Avalanche buries 124 Pakistani soldiers and 11 civilians

An avalanche engulfed a Pakistani army battalion headquarters near the Indian border on Saturday, burying 124 soldiers and 11 civilians, with no sign of survivors 17 hours later, the military said. The snow left by the avalanche was up to 80 feet deep over an area a kilometre wide, state television quoted army spokesman Major-General Athar Abbas as saying.

 The victims were trapped in one of the most unforgiving environments on earth, at an altitude of 15,000 feet near the Siachen Glacier in the Karakoram mountain range. The area is also one of the world's most militarily tense frontiers, where the Indian and Pakistani armies have confronted each other over disputed territory for decades. Eleven civilian employees of the military were buried under the snow along with the soldiers of the 6 Northern Light Infantry Battalion, the military said in a statement.

 "This battalion headquarter (has been) situated at same place for the last 20 years and no incident of this nature has happened," it said. TAKEN BY SURPRISE Helicopters were deployed in a rescue operation. Troops used sniffer dogs to comb the area, said the military. Heavy engineering equipment was flown to the site from the garrison city of Rawalpindi, near the capital Islamabad. 

"This happened at six o'clock. These avalanches usually happen at night. It took them by surprise," Abbas told Reuters. The army listed the names of the missing soldiers and civilians on its public relations website. The military has ruled Pakistan for more than half of its 64 year history, setting foreign and security policy even when civilian governments are in power, as is the case now. 

Siachen is in the northern part of the Himalayan region of Kashmir. The no-man's-land of Siachen is 20,000 feet above sea level. Military experts say the inhospitable climate and avalanche-prone terrain have claimed more lives than gunfire. Muslim-majority Kashmir is at the heart of hostility between India and Pakistan and was the cause of two of their three full-scale wars.` 

Siachen has been described as the world's highest battlefield. Indian and Pakistani troops have fought at altitudes of over 20,000 feet in temperatures of minus 60 degrees Celsius. Between 10,000 and 20,000 Indian and Pakistani troops are stationed in the mountains above the glacier. A tentative peace process is under way, with Pakistani President Asif Ali Zardari scheduled to meet Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh on Sunday, the first visit to India by a Pakistani head of state since 2005.

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Two feared dead as landslide hit Bayelsa community

In Yenogua, two persons among them a graduate of Bayelsa State owned Niger Delta University were Thursday feared dead in a landslide which reportedly hit riverine Peremabiri community in the Southern Ijaw local government area of the state.

The missing youths, identified as Mr. Ikioudo Abel, a graduate of the Niger Delta University and a secondary school leaver, Stanley Dominic, were reported to have been submerged by the landslide during a game of football close to the community waterside.

Though the immediate cause of the landslide could not be ascertained but some indigenes of the community said it might not be unconnected with the incessant dredging work in the area. Sources said the search for the missing youths is still on.

It was gathered that the boys during a game of football were trying to retrieve a stray ball at close to the river shore when the incident occurred.

Contacted on the development, the spokesman for the Community Development Committee, Comrade Morris Johnson and an ex-militant leader from the community, Comrade Eris Paul confirmed the development and accused the two dredging companies, operating in the area of provoking the landslide.

Morris Johnson said though the community consented to the dredging projects being carried out by the Shell Petroleum Development Company (SPDC), the SPDC has not done any reclamation work and the dredging work has exposed the community to disasters in the last few months.

The former member of the Upper Senate of the Movement For the Emancipation of the Niger Delta (MEND),Comrade Eris Paul, popularly known as Commander Ogunboss expressed concern over the rising cases of natural disaster in the area and appealed to the state government, the President and the National Assembly to come to the aide of the community.

Ogunboss noted that the people of the community are gripped by fear of extinction due to the recurring disasters.

According to him, the future of the community cannot be guaranteed adding that the persistent dredging works in the area has polluted it waters.

When contacted, the spokesman of the State Police Command, Mr. Emokpae Eguavoen, said though the incident has not been officially reported to the command, they will contact the Oporoma division for details and investigation.

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Irene: Death toll reaches 40 as recovery begin

Post-Tropical Cyclone Irene has killed 40 people in the US, and authorities warn that flooding could continue for up to three days in northern US states.

More than five million people remain without power, while Vermont is reeling from its worst floods in many decades.

Insurance claims could top $7bn (£4.3bn), the Consumer Federation of America estimated.

Irene has passed into Canada, after causing havoc on the US east coast from North Carolina to Vermont.

Driving rains and flood tides damaged homes and cut power to more than three million people in New Jersey, Connecticut and New York alone.

