· December, 2006

Stories about Disaster from December, 2006

Bombs in Bangkok

  31 December 2006

It was not a good start to the new year in Bangkok as a series of bombs exploded in the city killing two people and injuring several others. From 2Bangkok's Youtube page The lost boy has pictures from one of the explosion sites At 6.45 p.m. today, less than 300...

Malaysia: Failure in Disaster Management

  30 December 2006

Opposition Malaysian politician Lim Kit Siang asks “why the authorities were caught off-guard despite the availability of sophisticated early-warning systems about the massive floods in the south of the country”. Southern states of Malaysia have seen record levels of rainfall and massive flooding in the last couple of weeks.

Romania: A Fire

  29 December 2006

Brasov fire department ignores a minor fire, local residents have to cope on their own, Romerican reports: “Without the help of paid city officials, they began dismantling burning objects from the fire with their bare hands and rolling each hot item in the dirt until the flames subsided. Then, they’d...

Indonesia: Internet Outage and Flood in Aceh

  29 December 2006

There is nothing worse for Indonesian bloggers in particular around the new year eve but to see the sudden temporary “demise” of internet connection. The cause as reported by Budi Putra, , Sani Asy'ari and Enda Nasution is “the strong quake off Taiwan’s coast on December 26 damaged submarine cables...

Iran:Remember Bam

  28 December 2006

Several bloggers remember in their blogs about Bam earthquake,three years after disaster. Shamgahan has published a couple of photos of earthquake . The blogger asks what has been done for Bam population with all the foreign help that government received.The blogger adds, 72 hours after earthquake, government got 8 million...

Nigeria: who is to blame?

  28 December 2006

Chxta's World discusses the tragedy that claimed more that 200 lives in Nigeria, “Concerning the avoidable tragedy that played out in Abule-Egba, it is pertinent to note that there are many factors involved, and all of them are/were totally avoidable. I will like to point some of these factors out...

Malaysia: Internet Slowdown

  27 December 2006

Nik Nazmi comments on the breakdown in internet services in some parts of South East Asia and East Asia because of an earthquake in Taiwan. “When I told my colleague earlier that a website stated repair works for the cables in Taiwan may take up to three days, we were...

China: Ping…ping…pfft

  27 December 2006

The earthquake near Taiwan last night which snapped six underwater internet cables, seems to have left a large part of Asia, particularly the Northeast, struggling for an internet fix. Those with internet censorship circumvention tools (proxies) already installed on their computers seem to be doing a little better, but for...

Sri Lanka: Two years after the Tsunami

  26 December 2006

Two years after the Indian Ocean Tsunami, there isn't too much noise in the respective blogospheres. LaneTop remembers the day, and wishes more had been done by the author. Another reaction here.

Sri Lanka: Preparing for the Tsunami

  25 December 2006

LIRNEasia is apprehensive about a report in the UK press which claims that Sri Lanka is prepared well if a tsunami strikes. “The best-prepared country is Sri Lanka, one of those worst hit two years ago, which has a system of transmitting warnings through its police stations.”

Ukraine: Chernobyl Rumors

  20 December 2006

MoldovAnn writes about the most recent Chernobyl scare: “One guy had a chance to check the news on the internet before dinner, and read a report that a wall on the Chornobyl Nuclear Power Plant had collapsed, releasing a bunch of radioactive dust into the air. The report advised to...

Haiti: Millennium Development Goals

  19 December 2006

Haiti Justice Blog refers to an article from the New York Times, which examines the ways in which the comfort of rich, developed countries “is, to a large extent the result of unfair extraction of wealth from poor countries; but more important, that wealthy countries could eliminate the worst forms...

Belize: Jack and Jill

  18 December 2006

Nurse Melly tells the near-tragic tale of two young puppies, Jack and Jill – and she's relieved to report that, “like all good human stories, the good guys won.”

Israel: Rachel Corrie's Legacy Lives On

  6 December 2006

“Despite the murder of Rachel Corrie almost three years ago in Gaza, international volunteers continue to arrive in Palestine to help bring justice to the people living there. These are wonderful, brave young people who have no fear for their lives, standing up to the very forces that killed Rachel,”...

Philippines: A Thousand Bears for Bicol

  4 December 2006

Cathy Bythesea is asking her readers to help her collect a thousand bears for Bicol. Bicol region was badly hit by the typhoon Reming. “Stuffed toys have been known to be effective comfort givers in times of extreme stress and fear. To children, stuffed animals are more than toys, they're...

Afghan Whispers:Marshall Plan,Drought and Herat

  2 December 2006

What Happened to Marshall Plan? Sanjar explains why a Marshall Plan for his country did not achieve its objectives. The blogger writes After the establishment of President Karzai’s government in Afghanistan there was talk of the need for implementation of a plan much like the Marshall Plan for post Second...