The World Bank - Working for a world free of poverty

Views menu

Syndicate content
Making development work for all

About us

About us

East Asia & Pacific is facing some great development challenges today: urbanization, protection of the environment, the need to find renewable energy sources and many others. This site wants to create a conversation around those important issues. More »

Myanmar

East Asian and Pacific countries look to China for possible recovery, says World Bank report

Submitted by James I Davison on Mon, 2009-04-06 23:01

Despite a surge in joblessness and a regional drop of the forecasted GDP growth to 5.3 percent expected in 2009, developing East Asian and Pacific countries may be able to look to China for hope during the current global economic slowdown. That's according to the World Bank's April 2009 edition of the East Asia & Pacific Update, which was released today.

The latest half-yearly assessment of the region's economic health, aptly titled "Battling the Forces of Global Recession", says there have already been signs of China's economy bottoming out by mid-2009. China's possible subsequent recovery in 2010, concludes the report, could contribute to the entire region's stabilization, and perhaps recovery.

There are a number of ways to review the findings of the report on the World Bank's website. Head over to worldbank.org/eapupdate to view specific chapters or download the full report. For an intimate view of people who are being affected by the ongoing financial crisis in East Asian and Pacific countries – including Cambodia, Thailand, Mongolia and the Philippines – check out "Faces of the Crisis". You can also view hi-res graphs from the report here.

Also, check back here in the next day or so for blog posts written by World Bank economists based in Cambodia and Lao PDR.

UPDATE: For country-specific expert perspectives on the new World Bank repot, check out blog posts from World Bank economists based in Cambodia and Laos. Stéphane Guimbert considers what contraction might look like in Cambodia. And Katia Vostroknutova takes a look at Laos' economy, which is less affected by crisis, but faces the increasing challenge of sustaining growth during the crisis.

A vegetable traffic light to detect landmines

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Tue, 2008-07-29 21:45
Image credit: CPI at Flickr under a Creative Commons license.

I thought the most innovative way to detect land mines was, to date,  the use of sniffing rats (light enough not to set off the explosive). But scientists in South Africa (a team set up by the University of Stellenbosch and the Danish biotechnology firm Aresa) are now turning to vegetables.

According to EcoWorldly, they have developed the "Red-Detect" bio-sensor technology in a weed that changes color from green to red when when it detects the nitrogen dioxide that leads from buried mines. The weed, Thales Cress, is too small to be seen from a safe distance, however, so the scientists are now betting on using the tobacco plant instead, which has large leaves and grows easily in most parts of the world.

Field trials are already underway in Serbia, but scientists keep researching the plant's response to drought and extreme temperatures, as well as the risk of environmental contamination coming from this genetically engineered tobacco. In East Asia, projects to clean the land from mines are currently underway in Vietnam, Cambodia, and Myanmar (at least).

First comprehensive picture and analysis of the impact of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Mon, 2008-07-21 22:16

The Government of Myanmar, the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the United Nations have released the first comprehensive report covering the impact of Cyclone Nargis on the people in the Ayeyarwady Delta and Yangon. Among the highlights:

- It estimates the cyclone killed over 84,530 people, with a further 53,836 still reported missing.

- The assessment of damage and losses confirms a similar scale of impact to that of the Indian Ocean Tsunami in Indonesia in 2004, especially at the household and community severely damaged, together with around 4,000 schools.

- The cyclone wiped out the livelihoods of families overnight, flooding over 600,000 hectares of agricultural land, killing up to 50 per cent of draught animals, destroying fishing boats and sweeping away food stocks and agricultural implements.

- This has left households extremely vulnerable – in mid-June, 55 per cent reported having only one day of food stocks or less, and have relied in part on the steady flow of relief supplies.

- The total economic losses amount to about 2.7% of the projected 2008 GDP, with the effects of the cyclone concentrated on a region important for agriculture and fishing in Myanmar.

- Recovery needs, which are estimated at just over a total of US$1 billion over the next 3 years, include the most urgent priorities of significant food, agriculture, housing, basic services and support to communities for restoring their livelihoods and rebuilding assets.

- The indicative estimate of recovery needs and costs is preliminary and will need to be updated over time, reflecting the experience of other natural disasters in the region which demonstrate the importance of refining assessments and recovery plans at a sectoral level.

The specialists who respond to disasters

Submitted by Jim Adams on Wed, 2008-06-11 22:26

Two massive natural disasters in two East Asian countries – Myanmar and China – over the past five weeks have brought home just how quickly and dramatically life and livelihoods can be destroyed. Our experts in natural disaster recovery and reconstruction know this only too well. These are people who specialize in assessing the extent of damage that a cyclone, an earthquake or a tsunami can wreak and what to do to get the basics of life back up and running.

