Tens of Thousands Hit by Waterborne Diseases as S. Asia’s Deadly Floods Recede

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More deaths and diseases follow the deadly floods in S. Asia

Outbreaks of malaria, dengue, diarrhea and respiratory infections have hit tens of thousands of people in Bangladesh, India and Nepal as the waters from the worst floods in recent years recede, aid agencies have said.

Severe floods have killed up to 1,500 people in South Asia since July, leaving tens of thousands displaced, in open air.

About 40,000 people have been infected in Bangladesh and Nepal, while multiple communities have been entirely wiped out in India’s eastern state of Bihar, Save the Children said.

An estimated 17 million children need protection, healthcare and basic nutrition in India alone, the agency said.

UN Must List Saudi-Led Coalition for Violating Child Rights in Yemen –Report

For Immediate Release:

***To view report: http://watchlist.org/about/report/yemen/
***Link to live press conference April 20 , 2017, 10:00am EST: http://www.un.org/webcast/

Warring parties committed 160+ attacks on medical facilities and personnel over past two years 

The UN should put Saudi Arabia back on a list of violators of children’s rights because of attacks on hospitals in Yemen.

• Warring parties committed at least 160 attacks on medical facilities and personnel over past two years, including deadly airstrike on children’s hospital.

• Attacks have contributed to closure of hospitals and worsened health conditions for children.

NEW YORK – A military coalition led by Saudi Arabia in Yemen must be named in the UN’s annual list of perpetrators of child rights violations for carrying out repeated attacks on medical facilities and personnel, a new report says today.

The report, by Watchlist on Children and Armed Conflict and Save the Children, documents a series of deadly attacks on hospitals and medics over the past two years – and calls on UN Secretary – General António Guterres to add the Saudi Arabia – led coalition to his list of those responsible for grave violations of children’s rights in conflict.

• In 2016 then – UN Secretary – General Ban Ki – moon briefly listed the coalition for killing children and attacking schools and hospitals in Yemen, only to later remove it after pressure from Saudi Arabia. This year’s UN report on Children and Armed Conflict is due to be published in the coming months.
• Appearing on the list is an international embarrassment for states and non – state actors , which can usually only be removed after meeting UN – verified benchmarks for ending and preventing violations.
• In addition to the Saudi Arabia – led coalition, other warring parties in Yemen have also been implicated in the 160 attacks on medical facilities and personnel over the past two years. These attacks have contributed to damage and destruction of Yemen’s medical facilities, and worsened conditions for children’s health, the report said.
• Fewer than half of the medical facilities in the country are functioning, according to the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA).
• The country is on the brink of famine, with 3.3 million children and pregnant or lactating women suffering from acute malnutrition and more than 460,000 children suffering from severe acute malnutrition, according to OCHA.
• Every 10 minutes, a child in Yemen dies of preventable causes, according to UNICEF. Since 2014, the mortality rate for children under five has increased by nearly 20 percent, UNICEF said.
• In one documented case, two infants in incubators reportedly died from a lack of oxygen after a pediatric hospital in Sana a was damaged in an airstrike by the Saudi Arabia – led coalition.
• Hospitals that remain open face severe shortages of medicine and equipment , in large part due to the de facto naval blockade imposed by the coalition on Yemen’s main port of Hodeidah, the country’s lifeline for food and essential supplies. Warring parties have detained aid workers and hampered the delivery of food and medicine by land.
• In addition to the Saudi Arabia – led coalition (which consists of ten countries and gets support from the United States), parties to the conflict include Yemeni government forces and the Houthis (also known as Ansar Allah) and their allies.
• Watchlist also recommends that the United States and other UN member states immediately stop providing weapons to the coalition when there is a chance they may be used in attacks against hospitals and other violations.

Christine Monaghan, research officer at Watchlist, said:
“The UN Secretary – General cannot bow to pressure from Saudi Arabia, but must hold the Saudi Arabia – led coalition responsible for repeated attacks on medical facilities and staff. They are leading to the closure of hospitals, compromising children’s access to treatment, and increasing rates of injury and disease.”

Grant Pritchard, interim country director for Save the Children in Yemen, said:
“For two years bombs have been landing on hospitals, homes, and schools. On the ground our teams are helping children who have been physically and mentally scarred, and are supporting hospitals that are now forced to hold damaged incubators together with sticking tape. All parties have been responsible for the unnecessary deaths of children in Yemen, and the Saudi Arabia – led coalition is among them.

Those responsible must be held to account.” The full report, “Every Day Things are Getting Worse” The Impact on Children of Attacks on Health Care in Yemen, is available here: http://watchlist.org/about/report/yemen/

NOTES:

• More than half of the health facilities in 16 of the 22 assessed governorates in Yemen are closed or partially functioning due to the conflict, leaving over 14.8 million people in need of basic healthcare including 8.1 million children (OCHA).

• Yemen is facing the largest food security emergency in the world with 17 million people lacking food : 6.8 million people are in the “ emergency” phase – one stage before famine – and 10.2 million people are in the “ crisis ” phase . There are 3 million (or 20%) more food insecure people in March 2017 compared to June 2016 (IPC Report).

• According to OCHA (Yemen 2017 HRP), 7,469 people have been killed and 40,483 injured (47,952 total casualties) between March 2015 and December 31, 2016.

• Between March 2015 and February 23, 2017, 4,667 civilians were killed and 8,180 injured. (OHCHR).

