The UN yesterday said it will seek international aid to help rehabilitate Bangladesh after month-long floods washed away rice crops, villages and livestock and killed more than 450 people in this impoverished nation.
Torrential monsoon rains and melting snow from the Himalayas have engulfed two-thirds of Bangladesh and large chunks of neighboring India, as well as causing deaths in Pakistan and Nepal.
Landslides, house collapses, drowning, disease and bites from snakes that slither through the floodwaters have brought the death toll across South Asia to 1,338 since mid-last month, and it is expected to surpass last year's figure of 1,500 for the annual rainy season.
PHOTO: EPA
Flooding and related problems have killed 768 people in India, 113 in Nepal and five in Pakistan, according to reports by officials.
In Bangladesh, a delta nation of 140 million people, the floods have killed 452 people and marooned or displaced up to 30 million people, the Food and Disaster Ministry said yesterday.
The worst floods in six years have overwhelmed this nation as relief workers struggled to get supplies to millions of people crammed into temporary shelters in schools, on boats or river embankments.
"The United Nations ... will embark on preparations for an international appeal in response to the severe flooding in Bangladesh," a UN press release issued in Dhaka said.
The formal appeal will go out within weeks after an assessment of the damage and need, said the statement, issued a day after Bangladeshi Prime Minister Khaleda Zia said the nation couldn't cope alone with the devastation.
"We need international assistance to rebuild roads, schools and bridges washed away by the floods," Zia said, while visiting flood-affected people in eastern Chandpur district on Wednesday.
She urged Bangladeshis to "be brave and resilient in this time of distress."
Most are doing just that.
Galib Mahmud, in a crisp white schoolshirt, waded barefoot through waist-deep, filthy floodwaters, carrying a backpack on his head and dangling his black shoes in a string bag as he trekked across the flooded streets of Dhaka on Wednesday.
"I have to go to school," the 12-year-old said.
While many public schools have canceled classes and converted the buildings into shelters, private institutions like Galib's remained open. Up to 125,000 displaced people were living in 160 flood shelters in Dhaka.
More than 40 percent of Dhaka, a city of 10 million, is flooded, with residents moving in with relatives in drier areas, taking refuge in shelters at multi-storied buildings, or camping out on raised sidewalks along major roads.
Others have stacked sandbags or layers of bricks at entrances to their homes and businesses to prevent water seeping through.
Young Chinese, many who fear age discrimination in their workplace after turning 35, are increasingly starting “one-person companies” that have artificial intelligence (AI) do most of the work. Smaller start-ups are already in vogue in Silicon Valley and elsewhere, with rapidly advancing AI tools seen as a welcome teammate even as they threaten layoffs at existing firms. More young people in China are subscribing to the model, as cities pledge millions of dollars in funding and rent subsidies for such ventures, in alignment with Beijing’s political goal of “technological self-reliance.” “The one-person company is a product of the AI era,” said Karen Dai
South Korea’s air force yesterday apologized for a 2021 midair collision involving two fighter jets, a day after auditors said the pilots were taking selfies and filming during the flight and held them responsible for the accident. “We sincerely apologize to the public for the concern caused by the accident that occurred in 2021,” an air force spokesman told a news conference, adding that one of the pilots involved had been suspended from flying duties, received severe disciplinary action and has since left the military. The apology followed a report released on Wednesday by the South Korean Board of Audit and Inspection,
About 240 Indians claiming descent from a Biblical tribe landed at Tel Aviv airport on Thursday as part of a government operation to relocate them to Israel. The newcomers passed under a balloon arch in blue and white, the colors of the Israeli flag, as dozens of well-wishers welcomed them with a traditional Jewish song. They were the first “bnei Menashe” (“sons of Manasseh”) to arrive in Israel since the government in November last year announced funding for the immigration of about 6,000 members of the community from the states of Manipur and Mizoram in northeast India. The community claims to descend from
‘TROUBLING’: The firing of Phelan, who was an adviser to a nonprofit that supported the defense of Taiwan, was another example of ‘dysfunction’ under Trump, a US senator said US Secretary of the Navy John Phelan has been fired, a US official and a person familiar with the matter said on Wednesday, in another wartime shakeup at the Pentagon coming just weeks after US Secretary of Defense Pete Hegseth ousted the Army’s top general. The Pentagon announced his departure in a brief statement, saying he was leaving the administration “effective immediately,” but it did not provide a reason or say whether it was his decision to go. The sources, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said Phelan was dismissed in part because he was moving too slowly to implement reforms to
RSS