The Hong Kong Special Administrative Region Government (HKSARG) released $41.53 million from the Disaster Relief Fund in the year ending March 31, 2012 to support government authorities and various relief organisations in providing early relief to victims of major disasters which occurred outside Hong Kong.

In the first semester of 2011, natural disasters had a devastating impact on human society. Preliminary EM-DAT figures showed the occurrence of 108 natural disasters, which killed over 23 thousand people, affected nearly 44 million others and caused more than US$ 253 billion of economic damages.

Sixty-one countries experienced a natural disaster, with 11 disasters (10%) happening in the Philippines alone. This country was mainly hit by severe floods and storms. However China, suffering from 8 disasters, counted the most people affected by natural disasters (25.9 million or 59%).

HANOI — Thousands of people in Vietnam sought shelter as a powerful tropical storm barrelled towards its northern coast on Friday, after killing 43 people in the Philippines and slamming into southeast China.

Beijing, which had issued its first red typhoon alert of the year, downgraded Typhoon Nesat to a "strong tropical storm" as it slowed at sea, after forcing 300,000 people to evacuate on the tropical island of Hainan.

SHANGHAI — Tropical Storm Nanmadol headed towards China Tuesday, forcing tens of thousands of boats back to harbour, after leaving a trail of destruction in Taiwan and killing 16 people in the Philippines.

Chinese weather authorities said Nanmadol was expected to make landfall in the southeastern province of Fujian on Tuesday afternoon, bringing heavy rains to the region.

BEIJING, July 28 (Xinhua) -- China's flood control authority on Thursday launched an emergency response for tropical storm Nock-Ten, which is expected to land at the country's southern coastal regions on Friday night or Saturday morning.

Nock-Ten, which killed at least 31 people in the Philippines, is the eighth storm and the most powerful one to hit China so far this year. It will make landfall over the coastal regions of western Guangdong and eastern Hainan Province, the State Flood Control and Drought Relief Headquarters (SFDH) said.

View larger image - NASA's Aqua satellite captured this infrared image of 2 tropical cyclones from the AIRS instrument on June 22 at 17:53 UTC 1:53 p.m. EDT. The heaviest rainfall and strongest convection from Tropical Storm Meari (right) is currently over the Philippine Sea. The strongest thunderstorms (purple) in Haima (left) are mostly over the South China Sea and Hainan Island, China.

China's meteorological authority issued an alert on Thursday for the super typhoon nicknamed "Songda" as it moves near the country's southern coast, bringing strong winds and large waves.

Songda, the second typhoon this year, will cause high winds in the country's southern seas over the next 24 hours, said China's National Meteorological Center (NMC), which issued an orange alert for strong winds at 6 p.m.

ESCAP study warns food inflation can delay MDG 1 achievement by 5 years

Bangkok (UN ESCAP Information Services) - High food prices prevented 19.4 million people in the Asia-Pacific region from climbing out of poverty last year and persisting food and oil inflation can keep up to an extra 42 million people poor in the region, a new United Nations study released today said.

An assessment by the UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) warns that rising food

DISASTER RESPONSE

USAID/OFDA Responds to the New Zealand Earthquake

On the afternoon of February 22, people in Christchurch, New Zealand, were going about their normal lunchtime routine when a magnitude 6.3 earthquake rattled the city, trapping people under collapsed buildings, causing extensive damage to the city center, and killing hundreds of individuals.