The large number of vultures circled over Tibet: Netizen wonders did the vulture smell the breath of death?
The COVID epidemic in Tibet is becoming more complicated and is spreading quickly.
According to Chinese media, Tibet officials’ 13th press conference on the prevention and control of the new pneumonia epidemic on August 21st reported 34 new confirmed cases of Covid-19 and 560 new asymptomatic infections locally.
Shelter hospitals have been built in various places. For example, three standardized shelter hospitals were built in Lhasa, Changdu, and Shigatse in the first half of the year, with 4,004 beds. These hospitals are now in use for quarantine.
In the context of a stressful epidemic, many vultures suddenly appeared in this area, making people worried. Xiwang Zhisheng quotes a netizen who exclaimed: “Creepy! Did the vulture smell the breath of death?”
A video posted by netizens shows the vultures hovering over a residential area in Tibet on August 19th.
In Tibet, people often use sky burial after death. Sky burial is a funeral practice in which a human corpse is placed on a mountaintop. Vultures appear when they smell corpses and treat them as food. Sky burial is generally located in the mountains, far from residential areas. But the appearance of so many vultures in residential areas is highly unusual.
Sichuan: Lack of electricity due to drought caused the death of a large number of fish
Several days of high temperatures and drought have affected Sichuan’s power supply.
As reported by Sina, the incoming water from Sichuan hydropower has been reduced by more than 50% yearly. The main reservoir that guarantees electricity consumption in load centers such as Chengdu has reached a dead water level, and hydropower generation capacity has been sharply reduced.
Lack of electricity greatly affects people’s lives. On August 19, netizens posted a video saying that the fish were deprived of oxygen after a temporary power outage damaged the generator. Many dead fish floated all over the water, causing heavy damage.
Heatwaves and drought continue in China: Farmers struggle to save crops
According to The Paper, up to 66 rivers in 34 counties of Chongqing have dried up, and meteorological service statistics indicated that one district in the area was the hottest in the nation, reaching 45 degrees Celsius (113 degrees Fahrenheit).
The government data reported that rainfall in Chongqing this year is 60% lower than the seasonal average, and agriculture in numerous areas is severely short of moisture.
The dry conditions have greatly affected the lives and crops of the people.
Reuters quoted Chen, a farmer with a plot of land in the village of Fuyuan in the rural Chongqing region in China’s southwest. Chen said, “This year is drier than 1960 … The temperature is higher.”
The water from mountain streams adjacent to the Yangtze river that supply Chen’s small plot has recently dried up to nothing. His major crops are drying up, which include sweet potatoes.
Not only Chongqing but other places also experienced crop failures.
The central province of Anhui, which also relies on the Yangtze for water supplies, warned this week that parched soil was affecting over 217,000 acres of autumn crops.
In addition, a video shared by He Nan residents shows that the peanut and corn fields have withered, and crops cannot grow.
According to the forecast of the authorities, the high temperature will continue to complicate matters in the foreseeable future.
