NEPAL: When a 7.8 magnitude earthquake rocked Nepal last year, villagers in Changu Narayan ran up the steep rocky path that cuts through their town to their renowned temple. Seeing the piles of rubble, they figured their lives were over.
Less than two years later, the community is cleaning up their World Heritage Site themselves, and one of the world’s leading architects has taken on the recovery as his pet project.
“I see now our world coming back alive,” said Gyan Bahadur Bhadal, 61, one of many villagers who share responsibility for the temple’s upkeep.
In a country where locals say there are more gods than people and more temples than houses, Changu Narayan still manages to stand out among the ancient holy places. It’s believed to be the oldest Hindu place of worship in the country, its wooden walls intricately carved with hundreds of deities, perched atop a steep hill overlooking the Katmandu Valley.
The 5th century temple is dedicated to Lord Vishnu, who locals say appeared there once. His image, in about a dozen incarnations, is carved into struts that hold up the roof. Stone lions with eagle heads guard the doors. Inside has long been a mystery: Only priests enter the two-tiered pagoda, and they don’t explore.
An April 2015 temblor that killed 9,000 people in Nepal also damaged details in Changu Narayan’s wood, stone and metal. A sharp aftershock one day later twisted the entire structure, knocking piles of bricks out of the walls, filling the courtyard.
Anish Bhatta’s family has been living and leading worship at the temple for 10 generations — some 325 years. After the earthquake, Anish did the unthinkable: He went all the way inside.
“We saw things we never imagined,” he said. “Statues as big as me, swords, so many sculptures, gold plated with big gems.”
Today the temple is guarded by military police, and propped up with questionable temporary beams.
British architect John Sanday, who led the World Monuments Fund restoration of Cambodia’s Angkor Wat, the largest religious monument in the world, fell in love with the place decades ago. After the earthquake, he came up the Changu path with trepidation.
“I was very emotional walking into this place. The whole of the courtyard was littered with rubble. I thought, ‘Come on, John, you’ve got to pull yourself together,’” he recalled.
But then Sanday noticed wooden supports exposed by the missing brick. He saw what looked like a bedrock foundation. And he decided that of the 600 historical temples, monuments and palaces damaged by the earthquake in Nepal, this one would be his project.
“Sure, it’s peanuts, a little temple, so why is it so special?” said Sanday. “The detail. The grace. It’s one of the few World Heritage Sites that hasn’t been completely destroyed by development.”
But what really drew him to step in as technical adviser were the people of this village.
Among tourists and pilgrims, Changu Narayan’s residents pray there at dusk, kneel at the deities, bow to the gods, offer alms to the priests who stand duty at the door.
Three people died and 100 homes were damaged in Changu Village, a 30-minute drive from downtown Katmandu, during the earthquake. Like families in the city 12.5 miles (20 kilometers) away, the Changu community grieved, cried and cleaned up rubble.
But in the hilltop village the community did something else: With rags and water, little picks and brushes, they cleaned the ancient and exotic carved brackets and facades, cleaning and repairing, bit by bit, so they could resume their worship. Now Sanday says their dedication is his inspiration. He will not allow their culture to disappear with the damaged building.
Conserving an ancient building means solving a series of incredibly complicated puzzles. Rotted or mice-chewed timbers must be replaced. An unstable and stretched government bureaucracy must remain in charge. And there’s $300,000 to raise.
For starters, with $30,000 of German support, he helped the community rebuild one of Changu’s shrines, the size of a little guardhouse. Now he’s looking at the larger temple a few yards away.
“This is a place we can save, no doubt,” said Sanday. “The people here will make sure of that.”
Inspired by Nepalese, UK architect rebuilds ancient temple
Inspired by Nepalese, UK architect rebuilds ancient temple
Floods misery reminder of climate’s role in supercharging rain
- Though not all directly attributed to global warming, they are occurring in a year of record-breaking temperatures and underscore what scientists have long warned — that climate change drives more extreme weather
PARIS: Floods have been tearing a path of destruction across the globe, hammering Kenya, submerging Dubai, and forcing hundreds of thousands of people from Russia to China, Brazil and Somalia from their homes.
Though not all directly attributed to global warming, they are occurring in a year of record-breaking temperatures and underscore what scientists have long warned — that climate change drives more extreme weather.
