Disasters and emergency response
Disasters
Frightened by River Changes, Villagers Blame Laos Dam, Seek Answers
The sun cast its warmest rays before dusk across the farms on Koh Pnov, one of the Mekong River islands substantial enough to survive the river’s seasonal rise and fall. Though usually drenched by the late afternoon showers of rainy season, on a bright August ...
Chan Muyhong and Danielle Keeton-Olsen
Vietnam floods and landslides displace 90,000 people as new cyclone nears
Floods and landslides in Vietnam are reported to have left at least 102 people dead or missing, while tens of thousands of people have lost their homes to rising water. Two storms that hit central Vietnam in the first two weeks of October, Storm Linfa and Storm Nangka, ...
Ashley Lampard in Hanoi
Vietnam: Devastating landslides hit army camp
Rescue teams in Vietnam raced against the clock on Sunday in search for a dozen men, after a series of landslides overwhelmed an army camp. Heavy rain has pounded over central Vietnam for more than a week, resulting in floods and landslides that have killed at least 64 people, according to the country’s disaster management authority. “From 2 ...
jcg/rc (AFP, Reuters, dpa)
Vietnam flood death toll rises as storm Nangka dumps more rain
Vietnam’s flood death toll rose to at least 23 and authorities said the incoming storm Nangka would dump more heavy rain on the country in the coming days. The floods also left at least 14 people missing in Vietnam’s central provinces, the government said in a ...
NEWS AGENCIES
Deadly flooding displaces thousands across Mekong region
Elderly residents and small children clung to inflatable tyres as soldiers and police used rope lines to bring them to safety beyond rising floodwater in Cambodia’s western province of Battambang, which is expected to worsen on Sunday. Hundreds of families in three Cambodian provinces – Pursat, ...
AFP
Yangon poor lose livelihoods due to COVID-19 restrictions
The stay-at-home order because of COVID-19 is causing hardships for the most vulnerable in Yangon. Only one person is allowed to go out at a time and some streets don’t allow strangers to enter, causing hardships for street pedlars and gig economy workers. Most shops in ...
Zeyar Hein
Myanmar’s Effort to Trace COVID-19 Spread Treads on Sensitive Territory
Myanmar’s second wave of coronavirus may have been triggered by “returnees” from neighboring Bangladesh, who brought the illness back with them when they illegally entered Rakhine state, which is now a COVID-19 hotspot, according to a senior government health official. But other experts say the evidence ...
Moe Myint and Nay Myo Htun for RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Than Than Win and Ye Kaung Myint Maung. Written in English by Roseanne Gerin.
Anguish as Mekong Delta’s annual floods continue to dry up
It is time for the annual floods in the Mekong Delta, but the flooding season these days is more a cherished memory than a practical phenomenon. One day in mid-September Cao Van Bi, 50, was rowing a boat with his wife across a paddy field that ...
Hoang Nam
Why Vietnam Is Asking Other Asian Countries to Help Squelch Fake News
A surge in fake news around Southeast Asia, particularly bogus COVID-19 information, has prompted leaders to explore a regional crackdown after a suggestion from a Vietnamese security official. Police agencies in the 10 Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries – which represent a total population ...
Ralph Jennings
Testing times: Myanmar struggles to keep pace as COVID-19 takes off
On September 30, Myanmar announced a record 946 COVID-19 cases in a single day. Less noticed was that it also performed a record number of lab tests – 6,262, to be exact. As cases have increased, particularly in Yangon, numbers like this have quickly become the ...
AUNG PHAY KYI SOE