Disasters and emergency response

A giant new underground tunnel which promises much faster flood water drainage in Bangkok, expected to be complete early next year, will help six flood-prone areas of the capital, Bangkok governor Sukhumbhand Paribatra says. The construction of the 6.4-km tunnel,linking Lat Phrao canal and the Chao Phraya River, is ...

Myanmar farmers are protesting against a plan they say will reduce their water supply. They say water is so short they have already been forced to abandon growing paddy and switch to beans and pulses. They demand that work to open up land around a nearby ...

The United Nations World Food Programme will support flood-affected people in Chin State with 500 tonnes of rice, as they continue to struggle after landslides and flood waters ravaged swathes of land in the country’s poorest state last year. More than 9 million people were affected ...

The second major fire of the Chinese New Year season ripped through a poor community in Phnom Penh on 9 February, completely destroying nine houses. The fire broke out at Niroth Pagoda in Chbar Ampov district’s Niroth commune at about 11:30am, according to district governor Eang ...

The Chinese New Year kicked off in tragic fashion for scores of families in the Tuol Roka village of southern Phnom Penh, where a massive blaze destroyed 97 homes on Saturday night. “We weren’t able to save anything, just the clothes we are wearing. Everything else ...

A storm surge and subsequent coastal flood in the southern province of Nakhon Si Thammarat on 8 February morning swept 10 vacant homes into the sea in the hard-hit Pak Phanang district while also caused many local schools to temporarily close. Keep reading ...

Over 1000 people have been left homeless after fires this weekend blazed through Namhsan in northern Shan State and Labutta in Ayeyarwady Region. In Namhsan on 4 February, a fire that began roasting tea leaves caught kindling next to the stove, then lit a wood wall ...

Just six months after record-setting floods wreaked havoc on crops, farmers are being told to get ready to withstand severe drought. Meteorologists predict it’s likely to be one for the decades.  The El Niño event that hit Myanmar last year – and caused conditions among the ...

Thai military officers have warned farmers to stop pumping water from Klong Makham Thao, or they will have their water pumps seized. The officers, who were sent to inspect water drainage in Klong Makham Thao running through Chai Nat province, urged farmers to cooperate with authorities ...

Prime Minister Prayut Chan-o-cha has blamed past policies that heavily promoted cash crops as a root cause of floods and drought. Commenting in the latest government’s newsletter, Gen Prayut said growing cash crops without controls leads to the destruction of forests and watershed areas, and even affects ...