More Than 1,000 Died in South Asia Floods This Summer

In Nepal, the recent 2017 flood took lives of 143 people, 43 injured, and 30 are still reported missing. More than 60,000 houses of poor people were taken away and they are forced to live under sky.

The relief web has reported, 1.7 million people are in need of urgent assistance and the international media is just awake.

This has been going on for millennia - think of biblical story of Noah's Ark and similar stories in contemporary religious and secular texts.
The sea has been rising since the end of the last ice age yet humans are drawn to littoral areas for many reasons - food sources, transportation, trade, conquest, whatever.
It's like living on a volcano - but you know the sea is rising and your home (or your grandchildren's or later descendants homes will be covered by the rising sea.
Houston and the Texas coast was a disaster waiting to happen - just as Bangladesh has lived with flooding for generations - yet not on this scale.
Move inland? Where?
Yeah, it'a human catastrophe - but brought about by human hubris.
Live with it.
wb

Indian lives matter, too.

This is a preview. Nature is firing warning shots. More than a third of Bangladesh is slated to be underwater -- permanently. Tens of millions will die or flee. Where will they go, I wonder?

This isn't a cyclone though. These are regular monsoon's, that was a little stronger. Surrounded by water on both sides. the Indian subcontinent receives a lot of rain each year. Floods have been ravaging the S.Asia time and again, its nothing new.

Yet even the wealthiest of cities in the country, which was hit just 10 years back didn't do anything about it. The lack of long term vision and corruption have made Indian cities vulnerable to any amount of Strong rains.

What global warming ?

Dear New York Times editors:

I donated money for the people affected by flooding by the storm Harvey in the US.

I wish to donate money for the people affected by flooding in Asia too. We Americans, as one of the relatively wealthy countries, need to help with this other flooding as well. Could you please amend this article to indicate which reliablr charitable organizations I can donate to, to help Asian people in *each* of the countries affected by flooding in Asia? I want to help those people in Asia too. I have been too parochial. I need to think globally, to give back globally.

Thank you!

While all comparisons between Harvey and South Asia floods are valid, the starkest one would be as to how many read, how many ponder on what may be the reasons for climate change, and how many care to comment on this article.

They should be furious at America for being the largest historic contributor to global CO2 emissions and then pulling out of the Paris Climate Accords.

Such '1000 die in floods this year' news shames us Indians living in India and outside,
as much as 13000 Americans die every year of gun violence should, er, find us each of us wanting to do something, but....

Thank you for this article and please continue to raise our awareness of extreme weather events globally. However, context is needed. In terms of measurable rainfall, how does this season differ from previous monsoon seasons? Has there been a pattern, or weather behaving erratically? I'm a regular climate change awareness advocate, but a scientific component needs to be known. In any case, our hearts must go out to these suffering people, as to the people of Houston.

It is really sad to know about all the incidents happening in my home country Nepal, in country which is currently providing me quality education and in neighbouring countries. In case of South Asia, problem causes more catastrophe because of negligence by the government. This kind of problem has been their since many years and government is never ready to face such situation which led to lots of destruction. Government officials should focus on development rather than doing corruption and people should choose the right one during election.

CNN should stop claiming to be an international news channel. Instead, you are better off catching up with BBC or even Al jazeera news. And certainly disappointed with NYT's coverage of flooding news in South Asia as well. Lets not pretend to be what we are not.

How many 'writings on the wall' do we need? Overgrazing, over-consumption, overbuilding, overpopulation leads to disintegration of Earth's natural defenses to slow and absorb rain waters.
Our over-consumption creates higher CO2 levels which create warmer oceans which create stronger storms ... and around it goes in a deadly spiral.
When will we wake up + aggressively transition to fossil-free energy, responsible use of our resources and responsible family planning?

My mother who lives in India told me during her first visit to the U.S. that a dog/cat in the U.S. is so much better off than most human beings in the rest of the world.
I have to agree with her especially when I compare the attention that flood affected animals in Houston have gotten in the news in the last few days, while flood affected human beings in S. Asia were in much worse shape in South Asia.

I saw the other day that Bangladesh is mostly a flood-plain delta - one of the world's lowest countries - where flooding is not only expected every year -
canoes are the normal way to travel in many places -
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_by_average_elevation

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Geography_of_Bangladesh
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ganges_Delta

Floods in Bangladesh this year are the worst they have ever been. Maybe human made climate change is making them worse.

