Disasters and emergency response

COVID-19 has rattled Laos’ debut in selling a U.S. dollar bond in international markets, adding pressure on a country whose “Wild West of dam building” splurge has put it in a precarious repayment situation, especially in regard to China, its leading lender. Sources familiar with the ...

A sediment-poor Mekong River branch cutting through An Giang Province is causing erosion due to rapid water flow. A three kilometer section of Hau River, a branch of the Mekong, is straitened by half in width when passing through An Giang’s Chau Phu District. Besides this natural ...

Prolonged drought and increased summer demand are exerting great pressure on the electricity industry as water levels in several major dams drop significantly. Doan Tien Cuong, director of Ialy Hydropower Company, told local media that water level at the 720 MW Ialy Hydropower Plant in the ...

COVID-19 is posing serious challenges to ASEAN in 2020. But Vietnam, as ASEAN chair, is trying to make the best of the situation and demonstrate leadership. As 2020 marks a mid-term review of the implementation of the ASEAN Community Building Blueprints 2015–25, Vietnam chose ‘Cohesive ...

Thailand may lose up to 14.4 million jobs in the second and third quarters, largely because of the coronavirus outbreak and widespread drought, says the government’s planning unit. Of the total, some 8.4 million workers are estimated to be at risk of job loss, 2.5 million ...

Amidst the spreading of the Coronavirus 2019 in every corner of the world, the government in each country, as well as the departments, organizations, and other related parties are vigorously collaborating in solving the problem with a hope of surviving the disaster that is impacting ...

Recent reports claim definitive proof that the 2019-20 Mekong drought was caused by China – researchers at the Australia Mekong Partnership for Environmental Resources and Energy Systems (AMPERES) disagree. Will the controversial analysis further polarise stakeholders, or could the crisis shift regional cooperation into more productive spaces? The ...

The Mighty Mekong is one of the world’s most iconic rivers, but it is at grave risk of turning into a shadow of its former self. “Everywhere you look there are indications that this river, which has provided for so many, for so long, is at ...

A 40-meter section of National Highway 91 fell into the Hau River, a branch of the Mekong, on Wednesday morning. The highway and the soil beneath in Binh My Commune in An Giang Province’s Chau Phu District slipped into the river after a crack opened up ...

When a Chinese tourist was diagnosed with the Covid-19 coronavirus on January 13, the first known infection outside of China before the disease made its fatal global sweep, Thailand would have seemed a likely locale for mass contagion and mortality. Hundreds of thousands of Chinese tourists ...