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Hurricane Irene shuts down New York

A panorama of New York's skyline taken as Hurricane Irene
approaches

Hurricane Irene has begun pounding New York with fierce winds and torrential rain after killing at least nine people as it made its way up the east coast of the United States.

Hurricane Irene battered New York with ferocious winds and driving rain on Sunday, shutting down the U.S. financial capital and most populous city, halting mass transit and causing massive power blackouts as it churned slowly northward along the eastern seaboard.

New York City's normally bustling streets were eerily quiet after authorities ordered tens of thousands of residents to evacuate low-lying areas and shut down its subways, airports and buses.

Those who had to travel were left trying to flag down yellow taxis that patrolled largely deserted streets.

Irene, still a menacing 480-mile (780-km)-wide hurricane, was enveloping major towns and cities in the northeast, hugging the Atlantic coast and threatening dangerous floods and surging tides.

From the Carolinas to Maine, tens of millions of people were in the path of Irene, which howled ashore in North Carolina at daybreak on Saturday, dumping torrential rain, felling trees and knocking out power.

"The edge of the hurricane has finally got upon us," New York Mayor Michael Bloomberg told the more than eight million people who live in New York as he warned that tropical storm-force winds would hit the city.

Times Square, often called the crossroads of the world, was sparsely populated, mostly with visitors, as Irene rolled into the city with full force.

Broadway shows were canceled, coffee was hard to come by with Starbucks stores closed and burgers and fries were in short supply as McDonald's outlets were shut.

"We just came to see how few people are in Times Square and then we're going back," said Cheryl Gibson, who was vacationing in the city.

Bloomberg warned New Yorkers Irene was a life-threatening storm and urged them to stay indoors to avoid flying debris, flooding or the risk of being electrocuted by downed power lines. "It is dangerous out there," he said, but added later:

"New York is the greatest city in the world and we will weather this storm."

Some 370,000 city residents were ordered to leave their homes in low-lying areas, many of them in parts of the boroughs of Brooklyn, Queens and Manhattan.

Many were unwilling to go. Nicholas Vigliotti, 24, an auditor who lives in a high-rise building along the Brooklyn waterfront, said he saw no point. "Even if there was a flood, I live on the fifth floor," he said.

Storm surge fears

Flood waters forced officials in Hoboken, just across the Hudson River from Manhattan, to evacuate a storm shelter, the mayor of Hoboken, Dawn Zimmer, said on Twitter.

"Hoboken faces worst case scenario. Flooding has begun. Moving Wallace Shelter residents to state shelter in east Rutherford," the mayor's tweet said.

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Strong earthquake hits Central Asia - USGS

A strong earthquake hit Central Asia's densely populated Ferghana valley early on Wednesday, shaking buildings in the region and sending residents of at least one Uzbek city onto the streets, local residents said.

The U.S. Geological Survey said the 6.2 magnitude earthquake occurred 9.2 km (5.7 miles) underground, around 42 km (26 miles) southwest of Ferghana, a city in the east of Uzbekistan.

There was no immediate word on casualties and it was not clear if the epicentre of the quake was in a populated area.

A native of Ferghana, who lives in Kazakhstan, said that residents of her home city were woken by strong shaking and that many had evacuated their apartment blocks.

"Everybody is out on the street," she told Reuters by telephone after speaking to Ferghana residents. She did not want to be identified.

She said that local residents also reported damage to low-rise apartment blocks in the nearby town of Margilan, a silk production centre. "It's an old town and some of the old houses have been destroyed," she said.

Ferghana valley -- split between Uzbekistan, Tajikistan and Kyrgyzstan in a confused patchwork of Soviet-era borders -- is Central Asia's most densely populated area.

Tremors were felt across the vast mountainous region. A resident of a Kyrgyz town near the Uzbek border, also reached by Reuters by telephone, said the quake lasted up to 15 seconds.

"It was very scary and long," said the Kyrgyz resident.

Earthquakes are frequent in Central Asia, a region of mountains and steppes set between Afghanistan, Iran, Russia and China.

In 2008, a powerful earthquake killed more than 70 people in Kyrgyzstan, a volatile country bordering Uzbekistan.

In 1966, the Uzbek capital Tashkent was flattened by a 7.5 earthquake when hundreds of thousands of people were left homeless. A 6 magnitude quake rocked Tashkent in 2008 but there was no damage.

Ferghana valley is a major centre of cotton and silk production, and the hills above are covered by walnut forests. The valley also has some oil and gas.

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