Cholera epidemic

360,000 cases of cholera in Yemen.
The springs of Yemen were pure clean 'fossil' water, until the 1970s or so when the Saudis sank boreholes into their desert and extracted water into rotary irrigation systems, growing salad crops etc. Water evaporated rapidly in the desert heat, but there was apparently, no limit to the amount that could be extracted. The springs in Yemen dried up.

The cholera bug came origionally from the Ganges delta, it thrives in warm, brackish water, the sort of water that would seep into the underground aquifers of the arabian peninsular, when large amounts of fresh water were removed.

and

The mangrove swamps that used to cover the coastline of Thailand were removed for prawn farms and tourism. Mangrove swamps absorb much of the power of big waves hitting the coast, a lot less people would have been killed by the 2004 tsunami, if they hadn't been removed.

Of course natural disasters, earthquakes and epidemics happen anyway, but, things humans do to 'improve' things can make them a lot worse.

Man. Don't you just love him. Yemen - war by proxy. Keeps Saudi and Iran from direct conflict. The 'Yemen' is expendable in the wider scheme of things. Sad world.

The damage to Yemen's water supply may have been part of a water war strategy, or just ignorance, the horror events of today are on top of that previous damage to the country, it's cumulative, and tragic.

The whole bloody world is tragic.

http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/12/121217-pictures-greening-desert-irrigation-water-grabs/

An enormous amount of water has been extracted from under the desert, seems it's running out now, so they are buying up agricultural land abroad. International events do seem outstandingly tragic, especially in the middle east.

The Water Wars will follow the end of the Terror Wars as global warming and outstripped resources dwindle in the arid regions. The only good thing regarding the Terror Wars is that populations will move and numbers left will be fewer in those affected areas making it less likely for the Water Wars to last very long. Then will come the Pandemics and the Robots -. Glad I won't be around.

Seems a pity to miss the robot wars. Will it be on telly?

The telly will have been superseded by the WHAMU (world home automatic media unit) which will appear on any surface the viewer desires at the touch of an earlobe. All 'legal' downloads will inform of the progress of the human endeavours to eradicate the rebel robots to restore 'order' amongst the enslaved cybernate population. But I have to tell you something -. Unless you are a 'robot' you won't be around to make any viewing 'cause it's at least a century away.