Chindia Alert: You’ll be Living in their World Very Soon
aims to alert you to the threats and opportunities that China and India present. China and India require serious attention; case of ‘hidden dragon and crouching tiger’.
Without this attention, governments, businesses and, indeed, individuals may find themselves at a great disadvantage sooner rather than later.
The POSTs (front webpages) are mainly 'cuttings' from reliable sources, updated continuously.
The PAGEs (see Tabs, above) attempt to make the information more meaningful by putting some structure to the information we have researched and assembled since 2006.
Image copyright AFPImage caption Embankments have been washed away in Bangladesh
Millions of people across Bangladesh and eastern India are taking stock of the devastation left by Cyclone Amphan.
A massive clean-up operation has begun after the storm left 84 dead and flattened homes, uprooted trees and left cities without power.
India’s Prime Minister Narendra Modi has arrived in West Bengal state to conduct an aerial survey.
Authorities in both countries had evacuated millions of people before the storm struck.
Covid-19 and social-distancing measures made mass evacuations more difficult, with shelters unable to be used to full capacity.
Officials also said people were afraid and reluctant to move to shelters for fear of contracting the virus.
The cyclone arrived with winds gusting up to 185km/h (115mph) and waves as high as 15ft.
Image copyright REUTERSImage caption Roads have been blocked by falling trees in BangladeshImage copyright AFPImage caption Many people have been injured in wall collapses in Bengal
It is the first super cyclone to form in the Bay of Bengal since 1999. Though its winds had weakened by the time it struck, it was still classified as a very severe cyclone.
Three districts in India’s West Bengal – South and North 24 Parganas and East Midnapore – were very badly hit.
In Bangladesh, there are reports of tens of thousands of homes damaged or destroyed and many villages submerged by storm surges in low-lying coastal areas like Khulna and Satkhira.
The affected areas include the Sunderbans, mangroves spread over an area of more than 10,000 square kilometres that spans both India and Bangladesh – the swampy islands are home to more than four million of the world’s poorest people.
Image copyright MUKTIImage caption Many homes, built of brick and mud, have been washed away
Those in the Sunderbans say it is too early to estimate casualties in the area, which is now cut-off from the mainland by the storm.
“There are houses which have collapsed and people could be trapped in them but we don’t know yet,” Debabrat Halder, who runs an NGO in one of the villages, told the BBC.
He recalls cyclone Bulbul in November 2019, which was followed by a huge incidence of fever, diarrhoea and flu, and is afraid that that the same may happen again.
And worse, he adds, is that the flooding from contaminated sea water, has likely destroyed the soil.
“Nothing will grow in this soil,” he says, adding that it will likely take years to convert it into fertile land again.
Image copyright MUKTIImage caption The Sunderbans delta is frequently hit by severe stormsImage copyright MUKTIImage caption Crops have all been destroyed by the flooding
Kolkata, the capital of West Bengal, and one of India’s biggest cities has been devastated. Its roads are flooded and the city was without power for more than 14 hours.
The state’s chief minister, Mamata Banerjee, said the devastation in Kolkata was “a bigger disaster than Covid-19”.
But assessment of the damage is being hampered by blocked roads and flooding in all these areas.
Image copyright JOSHY MALIYEKKALImage caption Drinking water reeking of alcohol started flowing out of the apartment taps
Residents of an apartment building in southern India were left in shock after a mix of beer, brandy and rum started gushing out of their taps.
The smelly, brown liquid began flowing from kitchen taps in the block of flats, in Kerala, on Monday morning.
Bemused residents then contacted the authorities for help, and discovered their water well had been contaminated by officials – albeit accidentally.
It emerged 6,000 litres of confiscated alcohol had been buried nearby.
The alcohol, which officials had placed in a pit after it was seized on court orders, had seeped through the soil and into a well – the same well which supplied the residents of the 18 flats in Thrissur district with drinking water.
“We were so shocked,” Joshy Malyiekkal, owner of the apartment complex, told BBC Hindi’s Imran Qureshi.
Luckily, the strong smell put people off consuming the water. However, the discovery meant there was not only no drinking water for the families, but they were also unable to wash.
“The children couldn’t go to school and even their parents couldn’t go to work,” Mr Malyiekkal said.
Image copyright JOSHY MALIYEKKALImage caption The contaminated water from the well being pumped out
After residents complained, officials acted to rectify the mistake.
But the process of pumping the well clean is likely to take a month, according to residents, leaving them reliant on deliveries from authorities.
“They’ve been supplying about 5,000 litres of water daily but it is not enough to cover all the families in our building,” Mr Malyiekkal said, pointing out the well was their main source of water.
Officials from the department did not respond to questions from the BBC.
The state of Kerala has the highest consumption of alcohol in the country.
Image copyright AFP
Image copyright REUTERS
Image copyright AFP
Image copyright MUKTI
Image copyright MUKTI
Image copyright MUKTI
CHINDIA ALERT: You'll be living in their world, very soon 