Australia inundated by flooding

We seem to be seeing more flooding and at more serious intensities around the world these years. From New Orleans to Malaysia, Pakistan and now Australia, floods have had a busy decade. While some fingers point to climate change, others point to El Nino/ La Nina effects and still others decry the destruction of natural buffers such as wetlands and coral reefs as the culprit to widespread flooding.

The latest flood on the block:
Australia floods larger than France strand 200,000

"The muddy water inundating thousands of homes and businesses has led to a shortage of drinking water and raised fears of mosquito-borne disease...

The town was facing food shortages, power outages and sewage-contaminated floodwaters..."



And like all floods (and most natural disasters e.g. earthquake in Haiti, Chile), the victims are facing a shortage of clean drinking water, lack of sanitation services, contamination from wastewater (sewage) and water (and vector) borne diseases in addition to all the other inconveniences such as power outages, shortage of food and lack of shelter.