Large-scale flooding has struck China, Bangladesh and other regions as extreme rainfall and typhoons occurred in succession amid the climate crisis. In China, fake news spread alongside the record flooding, prompting authorities to launch crackdowns.
According to Reuters, AP and AFP on the 12th, about 2 million people were evacuated across China due to the landfall of the ninth typhoon of the season, 'Bavi,' and heavy rains. Earlier, torrential rains and landslides battered southern China, leaving at least 39 people dead, and concerns over casualties are growing as the major typhoon has made landfall. In Zhejiang Province, classes, work, transportation and outdoor activities were suspended. In China's capital Beijing, more than 100,000 residents were evacuated due to heavy rain, while 130,000 were evacuated in Fujian Province and about 34,000 in the coastal areas of Shanghai. Across China, more than 2,800 domestic and international flights were expected to be canceled during the single day of the 12th. In Taiwan, 113 people including five foreigners were injured and 14,000 were evacuated.
In Bangladesh, the death toll from floods and landslides caused by heavy rains over the past week has risen to at least 44, with more than 1 million people stranded. Since the 6th, two landslides occurred following heavy rains at a Myanmar Rohingya refugee camp in the Cox's Bazar area of Chattogram Province, killing 16 refugees including children.
Meanwhile, in China, authorities launched a crackdown after false information spread, including claims that all regions would experience power outages at certain times. According to Chinese local media, three people who spread false information related to the flooding in Zhejiang, Guangxi and Hubei provinces received administrative detention of three to seven days. They were reported to have edited together footage of flooding from other regions to heighten anxiety, or created and spread fake weather forecasts using artificial intelligence (AI).
