In honor of Earth Day, we run an interview with Yves-André Wainright, who discusses ways that poor governance and the role of foreign donors have contributed to the country’s environmental catastrophe. He also lays out a blueprint for what could turn the situation around, effectively mobilizing both government and the population to begin restoring the environment.

Yves-André Wainright served twice as Haiti’s Minister of Environment. Trained as an agronomist, Yves-André’s work has focused on environmental management, especially management of natural resources and waste.

Read more: http://thewip.net/talk/2012/04/coming_together_for_environmen.html

When young Nepalis opt to study outside their native land, they often do so with the hope of improving their own lives. But Ashraya Dixit used the opportunities in America to make a difference back home in Nepal.

A student at Grinnell College, Ashraya is a recipient of the prestigious Davis Projects for Peace, 2011, which grants US$10,000 to youth with innovative methods of building peace.

Ashraya’s project titled Straws of Steel took place in the summer of 2011 and aimed to “introduce a new, efficient, low cost, and safe building technique using straw bales to Shivagadi village in the Kapilvastu district of Nepal, an area that frequently faces flashfloods, droughts, fires and earthquakes.

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http://www.myrepublica.com

The typhoon that hit Mindanao in the Philippines before Christmas to claim 1,000 lives and leave nearly 50,000 homeless was a shock, but not a surprise. In 2009, campaigners and scientists simulated the effects of a tropical storm on the island, and predicted that the cities of Cagayan de Oro and Iligan would be hit by flash floods. At the time, the prediction was dismissed as alarmist. The scientists were conducting an exercise as part of a UN strategy for disaster reduction, to which 168 nations signed up in 2005.

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http://www.guardian.co.uk

This paper uses simple regression techniques to make an initial assessment of the monetary damages caused by the January 12, 2010 earthquake that struck Haiti. Damages are estimated for a disaster with both 200,000 and 250,000 total dead and missing (i.e., the range of mortality that the earthquake is estimated to have caused) using Haiti’s economic and demographic data.

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http://www.iadb.org

Metro Manila is the “7-11 of disasters.” The National Capital Region topped cities in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) “most at risk” of flooding and earthquake, according to the latest ASEAN risk assessment synthesis report.

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http://inquirer.net

Luis Alberto Moreno, president of the Inter-American Development Bank, visited Chile’s Maule region during a trip organized to review progress in the government’s response to the February 27 earthquake and tsunami, and to reiterate the IDB’s commitment to supporting the reconstruction effort.

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http://www.iadb.org

The Inter-American Development Bank approved a $10 million loan to support Chilean Government plans to implement reforms to improve public transportation throughout the country, including the areas affected by the earthquake and tsunami that struck Chile on Feb. 27.

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http://www.iadb.org

FAO has distributed seeds and tool kits to 68,000 farming families in the earthquake zones of Haiti, the first step in the agency’s response to the catastrophe that hit the Caribbean nation.

Another $5 million worth of essential inputs for rural families will be distributed by the end of June. FAO plans to give farmers 1 500 tonnes of food crop seeds, two tonnes of vegetable seeds, 100 000 banana plants, two million yam cuttings, one thousand tonnes of fertilizer and 95,000 tools.

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http://www.fao.org

Survivors of a severe earthquake that struck Indonesia's West Sumatra province have developed illnesses caused by poor living conditions, say medical workers, while shelter and food remain key concerns almost two weeks after the disaster.

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http://www.irinnews.org

During the last decades, several humanitarian emergencies have occurred, with an increasing number of humanitarian organizations taking part in providing assistance. However, need assessments, medical intelligence, and coordination of the aid often are sparse, resulting in the provision of ineffective and expensive assistance.When an earthquake with the strength of 7.7 on the Richter scale struck the state of Gujarat, India, during the early morning on 26 January 2001, nearly 20,000 persons were killed, nearly 170,000 were injured, and 600,000 were rendered homeless. This study identifies how assigned indicators to measure the level of health care may improve disaster preparedness and management, thus, reducing human suffering.

Download the study (372 KB, PDF)
http://pdm.medicine.wisc.edu