Word: waterous
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...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...
...Bangkok feels high and dry compared to Jakarta. This year, in January, when the rainfall is heaviest, the U.S. embassy in Jakarta advised its citizens to stock up on food and water, 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...
...what's the alternative? Go with the flow, suggests Habib. Don't erect futile barricades against the water; instead, control its path through the city. "You can't fight nature," he told me. "It 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...
...Dhaka, warns UN-HABITAT, while Bangkok and Jakarta are both so vulnerable that it is "beyond the current capacity" of residents to adapt, warns Herminia Francisco, who co-authored the EEPSEA report. This helps explains why, as I write this, the streets in my neighborhood are filling up with water. When the rain stops, one or two residents will shuffle through dirty, ankle-deep water to light incense at the local spirit shrine. And why not? Prayer is starting to look like a sensible option...
After winning a game and taking ninth overall at the ECAC Championships at Princeton last Sunday, the Harvard men’s water polo team (4-8, 2-0 CWPA Northern Division) was ready to build on its first conference victory. The chance to do so came on Saturday with its matchup against Queens (2-9, 0-4), another Northern Division opponent. The Crimson defeated the Knights, 12-7, remaining undefeated in conference play...