NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

nancyk58 · August 11, 2010

News in relation to natural disasters on 11 August 2010, PART II

NEWS ON 11 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, Part II (II)

Swedish SVT: The Russian population's confidence in President Dmitrij Medvedev and Prime Minister Vladimir Putin is record low following the Russian forest wildfires. The head of the Russian forest (protection) agency was fired today.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10938215 / 11 August 2010 Last updated at 12:42 GMT

RUSSIA COMBATS WILDFIRES IN CHERNOBYL RADIATION ZONE

Russia is mounting extra patrols to fight wildfires in a region hit by nuclear fallout from Chernobyl, amid fears that radiation could spread.

Crews put out several fires in Bryansk, the emergencies ministry said, amid concern that wind or fire could whip up radioactive particles in the soil.

Officials say they are assessing the danger and there is no cause for panic.

Fires have swept western Russia for a week, though officials say many are now under control.

The area engulfed by fires has halved, they say. An area of 92,000 hectares (350 sq miles) is now on fire, compared to Tuesday's figure of 174,000 hectares, the emergencies ministry said in a statement.

Moscow enjoyed clear skies on Wednesday after rains helped cleanse the air after a week of heavy smog.

But more than 600 fires are still burning in different parts of the country, including around the capital, and weather forecasters are warning the smoke could soon return.

RADIATION FEARS

The chief of the forest protection service said his agency had increased patrols around the forests in Bryansk, the part of Russia that suffered the most from the Chernobyl disaster in what was then Soviet Ukraine.

"There is a danger, but we are controlling the situation," agency chief Vladimir Rozinkevich told the AP.

Environmental groups, including Greenpeace, have warned that radioactive particles which settled into the soil after the 1986 disaster could be thrown up into the air once again by wildfires and blown into other areas by the wind.

Hundreds of wildfires, sparked by the hottest summer ever recorded in Russia, have engulfed large areas around Moscow and other parts of western Russia, choking the capital in smog for a week.

The death rate in Moscow doubled to 700 people a day, mortuaries were overflowing, flights were disrupted and factories were forced to shut down.

OFFICIAL SACKED

Many Russians blame the government for being poorly prepared to handle the crisis - which it denies.

Moscow's mayor refused to return from his holiday early to help deal with the crisis, and a top forestry official has been sacked for the same reason.

Russian Prime Minister Vladimir Putin took to the air on Tuesday in a water bombing jet to douse fires in one of the worst hit regions.

Some 165,000 firefighters and 39 aircraft are battling the blazes.

German ZDFtext: FIRES IN CHERNOBYL RADIATION ZONE /

MORE FIRES IN CHERNOBYL RADIATION ZONE THAN THE PUBLIC WAS TOLD

The radioactive threat posed by the worst forest wildfires in Russian history is bigger than the public has been told.

The forest protection service/agency admitted today, Wednesday that the number of wildfires in the area radiated / contaminated in 1986 in connection with the CHERNOBYL DISASTER was bigger than the public was told. Alone in the forests in the strongly radiated / contaminated area Bryansk there have been 28 fires. They have all been extinguished. The head of the authority for radiation observation answered a question about the possibility of radioactive particles reaching Moscow in this way: "The risk is so far theoretical".

There have been fires near the border to BELARUS and UKRAINE. The authorities fear that radioactive particles can be carried with the smoke and be blown into other areas by the wind.

German ZDFtext: HUNDRED FIRES IN RUSSIA / NEW GREENPEACE REPROACHES

The Moscow smog is away - at least temporarily. The toxic smoke clouds over Moscow have disappeared. But the smog can soon return. 166,000 people are active in fighting the devastating forest wildfires. 290 new fires started in one day according to the Emergencies Ministry. More than 300 fires have been extinguished. But there are 600 ongoing forest wildfires.

RADIOACTIVE PARTICLES from the Russian forest and peatbog wildfires may be carried / blown by the wind in north-westerly direction towards EAST EUROPE and the BALTIC States and southern SWEDEN and reach Poland and southern Sweden in the coming 3 days. It is not clear whether the clouds contain radioactive particles.

Swedish SVT: RADIOACTIVE FOREST IN FLAMES

The smog has blown away from MOSCOW, but the smoke from the forest blazes remains. According to information given by GREENPEACE and confirmed by the Russian forest (protection) agency / service - but contrary to information given by the Emergencies Ministry - a radioactive forest contaminated since the Chernobyl disaster is affected by the wildfires.

According to the Russian Ministry of Defense, no military installation was threatened today, Wednesday. The fires near military installations are "under control" according to a press release.

German ARDtext: WEATHER FORECAST FOR RUSSIA: Later this week, the temperatures will fall by 3-5 degrees, but the temperatures will remain higher than 30 degrees.

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German ARDtext + ZDFtext: GERMANY: FLOOD RISK IN BRANDENBURG IS ELIMINATED

The acute flood risk in the German state of BRANDENBURG is eliminated according to Matthias Platzeck, head of the regional government in Brandenburg. Tuesday evening, the situation in the area between Guben and Ratzdorf was still critical, and many in Brandenburg participated in reinforcing the dykes. Since then the situation has become less tense.

The situation has become less tense by river Neisse and Spree.

Tillich, head of the regional government in Saxony will ask the European Union for help. The clean-up operation continues in the German state of Saxony.

nancyk58 · August 12, 2010

News in relation to natural disasters on 12 August 2010

NEWS ON 12 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

German ARDtext: FEAR OF SECOND FLOOD WAVE IN MULTAN, PAKISTAN INCREASING

For the flood victims in PAKISTAN, "the worst is not over" according to the meteorological service in Islamabad.

A SECOND FLOOD WAVE is rolling through the PUNJAB province and could hit the city of MULTAN.

The water masses swelled river Chenab and could - despite all precautionary measures - hit the city with its 4.5 million inhabitants.

German ZDFtext: The UNITED NATIONS warns of of a second deadly wave due to DISEASES AND HUNGER.

6 MILLION FLOOD VICTIMS NEED IMMEDIATE AID. OTHER 8 MILLION ARE INDIRECTLY AFFECTED BY THE FLOODS.

IMMEDIATE AID IS VITAL. Otherwise many people risk dying from diseases and malnutrition.

PRODUCTS NEEDED RIGHT NOW IN THE FLOOD ZONE: SHELTERS, CLEAN WATER, FOOD, SANITARY INSTALLATIONS + MEDICAL HELP.

Relief workers fear EPIDEMICS due to unclean water.

BBC World: Pakistan's "huge" flood crop loss / PAKISTAN FLOOD DESPERATION GROWS

Danish DR1: VICTIMS IN PAKISTAN DESPERATE

Mohsin Leghan, member of the local PUNJAB parliament to BBC: "Many have lost everything and have been made homeless. They attack when relief aid is being distributed. They are not looters as such - they are simply desperate to get something to eat".

Danish DR1: WE LET PAKISTAN DOWN

"The money from Europe and the USA to the flood victims in Pakistan is arriving much too slow to rescue people. And the aid arriving is not enough compared to the enormous needs", says the representative of Danish Red Cross, Mette Ulrich Pedersen, who is in Pakistan.

The UN has launched an appeal to the international community for $460 million in aid to the 14 million flood-affected people in PAKISTAN.

Swedish SVT: UN APPEALS FOR $460 MILLION TO PAKISTAN

The UNITED NATIONS launched an APPEAL FOR $460 MILLION in EMERGENCY AID to PAKISTAN after the heavy monsoon rain. The money is needed for FOOD, CLEAN WATER and MEDICINE.

The US Defense Minister Robert Gates promises to station a warship outside of PAKISTAN's coast with 19 helicopters to assist in the relief work.

According to UN estimates, 1,600 have died so far in the floods. Pakistan estimates that up to 14 million people risk being affected by the disaster.

German ARDtext: PAKISTAN's PRESIDENT VISITS FLOOD ZONE

After massive criticism of his crisis management Pakistan's president Zardari visited the flood zone today for the first time.

Swedish SVT: WATER LEVELS FALLING IN PAKISTAN

Water levels in the southern SINDH province and in the north-western parts of Pakistan fell during Thursday.

Tent camps are seen everywhere along roads and outside of the big cities. The conditions for the more than 2 million refugees are very difficult.

A doctor has treated skin infections, diarrhoea and scab, he told AFP. Children are in particular vulnerable after having drunk or walked through water infected by sewage.

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Danish TV2 News and DR1: DANISH 32-YEAR-OLD WOMAN DIED IN THE INDIAN-ADMINISTERED KASHMIR DUE TO A FLASHFLOOD IN THE CITY, LEH IN THE LADAKH REGION IN HIMALAYA IN SOUTH-EAST KASHMIR

The flash flood came after a long period of rain causing massive floods in the Indian-administered KASHMIR. 177 died in the water masses including 4 other European tourists. Several are reported missing.

40 other Danish tourists who were in the Indian Ladakh region during the flood wave are all unharmed.

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BBC: RAIN HAMPERS CHINA RESCUE EFFORT

SVT: MORE INTENSIVE RAIN OVER DISASTER-HIT ZHOUQU

More intensive rain fell over disaster-hit Zhouqu in China today. Landslides consisting of rocks and mud have already killed at least 1,100 people in Zhouqu City. It rained for 4 hours during the night. One of the main roads in Zhouqu was transformed into a river - and the army tents along the road to the disaster zone "drowned".

The city was hit by the first major mudslide on Sunday morning. 300 houses were engulfed and 700 damaged. Thousands were fighting to clear the roads that had been blocked by mud and rocks again after last night's bad weather.

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Swedish SVT: NUMBER OF FOREST WILDFIRES FALLING

According to the Emergencies Ministry the number of forest wildfires are falling. The efforts to extinguish fires were successful in some regions.

The heat will decrease considerably at the beginning of next week in the European part of Russia west of the Urals. This information was given by the head of the HydroMetCenter, Roman Vilfand to Interfax today Thursday.

And he added that it will also be raining.

German ZDFtext and ARDtext: HUNDREDS OF FIRES CONTINUE / NUMBER OF WILDFIRES FALLING / THE SITUATION IN RUSSIA LESS TENSE

Russia reports that the number of wildfires have fallen and that the size of the area in flames is smaller today - according to the Interfax agency quoting the head of the National Crisis Management Center, Wladimir Stepanow. There are currently 560 ongoing fires of which 60 are huge fires. An 80,000-hectares-large area is in flames which is 10,000 hectares less than yesterday. In particular in the neighbourhood of Moscow, the situation has become better.

Danish DR1: URANIUM-CONTAMINATED RUSSIAN FOREST IN FLAMES

Russian authorities admit that forests contaminated by radioactive fall-out after the Chernobyl disaster are in flames. These fires have sparked fear that radioactive particles can spread in the air.

Fires have also started near a nuclear research facility in Sarov.

A 5-week-long heatwave triggered the many forest wildfires in Russia. Moscow is surrounded by fires, and the city is covered by smog and smoke.

German ARDtext: No increase in the radiation was measured in the regions that were contaminated/radioactive after the Chernobyl disaster in 1986. The fires should be extinguished very soon.

Danish DR1: RUSSIAN SMOKE CONTAINING CARBON-MONO-OXIDE (CO) FROM THE RUSSIAN WILDFIRES BROUGHT TO DENMARK

Danish TV2 News: Jim Smith, who is regarded as an expert on the Chernobyl disaster and environmental expert at the University of Portsmouth in England says that less than 1% of the radioactivity in the area will be released. So the fear of nuclear contamination from the Russian forest wildfires including the radioactive, contaminated forest is exaggerated.

German ARDtext: STATE OF EMERGENCY PARTLY LIFTED IN RUSSIA

President Medvejev lifted the state of emergency in 3 of the 7 regions with state of emergency.

The situation remains tense in several areas such as for instance around Moscow.

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Swedish SVT and Danish DR1 and TV2: POWERFUL MAGNITUDE-6.9 EARTHQUAKE HITS EQUADOR

Equador in South America has been hit by a powerful earthquake south-east of Quito. The tremors were at first measured at magnitude 7.2 by the US Geological Survey (USGS), but later the magnitude was stated to be 6.9 on the Richter scale. There is no report of damage or casualties. The epicentre of the quake was far below the surface of the earth. No tsunami is expected following the tremors.

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German ARD: FLOOD SITUATION LESS TENSE IN GERMANY, EUROPE

After last week-end's flood, the high-water situation in rivers NEISSE, ODER and SPREE remains less tense. Experts say that the ELBE river does not constitute a high risk, but its water level rises. Several German states expect more heavy rain.

In Saxony (Sachsen), estimates of the current damage caused by the bad weather were published: Up to 150 million Euro according to the regional government in Saxony.

The German weather service / meteorological service warned of storm and heavy rains. There might fall up to 25 l rain per square meter.

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Romania: Floods in Romania cost 26 human lives and caused damage at the equivalent of more than 8 billion Swedish kroner. The Romanian government will ask the European Union for financial help. Infrastructure was damaged in 40 out of Romania's 42 counties.

nancyk58 · August 13, 2010

NEWS ON 13 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, PART I

NEWS ON 13 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, Part I (II)

http://www.unicef.org/media/media_55507.html

NEWS NOTE

UNICEF: 6 million children affected by the floods in Pakistan; some 2.7 million in need of immediate, life-saving assistance

GENEVA/ISLAMABAD, 11 August 2010 - As the figures continue to rise, UNICEF says that 6 million children have been affected by the floods in Pakistan with some 2.7 million children in need of urgent, life-saving assistance.

According to UN estimates, a total of 14 MILLION people have been AFFECTED by the FLOOD CRISIS. Hundreds of thousands have received humanitarian aid, but millions more urgently need SHELTER, FOOD, WATER, and HEALTH CARE.

The flooding could worsen considerably in the coming days, especially in parts of Sindh.

"This is the biggest natural disaster to hit Pakistan and this region in living memory, bigger than the Tsunami or the 2005 earthquake, with millions of children and women struggling to survive in dire conditions. It is a race against time as we rush to deliver supplies to affected populations. The waters are still rising and we are bracing for flood waves as rivers overflow and the rains continue," said Martin Mogwanja, UNICEF Representative in Pakistan.

"SHELTER is the most urgent need, while FOOD, WATER, and HEALTH CARE are also critical.

Right now we need to save lives and create temporary living conditions for the 1.8 million homeless. It is a massive task and we are not there yet. Once we are, we can begin to think about the longer-term recovery of regions in Pakistan which have suffered widespread devastation," added Mr. Mogwanja.

UNICEF is particularly concerned with the risk of water-borne diseases and working with the Government to ensure that basic water, sanitation and hygiene services are repaired to prevent major health outbreaks. UNICEF is also delivering assistance in the areas of nutrition, education and child protection.

About UNICEF

UNICEF is on the ground in over 150 countries and territories to help children survive and thrive, from early childhood through adolescence. The world’s largest provider of vaccines for developing countries, UNICEF supports child health and nutrition, good water and sanitation, quality basic education for all boys and girls, and the protection of children from violence, exploitation, and AIDS. UNICEF is funded entirely by the voluntary contributions of individuals, businesses,

foundations and governments.

For more information about UNICEF and its work visit: http://www.unicef.org

For further information, please contact:

Patrick McCormick, UNICEF Media, New York,

Tel + 1 212 326-7426,

[email protected]

http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=6161181

Pakistan flood crisis: Six million children are in need of emergency assistance. Donate now!

What your money can do:

$25 can provide immunization to protect a child for life against the six leading child diseases: measles, polio, diptheria, whooping cough, tetanus and tuberculosis.

$100 can provide a basic family water kit for ten households, with detergent, soap, wash basin, towels, bucket and water purification tablets.

$250 can provide one "School-in-a-Box" kit containing basic education supplies for 80 children during times of crisis.

You can also donate to PAKISTAN's FLOOD VICTIMS via American Red Cross.

Direct link to American Red Cross using:

http://www.redcross.org/portal/site/en/menuitem.1a019a978f421296e81ec89e43181aa0/?vgnextoid=3c40e8617475a210VgnVCM10000089f0870aRCRD

Six million children are in need of emergency assistance. Donate now!

Direct link to Unicef using: http://www.unicef.org/

http://www.supportunicef.org/site/pp.asp?c=9fLEJSOALpE&b=6161181

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-10961640 / 13 August 2010 Last updated at 09:49 GMT

PAKISTAN FLOODS: TWO 'MAJOR PEAKS' DUE TO INDUS RIVER

The INDUS river is now 18 miles wide due to the floods

Flood levels in Pakistan are expected to surge even higher along parts of the already dangerously swollen INDUS river.

The National Disaster Management Authority (NDMA) said "major peaks" were expected on Friday and next week in PUNJAB and SINDH provinces.

The region's worst flooding in 80 years has affected 14 million people and killed 1,600, according to the UN.

Doctors say that MALARIA, DIARRHOEA and GASTROENTERITIS are growing threats.

On Friday, President Asif Ali Zardari said he would go ahead with a visit to Russia next week, but would stay only a few hours instead of the scheduled two days. It comes after he was heavily criticised for failing to cut short a visit to Europe last week, amid his country's worsening crisis.

Meanwhile, Pakistan's PM has promised aid distribution will be transparent, after criticism of the government's handling of the two-week-old crisis.

DISEASE FEARS

NDMA spokesman Ahmed Kamal said: "There can be further devastation as we are expecting two major peaks in the INDUS system."

He said places downstream of the Kotri barrage - a flood barrier in SINDH - and areas on either side of the Taunsa barrage in Punjab were likely to take the brunt of this surge.

President Zardari and Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani are reported to have held an emergency meeting on Thursday night to review the government's much-criticised response.

Mr Zardari made his first visit to the disaster zone on Thursday in an effort to defuse public anger over his handling of the flooding. He toured a relief camp at Sukkur in Sindh.

Opposition politicians said the trip by the president - who was widely condemned at home for pressing ahead with a trip to Europe while the floods crisis unfolded - was too little, too late.

Meanwhile, medics in a relief camp in southern Punjab told the BBC the main challenges they face are GASTROENTERITIS, DIARRHOEA and SKIN INFECTIONS.

But they are also increasingly worried about MALARIA, which is being worsened by all the stagnant water.

As a US ship with more helicopters and 1,000 Marines arrived to boost the relief efforts, Pakistan's political leaders pledged that all aid distribution would be transparent.

Prime Minister Gilani said: "Whatever you give, we will give an account of every single penny."

The UN launched an appeal for $459m (£300m) in emergency aid on Wednesday.

The UN humanitarian co-ordinator in Pakistan, Martin Mogwanja, says $195m has so far been pledged.

The Independent: POOR RESPONSE TO PAKISTAN AID APPEALS FRUSTRATES CHARITIES

http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/asia/poor-response-to-pakistan-aid-appeals-frustrates-charities-2051332.html

Leading charities have attacked the INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE to the worst natural disaster in Pakistan's history, saying delays in funding the relief effort had affected aid operations.

With 1,600 people dead after two weeks of flooding and NEARLY 14 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED, 6 MILLION of them CHILDREN at risk of MALNUTRITION, PNEUMONIA and DIARRHOEA, the UN warned that many more could die unless nations step up their relief contributions.

The floods, triggered by monsoon downpours, have swamped Pakistan's INDUS river basin, forcing two million from their homes and directly disrupting the livelihoods of 8 per cent of the population.

Analysis of previous emergency aid appeals has showed that contributions from governments and international donors are well down compared to other major disasters.

International donors committed $45m (£29m) – amounting to $3.20 per person affected – to tackling the crisis in the first 10 days, compared to $742m ($495 per person) after the HAITI EARTHQUAKE, according to an examination of UN figures by OXFAM.

"It's perplexing why the international community has been so slow on this," said the OXFAM spokesman Ian Bray. "I think they took their eye off the ball and didn't realise how big it was and didn't act quickly enough."

The response picked up yesterday with $90m raised in a day since the UN said it was appealing for $460m. That appeal followed earlier pledges of $150m, led by the US and Britain. Britain has earmarked £31m for the UN appeal. The UN said "more was needed because of the unprecedented scale of the emergency".

It was suggested last night that charity-giving may have been affected by David Cameron's accusation that Pakistan is an exporter of terrorism, and negative publicity over President Asif Ali Zardari's failure to return from his European trip to oversee rescue efforts at home. "Pakistan has suffered because of what Mr Cameron has said, because the British people will listen to their Prime Minister," Pakistan's permanent representative to the UN, Abdullah Hussain Haroon, told BBC Radio 4.

Charities said that they were happy at how Britons had responded to the UK appeal. However, the £10.5m raised so far by the Disasters Emergency Committee – the joint appeal by British charities – was well below sums raised for other huge natural disasters such as HAITI and the Boxing Day TSUNAMI. In the first week, the Pakistan appeal raised about £7.5m, compared with about £100m for the TSUNAMI, £38m for the HAITI QUAKE, and £15m for the 2005 SOUTH ASIA EARTHQUAKE IN KASHMIR, which affected India as well as Pakistan.

"I would have expected it to be higher," said John Baguley, chief executive of the International Fundraising Consultancy, which advises charities. "It's more to do with disasters happening with increasing frequency. People gave very generously to the Pakistan earthquake, then for the tsunami and relief in Haiti. There is an element of DONOR FATIGUE that may be playing a part."

Mr Zardari made his first visit to victims of the disaster yesterday on a closely controlled trip to one of the areas worst affected by the flooding. The government has been sharply criticised for its relief efforts, with the military taking a lead, highlighting the ineffectiveness of some government efforts.

Yousaf Raza Gilani, the Prime Minister, who yesterday flew over flooded areas, also called for more assistance, while acknowledging that the scale of the disaster was much worse than his government had initially thought. "All I say is that we need more help from our international friends," he told the Associated Press. "We need more helicopters because the magnitude of the destruction was far more" than earlier government assessments.

The POOR DONOR RESPONSE has HAMPERED the work of SAVE THE CHILDREN, according to its spokesman in Pakistan. "This flood is unprecedented but so has the donor response – unprecedentedly poor," said Mohammed Qazilbash. "Organisations are in desperate need of assistance to help millions. Where we could have sent 20 supply trucks, we've only been able to send six."

A US ship carrying 1,000 marines and helicopters arrived off the coast near Karachi yesterday to help rescue stranded people and deliver food and other supplies.

Nearly a quarter of the land area of Pakistan has been affected.

More rain fell yesterday, with monsoons forecast to last several more weeks. Dams in Sindh province remain at risk of bursting. John Holmes, who co-ordinates emergency relief for the UN, said: "The death toll has so far been relatively low compared to other major natural disasters, but the numbers affected are extraordinarily high. If we don't act fast enough, many more people could die of DISEASES and FOOD SHORTAGES".

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German ZDFtext: GREENPEACE WARNS AGAINST NUCLEAR ACCIDENT(S)

According to environmental experts the forest wildfires near the nuclear facilities and stations are dangerous. They could lead to dangerous power failures / power cuts by nuclear power plants. If high-voltage lines are destroyed by the flames or if standby power generators are made useless/unfit for use, the reactors of the plants/facilities can no longer be cooled off, which is necessary. So GREENPEACE. The result could be massive nuclear accidents that would contaminate vast parts of Russia. Currently 12 nuclear power plants/stations and the nuclear facilities in Sarow and Mayak are threatened.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-10961027

RAGING BRAZIL FIRES DRIVE FAMILIES ONTO STREET

Forest fires in central Brazil have destroyed huge swathes of countryside and thousands of trees.

Authorities in the state of Mato Grosso are struggling to get the blaze under control, as the flames spread fast in the exceptionally dry conditions.

Jack Izzard reports.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-10949997

12 August 2010 Last updated at 08:44 GMT

DEADLY FIRES RAGE ON IN PORTUGAL

Fifty fires are reportedly burning in parts of the country.

Portuguese firefighters are continuing to battle dozens of forest fires that are sweeping through the country and have killed two of their colleagues.

50 fires are burning in central and northern parts of the country, according to the Reuters news agency.

The country's civil defence agency says that 1,500 firefighters have been mobilised to tackle the blazes.

Around 18,000 hectares (44,500 acres) of forests and bushland are now believed

to have been affected.

Temperatures in some areas were forecast to reach 40C (104 degrees Fahrenheit).

Portugal's only national park - the Peneda-Geres National Park in the north-west of the country - is one of the areas under threat.

Earlier this month the civil defence services registered 1,000 new fires over a single weekend, a record high for the year.

TRAPPED BY FLAMES

The firefighting attempt has been hampered by STRONG WINDS that have whipped up the fires.

Portuguese civil protection officials say a female firefighter died after being trapped by flames in Gondomar region.

In a separate incident, a fireman was killed after his vehicle fell into a burning ravine in the mountainous Sao Pedro do Sul area.

The current fires are the latest to have hit Portugal in recent years.

In 2006, six firefighters were killed whilst tackling a wildfire in the centre of the country.

And in 2003, 18 people were killed in fires described as "the worst in living memory".

Danish TV2 TTV + News: MANY FOREST FIREST RAVAGING IN PORTUGAL

More than 100 people have been evacuated from the national park Peneda-Geres

in North Portugal after an extensive forest fire has reached the park - according to local authorities.

A total of 30 forest fires are going on in North Portugal in areas close to the Spanish border. More than 1,000 firefighters are active in fighting the fires that started earlier this week.

"The situation in the area looks like a war theatre", said Rui Pereira, the Portuguese Interior Minister.

