Silent Shutter

Two Kidnapped European Aid Workers Freed In Haiti

2010-03-12T12:39:00.001+08:00

We come to help......

http://www.bernama.com.my/bernama/v5/news_lite.php?id=481879

Gunmen kill 6 in Western aid agency raid in Pakistan

2010-03-11T15:49:00.001+08:00

Why are you doing this?

http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/SGE62907V.htm

Anak-anak Palestina

2010-01-04T15:34:00.001+08:00

Anak-anak Palestina

by A.Samad Said

Anak-anak di Palestina

buminya rekah dan resah

dicekau senjata dan dengki;

batinnya terasak rosak

dicakar dendam yang ngeri.

Kini mentari tenat dan remuk,

cinta ditelan sekam malam.

Bumi Palestina cacat dan sakit,

sengat, racun menyentap nafasnya.

Antara duri dan kerikil mencengkam,

tempur dan cungap bersanggah,

mulut-mulut muda terus berdarah.

Anak-anak Palestina yang resah,

bara berang mengunyah alamnya

meretakkan watak dan wajah,

derita paling sengsara.

Bunga-bunga kering berapungan–

darah membuak berontak.

Kekacauan menggigit kalut jiwa–

cacar dan cemar; getir dan perit;

gigil dan hangus. Nisan yang nisan.

Api yang api. Api dan api.

Anak-anak Palestina bentengnya cekal.

Bapa-bapa nazak di sisi pusara;

ibu-ibu asuhi warisan yang garang–

mereka tenaga gempa

yang panjang menggugat

tank, kopter dan peluru, menggelorakan

wira yang syahdu.

Musafir Palestina yang termangsa

mendobrak peragut akar watan.

Mereka – pewaris sabar dan waja

mengasihi setiap pasir buminya

–melawan taufan syaitan

yang merasuk pelosok buananya–

penuh gamam, penuh dendam.

Mereka retak yang tajam. Denyut menyala.

Mereka kawah marak paling merah.

Dan sengat zaman.

Anak-anak Palestina yang tergugah,

unta-unta tersisih yang luka–

dalam kedurjanaan liar kasar,

dalam kemusnahan golak gelegak–

belajar hidup utuh dan indah

mengutip sisa dan nadi maruah

daripada sejarah yang kusut.

Mereka rahsia telaga mesra,

pohon-pohon kurma remaja,

diranumi nurani

amarah dan sumpah bangsa

yang pantang menyerah.

Dan di sini–

angin Ranau, nafas Semantan, degup Melaka,

mengucupi jantungmu yang terkelar.

Anak-anak Palestina yang tabah,

unta-unta tersingkir yang cedera,

sengat racun menyentap nafasnya.

Angin Ranau, nafas Semantan, degup Melaka,

suara saka, sakti dan sasa

menggemakan jerit dan raungmu. Dan kau,

dalam debu dan udara yang bisa,

kawah ledak saling gelegak,

enggan hangus atau pupus; dan enggan kalah.

Kudat/Beaufort/Keningau/KL

15-27 Mac 1989.

The European Campaign to End the Siege on Gaza - Video# 1--Please Share

2009-11-25T13:07:00.000+08:00

Reuters AlertNet - ICRC suspends operations in Chad after kidnap of French worker

2009-11-11T12:25:00.000+08:00

Reuters AlertNet - ICRC suspends operations in Chad after kidnap of French worker

Bikes in Sumatra

2009-11-09T15:19:00.003+08:00

Just sharing with u guys.
i take pictures of bikes or same family group when i go for missions.
and all this are taxi or sort of,except the 1 with kerepek and sate.
enjoy

How strong is 7.9 Magnitude Earthquake? Part 3

2009-11-06T14:12:00.004+08:00

FACTBOX-The worsening security picture in Afghanistan

2009-11-05T23:53:00.002+08:00

05 Nov 2009 12:47:52 GMT

Source: Reuters

KABUL, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it would temporarily evacuate hundreds of its international staff from Afghanistan due to deteriorating security, a sharp blow for Western efforts to stabilise the country. Security has worsened in Afghanistan since the Taliban insurgency re-grouped in 2005. Following are key facts about the security situation in Afghanistan:

WORSENING SECURITY

* Between January and the end of July this year, 898 conflict-related incidents took place, compared with 677 for the same period in 2008, according to the U.N.

* An Afghan government security map seen by Reuters in August showed almost half of Afghanistan was at a high risk of attack by insurgents or was under "enemy control".

* Incidents involving home-made, insurgent-laid bombs, or Improvised Explosive Devices (IEDs), spiked sharply from January to July 2009, averaging more than eight each day, or an increase of 60 percent, compared with the same period in 2008.

* In a security report published in September, the United Nations said "insecurity continued to be the single greatest factor impeding progress in Afghanistan

". CIVILIANS *

According to the United Nations, there were 1,500 civilian casualties between January and August 2009, with August being the deadliest month.

* As well as being the biggest killer of foreign troops, IEDs, including suicide bombs, have also killed more civilians than any other weapon in the conflict.

* The commander of foreign forces in Afghanistan, U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, said in his assessment of the war, the strategy's focus must be on protecting the population and prising them away from the insurgency.

HUMANITARIAN GROUPS

* There were 75 attacks against civilians working for NGOs, charities and humanitarian groups from January to June 2009, according to the Afghan National Safety Office.

* The International Committee of the Red Cross which has more than 1,000 staff, including Afghan employees, in Afghanistan has said it will not be removing workers from the country in response to escalating violence.

KABUL

* Nearly 130 Afghan and foreign civilians have been killed in major attacks in Kabul from January 2008 to the present.

* In January 2008, several Taliban gunmen stormed the luxury Serena hotel near the presidential palace, killing six people including a Norwegian journalist.

* Foreigners have also been targeted by gunmen in Kabul. In 2008 a British woman working for a charity and a South African man working for a courier company were shot in central Kabul.

* The worst attack on diplomats was a July 2008 suicide car bomb attack which killed 58 people, including three Indian diplomats, outside the Indian Embassy.

* Attacks outside the German embassy, NATO headquarters and on various foreign troop convoys in Kabul have all pushed up the death toll for foreigners working in Kabul over the past year.

THE PROVINCES

* The southern provinces of Kandahar and Helmand are the most dangerous in Afghanistan. A total of 538 troops have been killed there since U.S. and Afghan forces toppled the Taliban in 2001 according to www.icasualties.org, an independent website that monitors foreign troop deaths in Afghanistan and Iraq.

* Foreign and Afghan troops are also locked in daily gun battles with insurgents in the southeast of Afghanistan, where 530 foreign soldiers have been killed across 13 provinces.

* Security in the north and west of Afghanistan, long considered to be safe, has deteriorated significantly over the past year and a half.

* Kunduz and Badghis, which are the only Pashtun-majority provinces in the north, have seen a significant rise in violence and Taliban attacks.

* Herat province in the west, Afghanistan's commercial hub, has also seen rising violence and a strengthening of the Taliban. Attacks on officials and hangings of Afghans the Taliban accused of being government spies have significantly increased.

Sources: Reuters, United Nations, International Security Assistance Force, icasulaties.org, U.S. Forces. (Reporting by Golnar Motevalli; Editing by Alex Richardson)

U.N. pulls out foreign staff from Afghanistan

2009-11-05T23:51:00.000+08:00

05 Nov 2009 13:45:29 GMT

Source: Reuters

* U.N. says relocation temporary until security improves
* About 600 of 1,100 international staff to be moved
* Decision blow to Western efforts to stabilise country

By Jonathon Burch and Yara Bayoumy

KABUL, Nov 5 (Reuters) - The United Nations said on Thursday it would evacuate hundreds of its international staff from Afghanistan for several weeks due to deteriorating security, a sharp blow for Western efforts to stabilise the country. Spokesman Aleem Siddique said the United Nations would relocate about 600 of its roughly 1,100 international staff, with some being moved to safer sites within Afghanistan and the rest withdrawn from the country temporarily.

[ID:nISL477219] The move, a week after five U.N. foreign staff were killed by militants in Kabul, complicates U.S. President Barack Obama's counter-insurgency war strategy, which foresees an influx of civilian assistance alongside extra troops. Obama is due to decide within weeks whether to approve a request from his commander in Afghanistan for tens of thousands of additional troops. U.S. forces in Afghanistan have already doubled in the nine months since Obama took office.

The United Nations said the evacuations would not disrupt its operations in the country. "We're doing everything we can to minimise disruption of our work during this period," U.N. special envoy to Afghanistan Kai Eide told reporters at a news conference in Kabul. "We are simply doing what we have to do following the tragic events of last week to look after our workers in a difficult moment while ensuring that our operations in Afghanistan can continue.

" SECURITY CHANGES

Eide said some staff would relocate to Dubai where the United Nations has a facility and where it is "inside the mission area". Siddique said the U.N. staff would return in three to four weeks after its security measures were changed. "At the moment we have 93 guest-houses across Kabul and there will be a consolidation of those guest-houses so that we can provide better security in fewer places," he said.

The United Nations mission played a critical role in organising elections in the country this year, and its agencies such as UNICEF run health, education and other programmes. In last week's attack, Taliban suicide bombers hiding explosive vests under police uniforms entered a guest-house used by U.N. staff, killing five foreigners and prompting a security review by many of the international agencies in the country.

Two other international aid organistions have evacuated some of their non-essential staff since the attack last week, said Hashim Mayar of ACBAR, an umbrella organisation for local and international NGOs operating in Afghanistan. A second round of the presidential election, which was to be held on Nov. 7, was cancelled after President Hamid Karzai's only opponent withdrew, citing insufficient safeguards against fraud.

Former Foreign Minister Abdullah Abdullah's decision not to stand meant Karzai was declared the winner, even though more than a quarter of his votes from the Aug. 20 first round were thrown out after a fraud investigation. The tainted election has hurt Karzai's standing among Western nations with troops fighting in Afghanistan, making Obama's decision about whether to send more troops even more difficult.

"WARLORDS AND POWER-BROKERS

" Adding to the complexity of Obama's decision, is rising anger at civilian casualties caused by Western forces, which the commander of all foreign forces, U.S. Army General Stanley McChrystal, says undermines the Western mission. On Thursday Afghan villagers protested against what they said was the killing of 11 civilians in an air strike by foreign troops, but local authorities said only fighters were killed.

The NATO-led force said it had fired a rocket from the ground at a group it believed to be planting a roadside bomb in Babaji, in Helmand province. It said it was not aware of any civilians in the area and was investigating the incident. Western nations have pressured Karzai to revamp his cabinet, removing cronies and distancing himself from warlords to gain some credibility.

"We can't afford any longer, a situation where warlords and power-brokers play their own games. We have to have a political landscape that draws the country in the same direction which is the direction of significant reform," Eide said. "I believe we are now at a critical juncture in the relationship between Afghanistan and the international community. The debate over the last few weeks has demonstrated that there are more question marks and more doubt with regard to the strength of the international commitment to Afghanistan."

(For a related TIMELINE, click on [ID:nISL268109]) (Writing by Peter Graff and Yara Bayoumy; Editing by Alex Richardson)

How strong is 7.9 Magnitude Earthquake? Part 2

2009-11-05T16:30:00.003+08:00

This used to be the 2st floor

2 stories shoplots

lucky its just the kitchen wall

Living room

How strong is 7.9 Magnitude Earthquake?

2009-11-03T12:51:00.006+08:00

Ppl have been asking me how strong is the jolt of an earthquake?
i cant really explain it in words.
Felt it many times during my missions.
above 6 magnitude few times in a day to smaller ones that u lost count.

This is some of example of how strong a 7.9 magnitude can do.

This is 37 Tonne Locomotive on display somewhere near Padang town.
You do the math.......

Personal Preparation

2009-10-16T12:19:00.002+08:00

To friends who are going for a mission.
i am sharing this with u........

more guides and manual is out there,or u can just ask me.

Always......

Tips on Personal Preparation

The best advice is likely to come from someone doing a similar job to the one that you will be doing. If you can find such a person, even if only via a long conversation on the telephone, do so. It will greatly repay the effort and the cost.

While preparing, you may wish to consider the following:

Obtain briefing on the country you will be going to; its culture and customs; the work you will be doing; the security situation; and the history of your organisation's work in that area.
What training do you need before you depart? Take experienced and qualified advice on this if necessary. You may need training related to safety or security, and training in aspects of the job you'll be doing.
Travel plans: have they been thoroughly prepared? Who will meet you on arrival? What will you do if they do not show up?
Medical advice, particularly on malaria prophylaxis and other health precautions.
Clothing: appropriate to where you will be and what you will be doing.

Putting your personal, family and property affairs in order before you leave.

What manuals or handbooks will you find useful?

Security-related equipment

Mail forwarding arrangements.

more coming

have a good weekend

Khoda Hafez

Advice for First-Time Aid workers

2009-10-14T15:23:00.002+08:00

I found this article from the net.

Its not a complete guide for Aid workers going to the field,but it helps.

Diff NGO's or oganisation have diff SOP's and guideline.

you guys can always search the web or ask me for any info.

