Flooding

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October 24, 2020

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Natural disasters are a type of events, which causes huge damage due to the occurring of

some natural events and these events occur suddenly, generally without any prior intimation.

These events make the people be aware and careful of nature and be prepared to face any type of

these natural sudden calamities (McPhee, 1999).

1975 Banqiao Dam failure

When large amounts of rainfall flow around the earth, floods can flow (McPhee, 1999).

To begin with, the 1975 Banqiao Dam Failure was considered one of the greatest disasters that

hit China. The major cause of the dam failure was Typhoon Nina, but experts also contributed

the efforts of the Chinese Great Leap Forward because of the rapid constructions of

infrastructures including dams that comprised their building quality. It gained a death toll

ranging from 85,000 to 240,000 and destroyed 6.8 million houses. Banqiao Dam was started to

be manufactured in 1950 over the Luan river to control flooding and to generate electricity. After

the completion of the dam in 1952, it was observed that there were a large number of cracks

developed due to basic engineering mistakes and later they were repaired. One of the renowned

hydrologists suggested that the dam should have 12 gates but instead, the engineers constructed

only 5 gates. He criticized and found out many loopholes in the dam, but he was removed from

the project. In 1975, Typhoon Nina caused very heavy rainfall i.e. water level equal to one year

in just one day. This caused the dam to slowly break away causing the water level to rise to a

great height and water gushed out at very high speed causing many downtowns to get submerged

in water completely killing more than 10000 people. Many other people were killed due to

epidemics which get started due to stagnant and contaminated water. Many people were killed

due to floods and some people were killed due to famine (Ejolt, 2018).
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The effects of floods on human well-being range from unqualified blessings to

catastrophes. It caused destruction and many lives were in danger it resulted in very big damage.

The whole incident took place, due to the lack of a pre intimation system, evacuation system,

disaster management system. In total, almost 300000 (approx.) people were killed in the disaster.

These above impacts were on human health and lives. Apart from this, there were impacts on the

environment such as reduced balance in the ecological system, many problems faced in

geological and hydrological systems. From the societal and economic impact, many people

became homeless, jobless, human trafficking increased, many places of natural beauty got

destroyed, etc. Thus, the overall impact of the 1975 Banqiao Dam's failure was devastating

(Ejolt, 2018).

Hurricane Sandy

Hurricanes spread through warm ocean waters and crashing into coastal areas, killing

many people and causing significant damage (McPhee, 1999). Tagged as 2012's deadliest and

most destructive hurricane, Hurricane Sandy swept the Caribbean and United States and killed

233 people from different countries. Sandy started as a tropical wave on October 22 in the

western Caribbean Sea and made landfall in Cuba on October 25 as a Category 3 hurricane. The

hurricane left destruction worth nearly $70 billion on October 29, 2012. Sandy started as a

classic hurricane, getting energy from the warm waters of the Caribbean. Sandy caused water

levels to rise along the entire East Coast of the U.S., ranging from Florida to Maine. It took place

in New York. Millions were affected across five Caribbean nations and lead to very big damage

(US Department of Commerce, 2020).

Moving on, New Jersey was hit by Hurricane Sandy in 2012. While it was approaching,

it was guessed as a 3rd category storm. It was more dangerous and powerful than any tropical
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storm because its wind speed was low but the pressure is created was very high, It hit the land at

a faulty angle, and that too during the high tidal condition. It also gets combined with many

tropical storms and pre-winter storms to become more powerful. It causes huge economic

damage of around $75 billion. Sandy caused huge flooding conditions in almost 24 states and

high-speed winds and high waves swept different cities and islands. The transportation system

including airports and train service were totally stopped due to waterlogging and bad weather.

New York stock exchange got closed after 27 years when previously a hurricane hit New York.

As Sandy got accompanied by a pre-winter storm in some places, it caused a blizzard by

disrupting all the electric lines. It damaged the crops badly, which create a huge impact on the

economy. Socially also Sandy created huge havoc as many people around 9 million became

homeless, many people lost their lives and this led to mental problems in many persons (who lost

their loved ones), many businesses get shut due to lack of power for many days, many medical

facilities could not be provided due to power failure, and people suffered a huge shortage in the

daily essential commodities like that of water. Thus, people were deeply affected by Hurricane

Sandy both socially and economically (US Department of Commerce, 2020).

Vietnam's 1971 Red River Delta Flood

The population of humans is rapidly increasing. Massive numbers of deaths and

economic damages are caused by natural disasters (McPhee, 1999). For example, the Red River

Delta Flood was one of the most remarkable floods in history. It killed an estimated 100,000 and

affected approximately 2.71 million people. The flood also caused 3 large sections of the dikes

near the area to fail and adds infrastructure damage to the then happening Vietnam War.

Hundreds of thousands of people were killed, and many valuable crops were wiped out when

torrential rains filled the delta's dyke system and heavily populated area. Flooding occurs from
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June to October in the Red River Delta, although serious flooding occurs in August when water

levels are between 13-20-feet high above the ground. It was one of the worst natural disasters in

the history of Vietnam. The floods affected the North Vietnam community and killed at least

100,000 people. Heavy rains likely caused the dikes to overload resulting in flooding (World

History, 2020).

Vietnam located in South East Asia experienced normal monsoon in the rainy season and

its capital is located in the Red River delta. It has three major tributaries but there were not so

often serious flooding conditions. Many dikes were built to prevent floods from happening and

many reservoirs were also there to prevent the floods from happening. But a serious flooding

condition occurred during the Vietnam US war, flooding all the dikes and reservoirs, killing

almost 100000 people. The dykes got filled around the areas, where there was a dense

population. Many crop plantations were totally ruined and almost 3 million people related to

agriculture were affected by this flood. The country was not very well prepared to handle the

flood as the country was facing war at that time. Many people become shelter less due to

excessive flooding in some areas. The economy was badly affected by both war and flood.

People faced very much difficulty in facing flood at the time of war. This flood along with war

gave rise to income inequality and poverty among common people. Due to war conditions, the

government did not have enough funds in its treasury to help the people. This also worsens the

economic condition. The influential people began exploiting poor people, who have been ruined

by the flood. Thus, in 1971 the RED RIVER DELTA FLOOD made the people of Vietnam

miserable, who were facing both flood and war at the same time (World History, 2020).
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References

McPhee, J. (1999). The control of nature. G.K. Hall.

Ejolt. (2018). Banqiao dam failure in 1975, Henan, China: EJAtlas. Retrieved from:

https://ejatlas.org/conflict/baquio-dam-failure-henan-china.

US Department of Commerce. (2020). Hurricane Sandy. Retrieved From:

https://www.weather.gov/okx/HurricaneSandy.

World History. (2020). Red River Delta Flood of 1971. World History Project. Retrieved From

https://worldhistoryproject.org/1971/8/1/red-river-delta-flood-of-1971.