Not Your Casual News Week 37: Flood season on three continents
A weekly read to keep you in the loop on international news and climate issues
Vietnam is struggling to recover from Typhoon Yagi, its third storm of the year, which made landfall in northern Vietnam on 7 September.
The capital Hanoi experienced its worst flooding in two decades, with many residents displaced and struggling to cope with the destruction.
“To date, the disaster has cost Việt Nam over $1.6 billion in damages, while 329 people were killed or gone missing”, Việt Nam News reported on 17 September.
Residents are facing shortages of essential goods and are struggling to access basic services. The situation is particularly dire in areas such as Lao Cai province, where landslides and flash floods have caused a high death toll.
A farmer outside Hanoi, who gave his name only as Tu, told AFP that his entire 1,800-square-metre plantation of peaches had been flooded, wiping out all 400 of his trees.
“It will be so hard for me to recover from this loss -- I think I will lose up to $40,000 [€36,600] this season,” said the farmer.
“I really don't know what to do now, I'm just waiting for the water to recede.”
The government is working to provide relief, but the scale of the disaster poses significant challenges. International aid agencies are also stepping in to provide humanitarian aid and emergency supplies to affected communities.
Yagi brought a colossal deluge of rain that has inundated much of northern Vietnam, Laos, Thailand and Myanmar, triggering deadly landslides and widespread river flooding.
In Myanmar, the picture is much the same
The military junta has issued a rare appeal for foreign aid in the wake of Typhoon Yagi. So far, the junta has announced the deaths of 220 people, with 80 others still missing.
But the toll is much higher. According to the Irrawaddy newspaper, “pro-junta Telegram channels reported that hundreds of people were killed and about 700 were missing in mudslides around the Yamethin gold mine.
The storm’s impact has been compounded by the ongoing civil war, which has hampered relief efforts and limited access to many affected areas. Some locals in central Myanmar say the junta is restricting the flow of aid to flood-hit areas, controlled by rebel armies.
One volunteer rescuer in Shan State described the scene as “heartbreaking”, with entire houses buried under mudslides and hundreds of bodies recovered.
The UN has warned that the crisis is worsening, with more than half a million people in Myanmar in urgent need of food, water, shelter and clothing.
“This flooding is the worst I have ever seen in my life,” one resident of Shan State told the BBC.
The situation is equally bad in other region.
“There is no offer of international help. People are in a more difficult situation here because everything is blocked because of the floods and the war,” explains Khon Matia, a senior official in Kayin State.
What Else Happened?
Kim Nuclear. North Korea has given a rare glimpse into one of its uranium enrichment facilities, with leader Kim Jong-un laying out “important tasks concerning a long-term plan for increasing the production of weapons-grade nuclear materials”, the KCNA news agency reported. Images shared on 13 September showed Kim inspecting rows of centrifuges used to produce weapons-grade uranium for nuclear bombs, which are theoretically banned under several United Nations Security Council resolutions. The move indicates North Korea’s aim to improve its tactical nuclear capabilities, but could also “give outside experts and intelligence agencies a better understanding of how many and what types of nuclear weapons the North has produced and intends to build in the future”, writes the Japan Times.
Jamaican troops to the rescue. Jamaica is sending 20 soldiers and four police officers to Haiti to join a Kenyan-led and UN-backed mission to tackle gang violence. Prime Minister Andrew Holness announced the deployment, which is part of Jamaica's larger commitment of 170 soldiers and 30 police officers. Haiti faces a crisis of gang violence, with 80 per cent of the capital, Port-au-Prince, under gang control. The UN has warned that the mission is woefully underfunded, needing $600 million a year but so far receiving only $68 million. Other nations, including the Bahamas and Chad, have pledged personnel but have yet to deploy.
Paranoia in Caracas. Venezuelan security forces have surrounded the Argentine embassy in Caracas, where six advisers to opposition leader María Corina Machado have taken refuge. Tensions escalated on 7 September after power was cut and a larger-than-usual police presence was deployed. The government accused the embassy of being used to “the planning of terrorist activities and assassination attempts” against Nicolás Maduro and Vice President Delcy Rodríguez, although no evidence has been provided. Meanwhile, Brazil's role as Argentina's diplomatic representative in Venezuela has been withdrawn, and both Argentina and Brazil have called for respect for international law and warned against any forced entry into the embassy, which would further strain relations and violate diplomatic protection.
Climate News
Flooding in Nigeria. Flooding caused by a dam collapse in Maiduguri, north-east Nigeria, has killed at least 30 people and displaced 400,000. The collapse of the Alau Dam has left 40% of the city, home to 1.2 million people, under water. Officials from the National Emergency Management Agency (NEMA) fear that the number of displaced people could rise to one million and that the lack of clean water could lead to the spread of water-borne diseases. Maiduguri is a humanitarian hub at the heart of more than a decade of jihadist insurgency.
A massive wildfire, fueled by extreme heat and dry conditions, has swept through Southern California, forcing thousands of evacuations and threatening thousands of structures. The so-called Line Fire in San Bernardino County and the Bridge Fire in Los Angeles County have burned so intensely that residents compared it to “a nuclear warhead [being] set off in the moutains.” As of 16 September, firefighters were still battling three major fires that continue affecting several SoCal counties on Monday, which burnt already 147,800 acres (598 square kilometers).
Image of the Week
And finally, floods hit central Europe aswell.
Sinkholes formed in the town of Głuchołazy, Poland, after the region was hardly hit by floods.
As of September 17, 2024, Storm Boris has brought catastrophic flooding to central Europe, resulting in a death toll of 22. The storm has affected Poland, Austria, Romania, and the Czech Republic.
Thanks for reading, see you next week for less flooding, I hope.