A look at media ccverage of nэtural disasters

(Non) media coverage of floods in Indian media

It is a peculiar feature of the news cycle that stories disappear very quickly. Often stories never even make the light of day if they are in forgotten areas like Africa. In this case the devastating floods in Bangladesh, India and Nepal did get reasonable international media coverage.

Nothing compared with saturation coverage of the floods in Houston. Quite justifiably.

Yesterday, I decided to check the main pages of two of India’s main newspapers, the Hindustan Times and Times of India and could not find any reference in the main websites. That is usually an indication that if this was a newspaper it would be hidden deep in the paper.

Where are the headlines on this most devastating, ongoing tragedy?

Here is the Hindustan Times

And the Times of India

 

Instead , I found ONE article about floods in Karachi, Pakistan, India’s sworn enemy.

Karachi floods: 23 killed, hundreds of homes inundated

The heavy rains in Karachi continued through Friday and Prime Minister Shahid Khaqan Abbasi has directed the army to help the civilian administration in restoring connectivity and communications.

At least 23 people, including seven children, have been killed by flooding in the Pakistani port city of Karachi, large parts of which were under water on Friday following a prolonged period of rainfall that started on Wednesday night.

The heavy rain continued through Friday and the local media reported that many neighbourhoods were flooded, with scores of cars and motorcycles under the water, as bodies of animals floated through the streets.

The same seems to be true in Bangladesh where one-third of the country is under water.

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I did find this one item that was talking about the sorry state of Mumbai's dilapidated buidlings and not to the humanitarian tragedy, still less to what is causing this devastation.

Mumbai building collapse: 25,000 buildings dilapidated in the city

Is this a case of downplaying not only abrupt climate change but of the manifestations as well?

the Indian media seems to be even outdoing most NZ media in this regard!

This is a report from the Big Wobble, reflecting international media coverage.

At least 1,200 dead across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh as troops struggled to reach dozens of people trapped after a building collapsed in Mumbai

Photo archive.indianexpress.com

the Big Wobble,

1 September, 2017

Emergency services struggled to reach dozens of people trapped after a condemned building collapsed in Mumbai on Thursday morning, killing at least 21 others.

In the days before the incident, torrential rainfall had pounded India's financial capital during an unusually strong monsoon season, which has left more than 1,200 dead across India, Nepal, and Bangladesh.

Despite the city declaring the building unsafe in 2011, 50 percent of residents - including several families - still lived in the 117-year-old five-story building in the Bhendi Bazar area of India's financial capital, local lawmaker Amin Patel told the Indian Express.

While emergency services responded quickly to a call at 8.30 a.m. local time, the narrow streets and closely packed buildings - some of them also over a century old - are hampering rescue efforts, the Hindustan Times reports.

So far, firefighters have rescued 34 people from the rubble, but a number of other residents still remain unaccounted for.

Buildings often collapse during monsoon season in India, and five inches of rain had fallen in Mumbai on Tuesday, leaving streets in the area flooded and weakening the foundations of thousands of century-old buildings in the city.

Meanwhile the torrential monsoon rains paralyzed India's financial capital Mumbai for a third day Thursday as the streets turned into rivers and people waded through waist-deep waters.

By Thursday the city had received almost 300mm of torrential rain in the last four days, reported the Hindustan Times.

Public transport stopped and thousands of commuters were stranded in their offices overnight.

India's monsoon season runs from June through September.

Since its start this year devastating floods have killed more than 1,000 people across South Asia and affected close to 40 million in northern India, southern Nepal and northern Bangladesh.

The rains have led to wide-scale flooding in a broad arc stretching across the Himalayan foothills in the three countries, causing landslides, damaging roads and electric towers and washing away tens of thousands of homes and vast swathes of farmland, Associated Press reported.

The UK's Guardian reported that the storm reached Pakistan on Thursday, lashing the port city of Karachi.

Local TV footage showed streets were already submerged as the country's meteorological department forecast that the rains would continue for three days in various parts of Sindh province, where authorities closed schools as a precaution. Windstorms and rain are also expected in the south-western Baluchistan and eastern Punjab provinces.

The meteorological department said rains were also expected in the capital,
Islamabad, and in Kashmir

This video IS from the Hindustan Times ( a day ago)