Home  World Crisis The crises that don't make headlines |
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The crises that don't make headlines |
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Written by Reuters
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The world responded more generously to humanitarian crises last year than at any time in recent history, with emergency aid reaching a record $17 billion, according to the World Disasters Report. Dec. 14, 2006- Yet millions missed out on crucial aid because funds were directed towards high-profile disasters like the Indian Ocean Tsunami and Hurricane Katrina, while countless other crises were neglected, it says.
Tsunami survivors received at least $1,241 - 50 times more than those affected by the worst-funded crises. Emergency appeals for Chad, Guyana, Ivory Coast, Malawi and Niger raised on average less than $27 per person in need. (See table.) Here are three overlooked crises highlighted by the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) report. Nepal Childbirth kills one woman every 90 minutes in Nepal, yet this horrifying toll goes almost totally unreported. Not only is the Himalayan kingdom one of the dangerous countries to give birth in, but it is also a risky place for newborn babies - an estimated 30,000 a year die before they are a month old. However, huge numbers of these deaths are completely preventable. Around half the mothers who die, nearly 3,000 a year, simply bleed to death. Emergency obstetric care or assistance from a midwife could often have saved them. Discrimination against women and superstition contribute to the high death rate. Men don't want to touch women who are bleeding and public vehicles may refuse to carry them. The mountainous terrain, poor transport, widespread poverty and shortage of medical staff are also factors. On top of that, the 10-year conflict between Maoist rebels and the government has only made a bad situation worse, the report says. Guatemala Massive landslides triggered by Hurricane Stan killed more than 1,600 people here in October last year. Torrential rains affected over a third of the country and homes and crops were wiped out, leaving thousands homeless and a third of a million needing food aid. Yet despite the scale of the disaster the international media paid it scant attention. Hurricane Katrina, which struck the U.S. Gulf Coast just a few weeks earlier, generated 40 times more Western print coverage than Hurricane Stan, the IFRC report says. Indigenous people living in extreme poverty were hardest hit. Many are subsistence farmers who are forced to live on steep, unstable slopes while the country's most fertile lands are used to grow export crops. Guatemala's political instability, violent crime and environmental degradation are among factors which increase people's vulnerability to disasters. The tragedy also underlined the importance of remittance money in aid efforts. Money sent by Guatemalans working abroad to areas affected by the hurricane totalled $413 million - 20 times more than the U.N. appeal had raised by early December 2005. Malawi People here faced a severe food crisis in 2005 and 2006, with 40 per cent of the population - nearly 5 million - needing food aid as a result of poor rains and insufficient access to food, seeds and fertilisers. Many poor households had not been able to rebuild their reserves after previous food crises. As a result people had to sell belongings, including livestock, and cut back to one meal a day. Some were forced to turn to prostitution or steal. It took eight months from the first signs of the crisis in February for the government to declare an emergency. The United Nations launched a $98 million appeal in August. In a bid to prevent a repeat disaster in 2006/2007 this included a request for help in providing free seed and fertiliser in time for the growing season. But donors provided just a fifth of the agricultural help asked for.Blogged by: Emma Batha
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Madness takes over Lebanon.
Militants are fighting in the streets of Beirut. Military guns are on both sides. What is the prospect of such a situation. Aren't the Lebanese fed-up with wars?
23 November 2007
Lebanese President Emile Lahoud left the Baabda presidential palace without handing over the power to a new president. This is the first time since independence in 1943. |
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