NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

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TODAY, SUNDAY 3.10.10 I PARTICIPATED IN DANISH RED CROSS's ANNUAL COLLECTION. TWO THIRDS OF THE MONEY COLLECTED GO TO AFRICA INCLUDING NIGER AND ONE THIRD GOES TO PAKISTAN.

 

The RESULT: DKK 18.6 MILLION compared to DKK 15.5 MILLION last time.

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NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 OCTOBER 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 4 + 5 + 6 + 7 OCTOBER 2010

 

 

Swedish SVT: QUAKE NEAR JAPAN

 

A quake measured at magnitude 6.3 shook the area south of the island of OKINAWA.

 

A TSUNAMI WARNING was issued as there was fear of a ½m high wave after the quake.

 

 

German ARDtext: FLOOD SITUATION LESS TENSE

 

The flood situation by Black Elster in southern BRANDENBURG is less tense. The water level falls according to Brandenburg's disaster management in Potsdam. This also means that the water pressure on the dykes is lower.

 

The FLOOD ALERT WARNING has been RAISED/LIFTED for parts of ELBE-ELSTER County.

 

The water levels in Bad Liebenwerda was around alert level 2; in Herzberg the water levels fell below the highest alert level 4 - according to the Flood Alert Centre in Cottbus.

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News in relation to natural disasters on 5.10.10

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 5 OCTOBER 2010

 

 

German ZDFtext + ARDtext: BRANDENBURG: CONTINUED FLOOD ALERT WARNING BY BLACK ELSTER

 

The FLOOD ALERT WARNING remains in force BY BLACK ELSTER in South Brandenburg due to Black Elster’s slowly falling water level in Herzberg and Bad Liebenwerda.

 

In the neighbouring WITTENBERG County (Sachsen-Anhalt) the FLOOD ALERT WARNING, LEVEL 4 remains IN FORCE. “The pressure on the dikes remains high. Therefore, the dikes are monitored around the clock”, said the spokesman for Wittenberg County, Ronald Gauert.

 

In Loben, the water level fell slightly. The lowest Spree water level was reported in Spremberg and Cottbus.

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

 

German ARDtext: VENICE (aka. Venedig or Venezzia) UNDER WATER AFTER HEAVY RAIN.

 

Streets and squares are flooded. Tourists are walking through the water, bare-foot. The flooding in Venice occurs due to strong tide, a strong southerly wind and heavy rain.

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

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/uk-11474762 / 5 October 2010 Last updated at 13:12 GMT

 

DEC's PAKISTAN FLOOD APPEAL TOPS £60m

 

The British public has now given £60m to help the victims of the Pakistan floods, the Disasters Emergency Committee has said.

 

This is the highest amount raised by an appeal by the umbrella group of charities since the 2004 tsunami and this year's Haiti earthquake.

 

DEC chief executive Brendan Gormley called the response "extraordinary".

 

But he said the sheer scale of the disaster meant there was an "enormous amount of work" still to be done.

 

The DEC said the vast scale of the emergency, limits on the capacity of the Pakistan government and a comparatively slow start in help from parts of the international community had meant that MANY OF 20 MILLION people AFFECTED STILL URGENTLY REQUIRED ASSISTANCE.

 

Access to some areas also remained restricted by flood waters or damage to roads and bridges.

 

MASSIVE RESPONSE

 

Mr Gormley said: "We are hugely grateful to everyone who has shown their support. Donors to the DEC can be proud of the work they are helping to fund.

 

"Our members had strong teams and partners in place before the flooding struck and have now mobilised a massive response.

 

"The sheer scale of the flooding means that there is an enormous amount of work still to be done."

 

The UN continues to report HUGE FUNDING SHORTFALLS in critical areas of its operations including FOOD, AGRICULTURAL SUPPORT and EMERGENCY SHELTER.

 

It launched a second appeal for funds last month when the film star Angelina Jolie arrived in the country to highlight its plight.

 

The DEC said EMERGENCY SHELTER remained an URGENT PRIORITY after 1.9 MILLION HOMES were DAMAGED OR DESTROYED by the floods.

 

There had not been enough suitable tents available, despite the fact that Pakistan was the world's leading manufacturer.

 

It will now be providing 155,000 people with tarpaulins and tents.

 

Money was also being targeted to provide CLEAN WATER, TOILETS and HYGIENE SUPPORT for 550,000 PEOPLE and HEALTHCARE for 359,000 people, including assistance for malnourished children, pregnant woman and the elderly.

 

Additionally FOOD, EMERGENCY SHELTER and HOUSEHOLD ITEMS such as pots and pans were also being provided.

 

In all provinces except Sindh, the majority of the displaced have either returned to their home areas or are in the process of moving back.

 

DIARRHOEA and MALARIA remain very serious concerns in PUNJAB and SINDH due to hot weather, standing water, and poor access to clean water and safe toilets.

 

TOP DEC APPEALS

 

• £390m - 2004 Tsunami

• £101m - 2010 Haiti earthquake

• £60.8m - 2010 Pakistan floods

• £60.7m - 2005 Pakistan earthquake

 

 

German ARDtext: AT LEAST 42 DEAD IN ASIA DUE TO BAD WEATHER

 

In INDONESIA and VIETNAM, HEAVY RAIN and LANDSLIDES COST at least 42 HUMAN LIVES.

 

In the East-Indonesian province, WEST PAPUA, HUNDREDS of inhabitants had to flee out of their houses.

 

In Wasior County, DOZENS WERE WASHED AWAY by the land masses after a mountain brook swelled to a raging river AFTER HEAVY RAIN. “29 DEAD BODIES have been recovered so far”, said a spokesman for the crisis centre.

 

13 PEOPLE DIED IN CENTRAL VIETNAM AFTER HEAVY RAIN.

 

 

Swedish SVT: INDONESIA: At least 56 DEAD IN FLOODING AFTER HEAVY RAIN according to Indonesia’s authority in charge of disaster management.

 

In the WEST PAPUA PROVINCE 24 ARE MISSING after the flooding according to the news agency, AFP.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11475361 / 5 October 2010 Last updated at 17:03 GMT

 

HUNGARY BATTLES TO STEM TORRENT OF TOXIC SLUDGE

 

Emergency services in Hungary are trying to stop a torrent of toxic red sludge flowing into major waterways, including the River DANUBE.

 

A STATE OF EMERGENCY has been declared in three western counties after the chemical waste burst from a reservoir at an alumina plant.

 

So far at least four people have died and 120 injured. Six more are missing.

 

At least seven villages and towns are affected including Devecser, where the torrent stood 2m (6.5ft) deep.

 

The flood swept cars from roads and damaged bridges and houses, forcing the evacuation of hundreds of residents.

 

The sludge - a mixture of water and mining waste containing heavy metals - is considered hazardous according to Hungary's National Directorate General for Disaster Management (NDGDM).

 

While the cause of the deaths has not been established officially, it is believed the victims probably drowned.

 

Some 600,000-700,000 cubic metres (21m-24m cubic feet) of sludge escaped from the plant, 160km (100 miles) from the capital, Budapest.

 

With 7,000 people affected directly by the disaster, a STATE OF EMERGENCY was declared in the county of Veszprem where the spill occurred, and Gyor-Moson-Sopron and Vas, where the sludge appeared to be heading.

 

At least 390 residents have been RELOCATED and 110 RESCUED from flooded areas, the NDGDM said.

 

Nearly 500 police officers and soldiers, including six emergency detection teams, have been deployed.

 

Plaster has been poured into the Marcal river in a bid to bind the sludge and stop further flooding.

 

Dr Attila Nyikos, of the NDGDM, told the BBC News website that a police investigation had been opened.

 

He said tests were still being carried out to determine the environmental impact of the leak.

 

BURN INJURIES

 

Zoltan Illes, state secretary for the environment ministry, described the flood as the worst chemical accident in Hungary's history when he visited Kolontar on Tuesday.

 

He said there were fears that the sludge could reach the Raba and DANUBE rivers. An alert has been declared on both the Marcal and Torna rivers.

 

Tamas Toldi, mayor of Devecser, told MTI news agency that between 80 and 90 people had been taken to hospital with chemical burns.

 

Dr Nyikos said the victims had probably been drowned by the sludge, which had flowed out with the speed of water.

 

The sludge, he said, triggers an alkaline reaction on the skin but the effect can be neutralised by washing with plenty of fresh water.

 

Peter Jakabos, a doctor at a hospital in Gyor where several of the injured were taken, said on state TV that some burns could take days to reveal themselves and what might seem like superficial injuries could later cause damage to deeper tissue.

 

One eyewitness in Devecser, Robert Kis, said his uncle had been taken to Budapest by helicopter after the sludge "burnt him to the bone".

 

Alumina, a synthetically produced aluminium oxide, is a white or nearly colourless crystalline substance that is used as a starting material for the smelting of aluminium metal.

 

It also serves as the raw material for a broad range of advanced ceramic products and as an active agent in chemical processing.

 

'Not hazardous'

 

WEEKS OF HEAVY RAIN are likely to have played a role in the accident, the BBC's Nick Thorpe reports from Budapest.

 

The sludge escaped from a reservoir at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar plant in the town of Ajka. Police say they have confiscated documents from the company's headquarters.

 

MAL Rt, the Hungarian company which owns the plant, earlier said that by EU standards the sludge had not been considered hazardous.

 

There had been no sign of the impending disaster and the last examination of the reservoir pond on Monday had shown nothing untoward, it added.

 

It said it believed the company management "could not have noticed the signs of the NATURAL CATASTROPHE nor done anything to prevent it even while carefully respecting technological procedures".

 

The sludge flooded 19 streets in Devecser and two in Kolontar, where at least three of the four deaths occurred. Five other areas were under threat.

 

Rescue workers used an axe to cut through the living room door of Mr Kis's house in Devecser, to let the red liquid flow out, the Associated Press news agency reports.

 

"When I heard the rumble of the flood, all the time I had was to jump out the window and run to higher ground," said his wife, Tunde Erdelyi.

 

The Hungarian government said it was not seeking any international assistance for the time being.

 

Headline from German ZDFtext: AT LEAST 3 DEAD AFTER TORRENT OF TOXIC SLUDGE IN HUNGARY

 

Headline from German ARDtext: TOXIC SLUDGE FLOODS VILLAGE IN HUNGARY – SEVERAL DEAD – AFTER ACCIDENT IN ALUMINIUM PLANT

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NEWS in relation to NATURAL DISASTERS on 6.10.10

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 6 OCTOBER 2010

 

 

Danish DR1 TTV: INDONESIA: FLOODING KILLS 86

 

The DEATH TOLL in connection with a major FLOOD in INDONESIA has RISEN TO 86, and SEVERAL are MISSING, says an official

 

The rescuers are still searching for survivors after the flooding hit the Teluk Wondama province in WEST PAPUA Monday following HEAVY RAINS.

 

“At least 86 HUMAN LIVES are LOST, and 8 are INJURED. We are still looking for dozens of missing, says one of the rescuers in Papua, Mochamad Arifin.

 

“The chance that those missing have survived” is very small, he estimates.

 

 

 

Swedish SVT: CLOUDBURSTS IN VIETNAM

 

FLOODS IN CENTRAL VIETNAM have COST 25 HUMAN LIVES according to the authorities.

 

Ten thousands of hectares are flooded by cloudbursts in the provinces of Quang Binh and Ha Tinh where most deaths in relation to the cloudbursts are reported.

