31/05/2009HANOI, May 31 (Reuters) - A 23-year-old Vietnamese student who returned home from the United States has been confirmed as having the H1N1 influenza virus, the first case in the Southeast Asian country, a Vietnamese doctor said on Sunday.
"The patient is still strong and he looks normal, but we can confirm that he is the first case of an H1N1 infection in Vietnam," the doctor from the Pasteur Institute in Ho Chi Minh City said, citing laboratory test results. The Tuoi Tre newspaper reported on Sunday that the student started developing a slight fever on May 25 after returning to the southern city from America and he was hospitalised on May 29.
Initial tests at the city's tropical diseases hospital were positive for H1N1. The Pasteur Institute, a medical research centre, cross-tested his samples and re-confirmed the presence of the virus, the doctor, who declined to be identified, told Reuters.
The newspaper and the doctor did not say where the student had been in the United States or which airline he took back to Vietnam.
Vietnam -- which has grappled with the more deadly H5N1 bird flu virus in recent years -- requires any suspected H1N1 cases to be isolated for seven days.
The H1N1 virus has infected at least 15,600 people globally and killed 113, most of them in Mexico. 30/05/2009NEW DELHI, May 29 (Reuters) - India has started a pilot project to quantify climate benefits from a massive anti-poverty scheme that could become one of the country's main weapons to fight criticism it is not doing enough to tackle global warming.
The flagship anti-poverty plan, started three years ago, provides 100 days of employment every year to tens of millions of rural poor, a move that partly helped the Congress party-led coalition return to power in a general election this month.
About 70 percent of works under the project, known as the National Rural Employment Guarantee Act (NREGA), are "green jobs" such as water harvesting, afforestation and land development.
"Here is a programme which is an anti-poverty project that also yields co-benefits of adaptation to climate change and reduction of vulnerabilities against climate change," said Rita Sharma who heads the ministry overseeing the jobs scheme.
The pilot project is being carried out in four states in collaboration with experts from the premier Indian Institute of Science.
"Within the next two years we should begin to get some handle on what kind of quantification is happening as a result of the NREGA works," Sharma said, adding some data could be available from smaller samples in about a month.
India's current stand on climate change does not please Western countries, which want more commitment to curbing rapidly rising greenhouse gas emissions from one of the world's top polluters.
The top U.S. energy forecast agency said on Wednesday that much of the growth in CO2 emissions from burning fossil fuels over the next two decades will come from developing countries, which already produce more than half of mankind's carbon pollution.
By 2030, carbon dioxide emissions from developing countries should hit 25.8 billion tonnes, while the pollution from rich countries should be 14.6 billion tonnes, said the Energy Information Administration in its annual International Energy Outlook.
PRIORITY
New Delhi says priority must go to economic growth to lift millions out of poverty while gradually shifting to clean energy led by solar power as well as increased energy efficiency.
Despite rapid expansion of renewable energy, such as wind turbines, coal is likely to remain a growing source of energy to power India's economy.
Indian officials say the West must recognise the huge amount of benefit, such as carbon sequestration and emission reductions, achieved through projects such as NREGA. But some experts worry India could use such projects as a way to avoid additional investment in renewable energy and energy efficiency.
According to official figures, even if renewable energy was expanded 40-fold, carbon dioxide emissions could rise from one billion tonnes per year to 3.9 billion tonnes per year by 2031-2032. Under energy projections that assume an even higher rate of coal use, such emissions could rise to 5.5 billion tonnes per year by 2031-2032.
So, experts say, climate benefits accruing from development projects would fall way short in fighting any exponential rise in pollution in India.
"At best, climate benefits from development schemes should be be treated as a supplementary effort to the main climate change plan," said K. Srinivas of Greenpeace's India climate change programme.
But Sharma said such views only reflected a narrow Western outlook which did not have the required mechanism to recognise the climate contribution from social projects.
"The Clean Development Mechanism and other mechanisms under the Kyoto Protocol are yet not fine-tuned enough so that programmes of this kind could be recognised," she said.
Under the CDM, companies and governments can invest in emissions cuts made by projects in developing nations, and in return receive offset credits that can be used to meet Kyoto targets or sold for profit.
