Disasters and emergency response

Many factors could trigger a fresh surge of infections nationwide, according to Prof Dr Thiravat Hemachudha, director of the Thai Red Cross Emerging Infectious Disease Health Science Centre. “First and foremost, Thais have become convinced that the country is completely free from COVID-19 cases and are ...

Garment worker Ny Thea never expected she would be in such big trouble. Just recently she still earned about $300 (€253) per month in a clothing factory, and on top of that, she took in extra cash renting out a luxury car.  But the coronavirus pandemic ...

Thailand has launched a comprehensive project to help healthcare facilities and personnel strengthen their response to COVID-19, and to improve the health care system – “build back better” – after the pandemic subsides. All healthcare facilities in Bangkok and 12 Regional Health Offices across the country ...

The Global Partnership for Education is allocating a grant of US$7 million via UNICEF to help respond to and mitigate the impacts of the COVID-19 pandemic on children’s education in Laos. According to the UNICEF Laos Office, the grant agreement was signed on Thursday between Deputy ...

It is 9 a.m. on a sultry Sunday morning off the coast of Koh Phangan, a popular tourist island in the Gulf of Thailand. More than 30 divers are getting ready to plunge into the tropical waters — not to marvel at the underwater world ...

Historic levels of saltwater intrusion in the Mekong Delta have caused coconuts in Ben Tre Province to shrink by half in size and farmers’ incomes by even more. One afternoon in early August, Tran Trung Tac, owner of a dwarf coconut grove, opens 100 coconuts one ...

As US-China tensions turn towards the Mekong River and its dams, the area near Laos’ latest hydropower project on the river is already seeing major controversy around existing dam projects. The Lao government is preparing to start construction on the Luang Prabang Dam, a 1,460-megawatt (MW) project that will be ...

Southeast Asia’s response to the Covid‑19 outbreak has curtailed electricity use and industrial production, pushing down coal consumption even further this year, according to the latest report from a non-governmental organisation which monitors worldwide fossil fuel infrastructure. Even before Covid-19, new coal plant construction was already slowing in the ...

Thailand’s Environment Minister has warned that urgent action is needed to rebalance humans’ relationship with nature, or mankind may not live into the next century. In an address to diplomats, politicians and journalists on Friday (Aug 7), Mr Varawut Silpa-archa compared the challenges of fighting the ...

The public debt of Laos may increase to as much as 65 to 68 per cent of GDP in 2020 following a sharp fall in national revenue collection alongside an increase in loans due to the Covid-19 (coronavirus) pandemic, according to a government official. Revenue collection ...