11/08/2010 Floods, landslides, wildfires and warmness have mired several countries in the world signaling that global warming crisis was near. The catastrophes that devastated areas in China, Pakistan, Sudan and Russia have all left huge toll of victims with an unexpected number of homeless.
This year is on track to be the warmest since reliable temperature records began in the mid-19th century, beating 1998, mainly due to a buildup of greenhouse gases from fossil fuels, according to the UN's World Meteorological Organization.
Hopes of finding survivors from China's worst mudslides in decades faded Wednesday as the death toll topped 700, with more than 1,000 people still missing under an avalanche of rock and sludge. More than 10,000 soldiers and rescuers combed through the mountains of mud that buried a remote area of the northwest province of Gansu at the weekend, but 72 hours after the disaster, the window of survival was quickly closing.
Tens of thousands of residents of hardest-hit Zhouqu county were without adequate food and drinking water. A Red Cross worker said it was hard to find safe ground to erect tents. Meteorologists have predicted thunderstorms in Zhouqu over the next few days -- which could hinder clean-up efforts and frighten rattled residents already wary of sleeping on unstable ground. As homeless residents milled around town, saying they did not know where to go, relief workers said the difficult terrain had hindered their efforts to provide temporary housing in the form of more than 4,000 tents.
In Sudan, heavy rains and floods last month have killed at least 16 people and driven thousands from their homes in three counties of south Sudan.
Heavy rains have also flooded land and some refugee camps across North and West Darfur states, said the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). Three children drowned after falling into trenches filled with floodwater in Abu Shouk refugee camp near the capital of North Darfur El Fasher.
Floods have been most devastating in Taliban's stronghold in the northwest. Across Pakistan they have left six million people dependent on humanitarian help for their survival, the United Nations said. The United States announced Tuesday it would increase its flood aid by another 20 million dollars to 55 million dollars, while the UN said it would launch an international appeal for several hundred million dollars. The world body believes 1,600 people have died in the floods while the Pakistani government has confirmed 1,243 deaths.
Pakistan's Taliban have denounced all foreign aid for victims of the country's catastrophic flooding, and said they can match the latest US pledge of 20 million dollars. "We will ourselves distribute relief under leadership of our chief Hakimullah Mehsud among the people, if the government assures us that none of our members will be arrested," a spokesman for the group, Azam Tariq, told AFP by telephone.
The flood made it hard on the Pakistanis as the Holy Month of Ramadan had started especially that the prices of food highly increased after vast stretches of crops were destroyed. Beyond the northwest, about 1.5 million people have been evacuated in the south and a large swathe of fertile farmland has been destroyed in the central province of Punjab. But weather cleared Tuesday, allowing Pakistani and Afghan helicopters to distribute relief items and rescue people stranded in the northwest. President Asif Ali Zardari is now back home after courting massive criticism for not cutting short a visit to Britain and France, although it was unclear if he would visit flood-hit areas.
In Russia, firefighters and soldiers are battling to stop wildfires from engulfing key nuclear sites and morgues in Moscow as officials estimate 5,000 have died in the worst heat wave in 130 years. The total area of the wildfires in central Russia has halved in the last 24 hours but there are still hundreds of wildfires raging, the emergencies ministry said Wednesday.
River to Sea
Uprooted Palestinian
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