PORTAL RASMI
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
LOS ANGELES (Reuters) -U.S. President Donald Trump said on Friday he would work with California Governor Gavin Newsom to respond to the Los Angeles fires after earlier floating doing away with the Federal Emergency Management Agency.
"We're looking to get something completed. And the way you get it completed is to work together to govern the state, and we're going to get it completed. They're going to need a lot of federal help," Trump told reporters after Newsom met him on the tarmac when Air Force One landed in Los Angeles.
Trump has sharply criticized California's response to the wildfires, which have caused widespread destruction this month. Three massive blazes still threaten the region.
Newsom, a Democrat who has had a tense relationship with the Republican leader, told Trump that California would need his support.
Trump was on his first trip since reclaiming the presidency on Monday. Earlier, in North Carolina to tour areas devastated by September's Hurricane Helene, the president vowed to sign an executive order to overhaul or eliminate FEMA, the main federal agency that responds to natural disasters. He said he preferred that states be given federal money to handle disasters themselves.
Trump accused FEMA of bungling emergency relief efforts in North Carolina.
"FEMA has turned out to be a disaster," he said during a tour of a neighborhood destroyed by Helene, where trees were downed and homes had boarded-up windows. "I think we recommend that FEMA go away."
Trump's antipathy toward FEMA is in line with his dissatisfaction with California's response to the fires. Trump has accused Newsom and Los Angeles Mayor Karen Bass of "gross incompetence" and Republican colleagues in Congress have threatened to withhold disaster aid.
Trump has also threatened to withhold aid to California and repeated in North Carolina a false claim that Newsom and other officials refused to provide water from the northern part of the state to fight the fires.
Water shortages caused some hydrants to run dry in affluent Pacific Palisades, hindering the early response. When the fires broke out, one of the reservoirs that could have supplied more water to the area was empty for a year. Officials have promised an investigation into why it was dry.
Bass and fire officials have said the hydrants were not designed to deal with such a massive disaster, and stressed the unprecedented nature of the fires.
FEMA SHUTDOWN?
Experts doubt that Trump alone can shut down FEMA.
Rob Verchick, a former Obama administration official at the Environmental Protection Agency and now a professor at Loyola University New Orleans College of Law, said eliminating FEMA most likely requires Congressional action.
He said FEMA was created by former President Jimmy Carter by executive order but has been assigned roles and funding by Congress for the country's emergency response programs.
FEMA brings in emergency personnel, supplies and equipment to help areas begin to recover from natural disasters. Funding for the agency has soared in recent years as extreme weather events have increased the demand for its services.
The agency has 10 regional offices and employs more than 20,000 people across the country.
FEMA was a target of Project 2025, a conservative blueprint for Trump's second term prepared by his allies that the president distanced himself from during the election. The plan called for dismantling the Department of Homeland Security and relocating FEMA to the Department of Interior or the Department of Transportation.
In addition, it suggested changing the formula that the agency uses to determine when federal disaster assistance is warranted, shifting the costs of preventing and responding to disasters to states.
Trump complained that his predecessor Joe Biden did not do enough to help western North Carolina recover from Helene, an accusation the Biden administration rejected as misinformation.
In an X post on Friday, Democratic U.S. Representative Deborah Ross of North Carolina said FEMA had been a crucial partner in the state's recovery from the hurricane.
"I appreciate President Trump's concern about Western NC, but eliminating FEMA would be a disaster for our state," she said.
The trip to North Carolina and California culminates a week during which Trump moved with stunning speed to meet campaign promises on illegal immigration, the size of the federal workforce, energy and the environment, gender and diversity policies, and pardons for supporters jailed for the Jan. 6, 2021, attack on the U.S. Capitol.
(Reporting by Nandita Bose, Steve Holland and Andy Sullivan; Additional reporting by Jarrett Renshaw, Andrea Shalal, Tom Hals and Susan Heavey; Editing by Colleen Jenkins, Alistair Bell and Rosalba O'Brien)
LOS ANGELES – Kebakaran yang merebak pantas di Los Angeles dan telah membakar lebih 10,000 ekar (40 kilometer persegi) menjelang malam Rabu, menurut Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perlindungan Kebakaran California ( Cal Fire).
Kebakaran, yang digelar Hughes Fire, berlaku sekitar jam 11:00 pagi waktu tempatan di kawasan Jalan Tasik Hughes berhampiran Tasik Castaic, kira-kira 80 kilometer (km) barat laut pusat bandar Los Angeles.