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News in relation to natural disasters on 7 October 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS ON 7 OCTOBER 2010

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11491412 / 7 October 2010 Last updated at 15:53 GMT

 

HUNGARIAN CHEMICAL SLUDGE SPILL REACHES DANUBE

 

Hungarian Prime Minister Viktor Orban: "It's a SERIOUS ECOLOGICAL CATASTROPHE"

 

Toxic red sludge from a spill at an industrial plant in Hungary has reached the River Danube, officials say.

 

They said alkaline levels that killed all fish in one river were now greatly reduced, but were being monitored.

 

PM Viktor Orban called the spill an "ECOLOGICAL TRAGEDY". There are fears the MUD, which burst out of a reservoir on Monday, could POISON the DANUBE.

 

Countries downstream from Hungary, including CROATIA, SERBIA and ROMANIA, are drawing up EMERGENCY PLANS.

 

A million cubic metres (35m cubic feet) of the sludge spilled from a reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka in western Hungary. Four people were killed about 100 injured.

 

The mud also caused massive damage in nearby villages and towns, as well as a wide swathe of farmland.

 

NO VICTORY DECLARATION

 

Disaster official Tibor Dobson said ALL LIFE IN THE MARCAL RIVER, which feeds the Danube, had been "EXTINGUISHED".

 

The BBC's Nick Thorpe in western Hungary says news that the SPILL HAS NOW REACHED the DANUBE is worrying.

 

Tests are being carried out for two potential hazards - a powerful alkaline solution and heavy metals.

 

But officials say both are below toxic levels so far in the Danube and its tributary, the Raba.

 

The authorities have been pouring a mixture of clay and acid into the rivers.

 

"The main effort is now being concentrated on the Raba and the Danube," Mr Dobson said. "That's what has to be saved."

 

Mr Dobson told the Associated Press news agency that although alkalinity levels in the mud entering the Danube were low, this was "by no means a victory declaration".

 

There are reports of DEAD FISH being spotted IN the RABA and DANUBE rivers.

 

ABANDONING VILLAGES

 

Environmental expert Paul Younger of Newcastle University says high alkaline concentrations are an irritant, but do not pose a life-threatening danger.

 

"It's not like a big cyanide spill," he told the BBC.

 

The sludge itself is a hazardous mixture of water and mining waste containing heavy metals.

 

The victims are believed to have drowned, with the depth of the fast-moving flood reaching 2m (6.5ft) in places, but many of those injured suffered CHEMICAL BURNS.

 

On Thursday Mr Orban visited the village of KOLONTAR, the worst-affected settlement, and said some areas would have to be abandoned.

 

"Hungary is strong enough to be able to combat the effects of such a catastrophe. But we're still open to any expertise which will help us combat the pollution effects," he added.

 

Angry villagers confronted a company official in Kolontar on Wednesday evening. They say they plan to sue the firm for damages.

 

 

Herwit Schuster, a spokesman for Greenpeace International, described THE SPILL as "ONE OF THE TOP THREE ENVIRONMENTAL DISASTERS IN EUROPE IN THE LAST 20 OR 30 YEARS".

 

 

Land had been "polluted and destroyed for a long time", he told AP.

 

"If there are substances like arsenic and mercury, that would affect river systems and ground water on long-term basis," he added.

 

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/toxic-sludge-spill-kills-four-and-threatens-rivers-in-hungary/

 

By Beth Buczynski

 

A failed resevoir at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar alumina plant in Hungary caused an angry FLOOD OF TOXIC RED SLUDGE to ENGULF SEVERAL TOWNS on Tuesday, KILLING AT LEAST FOUR PEOPLE and INJURING OVER 100 OTHERS.

 

The sludge, a waste product in aluminum production, contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested.

 

According to the Hungarian Environmental Affairs State Secretary Zoltan Illes, about one million cubic metres of sludge (264,172,051 gallons) has leaked from the reservoir, affecting an estimated 40 square kilometres (15 square miles).

 

SIX PEOPLE that were caught up in the disaster are STILL MISSING, and the Hungarian government has since declared a STATE OF EMERGENCY IN THREE COUNTIES.

 

MAL Rt, the Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company that owns the plant initially insisted the sludge, a by-product of refining bauxite, was "non-hazardous", according to European Union standards (FT.com).

 

This claim is hard to swallow after two women, a young man and a three-year-old child were killed in the floods, and scores of locals suffered BURNS and EYE IRRITATION from contact with the red waters.

 

The company, which already wants to resume production, also claimed in a statement that there was no way for them to know the resevoir was in danger of breaking. However local environmentalists say they have been warning authorities about the health risks of the red sludge for years (CBC).

 

As disaster crews and firefighters move through neighborhoods of evacuated houses, trying to clean up the sludge with pressure washers and bulldozers, the European Commission has become concerned for countries downriver from Hungary.

 

The SLUDGE, which has already CONTAMINATED HUNGARY's MARCAL RIVER, is only 45 MILES AWAY FROM the DANUBE; EUROPE's SECOND LONGEST RIVER and HOME TO MANY WILDLIFE SPECIES.

 

 

If the toxic waste water enters the Danube, RIVERS AND LAKES IN 12 EUROPEAN COUNTRIES will be AT RISK.

 

Latest: THE TOXIC WASTE WATER HAS REACHED THE DANUBE AND KILLED FISH IN THE DANUBE.

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http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11491537 / 7 October 2010 Last updated at 13:45 GMT

 

UN CONDEMNED OVER 'APPALLING' HAITI EARTHQUAKE CAMPS

 

UN AGENCIES in charge of refugee camps for victims of Haiti's earthquake are INEXPERIENCED and DYSFUNCTIONAL, the US charity Refugees International says.

 

The groups says reports of GANG RAPES are common, and a LACK OF TRANSLATORS means UN police cannot do their job.

 

A UN spokeswoman told the BBC that the organisation was doing its best, but said the scale of the disaster made their job very difficult.

 

More than a million people were left homeless by the quake.

 

Former US President Bill Clinton, who has been visiting a camp, has vowed that US aid long promised to Haiti but yet to materialise will soon be released.

 

NO PROTECTION

 

Refugees International, in its report titled Haiti: Still Trapped in the Emergency Phase, said the people of Haiti were "still living in a state of EMERGENCY, with a humanitarian response that appears paralysed".

 

"Living in squalid, overcrowded camps for a prolonged period has led to aggravated levels of violence and appalling standards of living," the report says.

 

Despite these alarming conditions, the UN co-ordination system in Haiti is not prioritising activities to protect people's rights."

 

The group's spokeswoman Melanie Teff, who took part in a recent fact-finding trip to Haiti, told the BBC that MANY OF THE CAMPS HAD NO POLICE PRESENCE.

 

"I spoke with women's groups, who told me of women being forced to exchange

SEX FOR FOOD because they were so desperate, in order to support their families," Ms Teff said.

 

She said reports of GANG RAPE were common, and in some camps, the security committees were run by members of the local gang.

 

But the UN's Imogen Wall defended the organisation, saying the camps were relatively peaceful places, and that the UN had doubled the numbers of police since September.

 

"We've had very, very few security incidents in the camps," she said.

 

"People do expect the UN to solve everything, but we have deep and endemic problems here that need very long-term and committed solutions."

 

She said many of the problems Haiti faced - including HIGH RATES OF SEXUAL VIOLENCE - had plagued the Caribbean nation before the quake, and had little connection to the refugee camps.

 

But she said the priority for the UN was to get the people out of the camps.

 

Meanwhile, Mr Clinton, who co-chairs the UN commission overseeing Haiti's reconstruction, heard the concerns of Haitians on Wednesday as he toured a large camp in the capital, Port-au-Prince.

 

Mr Clinton's foundation PLEDGED $500,000 (£313,000) to help the camp, which is located on a former golf course.

 

The former US president spoke of his FRUSTRATION about the slow arrival of funding - with the US still to deliver on any of the $1.15bn of aid promised at a donors' conference in March.

 

"In the next day or so, it will become obvious that the United States is making a huge downpayment on that," Mr Clinton said, without elaborating.

 

The former president said that the money was being held up by a "rather bizarre system of rules" in the US Senate.

 

 

ANALYSIS

 

Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent

________________________________________

 

The most striking thing about this report from an independent aid agency is its UTTER CONDEMNATION OF THE MANAGEMENT OF THE CRISIS BY THE UNITED NATIONS.

 

It says the UN body charged with protecting people's basic rights in the camps, the High Commissioner for Human Rights, lacks experience in coping with disasters, is UNDERSTAFFED and DYSFUNCTIONAL.

 

It says UN police officers don't patrol the camps consistently and, almost incredibly, that what UN patrols there are do not have translators, so cannot communicate with camp residents.

 

Refugees International says there should be much more involvement in managing the camps by LOCAL HAITIAN CIVIL SOCIETY GROUPS who understand the situation - but the report points out that none of the UN meetings about camp management is held in the local language, Creole.

 

AND THEN ANOTHER HAITI ARTICLE UPDATED 4.10.10:

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11472874 / 4 October 2010 Last updated at 23:06 GMT

 

US URGED TO STOP HAITI RICE SUBSIDIES

 

By Mark Doyle, BBC international development correspondent

 

A leading aid agency has called on the United States to STOP SUBSIDISING AMERICAN RICE EXPORTS TO HAITI, the poorest country in the western hemisphere, because it says the POLICY UNDERMINES LOCAL PRODUCTION OF FOOD.

 

Former US President Bill Clinton, one of the architects of the subsidies to US farmers - and who is now, paradoxically, the co-chair of Haiti's earthquake recovery Commission - is quoted by Oxfam as saying that the policy was "a mistake".

 

"It may have been good for some of my farmers in Arkansas, but it has not worked," said Mr Clinton, a frequent visitor to Haiti.

 

"I have to live every day with the consequences of the lost capacity to produce a rice crop in Haiti to feed those people, because of what I did."

 

The aid agency says the $434m (£274m) paid annually in DOMESTIC US RICE SUBSIDIES is MORE THAN the TOTAL US AID TO HAITI of $353m.

 

The Oxfam report said subsidies paid to American farmers meant the rice they export to Haiti - known locally as Riz Miami or "Miami Rice" - is cheaper than locally produced rice.

 

The foreign rice that is "dumped" in Haiti therefore exacerbates the rural-urban drift that has seen the population of the capital PORT-AU-PRINCE balloon out of control as farmers who cannot feed themselves move to the city in search of employment.

 

The city was built in colonial times to house a FEW HUNDRED THOUSAND PEOPLE.

 

But it now has a POPULATION of an estimated THREE MILLION - most living in badly-constructed blocks which crumbled in January's devastating earthquake, making at least A MILLION PEOPLE HOMELESS.

 

MORE THAN 230,000 PEOPLE were KILLED in the 7.0 MAGNITUDE EARTHQUAKE, which was centred near Port-au-Prince.

 

RURAL IMPACT

 

HAITI was encouraged by western countries to LIBERALISE ITS ECONOMY IN 1994. As it CUT TAXES ON IMPORTS its OWN RICE PRODUCTION plummeted (FELL DRASTICALLY).

 

In 1980, according to OXFAM, HAITI was VIRTUALLY SELF SUFFICIENT IN RICE. But TODAY it IMPORTS some 80% of its RICE and 60% of its OVERALL FOOD SUPPLY.

 

"Trade liberalisation has exposed Haitian farmers to competition from subsidised US rice and made consumers vulnerable to volatile global food prices," said OXFAM.

 

The report says FOOD AID can be another side to this problem.

 

In the month following the earthquake, for example, there was an INTERNATIONAL FOOD AID "SURGE".

