Disasters and emergency response

The severe weather conditions in the first months of 2016 with drought and saline intrusion dealt a strong blow on Vietnam’s agriculture, leading to minus growth rate of the sector in the first half of the year. Agricultural production, which has just recovered from the damage ...

While there are natural catastrophes all over the world, Asia is a unique confluence of people and perils.​ More than half of the world’s population lives in Eastern, Southern and Southeast Asia. The region hosts more than 1.6 billion urban inhabitants and seven of the ...

Last year’s drought caused a nationwide crisis, with harvests ruined, forest fires raging and many rural families struggling to feed themselves. As experts take stock of the impact, news of another potential El Niño raises a question: Is Cambodia prepared for the next drought? For ...

Victims of the recent flooding in Prachuap Khiri Khan province have pledged to sue the Royal Irrigation Department and provincial authorities for failing to issue an early warning. They believe that dereliction of duty by the officials caused deaths and property damage that could have been ...

Two sea dykes in the Mekong Delta (Cửu Long) province of Bạc Liêu were badly damaged on Sunday and Monday by high tides, huge waves and strong winds, threatening the lives and properties of local residents. In Bạc Liêu city, huge waves and powerful winds ...

The government has warned people to be careful about water supplies – for people and animals as well as rice fields – due to fears of a repeat of last year’s drought. Nhem Vanda, the vice-president of the National Committee for Disaster Management, said on February ...

A landslide in northern Myanmar’s jade mining region has killed 9 people, a local official said on February 11, the latest fatal incident to strike the shadowy billion-dollar industry. The men were believed to be searching for jade in Kachin State when a wall of unstable ...

The Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment has asked 38 cities and provinces nationwide to promptly revise the operation of reservoirs to ensure water sources for low-lying areas in this dry season, especially in vulnerable areas such as the central region, the Central Highlands and ...

The flood situation in the South, which has claimed 96 lives, has improved and only six districts in three provinces are still inundated, but the Ministry of Public Health has warned residents in Prachuap Khiri Khan and 11 other southern provinces of the emerging threat ...

Extreme weather conditions resulting in a complex tide phenomenon, landslides and sea erosion are threatening coastal areas in central Bình Thuận Province, authority officials and local people have said. Mai Kiều, director of the provincial Department of Agriculture and Rural Development, said this week that ...