IDEALS

HOLGU N, (Aug. 11, 2009) IPS/GIN – Debris of houses, roofless
buildings and fallen trees are still routine sights along the
740-km drive from the Cuban capital to Holgu°n, one of the regions
most heavily affected by Hurricane Ike in early September, 2008.

Ike radically modified the landscape along the main avenue through
the town of Florida, halfway from Havana to Holgu°n. The natural
canopy formed over the road by enormous trees, one of the main
attractions along the highway running through central Cuba, is gone
without leaving a trace of the soothing shade it provided.

Aerial shots taken after Ike tore through nearly the entire eastern
province of Holgu°n – the third-most populous in the country,
accounting for over nine percent of the population of 11.2 million
- show the lasting damages it caused. Read the rest of this entry →

MANAGUA, (May 25, 2010) IPS/GIN – More than 1.8 million Nicaraguans
are at high risk due to the various natural disasters that strike
this Central American country, according to Civil Defense
authorities.

Back in March, prompted by the tragic earthquakes of Jan. 12 in
Haiti and Feb. 27 in Chile, leftist President Daniel Ortega issued
an urgent order to the armed forces to set up a permanent
commission to help the country confront natural disasters.

Read the rest of this entry →

LA PAZ, (May 17, 2010) IPS/GIN – The indigenous peoples of the
Amazon region of Bolivia have declared themselves in a “state of
emergency” and announced that on May 20 they will begin a
1,000-kilometre march to La Paz to demand that the government
defend their territory from being plundered by oil, logging and
mining companies.

“The country’s constitution is being violated, as is the
International Labor Organization (ILO) Convention 169, which
recognizes the territories and rights of indigenous peoples,” said
Mar°a Saravia, the communications secretary of the Confederation
of Indigenous Peoples of Eastern Bolivia (CIDOB), which represents
one million members.

“We cannot continue turning a blind eye to the situation. If we
don’t reach an agreement with the government, the march will begin
on May 20,” Saravia told IPS.
Read the rest of this entry →

BANGKOK, (May 2, 2010) IPS/GIN – Local civil society organizations
and community groups who rushed to help victims after the powerful
Cyclone Nargis tore through military-ruled Burma two years ago are
reaping rewards for their risky and tireless labor.

Their work in the relief and reconstruction effort in the wake of
Nargis, which killed over 140,000 people and affected 2.4 million
people on May 3, 2008, has prompted a policy shift in the way
Western donor assistance flows to humanitarian programs. Read the rest of this entry →

BOGALAY, Burma, (Apr. 30, 2010) IPS/GIN – Kyaw Moe is just in his
30s, but he is already on his second shot at life – just like the
rest of the residents of Thakan Ngu, a tiny Burmese village in this
township of Bogalay.

On May 2, 2008, Kyaw Moe lost his wife and two children in the
midst of Cyclone Nargis, which slammed with all its Category 3
might through the Irrawaddy Delta and the southern part of the
Rangoon Division. By the time the skies cleared and the winds
stopped blowing, Thakan Ngu – some six hours by car and boat ride
from the former capital Rangoon – had about half of its population
of nearly 300 either missing or dead. Read the rest of this entry →

BANGKOK, (May 19, 2009) IPS/GIN – A year after powerful Cyclone
Nargis tore through Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta and southern Rangoon,
killing tens of thousands of people, nature continues to play a
cruel trick on survivors.

It has led to thousands of villagers still left without access to
clean water, a situation that is rare in natural disasters of
similar magnitude. In Indonesia’s northern province of Aceh, which
was flattened by the 2004 tsunami, clean water was restored to the
survivors within the first year. Read the rest of this entry →

NAIROBI, (Mar. 19, 2010) IPS/GIN – After torrential rains and
floods claimed lives in Kenya’s North Rift region, hundreds of
displaced people are now in dire need of relief aid.

In Turkana, one of the worst affected areas, hundreds of homes have
been washed away by floods or buried under landslides. Access to
clean water and sanitation have become a major issue in the area,
where the displaced have to relieve themselves in bushes.

“My house was suddenly filled with water. My toilet was carried
away, and also the vegetables, which I had planted on my farm,”
lamented Godfrey Chume, one of the displaced residents in the
Turkana area. Read the rest of this entry →