PHÒNG CHỐNG BÃO ! – Prevent storm damage – Prévention des catastrophes naturelles

Source: United Nations International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR)

Date: 26 Jun 2007

UN/ISDR 2007/9

“Heavy rainfalls in Pakistan, India and the Northern England and heat waves in Greece, Italy and Romania are indications of what might happen more frequently and more severely across the globe as a consequence of the global warming”, said Sálvano Briceño, director of the UN International strategy for Disaster Reduction secretariat. Recent reports from the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change predict increased rainfalls and higher temperatures as evidence of climate change.

“We are not trying to scare people but we want to alert every government of the urgency to put disaster risk reduction as a top priority of their political agenda as no country will be immune,” said Sálvano Briceño.

The ISDR secretariat which is the United Nation’s body that advocates for disaster risk reduction policies is urging governments to implement the Hyogo Framework for Action. The framework recommends a set of concrete measures and policies to reduce the impacts of disasters and increase the resilient of nations against natural hazards by 2015 and was endorsed by 168 governments at a global conference in Japan in 2005

A large number of the world’s disasters are climate related. “We cannot wait to be taken by surprise, we know what is going to happen and we can prepare for it” said Sálvano Briceño

Adaptation to climate change means, for example, setting up early warning systems that can alert people on time, building flood shelters and having contingency plans in place to be able to evacuate hundreds of people rapidly, protecting houses and critical infrastructures such as hospitals, schools, water supplies, electricity installations and transport systems.

People in Southern India and Pakistan are struggling to cope with the effects of three days of heavy rains that have killed more than 200 people. In Northern England, people are trying to recover after heavy precipitation: one month’s worth of rain fell in a couple of hours.

Many of the most effective tools to reduce the impact of disasters are simply about educating and raising awareness of people, not expensive technology, to save lives.

In Romania more people are reported to have died because of the heat waves despite the knowledge acquired in 2003 after the high temperatures that affected most of Europe.

“We can no longer afford to ignore growing and compelling warnings from the world’s leading experts. The situation is not beyond remedy and building resilience and minimizing costs, through adaptation to climate variability and change, is essential to secure the future of societies and economies” said Sálvano Briceño.

Full map : vietnam-ciesin_pop_vnm2007.pdf

A cyclone hit the coast of Pakistan on Tuesday killing several people, cutting roads and stranding hundreds, but it spared the country’s biggest city days after about 230 people were killed there in a storm.  Authorities in Pakistan and neighboring India have evacuated thousands of people from low-lying areas after weekend storms and flooding killed nearly 400 people across the South Asian region.

No incidents in Karachi

Police at the newly opened port of Gwadar, west of the point where the storm made landfall, said some residents had evacuated their homes on Monday night but most later returned.

Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 26 June, 2007

NEW DELHI, June 24 (Reuters) – Aid workers backed by military helicopters battled on Sunday to provide food for 200,000 people displaced by monsoon floods in southern India, while the Pakistani city of Karachi was mostly without power after a storm killed 43 people.In the southern Indian state of Andhra Pradesh, reeling after two days of heavy rains, officials revised down the death toll to 35, but said 24,000 houses had collapsed and 200,000 people were now homeless.

Officials had earlier put the death toll in the state at 45.

“Soldiers and naval helicopters have taken up rescue operations in Kurnool and Guntur districts … where people are stranded on rooftops and up trees,” said Preeti Sudan, the state’s disaster management commissioner.

She said half a million food packets and a million water sachets were being handed out to people in 300 relief centres in the state where rains have since eased.

Every year thousands of people are killed and hundreds of thousands made homeless across South Asia by months of monsoon rains which are vital for farmers and the wider economy but which leave a trail of destruction in their wake.

In Pakistan’s Karachi, with a population of 10 million and where the annual monsoon is yet to arrive, officials said much of the city had been without power for more than 12 hours.

“We are doing our best to restore power supply, but I must say situation is very bad,” said Syed Sultan Hasan, a spokesman for Karachi’s power utility, said.

Angry residents hurled stones at passing cars and power company vehicles, and burned tyres to protest the power outage.

Regional Health Minister Sardar Ahmed said 43 people were confirmed dead after Saturday’s storm. Some were electrocuted as power lines fell and others crushed as homes collapsed.

Weather officials predicted more rains for late on Sunday.

INDIA’S RAINS SPREAD

In India’s financial capital, Mumbai, heavy monsoon rains flooded homes and streets where a century-old British-built drainage system failed to cope with the stormwater.

At least one person was killed when a wall collapsed. People waded through waste deep water in low-lying neighbourhoods.

Media reports said about 50 people had died in the rains in the western state of Maharashtra — of which Mumbai is the capital — over the past three days. Most were either homeless or poor farmers. Some were hit by lightning. In the southwestern tourist state of Kerala about 20 people have died over the past two days, many electrocuted by falling power lines or killed in landslides.

But it was Andhra Pradesh that was worst hit.

