A massive fire tore through the main market in the city of Hargeisa in northern Somalia overnight, injuring about two dozen people and 【小题1】(destroy) hundreds of businesses, officials have said.

Images 【小题2】(post) on social media showed flames and huge clouds of smoke in the night sky over the city, the capital of the breakaway region of Somaliland. The cause of the blaze 【小题3】 devastated the sprawling Waheen market, the lifeblood of the city and home 【小题4】 an estimated 2,000 shops and stalls, is not yet known.

Officials said it started on Friday evening but was largely brought under control by dawn on Saturday, although some small areas were still burning.

“The town has never witnessed such a massive calamity,” Hargeisa’s mayor, Abdikarim Ahmed Mooge, told reporters at the scene. “This place was the economic centre of Hargeisa and 【小题5】 the firefighters’ best efforts made to contain the fire, the market is destroyed.” He said the blaze could have been brought under control before causing such extensive damage but that the firefighters’ attempt 【小题6】(deny) due to access problems. The vast market is a crowded warren of shops and makeshift stalls, with no proper streets, only narrow pathways.

The Somaliland president, Muse Bihi Abdi, said during a visit to Waheen 【小题7】about 28 people, nine of them women, were injured, but that so far no loss of life 【小题8】(report). He said the government would be releasing one million dollars to help with the emergency response to the disaster.

Hargeisa chamber of commerce chairman Jamal Aideed said the loss of the market was immense 【小题9】 it accounted for 40% to 50% of the city’s economy.

“I have lost everything tonight, this fire was the biggest I have ever seen in my life,” said market trader Bashi Ali. “I had several businesses in the market and all of them burned to ashes. 【小题10】we can learn from this disaster is to plan the market well,” he added.

Venice—The Risk of the Disappearance of an Entire City

Venice is a stunning oddity. It is a city built atop around 120 islands, crisscrossed by 177 canals, and is best explored via the use of its 391 bridges. But the city is not well recently. Indeed, 【小题1】 drastic measures are taken, the city’s days could be numbered.

This is far from hyperbole(夸张): Venice is at very real risk of 【小题2】 (consume) by the sea. In worst-case scenario, the city could disappear beneath the waves by 2100. Meanwhile, many of its building are sinking 【小题3】 being damaged by the wakes of boats. It is also routinely overwhelmed by tourists, while its local population is in continual decline.

Globally, a lot of cities【小题4】 (hit) by similar problems of sinking land and rising sea levels in Venice. Low-lying Jakarta(雅加达), for example, is in such a terrible situation that it is being replaced 【小题5】 the capital city of Indonesia by Nusantara, a city not yet even built.

In November 2019, Venice suffered its second-worst flooding. It created headlines around the world, with onlookers 【小题6】 (astonish) by the incredible images of Saint Mark’s Square, one of the city’s lowest lying areas, covered in feet of water.

The tide reached a peak height of 187cm above sea level, 【小题7】 (result) in more than 80% of the city being under water. A state of emergency was declared, and there was an estimated €1bn euros worth of damage.

The worst ever flooding event, which happened in 1966, 【小题8】 (see) water levels rise to 194cm above sea level, and is thought 【小题9】 (damage) at least three quarters of the city’s shops, businesses and studios.

【小题10】 a gap of over 50 years separated these events, recent trends suggest that we won’t have to wait half a century to see another disastrous flood. Since water levels started being officially recorded in 1923, they have reached 150cm or more on only 10 occasions, but five of those have been in the last three years.

Henan Province 【小题1】 (strike) by terrible rainstorms in July, 2021. Heavy rainfall raised the emergency 【小题2】 (respond) for meteorological disasters to level I,   【小题3】 (high) level in a four —tier system, in Zhengzhou. The National Meteorological Center said hourly precipitation (降水量) in Zhengzhou reached 201.9 millimeters once in an hour.

Nearly 11.45 million residents in 139 counties across the province were affected due 【小题4】 the record —breaking heavy rainfall 【小题5】 started on July 16, said Li Changxun, deputy head of the province’s Department of Emergency Management on 26th, July. Hundreds of thousands of houses collapsed, and more than 1.31 million residents were relocated to safe places.【小题6】 total of 63 people had been killed with five people 【小题7】 (miss), reported by 26th, July, Li said, 【小题8】(add) that repair crews were hurrying to fix bridges, electrical substations and gas pipelines to help return people’s lives to normal.

Though flooding during the summer months is an annual occurrence in parts of China, recent rains have alarmed scientists and officials, raising questions as to whether we should be prepared 【小题9】 (deal) with more extreme and unpredictable weather 【小题10】 (cause) by climate change.