"There is both a need for us to do the quantification and on the other hand there is also need for the international community to be able to develop mechanisms that recognise and give credit for such programmes." HANOI, May 29 (Reuters) - Vietnam will soon ratify the United Nations Convention Against Corruption, one of the country's top graft fighters said on Friday, a milestone in tackling an endemic problem that threatens investment and aid.
"It is on the desk of the Prime Minister already," state Inspector General Tran Van Truyen told reporters, adding that it would soon go to President Nguyen Minh Triet for approval.
The document, which Vietnam signed in December 2003, is binding and according to Ran Liao, senior programme coordinator for East and Southeast Asia with Transparency International, would make it criminal for Vietnamese officials to accept bribes from foreign companies or pay bribes overseas.
"It is a very big deal," Liao said on the sidelines of a half-day anti-corruption dialogue in Hanoi between the government and the international donor community.
But several participants in the dialogue on Friday said legislation was not the problem for Vietnam, which already has a robust anti-corruption law.
"The real challenge, or maybe one should say the real problem, is implementation," Swedish Ambassador Rolf Bergman said.
Corruption is rife in Vietnam, from contractors skimming funds off large-scale infrastructure projects to traffic cops extracting money from motorists. The country ranked 121 out of 160 included in Transparency International's corruption perception index for 2008.
In the first quarter of this year, the number of new legal cases, prosecutions and trials for corruption all fell compared with the same period last year, a report by the Office of the Central Steering Committee on Anti-Corruption said.
It was unclear whether the decline was because there was less corruption or the problem was being monitored less effectively, Bergman said.
Last year, Vietnam's biggest single official development assistance (ODA) donor, Japan, suspended aid over a corruption scandal at a Japanese-funded project. It has since agreed to resume new aid commitments and also established measures with Vietnam to avoid future problems.
The problem, however, still runs deep.
"The issue of corruption is a serious concern for the Asian Development Bank as well as for the government, because if there are problems we will have difficulty to continue assisting Vietnam's development process," Ayumi Konishi, the ADB's Vietnam representative, said.
"For us, it's really the issue of our raison d'etre, so to speak." Climate change is greatest humanitarian challenge facing the world as heatwaves, floods and forest fires become more severe
A family wades through flood waters to catch a relief boat, north-east of Patna, India. Photograph: Manish Swarup/AP
Climate change is already responsible for 300,000 deaths a year and is affecting 300m people, according to the first comprehensive study of the human impact of global warming.
It projects that increasingly severe heatwaves, floods, storms and forest fires will be responsible for as many as 500,000 deaths a year by 2030, making it the greatest humanitarian challenge the world faces.
Economic losses due to climate change today amount to more than $125bn a year — more than all the present world aid. The report comes from former UN secretary general Kofi Annan's thinktank, the Global Humanitarian Forum. By 2030, the report says, climate change could cost $600bn a year.
Civil unrest may also increase because of weather-related events, the report says: "Four billion people are vulnerable now and 500m are now at extreme risk. Weather-related disasters ... bring hunger, disease, poverty and lost livelihoods. They pose a threat to social and political stability".
If emissions are not brought under control, within 25 years, the report states:
• 310m more people will suffer adverse health consequences related to temperature increases
• 20m more people will fall into poverty
• 75m extra people will be displaced by climate change.
Climate change is expected to have the most severe impact on water supplies . "Shortages in future are likely to threaten food production, reduce sanitation, hinder economic development and damage ecosystems. It causes more violent swings between floods and droughts. Hundreds of millions of people are expected to become water stressed by climate change by the 2030. ".
The study says it is impossible to be certain who will be displaced by 2030, but that tens of millions of people "will be driven from their homelands by weather disasters or gradual environmental degradation. The problem is most severe in Africa, Bangladesh, Egypt, coastal zones and forest areas. ."
The study compares for the first time the number of people affected by climate change in rich and poor countries. Nearly 98% of the people seriously affected, 99% of all deaths from weather-related disasters and 90% of the total economic losses are now borne by developing countries. The populations most at risk it says, are in sub-Saharan Africa, the Middle East, south Asia and the small island states of the Pacific.
But of the 12 countries considered least at risk, including Britain, all but one are industrially developed. Together they have made nearly $72bn available to adapt themselves to climate change but have pledged only $400m to help poor countries. "This is less than one state in Germany is spending on improving its flood defences," says the report.