Happy reading

Going to the field for the first time as an aid worker? Even if you have extensive experience traveling in developing countries, there is a lot you should do to prepare for your first experience as an aid worker. It's impossible to list absolutely everything you will need to take, and duty stations vary tremendously in terms of security and infrastructure. The author of this page has tried to make a list that includes universal essentials, but you will need to do much more research on your own to prepare for your first placement.

Predeparture

* Do as much research as possible, before you leave, about the country where you will serve (its history, its current political situation, the names of its key leaders, the living standards of its people, cultural aspects, the availability of medicine, the types of food, etc.). If there is a Lonely Planet or Rough Guide for the area, buy it and review it at length (and definitely take it with you!). Also see the latest UNDP Human Development Report and look up the country. The web also provides extensive, useful information.

* Look for blogs by aid workers who have been or are in the area where you will serve. These personal accounts can go a long way in preparing you for your first aid experience.

* If you are a woman, you should do some extra research on cultural aspects of a country; male aid workers often forget or don't notice the particular customs regarding women's dress for the street and the office, and your briefing materials may not be explicit enough in this regard. If possible, try to talk with a woman who has been in the country before, or is there now.

* Find out how you will be paid. Will it be in cash? Will it be via deposit to a local bank? Can part of your pay be directly deposited to your home country bank? Make sure you have all of the information you need about your home country bank for possible money transfers. All the better if you can do online banking via your home country bank.

* Ask for a list of staff members BEFORE you leave your home country for your assignment. If at all possible, make contact via email before you leave with staff members already in-country that you will work with.

* Ask the organization who will pick you up from the airport (if anyone), how you should get from the airport to your housing, the name of your housing accommodations, what paperwork you will need to fill out at the airport, etc.

* Get about 10 passport-sized photos made. You will need them for visas, country ID cards, agency ID cards, and all sorts of surprise reasons. If you are female and going to a country where most women wear head scarves, consider getting some photos made with you wearing such

* Find out what country you would be evacuated to should there be a severe security threat, and if possible, secure your visa for this country before departing your home country.

* Make an electronic copy of the key pages of your passport, and have copies of your contract, security clearance, airline tickets/reservations, emergency information, etc. Put this information somewhere on the Internet where you can retrieve it (for instance, you can mail it to your Yahoo, GMail, Hotmail, or other web-based email account, and retrieve it if you need to after you arrive). You can also have it on a memory stick or CD you carry with you on your person when you arrive. Of course, you should have printed out copies of these as well which you also carry on your person.

* Buy and study a map of the country or the area where you will work.

* Start monitoring the weather before you leave. The web makes that very easy to do.

* Network as much as possible before your departure. Learn what other agencies serve the area and, if there might be a counterpart at any organization doing work similar to you, consider writing these organizations before you arrive to introduce yourself. See AWN's more detailed information on networking

* Consider taking a few *very small*, discreet gifts with you that you could give to people who prove particularly helpful. For instance, in Afghanistan, the author of this advice page brought small bottles of moisturizer and gourmet instant coffee.

* Think about what medicines you might need and pack accordingly – but don't bring so much that it might alarm customs officials.

* Research online groups that might relate to your work in a particular geographic area. This is a great way to network with people at other organizations engaged in the same work as you.

* Check your embassy's web site for the country and see if they have a registration process; it's a good idea for your embassy to know you are going to be in a country, and for how long. Often, they will put you on a contact list to let you know about events or security bulletins.

* Identify books or other publications you think might help you in your work. If you take these, be prepared to leave them, either because you need to evacuate, because you have no room in your luggage when you return or because you feel they would do good staying in the country for use by others.

* If you like to read, consider taking your own books and magazines. But be prepared to leave them in the country when you finish; they will be very much appreciated by other international staff there.

* Equipment needs vary from country-to-country, and depend on your living conditions. Yes, take that Swiss Army Knife (but not in your carry on). Two things the author of this article found most valuable that were recommended by fellow aid workers but not in any guide books: universal sink plug and a head lamp with plenty of batteries (electricity supplies, if not scarce in developing countries, are, at least, unreliable).

How much stuff should you take with you? It depends on how long you are going, what your living conditions will be, and the availability of items there. Just remember that, as you navigate your way through airports and other transport stations, you might have to manage all of your luggage by yourself; that means you don't want to take more than you can manage on your own. Also, consider that, in an emergency situation, you would need to leave the majority of your possessions, so don't take anything so precious that you would be heartbroken to have to leave it behind.

Upon arrival

Many new aid workers are shocked at how much they have to do themselves when arriving at an agency; often, the aid worker his or herself will have to drive the process to get paid, get necessary equipment, meet fellow staff members, etc. Be prepared to take charge in accessing the essential information and materials you will need to do your work:

* Some organizations provide new arrivals with an induction/orientation document. Some don't. Either way, there is a lot of information you need to compile yourself:

o Start immediately making a list of key contacts. This should be everything from people you work with in your job to people whose assistance you may need (IT person, security person, etc.)

o Start making a list of abbreviations to remember. Aid workers and government officials are notorious for talking in acronyms. You will never learn them unless you make a list.

o Get a staff list with key contact info ASAP.

* Find out when the security briefing is. If there is none, ask for one. Don't put this off!

* Get your official identification cards (visas, agency ID card, etc.) as soon as possible.

* No matter what your job, ask for some official documents: policies and procedures, the most recent annual report, the most recent internal program progress report, etc.

* Track all of the payments you are supposed to receive. No matter how well-known, long-established or large your development agency is, make sure you stay on top of all the payments you are supposed to receive, and when those are made.

* If you had a predecessor, ask where that person's files are, so you can go through to see what was done, and if this person left you any guiding notes.

* Ask someone to take you around and introduce you to everyone at the organization that you should know. If no one does, then do it yourself – walk into each and every office and introduce yourself. If no one sends an email around introducing you, do it yourself.

* Network with those at other organizations who do the same job as you. Initiate contact via phone, email, or just stopping by, as appropriate.

* Find out how to back up your computer information. If this isn't done, then do it yourself on CDs or thumbdrive.

* Get business cards as soon as possible.

* Get your computer ID and password ASAP

* Learn project site names and addresses ASAP.

* Arrange to meet key contacts face-to-face. Also, whenever you are at a main office or partner office, drop in and say hi to key contacts, even if you aren't there to see them; they may have information to pass on to you. Otherwise, it just keeps you on their radar screen.

* Staff often "hides" behind email. Back up any important emails you send to staff with face-to-face visits to their office, confirming the information/request you have sent via email. Going into people's offices at least once a week, even if you don't need anything, will help remind people that you are a real person, not just an email address, and that your requests for information are real.

* Go to all debriefings from staff members that you possibly can. It shows your interest in their work, and they often will, as a result, show more interest in yours. You may also find out things that you need for your own job.

* If security allows, take any and all opportunities you can to go into the field and visit work/project, no matter what your job. It will increase your commitment to your work, whatever that is, and remind you of why you wanted to go into development/aid work in the first place.

Thank you aid workers,volunteers,relief workers and humanitarian personnel

2009-10-14T00:32:00.004+08:00

Thanking you guys for those who had serve,still serving and coming to serve here in Padang,Sumatera,Indonesia.
Will be sharing more info from time to time.

Those who are coming,we wish you welcome.
Those who are leaving,
till we meet again on the next mission.
Those who are staying.
We can have Padang Coffee soon.

Those who are new in humanitarian world
Please dont be shy to ask for help.
Dont be a hero.
There are ppl who love and care about you back home and out there.

Will be posting some stories,pictures,guides and article with you guys when time and internet permits.

Khoda Hafez

ReliefWeb Â» Document Â» Indonesia: Diseases strike West Sumatra quake survivors

2009-10-13T11:43:00.001+08:00

ReliefWeb Â» Document Â» Indonesia: Diseases strike West Sumatra quake survivors

Shared via AddThis

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Dramatic scenes from American Samoa tsunami

2009-10-12T20:49:00.001+08:00

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Dramatic scenes from American Samoa tsunami

Shared via AddThis

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Indonesia quake survivor cuts off his own leg

2009-10-12T20:39:00.001+08:00

Reuters AlertNet - VIDEO: Indonesia quake survivor cuts off his own leg

Shared via AddThis

Famous Minang song

2009-10-09T23:15:00.002+08:00

This is a very famous Minangkabau song.
Actually this is how the language sounds like

Takana Juo

Salam dari Paja Santiang

NST Online Salam team first with aid to village

2009-10-08T11:06:00.001+08:00

NST Online Salam team first with aid to village

Shared via AddThis

Disease threatens survivors of Indonesia earthquake

2009-10-07T12:59:00.000+08:00

CUBADAK AIR, Indonesia (AlertNet) -

Persistent rain and poor sanitation threaten to speed up the spread of disease among thousands of homeless survivors of a devastating earthquake in Indonesia. In Padang, the biggest city in the earthquake zone, the authorities have erected tents for the homeless and are handing out medical supplies and fresh water, but in outlying villages like Cubadak Air help has only just started trickling in.

"We can't live like this, I'm scared. When it rains it leaks through the sheet," said 50-year-old Masniati. Her home now was a sheet of plastic attached to the side of a ruined building that had been her house until the earthquake hit five days ago. "We need food, water and proper shelter." Masniati's brother-in-law had been injured in the earthquake and lay in the nearby medical centre unable to move. There were seven other people living in the makeshift shelter with Masniati. They have no clean water and only enough food for another two days. They wash their clothes in a nearby muddy, brown stream.

A local official said the earthquake had damaged all 200 houses in the village and that none are now fit to live in. Time is running out to get help to people stranded in remote areas - many cut off by landslides - said Malka Older, director of programmes at the aid group Mercy Corps. "What we're seeing is an urgent need for clean water," she told AlertNet. "People are sleeping outside and there are real worries that people outside Padang city are already coming down with malaria." She added that the survivors were becoming increasingly desperate.

"We heard that people are drinking water out of drains," she said. Indonesia's health minister has estimated that the final death toll from the earthquake could reach 3,000, adding that disease was becoming a concern. Investigators have already said too many of the buildings in the area were poorly constructed and the mayor of Padang has promised to push through a law to ensure that every new building can withstand a strong earthquake.

But for now the people of Chubadak Air and other villages in the earthquake zone are still stunned by the devastation. "When the earthquake hit I was so scared that I couldn't move at first. I thought I would have a heart attack," Masniati said. Zainyar, a 73-year-old woman wearing a pink and white traditional outfit, was sitting nearby. "We always have earthquakes here but they are only small ones. This one was very big and dangerous," she said. "I had to hug a tree to survive."

(Writing by James Kilner in London)

Padang Earthquake Relief-

2009-10-06T14:52:00.005+08:00

Stories will be updated soon

Padang Earthquake Relief-updates

2009-10-06T14:31:00.007+08:00

Kelmarin Salam Relief sudah memulakan operasi penghantaran barangan keperluan kepada mangsa gempa di Sematera Barat.
Barang keperluan utama buat masa ni selain makanan adalah keperluan untuk berlindung.
Tents,plastic sheets,tarpauline.

Relawan dari Salam Relief sedang menandatangani surat resit serahan kepada sekretariat Posko bencana

Berkotak kotak bekalan makanan dan minuman juga turut tersenarai dalam barangan keperluan telah diserahkan kepada pusat pengumpulan

Van yang sendad dengan segala barang

Anak anak kecil bersungguh sungguh nak membantu mengangkat barang.

Plastic sheet di beli secara gulung dan pukal untuk serahan

last count before handing over directly to the villagers

Good transferred to local community van to be sent to affected areas

Salam Relief being brief on the position of the affected areas and accessible roads

road to villages were totally destroyed and cut off from the outside world

villagers trying to get out and pushing the bike through the mud and landslide

relief good were carried by hand as far as 3 km to reach the affected areas

I has been raining since we arrived in Padang.Blessing to some and yet it makes it tough for aid workers to reach hard hit areas and deliver goods.Locals have been very helpful giving hand and helping us carrying them.
Power supply and water is still not available in the city.
kebanyakan perkampungan yg dilanda tanah runtuh terletak di paras lebih dari 700 meter dari aras laut.
dengan hujan yang tidak menentu,bekalan makanan terputus,tiada tempat tinggal ternyata...ternyata keadaan ini amat susah dan mencabar bagi mereka.
setakat ini mengikut data mereka memerlukan lebih kurang 3000 kemah sebagai permulaan untuk menghadapai musim hujan yang mendatang.
dengan keadaan jalan yang terputus,tiada tempat tinggal dan tiada sumber makanan.
apa yang akan terjadi?
sesetengah kawasan jalan masih lagi belum boleh dilalui.segelintir yang ada pon hanya bisa ditembusi melalui jalan kaki sahaja.

tomorrow is another day

Padang Relief updates 2

2009-10-05T23:07:00.010+08:00

Hilai tawa disebalik duka.

Budak budak kat mana pon dalam dunia yg sedang menghadapi bencana pasti akan tau macam mana nak have fun and enjoy them self.
walaupon kediaman dah hancur......their smile is still there.

Bumi terbelah di Padang
perjalanan masuk dari kampung ke kampung hari ini aku melihat banyak jalanraya retak dan membelah bumi.
Ada yang kecil dan juga ada yg besar.
Aftershocks is making it wider.......

