Press CTRL+D to bookmark this page!

THE AWAKENING - Iissue 167, January 22nd - 28th, 2001

AMERICAN INDIAN NEWS TICKER!!!

------------------------------

THE AWAKENING

issue 167, January 22nd - 28th, 2001

------------------------------

INSIDE:

1. Mad Cow Disease Could Have Alien Origins

2. Landslides Kill 33 in Indonesia; 9 Others Missing

3. Dry winter on Canada's Prairies haunts farmers

4. Pakistan drought threatens next harvest-Red Cross

5. India PM orders war footing for quake aid

6. Climate change outstrips forecasts

7. New appeal for drought-hit Sudan

8. Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano sends up towering plume of smoke

9. Vulcanologists continue monitoring central Java volcano

10. One Cold Winter, Record Low Temperatures Grip Siberia

11. Last Ebola patient in Uganda leaves hospital

12. Landslide buries Tanzanian village; 15 feared dead

13. Government to declare half of flooded Bolivia disaster area

14. Ethiopia appeals for food for 6.2 million people

15. Impact of Cambodian flooding to worsen: Report

16. Blizzards devastate Mongolian herders

17. Heavy Rains Wreak Havoc In Kenya

18. Heavy rains hit Mozambique

19. Ash Rain Falls on Indonesia Village

20. Several Areas in Slovakia Without Electricity Due to Icy Weather

21. Heavy snow brings chaos to Japan

22. Moderate Earthquake in Mexico

23. Australia swelters in heatwave

24. Climate problems predicted for Africa

25. Bush confirms 'Star Wars' plan

26. Azerbaijan: three dead in avalanche

27. India's seismic suffering

28. Coral shows El Nino's rise

29. Meteorite clue to water on Mars

30. Global BSE warning issued

31. Senate Hearing Calls for Improved Disaster Preparedness

32. Earthquake Shakes Ohio

33. Thousands of Homeless Quake Victims Fill Salvadoran Shelters

34. World Watch

35. Latest Quakes

------------------------------

1. Mad Cow Disease Could Have Alien Origins...01-22

(ABC News) Two astronomy and mathematics professors in England announced

last month that

cows in England and Wales may have picked up the disease after eating grass

laced with a sprinkling of interstellar dust. The dust, the scientists

proposed, fell as the Earth was bombarded by comets which hosted infectious,

extraterrestrial matter.

The notion may seem outlandish (and many scientists think it is), but

research shows the disease, itself, is outlandish. And its bizarre nature

has

stumped many efforts to find effective screening tools and treatment.

"When you're trying to design drugs, it's especially difficult when you

don't

fully understand the nature of the infectious agent," says Byron Caughey, a

biochemist at the Rocky Mountain Laboratory branch of the National

Institutes

of Health.

(Contributed by Rollers303)

------------------------------

2. Landslides Kill 33 in Indonesia; 9 Others Missing...01-22

JAKARTA, Indonesia(AP)- A series of landslides triggered by rains killed at

least 33 people in Indonesia's North Sulawesi province, officials said

Monday.

Nine people were missing and feared dead, said police in the district

capital, Tahuna, after the landslides on the remote islands about 1,350

miles

northeast of Jakarta.

At least three landslides hit villages on the islands late Saturday, said

Soehardjono, chief of the provincial Department of Meteorology and

Geophysics. They were followed by a magnitude-5.8 earthquake Sunday, said

Soehardjono, who like many Indonesians uses only one name.

Rescue teams were sent to the region, police said.

Dozens of houses and other public facilities, including two bridges, were

destroyed, the state news agency Antara reported.

Flooding and landslides coinciding with monsoon rains killed more than 200

people in Indonesia late last year.

Government officials and environmentalists say deforestation by

timber-cutting logging companies and villagers needing firewood has

contributed to the disasters. Indonesia, the world's biggest archipelago

nation, also is prone to frequent seismic upheavals because it straddles

major fault lines.

