Bangalore, IndiaWhen Shalini Sahni moved back to India after eight years in the U.S., she craved a waterside home like the one she had in Austin, Texas. This was not an easy thing in Bangalore (also known as Bengaluru), a landlocked, densely populated city in the middle of South India. But the electronics engineer found something similar in an apartment complex fringing Bellandur Lake, the city’s largest. Less than a year after moving in, her beautiful view of the lake was one of flames on the water.

The January 19 blaze burned for more than 30 hours and rained down ash on balconies and cars more than six miles away. Less than two weeks later, the lake caught fire again. Bellandur Lake