South Asia: Floods and landslides - Mar 2007

By Masood Haider

NEW YORK: Pakistan's Ambassador to the United Nations Abdullah Husain Haroon Tuesday called on the international community to help Pakistan overcome the desperate humanitarian crisis emerging in the wake of military action against militant groups. He suggested that the best way to do so would be for all loans given to Pakistan by international donors following the 2005 earthquake to be forgiven.

Speaking at a meeting on the emerging crisis at Asia Society here he said this was not America's war on terror; it was world's war against the scourge.

The study focuses on two drought-prone regions of Andhra Pradesh and Maharashtra and a flood prone region in Orissa.

NEW DELHI, May 25, 2009 - A new World Bank report says India can further its climate resilience through a combination of measures and right incentives aimed at multiple levels of government - local, state, and national.

The Report, Climate Change Impacts in Drought-and Flood-Affected Areas: Case Studies in India is the first of its kind in South Asia Region.

The Hong Kong Red Cross sincerely thanks the generous support from the Hong Kong public to our flood relief operation in South Asia in 2007.

Disaster Situation

Climate change induced the monsoon season started earlier in South Asia in 2007, heavy rainfall caused severe flooding and landslides covered Pakistan, Bangladesh, Nepal and India. It is reported that around 3000 died and more than 10 million families were affected.

The Hong Kong Red Cross (HKRC) launched a fundraising appeal for South Asia Flood Relief on 13 August 2007.

Executive Summary

A. Background to the Study

A.1 Climate Variability and Change

1. With alpine conditions, arid deserts and tropical regions, India's climate is as varied as its landscape. The summer monsoon marks the most important event in the economic calendar o f rural India. Over 70% o f the annual precipitation falls between the months o f June and September and a good monsoon heralds a bountiful harvest and financial security. But when monsoons fail, or are excessive, suffering and economic loss can be widespread.

This report covers the period 01/01/06 to 31/12/07 of a two-year planning and appeal process.

In brief

Programme summary:

1. EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Following the fall of the Taliban in November 2001 the international community made a huge commitment to Afghanistan. Donors pledged considerable amounts for reconstruction at international conferences in Tokyo (2002), Berlin (2004) and at the London conference in January 2006. With the increasing impact of this post-emergency aid DG ECHO progressively scaled down the amount and range of its funding, from 73,000,000 EUR in 2002 to 22,500,000 EUR in 2006.

By Elizabeth Kiem

NEW YORK, USA, 12 February 2008 - Calling on donors to help address 39 specific crises around the world, UNICEF today launches its annual Humanitarian Action Report outlining the organization's funding requirements for emergency work in 2008.

The report details financial needs beyond regular country programme budgets.

"The number of people threatened by natural disasters had increased by three times over the last 30 years and the number of people affected by natural disasters doubled every 10 years. Tens of millions of people had been affected this year by floods in countries all over the world. The link between the increase in disasters and climate change, which had been predicted by scientists, was unmistakable. Also, more people were now living in exposed areas. Some of the biggest cities in the world were built in disaster zones.

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

The Pakistan floods of 2007 devastated large swathes of rural Sindh and Balochistan Provinces in southern Pakistan, destroying homes, crops and roads, and causing the temporary displacement of over 2.5 million people.

By Amit Kumar with the International Federation in New Delhi

Monsoon season this year has once again proved deadly for India and caused widespread devastation. Heavy rains and subsequent flooding claimed over 3,000 lives, with nearly one-third of those in the state of Bihar.

HUB, 2 July 2007 (IRIN) - Aid for the over 1.5 million people severely hit by cyclonic rains and flooding in Pakistan's southern provinces of Sindh and Balochistan had by 2 July begun reaching those most seriously affected.

UN agencies, including the UN Children's Agency (UNICEF), have also begun attempts to reach people who, in some cases, have been marooned in their villages for up to four days.

The worst hit district is Turbat. Teams from international and national humanitarian organisations are moving in to provide relief but many villages are still inaccessible.

HIGHLIGHTS

World cereal production in 2007 remains on course to reach a record level of 2 095 million tonnes, but with some major crops yet to be planted, the forecast is still tentative.

Based on the current 2007 production outlook, global cereal supplies are forecast to increase in the new 2007/08 marketing season.

ISLAMABAD, April 4 (Reuters) - An avalanche hit a Pakistani mountain village on Wednesday killing at least four people and burying nine, taking the toll from a week of killer avalanches to nearly 50, government officials said.

The avalanches have swept down mountains in the Chitral region of Pakistan's Hindu Kush mountains, 280 km (175 miles) north of Islamabad, after heavy snow was followed by rain.

The avalanche on Wednesday hit the remote village of Birgon.

"With this, now we have a figure of nearly 50 dead," senior police officer Ijaz Ahmed said by telephone from …

PESHAWAR: Central leader of Awami National Party (ANP) and prominent politician, Arbab Muhammad Ayub Jan has urged the NWFP government to take prompt action for rescue and relief of villagers hit by sever flood in river Kabul and Khiyali. In a press statement issued here on Tuesday, Arbab Ayub Jan said due to sever flood in Kabul and Khiyali rivers, people residing on the embankment areas have faced great losses in shape of destruction of their houses and crops.

PESHAWAR: The government has expedited relief activities in Kurram to help the victims of rain, floods and hailstorm in different parts of the agency. Three trucks loaded with different relief items were dispatched from Peshawar to the affected parts of Kurram that were distributed among the needy and deserving tribesmen. The goods dispatched through the Civil Secretariat FATA included eighty tents, three huge bundles of plastic mates, 990 blankets, 30 cartons of used clothes with 20 others of new clothes.

ISLAMABAD, April 2 (Reuters) - An avalanche swept through a village in northern Pakistan and 11 people were missing and feared dead a day after 26 people were killed in another avalanche, police said on Monday.

The avalanche struck Mongi village in the Chitral region of the Hindu Kush mountains on Sunday night after heavy rain fell across deep snow blanketing the mountains, said senior police officer Ijaz Ahmed.

"Several houses have been buried and 11 people are missing.

ISLAMABAD, 2 April 2007 (IRIN) - Forty-one people are feared dead and 13 remain missing after a spate of avalanches struck Pakistan's northwestern Chitral district this weekend.

PAKISTAN - Aid Delivered to Landslide-Affected Villages - IOM, working with local authorities, the Pakistan Army and humanitarian partners, this weekend completed a delivery of winterized tents, plastic sheets, warm clothing, blankets, cooking stoves, kerosene, hygiene kits, medicine and food to Doba Sayedan - the village in Pakistan-administered Kashmir where 27 people lost their lives last week in landslides triggered by heavy rains and snow.

IOM Muzaffarabad Rapid Response Team (RRT) staff, who arrived in a helicopter supplied by USAID on Friday, helped to recover bodies, provided …

ISLAMABAD: Three days of unusually heavy rains and snowfall this week in earthquake-affected areas of Pakistan-administered Kashmir triggered landslides, cut road access and diverted water channels, claiming at least 37 lives and forcing the evacuation of some 450 families to safer locations.

IOM's Rapid Response Teams (RRTs), funded by the American International Group Disaster Relief Fund (AIG DRF), alerted local authorities, relief agencies and the security forces, and coordinated relief operations to meet the immediate needs of families still under threat from unstable mountain …