Life & death: Polling day witnesses contrasting incidents in Karnataka
Bengaluru, May 10: The voting day for Karnataka Assembly elections presented a sharp contrast where birth and death happened in polling booths on Wednesday.
The booths also witnessed brides and bridegrooms voting for their public representative before tying the nuptial knot with their chosen ones.
According to information received, a woman delivered a baby boy soon after casting her vote at Korlagundi village in Kurugodu Taluk of Ballari district.
A medical team along with some other women present at the booth made the arrangements and helped the woman, who developed pain, go into labour. "Without much suffering, she delivered a baby boy at the polling station. The entire polling booth burst into joy," an official said.
At Chikkole village in Belur Taluk of Hassan district, 49-year-old Jayanna died of heart attack soon after casting his vote. In another incident, Paravva Sidnal (70) died even before casting her vote at Yarajharvi village in Belagavi district.
At a village near Hangal town in Haveri district, the entire village initially refrained from voting as they were mourning the demise of an ox, which people used to worship. In keeping with their age-old tradition, the villagers used to decorate it during Deepavali and made it run through a crowded track.
The villagers had an emotional bonding with the Hori', the ox. After its death, the entire village went into mourning and got themselves busy with conducting its last rites.
When Election officials learnt about it, they rushed to the village and appealed to the people to do their duty towards democracy. Later, people went to the polling station in the evening and cast their votes.
An inspiring story came from Bengaluru, where a kidney ailment patient on dialysis Kulashekar Ramanujan on a stretcher reached the polling booth and exercised his franchise.
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There were brides and bridegrooms in the queue who voted in multiple booths.
Sahil Dhariwal (26), preferred casting his vote ahead of his marriage in Bengaluru.
"I am voting for the first time. Last time I could not vote because of certain reasons. This time I made a point not to miss this opportunity," Dhariwal said.
At Periyapatna in Mysuru district, a couple queued up for voting soon after they tied the nuptial knot.
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Los Angeles county wildfires could be costliest in US history, early estimates say
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.
