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 devastating fire which raged through Greece in July ravaging its precious pine and fir forests, might now lead to the flooding of capital Athens. The 3-day fire burnt down forests on 10,000 acres of land to ashes, spelling doom for the city in its wake; forestry experts predict repeated …
CHINA has been literally flooded with trouble. Coping with torrential showers reportedly the heaviest in 100 years was bad enough; the bursting of a river dike compounded the problem. Eighteen thousand people have been rendered homeless by the deluge. But the rich paddy fields in Paikou county of Hunan province …
AS EUROPE sticks its snorkel out of the muddy and deep waters of the continent's most devastating floods this century, the efficacy of its dykes comes under pained introspection. Cutting across the Netherlands, Germany, France and Belgium is a realisation that the continent's much-praised flood control practices may be soft …
An international panel of engineers and environmentalists, set up to oversee Bangladesh's Flood Action Plan, has criticised the draft "final report" on the plan. The report says that the total bill for the 162 projects will be US $7 billion, against the $1 billion recommendation of donors, according to New …
WHILE the world celebrated World Environment Day on June 5, Sri Lankans relived the horrors of another June 5. On the night of June 4, 1992, while the country's prime minister and key environmentalists were attending the Earth Summit, a considerable portion of the island of Sri Lanka was going …
THOUGH floods cannot be wished away, they could soon be whisked away. A group of British computer experts is trying to model river flows so as to predict the best way to control flooding (New Scientist, Vol 141, No 1907). When a river spills over its sides, some of the …
IT'S NOW almost taken for granted that if a flood occurs in the plains, then a forest must have disappeared in the mountains. However, this notion, which indicts the land-use practices of the mountain people, is fast losing its punch for lack of evidence. Two recent studies sponsored by the …
TORRENTIAL rains and consequent floods in Sri Lanka have rendered 375,000 people homeless and devastated large tracts of paddy. Among the worst affected areas are the war-torn northern and eastern provinces. Most of the tanks and rivers in the north and east have overflowed, forcing government troops and rebels to …
THERE is something very beautiful about lakes -- not just aesthetically, but also intellectually. Lakes do not just mirror their environment. They also mirror the society around them. Clean water in a lake is either the result of an absence of humanity or the presence of very disciplined human beings …
THE FLOODING that inundated much of midwest USA in mid-July turned a timid tributary in Iowa into a raging torrent, transforming a nearby transgenic test plot into a small part of a giant river system. The damage to the research programme run by Pioneer Hi-Bred International was relatively small, according …
THE RECENT floods that engulfed more than two-thirds of Bangladesh killed more than 500 people and destroyed one million tonnes of foodgrains, resulting in a loss of $175 million to the government. However, despite Bangladesh renewing demands that India and Nepal control the powerful rivers that flow through their countries, …
THE PAKISTAN government continues to ignore the plight of the boat-dwellers of Manchhar lake. When the waters of Larkana, Shikarpur, Jacobabad and Baluchistan were drained into the lake to reduce waterlogging in these areas, the resultant overflow submerged thousands of acres of agricultural land around it, reports Panos. For the …
If the mid-August assault on some officials of the Bihar water resources department, on an inspection tour of the eastern Kosi embankment in Saharsa, is anything to go by, flood control officials in the state face an unenviable future. The attack was triggered by the villagers' perception that embankments were …
Nation in turmoil RIMJHIM JAIN FLOODS are a major source of human misery in India and this year, too, they have wreaked havoc. Agriculture minister Balram Jakhar claims 2 million ha of cropped area has been damaged this year by the swirling waters. Reports from across the country present overwhelming …
THE MONSOONS in Bangladesh have once again triggered floods, displacing 1.5 million people. The worst affected are Sylhet and Chittagong, where road and rail links with the rest of the country were snapped. Bangladesh, located in the delta regions of two major rivers, the Ganga and the Brahmaputra, receives vast …
AFTER flooding in the Mississippi valley in central USA took a heavy toll in lives and property damage recently, a poll asked whether "the floods are an indication of God's judgement on the people of the United States for their sinful ways?" Of the respondents, 18 per cent answered affirmatively. …
The recent discovery of pieces of the world's oldest ocean-going ships off Ras Al Junaya on the coast of Oman by a team of Franco-Italian archaeologists, provides more proof of the glory of the Indus Valley civilisation, which flourished in Pakistan and northwestern India from 2500 BC to 1700 BC. …
Drainage congestion and increased rainfall runoff over eight centuries are increasingly choking Dhaka, the "unplanned Capital of Bangladesh", and this is leading to internal flooding, reports Panos Features, citing a recent study by S Dara Shamsuddin and Rafique Ahmed. The two researchers used data collected by the Bangladesh Meteorological Department. …
In a significant ruling in April this year, the Gujarat High Court clarified its stay on the eviction of inhabitants in the Sardar Sarovar project catchment area also prohibits removal of villagers on account of floods during the coming monsoons. In a recent hearing of a public interest petition filed …
GORGED by monsoon rains, the Ganga flows unpredictably in the winter creating pockets of land on the Bihar-Uttar Pradesh border, which frequently trigger violent conflict between cultivators on either side of the river. This year, tension was marked in March, especially in the adjoining districts of Ballia in UP and …
