Canada has endured a series of significant forest fires in recent years, but deaths involving residents are rare. In 2023, the worst wildfire season in the country’s history, the only recorded deaths were among firefighters.

Canadian federal police confirmed Wednesday that two people died in the small community of Lac-du-Bonnet, in the central province of Manitoba, which is experiencing unusually hot, dry and windy conditions.

Chris Hastie of the Royal Canadian Mounted Police (RCMP) told reporters that authorities “were aware that these individuals had been trapped in the fire.”

There were no reports of additional people unaccounted for, Hastie said. Manitoba’s Premier Wab Kinew said he was “deeply saddened to learn of the tragic loss of two Manitobans due to the wildfires.”

“My heart goes out to their loved ones,” he added in a post on X.

“This is a truly tragic event. We are a very close-knit community here,” Loren Schinkel, the head of the community 100km north of Winnipeg, said after the deaths were confirmed.

PETALING JAYA – Gempa bumi kuat melanda Barat Kepulauan Tonga pada pukul 12.15 tengah hari tadi.

Menerusi satu hantaran daripada Jabatan Meteorologi Malaysia (MetMalaysia), gempa kuat tersebut berukuran 6.4 skala magnitud.

“Ia terjadi 665km Timur dari Laucala, Fiji,” katanya.

Bagaimanapun, tiada ancaman tsunami dilaporkan kepada Malaysia lanjutan daripada kejadian itu. -KOSMO! ONLINE

LONDON, 14 Mei – England mencatatkan permulaan musim bunga paling kering sejak 69 tahun lalu, menurut Agensi Alam Sekitar United Kingdom (UK), sekali gus meningkatkan kebimbangan bahawa kemarau berkemungkinan melanda negara itu dalam beberapa bulan akan datang.

Laporan agensi itu pada Selasa menyatakan bahawa bulan April merupakan bulan ketiga berturut-turut mencatatkan hujan di bawah purata, menjadikannya paling kering sejak tahun 1956.

Lebih tiga perempat kawasan di England mengalami hujan bawah paras normal atau lebih rendah, dan jumlah hujan kumulatif tiga bulan juga berada pada paras rendah atau sangat rendah.

Beberapa kawasan seperti timur laut dan barat laut England mengalami empat bulan pertama yang paling kering sejak tahun 1929.

Pengarah Timbalan Air, Richard Thompson, memberi amaran bahawa perubahan iklim akan menyebabkan lebih banyak kemarau pada musim panas dalam dekad akan datang.

“Dua tahun lalu merupakan antara yang paling basah dalam rekod bagi England, tetapi keadaan kering di awal tahun ini menjadikan kemarau satu kemungkinan,” katanya.

Menurut jurucakap Air UK, syarikat-syarikat air kini memindahkan bekalan air merentas kawasan untuk membantu kawasan yang paling terjejas.

Perubahan iklim telah menyebabkan peningkatan kejadian cuaca ekstrem di seluruh UK dalam beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini.

Sejak 1980-an, Eropah telah mengalami pemanasan dua kali lebih cepat berbanding purata global, menjadikannya benua yang paling cepat memanas di dunia.

Britain sebelum ini telah dilanda ribut besar, banjir serta gelombang haba, termasuk suhu mencecah rekod 40 darjah Celsius pada Julai 2022.

Kemarau juga telah menyumbang kepada jumlah kebakaran hutan yang tertinggi, dengan sekitar 500 kebakaran berlaku pada tahun 2022.

Sementara itu, Jawatankuasa Perubahan Iklim UK memberi amaran bulan lalu bahawa musim panas yang lebih panas dan kering akan meningkatkan risiko gelombang haba, kemarau dan banjir kilat permukaan.-AFP.

BANGKOK: Thailand has declared an end to search operation at the site of a partially constructed Bangkok skyscraper that collapsed during a March 28 earthquake and killed scores of construction workers, the city's governor said on Tuesday.

The 30-storey State Audit Office tower was the only building in the Thai capital that collapsed from the tremors caused by a 7.7 magnitude quake that struck central Myanmar about 1,020 km (635 miles) away.

An investigation is underway into why the building came down so easily while those in the rest of the city stood firm. Earthquakes and tremors of that scale are extremely rare in Thailand and the quake sparked panic in the city, which ground to a halt for most of the day.

Authorities have recovered 89 bodies from the rubble and seven are still missing from one of the deadliest accidents of its kind in Thailand, which killed 96 people. In Myanmar, more than 3,700 people died.

The six-week operation in Bangkok involved hundreds of personnel, including international rescue teams in an around-the-clock effort during which search dogs and heavy equipment were deployed. The mission was severely hampered by the scale and weight of the debris.

"I want to thank all those who helped," Bangkok Governor Chadchart Sittupunt told reporters. "This was a life changing incident for many and a lesson."

Authorities have so far been identified 86 of the dead, while forensic tests are being conducted on 100 out of 313 fragments of human remains recovered from the site, according to police. The probe is focusing on those involved in the construction of the building, which started in 2020.

A Thai anti-corruption watchdog said it had flagged to authorities irregularities it found in the construction of the skyscraper before it collapsed, while industry officials said initial tests of materials at the site indicated the presence of substandard steel.