Floods highlight the disaster-preparedness needs of Laos

IRIN: Heavy flooding during the northern summer, affecting 10 of the country's 17 provinces, has underlined the need for stronger disaster-management efforts, say experts. Tropical storm Haima struck central and northern Laos on 24 June, with Nock-Ten hitting central and southern areas on 30 and 31 July.

More than 300,000 people were affected and 26 died in the two storms, which resulted in more than US$100 million in damages, the government's National Disaster Management Office (NDMO) reported. More than 37,000 hectares of rice fields were damaged at a time when farmers were planting for the new season. This will affect harvests this year, with aid workers warning of long-term food distribution needs.

"When the emergency struck, they [local communities] quickly mobilized, organized themselves and divided the roles and responsibilities to respond. However, this could have been much better had they been better prepared and planned beforehand," Ghulam Sherani, a programme specialist in disaster risk management for the UN Development Programme (UNDP), told IRIN.

Sherani believes that lives, livestock and food stocks could have been saved had an improved early warning system been in place, noting that unlike earthquakes, where and when cyclones and typhoons strike is predictable.

"If we can translate that information to an understandable language for local communities then this will make a big difference," he said.

"We must strengthen the institutions related to disaster management and make sure that early warning is a priority and reaches the communities," Thanongdeth Insisiengmay, senior project manager for the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center (ADPC), added….