PACIFIC DISASTER MANAGEMENT INFORMATION NETWORK (PDMIN) 1 Jarrett White Road MCPA-DM, Tripler AMC, HI 96859-5000 Telephone: 808.433.7035 · [email protected] · http://www.coe-dmha.org Asia-Pacific Daily Report February 24, 2004 Asia Bans on US and Canadian poultry products following outbreaks of avian flu; UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) warns of economic costs in Asia The EU and South Korea today reportedly banned all US poultry product imports after the outbreak of the highly contagious strain of the avian flu in the state of Texas, where the strain was reclassified from low pathogenic to highly contagious over the weekend. However, Dr. Ron DeHaven in US Department of Agriculture said that the avian flu in the US is not the same H5N1 strain that jumped to humans and has killed at least 22 people in Asia. DeHaven said that it was the first time a high-pathogenic avian flu has been found in the US since 1983-84. Two other strains of avian flu have turned up recently in Pennsylvania and New Jersey. However, there are no known connections between those outbreaks and that in Texas, and they reportedly do not resemble the H5N1 as well. Meanwhile, China, Hong Kong, Singapore and Japan have also banned Canadian poultry imports after the discovery of avian flu on a Canadian farm. Canadian authorities also say the strain there is not the H5N1. The H5N1 bird flu has hit Cambodia, China, Indonesia, Japan, Laos, South Korea, Thailand and Vietnam. Pakistan and Taiwan have been hit by a milder strain of the flu, which is not considered a threat to humans. Meanwhile, the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) yesterday warned Asian countries of a possible increase in poverty and food shortages as a result of the bird flu and subsequent mass culling. FAO Director-General Jacques Diouf said that many poor people depended on poultry for their income and poultry was an important part of their diets. However, he also said that governments needed to improve plans for controlling disease. Representatives from more than 20 countries are expected to gather in Bangkok on Thursday (February 26) to discuss the disease’s economic impact on the region. The World Bank has estimated that the culling of poultry in hardest-hit Vietnam had cost the country 1.8% of its gross domestic product. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/low/business/3514319.stm http://www.bangkokpost.com/News/24Feb2004_news11.php http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040224/ap/d80tj9go1.html Indonesia Death toll from Indonesia's dengue death toll surges past 200; health officials to make results of virus test public by tomorrow Citing Indonesian health officials, China’s People’s Daily news is reporting that the death toll from a dengue fever outbreak in Indonesia has now climbed to 245. Thomas Suroso, a senior Indonesian health ministry official, reportedly told Detikcom online news service that the outbreak has now spread to 23 of the 32 provinces across the country with the populous island of Java hardest hit. The numbers of reported cases of dengue infection have also risen to 12,719. Citing a different official Chinese news agency, Xinhua placed the death toll at 247 and the total number of infected cases at 13,163. The Ministry of Health plans to complete virus tests aimed at identifying the particular strain of dengue virus, which has proven to be more contagious than the previous ones, by tomorrow and make the results public. Health authorities are also dropping flyers from helicopters warning the public of the dangers of the disease. The government has set aside US$17.7 million (Rp 150 billion) to combat the disease and its source. Officials attribute the massive outbreak to heavy rains in recent weeks and resulting stagnant water that serves as the breeding ground for mosquitoes. The mosquito-borne disease infects an estimated 100 million people worldwide each year with a death rate of about five percent in most countries. Dengue and dengue hemorrhagic fever (DHF) are caused by one of four closely related, but antigenically distinct, virus serotypes (DEN-1, DEN-2, DEN-3, and DEN-4), of the genus Flavivirus. Indonesia’s rainy seasons runs December through February. Poor urban planning and soil erosion in rural areas often create pools of stagnant water that act as the breeding ground for mosquitoes. http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/6686f45896f15dbc852567ae00530132/babfc7afaeb8f43dc1256e44003638cd?OpenDocument http://www.thejakartapost.com/detailheadlines.asp?fileid=20040224.A06&irec=4 http://www.thejakartapost.com/detaillatestnews.asp?fileid=20040224173836&irec=2 http://english.peopledaily.com.cn/200402/24/eng20040224_135724.shtml Nepal Nepal's Maoist rebels abduct 52 people including 47 teachers; UN expresses concern over disruption to school education Nepal’s Maoist rebels have reportedly abducted 52 people, including 47 schoolteachers, from some 13 schools in the Sugarkhal VDC (Village Development Committee) in the