Over 200 dead in Asia from rain-related disasters in one week
4 Min Read
The heavy rains in India and China have caused landslides and flooding, destroying homes, devastating crops, and resulting in numerous deaths.
-
This undated photo provided on July 31,202, by the DPRK government shows a flood-hit area in Sinuiju City. (Korean Central News Agency/ Korea News Service via AP)
In the past week, torrential rains in India and China have resulted in over 200 deaths, with an additional three fatalities reported in Pakistan. The DPRK, near the China border, has experienced widespread flooding, but there are no reports of casualties.
This period coincides with the monsoon and typhoon season in Asia, and climate change has intensified these storms. The heavy rains have caused landslides and flooding, destroying homes, devastating crops, and resulting in numerous deaths.
Historical data indicate that China is experiencing more extreme heat days and increasingly intense rainfall, as noted in a recent report by the China Meteorological Administration, which predicts these trends will continue over the next 30 years.
A huge herd of Elephants in the middle of the Brahmaputra River !
— Nature is Amazing ☘️ (@AMAZlNGNATURE) August 1, 2024
📍Assam , India 🇮🇳 pic.twitter.com/EinxNPIu79
In response, governments have initiated disaster prevention plans to mitigate damage. Rescue teams are working to evacuate people before storms arrive and are using helicopters to deliver relief supplies to isolated areas. In rain-prone provinces, China has deployed drones to facilitate emergency communication.
India: 194 dead, 187 missing
In southern India's Kerala state, heavy rains triggered torrents of mud and water early Tuesday, devastating tea estates and villages. The floods destroyed bridges and flattened houses.
As the search for survivors enters its fourth day, hopes of finding more people alive have diminished. Bodies have been discovered up to 30 kilometers (20 miles) downriver from the main landslides.
The region, known for its scenic tea and cardamom estates, housed many plantation workers in temporary shelters. A local shopkeeper remarked, “This was a very beautiful place."
“I used to visit here many times. ... Now there is nothing left.”
India frequently experiences severe flooding during the monsoon season, which lasts from June to September and provides essential rain for crops.
China: 48 dead, 35 missing
Typhoon Gaemi was blamed for more than 30 deaths in the Philippines and 10 in Taiwan as it churned through the western Pacific last week, but it was still fatal after weakening to a tropical storm in China.
Heavy rain inundated parts of inland Hunan province for several days. On Sunday morning, a mudslide hit a popular homestay, resulting in 15 deaths.
In other areas of Hunan, authorities found three bodies on Monday, believed to be victims of a separate landslide. Additionally, officials in Zixing city reported on Thursday that 30 people had died in floods, with 35 others missing.
Another fatality in China linked to the storm was a delivery driver in Shanghai, who was struck by falling tree branches during high winds.
According to the Ministry of Water Resources, China has experienced 25 major floods this year, the highest number since record-keeping began in 1998.
DPRK: Damage reported, no death toll provided
The tropical storm also brought heavy rain to northeast China near the DPRK border, causing the Yalu River to overflow.
In DPRK, the flooding affected 4,100 houses, 3,000 hectares (7,400 acres) of farmland, and numerous public buildings, roads, and railways.
While state media did not report on casualties, leader Kim Jong Un suggested there were deaths, criticizing public officials for neglecting disaster prevention and causing “unacceptable casualties".
Military helicopters, navy vessels, and other government boats were used to evacuate stranded residents. State TV broadcast footage of Kim Jong Un and other officials inspecting the damage in rubber boats, revealing houses submerged in muddy water with only their roofs visible.
In China, state television showed excavators working in rushing water to clear debris from a mudslide in Jilin province. A city near DPRK advised residents living below the third floor to move to higher ground as the Yalu River rose.
In Dandong, a major Chinese city along the river, rescuers used rubber dinghies to evacuate residents from streets that had become lakes. There were no reports of fatalities.
Pakistan: 3 dead
Record rainfall in the city of Lahore flooded streets and left at least three people dead in Pakistan on Thursday. The deaths at the start of August came on top of 99 rain-related fatalities the previous month.
Certain areas of Lahore experienced 353 millimeters (14 inches) of rain within a few hours, shattering a 44-year-old record. The intense rainfall was so severe that it flooded some hospital wards in Punjab province's capital.
The fatalities included two children: one drowned in a flooded street, while the other fell from the roof of her house.
