7 Serial bomb blast in Jaipur

Initial reports has confirmed that 6 people lost their life in the incident. Bomb blasts took place at Badi Chaupad, Manak Chauk, Tripolia, Chandpol and in Hanuman Mandir.

Today is the Tuesday and lots of people attend the evening Aarti at the Hanuman Mandir of Jauhari bajaar, at the time of Aarti only blast took place.

Initial reports has confirmed that blast happend in one Honda City Car. More details are yet to come.

Updated News at 11:55 PM: In total there was an incident of 9 bomb blast, the first one was occurred at 7:12 PM IST. This took place at Manak Chauk. Second bomb blast happened at 7:14 PM at Jauhari bajaar. The third which took more toll than any other blast occurred at 7:16 PM at Hanuman Mandir. The place was overcrowded because of the Tuesday. More than around 70 people are reported dead in the incident more than 15o people are injured. State Government announced that Cycles were used for these blasts and around 6 cycles were used for the incident. State CM Vashundhara Raje Sindhiya announced a sum of Rs. Five Lakh for the keen of dead people and Rs. One Lakh for injured people.

Myanmar under pressure, death toll may rise sharply

Myanmar's military government came under pressure on Wednesday to open its borders to more international help after a devastating cyclone that a U.S. diplomat said may have killed more than 100,000 people.

Washington, a vocal critic of the junta that has ruled the former Burma for more than four decades, said humanitarian access should not be a political matter.

"What remains is for the Burmese government to allow the international community to help its people. It should be a simple matter. It is not a matter of politics," U.S. Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice told reporters in Washington.

John Holmes, the top U.N. humanitarian official, urged Myanmar to waive visa restrictions he said were slowing efforts to bring in relief experts and supplies to help an estimated one million people affected by Cyclone Nargis.

The cyclone, with 190 kph (120 mph) winds, slammed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta southwest of Yangon on Saturday. Witnesses reported villages destroyed and people fighting for survival by clutching trees.

Limited international aid has trickled in and the military junta's own aid operation has moved up a gear with some helicopter drops, but land convoys were nowhere to be seen, a Reuters witness in the delta said.

State Myanmar radio and television reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in the world's most devastating cyclone since 1991.

Holmes said the death toll could rise "very significantly."

Shari Villarosa, charge d'affaires of the U.S. embassy in Myanmar, said, "The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the delta area."

That figure was not confirmed, but was based on estimates by an international non-governmental organization that she declined to identify, Villarosa told reporters on a conference call from Yangon.

She said recent Myanmar government estimates put the death toll at 70,000, mainly in the delta area. In one town alone, Bogalay, at least 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the reclusive military government. '

RESPONSIBILITY TO PROTECT'

Political analysts and critics of 46 years of military rule said the cyclone may have long-term implications for the junta, which is even more feared and resented since September's bloody crackdown on Buddhist monk-led protests.

With the delta virtually cut off and frustration growing among aid agencies and governments, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner suggested invoking a U.N. "responsibility to protect" clause without waiting for the junta's approval.

Holmes, U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, said that would be premature. "We are having useful and constructive discussions with the authorities of Myanmar," he told reporters at the United Nations. "

It is moving in the right direction, we want it to move much faster clearly, but I'm not sure it would help at this moment at least to embark on what could at least be seen by some people as a confrontation."

Richard Horsey of the U.N. Office of the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in Bangkok that 5,000 square km (1,930 square miles) of the delta were under water.

"With all those dead mostly floating in the water at this point you can get some idea of the conditions facing the teams on the ground. It's a major logistical challenge," he said.

Storm surges hit when people were sleeping "and just inundated them, or swept them out to sea," Villarosa said. "The government officials told us 95 percent of the buildings in the delta area are gone or have collapsed." Thailand, China, India and Indonesia were flying in relief supplies and the U.N. World Food Program said it had sent four planes with aid that were expected to arrive on Thursday.

VISA DELAYS

U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon urged Myanmar do more to facilitate international aid.

Holmes said four Asian U.N. officials had been cleared to go as part of an initial assessment team but up to 100 U.N. staff were still waiting. He said they had not been refused visas, but the process was taking too long.

Twenty-four countries had pledged $30 million and more aid offers were expected after the U.N. sets out its priorities and target for aid in a flash appeal on Friday. The U.N. emergency relief will contribute at least $10 million.

At Yangon airport, a Reuters photographer on a Thai military plane said two Indian planes and one Chinese transport plane with tents and construction materials had also landed.

The United Nations recognized in 2005 the "responsibility to protect" civilians when their governments could or would not do it, even if this meant violating national sovereignty.

