Floods, landslides kill at least 26 in Indonesia

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Days of torrential rain have brought floods and landslides in Indonesia's province of West Sumatra, killing at least 26 people and forcing the evacuation of more than 70,000, authorities said.

Bridges, schools, 113 hectares (280 acres) of farmland and nearly 700 homes have been damaged by torrential rains that have pounded down since Thursday, according to the country's disaster mitigation agency (BNPB).

Footage from the affected region showed homes and stores damaged by the inundation, and sections of muddy road that had collapsed into an adjacent river, or strewn with fallen trees.

Rescue and search efforts

Indonesia's rescue agency is hunting for those missing, officials said, with 150 rescuers drafted into the effort, hampered by blocked roads following the landslides.

The BNPB's chief arrived in the provincial capital of Padang on Monday to lead coordination and evaluation efforts as well as distribute emergency relief funds. "Today's search involves 150 personnel from various disaster agencies," Abdul Malik, the chief of the provincial rescue team, said in a statement.

Those evacuated gathered in the nearest mosques, said Abdul Muhari, the spokesperson of Indonesia's disaster agency BNPB, but no temporary shelters were set up. They received food, water and medicines, while others returned home as waters subsided.

Five hundred packages of aid including tents, blankets, water purifiers, food and hygiene kits were also being distributed, he said. With more rain expected, the agency has warned of possible further damage from floods and landslides.

Indonesia's rainy season began in January with the BMKG meteorological agency forecasting a first-quarter peak, particularly on the islands of Java and Sumatra.

Flooding in Bolivia

Meanwhile, heavy rain in Bolivia's capital, La Paz, prompted authorities to declare a state of emergency, a government document showed, after overflowing rivers destroyed many houses over the weekend.

Bolivian President Luis Arce pledged to send heavy machinery and 3,000 troops to prevent further damage, according to the document.

Heavy rains caused flooding in several neighborhoods and isolated parts of the city by cutting water, electricity and roads.

One person died over the weekend in La Paz because of the heavy rains, while nearly 50 people have died in deluges across the country since the rainy season began in January, according to official data.

Winter storms kill hundreds of seabirds

Elsewhere, hundreds of guillemot seabirds have been found dead on French Atlantic beaches, exhausted by unusually heavy winter storms that prevent them from feeding, environmentalists said.

Over 500 common guillemots – seabirds related to penguins and puffins – have been found dead along the French Atlantic coast since the year began, the French League for Birds has estimated.

"Climate change is an indirect cause, as it increases the frequency and intensity of storms, particularly winter storms, which are the main reason for massive strandings of seabirds," CNRS research institute scientist Jerome Fort said.

Antoine Prevel, a volunteer for the nonprofit Sea Shepherd France, said guillemot beachings happen regularly in winter, but not to the scale of the past weeks.

In Conversation

Vanina Laurent-Ledru, director general at Foundation S, the philanthropic organization of global healthcare company Sanofi, shares her thoughts on the health effects of high temperatures and heavy rains said:

“The recent rise in dengue cases in Peru and across South America is alarming as there is no question that climate change is the catalyst.?

Coping with extreme weather events such as the deadly floods this week, this crisis compounds the strain on the region's already fragile healthcare systems.?

For countries like Peru, and many others, climate change is not an anticipated crisis of the future, it is happening now - threating livelihoods, public health, and for many, their lives.??

Urgent global cooperation is needed to ensure the rapid availability of financial assistance to help countries like Peru predict and adapt to the immediate and foreseeable health impacts of climate change. It is vital we take decisive, collective action now to help those on the frontlines and most at risk.”

ESG Lens

Large swaths of Australia sweated through severe heatwave conditions that lifted bushfire risk in the country's southeast during the weekend.

The nation's weather forecaster on Saturday had heatwave alerts in place for South Australia, New South Wales, Tasmania, the Australian Capital Territory and Victoria, warning temperatures in some regions went above 40 degrees Celsius (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

In Victoria's capital Melbourne, temperatures hit a maximum of 39 C (102.2 F) on Saturday, more than 15 degrees above the March mean, forecaster data showed.

ESG Spotlight

Today’s spotlight takes us to a Belgian animal rescue farm that offers ostrich hugs ?? to visitors.

Ostriches are normally territorial and aggressive birds best approached with caution, but at a Belgian animal rescue farm, the hand-reared birds are so gentle they will cuddle with visitors.

At the Passiehoeve animal rescue farm in Kalmthout, visitors can sit on a blanket in an enclosure where some of the ostriches will approach, sit, and rest their long necks on human shoulders.

"This is the only place in the world where ostriches will really cuddle with people," said Wendy Adriaens, 41, a former corporate executive who started the farm after saving a clutch of ostrich chicks from an ostrich meat farm.

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