Famine Ravages Africa

Many countries all over the world suffer from one sort of calamity to the other. Most Asian nations have to endure strong hurricanes, floods, and earthquakes as a part of their lives while many African nations suffer from extreme drought. The land is devoid of water and humans, animals and crops suffer. Seeing an animal’s dead carcass somewhere out there in the African savannah is no longer an unusual sight. And it’s not just a simple crisis bit has escalated to a famine status.

Famines are serious issues any nation may ever face. It means that outside intervention is too late and things are not just bad but worst. The situation now in East Africa is so depressing with threats of 30 million people facing starvation due to political unrest and severe droughts ravaging the region. The South Sudan famine was declared in February 2017, telling the world that over 100,000 people are dying of thirst and hunger. Other affected nations include north-eastern Nigeria, Yemen, Somalia, Kenya and even Ethiopia. Add to that the burden of additional refugees that need to be fed makes life in these countries more than just unbearable.

The United Nations has rigorous and rarely met criteria for declaring a famine: 1 in 5 households in an affected area must be severely short of food; more than 30 percent of the population must be malnourished; and at least two starvation-related deaths must occur per day for every 10,000 members of the population. U.N. authorities did not declare a famine zone anywhere in the world after 2011 - until this year. Now there is one in South Sudan, and soon there may be three more - in northern Nigeria, Somalia and Yemen. As many as 20 million people may face starvation.

This extraordinary emergency is attracting remarkably little attention, and alarmingly paltry funding. The U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs says $4.4 billion is needed by July to deliver food, water and medicine to afflicted areas, but only 10 percent of that sum has been raised. If Congress allows the drastic cuts in U.S. foreign aid proposed by the Trump administration, the funds necessary to prevent mass starvation almost certainly will not materialize. Last year, the United States provided almost a quarter of the World Food Program’s budget, or about $2 billion.

The food shortage in Somalia, the site of the last U.N. famine declaration six years ago, is in part the result of a drought affecting much of East Africa. Tragically, however, the emergency in the other three countries is entirely man-made. In South Sudan, government forces are impeding the delivery of food to two areas held by rebels, threatening 100,000 people with starvation.

(Via: http://www.progress-index.com/news/20170424/editorial-famine-looms-in-africa)

To better understand the significance of a famine, one should first understand what it means. It actually is an evidence-based scientific classification. For instance, a famine due to a food shortage means that at least 30% of the children in that country are malnourished. And the word famine shouldn’t be a part of your daily vocabulary as well since it means that worst comes to worst and that thousands, if not millions of people, are dying.

About 20 million people – the equivalent of nearly the entire population of Australia – is at risk of death in Africa right now as famine ravages Nigeria, South Sudan, Somalia and Yemen. It is a frightening story that needs to be told.

What Matt produced was a stunning piece of journalism. Written from Somalia and presented in this beautiful way by our creative teams in Sydney and Melbourne, as well as delivered with an elegance in Saturday's newspaper, the story had the impact it deserved.

And the situation is far more serious that most of us can ever comprehend. So much poverty, suffering, and death when problems like these can be easily solved if we all unite and help the people from this part of the world. If governments can spend billions of dollars on defense and warfare, can’t we spare a few change to help feed the needy and the hungry in these impoverished areas?

"Somalia is one of four African regions with a food emergency. None of these crises received the attention they deserve. They are difficult places to report on – poor security meant we always travelled with an armed escort.

"In a bid to illustrate the scale of the need I asked many of families that I met to show me the food they had in their houses. I was moved by what I found. When I put that question to Kawsar Muhumed, a 25-year-old mother of three, she pointed to a tatty white sack on the floor of her gloomy dome-shaped humpy and asked me to open it. Inside was half-a-cup of rice. That, and two handfuls of flour, was all she had left. Kawsar told me she and her family were relying on scraps donated by her neighbours to survive.

(Via: http://www.smh.com.au/national/famine-on-africa--none-of-these-crises-received-the-attention-they-deserve-20170412-gvj8vv.html)

The scale of this crisis is something many of us haven’t witnessed in our own communities. Severe malnourishment is everywhere and affects both young and old people. Even the animals in the region die from thirst and hunger. You can see their dead carcasses scattered all over the place. Whoever who can see their situation will definitely be moved and get your heart broken just seeing these people barely eating or drinking clean water in their day-to-day.

Things that we take for granted in our modern cities are unheard of from these places. Instead, what you can see is poverty and suffering everywhere. And sadly, some of the reasons for this famine are caused by us humans. Political unrest and conflict prevent government and humanitarian efforts to reach the people who need help the most. Despite the increasing donor funding, humanitarian groups are stretching their resources as four famines are experienced in the region today.

However, donor funding is likewise stretched out all over the globe with the crisis like the Syrian Civil War and other political conflicts in the Middle East needing outside help. It is disheartening to see that these things still happen despite the many advancements in our technology. If we can only set aside our differences, the world will be a much better place to live in and some countries no longer have to struggle if the world’s wealth is distributed everywhere. But that is just wishful thinking and we can only do our best to extend help where it is needed the most.