The study comes as diplomats from 192 countries prepare to meet in Bonn next week for UN climate change talks aimed at reaching a global agreement to reduce greenhouse gas emissions in December in Copenhagen. "The world is at a crossroads. We can no longer afford to ignore the human impact of climate change. This is a call to the negotiators to come to the most ambitious agreement ever negotiated or to continue to accept mass starvartion, mass sickness and mass migration on an ever growing scale," said Kofi Annan, who launched the report today in London.
Annan blamed politians for the current impasse in the negotiations and widespread ignorance in many countries. "Weak leadership, as evident today, is alarming. If leaders cannot assume responsibility they will fail humanity. Agreement is in the interests of every human being."
Barabra Stocking, head of Oxfam said: "Adaptation efforts need to be scaled up dramatically.The world's poorest are the hardest hit, but they have done the least to cause it.
Nobel peace prizewinner Wangari Maathai, said: "Climate change is life or death. It is the new global battlefield. It is being presented as if it is the problem of the developed world. But it's the developed world that has precipitated global warming."
Calculations for the report are based on data provided by the World Bank, the World Health organisation, the UN, the Potsdam Insitute For Climate Impact Research, and others, including leading insurance companies and Oxfam. However, the authors accept that the estimates are uncertain and could be higher or lower. The paper was reviewed by 10 of the world's leading experts incluing Rajendra Pachauri, head of the UN's Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change, Jeffrey Sachs, of Columbia University and Margareta Wahlström, assistant UN secretary general for disaster risk reduction.
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| Workers cut stakes at an embankment project in Da Nang. The stakes were installed improperly and the project is months overdue. |
| Two coastal embankment projects in Da Nang, not even half completed, have already missed completion deadlines before the rainy season, when construction becomes more difficult. |
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“One project manager blamed design mistakes but they both faced an increase in construction material prices last year,” said Le Duy Vong, head of the City Agency For Irrigation Works and Flood Prevention, the projects’ main investor.
He said the Lien Chieu embankment project was scheduled to be completed by the end of 2008 but only 40 percent had been finished so far.
Construction of the VND30 billion-project (US$168,870) began early last year in Lien Chieu District. Da Nang Urban Projects Company and An Phu Development & Investment Company won bids for the 900- meter coastal dike.
On a visit to the site earlier this week, Thanh Nien saw very little work being undertaken, just a few removing metal stakes from the ground, no other activity. A worker said the stakes had been hammered into the ground improperly by surveyors and needed to be removed.
During a visit to the Lien Chieu – Thuan Phuoc embankment project, construction was also slow. This time a few workers were installing a few metal stakes.
The project aims to prevent erosion along 2.1 kilometers of coastline adjacent to Nguyen Tat Thanh Street.
With a total investment of VND70 billion ($3.94 million), the project was undertaken by Agriculture Investment and Development Joint Stock Company and was originally scheduled for completion before the rainy season began this month.
But the company has completed only 30 percent of the construction.
“Why are these important projects moving slower than a turtle?” Vong asked.
He said high prices last year were no excuse.
“I don’t understand why construction is still slow, construction material prices have already dropped!”
He said his agency would not pay the construction companies until the pace of work picked up. He added that he may suggest holding another auction to choose new constructors.
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28/05/2009
Guiding principles for including climate adaptation in poverty reduction efforts
Authors: K. Ulsrud; L. Sygna; K. O’Brien
Publisher: Development Fund, Norway, 2008
This report aims to contribute to the increased understanding of how to integrate climate change adaptation in poverty reduction projects and programs in ways that increase the capacity of individuals, households and communities to respond to climate variability and change. The analysis investigates what types of factors need to be addressed at local, regional, and global levels in order to make sustainable adaptation to climate change possible, and what kinds of activities and measures for climate adaptation should be included in development projects. The report explores what adaptation to climate change can look like in practice.
