Africa
Zimbabwe: I think there are two fair assessments to make about the drought in Zimbabwe. One, if you are going to redress the racist distribution of land ownership that resulted from years of colonial rule, you want a guy in charge who is a planner, someone who can forsee the probelsm that will occur, and has the ability to come up with solutions.
Two, Robert Mugabe is not that guy.
Zimbabwe, once known as the breadbasket of the southern African region, has in the past five years experienced food shortages mainly because of successive droughts. Last year, the government stopped donor agencies that were distributing food in the country from doing so, claiming it had a bumper maize harvest.
International aid agencies have also blamed the food crisis in Zimbabwe on President Robert Mugabe's sometimes violent land reform program launched in 2000. The exercise saw white farmers losing their farms ostensibly for the resettlement of landless blacks.
The president has admitted that some of his top officials took advantage of the program and helped themselves to multiple farms. He complained that some of them are not producing to capacity.
I wondered how someone like Mugabe, who by all accounts is a smart person, could fuck up the farms that badly. Looking at his bio, I saw he had a degree in economics, and that explained just about. Someone trained in economics starts to have control over the real world? Of course everything will get fucked up. The only possible worse choices would have been a former banker, or an MBA. (God forbid you live in a country run by an MBA.) (Oh, wait.)
Drought Hits Zimbabwe Wheat Production
Asia/Middle East
China & Vietnam: It's a good thing most of China doesn't follow any religion that involves Moses. Because after reading the following predictions from the top guy at the China Meterological Association, I wondered why he didn't finish out his predictions with: "There will also be a plague of locusts. Make sure to stock on Deep Woods Off."
A leading weather expert has warned China may face an apocalyptic summer of severe drought and floods.
Qin Dahe, top official of the China Meteorological Administration, called for early preparedness across the country as the flood season approaches.
He warned: "China may face a grim situation from seasonal floods or drought this year with potential damage - worse than that of last year."
He added: "There will be much fear of a bad harvest this year if more disasters occur in the following months."
Qin was speaking during a national televised conference on summer weather forecasting and services.
Probabilities of such disasters are increasing, he warned, quoting the latest predictions released yesterday.
On the other hand, ill winds and silver linings. Droughts have sever effects on hydro-power, so at least China can sell some of their excess capacity. (Make sure to keep the Shanghai equivalent of Enron the hell away, though.)
HANOI - Electricity of Vietnam (EVN), the nation's main power provider, is to double capacity purchases from China to 400 megawatts to make up for a domestic hydro-power shortage caused by drought, state-run media said on Friday.
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EVN started buying electricity from China for the first time last year, using spare capacity from the border province of Yunnan. Vietnam's power capacity purchases from its giant neighbour already stand at more than 200 megawatts, the daily said.
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Hydro-power plants produce 40 percent of Vietnam's electricity output. But EVN said the plants would only come up with 21 percent of Vietnam's total during the first three months of this year, given the drought impact.
Floods and drought warning for summer
Drought Makes Vietnam Double Chinese Power Imports
Americas
Haiti: Every time I hear some flaming fuckstick talk about the mystical powers of the market, I think about situations like this:
PORT-AU-PRINCE - A Haitian official on Monday called for international help and money to move thousands of people to safer homes before the looming hurricane season as weekend floods killed 11 in the capital.
Interior Minister Georges Moise said a large number of people could die if not relocated from areas vulnerable to mudslides or flash floods. He did not specify how many people would need to be moved or how much such an operation would cost.
In September, torrential rains killed 3,000 people in the northern port city of Gonaives after Tropical Storm Jeanne, later to become a hurricane, swept to the north of the impoverished Caribbean country. Floods in the South of Haiti killed another 2,000 people last May.
"It is a very urgent matter, a disaster may occur any time. We need to move those people to another place," Moise told Reuters in an interview.
"We want to act, but we don't have the financial means."
OK, I know Haiti has been a screwed-up place since Columbus started slaving and plantationing, since Toussaint L'Overture led the only successful slave revolt of modern times, since U.S. Marines Button and Hanneken blew away Charlemagne Peralte in 1919, since forever really.
But when you can't afford to do basic things for your citizens in times of disaster, that's just amazing. Amazing to an American, I guess.
Haiti Calls For Storm Season Help, Floods Kill 11
Oceania
Australia: The drought continues. There are a ton of stories coming over the transom about the ongoing drought in Australia. Let me just grab a couple quotes from the last few days.
"There is a grim realisation today that the drought is getting worse in south-east NSW."
"Record temperatures in many parts of New South Wales have worsened the big dry with 87 per cent of the state now officially drought-declared."
"FAMILY favourites such as steak and three veg and roast lamb could be off the menu for many Australians this winter as meat prices climb because of the worsening drought."
Drought tightens grip on south-east NSW
Drought worsens as temperature rises
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