Tag: Floods

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-51

About: the world this week, 17 December to 23 December 2023; Israel and Hamas; Shooting in Prague, Czechia; Earthquake in China; the Pope and LGBTQIA; Parliament shakes in India; Floods in Southern India; and the Coronavirus and Kerala.

Everywhere

Israel-Hamas War

Late last week, in a tragic accident, Israel admitted mistakenly killing three hostages during a search and rescue operation.

An Israeli soldier stationed in a building in Gaza City’s Shejaiya neighbourhood, identified three suspicious people exiting the building several dozen meters away. All three were shirtless, with one of them carrying a stick with a makeshift white flag. The soldier, who believed the men moving toward him was an attempt by Hamas to lure Israeli soldiers into a trap, immediately opened fire and shouted “terrorists!” to the other forces. The hostages either managed to escape Hamas captivity or were abandoned, before they were mistakenly shot dead.

This is in the tense background of the Israel Defence Forces (IDF) having encountered several, seemingly unarmed civilians in the area, who turned out to be Hamas suicide bombers. There have also been countess attempts by Hamas to trick soldiers into an ambush. This is an awfully difficult and unforgiving war.

Over the week, Israel offered the Terrorist Hamas a deal, “Release 40 hostages – the old, woman, and children – and we stop bombing for a week”. Hamas did not take it.

Shooting in the Czech Republic

This week on the 21st December, in the deadliest attack in modern Czech history a gunman shot dead 14 people and injured another 25 at Prague’s Charles University.

The shooting started at the Faculty of Arts building, on Jan Palach Square. The gunman, who was studying Polish history at Charles University, murdered his father before shooting his classmates in a killing spree, and in the end possibly killed himself, after being shot-at by the Police. The motives were not immediately known.

The Police, who discovered a large arsenal of weapons at the building where the shooting took place, were tipped off earlier in the day that the suspect was likely heading to Prague from his town in the Kladno region, outside the capital, with intentions of taking his own life.

The gunman later identified as David Kozak had a gun permit and owned several weapons. He is also suspected of killing a man and his four-month-old daughter in Prague, a week ago. Police are also probing any connection between Kozak and a series of Russian-language messages posted on Telegram. One of the messages indicated that the attack may have been influenced by two previous mass shootings in Russia: one this month at a school in Bryansk near the Ukraine border, and the other in 2021 in Kazan. David Kozak was an excellent student and had not criminal history.

The Czech Republic has relatively liberal gun laws compared to the rest of Europe. To obtain a gun legally, a person needs an official licence, which requires a medical examination, a weapon proficiency exam, and no previous criminal record.

Charles University in Prague, founded in 1347 is the oldest and largest University in the Czech Republic -Czechia – and one of the oldest institutions in Europe.

Bless LGBTQIA

This week, Pope Francis relaxed controls, making the Church a little more LGBTQIA (Lesbian, Gay, Bisexual, Transgender, Queer, Intersex, and Asexual) friendly. He is allowing Priests to bless same-sex couples. This is a forward-looking step, and a walk back on a 2021 Vatican Ruling that banned blessing Gay couples, because ‘God cannot bless sin’. However, reading the fine print, the new rule clarifies that a blessing, which is typically, a prayer, should not be given at a Gay Wedding or Civil Ceremony. It also reaffirmed that marriage is between man and woman.

China’s Earthquake

A powerful 6.2 magnitude earthquake struck a mountainous region in northwestern China, resulting in at least 127 deaths and over 700 injuries, making it the deadliest earthquake in the area in nine years. Gansu province is severely affected, along with the neighbouring Qinghai province.

The affected area in Qinghai province is adjacent to the Tibet Himalayan region, prone to frequent earthquakes because of continental plate shifts.

Preliminary analysis shows that the quake was a thrust-type rupture, one of three above magnitude 6 to have struck within 200 km of the epicentre since 1900. At least 32 aftershocks were reported in the hour after the quake hit.

Infrastructure was severely impacted, leading to power and water supply disruptions, damage to rural roads, railway lines, and the cracking of a bridge across the Yellow River.

India’s Parliament: A Tumultuous Week

This week India’s Opposition Parties created a ruckus in Parliament, displaying placards, shouting, disruption the proceedings, and not allowing Parliament to function – all against the rules. They were demanding a statement from the Home Minister on last week’s ‘Smoke in The Eyes’ security breach, which was not forthcoming. This forced the Speaker of the Lok Sabha, and the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha, respectively, to take punitive action on the errant Members of Parliament (MP) by suspending them.

