Rising oceans

Global climate change will prove catastrophic by 2070, hitting hard countries like India, Chi and the US. The warning has been sounded in a new report released by Christian Aid which works for disaster relief. It says that over a billion people in coastal cities across the globe will flee to higher ground, as oceans rise due to melting ice caps at the poles. In terms of threat to population, Kolkata with 14 million and Mumbai with 11.4 million people have been marked out as most vulnerable, followed by Dhaka in Bangladesh, Guangzhou in Chi and Ho Chi Minh City in Vietm. Shanghai, Tianjin and Ningbo in Chi also face massive inundation threats. In terms of damage to property, US city Miami risks losses to the tune of 3.5 billion dollars, followed by Guangzhou, New York City, Kolkata and Shanghai. Christian Aid has called for the world to act now and combat the flooding threat on multiple fronts. In addition to cutting carbon emissions to mitigate global warming, the developed countries need to substantially hike spending on efforts to protect populations against flooding. These could include measures like erecting seawalls, restoring wetlands to absorb water, building better systems to collect and redirect storm water flow, and relocation of people living in low-lying areas. The report has quoted UN Secretary General Ban-Ki-Moon, who has said that every 1 dollar spent on reducing the risks of disasters now will save 7 dollars in damages later.

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Sentinel Assam
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