Asian cities continued to suffer disaster

Serious flooding, power shortages, power outages or traffic jams are pressures that big cities in Asia are suffering under the impact of dizzying economic development, extreme weather and events. Mechanical population growth by migration.

The weakness in strategy formulation, underinvestment in infrastructure and the lack of political will are making these densely populated areas vulnerable to climate change, According to experts.

In recent years, Bangkok (Thailand) and Manila (Philippines) have suffered from frequent floods, while India is in serious energy shortage because of insufficient supply for industrial and civil needs and office.

This is also the common situation of many Asian countries, where millions of people migrate to the city each year to escape poverty but face poor living conditions every time there are natural disasters.

In Thailand, the consequences of underground groundwater extraction for Bangkok's 12-million factory are a situation of home subsidence. And despite warnings about the dangers of building on muddy areas and areas at risk of subsidence, high-rise buildings still grow like mushrooms.

In Manila, rapid urbanization that blocks the natural flow along with the degradation of the drainage system is the main reason behind this month's historic flood. Meanwhile, the forests on the outskirts of Manila were destroyed to build houses for the middle and upper classes. In the inner city, immigrants build temporary houses along rivers, ditches for drainage, or along dykes and dispose of waste into polluting streams.

In India, last month, a power outage of more than half of the country caused more than 600 million Indians to be in shortage of necessities because supply was not enough. According to the UN report last year, currently, only 30% of the population in this country live in urban areas, lower than China (50.6%) and developed countries (70-80%). . It is forecasted that India's urban population will increase by 60% to 606 million by 2030. In addition, air conditioning, microwaves, washing machines and other electronic devices are increasingly being used. The wider use of energy makes the energy pressure in this country increase.

According to research by the McKinsey International Research Center, India needs an additional 350-400 kilometers of electric trains and 19,000-25,000 kilometers of roads. Currently, the capital Mumbai has a population density of 20,000 people / km ² , one of the places with the highest population density in the world. Trains from the suburbs are estimated to carry 7 million people a day and 3,000 people die each year from a rail accident.

Meanwhile, the capital Dhaka in Bangladesh is suffering the worst transport system in history. Leading transport expert Shamsul Haq said the situation in Dhaka was irreparable.

However, traffic congestion is not a problem of Dhaka itself, but it does happen in many other cities. For example, Jakarta is at the bottom of the list of 23 countries in Frost & Sullivan's 2011 survey of satisfaction with public transport. Experts predict that the bus system and the shortage of railways will make it a serious traffic jam in 2014.

According to Professor Sun Sheng Han, urban planning expert - Melbourne University of Australia, the core problem of the situation in Asian cities lies in the lack of vision in an area where policies distribute Urban development reflects the combination of 'political and economic ambitions'.