BBC OS Conversations: The floods in Brazil

From historic buildings linked to emancipation to tiny village chapels, Jamaica is home to the world’s highest density of churches. The Caribbean Island faced a profound spiritual crisis after Hurricane Melissa devastated many of the 1600 sacred spaces where people gathered to wo ...  Show more

In India, official figures suggest that one in three women experience domestic violence. In 2023, police registered over 130,000 cases of marital abuse and more than 6,000 women were killed in disputes relating to dowries. Despite these high numbers, societal attitudes to domesti ...  Show more

Half of the world’s river systems host hydro-electric dams. They offer reliable electricity but their construction forces people from their homes and disrupts the natural life of the river.Scores of dams already span the Mekong River, the great waterway linking China to Vietnam. ...  Show more

In April, the South African province of KwaZulu-Natal experienced a period of heavy rainfall. It caused flooding that killed more than 400 people. Many are still unaccounted for and tens of thousands were made homeless. In recent days, the rains have returned putting more people ...  Show more

It’s been more than two weeks since devastating floods swept away large parts of the city of Derna. The government in the east of the country says more than 4000 people lost their lives in the disaster, although this number remains disputed. Many more thousands of people are stil ...  Show more

Sponge cities use natural features to slow down, soak up and reuse flood water. Yu Kongjian nearly drowned as a boy when his village flooded, but it inspired him to come up with the sponge city concept. It’s now being rolled out across China. In Singapore too, parks and lakes are ...  Show more