Earthquake today: A 3.2-magnitude quake struck Himachal Pradesh's Lahaul and Spiti on August 2 at 9:45 am, the National Centre for Seismology (NCS) said.
The seismological department reported that the tremors were felt in the region. The quake's epicentre was located at a depth of 5 kilometres. There were no reports of casualties or property damage.
The NCS, in a social media post on X (formerly Twitter) stated, “EQ of M: 3.2, On: 02/08/2024 09:45:59 IST, Lat: 32.67 N, Long: 76.76 E, Depth: 5 Km, Location: Lahaul And Spiti, Himachal Pradesh.”
Torrential rains are wreaking havoc across India and have claimed the lives of many. The death toll in the recent landslide incident in Kerala's Wayanad rose to 308 on Friday, as per media reports. As many as 14 people were reported dead following heavy rains and mudslides in Uttarakhand.
A recent study revealed that natural calamities across the globe, including disastrous wildfires, droughts, floods and more, caused about $62 billion of insured losses in the first half of 2024, reported Bloomberg. This figure shows that insured losses are 70 per cent above the 10-year average. The single costliest natural disaster in the period was an earthquake that struck the western coast of Japan on New Year’s Day, as per the report.
The data compiled by leading global provider of reinsurance Munich Re show that “weather catastrophes in the US” dominated losses in the period. In a telephonic interview, the reinsurer’s head of climate advisory Tobias Grimm said “floods in regions where they are very rare, such as Dubai” added to the economic losses. “It is clear that climate change plays a role in this development,” Bloomberg quoted Grimm as saying.
In the first six months, natural catastrophes caused $120 billion in losses. The development came at a time the meteorologists predicted one of the most active hurricane seasons in recent years. Raging wildfires from California to Alberta have left a profound impact on large parts of North America.
Munich Re said meteorological, socioeconomic and underwriting data all point to a changing risk pattern associated with severe weather events.
