The report investigates the broad concept of the economics of drought management, provides a conceptual, two-tier framework for the assessment of proactive and reactive actions, and disseminates case studies
China's response to quake puts India to shame When Lisbon shook in 1755, Voltaire asked if God was at all just. Why did he not instead shift the earth under London and Paris which were infinitely more sinful? When the earthquake hit Sichuan earlier this month, many Chinese too wondered if this was a divine intervention. Had they done something terribly wrong that such devastation should visit them? As the death toll began to mount, this sentiment became increasingly palpable all over China.
Myanmar's military government appeared Friday to be reasserting its authority over cyclone relief operations as aid officials said it was forcing survivors out of refugee camps and hindering the access it had promised foreign aid workers. A U.N. official said the junta was making cyclone survivors leave government refugee camps and "dumping' them near their devastated villages with virtually no aid supplies.
Chinese authorities had evacuated nearly 200,000 people by early Saturday and warned more than 1 million others to be ready to leave quickly as a lake formed by a devastating earthquake threatened to breach its dam. Hundreds of Chinese troops have been working around the clock to drain Tangjiashan lake in Sichuan province. The lake formed above Beichuan town in the Mianyang region when a hillside plunged into a river valley during the May 12 quake that killed more than 68,000 people.
Southwest monsoon missed its date with the Kerala coast on Thursday but a top weather scientist sought to play the incident down saying it was not a "sign of worry.' "True, the onset over Kerala has not happened,' Ajit Tyagi, Director General of the India Meteorological Department (IMD) said here. The IMD had earlier forecast that the southwest monsoon will hit the Kerala coast on May 29, four days ahead of its normal June 1 onset.
Though officially the onset of monsoon in the country is yet to be declared, the northern limit of monsoon has touched the extreme south/ southeast part of Bangladesh close to Mizoram. The normal date of onset of monsoon over Kerala Coast is June 1, while over the city of Guwahati, the onset normally takes place on June 5. By June 6, NE region is generally covered by monsoon. However, variation of seven days in this respect is quite possible, said H Pathak, Director of the Regional Meteorology Centre (RMC) here.
P.S. Suryanarayana India's economic engagement with Myanmar cannot be equated with the Western political game plan of fishing in the cyclone-stirred turbulent waters. Jairam Ramesh
A storm bearing hail and possible tornadoes struck central Nebraska Thursday night, damaging businesses, derailing train cars, tearing down trees and disrupting power to thousands. There were no immediate reports of deaths or injuries. Tornadoes were also reported in Kearney, about 60 miles west of Aurora, where 90 rail cars were blown off the tracks outside the city limits. There were reports of downed trees and power lines throughout Kearney, and reports of damage on the University of Nebraska at Kearney campus and at a county fairgrounds.
A strong earthquake rocked Iceland on Thursday, damaging roads and buildings in one town and sending frightened residents running into the streets. Police in Selfoss, 31 miles (50 km) southeast of the capital Reykjavik, said they had received no reports of injuries and that damage to buildings in the area had been relatively minor. The US Geological Survey said the quake struck at 3:46 p.m. (1546 GMT), 6.2 miles (10 km) beneath the earth's surface. In Selfoss, a small southwestern town near the quake's epicentre, dozens of panicking people poured into the streets.
Orissa continues to reel under heatwave conditions even as the death toll due to sun stroke in the state mounted to 51 on Thursday. Seven deaths were reported from Dhenkanal, six each from Angul and Jagatsinghpur, five from Khurda, four each from Ganjam, Nayagarh, Sambalpur and Sundergarh, two each from Balasore, Puri and Sonepur, three in Jajpur and one from Kendrapara and Mayurbhanj districts.
The death toll from torrential rain in China climbed to 57, state media reported today, as the bad weather continued to cause havoc in five provinces. The south-western province of Guizhou was hardest hit, with 38 people killed by flash floods and 14 missing, Xinhua news agency reported. Nineteen people died in four other provinces in central, southern and eastern China. Floods in Guizhou destroyed 5,000 houses and affected 15,000 people in one county alone, Xinhua said. The news agency earlier reported that two bridges and a highway had also been destroyed.
