K'taka govt to fund education of children whose parents died in house collapse: CM Bommai
Bhatkal, Aug 3: The Karnataka Chief Minister Basavaraj Bommai on Wednesday said the State government would take care of education of children who lost their parents and relatives in a landslide in Muttalli village in Bhatkal Taluk of Uttara Kannada district.
We have given relief amount to the next of kin of four people who were killed in house collapse. The government will take care of the education of the children, be it hostel fees or education fees. If they don't have a house, I have told the deputy commissioner to build a house for them, Bommai told reporters after inspecting the spot where four members of a family were buried alive under the house which collapsed following landslide in a nearby hillock on Tuesday.
The Chief Minister said Muttalli and surrounding places in Bhatkal town witnessed so much of rains, which had never occurred in the past.
It was like a cloudburst in which 515 mm rainfall occurred in an area of six to seven-km radius causing immense loss, especially those living beneath the hillock in the low-lying areas where the landslide occurred leading to house collapse killing four people of a family, Bommai said.
This incident should not have happened. Because of laterite mining, the soil has become loose. Prima facie the heavy downpour led to the incident. We will get the geological study of the area done, identify the houses which may be in danger and shift the residents to safer places, the Chief Minister said.
According to him, in just one day, there was a loss of Rs 38 crore to Rs 40 crore.
Bommai said he has instructed the deputy commissioner of Uttara Kannada district to submit a preliminary report on the rain-related damages, including crop loss, infrastructure loss, damage to houses, shops and shipping boats, so that the relief amount can be given quickly.
He said at least 14 districts affecting 115 villages suffered rain-related losses in which 600 houses were completely damaged, 2,312 houses severely damaged and 14,578 houses partially damaged.
Bommai added that crop in 21,431 hectares of land was damaged.
The figures may go up also, so a joint survey is needed to give relief, he said.
The Chief Minister said the State government has already released Rs 500 crore to repair infrastructure which bore the brunt of heavy downpour and floods.
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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.
