iblog

In the last few days, many parts of South Asia have been devastated by terrible flooding. India, Bangladesh and Nepal are the worst hit countries, where rivers have overflowed and entire villages have drowned. The current situation is desperate – there isn’t enough aid to match the colossal numbers of people who suddenly have nowhere to live and little to eat.

Almost 200 people have died as a result of these floods so far and the situation is indeed catastrophic for survivors as well: not only have families been displaced and separated, but hundreds of thousands are at risk from disease and starvation. Only a fraction of those affected are receiving aid which consists of food, clean drinking water and medical aid for those who are injured. Part of the reason for this delay is that most of the main road and train networks have been damaged by the floods.

As one of the victims of the floods, Musamat Manwara Khatoum, a mother of seven, describes:

“Everything is underwater. We’ve lost our crops, there’s nowhere to put the children down, not even a place to cook.”

Her situation is similar to thousands who are stranded in deep water with nowhere to go. For many these floods are the worst in living memory. Now like Musamat, they are on the move and trying to find higher-level ground in order to rebuild their lives.

All this when put together with the horrific fact that over a thousand people have died across South Asia since mid-June due to the annual monsoon, gives a stark image of the reality of such natural disasters. Especially considering the fact that the floods struck areas where inhabitants were already trying to deal with the horrors of poverty, we can only hope that with aid and luck the survivors can recover the best they can.

Whilst we in England are just about recovering from the floods which have disrupted lives across the country over the last few weeks, it is worth remembering the plight of those much worse off.

This entry was posted on Friday, August 3rd, 2007 at 7:46 pm and is filed under Culture, Current Affairs, Environment. You can follow any responses to this entry through the RSS 2.0 feed. You can leave a response, or trackback from your own site.