 

Although OXFAM says the aid was "unquestionably a necessity" because it reduced food prices and allowed people to eat, the price reductions also "negatively affected rural Haitians" who earn money from selling food to the cities and comprise the majority of the population.

 

The agency recommended that, wherever possible, food aid should be bought in local markets inside the country that is receiving the aid.

OXFAM also made numerous recommendations to the Haitian government aimed at reversing its historic bias favouring the elites in Port-au-Prince over the majority rural poor.

 

It said the government should:

 

• decentralise services away from the capital

 

• ensure that farmers have access to credit

 

• improve a land tenure system where most farmers have tiny parcels of land known as mouchwa - after the Creole word meaning "handkerchief-sized" - which they can be cheated out of by judges who award title to "whoever offers the biggest bribe".

 

The situation that Oxfam highlights is part of the bizarre relationship Haiti has with development aid donors and humanitarian workers.

 

PORT-AU-PRINCE is one of the AID CAPITALS of the WORLD.

 

By some estimates there are over 8,000 development charities working in the city - and almost every four-wheel drive vehicle you see on the streets there has the logo of an aid agency on its doors.

 

Yet the country remains mired in POVERTY. And many Haitians see the aid agencies primarily as sources of employment rather than as organisations that are making a difference in the long run.

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NEWS ON 8 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 8 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

 

DANUBE RIVER CONTAMINATED WITH MINING SLUDGE, MILLIONS COULD BE AFFECTED

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/environment/blog/mining-sludge-reaches-danube/

 

posted by: Beth Buczynski (a freelance copy writer and environmental blogger living in Northern Colorado)

 

Environmental officials' worst fears were confirmed today as experts discovered deadly mining sludge has reached the Danube River, the second longest waterway in Europe and a source of water for millions of people.

 

A resevoir breach at the Ajkai Timfoldgyar alumina plant on Tuesday unleashed 185 million gallons of toxic red sludge, engulfing three villages and causing several fatalities.

 

The sludge, a waste product in aluminum production, contains heavy metals and is toxic if ingested.

 

Hungarian authorities dumped plaster into local rivers and creeks in an effort to keep the toxic wastewater from reaching the 1,775-mile long Danube, a waterway that runs through four European capitals and makes up the border for 10 countries.

 

So far, Hungarian rescue agency spokesman Tibor Dobson claims that there is no immediate danger to the Danube and the multiple countries to which it supplies fresh water.

 

Dobson insists that the pH levels of the water where the slurry is entering the Danube are not hazardous, but made no comment about whether or not the caustic wastewater might contain toxic metals that could threaten wildlife and humans.

 

Payal Sampat, the international campaign director of Earthworks, an environmental organization that focuses on mining impacts has a drastically different opinion of the risks posed by the spill.

 

"It's a toxic soup, full of chemicals used to process aluminum," Sampat told USA Today. The sludge contains chemicals such as CADMIUM and LEAD which can cause neurological problems and BURNS.

 

A young man and a three-year-old child were killed when the flood was unleashed, and scores of locals suffered BURNS and EYE IRRITATION from contact with the red waters.

 

MAL, the aluminum production company that owns the Ajka plant, has said the red sludge is not considered hazardous waste, according to EU standards.

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

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11504980 / 8 October 2010 Last updated at 18:00 GMT

 

HUNGARY SLUDGE DEATH TOLL RISES TO 7 AFTER TWO BODIES FOUND

 

The BBC's Duncan Kennedy: "The mud is all around. You can't escape it"

 

The death toll following the spill of a large amount of toxic red sludge from an industrial plant in western Hungary has risen to seven, officials say.

 

Disaster unit chief Tibor Dobson said two bodies had been found near the town of Devecser, but were likely residents missing from Kolontar, a town nearby.

 

Earlier, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said the River Danube was no longer under threat of widespread pollution.

 

Mr Orban said the situation had now been brought "under control".

 

Experts have been pouring large quantities of clay and acid into affected waterways in an effort to neutralise the alkaline pollutants.

 

'Hope'

 

Kolontar and Devecser were the towns hardest hit when up to 700,000 cubic metres (24.7m cu ft) of red sludge flooded from a burst reservoir at an alumina plant in Ajka on Monday.

 

Officials had earlier put the size of the spill at 1m cubic metres.

 

The sludge reached the Danube on Thursday, pushing the pH level to 9, well below the pH13.5 measured in the worst-hit tributaries. By Friday morning, the pH level had fallen to 8-8.2.

 

Water is pH7 when neutral, with the safety levels ranging from pH6.5 to pH8.5.

 

"This data gives us hope... and we have not experienced any damage on the main Danube so far," Mr Dobson told the Reuters news agency.

 

Prime Minister Orban, visiting Bulgaria, said: "The good news is that we have succeeded in bringing it under control and very probably waters threatening the environment will not enter the Danube, even on Hungarian territory.

 

"We managed to take control of the situation in time."

 

Interior Minister Sandor Pinter said the Danube was no longer at risk of biological or environmental damage, and drinking water supplies had not been affected.

 

'SURPRISING' ARSENIC LEVELS

 

However, the BBC's Duncan Kennedy in the affected region says there is an additional concern - the weather.

 

Recent days of rain have kept the sludge wet and officials now fear that warmer and sunnier weather will create dust that could spread toxins - and possibly low-level radioactive materials - into the atmosphere.

 

If that happens, our correspondent says, the authorities will have to decide whether to evacuate more areas. They have already urged locals to WEAR MASKS.

 

Environment Minister Zoltan Illes confirmed that the sludge - which now covers a 41 sq km (16 sq mile) area - had a "high content of heavy metals", including carcinogens.

 

If that [were to] dry out then the wind can blow that heavy metal contamination through the respiratory system," he said.

 

GREENPEACE said samples of the sludge it took on Tuesday

contained "surprisingly HIGH" LEVELS OF ARSENIC AND MERCURY. It said the detected arsenic concentration was twice the amount normally found in sludge.

 

"We are afraid that the ARSENIC might go into the GROUNDWATER and pollute the DRINKING WATER in the area. This is a serious problem when we are thinking about the long term effects," one of Greenpeace's scientists, Herwig Schuster, told the BBC.

 

"We fear the MERCURY will go down the rivers and enter the FOODCHAIN."

 

The company responsible for the alumina plant, MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company, has offered its condolences to the families of the bereaved but insists it did nothing wrong.

 

It said it was devoting "all its energies and efforts" to tackling the spill, and had released 110,000 euros ($150,000) so far to help with the clean-up.

 

 

The sludge has caused MASSIVE DAMAGE to Hungarian VILLAGES and TOWNS close to the plant, as well as a wide swathe of FARMLAND. All life in the Marcal river, which feeds the Danube, has been "extinguished".

 

 

Those who lost their lives were believed to have drowned, with the depth of the flood reaching 2m (6.5ft) in places, but many of the 150 injured suffered CHEMICAL BURNS. One more Kolontar resident is still missing.

 

One woman told the BBC about the moment the sludge came to Kolontar.

 

"I went outside to check on the dog because it was barking like mad and the sludge was just coming towards us. The sludge took our car, lifted it up and took it along. It was just like a boat," Niki Barta said.

 

"Then, we found it the next day about a mile-and-a-half away."

 

Meanwhile, emergency crews have begun draining a second industrial reservoir at the spill site to prevent a repeat of the disaster.

 

Gypsum was being dropped into the MARCAL river from helicopters to neutralise it.

 

 

Nick Thorpe BBC News, Hungary:

In the stricken town of Devecser and the village of Kolontar the scene is still one of utter devastation. The dark red colour and the acrid, bitter smell are all pervasive.

 

On the outskirts of Kolontar, beyond a pontoon bridge erected by the army on Tuesday night, I met a tall, middle-aged man smeared from head to foot in red mud. He was unable to speak. His companion explained that he had been searching desperately for his elderly mother since Monday, to no avail.

 

Four days after the disaster, the clean-up continues around the clock, but the firemen, police, soldiers and volunteers are visibly tiring. The human energy I saw at the beginning of this disaster to rescue people and property has dissipated, though the tasks multiply.

 

 

According to German ZDFtext and ARDtext, Hungary has asked the European Union (EU) for help. The EU has sent experts to carry out measurements.

 

 

http://edition.cnn.com/2010/WORLD/europe/10/07/hungary.toxic/index.html?hpt=Sbin

By the CNN Wire Staff / October 8, 2010 -- Updated 0745 GMT (1545 HKT)

 

 

Devecser, Hungary (CNN) -- The HUNGARIAN GOVERNMENT Thursday made an URGENT REQUEST TO the EUROPEAN UNION FOR HELP in the cleanup effort after a reservoir holding industrial waste burst earlier in the week.

 

The government wants EXPERT ASSISTANCE in THREE VILLAGES left covered by the toxic red sludge after the accident Monday, the official news agency MTI reported.

 

Meanwhile, the sludge from an aluminum plant reached the Danube, Europe's second largest river, on Thursday as emergency officials worked to contain as much of the leak as possible.

 

"It is a huge tragedy for the whole country," said Anna Nagy, a Hungarian Disaster Management offical. "We love the Danube, we're very proud of the Danube and we tried to protect it."

 

"I hope we can save the life in the river," she said.

 

Hungary needs time to calculate the cost of the disaster, saying that the government's first response had been to try to save lives and clean homes.

 

Tibor Dobson, a top disaster management official, told CNN that the sludge -- which flowed from an aluminum plant reservoir that burst on Monday -- is less dangerous than it was when it spilled.

 

Officials believe pH levels have dropped to within an acceptable range, making the river safe, Dobson said. They are monitoring the Danube for sign of toxicity, such as dying fish.

 

Nagy said pH levels had fallen to 9.1. That's more alkaline than neutral, which is 7 on the scale, but much less than it was originally, at 13, the Catastrophic Protection Unit said Thursday.

 

Emergency workers were pouring plaster and fertilizers in hopes it would bind with the sludge and counter its alkalinity.

 

The exact chemical composition of the sludge has not been revealed, but aluminum processing normally involves compounds that include cyanide, cadmium and chromium.

 

The environmental disaster -- which occurred nearly 100 miles west of Budapest near the town of Ajka -- has KILLED TWO CHILDREN, ages 1 and 3, AN ELDERLY WOMAN and a 35-year-old MAN whose SUV overturned in the sludge.

 

About 250 people have been EVACUATED from their homes, said Gyorgi Tottos, a spokeswoman for Hungary's Catastrophe Protection Unit.

 

The reservoir has since been repaired and the flow from the pool halted. But the material that flowed out of the reservoir continues to pose a threat.

 

The plant received an operating permit in 2006, he said. The European Commission is studying a copy of the permit and sees nothing wrong with the paperwork so far, he added.

 

The aluminum factory has said it will pay for the victims' funerals.

 

It has property and liability insurance, insurer Allianz Hungaria Biztosito told CNN, but would not say how much.

 

Residents were advised not to eat produce from gardens that were covered when the dam burst.

 

It was not clear when residents evacuated from affected areas in the villages of Kolontar, Devecser and Somlovasarhely would be able to return home. The long-term consequences of the leak were also unclear.

 

In some villages, police with guns patrolled some of the villages to keep looters at bay.

 

A STATE OF EMERGENCY has been declared in three counties, the State Secretariat of Governmental Communications said.

 

CNN's Nic Robertson, Tommy Evans, Jim Boulden and Eileen Hsieh contributed to this report.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 9 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 9 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11506713 / October 2010 Last updated at 09:55 GMT

 

The Hungarian village of KOLONTAR has been EVACUATED after new damage was discovered at a burst reservoir that spilled toxic sludge on Monday.

