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
Aid is desperately needed in hard-to-reach parts of Myanmar devastated by the recent cyclone, which triggered huge waves that in some areas swept away more than 90 percent of dwellings and left as many as 90 percent of residents dead or missing, a UNICEF official said Sunday. Osamu Kunii, chief of health and nutrition at UNICEF's office in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city, described the dire situation faced by Cyclone Nargis survivors in the Ayeyarwady delta region of southwestern Myanmar in a telephone interview.
Prime Minister Yasuo Fukuda has told a U.S. newspaper that he expects the United Nations to "more actively intervene" to help cyclone-hit Myanmar at a time when the military government is reluctant to accept troops from other countries, according to a government official. While noting that the United States is showing "great consideration" by preparing to deploy troops to help Myanmar, Fukuda was quoted as telling the Washington Post on Saturday, "But is it OK to forcibly go there when the (Myanmar) government doesn't want it and what if some conflict occurs?
Emergency crews searched through wreckage on Sunday from violent storms that left a path of destruction from the Midwest to the South and killed more than 20 people in Missouri, Oklahoma and Georgia. . In Missouri, tornadoes tore through small towns in the southwestern section of the state, near the border with Oklahoma, just after 6:30 p.m. Saturday, overturning cars and smashing buildings.
An earthquake with a magnitude of 7.5 struck China's Sichuan province on Monday, less than 100 km (60 miles) from the provincial capital of Chengdu. The quake was felt across much of China and as far southwest as Bangkok, Thailand's capital, some 3,300 km (2050 miles) away, where office buildings swayed for several minutes. Chengdu a fast-growing metropolis of 10 million people and home to the Giant Panda Breeding Research Base is around 1,300 km (2070 miles) southwest of Beijing.
A powerful, magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck mountainous central China on Monday, killing five people when two primary schools and a water tower collapsed, state media reported. Four children died when their schools in Chongqing municipality collapsed, the official Xinhua News Agency said. More than 100 students were injured, including two who were seriously hurt, the report said. One person was killed after the temblor toppled a water tower in neighboring Sichuan province, Xinhua said.
The USA has been ravaged through mid-May by a near-record number of tornadoes that has pushed the death toll
Volcanic ash raining down from the Chilean volcano Chaiten may cause long-term environmental damage and harm the health of people and animals in picturesque Patagonia, scientists say. Ash from the volcano, which started erupting 10 days ago for the first time in thousands of years, is made up of pulverized rock containing all kinds of minerals.
The shady streets of Yangon, one of Asia's greenest cities, could have been changed forever by Cyclone Nargis, which knocked down many of its 100-year-old trees. People in Myanmar's biggest city fear the storm's 190 kph (120 mph) winds not only took lives but also ruined livelihoods, dealing a blow to an already fragile tourism industry. "This was such a beautiful city, but no more," said Kyaw Win, standing by his house next to Kandawgi Lake surveying fallen trees mangled with electricity pylons. "And after the trees fell, it's so hot."
The number of people reported missing in the Myanmar cyclone was about 220,000, the United Nations humanitarian agency said on Sunday, warning of environmental damage, violence and mass migration. It said assessments of 55 townships in the Irrawaddy delta and other disaster areas found up to 102,000 people could have been killed in Cyclone Nargis, which struck flimsy dwellings with fierce winds and waves on the night of May 2.
Tornadoes killed at least 22 people and injured hundreds as they ripped through communities in the central and south-eastern United States over the weekend. Authorities said 14 people died in Missouri, six in Oklahoma and two in Georgia as the storms tracked a course from the border of Kansas and Oklahoma on Saturday into Georgia on Sunday, destroying homes, overturning cars, blocking roads, downing power lines and uprooting trees.
