U N I T E D   N A T I O N S
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Asia
IRIN-AS Weekly Round-Up 192
1 - 7 September 2008


CONTENTS:

AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for "vital funding" to avert humanitarian crisis
AFGHANISTAN: Flood abatement efforts yield mixed results
AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Wheat loan to ease food shortage
BANGLADESH: Two million people marooned by floods
CAMBODIA: Gambling fuels poverty
MYANMAR: Bureaucratic hurdles plague government cyclone relief
MYANMAR: Cyclone survivors wish for return of private donors
MYANMAR: Government cuts currency red tape for donors
MYANMAR: Cyclone-displaced ponder relocation
NEPAL: Concern rising over illegal adoptions
NEPAL: Indoor pollution proves deadly
PAKISTAN: Buried alive in the name of tradition
PAKISTAN: Sectarian violence causes more people to flee
PAKISTAN: IDPs face cholera, difficult camp conditions - ICRC warns
PHILIPPINES: Half a million displaced in fighting
SRI LANKA: Free movement of displaced people critical - UN
TIMOR-LESTE: Security handover raises concerns
VIETNAM: Mangrove project to protect residents from storm surges


AFGHANISTAN: UN calls for "vital funding" to avert humanitarian crisis

The UN Assistance Mission in Afghanistan (UNAMA) says donors must 
provide "vital funding" to enable aid agencies to avert a possible 
humanitarian crisis this winter.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80098


AFGHANISTAN: Flood abatement efforts yield mixed results

Government efforts to reduce flood risks and damage in vulnerable 
communities have yielded mixed results. Flash floods killed about 400 
people and destroyed hundreds of houses in different parts of the 
country in 2007, according to the Afghanistan National Disasters 
Management Authority (ANDMA).

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80119


AFGHANISTAN-PAKISTAN: Wheat loan to ease food shortage

The UN World Food Programme (WFP) and government of Pakistan are 
finalising an agreement involving the loan of 50,000 tonnes of wheat for 
pre-winter food aid operations in Afghanistan.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80167


BANGLADESH: Two million people marooned by floods

More than two million people have been marooned by late monsoon floods 
in 15 of the country's 64 districts, according to the Bangladesh Water 
Development Board (BWDB) The flood waters first hit the country from the 
neighbouring Indian provinces of Bihar, West Bengal, Arunachal, Assam 
and Meghalaya at end-August, entering Bangladesh's three major rivers 
systems.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80159


CAMBODIA: Gambling fuels poverty

In a dimly lit room in a frontier town along the Thai-Cambodian border, 
a man slaps down a card on the table, having bet all his daily earnings 
as a motorbike taxi driver. He loses the US$4 he earned that day. To 
quell his anger, he sniffs a bowl of glue - a daily habit to boost his 
stamina to work through the oppressive heat.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80114


MYANMAR: Bureaucratic hurdles plague government cyclone relief

Stories of bureaucratic hurdles in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, 
which left nearly 140,000 people dead or missing when it struck on 2 and 
3 May, are far from unusual. Nu, a 50-year-old woman from a fishing 
family, should finally get the boat engine she needs after three arduous 
visits to the township authorities in Daydaye.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80099


MYANMAR: Cyclone survivors wish for return of private donors

>From her makeshift hut along the highway between Pyanpon and Bogale 
>townships in the Ayeyarwady Delta, Yee Yee looks to the motorway. 
>"Whenever I hear the sound of a car, I think it might be someone coming 
>to help," the 56-year-old said.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80139


MYANMAR: Government cuts currency red tape for donors

The UN is calling on donors to give more generously to an international 
appeal for victims of Cyclone Nargis, and a senior official says donors 
are now getting a fair exchange rate.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80161


MYANMAR: Cyclone-displaced ponder relocation

The last of Myanmar's cyclone-displaced have expressed anxiety over a 
government plan to relocate them. Some 1,800 people live at the 3-mile 
and 5-mile camps - a reference to their distance from Labutta, the 
largest town at the southern tip of Ayeyarwady Delta.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80188


NEPAL: Concern rising over illegal adoptions

For the past four years, 35-year-old Nirmala Thapa has been fighting to 
get her three children back from Spain after they were adopted illegally 
through a Nepalese children's home.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80117


NEPAL: Indoor pollution proves deadly

The use of biomass fuel may be routine and cheaper for rural households 
in the Himalayan nation, but its impact is proving dangerous as the 
biomass creates indoor pollution, seriously affecting people's health, 
according to specialists.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80182


PAKISTAN: Buried alive in the name of tradition

Several weeks ago armed tribesmen in Balochistan forced five women out 
of their village, shot and injured them, and buried them alive in the 
scrub. Three of the women were teenagers. The other two were their 
mothers. The AHRC said wild animals had left the bodies half eaten.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80096


PAKISTAN: Sectarian violence causes more people to flee

Kurram, one of seven tribal agencies on the western border with 
Afghanistan, has been hit by fierce sectarian clashes in the past 10 
months, pitching Sunni Muslims against the minority Shia. Of a total 
population of 450,000, Kurram is 42 percent Shia, unlike the tribal 
areas surrounding it, according to official data. Intensified conflict 
over the past three weeks has led to at least 400 deaths and even more 
injuries.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80138


PAKISTAN: IDPs face cholera, difficult camp conditions - ICRC warns

The ICRC reported that cholera had broken out among the IDPs and as such 
its top priority was providing clean water and sanitation. Outbreaks of 
cholera, an acute gastro-intestinal infection spread through 
contaminated food and water, have been reported in the past in northern 
areas and elsewhere.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80204


PHILIPPINES: Half a million displaced in fighting

Up to 500,000 people are enduring poor health services and unsanitary 
conditions after fleeing the fighting between the government and Muslim 
rebels in the south.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80190


SRI LANKA: Free movement of displaced people critical - UN

Tens of thousands of civilians displaced by the fighting in Sri Lanka's 
north must be allowed to move freely, Neil Buhne, the UN Resident 
Representative in the country, told IRIN.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80141


TIMOR-LESTE: Security handover raises concerns

After the violence two years ago, control of the local police was given 
to UNPol so the UN police could mentor and certify local officers. That 
certification course is set to end early next year. If all goes as 
planned, by February local forces will resume power for the first time 
since before the crisis. By then the government expects the 30 remaining 
displacement camps to be empty and the country to be back to normal.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80184


VIETNAM: Mangrove project to protect residents from storm surges

Pham Thai Lien, 50, used to cut down trees in the mangrove forest near 
her home, trading the wood for rice or using it as firewood. Now, she 
spends the "hunger months" of April, May and June planting trees in the 
mangrove forests along the coastline of the Mekong Delta province of Soc 
Trang under a project run by GTZ, the German development agency and 
local officials.

http://www.irinnews.org/Report.aspx?ReportId=80103[END]


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