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nancyk58 · August 14, 2010

News on 13 August 2010 in relation to Natural Disasters, Part II

NEWS ON 13 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS, PART II

PAKISTAN FLOODS

Oxfam is responding to the worst floods in northwest Pakistan in decades. We aim to reach 650,000 people with clean water, sanitation kits and hygiene supplies, to help prevent the spread of water-borne diseases amongst the estimated 14 million people affected. We're hoping to raise $6 million.

http://www.oxfam.org/

Oxfam is hoping to raise $6 million for our immediate and our long-term response. With your assistance we can continue to help people deal with the current crisis and its aftermath. Please donate now – these Oxfam affiliates are running direct appeals for the recent Pakistan floods:

Oxfam America

Oxfam Australia

Oxfam GB

Oxfam Germany

Oxfam Hong Kong in English or Chinese (traditional or simplified)

Oxfam New Zealand

Oxfam Novib (Netherlands)

Oxfam-Québec

Intermon Oxfam (Spain)

Alternatively, you can also make a donation to the general emergency fund of your nearest national Oxfam affiliate. Your money will be used to fund our emergency work worldwide, which includes responding in countries such as Pakistan.

Swedish SVT: PAKISTAN DISASTER GETTING WORSE: 20 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED

The scope of the disaster and its consequences destroy the capacity of the Pakistani to provide for themselves - also in the long run - according to the United Nations.

13 August 2010: 20 MILLION PEOPLE AFFECTED according to Pakistani authorities.

A WHO adviser said: "This disaster will set Pakistan back for many years.

The United Nations launched an appeal for $460m in EMERGENCY AID. So far the WORLD COMMUNITY has PLEDGED $175 m.

United Nations' general-secretary Ban Ki-Moon will come to Pakistan tomorrow.

German ARDtext: The USA increased its EMERGENCY AID for Pakistan by $21m. The relief goods are to be distributed by international organisations. The relief goods financed by US funds are to be distributed by international organisations. The USA wants to make sure that the radical islamic Taliban does not increase its influence in Pakistan. Taliban tries to improve its reputation by means of EMERGENCY / IMMEDIATE AID in Pakistan.

Meteorologists fear a second flood wave currently rolling through the PUNJAB province. It might hit the city, Multan which has 4.5 million inhabitants.

German ZDF: EPIDEMICS THREATEN AFTER FLOODS IN PAKISTAN

Pakistan's population is threatened by the outbreak of epidemics after weeks of flood. According to the UN today/Friday, there have been 36 cases of what might be a partly deadly diarrhoea. The first case of CHOLERA was reported in the Swat Valley.

The UN has launched a $460m emergency aid and warned of a rising death toll. "While we talk, children are dying", said the head of a delegation from the International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), Pascal Cuttat.

German ARD: PAKISTAN: NEW FLOOD WARNING

A new flood in Pakistan threatens hundred thousands of people. The authorities recommended the inhabitants of City Jacobabad in the southern province SINDH to move to a safer place.

The danger of EPIDEMICS increased dramatically. The UN reported already more than 30,000 suspicious cases of serious diarrhoea.

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Danish DR1 and Swedish SVT: RUSSIAN FIRES THREATEN NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS

The uncontrollable fires near Russia's most important nuclear research facility in Sarov have increased their volume. Thousands of firefighters are active there. After that the fires increased their volume, they have become a threat according to the head of the Emergencies Ministry in the Russian republic of Mordova / Mordwinien, Major General Wjatscheslaw Konnilizyn / Vijasjeslav Konnilitsin

German ZDFtext: RUSSIA: NEW FEAR OF FIRES NEAR NUCLEAR POWER STATIONS

A fire that started 2 days ago after a stroke of lightning has spread and is now threatening the nuclear research facility in Sarov about 400 km east of MOSCOW - according to the head of the Emergencies Ministry in the Russian republic of Mordova / Mordwinien, Major General Wjatscheslaw Konnilizyn / Vijasjeslav Konnilitsin.

Additional rescuers have been moved to the region, so that more than 2,500 firefighters are fighting the flames. A little while ago, the authorities announced that the fires around Sarov had been extinguished.

German ZDFtext: MORE FIRES - BUT THE TOTAL AREA IN FLAMES HAS FALLEN

Despite the efforts of ten thousands of helpers, the number of forest fires in Russia has increased. The forest protection agency counted 611 fires. Yesterday, the number of fires was 545. The forest protection agency reported that the area with fires had decreased by more than 15,000 hectares to 80,000 hectares.

In Moscocw the population enjoyed the cooler weather. Heavy rain fell during the night. But the heatwave has not yet come to an end. If the wind changes its course, the capital could again be covered by smoke from the nearby peatbog fires.

Danish TV2 News: USA SENDS HELP TO RUSSIA / PROTESTS IN MOSCOW

In a telephone conversation with Russia's President Dmitrij Medvedev - according to the White House - US President Barack Obama has promised that USA will send fire-fighting equipment and other help to Russia.

There have been massive protests in MOSCOW with the demand that Moscow's mayor should resign because his handling of the crisis has not been good enough.[/B]

_______________________

Danish DR1 / TV2 News and Swedish SVT: 5 KILLED AND 500 TRAPPED BY NEW LANDSLIDE IN CHINA

5 were killed, and more than 500 people were trapped by a new mudslide in the SICHUAN province in south-west CHINA according to state-run news agency Xinhua. Heavy rains in the region triggered the landslide. The landslide was sweeping over Mianzhu city near the capital of the SICHUAN province, Chengdu.

The SICHUAN province was hard hit during the powerful earthquake in 2008 when at least 80,000 people were killed.

Even in LONGNAN in the GANSU province cloudburst and landslides cost more than 15 human lives, and more than 10,000 were cut off according to Chinese TV.

Similar disasters have cost around 1,100 human lives during last week.

Swedish SVT, later Friday: TORRENTIAL RAIN triggered LANDSLIDES and FLOODS in West China Friday. More than 30 DIED and 30 are missing.

The authorities warned that the situation in Zhouqu city in the Gansu province worsened after destruction of centrals with vaccines.

The death toll is more than 1,150 due to bad weather in China: 600 remain missing in the Zhouqu region after the floods and landslides.

nancyk58 · August 14, 2010

NEWS ON 14 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Danish DR1: GUAM HIT BY MAGNITUDE-7.2 EARTHQUAKE

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), Guam - an American island in the Pacific - was hit by a magnitude-7.2 earthquake. No tsunami alert was issued. Nor is there any report of damage or casualties.

Danish DR1 + TV2 News and German ZDFtext: AT LEAST ONE CONFIRMED CASE OF CHOLERA IN MINGORA IN NORTH-WEST PAKISTAN

According to United Nations' Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA, there has been at least one confirmed case of CHOLERA in MINGORA in north-west Pakistan. All will be treated for cholera now.

Also according to UN, at least 36,000 people suffer from DIARRHOEA which might indicate cholera.

German ARDtext: United Nations' Secretary-General, Ban Ki-Moon is expected to visit Pakistan today, Saturday 14 August.

The first case of CHOLERA has been reported in MINGORA.

A new flood wave threatens hundred thousands of people.

nancyk58 · August 19, 2010

Some headlines from 14 to 18 August 2010

Some headlines from the middle of August 2010

"50 million Pakistani are affected / made homeless by the floods = 12% of Pakistan's population", says the Pakistani Prime Minister GILANI.

Pakistan's finances will be negatively affected for years. Crops, roads, bridges have been destroyed. It will take billions to rebuild.

Not only the countries we expect to help have been reluctant to do so - also Pakistan's neighbouring countries have been reluctant.

Growing sympathy for - and membership of - Taliban, because the local people including those enrolled in Taliban seem to be better at getting the aid to those needy in the neighbouring villages.

I have written down a lot of stuff from text-TV from 14 to 18 august, but haven't posted it yet. Hope to do it Thursday.

nancyk58 · August 19, 2010

NEWS in relation to NATURAL DISASTERS in period 14.8 to 19.8

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 19 AUGUST 2010 PLUS THE DAYS BEFORE

14.8 Swedish SVT: DAY OF MOURNING ON SUNDAY, 15 AUGUST IN CHINA FOR VICTIMS IN CHINA

Sunday, 15 August has been chosen as NATIONAL DAY OF MOURNING to honour the VICTIMS of the LANDSLIDES AND FLOODS during the last couple of weeks. More than 2,100 died or are missing due to the floods. Add to this the 1,156 dead after the major MUDSLIDE in the city of ZHOUQU.

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16 August 2010: Ardtext + Danish text-tv: 1 KILLED IN SLOVAKIA BY FLASHFLOOD

Bad weather with storm and heavy rains triggered a flashflood in Slovakia. At least 1 died: A man drowned when he wanted to move his car to a safer place according to the Ministry of the Interior. 2 missing and 3 bridges were destroyed.

NEW FLOOD in some of the areas that were flooded recently in the CZECH Republic.

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19.8 URBAN (Danish free paper): DOUBLE QUAKE CAUSED TSUNAMIS IN TONGA + SAMOA IN 2009

A team of researchers in the USA might have found out what caused the tsunamis that swept across TONGA and SAMOA in the SOUTH PACIFIC in 2009 killing 192 people. The first earthquake measured at magnitude-8.1 on the Richter scale was followed by a second quake measured at magnitude-8.0 on the Richter scale - so BBC. The douple quake resulted in at least four 5-m-high tsunamis hitting the islands.

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German ZDFtext on 14 August: INDIA OFFERING PAKISTAN EMERGENCY AID AFTER THE FLOODS

INDIA has offered its enemy number one emergency aid after the floods. This has placed Pakistan's government in Islamabad in something of a dilemma. The Pakistani newspaper "Dawn" reported that the offer from the neighbouring state has not been declined at once. In a telephone conversation, India's minister of foreign affairs has offered his Pakistani colleague $ 5 million (3.9 million Euro) in flood aid. It will be decided how to handle this situation. The Pakistani government has again and again appealed to other countries to support the country financially due to the flood of the century in Pakistan.

German ZDF on 15.8: PAKISTAN: BAN KI-MOON, UN SECRETARY-GENERAL, IN PAKISTAN

"The whole world supports pakistan", he assured after arriving in Islamabad. He would concentrate on getting aid to the millions of affected people in Pakistan. His plan was to visit the flood zone and to have talks with president Zardari and prime minister Gilani. According to Pakistan's government 20 million people are affected by the floods.

Germany has increased its emergency aid to Pakistan to 15 million Euro according to Development Minister Niebel. This amount is going to finance food, medical supplies and clean drinking water.

German ARD 19.8: ADDITIONAL 10 MILLION EURO FROM GERMANY TO PAKISTAN

The German government has increased its aid to the flood victims in Pakistan by additional 10 million Euro to a total of 25 million Euro, because the scope of the floods is far bigger than assumed. German president Wulff has appealed to the German population to help / donate. President Wulff on German TV (Channel ARD): "Conditions in the area that can be criticized must not affect the victims negatively. The EU increased its aid to flood victims to 115 million Euro.

URBAN (Danish free paper) on 19.8: THE WORLD COMMUNITY MEETS TO DISCUSS PAKISTAN

by Ole Damkjaer / Claus Kragh

Today the USA summons the world to a global emergency meeting in UN's headquarters in N.Y.

In an attempt to make the world community help the disaster-struck Pakistan, USA's secretary of state, Hillary Clinton has summoned her colleagues to an emergency meeting in UN's headquarters in New York.

Hillary Clinton has taken this initiative together with Pakistan's minister of foreign affairs, Shah Mahmood Qureshi. It reflects how serious the USA looks on the extensive natural disaster.

So far the flood has affected 20 million people, but it may also cause a political and economic meltdown in Pakistan - a country with nuclear arms. Militant islamists are ready to seize power if they get the chance.

The Danish minister of foreign affairs, Lene Espersen: "It is not only a question of relieving an enormous humanitarian disaster, but it is also a question of preventing a political and economic destabilisation in Pakistan. We need a stable Pakistan - also in relation to our task in neighbouring Afghanistan."

Denmark has already contributed with 63 million DKK for the emergency & relief work, and Denmark is the fourth-largest donor country. "The Danish government will naturally estimate the need of help in Pakistan", says the Danish minister of foreign affairs who will lay pressure on other countries at the emergency meeting.

A Pakistan expert connected with the university in Lund, Sweden thinks that the emergency meeting in the UN is a risky gamble. "You might make a fool of yourself if you summon a major meeting, and noone appears. And if you cannot get the money needed in Pakistan".

19.8 DANISH DR1: SAUDI-ARABIA's RECORD-HIGH AID TO PAKISTAN

With a pledge of emergency aid at the value of the equivalent of 525 billion Danish kroner, Saudi-Arabia passes USA when it comes to donating most funds to the disaster-struck Pakistan. The USA donates emergency aid to Pakistan amounting to the equivalent of 380 Danish kroner. Saudi-Arabia's donation follows criticism of Muslim countries being reluctant to help. Last week, the USA proclaimed to be the country donating the highest amount to Pakistan.

18.8 Danish TV2: PAKISTAN FACING ECONOMIC RUIN

One of the poorest countries in the world is facing economic ruin after the devastating floods that destroyed a substantial part of Pakistan's economic foundation. This is estimated by international economists and Pakistan itself.

Agricultural areas of the same size as ENGLAND are submerged (under water). Crops are destroyed this year. Agriculture is 20% of Pakistan's total economy.

It will take at least 2 years to bring agriculture back to the same level as before the monsoon.

Danish DR1 and Swedish SVT: MORE THAN 4 MILLION HOMELESS IN PAKISTAN ACCORDING TO UN

More than 4 million homeless - this is twice the number of homeless so far estimated by the UN and aid agencies.

The task of helping the victims of one of the worst natural disasters in Pakistan's history has become even more acute and extensive. A little month ago the monsoon rain gained strength. Since then, vast areas have been flooded.

"According to our rough estimates, more than 4 million have been made homeless in the provinces SINDH and PUNJAB", said UN's spokesman Maurizio Giuliano according to tne news agency Reuters.

PAKISTAN FLOODS: STAND WITH THE PEOPLE!

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_needs_relief/?cl=715081759&v=6993

A humanitarian catastrophe of terrifying proportions is unfolding in Pakistan, with A FIFTH OF THE COUNTRY UNDER WATER, and MILLIONS OF PEOPLE HOMELESS and desperately needing assistance.

Some relief efforts are underway, but the international response to the mega-disaster has been irresponsibly slow and weak -- the UN has urgently appealed for $460 million of vital aid, but just 60% has been committed.

Relief workers warn that without an immediate increase in aid the death toll could sky-rocket. We can help by pressing our governments to step up their efforts.

Let's show our leaders what generosity looks like, and demand that they join us.

Use the form on https://secure.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_needs_relief/?cl=715081759&v=6993 to send a message to key donor governments -- you can either send the pre-written one, or write your own version.

UPDATE: The public outcry is working, with donors now delivering 60% OF the UN's FUNDING REQUEST.

But the situation on the ground is worsening and aid efforts still too weak -- let's keep the pressure up!

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URBAN (Danish free paper) on 13.8.10: THE FIRES ARE EXPENSIVE FOR RUSSIA

The harvest is negatively affected, the bread will be more expensive and Russia's vast forests will be affected for decades.

These are some of the consequences of the heatwave, drought and forest wildfires during the last couple of weeks.

The bill for the natural disaster will weigh heavily on the country for a very long time according to experts.

Normal Russians will feel this when buying goods such as bread which will increase by 20% due to the higher corn/grain prices.

Drought and forest fires have destroyed up to one fourth of 2010's harvest, the Russian president said yesterday.

The total bill for the natural disaster may be the equivalent of 180 billion DKK and reduce the expected economic growth this year by 1% according to estimates by economists.

These negative figures are published as the authorities report considerable progress in the fight against the forest wildfires: The scope of the fires has been reduced by half during 48 hours according to the Emergencies Ministry. Yesterday the authorities lifted the state of emergency in 3 out of the 7 worst hit areas in central Russia.

It is now also easier for the inhabitants of Moscow to breathe again after weeks of smoke / smog. The concentration of CO and toxic particles in Moscow is again below the permit limit.

The number of fires is declining, but the heatwave continues. It is the worst drought for at least 50 years. Many farmers will be ruined as a consequence of the losses due to the failed harvest, the Russian President Dmitrij Medvedev said during a visit to the southern Russia.

Last week Russia announced a stop to exports of grain / corn. Together with drought in the neighbouring country, Ukraine it has driven the world market price of wheat up by 70% since June! Russia is the world's third largest exporter of wheat.

At the same time forest and peat bog fires continue to send enormous amounts of greenhouse gases out into the atmosphere.

The Russian president has related the extreme temperatures in Russia to the global warming.

But it wil take generations to restore the enormous forest areas.

14.8 Danish TV2 News: A TOTAL OF 54 DIED IN THE RUSSIAN FOREST WILDFIRES

14.8 Danish TV2 Text-TV: RAIN STOPPED MANY FOREST WILDFIRES / NUMBER OF FOREST FIREST REDUCED SIGNIFICANTLY AROUND MOSCOW DURING THE NIGHT

Still hundreds of fires in other regions of Russia according to the authorities - also in areas that are difficult to reach (impassable). After almost 50 days of heatwave, Saturday morning's heavy rain put an end to (many of) the fires in the neighbourhood of Moscow. A great deal of the smog disappeared, and the inhabitants of Moscow could again go outside without using protective masks.

14.8 Swedish SVT: REDUCED NUMBER OF FIRES IN RUSSIA ACCORDING TO EMERGENCIES MINISTRY

Compared to on Friday, the area with fires has decreased by 8,000 hectares to 56,200 hectares. The number of fires fell from 505 to 480. In the neighbourhood of Moscow the number of fires fell from 29 to 16. The biggest problem was in the Nizjnij Novgorod region where there were fires in 73 areas. At the same time, 2 US aircrafts landed in Moscow with water tanks and other fire-fighting equipment.

14.8 German ZDFtext: RUSSIA: NUMBER OF FOREST FIRES FALLING FROM 505 FIRES ON FRIDAY TO 480 SATURDAY

According to the Emergencies Ministry, the number of forest fires are falling. The situation has improved considerably, said minister Sergej Schougu. The fire near a nuclear research facility in Sarov 480 km from Moscow is under control. More than 54 people died due to the fires that were triggered by the biggest heatwave in Russian history.

German ZDFtext: RUSSIA: AGAIN TOXIC SMOG IN MOSCOW TODAY, SUNDAY, 15.8

PEAT BOG FIRES in the neighbourhood of Moscow are the reason for the return of toxic smog in Moscow.

The highly unhealthy / harmful smoke with a distinct smell of fire moved into Moscow city. The authorities advised people to wear protective masks again and to close the windows. Due to the smog and heatwave, the mortality rate in Moscow alone has doupled to 700 people per day.

19.8: Danish TV2: ARMOURED CARS USED IN THE FIGHT AGAINST RUSSIAN FIRES

Rebuilt armoured cars from the army are made available by a private company to be used in the fight against the continuous fires. Tracked vehicles can advance in places where other vehicles must give up. A weather change has resulted in the forest fires being more or less under control. But the peat bog fires continue.

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Swedish SVT: USA: 80% OF THE LEAKED OIL IS STILL IN THE GULF OF MEXICO

According to the US authorities, only 1/4 of the oil spill is still in the water - most of it has been collected/contained of dissolved in the water. BUT US researchers estimate that up to 80% of the oil that leaked into the Gulf of Mexico is still in the Gulf.

One of the biggest misjudgements is that the oil has been dissolved in the water and thus is harmless, says marine researcher Charles Hopkinson.

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nancyk58 · August 20, 2010

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 20 AUGUST AND IN THE DAYS BEFORE

Danish newspaper "Ekstra Bladet" on 17 August 2010: THE WORLD LETS PAKISTAN DOWN

The international community and the pro-western government are doing too little - by Jesper Hjorth

Reports of unrest from an increasing number of places in Pakistan after the floods. The water level is falling, but the aftermath can be felt for years to come.

Roads are blocked by angry victims - hungry and thirsty people are fighting for emergency aid. At the same time the confidence in the Pakistani government is falling rapidly.

Only the army seems to be efficient - and the same applies to Islamic and western aid agencies, but their funds are insufficient.

The Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi admits - when talking to the BBC - that he fears the flood victims' increasing despair.

SUFFERING and SOCIAL CHAOS caused by the floods could play into the militants' hands (Taliban and similar groups).

20 MILLION PAKISTANI are AFFECTED by the CATASTROPHE, and the affected local / small communities are in desperate NEED of CLEAN WATER, LATRINES and other supplies. The available resources only cover a fraction of the need - so the British aid organisation OXFAM.

It is terrifying how quickly the situation is becoming worse, says OXFAM's local

director, Neva Khan.

United Nations: Up to 3.5 MILLION CHILDREN are THREATENED BY DEADLY DISEASES that are transmitted by means of unclean water such as DYSENTERY, says UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano.

- There has been a first wave of victims triggered by the FLOODS. But if we do not respond in time, there will be another wave - triggered due to the SHORTAGE/LACK OF DRINKING WATER and FOOD and caused by DISEASES transmitted by unclean/polluted water.

Last week the UN asked the world community for $459m in aid to Pakistan. Only one third of this amount has been pledged according to UN's spokesman Maurizio Giuliano. The EU granted $40m - and the USA $70m, AP writes.

Compare this with the fact that USA last year gave $1 billion in military assistance to Pakistan - the most important ally in the fight against the region's strong, islamistic movements.

German ARDtext: THE FLOOD IN PAKISTAN DOES NOT RECEDE UNTIL THE END OF AUGUST

In Pakistan's flooded areas, the relief goods are arriving very slowly. Observers estimate that more than 720,000 houses were destroyed and that Pakistan is losing 780 million Euro due to the failing harvest of crops in 2010. According to meteorologists, the flood will continue until the end of August.

The World Health Organization (WHO) expects more deaths. Diseases spread - one main reason being the lack/shortage of clean drinking water.

Danish DR1 on 19.8.10: "One of the worst hit areas is the SWAT VALLEY in the north-western part of Pakistan. Everything along the river bank has been washed away: Village after village disappeared in the water = submerged. So Thomas Ubbesen, who is the special correspondent of DR (Danish TV channel) in Pakistan."The first 100 km of the road in the valley is intact so that emergency aid can reach the area, but it is still only Pakistani aid that reaches the needy people in the area."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11033677 / 20 August 2010 Last updated at 08:57 GMT

FLOOD AID BUILDS UP FOR PAKISTAN AFTER UN APPEALS

Donors have pledged more money for flood-stricken Pakistan following appeals at an EMERGENCY MEETING of the UN General Assembly.

Pakistani Foreign Minister Shah Mahmood Qureshi said he had been assured that the UN's target of $460m (£295m) would be "easily met".

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon told the emergency session that the floods were like "a slow-motion tsunami".

THE MONSOON-TRIGGERED FLOODS HAVE AFFECTED ABOUT ONE-FIFTH OF PAKISTAN.

An estimated 20 MILLION PEOPLE are AFFECTED and experts say SHELTER, FOOD and CLEAN WATER are URGENTLY NEEDED to AVERT a HUMANITARIAN CATASTROPHE.

Before the meeting at the UN headquarters in New York, Mr Ban said not even half of the $460m target needed for initial relief had been raised, and the response remained slow.

The US - already the biggest donor - announced it would contribute another $60m, bringing its total to more than $150m.

Secretary of State Hillary Clinton said about $92m would go to the UN's appeal.

The EU has also increased its pledge to more than $180m and the UK is nearly doubling its contribution to almost $100m.

GERMANY has raised its aid to $32m and Mr Qureshi said SAUDI ARABIA was pledging more than $100m.

Pakistan also announced that it had ACCEPTED a $5m DONATION FROM INDIA, a week after the offer was made. Relations between both countries have been tense recently over the disputed region of KASHMIR.

CHINA is expected to announce its donation during the second session of the UN meeting on Friday.

"If you put this all together, it's substantial," said Mr Qureshi.

Addressing the UN earlier, Mr Qureshi warned that unless his country received adequate assistance, hard-won gains in the government's war against insurgents could be undermined.

Pakistan is a key ally in the US-led war against militants in neighbouring Afghanistan.

Islamabad has assured Washington and its allies that troops fighting the insurgency in the north-west of the country have not been redeployed to the relief efforts.

But correspondents say SUFFERING and SOCIAL CHAOS caused by the floods could play into the militants' hands.

At least 1,500 PEOPLE have DIED in the floods, which began in the north and have swept south towards the sea, DESTROYING ROADS and BRIDGES, FLOODING FARMLAND and knocking out power stations.

Tens of thousands of villages remain underwater.

Aid agencies say there are signs that the crisis is worsening, as new flood waters continue to surge south along the INDUS river and more FLOOD DEFENCES COLLAPSE, forcing people to flee their homes.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11029267 / 19 August 2010 Last updated at 18:38 GMT

FEUDS AND SICKNESS SIMMER IN CAMPS

By Riaz Sohail - BBC Urdu, Sukkur

In Pakistan's southern city of SUKKUR, displaced flood survivors are desperate for help and wondering how they will make it through this disaster.

Everywhere I stop my car, people rush forward and surround the vehicle, thinking I am an aid official who has come to distribute relief goods.

Their faces speak of hope, as they scramble and push past each other to reach the car.

In the RELIEF CAMPS now springing up across SUKKUR in SINDH PROVINCE, such scenes can be observed every hour.

