Laos gambles on becoming ‘battery of Southeast Asia’
The collapse of a hydroelectric dam in Laos last week has reinvigorated a debate on the potential consequences of the country’s fervent building of dams, leaving many to question if the rewards outweigh the risks. Keep reading ...
Mekong-Ganga countries to boost ties in water resources management
Six countries of the Mekong-Ganga Cooperation (MGC), namely Cambodia, Laos, Myanmar, Thailand, Vietnam and India, have agreed to enhance cooperation in managing and sustainably using water resources. Foreign ministers of the MGC countries reached the consensus at their ninth meeting on August 2 within the framework ...
Dammed Mekong: lasting challenges for the region’s energy security
The recent collapse of the Xe-Pian Xe-Namnoy dam in Laos shows Southeast Asia’s vulnerability to natural disasters and highlights the importance of emergency preparedness, safety regulation, and sustainable development planning in energy security policies. It also demonstrates the growing asymmetry that’s emanating from an economic ...
Lao hydropower dam disaster offers great lessons on safety: expert
The hydropower dam collapse in Laos should be seen as a valuable lesson about dam safety, according to Dao Trong Tu from the Vietnam River Network. Keep reading ...
Mekong River water level above warning line in Southern Laos, flooding 161 villages
The governor of Lao province Champasak, Bounthong Divixay, said that until Monday, the water level of the Mekong River is 49 centimeters above the warning line and over a hundred villages around the province are flooded, including 24 villages of the province’s capital city Pakse, ...
Mekong Delta asked to prepare natural disaster prevention plans
Deputy chief of the Office of the Central Steering Committee for Natural Disaster Prevention and Control Nguyen Truong Son asked localities in the Mekong Delta region to prepare measures to cope with natural disasters at a meeting in Hanoi on July 31. Keep reading ...
Thailand prepares evacuation in northern provinces as Mekong water level rises
The Thai government has instructed the governors of all northern provinces to prepare to evacuate residents as water level in the Mekong River continues to rise. Before noon on Tuesday (July 31), the Mekong River has burst its banks, allowing water to flow into riverside ...
Thousands displaced by flooding of Mekong
Nearly 1,000 families residing in provinces along the Mekong River had been evacuated to safe areas as of Tuesday, while 1,133 houses in Kratie province had been inundated, according to provincial authorities. The water levels in the provinces had risen significantly, they said, leading schools ...
Dam calamity a wake-up call for Mekong hazards
The recent case of the Xe Pian Xe Namnoy dam collapse in Laos is a timely reminder that there are potential hazardous factors associated with the failure of storage dams. These include large mass movements into a reservoir close to the dam such as a sudden ...
Mekong's banks at bursting point as deluge continues
More provinces along the Mekong River in the North and the Northeast are being alerted to brace for possible burst riverbanks and flooding as rain continues to pour down in upper Thailand. Keep reading ...
