Disasters and emergency response
Housing for Attapeu Flood Victims Still Unfinished
New homes for victims of the 2018 dam collapse in Attapeu Province have yet to be completed nearly four years after the disaster. KPL reports that Minister of Information, Culture and Tourism, Ms.Suansavanh Vignaket, visited villagers in Sanamxay District, Attapeu Province, yesterday. She toured the area and spoke with local ...
Manyphone Vongphachanh
Opinion: A Convention Could Lock In China’s Mekong Cooperation
The success and survival of the Mekong River rests with China: the largest, wealthiest state in the region, positioned in the strategically important upstream. As the Mekong enters its fourth year of drought, certainty about China’s cooperation is no longer desirable — it is essential. No ...
Kenneth Stiller
Two dozen dead, 80 missing after jade mine landslide in Myanmar’s Hpakant
At least 23 people are dead and 80 are missing 11 days after a landslide at a jade mine in Myanmar’s Kachin state, but junta officials and the mine’s operators have yet to confirm the casualties and are seeking to keep the incident under wraps, ...
Reported by RFA’s Myanmar Service. Translated by Khin Maung Nyane. Written in English by Joshua Lipes.
Developing a Freshwater Health Index: Encompassing Earth Data, Community Concerns, and Climate Change
Earth’s climate is changing, and one of the main impacts is on the water cycle. For example, there is an elevated risk of more frequent and intense flooding and droughts. Also, the amount of water flowing in individual streams and rivers is changing, and those ...
Earth Science Communications Team at NASA
Mekong Delta prepares for possible drought, salinity
Farmers and authorities in Vietnam’s Mekong Delta have started storing water, building dams and planting seeds early to avoid drought and salinity. Living near Kenh Lap, Mekong Delta’s largest manmade reservoir in Ben Tre Province, Le Van Hao said he had witnessed how the reservoir, which ...
Hoang Nam, Cuu Long
Dam reservoir releases could raise Mekong River water levels
Mekong River levels are expected to rise as hydropower dams in the Upper Basin begin releasing water from upstream reservoirs. These dry season releases will affect the river’s natural flow, experts said, altering livelihoods across the basin. Regional specialists tracking the ebb and flow of the ...
ANTON L. DELGADO
Mekong Drought Enters Fourth Year; Worst Conditions in 60 Years
Mainland Southeast Asia is entering its fourth year of drought, with climate change and unrelenting dam construction taking an unprecedented toll on the Mekong River and the 65 million people who rely on the waterway for their livelihoods. In Cambodia, the drought has prompted a government ...
Luke Hunt
Oil spill threatens corals in eastern Thailand
Authorities are rushing to prevent an oil spill in eastern Thailand from damaging fragile corals, after officials said on Sunday (Jan 30) the leak that began last week was drifting towards more coastal areas. Minister of Natural Resources and the Environment Varawut Silpa-archa said it was ...
Reuters/vc
Mekong Countries Urged to Take Action as River Experiences Three Years of Low Flows
The Mekong River Commission (MRC) Secretariat has renewed its call for the six Mekong countries to urgently address regional low flows, water fluctuations and drought as the Lower Mekong River experiences record low flows for the third consecutive year. During the last three years, flows in ...
Latsamy Phonevilay
Building Resilience across Southeast Asia
Climate change and myths about natural disasters Because we are powerless to prevent natural disasters from occurring, catastrophes become extraordinary experiences that must be learned, understood, and lived with as a normal part of daily life. When calamities strike, there is a chance of injury, death, crop ...
Wanwalee Inpin