Word: flood
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Last weekend's flood was in large part the result of the capital's poor drainage and sanitation systems, which have been neglected by several successive administrations in power. As Ketsana rained down upon Manila, sewers that were clogged up by plastic bags and other refuse led to roads becoming rivers and gardens lagoons. Video images of desperate people riding floating pontoons of garbage down inundated streets were a sign not just of the consequences of the flood, but also its causes. Many impoverished Manila residents live in makeshift settlements by rivers and creeks - the source of their drinking water...
...Three Asian capitals - Bangkok, Jakarta and Dhaka - are currently fighting what feels like a rearguard action to keep the water at bay. Their efforts will be watched in other cities waking up to a climate nightmare after years of unplanned growth. The threat of sea-level rise and flooding makes Bangkok a "climate hazard hotspot," says a May report by the Economy and Environment Program for Southeast Asia (EEPSEA) in Singapore. I prefer an older description: "the Venice of the East." Most early Bangkok residents moved by boat between floating houses; it was not until 1863 that the city...
...keep cell phones charged and gas tanks at least three-quarters full, and exercise caution when driving through "small rivers." It's the sort of travel advisory you'd expect for negotiating an untamed wilderness, not a city of more than 12 million souls. Damage from a deadly 2007 flood cost Jakarta half a billion dollars - ironically, roughly the same cost as an unfinished project designed to prevent it. Nearly 15 miles (24 km) long, the East Flood Canal will one day drain the overflow from Jakarta's rivers into the sea. But when? The project was initiated...
...people of Dhaka, where another big flood-control project is planned. UN-HABITAT calls the Bangladeshi capital "the world's fastest-growing megacity." Located at the heart of one of the world's largest river systems, it is also one of the most flood-prone. One solution is the Dhaka Integrated Flood Control Embankment. Its two main aims are laudable: protect eastern Dhaka from the overflowing Balu river and, with a road running along its top, ease the city's mind-bending traffic jams. But the $350 million project is so ill-conceived it will actually worsen flooding, claims landscape...
...fights back." Until the 1960s Dhaka had many lakes and waterways that stored and drained floodwater, but - as in Bangkok and Jakarta - these were filled in and built over as the population exploded. Protect the surviving waterways and re-excavate historic ones, says Habib, and Dhaka will flood less...