Orang kg bersatu dan bekerja keras membina kembali jambatan yang runtuh kesan gempa bumi

Lembaga Listrik bekerja untuk mengembalikan bekalan letrik .....Namun kota padang masih lagi bergelap

Bekalan air yang masih terputus hingga hari ini.......sungai menjadi Pool.

The search is still ongoing

This used to be 3 stories building.
2 floors down

Hari ini juga aku sempat menyinggah di kampung nelayan di tepi laut sewaktu pulang dari wilayah Pariaman.Mereka masih lagi takut untuk kelaut kesan trauma.dalam sehari hanya ada beberapa bot kecil sahaja yg turun kelaut.itupon sekadar untuk jarak dekat.Ini menyebabkan harga hasil laut meningkat dan bekalan berkurangan.
Bekalan untuk mangsa gempa masih lagi tidak kesampaian di beberapa kawasan.hari yang hujan tidak menentu dan jugak kesan tanah runtuh menykarkan lagi bantuan dihantar.logistic support pon masih lagi lemah.apa yang aku nampak kat sini lah.banyak lagi ruang dan peluang yang ada untuk diperbaiki dan jugak untuk di pelajari.

tomorrow is another day.

Indonesia quake obliterates villages, aid needed

2009-10-03T23:08:00.002+08:00

03 Oct 2009 11:37:19 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Villages destroyed by landslides, remote areas cut off

* Thousands still feared trapped under rubble

* Rescuers struggle to reach survivors in collapsed hotel

* Aid arrives from 14 countries

By Crack Pallinggi BALANTIAK, Indonesia, Oct 3 (Reuters) -

Rescue teams pushed deeper into Indonesia's earthquake-hit Sumatra on Saturday, finding entire villages obliterated by landslides and survivors desperate for aid three days after the tremor. In the city of Padang rescuers were still combing through collapsed buildings for thousands of people feared buried beneath the wreckage. The colossal damage that destroyed buildings and roads was hampering the aid effort. In remoter areas outside Padang the full scale of the disaster was only starting to become clear, with villages wiped out and survivors drinking coconut water after their drinking sources were contaminated.

"In my village, 75 people were buried. There are about 300 people missing from this whole area. We need tents and excavators to get the bodies but the roads are cut off," said Ogi Martapela, 28, who said his older brother died in the landslide. Another resident said it was too late for aid. "Don't bother trying to bring aid up there," said Afiwardi, who pointed past a landslide that cut off a road. "Everyone is dead." Some villagers used simple wooden hoes in what appeared to be a fruitless attempt to reach bodies beneath the earth.

The aid effort appeared to be cranking up on Saturday, but it was yet to reach many areas. "We have not received a thing. We need food, clothes, blankets, milk. It seems like the government has forgotten about us," said Siti Armaini, sitting outside her collapsed home in Pariaman, about 40 km (25 miles) north of Padang and nearer to the quake's epicentre. The mayor of the badly hit district of Padang Pariaman said by telephone that heavy digging machinery was starting to reach some areas hit by landslides, but that survivors desperately needed tents and blankets after losing their homes. "We are devastated.

Eighty percent of houses have caved in, roads are split and cracked," said mayor Muslim Kasim. Testos, an Indonesian Red Cross worker at an aid station in central Padang, said they now had around half what was needed. "We also need drinking water and clothes because many peoples clothes were burnt in fires," he said.

"We also need medicines to stop infection." HOTEL SEARCH In Padang, eight people were believed to be trapped in the ruins of the Dutch-colonial era Ambacang Hotel, once a prominent landmark in this university town of 900,000 famous across Indonesia for its spicy cuisine and buildings with dramatic curved roofs, influenced by the ethnic Minang group. International rescue teams, including sniffer dogs from Japan and an orange-clad Swiss team, were helping in the effort.

"We think there are eight people alive in there. One sent an SMS to a relative in a village, who got the text at 3 p.m. yesterday," said Arkamelvi Karmani, an Indonesian army officer involved in the rescue operation at the site of the hotel. The message called for help and implored rescuers: "Be careful that the excavator doesn't cause the building to collapse on us." A seminar organised by an insurance company was taking place there when the 7.6 magnitude quake hit on Wednesday.

The quake, from one of the world's most active seismic fault lines along the Pacific "Ring of Fire", struck with a force that shook buildings hundreds of kms away in Singapore and Malaysia. MASKS, SNIFFER DOGS The United Nations estimated more than 1,000 had been killed in and around Padang. Indonesia's disaster management agency put the toll of confirmed dead and missing so far at 809. Rescue teams, many wearing masks to cover the stench of bodies as they worked in the tropical heat, fanned out from Padang to some of the worst-hit surrounding areas. On the route to Pariaman devastation became steadily worse.

Roofs of collapsed houses were flush to the ground, while families sheltered in makeshift tents made of blankets next to the road, which had giant cracks in places. Asked about rescue efforts in Pariaman, Vice President Jusuf Kalla said bluntly it was now about retrieving bodies. "We can be sure that they are dead. So now we are waiting for burials," he said in footage shown on Metro TV. But later he said that Indonesia most needed foreign help in the form of funds and reconstruction rather than rescuers now.

Kalla said that the disaster was nothing like the situation in 2004, when a 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicentre roughly 600 km northwest of Padang, caused the Indian Ocean tsunami which killed more than 170,000 people in Aceh province alone, displacing hundreds of thousands. Indonesia's health minister Siti Fadillah Supari predicted on Friday the number killed would be in the low thousands. "I predict the number will not reach 4,000," she was quoted as saying by news website detik.com.

The three provinces affected by Wednesday's disaster, and a second quake inland on Thursday, are major producers of rubber, palm oil, coal and other commodities, although together they accounted for less than 3 percent of Indonesia's overall GDP, according to a report by Bank Danamon in Jakarta.

Padang Earthquake Relief-Day 1

2009-10-03T22:09:00.005+08:00

Salam to all.
finally after long day under the hot sun n heavy traffic i finally manage to find time to sit back n on my lappy.
situasi di Padang amat berkecamuk.
setiap hampir 10 min kita boleh mendengar bunyi siren dan deruman ambulan berkejar ntah kemana.
hari ini bekalan air ,letrik komunikasi masih terputus di Padang.
kelihatan motor dan kereta beratur panjang di petrol pump untuk mendapatkan bekalan.
hari ini mesin ATM local bank juga sudah mula berfungsi di beberapa bank.
very loong Q.
namun ia hanya bertahan sekejap.
lepas tu habis dah duit.

hanya beberapa lokasi sahaja yg terang malam ini dengan menggunakan Genset.
dalam masa sekejap,kedai yg berniaga dengan menggunakan genset habis menjual makanan.
yg tinggal kedai yg menggunakan gas pump atau lilin.
kinda romantic tho.
under the moon and on ground zero

internet ini adalah ihsan dari UN dan juga Telkomsel.

merata tempat kelihatan pasukan Search N Rescue bekerja keras hingga ke malam hari mencari mangsa yg masih lagi terselamat dibawah timbunan runtuhan.
bau mayat begitu kuat di bawah runtuhan di hampir kesuluruhan kawasan.
namun relawan dari Indonesia dan juga negara luar bekerjasama didalam situasi ini.
tiada sempadan atas nama kemanusiaan.

bilik hotel sudah penuh.
badan dah melekit.
tomorrow is another day
enjoy the pictures.

time to plan for esok and good rest
wonder where

Padang Earthquake Relief

2009-10-03T13:54:00.001+08:00

Off to Padang.
watch this space for stories and pictures from the ground.
take care guys

Frantic search as Indonesia quake toll tops 1,000

2009-10-02T15:54:00.002+08:00

02 Oct 2009 04:16:19 GMT

Source: Reuters

* U.N. says death toll more than 1,000
* Rescue teams resume work
* Students trapped in toppled school
* Communications cut, water in short supply

By Sunanda Creagh

PADANG, Indonesia, Oct 2 (Reuters) -

Rescuers dug feverishly on Friday through the rubble of a school and other buildings toppled by an earthquake in the Indonesian port of Padang, but few victims were being found alive two days after the tremor. The United Nations said more than 1,000 had been killed in the port, prone to seismic activity. Aid to thousands of displaced survivors started trickling in, but rescue operations in and around Padang, the West Sumatran capital of 900,000, have been hampered by power blackouts and a lack of heavy equipment to shift fallen masonry.

A giant excavator donated by a cement company tore through piles of twisted iron and rubble, the wreckage of a three-storey college where dozens of students were attending after-school lessons when the quake struck. "We have pulled out 38 children since the quake. Some of them, on the first day, were still alive, but the last few have all been dead," said foreman Suria.

Like many Indonesians, he uses just one name. "There are still a lot of corpses in there, you can smell it. They are towards the back where we can't reach. The problem is a lot of buildings around here weren't very well built." The U.N. humanitarian chief, John Holmes, told a news conference at U.N. Headquarters in New York that some 1,100 people had been killed in Wednesday's 7.6 magnitude quake.

Thousands more were feared trapped under damaged houses, hospitals, hotels and schools, Holmes said. Telephone links to the disaster zone remained patchy, making it hard to determine the extent of destruction and loss of life. A social ministry official on Thursday put the number of confirmed deaths at 529, although authorities expected this to go far higher.

The national disaster management centre said 2,181 people had been injured and 2,650 buildings damaged. Padang has at times descended into chaos, with fuel in short supply, some shops running out of food and many residents scrambling to find clean water. Many roads in the region have been severed by landslides.

Conditions in Pariaman, nearer the quake's epicentre, may be even worse with reports of buildings flattened. Conditions in more remote areas in the mountainous hinterland were unknown. OPERATIONS PERFORMED IN TENTS A two-storey clinic at Padang's main hospital collapsed, but was empty after closing a few hours before the quake. Patients from adjacent wards were evacuated to nearby tents, while a makeshift open air morgue was set up, with lines of corpses placed in yellow body bags.

Padang resident Yunas Lubis stood weeping outside on Friday morning, carrying his baby granddaughter. "My daughter's husband was just pulled out of a building this morning. He was trapped there for two days," he said. "Why did it take so long to get him out? It was too late. It seems like there were not enough excavators. It was only last night the excavator came, pulled from another site." Operations were being performed in nearby white tents. "We have done hundreds of operations since the earthquake," Dr Nofli Ichlas said on Thursday. "Some broken bones, some with limbs completely cut off. Fractured skulls, abdominal trauma too - when something has stabbed into the patients body."

Australia, South Korea and Japan led aid offers. Australia's military said it was sending engineers, rescue teams, a hospital aboard a naval ship and helicopters able to reach remote districts. A team from aid agency Medecins Sans Frontieres included two kidney specialists to treat victims of "crush syndrome", in which toxins released by internal injuries can cause kidney failure. U.S. President Barack Obama, who spent time in Indonesia as a child, said the United States also stood ready to assist. "Indonesia is an extraordinary country that's known extraordinary hardship with natural disasters.

I know firsthand the Indonesian people are strong and resilient and have the spirit to overcome this enormous challenge." President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono, who returned from the G20 meeting a day earlier, visited the hospital on Friday. "Just rest, rest for a long time.

We must be patient," he told one young woman patient. A 6.6 magnitude quake hit another part of Sumatra island on Thursday, causing fresh panic but no reported deaths.

The second quake's epicentre was about 225 km (140 miles) southeast of Padang, the U.S. Geological Survey said.

Tsunamis turn S.Pacific paradise to deadly hell

2009-10-01T14:25:00.002+08:00

01 Oct 2009 03:22:45 GMT

Source: Reuters

(Corrects dateline) By Tim Wimborne SIUMU, Samoa, Sept 30 (Reuters) -

Rescuers pulled bodies from the mud and twisted rubble and fished bloated corpses from the South Pacifc's blue sea off Samoa on Wednesday as the death toll from a series of tsunamis continued to rise. "We've seen pick-up trucks carrying the dead ... back to town," said New Zealand tourist Fotu Becerra. "We were shocked when we saw the first one but after three hours, it seemed normal." Four powerful tsunamis generated by a huge undersea quake crashed into Samoa and neighbouring American Samoa on Tuesday, destroying in minutes what was a South Pacific paradise of palm trees, resorts and pristine beaches.

"After the earthquake happened, after about five minutes all you could hear was screaming," an unnamed Australian holidaymaker told local media. The waves which reached at least 6 metres (20 feet) high ripped buildings apart and washed people out to sea, some still sleeping in their beds, say survivors. The death toll stands at more than 100, but officials said it was rising, with hundreds missing and some 20 Polynesian villages in Samoa destroyed and scores more flattened in American Samoa.

U.S. President Barack Obama declared a major disaster in American Samoa and ordered federal aid to help the recovery. "We have more bodies that are being found in the wreckage and being excavated and being brought to the hospital so we expect that the death toll will rise," said Dr David Bouslough at the main hospital in Pago Pago, capital of American Samoa. Pago Pago resident Joey Cummings said buildings were not just destroyed but had vanished, washed away completely by the waves. "The harbour area where the radio station was looks like a bomb went off," Cummings told American TV.

