Disasters

As a wave of storms drives flooding across Southeast Asia, a community in northern Laos displaced by a hydropower dam says their new homes are no longer safe due to the threat of landslides. Over 12,000 people have been relocated to allow for the construction of seven dams on the ...

Four consecutive typhoons pummeled the Philippines in just a couple of weeks, leaving swathes of destruction in their wake. The most recent one, with the local name “Ulysses” (international name: Vamco) submerged parts of Luzon, giving residents in the capital a painful reminder of the ...

On November 15, Typhoon Vamco struck the coast of central Vietnam with gusts topping 100 kilometers per hour, becoming the latest in a string of storms to hit the country in recent weeks. Following months of harsh drought, the storms have caused widespread flooding and landslides, displacing ...

When devastating floods ruined Sumroeng Sunthonsaeng’s fruit orchards in 2011, he vowed to stay on the land. He changed the direction of his business, focusing on lucrative and prized durians, long famous in the Nonthaburi area, a neighbouring province of Bangkok. Last year, he was eyeing a ...

President Moon Jae-in on Friday held a summit with leaders of Southeast Asia’s Mekong River nations via video links, in which he promised to contribute US$10 million to help provide new coronavirus vaccines to developing nations. “We will contribute $10 million for coronavirus vaccine support to ...

The summit and related meetings, slated for November 12-15, “are the most important activity of ASEAN this year, attracting widespread attention both inside and outside the region,” Nguyen Quoc Dung, Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs and General Secretary of the National ASEAN 2020 Committee, said ...

The Mekong Delta province of Ben Tre will step up measures over the next five years to cope with saltwater intrusion in its rivers during the dry season, according to the provincial People’s Committee. The coastal province, one of the delta’s hardest hit by saltwater intrusion, is spending 8.4 trillion ...

Myanmar’s government says it will provide a fourth round of cash handouts for those struggling because of COVID-19. However, only the Yangon regional government has announced the cash plan and The Irrawaddy could not confirm if it would be replicated elsewhere. “This time the government will provide ...

The rapid rise of COVID-19 in Myanmar has caught the attention of Asian neighbors and international organizations. Singapore, Vietnam, Thailand, South Korea, Japan, and China have provided aid to Myanmar to fight the virus. They are well aware that if the second wave in Myanmar ...

Myanmar is planning to adopt a new community-based containment strategy in an effort to become a coronavirus-free country in a matter of months, said the spokesperson of the Ministry of Health and Sports. “It is a community-based program designed to restore the current situation of high ...