Disasters and emergency response

The government of Laos has declared victory over Covid-19 following the discharge of all 19 confirmed cases from hospital, with no new cases for 59 days. Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith announced at a press conference yesterday that Laos had “gained an important victory in the first ...

Prime Minister Thongloun Sisoulith has announced the Lao PDR is free of Covid-19 following the discharge of all 19 covid-19 patients from hospital and 59 consecutive days of no new infections.  “As of today, June 10, 2020, the number of people infected with COVID-19 in our ...

The Fisheries Administration has voiced concern over declining fish population caused by the decrease in water levels at lakes and rivers in the Kingdom. In an interview with a local media outlet, its director Hong Hy said yesterday the water levels in many important rivers in ...

When Myanmar announced its seven-point economic relief plan to mitigate the economic impact of COVID-19 in late April, one item immediately raised eyebrows among China analysts in the country. The initiative’s third main objective is stated as “Easing the Impacts on Laborers and Workers”, and ...

UN High Commissioner for Human Rights Michelle Bachelet in a report published by the Office of the United Nations High Commissioner for Human Rights, expressed her concern over human rights violations, particularly on the freedom of speech, in Cambodia and some other countries in the ...

Coastal mangrove forests aren’t adapting rapidly enough to escape rising sea levels, and many could disappear by 2050 in much of the tropics, according to recent research published in Science. Authors of a study reported June 5 used sediment cores from 78 sites on five continents ...

China is blighting millions of Southeast Asians by choking the Mekong River. It can be sued before the United Nations. Reparations and sanctions can be extracted under international pacts. Beijing communist rulers’ global excesses amidst COVID-19 pandemic will isolate China. Eleven dams on China’s side of the Mekong have dried up farms downstream in Thailand, Vietnam, Cambodia, and Laos. ...

Thai activists and organizations have raised alarm bells following last month’s announcement that the Mekong River Commission will begin its prior consultation process on the Sanakham hydropower plant, a new Mekong River dam project in northern Laos.   The plant would be the sixth dam in Laos, costing more than $2 billion, and would follow Laos’ Xayaburi Dam, farther upstream, which began operation in November.   The MRC prior consultation ...

Many centuries ago, the great Chinese philosopher Sun Tzu observed: “The nature of water is such that it avoids heights and hastens to the lowlands. When a dam is broken, the water cascades with irresistible force. Now the shape of an army resembles water. Take ...

The southern province of An Giang has allocated VND70 billion ($3 million) to address erosion caused by a sediment-poor Mekong River branch. The emergency plan, which draws funding from the national budget, will be implemented until the end of next year to counter erosion along the ...