(Contributed by Rollers303)

------------------------------

3. Dry winter on Canada's Prairies haunts farmers...01-25

WINNIPEG, Jan 25 (Reuters) - At a time of year when western Canada's

Prairies should be hibernating under a protective blanket of snow, many

fields in Alberta lie bare, with record low precipitation and record high

temperatures creating uneasiness about the upcoming crop year.

"It's a concern basically because you're starting the season with very

little soil moisture reserve," Bruce Burnett, director of weather and crops

surveillance at the Canadian Wheat Board, the major marketer for Prairie

grain crops, said this week.

"The soil moisture reserve is the bank that helps you get through some

rough spots in the growing season if you do have them," he said.

From September to December last year, precipitation in a wide

north-south swath through Alberta was less than half of the normal level,

according to Environment Canada, the country's weather forecasting service.

In some areas, moisture levels were only a quarter of normal levels.

"That's a pretty significant number based on a four-month average,"

said

Dennis Dudley, an Environment Canada meteorologist in Edmonton, Alberta.

"We're sitting out here pretty high and dry."

January's weather has also proven exceptionally dry and mild. So far

this month, the northern Peace River region received only 0.4 mm (0.02

inches) of precipitation, compared with a normal average of 22 mm (0.8

inches).

In the southern Alberta city of Lethbridge, temperatures did not drop

below freezing for the first 12 days of the new year, hovering between 8

degrees Celsius to 12 degrees Celsius (46 Fahrenheit degrees to 54 degrees

Fahrenheit).

Many farmers are concerned because this latest dry spell comes on top

of

two dry years for the southern part of the province. Last summer crops

wilted

in drought conditions.

A lack of snow cover can lead to more erosion and more soil

evaporation,

moisture that farmers count on to germinate seeds in the spring.

"As we get into a dryer stretch here, people are starting to rethink

the

notion that they can continuous crop in the brown soil zone," said Rob Dunn,

a cereal and oilseed crop specialist with Alberta's Agriculture Department

in

Lethbridge.

Another dry year could also mean trouble for livestock producers who

need to replenish their reservoirs.

"We need a major, or at least some snow run off just to provide cattle

with water on rangeland in southern Alberta. That's a pretty big issue,"

said

Dunn.

Anxiety has been heightened here by recent reports about the rate and

potential impact of global warming. Earlier this week, the United Nations

warned that the earth's atmosphere is heating up faster than expected and

Canadian climatologists say that temperatures across the country in 2000

were

above normal for the eighth year in a row.

A report prepared by the International Institute for Sustainable

Development in Winnipeg, predicted the effects of global warming would be

felt on the prairies within the next three decades in the form of extreme

storms and droughts.

Weather experts, crop specialists and farmers all agree it is too early

in the season to panic and there is still a good chance that snowstorms and

spring rains will bring badly needed moisture, but they are watching the sky

closely.

"I would say that it's probably within the normal variability of

climate, however with the climate changing and what not, it does ring some

bells," Dudley said.

http://www.agriculture.com/worldwide/AgricultureFarming/01_25_2001.reutr-story

(Contributed by Rollers303)

------------------------------

4. Pakistan drought threatens next harvest-Red Cross...01-27

ISLAMABAD, Jan 27 (Reuters) - Large areas of Pakistan hit by severe

drought will lose another harvest unless there is rain or snow within the

next six weeks, a Red Cross disaster expert said on Saturday.

Tony Maryon, in charge of disaster management in South Asia for the

International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said the

only winter rain in the large province of Baluchistan came four weeks ago,

which provided little help because it ran off quickly.

Maryon, just back from an assessment trip to the provincial capital,

Quetta, said there was no snow on the mountains of the area, which borders

Afghanistan and Iran, to provide the gradual spring runoff vital to

replenishing water supplies.

He said severe drought problems were also continuing in the southern

province of Sind.

``The situation is very serious and very grim for the vulnerable groups

living in Baluchistan and Sind. Very grave indeed,'' Maryon, who is based in

Geneva, told a news conference.

