Disasters and emergency response

A recently published report by Eyes on Earth, Inc. has pointed the finger at Chinese dams holding back water as having significantly contributed to the major drought impacting the Mekong River in Southeast Asia. The drought’s effects have been felt by millions and hamper efforts to ...

Food security concerns in Myanmar are looming as farmers are unable to start the new growing season due to COVID-19 disruptions. “Since COVID-19, there is no longer usual trading as crops simply don’t sell anymore,” said Ba Myint, a farmer in Taungup township in southern Rakhine ...

The coronavirus outbreak casts a shadow over the future of approximately 300,000 soon-to-be graduates this year. The bleak prospect of unemployment and layoffs as the economy staggers back to growth is expected to persist for at least two years. Minister of Higher Education, Science, Research and Innovation ...

Economists said the government’s COVID-19 Economic Relief Plan (CERP) should focus more on essential sectors such as agriculture and livestock, which affects longer term food security. The CERP was announced on April 27 to mitigate the negative impact of COVID-19 on the economy.  “Myanmar is an agricultural ...

Additional state quarantine facilities in the capital are being offered to Thais returning from overseas this month, according to a Defence Ministry official. The facilities include those in Qiu Hotel and Movenpick Hotel in central Bangkok. Returnees are required to spend 14 days in state-designated quarantine facilities, ...

Their ancestors had come to settle the Mekong Delta, turning it into the nation’s agriculture and aquaculture hub, but now they are fleeing. At three in the morning, Dang Van Binh, 34, wakes up in his hut by a river in An Phu Trung Commune in ...

Myanmar has seen COVID-19 confirmed cases rising to 151 with 6 deaths and 31 people recovering. Despite the increase in cases, the country has been able to trace the majority of transmission chains, maintaining that the virus spread is “manageable”, said Dr Stephan Paul Jost, World ...

A group of UN experts* called on governments and relevant businesses to take immediate action to address ongoing human rights violations experienced by survivors of a tragic dam collapse in the Lao People’s Democratic Republic nearly two years ago. “Thousands of survivors lost everything and continue ...

The Mekong River Commission(MRC) yesterday said the water levels across the vast majority of lower Mekong basin have now returned to their normal long-term averages. The announcement was made after the MRC last month called member countries and Dialogue Partners to improve the management of the ...

Arguably Vietnam’s most fertile region, feted for long as the nation’s granary, the Mekong Delta is now a ghost of its former self. Perhaps nowhere is this more evident, literally and symbolically, than at the region’s largest reservoir, Kenh Lap, in Ben Tre Province. The reservoir, which ...