Displaying items by tag: Asia

Thousands have been killed amid ‘near impunity’ for offenders in the war on illegal drugs since 2016, the UN says. Its report levelled heavy criticism at President Rodrigo Duterte's government. His crackdown has been marked by high-level rhetoric that can be seen as ‘permission to kill’. Official figures show more than 8,000 people killed since he took office: other estimates put the figure three times as high. Most victims are young poor urban males, and police, who do not need search or arrest warrants to conduct house raids, systematically force suspects to make self-incriminating statements or risk facing lethal force. Duterte described the report as ‘a travesty’. Despite the many killings he remains very popular.

Relief and recovery after Cyclone Amphan displaces 3 million in Bangladesh and India

Super Cyclone Amphan, the "strongest storm ever recorded over the Bay of Bengal, hit the border of India and Bangladesh straight like an arrow last Wednesday. Thankfully, Indian and Bangladesh governments had been quick to evacuate some 3 million people to cyclone shelters before the storm made landfall, helping save many lives.

As of May 23rd, the death count was at least 95, around 25 are from Bangladesh and 70 from India. Not discounting the lives that were lost, we are thankful that this super cyclone did not claim hundreds of thousands as is the case with Cyclone Bholo, to which its potential havoc had been compared earlier.

However, despite this win, the cyclone did not depart without first destroying homes, sources of livelihood, and other properties.
 
In Bangladesh and India, around 2 million and 1 million were evacuated, respectively, amidst the challenges of physical distancing and other precautions that needed to be observed due to the Covid-19 pandemic.

Bangladesh has 30,000 confirmed Covid-19 cases while India has more than 125,000.

Nevertheless, this tragedy is not yet over. Millions of evacuees are now in make-do communal shelters where physical distancing and hygiene protocols may be compromised. Not to mention, sources of food and provision have been disrupted and damaged.

Agriculture and fishing account for almost half of the jobs in Bangladesh and support more than 70% of the population, according to the Asian Development Bank.

A team from the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has conducted a Rapid Needs Assessment. Early findings suggest damage to fisheries especially to smallholder shrimp farmers. Thankfully, most crops had been harvested before the cyclone hit.

Let us pray for the efficient and sufficient deployment of relief for all affected families especially the refugees and most vulnerable among them.

Let us also lift up the UN World Food Program, the Bangladesh and Indian governments, and other humanitarian organizations that are in the position to reach these displaced families with aid.

Protecting Bangladesh

Bangladesh has long known its needs to improve its defences from storm surges like Amphan as these can damage livelihoods in rural areas where more than 80% of its poor live.

In fact, the Bangladesh government started raising funds for its Delta Plan 2100, an eight-decade program that hopes to strengthen its climate resilience, and which had been approved in 2018. Almost a third of Delta's first-phase budget "is earmarked for 23 coastal projects to prevent flooding, including land reclamation and building islands and polders."

However, “The government will have to prioritize the immediate response and recovery effort over longer-term development projects," according to an Asia analyst.

According to Shamsul Alam, the lead author of the Delta Plan, “The coronavirus is one truth we’re facing now and climate change is another,” he said. “We need to handle these two issues in a combined way."

Please pray for the 3 million or more displaced individuals. Many of them are refugees and do not have anyone else they can turn to for help. Pray for hope, healing from trauma, and for God to provide for their every need.

Pray for protection from the spread of the coronavirus. Pray as well for God's intervention for both short- and long-term problems that Bangladesh and India are facing.

Pray for the witness of the Holy Spirit especially to those who are in most need of Him. Pray for opportunities for the gospel to be preached and lives to be touched by God.

Sources:
<https://edition.cnn.com/2020/05/19/asia/super-cyclone-amphan-india-banglash-intl-hnk/index.html>

<https://www.hindustantimes.com/world-news/cyclone-amphan-shows-cost-of-delaying-38-billion-bangladesh-delta-plan/story-SZ40tAZMFvyO33L1vOCwRN.html>

<https://news.un.org/en/story/2020/05/1064832?utm_source=UN+News+-+Newsletter&utm_campaign=933deb7c69-EMAIL_CAMPAIGN_2020_05_23_06_35&utm_medium=email&utm_term=0_fdbf1af606-933deb7c69-107378854>

Praise God for a successful rescue operation of 360 children, women and men freed from a brick kiln. They had been made to work under debt bondage for the last six months and faced extreme violence when they asked to leave during the COVID-19 pandemic. IJM and its partner supported local officials in the operation to get them finally to safety. This is the third time in five years that authorities have rescued people from this same brick kiln, but in the past the owner has always been released on bail.