Based on the case studies and the climate adaptation literature, the report introduces some guiding principles for how to take climate adaptation into account in poverty reduction efforts for reducing climate risk and vulnerability and increasing the capacity to adapt. The guidelines aim to promote poverty reduction projects and programs that are robust to climatic variability and change, and that make climate adaptation work to the benefit of the poor, including:
- incorporate adaptation into broader development efforts, instead of planning separate climate change adaptation projects. Address central development challenges facing people and communities, while considering ways that climate conditions influence challenges. Be aware that some development projects can increase vulnerability and reduce flexibility of people and communities
- base adaptation activities on sufficient understanding of local livelihood strategies and contexts, poor people’s problems, efforts, values and aims and how these relate to local climate variability and change. Involve and empower local actors in planning and implementation
- base adaptation activities on sufficient understanding of a diversity of potential solutions. See the importance of different types of knowledge systems as a basis for promoting diversity and flexibility in livelihood strategies
- identify and address barriers to social and technological change for sustainable adaptation. Identify and address the links between local living conditions and factors at different geographical levels influencing the opportunities to upgrade people’s livelihood strategies
- identify and spread good examples of social and technological change, especially through South-South learning, and involve poor people in the processes
- identify adaptation strategies and policies that are also resilient to future climate change, increased variability, and more intense and frequent extreme events.
VietNamNet Bridge – China’s construction of big hydro-power dams on the Mekong River will be a great threat to the future of the river, a significant water source for Southeast Asia, a United Nations report said. Senior experts analysed the impacts on Vietnam’s Mekong River Delta.
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Farmers in the Mekong River Delta are facing the encroachment of salt water. Photo: Farmers in Tien Giang province cut down rice stalks, which are dried by salt water as food for cattle. |
According to AP, China has built eight dams on the upper Mekong River in Yunnan province. It recently finished the construction of the 292m Xiaowan Dam, the world’s highest arch dam. The UN report released on May 21 said that this dam’s capacity is equivalent to the entire capacity of all reservoirs in Southeast Asia.
At the same time, Laos has begun to build 23 dams on the lower Mekong River and its estuaries. This work is scheduled to finish in 2010.
The UN report stated that just the Xiaowan Dam alone can reduce the water volume and the running speed of water, lowering water quality and biodiversity in the Mekong River, which runs through six countries.
Young Woo Park, the UN Environment Programme director, warned the six governments to pay attention to the Mekong River, otherwise the future water resources of these countries may be threatened.
Ky Quang Vinh, director of the HCM City-based Centre for Observation of Natural Resources and the Environment, analysed the impacts of Chinese dams on the lower section of the Mekong River, particularly the Mekong River Delta of Vietnam.
He said: Dams of 15m height are quite big. It is unimaginable that the Xiaowant Dam is 292m. This dam may help draw water to serve some dry regions in China or to produce hydro-power. However, a vast area will be submerged, which will cause changes in the eco-system in this region. Some flora and fauna species may disappear, including rare ones.
The Mekong River is being cut into pieces, not only by the Xiaowan Dam in China, but dams in other countries like Laos, Thailand and Cambodia. These Southeast Asian countries plan to build 11 hydro-power dams on the main branch of the Mekong River. These dams will prevent flows of fish and cause disorder in the river, threatening the lives of millions of people who live along the river.
China’s dams on the upper Mekong River have caused serious environmental problems for the lower section like in Myanmar, northern Thailand and northern Laos. The decline of fish reserves and the change of the water level will make the lives of local people harder.
The Mekong River ranks behind only the Amazon in diversity of aquatic animals. It is one of the richest baskets of fresh-water fish in the world, which supports over 60 million people. It is estimated that the river yields income of more than $3 billion a year.
The construction of dams on the main stem of the river will threaten the extinction of rare animals, for example the Irrawaddy dolphin, Mekong giant catfish and others. Eco-regression will be a global disaster.
In Vietnam, there will be eco-changes. A huge volume of fish often moves to the Cuu Long River (the section of Mekong River in Vietnam) during the flood season. Dams prevent the flow of fish to Vietnam. In addition, ecological balance will shift. Perhaps the Mekong River Delta will not have a flood season anymore because there will not be enough water.
More dangerously, the river will be seriously short of fresh water. It happened in the recent dry season and will be more serious in the coming years. The water volume has also decreased. Measurements conducted last October showed that the flow was 28,000 cu.m per second while it was 40,000 cu.m in the past.
In the 2009 winter-spring crop, the flow of the Tien and Hau Rivers was only 1,600 cu.m per second, 100 cu.m per second less than required. In some areas in the lower section of the Cuu Long River, farmers lacked fresh water for irrigation. In coastal areas of Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Tra Vinh, Soc Trang, Bac Lieu and Ca Mau, salt water encroached 70km into the mainland.
