Global Disasters/ Significant Events – May 19, 2015

Egyptian authorities behaving like animals

Egyptian security forces are using sexual violence against detainees on a massive scale, according to the International Federation for Human Rights.

Men, women and children are being raped “to eliminate public protest,” said a report. Detainees are routinely subject to virginity tests, rape and gang rape after arrest.

“The study notes a surge in sexual violence after the Egyptian military takeover in July 2013.”

Time running out for thousands in distress at sea: UNHCR

Time is running out for thousands of people in distress at sea, the UN refugee agency (UNHCR) on Tuesday warned, urging governments in the Southeast Asia region to urgently rescue the vulnerable people.

“We estimate that nearly 4,000 people from Myanmar and Bangladesh remain stranded at sea with dwindling supplies on board. This includes some 2,000 men, women and children stranded on at least five boats near the Myanmar-Bangladesh coasts for more than 40 days. Unconfirmed reports suggest the number could be higher,” UNHCR spokesman told journalists in Geneva on Tuesday.

Chadians Fleeing Boko Haram

An estimated 32,000 Chadians and other internally displaced persons (IDPs) have fled Boko Haram attacks and crossed the border from Nigeria into Chad’s Lac Chad region since the beginning of January 2015, said IOM.

Islamic State terrorists take control of Ramadi, Iraq

Islamic State terrorists have taken control of Ramadi. At least 500 have been killed and 42,840 people fled fighting in the city over 16–17 May, adding to the 180,000 already displaced in Anbar since early April. Access to new IDPs in Habbaniyah, Khadiyah district, is limited due to insecurity, and health concerns are growing, reported Acaps.

Sudan: Fighting between Southern Reizeigat and Maaliya tribes in Abu Karinka, East Darfur, has reportedly displaced up to 24,000 households – 168,000 people. Those who remain have been cut off from water, food, and fuel aid. Measles cases have climbed to 4,127 so far this year, with West Darfur the worst-affected state. http://geo.acaps.org

Burundi: Displacement has increased sharply with the worsening political crisis. 105,000 people are seeking asylum in neighbouring countries, including 78,000 in Tanzania, where living conditions are worsening rapidly. Political protests continue in Burundi, despite the President warning that protesters will be considered accomplices of perpetrators of the attempted coup. http://geo.acaps.org

IDP Numbers Continue Rising Globally

Deteriorating Humanitarian Crisis: Millions of Internally Displaced Peoples (IDPs) Facing Severe Food Shortages

Record numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa are crossing into Yemen: UN-OCHA

The following are excerpts from various reports published by UN-OCHA, its  and other IDP-related agencies.

Ethiopia: More than 107,000 recorded migrants crossed the Red Sea/Gulf of Aden into Yemen in 2012, of whom 80,000 were from Ethiopia.

“Record numbers of migrants from the Horn of Africa are crossing into Yemen, most of them on their way to find better opportunities in Saudi Arabia and other rich Gulf countries. But many do not make it any further. Seeking a new life, they end up unwitting victims of a smuggling racket designed to exploit the migrants at each juncture of their journey.” UN-OCHA reported.

Pakistan:  Since mid-March, about 48,000 people have been displaced from the Maidan area in the Tirah Valley in Khyber Agency, Federally Administered Tribal Areas (FATA) , due to an escalation of hostilities between rival armed groups and the Government’s security operations against armed non-state actors. UN-OCHA reported.

• Officials estimate that up to 60,000 people (10,000 families) may leave the conflict-affected area in the near future and remain in displacement for up to six months due to security concerns.

• As of 10 April, UNHCR had registered 2,364 newly displaced families. The majority were displaced to
  Kurram (1,182 families), while the rest sought refuge in Peshawar (555 families), Nowshera (556 families)
  and Kohat (71 families).

• Some 165,427 displaced families, that is IDPs, are currently registered in Khyber Pakhtunkh (KP) and FATA.

Afghan Refugees

• Some 1.64 million Afghan refugees currently “receiving humanitarian assistance.”

• More than 1.3 million others who have returned to FATA since 2009.

Chad: Influx of refugees and returnees

More than 74,000 people have fled into Chad from Darfur in the past two months, 50,000 of them in the past week alone, causing the largest influx of refugees from Sudan into Chad since 2005, according to the UN Refugee Agency (UNHCR).

