Weekly Round-Up - IRINAS-184: 13-Jul-08
U N I T E D N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 184
7 - 13 July 2008
CONTENTS:
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs call for separation of UN political, humanitarian
roles
AFGHANISTAN: Appeal for cash to feed 4.5 million people
BANGLADESH: Arsenic detector saving lives
CAMBODIA: Farmers turn back to oxen as fuel price rises
MYANMAR: Cyclone-affected homemakers struggle to get by
MYANMAR: Thousands unable to return home
MYANMAR: Cyclone fishermen await assistance
NEPAL: Training the teachers keeps children in school
NEPAL: Agricultural reform "would boost food security"
PAKISTAN: New flood warning system in Rawalpindi
PAKISTAN: Interim housing solution for Balakot quake victims
PHILIPPINES: Fishermen facing hunger as ban continues
PHILIPPINES: International team to help tackle toxic ferry wreck
SRI LANKA: Children as early detectors, preventers of disaster
TIMOR-LESTE: Fuel costs undermine agricultural assistance
AFGHANISTAN: NGOs call for separation of UN political, humanitarian
roles
Six international non-governmental organisations (NGOs) involved in
development and relief activities in Afghanistan said in a joint press
release on 29 June that the UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA)
had remained "worryingly silent" about the worsening humanitarian crisis
in the country, and that its coordination capacity was "extremely
limited".
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79155
AFGHANISTAN: Appeal for cash to feed 4.5 million people
The government of Afghanistan and the UN on 9 July launched a Joint
Emergency Appeal for over US$404 million to provide an emergency
safety-net for 4.5 million vulnerable Afghans who have been pushed into
"high-risk" food-insecurity.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79162
BANGLADESH: Arsenic detector saving lives
Millions of people in Bangladesh continue to drink water from
arsenic-contaminated tube wells, the most common source of drinking
water in the country, according to health specialists.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79160
CAMBODIA: Farmers turn back to oxen as fuel price rises
The soaring price of fuel, fertiliser and food is a common complaint of
Cambodian farmers, but spiraling inflation is creating newer and tougher
challenges, especially for rural communities. Vann Than, a 55-year-old
farmer, is feeling the burden of fuel costs and loan repayments on a
mechanical tiller he bought to plough his five-hectare rice field.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79123
MYANMAR: Cyclone-affected homemakers struggle to get by
Khin Sein's children stood speechless as their mother, her head held
low, entered the makeshift hut along the banks of the River Pyapon in
Myanmar's cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady delta. "I couldn't get the money,
children," she said point blank.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79140
MYANMAR: Thousands unable to return home
Thousands of cyclone survivors living in displaced persons camps in
Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta worry about the prospects of returning to
their villages, many of which were devastated by the category four
storm.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79154
MYANMAR: Cyclone fishermen await assistance
Ten weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit, only a fraction of the small-scale
fishermen - the backbone of the industry - have returned to work in the
Ayeyarwady Delta, a labyrinth of rivers, ponds and waterways along the
coast of the Adaman Sea.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79198
NEPAL: Training the teachers keeps children in school
For sixth-grade student Srijana Biswakarma, school was a daily torment
of being humiliated by her teacher in front of her 40 classmates. He
often criticised the 15-year-old student for lagging behind the others,
calling her a loser.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79117
NEPAL: Agricultural reform "would boost food security"
Nepal could significantly reduce its food insecurity over the next
decade if it revamped its agricultural sector and invested more in
irrigation, according to specialists.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79179
PAKISTAN: New flood warning system in Rawalpindi
About 150,000 people living alongside Leh Nullah, a drainage channel
running through Rawalpindi, should benefit from a new flood warning
system launched on 7 July with Japanese assistance.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79147
PAKISTAN: Interim housing solution for Balakot quake victims
Two and a half years after the devastating quake of October 2005 that
killed 73,000 in Pakistan administered Kashmir and the North West
Frontier Province, thousands of victims are still without adequate
housing.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79180
PHILIPPINES: Fishermen facing hunger as ban continues
Officials are racing against time to refloat the Princess of the Stars,
which capsized on 21 June, amid concern that the toxic cargo inside its
hold could leak and destroy the marine ecosystem around Sibuyan island,
considered to be among the most diverse in the country.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79158
PHILIPPINES: International team to help tackle toxic ferry wreck
With more storms forecast over the next few months, the Philippine
authorities have brought in international help to fast-track the
salvaging of a ferry that sank off the central island of Sibuyan amid
mounting fears its cargo of toxic pesticides could contaminate the area.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79195
SRI LANKA: Children as early detectors, preventers of disaster
Residents of Ovilkanda, a remote village in Matale District, central Sri
Lanka, often contend with a natural hazard, lightning, that strikes with
great frequency and sometimes with deadly effect.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79146
TIMOR-LESTE: Fuel costs undermine agricultural assistance
Government efforts to curb high food prices in one of the poorest
countries in Asia could potentially sink efforts to attain food
security, says the head of the UN Food and Agricultural Organization
(FAO) in Timor-Leste.
http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=79175
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Appropriate Donations for International Disaster/Humanitarian Needs
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. Disaster Information listserv: www.cidi.org/listsub.htm
. guidelines: www.cidi.org/donate.htm
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