``Unless they get substantial rain or snow in the next four to six

weeks

another harvest will be lost,'' he said.

Maryon's concern was the deepening humanitarian disaster caused by the

drought -- he said 1.9 million people in Baluchistan and 1.5 million in Sind

were affected.

ECONOMIC IMPACT

But the government has also expressed concern for the economic impact

in

the rest of Pakistan -- the Punjab, the country's bread basket, and the

mountainous Northwest Frontier Province that feeds the Indus River system.

Officials have already cut forecasts of the wheat harvest from last

year's record 22 million tonnes to a maximum of 20 million tonnes, which

they

admit could be difficult to reach unless there are rains soon.

Maryon said rainfall had been below normal since 1998 and expecially

since November 1999, causing heavy losses of livestock and deteriorating

health conditions. Neighbouring Afghanistan is experiencing the worst

drought

in three decades.

``The situation is very serious; we have to monitor it very

carefully,''

Maryon said.

He said there were still very large population movements as people flee

the drought, including crossing the undemarcated border with Afghanistan

where the problem is compounded by 21 years of war.

The hardships will continue for another year even if there is a sudden

return of rain, Maryon said. Most families have lost their livestock and no

longer have seed to plant fresh crops or the money to buy it.

Baluchistan, especially, is also facing the threat of a permanent water

shortage because of overuse. Officials at a U.N. news conference on Friday

said the watertable around Quetta has been dropping 3.5 meters (yds)

annually

for years and the city could exhaust its water supply in 15 years.

http://www.agriculture.com/worldwide/AgricultureFarming/01_27_2001.reulb-story

(Contributed by Rollers303)

------------------------------

5. India PM orders war footing for quake aid...01-26

A hundred buildings have collapsed

NEW DELHI, India -- Indian Prime Minister Atal Behari Vajpayee is urging

relief workers to go on a war-footing to help victims of a devastating

earthquake.

Hundreds are feared dead from the 7.9 magnitude quake. It was centered in

the arid western state of Gujarat and felt across Pakistan, Bangladesh and

Nepal. Officials say the death toll stands at more than 500, and that

figure is expected to rise.

Home Minister Lal Krishna Advani said rescuers were finding people in the

rubble of collapsed buildings and estimated the death toll would top 1,000.

The quake occurred at 8.46 am, centered near the desert town of Bhuj. Most

of the damage was reported in Ahmedabad, the state's commercial center,

about 400 kilometers away.

(Contributed by Gerard Zwaan)

------------------------------

6. Climate change outstrips forecasts...01-22

The world's leading climatologists say global warming is happening faster

than previously predicted.

They say world temperatures this century could rise by close to 6 degrees

Celsius - more than two degrees more than originally thought.

Sea levels could also rise almost a metre, threatening tens of millions of

people.

The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) says an increasing body

of observations gives a collective picture of a warming world.

And it says the evidence is stronger than before for a human influence on

the climate.

Dr Robert Watson, head of the panel of scientists advising members of the UN

Climate Change Convention in Shanghai, said there could be massive

implications in terms of water shortages, drought, damage to agriculture and

the increased spread of disease, with developing countries worst hit.

Hottest decade

He said: "There's no doubt the earth's climate is changing.

"The decade of the 1990s was the hottest decade of the last century and the

warming in this century is warmer than anything in the last 1,000 years in

the Northern Hemisphere.

"We see changes in climate, we believe we humans are involved and we're

projecting future climate changes much more significant over the next 100

years than the last 100 years."

The report notes: "The observed changes in climate over time have been

documented extensively by a variety of techniques, Many of these trends are

now established with high confidence; others are far less certain."

It gives details of several trends, for example:

· the global-average surface air temperature has increased since the

mid-19th century

· in the last four decades, temperatures have risen in the lowest few

kilometres of the atmosphere

· snow cover and ice extent have decreased

· global average sea level has risen, and ocean heat content has increased

· some important aspects of the global climate appear unchanged. No

significant trends of Antarctic sea-ice extent are apparent over the last 30

years, and there are no clear long-term trends discernible in the intensity

and frequency of tropical storms.

