K'taka govt releases Rs 200 crore for rain relief, rehabilitation
Bengaluru, Aug 6: As torrential rains continue to batter many parts of Karnataka on Saturday, the State government released Rs 200 crore to take up relief and rehabilitation operations, even as Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai instructed constitution of two more State Disaster Response Force (SDRF) contingents.
The Chief Minister, who has tested COVID-19 positive, held a video conference with Deputy Commissioners (DCs) of rain-affected districts, Ministers and officials, and obtained details on flood havoc, landslides, crop losses and relief work undertaken, from his home where he has isolated himself.
While 70 people have lost their lives due to incessant rains from June 1 to August 6; a total of 507 livestock loss have been reported during the period.
Bommai has instructed the officials to constitute the additional SDRF contingents to strengthen relief and rescue systems, his office said in a statement.
"Already, SDRF and NDRF contingents have been deployed in the flood-hit areas. The DCs should maintain constant contact with the teams and take up immediate relief and rehabilitation works," he said.
Further stating that there is no shortage of funds for relief and rehabilitation operations, the Chief Minister said already Rs 200 crore has been released for 21 districts, and the DCs should take immediate action to disburse compensation for houses destroyed or damaged.
According to information, till August 2, a sum of Rs 657 crore was available with the DCs to take up rescue and relief works, and the State government today released Rs 200 crore for 21 districts.
Repair and restoration of roads, bridges and electric supply lines should be taken up immediately, he said, power supply in villages should be restored and DCs should interact with the electricity supply companies (ESCOMS) concerned in this regard.
Adequate stock of electric poles and transformers should be ensured, and crop loss survey should be completed at the earliest and compensation disbursed without any delay, he added.
Bommai wanted the officials to issue flood alerts in advance and instructed for action in this regard at Bennehalla in Gadag district, Varada river banks in Haveri district and other places.
Alerts should be issued to villages downstream before releasing waters from reservoirs, and precautions should be taken to prevent breach of tank bunds, he said.
He wanted the officials to also identify the areas prone to landslides in Kodagu, Dakshina Kannada and Uttara Kannada districts and to shift the people in these areas to safer places. "People should be provided with good, quality food at the care centres," he said.
While 3,559 houses have been damaged completely due to rains, 17,212 houses have been partially damaged,.
Agriculture crops in 1,29,087 hectares, horticulture crops in 7,942 hectares, 3,162 km of roads, 8,445 km of rural roads, 1,068 bridges and culverts, 4,531 schools, 222 anganwadis have been damaged.
Also, 16,760 electric poles, 1,469 transformers, 409 km of electric wires, and 33 minor irrigation tanks have been damaged.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.
