#natural-disasters

#natural-disasters

At least that's the mood director Gianfranco Rosi evokes in his mesmerizing documentary Pompei: Below the Clouds, which won a Special Jury Prize at the Venice Film Festival last year and is finally being released theatrically in the U.S., ahead of a March 27 streaming premiere on Mubi. The apocalypse Rosi presents is not just the legendary one that destroyed the ancient Roman town of the film's title but an ongoing one that encompasses the calamities of our modern era as well as the rejuvenation that sometimes accompanies destruction.

On March 2, 1955, nine months before Rosa Parks' more famous act of defiance, Claudette Colvin, a Black high school student in Montgomery, Alabama, was arrested after refusing to give up her seat on a public bus to a white passenger.

In Grazalema, Spain's wettest town, a year's-worth of rain fell in a fortnight and overloaded the karst aquifer beneath it. Water rushed into homes through floors, walls and even electricity sockets. Authorities ordered everyone to evacuate. I felt a lot of fear, said Sanchez Barea, a guesthouse owner whose home is one of hundreds still in an exclusion zone.

A lack of insurance coverage in Southeast Asia threatens an increasingly important hub for supply chains, as the region is battered by tropical storms, major flooding, and other natural disasters. Total losses from natural disasters across Asia-Pacific last year totaled $73 billion, yet just $9 billion was insured, according to Germany reinsurance company Munich Re. That makes Asia one of the world's least insured regions against natural disasters.

Zoom in: The assassination of Charlie Kirk, the Turning Point USA co-founder, garnered the most search interest in Axios' analysis of the biggest stories of the year. His murder - which followed a string of political violence both this year and in 2024 - sparked calls for softened political rhetoric for some and prompted finger-pointing from the president and others. It also opened a new chapter - and exposed new fractures - in the MAGA media landscape.

When you look back at 2025 from an altitude of 250 miles, you can see the scale of natural events like hurricanes and volcanic eruptions, as well as incredible detail, thanks to high-definition cameras and instruments.

As another record for the number of homeless people in our country is broken, there are grounds for fearing we may be coming dangerously close to accepting the situation as a problem we cannot solve.

An aerial view of al-Mawasi area, where thousands of displaced Palestinians live in makeshift tents by the sea Photograph: Anadolu/Getty Images A Palestinian woman cleans an area next to tents in Gaza City Photograph: Dawoud Abu Alkas/Reuters President Donald Trump inside Marine One, arriving back at the White House after participating in a world leaders' summit in Egypt Photograph: Aaron Schwartz/Reuters

Dear God, please let us get there safely, Ms. Lytle recalled praying aloud.

On Sept. 10, 2008, the Large Hadron Collider at the European Organization for Nuclear Research (CERN) was powered up for the first time, successfully firing the first beam of protons through its 17-mile underground ring tunnel. Also on this date: In 1608, John Smith was elected president of the Jamestown colony council in Virginia. In 1846, Elias Howe received a patent for his sewing machine.

Today is Wednesday, Aug. 27, the 239th day of 2025. There are 126 days left in the year. Today in history: On Aug. 27, 2011, Hurricane Irene made landfall in the United States; the storm would be responsible for 49 total deaths and more than $14 billion in damage. Also on this date: In 1883, the island volcano Krakatoa erupted with a series of cataclysmic explosions.

The wildfires that have devoured 373,000 hectares of land in Spain and killed four people underscore the need to readjust and recalibrate the country's preparation and response capacities.

Maximum sustained winds are near 70 mph (110 km/h) with higher gusts. Steady strengthening is expected during the next few days and Erin is forecast to become a hurricane later today, and it could become a major hurricane by this weekend.

The Hampstead Storm on 14 August 1975 in north London brought an extraordinary 170.8mm of rainfall in 24 hours, leading to widespread flooding and chaos.

The consequences of natural disasters are magnified by chaos, where every decision made—whether to stay, run, or hide—can influence the outcomes in unpredictable ways.

Maui Emergency Management Agency issued evacuation orders for all people in coastal areas to move inland to higher ground due to an imminent tsunami threat.

Heavy rainfall around Beijing and northern China has resulted in the deaths of two individuals and forced thousands to evacuate due to risks of landslides and flooding.

The harvest season ends in the circular wheat fields of Altnova and Gozlu in the Kadnhan district.

Children rely on the adults in their lives for information and may have questions about natural disasters, especially those that involve loss of life. They do best when parents appear calm and are able to answer their questions in a simple and honest way.

"Accurately reporting death tolls from natural disasters is something that journalists and the media have long struggled with, and I think there are a number of reasons for that."