LYCOS RETRIEVER 
Floods: South Asia
built 613 days ago
Sadly, many of the deaths caused by the floods could have been avoided if an effective flood warning system had been in place and communities had been given sufficient time to evacuate. At that time, forecasting technology was relatively primitive and there was no single body responsible for issuing flood warnings. Although many communities had emergency plans in place, by the time the threat of flooding became apparent communities could not be contacted by telephone as many of the phone lines had been brought down by the preceding gales. Some communities, particularly those in southern counties, had virtually no warning of the approaching floods.
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The worst floods in living memory continue to make Southern Africa - Mozambique, Madagascar, South Africa, Zimbabwe and Botswana - a scene of unrelenting region-wide disaster, comparable in devastation to the recent earthquakes and their aftermath in Turkey. Beyond hundreds already dead, undetermined numbers missing, and a half-million homes destroyed, malaria and diarrhoea are in evidence and there is a prospect of cholera outbreaks. Most recently, Madagascar was hit by Cyclone Hudah, reportedly 248 miles across and with winds exceeding 190 miles per hour, intensifiying a calamity that has set back regional hopes for rapid development in the near term.
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Asians are used to recurrent floods and have adapted their lives to cope with such events. Nevertheless, their suffering should never be underestimated. They pay a large price in days of lost employment, the damage to houses and property, loss of livestock, and destruction of crops. In many instances, they ... pay dearly in terms of ill-health and sometimes they pay the ultimate price: loss of life.
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