墓地が洪水で流されて

　ナイジェリア中部、Niger州。墓地が洪水で流されて、1500程の墓が破壊され、500ほど流出。1000体ほどが再埋葬。
　導師曰く、ああこの墓地が設立されてから500年、こんなことは初めてだ―！

　すわ天変地異か、それとも気候変動の犠牲か。ともあれ500年で初めてというのはフカシ過ぎだろうと思ったら、
1. 川の近く
2. 金を探しての鉱山作業が周辺の地盤を掘り崩していた
　ことが直接的な原因であって、そこに気候変動的な大雨が直撃したものらしい。

BBC Floods wash hundreds of bodies from Nigerian cemetery 21 Sep 2022　By Ishaq Khalid

「Floods have destroyed more than 1,500 graves at a cemetery in the central Nigerian town of Mariga in Niger state.

More than 500 graves have been swept away by the floods in the past week alone.

The chief imam of the town, Alhassan Musa Na’ibi, told the BBC about 1,000 decomposed bodies had been reburied.」

「The imam said the cemetery had never experienced such devastation since its establishment 500 years ago.」

「The cemetery is located near a river.」

「Residents say recent gold mining activities near the cemetery have also made it vulnerable – as the ground became weakened.」

「Nigeria is experiencing its worst wave of flooding in a decade – affecting 29 of its 36 states.

Since the end of July, more than 300 people have been killed and more than 100,000 others displaced from their communities.」

　今期は36州のうち29州が洪水被害。国土の2/3が被害に―といえば言い過ぎだろうが、ともあれ1/3が水浸しというパキスタンの例もあることだ。いずれにせよ300名の死亡を数え、1万人以上の避難民ーとなれば、相当なものだ。