Welcome To Sunday

Australians pray for rain as drought-of-the-century continues

SYDNEY, Australia (AP) — Churchgoers prayed for rain Sunday in the hopes of breaking the worst drought to hit Australian farmers in more than a century.

Already the world's driest inhabited continent, Australia has been ravaged in recent months by the worst drought in recorded memory, which has devastated crops and bankrupted many farmers.

Archbishop Philip Wilson, the president of the Australian Catholic Bishops Conference, called for a national day of prayer Sunday to ask God for more rain.

"We're praying for rain, that God might bless us with rains," he told the Australian Broadcasting Corp. radio Sunday.

Worshippers were "also praying in solidarity with the people who ... are suffering in their lives because of the drought," he added.

Jock Laurie, the president of the New South Wales Farmers Association, said that while crops have already been lost, the day of prayer could help boost morale.

"I think it just shows that city people really are starting to get a very good understanding of the impact it's having on rural communities," he told the ABC. "You really can't underestimate how ... good it is to have this support."

Heading into a stormy period


Workers try to rescue a car in Pueblo Nuevo near Capira, some 40 Kilometers west of Panama City, Panama, Wednesday, Nov. 22, 2006. Rains and landslides in Central American killed five people in Panama, including a pregnant woman, and left two others missing in Honduras, officials said Wednesday. (AP Photo/Arnulfo Franco)

Heavy rains, flooding kill 8 in Panama

PANAMA CITY, Panama - Heavy rains and flooding in Panama have left at least eight people dead and damaged hundreds of homes, the government said Friday.

The rains, which began Monday and were predicted to last until Saturday, have caused rivers to overflow and bridges to collapse, cutting off several communities northwest of the capital of Panama City, authorities said.

The dead included two men killed in a landslide, two men who drowned, a couple killed when a tree fell on their house, and a pregnant woman who suffered a spike in her blood pressure but failed to receive medical attention because her community had been cut off, said National Civil Protection Director Roberto Velasquez.

The eighth fatality occurred in the community of Capira, 50 miles west of the capital, Velasquez said. He did not release any details.

A search was also under way for a park guard reported missing in the Colon province, the federal Environment Department said.

On Friday, officials sent first aid, bottled water, dry goods and other domestic items by helicopter to the Cocle, Colon, and Panama provinces, Interior Minister Ileana Golcher said.

More than 200 houses have been destroyed and nearly 700 others damaged, the Civil Protection Department said.

Floods kill seven in Somalia, death toll climbs to 96

MOGADISHU (AFP) - Floods have killed at least seven people, including five children, as the fourth week of heavy rains pounded Somalia, bringing the death toll to at least 96.

Three people drowned in Middle Shabelle region when a wooden dhow capsized as they were fleeing to safety, officials said Sunday.

"We buried three people -- two of them children -- near Kunyabarow area this afternoon after they died from drowning," said Abdullahi Moalim Gesey, a local elder, told AFP.

Health officials said a 72-year-old man and his one-year-old grandson were killed and swept for several kilometres when their hut collapsed under heavy flooding in Mukayka village in Middle Shabelle region.

"The were sleeping in their small cottage when heavy floods swept the area. The old man and his grandson were discovered about seven kilometres away from their home," added Hussein Nur Ahmed, a community health official.

And in Buulo-Barde district in Somalia's central Hiraan region, two children drowned after water swept through their house, according to officials from Somalia's powerful Islamic movement.

"Two more children from the same family died, but problems associated to floods are still continuing and the toll is still rising," said Sheikh Hussein Barre Raghe, head of Buulo-Barde Islamic courts.

Raghe said the affected civilians may die if humanitarian aid was delayed.

Sunday's casualties brings the death toll to 96 since torrential rains started pounding the region in October, mainly flooding the main Shabelle and Juba rivers that have their source at the Ethiopian highlands.

Around one million Somalis are estimated to be affected by the flooding, of which at least 336,000 have been forced from their homes, according to the United Nations.

Health officials have also sounded the alarm for outbreaks of waterborne diseases, particularly cholera, which has already been confirmed in two areas.

The rains have destroyed farmlands, disrupted food supplies, cut off villages and washed away roads, complicating the delivery of aid to the most vulnerable and impoverished in remote areas.

The Horn of Africa country is also on the brink of all-out war between the Islamic movement and government troops, backed by Ethiopian forces.

Flood-hit Kenya must be declared emergency-aid group

NAIROBI, Nov 25 (Reuters) - Kenyan President Mwai Kibaki should declare massive flooding that has killed hundreds and displaced thousands across east Africa a "national emergency", aid agency ActionAid said.

Torrential rains in Kenya, Somalia, Ethiopia, Eritrea and Sudan in recent weeks have affected at least 1.8 million people in the region, the U.N. says.

"The President needs to prioritise this immediately. Things are getting out of control," said Joyce Umbima, director for ActionAid Kenya, in a statement late on Friday.

"We need to deal with this problem head-on, and bring in some specialist expertise. People are suffering terribly."

