TAIPEI // More than 1,200 people were evacuated from a Taiwan water park after solar panels caught fire in the midst of a heatwave that has seen record power consumption as the island struggles to keep cool.
The fire in Taipei, which happened on Wednesday, could have been sparked by soaring temperatures, according to local media. The mercurcy hit 38.5°C for two consecutive days on Wednesday and Thursday, the second highest temperature ever recorded for July.
Nobody was injured and the fire was put out within half an hour, but it left a swathe of solar panels at the park blackened and distorted.
The Taipei water park’s chief engineer Wang Ming-fu said the fire may have been the result of a short circuit due to high temperatures or the overheating of the panels, which have been in service for 10 years, Taiwan’s Central New Agency reported.
Fire department officials said they were still investigating the cause of the blaze but added it was rare for solar panels to ignite.
The water park reopened on Thursday. Visitors were undeterred by the the previous day’s blaze as they sought respite from the sweltering heat after a month of scorching weather.
The hot spell is set to continue for the next few days, prompting a warning from Taiwan’s power authorities who say that energy is running low.
Daily power usage hit a record 35.821 million kilowatts on Wednesday, Taiwan Power Company said, as residents reached for the air conditioning.
Electricity consumption in July up was 1.17 per cent from the same period last year, it said.
The heatwave comes after US scientists warned that 2016 is likely to be the hottest year ever globally.
The warmest weather ever recorded in Taipei was 39.3°C in August 2013.
* Agence France-Presse
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UAE squad
Ali Kashief, Salem Rashid, Khalifa Al Hammadi, Khalfan Mubarak, Ali Mabkhout, Omar Abdelrahman, Mohammed Al Attas (Al Jazira), Mohmmed Al Shamsi, Hamdan Al Kamali, Mohammad Barghash, Khalil Al Hammadi (Al Wahda), Khalid Eisa, Mohammed Shakir, Ahmed Barman, Bandar Al Ahbabi (Al Ain), Adel Al Hosani, Al Hassan Saleh, Majid Suroor (Sharjah), Waleed Abbas, Ismail Al Hammadi, Ahmed Khalil (Shabab Al Ahli Dubai) Habib Fardan, Tariq Ahmed, Mohammed Al Akbari (Al Nasr), Ali Saleh, Ali Salmeen (Al Wasl), Hassan Al Mahrami (Baniyas)
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Goalkeepers: Masaaki Higashiguchi, Shuichi Gonda, Daniel Schmidt
Defenders: Yuto Nagatomo, Tomoaki Makino, Maya Yoshida, Sho Sasaki, Hiroki Sakai, Sei Muroya, Genta Miura, Takehiro Tomiyasu
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Forwards: Yuya Osako, Takuma Asano, Koya Kitagawa
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What is THAAD?
It is considered to be the US's most superior missile defence system.
Production:
It was created in 2008.
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THAAD missiles can travel at over Mach 8, so fast that it is hypersonic.
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THAAD is designed to take out ballistic missiles as they are on their downward trajectory towards their target, otherwise known as the "terminal phase".
Purpose:
To protect high-value strategic sites, such as airfields or population centres.
Range:
THAAD can target projectiles inside and outside the Earth's atmosphere, at an altitude of 150 kilometres above the Earth's surface.
Creators:
Lockheed Martin was originally granted the contract to develop the system in 1992. Defence company Raytheon sub-contracts to develop other major parts of the system, such as ground-based radar.
UAE and THAAD:
In 2011, the UAE became the first country outside of the US to buy two THAAD missile defence systems. It then stationed them in 2016, becoming the first Gulf country to do so.
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How to protect yourself when air quality drops
Install an air filter in your home.
Close your windows and turn on the AC.
Shower or bath after being outside.
Wear a face mask.
Stay indoors when conditions are particularly poor.
If driving, turn your engine off when stationary.
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More than 2.2 million Indian tourists arrived in UAE in 2023
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Indian tourists can make purchases in UAE using rupee accounts in India through QR-code-based UPI real-time payment systems
Indian residents in UAE can use their non-resident NRO and NRE accounts held in Indian banks linked to a UAE mobile number for UPI transactions
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A comparison of sending Dh20,000 from the UAE using two different routes at the same time - the first direct from a UAE bank to a bank in Germany, and the second from the same UAE bank via an online platform to Germany - found key differences in cost and speed. The transfers were both initiated on January 30.
Route 1: bank transfer
The UAE bank charged Dh152.25 for the Dh20,000 transfer. On top of that, their exchange rate margin added a difference of around Dh415, compared with the mid-market rate.
Total cost: Dh567.25 - around 2.9 per cent of the total amount
Total received: €4,670.30
Route 2: online platform
The UAE bank’s charge for sending Dh20,000 to a UK dirham-denominated account was Dh2.10. The exchange rate margin cost was Dh60, plus a Dh12 fee.
Total cost: Dh74.10, around 0.4 per cent of the transaction
Total received: €4,756
The UAE bank transfer was far quicker – around two to three working days, while the online platform took around four to five days, but was considerably cheaper. In the online platform transfer, the funds were also exposed to currency risk during the period it took for them to arrive.
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