The string of suspension of Opposition MPs in the Lok Sabha and Rajya Sabha grew to a mammoth total of 146 – a first-time record. That’s almost two-third of the Opposition kicked-out of Parliament, for bad behaviour.

To make matters worse, the suspended MPs sitting on the steps of the Parliament premises got into a ‘College-Times Strike’ mode. They were entertained by one of the MPs mimicking and mocking the Vice-President (VP) of India, who is also the Chairman of the Rajya Sabha. The VP called it an insult on his background as a farmer and Chairman. Another MP was seen nonchalantly filming the episode on his mobile. This created a huge social-media storm that drowned other news, for days.

Meanwhile, the Government cooly went about its law-making business, slipping in path-breaking new Laws to replace the British-era colonial laws. And got them passed, ‘without breaking into a sweat’, in both Houses.

New criminal law reforms, replacing the old are: The Bharatiya Nyaya Sanhita Bill (BNSS) replaces the Indian Penal Code,1860; the Bharatiya Sakshya Bill (BSS) replaces the Indian Evidence Act, 1872; and the Bharatiya Nagarik Suraksha Sanhita Bill (BNSSS) replaces the Code of Criminal Procedure, 1898.

With these changes, the criminal justice system of India is significantly reframed, finally growing out of a colonial mindset. The old laws were centred around punishment and deterrence: the new bills shift the emphasis to justice and reformation, in keeping with the changes of modern-day India.

Some highlights of the new Laws:

Twenty new offences have been included in the BNSS. These include organised crime, terrorist acts, hit-and-run, mob lynching, sexual exploitation of a woman by deceitful means, snatching, abetment outside India, acts endangering the sovereignty, integrity, and unity of India, and publication of false or fake news.

In a first, the government has included ‘community service’ as a punishment for theft of less than INR 5,000 and five other petty offences. Adultery and homosexual sex are not listed as crimes. Attempting to commit suicide will no longer be considered a criminal offence.

The sedition law has been repealed, and the sedition provision has been redefined to contain actions against India-deshdroh– instead of actions against the Government-rajdroh. One is free to criticise the Government, but not say anything to demean the nation.

Police will have to register a First Information Report (FIR) within 3 days of the complaint and in cases involving a punishment of 3 to 7 years, the FIR is to be registered after preliminary investigation. Chargesheets will have to be filed in 180 days and the Magistrate will have to take cognisance within 14 days. Forensic science has been given a lot of importance in evidenced gathering, as is electronic evidence.

The Government said that it had received a total of 3200 suggestions from 18 States, 6 Union Territories, the Supreme Court of India, 16 High Courts, 27 Judicial academics, several MPs, and bureaucrats, in the mammoth exercise to make the new laws. And 158 meetings were held to consider the suggestions.

Also passed was the Telecommunication Bill 2023, replacing the 138-year-old colonial-era Telegraph Act, 1885, and other allied laws.

The Govt will allocate spectrum for telecommunications through the Auction Method and for Satellite communications through an Administrative Method. Companies will require an authorisation to start services instead of Licences that are issued at present. It is mandatory to issue SIMs after capturing verifiable biometric data of the applicant to prevent misuse. Obtaining a SIM or any other telecom resource through fraud, cheating, personation will entail a jail term up to three years or a fine upto INR 50 Lakhs per person.

India’s Down South Floods

The South Indian State of Tamil Nadu is having a tough time. Cyclone Michaung had unleashed mayhem in Chennai more than a week ago and just when the State was limping back to normalcy it was hit by the rains again – this time in the southern districts.

Unprecedented rains caused by a cyclonic circulation in the Bay of Bengal battered the districts of Tirunelveli, Tuticorin, Tenkasi, and Kanyakumari, inundating roads, flooding houses, affecting train services, and leaving authorities scrambling to rescue those stranded. Helicopters in the air, and boats on the water were pressed into service.

Tamil Nadu received almost 50 mm of rainfall between this Sunday and Monday, compared with the 2.50 mm that would be normal at this time of year. Kayalpattinam in Tuticorin received more than 95 cm in 24 hours, which sank the Town. Tuticorin City grappled with about 5 feet of water. More than 10,000 people had to be rescued. About 150 people have died, succumbing to the fury of the floods.