In Vi Thanh town, Tien Giang province, for the first time the local people had to use salt water for 3-4 days continuously because tap water providers didn’t know that their sources of water were contaminated with salt water.
Prof. Ngo Dinh Tuan, chairman of the Institute for Southeast Asian Water Resources and Environment’s Scientific Council, said:
In the 1950s, China announced its strategy to move water from the south to the north. Since then they have constructed many dams on the Mekong River. These dams initially serve hydro-power production but according to many experts, they will serve to transfer water from the Mekong River to the Yangzi River and then to the dry northern region of China.
Other countries like Laos, Cambodia and Thailand are also building dams on the river. It is estimated that around 20 dams will be built on the river and these dams will greatly influence Vietnam, at the lower section of the Mekong River.
If China builds dams to serve power production, the first impact would be a remarkable reduction of aquatic resources and the volume of alluvium in the Mekong River Delta, resulting in landslides to balance the alluvial volume. It would be very dangerous for people who live in the lower section.
If China builds dams to transfer water from the Mekong River to the northern region, it would be very dangerous because the water volume going down to the lower section would be reduced considerably.
Some institutions have been established to deal with these problems, for example the Mekong River Committee of Vietnam and the International Mekong River Committee, which groups up Vietnam, Laos, Cambodia and Thailand. However, the role of these institutions is modest.
Anyways, the Mekong River Committee of Vietnam partly contributes to prevent adverse impacts on the lower section of the Mekong River. We have to take initiative in joining voices with the world in preventing countries on the upper part of the river from overexploiting water resources. We have to accept the construction of dams to produce hydroelectricity but we have to protest the transfer of water from the river to other regions, otherwise the impacts would be very serious, especially when Vietnam has to suffer from impacts of climate changes.
We need a national strategy on this issue. I think we have to build doors at the estuaries of nine branches of the Mekong River in Vietnam to prevent the encroachment of salt water. We also have to build reservoirs to stock up on water for the dry season.
This is a big issue that the government should address soon. It is not only a problem for the Cuu Long River, but the Red River as well, because China has also built dams on the upper Red River.
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Dams on Mekong River
In the 1980s, China began drawing up plans to build cascade of dams on the Mekong River in its territory. China has put four of these dams into use. The construction of dams in China seriously harms the ecological environments of countries in the lower section like Myanmar, Thailand, Laos and Vietnam.
The Yunnan hydro-power information network named eight major hydro-power works which will be built on the Lancang River (Mekong River), the section running through Yunnan province. Among them, a dam named Guongguoqiao with the annual capacity of 4.04 million MW is 105m high. Geological exploration was conducted last November. China plans to store water as of June 2011.
Next to the Guongguoqiao dam is Xiaowan (19 million MW/year), which is 292m in height and will be put into operation in October 2009.
Another dam is Manwan (6.2 million MW/year), which started operating in 1993. This dam is 132m in height, and its reservoir can hold 920 million cu.m of river water.
Next to it is Daichaoshan dam (5.9 million MW/year), around 600km from Kunming city, 111m in height. It can hold 940 million cu.m of water. The dam was put into use in late 2001.
After Daichaoshan is 108m-high Jinhong dam (7.85 million MW/year). Construction was kicked off in mid 2003 and put into full operation in 2009.
Three other dams will be built from now to 2011: Nuozhado (located between Daichaoshan and Jinhong), Ganlanba and Manton.
Laos, Cambodia and Thailand also building dams
Laos, in which the Mekong River runs from the north to the south, has 23 hydro-power projects. Nine of them are located in northern Laos, including Pak Beng, Luang Prabang, Xayaboury, Pak Lay, Sanakham and Pak Chom, and Lat Sua, Donsahong and Ban Koum in the southern region. Ban Koum is the largest, with a capacity of 2,000 MW/year.
In Thailand, besides Sekamen 1 and 3 dams, the government announced it was resuming the construction of some dams on the Mekong River, worth around $11 billion, which can yield around 4,000 MW of power. According to the Bangkok Post, these dams will help provide water for agriculture in Thailand.