Until now, Hong Kong has enjoyed freedoms not allowed on mainland China. On 28 May, Beijing announced it will press on with a national security legislation on Hong Kong’s autonomy that overrides the ‘one-country-two-systems’ principle granted to Hong Kong in 1984. The bill will now pass to China's senior leadership. It could end Hong Kong's unique status and see China installing its own security agencies in the region for the first time. Thousands of protesters have been demonstrating against the bill and China’s new national anthem wording. Chris Patten, the last governor of the former British colony,says that China has betrayed the people of Hong Kong and the UK has a moral, economic and legal duty to stand up for them. Hundreds are in custody for unauthorised assembly. Chinese media reported police using tear gas, pepper spray, and water cannon. Washington has called the laws a ‘death knell’ for the city’s autonomy. See

Asia’s youngest democracy is grappling with political instability that has hampered efforts to reduce poverty, stamp out corruption, and develop its rich energy resources. Though the prime minister had tendered his resignation after failing to pass the budget several times, he withdrew his resignation to help lead the fight against the Covid-19 pandemic, and has called for a state of emergency while approving a $250-million fund to fight it. As this mostly Catholic nation recently celebrated Easter, we stand with them and declare that Jesus is ‘the resurrection and the life’ over East Timor. We declare that traditional and nominal religious following must be shaken off, and speak of a coming to life of real and loving relationship with the Saviour. See also

Delhi has 47.6oC temperatures and Churu in Rajasthan recorded 50oC in north India’s heatwave, which will last a few more days. The region also struggles with rising Covid-19 infections and swarms of locusts ravaging their crops. The temperatures are the highest India has seen in decades. Indian heatwaves in recent years have caused a number of deaths; there are no data yet on the impact of the current weather. Thousands of migrants are walking the highways after fleeing pandemic-ridden cities to try to return to their villages. Many have little food or water and will be among the most exposed to the sun and heat. In addition to that, the heatwave has affected efforts to combat the swarms of locusts. 100+ workers are using vehicle-mounted sprayers, pesticides and drones in the searing heat.

One piece of good news is that for the first time in twenty years an unusually rainy winter has nearly filled the Sea of Galilee. Israelis consider rainy winters to be a blessing. ‘We are very excited because of this. It is very good for all of us around the Sea of Galilee: for agriculture, for farmers, for tourists, for everybody’, said the head of Kinneret Urban Union. After five years of drought, it has risen 18 feet in 2019 and 2020. The rise has been remarkable. Israelis are excited about it. ‘I am thrilled. We still treat it like our lifeline even though we do not drink the water any more. When I see a full lake, I want to sing, I want to cry out with joy. I am amazed by the grace of God,’ said tour guide Rachela Dotan.

‘Man shall not live on bread alone, but by every word that proceeds out of the mouth of God.’ (Matthew 4:4) The Philippines have been on lockdown for weeks, and many people are bringing aid to those struggling to meet daily needs. But one elderly man blessed the volunteers’ hearts when he asked for a new Bible instead of relief goods. His unusual request has been circling around social media. Dyn Nah shared her amazement on her Facebook page. She said that in a country full of citizens calling for relief aid, ‘here's to this man. May we be reminded that in this crisis, it is not only about the material things we need but also His Word as we walk through our everyday challenges.’

Yemen’s Saudi-backed government has accused the Houthis of covering up a large outbreak of coronavirus in areas that they hold, and has called for urgent global assistance to help their war-ravaged health sector deal with coronavirus. The United Nations warned that the country could suffer a ‘catastrophic’ food security situation due to the pandemic. The WHO said that the virus is spreading undetected among the population in the country, control of which is divided between the government in the south and the Houthi group in the north.

Super Cyclone Amphan, the strongest storm ever recorded in the Bay of Bengal, has devastated Bangladesh and India with sustained winds of 165 mph - equivalent to a category 5 hurricane. Up to 300,000 people in coastal areas are in immediate danger from deadly storm surges and flooding. Thousands are homeless. India’s worst damage is in West Bengal's coastal districts that were ‘pulverised’. Nearly every coastal district in Bangladesh was damaged. Evacuations across the region were complicated by the pandemic, as authorities tried to maintain social distancing rules. Pray for the thousands left homeless as Amphan heaps misery on coronavirus-hit communities, particularly the 14 million in Kolkata - situated in its direct path. Pray for those in mourning, the injured, and those clearing debris from impassable roads, rescuing flood victims and organising aid as heavy rains continue to fall on hard-hit areas.