The centrality of water is a recurring theme in various religions. The Bible -- largely written amid water scarcity -- associates drought with the wrath of God. "By means of water," says the Quran, "we give life to everything." Hindu gods and goddesses related to water are tied to fertility or to new beginnings.
Asia, the world's driest continent per capita, symbolizes the paradox of water: a giver of life that can also be a destroyer when it becomes a carrier of deadly microbes or takes the form of a flood.