Entire neighbourhoods remained submerged, with houses appearing like lonely islands surrounded by murky, brown water. Lakes were overflowing and rivers were in spate. Towards the end of the week, the waters began receding, slowly.

There is this heart-warming story of a Train, which left Tiruchendur Station on Sunday at about 8.30 pm bound for Chennai. About 34 km into the journey it was stopped at Srivaikuntam Station by alert Railway Staff, when it began raining heavily, following a cloud burst. The Railways decided not to allow the train to go any further, which proved to be a wise decision. The rains then intensified and subsequently it was found that about 12 km of track was washed-away due to land eroded by the rains, in the route ahead of the Station. The Station itself was completely isolated as a water island after about 300 passengers had been evacuated. The remaining had to stay put in the Train as the escape route was cut-off. And the Railway Station staff did their darnest until help came, only after the waters receded. Food was dropped-in by Helicopters. Imagine, about 1000 lives would have been lost that day, if it weren’t for the Railway Men. Cheers to them.

Questions on better preparedness and early warning are being asked and hope to see a flood of improvements next time around.

COVID-19 Again, and Kerala

The SARS.CoV-2 coronavirus is on the prowl again, growing its family and trying to spike our lives. Reminds us that the virus continues to evolve in different ways.

This week, what is called the JN.1 variant of the coronavirus was detected in India for the first time.

The JN.1 is a descendant sub-lineage of BA.2.86 or Pirola sub-variant of Omicron, and carries an additional mutation on its spike protein. After Kerala, the JN.1 was found in Goa, then Maharashtra, Karnataka, and in some other States. A total of over 595 Covid-19 cases have been reported.

The JN.1 was first detected in Luxembourg in August this year and later reported in The United Kingdom, Iceland, France, and the United States.

JN.1 was previously classified a Variant of Interest as part of its parent lineage BA.2.86, but the World Health Organization (WHO) has now classified it as a separate Variant of Interest. Talk about a grown-up leaving the parents’ home, fully armed to take-on the World?

WHO said current vaccines will continue to protect against severe disease and death from JN.1 and other circulating variants of the COVID-19 virus. And it is best to continue to hold on to the masking and hand-washing techniques, learnt and executed so well.

Often, the State of Kerala is the first to detect a disease outbreak, wondered why?

Kerala recorded India’s first JN.1 Covid sub-variant in a 79 years old woman at the beginning of this month. Earlier, the State also recorded the first cases of Nipah virus, Monkeypox, and other diseases. There are many other reasons as to why Kerala is the first to record diseases and subsequently becoming a hotbed of them.

Kerala’s geography contributes to the frequency with its sizeable forest cover and intense monsoon pattern making it prone to outbreaks. The State has witnessed several zoonotic outbreaks owing to the shrinkage of natural habitats and proximity to human settlements, in a densely populated region. Take for example, the Nipah virus: a special investigation found that humanity’s drive for resources is destroying the wildlife habitat of bats – which carry tens of thousands of viruses – and creating conditions ripe for a bat-borne disease to spill over to humanity. Civet cats have almost become urban animals as their natural habitats have been wiped out. These animals are believed to be the mediators for the pathogen that caused Severe Acute Respiratory Syndrome (SARS). Bats, which lost their natural habitats, moved into human habitations. These animals are now considered as the reservoirs of Nipah and Ebola virus.

Another reason for Kerala being the home of such diseases is the State’s population. People of Kerala are spread across the globe, with a large number of students studying medicine and many expatriates working as doctors or nurses around the world. They face the occupational hazard of viral attacks and may unwittingly spread undiagnosed diseases to others when they return to India.

There’s also the State’s management and health system. The State has rigourous testing and its population is also highly aware. For e.g., when the first case of monkeypox was reported from Kollam in Kerala, the concerned person who returned from the United Arab Emirates (UAE) underwent a test. This, after he learnt that his contact abroad had tested positive, even though he was asymptomatic.

Many a time, Kerala has been criticised for reporting an outbreak. Experts say that should not be done. Its active surveillance mechanism, capacity-building exercises for healthcare workers, frontline staff, community engagement and strategic interventions have not just been helpful in detecting viruses, but also in keeping the disease outbreaks in control.

It is left to be seen if COVID-19 does make a strong comeback in the State, but Kerala is known for handling outbreaks and, in fact, virologists and epidemiologists have hailed its robust surveillance.

