This blog is intended to go along with Population: An Introduction to Concepts and Issues, by John R. Weeks, published by Cengage Learning. The latest edition is the 13th (it will be out in January 2020), but this blog is meant to complement any edition of the book by showing the way in which demographic issues are regularly in the news.

You can download an iPhone app for the 13th edition from the App Store (search for Weeks Population).

If you are a user of my textbook and would like to suggest a blog post idea, please email me at: john.weeks@sdsu.edu

Wednesday, August 18, 2010

20 Million People at Risk From Floods in Pakistan

The scope of damage from the floods in Pakistan has been growing, rather than diminishing. The BBC News provides a very informative map showing that a huge swath of the country has been affected by the summer floods--with more flooding still expected.
The authorities say as many as 20 million people are affected by the floods. The UN says six million desperately need emergency aid but most still have not received it. Ten of thousands of villages remain under water.

There are growing health concerns for those surviving without proper shelter, food or clean drinking water, three weeks after the country's worst natural disaster began.

Thus far, the Pakistani government has been overwhelmed by the disaster, and the global community has been slow to respond in terms of providing aid. It is likely to take a long time for the country to recover from this and a huge question will be whether this kind of disaster will lead to a higher, rather than lower, birth rate.

No comments:

Post a Comment