“Food and water has reached us after 24 hours,” said P.Gopala Rao, a school teacher in Macherla, one of the 5,000 people living in relief camp in the town 150 km southeast of the state capital, Hyderabad.

Officials said 5,000 medical teams were touring affected areas to try and prevent major disease outbreaks.

In northern areas of Bangladesh, about 30 people have died of diarrhoea and other water-borne diseases over the past week after floods in the Brahmaputra river.
24 Jun 2007

UBND tỉnh vừa phê duyệt tiếp nhận Chương trình Phòng chống thiên tai cho nhà ở và các công trình công cộng nhỏ do tổ chức Development Workshop France (Pháp) tài trợ cho Sở Xây dựng Thừa Thiên Huế với mục tiêu đánh giá thực trạng, nhu cầu và xu hướng phát triển nhà ở và công trình công cộng vừa và nhỏ, nghiên cứu tác động bão lũ đến các công trình này để từ đó đề ra các giải pháp xây dựng và quản lý thích hợp với điều kiện lụt bão ở tỉnh Thừa Thiên Huế.         Chương trình “Phòng chống thiên tai cho nhà ở và các công trình công cộng vừa và nhỏ” sẽ được triển khai nghiên cứu tại ba loại địa hình khác nhau: ven biển, đồng bằng và vùng núi, đặc biệt chú trọng khu vực có nguy cơ chịu tác động cao của bão lũ của tỉnh Thừa Thiên Huế.
      
        Tổng giá trị Chương trình là 350.000.000 đồng, trong đó ngân sách tỉnh hỗ trợ là 87.000.000 đồng và phần tài trợ của tổ chức Development Workshop France là 263.000.000 đồng (ECHO-DIPECHO).

 Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung at the meeting on bird flu fight in Hanoi, June 16

With tests confirming the first human bird flu death in Vietnam since 2005, Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered for urgent measures to contain the disease’s spread.  Dung told a meeting of the national bird flu committee Saturday that efforts should be intensified to raise public awareness of preventive measures and close all poultry farms failing to meet safety standards.He urged local authorities to tighten checks on the transport and slaughter of poultry to contain the spread and continue to vaccinate poultry.Deputy Health Minister Trinh Quan Huan confirmed that a 20-year old man from Ha Tay province, bordering Hanoi, had died of bird flu on June 10.A preliminary diagnosis of bird flu was made June 2 and the man was admitted to Hanoi’s National Contagious and Tropical Diseases Institute six days later.He became the first Vietnamese to die of the deadly virus in 17 months.His death brought to 43 the number of people who have died of bird flu in Vietnam.Four other people were reported this month to be infected with the H5N1 strain of the virus. Two have recovered and two are undergoing treatment.However, none of the five cases, including the fatality, has yet been confirmed by the World Health Organization as bird flu.Vietnam, once the country worst hit by the disease, contained earlier outbreaks through mass vaccination campaigns, culls of millions of poultry, and public education campaigns.But the virus has come back strongly this year, hitting scores of poultry farms in an unusual summer outbreak, especially in the densely populated northern Red River delta region.Outbreaks have been reported since early May in 18 of the country’s 64 provinces and cities, mostly among vaccinated ducks and other waterfowl not getting preventive shots.The UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) recently blamed the surge on unvaccinated ducks grazing in newly harvested rice paddies after Vietnam lifted in March a ban on waterfowl hatching.Experts warn that ducks can be “silent carriers” of bird flu, spreading the virus through their feces as they roam across rice fields and ponds while seldom showing symptoms of illness themselves.The FAO said Vietnam must have in place timely surveillance and response mechanisms, its vaccination campaigns should match breeding cycles, and that hatcheries, slaughterhouses, and markets must be clean.News agency AFP quoted WHO’s Vietnam communications officer Dida Connor as saying in Hong Kong Friday that Vietnam was responding to the fresh outbreaks but also cautioning against complacency.Worldwide, the virus has killed 191 people out of 313 infected patients, according to the WHO. Experts fear the death toll will multiply rapidly if the virus were to mutate and become easily transmittable between humans.Story from Thanh Nien News / Published: 17 June, 2007

Geneva, 12 June 2007 - Days of torrential rains since the beginning of June, have resulted in extensive flooding of the southern Yangzi River and south western China, affecting more than 9 million people. The State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters reported that Guangdong, Guangxi, Guizhou and Hunan Provinces have been the worst hit by the continuous heavy rains, mudslides and floods, and issued a level-4 emergency response warning (the highest in the country). Rescue and relief teams have been sent to the affected areas.

According to the Ministry of Civil Affairs, the death toll stood at 66 persons with 12 reported missing on June 10. The floods have damaged some 94,000 houses and destroyed 48,000 in the region, forcing the evacuation of around 591,000 people. About 294,800 hectares of crops have been affected of which 53,000 hectares have been totally destroyed. Losses are estimated to run over US$ 371 million.

