PORTAL RASMI
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
JABATAN PERDANA MENTERI
AGENSI PENGURUSAN BENCANA NEGARA
ROME, June 30 — A punishing heatwave gripped southern Europe on Monday, prompting authorities to issue health and wildfire warnings as temperatures are expected to soar again.
France, Italy, Portugal and Spain have been sweltering for several days as the mercury climbed to 44°Celsius in some places.
“This is unprecedented,” Agnes Pannier-Runacher, France’s ecology transition minister said as a record 84 of the nation’s 96 mainland departments were placed on the second-highest “orange’ heat alert.
Only a small sliver of the country in the northwest was not sweltering, according to the Meteo France weather service, which said the heatwave was due to peak on Tuesday and Wednesday.
The summer’s first major heatwave has seen authorities in the countries along the Mediterranean’s northern coast urging people to seek shelter.
Ambulances stood on standby near tourist hotspots as experts warned that such heatwaves, intensified by climate change, would become more frequent.
Firefighters were on standby after blazes broke out Sunday in France and Turkey, fed by the heat and strong winds.
Already last week, Greek firefighters had to battle a forest blaze on the coast south of Athens that forced some evacuations.
‘Not normal’
Spain’s weather service AEMET said temperatures in Extremadura and Andalusia, in the south and south-west, had reached up to 44°C Sunday.
In Madrid, where temperatures approached 40°C, 32-year-old photographer Diego Radames told AFPTV: “I feel that the heat we’re experiencing is not normal for this time of year.
“As the years go by, I have the feeling that Madrid is getting hotter and hotter, especially in the city centre,” he added.
In Italy, 21 cities across the length of the country were on high alert for extreme heat, including Milan, Naples, Venice, Florence, Rome and Catania.
“We were supposed to be visiting the Colosseum, but my mum nearly fainted,” said British tourist Anna Becker, who had travelled to Rome from a “muggy, miserable” Verona.
Hospital emergency departments across Italy have reported a 10-per cent increase in heatstroke cases, according to Mario Guarino, vice president of the Italian Society of Emergency Medicine.
“It is mainly elderly people, cancer patients or homeless people, presenting with dehydration, heat stroke, fatigue,” he told AFP.
‘More frequent, more intense’
Several areas in the southern half of Portugal, including Lisbon, were under a red warning until Monday night, said the Portuguese Institute for Sea and Atmosphere (IPMA).
Two-thirds of Portugal was also on high alert Sunday for extreme heat and forest fires — as was the Italian island of Sicily, where firefighters tackled 15 blazes Saturday.
Scientists say climate change is stoking hotter and more intense heatwaves, particularly in cities where the so-called “urban heat island” effect amplifies temperatures among tightly packed buildings.
“The heat waves in the Mediterranean region have become more frequent and more intense in recent years,” said Emanuela Piervitali, a researcher at the Italian Institute for Environmental Protection and Research (ISPRA).
“A further increase in temperature and heat extremes is expected in the future, so we will have to get used to temperatures with peaks even higher than those we are experiencing now,” she told AFP.
Invasive species
The heat is also attracting invasive species, which are thriving in the more tropical climes.
ISPRA launched a campaign this week urging fishermen and tourists alike to report sightings of four “potentially dangerous” venomous species.
The lionfish, silver-cheeked toadfish, dusky spinefoot and marbled spinefoot are beginning to appear in waters off southern Italy as the Mediterranean warms, it said.
In France, experts warned that the heat was also severely hitting biodiversity. — AFP
ISTANBUL: Pasukan bomba di Turkiye bertungkus-lumus memadam kebakaran hutan yang sudah memasuki hari kedua di wilayah barat Izmir, apabila api marak diburukkan oleh angin kencang, menurut kenyataan Menteri Perhutanan dan laporan media tempatan pada Isnin.
Kebakaran berlaku di kawasan Kuyucak dan Doganbey, dengan kelajuan angin mencecah antara 40 hingga 50 kilometer sejam, yang menyebabkan api merebak pantas sehingga memaksa empat buah kampung dan dua kawasan kejiranan dipindahkan, kata Menteri Perhutanan, Ibrahim Yumakli.
Lebih seribu anggota termasuk helikopter, pesawat pemadam api serta jentera darat telah dikerahkan bagi mengawal situasi, kata Yumakli kepada pemberita di Izmir.
Rakaman media tempatan menunjukkan usaha pasukan penyelamat menggunakan jentera pertanian bersama tangki air, serta helikopter menjatuhkan air dari udara bagi mengawal api menyelubungi kawasan berbukit yang kini dipenuhi pokok-pokok hangus terbakar.
