SANGRUR: As if a swelling Ghaggar during monsoons was not enough for causing damage, the construction of a 10-foot high concrete wall along the Hansi-Butana canal in Haryana is also expected to severely affect people living near the seasonal river.

The residents of about two dozen villages situated near Ghaggar`s banks are a worried lot because of the construction.

They have decided to approach state and Union authorities against this.

This report covers the period 1 January to 31 December 2010.

In brief Programme outcome:

The 2010 disaster management (DM) programme was designed around the disaster management strategic plan of Indian Red Cross Society (IRCS) (2009-2012) which focussed on:

• Building the capacity of staff and volunteers, disaster response teams, branches and headquarters;

• Strengthen national disaster preparedness and response mechanisms;

• Emergency operations centres at state level;

• Contingency planning for various specific scenarios;

Executive Summary

NEW DELHI, January 14, 2011 - More than one million people living in the coastal areas of Orissa and Andhra Pradesh are set to benefit from a program financed by the World Bank to provide $255 million to support the first phase of the Government of India's national program to mitigate the impact of cyclones.

World Bank Group President, Robert B. Zoellick, joined India's Finance Minister, Mr. Pranab Mukherjee, and Mr. M. Shashidhar Reddy, Vice Chairman, National Disaster Management Authority

In brief

Programme purpose: The aim of the International Federation is to coordinate and support efforts at country and regional level to assist South Asian National Societies to scale up their work to improve the lives of vulnerable people.

Programme summary: The regional disaster management (DM) programme focused on meeting challenges arising from vulnerabilities and risks of re-occurring disasters in South Asia. It continued to scale up DM/disaster risk reduction (DRR) approaches to improve quality of the

- Sustained heavy rains over the course of several weeks have resulted in water logging and flooding across several coastal districts of the state of Tamil Nadu. The situation further deteriorated following continuous heavy rainfall between the 4th and 6th of December 2010.

- The districts affected are Cuddalore, Nagapattinam, Thanjavur, Thiruvarur, Villupuram, Tuticorin, Tirunelvelli, Pudukottai and Ramanthapuram

- According to the latest estimates available 203 lives have been lost across the state,

The northeast monsoon - which hits southern parts of the country from October to December - has been heavier than normal this year, forcing authorities to release large volumes of water from reservoirs in the state of Tamil Nadu.

Officials say the latest heavy rains, which started on Saturday night, have so far killed around 12 people -