The National Meteorological Centre has forecast continuing heavy rains south of the Yangtze River and in South China for the next few days.

 See also : http://www.dartmouth.edu/~floods/index.html

with informations on flooding eveywhere in the world.

DHAKA, June 11 (Reuters) – Rain and landslides have killed around 80 people in Bangladesh as monsoon showers swept the country, officials said on Monday.

Heavy rains triggered landslides that buried homes, killing 65 people and leaving scores of others missing in the port city of Chittagong, police and witnesses said.

Some 70 others were admitted to hospitals with injuries while nearly 100 more are missing, rescuers and Chittagong district officials said.

“We are facing a hell of a situation here,” one rescuer said by telephone. “It’s still heavily raining, and visibility has sharply declined. Roads are all under water,” one rescuer said.

“We are facing huge difficulty in trying to help the victims,” said another rescue official.

Officials fear the death toll could climb.

“The disaster caught us unawares, it struck suddenly,” said Mokhlesur Rahman, Chittagong Divisional Commissioner.

Army, firefighters and police have joined volunteers in the search and rescue effort, but flooded roads were a big problem, witnesses and officials said.

Weather officials said 225 mm (9 inches) of rain fell in Chittagong and neighbouring districts on Monday, the highest-ever recorded in a 10-hour period.

Thunderstorms killed 13 people elsewhere in the country, including five in western Jhenaidah district alone, local officials told reporters.

The landslide deaths in four areas of Chittagong included five from one family, rescuers said.

“I am waiting for the body of my daughter, who died in the landslide that also buried my hopes,” said Mohammad Yusuf 50, at the Chittagong Medical College Hospital.

Shops, schools, offices and businesses were closed and residents were stranded by waist-high water in some areas.

Weather officials said heavy rains at the onset of the annual monsoon season have paralysed much of Bangladesh since Sunday, and raised fears of flash floods in low-lying areas.

The weather office said the monsoon, which officially began on Friday and will last until mid-September, was unusually active under the influence of a sea storm in the Bay of Bengal.

Large areas along the Bangladesh coast have been submerged under 3-4 feet (0.9-1.2 metres) of water due to a moderate tidal surge triggered by the storm, officials said on Monday.

Ports in Chittagong, Mongla and Cox’s Bazar were asked to hoist warning signals as the storm could gather strength, meteorologists said.

Some of the railway tracks between Chittagong and the capital Dhaka were also under water, although trains were still running with caution. Flights between Dhaka and Chittagong have been suspended, aviation officials said.

Work at the country’s main Chittagong port was partially disrupted, port officials said.

Ten houses situated on a riverbank, some several stories high, collapsed into the Tra Noc River in southern Vietnam’s Can Tho city Sunday morning, but no one was hurt.

They were in a market area in Binh Thuy district and the mishap occurred at a time when the market was full.

Furniture and roofs could be seen floating in the water.

Le Van Gan, one of the victims, said at six his house had begun to crack and slipped 50cm down the bank. Forty minutes and several cracking sounds later, the house had slid into the river, he said.

Nguyen Van Anh, the market manager, said it was fortunate the accident took place in the morning and not at night when there could have been casualties.

Some locals had reported cracks in their houses the previous afternoon, but things happened rapidly after that, he added.

There are a dozen more houses in danger of collapse.

Tran Thanh Man, head of the district Communist Party cell, said the victims would be given temporary lodgings while the cell would recommend clearing part of the area.

He expressed concern that though the river’s currents were strong, an embankment was yet to be built.

Story from Thanh Nien News; Published: 11 June, 2007

The Asia Development Bank (ADB) has announced it will halt a US$43 million soft loan to a Ho Chi Minh City drainage project as only 3.4 % of its target has been realized since work began a decade ago.  The bank cited outmoded plans as another cause for the loan cut-off announced last week. City leaders will soon ask Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung for alternative funds.Around VND400 billion (US$25.1 million) more is needed to complete the Hang Bang project, which envisaged eliminating flooding in 29 waterlogged areas of District 6.Since the project began in 1997, only several sewers have been laid and only one area has been protected from flooding.ADB began disbursing a low-interest $100 million loan in 2001, but the amount was reduced to around $43 million in late 2005. The loan was then extended to 2008 due to the project’s slow movement.Two months ago, ADB country director to Vietnam Ayumi Konish told city leaders that he would halt the loan due to lack of progress and to the fact that the drainage design put forward a decade ago had become obsolete.The project was supposed to benefit 300,000 people living in chronically flooded areas with poor sewerage systems.Konish promised to consider assisting with research into new designs to tackle water problems in the area if the city continued with the project.Ho Chi Minh City has been burdened with several tardy projects recently. The Nhieu Loc – Thi Nghe Canal dredging project, and others at a total cost of US$463 million, were all scheduled for completion this year but are now likely to be delayed until 2009.Story from Thanh Nien News
Published: 10 June, 2007