Wilayah pesisir pantai Turkiye sejak beberapa tahun kebelakangan ini sering menjadi mangsa kebakaran hutan berikutan musim panas yang semakin panas dan kering, satu fenomena dikaitkan para saintis dengan perubahan iklim global. -AGENSI
ISTANBUL: Firefighters in Turkey are battling wildfires for a second day raging in the western province of Izmir fanned by strong winds, the forestry minister and local media said on Monday.
Wildfires in Kuyucak and Doganbey areas of Izmir were fanned overnight by winds reaching 40-50 kph (25-30 mph) and four villages and two neighbourhoods had been evacuated, Forestry Minister Ibrahim Yumakli said.
Helicopters, fire extinguishing aircrafts and other vehicles, and more than a thousand people were trying to extinguish the fires, Yumakli told reporters in Izmir.
Media footage showed teams using tractors with water trailers and helicopters carrying water, as smoke billowed over hills marked with charred trees.
Turkey’s coastal regions have in recent years been ravaged by wildfires, as summers have become hotter and drier, which scientists relate to climate change.
GUIZHOU, 29 Jun - China menaik taraf respons kecemasan bantuan bencana ke tahap tiga sebagai tindak balas terhadap banjir besar yang melanda Wilayah Guizhou baru-baru ini.
Menurut Jawatankuasa Kebangsaan bagi Pencegahan, Mitigasi dan Bantuan Bencana China, aspek lain yang turut diberi perhatian dana kecemasan serta penempatan bantuan. Bagi memenuhi keperluan itu, pasukan petugas diarahkan untuk menilai kerosakan, menyelaraskan langkah kecemasan, dan menyokong kerja bantuan untuk penduduk yang terjejas.
Kerajaan pusat juga telah menghantar 15,000 barangan bantuan ke Guizhou, termasuk katil lipat, selimut, dan kit kecemasan isi rumah, yang direka untuk membantu pihak berkuasa tempatan menguruskan pemindahan kecemasan penduduk yang dipindahkan.
Turut diumumkan peruntukan tambahan berjumlah 100 juta yuan (kira-kira AS$13.96 juta) dalam dana bajet pusat untuk menyokong tindak balas kecemasan dan kerja pemulihan di kawasan yang terjejas. Ia menerusi Suruhanjaya Pembangunan dan Pembaharuan Nasional (NDRC).
"100 juta yuan telah diperuntukkan pada hari Rabu, ini meningkatkan jumlah dana kepada 200 juta yuan, kata NDRC.
Dana itu akan menyokong pemulihan kecemasan pasca bencana bagi pengangkutan, pemuliharaan air, penjagaan kesihatan, pendidikan, dan infrastruktur lain serta kemudahan perkhidmatan awam di Guizhou, khususnya di daerah yang terjejas teruk, termasuk Rongjiang, Congjiang dan Sandu, untuk membantu memulihkan kehidupan normal dan pengeluaran secepat mungkin.
Hujan lebat memusnahkan komuniti di seluruh Guizhou, mengorbankan enam orang dan berpuluh-puluh ribu orang kehilangan tempat tinggal. Sehingga Sabtu, lebih 41,500 penduduk telah dipindahkan dari Daerah Rongjiang sahaja. - REUTERS
DHAKA, 29 Jun: Bangladesh pada Sabtu merekodkan dua lagi kematian akibat COVID-19 dalam tempoh 24 jam lepas, menjadikan jumlah kematian setakat bulan ini meningkat kepada 22 orang, lapor Xinhua.
Negara itu pada 5 Jun lepas merekodkan kematian pertama akibat COVID-19 tahun ini apabila seorang lelaki meninggal dunia akibat penyakit berjangkit itu di ibu negara Dhaka.
Bangladesh turut merekodkan tujuh kes baharu COVID-19 dengan kadar positif ujian harian melonjak kepada 3.87 peratus dalam tempoh 24 jam sehingga 8 pagi Sabtu waktu tempatan. Data rasmi menunjukkan sebanyak 174 sampel diuji dalam tempoh 24 jam lalu.
Berikutan peningkatan semula jangkitan COVID-19 di beberapa negara jiran, kerajaan sementara Bangladesh telah meminta rakyatnya untuk mengelakkan perjalanan ke destinasi berkenaan melainkan jika benar-benar perlu.
Pihak berkuasa di Bangladesh juga telah mengarahkan jabatan berkaitan untuk mempertingkatkan langkah saringan kesihatan dan pemantauan di semua pintu masuk bagi membendung penularan jangkitan.-TVS