"If your building was not made of concrete it doesn't exist any more. I'm not saying there are damaged buildings, these buildings aren't there any more." Reuters photographer Hugh Gentry said Pago Pago looked "like a war zone". "The most tragic (scene) was the discovery of a small girl found floating in the harbour," he said. WASHED AWAY AS THEY FLED The waves hit early in the morning, almost without warning, leaving many villagers little chance to outrun the ocean which surged 200 metres (656 feet) inland. "Some, they have no place (to run), especially kids and the oldest, they lost their lives," Tua Taleu, who fled to higher ground as waves swallowed his village, told Australian radio.

Samoan Prime Minister Tuilaepa Sailele Malielegaoi said it was fortunate that the tsunami struck in daylight. "If it had come in the dark and the tide was high, the number of people who died would be much higher," he told Reuters. The Samoan undersea 8 magnitude quake was so powerful it also created small tsunamis which reached Hawaii, the west coast of California and Japan within hours.

Along the southern coast of Samoa's main island Upolu, which bore the brunt of the tsunamis, palm trees which had withstood powerful cyclones were snapped like twigs by the force of the ocean -- barely a tree has been left standing. A layer of mud and sand covers many of the splintered buildings, boats and cars hang from trees, as survivors scavenge the debris.

Survivors said people were collecting dead fish, washed ashore by the waves, to feed their families. Radio New Zealand, quoting disaster authorities, said 32,000 people have been affected by the tsunami, with 3,000 homeless. Officials in the neighbouring island nation of Tonga confirmed seven people killed there and three missing. The two Samoas and Tonga have a combined population of about 400,000 people and rely on subsistence agriculture, fishing and tourism. Australian, New Zealand and U.S. military aircraft carrying medical staff and emergency supplies have started landing in the two Samoas.

An Indian Ocean tsunami on Dec. 26, 2004 -- which killed about 230,000 people in 11 countries -- is the worst on record. (Additional reporting by Baris Atayman in Samoa, Adrian Bathgate and Mantik Kusjanto in Wellington, Rob Taylor and James Grubel in Canberra) (Writing by Michael Perry; Editing by )

Indonesia quake death toll may be thousands-minister

2009-10-01T14:21:00.002+08:00

01 Oct 2009 03:30:10 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Many still buried under rubble

* Schools, hospitals, hotels collapse in quake-prone Padang

* 7.6 magnitude quake cuts communications

* Second quake hits Sumatra island

(Adds details, changes dateline)
By John Nedy PADANG, Indonesia,
Oct 1 (Reuters) -

Thousands may have died in an earthquake that struck the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island, a minister said on Thursday, with officials saying many victims remained buried under toppled buildings. The 7.6 magnitude quake hit Padang on Wednesday afternoon, knocking over hundreds of buildings, but with communications patchy it was hard to determine the extent of the destruction and loss of life.

Heavy rain was also hampering rescue efforts and officials said power had been severed in the city. Television footage showed people being pulled from the rubble. A second magnitude 6.8 quake hit another part of Sumatra on Thursday, causing fresh panic, according to television reports. The second quake's epicentre -- inland and further to the southeast -- was 154 km northwest of Bengkulu, the U.S. Geological Survey said. The area could not immediately be contacted. Health Minister Siti Fadillah Supari told reporters at an airport in Jakarta before leaving for the stricken area that the number of victims "could be more (than hundreds or thousands).

I think it's more than thousands, if we look at how widespread the damage is ... but we don't really know yet." The national disaster agency earlier put the toll at between 100 and 200 in the city of 900,000. About 500 houses had collapsed, officials in the area said. Australian businesswoman Jane Liddon told Australian radio from Padang said the city centre was devastated. "The big buildings are down. The concrete buildings are all down, the hospitals, the main markets, down and burned. A lot of people died in there. A lot of places are burning. "Most of the damage is in the town centre in the big buildings. The little houses, the people's houses, there are a few damaged, but nothing dramatic."

TV footage showed piles of debris, collapsed houses and multi-storey buildings, with scores of crushed cars, after the earthquake, which caused widespread panic.

HOSPITAL, AIRPORT DAMAGED

The main hospital had collapsed, roads were cut off by landslides and Metro Television said the roof of Padang airport had caved in. The disaster is the latest in a spate of natural and man-made calamities to hit Indonesia, a sprawling archipelago of 226 million people. [ID:nLU415034] Welfare Minister Aburizal Bakrie said on Wednesday damage could be similar to that caused by a 2006 quake in the central Java city of Yogyakarta that killed 5,000 people and damaged 150,000 homes. "Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here," said a Reuters witness in the city.

Broken water pipes had triggered flooding, he said before his mobile phone was cut off. The quake was felt around the region. High-rise buildings in Singapore, 440 km (275 miles) to the northeast, evacuated staff. Office buildings also shook in Malaysia's capital, Kuala Lumpur. Sumatra is home to some of the country's largest oil fields as well as its oldest liquefied natural gas terminal, although there were no immediate reports of damage. [ID:nSP404330] Padang, capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular tremors and sometimes quakes.

Geologists have long warned Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location. A 9.15 magnitude quake, its epicentre 600 km northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami that killed 230,000 people around in Indonesia and other countries across the Indian Ocean. The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6.
Australia's international Aid Minister Bob McMullan offered emergency assistance.

Indonesia VP says at least 75 killed in quake

2009-09-30T23:20:00.000+08:00

30 Sep 2009 14:42:31 GMT

Source: Reuters

JAKARTA, Sept 30 (Reuters) - A powerful earthquake off the coast of Indonesia's Sumatra island has killed at least 75 people and the toll could rise further since so many buildings had collapsed, the country's vice president said on Wednesday. Jusuf Kalla told a news conference that as well as homes, hotels, schools, shops and other buildings had collapsed. (Reporting by Telly Nathalia; Writing by Ed Davies)

Earthquake hits Indonesia, tsunami strikes Pacific islands

2009-09-30T23:17:00.001+08:00

30 Sep 2009 14:39:00 GMT

Written by: James Kilner

LONDON (AlertNet) - A powerful earthquake struck off the city of Padang on Indonesia's Sumatra island on Wednesday, killing at least 75 people and trapping thousands under rubble, the country's vice-president said. Only a few hours earlier another earthquake in the Pacific Ocean had triggered a tsunami that washed other the islands of Tonga and Western and American Samoa and killed more than 100 people.

The Indonesian quake caused widespread panic across the city of 900,000 people, and a hospital in Padang collapsed, said Rustam Pakaya, the head of the health ministry's disaster centre in Jakarta. At least 21 people had been killed and "thousands of people are trapped in the rubble of buildings", Pakaya said. Vice-President Jusuf Kalla later told a press conference that over 75 people had died in the earthquake. TV footage showed devastation, with piles of rubble and smashed houses. Metro Television reported the roof of Padang airport had collapsed and other media said hotels were damaged.

The 7.6 magnitude quake was felt around the region, with some high-rise buildings in Singapore, 440 km (275 miles) to the northeast, evacuating staff. Office buildings also shook in the Malaysian capital, Kuala Lumpur. The Pacific Tsunami Warning Centre cancelled an earlier tsunami alert. "Hundreds of houses have been damaged along the road. There are some fires, bridges are cut and there is extreme panic here," said a Reuters witness in the city, who also said broken water pipes had triggered flooding.

His mobile phone was then cut off and officials said power had been severed in the city. A resident called Adi later told Indonesia's Metro Television there was devastation around him. "For now I can't see dead bodies, just collapsed houses. Some half destroyed, others completely. People are standing around too scared to go back inside. They fear a tsunami," said Adi. "No help has arrived yet. I can see small children standing around carrying blankets.

Some people are looking for relatives but all the lights have gone out completely." Online news agency Detik.com said a hospital and a large market had also been damaged in the city. Sumatra is home to some of the country's largest oil fields as well as its oldest and smallest liquefied natural gas terminal, although there were no immediate reports of damage to those facilities. [ID:nSP404330] Padang, the capital of Indonesia's West Sumatra province, sits on one of the world's most active fault lines along the "Ring of Fire" where the Indo-Australia plate grinds against the Eurasia plate to create regular tremors and sometimes quakes.

A 9.15 magnitude quake, with its epicentre roughly 600 km (373 miles) northwest of Padang, caused the 2004 tsunami which killed 232,000 people in Indonesia's Aceh province, Thailand, Sri Lanka, India, and other countries across the Indian Ocean. The depth of Wednesday's earthquake was 85 km (53 miles), the United States Geological Survey said. It revised down the magnitude of the quake from 7.9 to 7.6. LONG HELD FEARS Geologists have long said Padang may one day be destroyed by a huge earthquake because of its location.

"Padang sits right in front of the area with the greatest potential for an 8.9 magnitude earthquake," said Danny Hilman Natawidjaja, a geologist at the Indonesian Science Institute, in February. "The entire city could drown" in a tsunami triggered by such a quake, he warned. Several earthquake-prone parts of the country hold tsunami practice drills, and the national disaster service sends alerts via telephone text messages to subscribers. But some experts have long said Indonesia needs to do more to reduce the risk of catastrophe. (Reporting by By John Nedy in Padang, Indonesia)

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Eid Mubarak to all

2009-09-20T01:22:00.000+08:00

Yemen fighting spreads, civilians living under bridges, on roads - U.N.

2009-09-17T00:59:00.002+08:00

15 Sep 2009 15:08:00 GMT

Written by: Richard Meares

LONDON (AlertNet) - A month-long conflict between Yemeni government forces and rebels has spread, taking the plight of civilians to alarming levels, with hungry people stranded in the open, on the sides of roads and under bridges, the United Nations said. However, a U.N. appeal for emergency funds to help up to 150,000 displaced people in the north of the poorest Arab nation has so far met with silence.

A new wave of fighting - the "sixth war" in an intermittent five-year-old conflict - erupted a month ago in the mountainous north between rebel Shi'ite Muslims and government forces trying to impose central authority. U.N. agencies estimate this has added up to 50,000 people to the 100,000 or so already left homeless by earlier rounds of the fighting. Most are women and children and many have moved for the second or third time as the arc of fighting widens across Saada governorate into the neighbouring region of Amran.

"The humanitarian situation of the civilians in the conflict zone reached alarming and unprecedented levels after one month due to insecurity, lack of humanitarian access, and government banning. The humanitarian community had repeatedly appealed for opening humanitarian corridors to allow access and delivery of urgently needed relief items," the U.N refugee agency UNHCR said in a report received by AlertNet on Tuesday. "Saada Governorate has been cut off from the rest of the world for more than one month now.

There has been no water or electricity in Saada city since 12 August and food reserves are running out. High temperatures during the day and heavy rains at night have left civilians, most of them observing the Ramadan fasting period, in dire need for shelter, food and clean water." The road from and to Saada was extremely dangerous because of fighting, for which no reliable casualty figures have been made available. Numerous checkpoints and roadblocks, a state of emergency and a 12-hour curfew were further isolating the area.

"Most of the displaced are stranded and dangerously exposed to the fighting as they are unable to reach safer areas. Mines are also reported to be hindering safe passage for those attempting to flee. The only back exit road through Al Jawf governorate is also blocked subjecting civilians to risky journeys through mountainous deserts." Aid agencies sent a mission through neighbouring Saudi Arabia to assess how to help up to 30,000 displaced people who had fled north to a border area at Baqim - only to find that the conflict had already engulfed that area too.

DIRE NEEDS

"Hundreds of families are currently living in schools or even in the open, on the sides of roads, and under bridges, with little to feed on. They are in dire need for shelter, food, and water. Despite the agency's readiness to dispatch needed assistance at the first signal, the authorities have not yet allowed access at this moment to the area due to insecurity," UNHCR said. Agencies have been more able to reach people fleeing south towards the capital Sanaa, about 300 km (180 miles) from Saada. The UNHCR began establishing one of its new camps in the Amran region last week but security there has deteriorated too, forcing work to be suspended.

Some displaced people said they witnessed fierce fighting, heavy attack and airstrikes. "They have spent three to five days walking in the desert, taking mountainous roads on foot due to the blockage of main roads, before reaching the camps. They arrived traumatised and exhausted. The majority of them are women," the report said. Before the latest round of fighting the U.N. food agency had to cut rations to previously displaced Yemenis because of a lack of funding.

On Sept 2 the United Nations called for $23.75 million in an emergency appeal to address the humanitarian situation in Yemen. "No funds were earmarked to date," the UNHCR said of the $5 million it has sought as part of that appeal. Yemen also faces secessionist sentiment in the south and a new al Qaeda campaign that has staged deadly attacks over the past three years. The government said on Monday it had killed at least 20 rebels amid heavy bombing in the north, whose rebels accused President Ali Abdullah Saleh of being a tyrant.

"The air hawks succeeded in directing painful blows to the elements of terrorism," a military source said in a statement, referring to several districts in Saada province. The government says ordinary residents there do not support the uprising by rebels referred to as Houthis after the clan of their leaders. People in the main town Saada are largely trapped by shelling and street-fighting in homes with barely any water, power or communications. Food is scarce and prices spiralling out of reach.

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

Aid Worker PTSD

2009-09-08T22:43:00.000+08:00

BY MICHAEL BEAR

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 08, 2009 @ 06:55AM PT

Eight months after coming home from Iraq, I found myself curled on the floor of my bathroom, sobbing. Which, granted, wasn't how I planned on spending the evening. I had always thought I could keep control over my emotions, that I could compartmentalize away all that fear, all that stress. I was wrong.

