangladesh) remains a harrowing benchmark of human vulnerability.
This Category 3 monster, with 185 km/h (115 mph) winds, drove a 10-meter (33-foot) storm surge across the Ganges-Brahmaputra delta, drowning entire islands and claiming 300,000 to 500,000 lives—surpassing even the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami in toll.
Inadequate forecasting, no early warning systems, and a full moon’s high tide amplified the surge, turning villages into submerged wastelands rife with cholera.
The Pakistani regime’s delayed aid response ignited political fury, catalyzing Bangladesh’s 1971 independence war.
Globally, Bhola birthed modern cyclone tracking networks and the UN’s disaster risk reduction frameworks, saving countless lives in subsequent Bay of Bengal storms.
1996: North Dakota Ice Storm – A Frozen Paralysis
A crippling ice storm gripped the US Midwest, particularly North Dakota. Freezing rain coated everything in a half-inch of ice, snapping power lines and felling trees in a 70-mile swath, leaving 200,000 without electricity for days amid sub-zero temperatures.
At least 25 deaths resulted from hypothermia and accidents, with secondary snow adding to the chaos. This event, part of a broader “Storm of the Century” precursor, exposed grid vulnerabilities and accelerated investments in hardened infrastructure, including underground lines in rural areas.
1996 – Charkhi Dadri Mid-air Collision
A Saudi Arabian Airlines Boeing 747 collided with a Kazakh Ilyushin Il-76 cargo plane near New Delhi, killing all 349 people on both aircraft. It remains the deadliest mid-air collision in aviation history.
Stay Vigilant; History Whispers Warnings.
यह हमारा एक छोटा सा प्रयास हैं, आपको हर दिन आपदा से जुड़ी नवीनतम जानकारियाँ प्रदान करने का –
विशेष रूप से वह आपदायें जो हिमालय व अन्य पहाड़ी क्षेत्रों में घटित हों.
हमारा यह प्रयास आपको कैसा लगा और कैसे हम इसे बेहतर व उपयोगी बना सकते हैं ?
हमेशा की तरह आपके सुझावों का हमें इंतजार रहेगा.
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