Environment

PHANG NGA, Thailand (Reuters) – Communities across Asia commemorated the 230,000 victims of the Indian Ocean tsunami on Thursday, the 15th anniversary of one of the world’s most deadly disasters. FILE PHOTO: Submerged buildings are seen near the pier at Ton Sai Bay in Thailand’s Phi Phi island, December 28, 2004 after a tsunami hit

MELBOURNE (Reuters) – Australian firefighters used cooler conditions on Christmas Day to try and contain bushfires ahead of hot, dry weather later in the week, as leaders and communities thanked them for sacrificing time with their families over the holidays. FILE PHOTO: New South Wales Rural Fire Service observers during back burnning operations near Picton,

A house burns following the spread of wildfires in Valparaiso, Chile, December 24, 2019. REUTERS/Rodrigo Garrido SANTIAGO (Reuters) – A fire in a poor neighborhood of the coastal Chilean city of Valparaíso destroyed dozens of houses on Tuesday and firefighters struggled to control the blaze, authorities said. Inhabitants fled their homes in the middle of

YANDERRA, Australia (Reuters) – It was oppressively hot, above 40 Celsius (104 Fahrenheit), and the wind was picking up. Bushfires were devastating nearby towns and now threatened Yanderra, a small village with just over 600 people located south of Sydney. FILE PHOTO: Rural Fire Service (RFS) crews engage in property protection of a number of

BANDA ACEH, Indonesia (Reuters) – Arif Munandar had been pronounced dead before he woke up in a body bag four days after a monstrous wave swept his village in Indonesia’s northern Aceh province 15 years ago. Arif Munandar, 49 year-old man who works as a radio communication technician at Aceh’s disaster mitigation agency, climbs as

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Fire conditions eased on some of the major fronts burning across Australia on Sunday after a cool weather change, with firefighters trying to contain blazes before the expected return of hotter conditions at the end of the week. FILE PHOTO: A home is seen as smoke from the Grose Valley Fire rises

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Catastrophic conditions fueled massive bushfires across Australia’s New South Wales state on Saturday, with two blazes around Sydney burning at emergency level, while in South Australia one person was found dead in a fire zone. FILE PHOTO: Police block the Old Hume Highway as a blaze jumps the road near the town

LISBON (Reuters) – A storm sweeping across Spain and Portugal has killed at least five people, damaged buildings, cut power lines and forced authorities to shut roads hit by flooding and fallen trees, officials said on Friday. Storm Elsa hit the Iberian Peninsula on Wednesday and increased in intensity on Thursday afternoon, packing high winds

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Breathing masks are selling out in Sydney with the city enveloped in the smoke from bushfires sweeping across a large swath of Australia’s east coast, damaging the country’s clean and green reputation. A helicopter is seen during a bushfire near Bilpin, 90 km north west of Sydney, Australia, December 19, 2019. AAP

FILE PHOTO: The sunset in Bangkok on a poor air quality day in the Thai capital, January 30, 2019. REUTERS/Jorge Silva/File Photo BANGKOK (Reuters) – Authorities in Thailand’s capital warned people to wear face masks or stay indoors on Thursday after choking air pollution returned to Bangkok following months of clear air in one of

FILE PHOTO: A fire blazes across bush as seen from Mount Tomah in New South Wales, Australia December 15, 2019 in this still image obtained from social media video. NSW RFS – TERRY HILLS BRIGADE/via REUTERS SYDNEY (Reuters) – The Australian state of New South Wales (NSW) declared its second state of emergency in two

SERUTHUR, India (Reuters) – Saranya was only nine when the giant waves hit her family’s village in the southern Indian state of Tamil Nadu on Boxing Day in 2004. Saranya (R), who lost four siblings and her family home in the tsunami that killed more than 230,000 people across the coasts of several Asian countries,

AMSTERDAM (Reuters) – Amsterdam is trying out a “bubble barrier” to help remove plastic from the city’s canals by capturing trash hidden beneath the surface of the water. FILE PHOTO: View of the “The Bubble Barrier” in Amsterdam, Netherlands October 31, 2019. The Great Bubble Barrier/Handout via REUTERS While the project launched in November is

SYDNEY (Reuters) – Firefighters in Australia warned on Tuesday they would not be able to contain some of the 100 fires still ablaze in the country before conditions are expected to deteriorate later this week. FILE PHOTO: A fire blazes across bush as seen from Mount Tomah in New South Wales, Australia December 15, 2019

ABIDJAN (Reuters) – Farmers in Ivory Coast’s cocoa-growing regions welcomed heavier-than-usual rainfall after weeks of hot and dry weather had threatened the main crop, they told Reuters on Monday. FILE PHOTO: Cocoa beans are gathered at a cocoa farm in Azaguie, Ivory Coast. October 22, 2019. REUTERS/Luc Gnago Ivory Coast, the world’s top cocoa producer,

LONDON (Reuters) – An activist group is increasing the pressure on five big U.S. and European oil companies with shareholder resolutions urging them to meet the Paris climate goals and cut carbon emissions. FILE PHOTO: An Exxon sign is seen at a gas station in the Chicago suburb of Norridge, Illinois, U.S., October 27, 2016.