France's U.N. ambassador, Jean-Maurice Ripert, asked the Security Council to take a stand on the crisis by calling for a humanitarian briefing and issuing a statement. Diplomats said China, Russia, Vietnam and South Africa were opposed, arguing it has nothing to do with peace and security.

2001 Gujarat earthquake

The 2001 Gujarat earthquake was reportedly the most devastating earthquake in India in recent history. It occurred on January 26, 2001, which coincided with the 51st celebration of Republic Day (India) at 0317 hrs GMT.location of the epicentre was Bhuj (23.6° N 69.8° E) Gujarat, India. Measuring 7.9 on the Richter scale, the earthquake killed more than 20,000 people and injured another 167,000 and destroyed near a million homes.throughout Gujarat and parts of Eastern Pakistan.

It happened because of tectonic plates releasing pressure in the area after a collision margin took place. A collision margin is where two continental plates collide and begin to rub, creating lots of pressure, until eventually it is released and creates an earthquake.

The earthquake is considered an intra plate earthquake because it occurred a great distance from any plate boundary, where the theory of plate tectonics says most earthquakes of this size happen. Because of this, this area was not completely prepared for an earthquake of such size, causing much of the devastation.

The Effects

Because of its size and location,the quake was very destructive in terms of lives lost and damage to property. All the deaths occurred in India's western state of Gujarat, near the Pakistan border. Bhuj, situated only 20 kilometres (14 miles) from the epicentre, was the most devastated town.

As many as 20,000 people were reported dead. As of February 3, the official toll had climbed to more than 30,000, though it later fell to 19,730. The final death toll of Kutch was 12,220. At least 150,000 more were reported injured. This too may be an underestimate. Over a million structures were damaged or destroyed, including many historic buildings and tourist attractions[e.g.julta minar made by ashoka near railway station].[citation needed]

The quake destroyed a percent of the homes in Bhuj, several schools, and flattened the hospital. Considerable damage occurred also at Bhachau. In Ahmedabad, Gujarat's commercial capital and a city of 4.5 million, as many as 50 multistory buildings collapsed and several hundred people were killed. Total property damage was estimated at $5.5 billion and rising. The quake destroyed 75% of Kutch and over 80% of food and water was extinct.

Signs of an approaching tsunami

There is often no advance warning of an approaching tsunami. However, since earthquakes are often a cause of tsunami, any earthquake occurring near a body of water may generate a tsunami if it occurs at shallow depth, is of moderate or high magnitude, and the water volume and depth is sufficient. In Japan moderate - 4.2 Magnitude earthquakes can generate tsunami which can inundate the area within 15 minutes.

If the first part of a tsunami to reach land is a trough (draw back) rather than a crest of the wave, the water along the shoreline may recede dramatically, exposing areas that are normally always submerged. This can serve as an advance warning of the approaching tsunami which will rush in faster than it is possible to run. If a person is in a coastal area where the sea suddenly draws back (many survivors report an accompanying sucking sound), their only real chance of survival is to run for high ground or seek the high floors of high rise buildings.

In the 2004 tsunami that occurred in the Indian Ocean drawback was not reported on the African coast or any other western coasts it inundated, when the tsunami approached from the east. This was because of the nature of the wave - it moved downwards on the eastern side of the fault line and upwards on the western side. It was the western pulse that inundated coastal areas of Africa and other western areas.

80% of all tsunamis occur in the Pacific Ocean, but are possible wherever large bodies of water are found, including inland lakes. They may be caused by landslides, volcanic explosions, bolides and seismic activity.

Indian Ocean Tsunami According to an article in "Geographical" magazine (April 2008), the Indian Ocean tsunami of 26th December 2004 was not the worst that the region could expect. Professor Costas Synolakis of the Tsunami Research Center at the University of Southern California co-authored a paper in "Geophysical Journal International" which suggests that a future tsunami in the Indian Ocean basin could affect locations such as Madagascar, Singapore, Somalia, Western Australia and many others. The Boxing Day tsunami killed over 300,000 people with many bodies either being lost to the sea or unidentified. Some unofficial estimates have claimed that approximately 1 million people may have died directly or indirectly solely as a result of the tsunami.

Hiroshima during World War II

At the time of its bombing, Hiroshima was a city of some industrial and military significance. A number of military camps were located nearby, including the headquarters of the Fifth Division and Field Marshal Shunroku Hata's 2nd General Army Headquarters, which commanded the defense of all of southern Japan. Hiroshima was a minor supply and logistics base for the Japanese military. The city was a communications center, a storage point, and an assembly area for troops. It was one of several Japanese cities left deliberately untouched by American bombing, allowing a pristine environment to measure the damage caused by the atomic bomb. Another account stresses that after General Spaatz reported that Hiroshima was the only targeted city without prisoner of war (POW) camps, Washington decided to assign it highest priority.

