Archive for ‘strong winds’

11/08/2019

India floods: At least 95 killed, hundreds of thousands evacuated

People wade through floodwaters to reach higher ground following heavy rains in Karnataka state on 8 AugustImage copyright AFP
Image caption India is affected by seasonal monsoon rains between June and September

At least 95 people have been killed by monsoon flooding in southern and western India, while hundreds of thousands have been evacuated from their homes, according to reports.

More than 40 of those killed were in the south-western state of Kerala.

The flooding and landslides caused by the heavy seasonal rainfall have left some areas cut off.

Officials have called on those affected to try to seek shelter on higher ground.

India is affected by monsoon rains between June and September. While crucial to replenishing water supplies, the heavy rainfall also results in death and destruction each year.

Disaster management officials said more than 100,000 people in Kerala had been evacuated into emergency relief camps, while more than 40 had been killed.

“There are around 80 places where flood and rains have triggered mudslides, which we cannot reach,” state police spokesman Pramod Kumar told AFP news agency.

With the rains predicted to continue there in the coming days, the military is attempting to airlift food to stranded villages.

Last year, more than 200 people were killed in Kerala in what was described as the state’s worst flooding in 100 years.

Media caption Aerial shots of flood-hit Indian states

The south-western state of Karnataka and western state of Maharashtra – which is home to India’s financial capital Mumbai – are also experiencing heavy rains, with dozens of fatalities reported and hundreds of thousands of people evacuated.

India’s National Disaster Management Authority issued warnings on Saturday for “heavy” to “extremely heavy” rainfall in several parts of the country, as well as strong winds.

Source: The BBC

30/05/2019

Chinese communists disciplined for letting statue of Chairman Mao topple over in strong winds

  • Cadres in Hebei village ordered to undergo self-criticism after photo of statue lying face down in the shrubbery was widely circulated online
  • Reinforced plastic structure had been leaning against the wall awaiting repair when it was blown into the bushes
The photograph was widely circulated online, prompting a response from the local authorities. Photo: Weibo
The photograph was widely circulated online, prompting a response from the local authorities. Photo: Weibo
A couple of grass-roots Communist Party members from northern China have been disciplined after a statue of Mao Zedong was photographed lying face down surrounded by overgrown bushes.
The government of Fuping county in Hebei province issued a statement late on Tuesday that the party chief of Huashan village, where the statue used to stand, had been given a “serious warning” for failing to protect the statue.
His immediate superior, the party head of Chengnanzhuang township, also received a warning.
The disciplinary action came after a picture of the statue lying amid the shrubbery was widely circulated online, triggering an angry response from Mao’s admirers.
The village has become a revolutionary tourist destination because the founding father of the People’s Republic spent some time there in 1948.
100 years on from China’s May Fourth Movement, its message is being co-opted by the Communist Party
The local government said on Sunday that the statue, showing Chairman Mao with a clenched right fist, had been erected in 2017.

It was removed from its plinth earlier this month after cracks appeared in the reinforced plastic model and its colour started to fade.

The government said it had been leaning against a wall after its removal on May 3, but was blown over by strong gusts of wind several days later.

It has now been sent to the manufacturer for repair.

Mao’s image still adorns the banknotes and many public spaces in China. Photo: Alamy
Mao’s image still adorns the banknotes and many public spaces in China. Photo: Alamy

The local officials were punished for “lacking ideological understanding” of the removal, failing to give enough protection to the statue and being careless in their daily work, the local government said.

Besides penalties for the individuals, the township party committee was also ordered to undertake self-criticism – a practice that began under Mao.

Statues of Chairman Mao used to be a common scene all across China, many of them built in the late 1960s at the height of the Cultural Revolution.

Shenzhen official kicked out of Chinese Communist Party for ‘trading power for personal gain and sex’.

Although many of them were removed after his death when the government began the process of reform and opening up, they can still be seen in spaces such as town squares and university campuses. Mao’s face also remains on the country’s banknotes and a large portrait of him hangs in Beijing overlooking Tiananmen Square.

Source: SCMP

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