Some of these people – including water resources and transport infrastructure reconstruction experts, environmental damage assessment specialists and social services and livelihood restoration experts – have honed their skills over a number of years in Aceh, Pakistan, Turkey, India and elsewhere. A group of them have been in Beijing over the past two weeks preparing for a workshop for the key Chinese Government ministries involved in the huge recovery and reconstruction effort following the Sichuan earthquake. At the same time, we are working to assist a damage and loss assessment in Myanmar that’s being undertaken by a team made up of staff from the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the Government of Myanmar, UN agencies and the World Bank.

The World Bank will provide relief to victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar through ASEAN

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Thu, 2008-05-15 22:48

I had the chance today to attend a speech by ASEAN's (Association of Southeast Asian Nations) Secretary General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, right after he had met with the Bank's President Bob Zoellick. He told us they discussed ways to increase the cooperation between the two organizations, but the most interesting and pressing aspect of it all is that they talked about specific ways in which the Bank will be helping out the victims of Cyclone Nargis through ASEAN. ASEAN had announced on May 13 that it was setting up a "Coalition of Mercy" for the Myanmar relief effort, and today Zoellick offered Bank expertise in assessing the devastation and planning for the country's recovery. The key point here is that ASEAN is the organization with best access to Myanmar right now --it has already secured entry visas for its emergency team--, so this collaboration between the Bank and ASEAN can start being effective really quickly, which is what the people of Myanmar need.

In the news: U.N. halts aid to Myanmar

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Fri, 2008-05-09 08:38

The U.N. announced it was suspending relief supplies to Myanmar on Friday after the Government seized the food and aid material that had been flown into the country. Find reports from the New York Times, BBC News, and updates at ReliefWeb.

 

Update as of 1:00 p.m.: the World Food Programme, a U.S. agency, says it will send in two more relief planes tomorrow, as planned. Again, I encourage you to keep updated by checking a news aggregator like Google News or other online media.

Donate online to help victims of cyclone Nargis in Myanmar - Some suggestions

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Wed, 2008-05-07 22:21

As advanced in an earlier post, here's a short list to the webpages for online donations of international NGOs that have a large presence in the country and so are likely to be most effective under the difficult circumstances:

  • International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent - Donations
  • Save the Children - Donations
  • CARE - Donations
  • Malteser International (This is a German medical NGO which was able to send in supplies within a couple of days after the cyclone). - Website with info on donations
  • Doctors Without Borders/ Médecins Sans Frontières - Donations

Follow detailed information about aid to Myanmar on ReliefWeb

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Tue, 2008-05-06 23:37

The New York Times reports that some aid has begun flowing into Myanmar, but it looks like the mobilization for major relief operations is still underway and not clearly defined. However, you can keep track of what's going on in this regard by visiting the site that ReliefWeb has set up for the disaster caused by cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

ReliefWeb, administered by the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), is the main gateway to information --including news, documents and maps-- on humanitarian emergencies and disasters. It's targeted to the international humanitarian community that works on delivering emergency assistance, so you can hardly find a better site for up-to-date, reliable information on all aspects of this emergency.

Incidentally, there's also a site on the effects of the floods caused by Nargis in neighboring Thailand.

As for individual donations, it still seems too early to know how or where to contribute. I'll try to post this information later as it becomes available.

Statement from World Bank President Bob Zoellick in the aftermath of cyclone Nargis

Submitted by Claudia Gabarain on Tue, 2008-05-06 10:11

As the official estimate of fatal victims of cyclone Nargis raises to 22,000 --not counting the more than 40,000 missing--, World Bank President Bob Zoellick has just issued a statement:

"Our sympathy goes out to the thousands of victims of this terrible tragedy in Myanmar. I urge the government in Myanmar to allow relief agencies to reach those in need."

(Sadly, it's a vain attempt to try to keep this blog updated on the estimated death toll, and these postings are bound to become outdated fairly quickly in that aspect. Please check any major online news site or a news aggregator like Google News to keep track).

Myanmar: Cyclone deaths could reach 10,000

Submitted by Michael Figueroa on Mon, 2008-05-05 18:44

With winds clocked at over 190 kilometers per hour Cyclone Nargis made landfall in Myanmar on Friday, May 2, about 250 kilometers southwest of the capital Yangon.  On Monday United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon said he was “very much alarmed” over estimates from Myanmar’s Foreign Ministry that over 10,000 people may have died.  The New York Times is reporting on the devastation, which comes before a constitutional referendum scheduled by the military government for this Saturday.  According to CNN.com, the U.N. has made $30 million available for emergency aid.  Check these CNN video reports from Yangon.