Disasters and emergency response

At least 2 people have died in flash flooding in Vietnam after heavy rainfall brought by Tropical Storm Sinlaku. Meanwhile hundreds of homes have been flooded as the storm dumped heavy rainfall making its way over Laos and Thailand. According to Thailand’s meteorological department, the storm is now expected to move ...

Chinese dams aren’t the problem causing droughts for downstream nations along the Mekong River – they are part of the solution – says a Chinese study released in July. The study is an attempt to pour water on claims by a rival US-backed investigation that blamed dams ...

A Thai dam developer has begun clearing land for a large-scale Mekong River dam near the ancient Lao capital Luang Prabang before signing a hydropower sale pact required for approval, raising concerns from downstream communities already hit hard by Laos’ aggressive damming of the vital ...

In June of this year, the FAO’s annual State of World Fisheries and Aquaculture report ranked the Mekong Basin as the world’s most productive freshwater fishery, accounting for over 15% of global annual freshwater fish catch. Meanwhile, WWF Researchers estimate that the contribution actually accounts ...

Good sand is surprisingly hard to find, and some of the best — the kind used to make glass, concrete and even iPhones — is usually found only in riverbeds and along coasts. Now researchers are discovering that a global boom in sand mining is ...

The beginning of the rainy season has increased land erosion along rivers and canals in the Cửu Long (Mekong) Delta. The delta, the country’s largest rice, fruit and seafood producer, has reported a number of cases since May. In past years, landslides would normally occur only during ...

Thailand has ranked number one in the world out of 184 countries for its ongoing COVID-19 recovery effort, according to the Global COVID-19 Index (GCI). Published on 28 July, Thailand received an index score of 82.06, putting it on top of the global chart as an ...

Climate change, drought, and upstream dams have led to record low water levels on the Mekong River, according to experts, who say the shortage is significantly harming Cambodia’s Tonle Sap Lake and the surrounding fishing communities who rely on it to earn a living. The water ...

A growing awareness of the links between wildlife trafficking and SARS, COVID-19, and other infectious diseases has prompted the Vietnamese prime minister to issue an executive order to clamp down on this vast smuggling trade in endangered species. During recent months, conservation NGOs and Hanoi’s Ministry ...

Two years ago this week, a dam in southern Laos collapsed, releasing a flood that displaced over 7,000 people and killed at least 71. When a section of the Xe Pian-Xe Namnoy hydropower project broke on July 23, 2018, it sent 500 million cubic meters of ...