Under a variety of scenarios the IPCC has prepared, it says, temperature and

sea level are projected to rise.

The range for globally-averaged surface air temperature increase by 2100

ranges from about 1.4 degrees Celsius to 5.8 degrees, an increase the report

notes "would be without precedent during the last ten thousand years".

The projected sea level rise by 2100 is between 0.09 and 0.88 metres.

But the report does say that there are still many gaps in information and

understanding. One priority, it says, is to "arrest the decline of

observational networks in many parts of the world".

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/sci/tech/newsid_1126000/1126669.stm

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

7. New appeal for drought-hit Sudan...01-21

United Nations officials in Sudan say they urgently need new funds to help

avert a humanitarian catastrophe after crop failures caused by a severe

drought.

They say nearly one million people could be at risk of starvation if food

aid doesn't reach them over the next three months. In some areas of Sudan,

UN officials say wells have now begun to run dry, and people have started to

move in search of food.

The UN has been warning of the effects of the drought for several weeks, but

now officials say their latest crop assessments indicate the situation is

even worse than they had predicted.

Fearing a flare-up

The UN says it will now need an extra $40m in food aid and $7m for water,

healthcare, and education for children who will be displaced because of the

drought, in addition to the $194m to pay for relief aid it asked for in

November.

The worst-hit areas are the provinces of northern Kordofan and northern

Darfur, where a senior UN official said tribal conflicts over access to

pasture, food and water had already broken out.

The UN is concerned that those conflicts could now cause a flare up in

Sudan's long-running civil war, which might endanger its massive

humanitarian operation in the south.

In 1998, tens of thousands of people died of hunger in the southern province

of Bahr El-Ghazal, because aid agencies could not reach them.

Bahr El-Ghazal remains the focus of UN concerns, and officials say the

Khartoum government has this month refused them permission to fly into key

areas for their relief effort.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/hi/english/world/africa/newsid_1129000/1129567.stm

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

8. Mexico's Popocatepetl volcano sends up towering plume of smoke...01-22

MEXICO CITY, Mexico (AP) -- The Popocatepetl volcano that towers over the

Mexico City region shot a plume of ash and smoke more than 5 miles (8 kms)

high on Monday, alarming people who had been evacuated from nearby villages

a month before.

Officials in Puebla state told the Radio Red network that the

mushroom-shaped plume was one of the largest since the 17,886-foot

(5,450-meter) volcano began a cycle of eruptions in 1994 after decades of

relative dormancy.

The government's National Center for the Prevention of Disasters, which

monitors the volcano, said the plume was five miles high following the

mid-afternoon burst, but other observers said it was higher.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/01/22/mexico.volcano.ap/index.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

9. Vulcanologists continue monitoring central Java volcano...01-23

Scientists are closely monitoring the rumbling Mount Merapi volcano in

Central Java as ash and lava flows threaten surrounding farms and villages.

Authorities around the peak, in the heart of a densely populated region near

Jogjakarta, have ordered hundreds of thousands of people to prepare for

evacuation.

Clouds of scorching poisonous gas are billowing from the crater, while red

hot rocks slowly move down the mountainside.

Volcanologist Syamsul Rizal says seismographs are registering less activity

than over the last few days, but warns people to stay alert.

He says no-one knows what is going to occur, the current level of activity

could go on for weeks or something big could happen tomorrow.

http://www.abc.net.au/ra/newsdaily/s237418.htm

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

10. One Cold Winter, Record Low Temperatures Grip Siberia...01-22

I R K U T S K, Russia, Jan. 22 - Winter in Siberia is usually spectacular

and always very cold.

But this winter has been relentless. Week after week, temperatures have been

dipping to 50 below zero. Siberians are accustomed to the cold, but they

were completely unprepared for temperatures this low.

