Hazards/Threats

East Africa The recent large-scale failure of the main rainy season in several drought-prone areas of Kenya bodes even greater destitution for thousands of pastoralists and agro-pastoralists in 19 districts throughout the country. In the worst-hit areas, already 80 per cent of livestock have died. Crops have withered, and people are selling their few remaining possessions. (RW:FAO) (RW:WFP)

Afghanistan, Pakistan and Iran The dry season which extends through October has exacerbated a severe dry spell and failure of seasonal rains earlier this year from Iran to Afghanistan and Pakistan to northwestern India. Situation Reports: (RW:OCHA) (RW:PRB) Story: (DRO)

Bangladesh Torrential rain on the 24 June 2000 and two tornadoes that hit coastal Bangladesh on 25 June 2000 following heavy rainfall in the end of May led to one landslide and to flash flooding. All river systems however remained below their danger levels with the Padma and Lakhya approaching danger levels during the month. (RW:OCHA)

China Seasonal flooding has developed in northern China. Gansu province experienced record rainfall and river flows while in Sichuan province flashfloods, mudslides and landslides reportedly killed 60 people. (RW:OCHA)

Chile With the onset of the austral winter, an estimated number of 72,408 people in Santiago and surrounding regions have been seriously affected by storms and heavy rainfalls re-occurring since 2 June. At least 4,731 severely affected people have been accommodated in public shelters set up by the National Emergency Office. (RW:OCHA) (RW:IFRC)

Guatemala Since the onset of Guatemala's rainy season six weeks ago, heavy rains have left more than 2,600 people homeless and have been blamed in at least 25 deaths. The intensity of the rainfall prompted Guatemalan President Alfonso Portillo to declare a 30-day "state of public disaster" on June 6 for the entire country. (RW:AEFE)

Health

Niger Over 13,000 cases of meningitis have been registered, with nearly 1,000 deaths, from 1 January to 20 June 2000. Meningitis outbreaks in the Sahel are associated with the dry season and the harmattan winds that blow from the Sahara. The arrival of the rainy season and vaccination campaigns will likely put an end to the outbreak. (IRIN)

Russia Unusually warm weather in Irkutsk, Siberia, has resulted in increased tick activity. One woman died and another 22 people are hospitalized with tick-borne encephalitis. In addition, 12 have been diagnosed with Lyme disease and 3 cases of tick-borne rickettsiosis have been reported. (ProMED)

Water Resources

Horn of Africa In Kenya drought conditions have led the government to announce a 6-month electricity and water rationing plan. Individual families will only have power 3 times per week; industry 12 hours per day. Electricity rationing has also been implemented n Ethiopia due to severe drought conditions. (CNN)

Brazil A third of the residents of Sao Paulo have been placed under water rationing until early November due to drought. The Guarapiranga Reservoir, which is the sole water supply for the inhabitants of the 500 affected districts has fallen to 37% of its capacity. The region is currently in its normal dry season. Climatologically, rains are expected to return to the region in November. (Earth Alert)

Agriculture

Afghanistan Millions of Afghans face a serious food crisis due to a severe drought that destroyed almost all the rain-fed crops in the country, the United Nations World Food Programme (WFP) and the Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) said. (OCHA)

Eastern Asia In the North China Plain rains have improved conditions for recently stressed emerging summer crops.(JAWF)

United States Rains eased moisture shortages in the western cornbelt and yielded excess moisture in the eastern cornbelt. Seasonal temperatures and heavy rain boosted moisture for crops in the southeast, but moisture shortages remain in many areas. (JAWF)

Europe Persistent dry conditions stressed winter grains and early summer crop development. (JAWF)

Fisheries

Chile Due to the heavy rains in Chile, fishing activities in the province of Valdivia came to a standstill and the income of the fishermen families has decreased dramatically making it difficult for them to purchase food. (RW:IFRC)

Peru Peruvian catch of small pelagics for the month of June was approximately 1.5 million metric tons. Total cumulative catch for 2000 is approximately 6.1 million metric tons, compared with approximately 4.1 million metric tons for the same period in 1999. There are rumors of the possibility of a short fishing ban (1-2 weeks) in July.
 

Material for this portion of the IRI Climate Information Digest has been extracted from the UN/OCHA Reliefweb (RW), the Pan American Health Organization (PAHO), Doctors Without Borders (DWB), Program for Monitoring Emerging Diseases (ProMED) , USDA/NOAA Joint Agricultural Weather Facility (JAWF) and the Fishmeal Exporters Organization. Additional information was obtained from the NOAA/OGP Climate Information Program, Red Cross/CNN/IBM Disaster Relief, Earth Alert and CNN.