And apparently I wasn't alone. A recent article from Reuters AlertNet highlights the growing problem of aid worker burn-out.

According to Claire Collard, the Executive Director of the Centre for Humanitarian Pscyhology: "The biggest problems HRs (human resource departments) in NGOs face around their field staff is not trauma at all, it's what is called cumulative stress and burn-out. They are living a very closed-in type of life. They can hardly go out in the evening. They work in the camps then they come back to their compounds and are stuck there for the whole evening with a bunch of colleagues who they haven't chosen in the first place."

We don't like to talk about it, but the problem is real. One study estimated that between 5-10% of aid workers in dangerous situations suffer diagnosable PTSD, while another 20% suffer partial PTSD.

Some studies put the numbers even higher. According to the September 2008 issue of InterAction's Monday Developments, "as many as half of all returned nongovernmental organization (NGO) expatriates exhibited symptoms of burnout, depression, or PTSD."

The November 2007 report NGO Staff Well-being in the Darfur Region of Sudan & Eastern Chadincludes additional statistics from the field - 51.4% of staff surveyed reported feeling physically stressed in the previous two weeks; 45.8% reported feeling emotionally stressed and 29.2% reported feeling mentally stressed over the same period.

Resources for dealing with aid worker PTSD are included below:

- The September issue of InterAction's Monday Developments has a number of excellent articles on the subject, including guidelines for helping to manage stress, as well as a look at staff counseling within the UN system and peer support within humanitarian agencies.

- The 2005 InterAction Forum on staff wellness included useful information and recommendations, in particular the presentation Helping Your Organization Address Staff Wellness by Lisa McKay, Lynne Cripe and Sharon Forrence.

- The Headington Institute focuses on "helping the helpers" - their website is a tremendous resource, including a series of online tools such as training modules, self-examination tools, handouts on coping with traumatic stress, tips for self-care, stories from the field, andlinks to other online resources.

- The majority of attention on staff wellness focuses on international staff, while for the most part national staff are left to fend for themselves. To help address this gap, the Headington Institute offers an excellent module on supporting national staff.

- The Humanitarian Practice Network paper Understanding and addressing staff turnover in humanitarian agencies looks at the causes of staff turnover, as well as the consequences on organizational effectiveness.

- Finally, please see also the bibliography prepared by John Ehrenreich about Managing Stress in Humanitarian, Health Care and Human Rights Workers.

10 Signs That You've Been Overseas Too Long

2009-09-08T01:20:00.000+08:00

BY MICHAEL BEAR

PUBLISHED SEPTEMBER 06, 2009 @ 10:56AM PT

1. If asked to rank the most wonderful inventions in human history, you would list air conditioning significantly above penicillin, movable type and the wheel.

2. You're inordinately impressed by working traffic lights. And paved roads.

3. At your leaving party, you jokingly insist that you won't miss the open sewage trenches along the sides of the roads. But you know that you will.

4. In any debate about copyright infringement, you come down firmly on the pro-piracy side. Unless you're talking about the bastards who simply smuggle a videocamera into a movie theater and then market the resulting product as a clean copy. They can burn in hell.

5. You've developed a Landcruiser fetish.

6. You've also developed an inappropriate, twitching reaction to fireworks.

7. Doctors at home are slightly intimidated by your ability to detect the symptoms of incipient malaria.

8. You simply assume that everyone knows where Yambio is. You also think acronyms like NCP, CPA, FDLR, AMISOM or ISAF are completely self-explanatory.

9. When pregnant friends at home talk about getting ready for the hospital, you mentally translate baby bag into quick-run bag.

10. You've worn exactly three pairs of pants and four shirts over the past month. Tho you do take care to mix the combinations according to a semi-complex rotating schedule known to you and you alone.

Gaza we are Coming-Part 4

2009-09-01T01:46:00.000+08:00

Gaza we are Coming-Part 3

2009-09-01T01:45:00.001+08:00

Gaza we are Coming-Part 2

2009-09-01T01:44:00.001+08:00

Gaza we are Coming-Part 1

2009-09-01T01:42:00.000+08:00

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 9

2009-08-30T18:01:00.003+08:00

World Humanitarian Day

2009-08-27T16:34:00.001+08:00

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 8

2009-08-26T13:29:00.006+08:00

Bad Things in Forgotten Places

2009-08-26T13:18:00.000+08:00

BY MICHAEL BEAR

Darfur is sexy. Or, at the least, rarely lacking for public attention. (As the title of Rob Crilly's upcoming book proclaims: Saving Darfur - Everyone's Favourite African War.) Even Congo - the uber forgotten conflict - has been getting a fair amount of attention of late.

Yet what if you're forced to flee your home and there's no media attention, much less public outcry? You're still screwed. On one hand, it certainly makes sense to think in terms of specific conflicts like Darfur, or Congo. Any specific conflict is, on some level, comprehensible. You can analyze a given situation, learn the history, the place-names and tribe-names. You can imagine concrete solutions.

On the other hand, conflict as a whole, as a topic or a category, is far more ephemeral. It's only comprehensible as metaphor - everyone's favorite apocalyptic horseman - or in ever-more generalized, theoretical terms.

Our outrage might be finite, yet at the end of the day a village burned in Darfur is a village burned in the Central African Republic. A woman raped in Congo is a woman raped in Mindanao.

As the man said: "Suffering is not increased by numbers; one body can contain all the suffering the world can feel."

So, without further ado, bad things in semi-forgotten places - at least forgotten by those who don't have the misfortune of actually living there:

- Flooding worsens the plight of displaced civilians in Sri Lanka

- The Lord's Resistance Army - everyone's favorite Ugandan rebels - are wreaking havoc in South Sudan

- Fighting in the Central African Republic forces 125,000 to flee their homes. (And, map.)

- More than 250,000 people remain displaced in central Mindanao, in the Philippines

- Eastern Congo - not so good. An impressively long roster of combatants has succeeded inforcing around 2 million people to flee their homes.

- And, tho the Israeli-Palestinian is hardly forgotten, the humanitarian disaster caused by the Israeli blockade of Gaza gets surprisingly little attention

Aid Worker Fatalities in 2009

2009-08-26T13:14:00.001+08:00

This is a regularly updated list of aid worker fatalities in 2009. So far this year, 81 aid workers have been killed:

- Seventeen aid workers have been killed in Afghanistan - fifteen as reported by the Afghanistan NGO Safety Office report covering the period of July 16th - 30th, 2009, and then two UN staff killed on August 18th.

-Thirteen aid workers have been killed in Pakistan, including two in February, five in April, five in June and one in July.

- Ten aid workers (including UN contractors) have been killed in Gaza since December 27th, as have thirteen medical personnel. The aid worker fatalities include five UNRWA staff, three UNRWA contractors, one WFP contractor and one aid worker with CARE.

- Ten aid workers have been killed in Somalia, including two in January, two in April, one in July and five in August. (In addition, a former WFP contractor was also killed in March, and aformer CARE staff member was killed in April.)

- As many as nine aid workers (including family members) were killed in Yemen in June. (Still difficult to get accurate figures.)

- At least seven aid workers have been killed in Sri Lanka, including two in February, two in March, one in April and two in May. The actual number is probably higher.

- Four aid workers have been killed in Darfur - two in February, one in March, and one in May (as reported by an aid agency on the ground)

- Three aid workers have been killed in Mozambique

- Two aid workers have been killed in Chechnya

- One aid worker has been killed in Bangladesh

- One aid worker has been killed in Benin

- One aid worker has been killed in the Central African Republic

- One aid worker has been killed in Zanzibar

- One aid worker has been killed in DR Congo

- One aid worker has been killed in Mauritania

Updated as of August 19th, 2009. This is by no means a comprehensive list.

A Terrible Dilemma

2009-08-20T13:47:00.000+08:00

18 Aug 2009 14:54:00 GMT

Written by: Antonio Guterres

A suicide attacker set off a truck bomb on August 19, 2003, outside a Baghdad, Iraq, hotel housing the U.N. headquarters. At least 20 U.N. workers and Iraqis were killed, including Brazilian Sergio Vieira de Mello, the chief U.N. official in Iraq. REUTERS/Rob Gauthier/POOL

UNHCR is still in shock over the recent brutal killing of staff member Zill-e-Usman, who was shot by unidentified gunmen in the Katcha Gari camp on the border of the Federally Administered Tribal Areas in Pakistan's North-West Frontier Province. Another staff member, Ishfaq Ahmad, was wounded in the July 16 incident. A guard working with the Commissionerate for Afghan Refugees, a government-funded agency, was also killed. Four to five gunmen reportedly opened fire on Mr. Usman as he was walking back from the camp administrative office to his car during a routine visit to the site.

Mr. Usman was the third UN refugee agency staff member to be killed in Pakistan this year. On June 9, Aleksandar Vorkapic died in the bombing of the Pearl Continental Hotel in Peshawar; on February 2, Syed Hashim, UNHCR senior driver, was killed in the kidnapping of John Solecki, head of the Quetta office, who was later released. As I wrote to Mr. Usman's family, his murder is a cruel blow. There is no justification for attacks on humanitarian workers dedicated to the protection and care of the world's most vulnerable people. The killing of Mr. Usman was an outrage and a tragedy that affects us all.

This August 19, on the occasion of the first ever World Humanitarian Day, we will pause to remember Mr. Usman and hundreds of other UN and non-governmental organization workers who have lost their lives while carrying out their duties around the world. The date is important: it was on August 19, 2003, that a massive bomb blast in Baghdad took the lives of then UN Special Representative Sergio Vieira de Mello and 21 others.

The ongoing death toll of humanitarian workers raises fundamental questions about how we can ensure staff security in unstable environments. Globally, it reminds us of the major dilemma facing humanitarian agencies around the world - how do we meet the life-or-death needs of the world's most vulnerable people while making sure those who provide that help are kept safe? Our ability to assist those who need it most is being severely tested by the shrinkage of the so-called 'humanitarian space' in which we must work.

The nature of conflict is changing, with a multiplicity of armed groups -- some of whom view humanitarians as legitimate targets. Another example of this is the brutal murder last month of Ms. Natalia Estemirova, a staff member of UNHCR's partner, Memorial, in the Russian Federation. Ms. Estemirova was found dead in the North Caucasus region of Ingushetia following her abduction from her home in Chechnya. Since 2000, in addition to her work as a prominent human rights investigator, Ms. Estemirova had been a social worker with Memorial and its UNHCR-funded legal and social counselling project in Grozny. She worked on issues related to internally displaced people in Chechnya and their safe return to their homes.

Memorial has been an implementing partner of UNHCR in the North Caucasus since 2000 and received UNHCR's annual Nansen Refugee Award in 2004. Humanitarian personnel work in the most dangerous places in the world and risk their own lives in the effort to help vulnerable populations to preserve theirs. Ensuring staff safety must be a top priority of every humanitarian organization and the United Nations as a whole.

This is non-negotiable. And yet, with the evolving nature of armed conflict and the changing attitudes of some belligerents, the deliberate targeting of humanitarian workers has increased, establishing a tension -- and in some situations a contradiction -- between the imperatives of staff safety and humanitarian action. UNHCR has continuously struggled to determine the 'acceptable' level of security risk to which its staff members can be exposed.

As this month's commemoration demonstrates, it is a truly terrible dilemma.

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 7

2009-08-19T12:56:00.005+08:00

International Humanitarian Law

2009-08-15T18:27:00.002+08:00

GLOBAL EFFORTS TO HUMANISE WAR

International Humanitarian Law (IHL) is the set of international rules and legal instruments that seek to minimise the destructive effects of war and prevent needless suffering. Enshrined in the Geneva Conventions, it does not concern itself with questions of war's legality, but aims to regulate the way wars are fought once a conflict has started. Above all, it is designed to provide legal protections on humanitarian grounds for those who are either not taking part in a conflict - such as civilians - or for the most vulnerable people who are no longer fighting (such as the wounded, the sick and prisoners).

Perhaps paradoxically, IHL represents a global attempt to humanise armed conflict. Particularly since World War Two, the evolution of IHL has been deeply influenced by the development of human rights treaties such as the 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights, which have reinforced global consensus that everyone is entitled to basic human rights in both peace and war. But IHL should not be confused with Human Rights Law, although the two regimes overlap, notably in areas such as the right not to be tortured. Certain human rights, such as the right of assembly, can be legally restricted during times of war.

IHL, on the other hand, is - at least theoretically - universally applicable when fighting breaks out. The reality is, of course, more complicated. In recent decades, the rise in the number of civil wars and ethnic insurgencies has complicated the application of the Geneva Conventions, the bulk of which govern cross-border international armed conflicts. Although there are articles and protocols that apply to non-international armed conflict, many countries have been hesitant to implement IHL in the context of internal violence. The U.S.-led "war on terror" has complicated matters even further amid arguments from some quarters that the fight against violent Islamist fundamentalism is an entirely new kind of conflict that simply falls outside the parameters of IHL.