And aid never comes in India. Corrupt politicos swallow up the money even as people are stranded. They start out with nothing, in make shift tents, on the streets and they are given nothing if they live and are not washed away. NGOs and local organization and individuals, braved the last horrific floods in Chennai, to bring aid to people directly. That works better but every catastrophe in South Asia is an opportunity for carpetbaggers and clever opportunists to rob money meant for the displaced and dispossessed.
Poor nations never get the global attention they should about these events. Natural catastrophes in Western nations receive much more coverage because, somehow, deaths from similar events in the Third World, are regarded as routine, just another in a string of causes of mortality. Even in Houston, it is the poor who who are affected more, it is they who cannot get up and go when they lose everything they own, it is they who cannot buy another car to get to work if their car drowned, who cannot buy new clothes or furniture if their secondhand furniture and clothes soaked and they cannot get help post trauma because they have no psych coverage or health insurance or insurance coverage for their possessions. Global warming is here. Denial is not only ecocidal but genocidal as well. Trump cannot pray this away with his glib assurances. He and his EPA will be complicit in provoking the wrath of nature, with their callous disregard for science.

Thank you for covering the floods in South Asia.
Weather extremes will continue to kill more people. Come summer, people in many parts of the world, specifically in densely populated South Asia will likely experience drought. Hopefully these countries have plans and finance in place to build more dams and means to replenish heavily depleted deep underground aquifers to store excess rain water.

Oft overlooked is the basic physical principal that warmer air holds more water. That's how a storm can slow down or stop and still be fed by a continuous input of moisture.
Other planets have storms that have stayed in place for millennia.
What has been characterized by some as a 1000 year event in Texas, likely will prove to be the rule, not the exception, in a world warming to the effects of releasing the once buried carbon remnants of a former warm time, into our present day atmosphere.

Thank ypu for this report.

I live part time in Mumbai and currently out of there in London.

I have witnessed these torrential rains there last year.

Mumbai to some extent is like New Orleans and Houston - a coastal city whose rain induced flooding is exacerbated by tides - in case of Mumbai - the Arabian sea.

I takke exception to that short video of folks crowding in that truck.

A little Fake News.

You will notice that there is a statue of Lord Ganesha there.

Well, this annual festival which happens about this time - though typpically after the monsoons are over.

The ritual of this festival is to immerse or discard this statue in the Arabian Sea or a water pond nereby.

To me, this ttuck is headed for an immersion ceremony. And if anything, the devotees are making sure that the truck gets through flooded roads safely so immersion can take place.

In India, devotion far exceeds value of life.

So, the video is not what it purports to show.

The scale of this suffering and devastation should have made it the top story. How Americans can help it's victims should have followed. The attention paid to the victims of Harvey is completely justified, but it must not be at the expense of our seeing all of humanity who are suffering from similar "natural" disasters at the same time as we are.

If the Indian Prime Minister doesn't care about the "1200 dead" in India, then why should the Americans or Europeans? Everyone should take care of their own problems and not look for a handout. We have our hands full in our own countries. Tears and pity are usually more reserved for one's own kith and kin. I don't see India or Modi sending aid to Texas or Louisiana. So till then, lets not play politics through the Leftist media. Trump is doing a fine job in America, meanwhile.

Having lived in Bangladesh, (formally East Pakistan, and formally before
that, East Bengal) Much of this country is so near sea level that no one
should be living there, rather than hundreds of millions. When posted
there, we had to hole up in Hong Kong for nearly a week until the
air field in Dacca was cleared enough of water for a plane to land. And the water was at the doorsteps of the (then) embassy .The huge population is one reason there are so many fatalities when the floods come.

I am of Indian origin and have been in the US these last 30 years or so. I do not see the need to equate, compare and contrast the tragedies in Houston and South Asia. I lived in Houston for nearly 15 years, by the way. Each is a distinct problem.

CNN, MSNBC and the rest go and harangue us on the minutiae of the tragedy in Houston since (a) it is part of their country, (b) it is a major storm hitting the US, which they normally cover, (c) it is easier to get to than Mumbai, easier to work in (for them) than Mumbai, and to conclude (d) their audience is not interested in Mumbai or Agartala as much as it is interested in Houston, for a whole host of reasons.

India's PM, Mr. Modi, and Indian officials are on the case in India, the US President, Mr. Trump, and American officials are on the case in the US. So I do not see why Mr. Trump has to make an announcement re S Asia, or why Mr. Modi would have to re Houston.

Let us back off a little bit and see things more objectively. Please.

Both areas need help from those of us who can help. Is there some reliable place where we can send money for flood relief in India? In Houston? Let us share than info and help if we wish.

Oh, and there is no need for an op-ed from an Indian high school teacher. I thought the op-ed from the American teacher was unnecessary. Floods happen, tragedies happen. Our immediate reaction should be to ask how to help and do it. When the work is done we can carp and editorialize at leisure.

