Water water everywhere, but not a drop to drink!

The year 2007 has witnessed a series of timorous weather discrepancies, be it flooding in Asia, the United Kingdom and the United States or scorching heat-waves in Europe or snowfall in South Africa, growing the concern of the weather scientists as well as people across the world.

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Throughout the early half of the year, severe flooding has affected a huge population around the world. After playing havoc in the US, UK, China and Pakistan, heavy rain and floods have stranded millions of people in South Asia.

In the past fortnight, South Asia has undergone one of the worst Monsoon flooding in its living memory. Countless villages have been completely drowned into flood waters across India, Bangladesh and Nepal, leaving millions dislodged and trapped.

South Asian is currently wobbling under flood fury triggered by powerful Monsoon showers that have affected 35 million people, without homes and even essential belongings. Heavy rains have caused massive flooding, the worst to hit the region in 30 years, that have submerged or destroyed tens of thousands of homes and forced millions to survive on embankments and highways with little food to feed their starved bellies and all the more worse - rain water to drink.

Shattering longtime records, Monsoon this month showered 14 inches of rain in one day in various parts of South Asia. The overwhelming Monsoon flooding has already devoured over 2,000 lives in the densely populated region interwoven by large rivers.

The present conditions in the Sub-continent just strike a chord with the memorable lines from Coleridge's renowned epic, 'The Rime of the Ancient Mariner,' expressing the misery of the sailors who were sailing through the Pacific Ocean without food and even water to drink.

Water, water, every where,

And all the boards did shrink;

Water, water, every where,

Nor any drop to drink.

The situation of the people - devastated by the Monsoon floods - in the Sub-continent is as good as the sailors in 'The Rime.' In fact, the state of the flood affected people is worse than the sailors. Even though the rains are holding back in some areas of South Asia, life remains miserable for the millions of people, as flood waters have contaminated most of the water sources that may well pave the way for numerous water-born diseases such as malaria, dengue and diarrhea.

As first half of the year was full of extreme weather events, one can simply sense what the second half could put forward in the days to come. In the wake of detrimental showers, fears of an epidemic have been looming in the heavily occupied expanse. Health experts fear an alarming health crisis after the water recedes, as stagnant water left by flooding can cause various bacterial diseases, together with acute respiratory infections, dysentery, rashes and fevers.

However, the flooding is not new to the region; authorities are struggling to respond to a flood crisis. Aid workers are facing difficulties in distributing food and medical supplies to millions stranded by floods in far off areas, making the matter even worse in the Sub-continent.

International aid groups such as the United Nations and the Red Cross has warned that millions of people face a heightened risk of disease and called for an international support in the region. UNICEF has also articulated concerns on the health of children, who constitute 40 percent of the affected population, as kids are more susceptible to such infections.

Though the increasing floods along with receding polar icecaps will continue in the years to follow, however, the shifting debate over Global Warming with the opening of new summits each time won't prove fruitful.

So more likely than not such scenarios (i.e. weather becoming even more erratic) will continue in future. Unfortunately, we are still not done shifting our feet and passing the buck on the wrongs that we have inflicted on this planet. Still more unfortunate is the fact that the current events are not a poem conjured up by the imagination of some soul. And unlike the conclusion of 'The Rime,' wherein the mariner realizes his mistake and confesses his guilt, we are not humble enough to do so! There might still be hope for us, if only we can take a long, hard look at our actions and decisions of the past. We cannot undo the damages that we have done but we can certainly avoid incessant repetition. Our fate is still in our own hands.