SUKKUR is located on the banks of the INDUS, and it is one of the few urban areas near the river that have escaped widespread destruction.

So it is the first point of call for most of the people across the province who have lost their homes to floodwater.

The refugees can be seen taking shelter inside and around the city. They squat under bridges and trees.

Increasingly, THE CITY is resembling ONE LARGE RELIEF CAMP.

HUGE DEMAND

A provincial government official estimates that 4 MILLION PEOPLE IN SINDH have been AFFECTED by Pakistan's worst-ever flooding.

But only 300,000 of them are living in government relief camps.

"A lot of people are still sitting near the main highways or taking shelter near trees," says Jamil Soomro, advisor to the Sindh government.

"They do not want to go into camps because they still have some of their belongings, as well as their cattle, with them."

No official is present in any of the camps in Sukkur to listen to the refugees and help them to solve their problems.

Every tent has at least six to seven people living in it.

Inside the tents, the occupants sleep on the ground, which they have covered with a piece of cloth.

Outside are water tanks, and refugees can also get food.

But the demand is huge and supply is limited, with fights breaking out regularly.

TRIBAL TENSIONS

Most people here are poor and have received hardly any education - and the flood has taken what little they had.

For many women, this is the first time they have left their villages.

Some people find it difficult that members of rival tribes have to share the same camps.

Upper SINDH is famous for its BLOOD FEUDS, and old hatreds continue to outweigh new realities.

So far though, the authorities have been able to prevent any outbreak of violence.

The INDUS VALLEY in SINDH PROVINCE stretches along 900 miles, with 85% of the land under cultivation.

Most of this land belongs to the tribal leaders, called sardars or waderas. Many of them are prominent national politicians.

The people taking refuge in the camps are their tenant farmers, some having been indentured for life.

They till the soil for maize, cotton, rice and wheat, the main crops in the region. Many also cultivate lemon trees.

But all crops and fruit trees have been destroyed or severely damaged by the floods.

Authorities say they fear this will result in a massive food shortage in the coming weeks.

As I travelled along the INDUS highway, I have seen houses cut off from what can now only be called mainland.

They are surrounded by miles of water in each direction.

In some places the INDUS has swelled to several times its size, resembling a giant inland sea with no land on the other side of the horizon.

Big landowners may be able to recoup their losses. But people like Nizam Nathio, who lost his 10 acres in the flood, ask themselves how they will survive.

"All my resources are gone and the next crop will be harvested in six months," he told me in a relief camp in Sukkur.

"Will my family eat mud till then to survive?"

MORE PROBLEMS

But it is not just farm land that has been washed away.

Hakeem Kalhoro, a resident of the Naushero Feroz district, used to run a successful dairy farm with 50 buffaloes.

Now he has one animal left. The floodwater has swept away the rest.

"I used to sell 500 litres of milk a day, now I'm living on handouts," he says.

Government and private aid agencies say the situation could get worse as relief supplies are dwindling and other problems demand attention.

HEALTH issues have rapidly gone to the top of the list.

SINDH government officials say that out of the 4 million displaced people, 1 MILLION are SUFFERING FROM some sort of flood-related ILLNESS.

"This situation is beyond our capacity, or the capacity of the federal government to handle alone,' government adviser Jameel Soomro says.

"We need international aid urgently."

"Without it every issue will give birth to another myriad set of problems."

Although officials in SUKKUR are trying as best as they can to deal with the influx of refugees from across the province, the city's small size and limited resources mean many people will have to look for alternatives and move on.

Many are already making their way towards Karachi and Hyderabad, as thousands more take up residence in the already overcrowded camps.

Meanwhile, the danger is not yet over, as irrigation officials say that they expect more water to move south in the next few days.

From other news sites:

Yahoo! UK and Ireland: World urged to act on Pakistan or risk rebel rise

The Economist: No sign of a rainbow

Observer: Pakistan floods: Aid trickles in for victims as CHOLERA spreads in Pakistan's worst-ever floods

Guardian.co.uk: Pakistan floods are a 'slow-motion tsunami' - Ban Ki-moon

Reuters India: U.S., Pakistan warn of militant plots

Supplies are limited and refugees in some camps have been fighting over food

AID FOR PAKISTAN

EU: $179.4m

US: $156.8m

UK: $100m

SAUDI ARABIA: $65.3m plus $40m uncommitted pledges

AUSTRALIA: $31.6m plus $225,000 uncommitted pledges

UN Central Emergency Response Fund: $26.6m

GERMANY: $12.4m plus $20.3m uncommitted pledges

Source: UN and media reports

German ZDFtext: NATO WILL TRANSPORT RELIEF GOODS TO PAKISTAN ON SUNDAY

The relief goods - donated by SLOVAKIA - are generators, water pumps and tents. NATO considers an airlift. In one week up to 500 tons of relief goods could be transported to Pakistan by air.

German ZDFtext + ARDtext: PAKISTAN ACCEPTS AID FROM INDIA

A week ago INDIA offered PAKISTAN 5 million dollar (almost 4 million Euro) in aid, and Pakistan has now accepted India's offer. The relationship between India and Pakistan has been very bad / tense due to the KASHMIR conflict.

German ZDFtext, ARDtext + Danish DR1: SEVERAL COUNTRIES INCREASE THEIR AID TO PAKISTAN

During the EMERGENCY MEETING of the UN General Assembly about PAKISTAN several countries increased their aid to Pakistan.

The USA pledged additional $60m in emergency aid = pledged over $150m.

The EU pledged €140m in aid.

UK doupled its aid to about $100m.

Germany pledged €25m in aid.

According to the United Nations, 4.6 million people are without shelter in Pakistan. Pakistan is one of the world's worst humanitarian catastrophes.

Danish DR1: The INTERNATIONAL RED CROSS asks for DKK 427m in support to Pakistan. At the beginning of August, the International Red Cross that includes the Red Crescent - asked for DKK 95m.

BBC World News: UN CALLS FOR PAKISTAN HELICOPTERS

More helicopters are urgently needed to deliver aid to the millions of Pakistanis still cut off by the devastating floods, says the UN's food agency. Many roads have been blocked and bridges washed away by the "slow-motion" tsunami. Millions of people need food, shelter and water.

BBC World News: CHARITY "OXFAM" WELCOMES FLOOD AID MONEY

OXFAM welcomes the doupling of the British government's flood relief for Pakistan from £30m to £60m.

An estimated 8 million people are said to be in need of assistance.

German ZDFtext on 18 August: According to information given, up to now around 700,000 people have been provided with food and drinking water.

More than 6 million are in URGENT NEED of help to survive.

German citizens have donated 24 million Euro to Pakistan according to the German Central Institute for social issues.

The situation in PAKISTAN is getting more dramatic. DISEASES SPREAD among the millions of flood victims. Relief workers expect more deaths. "We must prepare for it", said WHO's regional vice-president, Abdullah Assaed. Floods destroyed or damaged one fifth of the health installations in Pakistan. The number of intestinal diseases and diseases related to the stomach has increased. Some deaths are recorded. So far 1,600 died due to the flood. 20 million people are affected.

nancyk58 · August 20, 2010

News in relation to natural disasters, part II on 20 August 2010 and days before

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/science-environment-11028622 / 19 August 2010

Last updated at 18:04 GMT

BP OIL SPILL: UNDERSEA OIL REMAINS IN GULF OF MEXICO

By Pallab Ghosh Science correspondent, BBC News

A study of the effects of the Deepwater Horizon spill has confirmed the presence of a TOXIC CHEMICAL RESIDUE one kilometre below the sea surface.

The investigation, carried out in June, shows a plume of crude oil-based chemicals up to 200m high and 2km wide, extending 35km from the spill site.

The results are published in the journal Science.

There had already been speculation that large quantities of oil from the spill remained dissolved in the sea at depth.

This new research confirms that a plume, or cloud, does indeed exist below the surface. But it also shows that the amount is relatively small - possibly less than 0.1% of the total amount spilled.

Members of the research team from the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute in Massachusetts, US, have been cautious about commenting on the significance of their study.

Dr Chris Reddy of the Woods Hole Oceanographic Institute, who was among those involved in the research, said he was unable to speculate, at this stage, what impact the plume would have on marine life in the area.

"I'd [need] a much better inventory of all the molecules that make up the oil before [i could] start to get an idea," he said.

Jane Lubchenco, head of the National Oceanographic and Atmospheric Administration (NOAA), and one of the most senior scientists in the US, commented: "We are all served best by proceeding in a careful, thoughtful, and quantifiable manner, where we can actually document everything and share it publicly."

Marine experts said the US researchers' study offered an important insight into the extent of the oil spill's impact on the region's marine ecology.

Dr Simon Boxall from the University of Southampton, National Oceanography Centre, UK, said: "This is actually an optimistic outlook and allays fears that huge plumes of oil lie in the deep ocean."

Dr Martin Preston, an expert on marine pollution at the University of Liverpool, said that although the plume contained many toxic chemicals, they were at very low concentrations and at a depth where relatively few marine animals are found.

Any concerns that oxygen would be depleted by the plume breaking up and creating so-called "dead zones" were unfounded, he added.

"Oil plumes are normally broken up by microscopic organisms in a process that uses up oxygen in the sea water," he said.

"If this happens rapidly, oxygen can reach dangerously low levels at the expense of marine animals. So the fact that the oil is breaking up slowly and moving away from the coastline is good news in the short-term."

But the plume's resilience means that there is also some bad news: the oil components are not degrading quickly and are likely to remain for several months or longer.

Dr Benjamin Van Mooy, another principal investigator of the research team, said: "If the oxygen data from the plume layer are telling us it isn't being rapidly consumed by microbes near the well the hydrocarbons could persist for some time.

"So it is possible that oil could be transported considerable distances from the well before being degraded."

Dr Boxall said it would be important to continue monitoring the region.

"Understanding how this plume is dispersing and breaking down will determine how quickly deepwater fishing can resume in the Gulf," he said.

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Danish DR1 on 20.8: RUSSIAN FIRES WILL BE EXTINGUISHED THIS WEEK-END

The flames around the Russian capital, Moscow seem to die out according to Emergencies Minister, Sergej Sjojgu.

"The fires are expected to be contained at the end of this week - by 22 August", Sergej Sjojgu said to Russian news agency ITAR-TASS.

Thursday, 95% of the fires in the Moscow region were extinguished, Vice Emergencies Minister Alexander Chupriyan added. Alexander Chupriyan said that the fires around Moscow currently cover an area of 7 hectares compared to 56 hectares on 8 August.

Swedish SVT: The forest fire situation in Russia has almost been normalized, President Dmitrij Medvedev said Friday. Medvedev lifted the state of emergency in regions Nizjnij Novgorod, Mordvinia aka. Mordova and the Moscow area. There is still state of emergence in force in the area of Rjazan due to a peat bog fire which is difficult to extinguish. Yesterday 95% of the fires were extinguished.

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BBC World News: BOLIVIA DECLARES FIRES EMERGENCY due to a number of forest fires in the country.

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Danish DR1 on 19.8: LOSS OF HUMAN LIVES IN ASIA - CHINA AND INDIA - DUE TO RAIN

CHINA was hit by new LANDSLIDES in SOUTH-WEST CHINA. 67 missing after several days of heavy rain which triggered massive mudslides through a village in the mountains in the Yunnan province. Roads, electricity and telecommunications were cut off.

LANDSLIDES and FLOODS have cost more than 1,500 human lives in CHINA in the last couple of months.

INDIA: A MUDSLIDE cost human lives after heavy rain. A school in the Indian state of Uttrakhand was hit and more than 18 children died.

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News Agency Ritzau on 16 August 2010: WIND MAKING FIRES IN PORTUGAL WORSE

CENTRAL and NORTHERN parts of PORTUGAL were still ravaged by enormous forest fires, and on Sunday 15 August it was more difficult to extinguish the fires due to changing and stronger winds.

Several hundred firefighters tried to fight at least 14 widespread fires in Central and Northern Portugal. The worst fire was a fire in the national park Peneda-Geres in North Portugal, as the fire was out of control several times.

Until 16 August no one among the civilian population was killed during the fires this Summer, but four firefighters lost their lives.

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Swedish SVT on 14/8: BAD WEATHER WITH HEAVY RAINS DESTROYS DRY NIGER

HEAVY RAIN STORMS have made more than 67,800 PEOPLE HOMELESS in NIGER.

Earlier 7 million people were threatened by HUNGER due to DROUGHT and FAILURE OF CROPS.

State TV reports that 2 children died in Tessaoua in the Maradi region in the central part of the country when a wall fell down on them as a consequence of the bad weather.

Many areas are affected: Niamey, Zinder and Diffa in the east, Tahoua and Tilleberi in the west and Agadez in the desert in the north. Food, tents, mosquito nets, filter and medical equipment have been sent to the vulnerable / exposed areas according to the UN.

German ZDFtext on 14/8: UN: HUNGER DISASTER THREATENS IN NIGER

According to information given by UN's World Food Programme, a dramatic hunger disaster threatens in Niger. Almost half of the population of 7.3 million inhabitants are urgently dependent on food aid. Every sixth child is undernourished, WFP spokesman Malek Triki reported.

The government which is run by a military council since President Mamadou Tandja was overthrown in February will make more than 21,000 tons food available. Already in 2005, Niger was hit by a hunger disaster. Tandja had played this down as propaganda by the UN and the opposition.

nancyk58 · August 22, 2010

NEWS ON 21 AUGUST 2010

NEWS ON 21 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11048475 / 21 August 2010 Last updated at 15:12 GMT

CHINA FLOODS CAUSE MASS EVACUATION

More than 50,000 people have been moved from their homes in NORTHERN CHINA after HEAVY RAIN caused the YALU RIVER to BURST ITS BANKS.

Some 200 houses have been destroyed in the city of DANDONG, and three people are reported missing, state media says.

Flooding has also been reported across the border in NORTH KOREA, with the city of SINUIJU severely affected.

More than 1,500 people have died in CHINA in recent months during one of the country's wettest-ever summers.

In DANDONG, floodwater caused a dyke to burst triggering severe flooding in an industrial area. The main railway line out of the city is also reported to have been cut off.

Some 51,000 residents have been taken to higher ground.

In SINUIJU in NORTH KOREA, more than 30cm [12in] of rain is reported to have fallen overnight.

The SWOLLEN YALU RIVER - known as the AMNOK in NORTH KOREA - burst its banks and swamped houses, public buildings and farmland in five villages near the city, Pyongyang's official news agency said.

Armed forces are assisting with the rescue effort, the KCNA agency reported.

SINUIJU lies on a vital trade route for NORTH KOREA and previous flooding has exacerbated problems in a country where millions have died in famines over the last two decades.

In CHINA the latest FLOODING comes after the deaths of more than 700 people in a LANDSLIDE triggered by heavy rains in ZHOUQU COUNTY, GANSU last week.

China's state weather bureau is forecasting MORE HEAVY RAIN throughout the weekend.

Danish TV2 and German ARDtext: FLOODS RAVAGING CHINA

3 are missing and more than 50,000 PEOPLE have been EVACUATED from their homes in NORTH-EAST CHINA after MASSIVE FLOODS along YALU RIVER which constitutes the border to NORTH KOREA according to state media in Beijing. Around 230 houses collapsed in the city of DANDONG where transport and communications lines have been destroyed.

Heavy rains swelled YALU river which BURST ITS BANKS.

Flooding has also been reported across the border in NORTH KOREA, with the city of SINUIJU severely affected.

In recent months, heavy rain caused the worst floods in CHINA for a decade.

ALMOST 3,900 have DIED or are MISSING including 1,750 VICTIMS OF MASSIVE LANDSLIDES in a city at the beginning of August.

Swedish SVT: NORTH KOREAN CITY UNDER WATER / SUBMERGED

A "devastating flood" has hit an area along the North Korean / Chinese border according to North Korean media today. Large parts of the city of SINUIJU are said to be under water / submerged.

According to state-run information agency KCNA, more than 300mm rain fell overnight which caused a flood in the border river of YALU. Villages and farmland are submerged / under water.

On the CHINESE side of the border, more than 50,000 have been forced to leave their homes. In the city of DANDONG, more than 230 houses have been destroyed by the water according to news agency New China / Xinhua.

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Danish newspaper Berlingske Tidende on 17 August 2010

MUSLIM COUNTRIES RELUCTANT TO SEND AID TO PAKISTAN

The USA, GREAT BRITAIN, AUSTRALIA and DENMARK are sending substantial amounts to the FLOOD VICTIMS in PAKISTAN. Pakistan media are sorry that the Muslim countries only send small amounts to Pakistan.

While Pakistan's flooded provinces have become the scene of a humanitarian and ideological competition between western governments and relief organizations on one side and local islamists on the other side, the Muslim countries are reluctant to help the Islamic republic of PAKISTAN.

According to a UN statement on 16/17 August, the USA, Great Britain, Australia and Denmark were the biggest donors of emergency aid to the millions of Pakistani who were forced to leave their home due to the rain.

According to the statement, these four countries have donated 63% of the aid pledged to Pakistan. In addidion to this, a number of UN foundations had pledged enormous donations. Only 3 Muslim countries - Kuwait, The United Arab Emirats and Turkey - were on the list with a total of 3,5% of the over $212m so far pledged to Pakistan.

The reluctance of the Muslim countries to help Pakistan has been criticized in Pakistan where it is clear that the damage to the population, the infrastructure and the crops + harvest amounts to billions.

The frustration is so big that the Pakistani newspaper The Daily Times - in its editorial - asks the question: "Are the Saudi Arabs and the Iranians no longer Pakistan's friends?", writes the writer of the editorial and continues: "The Pakistani people - in particular the flood victims - would like to know what has happened to those in power and the peoples of Iran and Saudi-Arabia who have expressed no intention to help their Pakistani brothers and sisters."

Author and journalist Ahmed Rashid, who was born in Pakistan, warns that the Pakistani flood disaster is vital to the western strategic security interests in the region.

"All this will dramatically weaken the state's control of remote areas, in particular on the border of Afghanistan, which might quickly be taken over by the local Taliban... The floods are much more than a natural disaster: They may be a regional disaster which should be met with far bigger determination/resolve, generosity and diplomatic efforts than the western world has shown so far," Rashid writes in an analysis in the British paper The Telegraph.

INTEREST IN EMERGENCY AID

Rashid underlines that Islamistic groups are very active in the relief work in Pakistan for the time being.

The journalist, Margareth Fitzgerald from the newspaper The Irish Times writes in a report from Pakistan that the organization Falah-e-Insaniat Foundation which is allegedly a front organization for the terror group for Lashkar-e-Taiba distributes food and other aid in several regions in the country.

Neither from Danish nor American side has it been hidden that there are strategic, if not even military interests in emergency aid to Pakistan in the current situation.

Richard Holbrooke, the American envoy to Afghanistan and Pakistan, says directly that, if the USA does the right thing, then it will not only be good to the people being rescued:

"It will albo be good to USA's reputation in Pakistan."

And the USA needs that as almost 7 out of 10 Pakistani - according to an analysis made by Pew Institute - are negatively disposed towards the USA.

PAKISTAN TOPIC ON DANISH TV2 NEWS SATURDAY 21 AUGUST 2010:

Danish TV2 NEWS: 3.2 million hectares of farmland disappeared due to the floods. VEGETABLES and RICE destroyed.

Evacuations of 300,000 people from a Pakistani flood-threatened city to KARACHI. 70% of them will be rehoused with local people in areas with no risk of floods.

20% of Pakistan is flooded.

Danish TV2 News + Swedish SVT: PAKISTAN GETS EMERGENCY AID

A number of countries including the USA, SAUDI-ARABIA and GREAT BRITAIN have donated almost $500m to flood-stricken PAKISTAN according to UN's data bank FTS (Financial Tracking Service).

Additional $325m has been pledged.

20 MILLION PEOPLE are AFFECTED by the flood and the landslides.

4.4 million people are homeless / without shelter.

8.8 million people are in urgent need of aid efforts.

Before UN's EMERGENCY MEETING on Thursday 19 August, the UN had appealed for $460m in urgent emergency aid. In addition to the almost $500m, additional $325m is under way to the needy country. With $490,7m collected, the UN goal of $460m in emergency aid has been achieved.

By an extraordinary meeting at UN's headquarters, several countries pledged to increase their emergency aid to Pakistan which is hit by the worst flood in its history.

German ZDFtext: UN: PAKISTAN NEEDS MORE AID

After donations of almost $500m, UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Islamabad has stressed that Pakistan needs far bigger donations than that amount. The estimate was made on 11 August and was based on 6 million people needing urgent aid, said OCHA's spokesman Maurizio Giuliano. This figure has risen to at least 8 million people.

German ZDFtext: NEW FLOOD FORCES 150,000 PAKISTANI TO FLEE THEIR HOMES

New floods in South Pakistan have forced more than 150,000 people to leave their homes. They had to leave their villages/towns and seek higher ground in higher-lying regions according to a government spokesman. Reason: A rising water level in the INDUS river in the SINDH province. 600,000 are currently living in emergency (refugee) camps.

The flood in Pakistan started 3 weeks ago. Villages are cut off from the outside world. Roads, bridges and power stations have been destroyed.

MORE THAN 4 MILLION PEOPLE are HOMELESS, MORE THAN 8 MILLION PEOPLE are in URGENT NEED of AID.

Danish DR1: "PEOPLE DYING FROM SEQUELA IN PAKISTAN"

"In the PUNJAB province in Pakistan many have been rescued from floods, but enormous efforts are necessary to keep them alive the next days and weeks", says DR's special correspondent Thomas Ubbesen. He fears that the worst has yet to come.

A large part of Pakistan's electricity supply is based on hydroelectric power (hydropower) via dams. The question is now what to do with the enormous water masses behind the dams.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/programmes/from_our_own_correspondent/8931886.stm / Page last updated at 10:50 GMT, Saturday, 21 August 2010 11:50 UK

PAKISTAN FLOOD VICTIMS 'HAVE NO CONCEPT OF TERRORISM'

By Mohammed Hanif / BBC News, Pakistan

Three weeks after the start of the floods in Pakistan, a FIFTH of the country is under water. More international aid is now reaching the country - but the world's media finds it hard to stop talking about TERRORISM.

Many Pakistanis who have not been directly affected by the floods ask each other this question: Is it a punishment from Allah? Or is He just testing our faith?

One of the many religious scholars who pop up on our television screens during the holy month of Ramadan was asked the same question last week.

He shook his head and answered with the kind of hokey wisdom only TV preachers are capable of: "If you have transgressed, He is punishing you. If He likes you He is testing you."

Not everyone is reaching out for a divine explanation though.

In southern Punjab, poet Ashu Laal linked the fury of the river INDUS to our collective GREED and corporate RAPE OF THE LAND.

People have built roads, bridges and houses on the river bed and, when the INDUS returned after many decades, it could not find its old path.

It went around like a mad dog, sniffing for its old habitat and devoured everything on the way.

PARTITION

Between the righteous indignation of the faithful and poetic flourishes of folk wisdom, the reality might be quite simple, a reminder of something we have lived through before, only 63 years ago.

The images of old people on donkey carts, naked children perched over salvaged household items and cows and goats on the move kept reminding me of something that I had seen before, but I could not quite place where I had seen it.

Then a journalist colleague of mine, chasing the flood, arrived in southern Punjab and reported back that the bridge over the river Cehnab resembled a giant set that might have been erected for a film about Partition, when India and Pakistan were prised apart.

A Partition set in Noah's time, I thought.

He was obviously referring to the millions who have been on the move, on donkey carts, tractors and trolleys but mostly on foot, shrivelled old men carrying their beds on their heads, women shepherding half a dozen children, grandmothers separated from their families, walking in a daze, towards a destination that they have no clue about.

For many of them this is the longest journey they have ever undertaken in their lives.

Like two million-odd people butchered during the Partition, these people have rarely registered in the national debate and their faces have never been seen on our TV screens before.

SMALL FARMERS

It seems the land has ripped out its entrails and thrown them out for all of us to see.

These people do not live in picturesque valleys where city folk go on holiday.

These areas are of no strategic interest to anyone because they have neither exported terrorism nor do they have the ambition to join a fight against it.

Their only export to the world outside is onions, tomatoes, sugar cane, wheat and mangoes.

The word terrorism does not even exist in Seraiki and Sindhi, the languages of the majority of the people who have been rendered HOMELESS.

They belong to that forgotten part of humanity that has quietly tilled the land for centuries, the small farmers, the peasants, the farmhands, generations of people who are born and work and die on the same small piece of land.

And this time there are 20 million of them.

What we do not realise is that these 20 million were poor but they were not starving. They come from a place where they can raise a whole family because they own a buffalo or a few goats.

They were probably the last 20 million who lived off the land and, in the process, fed us as well.

Pakistan's army is known worldwide for its talent for fighting on both sides of a conflict.

These 20 million are our invisible, SLAVE ARMY.

AUTOMATIC ASSUMPTION

When the WORLD MEDIA reports on the tragedy, it finds it difficult to leave behind a decade-long habit of linking everything to TERRORISM.

The reporters look for a banned militant organisation involved in RELIEF WORK, usually some random men with beards will do. And we are told, in good faith I am sure, that if the victims are not provided with relief, they will all turn to the TALIBAN.

Our own politicians join the chorus.

A friend involved in RELIEF WORK in SINDH pointed out that a hungry person is not likely to ask your views on terrorism before accepting your packet of food for the simple reason that their children are starving.