 

Prime Minister Viktor Orban said it was "very likely" that an entire wall of the reservoir would collapse, releasing a fresh wave of chemical effluent.

 

Mr Orban also said there would be "very severe" consequences for those to blame for the disaster.

 

At least SEVEN people have DIED as a result of the accident.

 

Around 150 people were injured by the spill of up to 700,000 cubic metres (24.7m cu ft) of red toxic sludge - many receiving burns.

 

Most of those killed were drowned or swept away in Kolontar as the sludge hit on Monday. The village is the closest to the reservoir, and would be expected to bear the brunt if there were a second spill.

 

On Saturday morning, about 800 residents were taken to a sports hall and two schools in Ajka, 8km (five miles) away.

 

Rescue team spokesperson Gyorgyi Tottos said the new damage to the northern wall of the reservoir was relatively minor, but villagers were evacuated as a precaution.

 

However the prime minister, in a press conference at the scene, painted a more serious picture.

 

It's in very bad shape and our estimation is that the wall could fall down," he said. "It's very likely that it will happen... One consequence is that human lives could be in danger."

 

"Behind this tragedy some human errors and mistakes must exist. We will reveal all of that and the consequences will be very severe, tough, as much you can imagine," he added.

 

Mr Orban said another 500,000 cubic metres of waste could escape if the reservoir wall were breached again.

 

This would be heavier and thicker than the first spill, and would move slower - but

would be even more toxic, says the BBC's Duncan Kennedy at the scene.

 

Besides those evacuated from Kolontar, police were also telling residents of the neighbouring village of DEVECSER to pack a single suitcase so they could leave quickly if necessary.

 

In the last few days, residents and emergency workers have worked round-the-clock to remove the worst of the sludge which damaged houses, streets and farmland, and polluted waterways.

 

All life in the MARCAL river, which feeds the Danube, is said to have been extinguished.

 

The sludge reached the Danube on Thursday, but Hungarian officials said on Friday that the pH level in the river was "normal", easing fears that Europe's second longest river would be significantly polluted.

 

Emergency crews have been working to dilute the alkaline content of the spill, adding huge quantities of gypsum and chemical fertilisers to the waters of the Marcal and Raba rivers.

 

The disaster's confirmed death toll rose to seven on Friday, after an 81-year-old man died from injuries sustained in the torrent and two bodies were found on the outskirts of the village of Devecser.

 

The victims were likely to be two of three Kolontar residents still missing, disaster unit chief Tibor Dobson said.

 

The company responsible for the alumina plant, MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company, has offered its condolences to the families of the bereaved but insists it did nothing wrong.

 

It said it was devoting "all its energies and efforts" to tackling the spill, and had released 110,000 euros (£96,000) so far to help with the clean-up.

 

 

FLOODS AND LANDSLIDES IN INDONESIA KILL MORE THAN 100

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11499402 / 8 October 2010 Last updated at 08:53 GMT

 

More than 100 people are now known to have died in flooding in the eastern Indonesian province of WEST PAPUA.

 

Scores more are still missing in Teluk Wondama district after flash floods and landslides that were triggered when a river burst its banks.

 

Hundreds of people have been injured and more than 5,000 are being housed in tents set up in emergency camps.

 

The National Search and Rescue Agency and military have sent reinforcements to help deal with the disaster.

 

The sudden flooding on Monday caught residents by surprise, officials said, contributing to the high death toll.

 

Homes washed away

 

The local airport has now reopened and roads have been largely cleared of debris, which is helping to speed up aid deliveries to the area, reports say.

 

Navy warships had previously been used to carry tents, medical supplies and food to the disaster zone.

 

Thousands of buildings, roads and bridges in five villages have been damaged or destroyed.

 

The head of the the provincial relief agency, Dortheis Sawaki, said 104 bodies had been recovered, but many more people were missing and the death toll was expected to rise.

 

"It's a tragedy. The smell of rotting corpses is everywhere. Power is down. There's no clean water," she was quoted by AP as saying.

 

Many parts of the country had been badly hit by heavy rains, winds and high waves this year, meteorologists said.

 

 

Swedish SVT: A magnitude 5.9 earthquake has shaken Costa Rica's capital SAN JOSÉ, but there are no reports of any casualties or damage to buildings.

[nancyk58]

News on 10 October 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

News on 10 October 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-europe-11511204 / 10 October 2010 Last updated at 16:10 GMT

 

HUNGARY BUILDS WALL TO SLOW POSSIBLE NEW SLUDGE WAVE

 

Hungarian work crews are racing against time to build an emergency dam as cracks widened at a burst reservoir that spilled toxic sludge.

 

The wall of the reservoir could collapse within a day or a week, Environment State Secretary Zoltan Illes said.

 

A new wall is being built to protect villages already devastated by the flood of industrial waste on 4 October.

 

At least seven people have died as a result of the accident.

 

Hungarian media quoted Mr Illes as saying that a 25-metre-long crack in the weakened wall of the reservoir near Ajka had widened slightly by Sunday morning and that the wall of the damaged reservoir now looked beyond repair.

 

He said it was especially important to finish the new protective wall before new rainfall, expected in the next few days.

 

"Once the rain is here, the remaining sludge will be washed out and the dam's northern sections is going to break away," Mr Illes said.

 

The new wall is to be 600m (656yd) long and 5m to 7m high, officials said.

 

Evacuation plans

 

Repair work has also continued on the reservoir itself amid fears that what is already Hungary's worst environmental disaster could even get worse.

 

Around 150 people were INJURED, with many receiving BURNS, by the spill of up to 700,000 cubic metres (24.7m cu ft) of red toxic sludge.

 

The highly alkaline substance is a by-product of aluminium production and has a caustic effect on the skin. It contains heavy metals, such as lead, and inhaling its dust can cause lung cancer.

 

Most of those killed were drowned or swept away in Kolontar as the sludge hit on Monday. The village is the closest to the reservoir, and would be expected to bear the brunt if there were a second spill.

 

On Saturday about 800 residents of the village were evacuated to the town of Ajka, 8km (five miles) away.

 

Police also told residents of the neighbouring town of Devecser to pack a single suitcase so they could leave quickly if necessary.

 

Another 500,000 cubic metres of waste could escape if the reservoir wall was breached again, Prime Minister Viktor Orban said on Saturday.

 

In the last few days residents and emergency workers have worked around the clock to remove the worst of the sludge, which has damaged houses, streets and farmland and polluted waterways.

 

All life in the MARCAL river, which feeds the Danube, is said to have been extinguished.

 

The sludge reached the DANUBE on Thursday, but Hungarian officials said on Friday that the pH level in the river was "normal", easing fears that Europe's second longest river would be significantly polluted.

 

Emergency crews have been working to dilute the alkaline content of the spill, adding huge quantities of gypsum and chemical fertilisers to the waters of the Marcal and Raba rivers.

 

The company responsible for the alumina plant, MAL Hungarian Aluminium Production and Trade Company, has offered its condolences to the families of the bereaved but insists it did nothing wrong.

 

It said it was devoting "all its energies and efforts" to tackling the spill, and had released 110,000 euros (£96,000) so far to help with the clean-up.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 11.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 11.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

German ARDtext: WALL AGAINST TOXIC SLUDGE IN PROGRESS - TWO THIRDS OF IT HAVE BEEN COMPLETED

 

This wall is to prevent a second toxic sludge wave in case of a second, threatened reservoir wall collapsing which is feared.

 

 

German ZDFtext: HUNGARY: DRYING TOXIC SLUDGE TURNING INTO CAUSTIC DUST

 

Helpers must wear protective masks and glasses. The dry, very toxic sludge and concentration of dust in the air threaten the health. The dust can irritate the skin, the mucous membranes and eyes.

 

The risk of a second toxic sludge wave has been reduced and is no longer likely.

 

 

Swedish SVT: MAGNITUDE-5.1 EARTHQUAKE SHOOK NORTH-WESTERN PAKISTAN

 

According to the US Geological Survey (USGS), the earthquake occurred 4 miles north west of the capital Islamabad. It could be felt in several areas including in ISLAMABAD and PESHAWAR where people ran out into the streets in panic.

 

5 years ago, more than 73,000 died in a quake measured at magnitude-7.6 in Pakistan-administered Kashmir and in north-west Pakistan.

 

 

German ZDFtext: WORLD HUNGER INDEX: MORE HUNGRY / STARVING PEOPLE NOW THAN IN 1990

 

Despite clear progress in South Asia and Latin Anerica, more people are hungry / starving now in the world than 20 years ago. Since 1990 there has been an increase of 90 million to 925 MILLION very hungry / starving people according to German World Hunger Aid in Berlin.

 

The situation has worsened most clearly in DR Congo, on/in the Comoros, in Burundi and North Korea.

 

The greatest progress has been made in Malaysia and Latin American and Muslim countries.

 

According to the World Hunger Index, 29 countries are in a very serious and grave situation of hunger.

 

Today, the one-week-long World Food summit began in ROME.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 12.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 12.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Danish DR1 TTV + Swedish SVT: PARTS OF CHINA FLOODED AFTER RAIN

 

Almost ½ million Chinese – 440,000 (SVT) - in the southern Chinese Province of HAINAN (China’s smallest province which consists of over 200 islands - have been evacuated due to the worst cloudburst for several decades.

 

90% of the province’s largest island has drowned in the worst cloudburst since 1961.

 

More than 3,000 buildings, 1,300 roads, 40 dams and 170 hectares of land have been flooded according to the provincial authorities. Schools in the area are closed.

 

More rain is expected which can damage the infrastructure further.

 

Almost 3 million Chinese (SVT: 2.7 million Chinese) are affected by the bad weather.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 13 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 13 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

 

German ZDFtext and Swedish SVT: DEATH TOLL RISEN IN HUNGARY TOXIC SLUDGE DISASTER

 

1½ weeks after the toxic sludge disaster in Hungary the death toll has risen to 9. A total of 150 people were damaged, and 50 people are treated in hospitals since the accident. A new toxic sludge wave is unlikely.

 

700,000 cubic metre caustic toxic red sludge leaked out of a reservoir at the site of an alumina plant named MAL when on 4 October 2010 a dam burst. Within one hour 3 villages were flooded.

 

The plant will resume production on Thursday or Friday.

[nancyk58]

ON 14-16.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS + HUNGER RATES

 

NEWS ON 14-16.10.10 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS + HUNGER RATES

 

German ARDtext on 14.10.10: Hurricane PAULA is weakening to a tropical storm over western Cuba bringing heavy rains.

 

BBC World News + Danish Text TV: "The rich in Pakistan should do more to help the flood victims". Quote from Hillary Clinton, US secretary of state.

 

 

German ZDFtext and ARDtext: FIRST INHABITANTS RETURNING HOME AFTER RED TOXIC SLUDGE DISASTER IN HUNGARY

 

Almost 2 weeks after the toxic sludge disaster and the following emergency evacuation some hundred inhabitants of the Hungarian village of KOLONTAR which was flooded by toxic bauxite sludge have returned home. The village has been cordoned off by police.

 

The alumina plant which was responsible for the toxic sludge disaster has resumed production and will be run by the Hungarian state for up to 2 years.

 

9 were KILLED by the avalanche of toxic sludge.

 

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/world-hunger-remains-alarmingly-high-children-especially-vulnerable/

World Hunger Remains Alarmingly High; Children Especially Vulnerable

 

By Kyna Rubin, SOS Children's Villages

 

Hunger rates are still unacceptably high in 29 countries, calling into question whether halving world hunger within the next five years -- a Millennium Development Goal set by the United Nations -- is feasible.

