In a recent poll, seven out of ten South Koreans said recent floods underlined the seriousness of climate change
, dedicated to the boddhisattva of compassion, is Earth’s most visited sacred site. Some 30m people a year pass through the temple’s imposing entrance, known as Kaminarimon, or Thunder Gate, flanked by Fujin, the god of wind, and his even fiercer brother, Raijin, the god of storms and rain. They are just one of countless reminders across North-East Asia that the natural calamities of downpours and floods are deeply enshrined in the region’s collective psyche.
In South Korea, too, the 54 days of rain this summer marked the longest monsoon on record. The Han river, which runs through Seoul, the capital, burst its banks. The heavy rains threatened North Korea’s already meagre food supply. Most of the western Pacific, the world’s biggest tropical-storm factory, has actually seen unusually few this season. Meteorologists had predicted that. Thanks to a regular rhythm in the climate known as the El Niño-Southern Oscillation, their models said tradewinds in lower latitudes would be stronger than usual, making it harder for typhoons to form.
Japan and South Korea grew rich by pouring concrete. Construction—dams, levees, pumping stations—still delights planners confronting threats from the weather. A shrine for the world’s disaster experts is a cathedral-like cistern under Tokyo, a 6.3km-network of tunnels and tanks supported by 500-tonne columns.
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