Climate change isn’t just about rising temperatures but the knock-on effect of all that extra heat being trapped in the atmosphere and seas.
April was the 11th consecutive month to break its own heat record, the EU climate monitor Copernicus said on Wednesday, while ocean temperatures have been off the charts for even longer.
“The recent extreme precipitation events are consistent with what is expected in an increasingly warmer climate,” Sonia Seneviratne, an expert on the UN-mandated IPCC scientific panel, told AFP.
Warmer oceans mean greater evaporation, and warmer air can hold more water vapor.
Scientists even have a calculation for this: for every one degree Celsius in temperature rise, the atmosphere can hold seven percent more moisture.
“This results in more intense rainfall events,” Davide Faranda, an expert on extreme weather at the French National Center for Scientific Research (CNRS), told AFP.
In April, Pakistan recorded double the amount of normal monthly rainfall — one province saw 437 percent more than average — while the UAE received about two years worth of rain in a single day.
This, however, doesn’t mean everywhere on Earth is getting wetter.
Richard Allan from the University of Reading said “a warmer, thirstier atmosphere is more effective at sapping moisture from one region and feeding this excess water into storms elsewhere.”
This translates into extreme rain and floods in some areas but worse heatwaves and droughts in others, the climate scientist told AFP.
Natural climate variability also influence weather and global rainfall patterns.
This includes cyclical phenomenon like El Nino, which tends to bring heat and rain extremes, and helped fuel the high temperatures seen over land and sea this past year.
While natural variability plays a role “the observed long-term global increase in heavy precipitation has been driven by human-induced climate change,” said Seneviratne.
Carlo Buontempo, a director at Copernicus, said cycles like El Nino ebb and flow but the extra heat trapped by rising greenhouse gas emissions would “keep pushing the global temperature toward new records.”
Considering the overlapping forces at play, attributing any one flood to climate change alone can be fraught, and each event must be taken on a case-by-case basis.
But scientists have developed peer-reviewed methods that allow for the quick comparison of an event today against simulations that consider a world in which global warming had not occurred.
For example, World Weather Attribution, the scientists who pioneered this approach, said the drenching of the UAE and Oman last month was “most likely” exacerbated by global warming caused by burning fossil fuels.
ClimaMeter, another rapid assessment network who use a different methodology, said major floods in China in April were “likely influenced” by global warming and El Nino.
“It can be difficult to disentangle global warming and natural variability” and some weather events are more clear-cut than others, said Flavio Pons, a climatologist who worked on the China assessment.
In the case of devastating floods in Brazil, however, ClimaMeter were able to exclude El Nino as a significant factor and name human-driven climate change as the primary culprit.
Many of the countries swamped by heavy floods at the moment — such as Burundi, Afghanistan and Somalia — rank among the poorest and least able to mobilize a response to such disasters.
But the experience in Dubai showed even wealthy states were not prepared, said Seneviratne.
“We know that a warmer climate is conducive to more severe weather extremes but we cannot predict exactly when and where these extremes will occur,” Joel Hirschi from the UK’s National Oceanography Center told AFP.
“Current levels of preparedness for weather extremes are inadequate... Preparing and investing now is cheaper than delaying action.”
Anguish as Kenya’s government demolishes houses in flood-prone areas and offers $75 in aid
- People living near rivers, dams and other flood-prone areas told to vacate as heavy rains continue to pound
- The number of those affected by the flooding in Kenya has risen to 235,000, with most of them living in camps
NAIROBI, Kenya: Kenya’s government has begun bulldozing homes built in flood-prone areas and promising evicted families the equivalent of $75 to relocate after a deadline passed to evacuate amid deadly rains.
In the capital, Nairobi, a bulldozer ripped through iron-sheet walls as people watched in despair. Security forces with guns and batons stood guard and fired tear gas at some residents. The government last week told thousands of people living near rivers, dams and other flood-prone areas to vacate as heavy rains that have left 238 people dead in recent weeks continue to pound.
Most of those whose houses are demolished say they do not know where to go, even though the government claims they were notified about options. Human Rights Watch has accused the government of an inadequate response.
“Now what are we going to do? We love our president, and that is why we supported him. He should come to our aid,” Jekenke Jegeke told The Associated Press.