 

The news comes from the Global Hunger Index, an annual survey published by the International Food Policy Research Institute (IFPRI) and other groups.

 

According to the index, which examined 2003-2008 data from 122 countries, more than 1 billion people went hungry in 2009. (The food and financial crises contributed to that number.)

 

A bit of good news is that the global hunger index has improved by 24 percent since 1990.

 

Also, in 2010 the number of hungry people dropped to 925 million, based on UN Food and Agriculture Organization figures. But world hunger levels remain "serious" by Global Hunger Index standards, and regional variations are great.

 

Most of the nations with "alarming" scores are in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia.

 

The report states that in SUB-SAHARAN AFRICA war, instability, and high HIV/AIDS rates are leading to high child mortality; in SOUTH ASIA, women's low nutritional, educational and social status leads to higher numbers of underweight children.

 

Preventing Child MalnutritionThe Global Hunger Index uses three measures -- the portion of people who are undernourished, the portion of children under five who are underweight, and the child mortality rate. Child under-nutrition is the greatest contributor to a nation's hunger rating, making up almost half of the score.

 

"To improve their scores, many countries must accelerate progress in reducing child malnutrition," says Marie Ruel, director of IFPRI's Poverty, Health, and Nutrition division. "Considerable research shows that the window of opportunity for improving nutrition spans from conception to age two." Prenatal nutrition is key, she said. "Early childhood under-nutrition perpetuates poverty from one generation to another."

 

The index scores ten countries with the WORST HUNGER LEVELS. Rated "extremely alarming" or "alarming" are the Democratic Republic of the Congo, Burundi, Eritrea, Chad, Ethiopia, Sierra Leone, Haiti, Comoros, Madagascar, and the Central African Republic.

 

SOS Children's Villages, which provides food, warm homes, and concrete hope to abandoned children in most of these nations, has been saving children's lives for more than six decades.

[nancyk58]

Unite Against Hunger: Today is World Food Day

 

Unite Against Hunger: Today is World Food Day

 

http://www.care2.com/causes/human-rights/blog/unite-against-hunger-today-is-world-food-day/

 

FACT: Close to one billion people in the world live in chronic hunger.

 

FACT: One in seven people do not get enough food, making hunger and malnutrition the number one risk to health worldwide -- greater than AIDS, malaria and tuberculosis combined.

 

FACT: Malnutrition and hunger-related diseases cause 60% of deaths in children under the age of five worldwide.

 

Pretty sobering, especially since hunger doesn't often make headlines, but today is World Food Day and this year's theme, "United Against Hunger" provides an opportunity to take a hard look at what can be done to alleviate the global problem of hunger and malnutrition.

 

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations, which established World Food Day 30 years ago today, estimates that 925 million people worldwide are undernourished. That's a welcome, albeit small, decline from last year's figures. Stack that up against UNICEF's latest estimate that 195 million children are chronically undernourished today, up from its previous estimate of 178 million, and suddenly it's not so hopeful anymore.

 

And although the Millennium Development Goals' first target, which is to reduce by half the proportion of people who suffer from hunger by 2015, is on its way to being achieved in a handful of countries, the numbers don't tell the whole story. Progress hasn't been consistent globally, and even within countries that have reached the goal, there are pockets of terribly malnourished men, women and children. The point is, the numbers are still unacceptably high, and a stark reminder that devastating hunger is a daily reality for millions upon millions of people.

[nancyk58]

A NEW GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS?

 

A NEW GLOBAL FOOD CRISIS?

 

News this past week about a surge in corn prices is sparking concerns about a new global food crisis akin to the one in 2007 and 2008 when rising food prices set off protests around the world. And chronic food insecurity, especially in the developing world, remains a serious issue.

 

"Many experts expect food prices to remain volatile in the coming years. If we truly want to create stability and prosperity that can offset future shocks, the world must get serious about investing in the poorest and most vulnerable communities," says Charles MacCormack, President and CEO of Save the Children.

 

Take a look at what happened in Mozambique last month when price increases set off violent food protests and looting. In Maputo and other cities, 13 people were killed and hundreds were injured.

 

Save the Children's Mozambique office just produced this video about the latest concerns and highlights workable solutions, especially in a country where the rural poor are so deeply affected:

 

 

 

Does food aid deliver nutrients to children?

 

There's also the very real question of the quality of food that's being distributed. The World Bank estimates that $12 billion a year is needed to scale up effective nutrition programs to meet current needs.

 

Humanitarian organization Doctors Without Borders -- which last year treated 250,000 malnourished children around the world -- points out that most food programs for developing countries rely heavily on fortified cereals made of corn and soy. Fine for adults, but not so for growing children.

 

Doctors Without Borders' concern is that while the cereal blend may relieve a child's hunger, it doesn't provide adequate nutrition. Its experts claim there's a critical window of opportunity that slams shut by the time a child reaches the age of two. Without eggs, fruit, milk and the like, young children run the all too real and serious risk of not developing properly, being prone to disease, and death.

 

"Our medical teams working in more than 30 countries with high levels of malnutrition, in sub-Saharan Africa and South Asia, have demonstrated that with early intervention with quality, balanced foods, countless children can be spared the consequences of malnutrition," says Dr. Christophe Fournier, president of Doctors Without Borders' International Council. "We know what children need. It’s simply a matter of ensuring they get it."

 

Despite the hurdles, one can't deny that progress has been made since the very first World Food Day. In the past 20 years the proportion of hungry people worldwide has fallen by almost a quarter according to the Global Hunger Index.

 

But it's also clear that world leaders have to stick to the commitments they have made not just to the Millennium Development Goals, but, as Save the Children CEO MacCormack points out, to the promise they made at last years' G-8 and G-20 meetings to invest $22 billion in global food security.

 

So what can you do to help?

 

Below is a video with actor Jeremy Irons who recommends us to sign the petition to end hunger at http://www.1billionhungry.org

 

YouTube - Sign the petition to end hunger now.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to HAITI around 15 October 2010

 

NEWS IN RELATION TO HAITI OCTOBER 2010

 

http://www.ipsnews.net/news.asp?idnews=53174

 

Haiti's 1.3 Million Camp Dwellers Waiting in Vain

By Correspondents*

 

GRAND GOÂVE, Oct 15, 2010 (IPS/Haiti Grassroots Watch) - Rosie Benjamin is just one of over 1.3 million people living in Haiti's 1,354 squalid refugee camps. She and 1,200 others are jammed into 300 tents and plastic tarp-shacks on a soccer field in Grand Goâve.

 

Like about 70 percent of Haiti's refugee camps, the residents here are on their own. Apart from water deliveries, they get nothing from the government and the massive humanitarian apparatus on the ground. No food. No jobs. And no news about their future.

 

"We went to City Hall, we didn't learn anything. We went to Terre des Hommes, nothing," Banjamin said. "So far we haven't gotten anything. Nothing. We are sitting here and we have no idea what anyone is thinking."

 

Benjamin and her neighbours live on money from relatives overseas, share what food they have, and every now and then a non-governmental organisation (NGO) drops off some bulgar wheat and vegetable oil, but that's about it. Some of the children – many of whom will likely not go to school this year – even have orange-tinted hair.

 

Asked about that obvious sign of malnutrition and other conditions, Deborah Hyde, a member of the U.N. "Shelter Cluster" – a U.N.-mandated management team tasked with trying to coordinate the NGOs working on the shelter issue – said that in March, most food distributions stopped because, she said, the Haitian government requested that the NGOs cease the handouts. Besides, she added, "[M]alnutrition is unfortunately something that has been here since the 1980s."

 

Hyde said that she felt some camp residents actually had a place to live, or could find one. Instead, they stay because, she said, "to be perfectly frank, are afraid they will miss a [food or aid] distribution."

 

But Benjamin and her neighbours say nothing could be further from the truth. Some camp residents are homeowners but they do not have the means to destroy their hulk of a home, truck away the rubble, and rebuild. Others are renters. Benjamin, like almost two-thirds of Haiti's homeless, rented her home. That means that she can't move her family back home until her landlord makes repairs. Benjamin said nobody is in her camp by choice. And no wonder - recent reports document increasing expulsions, gang activity and sexual exploitation, unsanitary conditions and putrid, inadequate latrines.

 

And so, despite the massive flow of donations – from citizens and governments – to humanitarian agencies, nine months after the catastrophic earthquake which killed some 300,000 people and devastated the capital and other major cities, most of Haiti's "internally displaced people" are exactly where they were on Jan. 13: crammed into cardboard, canvas and plastic shantytowns, exposed to hot sun and to the frequent downpours and storms of Haiti's infamous "rainy season".

 

Last month, a storm touched down in the capital Port-au- Prince, killing six people and destroying 8,000 tents.

 

The apparent stagnation of resettlement efforts has led camp residents like Benjamin to assume there is no plan for the internal refugees.

 

But there is.

 

A three-week investigation by a new "reconstruction watch" effort, Ayiti Kale Je/Haiti Grassroots Watch, unearthed one. Unfortunately for Benjamin and her neighbours, however, it is a plan that is unlikely to succeed.

 

Crafted by U.N. agencies and the NGOs, the plan has three options:

 

• Return homeless to their neighbourhoods of origin, but into better-built and better-zoned houses;

 

• Convince some to move to the countryside;

 

• Put the rest in new housing developments on new land.

 

On paper – Haiti Grassroots Watch obtained the Oct. 5 draft of the "Strategy of Return and Resettlement", translated from French – the plan seems sound. Put families into safe "transitional shelters" or T-Shelters – wooden or plastic houses – while more permanent, earthquake-safe structures go up in properly planned rebuilt or new neighbourhoods.

 

But there are many challenges, including the fact that so far, the government hasn't officially bought into it.

 

Shelter Cluster Coordinator Gehard Tauscher said the lack of coordination and participation at the national level is a real roadblock, noting he wished "all layers of the government would come together and speak with one voice."

 

"I wish they would lock up all of the people in a nice place for a weekend – the U.N., the agency people and the national government – and not let them out until they make decisions," he said.

 

There are so many other obstacles, almost every step of the plan appears difficult, if not nearly impossible, to implement.

 

Take the T-Shelters, for example. First of all, there are over 300,000 families who need safe shelters. The agencies and NGOs are planning to build only 135,000. What about the other 165,000 families? And where will the shelters be put?

 

That's not an insurmountable challenge. NGOs can try to negotiate leases for families like Benjamin's. But but who will pay the lease?

 

That leads to another - Haiti's "land problem".

 

Haiti's land tenure system is "a bordello… a complete disorder that has been going on for 200 years," according to Bernard Etheart, director of the National Institute of Agrarian Reform.

 

Ever since Haiti's independence, dictators have stolen, sold or given land to their families and allies. Many "owners" do not have titles to prove their ownership, while some parcels have two or three "owners", all with "legal" papers.

 

Added to the land issue is another roadblock – quite literally. There are an estimated 20 to 30 million cubic tonnes of rubble around the capital and Haiti's smaller affected cities that experts say will take years to clear.

 

In its three-article series, Haiti Grassroots Watch ran through the plan and pointed out the challenges, concluding that the problem of Haiti's 1.3 million homeless can't be dealt with until the underlying structural issues are tackled.

 

Dr. Paul Farmer, the U.N. Deputy Special Envoy for Haiti and also co-founder of Partners in Health, put it this way: "[W]hat happened on Jan. 12 is aptly described as an 'acute- on-chronic' event."