If this was a disaster movie, its poster would include the young man swimming

across a deluge with his rooster tied around his neck.

A puzzled relief worker wondered aloud why the world would think that this man who has just swum cross a raging flood would want to bring about a bloody Islamist revolution in a far-flung country that he has never heard of?

Is it not obvious that he just wants to save his chickens?

But this is no movie.

That half-naked child that you see in pictures with his face covered in flies is not dead. Not yet. He has dozed off out of HUNGER and HEAT and EXHAUSTION.

When he wakes up in a little while, he will ask for what every hungry child in the world asks for.

We were told that everyone, everywhere understands that language.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11046139 / 21 August 2010 Last updated at 03:39 GMT

PAKISTAN ACCEPTS $5m FLOOD AID FROM INDIA

Pakistan has accepted $5m (£3.2m) in aid from its rival and neighbour India, as donors pledged more money for the flood-hit country.

Abdullah Haroon, Pakistan's UN Ambassador, welcomed the offer saying the disaster transcended any differences the two countries had.

Meanwhile, officials say the province of SINDH is now the worst hit, with more than two million people affected.

New warnings are being issued and villages evacuated, they said.

Mr Haroon welcomed the latest offers of help, which followed a two-day special meeting of the UN Security Council in New York to discuss the crisis.

The UN says it has now raised about 70% of the $460m it called for in its emergency appeal.

Mr Haroon described the new donations as "indeed heartening" and "a good beginning", but added that Pakistan will need support for years to come.

INDIA's UN Ambassador, Hardeep Singh Puri, said the donation of $5m in relief supplies was an INITIAL OFFER and his country was ready to do more if needed.

"We are willing to do all that is in our power to assist Pakistan in facing the consequences of floods," he said.

"We extend our wholehearted support to the government of Pakistan in its efforts for relief and rehabilitation of the... population."

The offer came after Indian Prime Minister Manmohan Singh spoke to his Pakistani counterpart Yusuf Raza Gilani on Thursday.

Pakistan and India have slowly been improving ties since the Mumbai militant attacks of 2008 put relations between the two nuclear-armed rivals at a new low.

HOMES LOST

The floods began last month in Pakistan's north-west after heavy monsoon rains and have since swept south, swamping thousands of towns and villages in PUNJAB and SINDH provinces.

About one-fifth of Pakistan's territory is underwater and an estimated 20 MILLION people are AFFECTED.

Officials estimate that about 1,600 people have been killed.

In the SOUTHERN province of SINDH, hundreds of thousands of people have been left HOMELESS as the INDUS river overflowed, swamping homes and valuable farmland.

"Everything has been wasted. Nothing is left," said Qasim Bhayyo, 45, a refugee from Qayyas Bhayyo village in Sindh.

"I saw my house of wood and mud washed away. I saw grain and flour - we stockpiled food for months. It was all destroyed. We had no way to save our goats and buffaloes stranded in the water and crying."

As aid agencies stepped up the relief effort, the UN said on Friday that MORE HELICOPTERS were urgently NEEDED to reach communities cut off by the water.

Experts warn of a second wave of deaths from water-borne DISEASES such as CHOLERA unless flood victims have access to supplies of fresh drinking water.

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can do so through the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee at http://www.dec.org.uk or by telephone on 0370 60 60 900.

nancyk58 · August 22, 2010

News on 22 August 2010 in relation to natural disasters

NEWS ON 22 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Danish DR1 TTV: GREECE HIT BY MAGNITUDE-5.7 EARTHQUAKE

The west coast of Greece was hit by a magnitude-5.7 earthquake according to the US Geological Survey (USGS). The quake's epicentre was 158 km south-west of Patas - 33 km below the surface of the earth.

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Swedish SVT, Danish DR1 TTV, German ZDFtext and German ARDtext: MORE THAN 120,000 PEOPLE EVACUATED IN NORTH-EAST CHINA AFTER CLOUDBURSTS - AT LEAST 4 DEAD.

Thousands of people in neighbouring NORTH KOREA have been forced to flee the water masses according to reports made by news agency New China / Xinhua and the state-run North Korean news agency KCNA.

CLOUDBURSTS made the border river YALU BURST ITS BANKS. Weather bureaus forecast MORE RAIN AND STORMS.

In the Chinese city of DANDONG the roads are filled with knee-high water. Hundreds of houses have collapsed, and roads, railway lines / the public transport and power lines are damaged.

In all of CHINA, at least 3,900 have died or disappeared in connection with the massive / devastating floods this summer.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11051028 / 22 August 2010 Last updated at 07:48 GMT

CHINA AND NORTH KOREA EVACUATE THOUSANDS AFTER FLOODS

CHINA and NORTH KOREA have evacuated thousands of people from their homes after HEAVY RAINS BURST the YALU RIVER, flooding areas near their border.

North Korean state media reported that 5,000 people had been moved in the city of SINUIJU and nearby villages.

CHINA is continuing mass evacuations, with 94,000 people in the DANDONG area being taken to safety after the YALU burst its banks on Saturday.

FURTHER RAIN is EXPECTED in the region, putting more pressure on rescue work.

North Korea's official KCNA news agency reported that water from Yalu - or Amnok, as it is known in Korean - had destroyed homes and buildings in five villages.

SINUIJU, in the North Pyongan province, was said to have been "severely affected", with residents trying to find safety on roof-tops or on higher ground.

The agency reported that Kim Jong-il, North Korea's leader, had deployed military units, including the air force and navy, to aid rescue efforts and move at least 5,150 people.

SINUIJU lies on a vital trade route for North Korea and previous flooding has exacerbated problems in a country where millions have died in famines over the last two decades.

'MORE RAIN'

In CHINA, at least 200 houses have been destroyed in the city of DANDONG, in Liaoning province, and four people are reported missing, state media say.

Xinhua news agency says that a local weather station on Sunday morning had forecasted more rains over the next 24 hours.

More than 1,500 PEOPLE have DIED IN CHINA in recent months.

The latest flooding comes after the deaths of more than 700 PEOPLE in CHINA in a LANDSLIDE triggered by HEAVY RAINS in ZHOUQU COUNTY, GANSU, last week.

CHINA FLOODS FORCE MASS EVACUATION

BBC World News: 22 August 2010 Last updated at 12:23 GMT

In China, tens of thousands of people have been forced to abandon their homes after the Yalu river burst its banks following heavy rain.

Reports suggest 200 homes have been destroyed by flood waters in the city of DANDONG.

Flooding has also been reported in neighbouring NORTH KOREA, with the city of SINUIJU severely affected.

FROM OTHER NEWS SITES

Telegraph: Floods cut off N Korean city

BusinessWeek: China Evacuates 253,500 People as Yalu River Floods, Four Dead

Guardian.co.uk: More than 100,000 evacuated as China-North Korea border floods

Mail Online UK: China flooding kills four and forces 94,000 people to flee port city after river bursts its banks

CBC: Chinese flood forces mass evacuation

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11040904 / 21 August 2010 Last updated at 23:20 GMT

PAKISTANI FLOOD VICTIMS' ANGER AT US

By Jill McGivering / BBC News, near Nowshera

Displaced people are camping everywhere. Shelters of canvas and plastic sheeting line the edges of the highways linking Islamabad to Peshawar in the north-west of the country.

The roads are raised, a precious strip of dry land in a sea of stagnant floodwater and thick mud.

I stopped at one makeshift camp and a group of men rushed forward as soon as I got out of the car, crowding round.

One was a thin-faced man in his 40s called Iftikhar.

He pointed to the swamped ground beyond the railway tracks and the remains of his village. His house had been badly damaged, he said.

Even though the waters were starting to recede, it was too unstable for him to move back there with his six daughters.

We desperately need help from the government, so we can rebuild," he told me.

He rolled back a sleeve and showed me the skin rash on his arm. "Everyone is in a bad state," he said. "If we don't get money, I don't know what will happen to us."

Others chimed in around him. Many sounded MISERABLE and FRUSTRATED .

They were getting some food, they said, but their community had been knocked back about 25 years.

Sugar and flour was not enough - they needed new houses, new possessions, new books and supplies in the local school to replace everything they had lost.

Some criticised the government, saying the aid was not fairly distributed.

Others blamed the WEST, including the US, for failing to give enough help.

One man turned his anger on me: "What about your country?" he said, heatedly. "Why aren't you giving more?"

Elsewhere in the small camp, businessmen were handing out donations from the local community.

If there was not more support, they said, the security situation might worsen.

There has been fighting already in the camps, said one.

"We're doing so much to help the United States in the war on terrorism. Now we're in crisis and we expect help," said one of the businessman donors.

His colleague agreed: "Now's the time for them to prove their commitment to us."

In fact, the US is already THE BIGGEST SINGLE DONOR TO the UN's EMERGENCY FUND.

On Thursday, US Secretary of State Hillary Clinton announced more aid. But in Pakistan, critics of the US still sound scathing.

Ayaz Amir, an MP in Nawaz Sharif's opposition party, said: "The United States is spending $5bn every month on the war in Afghanistan. That puts into context what they're giving us."

The implication is that if the US does not do much more, Pakistan's ability - and willingness - to support the US-led battle against Islamist insurgents will suffer.

Mr Amir added: "If Pakistan can't recover, then one thing which will be washed away is the so-called war on terror. This front will not be functioning."

BOMBING

On the ground, the floods are also compounding the MISERY caused to millions of ordinary Pakistanis by the MILITANT VIOLENCE and GOVERNMENT OFFENSIVES against it.

I met one young girl, still a teenager, now living in a roadside tent. The floods destroyed her family home. But the insurgency also destroyed her family, she told me.

"My Dad was killed in a bomb attack," she told me. "My mother had already died - and then a bomb killed my father.

"Now, in Pakistan, we have this new crisis caused by the flooding. But even now, with people in this state, bombs are still going off and people are still being shot."

Pakistan was already riven by problems before the floods hit.

It was struggling with a WEAK, UNPOPULAR GOVERNMENT, and an INSURGENCY and the country was engulfed by strong ANTI-AMERICAN FEELING.

The question now is whether these extraordinary floods could make all those problems even worse.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11051205 / 22 August 2010 Last updated at 18:33 GMT

SOUTH PAKISTAN VILLAGERS FLEE THREATENED AREAS

Tens of thousands of people in southern Pakistan are fleeing a threatened flood-surge, three weeks after heavy monsoon rains first hit the country.

In the city of SHAHDADKOT, a hastily built barrier has been breached, allowing floodwaters to approach.

An estimated 4 MILLION PEOPLE have now been DISPLACED in the CITY OF SUKKAR alone.

Meanwhile, the World Health Organization (WHO) says DISEASES ARE SPREADING IN AFFECTED AREAS.

SINDH in the south is now being described as the country's worst-hit province, with officials saying at least 200,000 residents have fled in the last 24 hours.

'Laden carts'

In Shahdadkot, the BBC's Jill McGivering reported CHAOTIC scenes with residents leaving en masse in an attempt to reach safe ground.

Our correspondent describes people pushing in all directions, many of them are travelling with carts laden with family members and belongings.

The makeshift 4ft mud barrier, built by the army and volunteers, was the city's last line of defence and has now been breached in several places.

Jam Saifullah Dharejo, Sindh provincial irrigation minister, said that most people had been escorted to safety, but efforts were under way to help those still stranded.

"We are trying to save the city from the unprecedented flood," he said.

Some residents say they do not want to leave.

"This is the place where I earn my bread and butter. I live here and will die here," Mohammad Jaffar, a shopkeeper, told Reuters news agency.

Mr Dharejo added that the floods did not pose a risk to Hyderabad, the province's second largest city.

DIARRHOEA CASES

Our correspondent says that, in SUKKAR, a fraction of people are in relief camps - but the vast majority are out in the open, fending for themselves.

The WHO says displaced communities are highly vulnerable to EPIDEMICS because of a LACK OF SANITATION and HYGIENE.

The organisation in its latest report said that over 200,000 PEOPLE have reported ACUTE DIARRHOEA, with about the same number suffering acute respiratory problems.

Millions of livestock are also at risk, according to the UN's Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO), which said that at least 200,000 animals had died already as a result of the disaster.

The floods, which began last month in Pakistan's north-west and have since swept south, have killed at least 1,600 people and affected about 20 million.

Earlier, the International Monetary Fund said Pakistan faced a "massive economic challenge".

It is due to begin talks with Pakistani officials in Washington on Monday and said it would help Pakistan review the country's budget and financial prospects.

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can do so through the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee at http://www.dec.org.uk or by telephone on 0370 60 60 900.

Danish DR1 TTV: 200,000 FORCED TO FLEE THE MASSIVE WATER MASSES TODAY, SUNDAY

The floods hit the southern SINDH province where the rice harvest is threatened. Pakistan's government warns that the economic losses might reach the equivalent of 254 BILLION Danish Kroner (DKK).

600,000 inhabitants from the SINDH province are in camps set up / established by the government for the flood victims.

MORE THAN 1,500 HAVE DIED, and 20 MILLION PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED BY THE WORST FLOODS IN PAKISTAN's HISTORY.

German ARDtext: THE INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND (IMF) TO DISCUSS ADDITIONAL AID TO PAKISTAN

The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND / IMF and PAKISTANI OFFICIALS will discuss additional aid to the flood victims in Washington on Monday. The parties will in particular discuss the financial and economic construction of Pakistan.

20 MILLION PEOPLE are AFFECTED BY the FLOODS. MANY ARE HOMELESS. ONE FIFTH (1/5) OF PAKISTAN HAS BEEN DESTROYED.

According to estimates made by the Pakistani government the RECONSTRUCTION COSTS will amount to more than 11 BILLION EURO.

nancyk58 · August 23, 2010

News on 23 August in relation to the PAKISTAN floods + new appeal with ref. to links

NEWS ON 23 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11060119 / 23 August 2010 Last updated at 16:47 GMT

PAKISTAN's HUMANITARIAN SITUATION CRITICAL - UN

The UN in Pakistan has described the humanitarian situation caused by the flood disaster as critical.

As flood waters continue to travel south through the country, tens of thousands of people are being displaced each day.

Earlier, the UN said it had raised some 70% of the money needed to provide emergency relief to flood victims.

The International Monetary Fund is to start talks with Pakistan later to discuss how to help with the crisis.

The IMF says the floods pose a "massive economic challenge" and it will review the country's budget and financial prospects.

The UN now estimates that the number of people who need BASIC SHELTER has gone from two million to six million.

Nearly 17 million people have been affected by the floods.

This week marks a month since the flooding started, and although the United Nations says it has raised close to 70% of the $460m (£295m) needed to provide EMERGENCY RELIEF, many people have yet to receive any help, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in SINDH, the country's WORST AFFECTED PROVINCE.

Some $54m of that money is in uncommitted pledges. Resources available now total $263m.

In the UK, relief agencies have said public donors have given £29m ($45m) to the relief effort.

They also said the international response had been slow to build up, but that they had received more donations in the second week than the first week, which was rarely seen in such appeals.

UNDER THREAT

Tens of thousands of Pakistanis have fled a threatened flood surge, with the country's south now bearing the brunt.

An estimated FOUR MILLION PEOPLE have now been DISPLACED in the CITY OF SUKKUR alone.

Flood defences around the southern town of SHAHDADKOT are still being strengthened - although most of the population have already left.

Provincial minister Mir Nadir Magsi told the BBC the situation remained critical in Shahdadkot, even though the river level had gone down.

The river water, which is being held back by a temporary barrier of mud and sand, is at a much higher level than the land. Bulldozers are mending small breaches in the barrier.

The threat appears to have receded from the city of HYDERABAD, where the flood control barriers have held against what local officials said was a "super flood".

Evacuation activities, meanwhile, have started in THATTA district next to the Arabian Sea.

Dozens more villages have been inundated and although authorities expect flood waters to drain into the Arabian Sea over the next few days, evacuees who return may find their homes and livelihoods have been washed away.

Pakistan Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani flew to the GILGIT BALTISTAN region in north-eastern Pakistan on Monday. Thousands of people are still trapped there in areas cut off from each other.

The region as a whole remains cut off due to the closure of the Karakoram highway, its only road link to the outside world.

The Pakistan government has said that the cost of rebuilding after the floods could be as high as $15bn (£10bn).

Overall, about 1,600 people have been killed and some 16.8 million affected, according to figures from the UN and Pakistani government.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11060686 / 23 August 2010 Last updated at 15:26 GMT

PAKISTAN FLOODS: PAINFULLY SLOW PROGRESS OF AID EFFORT

As the flooding that has made millions destitute across Pakistan moves down through the country, the BBC's Ben Brown travelled by hovercraft and helicopter to follow relief efforts in SOUTHERN SINDH PROVINCE.

Like a river that became a sea, the INDUS now sprawls for miles.

The "great mother", as it has been affectionately known because of the fertility it has brought to the land, has now drowned hundreds and left millions homeless.

SINDH is the WORST-HIT PROVINCE in Pakistan, and some of the places we visited there have only been flooded in the last few days as the monsoon waters have moved inexorably south.

As the UN secretary general said, this is a TSUNAMI IN SLOW MOTION.

AID WAIT

Take the VILLAGE of GOTH MOHAMMED ISMAEL, for example.

Like so many villages here, it's turned into an island, and we found its people bobbing up and down in the filthy brown floodwater, as they waded and swam back to their homes to try to salvage what possessions they could.

Goth Mohammed Ismael was only flooded last week.

Amina, a mother of six, says four children died when the floodwater hit.

"The flood came at one o'clock in the morning," she told me.

"I was feeding my baby at the time. There was panic everywhere. People were crying and asking each other for help."

A man called Hamed Bux emerges from the water with a bundle on his head.

It contained just a few clothes, all he had managed to salvage from his home.

"These clothes are all I have left in the world, please help us," he said.

Help is coming, but painfully slowly.

Most of the flood victims have still received no aid at all.

Hovercraft operation

On the floodwater near SUKKUR, we travelled on a Pakistan Navy hovercraft that was looking for victims to RESCUE, or to help with RELIEF SUPPLIES of FOOD and CLEAN DRINKING WATER.

Many people want to stay in their homes, even when they are marooned or completely submerged by water; they are determined to protect the only possessions they have left.

Commander Zahid Iqbal and his crew pass RELIEF SUPPLIES to the hungry, thirsty and desperate from the hovercraft.

"Our hovercraft can reach places where a normal boat cannot," he says.

"Not in my life have I seen anything like this. But I don't have any doubt in my mind that, with the help of the entire world, we'll come out of this situation."

Helicopters are a vital part of the aid operation here too, though for now there are far too few of them.

Four have been provided by the Afghan National Army (ANA).

You might think the Afghans have enough problems of their own, but they have been quick to help their Pakistani neighbours.

FIGHTING FOR AID

We flew on a mission with the ANA, dropping relief supplies from the air near Sukkur.

It was too dangerous for the helicopter to land - partly because there's very little dry land any more, and partly because DESPERATE PEOPLE would surround the aircraft and could get hit by the rotor blades.

So instead the helicopter crews drop box loads of HIGH-ENERGY BISCUITS from the air.

We watched people run and swim through the floodwater to get to the aid drops, and sometimes fight each other for the rations. It is survival of the fittest.

The boxes being dropped are from the UN WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME, and were originally meant for the people of Afghanistan.

On the ground too in SUKKUR, aid distributions are chaotic.

The Sindh police force organised one - with supplies they had paid for with their own salaries.

Sadly it descended into CHAOS, with flood victims pushing and shoving each other so badly the distribution had to be abandoned.

"I Can't blame them," said Assistant Inspector General Javed Iqbal.

"They need food to give to their families tomorrow."

Even so, it was tragic to see one flood victim walk away with blood streaming down his face.

He'd come to collect food for his family, and left with a gash to his head.

-------------------------

A NEW APPEAL IN RELATION TO PAKISTAN

Twenty million people have been affected by the flooding in Pakistan, and in the last couple of days alone, hundreds of thousands more have fled their homes in search of safety.

MILLIONS are AT RISK for water-borne DISEASES such as CHOLERA,

and already 200,000 suffer from ACUTE RESPIRATORY PROBLEMS.

At least 1,600 people have died so far.

Yet funds for the U.N. and relief organizations have been coming in slowly. Why hasn't this disaster, called "the largest...humanitarian crisis we've seen in decades" by UNICEF's Louis-George Arsenault, generated the same sort of media coverage, charity relief donations and overall empathy present with the earthquake in Haiti or tsunami in Asia?

While there certainly can be DONOR FATIGUE FROM HAITI,

another possible reason is that the DOMINANT IMAGE OF PAKISTAN IN the mainstream MEDIA is one of terrorism, extremism and nuclear arms.

But these images aren't suffering from the floods -- civilians are. There are farmers who have lost their means of survivial. There are mothers who have nothing to feed their children. There are families who have been separated, and entire communities disbanded. And the elderly or disabled are left even further behind.

An editorial in The Guardian gives a salient point why aid is so necessary. Without it, the country could fall deeper into instability.

After a catastrophe, people are left not only WITHOUT FOOD AND SHELTER, but WITHOUT FUEL, TOOLS, LIVESTOCK, SEEDS, and perhaps even TOPSOIL.

They may also have LOST ROADS, BRIDGES, CLINICS, SCHOOLS, WATER and POWER – as well as FAMILY.

People who had survived on $2 a day now face weeks with NO INCOME as they cannot grow or sell anything.

With floodwaters come possibly LETHAL DISEASES; and, of course, FLOODS and WINDSTORMS will return.

The cycle of disaster may be the ultimate poverty trap. Those who before had little will now have nothing; perhaps not even hope.

So far relief camps can accommodate only 10 percent of those left homeless.

The Pakistani people need your help.

Governments have a bad reputation of handling funds.

BUT YOU can still make a difference by contributing to a well-respected CHARITY with experience in disaster relief. Charity Navigator is an excellent source to determine an organization's credibility.

Here are a few organizations actively working to help the survivors of Pakistan's floods:

Action Against Hunger

American Red Cross

AmeriCares

CARE

Catholic Relief Services

Christian Blind Mission

Concern Worldwide US

Doctors Without Borders / Médecins Sans Frontières

International Medical Corps

International Rescue Committee

Islamic Relief USA

Mercy Corps

Oxfam International

Save the Children

SOS Children's Villages

UNICEF USA

UN Central Emergency Response Fund

UN Refugee Agency

World Food Program USA

World Vision

Go to the thread "Help Pakistan and Kashmir after devastating, massive floods" - link: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71786 , post 4

to donate to one of the above organizations.

When copying the article, the links were no longer active. I went to the aid / relief agencies' websites to get new, active links - posted on "Help Pakistan and Kashmir after devastating, massive floods".

nancyk58 · August 24, 2010

News on 24 August 2010

NEWS ON 24 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Swedish SVT, German ZDFtext and ARDtext:

PAKISTAN PRESIDENT ZARDARI: "AT LEAST 3 YEARS RECONSTRUCTION AHEAD AFTER FLOOD - PAKISTAN's RECOVERY AFTER THE FLOODS CAN TAKE YEARS"

According to the Pakistani newspaper "The Dawn", President Asif Ali Zardari made this statement, when the negotiations with the International Monetary Fund, IMF started today, Tuesday. "I do not believe that Pakistan will recover 100 per cent, but we will make progress".

The President said that the government has already discussed precautionary measures for possible future floods. The government has been working on a concept for better protection in order to avoid such disaters.

The president rejected criticism about slow aid at the beginning of the floods, because he and his minsiters had done what they could.

Due to the floods during the heavy monsoon rain, almost 14 per cent of the farmland has been damaged or destroyed, and in north-west Pakistan more than 70 per cent of the rice crops has been destroyed according to UN calculations.

In the SINDH province in south Pakistan, 600,000 people are threatened by rising water.

According to the UN 17 MILLION PEOPLE ARE AFFECTED by the flood. Other sources say 20 million people. 1/5 of Pakistan is under water. 800,000 have not received any aid.

German ZDFtext: UN: FLOOD VICTIMS TO HIGHER EXTENT THREATENED BY FAMINE AND DISEASES

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11068259 / 24 August 2010 Last updated at 17:25 GMT

PAKISTAN CONFRONTS HEALTH CRISIS / PAKISTAN FACING 'SERIOUS' THREAT OF EPIDEMIC DISEASE

Pakistan's prime minister says the government is "seriously concerned" about the potential spread of epidemic diseases in the flood-hit country.

Yousuf Raza Gilani was speaking during high-level talks aimed at preventing a mass health crisis.

Doctors in many areas are reportedly struggling to cope with the spread of diseases such as DIARRHOEA and CHOLERA.

The UN says more than 17 MILLION people have been AFFECTED by the FLOODS, with about 1.2 MILLION HOMES DESTROYED.

There are FEARS OF FURTHER FLOODING as the INDUS river at HYDERABAD, already at a 50-year high, is expected to rise even more.

Mr Gilani told the meeting of senior doctors, health ministry officials, UN representatives and members of non-governmental organisations that Pakistan was experiencing "the worst natural calamity of its history".

"As human misery continues to mount, we are seriously concerned with spread of epidemic diseases," he said.

"There is likelihood of water-borne diseases such as CHOLERA, DIARRHOEA and DYSENTERY, especially in children who are already weak and vulnerable."

Pakistan's national health co-ordinator said the immediate health situation in the flood zone was under control but the threat had not passed.

"Health problems usually arise in flood-affected areas after four to six weeks, and we need to be alert and prepared to tackle the situation," Dr Jahanzeb Orakza said.

