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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 154
10 - 16 December 2007


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: Avalanche kills 13 in northeast
BANGLADESH: Live-saving Sundarbans may take years to recover from
   cyclone
BANGLADESH: Cyclone victims face sharply rising food prices
BANGLADESH: Government seeks US$2.2billion for cyclone rehabilitation
INDONESIA: Slow motion volcano tests disaster preparedness
PAKISTAN: Extremists target schoolgirls in north
PAKISTAN: Government in further drive to eradicate polio


AFGHANISTAN: Avalanche kills 13 in northeast

Thirteen people were killed by an avalanche in northeastern Afghanistan 
on 11 December and a further three are almost certainly also dead, 
according to the Afghanistan National Disaster Management Authority 
(ANDMA).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75828


BANGLADESH: Live-saving Sundarbans may take years to recover from 
cyclone

The world's largest mangrove forest - known as the Sundarbans - 
instrumental in saving thousands from certain death and destruction when 
Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh last month, may take up to 30 years to 
recover.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75833


BANGLADESH: Cyclone victims face sharply rising food prices

Almost a month after Cyclone Sidr slammed into Bangladesh's coastal 
belt, killing over 3,000 and leaving millions more homeless, food prices 
have surged by as much as 50 percent in the cyclone affected area - 
price hikes well beyond the means of most cyclone survivors.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75853


BANGLADESH: Government seeks US$2.2billion for cyclone rehabilitation

The government of Bangladesh has appealed to donors for US$2.2 billion 
in international aid to rehabilitate coastal communities badly affected 
by last month's devastating cyclone, as well as provide long-term 
disaster protection programmes.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75870


INDONESIA: Slow motion volcano tests disaster preparedness

Local officials took action in September 2007 when Mt Kelud in the 
province of East Java, Indonesia, began showing signs it might erupt. 
They put into practice lessons learned from the December 2004 tsunami 
and from 1990, when Mt Kelud last erupted, killing 35 residents, 
destroying houses and cropland.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75844


PAKISTAN: Extremists target schoolgirls in north

In some parts of Mansehra District in the North West Frontier Province 
(NWFP), the familiar early morning scenes of children going to school 
have changed. Rather than regular school uniforms, often topped with a 
white 'dopatta' (head scarf) or shawl traditionally worn by schoolgirls, 
more and more of all but the youngest girls are donning the head-to-toe 
'burqa', or full-length veil.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75786


PAKISTAN: Government in further drive to eradicate polio

Health officials in Pakistan have launched this year's final push to 
eradicate polio in the country. A total of 14 million children under the 
age of five will be immunised over three days in 44 high-risk districts 
in the country beginning on 11 December.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=75805


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