Death toll in South, Southeast Asia rises in wake of stormーNHK WORLD-JAPAN NEWS
Torrential rain has also caused extensive damage in southern Thailand and officials have recorded 170 deaths. A lot of people are wondering how the situation in the region got to this level. NHK World’s Takoka Chikashi has been looking into that and joins us now from Bangkok. Chikashi, first let’s focus on rescue and recovery. What can you tell us about how those efforts are going? Well, crews are facing two main challenges. The real extent of the damage, including casualties, is not yet clear, especially in Indonesia and Sri Lanka. That’s because of another big issue. Access to some severely hit areas is still blocked due to damaged roads. Indonesia’s Sumatra Island is a mountainous area. Many people are still believed to be trapped, waiting for rescue. And here in Thailand, the floods largely pummeled Hot Yai is one of the country’s most densely populated cities. Water levels rose so quickly that many residents were forced to wait on roofs until they were rescued. It took several days for the water to recede. After that, we learned that more than a 100 people had been killed. Chikashi South and Southeast Asia are prone to severe flooding. But what made the damage so intense and widespread this time? Well, to put it simply, the region saw a massive amount of rainfall in a short period of time, but we are talking unprecedented levels. In fact, Thai officials say the hardest heat area in the south recorded its highest single day rainfall in 300 years. Rains had already battered parts of Southeast Asia, including the Philippines and Vietnam. That was due to a series of typhoons earlier last month. And in parts of Thailand and Indonesia, there have been reports of floods and landslides caused by seasonal seasonal rains. But the huge rainfall since late last month is being blamed for blamed on rather unusual combination of weather systems this year. experts point to the weather phenomenon known as leninia. It happens when waters of South America are cooler than normal that has brought a warm and wet atmosphere around the region and the cyclone develop around the Malaka Strait between Sumatra Island and the Mallay Peninsula. This Japanese weather official says it’s rare for this to happen in the area near the equator. Winds around Southeast Asia are too weak to propel a cyclone significantly. So, the storm moved very slowly. The cyclone stayed for a long time and brought heavy rain to a wide area from the Malay Peninsula to Sumatra Island with an average of more than 300 to 400 millimeters of rain. 7 6 5 Experts also point to climate change as being behind the intensity and frequency of this extreme weather. Some of them say we must accept these events as our new normal and brace for the next one.
Recent torrential rains, floods and mudslides have killed more than 1,300 people across Indonesia, Sri Lanka and Thailand. NHK World’s Takaoka Chikashi explains how the situation in the region got so intense.
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