The BBC's Jill McGivering in Islamabad says the health meeting appears to be an attempt by the government to improve its co-ordination amid growing criticism about its handling of this crisis.

Residents of Muzaffargarh in the Punjab region told the BBC's Asian Network they were struggling to cope.

"Those whose homes have survived are getting the food they need. The people who lost their homes, they're not getting anything," said 11-year-old Mansur Rizman.

"They need to give to the people whose homes have been destroyed."

In Nowshera, north-west of Islamabad, people housed in a relief camp were also angry at their treatment.

"We only get COOKED FOOD, nothing else. Everything else [the camp officials] receive from donors - blankets, water buckets, beds - they just store it," 48-year-old Sher Ghani told Reuters news agency.

"To make it worse for us, thieves took away whatever was left in our former house."

INCREASING NEED

Doctors in some flood-hit regions are overwhelmed by health problems including

SKIN RASHES, DEHYDRATION and DIARRHOEA, says our correspondent.

The flooding has already killed nearly 1,600 people, but millions are considered to be at risk from water-borne diseases.

UN officials have described the humanitarian situation in Pakistan as critical:

1,539 people have died and 17 million have been directly affected

1.2 million houses have been destroyed, leaving an estimated 8 million homeless

3.2m hectares of standing crops have been lost or damaged

2,055 people have been injured

1.6 million have received food aid

2 million people have received drinking water but "large numbers" have no access to water or sanitation

Reports on increasing migration towards SINDH province from other affected areas

The UN has raised 70% of the $460m (£295m) needed for emergency relief, and in the UK, relief agencies say public donors have now given £29m ($45m).

"The floods are outrunning our relief efforts. We move faster and faster, but the finish line keeps moving further ahead," UN spokesman Maurizio Giuliano told AP.

Relief camps have been set up in SINDH province but access to them is strictly controlled and only a fraction of the affected people have found a place in one.

Some people told the BBC that because they had lost their identity papers when they fled their homes they were not being allowed to register in the camps or to receive aid.

'LASTING IMPACT'

The World Food Programme says it already has ENOUGH FOOD in Pakistan TO FEED SIX MILLION PEOPLE FOR A MONTH but distribution has been hampered by a LACK OF RESOURCES and the country's SHATTERED INFRASTRUCTURE.

Spokeswoman Emilia Casella said supply lorries were having to take long detours and aid was being carried in by hand in some areas. Helicopters were also carrying out air drops of high-energy biscuits in the more remote areas, she told a news briefing in Geneva.

SINDH province irrigation minister Jam Saifullah Dherjo said officials were strengthening the INDUS river's embankments but that some 600,000 people in low-lying areas were in danger and being urged to leave.

But thousands of people across the country are reported to have refused to leave their homes, fearing losing what little they have to looters.

Pakistani Finance Minister Abdul Hafeez Shaikh is due to attend talks with the IMF on Wednesday to discuss easing restrictions on its $11bn loan package so it better fits the country's new economic reality.

Officials say the floods have destroyed more than 1.7m hectares (4.25m acres) of land, which will have a significant impact on the agricultural sector and the country's economic growth.

The IMF's regional director, Masood Ahmed told Reuters the flood would have "a major and lasting impact" on Pakistan.

Jill McGivering BBC News, Islamabad:

They are still surrounded by floodwater, but people in parts of Pakistan are already starting to rebuild.

The damage is extraordinary. The sheer force of the rushing water swept away everything in its path - even roads and bridges. Recovery will be long and slow.

People here are desperate and increasingly angry. Earlier the prime minister dashed to a flood-affected area to show his face and offer sympathy.

But some here were furious and simply couldn't contain their rage. The message to the government: you've done too little, too late.

From other news sites:

Miami Herald: UN says 800,000 cut off by Pakistan floods

Globe and Mail: Pakistan bracing for disease after floods

RTE Online: Govt to give more funds to flood-hit Pakistan

News24.com: Pakistan warns of new floods

Reuters India: Recovery from floods to take Pakistan years -Zardari

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11069270 / 24 August 2010 Last updated at 09:19 GMT

PAKISTAN FLOODS: 'DESPERATE FOR DOCTORS'

Eyewitnesses in three areas affected by the floods in Pakistan describe the LACK OF FOOD, WATER and MEDICAL HELP that is fuelling FEARS OF a GROWING PUBLIC HEALTH DISASTER in the country.

OMAR AHSAN, an interior designer living in Karachi, has visited 17 remote mountain villages in Shangla district of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa Province (formerly North West Frontier Province or NWFP).

"I have a comfortable life in Karachi and when this calamity hit, me and some of my friends felt we had to help some of the affected people. First we took food relief to Peshawar and some other urban areas of the NWFP.

Then I got a phone call from a driver, who used to work for me. He said he's been seeing bodies in the river where he lives, about 150km (95 miles) from Islamabad. He said there were many, many bodies, hundreds of them, and that they all came from Shangla district.

At that moment I decided I should go to that place. I came over here alone. I managed to get one truck of relief. It's a big district, hundreds of kilometres. The whole network had collapsed, the telecommunication network has come down.

When I reached the end of the roads, I had to start walking.

I spent the last four days travelling on the outskirts of Shangla district, walking in a mountainous terrain. I covered about 55km and visited 17 villages.

People there are hungry and thirsty. There's no electricity, no water, no gas, no food supplies. The nearest place where food is being distributed is Karora and the queues are 3-4km long.

Thousands of people come down from the mountains and stand in the sun for a whole day in order to get a bag of flour. The queues are long, these are simple people, their patience is compromised, queues are broken and some go away with bruises and injuries.

In each village I went I was supported by the elders and I was joined by volunteers. Elders would tell me how many houses were destroyed, I would gather the data and issue them with a token to come to Karora where we had our own food supplies waiting for them.

Yesterday we set up a camp in Karora. From early morning till late afternoon we distributed food to 300 families, which is probably more than 3,000 people. It was a tough day.

But work is far from over. People desperately need more food and most importantly they need lady doctors. There are hundreds of thousands of women and children without a doctor. Kids were crying of pain and mothers were begging me to bring them female doctors.

If someone is ill, they put him on a stretcher which four men carry down the mountain until they reach the nearest hospital. That could take a couple of days of walking. And there are hundreds of thousands of people stuck there without any help."

NASRULLAH JAMALI fled to Karachi after his village in Balochistan was hit by the floods a week ago. He describes the devastation for him and his villagers.

"Our homes are gone, everything is gone. The water level is now 6 to 8ft. People can't live there. There's nothing left.

We knew the water was coming, we knew it was expected, we were seeing that it was coming.

Me and my family left and we are now staying in the house of my uncle in Karachi. But many people couldn't afford to leave.

I speak to my villagers all the time.

They are now staying in shelters made by themselves using plastic sheets. They don't have water and food. Yesterday there was one helicopter to get food to them, but it's not enough.

There's a nearby place - about 3km away from my village - I am told there are six people trapped there, surrounded by water.

I try to organise aid for them. I am contacting the army to send relief helicopters to them.

There are sick people and they don't have any medicine. I can't describe it in words - it's a very serious situation.

I don't know when we'll be able to return to our home. It will probably take six months. There's nothing we can do. We are still in the state of shock."

GHULAM NABI MAGSI was visiting relatives in the province of SINDH in the middle of August, when the floods swept through the village. Now back in Lahore, he describes that moment - and the current situation in the village.

"I was on holiday visiting my relatives in their small village in Ghotki district, Singh province, when the floods came. It was a horrible situation. The floodwaters were everywhere.

Our area was the first to be affected after the flood in Punjab. We thought it was not going to be that big, but it turned out to be a mega flood. The houses were completely flooded.

People fled leaving everything behind. Me and my immediate family returned to Lahore and other relatives went to Karachi.

The waters have moved south and a few of my relatives, all men, have returned to the village. They say the water level is down, but there are many problems.

The houses are damaged by the water, but they'll repair them. The problem they now face is LACK OF WATER. The water is not suitable for drinking and there's the danger of water-borne diseases.

They get help from the government and from people living in nearby areas that haven't been affected.

They expect their wives and children to join them by the end of the month."

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11069470 / 24 August 2010 Last updated at 09:49 GMT

PAKISTAN FLOOD SURVIVORS REFUSED AID AT RELIEF CAMPS

As floodwater in Pakistan displaces tens of thousands of people from their homes every day, some are turning up at camps without the documentation necessary to receive aid, adding to the humanitarian crisis.

The BBC's Jill McGivering reports from a camp in SUKKUR, SINDH province.

SUKKUR IS OVERWHELMED.

Along the river banks and canals, on patches of dry ground and alongside the roads, homeless families are sitting or lying in the open air, their possessions piled at their side.

They fled their homes with whatever they could carry as RISING FLOODWATER inundated their towns and villages.

Most, unless they find shade under a tree, have NO SHELTER from the scorching sun.

A fraction have places inside the RELIEF CAMPS which have sprung up all across the city.

They consist of rows and rows of tents with simple latrines, and access to these areas is strictly controlled.

TENSION HIGH

I entered one camp shortly before a food distribution was about to start.

The WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME was bringing in several trucks with fortified BISCUITS, FLOUR and COOKING OIL.

A screening process had already taken place within the camp to decide which families were eligible to receive it.

Many people here are DESPERATE and TENSIONS are running high.

Recently there have been incidents of crowds mobbing aid trucks and people being hurt in the crush and confusion.

So this time the chosen few were regimented, sitting on the ground in neat lines in the glare of the sun, men and women segregated, as armed police officers and rangers stood guard around them.

JEALOUSLY WATCHING

Abdul Hamid Bulo, one of the camp organisers, explained why such DISCIPLINE was being imposed.

"Otherwise people rush over and don't listen," he said.

"People just see there's a DISTRIBUTION OF FOOD and they come rushing."

As the trucks rolled in and the distribution began, the recipients were allowed forward one by one to show their identity card and registration papers to officials sitting behind a desk, then have their name ticked off on a printed list.

Beyond the guards, watching jealously, other homeless people had gathered.

An elderly lady tried to press forward and was herded back by guards wielding sticks.

She started to sob and wail, her hands clawing at her face. I went across to talk to her.

"For god's sake, help us," she said.

"We don't have breakfast in the morning or food at night. I don't know why they won't issue me with papers so I can get food."

DOCUMENTATION

Nearby two frail elderly women, their clothes filthy, were clinging to each other.

They were walking with the help of sticks and they were both BLIND. They too had been turned away by security and were now IN TEARS.

"We LOST EVERYTHING in the flood," they told me.

"We don't have any food. Please help us to get aid."

They too had fled from their homes without any documentation.

But it seemed that, because they didn't have identity cards, they weren't eligible to register at the camp and gain inclusion among the aid recipients.

The aid agencies and local charities are doing the best they can, trying to maintain security in the face of RISING TENSION and GROWING DESPERATION.

But at the moment, there simply isn't enough food to go round.

Every day, more people in SINDH are being forced from their homes - and the gap between what is needed and what's available is steadily increasing.

BBC WORLD NEWS: UK 'LEADING ON AID FOR PAKISTAN'

The generosity of the British public in helping Pakistan's flood victims is "shaming politicians around the world", the head of the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) has said.

The DEC's PAKISTAN FLOODS APPEAL has now raised MORE THAN £30m.

Critics say the world community has been too slow to respond to the crisis.

-------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Swedish SVT: ENORMOUS NEED OF HELP IN NIGER, AFRICA

At least 110,000 PEOPLE are HOMELESS after HEAVY RAIN in NIGER, says UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA. 7 MILLION people or ½ of NIGER's POPULATION are threatened by FAMINE, if they do not get any aid.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

German ZDFtext: $47m FOR STARVING EARTHQUAKE VICTIMS IN HAITI

nancyk58 · August 25, 2010

News on 25 August 2010 in relation to NATURAL DISASTERS / NIGER, Pakistan + INDIA

NEWS ON 25 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11066959 / 24 August 2010 Last updated at 00:52 GMT

AID AGENCY WARNS OF 'DOUBLE DISASTER' FOR NIGER

By Thomas Fessy, BBC News, Diffa, Niger

Niger has been hit by a DOUBLE DISASTER as recent FLOODS compound an existing FOOD CRISIS, a UK aid agency warned.

Aid workers are struggling to help thousands of people affected by the floods which have hit many areas of WEST and CENTRAL AFRICA.

OXFAM says the situation is stretching resources to the limit as it also tries to respond to the FOOD SHORTAGES.

The agency urged donors to HELP NIGER face what it calls a second emergency.

OXFAM issued its warning as nearly EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE, or HALF THE POPULATION, are already facing HUNGER because of FAILED HARVESTS.

Now more than 100,000 PEOPLE have been left HOMELESS after heavy rains washed away their homes earlier this month, according to the United Nations.

Floods have destroyed crops, and thousands of animals have drowned.

OXFAM warned that flooding is also hindering the delivery of aid in remote areas.

Floods will increase the RISK OF DISEASES, especially among young children

suffering from ACUTE MALNUTRITION.

The World Food Programme recently acknowledged that it was forced to limit its food distribution to only 40% of those in need because of a FUNDING SHORTFALL.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11081015 / 25 August 2010 Last updated at 08:50 GMT

FLOODS COMPOUND NIGER's FOOD CRISIS

Recent floods have brought a fresh round of problems for Niger, a country already struggling to grow crops because of severe drought. Adam Mynott reported.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11078205 / 24 August 2010 Last updated at 18:37 GMT

PAKISTAN FLOOD: SAVING BABY SAMINA

By Jill McGivering / BBC News, Sukkur

Allah Rakhi was sitting quietly on a rush mat under a tree, getting what shade she could from the blistering sun in the Pakistani city of SUKKUR.

She was surrounded by noise and pressing people and just a few feet from passing traffic. She was a young woman and gazed at me distantly as we spoke - as if she was not quite sure where she was.

Her village was 60km (37 miles) away, she said, but when the floodwater came, she had to leave.

She walked all the way to SUKKUR and five days ago, soon after arriving, she gave birth to a daughter on the roadside, without any help from a doctor or midwife.

Now her daughter was lying in front of her, a tiny motionless scrap of baby with her eyes closed.

Her head was the size of my palm, resting in an old saucer which was balanced on a flat stone.

She was motionless and looked extremely frail. It was hard to be sure she was even breathing. Flies clustered round the baby's face.

Ms Rakhi said the birth had been "very painful". "I'm still having a lot of pain but there's nothing I can do," she said.

Her daughter seemed so unwell. "She isn't managing to breastfeed," she explained.

"The only food available is rice and how can I feed her that? I don't know where to find a doctor. I haven't been able to get help."

The baby really worried me. I was concerned that if she didn't have medical help quickly, she might not survive.

OVERWHELMED

A few minutes' walk away, I found a small medical camp and a young doctor there, Dr Fahim. I told him about the five-day-old baby, motionless on the roadside a little way away. Could he treat her?

He was clearly overwhelmed by the patients crowded around him.

"There are so many patients," he said. "We can't reach each and every one. Our aim is to treat the bulk of the patients. It is so difficult to treat them all."

I asked him if he would examine the baby, if he could manage to find the time. If he didn't, I explained, I really thought she might die. He promised to try.

The next day, I went back to find Ms Rakhi.

I barely recognised her child. "I've decided to call her Samina," the young mother said.

"A doctor came to see her last night and gave her some treatment. Now she's started to take breast milk."

The change was remarkable. The previous day, Samina had been still and listless.

Now she was trying to move her head, opening her eyes and looking around her.

She was still weak but her chances suddenly seemed so much better than they had been before.

This was just one case. Samina and her mother are surrounded by tens of thousands of other displaced people, many of them in just as much need but their plight may not be highlighted.

Even so, when I think of baby Samina and her second chance, I feel absurdly elated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11081090 / 25 August 2010 Last updated at 15:24 GMT

NEW FLOOD FEARS IN SOUTH PAKISTAN / PAKISTANIS FLEE NEW MONSOON FLOODS IN SOUTH

Thousands of Pakistanis are fleeing their homes in southern coastal areas as floods sweep down from the north.

Some 200,000 PEOPLE have been EVACUATED in the THATTA area of SINDH province, where dozens of villages are submerged.

In the north, workers have begun clearing up as the floods recede. The UN has APPEALED FOR MORE HELICOPTERS to reach 800,000 people who are cut off.

Doctors in many areas are struggling to cope with the spread of water-borne diseases such as DIARRHOEA and CHOLERA.

FIVE MILLION Pakistanis have NO SHELTER, and urgently need tents or plastic sheeting to protect them from the sun.

The UN says more than 17 million people have been affected by the monsoon floods, and about 1.2 million homes have been destroyed.

HEALTH ALERT

The vast body of FLOOD-WATER that has swept the length of Pakistan is now THREATENING previously unaffected communities in SINDH province, at the country's southern tip.

The authorities have been organising a MASS EVACUATION FROM the town of THATTA - near the mouth of the INDUS delta - and surrounding villages.

At the moment, all that stands between locals and the vast weight of water is an embankment which has started to crack in places. If it bursts, the whole area could be submerged.

"We are very vigilant, we are watching and we are strengthening wherever we see any weakness on these protection walls," Manzoor Ali Sheikh, a senior local official in Thatta told the BBC.

"We are hopeful that they will not give way to the water and water will pass through these bunds (embankments) to the sea."

The INDUS river at HYDERABAD, just north of Thatta, is already at a 50-year high and there are fears the level could rise even further.

Elsewhere in SINDH people are still battling to hold back the flood-waters.

The town of Qubo Saeed Khan, near Shahdadkot in the north of the province, has been completely inundated, reports the BBC's Chris Morris from the area. He says tens of thousands of people have already been evacuated from the town.

The task of coping with DISEASE and URGENT HUMANITARIAN NEEDS across PAKISTAN is being made more difficult by the sheer number of PEOPLE CUT OFF BY THE FLOODS.

An estimated 800,000 PEOPLE are still STRANDED, the UN says - many in the mountainous north-west, where roads and bridges have been swept away.

The US has deployed at least 18 helicopters to fly regular relief missions, but the UN said it would need at least 40 more heavy-duty aircraft working at full capacity to reach those who have been cut off.

SHATTERED INFRASTRUCTURE

On Tuesday, Pakistan's Prime Minister Yousuf Raza Gilani told a meeting of senior doctors, health ministry officials, UN representatives and members of non-governmental organisations that

Pakistan was experiencing "the worst natural calamity of its history".

UN officials are quoted saying that 1.6 MILLION PEOPLE are already AFFECTED BY WATER-BORNE DISEASES such as CHOLERA, DIARRHOEA and DYSENTERY.

"In the past one day alone, more than 100,000 people were sick and required different kinds of treatment," a World Health Organization spokesman, Paul Garwood, told the BBC.

"I understand most of them were for SKIN INFECTIONS, for DIARRHOEA, for ACUTE RESPIRATORY INFECTIONS and, as well, MALARIA."

The WORLD FOOD PROGRAMME says it already has enough food in Pakistan to FEED SIX MILLION PEOPLE FOR A MONTH but distribution has been hampered by a LACK OF RESOURCES and the country's SHATTERED INFRASTRUCTURE.

Pakistani officials have been meeting the IMF in Washington this week to discuss easing restrictions on an $11bn (£7bn) loan package.

Officials say the floods have destroyed more than 17,000 sq km (6,600 sq miles) of land, which will have a significant impact on the agricultural sector and the country's economic growth.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11087445 / 25 August 2010 Last updated at 15:47 GMT

UK PLEDGES TO CONTINUE PAKISTAN FLOOD SUPPORT

The UK will continue to help victims of the devastating floods in Pakistan, the National Security Council has said after meeting in London.

The commitment came as the Disasters Emergency Committee (DEC) revealed its Pakistan Floods Appeal has now raised £35m.

Deputy Prime Minister Clegg said the UK public's response to the situation made him feel "proud to be British".

More than 17 million people have been affected by the floods, the UN said.

During the NSC meeting, International Development Secretary Andrew Mitchell told attendees about his experiences during his visit to Pakistan last week, and the meeting agreed that British people had responded "magnificently" to the DEC appeal.

Mr Clegg chaired the session and attendees discussed how best to distribute £64m of aid that the government has assigned to the country.

GENEROUS PUBLIC

The government pledged to continue helping relief effort and said 10 British-made road bridges were being sent to the Khyber Pakhtunkhwa district.

Most of the UK's EXTRA FUNDING, which was announced last week, would be used to help those in the most dire need of assistance in the SINDH and PUNJAB provinces in the south, as well as some targeted towards helping those in the north to rebuild their lives.

The money would be used to meet the urgent demand for SHELTER, FOOD, CLEAN WATER and HEALTHCARE, and for longer-term projects such as supplying farmers with CROP SEEDS.

More RAF aid flights are also set to head to the country later in the week. The first flight will take 3,000 shelter kits - enough for 15,000 people.

The council said it was also important to "galvanise" the wider international community.

Mr Clegg, along with Mr Mitchell and Baroness Sayeeda Warsi, then visited the DEC headquarters in London where he met the staff co-ordinating the appeal.

He praised the British public and said its response had shown "Britain at its best".

During his visit, he said: "It really is just astonishing to see how people's generosity has grown.

"That's a reflection of how people have become more and more aware of how bad this catastrophe is."

He said it had taken some time to realise the "enormity" of the disaster.

"I just think it's fantastic to see once again Britain and British people in communities up and down the country showing such generosity and compassion," he said.

"We really are leading the world in our generosity towards Pakistan and that makes me feel very proud to be British."

Baroness Warsi, who also visited Pakistan with Mr Mitchell, later told the BBC that the extent of the disaster was so huge that, despite relief efforts, it would continue to unfold over the coming months and years.

She refused to be drawn into the arguments over whether the Pakistani government had acted quickly enough and instead said: "I think any government faced with a disaster like this would be struggling."

She said that many of the donations arriving via British charities were being channelled through non-governmental organisations (NGOs) in Pakistan as they could keep track of the money.

"There is a clear monitor about where that money is spent and how it is being spent," she said.

"And I think that MONITORING OF AID and a CLEAR TRANSPARENT PROCESS of it reaching the needy will give people comfort and hopefully make them donate more."

TRUST

Former Labour Foreign Secretary David Miliband responded to fears the disaster had the potential to be exploited by groups linked to Islamic militants and al-Qaeda.

Mr Miliband said the support effort provided the international community the chance to "stand shoulder-to-shoulder with Pakistan" to help it tackle its problems.

He said: "This is an opportunity to build up the sort of trust and engagement that I think is very important to the future of this volatile country."

But, in a statement, DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley said more still needed to be done.

He said: "The UK public have led the world with their generosity but there is an enormous amount of work still to be done in Pakistan.

"Our members and their partners have reached 800,000 people so far, but millions still need help."

The DEC is an umbrella organisation of 13 UK humanitarian aid agencies - ActionAid, Age UK, British Red Cross, Care International, Cafod, Christian Aid, Concern, Islamic Relief, Merlin, Oxfam, Save the Children, Tearfund and World Vision.

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can do so through the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee at http://www.dec.org.uk or by telephone on 0370 60 60 900.

Or go to the thread HELP PAKISTAN AND KASHMIR AFTER DEVASTATING, MASSIVE FLOODS - there are links to major aid agencies in post 1 and 4.

http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/showthread.php?t=71786

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11081596 / 25 August 2010 Last updated at 12:38 GMT

RAIN CHAOS IN DELHI DELAYS COMMONWEALTH GAMES PROJECTS / INDIA

HEAVY MONSOON RAINS IN the Indian capital, DELHI, are hampering the building work for the Commonwealth Games due to start in October.

Construction at half of the sites is way behind schedule and rain water has flooded many streets and brought rush-hour traffic to a standstill.

Authorities say RAINFALL IN DELHI IN AUGUST has surpassed a 15-year record.

Water level in the YAMUNA river has crossed the danger mark and 1,500 PEOPLE have been MOVED TO RELIEF CAMPS.

HEAVY RAINS have also CAUSED MAJOR FLOODING across NORTHERN INDIA with many rivers in spate.

SHELTERS UNDER WATER

A huge effort is under way to try to get all the different infrastructure projects finished in time before the start of the Commonwealth Games.

But most venues are still surrounded by large brown muddy puddles.

The BBC's Mark Dummett visited one construction site where he saw workers sitting on plastic sheets, doing absolutely no work at all.

Most of the workers are migrants from the states of Bihar or Jharkhand and have been living in makeshift shelters on a low-lying area next to the road for months.

Since Tuesday night's rain, their homes have been under water and some can be seen swimming back and forth to save at least some of their possessions, our correspondent says.

YAMUNA river normally runs alongside the Indian capital at a trickle, but currently appears ready to burst its banks.

The government has set up 160 RELIEF CAMPS to accommodate those who live in areas near the river, some of which have been flooded already.

This city really is struggling to cope, our correspondent says.

Every time it rains there are massive traffic jams, sewers are blocked and overflowing, there are power cuts and uprooted trees.

With so much stagnant water the number of DENGUE FEVER cases, a disease spread by mosquitoes, has increased dramatically compared with last year.

But the government says all will be well and the projects will all be completed in time.

One minister recently said that everything would come together at the end just like in an Indian wedding.

nancyk58 · August 31, 2010

News in relation to natural disasters on 25, 26, 27 and 28 August 2010

NEWS ON 25, 26, 27 AND 28 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Swedish SVT and Danish DR1 TTV on 25 August 2010: UN APPEALS FOR HELICOPTERS

UN launched AN URGENT CAMPAIGN for helicopters for flood-stricken Pakistan. According to UN estimates, at least 40 helicopters are needed.

