222
submitted 7 months ago by MicroWave@lemmy.world to c/world@lemmy.world

Chaos ensued in the United Arab Emirates after the country witnessed the heaviest rainfall in 75 years, with some areas recording more than 250 mm of precipitation in fewer than 24 hours, the state’s media office said in a statement Wednesday.

The rainfall, which flooded streets, uprooted palm trees and shattered building facades, has never been seen in the Middle Eastern nation since records began in 1949. In the popular tourist destination Dubai, flights were canceled, traffic came to a halt and schools closed.

One-hundred millimeters (nearly 4 inches) of rain fell over the course of just 12 hours on Tuesday, according to weather observations at the airport – around what Dubai usually records in an entire year, according to United Nations data.

The rain fell so heavily and so quickly that some motorists were forced to abandon their vehicles as the floodwater rose and roads turned into rivers.

you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 27 points 7 months ago

If you were otherwise dirt poor and you had the opportunity to become rich beyond your dreams selling something that to you is essentially free you wouldn't do it?

It's really easy to be moral from your armchair at home.

I'm not saying that makes it OK, but it's a real moral dilemma and we live in the real world. The UAE not selling oil wouldn't lower the demand for it, they'd still have been flooded, just with no oil money to help fix anything afterwards.

[-] kozy138@lemm.ee 13 points 7 months ago

If they didn't sell oil, there wouldn't be a giant, pseudo-city in the desert. Those people would probably build elsewhere, if at all.

[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Exactly my point.

[-] bitwaba@lemmy.world 1 points 7 months ago

Well if climate change keeps up, it sounds like they'll be a pseudo-city on the rain forest instead.

[-] macrocephalic@lemmy.world 7 points 7 months ago

Agreed. I dislike these countries because of who they are, not how they got rich.

[-] FlyingSquid@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

What makes you think the Sheikhs were dirt poor before the British started pumping oil?

[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 14 points 7 months ago* (last edited 7 months ago)

I'm obviously talking about the wealth of the whole country, not just it's richest citizens.

In 2009, the UAEs GDP was 85% based on oil, it doesn't take a triple digit IQ to do the maths here.

[-] force@lemmy.world 4 points 7 months ago

Dubai's poverty rate is 20% and a notable fraction of the population (1.5%) is slaves from central/south Asia who got their passports taken away from them, and median salary is USD$4300 (a single person's monthly expenses are estimated to average USD$1000 excluding rent). I can't call them a wealthy country when their citizens are far from it.

[-] 13esq@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

20% of the UK live in poverty.

11% of US citizens live in poverty

You can call them not rich if you want but that doesn't change the facts that they'd be so much poorer without oil money

[-] Squizzy@lemmy.world 3 points 7 months ago

Not like there is unsavoury alliances ad tendencies associated with this story. It is not just them making money.

this post was submitted on 17 Apr 2024
222 points (98.7% liked)

World News

39046 readers
2394 users here now

A community for discussing events around the World

Rules:

Similarly, if you see posts along these lines, do not engage. Report them, block them, and live a happier life than they do. We see too many slapfights that boil down to "Mom! He's bugging me!" and "I'm not touching you!" Going forward, slapfights will result in removed comments and temp bans to cool off.

We ask that the users report any comment or post that violate the rules, to use critical thinking when reading, posting or commenting. Users that post off-topic spam, advocate violence, have multiple comments or posts removed, weaponize reports or violate the code of conduct will be banned.

All posts and comments will be reviewed on a case-by-case basis. This means that some content that violates the rules may be allowed, while other content that does not violate the rules may be removed. The moderators retain the right to remove any content and ban users.


Lemmy World Partners

News !news@lemmy.world

Politics !politics@lemmy.world

World Politics !globalpolitics@lemmy.world


Recommendations

For Firefox users, there is media bias / propaganda / fact check plugin.

https://addons.mozilla.org/en-US/firefox/addon/media-bias-fact-check/

founded 1 year ago
MODERATORS