Cyclone Yasi, a category 5 cyclone, hit the coast of northern Queensland yesterday. Winds up to 290 km per hour caused damage to houses, yachts in harbours, power lines, trees and crops. Heavy rain caused flooding. High waves washed over the land. Th...
The first report was that hundreds in the delta had died. But by the third day, estimates were that 40,000 people could be dead or missing, and perhaps one million might be left homeless. Bodies were floating in rivers that were mixed with ocean wate...
By Lisa Schlein Geneva 27 May 2008 United Nations aid agencies say they have been able to reach about one million survivors of Cyclone Nargis in Burma, also known as Myanmar, with aid. That is slightly more than 40 percent of those affected by the de...
By Margaret Besheer United Nations 19 May 2008 U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon goes to Burma Thursday, where he plans to visit some of the hardest hit areas of the cyclone-devastated country and meet with the reclusive regime's top leaders. The U....
By Lisa Schlein Geneva 13 May 2008 The United Nations says tens of thousands of desperate survivors of the powerful storm that struck Burma 10 days ago are likely to die of hunger and disease because they are not receiving needed assistance. Lisa Sch...
By Luis Ramirez Bangkok 07 May 2008 International aid agencies are struggling to reach the hundreds of thousands of people in Burma who are without food and water following Saturday's devastating cyclone. The government says nearly 22,500 people are...
By Steve Herman New Delhi 06 May 2008 The international community is pledging emergency aid for Burma, following the devastating cyclone that has killed thousands of people. But the speed of the assistance reaching those who desperately need it may b...
By Luis Ramirez Bangkok 06 May 2008 Burma's government says at least 22,000 people are confirmed dead, in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, and another 41,000 are missing. The military government has begun allowing foreign assistance and granting unprecede...
By Luis Ramirez Bangkok 05 May 2008 Burmese state media say it is now believed that as many as 10,000 people are dead and thousands more missing after Tropical Cyclone Nargis ripped through parts of the country, destroying homes, bringing down power...
By Delia Robertson Johannesburg 25 February 2008 Cyclone Ivan, the worst to hit Madagascar in several years, has claimed at least 44 lives, and left 145,000 people homeless. VOA's Delia Robertson reports from our southern Africa bureau in Johannesbur...