About 800,000 VICTIMS are TRAPPED ON CUT-OFF ISLANDS IN the WATER MASSES, and EMERGENCY AID is ONLY POSSIBLE BY AIR.

The water is rising in some parts of Pakistan.

DUE TO MONSOON FLOODS, MILLIONS ARE DISPLACED IN THE SOUTHERN PARTS OF PAKISTAN, says UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, OCHA.

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Danish DR1 on 25 August 2010: MORE THAN 200 EVACUATED AFTER VOLCANO ERUPTION IN COLOMBIA

The volcano GALERAS started spewing gases, water and ashes at 11am Central European Time. The top of the volcano is in an altitude of 4 km. No reports of casualties. The Colombian authorities issued A RED ALERT and recommended all 8,000 inhabitants in the area to leave. The inhabitants were reluctant to follow the advice.

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BBC World News, LIVE on 26 August 2010: MAJOR FLOOD IN NORTH INDIA DUE TO MONSOON RAIN

THOUSANDS FLED THE LOW-LYING AREAS. The water levels in several rivers reached the critical point.

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German ZDFtext and BBC on 26 August 2010: 400,000 THREATENED BY NEW FLOODS IN SOUTH PAKISTAN.

German ZDFtext on 26 August 2010: FOREIGN AID WORKERS IN FLOODED PAKISTAN THREATENED BY TALIBAN

Taliban threatens foreign aid workers in Pakistan's flood-stricken areas. A US representative for news agency AFP says that the US government knows that the group Tehreek -e-Taliban plans to attack foreign aid workers. The group is probably also preparing to attack representatives of the authorities.

German ZDFtext on 26 August 2010: MORE EVACUATIONS OF PAKISTANI CITIES

In a desperate fight against the FLOOD CATASTROPHE in PAKISTAN, the rescue teams have evacuated cities. In the SOUTHERN SINDH province, an important DAM by the INDUS river was BREACHED, and brown water masses are THREATENING CITIES Sujawal, Daro and Mirpur Batoro. 400,000 PEOPLE are living in the area. "The population has been warned and recommended to flee". MORE DAMS MIGHT BE BREACHED. In that case other cities are likely to be evacuated.

German ZDFtext on 26 August 2010: GERMANY PROVIDING DRINKING WATER

Expert team and two drinking water treatment plants will be sent to Pakistan's flood area. 2 drinking water treatment plans can provide up to 12,000 litres of drinking water per hour and will be used in the MULTAN area in the SOUTHERN part of the PUNJAB province.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11111447 / 27 August 2010 Last updated at 15:04 GMT

TWELVE DEAD IN NORTHERN TURKEY LANDSLIDES

At least 12 people have DIED in LANDSLIDES in NORTHERN TURKEY after TORRENTIAL RAIN, officials say.

At least one other person is reported to be missing after rains which began on Thursday triggered landslides in the town of Gundogdu in the Black Sea province of Rize.

Emergency crews have evacuated dozens of people who were trapped in their homes.

LANDSLIDES ARE COMMON on TURKEY's BLACK SEA COAST.

Officials said at least seven people with injuries were rescued.

'BURIED'

Buildings, homes and vehicles were buried and communications were cut across the affected area. Several roads were shut down.

Many residents had been eating when the landslides hit, after fasting all day as part of Ramadan.

Buruk Aka, who had been dining with his family, lost both his brother and mother-in-law in the disaster.

"We realised that the house was going to collapse. It did before I could say 'run it's going to collapse!'", he was quoted by Anatolia news agency as saying.

"I managed to throw myself out but my mother-in-law and my brother could not escape. They were buried in the landslide".

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German ZDFtext on 27 August 2010: BAD WEATHER IN GERMANY CAUSED FLOODS IN BADEN-WÜRTTEMBERG, NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN / NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA and NIEDERSACHSEN/ LOWER SAXONY

The bad weather caused substantial damage. No reports of injured. AN ALERT OF DISASTER was issued in Osnabrück and neighbouring county Steinfurt. In one day more than 160 LITRES OF RAIN PER SQUARE METER fell in the area or 3 times the normal amount of rain in August.

Also Baden-Württemberg had bad weather, and the power was down in several areas.

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Swedish News, LIVE: THE TOTAL AREA AFFECTED BY THE FLOODS IN PAKISTAN CORRESPONDS TO THE AREA OF ALL OF SWEDEN

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11105661 / 27 August 2010 Last updated at 20:02 GMT

SOUTH PAKISTAN FLOODS DISPLACE A MILLION IN 48 HOURS

Fresh flooding in SOUTHERN PAKISTAN has displaced almost a million people in the past 48 hours, the UN has said.

In SINDH province, 70% of the 300,000 residents of the town of THATTA have been forced to flee to safer areas after the INDUS river burst its banks.

A UN spokeswoman said teams in the south were working around the clock.

Further NORTH, floodwaters are starting to recede, revealing the full extent of the damage caused by the disaster that has affected some 17 million people.

A BBC correspondent joined a US military helicopter crew as they flew over a town in the SWAT VALLEY and said roads and bridges had completely disappeared, leaving whole communities cut off.

Meanwhile, the UN said it was reviewing security for its staff after US officials warned that militants planned to attack foreign aid workers.

One TALIBAN spokesman told Associated Press news agency that the presence of foreign organisations was "UNACCEPTABLE". However, there have been no attacks since the humanitarian crisis unfolded last month.

'COLOSSAL DISASTER'

On Thursday night, the Pakistani authorities ordered people to leave several towns and cities in the south of the country as a flood surge breached more embankments on the Indus river.

Information Minister Qamar Zaman Kaira said LOW-LYING AREAS of SINDH province would remain under water for the next two weeks or more. Out of its 23 districts, 19 have so far been badly affected by the floods.

"The embankment which was around the outskirts of THATTA has broken and it creates many difficulties," he told reporters in Islamabad on Friday.

The army and navy were both involved in the OVERNIGHT EVACUATION OF more than 200,000 PEOPLE from the town, 70km (45 miles) east of Karachi.

Engineers are now trying to repair the 6m (20ft) breach before the centre of THATTA is swamped.

The surrounding towns of Sujawal, Mir Pur Batoro and Daro - with a combined population of 400,000 - had already been evacuated.

The BBC's Chris Morris witnessed a FLOOD BARRIER BREACH NEAR the city of SHAHDADKOT on Thursday. He said that as a breach widened, a series of fields rapidly filled up, taking on the appearance of an INLAND SEA.

A spokesman for the UN Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) in Islamabad said NEARLY A MILLION PEOPLE had been DISPLACED BY FLOODING IN SINDH alone in the past 48 hours.

"The magnitude of this crisis is reaching levels that are even beyond our initial fears," Maurizio Giuliano told reporters on Friday.

"The number of those affected and those in need of assistance from us are bound to keep rising."

"The floods seem determined to outrun our efforts. About one month from the onset of the floods, we don't know when we will see their end, as the disaster is still unfolding," he added.

The MONSOON FLOODS started in the mountainous NORTH and have steadily SURGED SOUTH, destroying 1.2m homes and damaging 3.2m hectares (7.9m acres) of farmland - about 14% of Pakistan's land under cultivation.

The Pakistani government has so far confirmed that 1,600 people have been KILLED, but officials warn that MILLIONS are AT RISK from DISEASE and SHORTAGES OF FOOD AND WATER. The death toll may also rise as floodwaters recede.

REBUILDING BEGINS

The BBC's Jill McGivering, who flew over the SWAT VALLEY in NORTHERN PAKISTAN on Friday in a US military helicopter that was delivering aid, says that as the water disappears, the full extent of the damage is becoming clear.

As she looked down on the town of KALAM, she saw the first signs of people starting to rebuild - a flimsy wooden bridge was erected over the SWAT river, which wiped out everything in its path a few weeks ago.

All the bridges along the valley had disappeared, the marketplace was in ruins, and hundreds of hotels in the popular tourist town had been destroyed or partially-damaged, our correspondent added.

"There is also a problem of being connected to the outside world because, as well as losing the BRIDGES, they also lost the ROADS and that means the only way of supplying the people of the town at the moment is BY AIR," she said.

"I've just come in on a helicopter which brought in quite a lot of food - big sacks of flour, boxes of fortified biscuits and cooking oil - and about 50 men from this area came dashing forward to take what they could."

About $325m of the $459m sought by the UN in a flash appeal had been either contributed of pledged by foreign donors, while an additional $600m has been provided or promised outside the appeal, the UN's emergency relief co-ordinator, John Holmes said on Thursday.

"We're approaching $1 billion with funds offered or already contributed inside and outside the appeal for this crisis," he told reporters. "That's a reasonable response, but we certainly need more."

The INTERNATIONAL MONETARY FUND, which has a $11 BN LOAN PROGRAMME with PAKISTAN, said the group was "looking at all options" to help.

German ZDFtext on 27 August 2010: THATTA by INDUS river with 300,000 INHABITANTS must be FULLY EVACUATED.

According to the authorities many Pakistani are seeking higher / safer ground. Another dyke (or dam) has been breached in South Pakistan, and HUNDRED THOUSANDS are fleeing.

TALIBAN repeated its THREAT against international AID WORKERS / AID AGENCIES. A TALIBAN spokesman talked about "a horde of foreigners who are not really interested in helping the flood victims".

German ZDFtext on 27 August 2010: ZDF VIEWERS DONATE ALMOST €8M

Viewers of German TV channel ZDF have donated almost €8m or to be more specific €7,984,388. Thursday evening, i.e. on 26 August 2010, ZDF had a special broadcast aiming at helping Pakistan.

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German ZDFtext: PAKISTAN: THE WATER MASSES BREACHING MORE DAMS

In SOUTHERN PAKISTAN the water masses in the SWOLLEN INDUS RIVER have BREACHED MORE DAMS FORCING HUNDRED THOUSANDS OF PEOPLE TO FLEE. A total of 2.3 MILLION PEOPLE in the neighbourhood of THATTA are WITHOUT SHELTER, said the person in charge of the relief efforts in the SINDH province.

On Friday, practically all 300,000 INHABITANTS of the city of THATTA were EVACUATED, because a nearby DAM WAS BREACHED, and the water was streaming through a 20 m wide BREACH / GAP.

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Danish DR1 and TV2 News on 28 August 2010:

3 KILLED BY MAGNITUDE 5.9 EARTHQUAKE IN IRAN

3 people including 2 children have lost their lives, and at least 40 were injured after an earthquake in Iran's largest desert, Dasht-e Kavir.

The magnitude of the earthquake was 5.9 on the Richter scale. The earthquake hit 6 villages about 300 km east of the capital, Teheran where the inhabitants also felt the powerful tremors.

IRAN is frequently hit by earthquakes. The worst one was the earthquake in the desert city of BAM in 2003 when 31,000 people lost their lives while the ancient citadel was laid in ruins.

German ARDtext and ZDFtext: 3 KILLED AND 40 INJURED – HALF OF THEM SEVERELY – BY MAGNITUDE 5.9 EARTHQUAKE IN NORTH IRAN

So said a spokesman for RED CROSS in IRAN. The victims – 2 children and a woman – died in the SEMNAN province according to state TV. 19 of the injured have been taken to a hospital.

According to the news agency Irna, the epicentre of the earthquake was about 280 km east of the capital, Teheran, and the tremors could be felt here. The earthquake occurred immediately before midnight local time. Damage was reported in 5 villages in the neighbourhood of Damghun city.

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German ARDtext and ZDFtext: FLOODS IN GERMANY: THE SITUATION IS BECOMING LESS TENSE, AND THE CLEAN-UP HAS STARTED

After the RAIN-OF-THE-CENTURY in LOWER SAXONY (NIEDERSACHSEN) and NORTH RHINE-WESTPHALIA (NORDRHEIN-WESTFALEN ) the situation in the flooded regions are becoming less tense., and the CLEAN-UP has STARTED.

The situation in OSNABRÜCK remains tense, and the DISASTER ALERT remains IN FORCE, as many roads are flooded. The authorities hope that the disaster alert can be lifted later Saturday.

The weather was also bad in Eastern Hesse. A spokesman for the local government in Münster said today, Saturday that the situation will stabilize. Cellars were flooded / under water.

A powerful bad weather over FRANKFURT caused 24 flight cancellations and some delays on Friday.

MORE NEWS TO BE POSTED LATER TODAY COVERING THE DAYS 29 + 30 + 31 AUGUST 2010

EnglishSilk · August 31, 2010

Many thanks, Nancy, for the posts. You are a beacon of information!

nancyk58 · September 1, 2010

News on 29 + 30 + 31 August in relation to natural disasters

Thanks for the kind words. Glad to see that you appreciate what I am doing. :)

NEWS ON 29 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11125135 / 29 August 2010 Last updated at 12:42 GMT

PAKISTAN TOWN SUBMERGED AMID FIGHT TO REBUILD LEVEES

Floodwater has submerged a town in the southern province of SINDH, and threatens another being used as a key staging post for flood relief workers.

SUJAWAL, a town of some 250,000 people, has been SUBMERGED while people battle to SAVE the nearby city of THATTA, reports say.

Authorities are still trying to rebuild levees around THATTA against the raging INDUS river.

But water is still advancing on the all-but-abandoned city, reports say.

"We fled so hastily that we could not even pick up our belongings," Amena Bibi, a mother of four, told the BBC.

"We are sitting in this graveyard under the blazing sun, looking for shade here and there. We have nothing to eat. The floodwater swept away our cows and buffalo."

FUTURE HUNGER

The international aid agency OXFAM says Pakistan will face DEVASTATING PROBLEMS in the future, unless flood reconstruction efforts begin immediately.

A month after the floods began, the effort is still focused on the first stage of relief, RESCUING and EVACUATING people.

But farmers have only a small window in which to plant the next harvest's crops, and that is fast closing, raising FEARS OF FUTURE HUNGER.

"Pakistan doesn't have the luxury of waiting for the emergency phase to be over before starting the reconstruction," Neva Khan, Oxfam's country director said.

The massive floods have left some 8M PEOPLE IN NEED of EMERGENCY RELIEF.

The lack of proper sanitation and cramped living conditions mean disease could spread quickly, says the BBC's Jill McGivering in Islamabad.

Four weeks since the flooding began, the scale of this HUMANITARIAN CRISIS is still GROWING. And on the ground, the amount of aid available is a long way from meeting the need, our correspondent says.

Across the country, some 17 MILLION PEOPLE have been AFFECTED.

German ZDF, Danish DR1 TTV and TV2 News: FLOOD IS RECEDING IN PAKISTAN, BUT HUNGER AND DISEASES STAY

ONE MONTH after the beginning of the DEVASTATING FLOODS in PAKISTAN, the water masses are slowly receding. No rain is forecast for the coming days. But the survivors are still threatened by HUNGER and WATER-BORNE DISEASES SUCH AS DIARRHOEA and CHOLERA. According to UN estimates, there is an ACUTE THREAT TO THE LIVES OF 72,000 CHILDREN.

The floods caused by the unusually heavy monsoon rain in July have so far cost at least 1,643 human lives. About 6 MILLION are DISPLACED.

It will take 10-12 days before the rivers in the SINDH province are back to normal, says Qamar-uz-Zaman who is responsible for the governments weather team.

The army continues the fight to save the southern city of THATTA from being totally submerged.

Top 5 Shocking Facts About The Pakistan Floods

posted by: Beth Buczynski 13 hours ago

Devastating floods have been ravaging Pakistan for over a month, but despite widespread suffering, the media coverage of this disaster has been casual at best.

Nearly 20 million Pakistanis have been displaced from their homes and put at risk for water born disease, yet the American media seems to have marginalized the issue, impeding the flow of supplies and donations needed to provide aid.

Some believe that "the West and Europe have adopted Islamaphobia, which obviously has clouded humanitarian concerns" (Huffington Post).

You don't have to be a political analyst to see that more social and political unrest isn't what this region needs. People are suffering, and as fellow humans and activists, it is our duty to do what we can.

Here are 5 things you may not have known about the Pakistan floods. Become informed, and then take action!

1. The United Nations has rated the floods in Pakistan as the greatest humanitarian crisis in recent history. Already, more people have been affected in Pakistan than the 2004 South-East Asian tsunami and the recent earthquakes in Kasmir and Haiti combined.

2. The Pakistan flood may be linked to the fires in Russia. Although the unfolding disasters seem far apart, they are actually being driven by the same meta weather system, according to a report from National Geographic. Kevin Trenberth, a senior scientist at the Boulder, Colorado-based National Center for Atmospheric Research, told the organization, "That's because the monsoon – a seasonal wind system that brings rain and floods to Pakistan and much of the rest of Asia in summer – also drives the circulation of air as far away as Europe."

3. Only a fraction of the people needing aid have been contacted by emergency crews. In the 10 days following the initial flood waves, the government managed to distribute only 10,000 packs food packs, containing mostly a box of dried milk, and a few bottles of water and Pepsi. These packages were meant to "feed" 80,000 people, leaving 1,720,000 without any type of aid.

4. The Pakistan flood may be linked to global warming. In an unprecedented move, the Organization of the Islamic Conference (OIC) has come forward to formally blamed the flooding in Pakistan on "global warming," angering some denialists (CNSNews.com). "Indeed, the Islamic world is paying a heavy price resulting from the negative repercussions of climate change," said OIC Secretary-General Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu at an emergency meeting in Saudi Arabia.

5. The destruction is enormous, and preys on the weak. Reports indicate 62,000 square miles of land have been affected -- about one-fifth of the entire country. Of the 15 million people seriously affected, about 50 percent are children.Take Action!

Care2's Kristina Chew recently provided suggestions on how to take action to help those suffering in Pakistan:

The New York Times's Lede blog has a list of organizations that are working to provide disaster relief to Pakistan. If you've any doubts about how relief funds are being used, see the Oxfam website, which provides answers to questions such as 'Will providing more aid reduce support for the Taliban?' and 'How do I know my donation will not be lost to corruption or diverted to an extremist organization in Pakistan?'

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Swedish SVT: UN: 200,000 HOMELESS AFTER FLOODS IN NIGER

About 200,000 are HOMELESS after floods in NIGER after a long period of DROUGHT. According to UN, about 30,000 houses have been washed away by the floods.

According to UN, 10,000 tons of food, 600,000 filters and 35,000 mosquito nets are needed for the flood victims.

NIGER is already facing a serious SHORTAGE / LACK OF FOOD since 2009's HARVEST was hit by DROUGHT.

Around 7 MILLION PEOPLE or ½ of NIGER's population RISK HUNGER if they do not receive any aid - according to the UN.

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German ZDFtext: FLOOD SITUATION IN GERMANY IS GETTING LESS TENSE

After the long period of rain, the situation in LOWER SAXONY (Niedersachsen) and NORTH-RHINE-WESTPHALIA (Nordrhein-Westfalen) has become less tense. "The water is receding", said the spokesman of the fire brigade in Ahaus - a town in Westphalia that was very hard hit.

Also in Gronau where the firemen were fighting the water masses last Saturday, the situation has become more normal. "The water is receding". Now it is time to empty the cellars of water using pumps, said the spokesman of the fire brigade.

Saturday evening, Osnabrück lifted the disaster alert.

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German ZDFtext: THOUSANDS FLEEING ERUPTING VOLCANO ON SUMATRA

A volcano's eruption on the INDONESIAN island of SUMATRA has forced thousands of people to flee.

The HIGHEST ALERT / RED ALERT has been issued. MOUNT SINABUNG started its eruption today, Sunday 29.8 immediately after midnight and shot smoke and ashes 1,500m into the air.

It is MOUNT SINABUNG's first eruption in 400 years. There is no report of injured. A group of experts monitor the activities of the 2,451m high mountain.

Danish DR1 TTV + TV2 NEWS and SVT: VOLCANO ERUPTION AFTER 400 YEARS / 18,000 FLEEING VOLCANO's ERUPTION

INDONESIA issued HIGHEST ALERT aka. RED ALERT and EVACUATED THOUSANDS because volcano Sinabung shots smoke and ashes 1,500m into the air.

Since Friday the volcano has shown "some volcanic activity".

2 died after heart attack during their escape from the volcano. People living within a range of 6km from the volcano's crater have been evacuated.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11123169 / 29 August 2010 Last updated at 15:37 GMT

THOUSANDS FLEE INDONESIA VOLCANO ON SUMATRA

At least 19,000 people flee as a volcano on the Indonesian island of Sumatra erupts for the first time in 400 years.

THOUSANDS of INDONESIANS are spending the night in EMERGENCY SHELTERS after fleeing an ERUPTING VOLCANO on the island of Sumatra.

Officials issued a RED ALERT after MOUNT SINABUNG began to spew lava shortly after midnight (1900 GMT).

Smoke and ash reportedly shot 1,500m into the air. Witnesses said they could see the lava from several miles away.

Mount Sinabung, some 60km (40 miles) south-west of Sumatra's main city Medan, has not erupted for 400 years.

Officials from the RED CROSS told the BBC that more than 19,000 people were being moved from the slopes of Mount Sinabung and surrounding areas.

Ash and acrid smoke from the volcano have blanketed villages and crops. Local people arriving at refuge centres were covered in grey ash, many had their faces covered.

At least one person is reported to have died from breathing problems.

The volcano had been pumping out smoke all day Saturday, but alert levels had not been raised, and local media reported that villagers had been taken by surprise.

The Medan Tribune quoted one local resident as saying he panicked and ran when he saw lava coming towards his him "like a ball of fire".

Surono, head of the nation's volcano disaster alert centre, told AFP news agency that the alert level had been raised to RED because the situation was "CLEARLY

DANGEROUS".

"Initially we thought the ash and smoke were triggered by rain but now we know the driving pressure was from magma," he said.

He said that as the volcano had not erupted since 1600, scientists knew very little about it.

The Indonesian archipelago lies on the Pacific "Ring of Fire" and has at least 129 active volcanoes.

NEWS ON 30 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

German ARDtext and Danish TV2 News: HURRICANE “EARL” THREATENS CARIBBEAN ISLANDS

In the EASTERN CARIBBEAN, the people are making preparations for the approaching hurricane “Earl”, stocking up on food, water and other essential supplies, as well as trying to protect property.

Airplanes were re-routed, and cruise ships changed their course.

The meteorologists of the US-based National Hurricane (warning) Center in Miami expected “Earl” to go on land in the northern part of the Lesser Antilles.

“Earl” hit Leeward Islands in the Caribbean with moderate winds. On Sunday, ALERTS were ISSUED for several ISLANDS. “Earl” gained strength and was upgraded to a CATEGORY TWO hurricane. Winds of up to 160 km per hour were measured.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11128738 / 30 August 2010 Last updated at 15:33 GMT

HURRICANE EARL GAINING STRENGTH IN EASTERN CARIBBEAN

A storm moving through the eastern Caribbean has strengthened to a Category Three hurricane, prompting warnings for several islands.

Hurricane Earl is generating sustained winds of 195km/h (160mph).

Forecasters say Earl is now a major hurricane, as it approaches the Leeward Islands, which include the British Virgin Islands.

Strong winds and heavy rains are already lashing the islands, east of Puerto Rico in the northern Caribbean.

A new hurricane warning has now been issued for the Puerto Rican islands of Culebra and Vieques, said the US-based National Hurricane Center (NHC).

Hurricane warnings are already in effect in Anguilla, St Martin and St Barthelemy, St Maarten, Saba, St Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands.

Hurricane warnings are in place for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts, Nevis, Anguilla, Saint Martin, Saint Barthelemy, St Maarten, Saba, St Eustatius, the British Virgin Islands and the US Virgin Islands. Puerto Rico is also on hurricane alert.

The hurricane warning for Antigua, Barbuda, Montserrat, St Kitts and Nevis has been downgraded to a tropical storm warning. The Turks and Caicos islands are on alert.

People in the area are making preparations ahead of the storm, stocking up on food, water and other essential supplies, as well as trying to protect property.

"We really don't want any loss of life, whether by persons who are careless or by security or emergency persons trying to rescue people," Carl Herbert, head of the St Kitts and Nevis local emergency management agency, is quoted as saying by the Associated Press news agency.

"We haven't been hit for quite a few years, but you may never know - this might be the time," said Ashley Benta, from the Antiguan town of Gray's Farm.

Earl is currently about 150km (95 miles) east-northeast of St Thomas and is moving at about 24 km/h, with sustained winds of up to 195 km/h, said the NHC advisory.

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Swedish SVT and Danish TV2: CITY OF THATTA IN PAKISTAN RESCUED

Pakistan’s army has apparently succeeded in fighting the water masses in the city of THATTA. Today, the water could be carried off the city where 95% of the inhabitants had been evacuated.

The breach (gap) in a dyke near THATTA has been partly plugged (closed), and the streams have changed course (direction) and are moving away from THATTA and the populated areas, an official said.

After heavy monsoon rain over north-west Pakistan a month ago, enormous amounts of water have moved towards the densely populated southern provinces. At least 1,643 people have died.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11128511 /30 August 2010 Last updated at 11:02 GMT

FLOODWATERS IN SOUTH PAKISTAN 'BEGIN TO RECEDE'

Emergency officials in Pakistan say water levels in flood-stricken southern Pakistan are beginning to recede.

They warned, however, that water levels on the southern reaches of the Indus River were still "exceptionally high".