remote southwest region. Citing an unnamed police official, Agence France-Presse (AFP) reported that abductions took place in Kailali district on Sunday (February 22). According to police, abductees are taken to an unidentified location where they would be forced to take part in Maoist cultural, military training and other programs. Abductions by Maoist rebels, although not uncommon, have surged in recent weeks. Earlier this month some 700 students and teachers were abducted in western Achham district, but were later released after making them take part in the anniversary celebrations of the rebellion which began in 1996. Yesterday (February 23), the UN Information Center expressed its concern over disruption of school education in Nepal. In response to a five-day general strike called by the rebels on February 25-29, a UN statement said, “It is tragic that six-year-old children will lose another four days of teaching on how to read and write because of a political dispute by adults.” In November last year, a number of international organizations including the EU, Norway, the World Bank, Asia Development Bank (ADB), the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) and the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), made a similar plea to rebels to spare school and schoolchildren in their ongoing insurgency. Maoist rebels have been fighting to overthrow the constitutional monarchy in the Himalayan kingdom and set up a communist state. Nearly 9,000 people have been killed in the conflict since the Maoists began their insurgency in 1996. http://www.reliefweb.int/w/rwb.nsf/6686f45896f15dbc852567ae00530132/a012733f5877e11d49256e44002d44fd?OpenDocument http://www.kantipuronline.com/php/kolnews.php?&nid=8060 Pakistan Pakistan launches new offensive against al-Qaeda militants in the semi- autonomous tribal regions along the rugged Pak- Afghan border Pakistani forces have reportedly launched a new offensive against al-Qaeda militants believed to be hiding in its semiautonomous tribal areas along the Pak-Afghan border, in Pakistan's western region. According to Pakistan Information Minister Sheikh Rashid Ahmed, the operation was launched earlier today in the Wana area in the tribal South Waziristan area (some 180 miles [290 km] southwest of the capital of Islamabad). Major–General Shaukat Sultan, a military spokesman said the “routine” operation followed a tip-off about the presence of “foreign terrorists” who failed to surrender during a recent February 20 deadline. According to anonymous intelligence officials, some 25 people including Saudi, Egyptian, Yemeni nationals have been detained, including both men and women. Some of the local detainees were later released. According to Reuters news agency, troops destroyed two houses with artillery fire in the village of Zarai Letta about 10 miles (16 km) west of Wana. Contrary to some media reports, Pakistani officials are denying that al- Qaeda mastermind Osama bin Laden and his top lieutenants were the targets of the military operation. Pakistani officials are saying that the operation, which is part of their war against terrorism, is aimed at securing its borders and flushing out the foreign elements from Pakistan territory. http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040224/3/1d2y5.html http://asia.news.yahoo.com/040224/afp/040224112849int.html http://abcnews.go.com/wire/World/reuters20040224_126.html Other World News Africa Fourth Nigerian state withdraws from mass polio immunization program citing conspiracy A fourth state in northern Nigeria has reportedly withdrawn from a mass polio immunization program in 10 West African countries until the vaccine is allegedly confirmed safe. The state of Niger joined its neighbors, Bauchi, Kano and Zamfara. Kano had suspended the immunizations in October 2003 after Muslim clerics said that the vaccine was contaminated with an anti-fertility agent as part of a US plot to make Muslim women sterile. Some studies have shown that the vaccine is safe, but one report last month found traces of the reproductive hormone oestrogen. The World Health Organization (WHO), which denies the clerics’ claims, had called an urgent meeting last month to persuade countries where polio is still endemic to take part in the drive. Pakistan, India, Niger, Nigeria, Egypt, and Somalia, are seven other countries where polio is still endemic. Health experts have pointed out that if the disease is not contained, it could spread quickly globally as children elsewhere were no longer being immunized for polio. Polio has already spread from Kano and infected people in 6 west and central African states. The states have said that they are waiting for results from a government investigation, however, health experts are worried it would take too long. The immunization drive, which is seen as a final effort to wipe out the disease, is expected to cover 60 million children with the help of thousands of volunteers. Nigeria accounts for nearly half of all new polio cases, mostly in northern Nigeria.