The center of the city contained several reinforced concrete buildings and lighter structures. Outside the center, the area was congested by a dense collection of small wooden workshops set among Japanese houses. A few larger industrial plants lay near the outskirts of the city. The houses were of wooden construction with tile roofs, and many of the industrial buildings also were of wood frame construction. The city as a whole was highly susceptible to fire damage.

In front of the harbor of the city, on the island of Okunoshima, was a toxic gas factory linked to Unit 731. Different types of chemical weapons were produced there during the first part of the Shōwa era like mustard gas, yperite, lewisite and cyanide.Those gasses were used during World War II against Chinese soldiers and civilians and on the human experimentations of Shiro Ishii's staff.

The population of Hiroshima had reached a peak of over 381,000 earlier in the war, but prior to the atomic bombing the population had steadily decreased because of a systematic evacuation ordered by the Japanese government. At the time of the attack the population was approximately 255,000. This figure is based on the registered population used by the Japanese in computing ration quantities, and the estimates of additional workers and troops who were brought into the city may be inaccurate.

Biggest Disaster in Bhopal

Death came out of a clear sky. Midnight, a cold wind blowing, the stars brilliant as they are in central India, even through the thin pall of cooking-fire smoke that hung above the city. Here and there, braziers were burning to warm those who were obliged to be out late. From the factory which so many had learned to fear, a thin plume of white vapor began streaming from a high structure. Caught by the wind, it became a haze and blew downward to mix with smokes coming from somewhere nearer to the ground. A dense fog formed. Nudged by the wind, it rolled across the road and into the alleys on the other side. Here the houses were packed close, ill-built, with badly-fitting doors and windows. Those within were roused in darkness to the sound of screams with the gases already in their eyes, noses and throats. It burned terribly, it felt like fire.

Remembers Aziza Sultan, a survivor: "At about 12.30 am I woke to the sound of my baby coughing badly. In the half light I saw that the room was filled with a white cloud. I heard a lot of people shouting. They were shouting 'run, run'. Then I started coughing with each breath seeming as if I was breathing in fire. My eyes were burning."


Another survivor, Champa Devi Shukla, remembers that "It felt like somebody had filled our bodies up with red chillies, our eyes tears coming out, noses were watering, we had froth in our mouths. The coughing was so bad that people were writhing in pain. Some people just got up and ran in whatever they were wearing or even if they were wearing nothing at all. Somebody was running this way and somebody was running that way, some people were just running in their underclothes. People were only concerned as to how they would save their lives so they just ran. "Those who fell were not picked up by anybody, they just kept falling, and were trampled on by other people. People climbed and scrambled over each other to save their lives – even cows were running and trying to save their lives and crushing people as they ran."

In those apocalyptic moments no one knew what was happening. People simply started dying in the most hideous ways. Some vomited uncontrollably, went into convulsions and fell dead. Others choked to death, drowning in their own body fluids. Many were crushed in the stampedes through narrow gullies where street lamps burned a dim brown through clouds of gas.

"The force of the human torrent wrenched children's hands from their parents' grasp. Families were whirled apart," reported the Bhopal Medical Appeal in 1994. "The poison cloud was so dense and searing that people were reduced to near blindness. As they gasped for breath its effects grew ever more suffocating. The gases burned the tissues of their eyes and lungs and attacked their nervous systems. People lost control of their bodies. Urine and feces ran down their legs. Women lost their unborn children as they ran, their wombs spontaneously opening in bloody abortion."

When dawn broke over the city, thousands of bodies lay in heaps in the streets. Even far from the factory, near the lake, at Rani Hira Pati ka Mahal the ground was so thick with dead that you could not avoid treading on them. The army dumped hundreds of bodies in the surrounding forests and the Betwa river was so choked with corpses that they formed log-jams against the arches of bridges. Families and entire communities were wiped out, leaving no one to identify them. According to Rashida Bi, who survived the gas but lost five family members to cancers, those who escaped with their lives “are the unlucky ones; the lucky ones are those who died on THAT NIGHT.”

How many thousands died, no one knows. Carbide says 3,800. Municipal workers who picked up bodies with their own hands, loading them onto trucks for burial in mass graves or to be burned on mass pyres, reckon they shifted at least 15,000 bodies. Survivors, basing their estimates on the number of shrouds sold in the city, conservatively claim about 8,000 died in the first week.The official death toll to date (local government figures) stands at more than 20,000 and even now, twenty years later, at least one person per day dies in Bhopal from the injuries they sustained on THAT NIGHT.