CANBERRA, Mar 13 (NNN-AGENCIES) – Australian Prime Minister, Scott Morrison, today called for more dams to be built, to boost the country’s flood resilience, acknowledging the role of climate change in flooding, that has hit Australia’s north-east.
However, he said that, instead of focusing on reducing greenhouse gas emissions, more are needed to be done, to mitigate the impacts of future floods and fires.
At least 20 people have died and thousands of buildings have been destroyed, in floods that began late in Feb, when parts of Queensland and New South Wales received a year’s worth of rain in a matter of days.
“Dealing with climate change isn’t just about getting emissions down, it’s about resilience and adaptation,” he told Nine Network television. “You want to deal with resilience on bushfires, you have to do fuel load management,” he said. “You want to deal with floods, you have to build dams.”
The federal government has been criticised for failing to immediately deploy resources, including the Australian Defence Force (ADF) to the flood zone.
Queensland Premier, Annastacia Palaszczuk, on Thursday rejected federal assistance, saying, it was offered too late and criticising Morrison for funding only three of the 20 flood mitigation measures she has proposed since Nov, 2020.
In response, Morrison said, the federal government deployed resources as quickly as it could.– NNN-AGENCIES