Not surprisingly, the hospital in the city of Irkutsk is overwhelmed. In

just one week, the cold killed 17 people, and doctors amputated the limbs of

at least 70 others who suffered severe frostbite. Pausing for just a short

period of time could prove extremely dangerous - one man who stopped to fix

his car had to have both his hands and feet amputated because of frostbite.

Some aid has been sent - the American Red Cross recently came to Siberia

bearing more than 40,000 pounds of food.

But still, in cities and villages across Siberia, heating systems are

breaking down. People are warming themselves around outdoor fires, and

frozen pipes have forced others to get their water from community wells.

Corruption Makes Matters Worse

In truth, Siberia should be one of the richest places on Earth. Underneath

its frozen ground, there are massive resources of oil, gas platinum, nickel,

and gold. But everywhere you look, there's poverty. That's because corrupt

businessmen and government officials are siphoning much of the wealth

generated in Siberia out of the country. While Russia's infrastructure falls

apart, the corrupt are getting rich.

Anger and fear are pervasive. One woman told ABCNEWS, "For the first time in

my life, I feel like I could die from the cold."

With spring still five months away, that's a very real possibility for many

Siberians.

http://abcnews.go.com/sections/wnt/WorldNewsTonight/wnt010122_siberiacold_feature.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

11. Last Ebola patient in Uganda leaves hospital...01-23

KAMPALA, Uganda (AP) -- The last known victim of the deadly Ebola virus has

been given a clean bill of health and was discharged from the hospital

Tuesday, the Ministry of Health announced.

An elderly woman who was admitted into a hospital in Gulu with Ebola

symptoms had recovered from the highly contagious form of hemorrhagic fever,

said Dr. Sam Okware, head of the National Ebola Task Force.

"We are really almost at the end of the epidemic," Okware said. He said 173

out of 426 Ebola patients had died and that health officials do not know of

any additional cases.

Health experts have been able to save 60 percent of the patients in Uganda

in this outbreak by using aggressive rehydration therapy. In previous

outbreaks, up to 90 percent of victims died after beginning bleeding

uncontrollably.

Ebola was first identified in October in the northern town of Gulu, 360

kilometers (225 miles) north of the capital Kampala. Other cases were soon

discovered in two other districts. The virus is spread by contact with body

fluids, including sweat and saliva.

An outbreak is considered over after two 21-day incubation periods have

passed with no new cases reported. Gulu would be declared Ebola free if no

new cases are recorded by February 24, Okware said. Gulu is 160 kilometers

(100 miles) northwest of the capital.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/HEALTH/01/23/uganda.ebola.ap/index.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

12. Landslide buries Tanzanian village; 15 feared dead...01-22

DAR ES SALAAM Tanzania (Reuters) -- At least 15 people are feared dead after

a landslide buried a village in a remote part of western Tanzania after

heavy rains, police officials said Monday.

Regional Police Commander Placid Chaka told Reuters the landslide, which

occurred last Thursday, had buried about 30 houses including a refugee

reception center in the tiny fishing village of Mtanga on the shores of Lake

Tanganyika.

"We had real heavy rains for about one hour and the village which is on a

slope is completely covered in mud," he said. "We suspect over 15 people are

dead, either buried or down in the lake."

Tanzania's short rainy season is just coming to an end, but the rain has

been particularly heavy this month.

Chaka said police were searching the lake for bodies but that none had been

recovered by Monday.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/africa/01/22/tanzania.landslide.reut/index.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

13. Government to declare half of flooded Bolivia disaster area...01-23

LA PAZ, Bolivia (Reuters) -- Bolivia's lower house passed a bill on Tuesday

to declare almost half the country a natural disaster zone, a move which

will free up aid and funds for some 20,000 people affected by almost a month

of heavy rain.

Once the government signs the bill, the departments of La Paz, Oruro, Beni

and Cochabamba will be officially declared natural disaster areas and open

to millions of dollars in federal relief funds.

