Stories about Disaster from June, 2006
China: Those left behind
Seen on Andrés Gentry's eponymous blog is a short but wrenching video looking at those left behind in China's mad rush towards development, including video shot by the villagers themselves of those being forcefully evicted and defending themselves from armed attacks by the police.
Trinidad & Tobago: Weathering unpreparedness
Jeremy Taylor writes about the confusion that ensued in Trinidad on Wednesday over reports that a tropical wave was crossing the country. “Hardly anyone is prepared for serious wind or water,” he notes. “The media put out reams of wrong information. The ramshackle infrastructure of poles and wires and rusty...
Cambodia: NGO Woes
Vutha in Cambodia writes about conflicts and internal disputes within NGOs operating in Cambodia. HE says “I have worked with NGOs for more than 3 years. I observed that there are more problems happening in those institutions by some factors such as leaders’ poor management, nepotism, lack of transperancy of...
Reunion: Chikungunya Epidemic Confirmed
LSZ Blog, a health-related blog covering Southern Africa and the Indian Ocean, writes (Fr): “It seems that Chikungunya fever has reached a quasi-pandemic dimension with more than a million people infected during the past 24 months in a large geographic area encompassing the East-African equatorial coasts, the Indian Ocean islands...
South Korea: Call for International Support in Daechuri
An annoucement was put up in Days in Daechuri (a U.S military base in S.Korea) to call for international support to protect the farmers against forced evictions. A foriegner's house is being organized to facilitate visits for foriegn journalists interested in learning about Daechuri and the surrounding area's struggle, and...
La Reunion: Living on a Volcano
Reunion-USA2 writes (Fr): “When I lived in La Reunion, some wondered whether I was frightened of living so close to a volcano. Well, actually no, you never think about it just like, I think, Californians never think of the ‘Big One’ (gigantic earthquake) that might happen any minute.”
China: Revolution's victims’ stories blogged, not forgotten (1/4)
For a good number of years, Sichuan-based blogger-journalist Ran Yunfei (冉云飞) has been collecting the stories of those persecuted as right wing elements during the Cultural Revolution, another part of Chinese contemporary history largely left unexplored even to this day. Early this year Ran began posting his research findings on...
Bahamas: Hurricane insurance
A hurricane insurance act is being drafted to help local farmers and fishermen recover from devastating storms, reports the Nassau Bahamas Vacation blog.
Caribbean: Hurricane unpreparedness?
As hurricane season begins, Taran Rampersad worries that “the Caribbean in general can't handle a Category 3 hurricane. All everyone is discussing at this point is how fast one can recover”.
Hong Kong: Tiananmen vigil
Photos from Sunday's candlelight vigil in Hong Kong's Victoria Park can be found here at Hong Kong Digital Vision blog. Sunday marks the seventeenth anniversary of the day China's People's Liberation Army opened fire on tens of thousands of peacefully-protesting students, workers and locals in the Chinese capitol.
Afghan Whispers: Crash & Riots
According to media about one week ago violent anti-foreigner protests raged across the capital Monday after a U.S. military truck crashed into traffic. Let's see what Afghan bloggers have to say about this event. What Happened & Why Afghan Warrior shares his point of view with us: “Most Afghans complain...
Thailand: Insensitive Television Companies
Andrew Biggs in Thailand is reporting that BBC and HBO has upset people in Southern Thailand after they put out posters calling for extras to play corpses.
Indonesia: Quake Relief
Unspun is looking into media and first hand reports and trying to figure out if the Indonesian government is doing a good job in handling the quake crisis.
Caribbean: Marking the start of the hurricane season
“What is it about us that loves to celebrate everything?” asks Florida-based Jamaican writer Geoffrey Philp, who uploads a podcast of a poem to mark the June 1 start of the hurricane season. Simon T posts a photo of a perfect Cayman Islands sunset at Flickr, giving it the title...