The two most important hydrological extremes are floods and droughts. These events pose serious hazards to human populations in many parts of the world. These water related disasters are caused because of large diversity in climate and topography of the country. Climate change in future is expected to have severe implications on river flows in South Asia including India. Global climate change is likely to result in severe droughts and floods in India, with major impacts on human health and food supplies.

>> In the latest plan to stem the flow of the mud volcano that erupted last year in East Java, Indonesia, a US $69 million-proposal has been chalked out. A concrete dam will be built to check the mud flow, which has already displaced around 15,000 people (see

India's Tsunami Early-Warning System in the Indian Ocean is close to completion, but authorities are clueless about how to circulate alerts. An interim system has been in place since July 2005 and

It has been asserted that psychological responses to disasters in children and adolescents vary widely across cultures, but this has rarely been investigated. The objectives of the study were to clinically evaluate the construct of traumatic stress symptoms and disorder in children and adolescents after a super-cyclone in Orissa, India; to find out the prevalence at one year; compare the effect in high and low exposure areas and study the factors associated with it.

The study aims at evaluating the degree of success in relief, rehabilitation and reconstruction activities undertaken after the supercyclone and ascertain the achievements and the progress from the perceptions of the affected people.

weather forecasters will now need to track atmospheric dust to predict hurricanes. Dust may dampen hurricane fury, say scientists at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, studying a link between Atlantic hurricanes and thick clouds of dust that periodically rise from the Sahara Desert and blow off Africa's western coast.

the Indian Meteorological Department may soon be credited for predicting the path of tropical cyclones and nor'westers with remarkable accuracy. A new weather forecast model, which tracked Mala, the

India witnesses hotter summers, shorter winters. Shape of things to come?

• South Korean scientist Hwang Woo-suk, who is standing trial on charges of fraud and embezzlement for his team's research on stem cells, has resumed work on animal cloning. He has opened a

Climate Change, an Untold Story

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