Bengaluru: As the crucial assembly polls in Karnataka approach, a citizens' group has taken the initiative to raise voter awareness with their #VoteWisely program. The group has distributed pamphlets with various headlines related to current issues affecting the government, such as the 'rise' in crimes against women and the seizure of Rs 8 crore from the home of BJP MLA Madal Virupakshappa's son.
The crowd-funded initiative's pamphlets also feature a QR code that leads to their website. The website has an interface of an EVM (Electronic Voting Machine) where people can click on different sections such as Corruption, Education, Agriculture, Economy, Healthcare, Law and Order, and Environment. By clicking on each of these sections, visitors can read news articles about the government's performance in those particular fields.
The #VoteWisely program aims to educate voters on important issues and encourage them to make informed decisions while voting. The citizens' group hopes to empower the people to choose the right candidate who can bring positive changes in their lives.
The program comes at a time when political parties are engaging in intense campaigning, promising various initiatives and policies to woo voters. With the election just around the corner, such initiatives play an important role in raising awareness and educating voters on important issues.
The citizens' group's effort has been praised by many, as they believe it will help in promoting transparency and accountability among political parties. The initiative has also been successful in creating a buzz on social media, with people sharing pamphlets and QR codes on various platforms.
Access the #VoteWisely website by CLICKING HERE
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Los Angeles, Jan 11: The wildfires that erupted this week across Los Angeles County are still raging, but already are projected to be among the costliest natural disasters in US history.
The devastating blazes have killed at least 11 people and incinerated more than 12,000 structures since Tuesday, laying waste to entire neighbourhoods once home to multimillion-dollar properties.
While it's still too early for an accurate tally of the financial toll, the losses so far likely make the wildfires the costliest ever in the US, according to various estimates.
A preliminary estimate by AccuWeather put the damage and economic losses so far between USD 135 billion and USD 150 billion. By comparison, AccuWeather estimated the damage and economic losses caused by Hurricane Helene, which tore across six southeastern states last fall, at USD 225 billion to USD 250 billion.
“This will be the costliest wildfire in California modern history and also very likely the costliest wildfire in US modern history, because of the fires occurring in the densely populated areas around Los Angeles with some of the highest-valued real estate in the country,” said Jonathan Porter, the private firm's chief meteorologist.
AccuWeather factors in a multitude of variables in its estimates, including damage to homes, businesses, infrastructure and vehicles, as well as immediate and long-term health care costs, lost wages and supply chain interruptions.
The insurance broker Aon PLC also said Friday that the LA County wildfires will likely end up being the costliest in US history, although it did not issue an estimate. Aon ranks a wildfire known as the Camp Fire in Paradise, California, in 2018 as the costliest in US history up to now at USD 12.5 billion, adjusted for inflation. The Camp Fire killed 85 people and destroyed about 11,000 homes.
The LA County wildfires, which were fuelled by hurricane-force Santa Ana winds and an extreme drought, remained largely uncontained Saturday. That means the final tally of losses from the blazes is likely to increase, perhaps substantially.
“To put this into perspective, the total damage and economic loss from this wildfire disaster could reach nearly 4 per cent of the annual GDP of the state of California,” AccuWeather's Porter said.
In a report Friday, Moody's also concluded that the wildfires would prove to be the costliest in US history, specifically because they have ripped through densely populated areas with higher-end properties.
While the state is no stranger to major wildfires, they have generally been concentrated in inland areas that are not densely populated. That's led to less destruction per acre, and in damage to less expensive homes, Moody's noted.
That's far from the case this time, with one of the largest conflagrations destroying thousands of properties across the Pacific Palisades and Malibu, home to many Hollywood stars and executives with multimillion-dollar properties. Already, numerous celebrities have lost homes to the fires.
“The scale and intensity of the blazes, combined with their geographic footprint, suggest a staggering price tag, both in terms of the human cost and the economic toll,” Moody's analysts wrote. The report did not include a preliminary cost estimate of the wildfire damage.
It could be several months before a concrete tally of the financial losses from the wildfires will be possible.
“We're in the very early stages of this disaster,” Porter said.