While most of the world has been focused on other things, the Ring of Fire has been quietly waking up. Over the past couple of months, there has been a steady string of noteworthy volcanic eruptions and earthquakes that have occurred along the perimeter of the Pacific Ocean.
Asia – An early view of disaster trends in 2012 across Asia, the world’s most disaster-prone region, shows that mortality from flood events continues to decline but economic losses remain a major cause of concern. In 2012 so far, floods were the most frequent disaster occurring in Asia (44%) and had the highest human and economic impact.
In Hurricane Sandy’s wake, issues of rebuilding and preparing for future disasters have re-emerged. The Forum at Harvard School of Public Health hosted “BIG WEATHER AND COASTAL CITIES: Resilience in the Face of Disaster” on Monday morning to address these challenges.
The quake, which struck late Wednesday, measured 5.5 on the moment magnitude scale, according to Tehran University’s Seismological Centre.
Five villages near the epicentre, 25 kilometres from the town of Zohan, were destroyed and at least 11 others were damaged, according to Hassan Qadami, head of Iran’s crisis management organisation. 
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The strongest earthquakes that strike the planet, such as the 9.0-magnitude earthquake that hit Japan last year, occur at particular “hotspot” points of Earth’s crust, a new study finds.
THE department of health is planning to launch two special programs for the southern Punjab in close collaboration with the community and health experts to address provision of health services to the population and specifically target the poor looking at options to provide them services through the private hospitals also.” This was stated by Director Punjab Health Reforms Program, Doctor Amjad Shehzad, in a workshop ‘Protecting Pakistan’s Poor Against Health Shocks In Disasters’.
Japan – Japan should brace for a catastrophic volcanic eruption at some point, say experts, citing a massive buildup of magma at many of the nation’s 110 active volcanoes.
Seven years after an 8.7-magnitude earthquake devastated Nias in March 2005, claiming over 1,300 lives and obliterating much of its infrastructure, many positive changes have come to the small island off the northwest coast of Sumatra.
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Ambon – A magnitude 5.3 earthquake jolted Ambon city, Maluku province, on Thursday at around 12.31 p.m., there were no immediate reports of casualties.
GENEVA — Two U.N. agencies have mapped the intersection of health and climate in an age of global warming, showing that there are spikes in meningitis when dust storms hit and outbreaks of dengue fever when hard rains come.
![This suspension bridge built over the Gido River in Nias was a collaboration between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and communities in Nias. Before it was built, schoolchildren had to wade the river to get to school. [Maya Karim/Khabar].](http://khabarsouthasia.com/shared/images/2012/11/12/121112_MAYA_ID_NIAS_VG.jpg "This suspension bridge built over the Gido River in Nias was a collaboration between the International Labour Organisation (ILO) and communities in Nias. Before it was built, schoolchildren had to wade the river to get to school. [Maya Karim/Khabar].")