“Disaster planning and response” on The Daily Caller

ROCKHAMPTON, Australia (AP) — Weary residents of an Australian coastal city inundated with floodwaters braced Wednesday for water levels to peak, as state officials held an emergency meeting to help determine recovery plans for the 200,000 people affected by the deluge. (more)

YEONPYEONG ISLAND, South Korea (AP) — South Korea’s president ordered more troops to a front-line island and dumped his defense minister as the country grappled with lapses in its response to a deadly North Korean artillery strike. (more)

COLUMBUS, Ohio (AP) — Ohio State University has evacuated four buildings, including the main library, following bomb threats. (more)

BOULDER, Colo. (AP) — Two wildfires burning in Colorado on Friday prompted the evacuations of the homes of 1,700 people as well as more in neighboring foothills where dozens of houses were burned in a blaze last month. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — Pushed by an ill-timed trough of low pressure, Hurricane Earl is heading uncomfortably close to an area relatively few hurricanes tend to go: the Northeast coastline. (more)

NAGS HEAD, N.C. (AP) — Hurricane Earl steamed toward the Eastern Seaboard on Wednesday as communities from North Carolina to New England kept a close eye on the forecast, worried that even a slight shift in the storm’s predicted offshore track could put millions of people in the most densely populated part of the country in harm’s way. (more)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Singer Wyclef Jean’s high-profile bid for Haiti’s presidency ended after election officials on the earthquake-ravaged Caribbean nation disqualified his candidacy. (more)

SHIKARPUR, Pakistan (AP) — Victims of Pakistan’s deadly floods mobbed relief trucks carrying food Tuesday and authorities in the northwest warned of famine unless the region’s farmers got immediate help with planting new crops. (more)

ISLAMABAD, Pakistan (AP) — U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said he has never seen anything like the flood disaster in Pakistan, and urged foreign donors to speed up assistance to the 20 million people affected. (more)

ISLAMABAD (AP) — The number of people suffering from the massive floods in Pakistan exceeds 13 million — more than the combined total of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the 2005 Kashmir earthquake and the 2010 Haiti earthquake, the United Nations said Monday. (more)

KALAM, Pakistan (AP) — U.S. Army choppers flew their first relief missions in Pakistan’s flood-ravaged northwest Thursday, airlifting hundreds of stranded people to safety from a devastated tourist town and distributing emergency aid. (more)

MATAMOROS, Mexico (AP) — The sprawling remains of Hurricane Alex drenched much of northern Mexico on Thursday, paralyzing the major city of Monterrey. At least two people were killed when dry rivers roared to life and highways turned into rushing streams. (more)

NEW YORK (AP) — CNN and Larry King are presenting a telethon Monday to benefit victims of the Gulf of Mexico oil spill. (more)

NEW ORLEANS (AP) — The Coast Guard by sea and air planned to search overnight for 11 workers missing since a thunderous explosion rocked an oil drilling platform that continued to burn late Wednesday, more than a day since it sent a fireball into the night sky. Seventeen people were injured, four critically. (more)

GENEVA (AP) — The United Nations says its earthquake relief coordination is working well in Haiti, dismissing criticism over how the U.S. controls the Port-au-Prince airport. (more)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — The 5-month-old patient at the Israeli field hospital has a number rather than a name. (more)

PORT-AU-PRINCE, Haiti (AP) — Earthquake survivors have brought food and some medicine to dying residents in the rubble of a Haiti nursing home, but large-scale foreign aid had yet to reach dozens there Monday. (more)

MIAMI (AP) — Calling the initial wave of support “overwhelming,” the Haitian earthquake relief fund co-founded by Alonzo Mourning and Heat star Dwyane Wade said Monday its pledge total has surpassed $800,000. (more)

WASHINGTON (AP) — President Barack Obama has personally thanked some American Red Cross workers for their efforts following the earthquake in Haiti last week. (more)

BRUSSELS (AP) — The European Union has pledged over euro400 million ($575 million) to help the needy in Haiti and help rebuild the country from the rubble of last week’s earthquake. (more)