 

Sanon Renel of FRAKKA, the Front for Reflection and Action on the Housing Issue, a coalition of camp committees and human rights groups that advocates for the right to housing, echoed Farmer.

 

"The NGOs don't have a solution to the country's problems. We need more than a short-term solution. We need another kind of state - a state that serves the majority," he said.

 

In the meantime, camp dwellers are getting impatient. Benjamin's neighbour, 21-year-old Marie Lucie Martel, said she was tired of seeing the NGOs "making tonnes of money, driving expensive rental cars".

 

"I have a message for the government and all the NGOs. If they don't take care of us, we will revolt. They won't be able to drive down this highway. They will call us violent – they will call us all kinds of names. But we are being forced to do this, because 'hungry dogs don't play around'," she warned.

 

*Read the complete series, see accompanying videos and listen to audio podcasts at Haiti Grassroots Watch – http://www.haitigrassrootswatch.org. Ayiti Kale Je (Haiti Eyes Peeled, in Creole), Haiti Grassroots Watch in English and Haïti Veedor (Haiti Watcher in Spanish), is a collaboration of two well-known Haitian grassroots media organisations, Groupe Medialternatif/Alterpresse (http://www.alterpresse.org/) and the Society for the Animation of Social Communication (SAKS - http://www.saks- haiti.org/), along with two networks – the network of women community radio broadcasters (REFRAKA) and the Association of Haitian Community Media (AMEKA), which is comprised of community radio stations located throughout the country.

 

(END)

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 18 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 18 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11562238

 

18 October 2010 Last updated at 09:40 GMT

 

SUPER TYPHOON MEGI HITS NORTHERN PHILIPPINES

 

An intense "super typhoon" has made landfall in the northern Philippines, lashing the area with heavy rain and winds of up to 225km/h (140mph).

 

At least one person has been reported killed, and thousands have fled their homes. Emergency services are on alert, and many schools are closed.

 

Typhoon Megi is the strongest storm the Philippines has faced for four years.

 

In 2006, a storm with winds of 155km/h triggered mudslides, burying villages and killing about 1,000 people.

 

Tropical cyclones formed in the Pacific Ocean are called typhoons, but are classified on a scale of one to five in the same way as Atlantic Ocean hurricanes.

 

Strong typhoons with sustained winds of at least 130 knots (150mph; 240km/h), are referred to as super typhoons, according to the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Center.

 

Forecasters said Megi was a super typhoon as it made landfall, but weakened slightly as it made its way across the northern Philippines.

 

'Calamity'

 

The northern provinces of Cagayan and Isabela are on the highest storm alert, and were braced for heavy damage as Megi made landfall on Monday morning.

 

Thousands of people in Isabela were sheltering in communal buildings, away from coastal areas, and waiting out the storm, reports said.

 

Reuters news agency reported that Megi hit north-eastern Isabela at about 1125 (0325 GMT), and said the Philippines had declared a "state of calamity" in the north as the storm neared. There are particular concerns that the region's crucial rice crop could be damaged.

 

However, wind speed was weakening as the storm hit mountainous areas in the centre of the northern Philippines.

 

Megi was reclassified as a regular typhoon as it headed towards the eastern seaboard of the northern Philippines, but was expected to strengthen again as it moved towards CHINA.

 

Authorities in China are reported to have evacuated more than 100,000 people from the anticipated path of the storm.

 

'Preparing for war'

 

Details from the areas directly in the path of the storm have been slow to emerge, but the Associated Press reported huge waves and strong rains as well as powerful winds that brought down power lines.

 

"We are marooned inside our home. We cannot go out. The winds and rain are very strong. Many trees are being uprooted or snapped in half," Ernesto Macadangdang, of Burgos, Isabela, told local radio.

 

One man in Cagayan was reported missing after he fell into the fast-flowing Buntun river. The man was named as Vicente Decena, a candidate in next week's local elections.

 

Officials have warned that the heavy rain and high winds could damage buildings, power supplies and agriculture.

 

Emergency services have been stocking up on food and medicines, says the BBC's Kate McGeown in the capital, Manila.

 

Government forecasters say waves off the east coast could be greater than 14m (46ft).

 

Sea travel has been banned. The coast guard has been instructed to forbid all fishing vessels from setting out to sea in the north, says AFP news agency.

 

Thousands of soldiers and officers are on standby to deliver aid and rescue people stranded by the floods.

 

Trucks, rescue boats and food packs have been pre-positioned near vulnerable areas, said Benito Ramos, a senior disaster-response official.

 

"This is like preparing for war," he told the Associated Press. "We know the past lessons and we're aiming for zero casualties."

 

Schools in the north were closed on Monday.

 

Farmers were urged to harvest as many of their crops as possible before the typhoon hit, our correspondent says.

 

The area in the storm's path is one of the country's main rice-growing regions.

 

In July, President Benigno Aquino sacked the head of the weather bureau after he failed to predict a typhoon which unexpectedly changed course and hit Manila, killing more than 100 people.

 

ANALYSIS

Kate McGeown BBC News, Manila

________________________________________

 

Disaster management teams are on high alert - stockpiling food and medicines, and preparing boats and helicopters to rescue those affected by the typhoon.

The authorities are under huge pressure to get their rescue effort right this time.

 

There was a lot of criticism over their handling of Typhoon Ketsana last year. Many people who were trapped in the floodwaters said they were completely reliant on aid agencies or church organisations rather than the government.

 

There was further embarrassment in July this year when the weather bureau forecast that a typhoon would miss Manila.

 

It struck the capital, killing about 100 people. The head of the state weather bureau was sacked as a result.

 

 

Swedish SVT and Danish DR1 TTV: SUPER TYPHOON METI SWEEPING THE PHILIPPINES

 

According to the Tropical Storm Risk, Megi is a category 5 super typhoon with wind speed up to 250 km per hour. It is the tenth and strongest typhoon hitting the Philippines this year.

 

MEGI made landfall in the northern Philippine island of LUZON on Monday morning with a wind speed of 72m per second and heavy rain. One man drowned in a river.

 

The typhoon triggered landslides in the mountainous areas and huge waves on the coast. Schools were closed. Thousands were evacuated on the northern LUZON, the Filipino main island.

 

According to the meteorologists, MEGI is the worst storm hitting the Philippines since typhoon DURAN in 2006 triggered mudslides and killed one thousand people.

 

 

German ZDFtext + ARDtext: WORST TYPHOON IN YEARS SWEEPING THE PHILIPPINES / THE FILIPINO ISLAND OF LUZON

 

With wind speeds of up to 260 km per hour, typhoon MEGI swept the north-eastern part of the Philippines. Heavy rain hit the northern part, and some wind gusts reached 350 km per hour.

 

In LUZON’s coastal areas, 3,000 people had to leave their houses and seek refuge in emergency shelters. Streets were blocked by uprooted trees. Ship & air traffic was disrupted or cancelled. One man was washed away by a river and drowned.

 

In 2006, a similar typhoon triggered landslides, trapped entire villages and cost 1,000 human lives.

 

A storm in MANILA in JULY cost more than 100 human lives.

ON CNN, US meteorologist Ivan Cabrera called MEGI a monster storm.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to NATURAL DISASTERS, post II on 18.10.10

 

Filipino GMA News.tv (http://www.gmanews.tv)

 

For Your Information: MEGI is called “JUAN” by Filipino media[/b][/color]

 

 

2 dead, some roads closed as 'Juan' batters North Luzon

 

(Updated 10:18 p.m) Tropical cyclone "Juan" (Megi) swept across Northern Luzon on Monday, leaving two people dead and forcing the closure of several key roads, according to the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council.

 

With gusty winds of up to 215 kph, "Juan" is now traversing the Cordillera mountains and will exit along the La Union-Ilocos Sur area around midnight, PAGASA said.

 

In its 6 p.m. update, , the National Disaster Risk Reduction and Management Council said the latest fatality was a 20-year-old woman in Rizal town in Kalinga province.

 

"Aileen Respicio, 20, died at 2 p.m. at her residence in Brgy. Balabag, Rizal, Kalinga, due to a fallen tree that hit her house. Her child was injured," it said.

 

NDRRMC also said the body of Vicente Decena, 53, who was earlier reported missing after being swept by the current of the Cagayan River, was found at Bonton Bridge.

 

Reported injured aside from Respicio's daughter Joanna Marie, 1, were:

 

* Joseph Sabben, 5, of Sta. Ana, Cagayan, who was injured by a fallen live wire;

 

* Two women injured by a collapsed glass wall of a fast-food outlet in Tanza, Tuguegarao City in Cagayan;

 

* Two Department of Public Works and Highways crewmembers injured by a

collapsed roof of the Land Transportation Office in Solana, Cagayan.

 

At least 974 families or 4,614 people in 30 villages in 16 towns in six provinces were affected. Of these, 866 families or 4,161 people are staying inside evacuation centers.

 

On the other hand, some 1,271 people were stranded in major ports as of 4 p.m., including 792 in Manila and 300 in Batangas. At least 274 passengers were also reported stranded at seaports in Batangas; Puerto Real, Quezon; and Santa Ana, Isabela.

 

Impassable roads

 

A separate report by radio dzBB said Kennon Road was impassable but the Marcos Highway remained open as an alternate route.

 

Power outage

 

NDRRMC said Isabela was hit with a power outage as electrical posts were toppled down, trees uprooted, and roofs blown away by "Juan."

 

Heavy rains and strong winds were experienced in Santiago City in Isabela, while Baguio City experienced moderate to heavy rains.

 

A report by dzBB's Carlo Mateo Monday evening said local residents in Isabela worked together with police and military in clearing roads of debris.

 

'Juan' out by 1 a.m. Tuesday

 

The Philippine Atmospheric Geophysical and Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA) lowered its storm alerts as "Juan" weakened after crossing the Sierra Madre Mountain.

 

The weather bureau said "Juan" was estimated at 60 kms southwest of Tuguegarao City as of 4 p.m. with maximum winds of 180 kph near the center and gustiness of up to 215 kph.

 

PAGASA said "Juan" is now traversing the mountainous terrain of Cordillera and will exit along the western coast of La Union-Ilocos Sur area by 11 p.m. Monday to 1 a.m. Tuesday. By Tuesday afternoon it is expected to be 330 km west-northwest of Baguio City. - with a report from Larissa Mae Suarez/KBK/YA,

 

GMANews.TV

 

The full article can be found on the Filipino thread AND on GMANews.TV

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters on 18.10.10 - Post 3

 

News in relation to natural disasters on 18.10.10 - Post III (III)

 

 

Danish TV2: TYPHOON MEGI CREATES CHAOS IN ASIA

 

Typhoon Megi is now heading for China. It is underway over the South Chinese Sea. The Chinese authorities have declared state of calamity for the coastal areas in the southern part of China.

 

 

Swedish SVT: NEW FLOODS IN VIETNAM COST 23 HUMAN LIVES

 

150,000 houses are under water / flooded. Half of the deaths occurred in the province of Ha Tinh. Also the neighbouring provinces are affected.

 

 

Danish DR1 TTV: 10 DIED FOLLOWING HEAVY RAINS IN HAITI

 

Several days of heavy rain cost at least 10 human lives in HAITI which is still struggling to rebuild the country after the devastating earthquake in January 2010.

 

Among the dead in the capital, Port-au-Prince is a 2-year-old girl and an 11-month-old boy according to the local doctors. The other 8 died as a big sandhill suddenly collapsed and buried them.

 

3 people living in a tent camp outside Port-au-Prince are missing. The tent camp was established after the January earthquake.