ORIGINS OF IHL

Mankind's attempts to protect individuals from the worst consequences of war can be traced back as far as recorded human history. African tribal cultures have promoted the protection of women, children and elders since the dawn of time, along with the dignified treatment of prisoners. An ancient Hindu text, the Mahabharata, includes guidelines on compassion for unarmed or injured enemies and prohibits the use of weapons that create needless suffering.

Both the Bible and the Koran speak of respect for one's enemy. And the European medieval knights and Japanese Samurai respected sophisticated codes of conduct during hostilities. Concerted efforts to codify a universal law of war, as opposed to regulations governing one conflict or one group, began in the 17th century with a treatise on conflicts between nations by Dutch jurist and philosopher Hugo Grotius. "On the Laws of War and Peace", published in 1625, set out theories of when war is just and addressed questions of what rules should govern the conduct of war once it had begun.

The birth of IHL as we know it today followed the publication in 1862 of "A Memory of Solferino", an eye-witness account of the horrific aftermath of a battle between French and Austrian armies in northern Italy three years previously. The author, a Swiss businessman named Henri Dunant, had been travelling in the region and was appalled by the lack of medical care for the wounded soldiers.

His book, which called for the formation of national societies to care for war wounded, led to the creation of the International Committee for the Aid to the Wounded, which later became the International Committee of the Red Cross. That in turn led to a diplomatic conference in Geneva in 1864, which adopted the First Geneva Convention for the Amelioration of the Condition of the Wounded in Armies in the Field. IHL was born.

AN EVOLVING BODY OF LAW

Subsequent conventions were added in the years that followed. A second convention addressed the protection of the wounded at sea and the shipwrecked and the third in 1929 dealt with the status and treatment of prisoners of war. In 1949, another diplomatic conference responded to the horrors of World War Two, revising the first three conventions and adding a fourth, which stated the rights and duties of an occupying power and expanded the protections due to civilians.

But international law has always needed to catch up with the changing nature of modern warfare, and it became apparent in the following decades that further legislation was required. The years after World War Two saw an increase in the number of wars fought within the borders of single countries, as opposed to cross-border conflicts. The Vietnam War in particular, along with the wars of independence primarily in Africa, made it clear that further protections were needed, especially for civilian populations.

In 1977, two Additional Protocols to the Geneva Conventions were adopted, the first of which reinforced protections for civilians in international armed conflicts, the second in non-international confrontations. Aside from outlining protections for those considered to be no longer taking part in hostilities, various treaties also specifically prohibit the use of certain weapons and military tactics deemed to cause unnecessary suffering, including:

The 1972 Biological Weapons Convention
The 1980 Conventional Weapons Convention and its five protocols
The 1993 Chemical Weapons Convention
The 1997 Ottawa Convention on anti-personnel mines.

PRINCIPLES OF IHL

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC), which acts as the guardian of the Geneva Conventions and promotes awareness of them around the world, also provides humanitarian support in conflict zones. The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC), on the other hand, is the official umbrella body that ties together the 180 national societies in the Red Cross Red Crescent movement. They are primarily concerned with emergency response and training within their own countries. The ICRC summarises seven fundamental principles of IHL.

Parties to a conflict must at all times distinguish between the civilian population and combatants in order to spare the civilian population and civilian property. Neither the civilian population as a whole nor individual civilians may be attacked. A civilian is only loosely defined, even in the Geneva Conventions, as someone who's not a combatant.

Attacks may be made solely against military objectives. People who do not or can no longer take part in the hostilities are entitled to respect for their lives and for their physical and mental integrity. Such people must in all circumstances be protected and treated with humanity, without any unfavourable distinction whatever.

It is forbidden to kill or wound an adversary who surrenders or who can no longer take part in the fighting.

Neither the parties to the conflict nor members of their armed forces have an unlimited right to choose methods and means of warfare. It is forbidden to use weapons or methods of warfare that are likely to cause unnecessary losses or excessive suffering.

The wounded and sick must be collected and cared for by the party to the conflict which has them in its power. Medical personnel and medical establishments, transports and equipment must be spared.

There are now three distinctive signs indicating that medical persons and objects carrying them must be respected - the Red Cross, Red Crescent or Red Crystal on a white background. AlertNet has an explainer on the symbols, or you can find out more on the ICRC website

Captured combatants and civilians who find themselves under the authority of the adverse party are entitled to respect for their lives, their dignity, their personal rights and their political, religious and other convictions. They must be protected against all acts of violence or reprisal. They are entitled to exchange news with their families and receive aid. They must enjoy basic judicial guarantees.

WHAT IS A CRIME OF WAR?

The legal precedent for the prosecution of war crimes was set at the Nuremberg trials of Nazi leaders in 1945 and 1946, followed by a similar process for Japanese military commanders in 1948.

Those prosecutions were based largely on Article 147 of the Fourth Geneva Convention, which defines war crimes as: "Wilful killing, torture or inhuman treatment, including... wilfully causing great suffering or serious injury to body or health, unlawful deportation or transfer or unlawful confinement of a protected person, compelling a protected person to serve in the forces of a hostile power, or wilfully depriving a protected person of the rights of fair and regular trial, ...taking of hostages and extensive destruction and appropriation of property, not justified by military necessity and carried out unlawfully and wantonly."

The broader category of crimes against humanity is defined as acts of persecution or any large-scale atrocities against a body of people. Examples include murder, extermination, enslavement, deportation, imprisonment, torture, rape and persecution on political, racial and religious grounds. The term genocide applies to "acts committed with intent to destroy, in whole or in part, a national ethnic, racial or religious group".

These include killing members of the group; causing serious bodily or mental harm to members of the group; deliberately inflicting on the group conditions of life, calculated to bring about its physical destruction in whole or in part; imposing measures intended to prevent births within the group; and forcibly transferring children of the group to another group.

THE CHALLENGE OF COMPLIANCE

Even the most cursory glance at the world today tells us that IHL is routinely violated. Implementation of IHL is first and foremost the responsibility of the countries that sign the conventions. States have an obligation to teach the rules of IHL to their armed forces as well as the general public. They must also prevent violations and punish them if they occur. Where governments have signally failed to prosecute those guilty of war crimes after mass atrocities, the international community has in recent decades moved to intervene with the establishment of United Nations tribunals.

In May 1993, the U.N. Security Council established the International Criminal Tribunal for Yugoslavia (ICTY) to try those responsible for violations of IHL in the territory of the former Yugoslavia since 1991. The International Criminal Tribunal of Rwanda (ICTR) was created in late 1994 in the northern Tanzanian town of Arusha to prosecute those most responsible for the genocide during which hundreds of thousands of Tutsis and moderate Hutus were murdered.

Most recently, a joint national and international court was set up in 2007 to try those responsible for the mass extermination of Cambodians during the Khmer Rouge's three-year reign of terror in the 1970s. Similar processes are under way in Sierra Leone and East Timor. Perhaps the most significant attempt to address the apparent impunity of combatants in times of war came in 1998 with the Rome Statute of the International Criminal Court (ICC).

The treaty, which gives the court jurisdiction over cases of genocide, crimes against humanity and war crimes, came into force in 2002. The effective functioning of the court, however, continues to be weakened by the United States' refusal to ratify the statute. Washington argues that its soldiers might be the subject of politically motivated prosecutions, but it has not ruled out cooperation in specific contexts such as Darfur, in western Sudan.

Currently, 108 states have ratified the Rome Statute. Those wanted by the court include Joseph Kony, head of the Lord's Resistance Army rebel movement in Uganda. The ICC is also investigating alleged crimes in Darfur, Democratic Republic of Congo and Central African Republic.

IHL AND THE 'WAR ON TERROR'

The United States has suggested that the Geneva Conventions do not apply to what it calls "the war on terror", particularly with regard to prisoners, who it says do not necessarily qualify for IHL protection as prisoners of war. Human rights organisations, the ICRC and international lawyers all point to explicit statements in IHL that call for independent tribunals to decide on the status of prisoners.

The military tribunals set up by the United States to try cases in Guantanamo Bay are widely viewed as falling short of the required independence. They also point to the absolute and universal prohibition on torture, which U.S. forces have allegedly flouted, most notoriously in Baghdad's Abu Ghraib prison. And although there is no clear definition of "terrorism" in IHL, organisations such as the ICRC argue that acts of terrorism in war time are covered in the Geneva Conventions, which forbid indiscriminate violence against civilians.

Under IHL, other acts of "terrorism", such as the Sept. 11, 2001 attacks on New York and Washington, are still subject to both domestic and international law and cannot be placed in a legal vacuum where torture, kidnap and unlawful detention are regarded as permissible.

Evicted from their homes, Palestinians live on the street in Jerusalem

2009-08-15T18:17:00.002+08:00

Written by: World Vision

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Sarah Al Ghawi and her mother are just two of the 53 Palestinians living on the street in Jerusalem for the past week. Sarah turns 2 next month. Photo by Jennifer Chiodo.

By Jennifer Chiodo, Advocacy/Communications Associate
Aug. 11, 2009

"Have you eaten? We're all eating lunch now and there's some if you are hungry." Those were Maher Hannoun's first words to us as we approached the street corner in Sheikh Jarrah, East Jerusalem, where he and his family have been living for more than a week after being evicted from their home by Israeli authorities on the dawn of Aug. 2. While they live on the street, Israeli settlers have moved into their home.

My friend and I, both humanitarian workers living in Jerusalem, assured him a couple of times that we had just eaten. "If you'll excuse me a few minutes I'll eat and then come back and talk to you. I can't say 'feel at home'... but feel 'at street'." Talk about Palestinian hospitality?! Here a family of 18, with Maher and his two brothers' families, including six children, is homeless and is offering us food and drink. We take plastic chairs and sit in the shade of an olive tree, joining the group of 20 people just hanging around. Having followed the news of their eviction, we came to show our support.

We start talking to the lady in front of us while we wait for Maher to eat his lunch. She introduces herself as 'Im Kamal' (the mother of Kamal) and it takes me a few minutes to realise she's Ms Al Kurd, whom I recognise from news reports. She has been living in a tent next to her house in the same neighbourhood since last November when Israeli authorities evicted her family from their home. Her husband, who suffered from chronic heart and kidney disease, died days later.

The Al Kurd family and the Hannoun family (and the Al Ghawi family also living on the street after being evicted Aug. 1) were refugees in 1948 and resettled in Sheikh Jarrah under the protection of the Jordanian government and the United Nations Relief and Works Agency (UNRWA). "What is it like to be homeless, to live on the street?" I ask myself as we sit there. Where do you brush your teeth, get dressed, charge your cell phone, etc? Some of this is evident - cushions are stacked up and some weary internationals lean against them on the neighbour's wall. More cushions are just inside the gate. An electric cord hangs over the wall and a cell phone is being charged. I ask Im Kamal if she gets bored and what she does all day.

She motions to sitting in the chair: "What else can I do?" But this is Ms Al Kurd, and street living is not new for her. She's my hero. She's strong and resilient and not backing down. She's not leaving Jerusalem, her home. This I can tell by her eyes. She appreciates that we are there sitting with them, she tells me in Arabic. Maher comes over at this point and begins telling us bits and pieces of his family's story. It's a long story, a struggle for the last 37 years to keep his house. He doesn't accept charity from the UN or Red Cross. "We don't need a tent or food or blankets. We want their help to return to our house.

Friends, family, and neighbours have been extremely gracious. I eat better now than I did before. They help us with whatever we need and one day we will return the favour when they are in need." The deeply ingrained hospitality again amazes me. Two nights later, as part of a candlelight vigil in Sheikh Jarrah, I find myself sitting with the Al Ghawi family - another homeless family. They live one street over from the Hannouns. Their neighbours are present with them. They too are worried because the whole neighbourhood is under threat and they know it is just a matter of time before they are in the same situation.

We are speechless, disgusted, angry. There is nothing to say in response. The situation is utterly absurd, yet it goes on. We see Israeli settlers come and go from their house while Palestinians sleep on cushions in the street. The Hannoun and Al Ghawi family evictions are not isolated instances; they must be seen in the larger context of Israeli settlements which continuously chip away at Palestinian land. Sheikh Jarrah is particularly vulnerable to illegal Israeli expansion because it connects Jewish West Jerusalem with the Old City.

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

THE FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

2009-08-13T14:14:00.002+08:00

THE FREE GAZA MOVEMENT

Shared via AddThis

Bikes in Jogja

2009-08-10T12:23:00.003+08:00

Something i enjoy from my balcony...The view

2009-08-10T12:13:00.002+08:00

Genting Highland

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 6

2009-08-07T15:25:00.002+08:00

Q+A - Insecurity in Eastern Chad

2009-08-07T12:33:00.001+08:00

17 Jul 2009 15:29:00 GMT

Source: AlertNet

By George Fominyen

DAKAR (AlertNet) -
Aid workers in Chad have complained to local authorities that armed groups are present in refugee camps, the International Rescue Committee (IRC) has told AlertNet. U.N. officials say they are aware that armed groups have been entering camps in the northeast and have raised the issue with Chadian authorities, although they did not say which groups were involved.

The local administrative officer of Amdjaras, the main town near Oure Cassoni - a big refugee camp - promised aid workers last week he would look into the issue, the IRC country director, Philippe Adapoe, said on Thursday. Over 250,000 refugees from Sudan's Darfur region live in camps in eastern Chad, some of which are in an isolated desert near the border where Darfur and Chadian rebels often roam. Here are some questions and answers on security for humanitarian workers and refugees.

