Southeast Asia Flooding Far Worse Than Texas

Where will all these people find help?

While all eyes are on the terrible effects of Hurricane Harvey, other parts of the world are experiencing even more unimaginable flooding as a result of monster monsoon rains and other severe weather events.

In impoverished parts of Nepal, India and Bangladesh there are already over 1,200 known casualties from recent downpours, following the deaths of over 1,000 from floods and mudslides in Sierra Leone. In contrast, droughts in places like Somalia and Ethiopia threaten the lives of millions. Yet one hears very little in our media about these disasters.

For example, there was not one word in today's Daily News-Record about any of these events, but according to a piece in yesterday's Washington Post, they are happening more frequently and with a greater loss of life than ever before. Part of this is due to oceans becoming warmer, generating more energy to fuel these earth-drenching storms. Another factor is the effect of more and more deforestation which affects climate change and increases the likelihood of mudslides on hillsides where millions of the world's poorest live.

Then there is this from today's Wall Street Journal:

“Twenty storms causing a billion dollars or more in damage have taken place since 2010, not including Hurricane Harvey, compared with nine billion-dollar floods in the full decade of the 1980s, according to inflation-adjusted estimates from the National Oceanic and Atmospheric Administration. Seven have hit just since 2016..."

Those of us who have contributed more than our share of the megatons of carbon dioxide being spewed into the atmosphere in past decades need to feel the greater responsibility to change our ways and to reach out to those who are affected, both here and abroad.

May God have mercy on us all.