President William Ruto, who visited the vast Mathare informal settlement along the Nairobi River on Monday, said those whose houses had been demolished would be given 10,000 Kenyan shillings ($75) to help them resettle elsewhere.
Three people, including two children, have died in Mathare after being run over by bulldozers in the demolitions — one before the president’s visit and two after it — according to civil society groups.
Opposition leader Raila Odinga last week warned the government against demolishing more houses without a resettlement plan in place.
The number of those affected by the flooding in Kenya has risen to 235,000, with most of them living in camps.
Interior Minister Kithure Kindiki on Tuesday reiterated an evacuation order to 200 families living in the Kijabe area an hours’s drive from Nairobi, where about 60 people were killed and houses were swept away when water broke through a blocked railway tunnel last week.
That disaster prompted the government’s evacuation order. It is not clear how many homes across Kenya have been demolished since then.
Meanwhile, Kenya’s Cabinet has said that water levels in the country’s two major hydroelectric dams – Masinga and Kiambere – have risen to “historic levels,” with people living downstream on the Tana River told to leave.
Eastern DR Congo faces ‘catastrophe’ from floods: UN
- The UN body voiced concern at the effect on health service provisions as sickness hit affected areas of the country
- Locals were reporting seeing hippos, crocodiles and snakes in flooded inhabited areas, risking fatal attacks, especially on children and livestock
KINSHASA: Eastern DR Congo faces a “humanitarian catastrophe” after being hit by severe flooding affecting about half a million people, the UN World Food Programme said Wednesday.
“Heavier rainfall than usual during the rainy season, prompted by climate change, has forced rivers and lakes to overflow, swallowing towns, villages and roads on the shores,” the WFP said in a report citing “chaos” in South Kivu and Tanganyika provinces.
Worst-affected are Haut-Lomami and Tanganyika provinces, which border the lake of the same name as well as neighboring Burundi, Tanzania and Zambia.
“All around Lake Tanganyika, and areas upstream of the Congo River basin, people have lost their homes, their fields and livelihoods,” the WFP reported, estimating 471,000 people were affected with 451,000 hectares (1.1 million acres) flooded, including 21,000 hectares of cropland.
“People in flooded areas need food, shelter, clean drinking water, health and sanitation support, as well as support to restart their livelihoods.
“However, WFP has very limited resources to respond to the flooding crisis due to current funding levels and the food assistance pipeline situation.”Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC).
“With towns and villages swallowed in the lakes and rivers, diseases are rife. Latrines have overflowed into the water that surrounds people’s homes and sanitation is poor.
“People are forced to wade through and wash their clothes and cooking implements in cholera-riddled water,” said the report, warning of “a whole host of animal-borne diseases.”
Locals were reporting seeing hippos, crocodiles and snakes in flooded inhabited areas, risking fatal attacks, especially on children and livestock.
Amid lost harvests, “people are struggling to feed their families which is leading to more people arriving in health care facilities with symptoms related to months of poor food intake. Especially children are at risk of developing malnutrition.”
Flooding has hit vast swathes of Africa in recent weeks, which have notably claimed 257 lives in Kenya, according to a latest toll Wednesday.
US House quickly defeats Republican hardliners’ effort to oust Speaker Johnson
- Democrats joined Republicans in a 359-43 vote to protect Johnson’s speakership to avoid a replay of the chaos that occurred in October
- Hakeem Jeffries, the House's Democratic Party leader, said he hoped to see House Republicans turn against party hard-liners
WASHINGTON: The US House of Representatives on Wednesday swiftly and overwhelmingly defeated an effort by firebrand Republican Marjorie Taylor Greene to remove Speaker Mike Johnson, a fellow Republican, from his leadership role.
Democrats joined Republicans in a 359-43 vote to protect Johnson’s speakership, in a bid to avoid a replay of the chaos that occurred in October when Republicans ousted his predecessor, Kevin McCarthy.
Greene’s move represented a rare Republican defiance of presidential candidate Donald Trump, who in a social media post following the House vote on Wednesday, said it was “not the time” for Republicans to try to push out their own speaker.
Greene’s measure, known as a motion to vacate, showcased the disorder that has marked Republicans’ slim 217-213 House majority, particularly since it had been clear that the effort would fail given Democrats’ opposition.
