Asia Pacific

A strong earthquake triggered tsunami waves on 29 September 2009 in Samoa, American Samoa and Niuatoputapu, Tonga, pictured here.

Over 3,000 Samoans left homeless by deadly Pacific tsunami – UN

7 October 2009
A week after a powerful earthquake in the Pacific Ocean triggered a series of tsunamis that devastated a chain of islands in the region, the United Nations today reported that thousands remain homeless and warned against the heightened risk of outbreaks of disease.
UN- backed campaign to vaccinate against measles and rubella in Tajikistan targets children aged one to 14 years

Tajikistan: UN backs campaign to vaccinate against measles and rubella

7 October 2009
Two United Nations agencies are backing a two-week nationwide campaign by health authorities in Tajikistan to immunize an estimated 2.5 million children in the mountainous, landlocked Central Asian country against measles and rubella.
UNDP Administrator Helen Clark visiting a project the agency helped to create to improve the lives of Thai fishermen

UN must help poor nations meet looming development, climate deadlines – official

7 October 2009
The United Nations development system must quickly build the capacity of national partners to meet the multiple challenges facing them, from achieving the Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) to fighting climate change, as a host of deadlines loom on these issues, a top UN official said today.
Voting in the 20 August, 2009 elections in Afghanistan (file photo)

Senior UN officials deny accusations of favouritism in Afghan presidential polls

7 October 2009
The top United Nations envoy to Afghanistan has only ever sided with electoral institutions in the country’s recent presidential ballot, and never with any of the candidates, UN officials said today as they refuted allegations of bias.
Aerial view of the vast destruction of the Indonesian coast caused by the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004.
UN Photo/E. Schneider

Indian Ocean nations to test UN-backed tsunami warning system

6 October 2009
Eighteen countries around the Indian Ocean Rim will participate in a United Nations-backed tsunami exercise on 14 October to coincide with World Disaster Reduction Day, the first time that the warning system set up following the devastating disaster that struck the region in 2004 will be tested.
Survivors line up for water at a community wiped out by devastating floods by Ketsana in the Philippines capital Manila

UN appeals for $74 million to help flood victims in Philippines

6 October 2009
The United Nations today launched an appeal for $74 million to help 1 million flood-stricken people in the Philippines – which has been hit by massive back-to-back storms – for the next six months.
WFP’s office in Islamabad after the bomb blast

Ban condemns ‘heinous’ attack on UN food aid office in Pakistan

5 October 2009
Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has strongly condemned today’s suicide attack against the office of the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) in Pakistan in which five staff members were killed.
Filipinos go hand-in-hand to help each other who were caught in the flood

UN looks to long-term recovery plans after slew of disasters in Asia-Pacific

5 October 2009
United Nations agencies are mobilizing to provide longer-term recovery aid to a raft of countries in Asia and the Pacific, where a relentless barrage of tropical storms, earthquakes and tsunamis have hit millions of people in recent days.
Survivors line up for water at a community wiped out by devastating floods by Ketsana in the Philippines capital Manila

UN expands food aid in flood-stricken South-East Asia to Laos

2 October 2009
The United Nations is ramping up its relief operations in flood-stricken South-East Asia, appealing for donor support and rushing food to southern Laos where some 250,000 people have been hit by typhoon-spawned rain that have already affected an estimated 3 million in the Philippines.
Aung San Suu Kyi

Ongoing detention of Myanmar’s Suu Kyi a ‘blow’ to democratic efforts – UN expert

2 October 2009
Myanmar’s Government has missed an opportunity to prove its commitment to holding inclusive elections by extending the house arrest of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi, effectively barring her from participating in next year’s polls, says an independent United Nations human rights expert.