Important Takeaways:
- Hurricane Otis caused 27 confirmed deaths and left 4 missing, Mexican authorities report
- Mexican authorities gave the first human toll for Hurricane Otis’ destruction along the country’s Pacific coast Thursday: at least 27 dead and four missing.
- Tens of thousands of residents in damaged homes without electricity awaited help more than a day after Otis roared ashore in Acapulco.
- López Obrador said the destruction was so complete that not a single power line pole remained standing in the impact zone. Small farmers had their corn crops devastated by Otis’ wind and pounding rain, he said. Restoring power to the area was a top priority, he said.
- The early images and accounts were of extensive devastation, toppled trees and power lines lying in brown floodwaters that in some areas extended for miles. The resulting destruction delayed a comprehensive response by the government, which was still assessing the damage along the coast, and made residents desperate.
- Many of the once sleek beachfront hotels in Acapulco looked like toothless, shattered hulks after the Category 5 storm blew out hundreds — and possibly thousands — of windows
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Important Takeaways:
- As Storm Daniel pounded the area with torrential rains, dams above the Wadi Derna river valley collapsed, sweeping away entire neighborhoods and the families who lived in them.
- The floods have left thousands dead, missing and displaced.
- 16,000 children are among the displaced and warned that many more lack access to basic services such as health and schooling.
- International and local search and rescue teams and survivors continued the work of recovery
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Important Takeaways:
- Health authorities have been sounding the alarm over the spread of waterborne diseases in the affected areas, particularly in the hard-hit city of Derna.
- Experts have warned that floodwaters have severely contaminated water sources with sewage, rendering them unsafe for consumption and exposing communities to grave health risks.
- The response has ranged from evacuating stranded residents and providing medical aid and essential supplies to securing safe water and sanitation equipment in order to prevent diseases from taking hold.
- Aid groups are also calling people to avoid rushing towards mass burials or carrying out mass cremations
- In a joint statement, the WHO and the ICRC said the bodies of victims of natural disaster “almost never” pose a health danger but also warned that “bodies should not be left in contact with drinking water sources” as they may leak feces that could lead to contamination.
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Important Takeaways:
- Storm Daniel has wreaked havoc across Libya with 2,000 people feared dead as the devastating floods have broken dams and swept away neighborhoods.
- Worst hit was the city of Derna in eastern Libya, which had become inaccessible, and many of the thousands missing there were believed carried away by waters after two upstream dams burst.
- Ahmed al-Mosmari, a spokesman for the country’s armed forces based in the east, told a news conference that the death toll in Derna had surpassed 2,000. He said there were between 5,000 and 6,000 reported missing.
- Al-Mosmari attributed the catastrophe to the collapse of two nearby dams, causing a lethal flash flood.
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Important Takeaways:
- Maui’s wildfire death toll officially 114, but locals running out of body bags reckon it’s closer to 500, with thousands still missing
- Maui Police Chief John Pelletier indicated early last week that rescuers accompanied by scores of cadaver dogs were working their way through the aftermath, over 85% of which had been covered by Sunday, according to Hawaii Gov. Josh Green.
- Locals, whose morgues have reportedly run out of body bags, indicated that the actual number of deaths is the neighborhood of 500.
- Allisen Medina told the Daily Mail, “I know there are at least 480 dead here in Maui, and I don’t understand why they’re [the authorities] not saying that. Maybe it’s to do with DNA or something.”
- The FBI announced Friday it would be opening a DNA matching site to speed up the process.
- “No one has ever seen this that is alive today. Not this size, not this number, not this volume — and we’re not done,” said the Maui police chief.
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Important Takeaways:
- Total of 850 people are STILL missing in apocalyptic Maui wildfires, officials confirm
- Maui County Mayor Richard Bissen gave the update on a video posted to Facebook, saying the FBI, which is assisting with search efforts, combined various lists of missing people to arrive at the total number.
- ‘It is my sad duty to report that 114 individuals have been confirmed deceased,’ the mayor said on a video posted to Facebook. ‘There are currently 850 names on the list of missing persons.’
- The mayor’s update comes as Biden is set to visit the island following criticism that it took him too long to do so.
