Newsletter No. 46;
IRBMS; March, 2015
The Jakarta Flood 2007; ten odd people were killed and half a million people were
homeless - Reuters/Supri
Civilization has come to a long way. The
The urban population contributes 70% of the
Earth surface has changed phenomenally in
non-renewable energy use. Recent studies
last five thousand years with the progress of
of the World Resources Institute shows that
civilization. But never before civilization
approximately 21 million people worldwide
was as urban as the present time; now more
could be affected by river floods every year,
number of people on earth are leaving in
in which 15 countries including India,
cities than in villages. People are living
Bangladesh,
away from nature in their urban world and
Indonesia, Egypt, Myanmar, Afghanistan,
slowly their ability to cope with nature and
Nigeria,
its phenomena is reducing, resulting large
Republic of Congo, Iraq, and Cambodia,
scale loss of life and property when natural
account for nearly 80 percent of the total
disaster strikes.
population affected. The study shows that
China,
Brazil,
Vietnam,
Thailand,
Pakistan,
Democratic
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Integrated River Basin Management Society