Disasters

People in Ben Tre and Tien Giang provinces are relying on freshwater supplied by trucks since salt intrusion in rivers has made tap water unpotable. In Ben Tre, like much of the rest of the Mekong Delta, drought and saltwater have rendered rivers and canals barren ...

Even as COVID-19 is wreaking havoc and uncertainty around the globe, Vietnam’s Mekong Delta declared an emergency over the devastating drought in early March. Studies suggest that the frequency and severity of droughts in the Mekong region has increased in the past decades, and many blame ...

As coronavirus infections spike across South-east Asia, Myanmar and Laos have conspicuously logged zero patients – despite the fact that both share a sizeable border with China, where the outbreak originated. Both countries say all the people suspected of being infected with the coronavirus have tested negative so far. ...

The Mekong River Commission (MRC) was established in 1995 to strengthen joint efforts and partnerships for the sustainable management and development of water resources in mainland South-East Asia. The MRC includes Cambodia, Laos, Thailand and Vietnam, but not China. Beijing established the Lancang-Mekong Cooperation mechanism, to give ...

Although Myanmar remained one of the rare countries without confirmed cases of COVID-19 on March 13, the national economy has not been immune to the impact of the coronavirus since it emerged in the Chinese city of Wuhan late last year. In Myanmar, thousands of workers ...

About VND350 billion ($15.16 million) would serve to combat drought and salt intrusion in five Mekong Delta provinces, said Prime Minister Nguyen Xuan Phuc. The money, to be derived from multiple sources, would be awarded to Long An, Tien Giang, Ben Tre, Kien Giang and Ca ...

Vietnam’s prolonged drought, coupled with an extensive buildup of salinity, have driven five provinces in the country’s rice bowl to declare a state of emergency. “This year’s drought and salinity have been way more devastating than what we saw four years ago,” said Nguyen Thien Phap, ...

Laos is still free from the coronavirus even though the deadly Covid-19 has now spread to some 79 countries, Deputy Minister of Health, Associate Prof. Dr Phouthone Muongpak, told foreign diplomats yesterday. The ministry, in collaboration with the Ministry of Foreign Affairs, held a meeting to ...

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha issued 14 urgent measures today (March 3) to handle the Covid-19 situation, government spokesperson Narumon Pinyosinwat said. They are: 1. State agencies must strictly enforce the Public Health Ministry’s measures and guidelines on the outbreak and, if need be, can also issue ...

The Lao National Disaster Prevention and Control Committee is helping farmers across the country to improve their cultivation techniques so that crops can better withstand drought and dry season yields can be increased. Committee officials said recently that the country is facing drought conditions as rivers ...