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Portugal
Wildfire Calamity Declared
Portuguese Prime Minister Luís Montenegro has declared a state of calamity for areas worst affected by wildfires blazing through the northern part of the country. Thousands of firefighters are battling over 100 separate fires, with at least seven people killed and thick, black smoke spreading into neighboring Spain. Portugal’s neighbors in Western Europe and Africa are providing support. Over 240 soldiers with specialized firefighting training are coming from Spain, and water-dumping planes from France, Italy, Morocco, and Spain all being deployed to aid Portugal in containing the fires. National security forces have been called upon to catch arsonists and others whose negligence may have sparked some of the fires.
This map depicts the locations of active wildfires burning in northern Portugal as of yesterday morning. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: France24
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Africa
Floods Devastate Sahel Region
Unprecedented flooding from persistent and unusually heavy rains has worsened humanitarian crises within the Sahel region, the transition zone between the Sahara and sub-Saharan Africa typically known for its dry climate. Last week, the collapse of the Alau Dam in northern Nigeria intensified the ongoing flooding, submerging 40% of the Borno State’s capital. Cameroon, Chad, Ghana, Liberia, Mali, Niger, and Nigeria have all been negatively impacted. The flooding has taken more than 1,000 lives and affected up to four million people, forcing nearly one million forced to flee their homes. The situation has worsened the existing humanitarian crisis in a region already suffering from the Boko Haram insurgency.
This map depicts the precipitation anomaly during August 14th-September 13th, 2024, in Western and Central Africa. Click on the map to learn more.
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Graphic Source: Bloomberg
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World
Superbugs to Kill 39 Million
An international team of scientists led by researchers from the University of Washington published a new study in The Lancet reviewing the growth of antimicrobial resistance (AMR) between 1990 and 2021. Based on the analysis of that data, the team predicts that over 39 million people will die between now and 2050 due to the growth of antimicrobial resistant “superbugs.” Deaths by patients under five years old have dropped more than 50% in the last three decades, but mortality rates for people over the age of 70 have grown 80%. Superbugs are bacteria that have evolved to no longer be affected by antibiotic drugs, and they are responsible for around 1 million deaths worldwide each year. That rate is rising annually and scientists behind the study believe the number could rise to 2 million by 2050 without new drugs and improved sanitation practices in hospitals.
This map depicts the predicted death rates per 100,000 people from infection by antimicrobial-resistant (AMR) bacteria by the year 2050. Click on the map to learn more.
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Q: What island is widely known as the Hawai’i of Japan?
A: Okinawa
Okinawa is often referred to as the “Hawaii of Japan” due to its lush vegetation, tropical climate, and white sand beaches. The Okinawa prefecture is composed of roughly the southwestern two-thirds of the Ryukyu Islands, that archipelago forming the division between the East China Sea to the northwest and the Philippine Sea to the southeast. Okinawa Island is the largest in the Ryukyus, being about 70 miles (112 km) long and 7 miles (11 km) wide and having an area of 463 square miles (1,199 square km). Naha, on the island, is the prefectural capital. Before Okinawa became a prefecture during the early part of the Meiji period (1868–1912), it was a semi-independent kingdom under the influence of both Japan and China.
Source
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Q: What is the largest peninsula in the world?
Stay tuned for the answer to today’s question in tomorrow’s DailyGeo.
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