The Andean country's national weather service estimates some 6.7 gallons (25

liters) of water per 1.2 square yards (1 square meter) have rained down on

average per day the past weeks in La Paz, the worst affected area, and

expects the rains to continue.

The first two months of the year are usually the rainy seasons in this

landlocked South American country which is twice the size of France.

Bolivia's Civil Defense agency reported two dead from flooding and that some

20,000 people in the country of 8 million had been seriously affected --

many left homeless -- by the flooding.

The Civil Defense added that it had already asked international

organizations like the Red Cross and World Health Organization for help.

About 140 miles (230 km) south of La Paz in Oruro, the Paria and Tagarete

rivers overflowed and flooded four towns, destroying dozens of government

built housing for former mine workers.

At least four towns in Beni, near Bolivia's Amazon region, have also flooded

due to overflowing rivers

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/americas/01/23/bolivia.floods.reut/index.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

14. Ethiopia appeals for food for 6.2 million people...01-23

ADDIS ABABA, Ethiopia (Reuters) -- Ethiopia appealed on Tuesday for 470,000

tons of food aid to feed some 6.2 million people expected to be affected by

drought this year.

But the number of people reliant on food aid has dropped substantially from

10.5 million last year because of recent rain, said Simon Mechale,

commissioner of the state-run Disaster Prevention and Preparedness

Commission.

Simon also appealed for $39 million for a recovery program for pastoralists

who have been severely affected by four consecutive years of drought in most

regions of lowland Ethiopia.

A potentially devastating famine in Ethiopia was averted last year by huge

international relief operations.

http://www.cnn.com/2001/WORLD/africa/01/23/ethiopia.appeal.reut/index.html

(Contributed by Frank Boers)

------------------------------

15. Impact of Cambodian flooding to worsen: Report

PHNOM PENH, Cambodia: Though flood waters receded months ago, the most

severe impact of Cambodia's worst flooding in 70 years may not be felt until

mid-2001, a research institute said on Friday.

It will be the middle of the year when rice stocks of many poor families run

out and those who borrowed to get through the hard times will come up short,

said a report from the Cambodia Development Resource Institute.

It said the worst damage was the loss of the rice harvest that would have

taken place in December and January and which normally would provide the

poor with their livelihood until the dry season rice harvests in March and

April.

"Not enough rice was harvested from the wet season crop and not as much has

been planted for the dry season crop," said Richard Neville, who does relief

work in cooperation with the International Red Cross.

Flooding between July and October 2000 was described this week by King

Norodom Sihanouk as the worst in Cambodia for 70 years.

According to the government, 347 people died because of flooding, nearly

400,000 were temporarily displaced and nearly 3.5 million people were

otherwise affected.

Massive flooding also affected Vietnam, Laos and Thailand last year. Monika

Midel, the country director of the World Food Program, said it is unclear

how many people could become desperate four or five months from now.

"The distribution of available rice will greatly determine this," she said,

adding that merchants often take Cambodian rice out of the country to sell

in Thailand or Vietnam, where it fetches a better price.

Khieu Borin, the coordinator for food security in Cambodia for the United

Nation's Food and Agriculture Organisation, said he agreed with the main

thrust of the report's findings.

He said that normally the most challenging time for Cambodian farmers, who

make up more than 60 percent of the population, is August, September and

October, when they must borrow to survive lean times of food and resources.

Cambodia's most important annual rice harvest begins in November or

December.

"Because of the flooding, the months of food and resource shortage probably

will come earlier than normal, perhaps June or July," Khieu Borin said

Friday. "There could be big problems, but it depends on what happens between

now and then."

Seija Tyrninoksa, the head of delegation for the International Federation of

the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, said aid agencies are aware that

the situation for some farmers could worsen and are prepared to assist. (AP)

http://www.timesofindia.com/270101/27aspc37.htm

------------------------------

16. Blizzards devastate Mongolian herders...01-27

The Red Cross has launched an urgent appeal to help nomadic ethnic Mongolian

herders in China hit by severe blizzards.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies seek

$A3million to provide food, clothing, quilts, fuel and other supplies to

60,000 herders in Inner Mongolia, where 39 people have died in temperatures

up to minus 50 degrees since the end of December.