In the lower section of the Mekong River, Cambodia also has two hydro-power projects named Sambor and Stung Treng totalling around 3,600 MW. |
Photo: David Swanson/IRIN  |
| Cyclone shelters like this one in southwestern Bangladesh again played a critical role in saving lives. Many serve as primary schools along the country's coastal belt |
DHAKA, 27 May 2009 (IRIN) - Relief efforts for victims of Cyclone Aila in Bangladesh are continuing, the country’s Disaster Management Bureau (DMB) says, but effective early warning systems and evacuation measures seem to have saved countless lives.
• See extensive government map of cyclone-affected areas with damage statistics (PDF)
“The initial requirement is food, clothing, shelter and safe drinking water. We are doing our best to ensure that the affected people receive those as soon as possible,” DMB head Mohammad Farhad Uddin told IRIN on 27 May.
The government is delivering clothing, water purification tablets, as well as food assistance to those affected, while the Directorate General of Health Services (DGHS) has dispatched some 700 medical teams to the field.
With technical support from the World Health Organization (WHO), the DGHS will also undertake a rapid needs assessment to assess the healthcare situation on the ground.
A large number of international agencies and NGOs on the ground are also working with the government.
Photo: ReliefWeb |
| Tropical Cyclone Aila's route through Bangladesh as of 26 May |
British-based charity Muslim Aid has dispatched water purification units and half a million water purification tablets to Bagerhat District, as well as teams to Pirojpur, Patuakhali and Satkhira with food and clothing.
With winds of up to 90km per hour, Aila swept across eastern India and southern Bangladesh on 25 May, affecting millions and leaving more than 150 dead, mostly in low-lying Bangladesh.
In Bangladesh alone, the category one storm affected more than three million people and left 81 confirmed dead, with more than 800 people injured, according to the latest DMB information.
Fourteen of the country’s 64 districts - all of them coastal - were affected, Satkhira being hardest hit with at least 25 deaths.
But with information still coming in and communications only now being restored, many believe the death toll could rise. According to local media reports, over 500 people are missing, many believed to be fishermen at sea when the cyclone struck.
Mass evacuation
Some 600,000 people were evacuated to cyclone shelters prior to the cyclone - a significant factor in minimising the loss of life.
Many of those in the shelters whose homes were not destroyed are reportedly now returning home. At the same time, thousands more remain stranded in their villages due to flooding.
According to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), low-lying areas, offshore islands and `chars’ [river islands] were inundated by storm surges 2-3 metres above normal tides, destroying homes, livelihoods, livestock and displacing thousands of families.
Many areas of coastal Patuakhali and Barguna districts disappeared under roughly 2.5 metres of tidal water. Some 80 percent of Barasal District was flooded.
Crops lost, damaged
More than 240,000 mostly thatched homes were damaged or destroyed, while about 121,400 hectares of crops were lost or damaged, the DMB reported on 26 May.
Other losses include about 60,000 livestock; the complete or partial destruction of nearly 850 educational institutions; 2,414km of roads; and 509km of flood embankments.
At a press conference on 26 May, Minister of Food and Disaster Management Muhammad Abdur Razzaque announced that the army, coast guards and the navy had been mobilised for relief operations. Thousands of volunteers of the Cyclone Preparedness Programme (CPP) of the Bangladesh Red Crescent Society have also been deployed.
Second cyclone this year
Aila is the second tropical cyclone to strike Bangladesh this year. On 17 April, Cyclone Bijli lashed the country’s southeastern coastal region, killing five people.
According to the US Agency for International Development (USAID), tropical cyclones occur at the rate of 1.3 a year in Bangladesh, resulting in numerous casualties and significant economic losses.
The last major cyclone to hit Bangladesh was Cyclone Sidr in November 2007, which left around 3,500 dead.
Tropical cyclones in 1970 and 1991 killed around 500,000 and 138,000 people, respectively. In recent years, efficient early warning systems and preparedness measures have significantly reduced the number of lives lost, say experts.
See Images at :
http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/photoalbum/1243426114.htm 27/05/2009
The U.N. International Strategy for Disaster Reduction provides a wide range of resources on high-level work to cut the risk of disasters. It also backs a specialised site for disaster risk reduction, called PreventionWeb.
The Belgium-based Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters has a database of data and statistics on disasters.
The U.N.-backed humanitarian information website ReliefWeb offers updates from governments, aid agencies and academics on individual emergencies, as well as broader relief issues and a facility to track aid spending.
