El Nino<\/p>\n
Nobody has ever seen El Nino, but everybody has felt the brunt
\nof its unpredictable moods, especially in Asia. El Nino is a
\nweather phenomenon, the source of which is said to lie somewhere
\noff the coast of Peru in South America, which a few months ago
\nbrought prolonged drought and misery to many countries in this
\nregion.<\/p>\n
People complained about the scorchingly hot weather which
\ncaused the rice harvest to fail in Indonesia, forcing the country
\nto import millions of tons of rice to meet domestic needs.<\/p>\n
At that time, every day we looked up at the sky and fervently
\nhoped that rain would come. Rainmakers had a busy time calling
\nfor rain through their mumbled mantras until about six months ago
\nwhen the first raindrops in months fell, heralding the arrival of
\nthe rainy season.<\/p>\n
Now people are cursing the weather again, this time as a
\nresult of La Nina, the reverse of the El Nino effect, because of
\nthe widespread flooding which it has brought to many parts of
\nAsia. La Nina means little sister.<\/p>\n
In South Korea, floods have claimed the lives of 43 people. In
\nBangladesh, floods killed at least 13 people and have left
\nthousands of people homeless.<\/p>\n
In Indonesia, tobacco plants were destroyed by incessant rain
\nand farmers had to replant their fields with other crops.
\nSamarinda in East Kalimantan suffered four days of incessant
\nheavy rain which caused widespread flooding earlier this year. A
\ndistant relative of mine who is a physician in the city had to
\ntake shelter in a hotel when his house was inundated.<\/p>\n
In China, the mighty Yangtze River has burst its banks and
\nlocal people have been forced to make temporary dikes along the
\nbanks of the river using sandbags. So we must never under
\nestimate the power of El Nino, or its younger sister La Nina.<\/p>\n
A. DJUANA<\/p>\n
Jakarta<\/p>", "url": "https:\/\/jawawa.id\/newsitem\/el-nino-1447899208", "image": "" }, "sponsor": "Okusi Associates", "sponsor_url": "https:\/\/okusiassociates.com" }