As
an indication,I could find no videos to accompany this. Compare that
with coverage of Harvey
Monsoons kill 1,200, displace millions in India, Nepal & Bangladesh
Indians
wade through a flooded street during heavy rain showers in Mumbai on
August 29, 2017 © Punit Paranjpe / AFP
RT,
30
August, 2017
India,
Nepal and Bangladesh are battling some of the worst monsoon rains in
recent history, which have left around 1,200 people dead and 41
million people affected. In India more than 32 million people have
reportedly been impacted by downpours.
Vast
areas of land across all three countries are underwater, according to
the Red
Cross. “Rainwater
from the Himalayas is travelling down through Nepal’s lower-lying
areas, through swollen rivers in north-east India and eventually
through the floodplains of Bangladesh,” it
said in a statement.
Fl FollowAnyone stuck near kalanagar(bkc) is welcome at my home geetanjali apartments, khernagar #rainhost #MumbaiRains
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The
Mumbai monsoon rains are reported to be the city’s heaviest since
2005.
In
Bangladesh 114 people have been killed and nearly 7 million affected.
The
heavy rains began in mid-August, with more downpours forecast for the
coming days. Video and images uploaded to social media from the
Chitwan District in Nepal show flooded roads from mid-August.
As
the rains continued into late August the situation grew worse, with
143 people killed in Nepal and nearly half a million displaced.
More people are affected by
flooding in South Asia than in
Houston – but you won’t hear about that
More
than a third of Bangladesh and Nepal, and large
areas of India have
been flooded, and the situation is
expected to worsen as monsoon
season continues
through the end of September
Right
now, sustained torrential rain is causing devastation in both
developed and developing countries. Hurricane Harvey has displaced
tens of thousands of
people in Houston and tragically killed 15.
Reports suggest that the rainfall
recorded there, over 50 inches in a
48-hour period, would normally be seen once every thousand years.
You
might not have heard but there have been two more destructive floods
to have hit this month. Three weeks ago, hundreds of homes and
businesses were buried under a mudslide affecting communities around
Sierra Leone’s capital, Freetown; and following much heavier than
usual monsoon rains, Bangladesh, India and Nepal have been affected
by the worst floods in decades impacting on almost 41 million people
and killing thousands.
I
work from New Delhi and I can tell you first hand the devastation
these floods
have wreaked on people here in India – we have been
ensuring that cash is
available to buy essentials and making sure
local aid workers are delivering emergency food and water to people
in need.
As
much as the tone of public debate on the topics of the day can
frequently
feel as if it focuses doggedly on what divides us, it
certainly seems
weather-related devastation is an increasing threat
common to all, wherever
you call home.
Heavy
rains kill thousands and leave millions homeless in India, Bangladesh
and Nepal
However,
we have seen less media reporting in the UK on what’s happening in
South Asia then what is happening in Houston, while UK coverage of
the
mudslides in Sierra Leone was feverish until Houston changed the
news agenda.
Many
more people are affected in South Asia than in Houston. So why
doesn’t the news follow the numbers?
South
Asians, like Texans, are party to annual weather cycles that they
expect
and plan to manage. These current weather systems are part of
those cycles.
But one reason among several that they are worse this
year is that these
weather systems have not moved on as they normally
do, allowing water to
drain away. It’s as if a tap was turned on
and simply left running over one area.
More
than a third of Bangladesh and Nepal, and large areas of India have
been
flooded, and the situation is expected to worsen as monsoon
season continues
through the end of September.
In
media terms, perhaps the perception of the monsoon floods is that
they are
just “a little bit worse” than normal – hence, not as
shocking.
Yet,
millions of people will continue to be affected by climate change in
the
developed and developing world. But so very many people in the
latter are not
in a position to build or rebuild their homes to
withstand these catastrophes.
The
situation is most concerning for women and girls. The gender
inequality
myself and my colleagues see at work every day across the
countries affected by the South Asia floods has taken on new power in
this emergency.
Social
customs in this part of the world often limit the access females have
to
public spaces, meaning that the millions of women and girls
affected can’t be
fully involved in obtaining the aid we deliver.
That is a more complicated story to
tell, but we need the news agenda
to help us compel humanity to help. This isn’t
just an unsurprising
monsoon – this is a disaster which is making the lives of women and
girls hell.
Thankfully,
we are now starting to see media coverage of the devastation in
South
Asia facilitated by the coverage of Houston. Quite literally, by
adding a
reference to Storm Harvey into a headline for an article
that is actually about the
South Asian floods, we see our story
appearing in the news, showing that what
is happening in the East is
also happening in the West at the same time. If there
is one thing
that unites us, it’s climate change: so perhaps our attention and
efforts should be equal
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