"Typhoon Damrey, which came ashore on the eastern coast of Viet Nam one week ago, prompted the evacuation of some 600,000 persons and caused extensive damage throughout the country. At least 59 individuals in the country were killed as a result of the typhoon, and 13 others were injured.
Storm surges broke several sea dykes in Nam Dinh and Thanh Hoa provinces, and seawater penetrated inland some three to four kilometres in coastal provinces. Flash floods damaged more than 11,000 dwellings, destroying more than 1,000. More than 130,000 hectares of rice fields due for harvest have been submerged. Damage to roads, bridges and telephone lines has left several villages inaccessible. Including damage to transport, power supply, education and health infrastructure, the total destruction has been estimated at approximately $5.3 million." [More]
UN News Service: "The United Nations has mobilized three inter-agency teams to aid the United States' recovery from Hurricane Katrina and further deployments may occur within the next few days, UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said today.
The teams span the whole gamut of UN humanitarian activities from food and health to refugees and children and have been assembled following the US acceptance of help from the world body in the face of the enormous devastation caused by the hurricane."
"The United Nations announced today that the United States Government has accepted the world body's offer of help in the aftermath of Hurricane Katrina.
A small UN Coordination team is in Washington now consulting with government officials on how the UN can best complement the US's own emergency efforts." [Full story]
UN News Service: "The top United Nations emergency relief official has offered the United States the world body's help in "any way possible" following the loss of life and large-scale destruction wrought by Hurricane Katrina along the US Gulf Coast. The offer was made in a letter from Emergency Relief Coordinator Jan Egeland to US Ambassador John Bolton."
"LONDON (Reuters) - There is no silver bullet to eradicate the food shortages afflicting Africa, but more money and a better early warning system could help speed aid to people in need, U.N. Secretary-General Kofi Annan said.
A ten-fold increase in the U.N.'s Emergency Fund and greater emphasis on prevention through debt relief, trade reform and encouraging better agricultural practices were also crucial to fighting hunger, he wrote in the Financial Times on Monday.
There is no silver bullet, but there is much we can do," he said, warning that the mass hunger in Niger could still be repeated in southern Sudan, Ethiopia, Eritrea, Somalia and southern Africa, affecting 20 million people.
"If the world acts now, this need not happen," he said."
[Read more]
Jan Egeland: "Humanitarian aid can make a lifesaving difference for so many, so quickly, for so little cost, in these acute crises. The people of Niger know this: That's why many of Niger's citizens, the poorest of the world's poor, have donated to a national fund to assist their less-fortunate neighbors.
Their generosity also transcends borders. When the tsunami struck Asia, the people of Niger opened their hearts and wallets. Niger sent $250,000 to the victims - this in a country where the average income is less than $1 a day.
At a time of unprecedented global prosperity, cannot the rich nations do as much for defenseless, starving children?
Jan Egeland is the United Nations under-secretary-general for Humanitarian Affairs and Emergency Relief coordinator.
Dr. Kadri Koda examines a girl being treated for malnutrition
at a UNICEF-supported therapeutic feeding centre in Maradi,
Niger. [Read more]
And from the New York Times: Malnutrition Is Ravaging Niger's Children "A flight chartered by the United Nations (UN) World Food Program has arrived in the west African state of Niger, as efforts intensify to relieve the famine there.
It is carrying more than 40 tonnes of emergency rations. It is the first of a series of planned airlifts over the next few days. Two and a half million people in Niger are at risk of starvation.
The emergency supplies being flown in are being loaded onto trucks and are being delivered across the country." [Link]
"Nasseiba Ali is the face of hunger in Niger. The 20-month-old girl weighs just 12 pounds, and her eyes are clouded at night, one of the symptoms of her chronic malnourishment.
Nasseiba may survive, because her grandmother was able to get her to a feeding center. But aid groups despair that so many other children are dying because the world was slow to respond." [Full Story]