The Global Disaster Alert and Coordination System (GDACS) provides near real-time alerts about natural disasters around the world, as well as tools to support response, including media monitoring and map catalogues.
The U.S. National Oceanic & Atmospheric Administration gives storm forecasts, and makes seasonal hurricane predictions. Tropical Storm Risk does the same on a global scale.
The Humanitarian Early Warning Service provides an overview of natural hazards around the globe, including storms, floods and droughts.
The Famine Early Warning Systems Network (FEWS NET) is a U.S.-funded initiative that collaborates with international, regional and national partners to provide early warning and vulnerability information on food security.
The United Nations Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) assesses "scientific, technical and socio-economic information" relevant to understanding climate change, its potential effects and the options for curbing and adapting to its consequences. The IPCC's website carries summaries and full versions of all the body's key reports, as well as press releases and webcasts of important press conferences.
The World Meteorological Organization provides information and resources on weather and climate change.
The International Research Institute for Climate and Society (IRI) has done a lot of work on helping poorer countries improve their access to weather and climate information, and promoting climate risk management.
The website of the London-based International Institute for Environment and Development offers an overview of the impact of climate change on cities and how they are adapting.
Britain's Institute of Development Studies has a specialist Climate Change and Disasters Centre which publishes research on a range of issues, from how children are affected by climate change to ways of achieving low-carbon growth.
The website of the Red Cross/Red Crescent Centre on Climate Change and Disaster Preparedness explains what the organisation is doing to help reduce the impact of climate change and extreme weather events on the communities it works with. 26/05/2009
25 May 2009 15:37:05 GMT
* Half a million forced from homes in Bangladesh
* Death toll includes 18 in India's West Bengal
* Operations halted at Bangladesh ports, Indian oil facility
By Nizam Ahmed
DHAKA/KOLKATA, India, May 25 (Reuters) - A cyclone slammed into parts of Bangladesh and eastern India on Monday, triggering tidal surges and flooding that forced some half a million people from their homes and killed almost three dozen people.
Storm officials in coastal Bangladesh moved about 500,000 people to temporary shelters after they left their homes to escape huge tidal waves churned by winds up to 100 kph (60 mph).
Heavy rains triggered by the storm also raised river levels and burst mud embankments in the Sundarbans delta in the neighbouring eastern Indian state of West Bengal. The affected area is home to hundreds of thousands of people as well as the world's biggest tiger reserve.
The cyclone killed at least 33 people, including 18 in West Bengal, officials from the two countries said. Most victims either drowned or were killed in house collapses or crushed under uprooted trees.
Indian Oil Corp suspended operations of its single-point mooring facility at Paradip port in eastern India, while authorities shut down operations at Bangladesh's main ports of Chittagong and Mongla.
The cyclone and tidal waves damaged roads and embankments and levelled standing crops over vast areas, officials said.
HIGH TIDE DUE
"Another high tide is due. We fear that the situation may deteriorate," police inspector Mohammad Belayet Hossain said from Bangladesh's coastal Bhola district.
Salahuddin Chowdhury, a Bangladesh cyclone official, said: "Nearly 500,000 people who fled (their) homes have been sheltered in several hundred shelters in eight coastal districts so far."
About 400,000 people remained marooned in Sundarbans. "No assistance could be reached to them because of stormy conditions and turbulent rivers," said Kanti Ganguly, state minister for the Sundarbans.
"Our village is submerged, we are living in camps and have no clue what further calamity awaits us," Anil Krishna Mistry, a villager, told Reuters by telephone from Bali in Sundarbans.
Heavy rains caused flooding in the streets of state capital Kolkata as strong winds uprooted trees and communication lines. Television pictures showed rescue workers struggling to free a man trapped in his car.
Tourists were asked to stay in their hotels in West Bengal's southern coastal resort of Digha, four hours drive from Kolkata.
Tidal waves triggered by the storm in the Bay of Bengal damaged thousands of houses in Bangladesh, mostly in Khulna district near the Sundarbans.
The storm surge washed away dozens of shrimp farms and inundated rice fields in Bangladesh, which is battered by storms every year.
In November 2007, Cyclone Sidr ravaged a large part of the country's coast, killing nearly 3,500 people and displacing around two million. |
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