Welcome, eco-conscious viewers, to Planet Earth: Our Loving Home. Today we present the second episode in our two-part series on the catastrophic impact of floods on humankind and our planet.

Floods occur when enormous amounts of water inundate land surfaces through such events as excessively heavy rainfalls, cyclones, tsunamis, storm surges, melting of icesheets and glaciers, and so on.

In its numerous reports, the United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has observed there have been widespread increases in sudden heavy rainfall events around the world, even in places where the total amount of rain received annually has been decreasing. Prominent scientists everywhere point to global warming as the reason for this worrisome phenomenon.

Climate change researchers have found that animal agriculture is overwhelmingly responsible for the warming of our planet. This harmful activity releases immense quantities of lethal greenhouse gases and the industry is also the primary cause of the majority of the world’s deforestation and land degradation. The alterations to the planet’s atmosphere and land surfaces from livestock raising have wreaked havoc on the natural interactions between ecosystems and the hydrological cycle.

Thus far in 2010, floods have caused grievous suffering to humans and animals, as well as utter devastation to property, crops and the environment. During this period, China has been the most severely flood-affected nation in the world.

CHINA APRIL 2010

Floods occurred on Friday, April 17th in Altay City of Alakak County affecting over 500 homes, blocking roads and damaging property. In southeastern Jiangxi Province, the rainy season arrived half a month early, forcing hundreds of people to evacuate as torrential precipitation drenched 45 counties.

Central China’s Hunan province was inundated with an average rainfall of 112 millimeters for a week beginning on April 17th, causing the Xiang River to rise by up to six meters, with nearly 300 embankment breaches reported. Officials said that the resulting floods claimed one life in a landslide and caused property loss for more than 900,000 people as the waters swept through 27 counties, collapsing at least 4,600 homes and submerging nearly 40,000 hectares of farmland.

MAY 2010

Starting on the evening of May 5, forceful rain, hail, winds, and a rare tornado with gusts of up to 112 kilometers-per-hour impacted the provinces of Sichuan, Chongqing, Guizhou, Jiangxi, Guangdong and Hunan. The storms set off mud-rock slides and flash floods and threatened to breach reservoirs as water levels in rivers swelled and burst levees.

According to the Office of State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters 2.55-million residents were affected with nearly 10,000 homes flattened and 100,000 hectares of arable land ruined. The central government allocated US$4.5 million to help with recovery efforts in Chongqing Municipality, where 31 fatalities were reported.

Torrential precipitation on May 31st flooded 27 counties in Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, causing landslides. More than 80,000 evacuated as thousands of homes and nearly 78,000 hectares of crops were devastated.

JUNE 2010

The Chinese government reported on Saturday, June 12th that abnormally heavy seasonal flooding across 21 provinces caused at least 155 fatalities, with 1.3 million people uprooted as 140,000 homes collapsed and two million hectares of crops were affected. As of Friday, June 11th, direct economic losses had reached US$6.5 billion, an amount nearly four times higher than in the previous year.

According to the Chinese Ministry of Civil Affairs, 199 people had succumbed since mid-June to the relentless rains and floods that swept through 10 southern provinces, with 123 still missing as of Tuesday, June 22nd. The extreme weather affected over 29 million people, with 2.37 million displaced after 195,000 homes were destroyed and 568,000 were damaged.

At the end of June, heavy rain throughout southern China caused hundreds to perish. In Jiangxi province, at least 100,000 people residing along the Fu River were left to rely on aid after the Changkai levee was ruined amidst the region’s worst floods in a century.

Many of my seedlings were drowned, which means I won’t have any crop harvest this year. This used to be the main road in the village which led to the levee. After it was broken, all the water flowed in our direction along the road. Now some parts of this road are filled with sand. Here, for example, where it is lower, it is also submerged and cars can’t drive through.

I am standing at the site of the levee breach in Changkai Township, Fuzhou City, Jiangxi, which is the most severely damaged area. Hallo, can you tell us about the situation at the time of the flooding?

At that time, we had four or five successive days of rain, with daily accumulated rainfall amounting to over 100 millimeters. This is the site where the levee broke. This is the Fu River. The soldiers have helped to evacuate 100,000 people away from here.

When we return, we’ll continue our review of destructive climate change-induced floods that have occurred thus far in 2010. Please stay tuned to Supreme Master Television.

This is Planet Earth: Our Loving Home on Supreme Master Television, where we’re featuring part two of our presentation on the severe effects of floods on humanity and the environment. The colossal damage and pain caused by the floods during 2010 have profoundly affected the Chinese people. The nation joined together in August to honor some of those who were casualties of natural disasters.