Famine Ravages Africa See more on: SEMP.us

source https://www.semp.us/famine-ravages-africa/

Natural Disasters Ravage Asia Each Year

Asia is the largest continent on the planet. It is divided into different regions and comprised of countless nations both big and small. You can just imagine how diverse this continent is in terms of geography, culture, language, religion, and ethnicity among others. It is also home to the most number of people who often have to endure various natural calamities and weather disturbances year in and year out. You name it, from hurricanes, floods, tsunamis, earthquakes, drought, volcanic eruptions etc., Asian people have experienced it all yet they remain resilient through the years and life goes on.

And mind you, some of these disasters were so magnanimous and have taken away with it thousands of lives. The 2004 Indian Tsunami was so unexpected and claimed hundred thousands of lives. And just quite recently, the super typhoon Haiyan known locally as typhoon “Yolanda” in the Philippines was the strongest tropical cyclone ever recorded. It is also the deadliest typhoon to hit the Philippines claiming over 6,000 lives after its landfall.

Unfortunately, the threat of global warming and climate change made these natural disasters even stronger and more intense, so Asian people are experiencing natural calamities that are worse than they have ever experienced so far. And it is far from just being a threat because it is a reality people from all over the world now experience first-hand.

Total economic losses from natural catastrophes and man-made disasters almost doubled last year compared to the preceding year, with Asia suffering the highest damage. Globally, insured losses were also at their highest since 2012, a study from the research arm of global reinsurer Swiss Re Institute showed.

There were 327 disaster events globally in 2016, of which 191 were natural catastrophes and 136 man-made. In total, the disasters resulted in economic losses of US$175 billion (S$244 billion), almost double the US$94 billion in 2015, Swiss Re said.

(Via: http://m.todayonline.com/business/asia-suffered-s116b-losses-disasters-last-year-study-shows)

While Asia is home to some of the most sought-after attractions and paradise islands, it is frequently ravaged by extreme weather disturbances and both natural and man-made calamities. Not only are lives lost but properties are destroyed and businesses suffer regardless how many times any given city or state attempts to rebuild and move on despite the large losses.

This month’s floods in Thailand are a worrisome reminder of the increasing uncertainty of extreme weather events. Thailand’s flood season usually ends in November, but this year, influenced by a low depression and a strong northeast monsoon, widespread flooding in the south of the country has killed more than sixty people, affected over 330,000 households, and resulted in widespread asset losses.

Far from being an anomaly, however, the unpredictability of these extreme weather events may become the norm. Using a United Nations global methodology to estimate future disaster losses, we anticipate that average annual losses in Thailand due to floods will reach more than $2.5 billion by 2030, or 0.65 per cent of the country’s 2015 GDP, which is the equivalent of 2.6 per cent of gross fixed capital formation, and 2 per cent of gross savings.

(Via: http://www.eco-business.com/opinion/strengthening-regional-cooperation-to-mitigate-weather-extremes/)

And all these destructions are partly our fault. If we only take care of the environment and mind our waste, Mother Nature won’t strike back this hard against us. But we should brace ourselves for bigger, stronger, and more damaging disasters to strike Asia in the years to come because climate change is just warming up.

Asia and the Pacific is one of the regions that is most vulnerable to natural disasters and the effects of climate change. And yet, most governments have limited financing arrangements for disaster response and the levels of disaster insurance penetration are very low.

As part of its efforts to help its developing member countries boost their capacity to anticipate and manage risks from climate change and natural disasters, the Asian Development Bank has been incorporating disaster risk reduction and climate change adaptation actions in its projects. ADB has also started to support efforts to address demand and supply constraints to increased penetration of disaster insurance.

“There’s widespread recognition of the need to strengthen financial preparedness for disasters [including through] homeowner, business, agricultural and microinsurance penetration,” Charlotte Benson, principal disaster risk management specialist at ADB, told Devex. There’s also considerable innovation in the area, she added.

(Via: https://www.devex.com/news/asia-pacific-needs-stronger-financial-preparedness-for-disasters-88535)

The world is changing at a rapid rate and it is mainly because of us humans. We accelerated major environmental changes that took place for centuries but can now be seen happening in a matter of years or even months. Polar caps are melting and are causing the sea level to rise. Island nations like Maldives are in danger of disappearing from the face of the planet.

What makes it even more difficult for Asia to prepare or bounce back from disasters is that most of these countries are developing and struggling in resources themselves. They lack the funds necessary to prepare and rebuild their nations and often mostly rely on foreign aid to recover after suffering from major catastrophes. Economic losses make it even harder for them to recover. While we can’t really control the weather and all these natural disasters, we can start changing our ways and learn to look after nature from now on. Simple acts like reusing, reducing and recycling trash can do so much to counter flooding and pollution issues and eventually reduces the impact these disasters have on our lives.

Natural Disasters Ravage Asia Each Year See more on: SEMP Blog

source https://www.semp.us/natural-disasters-ravage-asia-each-year/