Click to access watchlist-yemen-for-immediate-release_final.pdf

The UK has earned about $4billion from arms sales to Saudi Arabia since the Yemen military campaign began in March 2015, which has seen 11,000 Yemeni civilians massacred.

3 Children Killed in Yemen Each Day: Save the Children

Yemen has world’s 2nd highest casualties owing to explosive weapons

At least three children are being killed each day in Yemen, many of them due to the use of wide-range explosive weapons in villages, towns and cities, according to international children’s charity, Save the Children.

Children are killed daily in intensive airstrikes, shelling and rocket attacks. More than 1,500 children have been killed or injured since violence escalated in March 2015 according to the UN, with many of the deaths caused by explosive weapons including missiles, large aerial bombs, artillery shells, rockets, mortars, and improvised explosive devices (IEDs).

Yemen now has the 2nd highest number of casualties in the world owing to explosive weapons.

The breakdown of Yemen’s health system has left more than 14 million people without the basics like antibiotics and vaccines, and risk dying from preventable diseases like diarrhea, pneumonia and malaria, said the UN. Additionally,

• 21.2 million, or 82% of the population are in need of humanitarian assistance.
• 14.4 million are food insecure (including 7.6 million severely food insecure).
• 3 million people now require treatment or preventive services for malnutrition.
• 2 million are currently acutely malnourished, including 1.3 million children – 320,000 of whom are suffering from severe acute malnutrition.

Related Links

• Saudi state terrorism leaves 21.2 million Yemenis—82% of population—in need of humanitarian assistance

Severe Flooding Affects Tenth of Myanmar Population

Widespread flooding destroys 1.2 million acres of rice fields in Myanmar, killing at least 100

Weeks of monsoon rains and strong winds together with Cyclone Komen have triggered massive flooding and mudslides across 12 of Myanmar 14 states and regions.

As of August 8, 2015 [OCHA]

• More than 61,000 households are displaced/evacuated in the Ayeyarwady delta region and in Bago due to floods.
• Floods have severely damaged the rice harvest in Rakhine and contaminated water wells by salt water.
• An estimated 4.4 million people live in flood affected areas.

With over 2,400 schools shut, at least 250,000 children can’t continue learning

Save the Children: “Crops and seeds have been destroyed in the floods and that means that food will be in short supply over the coming weeks leading to fears that more children will be undernourished. As it stands, Myanmar is already one of the 24 high-burden countries with the largest number of stunted children. One-in-three children are stunted, and the food insecurity with these floods could exacerbate the situation.”

At least 100,000 children don’t have sufficient food and access to clean drinking water because of ruined crops and contaminated water wells in flood-affected Myanmar, Save the Children has warned.

More than 250,000 children are unable to attend school, with more than 2,400 schools closed due to flooding.

Crisis in Myanmar

• One million Rohingya in Myanmar and up to 500,000 Rohingya in Bangladesh are facing protracted crisis and dire living conditions, with restrictions on basic freedoms, access to healthcare and food assistance. [ACAPS]

 

Floods Affect Millions in East, South, SW and Central China

Storms, flooding and landslides leave many dead or missing around China

Extreme rain events in the Chinese provinces of Hunan, Guizhou, Jiangxi and Sichuan, as well as the Guangxi Zhuang Autonomous Region, have triggered severe flooding and landslides, affecting  thousands of towns and villages, disrupting the lives of tens of millions of people, leaving many dead or missing, and forcing hundreds of thousands to evacuate. The disasters have destroyed tens of thousands of homes, millions of hectares of crops and much of the infrastructures .

Other Global Disasters, Significant Events

• Syria.  The joint proxy war waged by Saudi Arabia and Israel against Syria has entered a new phase. The head of UN peacekeeping operations has described the Syrian conflict as a “civil war.”
  • Meantime, Germany’s leading daily newspaper, Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung reported the May 25 Houla massacre was perpetrated by opposition forces aligned with the Free Syrian Army (FSA).
  • “The report refutes the official account by the United States and other major powers and presented uncritically by the media. The massacre was attributed to pro-government forces and used to step up the propaganda offensive for military intervention against the regime of Bashar al-Assad. Without providing any serious evidence, the US and its allies claimed that either the Syrian Army or pro-government Shabiha militas carried out the mass killing of over 100 people.” Said a report.
  • “The Frankfurter Allgemeine Zeitung article is given additional weight by a report in Spiegel Online from March 29 pointing to the widespread practice of summary execution carried out by the FSA. Spiegel interviewed a member of an opposition ‘burial brigade’ who had ‘executed four men by slitting their throats.'”

• Gaza.  The water in Gaza is too contaminated to drink, says a joint report by the Medical Aid for Palestinians (MAP) and Save the Children.
  •  The report “Gaza’s Children: Falling Behind” describes the impact of the ongoing blockade on the lives and health of Gaza’s children.
  • Gaza’s only fresh source of water is highly contaminated by fertilizer and human feces, the report says.
  • The number of children being treated for diarrhea has doubled in 5 years, and the levels of nitrates found in the water are responsible for to the doubling since the blockade began, according to the report.
  • Israel’s 5-year blockade is preventing crucial sanitation equipment from entering the territory, and Gaza’s sewage system is “completely broken.”
  • The report will be launched on June 20, 2012 at the Royal College of Paediatrics and Child Health, London, UK.

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

• 2010 Disasters [Links to 2010 Disaster Calendar]
• Mega Disasters
• 2011 Disaster Calendar
• 2012 Disaster Calendar