[nancyk58]

News on 19 October 2010 in relation to natural disasters

 

 

German ZDFtext + ARDtext, Danish DR1 TTV, Swedish SVT and BBC World Service:

 

TYPHOON MEGI (aka JUAN in the Philippines) KILLED AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

3 million people were for some time without electricity in the northern provinces of the Filipino main island, LUZON. MEGI aka JUAN caused significant damage due to landslides. It was tearing the roofs off houses and cutting power, the communications links were down and trees were uprooted.

 

In the province ISABELLA, electricity and telephone lines were down, and many streets were blocked by trees and debris. Thousands were in shelters like schools, city halls and churches.

 

The authorities are worried that the Philippines – the world’s largest importer of RICE – may be forced to buy even more rice from foreign countries next year.

 

The typhoon is heading towards the southern coast of CHINA.

 

Each year about 20 TYPHOONS RAVAGE in the Philippines. Last year almost 1,000 died due to typhoons.

 

 

 

German ZDFtext and Danish TV2 News: EARTHQUAKE IN NEW ZEALAND – CHRISTCHURCH AFFECTED AGAIN.

 

More than 5 weeks after the powerful earthquake in New Zealand’s Christchurch, another AFTERSHOCK – this time with magnitude 5.0 – has shaken Christchurch.

 

In some districts, the electricity and telephone lines were down, and buildings swayed. Some buildings in the center of Christchurch were evacuated. The international airport was temporarily closed.

 

The tremor was one of several hundred aftershocks following the magnitude-7.0 earthquake on 4 September 2010. According to the authorities the epicenter of the quake was 10 km south-west of Christchurch.

 

 

German ZDFtext: STATE OF EMERGENCY IN HUNGARY PROLONGED / EXTENDED UNTIL NEW YEAR

 

The state of emergency after the TOXIC SLUDGE disaster in western Hungary has been extended until New Year.

 

On 4 October 2010, 750,000 cubic metre of toxic bauxite sludge had run out of a reservoir at the site of an alumina plant. 9 people died in the neighbouring villages of KOLONTAR and DEVECSER. 150 were INJURED.

 

 

Swedish SVT: FLOODS IN THAILAND

 

At least 7 died in floods that submerged vast areas in north-east THAILAND since the beginning of last week.

 

In the province, Nakhon Ratchasima, 24 out of 32 districts are under water after heavy rains. 200,000 people are affected. The water levels are 1m on average, says the governor of the province.

 

The authorities are now warning those living by the river Chao Phraya in the capital Bangkok of rising water levels.

 

 

Danish DR1 News Live at 21:12: TYPHOON MEGI (aka JUAN in the Philippines) KILLED AT LEAST 10 PEOPLE IN THE PHILIPPINES.

 

The winds reached 325 km per hour.

 

MEGI / JUAN is expected to reach CHINA on Friday or Saturday.

 

Heavy rain caused floodings and destroyed the crops.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 20 0CT0BER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 20 0CT0BER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Swedish SVT: HAITI: 10 died in floods and mudslides after 3 days of cloud bursts / heavy rains. Many are still missing in the tent camps. 3 are missing in Port-au-Prince and Carrefour.

 

The rain is expected to continue according to the meteorologists.

 

 

German ARDtext and ZDFtext: 140,000 CHINESE FLEEING TYPHOON “MEGI” aka. JUAN

 

CHINA prepares for the typhoon “Megi”. 140,000 inhabitants in the southern Chinese provinces have left their houses because the typhoon is expected to arrive very soon.

 

According to meteorologists, the typhoon “Megi” could be the worst typhoon for 20 years in South China and bring the tallest floods for 2 centuries according to “China Daily”.

 

The death toll in the PHILIPPINES has risen to 19.

 

In THAILAND at least 10 inhabitants died. Very heavy rain in VIETNAM has cost 46 human lives.

 

 

Danish DR1 and Swedish SVT: 377 DIED IN FLOODING IN CENTRAL AND WEST AFRICA IN 2010’S RAINY SEASON

 

OCHA, i.e. UN’s office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs has issued its report.

 

“The rain in 2010 has cost the largest number of human lives and has had the most serious consequences”.

 

Worst hit is the West-African state of NIGERIA with 118 dead, GHANA with 53 drowned and SUDAN with 50 drowned people. There are also recorded many deaths in BENIN and TCHAD.

 

The rain has had the worst material consequences in BENIN where 350,000 people are affected, whereas 300,000 are affected in NIGERIA.

 

According to the United Nations, almost 1.5 million people were affected by floods – in particular in BENIN, NIGERIA and neighbouring NIGER.

 

The situation is most difficult and serious in these countries, and there is fear of spreading of CHOLERA.

 

 

Swedish SVT: SOUTH ASIA IS MOST VULNERABLE TO CLIMATE CHANGE IN THE WORLD

 

The countries in SOUTH ASIA are most vulnerable to climate change in the world. They risk being most affected by FLOODS, DROUGHT, STORMS and HIGH WATER LEVELS IN THE SEAS.

 

This appears from a new report compiled by Maplecroft – a British-based company specialized in risk assessment.

 

The most vulnerable countries in the world are estimated to be BANGLADESH and INDIA.

 

The least vulnerable countries are the SCANDINAVIAN countries and the NETHERLANDS.

[nancyk58]

NEWS on 21 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS on 21 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

Swedish SVT: FLOODS IN THAILAND

 

Massive floods have affected 1/4 of Thailand's total area and killed 17 people.

Homes and the livelihood for 1 million people as well as parts of BANGKOK are threatened. Thousand houses are already flooded.

 

 

Swedish SVT: 5 OIL TERMINALS IN HONG KONG CLOSED / SHUT DOWN THURSDAY BEFORE ARRIVAL OF TYPHOON "MEGI"

 

According to Chinese TV, 48,000 fishing vessels have returned to their ports (harbours). 200,000 persons have been EVACUATED from low-lying areas on the tropical island, HAINAN.

 

Typhoon "Megi" cost 19 human lives on the Philippines and is expected to make landfall on Saturday east of Hongkong.

[nancyk58]

News in relation to natural disasters on 21 October 2010 - post II

 

News in relation to natural disasters on 21 October 2010 - post II

 

 

Danish TV2 News and Swedish SVT (Thursday evening, Central European Time):

 

The DEATH TOLL after the OUTBREAK OF CHOLERA IN HAITI has risen from 50 earlier today to 135. 1,500 have caught the disease.

 

 

Danish TV2 News and DR1 TTV: MEXICO HIT BY POWERFUL EARTHQUAKE

 

A powerful earthquake hit BAJA CALIFORNIA tonight in western Mexico according to the US Geological Surveys (USGS). The quake was measured at magnitude 6.9 on the Richter scale.

 

The epicentre was in the Gulf of California 105 km south of Los Mochis in the state of Sinaloa.

 

No reports of casualties or material damage. The quake did not trigger any tsunami.

[nancyk58]

ON 22 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 22 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11608551

22 October 2010 Last updated at 14:40 GMT

 

Haiti confirms scores of deaths due to cholera outbreak

 

Haiti's president and medical officials have confirmed that an outbreak of cholera has killed scores of people north of the capital Port-au-Prince.

 

The victims suffered diarrhoea, acute fever and vomiting. More than 1,500 people were infected, officials said.

 

President Rene Preval said his government was taking steps to ensure the disease did not spread further.

 

There are fears the outbreak could reach the CAMPS around the capital for survivors of January's earthquake.

 

The quake killed some 250,000 people and left 1.5 million homeless. Tens of thousands of people are still living in crowded tent cities with poor sanitation and little access to clean drinking water.

 

Cholera is an intestinal infection caused by bacteria transmitted through contaminated water or food. The source of contamination is usually the faeces of infected people.

 

It causes diarrhoea and vomiting, leading to severe dehydration, and can kill quickly if left untreated. It is easily treated though rehydration and antibiotics, however.

 

Hospitals 'overwhelmed'

 

"I can confirm it is cholera," President Preval told Reuters news agency.

 

"Now we are making sure people are fully aware of precautionary measures they have to take to prevent contamination".

 

The director general of the health department, Dr Gabriel Thimote, said the worst-affected areas were Douin, Marchand Dessalines and areas around Saint-Marc, about 100km (60 miles) north of Port-au-Prince.

 

Local hospitals were "overwhelmed", and a number of people were being evacuated to clinics in other areas, he added.

 

At one point on Thursday, hundreds of people were laid out in the car park of St Nicholas hospital in Saint-Marc, with intravenous drips in their arms to treat dehydration, until it began to rain and they were rushed inside.

 

Some patients said they drank water from a public canal, while others said they bought purified water.

 

"I ran to the bathroom four times last night vomiting," 70-year-old Belismene Jean Baptiste told the Associated Press.

 

Another man said three of his relatives had died within a matter of hours.

 

The victims range in age, but the young and the elderly appear to be the worst-affected.

 

David Darg, a medical relief worker in Haiti, told the BBC he had visited an area near Saint-Marc which - according to local residents - was the source of the outbreak.

 

"After visiting the hospital and meeting some of the medical staff, they were able to pinpoint where these cases were originating from so we headed out to a very rural area," Mr Darg told the BBC's World Today programme.

 

He said it was "an area that's popular for RICE production".

 

"There's a lot of water in that area particularly," added Mr Darg. "We started heading out along narrow roads lined with villagers begging for water, because by now they'd been seeing people dying in their communities and knew not to drink water from the river, which ordinarily would have been their main source of water: they drink water straight from the river."

 

There were fears of a cholera outbreak in the aftermath of January's earthquake, but none emerged.

 

This is the first time in a century that cholera has struck the Caribbean nation, the World Health Organization said.

 

The Artibonite department was not badly damaged in the earthquake but thousands of people who lost their homes have moved into camps or are living with relatives there.

 

"We have been afraid of this since the earthquake," said Robin Mahfood, president of Food for the Poor.

 

The agency was preparing to airlift donations of antibiotics, oral dehydration salts and other supplies to the affected areas.

 

 

Danish DR1, Swedish SVT, German ARDtext and ZDFtext plus BBC:

 

An outbreak of cholera has killed at least 138 people in the ARTIBONITE region north of Haiti's capital Port-au-Prince.

 

Claude Surena, President of Haiti's Medical Association told the news agency APF that Haiti's government will soon declare that Haiti is in a HEALTH CRISIS.

 

BBC News, Live mentioned the outbreak of CHOLERA in HAITI and stressed that CLEAN DRINKING WATER was URGENTLY NEEDED, but could not be provided to all these people in HAITI.

 

TV2 news 22 o’clock: The outbreak of cholera has now killed 142 people in central Haiti.

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11606205

22 October 2010 Last updated at 15:19 GMT

 

Typhoon Megi triggers deadly Taiwan landslides

 

A tourist bus was feared buried and three people were killed in multiple landslides as Typhoon Megi brought torrential rain to Taiwan.

 

A torrent of mud struck a Buddhist temple in Suao, killing three people and leaving six more missing.

 

Teams are also searching for a Chinese tourist bus feared buried when landslides struck a coastal highway, causing it to partially collapse.

 

The landslides stranded 400 drivers; half have now been taken to safety.

 

Typhoon Megi caused havoc in the PHILIPPINES, killing at least 26 people and causing extensive damage to houses in some regions.

 

The storm is now heading for south China's FUIJAN province, where flights have been cancelled, fishing vessels recalled to port and more than 100,000 people evacuated from low-lying areas.

