Image of the Day: Drought in Egypt

What Happened to my Rice?

An Egyptian rice farmer shows his drought damaged rice crop and cracks in the rice terrace soil caused by more than 30 days of no rain in a village near Balqis, 260 km northeast of Cairo. EGYPT: June 17, 2008. Reuters. Photo by NASSER NURI. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

China “Frankenstein”

Nature Angry About Beijing Olympics?

China competes with Venice

Residents row boats along a flooded street in the township of Yuecheng in Deqing county, west of Guangdong Province, June 18, 2008. REUTERS/Aly Song. Image may be subject to copyright. See FEWW Fair Use Notice!

Here’s what the China “Frankenstein” looks like:

Hundreds of troops, police and rescue workers are shoring up dams which might burst under torrential rain that has already flooded an area of about 24,000 square kilometers, including homes, businesses and farmlands.

The damage:

• Floods have killed about 180 people so far in Guangdong
• Another 60 people are missing
• More rain is expected in the annual flood season
• Six reservoirs are in “danger of bursting” in southern Guangxi region
• About 1.7 million people have been evacuated in nine southern provinces since the start of the flood season earlier this month.
• Floodwater has collapsed about 150,000 homes,
• About 2.4 million hectares (~ 6 million acres) of crops have been damaged or destroyed
• The mounting economic losses already exceed $4 billion

All of this comes in addition to the soaring food prices the have already plagued China, record snowstorms last winter and, of course, the Sichuan earthquake which killed about 70,000 people and left five million homeless. Serious danger of epidemics in the soaring summer temperatures looms.

Droughts, floods and other human-enhanced disasters throughout China are nothing new, of course, but their frequency and intensity this year are alarming experts.

The biggest disaster yet to strike China in 2008 may prove to be a major drought causing water shortages throughout the country later in the summer.

It’s as if nature is mad at China: Drop the Olympics, or have your annual quota of H2O now!

Related Links:

• China rushes to fix dams as 9,000 sq miles flooded
• China earthquake: Teacher left students behind as he ran to safety

• Why Didn’t China Prevent the Loss of 86,000 Lives?
• The Anguished Cries of China Quake Nurse
• Chinese paratroopers rescuing survivors or preventing plague?
• How Many More Survivors?
• Heavy Death Toll, Corruption, Criminal Incompetence
• Why Was the Girl Removed from Family?

• Chinese Leaders Incapable of Handling Quake Aftermath
• Bigger China Disaster Unfolds

• China’s grieving quake parents start to voice anger
• Beijing’s quick response to disaster won’t cover cracks of corruption
• Almost five million left homeless, China says
• Corruption blamed for rising death toll in China
• Parents’ grief turns to anger at shoddily built deathtrap schools

• Earthquake Predictions In China Are Also Political

More Links:

• China “quake lake” fears force new evacuation
• Swelling China lakes a danger 2 weeks after quake
• Big aftershock causes more misery in China

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Food Riots Break Out in Bangladesh and Kenya

See Main Entry: We Need Food!

Mother Nature 3 – NZ 0

Electricity Shortages in New Zealand

New Zealand is facing electricity shortages unless sufficient rain recharges its hydro catchments, the government [sic] said.

“Unless we have some increased inflows in the South Island hydro catchments in the next three weeks, further conservation measures will have to be looked at,” the Energy Minister [sic] said.

South Island hydro power facilities provide about two thirds of New Zealand’s electricity. According to a wholesale electricity market operator, storage in hydro-electric lakes is about 40 percent below average. As a result the price of electricity jumped by 30.6 percent to $215.26 per megawatt hour.

Location map of Taupo, New Zealand

In the 2003 power crisis, the government had planned to cut residential hot water supplies, followed by rolling power cuts for residential users, and blackouts.

Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminum smelter, located in New Zealand’s South Island, consumes about 15 percent of the country’s electricity.

Farm Produce

Earlier this month Bloomberg reported that the prolonged drought in New Zealand, the worst in 20 years, had cut farm production and more than doubled the power prices this year. New Zealand’s energy demand peaks June through August during the hemisphere winter months due to heating use. Hydro-power lakes have been below average since November 2007.

In April 2008, lake Taupo was 18 percent below average. Lake Pukaki was 40 percent below average. Lake Manapouri, which is used to supply Rio Tinto’s Tiwai Point aluminum smelter, was 45 percent below its usual levels.

Continuing drought in New Zealand and Australia, as well as a falling production in the UK and a weak dollar, are raising the prices of milk and dairy products globally. In the past 12 months the price of milk has increased by 32 percent, eggs by 40 percent and wholewheat bread by 26 percent.

Earthquake hit south of Macquarie Island

Meanwhile, in a triple whammy, a 5.9-magnitude quake hit 2100 km (1300 miles) S of Melbourne, Victoria, Australia, earlier today close to a major fault line. Recent increased seismic activities N, NW and SE of New Zealand do not bode well for the country. The earthquakes may result in a period intense volcanic activity in New Zealand in the coming weeks.

Related links:

• NZ govt eyes power-saving measures after dry spell
• New Zealand Rain Fails to Ease Risk of Power Shortage (Update1)
• Volcanoes, Santorini Eruption and Crops Failure in China
• Mt Ruapehu Eruption Alert

santorini

Rising Food Prices and the US-China Trade Imbalance

Rising Food, Fuel and Fertilizer Prices

How expensive must food, oil and fertilizers get before they could turn the tide of China-US trade imbalance AND force the EU economy into major retreat?

Would the breadbasket of the world use the rising prices of grains (cereal crops) as an economic weapon against China and EU?

Related Links:

• Fueling Food Shortages
• Sam’s Club, Costco Ration Rice Amid Hoarding Worries
• Japan: The land of rising . . . err . . . Prices!

• Brazil Lula defends biofuels from growing criticism
• Corn eyes new peaks, may add to food woes
• Bolivia Morales: biofuels serious problem to poor

• Only One Guess Allowed!
• Famous Last words …
• EU needs more pesticides, scientists claim