The World Meteorological Organization’s State of the Climate in Asia 2024 report warns that the region is warming nearly twice as fast as the global average, driving more extreme weather and posing serious threats to lives, ecosystems, and economies. In 2024, Asia experienced its warmest or second warmest year on …
The entire state is today held in thrall by criminals and private armies. The river can erode values, not just soil. Corruption in the management of the environment can corrupt society. A case to note is the infamous Bhagalpur "blindings' in Bihar. In the early 1980s, the Bihar police blinded …
Why have flood-control measures failed? You must understand that the water comes from Nepal. We must stop it there. Embankments were constructed as a secondary measure. But the primary aim of the government has been to construct the Barahkshetra dam in Nepal, which will help control the water release. Why …
How and why did the rivers curse Bihar? It all began with a group of young politicians in the 1950s. To them goes the credit for pushing the idea of building embankments. This was done in the name of trying to tame the rivers of the state. In the 200 …
The birth of chaos Measures to control floods have backfired in Bihar. Flood related damages and flood prone areas have only increased since independence, and so has corruption. The two are closely related I n many ways the state of Bihar is unique. It is resource rich, but the people …
the Mexican Government was forced to declare a state of emergency in four states in the first week of October after the worst flooding in 40 years which killed 15 people and forced the evacuation of more than 100,000 others. Torrential rainfall for a week has caused seven rivers to …
the one-horned rhinoceros at the Kaziranga National Park is facing a serious threat not only from floods in the Brahmaputra river but also from poachers who are hunting down animals trying to escape the deluge. The park is home to 1,500 one-horned rhinos. More than a quarter of the 430 …
september 5, 1984. Ganga Prasad Yadav, a farmer living in Teghara village in Saharsa district in north Bihar, will not forget the date in a hurry. "It had been raining incessantly for over a week. The water level of the Kosi river had been rising continuously. Then the eastern Kosi …
Floods in Philippines have already killed around 130 people and government officials are blaming environment officials for the tragedy. Meanwhile, 83 people perished in flood-related accidents in the capital Manila, its suburbs and several northern provinces, some of which are still underwater. Rescuers have dug up six more bodies from …
the Canadian states, Quebec and Newfoundland, have declared that plans for a huge hydro-electric project in the Churchill Falls region of Labrador would be delayed to meet the demand of Canadian natives. The natives have stalled negotiations on the project since March 1998. They are demanding that they be involved …
Around 770,000 people in Ziyang in China's Hunan province were evacuated by rescuers after the Minzu Yuan dyke collapsed following heavy rains that lashed the area on July 23. "However, no casualties have been reported so far,' an official with the Ziyang district's civil affairs bureau said. Floods are a …
Around 725 people have died due to floods in China due to the overflowing Yangtze river. But media reports say that the figure could have been worse had it not been for timely measures by the government. In last year's floods more than 4,100 lives were lost. The ministry of …
floods in northern India have claimed more than 321 lives in the past month. The situation is particularly alarming in Bihar where the toll has crossed 193, and property worth crores has been destroyed. The major rivers in the state like the Kosi, Bagmati, Kamala Balan, Punpun and Gandak have …
Floods have inundated more than 10 villages and marooned thousands of people in eastern Bangladesh. The army has been called in to help out in the relief operations. Government officials fear that with rising water levels, the country could see a repeat of the floods last year, which is said …
Melting Himalayan glaciers are threatening to unleash a torrent of floods into mountain valleys, and ultimately dry up rivers across South Asia. A new study, due to be presented in July to the International Commission on Snow and Ice (ICSI), predicts that most of the glaciers in the region will …
Urban dwellers spend 80 per cent to 90 per cent of their time indoors in an environment that is dangerous to their health, according to Cui Jiusi, a Beijing environmental scientist. Cui, director of the Air Quality Monitoring Laboratory under the Chinese Academy of Preventive Medicine, recently cited health dangers …
Glaciers , the huge and seemingly sedate rivers of ice, are the source of life and, ironically, death too. These masses not only add to the serene and pristine beauty of the higher reaches of the Himalaya, they are also the source of north Indian rivers. Thus, with global warming …
B etween 40 and 50 million years ago, the Indian subcontinent collided with the rest of the Asian landmass. This collision caused the Earth's crust to buckle and rise forming the Himalaya. The uplift of the Himalaya was a gradual process over a long period. As the elevation of the …
On august 4, 1985, a moraine-dammed glacial lake, Dig Tsho, burst in the Khumbu Himal area of Nepal. Within four to six hours, the lake had emptied into Lagmoche valley, one of the tributary valleys of the river Bhote Kosi, which flows along many Sherpa settlements. For more than 90 …
this is Baluchistan, in Pakistan's west. Infrequent floods, a hot, desert-like climate and an isolated location: Baluchistan's people have adapted themselves well to these disadvantages. They have used flood water irrigation (also called spate irrigation) to make the best of whatever little water nature sends their way. It is rather …