 

In TAIWAN, Megi brought 45 inches (114 cm) of rain to ILAN county in the northeast over a 48-hour period.

 

In Suao city, rescue teams dug through mud at the White Cloud Buddhist temple in search of six people believed to be trapped.

 

A search was also under way for a bus carrying 19 Chinese tourists.

It was known to have been travelling along a highway in Ilan that was hit by multiple landslides, causing a 500m section to collapse.

 

Air force helicopters were searching for the bus, while other teams were helping to evacuate drivers and passengers in other vehicles stranded on the highway by the rockfalls.

 

 

Danish TV2 and Swedish SVT: POWERFUL MAGNITUDE 6.7 EARTHQUAKE IN MEXICO

The quake occurred Thursday off the peninsula BAJA CALIFORNIA in western Mexico. Minor damage to some buildings in the state of Sinaloa. Some panic. A few people were evacuated. No casualties according to the Civil Defense. According to the authorities aftershocks are expected.

 

 

Danish DR1 + TV2 and German ARDtext: MASSIVE FLOODING IN THAILAND COST 19 HUMAN LIVES

 

In THAILAND the worst floods for decades have cost 19 human lives. The floods hit the central and north-western provinces. The floods are caused by heavy monsoon rain. More rain is expected. Vast agricultural areas with RICE are under water. It is too early to say whether the crops are destroyed. That depends on the duration of the floods.

 

FLOOD ALARM IN Thailand's capital BANGKOK. The river Chao Praya threatens to overflow its banks when the water masses from the North reach the capital.

 

The floods have caused damage amounting to the equivalent of DKK 1420 million. The heavy rain started last week-end and has caused floods in 29 central and north-eastern provinces of Thailand's 77 provinces. 211,946 households are affected. 400,000 hectares land threatened.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 23 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 23 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-latin-america-11612529

23 October 2010 Last updated at 16:50 GMT

 

Haiti's cholera death toll mounts (208 DEAD)

 

A cholera outbreak in Haiti has killed more than 200 people, officials say.

 

More than 2,500 people in a region to the north of the capital Port-au-Prince are being treated for the illness, which causes diarrhoea, acute fever, vomiting and severe dehydration.

 

There are fears the outbreak could reach camps housing the survivors of January's quake in Port-au-Prince.

 

Medics also say the neighbouring Dominican Republic should be alert to the risk of cholera.

 

Officials believe the cholera outbreak was caused by people drinking infected water from the Artibonite river.

 

'Source'

 

"We have recorded more than 208 dead," said Dr Gabriel Thimote, the director general of Haiti's health department.

 

He said most of the cases were in the Artibonite region of central Haiti. The Central Plateau region has also been affected.

 

The worst-hit areas were Douin, Marchand Dessalines and areas around Saint-Marc, about 100km (60 miles) north of Port-au-Prince, Dr Thimote said on Friday.

 

Local hospitals were "overwhelmed", and a number of people were being evacuated to clinics in other areas, he added.

 

Some patients at the hospital said they became ill after drinking water from a public canal, but others said they had been drinking purified water.

 

Local doctor Jhonny Fequiere told the BBC that he had seen 28 patients die and that his hospital in Marchand Dessalines was struggling to cope.

 

"We are trying to take care of people, but we are running out of medicine and need additional medical care. We are giving everything we have but we need more to keep taking care of people," he said.

 

The victims range in age, but the young and the elderly appear to be the worst-affected.

 

Spreading?

 

Aid agencies have been rushing medics and supplies of rehydration salts to the affected areas in a bid to stop the outbreak spreading to the Port-au-Prince area.

 

"The priority is really for us and our main concern is to isolate patients that have already been affected by the disease and to inform the population on how to prevent against being contaminated," said Rosa Crestani, an emergency co-ordinator with the aid agency Medecins sans Frontieres.

 

Later on Friday, the first two cholera cases outside the Artibonite were confirmed in Arcahaie, a town closer to Port-au-Prince, the Associated Press news agency reports.

 

It says that experts were also investigating possible cases in Croix-des-Bouquet, a suburb of the capital.

 

Tens of thousands of survivors of the devastating earthquake are still living in crowded tent cities in and around Port-au-Prince with poor sanitation and little access to clean drinking water.

 

This is the first time in a century that cholera has struck the Caribbean nation, the World Health Organization said.

 

The Artibonite department was not badly damaged in the earthquake but thousands of people who lost their homes have moved into camps or are living with relatives there.

 

 

Haiti cholera could be spreading towards capital

 

23 October 2010 Last updated at 08:23 GMT

 

Almost 200 people have died and more than 2,500 have been hospitalised in central Haiti by the country's first cholera epidemic for a century.

 

Officials are working to prevent the spread of the disease to Port-au-Prince, where hundreds of thousands are still living in tents after January's earthquake.

 

 

German ARDtext: HAITI’s GOVERNMENT DECLARES STATE OF SANITARY EMERGENCY / STATE OF HEALTH CRISIS AFTER SPREADING OF CHOLERA

 

The government and international aid agencies try to prevent further spreading of cholera to the capital. Since the powerful earthquake in Haiti at the beginning of 2010, aid agencies had repeatedly warned against outbreak of diseases.

 

According to UNICEF, children are particularly threatened / vulnerable. UNICEF sends important relief goods / aid to the affected region.

 

 

http://www.bbc.co.uk/news/world-asia-pacific-11613604

 

Typhoon Megi wreaks havoc in southeast Asia

 

23 October 2010 Last updated at 16:03 GMT

 

Typhoon Megi has been wreaking havoc in Southeast Asia this week, killing at least 26 people in the Philippines and 12 so far in Taiwan, where 26 others are missing.

 

On Saturday, it made landfall in China, where many people were evacuated.

 

The typhoon has been downgraded to a tropical storm, but in Taiwan, rescue workers are still scrambling to deal with its deadly aftermath.

 

 

German ARDtext and Swedish SVT: DEATH TOLL RISES TO 32 IN THAILAND

 

At least 32 died in the massive floods following days of heavy monsoon rain in THAILAND where more than 1.4 million people in 30 out of 77 provinces have seen their homes and agricultural land drown. Worst hit are the eastern provinces of Nakhon Ratchasima and Bruiram. Deaths also reported from Lep Buri and Khon Kean and from 8 other provinces.

 

Affected: Central Thailand and the north-west. Also Bangkok is threatened by floods. In BANGKOK the river Chao Phraya threatens to overflow its banks. The most threatened areas are reinforced by sandbags.

 

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German ZDFtext: TYPHOON MEGI KILLS 11 IN TAIWAN

 

Typhoon Megi has swept TAIWAN killing at least 11 human lives. 23 other people were missing Friday including 19 Chinese tourists. Their bus is missing after a LANDSLIDE.

 

In the north-eastern Suao City, a Buddhist temple was buried by a MUDSLIDE triggered by the tropical storm. 9 people including 2 Buddhist nuns were killed.

 

Before its arrival in TAIWAN, MEGI had cost at least 26 human lives in the PHILIPPINES.

 

 

Swedish SVT: TYPHOON MEGI COST ALMOST 50 HUMAN LIVES - 12 IN TAIWAN AND 36 IN THE PHILIPPINES

 

Typhoon MEGI cost at least 48 human lives when it swept TAIWAN and the PHILIPPINES.

 

In TAIWAN at least 12 people died since the storm triggered LANDSLIDES and FLOODS. Rescuers looked for more than 20 missing people.

 

In the PHILIPPINES 36 deaths were recorded after the typhoon.

 

Saturday MEGI reached the FUJIAN province in south-east CHINA. It has weakened to a tropical storm, but caused material damage. The Chinese meteorological authorities recommended the inhabitants to stay home.

 

 

German ZDFtext: TYPHOON MEGI SWEPT THROUGH THE SOUTH-EASTERN CHINESE PROVINCE, FUJIAN WITH WIND SPEEDS OF UP TO 140 KM PER HOUR.

 

More than 270,000 people were brought to safer places according to the state-run news agency XINHUA. Air traffic and traffic in the streets were disrupted in the region. The fishing industry expects the material damage to be several million Euro.

 

In the PHILIPPINES MEGI cost at least 26 human lives. (THE LATEST DEATH TOLL: 36).

 

In TAIWAN at least 13 died.

[nancyk58]

NEWS ON 24 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

NEWS ON 24 OCTOBER 2010 IN RELATION TO NATURAL DISASTERS

 

 

Danish DR1 and TV2 News: AT LEAST 5 CASES OF CHOLERA IN PORT-AU-PRINCE, HAITI’S CAPITAL

 

 

A few days ago the dangerous disease broke out in Saint Marc 80 km north of Port-au-Prince. The epidemic may cost thousands of human lives among the 1.3 million homeless living in makeshift tent camps under very poor sanitary conditions since the devastating January earthquake.

 

 

German ZDFtext and ARDtext: 5 CONFIRMED CASES OF CHOLERA IN PORT-AU-PRINCE

 

According to the spokeswoman for UN’s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, Imogen Wall, the 5 infected Haitians have been isolated – they are now treated for Cholera. Imogen Wall said to CNN that this development gives rise to much worry.

 

“We must prepare for the worst scenario”, she said. The authorities are trying to prevent the spreading of cholera to Port-au-Prince. The cholera patients were infected in the main outbreak zone in North Haiti and then travelling to Port-au-Prince.

 

Already more than 200 dead

 

Despite rapid and comprehensive aid/relief from international organizations, the number of cholera deaths have risen. Until Saturday evening local time more than 200 had died from cholera which broke out in the Artibonite region.

 

At least 3,000 were treated in fully packed hospitals.

 

The disease broke out suddenly/unexpectedly in the middle of week 42 in the areas north of Port-au-Prince. People there have probably been drinking contaminated water from the Artibonite river.

 

 

Swedish SVT: CHOLERA SPREADING IN HAITI

 

At least 14 have died from cholera in CENTRAL HAITI according to local authorities.

CONTAMINATED WATER in the ARTIBONITE RIVER is presumably the cause of the cholera outbreak. The river is used by thousands of Haitians for various purposes such as washing clothes and cooking food.

 

Friday, HAITI asked the UN to be in charge of the distribution of medicine and medicaments from foreign donors.

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German ZDFtext and ARDtext: BANGKOK, THAILAND’S CAPITAL, PREPARES FOR THE EXPECTED FLOOD FROM THE CHAO PHRAYA RIVER

 

Sunday, hundred of helpers reinforced the dams that should protect numerous quarters from flooding. More than 200,000 additional sandbags were stacked.

 

The crest of the flood is expected on Monday. By the CHAO PHRAYA RIVER, north of BANGKOK, several dams are controlling the water level, but these had to be opened due to the immense pressure.

 

According to the government 38 have died since the beginning of the monsoon season / rainy season.

 

After the heavy monsoon rain in North-East and Central Thailand, the flood sweeps towards Bangkok. One third of the 77 provinces are partly under water.

 

 

Swedish SVT: IN THAILAND 38 HAVE DIED, and now BANGKOK is threatened. 400,000 cubic metres of water is expected to run into the PHRAYA river per second. The authorities are preparing evacuations.

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Swedish SVT: DEVASTATING CYCLONE IN BURMA aka. MYANMAR

 

A cyclone that swept western Burma/Myanmar has forced thousands of people to leave their homes according to witnesses. The authorities have not yet commented on this.

 

Substantial damage to property has been the result. Almost every house built of bamboo canes are destroyed, says business man Ko Kyaw Khin.

 

Neighbouring THAILAND has been affected by storms and floods after heavy monsoon rain. Around 40 are reported dead.