What are the concerns of aid workers?
Their main concern is a lack of respect for the civilian nature of refugee camps by guerrillas. "They enter the camps with their guns and they ignore DIS (the U.N.-trained police) and ignore instructions to leave their guns at the entrance to the camps," a humanitarian worker, who declined to be named, told AlertNet. A U.N. official said the presence of belligerents risked turning a camp into a target, endangering refugees and aid workers.

There was also the risk that aid meant for refugees would end up going to an armed group. Relief agencies also say armed groups recruit in the camps, even enlisting children, and some groups regularly rape refugee women and girls when they go out in search of firewood and water.

Which refugee camps are concerned?
A BBC reporter and staff from some humanitarian organisations say they have seen fighters of the Justice and Equality Movement (JEM) from neighbouring Sudan in a camp in the Bahay area, by the border with Sudan in the north-east of Chad.

JEM rebels "come in and out" of Oure Cassoni camp, 1,000 km (600 miles) from the capital N'Djamena, the IRC's Adapoe said. But such armed groups are not present in all refugee camps in eastern Chad. Spanish-based aid group Oxfam-Intermon, which works in the camps at Goz Beida and KouKou Angarana (700km and 800km from N'Djamena), says it has not detected JEM or any other armed group there lately, although some ex-rebels in the area are turning to banditry.

Why has the U.N. force been unable to prevent all this?
The United Nations Mission in the Central African Republic and Chad (Minucart) does not operate in the Bahay area where the Oure Cassoni camp is. It only sends teams there on an ad hoc basis as it has too few troops, a spokesman said. The force expects to have 5,200 troops but only has 2,800, three hundred of whom are in the Central African Republic. "Another problem with Bahay is that there is no water.

Such harsh and severe conditions make it difficult for the for troop-providing countries to agree to send troops to be deployed there," he said. At Oure Cassoni, aid agencies like the IRC draw water from a shrinking lake and, in the dry season when the lake and nearby wadis [rivers] dry up, providing water for the refugees alone is incredibly difficult. Camp security is maintained by the U.N.- trained and equipped Integrated Security Detachment (DIS), made up of 850 Chadian policemen and gendarmes who are mentored by other U.N. police officers deployed to the area.

Minucart says this community police force cannot yet fully impose itself over armed rebels. Meanwhile, Minucart patrols most of the southern parts of eastern Chad and escorts humanitarian convoys if they ask for protection.

How safe is eastern Chad?
The biggest security threat is banditry with weapons such as rocket-propelled grenades and AK-47 assault rifles, Minurcat says. From January to March alone, there were 42 incidents against humanitarian workers, Adapoe said, including assaults, break-ins, robbery and car-jacking.

"Insecurity is drastically impeding the day-to-day efforts of agencies trying to deliver emergency relief," he said. As a result, agency staff can often only travel to and from camps with armed escorts and for Oure Cassoni these are only available between 9 a.m. and 3 p.m. Repeated Chadian rebel incursions have left the civilian state apparatus in that part of the country barely existing, with a weak judicial system that leads to impunity, U.N. agencies say. Agencies worry that rebels who attacked Chadian government forces in May might strike again after the summer rains which constrain their movements, says Oxfam-Intermon.

Who are the main armed groups in Chad?

Various armed groups have been active, particularly in the east. These include Chadian rebel groups, various Sudanese pro- or anti-government militia, and bandits who are often disaffected members of these movements. One major Chadian rebel movement operating in the area is the Union of Resistance Forces (UFR), formed when eight rebel groups united in January.

They were responsible for the May attack against the Chadian government. Their leader is Timan Erdimi, President Idriss Deby's nephew. Timane and his brother Tom earlier led the Assembly of Forces of Change (RFC) that led a failed coup in 2004. They, like Deby, come from the Zaghawa tribe, which makes the backbone of the Darfur rebellion in Sudan. JEM is one such Zaghawa-dominated Sudanese rebel group. It has been fighting the Khartoum government since 2003. The Sudanese believe it is supported by Chad but the Chadian government has always denied it is.

Over the past four years, other Chadian groups that have staged attacks from the east of the country include the Union of Forces for Democracy and Development (UFDD), headed by Deby's former Defence Minister Mahamat Nouri, a charismatic leader from Chad's black Gorane ethnic group. There have also been cross-border raids by the Janjaweed, Arab militiamen supported by the Sudan government. But a U.N. official said they have become less frequent with the deployment of a European Union Force in the Central African Republic and Chad, and now Minucart.

Have any aid agencies pulled out as a result of insecurity?

The U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Assistance says the only relief organisation to have left Chad due to insecurity is Save the Children, after its country director Pascal Marlinge was killed in May last year by an unidentified gunman.

Two aid workers missing in Chad after robbery

2009-08-07T12:30:00.000+08:00

06 Aug 2009 10:04:00 GMT

Source: Reuters

N'DJAMENA, Aug 6 (Reuters) -
Aid group Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) said two of its workers in Chad were missing on Thursday after a robbery at its compound by the border with Sudan's Darfur region. MSF's Dutch arm said it could not account for the whereabouts of one international and one local worker after the attack by unknown assailants on Wednesday, which follows a spate of kidnappings in the Darfur region this year. "We have no knowledge of their whereabouts," MSF spokeswoman Rolinda Montsma said.

"We have contacted our staff and the family of those involved and are working with local authorities," she said, adding that she could not provide any further details about the workers' identity, nor where the incident took place. A Chad government spokesman could not confirm the incident. A local source in Chad said the attack on the compound took place in the town of Ade on Chad's eastern border with Sudan.

Kidnappers of two workers for Irish aid group GOAL in Darfur last month demanded $2 million for their release but the government has said it is determined not to pay. Two other groups of aid workers kidnapped in the region earlier this year have been released unharmed after negotiations. (Reporting by Aaron Gray-Block in Amsterdam and Moumine Ngarmbassa in N'Djamena)

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 5

2009-08-05T11:25:00.003+08:00

Taliban rockets land near embassies in Afghan capital

2009-08-04T21:46:00.001+08:00

04 Aug 2009 09:44:13 GMT

Source: Reuters

(For full coverage of Afghanistan, double click on [ID:nAFPAK])
* Rockets land in same district as U.S., British embassies
* Child hurt, minor damage; Taliban claim responsibility
* Provincial governor escapes assassination attempt (Adds President Karzai quotes, suicide attack)

By Sayed Salahuddin KABUL, Aug 4 (Reuters) -

Taliban militants fired at least nine rockets at the Afghan capital before dawn on Tuesday in the biggest attack of its kind for several years, some landing near major Western embassies, police and witnesses said. Amid an escalation of violence before Aug. 20 presidential elections, two rockets struck the Wazir Akbar Khan diplomatic area, home to both the U.S. and British embassies as well as the headquarters of the NATO-led

International Security Assistance Force (ISAF). The Taliban have vowed to disrupt the elections and have called on Afghans to boycott the ballot, the second direct presidential poll since the Islamists were toppled by U.S.-backed Afghan forces in 2001. Violence across Afghanistan this year had already reached its worst level since 2001 and escalated further after thousands of U.S. Marines launched a major offensive in the Taliban stronghold of Helmand in the south last month. At least one rocket landed near a hospital close to the U.S. embassy, television pictures showed.

Other rockets landed in different areas of the city, shattering windows and startling residents in the pre-dawn darkness. One child was wounded. Separately, a provincial governor escaped unhurt after roadside bombs hit his convoy just west of the capital in an apparent assassination attempt, a spokesman said. Residents said Tuesday's rocket attack was the biggest for several years. It was also the first serious attack in Kabul in in this year's upswing of violence, which has gradually spread out of Taliban strongholds in the south and east.

The Taliban claimed to have fired 12 rockets at Kabul, with the city's combined military and civilian airport their target. An ISAF spokeswoman said the force had heard reports that between five and 12 rockets were fired at Kabul. None landed in the ISAF base but investigations were under way, she said. GOVERNOR ESCAPES BOMBING Speaking at a campaign rally in Gardez in Afghanistan's east,

President Hamid Karzai again urged Taliban militants to take part in the elections rather than target the poll. "I invite them to come for voting and for peace in this country," Karzai told supporters in Gardez. The Taliban have repeatedly rejected such overtures, saying no peace talks would be possible until all foreign troops have left Afghanistan. Mohammad Halim Fedaye, governor of Maidan Wardak province just west of Kabul, was unhurt after his convoy was hit by roadside bombs on Kabul's western outskirts on Tuesday, a spokesman for Fedaye said. There were no other casualties.

The attack on Fedaye was the latest in a string of ambushes and bombings aimed at candidates, campaign officials and election offices in the past two weeks. A vice-presidential running mate of Karzai's was among those attacked but was also unhurt. Also on Tuesday, a suicide bomber killed four civilians and an intelligence official in southern Zabul province, police said. On Monday, a roadside bomb attack claimed by the Taliban killed at least 12 people in the normally peaceful western city of Herat, an important commercial hub near the Iranian border.

[ID:nISL478514] At least nine foreign troops, including six Americans, were killed at the weekend, mainly in the south and east. [ID:nLS659028] The U.S. military has poured thousands of extra troops into Afghanistan in recent months, with NATO members sending smaller numbers, in a bid to help secure the election. The extra troops are part of U.S. President Barack Obama's wider new regional strategy to defeat the Taliban and its Islamist allies and stabilise Afghanistan. With Washington identifying Afghanistan as its major military priority, the election is seen as a test of Obama's new strategy and of Kabul's ability to stage a credible and legitimate ballot.

(Additional reporting by Ismail Sameem in KANDAHAR and Samar Zwak in GARDEZ; Editing by Paul Tait and Sanjeev Miglani)

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 4

2009-08-04T16:35:00.005+08:00

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 3

2009-08-04T15:51:00.002+08:00

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006--Set 2

2009-08-03T11:46:00.004+08:00

Mt Merapi Volcano and Jogjakarta Earthquake-May 2006

2009-08-03T10:54:00.003+08:00

Daku di panggil bertugas tika itu.
Letupan gunung berapi dan gempabumi menyambut ketibaan kami di bumi Jogja.
more pictures coming

Humanitarian money - it's not just about the cash

2009-08-03T10:34:00.000+08:00

Written by: Jan Kellett

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Jan Kellett is programme leader of the Global Humanitarian Assistance Programme

Humanitarian intervention is not only about the amount of money; it's also about how and where it is spent. Every choice made - to which country and through which organisation, by which mechanism, to which sector of life - has an impact, not only in-country but also well beyond the individual intervention itself.

The Global Humanitarian Report of 2009, by mapping out trends in humanitarian financing, illuminates the sum-total of these choices.

It notes the increase in funding from traditional donor countries, it shows the continued and increased use of pooled funding mechanisms supposedly able to get money more efficiently, cheaply and faster to places and people that are in need.

It also indicates the increased contributions to humanitarian aid from countries not often seen as donors - Saudi Arabia, UAE, Russia, South Korea etc - and the substantial resources available to the NGO sector, where public support to some individual international NGOs dwarf many donor country's spending.

The report also highlights the connections between humanitarian aid, chronic poverty and conflict where the same people move from crisis to crisis to crisis, challenging our artificial distinctions between humanitarian and development assistance.

Yet this is only part of the picture. There are still gaps in knowledge. There is for example little known about humanitarian financing within countries in crisis. Government and in particular civil society spending on interventions are poorly counted if they are considered at all by the international community. The importance of remittances sent back home is acknowledged but little has been done to understand how much of that is driven by humanitarian need.

WHAT IS NEED Meanwhile that need itself is still a complex area. There are no clear common denominators of what constitutes need and no clear agreements on exactly what is a person affected by conflict or natural disaster, or at least none that translates across sectors and across to other countries.

Without a full and complete picture on humanitarian needs and all the attempts to meet those needs how can we evaluate the choices made within and between countries, how can stakeholders judge how well the humanitarian dollar is spent?

We should look a little closer at those stakeholders too. Information on aid still rarely reaches those who are supposed to receive that aid; it stops with humanitarian policy makers and implementers, donors, the UN, NGOs, and Governments.

Yet surely only by providing the people who are supposed to obtain benefit from humanitarian aid with the information on what they should be receiving can we truly gauge the aid's truth and real value. Such empowerment remains a great challenge.

Reuters AlertNet is not responsible for the content of external websites.

HOW TO: Do a food airdrop

2009-07-30T15:47:00.000+08:00

NAIROBI, 30 July 2009 (IRIN) - The humanitarian cavalry is the food airdrop: when you need to shift serious tonnage in a hurry to somewhere inaccessible, nothing quite does it like a large cargo plane and skilled pilot and crew.

According to the World Food Programme (WFP), air drops have delivered 1.5 million tons of aid in the world's worst emergencies over the past 15 years. In its busiest operation, in south Sudan, 2.5 million people in need were reached between 1990 and 2005. It's an expensive enterprise, and these days humanitarian agencies prefer to build roads to reach the vulnerable. Road construction and repair in southern Sudan has made overland delivery roughly 50 percent cheaper than by air.

