Disasters and emergency response
Disasters
Mekong dams store up trouble for China downstream
China has been accused of limiting the water to one of the world’s biggest rivers to feed its hydroelectric dams. David Stilwell, the US assistant secretary of state for east Asia and the Pacific, said that Beijing was manipulating the water flows of the Mekong with ...
Didi Tang
Low water levels in Mekong, tributaries affect fish farming
Water levels in the Mekong river and its tributaries in this northeastern border province are very low compared to past years, jeopardising the livelihoods of farmers who raise fish in baskets, according to local media reports. In Muang district, water in the Mekong river is now ...
PATTANAPONG SRIPIACHAI
Health Workers Make Up 10% of Myanmar’s COVID-19 Cases
More than 10 percent of those currently infected with COVID-19 in Myanmar are health workers, according to a top government medic. “More than 10 percent of those infected with COVID-19 after Aug. 16 are health staff,” said the director of contagious disease prevention and eradication at ...
THAZIN HLAING
China’s Dam-Building Is Harming the Mekong River
The Mekong is one of Asia’s most important rivers, supporting 60 million people in Southeast Asia. But for the second consecutive year, the lower Mekong basin has hit a record low water flow, affecting irrigation, rice production and fisheries, all vital to the region’s food security. The drought ...
Bloomberg News
October registration set for new Thailand 3,000 baht subsidy campaign for 15 million applicants
A new subsidy campaign has been launched by the government, allowing registered persons to receive a subsidy granting half the price of any of their purchases at participating stores with a cap of 3,000 baht per person throughout the campaign. Registration is set to open ...
Pattaya Mail
The Last Farewell to the Mighty Mekong
The miracle of the Mekong, where the pulsating force of the monsoon-driven river every year pushes its tributary to back up and reverse its flow into the great Tonle Sap lake in Cambodia, has again been disrupted and obstructed by dams, drought, and climate change. “This ...
Tom Fawthrop
Govt compensating private sector workers laid off during pandemic
Employees who are members of their business’s social insurance scheme are eligible to receive financial assistance for temporary unemployment or loss of workdays during the COVID-19 lockdown. However, only members of business-related social insurance schemes will be able to receive compensation from the National Social Security ...
Phetphoxay Sengpaseuth
Thailand reports 1st local coronavirus case in 100 days
A prison inmate in Thailand has tested positive for the coronavirus in the country’s first confirmed locally transmitted case in 100 days, health officials said Thursday. They identified the inmate as a 37-year-old man arrested for drug abuse who was brought to prison in Bangkok on ...
Busaba Sivasomboon | AP
Facebook joins flood, drought alert efforts on Mekong River
Facebook and the Mekong River Commission (MRC) launched a collaboration initiative Monday to provide early flood alert and drought monitoring information to Mekong nations. The MRC stated it has installed 22 hydrological stations along the main channel in the lower Mekong River basin to monitor and ...
Nguyen Quy
Vietnam dodged the coronavirus bullet, so why are its workers struggling?
Along a busy highway on the outskirts of Vietnam’s largest city, a worn-out looking woman carrying all her worldly possessions in a handful of plastic bags picks her way through a web of swaying hammocks, looking for one that’s empty so she can lay her ...
Sen Nguyen