Jae Ellis
September 11, 2009
12:51 AM
For the past 3 months 16 West African nations and 600,000 people have been dramatically affected by torrential rains and flooding. 159 people have died, and many refuse to leave their homes, remaining in the flood waters. The U.N. World Food Programme has set a goal of feeding 177,500 people who are trapped in the flood waters due to a short supply of pumps to drain the area. Many roads and towns have already been destroyed in the flood, and the disaster is still far from over. The rain season in West Africa lasts from June until the end of September. Despite the flood ruining the homes and lives of 600,000 people, some cultures consider the rain as a blessing for harvesting season.
I believe that a natural disaster as this can be both devistating and beneficial, depending on the agriculture of course. Even though many societies are being negatively affected by this disaster, other societies are prospering with a good harvest from the rains which rarely come outside of the months between June and September. More effort should be made, however, to evacuate flooded areas and to come up with a better draining system. If the troubled societies in West Africa could come up with a system to collect the rain water in the living area and have it run to to the agricultural area, maybe the annual floods would no longer be so devistating and disasterous to these people.
http://www.cnn.com/2009/WORLD/africa/09/08/west.africa.flooding/index.html?iref=newssearch
1 comment:
I just have one thing to say. You say that you can see the pros and cons, looking at how the rainwater benefits the agriculture, but what good will the agriculture do if no one is alive to eat it?
Also, I hate to be so cynical, but you also brought up the lack of infrastructure (a huge problem in all developing countries, but I'll stick with Africa), and a simple, quick-fix to redirect the water. 1. thats a TON of water... 2. with what money?
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