Api dengan cepat merebak lebih 8,000 ekar (32 km persegi) dalam masa kurang daripada 6 jam, dan telah melintasi garisan daerah ke Venture County yang berdekatan.
Setakat malam Rabu, kebakaran itu berjaya dikawal sebanyak 14 peratus, menurut Cal Fire dan tiada struktur dilaporkan rosak atau musnah, Ketua Jabatan Bomba Daerah Los Angeles Anthony Marrone memberitahu taklimat akhbar petang Rabu.
Kira-kira 31,000 penduduk di kawasan itu berada di bawah arahan pemindahan, manakala 23,000 berada di bawah amaran pemindahan.
“Kami mempunyai lebih 4,000 anggota bomba yang ditugaskan untuk kejadian itu. Keadaan kekal dinamik dan api kekal sebagai api yang sukar dikawal, walaupun kita semakin berjaya,” kata Marrone.
Pelajar dari sekolah menengah dan rendah dalam komuniti Castaic telah dipindahkan pada petang Rabu, dan Kompleks Sukan Wilayah Castaic juga berada di bawah perintah pemindahan mandatori, yang digunakan oleh anggota bomba sebagai pos arahan.
Pusat Tahanan Pitchess di Castaic memindahkan 476 banduan ke Fasiliti Koreksi Daerah Utara yang berdekatan.
Perkhidmatan Cuaca Kebangsaan (NWS) Los Angeles memberi amaran pada petang Rabu bahawa angin kencang dijangka berterusan di California Selatan sepanjang tengah hari dan semalaman, seterusnya menghalang usaha memadam kebakaran terhadap kebakaran hutan yang marak di rantau itu.
Los Angeles County telah dilanda kebakaran yang dahsyat bulan ini.
Kebakaran Palisades dan Eaton, yang terbesar di daerah paling ramai penduduk di Amerika Syarikat, telah membunuh 28 orang, mencetuskan banyak pemindahan mandatori, dan memusnahkan beribu-ribu struktur. – Agensi
LOS ANGELES - Pasukan bomba keletihan terpaksa berhempas-pulas mengawal kemunculan api baharu di Los Angeles selepas Hughes Fire telah memusnahkan lebih empat ribu hektar kawasan sejak ia bermula dalam tempoh kurang 48 jam.
Hughes Fire di utara Santa Clarita mengancam lebih 14,000 struktur selain memaksa kira-kira 16,200 penduduk dikenakan arahan berpindah manakala 38,700 yang lain berdepan amaran pemindahan.
Menurut Jabatan Perhutanan dan Perlindungan Kebakaran California (Cal Fire), kira-kira 36 peratus kebakaran itu berjaya dikawal sehingga petang Khamis.
Selain itu, dua lagi kebakaran, Gilman dan Border 2 Fire dilaporkan muncul di daerah San Diego yang merebak melalui hutan belantara Gunung Otay berhampiran sempadan Amerika Syarikat (AS) dan Mexico pada 'kadar sederhana'.
Ancaman kebakaran hutan masih belum berakhir selepas Perkhidmatan Cuaca Kebangsaan melanjutkan amaran bendera merah ke atas sebahagian besar daerah Los Angeles dan Ventura, di tengah-tengah ancaman 'angin syaitan', Santa Ana yang masih belum reda.
Dalam perkembangan berkaitan, Gabenor California, Gavin Newsom menandatangani undang-undang yang mengarahkan bantuan berjumlah AS$2.5 bilion (RM11.1 bilion) untuk menyokong tindak balas dan usaha pemulihan kawasan di LA yang binasa akibat kebakaran sejak awal bulan lalu. - Agensi
Indonesian rescuers halt evacuation due to bad weather after landslide kills 25, official says
- Admin UKK
- Berita
JAKARTA (Reuters): Indonesian rescuers on Friday paused search efforts because of bad weather as the death toll from a landslide on Java island three days ago rose to at least 25 people, said a spokesperson for the local rescuers.
Torrential rain in the city of Pekalongan in Central Java province triggered the landslide on Tuesday, and hundreds of rescuers were deployed to the area.
Spokesperson Zulhawari Agustianto told Reuters rescuers had to stop work because of heavy rain and fog.
He said three more people had been found before the search was suspended, raising the death toll to 25. Officials on Tuesday put the number of dead at 17.