More stories will rain in the weeks ahead. Hold on to World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2023-28

About: the world this week 9 July to 15 July 2023. A Defence Alliance summit; politics in the Netherlands; a disease outbreak in Peru; floods all over the World; poll violence in India; onwards to the Moon; Hollywood strikes; Badminton and Tennis stories; and a transgender beauty.

Everywhere

NATO Summit

This week, leaders from the 31 countries in the North Atlantic Treaty Organization (NATO) military alliance met in Lithuania’s Vilnius, on a two-day event. They discussed the war in Ukraine, defence spending, and Sweden and Ukraine’s membership. At least one of those is making progress. Sweden is now on its way to joining NATO, after finally gaining Turkey’s support. As for Ukraine, NATO’s Secretary General said that the NATO will extend an official invitation once the ongoing war with Russia is over with an accelerated process. And in the meantime Ukraine will be supported with arms, ammunition, and kind, to keep up their spirits.

Turkey’s argument for keeping Sweden out of NATO was that it is harbouring Kurdish separatists whom Turkey has designated as terrorists. Sweden has toughened its stance against the PKK (the Kurdish militant group) and lifted restrictions on arms sales to Turkey.

Go Dutch

Netherlands is heading to the polls in November 2023 following a collapse of the current four-party coalition Government headed by Prime Minister (PM) Mark Rutte of the VVD – People’s Party for Freedom and Democracy. The other coalition parties are, Democrats 66, Christian Democratic Appeal, and Christian Union.

The coalition parties disagreed over asylum policies and were split in crisis talks chaired by the PM, late last week. The PM had been trying to limit the flow of asylum seekers, following a row last year about overcrowded migration centres, which were opposed by other coalition partners. Asylum applications in the Netherlands jumped by over a third last year to more than 47,000, and about 70,000 applications are expected in 2023. PM Rutte tried to force through a plan, which included a cap on the number of relatives of war refugees allowed into the Netherlands at just 200 people per month. A compromise proposal, known as the ‘emergency brake’, which would only trigger the restrictions in the event of an excessively high influx of migrants, was not enough to save the government. The four parties could not reach an agreement on migration, and therefore decided to end the Government.

Mark Rutte at age 56, is the country’s longest serving Prime Minister. He has been in office since 2010 – heading different coalitions. The current government, which took office in January 2022, is his fourth coalition.

The Farmer-Citizen Movement, which became the biggest party in the upper house of parliament after a shock election win in March this year, said they will not serve in any future government led by Mark Rutte. Wait until November!

Gulliain-Barre Syndrome

Peru has declared a national emergency after an unusual outbreak of rising cases of Gulliain-Barre Syndrome (GBS), a rare autoimmune disorder triggered by an acute bacterial or viral infection. The serious, but rare neurological disorder affects the nerves and causes weakness in the muscles, and even paralysis. Symptoms include back pain, numbness or tingling sensation in feet and arms, loss of reflexes and breathing difficulties.

Four people have died and over 180 cases have been reported. Peru had a similar outbreak in 2019. And now the country is struggling with the worst dengue outbreak in its recorded history, this year.

What does GBS do to the human body?

In a person with GSB, the immune system starts attacking healthy cells instead of sick cells. The Myelin sheaths (a layer that wraps around the nerve cells/neurons) of the peripheral nerves are attacked and prevents neves from sending certain information, such as touch sensations, to the spinal cord and brain. This causes a feeling of numbness. In addition the brain and spinal cord can no longer transmit signals back to the body, leading to muscle weakness.

Causes are unknown but it normally sets in after an infection. Two in every three people with GBS had diarrhoea or a respiratory illness several weeks before developing GBS symptoms. There is no specific cure but symptoms can be treated and the disease managed. On the positive side, it is not contagious and cannot spread from one person to another.

Floods

Floods in North India watered the states of Himachal Pradesh, Uttarakhand, Punjab, Uttar Pradesh, Rajasthan, Jammu and Kashmir, and Delhi – an outcome of the Monsoon’s torrential rains.

The summer Monsoon brings South Asia 70-80% of its annual rainfall, as well as death and destruction due to flooding and landslides.

In the northern state of Himachal Pradesh, flash floods over the last weekend brought down a bridge and swept away several hutments. Many districts in the State received a month’s normal rainfall in a single day.