The herders, who depend on flocks of goats, horses, camels and cattle for

subsistence, have seen their animals decimated by the worst storms in half a

century. Many are now stranded in a frozen wasteland.

Chinese officials estimate up to 400,000 families lack sufficient food.

More than 220,000 stock have perished, according to Red Cross assessments.

The worst affected areas are Xilin, Chifeng and Xingan prefectures in the

Inner Mongolian Autonomous Region.

"Because of the nomadic nature of the herders, they tend to have reserves of

food and fuel for only a few days," said Jim Robertson, regional Red Cross

relief delegate in Beijing.

"They rely heavily on bartering their animals to provide food and fodder,

but with the freezing conditions and the lack of access to the main towns,

these necessities are rapidly running out."

A severe blizzard on December 31 threw snow and sand from the Gobi Desert

across a large area of Inner Mongolia. Snow cover in some areas measures up

to 50centimetres.

This is the third year in a row that a particularly harsh winter has struck

herders in China and neighboring Mongolia. Summer drought has followed,

leading to a cycle of stock losses that has devastated local economies. Some

herders have lost entire flocks.

The China Charity Foundation and the Chinese Red Cross have also launched

urgent domestic appeals for clothes, fuel, food and medicines.

Weather conditions are forecast to remain freezing within the region for up

to three months.

"External aid is essential to see the herders through the hardship of the

next several months," said Australian Red Cross secretary-general Martine

Letts.

To the north in the landlocked independent nation of Mongolia, at least

eight people and more than 500,000 animals have perished over the past two

months. The United Nations is expected to launch an aid appeal there soon.

The national Montsame news agency reported this week that 135,000 families

and 19.2 million head of livestock were at risk.

http://www.theage.com.au/news/2001/01/27/FFXR7BLQEIC.html

------------------------------

17. Heavy Rains Wreak Havoc In Kenya...01-25

Nairobi - More than 10,000 people are reported to have been left homeless in

Kenya as a heavy downpour pounded Kenya in the past two days, resulting in

freak floods in various parts of the country.

Most of those affected are in western Kenya and the Rift Valley.

Over 300 people were displaced at the Moi Ndabi area of Naivasha district in

the Rift Valley, about 100 km west of Nairobi, as floods swept away their

belongings, including livestock.

In the Kano plains of Kisumu district, about 450 km west of the capital,

over 7,000 people were displaced after the floods and overflowing rivers

submerged many homes and school buildings.

The area education authorities ordered closed most of the primary and

secondary schools in the area.

Most of the affected families have moved into temporary dwellings on higher

grounds to save their lives and those of their livestock.

The acting Kisumu district commissioner, Joshua Chepchieng, described the

situation as serious and said health and security personnel had been

despatched to Kano.

The area provincial director of education, Roselyn Onyuka, said education

officials were assessing the impact of the floods on the learning process in

the region in general.

The local press reported Thursday that a man drowned in Nairobi's Lunga

Lunga slum area, while a mother of six drowned in Kuria district, near the

Tanzanian border in western Kenya, as she tried to cross a swollen river on

Tuesday.

The rains particularly hit Nairobi as the downpour cut off telephone links

in most parts of the city.

The rains killed ten people early this month when they tried to cross

flooded canals in various parts of the city.

The Kenya government Wednesday sent emergency teams to the affected areas to

inform the people to be on alert as the meteorology department warned

Kenyans to brace for more heavy rains as a result of another cyclone forming

off the Madagascar coastline.

Cyclone Charlie, the third after Bindu and Ando, could result in more

rainfall over the western, central and southern regions of Kenya, the

weathermen said.

CONTINUED

Shapeshift to WOVOCA! to view this site's main page