Full Coverage: Emergency relief

26.06.2006 Almost a year after the unprecedented deluge of July 26, 2005, the Maharashtra government is yet to introduce ‘disaster management’ as a subject of study in schools at the secondary level, even though it had planned to do so from the current academic year.

26.06.2006 "My name is Mohammed Sokor, writing to you from Dagahaley refugee camp in Dadaab. Dear sir, there is an alarming issue here. People are given too few kilogrammes of food. You must help." The UN World Food Programme receives a direct appeal from a disaster zone in the Horn of Africa.
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16.06.2006 The campaign, entitled Disaster Risk Reduction Begins at School, which is co-sponsored by the UN International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR), aims to promote disaster reduction education in school curricula along with improving school safety by encouraging the application of construction standards that can withstand any kind of natural hazard.

16.06.2006 Eight thousand families in northern Pakistan left destitute by last October’s devastating earthquake that killed around 80,000 will receive financial and technical support to rebuild their houses and buy livestock through a new project supported by a $26.4 million loan from the UnitedNations International Fund for Agricultural Development (IFAD).

16.06.2006 Flood preparation, including adequate provisioning of emergency supplies, their fair distribution and management of the entire relief efforts, all assume critical importance in decreasing human sufferings in flooded areas and help in their recovery from floods.

14.06.2006 Flash floods and mudslides triggered by heavy monsoon rains in India's northeast killed eight people and displaced some 75,000 others in the States of Assam and Tripura, officials.

14.06.2006 Il terremoto che ha colpito l’Indonesia a fine maggio ha fatto più danni dello tsunami: il ministro indonesiano per lo Sviluppo ha reso noto la stima di 3,1 miliardi di dollari, il doppio delle valutazioni iniziali. Secondo la Banca Mondiale, l’impatto del sisma a Java è molto maggiore di quello che si pensava e può essere considerato uno dei più gravi disastri naturali degli ultimi 10 anni. Se il bilancio in termini di perdite umane (5800 morti) è minore di quello dello tsunami del 2004, quello dei danni a case ed edifici invece è di molto superiore - riporta AsiaNews. Prosegue intanto l'attività delle organizzazioni umanitarie. Medici Senza Frontiere è presente a Yogyakarta con operatori internazionali, medici e psicologi indonesiani, oltre a un centinaio di indonesiani tra operai impegnati nella costruzione del reparto post-operatorio, autisti e logisti. Anche la Caritas Italiana è attiva nella regione in coordinamento con Caritas Indonesia: tra gli obiettivi prioritari vi è quello di raggiungere anche i luoghi meno aiutati e più isolati.

13.06.2006 Natural disasters impart lessons at a very high cost of life and property. But if those lessons do not lead to learning and knowledge generation, then the costs could be higher.

09.06.2006 Programi për Zhvillim i Kombeve të Bashkuara në Kosovë (UNDP) do të filloi një projekt të ri mjedisor në qytetin e Mitrovicës i cili do të merret me çështjet mjedisore dhe shumetnike, ka bërë të ditur zyra e UNDP-së në Kosovë të hënën më 5 qershor në Ditën Ndërkombëtare të Mjedisit.

09.06.2006 Tejus Crisis and Trauma Foundation, a non-governmental organisation of Bangalore, has launched "Prerana," a disaster management initiative. The objectives will be to prevent disasters, offer rescue services, train citizens to handle natural calamities and help others in times of need such as a major fire or floods. Citizens with training would be able to help the fire services or home guards during emergency.

08.06.2006 The United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) plans to end its active engagement from Pakistan's quake-affected areas. More than 75,000 people were killed and thousands more injured on 8 October after a powerful 7.6 magnitude quake in north and west Pakistan.

07.06.2006 The World Disasters Report is an annual publication of the IFRC. World Disasters Report 2005 focuses on the role of information in disasters, also shedding some light on the sharing of information for tsunami recovery in South Asia.

07.06.2006 Accurate, timely information saves lives. Jonathan Walter, editor of the World Disasters Report, provides an insight.