Streets across the northern states, including in Punjab, Delhi, and Uttarakhand, were flooded. In some areas, rescue personnel used rubber rafts to rescue people stranded inside their homes.

Roads in several parts of New Delhi were submerged in knee-deep water as it was inundated with 153mm of rain, the highest in a single day in July in 40 years. The River Yamuna has crossed the danger mark of 206 metres in Delhi, prompting the relocation of people residing in flood-prone areas to safer locations.

Delhi, Punjab, and Himachal Pradesh have received 112%, 100% and 70% more rainfall than average so far in the current monsoon season that started on 1st June.

Floods are flooding the news not only in India but in the United States where deadly floods stumped the north-east, while heatwaves set to boil much of the southern and western United States, kicking off a week of dangerous weather as warnings about the climate crisis intensify.

Flash floods overwhelmed New York’s Hudson Valley. And flood warnings were still in place in parts of nearby Vermont this week, as the state capital Montpelier’s downtown was under water and officials fear a local dam could fail for the first time since it was built, threatening further inundation.

Japan too joined the flood-bath. Three people were killed and three others are missing in flooding in southwest Japan caused by the region’s ‘heaviest’ rain ever. Rivers overflowed and hillsides collapsed as record amounts of rain were dumped on parts of Kyushu island. The national weather agency logged 402.5mm falling in Kurume this Monday, the highest ever recorded in the city. Roads and power-lines were cut, and thousands were ordered to evacuate as further downpours were expected. The Japanese Meteorological Agency, said the rains were perhaps ‘the heaviest ever experienced’ in the region.

Poll Violence

A democracy places at its cornerstone a simple mechanism for people to choose who will govern the country or their immediate locality and deliver on improving the quality of their lives: voting. Periodically, people vote for candidates of political parties in free and fair elections – ensured by the ruling Government- which is almost always followed by a peaceful transition of power, at least in India.

In perhaps one of the worst poll-related violence seen in recent times more than 25 people were killed during the civic body elections in India’s State of West Bengal. The mayhem, intimidation and ransacking that have accompanied the Panchayat Polls in the State last fly in the face of fundamental principles of democracy and underline a stark reality: the fairness of the election is under a cloud.

Several districts reported booth capturing, damaged ballot boxes, and attacks on presiding officers. This violence is not an aberration in West Bengal: It is entrenched in the state’s political culture, with parties in government — the Trinamool Congress (TMC) now, and the Communist Part of India (CPM) and Congress before it — wielding it to control the street, and thereby monopolise state power.

This time, in village after village, the ruling party systematically used bombs, barricades and cadres to ensure that opposition candidates and supporters were unable to move about on polling day. Where they have the clout to do so, some opposition parties have acted in a similar manner. As a result of the violence in the run-up to filing nominations last month, the High Court had ordered that central forces be deployed in the state. But the onus of ensuring a safe election is not on the uniformed personnel alone-the political class in the state, especially the ruling party and State Election Commission, bears a lion’s share of that responsibility. From the 1960s until the 1990s, tactics such as booth capturing and intimidation of voters and polling officials defined electoral politics in many states, including Bihar and Uttar Pradesh. Most of India has rejected that form of politics and moved on. However, West Bengal still lives with it.

India heads to the Moon

India aims to put its man on the Moon in the future. And in the run-up it’s testing out end-to-end capability in safe landing and ‘moon-roaming’.

Indian Space Research Organisation’s (ISRO) Chandrayaan-3 is a follow-up on Chandrayaan-2 which got to the moon and its Lander swooned just above the surface of the Moon and crash-landed when the Moon was expecting a soft kiss on its rugged cheeks. ISRO is now wiser and hopes to keep the Lander ‘in check’ and from ‘falling too quick’ to the charms of the Moon.

India launched Chandrayaan-3 it’s unmanned spacecraft to the Moon with a flawless lift-off from base Satish Dhawan Space Centre, Sriharikota, this friday afternoon using the time-tested launch vehicle LVM3.

Chandrayaan-3 consists of a Propulsion Module (PM), a Lander Module – Vikram, and a Rover – Pragyan. The PM will carry Vikram, with Pragyan safely ensconced inside, on an orbit around the Earth; and then gradually take it into a lunar transfer trajectory after which it will inject Vikram into the lunar orbit at about 100km from the Moon’s surface. After orbiting around the Moon and getting closer, Vikram will be de-boosted to land with the Propulsion Module separating and saying good bye. Vikram will then softly touch-down on the Lunar South Pole region – previously unexplored – and after giving the Moon a few winks, will open its doors for Praygan to roll out and roam the Moon.

