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By Sharon Kimathi, Energy and ESG Editor, Reuters Digital

Hello,

This week starts off on a devastating note as natural disasters have wreaked havoc around the world, from Papua New Guinea to India and the United States.

This weekend, Papua New Guinea’s massive landslide buried more than 2,000 people, the government said, as treacherous terrain impeded aid and lowered hopes of finding survivors.

The National Disaster Centre gave the new number in a letter to the U.N., which had put possible deaths at more than 670.

The discrepancy reflects the difficulty in accessing the remote area and getting an accurate population estimate. The Pacific Island nation’s last credible census was in 2000 and many people live in isolated mountain villages.

Also on my radar today:

• Louisiana becomes first US state to classify abortion pills as controlled substances
• Families of Uvalde school shooting victims sue Meta, Microsoft, gunmaker
• Proxy firm advises shareholders to reject Elon Musk’s $56 billion pay package

Onlookers react as people clear an area at the site of a landslide in Yambali village, Enga Province, Papua New Guinea. UNDP Papua New Guinea/Handout via REUTERS 

The Papua New Guinea government ordered thousands of residents to evacuate from the path of a still-active landslide on Tuesday, after parts of a mountain collapsed.

Officials said the odds of finding survivors were slim, even as relief teams have trickled into the northern Enga region of the Pacific nation since Friday.

Defence Minister Billy Joseph said 4,000 people had been living in the six remote villages in the Maip-Mulitaka area in Enga province, where the landslide occurred in the early hours of May 24 while most were asleep.

More than 150 houses were buried beneath debris almost two storeys high.

Rescuers heard screams from beneath the earth.

“I have 18 of my family members being buried under the debris and soil that I am standing on, and a lot more family members in the village I cannot count,” resident Evit Kambu told Reuters. “But I cannot retrieve the bodies so I am standing here helplessly.”

The province needs to build capacity for disaster warnings, minister Joseph said. He promised that the government would rebuild the villages and reopen the main highway to the town and gold mine at Porgera.

Over in India, torrential rains brought by cyclone Remal caused a collapse in a stone quarry in the state of Mizoram, killing 15 people and trapping seven, while eight more died in landslides and other accidents elsewhere in the remote region, officials said.

Weather authorities said the powerful cyclone had weakened into a depression after devastating regional coastlines the previous day, when it killed at least 16 and cut power to millions in parts of eastern India and neighbouring Bangladesh.

But harsh weather was hampering efforts on Tuesday to rescue at least seven people trapped in the quarry on the outskirts of Aizawl, the capital of northeastern Mizoram, disaster management officials said.

“There have been incessant rains in the wake of cyclone Remal, which led to the quarry collapse,” one of them told Reuters, speaking on condition of anonymity.

Seven more people were killed in landslides in Mizoram, which shares a border with Bangladesh, while a falling tree killed one person in nearby Assam, officials said, as schools and colleges shut.

Over in the United States, tornado-spawning thunderstorms swept the Southern Plains and the Ozark Mountains which have killed at least 21 people across four states and wrecked hundreds of buildings, as forecasters warned of more severe weather.

The death toll over the three-day Memorial Day holiday weekend included at least eight fatalities in Arkansas, seven in Texas, four in Kentucky and two in Oklahoma, according to tallies by state emergency authorities.

The latest extreme weather came just days after a powerful tornado ripped through an Iowa town, killing four people, and more twisters touched down in Texas last week.

The U.S. is preparing for what government forecasters have called a potentially “extraordinary” 2024 Atlantic hurricane season beginning next Saturday.

How disruption from Houthi attacks in the Red Sea is driving up shipping emissions
Data shows how much extra CO2 is produced as vessels are rerouted. Reuters graphics

Jagan Chapagain, Secretary General at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), shares his thoughts on extreme weather events:

“Extreme heat is climate change’s silent killer.  Flooding and hurricanes may capture the headlines, but the impacts of extreme heat are equally deadly.

“The recent blistering heat wave in Bangladesh lays bare this global crisis. With temperatures soaring above 43°C in late April –  one of the hottest days recorded in the last 50 years – millions face a life and death public health emergency.

“Its potential for lethality is so extreme that the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society has activated its first ever Early Action Protocol (EAP) – a pre-emptive disaster relief first strike to limit damage.

“While a first for Bangladesh, it won’t be the last. EAPs will very quickly become the norm across the world. We need comprehensive heat action plans to shield the most at-risk groups – with solutions that can include tree planting to bring life-saving shade.

“Investment in EAPs will improve readiness and prepare communities against the devastating impacts of extreme heat.

“Most critically, local communities must steer resilience-building efforts. We know that when we amplify community-led efforts, resources and know-how are shared and action is decisive.

“Yet, we cannot tackle this crisis alone. We urge world leaders, humanitarian actors and the private sector to mobilize to meet the urgency and scale of the climate crisis. Together, we must increase investment in anticipatory action to build resilience in the communities most vulnerable to heat.

“‘Heat Action Day’ falls on 2 June. It’s an opportunity to focus on the extreme heat threat – and how we can unite to #BeatTheHeat”.”

Wealthy countries sent climate funding to the developing world in recent years with interest rates or strings attached that benefited the lending nations, a Reuters data analysis found. Click here for the full special report.

A lion evacuated from a zoo in Rafah due to the Israeli military operation, drinks water at a sanctuary in Khan Younis in the southern Gaza Strip. REUTERS/Hatem Khaled 

Today’s spotlight focuses on animals from Rafah’s Zoo who have found a new home in Khan Younis, escaping the conflict further south, as Israel vowed to broaden its offensive, leaving many Palestinians to seek shelter elsewhere.

Ahmed Gomaa, the zookeeper and co-owner spoke to Reuters. The Gomaa family ran Rafah’s zoo for twenty-four years. Yet, the ongoing conflict has threatened the safety and wellbeing of the animals and their owners, the family said.

“We fled around seven days ago to Khan Younis. We took most of (the animals) from the zoo, but the big lions remained behind. We could not bring them because the situation became dangerous for us.”

“We ask the Red Cross, the agency (UNRWA), international organizations, to get us coordination so we can try bringing the lions. If they stay behind, they will die of hunger, or missiles. Something like that.”

Gomaa said that the family fled Rafah to Khan Younis around a week ago and brought with them as many animals as they could. But due to the ongoing fighting, some animals – three big lions – were left behind.

 Today’s Sustainable Switch was edited by Tomasz Janowski. 

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