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THEWEATHER IN 1983
A
Faretaste
D
.
of
,
tsaster.
I
T HAS
been years- some
experts claim decades–
since global weather con–
d i tions have been so
chaotic.
While mi ll ions in one part of
the globe suffered the quiet
devastation of drought and even
famine, millions elsewhere were
ravaged by violent storms, heavy
rains and flooding.
What caused our meteorological
miseries this year? And what les-
Damage from Cyclone Veena, Tahiti
22
by
Dan C. Taylor
sons should we learn from this
widespread weather disaster?
Anatomy of a Disast e r
What causes leaders great concern,
is that not only were those nations
that are least able to cope with the
ravages of climate hard hit , but
mos t of the handful of exporting
nations suffered too. The immedi–
ate effects are not fully known, but
if drought continues and famine
spreads in Asia and Africa, tbe
world's misery index is sure to go
u
p.
-·
In Asia, the most serious cases of
drought have been in India and
Indonesia. In the latter, drought
has claimed more than 350 Jives. In
India, grain surpluses painstaking ly
built up over the past severa! years
are being threatened as drought ,
hand-in-hand with famine, takes its
toll in southern India.
In Africa, it's not a matter of
determining who has been affected
by drought, but who hasn't. Few
nations there managed to escape
the deadly grip of drought. Even
the Republic of South Africa, the
Distribution of trucked water near Lanwa YiÍiage, India