Hunger in Mali

Hunger in Mali has reached crisis levels in the northern Kidal Region and has reached critical levels in Gao and Timbuktu regions, according to food security agencies and the government’s early warning body, UN-OCHA reported.

• One in five households in Gao and Timbuktu are facing severe food shortages, while in Kidal one in five households faces severe malnutrition and increasing mortality.

•  Countrywide, the number of Malians at risk of critical hunger this year is estimated to be 2 million, and 660,000 children under age five are at risk of severe malnutrition, though this latter estimate is based on figures from a 2011 survey.

Central African Republic (CAR)

Humanitarian situation in CAR has deteriorated, leaving civilians in the capital, Bangui, in critical need of aid, according to a senior humanitarian official.

• “The main humanitarian needs in Bangui are access to health and nutrition and clean water [and] security and protection of civilians,” Amy Martin, who heads the Bangui branch of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA), told IRIN.

• Regarding the number of people affected by the crisis, she said: “We are using the population figure of the entire country, 4.5 million people, [as the number of people] affected. The most vulnerable people – women, children, elderly, [people living with HIV/AIDS] – are most at risk.”

Myanmar

“Two weeks after a wave of anti-Muslim violence engulfed Meikhtila, Mandalay Division—leaving at least 40 dead and 61 injured—more than 12,000 mostly Muslim residents of the city shelter in camps for the displaced. Most of the camps are improvised in schools under the control of the Burmese government. In recent days, journalists have been barred from entering the camps. According to a local National League for Democracy politician, aid organizations have been forced to leave deliveries at the camp gates.”  Irrawaddy reported.

Syria

“The humanitarian situation in Syria continues to deteriorate, disrupting livelihoods, leading to over 1.3 million people fleeing the country to seek assistance as refugees in neighboring countries.” UN High Commissioner for Refugees

Malian Refugees stranded in Mauritanian desert

About 70,000 refugees from Mali are living in difficult conditions in the middle of the Mauritanian desert, with ethnic tensions in northern Mali quashing any hopes of a swift return home, Said Reliefweb.

Stateless in Mozambique

“A high number of people in our locality have no form of identification, says Veriato Eduardo, an administrator in Angonia in Northwestern Mozambique near the Malawi border. This prevents them from registering their children in schools and from expanding their small businesses. In this part of the country, a high number of adults are returned refugees, who lost their documentation during the civil war, and have therefore been left stranded.” UN Children’s Fund reported.

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DISASTER CALENDAR – April 14, 2013 — 
SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,063 Days Left 

Mass die-offs resulting from human impact and the planetary response to the anthropogenic assault could occur by early 2016.

• SYMBOLIC COUNTDOWN: 1,063 Days Left to ‘Worst Day’ in the brief Human  History
• The countdown began on May 15, 2011 …

GLOBAL WARNINGS

• WARNING: Human impact 2.85 x Earth’s diminishing carrying capacity
• WARNING: RAPID PLANETARY DECLINE IN PROGRESS!
• Europe: The First Phase of Collapse Has Started 
• United States: The First Phase of Collapse Has Begun

Global Disasters: Links, Forecasts and Background

• The First Wave of World’s Collapsing Cities
• Back to the Primordial Future
• The Fate of Energy Dinosaurs
• Mass Die-offs

Humongous Dust Storm Sweeps Africa

10,000-km dust storm plagues Africa

Click here to download large image (5 MB, JPEG)

A massive  dust storm stretching from the Red Sea to the Atlantic Ocean swept across the southern Sahara Desert, Africa on March 19, 2010. Composite image, spanning more than 10,000 kilometers (6,000 miles), was taken by NASA/Aqua/Terra/ MODIS and consists of 7 satellite overpasses. Gray triangular areas represent satellites blind spots. The composite also captured another dust storm blowing across Arabia (see upper right corner). Source: NASA

Related Links:

• Snow, Dust, Rain and Fire
• More Dust Storms Plague Arabian Peninsula
• Australia: World’s Smallest Continental Dust Bowl
• Could Dust Storms Bury Sydney, Australia?
• Washington: Thousands of Tons of Topsoil Lost in Dust Storm
• Australia: Uranium Dust Threat Real?
• And dust to dust …
• The Mesopotamian Dust Bowl
• Image of the Day: Sandstorm in Saudi Desert