- Ella Sable Tacderan, who is currently sheltering 23 relatives at her home, said ‘the community has been a big part of my family’s survival’…She said families were being turned away for aid because applications have not been approved or are still pending.
- Meanwhile Maui resident Mike Cicchino told NewsNation the president’s response to the crisis leaves much to be desired.
- ‘We’re not very political people, we don’t really go one way or the other, but Biden has really failed us.
- ‘When one of the worst disasters in U.S. history happens, he hasn’t been out here and it’s been two weeks as of Tuesday – what kind of president does that?’
- ‘You give all this money and time and efforts to Ukraine but you won’t even do it for Americans? Come on.’
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Important Takeaways:
- Maui’s death toll reaches 111 as searchers – many coping with their own losses – comb the wildfire zone
- “No one has ever seen this that is alive today – not this size, not this number, not this volume,” Maui Police Chief John Pelletier said Wednesday. “And we’re not done.”
- A genetics team will help identify remains, “so that we can make sure that we’re finding who our loved ones are, and that we make the notifications with dignity and honor,” Pelletier said, urging patience.
- Searches through the burn areas have expanded over the past week, with 40 canines from 15 states deployed, the Hawaii Department of Defense’s Jeff Hickman told CNN.
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Mathew 24:12 And because lawlessness will be increased, the love of many will grow cold.
Important Takeaways:
- WHERE ARE THEY? Chilling mystery as nearly 30 kids go missing from city in two weeks and cops say they’ve never seen anything like it
- In the span of two weeks, nearly 30 children have vanished in Cleveland, sparking huge concern from a local police chief who said he hasn’t seen anything like this in his 33-year career.
- Majoy also serves as the board president of Cleveland Missing, an Ohio nonprofit that offers direct support for friends and families that are searching for a missing loved one.
- He called the number of missing children, whose ages range from 12 to 17, unprecedented when speaking to reporters.
- “For some reason, in 2023, we’ve seen a lot more than we normally see, which is troubling in part because we don’t know what’s going on with some of these kids, whether they’re being trafficked or whether they’re involved in gang activity or drugs.”
- All of these disappearances fall into the larger problem of crime in the greater Cleveland area, said Majoy.
- He added that many teenagers will seek out gangs when they’re desperate for protection.
- This often leads to initiation crimes such as carjacking and robberies or even selling their bodies and drug use, resulting in them becoming addicts, he said.
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Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places
Important Takeaways:
- Death Toll in Turkey-Syria Earthquake Surges Past 19,000, Rescue Efforts Still Underway
- More than 19,000 people have now died along the Turkey-Syria border from this week’s catastrophic earthquakes. Rescuers are working as quickly as they can as the “survival window” closes fast.
- Time is running out to find survivors in the rubble, now that the first critical 72 hours have passed. But there have still been some miracles.
- A little girl was found alive alongside her father who, as they were loaded into an ambulance, whispered “I love you all.”
- And in the Turkish city of Malatya, a man was found alive who had been trapped under concrete for 65 hours.
- But the losses are staggering. Many victims were refugees who fled the civil war in Syria.
- The final death toll from Turkey and Syria will probably not be known for weeks because of the sheer amount of rubble.
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Matthew 24:7 For nation will rise against nation, and kingdom against kingdom, and there will be famines and earthquakes in various places.
Important Takeaways:
- Powerful quake leaves thousands dead in Turkey and Syria
- More than 5,000 people have been killed and tens of thousands injured after a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck Turkey and Syria
- Thousands of buildings collapsed in both countries and aid agencies are particularly worried about northwestern Syria, where more than 4 million people were already relying on humanitarian assistance.
- Freezing weather conditions are further endangering survivors and complicating rescue efforts, as more than 100 aftershocks have struck the region.
- The quake, one of the strongest to hit the region in more than 100 years, struck 23 kilometers (14.2 miles) east of Nurdagi, in Turkey’s Gaziantep province, at a depth of 24.1 kilometers (14.9 miles), the United States Geological Survey said.
- The WHO warned on Monday that the toll could hit 20,000, and on Tuesday said 23 million people – including 1.4 million children – could be affected.
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