The project was initially approved in 2006 by ADB with a loan of 50.97 million USD. However, high inflation has increased the cost of civil works, materials, and labor. Additional damage to rural infrastructure caused by typhoons in 2006 and 2007 has contributed to significant cost overruns.

Background

People of the Asia-Pacific region are severely affected by natural hazards such as earthquakes, typhoons, floods, landslides, volcanoes, droughts, tsunamis, and wildfires. Asia's vulnerability is compounded by socio-economic conditions that steadily increase the impact of disasters. Demographic changes, urbanization, and environmental degradation

Three weeks of flooding in southern Thailand have left 52 people dead and thousands stranded without provisions in remote areas, while 69 people have perished in central Vietnam, some of them in landslides. Northern Malaysia, where nine are reported dead, is suffering the worst floods in 30 years.

In Thailand, a local government official said tens of thousands of people are stranded without necessary supplies

Officials say tens of thousands of hectares of rice fields have been destroyed and hundreds of houses have collapsed.

Total damages have been estimated at $US20 million.

Thai city blocked off

More than two weeks of downpours in southern Thailand have killed 27 people, while three others are missing.

The region's largest city, Hat Yai, is said to be 30 per cent under water.

In the central province of Khanh Hoa alone, nine construction workers were killed in a landslide last week, an official of the regional flood control department told AFP, adding that the toll was compiled from December 4 to 16.

In Phu Yen province, to the north of Khanh Hoa, nine people died. A total of 14 perished in three other provinces.

Flood control official Nguyen Trong Hoa

The appeal budget has been revised from CHF 3,899,022 to CHF 3,362,723 (EUR 2,173,004 or USD 2,563,051). The revision