The time of reckoning is upon us. Will we heed the messages our planet is sending or will we ignore those messages and sink into chaos? We have grossly abused the earth. We have squandered her bounty and violated her laws. And for what? For more gold? For a bigger life boat? The fundamental problem is that all our economic models are predicated on growth. What we value, collectively, is accelerated entropy. This is madness. We are frogs in water, the temperature of which is steadily rising. Is it too late to save ourselves as a species? It may be. But, for the sake of our children, we must try. This earth is so extraordinary. So precious. It is our one and only home.

Thank you, NYT, for covering this important story so well - this article is so clear and moving - beautifully written.

Climate change knows no borders

Crazy how little attention this gets.

Thank you for covering this. Why are people smiling in these pictures—context? Some of them look happier than the average westerner on a normal day. Also, wish there was more explanation of the degree to which these rains are worse than the regular monsoon.

How am I only hearing about this now if these devastating floods been going on for weeks, and yet I know that 49.2 inches have fallen in Houston the past six days, breaking a US record?

While in theory a human life is a human life anywhere and everywhere, the developed world doesn't always see it that way, at least in the amount of attention or interest loss of life in developing nations receives.

Loss of life anywhere is tragic, and the more than 4,000 American servicemen and women who sacrificed their lives in the Iraq War should be honored and remembered. However, we tend to say or care little about the half million Iraqi citizens who perished in the conflict, and are continuing to die due to instability in that country.

Our hearts go out to the families of those who lost loves ones in Hurricane Harvey, as well as those whose homes were destroyed and lives upended by the disaster. However, it is also worth remembering, and perhaps trying to do something about, the fact that far more people perish in parts of Asia from natural disasters every year than in cumulative totals for decades in the U.S.

Yes, charity begins at home, but it doesn't have to end there. As we reach out our hands and hearts to help those suffering at the hands of Hurricane Harvey, perhaps we can at the same time remember those unfortunate people outside our own country.

Proof for climate change effects is easier to establish in poorer countries as they are the first to face the full wrath. Rich countries have the system strength to recover and can even question climate change.

Good grief. This is just awful. Where can we donate?

Houston gets op-eds and human interest pieces, all deservedly.
https://www.nytimes.com/2017/08/29/opinion/harvey-houston-schools-teache...®ion=opinion-c-col-right-region&WT.nav=opinion-c-col-right-region

South Asia gets ignored for the most part, although not by all as this NYT piece highlights (Will we see an op-ed from an Indian high school teacher? I doubt it).

My guess is that, beginning last week, any other president since FDR would have said something to recognize the victims of flooding in South Asia. Even Nixon. Not Trump. Not someone who peddles his own company's forty-dollar 45 hats during a Harvey-related photo op.

Where is CNN and MSNBC on this? Human lives are equal. NYT, again, did an excellent job! Thank you.

It's good that you are covering this disaster. Just one request: please take down that photo of the sleeping women and girls. These people may be in difficulties, but they still have a right to privacy and dignity. You wouldn't be publishing a photo of sleeping women and female children if they were white people.

Thanks for this coverage. Wonder if it would be worth mentioning in some of the Houston articles for context about how weather patterns continue to be devasting globally.

I was bitterly amused by this article because the devastation in South Asia has been covered by South Asian papers for weeks now. But then the NYT's coverage of South Asia is usually superficial and preachy, whether its about terrorism in Pakistan or major political news in any SAsian country. But one thing for sure: no Indian rape case ever goes unnoticed. Rape is certainly a huge problem in India, but sometimes I wonder about the priorities of a paper that has published several articles about the godman-rape-conviction riots, but only one about these appalling floods.

A group of people crowds into the back of a truck as flood waters fill the streets of Mumbai on Aug. 29, 2017. ANI via Reuters

Well they are doing more than that, there is an idol of Lord Ganesha at the back of the truck that they are taking for celebration immersion in the sea at the end of celebration.

If rain falls in a foreign land, does it really get people wet?!

Yes, people, Texas is important, but so are these brown skinned people. I guess Donald Trump won't be doing a fly-over here anytime soon, will he?

Where can we donate to help the victims of the South Asian floods?

I had no idea. Thanks.
When you think you have it bad....

Never mind those 1000+ people. We've got 9 or 10 confirmed dead in Texas. As the media has regularly reminded us, it's the worst storm in the history of the planet.

“We’re used to flooding, but we’ve never seen anything like this in our lives.”

This is what the world has been inflicting on itself for decades, becoming more apparent.

Fortunately, most of the world recognizes the need to act and change.

Unfortunately, Republicans, tRump and their fossil fuel overlords, whistle past the cemetery and are happy to cause more flooding and human misery, as long as it enriches their bottom lines. I predict these people will be appropriately reviled by history for hundreds of years to come.

Would that they could have received even part of the international news media coverage that people in Houston are now receiving.