But roads can be washed away in heavy rains, or closed by conflict; in the northeastern Democratic Republic of Congo, airdrops are the only practical way to supply 130,000 people displaced by fighting around Dungu. The last convoy of trucks to reach the town from Uganda took 35 days to drive a distance of 520kms - compared to less than two hours by plane.

So, how do you do an airdrop?

The aircraft

There are basically three types of aircraft that do the job: the Antonov-12 (hauling about 15 tons), the Hercules C-130 (18 tons), and the Iluyshin-76 (36 tons). The choice of aircraft is down to the operator hired by the humanitarian agency, but all must be specially equipped and certified. They are big and thirsty, and need a ground crew of two or three engineers, plus a project manager, to keep flying safely.

If you've got a forklift, loading can be as quick as 15 minutes; for the monster Iluyshin, it's about 45 minutes. Air missions usually last between two and four hours, covering distances of between 200kms to 600kms. At the height of the southern Sudan operation, daily sorties were being flown from Nairobi and Lokichokio in Kenya, as well as Khartoum and El Obeid in Sudan.

The food

Usually it's only food powder, pulses or grain that is dropped - 50kg per bag. There is nothing special about how the food is readied before loading except it's triple packed into three 90kg sacks, which are then stitched together. According to WFP, four electric sewing machines should be able to handle 5,000 sacks a day. The reinforced bags survive most drops; the wastage rate is a tiny 2 percent.

In the past plywood pallets also exited the plane, coming in handy as construction material or firewood for people on the ground. But it increased the cost of airdropping, and their uncertain trajectory also made them a bit dangerous. New dropping techniques means just the food falls.

The Drop Zone (DZ)

Rocks, swamps, people - or roaming livestock - make for a bad DZ. Choosing the drop zone is the responsibility of the ground controllers, typically a radio-equipped food monitor and/or logistics officer. They mark out the DZ, ensure security, communicate with the aircraft, and work with the local relief committee to gather the dropped food aid and organise distribution.

The size of the DZ depends on the type of aircraft making the drop, but generally it's 200 meters by 1,000 meters, marked out by white food bags, with a cross dead centre. The area is secured - with a 200 meter perimeter outside the DZ - at least one hour before the scheduled drop, and it's the ground controller who clears the aircraft to release its cargo.

The pilot

Airdropping is specialised, it's normally only former military pilots that have the training. They generally drop from just over 200 metres above the ground to reduce impact on the bags. Two loadmasters supervise the cargo, and release on the pilot's command. The dropping system used is down to the operator, with the cargo arranged in either a single or double row configuration; if it's single row, it exits the plane all in one go.

On final approach to the DZ, the pilot keeps the plane's speed down to around 185kph, and lifts the nose by 8 to 10 degrees; when the loadmasters releases the bands holding the food in place, gravity takes over and the bags tumble to the ground.

"Once the drop is finished, you lower the nose, give some power and close the ramp at the back," former navigator on a C-130, Philippe Martou, told IRIN. "You do a low pass to have a look at the DZ, to see if possible, whether you can drop better next time."

oa/bp

© IRIN. All rights reserved. More humanitarian news and analysis: http://www.IRINnews.org

Beautifully imperfect

2009-07-26T12:42:00.002+08:00

Alfatihah to my dear friend.

May god bless her soul.

In the end,

its the small things that you remember,

the little imperfection,

that make them perfect

for you

Last day in Gaza

2009-07-24T16:34:00.001+08:00

Subuh di Gaza

We are out.
Forced actually

Sunset at Suez Canal

Here and There in Gaza

2009-07-23T11:49:00.005+08:00

Cute

Imagine she will grow up with just having his dad around.
lost the whole family during the bombing

anybody interested to do haji n qurban program in Gaza?

Mike sedang berfikir......

Fikirrrrr

yg ni fikir ka layan sms.....

interview with the Hamas fighter

Gaza night market

I miss those strawberries

fruitssssss

kacang amenda tah. budak jual rokok

our last sunset in Gaza.

we will come back.............

Somalia: Red Crescent staff member killed in Mogadishu

2009-07-23T11:07:00.001+08:00

22 Jul 2009 15:30:51 GMT

Source: International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) - Switzerland

Reuters and AlertNet are not responsible for the content of this article or for any external internet sites. The views expressed are the author's alone.

Geneva (ICRC) – A staff member of the Somali Red Crescent Society was killed in the centre of Mogadishu on Tuesday afternoon, 21 July.

Farah Aden Mo'allim was travelling in a public transport vehicle when he was caught in crossfire and hit by a stray bullet.

He died instantly, before he could be taken to the nearest hospital.

The International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) and the Somali Red Crescent are deeply saddened by the incident and wish to extend their heartfelt condolences to the family.

"The death of our dear colleague is devastating news and illustrates once more how dangerous it is to live and work in Mogadishu.

Providing victims of the armed conflict with humanitarian aid often means risking your own life," said Dr Ahmed M.

Hassan, the president of the Somali Red Crescent.

Although the staff member was not deliberately targeted, the ICRC and the Somali Red Crescent are deeply concerned about the plight of civilians caught up in the fighting and call on all warring parties to comply with the rules of international humanitarian law, and in particular to draw a distinction at all times between civilians and persons taking direct part in hostilities.

Gaza Daytime part 3

2009-07-22T14:27:00.003+08:00

They live n sleep n cook and eat in this hut.

Nothing is left

another mosque being hit

their house is next to the mosque.
kena jugak la

this radio station is run by the disabled.
the DJ is blind.

expressive

victim of target practise
Lembu dan kambing pon kena jugak
"Eh tak kena!.....kan dah kena"

anak anak gaza menceritakan pengalaman mereka melalui lukisan

this wall have a story to tell

Gaza Daytime part 2

2009-07-22T14:03:00.004+08:00

Syahdu Khutbah dia

..............

We found something.......

whats left

Israil Jet Fighters doing some aerial display......
Actually is was bombing session for them.
we have to run.
but where to hide?

Gunmen raid aid compound in Sudan's Darfur, one hurt

2009-07-21T17:53:00.001+08:00

another 1 today

* Aid worker wounded

KHARTOUM, July 21 (Reuters) -

Armed raiders forced their way into an aid compound belonging to Swiss charity Medair in Sudan's war-ravaged Darfur region and opened fire, wounding a humanitarian worker, a Medair official said on Tuesday. "A staff member has been slightly injured when an armed raid entered our compound," a Medair official in Switzerland told Reuters. "They entered the compound with forced entry and they shot ... and hurt one of our team members." The official said the humanitarian worker was hit by shrapnel during the robbery early on Monday in El Geneina in West Darfur.

Some electronic equipment was stolen, she said. Sudan's al-Rai al-Aam newspaper identified the wounded aid worker as a British man, but the Medair official could not immediately give the nationality of the person who was hurt. Law and order has collapsed in Darfur since mostly non-Arab rebels took up arms against Sudan's government in 2003, accusing Khartoum of marginalising the western region. Sudan's government mobilised mostly Arab militias to crush the rebellion. Since then, the conflict has disintegrated into a free-for-all involving bandits, rebel factions, government troops, militias and rival tribes.

Estimates of the death count in the ethnic and politically motivated conflict range from 10,000 according to Khartoum, to 300,000 according to U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes. The U.N. and aid groups have launched the world's largest humanitarian operation in Darfur to care for millions of civilians caught up in the conflict. Sudan's government has promised to protect U.N. and other development organisations after a decision from the Hague-based International Criminal Court in March to indict President Omar Hassan al-Bashir on Darfur war crimes accusations. But senior officials have said they might not be able to control individual extremists who say the court is part of a Western conspiracy against Sudan.

(Reporting by Cynthia Johnston in Cairo and Khalid Abdel Aziz in Khartoum; Editing by Giles Elgood)

Gaza Daytime

2009-07-21T12:29:00.003+08:00

Talk about Kebab?
nothing can beat them

solat jumaat open air di gaza....
orang Malaysia sembahyang pakai songkok.
kat sana ada yg pakai hardhat.
Just in case

Hj Anuar..

"Lembutnya tangan dia..."
Free Gaza Presiden tgh nak pasang pin kat kolar dia lah.

Red Gold Of Gaza
1 kilo 4 hengget.

i saw lots of superbikes in Gaza.ni ja yg sempat capture

the survivor

makan kuaci ja la.....

that end is israil.walking distance ja.lots of sniper
walk towards that way n thats it.

The future generation

Donors....This is where your money goes to

2009-07-21T11:56:00.003+08:00

Somali rebels shut and loot U.N. compounds

2009-07-21T00:45:00.000+08:00

When will this end?

20 Jul 2009 15:57:26 GMT

Source: Reuters

* Gunmen loot U.N. compounds in Baidoa, Wajid *
Vehicles, equipment taken away, foreign staff unharmed (Recasts, adds looting in Wajid) By Abdi Sheikh MOGADISHU,
July 20 (Reuters) -

Gunmen from Somalia's al Shabaab group looted two United Nations compounds on Monday after the al Qaeda-linked militants said they would shut down three U.N. agencies operating in the Horn of Africa nation. Al Shabaab controls much of southern Somalia and parts of the capital Mogadishu. The group is fighting government troops and African Union peacekeepers to impose its own harsh version of sharia law throughout Somalia. It said in a statement that the UNDP (United Nations Development Programme), UNDSS (United Nations Department of Safety and Security) and UNPOS (United Nations Political Office for Somalia) were considered enemies of Islam and Muslims. "Dozens of well armed al Shabaab militia have surrounded the U.N. compound in Baidoa," said a U.N. officer in the town that used to house parliament before it was seized by the rebels. "They have taken away three U.N. cars from the compound but have not harmed several U.N. foreign staff," said the officer, who declined to be named for security reasons. A second U.N. compound was looted in the town of Wajid in Bakool region, according to staff working there. They said U.N. vehicles and other equipment had been taken away. Although the government led by President Sheikh Sharif Ahmed has voted to implement sharia law in Somalia, al Shabaab says it does not recognise the administration that was formed under a U.N.-hosted peace process in neighbouring Djibouti this year.

ISLAMIST INFLUX Neighbours and Western nations fear that if al Shabaab succeeds in toppling the government, Somalia will serve as a safe haven for hardline militants to train and potentially destabilise the region. There is also increasing international concern at an influx of hundreds of Islamist fighters into Somalia -- from Afghanistan, Pakistan, the Gulf region, and some western nations including the United States and Britain. Al Shabaab's department of political affairs and regional administrations said the three U.N. agencies had been found to be working against the interests of the Somali Muslim population and against the establishment of an Islamic state. "We were ordered to get out of the compound and they immediately started looting the property of all U.N. agencies", a guard at the compound in Baidoa told Reuters. "The looting is going on and the compound still remains in their control." Al Shabaab said other non-governmental organisations and foreign agencies operating in Somalia should contact the administration in their area and they would be informed of the conditions and restrictions on their work. (Additional reporting by Mohamed Ahmed in Baidoa and Ibrahim Mohamed in Mogadishu; editing by David

Inside Gaza

2009-07-20T16:29:00.004+08:00

Apa pasal aku tak paham pakai pc nih?.....
Ooooo Dia Tulis Arablahhhhh

Cameraman on duty

shoot beb

RTM crew on duty

RTM Crew

Sisa bom di pamer di luar hospital

Suprisingly u can roam in palestin.not all provider lah.itu pasal dia manyakkk sibuk

interview here n there

The Journey To Gaza 2

2009-07-20T14:33:00.004+08:00

Di kiri kanan jalan org berniaga.
ada jual kurma,kacang,minyak zaitun(pure beb!)

teksi kat sini 4 pintu tapi seat ada 3 row.
boleh naik 8 org selesa.
kalau bawak balik malaya.....
repair skit.....macam menteri beb

anak anak padang pasir mencuba nasib nak jual kurma dan kacang kat aku

waiting turn to enter Gaza.it takes forever......

sayup mata memandang.
lori bersusun menunggu untuk masuk ka Gaza.
boleh mencecah berminggu untuk dapat masuk.

paperwork,paperwork,paperwork to enter Gaza.

Finally we are inside

The Journey To Gaza

2009-07-19T00:36:00.010+08:00

Transit di Istanbul with half ton of supply is no easy task.

Push

Antara Dua Darjat....
Hidup lagi moto ni kat Cairo

Dimana ada meja dan teh...disitu kami meeting dan update the team.
asal sempat

Nilah Ghupanyaaa nasi lemak Kaherah Stail.

sepanjang perjalanan pasti akan berhenti.
bukan sebab kita yang nak sangat.driver nak pekena shisha.

Our mode of transport.coaster.
Rasa macam budak asrama pulak.

Asal ada peluang....
Rambo dan Hj anuar mesti kedepan

Merentasi Terusan suez

How Does it feels like?

2009-07-17T10:45:00.002+08:00

Bila aku terbaca saban hari tentang mereka yg di kidnap,tembak,menjadi tahanan dan jugak tebusan.
aku berkongsi disini bersama berita dan cerita mereka.

aku tau bagaimana rasanya.
few of my frens too.
we hv shared n tasted it.
diff missions,
diff country,
diff situations,
diff outcome.

shall share it with u guys someday.

Have a good friday.
God Bless