BEIJING - Floods and landslides unleashed by heavy rains have killed at least 94 people and left 25 others missing in parts of southern and eastern China, state media reported Sunday.
-500,000 people had been evacuated in Jiangsu, Anhui, Henan, Hubei, Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces and the city of Chongqing.
-More than 49,000 houses had been destroyed and another 240,000 damaged as a result of torrential rains in the worst-hit Sichuan and Shaanxi provinces over the past week.
- Direct economic losses could surpass $500 million.
- Flooding is a perpetual problem in China, with floods this year killing more than 200 people, destroying 118,500 homes and affecting the lives of more than 42 million people, according to the national flood control office.
- At the same time, droughts in the north of the country have left at least 7.4 million people short of drinking water.
My thoughts...
From the above article, it can be seen that natural disasters (in this case, floods) are potential threats for the human population and the surroundings, and what concerns us is that Mother Nature's doings can lead to drastic consequences, disrupting the normal lives of people and taking away innocent lives. As a result, people in disaster-prone regions often live in fear. One will never know what may happen next, since all these are unpredictable.
Looking back through China’s history, taming the waters of the country’s great rivers has been an issue of central concern to people’s lives. One need only look at the grim statistics of lives claimed by the waters to see why.
- In the 1930s, floods throughout huge tracts of China killed more than 400,000 people.
- Tens of thousands died in the 1950s, while the large-scale flood disaster in 1998 killed more than 40 000 people.
Chinese leaders today continue to battle with the problem.
Hence, large-scale projects like the construction of the Three Gorges Dam to control Yangtze River’s floods (to be completed in 2009) as well as the channeling of water from this river northwards to the Yellow River are hoped to reduce the effects of flooding in China.
Ironically, while half of China is being “fed” with excessive waters, the northern part of China is facing severe drought. If only there was a machine that could distribute water evenly throughout China…
It is indeed funny how climate changes globally and affects us, vulnerable humans. As mentioned earlier, it is impossible to predict the next strike from the angry rivers, though there seems to be a recurring pattern.
Therefore, we should realize how lucky we are to live in a country where cries of floods and earthquakes are rare.
Learn to cherish the people and things around us as life is indeed precious.
Most importantly, learn to love our environment.
"Let every individual and institution now think and act as a responsible trustee of Earth, seeking choices in ecology, economics and ethics that will provide a sustainable future, eliminate pollution, poverty and violence, awaken the wonder of life and foster peaceful progress in the human adventure."
— John McConnell, founder of International Earth Day
Done by: Guo Ping
22/06 Forever!
4:45 PM
