China Braces for "Severe" Flooding on Yangtze River
Severe floods are expected on China's Yangtze River this year due to a strong El Nino weather pattern, state media said, raising the risk of deaths and damage to property and crops along the country's longest waterway. The El Nino conditions are the strongest since records collection began in 1951, and resemble a 1998 weather pattern that flooded the river and killed thousands, the official Xinhua news agency said on Friday, citing vice minister of water resources, Liu Ning. "Precipitation in the upper, middle and lower reaches of the river is forecast to be as much as 80 percent more than normal from May to August," Xinhua said. Some Yangtze tributaries had already begun flooding and the flood control and drought relief situation was "extremely severe"…
New Cruise Ship to Ply Yangtze River
According to a report on www.chinadaily.com.cn, a new cruise ship will soon set sail to the Yangtze River's Three Gorges Dam. The "Yangtze River No. 2," a 139-m, six-storey cruise ship, will embark on its maiden voyage from the southwestern Chongqing Municipality to the Three Gorges Dam in Hubei's Yichang City on August 29, www.chinadaily.com.cn reported, citing an official of Changjiang (Yangtze) Cruise Overseas Travel Co., the operator of the ship. Yangtze River No. 2, the third luxury cruise ship to set sail this year, is dubbed the largest river cruise ship. It can accommodate up to 452 people and has a swimming pool, a theater as well as luxury suites equivalent to a five-star hotel.
Take a trip to a Ship Graveyard
Imagine earning $1.25 a day to wade through knee-deep mucky waters on a beach in Bangladesh, to dismantle enormous ships with little more than hand tools. This practice is conducted every day by Bangladeshi laborers who work as ship breakers. These vessels, many of which are cast-off single hull tankers, are dismantled in mostly unhealthy, hazardous and sometimes deadly conditions. Toronto, Canada-based photographer Edward Burtynsky traveled to the beaches of Chittagong, Bangladesh in 2000 and 2001 to capture on film a process few have seen before. MR/EN spoke with Burtynsky, and with his cooperations presents a selection of his photographs taken on location a ship breaking facility. – By Regina P.