Zulhawari did not respond to questions on the number of people still missing.
The landslide occurred on a main road connecting Pekalongan to Dieng plateau, a popular tourist area.
Rescuers were being forced to walk about 4 kilometres (2.5 miles) to get into the site because the road was inaccessible. An excavator has also been deployed to clear the mudslide.
Separately, Indonesian authorities seeded clouds with salt on Friday to prevent more rainfall in Central Java, the country's disaster agency said.
Java is Indonesia's most densely populated island.
Dry ice and cold water: Thailand’s experimental approach to fighting air pollution in Bangkok
- Admin UKK
- Berita
UA HIN (Thailand), Jan 25 — Flying through Bangkok’s cloudless blue skies, a small aircraft sprays a white mist over a thick haze of pea soup smog below.
This is Thailand’s desperate, unproven attempt at reducing the oppressive air pollution over its capital, which on Thursday reached eight times the World Health Organisation’s recommended daily maximum average.
The scourge has made more than a million people ill since late 2023 and cost Thailand more than US$88 million in medical expenses, the public health ministry said earlier this month.
According to Bangkok governor Chadchart Sittipunt, the main culprits are vehicle emissions, crop burning in the wider region and “closed” weather conditions — a warm atmospheric lid covering the dust, preventing it from dispersing.
Known as a temperature inversion, the kingdom is trying to deal with the phenomenon using a homegrown experimental method to displace the pollution.
Twice a day, the Royal Rainmaking department sends aircraft up to spray cold water or dry ice into the layer of warm air to cool it down.
Critics say there is little to no evidence it works. AFP was granted exclusive access on board a flight over the outskirts of Bangkok.
Inside the small craft — which climbed to an altitude of around 1,500 metres — a scientist tracks the flight path on an iPad as two crew members release icy water from a pair of large blue containers that sprays out from the craft’s belly.
The theory is that reducing the temperature difference between the levels makes it easier for the trapped particles, known as PM2.5, to disperse into the upper atmosphere.
It is an unconventional method the department says is only used in Thailand. “This is not the usual cloud seeding,” said programme head Chanti Detyothin.
‘Doing our best’
Countries have long tried “cloud seeding” — injecting chemicals such as silver iodide into clouds to trigger rain or snowfall — in attempts to alleviate drought and, increasingly, air pollution.
But its effectiveness is open to question and scientists say it has been shown to only be marginally useful in creating rain and absorbing pollutants.
Thailand’s worst smog happens during the dry season between December and April, when it is too windy and cloudless to induce precipitation.
The new technique was first used last year and is still in its testing stages.
Another aircraft measures pollutant concentrations before and after spraying to gauge the difference in air quality.
Oil and gas firm
Ahead of takeoff, rainmaking staff pile a tonne (1,000 litres) of either dry ice, or ice and water into a plane — traditional cloud-seeding aircraft with repurposed spraying equipment.
The dry ice — solidified carbon dioxide — is provided by Thailand’s oil and gas giant PTT and other energy companies.
PTT did not immediately respond to requests from AFP for comment.
Another fossil fuel company, Bangkok Industrial Gas, also donated dry ice to the programme this month, with managing director Piyabut Charuphen saying in a statement the gift was part of their “commitment to creating a sustainable future”.
Carbon dioxide is itself a greenhouse gas and the environmental and health effects of spraying dry ice in the atmosphere are not fully understood.
Weenarin Lulitanonda, co-founder of Thailand Clean Air Network, accused the energy firms of “using cilantro to garnish their dish”.
The Thai idiom, she explained, meant that “instead of solving the problem, (they) are creating a beautiful image”.
Just one flight can cost up to US$1,500 (RM6,564), and with aircraft taking off from three bases around the country, it can reach US$9,000 per day.
Ekbordin Winijkul of the Asian Institute of Technology said it is more cost-effective for Bangkok to address the causes of pollution with proven measures such as low-emissions traffic zones.
City authorities are already pursuing many of these, he said, like banning some heavy-duty vehicles and working with other provinces to control agricultural burning.
“Before we try to do something,” he said, “at least we should have confidence in the data first”. — AFP
“The concentration (of PM 2.5) is less,” said Chanti.
“The data suggests that at the level of our area of focus, the dust cleared up,” though he admits they cannot “make the pollution go away entirely. Even with this new technology, there are limitations.”
“We have been working every day for Bangkok to have clean air. We are doing our best as much as we can,” he said.