The floods, triggered by torrential monsoon rains in the north-west, have moved south through the country, submerging towns and farmland.

More than 1,600 people have died and about six million are homeless after Pakistan's worst flooding.

In total, about 17 million of Pakistan's 166 million people have been affected by the disaster.

'Need to be watchful'

The danger of flooding remained high, but levels were beginning to drop as the surge of water that had been flowing north-south across Pakistan reached the Arabian Sea, said Hadi Baksh, an emergency official in southern Sindh province.

"In the coming days, the towns and villages will be out of flood danger," he said.

Pakistan's meteorological department said water inflows at the Kotri barrage were receding but that the Indus River there would "continue in exceptionally high flood level" for another day.

Weather official Qamar-uz-Zaman Chaudhry said: "We believe that it will take another 10 to 12 days for rivers in Sindh to come to normal flow. Therefore we need to be watchful."

The town of Thatta, downstream from the Kotri barrage, was hastily evacuated as the swollen Indus breached an embankment.

A major inundation was avoided thanks to the hasty rebuilding of levees around the town, said Mr Baksh, and people were beginning to return to their homes.

But on the other side of the river, the town of Sujawal was submerged.

Almost the entire population managed to evacuate the town, however.

"We estimate that there are still up to 400 people in Sujawal and the surrounding villages and they are being rescued by boats," Mr Baksh said.

Aid effort

A month after the floods began, the effort is still focused on the first stage of relief, rescuing and evacuating people.

Many people remain cut off by vast lakes and desperately need shelter, food and clean water.

About 72,000 children were already affected by severe malnutrition, UN officials said.

There is a risk too of the spread of disease as the floods ebb, leaving behind large pools of stagnant water.

But relief agencies have warned that unless reconstruction begins immediately, Pakistan will face devastating problems.

The UN's World Food Programme estimates that the floods have damaged about 14% of the country's cultivated land. With damage to crops estimated at almost $3bn (£1.9bn), the country will need help feeding its population for some time.

The government has announced incentives for farmers in Punjab and the north-western province of Khyber Pakhtunkhwa, where floodwaters have receded, to get on with the winter sowing season, says the BBC's Ilyas Khan in Islamabad.

Muslim nations have donated nearly $1bn (£640m) to help Pakistan, said Ekmeleddin Ihsanoglu, the head of the Organization of the Islamic Conference.

Other nations have also pledged hundreds of millions of dollars, but officials say it will take many billions for Pakistan to recover from the disaster.

Jill McGivering, BBC News, Islamabad:

Relief goods are pouring into Pakistan from all over the world.

But aid agencies admit they are still only reaching a small proportion of the people who need help.

In Sindh, the worst affected province, the aid effort is focused on people in relief camps.

The aid agency Oxfam says that as well as giving food and water, it has also started handing out cash vouchers.

These allow families to choose goods from local shops. But they only work in areas where shops have stock - and only those in camps are getting them.

The majority who can not get into camps are simply fending for themselves on whatever dry ground they can find.

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German ARDtext + ZDFtext: THOUSANDS FLEEING ERUPTING VOLCANO ON SUMATRA

A volcano's eruption on the INDONESIAN island of SUMATRA forced thousands of people to flee. Monday, the volcano SINABUNG erupted for the second time in two days. White clouds of smoke and ashes shot 2,000m into the air. 12,000 were evacuated so far as a precautionary measure.

The air traffic had to be partly rerouted. Already Sunday, the SINABUNG had spewed lava, steam and ashes. It was MOUNT SINABUNG's first eruption in 400 years.

Indonesia sits on the Pacific Ring of Fire, one of the world's most active areas for earthquakes and volcanoes.

Swedish SVT: MORE PEOPLE EVACUATED FROM VOLCANO’S ERUPTION

The air traffic was alerted, and additional thousands were evacuated after volcano SINABUNG’s unexpected eruption in Indonesia (AP).

Monday’s eruption was more powerful than the first one, and its duration was 15 minutes. Smoke and ashes were shot 2,000 m into the air.

Airplanes were ordered to avoid the area; and travellers on their way to province North Sumatra are expected to be delayed.

12,000 were evacuated since the authorities ordered everybody within 6 km of the volcano to leave. Sinabung’s latest eruption occurred in 1600. It is not clear how serious the eruption will be.

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German ZDFtext: FLOOD / HIGH WATER RECEDING IN GERMANY SITUATION IS GETTING LESS TENSE

After the long period of heavy rain, the high water situation in vast areas of the German state of LOWER SAXONY (Niedersachsen) and NORTH-RHINE-WESTPHALIA (Nordrhein-Westfalen) has become less tense. Only in Nordhorn near the Dutch border the rescue teams were still active. The water level remains high in Bentheim and Nordhorn. Parts of Nordkorn City remains flooded.

In the greater Osnabrück area, the disaster alert was lifted.

Water also was clearly receding in Gronau and Ahaus in North Rhine / Westphalia.

NEWS ON 31 AUGUST 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Swedish SVT: HURRICANE EARL UNDER WAY TO USA

Hurricane EARL has been upgraded to a CATEGORY FOUR hurricane – the second-highest level on the Saffir-Simpson scale.

It was under way to Puerto Rico and the Virgin Islands and is expected to go on land on US’ east coast later this week.

Earl’s winds are measured at 69m per second.

According to the US National Hurricane Center in Miami, the risk of “catastrophic damage” is substantial when a so powerful hurricane moves across land.

Swedish SVT: FLOODS IN SUDAN

Floods in Sudan forced 50,000 people to leave their homes. Aid and aid workers have been sent to the area.

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Danish TV2 News: MASSIVE INDIAN AID TO PAKISTAN

The Indian government increases its aid to Pakistan that is hard hit by floods. INDIA has granted an additional amount corresponding to 120m DKK in aid – that in addition to the amount corresponding to 35m DKK the Indian government in New Delhi has already granted.

German ARDtext: PAKISTAN FLOOD RECEDES

5 WEEKS after the beginning of the floods in PAKISTAN, the SURGE of water flows into the Arabian Sea. 2 populated areas in south Pakistan are submerged.

DOCTORS are sorry that it is getting more and more difficult to provide the flooded victims with medicaments.

Danish TVw News: MANY PEOPLE RISKING TO DIE IN PAKISTAN

Thousands of victims of the floods in Pakistan are queuing every day in front of the hospitals to get help.

Doctors have difficulties in treating the patients the reason being the SHORTAGE of MEDICINE and EQUIPMENT.

Aid agencies fear that many will die in the time to come due to SHORTAGE OF FOOD, DISEASES and MALNUTRITION. The situation is getting worse when people return to the destroyed areas where there are neither doctors nor hospitals.

German ZDFtext: UNICEF: 8 MILLION CHILDREN SUFFER IN PAKISTAN

According to UNICEF estimates, more than 8 MILLION CHILDREN in PAKISTANs flooded areas SUFFER from the consequences of the flood of the century.

3.5 million are URGENTLY in need of AID to survive.

In makeshift / emergency camps in southern province SINDH, 17 DIED from DISEASES and MALNUTRITION, including 9 children. The aid agency “Doctors without Borders” fears additional deaths.

nancyk58 · September 1, 2010

URGENT Petition from AVAAZ.org - PAKISTAN DEBT vs. LIVES

URGENT petition in relation to PAKISTAN

Pakistan: debt vs. lives‏

Dear Friends,

As Pakistan struggles to rescue families from flood waters and fend off disease and starvation before winter sets in, it is scrambling to pay out a shocking 30% of its annual budget revenues to foreign creditors on debt incurred by previous dictatorships.

If Pakistan is obliged to make these debt payments, rescue efforts for tens of millions of people whose lives have been devastated could be crippled. Earlier this year, we persuaded creditor governments to drop Haiti's debt after it was devastated by an earthquake -- and now we could do the same for Pakistan.

Right now international financial institutions and donor countries are assessing how to assist Pakistan. Let's come together and call for life-saving debt relief for the people of Pakistan.

Sign the petition below to stop these stifling debt payments and let Pakistan rebuild, and it will be delivered directly to ministers and senior officials attending the Annual Meetings of the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund (IMF).

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_cancel_the_debt/?vl

Pakistan's staggering $55 billion debt burden comes from decades of reckless spending by its autocratic ruling elites, matched by irresponsible lending on the part of Western creditors and banks.

But 60% of Pakistanis still live below the poverty line. It is a tragic irony that these tens of millions of Pakistanis whose lives have been destroyed in these floods and who have received little or no benefit from these massive loans, are the ones now footing the bill of such unjust debt.

In the aftermath of Haiti's earthquake, Hurricane Mitch in Central America, and the Asian tsunami, the world responded by suspending and cancelling debt payments from affected countries.

Pakistan's debt is too vast to cancel in one swoop, but a two year moratorium with accountability mechanisms to ensure that the released funds are spent on relief is a first step and now is the moment to push for it.

Together we have donated a stunning $1 million which is already making a difference to desperate Pakistani flood victims. But if we win this debt campaign, we can make billions available for relief and reconstruction. Let's make sure the international community does the right thing. Sign the urgent petition below and share this message with all your friends and family:

http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_cancel_the_debt/?vl

With hope and solidarity,

Luis, Iain, Paula, Ricken, Alice, Pascal and the entire Avaaz team

PS - Over the last 2 weeks, thousands of us have contributed US$1 million for relief and recovery from the Pakistan floods, which has been sent to support the Sungi Development Foundation, Hirrak Development Centre (HDC), Participatory Welfare Services (PWS) and other outstanding local organisations provide life-saving food, water, shelter and medical care across the country.

Sources:

Race against winter in Pakistan's north-west:

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11128880

Reuters, IMF talks: all options being explored to help Pakistan:

http://www.reuters.com/article/idUSN26195747._CH_.2400

"Fuelling Injustice: Debt and Muslim countries", Report by Jubilee Debt Campaign and Islamic Relief UK:

http://www.jubileedebtcampaign.org.uk/?lid=6302&bid=13

Jubilee USA Network Calls for Immediate Debt Service Moratorium in Response to Disaster, Assistance in Grant Form:

http://www.jubileeusa.org/press/press-item/article/new-debt-for-disaster-for-pakistan.html?tx_ttnews[backPid]=170&cHash=02e62f133f

EURODAD, "Pakistan needs debt cancellation, not new IMF loans":

http://www.eurodad.org/whatsnew/articles.aspx?id=4220

Whilst tens of millions struggle to survive the flood devastation, 30% of Pakistan's budget revenue will be sent abroad to foreign creditors for massive loans made to dictators years ago. Sign the petition to stop Pakistan's crippling debt

SIGN THE PETITION - go to: http://www.avaaz.org/en/pakistan_cancel_the_debt/?cl=724339631&v=7058

Petition to the IMF and all Pakistan's creditors:

In the wake of Pakistan's devastating floods, we call on you to immediately declare a two year moratorium with no interest on all of Pakistan's debt payments, as a first step to fully cancelling its unjust debt. We also urge you to ensure aid is given in the form of grants not loans.

nancyk58 · September 1, 2010

News on 1 September 2010 in relation to natural disasters

NEWS ON 1 SEPTEMBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-africa-11150357 / 1 September 2010 Last updated at 08:53 GMT

SOUTH SUDAN's AWEIL REGION SWAMPED BY FLOODS

Some 57,000 people have been forced from their homes because of DRAMATIC FLOODS in SOUTH-WESTERN SUDAN over the past month, health officials say.

Heavy rains have left Aweil, the main town of Northern Bahr al-Ghazal province, largely under water.

A BBC correspondent says the floods pose another challenge to the already delayed voter registration.

Southern Sudan is voting on whether to secede from the north in a referendum in January.

CHALLENGE

The BBC's Peter Martell in Southern Sudan says the floods add to the woes of a GROSSLY UNDER-DEVELOPED REGION still struggling to rebuild itself after the brutal two-decade war with the north.

"The rains are going to continue up until October, so the situation may get worse," Southern Sudan's Health Minister Luka Monoja warned.

"A serious situation has developed in Aweil - more than three quarters of the town is flooded and so many houses collapsed.

"We saw that all the people were chased out of their houses, and were now living on the road, because the road is the only area in the town that is raised."

Our reporter says the SOUTHERN GOVERNMENT and AID AGENCIES have been working to SUPPORT those DISPLACES, but the challenge is enormous.

The United Nations has already provided some kind of FOOD ASSISTANCE to almost half the population of the south this year, he says.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11154296 / 1 September 2010 Last updated at 16:36 GMT

HURRICANE EARL PROMPTS US EVACUATIONS

Evacuations have begun in areas of the US east coast likely to be hit by Hurricane Earl.

The storm has dropped to CATEGORY THREE but is still generating sustained winds of 201km/h (135mph).

President Barack Obama said officials needed to be ready for a "worst case" scenario in a call to the US Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema).

One island in North Carolina's Outer Banks is being evacuated and visitors are being asked to leave another.

The narrow islands are served by a single main road and officials worry that waves washing over it will cause danger to travellers.

Fema has warned people along much of the the eastern seaboard of the US to be vigilant and follow official bulletins.

Forecasters at the National Hurricane Center said they expected the hurricane to turn north and then run parallel to the east coast.

"The most important thing for people living in Earl's potential tract to do is to listen to and follow the instructions of their local officials," Fema administrator Craig Fugate said.

A HURRICANE WARNING has been ISSUED FOR the EAST COAST of the US from Bogue Inlet North Carolina north-eastward to the North Carolina/Virginia border, including the Pamlico and Albemarle sounds.

The hurricane watch has been adjusted northward and now extends from the North Carolina/Virginia border northward to Cape Henlopen, Delaware.

A WARNING means hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the affected area, with the first tropical storm-force winds within 36 hours. A watch expects the same within 48 hours.

The local authorities in the Outer Banks expect the storm to pass 80 miles (130km) away from the islands, which are popular with tourists, meaning high winds and waves are likely.

Hatteras Island is being evacuated of visitors, while both visitors and residents have been told to leave Ocracoke Island just to the south.

The hurricane is currently east of the central Bahamas and is moving north-west.

"Large swells from Earl should affect the Bahamas and the south-eastern coast of the United States today [Wednesday]. These swells will likely cause dangerous surf conditions and rip currents," the NHC said.

The Labor Day weekend marks the end of a holiday season and many Americans use it to head for the beach.

On MONDAY the hurricane battered north-eastern CARIBBEAN ISLANDS and PUERTO RICO, causing power cuts and flooding.

Earl is being closely followed by Tropical Storm Fiona, currently east of the Leeward Isles with winds of up to 65km/h.

nancyk58 · September 2, 2010

NEWS ON 2 SEPTEMBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

NEWS ON 2 SEPTEMBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Swedish SVT: DEATHS AND SUBSTANTIAL MATERIAL DAMAGE REPORTED IN SOUTH KOREA since the TYPHOON KOMPASU today swept South Korea. The electricity was down in more than 100,000 villages in the south-western parts of South Korea. More than 100 flights and even more ferries were cancelled.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11161376 / 2 September 2010 Last updated at 07:57 GMT

TYPHOON KOMPASU HITS SOUTH KOREA CAPITAL SEOUL

Typhoon Kompasu has struck the SOUTH KOREAN CAPITAL, downing power lines and causing transport chaos.

At least three people were killed and dozens more injured in the storm - the strongest to hit Seoul in 15 years.

More than 120 flights were cancelled and power cuts hit major parts of the subway network.

Further south, TROPICAL STORM LIONROCK made landfall in the CHINESE PROVINCE of FUJIAN, bringing strong winds and torrential rain.

Forecasters warned that the storm could trigger landslides, Xinhua news agency said.

In YUNNAN province, in the south of the country, rescue work continued after Wednesday's rain triggered a LANDSLIDE in WAMA VILLAGE.

Four people are known to have died and 44 are missing in the wake of the incident.

Twenty-three people have been rescued in the village, which lies between steep mountains and the Nujiang River.

TREES DOWN

Typhoon KOMPASU made landfall in South Korea early on Thursday at Ganghwa Island, before passing to the north-east of Seoul.

One man was killed after being hit by a flying roof tile and another died after a tree branch fell and hit him.

A man in his 70s was electrocuted, the National Emergency Management Agency said.

Utility poles and trees were knocked down in the capital and hospitals were full of people injured after being hit by flying glass, Yonhap news agency said.

The typhoon is now heading north towards the SEA of JAPAN (East Sea), meteorologists say.

On Wednesday state media in North Korea broadcast a typhoon warning, telling people to prepare for heavy rain.

North Korea has already been hit hard by floods during 2010.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11168114 / 2 September 2010 Last updated at 14:42 GMT

RED CROSS INCREASES PAKISTAN FLOODS APPEAL BY $76M

By Imogen Foulkes - BBC News, Geneva

The international Red Cross has appealed for an EXTRA $76m (£49m) FOR PAKISTAN, warning that only a fraction of needs are being met.

The head of ICRC in South Asia, Jacques de Maio, said the recent floods in Pakistan had created a catastrophe of staggering proportions.

The ICRC is providing aid to 350,000 people, but more than 1.4m people in the worst-affected regions need help.

The organisation is also facing growing resentment from a desperate population.

Speaking in Geneva, Mr de Maio said the ICRC hoped to expand its operations, but that security was posing a problem, with two of aid convoys being looted in the last week.

"When you organise an assistance for 30,000 people and you get into an area where you find an additional 100,000 people with the very same needs... then you can imagine that the frustration, the despair can lead to a collapse of the normal smooth operation," he said.

'UNREST'

Over the last week the organisation has had to abandon food distribution twice due to unrest, losing 60 tonnes of supplies to angry crowds.

Aid workers fear that this means that the most vulnerable - children and mothers - will not receive anything.

Mr de Maio said he was worried that, if this trend continued, it would put further pressure on the organisation's ability to help people.

"The choice is the usual dilemma. Are we ready to have our friends from the Pakistani Red Crescent, and our own staff, being killed or looted?" he said.

The ICRC has also warned of what it calls a lethal spike in water-borne diseases, if clean water is not delivered more quickly.

More than 1,600 people have died in the floods, which have affected about 17 million people.

Swedish SVT: DIFFICULT RELIEF EFFORTS IN PAKISTAN

Growing resentment and aggressivity among the needy population make the relief efforts difficult after the floods in Pakistan, Red Cross warns.

- The people need help and are so furious that they have become aggressive which does not make it easier for us to reach them. Continued unrest can hinder the relief efforts, says the person in charge of the relief efforts, Jacques de Maio.

OCHA, UN's Office for the Coordination of Human Affairs states that at least 8 million need help. The International Monetary Fund and the World Bank today offered new emergency loans of $1.45 billion.

Danish DR1 TTV: EMERGENCY TO FLOODED PAKISTAN ALMOST STOPPED

The emergency efforts are very tense and difficult due to the enormous scale of this disaster. The flow of international aid to Pakistan has almost stopped, says the United Nations. The UN asks for increased efforts to collect donations to the many millions of Pakistani suffering from the aftermath of the massive floods in Pakistan.

The disastrous floods have so far COST 1.760 HUMAN LIVES and affected 18 MILLION people within an area corresponding to the size of ENGLAND.

8 million people are dependent on emergency aid if they are to survive. The UN only received 2/3 of the aid that is needed, i.e $460 million according to UN estimates.

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German ARDtext: HURRICANE "EARL" DOWNGRADED TO CATEGORY 3 STORM / HuRRICANE EARL THREATENS US COAST

The National Hurricane Center in Miami has downgraded EARL from category 4 to category 3. Experts warned that Earl could cause substantial damage. Earl is not expected to make landfall.

The Outer-Banks Islands off North Caroline are threatened.

Danish DR1 TTV: HURRICANE EARL THREATENS US EAST COAST

Hurricane EARL has gained strength. That made the authorities in the US state of NORTH CAROLINA evacuate several islands off the coast.

STORM WARNING issued along vast parts of the US EAST COAST.

Earl gained strength on its way across the Atlantic Ocean. Winds of up to 215 km per hour were measured. Earl has developed into a powerful CATEGORY 4 STORM. The hurricane may result in an increased water level of up to 3.6m in some areas.

No other hurricane has threatened so vast parts of the US coast since hurricane BOB in 1991.

Swedish SVT: STATE OF EMERGENCY DECLARED IN NORTH CAROLINA

US President Barack Obama has declared a STATE OF EMERGENCY in the US state of NORTH CAROLINA before the arrival of hurricane EARL. The eye of this storm was 50 landmile south-south east of CAPE HATTERAS off NORTH CAROLINA today / Thursday.

New storms line up in the Atlantic. FIONA is close to PUERTO RICO. GASTON has formed about 160 landmile east of West India.

Gaston causes worries as its expected course includes disaster-hit HAITI.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11154296 / 2 September 2010 Last updated at 15:08 GMT

HURRICANE EARL BARRELS TOWARDS US EAST COAST

Areas along the US East Coast have declared STATES OF EMERGENCY as Hurricane EARL churns towards the region, forecast to brush land on Thursday night.

The hurricane has strengthened to a CATEGORY FOUR STORM, generating sustained winds of 233km/h (145mph).

Evacuations have begun in coastal areas that may be brushed by the hurricane.

The governors of NORTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA and MARYLAND have declared STATES of EMERGENCY.

President Barack Obama said officials needed to be ready for a "worst case" scenario.

The storm is expected to reach the North Carolina coast - with its fragile chain of barrier islands - late on Thursday and then turn north-northeast and churn up the rest of the East Coast.

"There is still concern that this track, the core of the storm, could shift a little farther to the west and have a very significant impact on the immediate coastline. Our present track keeps it off shore, but you never know," National Hurricane Center (NHC) spokesman Dennis Feltgen said.

The NHC in Miami said hurricane strength winds may be felt as far as 145km (90 miles) from the eye of the storm.

DISASTER PREPARATIONS

The centre of the storm was approximately 575km (355 miles) south of North Carolina's Hatteras Island early on Thursday and is expected to brush the coast just north of the island late in the day with winds of up to 161km/h.

US officials ordered a mandatory evacuation for roughly 35,000 visitors and residents on North Carolina's Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island on Tuesday.

Both islands are part of North Carolina's Outer Banks, a region popular with tourists.

The local authorities in the Outer Banks expect the storm to pass 80 miles (130km) away from the islands, meaning high winds and waves are likely.

North Carolina's state of emergency authorizes the Federal Emergency Management Agency (FEMA) and the Department of Homeland Security to head disaster relief efforts.

The North Carolina National Guard is also sending 80 troops to assist with efforts in the region.

Fema has warned people along much of the eastern seaboard of the US to be vigilant and follow official bulletins.

Officials temporarily downgraded Earl to a category three storm on Wednesday, but the hurricane strengthened to a category four again later in the day.

"The most important thing for people living in Earl's potential tract to do is to listen to and follow the instructions of their local officials," Fema administrator Craig Fugate said.

A hurricane warning has been issued for the East Coast of the US from Bogue Inlet, North Carolina north-eastward to the North Carolina/Virginia border as well as the coast of New York's Long Island.

The hurricane watch has been adjusted northward and now extends from the North Carolina-Virginia border northward to Massachusetts, including Martha's Vineyard and Nantucket.

A warning means hurricane conditions are expected somewhere within the affected area, with the first tropical storm-force winds within 36 hours. A watch expects the same within 48 hours.

On Monday the hurricane battered north-eastern Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico, causing power cuts and flooding.

Earl is being followed by Tropical Storm FIONA, currently northwest of Puerto Rico, and Tropical Storm GASTON, the fourth tropical storm to have formed in the last 11 days.

nancyk58 · September 4, 2010

HELP FREEZE PAKISTAN's DEBT

Subject: Help Freeze PAKISTAN’s debt - ONE petition

Hi,

You will have seen the heartbreaking images of the floods in PAKISTAN, with tens of millions of people affected.

The sheer scale of the disaster is staggering and Pakistan will need all its available resources to help it recover from this devastating crisis and to fight long-term poverty. The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – the institution that oversees debt repayments - can play a key role in this.

I just signed a petition asking the IMF to freeze Pakistan’s national debt for two years so they have more money available to help long term rebuilding after the crippling disaster.

Please join me by taking action here:

http://one.org/international/actnow/pakistanfloods/index.html?rc=pakistanfloodsconfemail

Together as ONE we can make a difference!

Thanks!

Nancyk58

http://www.one.org/international/actnow/pakistanfloods/o.pl?id=1896-4671266-kiU3Ekx&t=3

nancyk58 · September 4, 2010

News on 3 September 2010 in relation to natural disasters

NEWS ON 3 SEPTEMBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11183685 / 3 September 2010 Last updated at 18:41 GMT

STRONG EARTHQUAKE ROCKS NEW ZEALAND's SOUTH ISLAND

A 7.0-magnitude earthquake has struck off New Zealand's South Island, the US Geological Survey has said.

The epicentre was 55km (35 miles) north-west of Christchurch, at a depth of 12 km (7.5 miles), it added.

Police reported widespread minor damage and local power cuts.

CHRISTCHURCH is New Zealand's second largest city with a population of about 386,000, but no casualties have yet been reported.

The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre said there was a risk of a local tsunami.

New Zealand lies at the southern end of the so-called PACIFIC RING OF FIRE, and above an area of the Earth's crust where the Pacific Plate converges with the Indo-Australian Plate.

The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

SHOPS 'DEMOLISHED'

The earthquake struck at 0435 on Saturday local time (1635 GMT on Friday), the USGS said, when most people would have been asleep.