The Moon Landing is scheduled on 23 August 2023. If successful, India will be the fourth nation to land on the Moon after the United States, Russia, and China.

Hollywood Strikes

Hollywood’s Actors and Writers are on a strike. And this is the first time two Unions – Screen Actors Guild-American Federation of Television and Radio Artists (SAG-AFTRA) and the Writers Guild of America (WGA)- are doing this together. The last time was in 1960 when future United States President Ronald Reagan led the strike.

Actors Tom Cruise, Angelina Jolie, Johnny Depp are card-holding members of the SAG-AFTRA and are lending their fire-power and magic.

The strike follows a row over pay and the impact of Artificial Intelligence (AI) with film studios and streaming services and failing to reach an agreement on how to go about it. The Unions are worrying about contracts keeping up with inflation, residual payments in the streaming era and safeguards against the use of AI mimicking their work on film and television shows.

Sports

This week, India’s Lakshya Sen, ranked 19th in the World, won the men’s single title at the Badminton World Federation (BWF)’s 58th Canadian Open 2023. He defeated China’s Li Shi Feng, the reigning All England Champion, in straight games, 21-18 and 22-20.

This remarkable victory marks Sen’s second BWF World Tour Title. His previous triumph was at the India Open, in January 2022.

Sen displayed amazing talent and ability to excel under pressure outclassing his opponent. The match was filled with extraordinary rallies, characterized by fast-paced exchanges at the net. Sen saved four game points in the second game before clinching the championship point with a decisive smash.

The Wimbledon Tennis Tournament is rallying to a close in London and in the Women’s Singles Finals it’s Tunisia’s Ons Jabeur versus Czechoslovakia’s Marketa Vondrousova. Both reached the finals coming through enthralling semi-finals at the All England Club, and are seeking their maiden Grand Slam title having previously fallen short in major finals.

Meanwhile in the Men’s Singles, Serbia’s Novak Djokovic beat Italian Jannik Sinner to enter the finals. Djokovic will face either Carlos Alcaraz or Daniil Medvedev, in Sunday’s final where he is bidding to tie Roger Federer’s record by lifting an eighth Wimbledon crown.

Please Yourself

Rikkie Valerie Kolle has made history as the first transgender woman to win the Miss Netherlands Title. It’s the first time in the Dutch pageant’s 94-year history that a transgender woman has been crowned winner.

It means the 22 year old will be the second openly transgender competitor to take part in Miss Universe in December this year. Rikkie says she dreamed of winning pageants like this as a child. “The journey started as a super insecure little boy,” she said. “And now I’m standing here as a strong and empowering and confident woman. I’m really proud of that”.

More gripping stories will be launched in the weeks ahead. Roam the world with World Inthavaaram.

WORLD INTHAVAARAM, 2021-30

About: the world this week, 18th July to 24th July 2021. Floods of water, fish, spying, flying into Space; Faster, Higher, Stronger.

Everywhere

A ‘Deluge of Floods’

Over the years we have heard of innumerable Weather Satellites launched by various countries, to endlessly circle the Earth and send back tons of data, from up above the clouds, that enable us make humble weather forecasts and foresee potential natural disasters.

It is over 60 years since the first Weather Satellite, TIROS-1 (Television Infra Red Observational Satellite), was launched by the United States’, NASA, and surely mankind has made great leaps of faith – breaking into the clouds and beyond – in predicting the weather, using Satellites, among other things. But, now I wonder if all of this is actually working. Or am I missing something? Have the Weather Satellites become Aliens of a kind?

Over the past weeks, Europe – especially Germany and Belgium – has been devastated by unprecedented flash floods generated by torrential rains. Rivers, in turn, receiving the copious run-offs, became dissatisfied with the fixed deposits and bursted their Banks sending the water dashing into precious Homes. This is being touted as Germany’s worst natural disaster in more than half a century. Over 140 people died. Particularly hard hit were the German States of Rhineland Palatinate and North Rhine-Westphalia, and Eastern Belgium. Around 700 residents were evacuated after a dam broke in the Town of Wassenberg, near Cologne.

