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Lebanon
Buildings in South Destroyed
Nearly 25% of buildings near the Lebanese border have been destroyed in the conflict between the Israeli Defense Forces (IDF) and Hezbollah since Saturday. The IDF began a ground invasion of Lebanon in early October. Satellite data shows 80% of the buildings affected were destroyed in the past 2 weeks. The scale of the war has affected every part of Lebanon and forced 1 in 5 people to evacuate from their homes. The prime minister of Israel, Benjamin Netanyahu has said Israel’s war is not against common Lebanese, but with Hezbollah. Yesterday, after a warning to evacuate, the IDF began airstrikes on the ancient Lebanese city of Baalbek, prompting tens of thousands more people to flee.
This map depicts the percentage of damaged buildings in Lebanon. Click on the map to learn more.
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Africa
Mpox Remains on the Rise
An African Union watchdog says that the mpox outbreak remains on a steady upward trend and warns of a pandemic more severe than COVID-19 if aid is not provided. Since January, around 48,000 cases have been reported, and more than 1,000 people have died in Africa from mpox. The first case was detected in the popular tourist destination Mauritius, and since then, 19 African countries have documented cases. Central Africa alone accounts for 82.7% of the cases and 99.5% of the deaths on the continent. Yet, the lack of funds and weaknesses in Africa’s healthcare system, exposed by the COVID-19 pandemic, prevent African countries from taking the measures needed to keep this outbreak from evolving into another pandemic. In August, the World Health Organization named highly contagious mpox a public health emergency of international concern, and recently, the United Kingdom, Sweden, and Germany confirmed their first cases.
This map depicts the number of confirmed mpox cases in African countries from the beginning of 2022 through late September. Click on the map to learn more.
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World
Climate Disasters Worsening
The research group World Weather Attribution published a new report on the magnifying effects of human-driven climate change by highlighting the ten deadliest extreme weather events of the last 20 years. The report comes less than two weeks before the COP29 meeting in Baku, Azerbaijan, where representatives of world governments will discuss plans and financing for addressing the climate crisis. Extreme weather events are collectively responsible for the deaths of over 570,000 people worldwide over the last 20 years. They include heatwaves, droughts, storms, and heavy rainfall events. The report highlights how the worst effects of these events are felt by poor countries with relatively low historic carbon emissions per-capita. One strategy to address the disparity has been to push richer high-emitter countries to contribute to a fund to help compensate for damages suffered by countries more heavily impacted by extreme weather events.
This map depicts the ten worst extreme weather events of the last 20 years by the number of deaths, as detailed in a report by World Weather Attribution on the magnifying effects of human-driven climate change. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What African country is named after the Red Sea?
A: Eritrea
Eritrea is an ancient name, associated in the past with its Greek form Erythraia, Ἐρυθραία, and its derived Latin form Erythræa. This name relates to that of the Red Sea, then called the Erythræan Sea, from the Greek for “red”, ἐρυθρός, erythros. But earlier Eritrea was called Mdre Bahri. The Italians created the colony of Eritrea in the 19th century around Asmara and named it with its current name. After World War II, Eritrea was annexed by Ethiopia. Following the communist Ethiopian government’s collapse in 1991, Eritrea declared its independence. Eritrea officially celebrated its 1st anniversary of independence on May 24, 1993.
Source
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Q: Vlad the Impaler, the original Dracula, was born in Transylvania, Romania near what mountain range?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in Monday’s DailyGeo.
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