Feet under water, tornado overhead, landslide
"With the water rising we are fortunate not to have hurricanes [...] There are only small local tornados, such as the two tornados that hit the Thua Thien districts, killing two infants and injuring 22 elementary school students."
The above is an extract from a letter I came across on the Plum Village website from a Sister Chan Khong (dated 14 November 2007) describing natural disasters sweeping across her homeland of Vietnam. She also writes:
"The river in Hue, home of the root temple of our teacher Thay, has risen for the fourth time [...] The water level has risen more than 2 meters in the Tay Linh Monastery [...] except for a certain few accustomed to being evacuated from flood waters, our young sisters are now stranded on the second floor of the monastery where they are living off instant noodles [...]"
Full text of letter available here.
I wasn't aware of major disasters in Vietnam at the time - maybe I'm out of touch? Makes me wonder how many more disasters are going on at the moment, and how many are related to global warming. At any rate, have put the following links on my "Must Read" list:
- Climate Change - from the BBC Weather Centre
- Clmate Change - Wikipedia
- Climate Change - Allianz Knowledge