On the other side of the World, parts of the United States have also felt the wetness of water. On 19th July, flash flooding occurred in Birmingham and the surrounding Jefferson County, Alabama, following heavy rains, disrupting otherwise dry lives. Cars could not become boats and people lost their legs, below the knees, to the water.

Jumping to Asia, on 21st July torrential rain pounded the Central Chinese province of Henan, bursting the banks of major rivers and flooding the streets of a dozen cities, including Zhengzhou. The sudden flooding inundated and trapped people in shopping malls, schools and even subway trains, leaving locals in a perilous situation. The region has seen the heaviest rain since record-keeping began 60 years ago. Zhengzhou experienced the equivalent of a year’s average rainfall in just 3 days!

In early July, a landslide hit the popular resort of Atami, in Central Japan: a torrent of black-mud crashed through the city. Several houses were swept away by the mudslide, which followed torrential rain. Atami has had more rainfall in the first three days of July than it usually sees in the whole month!

As communities devastated by the catastrophic flooding swam out and started drying themselves, they are wondering how it all went so wrong, so fast. Europe, for example, has a world-leading warning system that issued regular alerts for days before floods engulfed entire villages. The Copernicus Emergency Management Service sent more than 25 warnings, for specific regions, of the Rhine and Maas river basins in the days leading up to the flooding, through its European Flood Awareness System (EFAS), well before heavy rains triggered the flash flooding.

But few of these early warnings appear to have been passed on to residents early and clearly enough, catching them completely off-guard. Now questions are being raised over whether the chain of communication from the Central European level to regions is working. This is one example, in a modern developed country loaded with fabulous surveillance systems.

If we keep our heads above the water and look up to The Netherlands, just across its borders with Germany’s and Belgium’s flood-devastated areas, the picture is entirely different. The Netherlands too experienced extreme rainfall, maybe not be quite as heavy as in Germany and Belgium. And it has not escaped unscathed. But its towns are not entirely submerged and not a single person has died. Officials were better prepared and were able to communicate with people quickly.

The Netherlands’ water strength lies largely in its organisation. The country’s infrastructure is managed by a Branch of the Government devoted solely to water, the Directorate General for Public Works and Water Management, which looks after some 1,500 km of man-made defenses. And they are doing a damn good job of it.

Moving closer to home, in several States of India, Maharashtra, Telangana, Karnataka – to name a few – the story is about the same, with the rains battering cities, towns and villages and sending people scurrying to elevated dry land.

In one of the smaller Towns, in the State of Telangana, the nearby River, tired of sleeping on its bed, got up and started running on the streets. In a revenge mode, the people descended and flooded the streets armed with nothing but fishing nets: many caught giant fish, in the Indian Stream, that could put ‘The Old Man and the Sea’ to shame-of the Gulf Stream. Who said The Planet of the Apes is up ahead? Welcome to The Planet of the Fish!

Even while we are sinking in the floods there are several parts of the World, say, Western North America and Canada, being fried by a flood of heat waves. These places boiled this week in all-time high temperatures that have caused dozens of deaths.

Hold on… we have been flooded with stories of such breaking of records, frequently these days: worst ever, first time in a century, never-before seen, goes on…and of course that dreaded word, ’Climate Change’ and its good friend, ‘Global Warming’ as being the ubiquitous villain responsible for all of this.

We need to think beyond hurting each other with guns and nuclear weapons and instead build weapons against nature to prevent and avoid the mass destructions we are witnessing. With a gun in my hand, can I shoot down a wave, a flood, a hurricane? Are we up to the task of being responsible and making meaningful change? Only the ‘rise of the water levels’ will tell?

How about getting a Noah’s Ark ready! Ship ourselves to another Planet?

Snooping

Pegasus, in Greek mythology, is a divine winged horse, an offspring of the Olympian God Poseidon, usually depicted as pure white in colour. It is a mysterious creature capable of everything symbolizing the divine inspiration or the journey to heaven: in modern times it has been regarded as a symbol of poetic inspiration.

Leave alone being a poetic, I am inspired by the ‘mysterious aspect’.

In the real world, Pegasus is a spyware developed by Israeli cyber-arms firm NSO that can be covertly installed on mobile phones running on iOS and Android.

The NSO (named after Niv, Shalev, Omri – The founders) Group develops best-in-class technology to help government Agencies detect and prevent terrorism and crime.

