The common refrain in Florida seems to be one of living there for decades and never seeing anything like it. Hurricane Ian hit the southwest of Florida with sustained winds of 150 mph. Almost a category 5, this category 4 storm has reduced to rubble the exposed west coast town of Fort Myers.
Halfway
across the world in Venice, Italy, a flood surge crested at over six
feet on July 25 this summer. It submerged 85 percent of the city. The
historic St. Mark's square being one of the lowest areas in the city has
been particularly vulnerable.
And Pakistan where a third of the country has been inundated, flood waters have been now receding. It takes a while. In the hard hit southern province of Sindh, water levels are down by a third. It means if the water was chest high in some places and knee high in most, then to the eye, there is still water everywhere.
The
neighboring province of Balochistan is faring better and the OCHA, the
UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, has issued a
report stating that most districts of Balochistan now have normal
weather with lower temperatures and that water had receded or was
receding in most areas. It still leaves around 6 million people facing a
crisis with a shortage of food or water. The figure could grow another
million by December as food stocks run out. The loss of life is already orders of magnitude greater than Florida.
The
government and NGOs are providing help as best they can. Cash aid plus
food and water supplies and tents while they wait for waters to recede
completely. Clearly a colossal task lies ahead.
Further west, in the Horn of Africa, Somalia is enduring the consequences of a severe drought. Some 8 million people are facing extreme hunger and 213,000 are at risk of dying according to the UN. After four failed rainy seasons, people have begun to leave home villages and migrate to urban areas to look for work to feed their families. All this and an ongoing civil war to complicate matters.
Al
Shabab is fighting the government and controls large parts of the
south; it is also considered a terrorist organization by the US
government. Thus charities trying to distribute aid have to ensure it
does not fall into al-Shabab hands. As a reminder, a famine in
al-Shabab territory
eleven years ago
killed 260,000, according to Kate Foster the British ambassador there.
This
time two aid organizations, which talked to the BBC, report that while
they have access to government controlled areas, they are unable to aid
the 900,000 people (UN estimates) in areas under al-Shabab control.
(Note: You can view every article as one long page if you sign up as an Advocate Member, or higher).
1
1
1