“I appreciate the show of confidence from my colleagues to defeat this misguided effort,” Johnson, 52, said following the vote. “Hopefully this is the end of the character assassination that has characterized the current Congress.”
Multiple Republicans criticized Greene’s move, including centrist Representative Marc Molinaro.
“This is not an individual who knows how to lead,” Molinaro said of Greene. “She’s not an individual who knows how to negotiate. And she certainly doesn’t seem to have any concern for the stability of the Congress or the people we represent.”
Greene stood flanked by fellow Republican Thomas Massie when she made her move against Johnson, criticizing him for a string of compromises with Democrats, who hold a majority in the Senate.
“Excuses like ‘this is just how you have to govern in divided government’ are pathetic, weak and unacceptable,” Greene said of Johnson. “Even with our razor-thin Republican majority we could have at least secured the border.”
Taunts and jeers
The chamber erupted in taunts and cheers at points as Greene read her resolution, with Democrats at times chanting “Hakeem, Hakeem,” a reference to their party leader, Hakeem Jeffries, in an echo of the many times they voted for him as speaker during Republicans’ multiple rounds of voting for speaker since the current House was seated in January 2021.
Johnson has angered many hard-liners by enacting bipartisan spending measures to avoid government shutdowns and aid US allies including Ukraine, without insisting on strict security measures for the US-Mexico border that Democrats reject.
The House Republicans’ border security bill had no chance of passing the Democratic-controlled Senate.
A bipartisan compromise bill negotiated late last year and early this year in the Senate, with the Biden administration’s approval, was killed by House and Senate Republicans at Trump’s behest.
Johnson could be seen walking around the House floor after Greene began her call on Wednesday for his ouster, with Republican supporters shaking his hand and patting him on the back.
“Republicans have to be fighting the Radical Left Democrats, and all the Damage they have done to our Country,” Trump said in his Wednesday post. “We’re not in a position of voting on a Motion to Vacate. At some point, we may very well be, but this is not the time.”
The situation has bolstered Jeffries, who agreed to save Johnson from ouster after freeing Congress from the road block of Republican infighting by delivering crucial Democratic support for must-pass bills.
Greene in remarks to reporters after the vote did not rule out trying to oust Johnson again.
For his part, Jeffries said he hoped to see House Republicans turn against party hard-liners, saying, “The only thing we ask of our House Republican colleagues is for traditional Republicans to further isolate the extreme MAGA Republican wing of the GOP, which has visited nothing but chaos and dysfunction on the American people.”
Britain and NATO allies must spend more, be tougher, UK’s Cameron to say
- The upcoming NATO summit must see all allies on track to deliver their pledge made in Wales in 2014 to spend 2 percent on defense
LONDON: Britain’s foreign minister, David Cameron, will urge its fellow NATO members to meet their pledge to spend 2 percent of GDP on defense, and to be tougher and more assertive with adversaries, in a speech to be delivered on Thursday.
In what is billed as his first major pronouncement as foreign secretary, Cameron will say NATO must “out-compete, out-cooperate and out-innovate,” and that Britain must not only bolster existing alliances but also forge new partnerships around the globe.
“We are in a battle of wills. We all must prove our adversaries wrong – Britain, and our allies and partners around the world,” Cameron will say at the UK’s National Cyber Security Center, according to extracts released by his office.
“The upcoming NATO summit must see all allies on track to deliver their pledge made in Wales in 2014 to spend 2 percent on defense. And we then need to move quickly to establish 2.5 percent as the new benchmark for all NATO allies.” Last month, Prime Minister Rishi Sunak said British defense spending would increase to 2.5 percent of GDP by 2030 — an additional 75 billion pounds ($94 billion) over the next six years.
Britain has been one of the most vocal and active backers of Ukraine in the wake of the invasion by Russia, and Cameron, a former prime minister, will say too nations are not learning the lessons of that conflict.
Some in Europe seem unwilling to spend on defense while war rages nearby, Cameron will say, adding that while some nations have criticized attacks on shipping in the Red Sea, only Britain and the United States have carried out strikes in retaliation.
“If (Russian President Vladimir) Putin’s illegal invasion teaches us anything, it must be that doing too little, too late only spurs an aggressor on,” he will say. .”.. This cannot go on. We need to be tougher and more assertive.”