Simply put, Pegasus hacks computers and smartphones, in order to gather data and serve it to a third party. It is malicious because it gathers such data without the consent or the knowledge of the person owing the device.

Once installed, the Pegasus spyware can turn the Android or iOS phones into surveillance devices. The earliest version of the hacking software Pegasus would infect phones through text messages or emails containing a malicious link that the target would click on. However, the technology has grown more discreet and dangerous since then. And now, Pegasus could infect a phone without any user interaction or with ‘zero-click’ – vulnerabilities, flaws and bugs in a phone’s operating system – that the phone’s manufacturer is unaware of, or has been unable to fix.

India was rocked by a deluge of reports, that a flood of people were on the Pegasus list of ‘Persons of Interest’ without any evidence whosoever on what was found, or not found, and whether it had any effect on the political or safety climate of India. Some even considered it an honour to be on the List!

However, with the mystery and the secrecy involved, this will be a very hard nut to crack unless we hunt down another offspring of Poseidon to ‘talk to and infect Pegasus’, or should we, at all?

Amazon adds Space

This week, Amazon founder, Billionaire Jeff Bezos, flying on the generous bounty of Amazon Staff and Buyers, lifted off in his Blue Origin, New Shepard Space Craft to Space. He was keeping one eye on the Virgin trail left by fellow Billionaire, Sir Richard Branson, who did a similar feat in the week gone by. He was accompanied by his brother, Mark Bezos, an 82 years old Space Race pioneer, Wally Funk, and an 18 years old student, Oliver Daemen. The flight lasted 10 minutes and 10 seconds.

Two minutes into the flight, the capsule carrying the Space travellers, separated from its rocket – at a height of about 76 km-continued its upwards trajectory towards the Karman Line, crossed it – going up to about 106 km – and curved back to achieve a safe, parachuted landing on the West Texas Desert floor in the United States. Jeff Bezos stepped out wearing a Texas Cowboy hat, and I almost expected him to grab a horse, hit the trail, and ride into Town. Meanwhile, unnoticed, the launch vehicle-booster return-landed at about 3 km away from the launch pad.

Looks awfully easy. Maybe there is a message out there that the Earth is unsafe and we better start flying up to grab a better place to settle…and escape the ‘water spills of Earth? Overall, the signal I get is we all need to lift ourselves (with or without rockets). Let’s say, move up in life.

The Olympics

The COVID-19 pandemic stumped and badly bruised Tokyo Olympics 2020, rescheduled to start on 23 July 2021, is itself a testimony to the spirit of sport, having weathered a great deal to get the Games started. I salute the persistence of the Organisers and Japan for leaving no stone unturned – as they say – to get the Games going.

The easiest and the most sensible way to face the pandemic would be to just cancel the Olympic Games. And it requires mind-boggling effort to carry on with the COVID-19 prevention protocols. On our part, we should encourage a safe Olympics, pressuring infected Athletes to quarantine and go home, and the others to blossom. Support our teams remotely, watching on Television or any other physically-distanced media.

Finally, this Friday, the Tokyo Olympics was officially declared open by Japan’s Emperor Naruhito. Japanese tennis star Naomi Osaka lit the Olympic cauldron to mark the formal start of Tokyo Olympics 2020. The opening ceremony took place in an almost empty Stadium, witnessed by about 1000 spectators, without the glitz and glam normally associated with such ceremonies. It was celebrated as a moment of global hope – we need every ounce of it to make the Games a success.

Citius, Altius, Fortius.

Please Yourself

Over the past year I went to war with the Vikings, fought to save The Last Kingdom, Resurrected myself with Ertugrul, played the Queen’s Gambit, and went on to wear The Crown. In the process, my body received a pounding, and the wounds of battle were hurting. It’s then, I decided to see ‘The Good Doctor’ on Netflix. It’s been great healing ever since. And I’m fighting fit again.

The Good Doctor is an American Television Series, about Dr. Shaun Murphy, a young autistic, savant, surgical resident at the fictional San Jose St. Bonaventure Hospital, California. Dr. Shaun’s brilliant savant abilities include near-photographic recall and the ability to note minute details and changes. It’s about how he finds acceptance in the Hospital and goes on to contribute to life-saving decisions and surgeries…and making wonderful friends on the way. I was inspired.

More savant stories coming up in the weeks ahead. Stay inspired and keep your head above the water.