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Five years after the Nepal earthquake many buildings still lie in ruins. But homeowners and conservationists are working to overcome bureaucratic hurdles to rebuild and preserve the area’s unique heritage, says resident photographer and journalist Pete Pattisson Pete Pattisson Mon 8 Jun 2020 05.30 EDTLast modified on Mon 8 Jun 2020 17.57 EDT As Nepal struggles to get to grips with Covid-19, the country has yet to recover from the 2015 earthquake, which killed almost 9,000 people Read more…

Cristobal first named storm expected to hit US this season Heavy rains could cause flash flooding in central Gulf coast Reuters Published onSat 6 Jun 2020 11.48 EDT Tropical Storm Cristobal moved through the US Gulf of Mexico on Saturday carrying strong winds and heavy rains that prompted the evacuation of a coastal Louisiana community and dozens of offshore oil platforms. The weather system is the first named storm expected to hit the US of Read more…

Pentecost Island, devastated by Cyclone Harold in April, has been left a silent shadow of its former self. But its people endure by Dan McGarry Fri 5 Jun 2020 18.00 EDTLast modified on Fri 5 Jun 2020 18.02 EDT Touching down on the island of Pentecost in Vanuatu, it takes hours to notice the silence. After a while it hits you: there’s no birdsong, no insects buzzing and chittering. There is no wind in the trees. You Read more…

A highly complex aid operation is under way in the Bahamas in the aftermath of Hurricane Dorian, with an array of international non-goverment organisations rubbing shoulders and occasionally treading on each other’s toes. On Wednesday morning, when a vehicle drove up with medical supplies for an outpatient centre in Treasure Cay in the devastated Abaco Islands, a volunteer for Heart to Heart International politely advised: “We already have enough of everything – more than we Read more…

Large swaths of Greater Abaco Island were destroyed by Hurricane Dorian, which was the worst disaster in Bahamas history Mika, a search and rescue dog, takes a rest in the Abaco Island shantytown of Pigeon Peas, which was demolished in the wake of Hurricane Dorian, in Marsh Harbour, Bahamas, on Sunday. Photograph: Zach Fagenson/Reuters Rescue workers wearing white hazard suits continued their grim search for bodies and survivors in the hurricane-ravaged Bahamas on Monday, as Read more…

The official death toll of Hurricane Dorian in the Bahamas has risen to 20 people with officials certain the number will continue to rise, the prime minister, Hubert Minnis, announced as he declared a “historic tragedy” on the archipelago. At a press conference late on Wednesday the prime minister also warned of reports of looting on the Abaco Islands, a northern band of islands in the Bahamas hardest hit by Dorian, which pummelled the area Read more…

A strong 6.8-magnitude earthquake has rocked eastern Indonesia, reportedly killing one person and triggering a brief tsunami warning that sent panicked residents fleeing to higher ground. The quake struck at a relatively shallow depth of 17 kilometres off the east coast of Sulawesi island, the US Geological Survey said. A 7.5-magnitude quake and tsunami struck near the city of Palu on the other side of the island last year, killing more than 4,300 people. Three Read more…

While the world’s poorest bear the brunt of ever more powerful storms, international leaders do little to address the devastating impact of climate change.