Sierra Leone.
Nigeria.
Bangladesh.
Nepal.
India.
North America.
Puerto Rico.
Cuba.
Antigua and Barbuda.
What do all of these countries have in common?
In recent weeks they - and many other countries, cities, and towns worldwide - have experienced the wrath of Mother Nature.
On August 14th a deadly mudslide killed more than 400 people in Freetown, Sierra Leone (there are suggestions that the estimated death toll could be as high as 1000), and has displaced as many as 7,000 people in the capital and its surrounding areas. In Nigeria’s Benue State, more than 100,000 people have had to flee their homes due to major flooding in August. In South Asia, countries like Bangladesh, Nepal, and India are dealing with national catastrophes, in which more than 1,200 lives has been lost and millions are now homeless as a result of extreme weather. We’ve seen the widely and extensively reported effects of Hurricane Harvey on Houston, in which approximately 45 people died, more than 185,000 homes were damaged, and an estimated 42,000 people are now in shelters; and we’re bearing witness to the ongoing destruction caused in the Caribbean by Hurricane Irma, in which islands such as Puerto Rico, Cuba, and Antigua and Barbuda - to name just a few - are battling an increasing death toll, infrastructural damage, and displacement. In Barbuda alone, it’s reported that up to 90% of the island has been destroyed, causing ‘hundreds of thousands of pounds’ of damage, leaving the island ‘barely habitable’.