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MEDIAWATCH: Blame game escalates over India floods
02 Sep 2008 19:29:00 GMT
Author: Joanne Tomkinson

India's eastern Bihar state is ravaged by the worst flooding for 50 years. Whether or not this is a natural or manmade disaster is a hot topic in the Indian press. As reports of overcrowded relief camps, food shortages and riots increase, many commentators are asking who is to blame for the monsoon misery that has engulfed the state.

The flooding started after the Kosi river breached its banks in neighbouring Nepal. Some people are blaming the authorities for not desilting dams and barrages, while others say the scale of the suffering could have been avoided with better disaster planning.

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Aid agencies plan CO2 offsets that also help poor
02 Sep 2008 12:24:00 GMT
Author: Megan Rowling

From fuel-efficient stoves for displaced Congolese families to drought-resistant cashew trees in Brazil, some aid agencies offering carbon offset schemes want to marry emissions savings with help for people living with climate change.

A London-based coalition is launching a new funding scheme to address concerns about existing trade in carbon credits - primarily that this excludes the world's poorest communities, which are most at risk from the impact of global warming.

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The untold story of India's floods
29 Aug 2008 15:03:00 GMT
Author: Alex Klaushofer

The humanitarian needs created by the worst floods in the eastern Indian state of Bihar for 50 years are outstripping government and agencies' ability to cope, aid workers say.

A week ago, the Kosi river in neighbouring Nepal burst its banks and forged a new course through Bihar, submerging hundreds of villages in the five districts of Supaul, Madhepura, Sharsa, Madhubani and Bhagalpur. According to the latest estimates, over 2 million people have been displaced and a quarter of a million homes have been destroyed.

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Aid agency study pinpoints climate change hotspots
22 Aug 2008 09:16:00 GMT
Author: Megan Rowling

LONDON, August 22 (AlertNet) -- Climate change threatens to reverse progress in reducing deaths from disasters and sharply increase the number of people affected by droughts, floods and cyclones, a U.N.-backed study said on Friday.

India, Pakistan, Afghanistan and Indonesia are among countries that are particularly vulnerable to the more extreme weather scientists predict in coming decades, according to the report commissioned by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) and relief agency CARE International.

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Georgia's displaced top 150,000, U.N. says
18 Aug 2008 17:06:00 GMT
Author: Ruth Gidley

U.N. agencies say almost 160,000 people have been forced out of their homes in Georgia and the breakaway region of South Ossetia by fighting between Georgia and Russia.

After reaching the town of Gori in central Georgia on Sunday - the first time U.N. organisations had got into the city since it was captured by Russian forces as they fanned out from South Ossetia into the Georgian heartland - staff from the U.N. refugee agency, UNHCR, estimated that 30,000 people had fled within South Ossetia, plus almost 99,000 in the rest of Georgia. Another 30,000 were estimated to be displaced to Russia.

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