There was no immediate comment from the president's office.

Aid workers fear thousands of people across the region face outbreaks of cholera, diarrhoea and other waterborne diseases unless they are given safe drinking water soon.

"Many people are still out in the open and torrential rains have continued overnight, so they have been exposed to constant rain. They are now at risk of disease and landslides are becoming a problem," Umbima added.

According to Kenya's meteorological department, the rains are expected to continue until mid-January.

In Somalia, the United Nations said flooding that has displaced thousands living near the Juba River will continue to worsen in the chaotic Horn of African nation.

"Aerial reconnaissance indicated a very serious situation in parts of Middle and Lower Juba and historical trends indicate that the worst flooding along the Juba is yet to come," said a report by the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said.

"Entire settlements are under water with communities completely cut off and having moved to higher grounds living in makeshift shelter," it added after a recent aerial mission over some of the affected areas.

Chaos from Somalia's worst flooding in decades has come amid mounting fears of war between the nation's interim government and rival Islamists. The U.N. has said insecurity is hampering relief efforts for those affected by flooding in Somalia.

The OCHA report said two helicopters were expected to start delivering food aid next week.

Scientists: Climate change clues in sky

Site of killer tornado becomes tourist attraction

RIEGELWOOD, N.C. (AP) — A devastating tornado that killed eight people has become a grisly tourist attraction.

Visitors have driven from as far as Fayetteville and Raleigh, 70 and 130 miles respectively, to see destroyed homes and other damage caused by the twister. Some stop to snap pictures with cameras and cellphones.

"You see the pictures and hear the stories on television, but you want to see it in person," said Jim Davison, who drove past the area many times from his home in Wilmington to his job in Elizabethtown, but never stopped until late last week.

"I guess curiosity gets the best of you," he said.

About 100 residents were displaced and 42 homes were damaged by the Nov. 16 twister. Officials estimate the damage at $500,000.

Two children remained hospitalized in critical but stable condition at UNC Hospitals in Chapel Hill, while one adult was in stable condition at New Hanover Regional Medical Center in Wilmington and was expected to be released soon, said Kip Godwin, chairman of the Columbus County Board of Commissioners.

Some of the visitors stop on their way through the area to other destinations. Others make a special trip.

Becky Lanier and her mother, Alice Peterson, live 15 miles away. Peterson said they came by late last week to show Lanier's children how blessed they are.

"It's almost unreal," Peterson said. "I feel so sad for the people. My heart and my prayers go out to them."

World neglects tsunami risk lessons - Red Cross

JAKARTA, Nov 27 (Reuters) - The world could see a replay of the massive death and destruction caused by the December 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami if it fails to spend more on disaster risk reduction, the Red Cross/Red Crescent said on Monday.

The tsunami that left more than 200,000 people dead or missing around the Indian Ocean should have taught the value of preparedness, but "risk reduction has remained low on the international agenda," the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said in a statement.

It called for a rise in annual disaster preparedness global spending to $1 billion, 10 percent of the amount spent on humanitarian aid. The figure is now around four percent.

Too often "when the first assessment of damage is done and the costing of reconstruction after an earthquake or some other disaster is done, risk reduction is not immediately factored in," Johan Schaar, federation special representative for the tsunami, told Reuters in a telephone interview.

"What's most often done is simply rebuilding what was there, (but) if what was there constituted risk for people it has to change" to reduce chances of similar death and destruction in the future.

Risk reduction can range from educating people in first aid and what to do if disasters occur, to protecting coastlines from tsunamis and implementing earthquake-safe construction codes.

Aside from the potential lives to be saved, the federation estimates a dollar spent on prevention can save as much as $10 in reconstruction and rebuilding costs.

In one such measure, the Indonesian Red Cross launched a radio network to transmit early warnings to communities in Aceh, the Indonesian province hardest hit by the tsunami with more than 170,000 killed or missing.

In such efforts, an important part of success is educating people on how to use the system, not just getting the hardware in place, said the Geneva-based Schaar, who was in Jakarta for meetings after a visit to Aceh.

"There's been good efforts at building this early warning system for the Indian Ocean countries but it's been a lot of focus on the technical aspects," he said.

"...if people are not reached by the warning and if they don't know what to do when the warning comes -- we often talk about the last mile of an early warning system -- then it will not be effective."

On other aspects of the tsunami recovery effort, Schaar said the federation as well as governments and other agencies have had to cope with unrealistic expectations at times.

In Aceh, for example, "it affected an area that had been in conflict for 20 years and you had weak government and very undeveloped infrastructure," he said, referring to a simmering civil war between separatists and the Indonesian government.

A peace agreement a few months after the tsunami has thus far been effective in stopping the Aceh fighting.

While reconstruction there is in "a dynamic phase" and a federation programme has helped get virtually all refugees who were in tents into better shelters, it will still be years before recovery is complete, Schaar said.

"...this is something we are going to be involved in for five years or more to really see this through," he said.