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Disasters

The world in turmoil

Dramatic photos of weekend’s disasters.
11.30am, 9 Aug 2010
328
3

NATURAL DISASTERS across Europe and Asia have killed thousands of people, and have forced thousands more to flee their homes

Floods are continuing to plague Pakistan and China, and fires across Russia are causing serious damage and have covered Moscow in a thick smog.

Central Europe saw heavy rainfall over the weekend, which resulted in severe flooding in parts of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic.

The world in turmoil
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  • Pakistan Floods

    A Pakistani mother carries her children through floodwater in Muzaffargarh flooded in Pakistan on Sunday. Pakistan will need billions of dollars to recover from its worst floods in history, further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy and back its war against Islamist militants, the U.N. said. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)

  • Pakistan Floods

    Pakistani city Mehmud Kot is submerged in floodwater near Multan, Pakistan on Sunday. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)

  • Pakistan Floods

    Flood affected women stand in a queue to get relief food at a camp in Risalpur, Pakistan. The country is suffering its worst floods in history, further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)

  • China Floods

    A woman mourns for her missing family members after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains in Zhouqu county, in northwest China's Gansu province on Sunday. Rescuers are searching for an estimated 1,300 people left missing after rubble-strewn floodwaters tore through a remote corner of northwestern China, just one of a series of flood disasters across Asia that have plunged millions into misery. (AP Photo)

  • China Floods

    Rescuers and residents walk on a road covered by rocks and mud near a collapsed building after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains in Zhouqu county, in northwest China's Gansu province. (AP Photo)

  • China Floods

    Soldiers carry a rescued woman on a stretcher after heavy rains triggered a mudslide in Zhouqu county in northwestern China's Gansu province, Sunday. (AP Photo)

  • Poland Floods

    Aerial view shows the broken wall of the Witka dam near Radomierzyce, Poland near the German border on Sunday. The death toll in flooding in central Europe rose more than 10 as Poland's interior minister said Sunday that two more people had died in the southwestern region of the country. The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/ddp/ Jens Schlueter/ddp)

  • Poland Flooding

    Residents walk among the debris following flooding in Bogatynia, Poland, on Saturday. The floods struck late Friday but worsened on Saturday, leaving three-fourths of the southwestern Polish town of Bogatynia inundated after the Miedzianka River spilled its banks. (AP Photo/Robert Steiner)

  • Czech Republic Floods

    Residents carry water past a destroyed house after flash floods hit the village of Hermanice, Czech Republic, on Sunday. The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)

  • Germany Floods

    An aerial view of Neisse river near Ostritz, eastern Germany, showing the flooded Marienthal monastery on Sunday. The flooding in central Europe has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/ddp/ Jens Schlueter)

  • Russia Fires

    In this photo taken on Saturday, a firefighter tries to stop a forest fire near the village of Verkhnyaya Vereya in Nizhny Novgorod region, some 410 km (255 miles) east of Moscow. Nearly 600 separate blazes were burning nationwide Saturday, mainly across western Russia, according to the Emergencies Ministry, which said that the area affected had increased over the past 24 hours. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.)

  • Russia Fires

    A woman sits amidst the charred chimneys, all what is left of the houses after a spreading wildfire burned them to the ground as well as the entire village of Peredeltsy in Ryazan region, some 180 km (111 miles) southeast of Moscow, on Saturday. More than 500 separate blazes were burning nationwide Friday mainly across western Russia, amid the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years. (AP Photo / Sergey Ponomarev)

  • Russia Smog

    Tourists with face masks walk along Red Square in a thick blanket of smog, in Moscow, Russia. The Russian capital's chief health official reportedly says the number of deaths in Moscow is twice as high as usual because of smog suffocating the city from ongoing wildfires nearby. The Interfax news agency quotes Andrei Seltsovky on Monday as saying there are now 1,300 bodies in city morgues, which have a 1,500 capacity. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)
  • A Pakistani mother carries her children through floodwater in Muzaffargarh flooded in Pakistan on Sunday. Pakistan will need billions of dollars to recover from its worst floods in history, further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy and back its war against Islamist militants, the U.N. said. (AP Photo/K.M.Chaudary)
  • Pakistani city Mehmud Kot is submerged in floodwater near Multan, Pakistan on Sunday. (AP Photo/Khalid Tanveer)
  • Flood affected women stand in a queue to get relief food at a camp in Risalpur, Pakistan. The country is suffering its worst floods in history, further straining a country already dependent on foreign aid to prop up its economy. (AP Photo/Anjum Naveed)
  • A woman mourns for her missing family members after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains in Zhouqu county, in northwest China's Gansu province on Sunday. Rescuers are searching for an estimated 1,300 people left missing after rubble-strewn floodwaters tore through a remote corner of northwestern China, just one of a series of flood disasters across Asia that have plunged millions into misery. (AP Photo)
  • Rescuers and residents walk on a road covered by rocks and mud near a collapsed building after a mudslide triggered by heavy rains in Zhouqu county, in northwest China's Gansu province. (AP Photo)
  • Soldiers carry a rescued woman on a stretcher after heavy rains triggered a mudslide in Zhouqu county in northwestern China's Gansu province, Sunday. (AP Photo)
  • Aerial view shows the broken wall of the Witka dam near Radomierzyce, Poland near the German border on Sunday. The death toll in flooding in central Europe rose more than 10 as Poland's interior minister said Sunday that two more people had died in the southwestern region of the country. The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/ddp/ Jens Schlueter/ddp)
  • Residents walk among the debris following flooding in Bogatynia, Poland, on Saturday. The floods struck late Friday but worsened on Saturday, leaving three-fourths of the southwestern Polish town of Bogatynia inundated after the Miedzianka River spilled its banks. (AP Photo/Robert Steiner)
  • Residents carry water past a destroyed house after flash floods hit the village of Hermanice, Czech Republic, on Sunday. The flooding has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/Petr David Josek)
  • An aerial view of Neisse river near Ostritz, eastern Germany, showing the flooded Marienthal monastery on Sunday. The flooding in central Europe has struck an area near the borders of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic. (AP Photo/ddp/ Jens Schlueter)
  • In this photo taken on Saturday, a firefighter tries to stop a forest fire near the village of Verkhnyaya Vereya in Nizhny Novgorod region, some 410 km (255 miles) east of Moscow. Nearly 600 separate blazes were burning nationwide Saturday, mainly across western Russia, according to the Emergencies Ministry, which said that the area affected had increased over the past 24 hours. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko Jr.)
  • A woman sits amidst the charred chimneys, all what is left of the houses after a spreading wildfire burned them to the ground as well as the entire village of Peredeltsy in Ryazan region, some 180 km (111 miles) southeast of Moscow, on Saturday. More than 500 separate blazes were burning nationwide Friday mainly across western Russia, amid the country's most intense heat wave in 130 years. (AP Photo / Sergey Ponomarev)
  • Tourists with face masks walk along Red Square in a thick blanket of smog, in Moscow, Russia. The Russian capital's chief health official reportedly says the number of deaths in Moscow is twice as high as usual because of smog suffocating the city from ongoing wildfires nearby. The Interfax news agency quotes Andrei Seltsovky on Monday as saying there are now 1,300 bodies in city morgues, which have a 1,500 capacity. (AP Photo/Alexander Zemlianichenko)

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Author
Susan Ryan
susanryan@thejournal.ie
@SusanSRyan
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