On Sunday, August 15, Chinese leaders, students, workers and overseas nationals honored 1248 brethren who had lost their lives as well as the some 500 still missing from the recent massive mudslides and floods in Zhouqu County of northwest China's Gansu province.

In Beijing, President Hu Jintao led top Chinese government officials in a three-minute silent tribute, while more than 5000 rescuers and villagers stood on the mudslide debris at Dongjie Village in Zhouqu, and approximately 10,000 gathered at a city square in Lazhou. All entertainment activities were also suspended across the country as part of the commemoration.

Other areas of the world have also experienced relentless, frightening floods in 2010, with an enormous toll taken on families, homes, livelihoods, crops and animals.

COLOMBIA May 2010

At least 18 people died and 87 were injured when waves of torrential rains pummeled southern Colombia at the end of May. Floods and landslides uprooted thousands across 134 municipalities as 15,000 homes were damaged.

We completely lost all that was in our homes and lost everything, completely all, because of the mud... We suffer because we don’t sleep, we don’t eat in peace.

The biggest thing, the boy is lost … the rest of it, well, you get it anyway. And I thank you so much that you do not leave us so helpless like this. And thank you.

INDIA July 2010

At the beginning of July, two people lost their lives and over 200,000 were displaced throughout 400 villages as floods massively disrupted the state of Assam, India. Thunderstorms smashed homes, and uprooted trees and electric and telephone poles. The region’s Kaziranga National Park has also been deluged by the swollen Brahmaputra River, forcing scores of already endangered animals, including rhinos and elephants, to retreat to nearby hills for safety.

YEMEN July 2010

At least 30 people succumbed to days of continuous rainfall that resulted in flooding and landslides across Yemen’s northwestern regions on Wednesday, July 14th.

Seven perished when a vehicle was swept away in the Mashanna district of Ibb province, while a rock slide in Dhamar province collapsed a dam, leading to flooding that took five lives and injured four others, while submerging a health center, farms and roads. Floods caused fatalities in two refugee camps, where some 200 families were displaced, while in the capital Sana’a, roads were blocked by rising waters that also flowed into residents’ homes.

POLAND/GERMANY/ CZECH REPUBLIC AUGUST 2010

At least 14 people died after torrential rains triggered inundations in the border regions of Poland, Germany and the Czech Republic on Saturday, August 7th. Several towns and villages were completely isolated, while homes, cars, and bridges were destroyed, with thousands more houses losing electricity.

In northern Czech Republic, at least 1,000 people were evacuated, including residents in areas below two dams that threatened to burst as water levels rose, as well as three summer camps.

In the towns of Chrastava and Frýdlant, police and military helicopters saved people stranded on the roofs of their homes. Hundreds of German and Czech firefighters worked side-by-side to lessen water levels submerging a major international railway line connecting Prague, the Czech Republic and Berlin, Germany.

Meanwhile in Poland, another 2,000 people were evacuated by firefighters via boats, assisted by emergency workers from neighboring Germany as the southwestern town of Bogatynia was inundated following the overflowing of the Miedzianka River, which destroyed several homes and displaced 700 people.

ETHIOPIA AUGUST 2010

As flooding swept through Ethiopia’s north-central Amhara Region, 19 people were reported to have lost their lives on Wednesday, August 25th, with nearly 9,000 evacuated to safer ground. The floods followed over a month of unusually heavy rains, which also submerged or washed away more than 6,000 hectares of crops.

Three lowland districts were especially affected as rivers swelled in the hills of Oromiya zone, and over 53,000 households in five other zones were affected. Regional governments and aid agencies such as the United Nations World Food Program and World Vision assisted with shelter and emergency aid, while extended family members also offered their care.

While many praiseworthy efforts are made by governments and non-governmental organizations around the world to save people’s lives and provide them with immediate assistance, provisions and care, the one sure thing that can help prevent all these unforgiving catastrophes is the harmonious, compassionate, organic vegan diet. Supreme Master Ching Hai often conveys this simple message to the world.

My heart is troubled every day, thinking of all these innocent people and all the defenseless animals who have to suffer in this great upheaval we call climate change. But we still have time.

We could not reverse the effect of climate change in the past. Whatever happened due to typhoons and floods and earthquakes, etc., we could not reverse the effect. But we could stop future disasters by returning to the compassionate vegetarian diet and encouraging others to do the same. The government has the power to do this. I beg all the governments of the world, please, do this before it’s too late, for the sake of your citizens and your own children as well.

Thank you, caring viewers, for joining us on today’s program. Coming up next is Enlightening Entertainment after Noteworthy News. May we soon have a world full of bliss and tranquility.