Disasters
Floods
Rice production expected to not meet targets
The Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Laos has estimated farmers around the country to produce 4.2 million tonnes of rice this year; 600,000 tonnes of which is expected to be dry season rice, 3.4 million tonnes of wet season rice, and another 200,000 tonnes ...
Heavy downpours continue to batter Arakan State
Heavy rain and severe flooding continue to devastate parts of Arakan State, a spokesperson for the Arakan State Government, told The Irrawaddy on 13 June. Arakan State’s Ministry of Social Welfare and Ministry of Electric Power, Industry, and Roads and Communications reportedly intend to visit flood-affected ...
Ho Chi Minh City may spend $62 million on mobile pumps to fight flooding
In its latest effort to fight worsening flooding, Ho Chi Minh City has come up with a plan to invest VND 1.4-trillion (US$61.9 million) in a response team with mobile pumps. Keep reading ...
Flood control: Giant Bangkok tunnel ahead of schedule
A giant new underground tunnel which promises much faster flood water drainage in Bangkok, expected to be complete early next year, will help six flood-prone areas of the capital, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra says. The construction of the 6.4-km tunnel,linking Lat Phrao canal and the Chao Phraya River, is ...
Flood victims to get extra rice
The United Nations World Food Programme will support flood-affected people in Chin State with 500 tonnes of rice, as they continue to struggle after landslides and flood waters ravaged swathes of land in the country’s poorest state last year. More than 9 million people were affected ...
Storm surge damages homes and forces school closures
A storm surge and subsequent coastal flood in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on 8 February morning swept 10 vacant homes into the sea in the hard-hit Pak Phanang district while also caused many local schools to temporarily close. Keep reading ...
Disaster-prone year uses fraction of possible emergency fund
In a year of disastrous floods, the Ministry of Agriculture and Irrigation accounted for more than 62 percent of total emergency expenditure, parliament heard on 21 January. Yet barely over one-tenth of the K100 billion emergency fund under the president’s control was utilised. The President’s Office ...
Thapaung farmers face silted waterways
Inadequate irrigation could lead to the loss of more than 1000 acres of farmland in Ayeyarwady Region as creeks and rivers are drying up, farmers say. The rice growers, in Thapaung township, are still recovering from floods in August and September that forced them to ...
Cambodia at high risk of natural disasters
A report released on 23 November by the United Nations and the Centre for Research on the Epidemiology of Disasters shows that Cambodia’s population is among the world’s 10 most affected by natural disasters. Published on Monday, The Human Cost of Weather Related Disasters considers 20 years ...
Kampot dam tries to restore image
In the wake of mass flooding, the company behind Cambodia’s first major hydropower dam used a government visit last week to distance itself from recent controversies and quell fears about the project’s alleged downsides. In September, Kampot province experienced widespread flooding that left thousands temporarily homeless ...