Radio New Zealand reported that the quake was felt as a long rolling motion lasting up to 40 seconds, and that the area was continuing to feel AFTERSHOCKS. The USGS said one aftershock had a magnitude of 5.7.

The local newspaper, The Press, said it was felt widely across the South Island, including Christchurch and the nearby port city of Timaru.

Police said damage and power outages had been reported as far afield as Dunedin, 360km (223miles) to the south-west, it added.

"There is a row of shops completely demolished right in front of me," Colleen Simpson told The Press, adding that many people in Christchurch were out in the street in their pyjamas looking scared and worried.

Susan Birkbeck, who lives in the centre of the city, said: "It was absolutely shocking, we're all terrified and scared of what's going to happen next."

"I was asleep when suddenly the house started shaking and there was this smashing sound, I thought a large truck had just driven through the front window."

"I'm now sitting on my bed surrounded by broken glass and I've no idea what to do. The walls and roof are just hanging, it's terrifying," she added.

Barry in Ashburton, 86km (53 miles) west of Christchurch, told the BBC it was the strongest earthquake that he had ever experienced.

"Very strong aftershocks are still going here," he said. "In fact the moving has not really stopped since it started nearly an hour ago."

Danish DR1 TTV + TV2 News, Swedish SVT and German ARDtext:

NEW ZEALAND HIT BY VERY POWERFUL MAGNITUDE 7.4 EARTHQUAKE

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the magnitude of the quake was 7.4. It hit during the night in New Zealand. According to USGS, the quake struck 7 km from CHRISTCHURCH, New Zealand's second largest city with a population of about 342,000.

So far there are no reports of deaths in connection with the quake, but there are reports of substantial material damage: In CHRISTCHURCH buildings, bridges, streets/roads and cars were damaged. The supply of electricity and water was down. The international airport was evacuated.

According to the Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre there is no longer any FEAR OF a local TSUNAMI.

There have been several AFTERSHOCKS in the region.

--------------------------------------------------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11180334 / 3 September 2010 Last updated at 14:50 GMT

WEAKENED HURRICANE EARL SKIRTS US EAST COAST

A weakened Hurricane Earl has PASSED NORTH CAROLINA and is continuing up the east coast of the US, leading two more states to declare STATES OF EMERGENCY.

The storm weakened from a category four to a category one, with maximum sustained winds of 140km/h (85mph).

Earl is expected stay away from mid-Atlantic states but to closely pass the coasts of NEW YORK and MASSACHUSETTS.

Officials said the storm has so far caused only MINOR FLOODING and POWER OUTAGES on the US mainland.

The National Weather Service said the storm knocked out electricity and caused FLOODING in parts of some BARRIER ISLANDS in North Carolina, where some 80 troops were sent to assist with relief efforts in the region.

But the hurricane, which is now affecting south-east VIRGINIA, has not proved to be as strong as was feared.

"Swiping the coast was always better than coming ashore. We're very grateful that the brunt of the storm passed us by," said Mark Van Sciver of the North Carolina Emergency Operations Center.

Farther north, MASSACHUSETTS and RHODE ISLAND joined NORTH CAROLINA, VIRGINIA and MARYLAND by declaring states of emergency.

A state of emergency authorises the Federal Emergency Management Agency (Fema) and the Department of Homeland Security to head disaster relief efforts.

The governor of Massachusetts, Deval Patrick, urged residents of low-lying areas that typically experience flooding to consider leaving their homes by Friday afternoon.

A shelter is also being planned at a local high school in Nantucket Island.

"We're asking everyone, 'don't panic'. We have prepared well. We are coordinated well, and I'm confident that we've done everything that we can," said Mr Patrick.

HOLIDAY STORM

Forecasters said much of NEW ENGLAND could expect gusty winds, fallen trees and downed power lines from the storm, which is moving north-northeast.

Hurricane centre deputy director Ed Rappaport said the most likely place the hurricane would make landfall was western NOVA SCOTIA in CANADA on Saturday.

The storm comes as Americans mark the Labor Day holiday, the traditional end of summer in the US, which sees thousands of people heading to coastal beaches.

The latest news of the weakened storm follows earlier evacuations in North Carolina, where 35,000 visitors and residents on Ocracoke Island and Hatteras Island were told to leave on Tuesday.

On Monday Hurricane Earl battered north-eastern Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico, causing power cuts and flooding.

Earl is being followed by Tropical Storm FIONA, which is expected to pass near the British overseas territory of BERMUDA late on Friday or early on Saturday morning.

Danish TV2 News and Swedish SVT and German ARDtext:

HURRICANE EARL DOWNGRADED TO CATEGORY 1 STORM

Friday, hurricane EARL moved north along the US east coast towards NEW ENGLAND and CANADA.

The hurricane has been downgraded to category one storm on a scale of 5 categories, but it is still regarded as powerful with winds up to 140 km per hour.

Tropical storm winds are expected to reach the coast from VIRGINIA to MASSACHUSETTS in the course of Friday local time. The inhabitants bought loads of food and beverage in order to manage for some days.

NORTH CAROLINA managed better than expected during the storm. Thousands had been evacuated. The powerful winds generated up to 10 m high waves.

As a precautionary measure, the governor of MASSACHUSETTS, Deval Patrick, declared STATE OF EMERGENCY.

-----------------------------------------

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11181857 / 3 September 2010

INDONESIA VOLCANO ERUPTS AGAIN AFTER LONG DORMANCY

After four-hundred years of silence a volcano in INDONESIA has erupted for the third time in less than a week.

The latest tremor from Mount Sinabung is the strongest yet,/COLOR] it woke local residents from their sleep in the early hours of the morning.

More than 20,000 have been evacuated from the area around the volcano.

Jonathan Josephs reported this.

Swedish SVT and German ARDtext: SUMATRA VOLCANO ERUPTS AGAIN

Early Friday, 3 September 2010, volcano SINABUNG on northern SUMATRA erupted for the third time. The duration of the eruption was 13 minutes. Ashes shot 3,000m into the air. It is the strongest eruption so far, said the government’s volcanologist, Agus Budianto.

We have recorded enormous tremors since yesterday evening which indicates enormous magma movements inside the volcano.

Around 30,000 have been evacuated from the area around the volcano on the Indonesian island of SUMATRA. According to official information given, about 10,000 have returned to their villages at the foot of the volcano.

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German ZDFtext: FLOOD: IMF WILL HELP PAKISTAN WITH $450M

The Managing Director of the International Monetary Fund, IMF, Dominique Strauss-Kahn says that PAKISTAN needs the money to rebuild the destroyed infrastructure.

In November 2008 it was agreed upon that Pakistan should have $7.3 billion. The money will be granted additionally.

The flood has damaged or destroyed more than 1 million houses.

Pakistan’s government estimates that the reconstruction will cost around $15 billion.

PETITION FROM ONE.Org:

PETITION text:

Please help freeze Pakistan’s debt to ensure the country’s poorest people are able to recover from the devastating floods.

Early this year ONE members helped to get Haiti’s debt cancelled after the earthquake.

We can now make a difference for the people of Pakistan giving them the greatest possible help to recover from this devastating disaster.

Thank you,

Kalim Patwa, ONE.org

To sign the petition, click here:

http://www.one.org/international/actnow/pakistanfloods/

I’m sure like me you’ve been saddened to see the unprecedented floods in Pakistan, and I’m sure you are keen to find a way to help.

The sheer scale of the disaster is staggering, with reports suggesting that 20 million people have been affected. This is doubly devastating in a country where 60% of the population was already living below the poverty line.

Pakistan will need all its available resources to help it recover from this crippling crisis and to fight long-term poverty.

The International Monetary Fund (IMF) – the institution that oversees debt repayments—can play a key role in this. It is currently considering ways in which Pakistan’s debt can be eased, and how to make sure the money is effectively used to help people affected.

Please ask the IMF to freeze Pakistan’s debt repayments for the next two years.

In effect this will give them a vital $6 billion to spend on rebuilding.

Sign our petition to Dominique Strauss-Kahn, Managing Director of the IMF.

---------------------------------

Danish TV2 News and DR1 TTV, Swedish SVT + German ZDFtext + ARDtext:

NEW FIRES IN RUSSIA

New fires blazed up in the steppe areas in South Russia on Thursday.

In the VOLGOGRAD and SARATOV REGIONS, more than 500 buildings were destroyed by fires. About 1,000 are homeless due to the new fires.

Fires ravaged 20 villages. At least 8 died, and at least 12 were injured.

Friday, the governor of the Volgograd county declared a state of emergency in 4 districts.

It was assumed that the fires were ignited by sparks from power lines, the heat and strong winds that caused the fires to spread rapidly in the dry grass on the steppes – according to the Russian news agency Interfax.

Fires may spread to other regions in southern Russia. President Dmitrij Medvedev has ordered all available rescuers to fight the fires.

Several hundred persons are evacuated from threatened areas.

Cascading Waterfall · September 5, 2010

The earthquake was felt as far as Invercargill in the South Island and Wellington in the North Island.

In 1931 there was a massive earthquake at Napier in the Hawkes Bay.

nancyk58 · September 5, 2010

News in relation to natural disasters: New Zealand, Guatemala + Canada

NEWS ON 5 SEPTEMBER IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

Berlingske Tidende / [email protected] (a Danish newspaper) on 5 September 2010:

DEVASTATING QUAKE WITHOUT LOSS OF HUMAN LIVES

Damage to the value of several billion after a powerful earthquake in New Zealand's second largest city, CHRISTCHURCH. No report of casualties.

Ritzau's Bureau (RB)

Christchurch: A powerful earthquake in the city of Christchurch in New Zealand has resulted in damage to the value of more than 10 billion of DKK - according to the first estimates from New Zealand's authorities.

A minister calls it a stroke of luck that noone died due to the earthquake which was measured at magnitude 7.0 on the Richter scale.

In spite of substantial material damage, only two out of the city's 340,000 inhabitants have been reported seriously injured. A man was hit by a falling chimney, and another one cut himself on glass flying through the air.

The powerful tremors occurred early Saturday morning local time before sunrise and made terrified inhabitants run out of their houses.

Not until by daylight was it possible to estimate the damage which turned out to be worse than initially assumed. The mayor of the city, Bob Parker says that he is "terrified of the extent of damage".

"There is not a house or a family in our city not having - in some way - experienced damage to their person or property", Parker said to New Zealand radio.

"It is like an iceberg. Underneath the visible limit, there is substantial, structural devastation".

Only few people were on the street as the quake occurred. House fronts fell down destroying parked cars and scattering broken glass over the streets. The distribution of electricity / power and gas was disconnected in most of the city.

"I think that, as a nation, we have been extremely lucky that noone died; in fact we are blessed", says the minister for New Zewland's civil defence, John Carter.

The authorities have warned the inhabitants against coming too close to destroyed buildings, because aftershocks may cause more collapses of buildings.

The epicentre of the quake which occurred at 04:35 local time (13:35 Central European Time) was about 45 km west of Christchurch.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11191105 / 5 september 2010 Last updated at 07:03 GMT

NEW ZEALAND ASSESSES QUAKE DAMAGE

Officials in New Zealand have been evaluating the damage caused in the city of Christchurch by an earthquake and its many aftershocks.

Prime Minister John Key said at least 90 buildings suffered significant damage and many of them would probably have to be knocked down.

An overnight curfew has been lifted, but the centre of the city remains cordoned off, Radio New Zealand said.

Mr Key said a STORM heading towards the city could cause further damage.

The mayor of the city, Bob Parker, described the DAMAGE as IMMENSE, and a STATE OF EMERGENCY has been declared.

He said it was an "absolute miracle" that no-one had died.

There are thousands of earthquakes in New Zealand every year but very few do any damage.

UNDER THE TABLE

The earthquake struck New Zealand's South Island in the early hours of Saturday morning, when most people were asleep.

The epicentre was 20km (13 miles) west of Christchurch, according to New Zealand's government-owned research organisation GNS Science.

New Zealand's Civil Defence estimated that more than 500 buildings had been damaged in the region.

Power has largely been restored in Christchurch, but large parts of the city still have no running water.

Those with running water have been warned not to drink it because of contamination from broken sewage pipes.

You have to boil your water very carefully," resident Oriana Toasland told the BBC. "You're not allowed to flush the toilet because there's problems with the sewers. So we don't know how long this is going to go on for as well."

During the night following the earthquake, 19 AFTERSHOCKS were reported by the GeoNet website.

One family in Darfield, near the epicentre of the quake, reported spending the night under their dining table.

Two men were seriously injured by falling masonry and glass, but there have been no reports of fatalities.

New Zealand lies at the southern end of the so-called PACIFIC RING OF FIRE, and above an area of the Earth's crust where the PACIFIC PLATE CONVERGES WITH the INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE.

The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only around 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

From other news sites

Reuters UK: Gales, aftershocks shake quake hit New Zealand city

Sky News: NZ Quake Zone Hit By Aftershocks And Winds

Daily Star: Quake rocks N Zealand South Island

Telegraph: Curfew declared in New Zealand

Guardian.co.uk: New Zealand earthquake: Curfew imposed by Christchurch police

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BBC World News 5.9.10: The official in charge of cleaning up the Gulf of Mexico oil spill says the well which caused the damage is no longer a risk to the environment.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11189918 / 5 September 2010 Last updated at 01:17 GMT

HEAVY RAINS DEVASTATE GUATEMALA

A STATE OF EMERGENCY has been declared in GUATEMALA, where days of heavy rain have caused widespread FLOODING and LANDSLIDES.

At least 18 people have been killed, including at least 10 who died when a bus was engulfed by a mudslide.

President Alvaro Colom said the rains had undone all the reconstruction work completed since Tropical Storm AGATHA, which killed 165 people in May.

He has asked congress to approve EMERGENCY FUNDS for REBUILDING.

Days of heavy rains have saturated Guatemala's mountainous terrain, causing hillsides to collapse suddenly and without warning.

BURIED ALIVE

The worst LANDSLIDE BURIED a packed BUS as it travelled on the main Inter-American highway, west of the capital Guatemala City.

At least TEN PEOPLE were KILLED, and emergency workers had to dig through thick mud to rescue 20 others from the wreckage.

In the western region of Quetzaltenango, a FAMILY OF FOUR DIED when their HOME was BURIED by a MUDSLIDE.

At least four other deaths have been reported around the country.

More than 100km (65 miles) of the Inter-American highway has been closed to all traffic, and many other roads have been blocked.

A bridge that was replaced after being destroyed by Tropical Storm AGATHA has again been smashed by floods, cutting the main route to the southwest of the country.

President Colom said the rains had "destroyed all the work that has been done in the last few weeks" and caused damage estimated at up to half a billion dollars (£330m).

He said he would also propose a special tax to help fund reconstruction.

Guatemala's national meteorological service forecast that the rains would continue for another 48 hours.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-us-canada-11189584 / 5 September 2010 Last updated at 00:02 GMT

TROPICAL STORM EARL HITS CANADA's COAST AT NOVA SCOTIA

Tropical Storm Earl has hit the EASTERN CANADIAN COAST, following a rapid acceleration.

One man died in the province of NOVA SCOTIA after securing a boat that had slipped its moorings, police said.

The storm has brought high winds and heavy rain, toppling trees and power lines through the region and cutting electricity to about 200,000 homes.

Earl was moving quickly north-east, with sustained winds of 102km/h, the Canadian Hurricane Centre said.

Canadian authorities said Earl made landfall near the boundary between Shelburne and Queens counties at about 1030 (1330 GMT).

Police said Johnny Mitchell Jr, 54, had died trying to swim ashore after helping secure a loose boat in Blind Bay, 25km from Halifax.

Roads throughout Nova Scotia, including in the main city of Halifax, were littered with fallen trees. Power cuts were reported across the province.

The hurricane centre issued a TROPICAL STORM WARNING for parts of NEWFOUNDLAND as Earl approached the province.

Earlier, Hurricane Earl was downgraded to a tropical storm as it travelled up the east coast of the US.

Strong winds and heavy rain lashed Long Island and Cape Cod as the storm passed by.

Officials said the storm caused only minor flooding and power cuts on the US mainland.

On Monday, the then-Hurricane Earl battered north-eastern Caribbean islands and Puerto Rico, causing power cuts and flooding.

nancyk58 · September 6, 2010

News on 6 September 2010 - Pakistan, New Zealand and Guatemala

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 6 SEPTEMBER 2010

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-south-asia-11201618 / 6 september 2010 Last updated at 12:04 GMT

LATEST PAKISTAN FLOODS PROMPT FRESH EXODUS FROM TOWNS

Several hundred thousand more people have fled towns and villages threatened by FRESH FLOODING IN PAKISTAN's SOUTHERN PROVINCE of SINDH.

Water is gushing towards DADU DISTRICT because of a BREACH IN the TOORI DAM at UPPER SINDH.

In the past weeks ALL BUT FOUR of Sindh's 23 DISTRICTS have been DELUGED.

Aid agencies say more than EIGHT MILLION PEOPLE who have left their homes NEED FOOD and WATER.

Most of the floodwaters are pouring down from the Toori dam, which was washed away in August.

The breach has caused the waters of the River INDUS to split in two.

One side is continuing to flow to the ARABIAN SEA, while the other is going parallel to the Indus's natural course, wreaking a path of destruction.

This rogue flow of water has now reached DADU DISTRICT, and is pouring into MANCHAR, the country's LARGEST FRESHWATER LAKE.

It has swollen to the extent that it is now threatening to inundate those parts of the province which have so far escaped the disaster.

Residents, who had begun hoping the flood threat was now receding, are now fleeing their homes, with at least 350,000 on the move.

If LAKE MANCHAR OVERFLOWS, the waters could CUT OFF ACCESS TO the INDUS HIGHWAY, the area's MAIN CONNECTION TO the REST OF the COUNTRY.

Army engineers are trying to prevent this happening by PLUGGING THE BREACH AT THE TOORI DAM.

Their job has been severely hampered by FRESH RAINS IN NORTHERN PAKISTAN, which have given a new lease of LIFE TO THE FLOODING.

More than 1,600 people have died and about 17 MILLION of Pakistan's 166 million people have been AFFECTED by the disaster.

From other news sites:

Telegraph: Call for probe into diversion of Pakistan floodwater from air base

Sydney Morning Herald: Pakistan races to save towns from floods

Sky News: Pakistanis Flee As Floods Swamp More Towns

Guardian.co.uk: Behind the photograph: the human face of Pakistan's deadly flood

France24: Floodwaters sweep towards another Pakistani town

If you would like to make a donation to help people affected by the floods in Pakistan, you can do so through the UK's Disasters Emergency Committee at http://www.dec.org.uk or by telephone on 0370 60 60 900

Or go to post 1 or 4 in the humanitarian thread: "HELP PAKISTAN and Kashmir AFTER DEVASTATING, MASSIVE FLOODS

Link here: http://www.coldplaying.com/forum/newreply.php?do=newreply&noquote=1&p=4417988

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11191105 / 6 September 2010 Last updated at 11:28 GMT

NEW ZEALAND EARTHQUAKE 'DAMAGED 100,000 HOMES'

Almost two-thirds of the 160,000 homes in and around Christchurch have been damaged by Saturday's earthquake, New Zealand's prime minister has said.

John Key said many had been damaged beyond repair, and that it might take some time to discover the damage to the region's underground infrastructure.

A STATE OF EMERGENCY IN CHRISTCHURCH has been EXTENDED UNTIL WEDNESDAY, and the city centre remains cordoned off.

Experts have WARNED a MAJOR AFTERSHOCK could rock the area in the near future.

More than 80 AFTERSHOCKS have been recorded since SATURDAY's 7.0-magnitude TREMOR, the strongest of which had a magnitude of 5.1.

"It is still possible that we'll have a magnitude 6 in the next week, and people ought to be aware of that, particularly if they are around structures which are already damaged," Ken Gledhill of the Institute of Geological and Nuclear Sciences told the NZPA news agency.

"For a shallow earthquake like this, they will go on for weeks," he added. "And if a building is badly damaged, it won't take much shaking to push it over."

Despite the WIDESPREAD DAMAGE caused by the strong earthquake, NO-ONE was KILLED and ONLY TWO SERIOUS INJURIES were reported.

'MIRACULOUS'

Mr Key, who visited earthquake-stricken parts of the country's South Island over the weekend, said 430 houses and another 70 buildings had already been earmarked for demolition by assessment teams.

About 100,000 of the 160,000 homes in the Christchurch, Selwyn and Waimakariri areas had sustained some damage, he added.

"I was awe-struck by the power of the earthquake and the damage it has caused in the city," he told reporters. "It was miraculous that nobody was killed."

The cost of repairs has been estimated at NZ$2bn ($1.44bn; £930m). Most households and businesses were expected to claim from their insurers and the Earthquake Commission (EQC), officials said.

Mr Key said the central government planned to provide at least 90% of the funds needed to rebuild the area's water, sewerage and road networks, the overall damage to which had yet to be fully assessed.

"The ABOVE-GROUND DAMAGE is obvious, but it could take some time to understand just how much damage there is to UNDERGROUND INFRASTRUCTURE."

The prime minister said the earthquake would have a SHORT-TERM NEGATIVE IMPACT ON ECONOMIC GROWTH, but that the loss "would be more than made up by the STIMULUS IMPACT that takes place WITH the REBUILDING PROGRAMME".

'SAGGING' SPIRITS

Meanwhile, CHRISTCHURCH MAYOR Bob Parker EXTENDED a STATE OF EMERGENCY FOR ANOTHER TWO DAYS as troops were deployed throughout the city to help police secure streets and badly damaged businesses.

A SECOND NIGHTTIME CURFEW to protect against looting was LIFTED on Monday at 0700 (1900 GMT Sunday), while ANOTHER is PLANNED FOR MONDAY NIGHT.

About 200 people whose homes were damaged spent the night in shelters.

Power has been restored to 90% of the city, and the water supply has resumed for all up to 80%. Those with running water have been warned not to drink it because of contamination from broken sewage pipes.

"You have to boil your water very carefully," resident Oriana Toasland told the BBC. "You're not allowed to flush the toilet because there are problems with the sewers. So we don't know how long this is going to go on for as well."

Schools will remain closed for the next two days to allow safety checks.

Some residents told the BBC that there had been delays in getting officials to assess the damage to their houses, and basic foodstuffs were in short supply.

Mr Parker told the BBC that the magnitude of the destruction had only now dawned on the city's 386,000 residents.

"It's now into the third day since the quake and that initial adrenalin has been replaced by a great deal of tiredness," he said.

"People's spirits in some ways are starting to just sag a little more as the reality of what's in front of all of us really comes back. What about the job? What about the business? What about the schools? When is this going to be fixed, when will life get back to normal?" he added.

New Zealand lies at the southern end of the so-called PACIFIC RING OF FIRE, and ABOVE an AREA of the Earth's crust WHERE the PACIFIC PLATE CONVERGES WITH the INDO-AUSTRALIAN PLATE.

The country experiences more than 14,000 earthquakes a year, of which only about 20 have a magnitude in excess of 5.0.

The last fatal earthquake was in 1968, when a 7.1-magnitude tremor killed three people on the South Island's western coast.

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11198481 / 6 September 2010 Last updated at 09:48 GMT

HOPES FADE FOR GUATEMALA LANDSLIDE VICTIMS

Guatemalan officials say they have given up hope for dozens of people buried when a landslide engulfed a highway north-west of the capital.

The mud crashed onto the road as a crowd tried to dig out vehicles buried by a previous landslide.

President Alvaro Colom has called the landslides a "national tragedy".

So far 38 PEOPLE are known to have DIED but with SCORES OF LANDSLIPS across the country, there are fears the final number of dead will be much higher.

Emergency workers have recovered 20 bodies from the massive landslide that engulfed people as they tried to dig out people caught in an earlier landslide on the Inter-American Highway north-west of Guatemala City.

"The mountain was making a noise like an earthquake, but people wouldn't leave," a police officer, Pascual Tuy, told the Associated Press, saying he tried to shout a warning as the hillside began crumbling.

Civil defence director Sergio Cabanas told the BBC that RESCUE EFFORTS were SUSPENDED on Sunday amid FEARS OF FURTHER MUDSLIDES triggered by weeks of heavy rain.

"We have given up for dead all those trapped in the mud," he said, adding that the authorities were now focusing on bringing in heavy equipment to clear the roads.

WEEKS OF HEAVY RAIN have saturated Guatemala's mountainous terrain, causing HILLSIDES to COLLAPSE SUDDENLY.

Parts of the country have seen the HEAVIEST RAINFALL FOR HALF A CENTURY, according to Guatemala's national meteorological institute.

The Central American nation was still trying to recover from the effects of a tropical storm that left 165 people dead in May.

PRESIDENT COLOM, who has DECLARED a STATE OF EMERGENCY, said the latest rains had undone all the reconstruction work done since then.

"It's painful that poor people always pay the price of natural disasters," he said.

More than 100km (65 miles) of the Inter-American Highway has been closed to traffic.

Several hundred bridges across the country, including the main bridge between Guatemala and Honduras, have been damaged.

From other news sites

Globe and Mail: At least 38 die in Guatemala mudslides

Washington Post:* Mud buries Guatemala bus, 2nd slide kills rescuers

Guardian.co.uk: Guatemala mudslide death toll rises

Reuters UK: Guatemala landslides kill dozens, toll seen rising

The Independent: New landslip buries 100 rescue workers

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NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

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