NYT

“…..Under an agreement established by the World Health Organization, participating countries must transfer influenza samples with pandemic potential to designated research centers “in a timely manner.”

That process — involving paperwork, approval through several agencies and a licensed carrier — normally takes several months, according to Dr. Larry Kerr, the director of pandemics and emerging threats at the Department of Health and Human Services.

But more than one year after a devastating wave of H7N9 infections in Asia — 766 cases were reported, almost all in China — the Centers for Disease Control and Prevention is still waiting for several viral samples….”

History

Document:  Report of the Independent International Fact-Finding Mission on Myanmar

Contents Page I. Introduction ……………………………………………………………………………………………….

3 II. Mandate and methodology …………………………………………………………………………..

3 A. Mandate …………………………………………………………………………………………….

3 B. Methodology ………………………………………………………………………………………

3 C. Legal framework …………………………………………………………………………………

4 III. Context….. ………………………………………………………………………………………………..

4 IV. Emblematic situations …………………………………………………………………………………

5 A. Rakhine State ……………………………………………………………………………………..

5 B. Kachin and Shan States………………………………………………………………………..

11 C. Fundamental freedoms …………………………………………………………………………

14 V. Hallmarks of Tatmadaw operations ………………………………………………………………

14 A. Targeting civilians ………………………………………………………………………………

15 B. Sexual violence …………………………………………………………………………………..

15 C. Exclusionary rhetoric …………………………………………………………………………..

15 D. Impunity…………………………………………………………………………………………….

15 VI. Crimes under international law …………………………………………………………………….

16 A. Genocide ……………………………………………………………………………………………

16 B. Crimes against humanity ……………………………………………………………………..

16 C. War crimes …………………………………………………………………………………………

17 VII. Responsibility …………………………………………………………………………………………….

17 VIII. Accountability ……………………………………………………………………………………………

18 IX. Main conclusions and recommendations ………………………………………………………..

19

NYT

History

National Academies

BuzzFeed News

“…..“We are looking at 100 kiloton to 1,000 kiloton detonations” ………”

Exploring Medical and Public Health Preparedness for a Nuclear Incident: A Workshop

The National Academies of Sciences, Engineering, and Medicine will host a two-day public workshop on August 22-23, 2018 at the National Academies Building (Fred Kavli Auditorium) called Exploring Medical and Public Health Preparedness for a Nuclear Incident. Through this workshop, participants from government, NGO and private sector organizations will explore current assumptions behind and the status of medical and public health preparedness for a nuclear incident, examine potential changes in assumptions and approach, and discuss challenges and opportunities for capacity building in the current threat environment.

Specific topics that may be discussed in this workshop include:

• The current state of medical and public health preparedness for a nuclear incident and how these relate to the prior assumptions about the threat environment;
• Possible changes to planning assumptions for nuclear incidents, with particular attention to the (re-)emergence of state-actor threats, and the implications of those changes for nuclear incident prevention, planning and response;
• Implications for capacity building of potential communication, education and information challenges posed by a nuclear incident, and opportunities and approaches for addressing them;
• Challenges, opportunities, and implications for building capabilities to respond to and recover from a nuclear incident, including building capability for assessment, early treatment, monitoring and long-term health surveillance among survivors.

Reuters

“…..The panel, set up last year, interviewed 875 victims and witnesses in Bangladesh and other countries, and analyzed documents, videos, photographs and satellite images…..”

United Nations

Dr. Peter Salama, Deputy Director-General of Emergency Preparedness and Response for the UN World Health Organization (WHO) told journalists in Geneva that “thousands of lives” had been saved so far, thanks to the joint efforts of the Bangladesh Government, WHO and partners.

Deadly disease outbreaks have also been held at bay in Cox’s Bazar despite “all the conditions being in place for a massive epidemic”, he said, noting that outbreaks of measles, diphtheria, polio, cholera and rubella have been contained thanks to preventive inoculation campaigns that have required four million doses of vaccine.

“We need to sustain the vigilance for early warnings of infectious diseases,” Dr. Salama said. “That is still a major risk due to the environmental situation, the poor sanitation, the massive overcrowding, the way these people are being housed and we need to maintain our ability to scale-up outbreak response as required.”

His call to scale up help was echoed in Geneva by IOM, the UN migration agency, spokesperson Joel Millman.

“This was the fastest growing refugee crisis in the world and the challenges have been immense,” he said, highlighting comments by the agency’s Chief of Mission in Bangladesh Giorgi Gigauri. “Countless lives have been saved thanks to the generosity of the Government of Bangladesh, the local community and donor s and the hard work of all those involved in the humanitarian response. But we now face the very real threat that if more funding is not urgently secured, lives will once again be at risk.”

One year on from the exodus sparked by a military operation likened to ethnic cleansing by UN human rights chief Zeid Ra’ad al Hussein, more than 720,000 Rohingya people have arrived in Cox’s Bazar in southern Bangladesh.

They have joined an estimated 200,000 Rohingya refugees who were previously displaced.

One of the camps, Kutupalong, shelters more than 600,000 refugees, making it the largest and most densely populated refugee settlement in the world, according to the Office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR).

In addition to the challenge of providing people’s basic needs – shelter, water and sanitation and healthcare – the agency has carried out huge engineering work to reduce the risk of landslides and flooding.

This also involved mobilizing and training hundreds of refugee volunteers to serve as first responders in the event of a natural disaster, although the camps have largely withstood the adverse weather.

Many of them suffered gender-based violence “either prior or during the course of their flight” from Myanmar, WHO’s Dr. Salama said, adding that only one fifth of them will give birth in a suitable healthcare facility.

Partner agency UNHCR also underlined the calls for the international community to step up support for the Rohingya, who are stateless and unable to return to Myanmar.

This is despite the UN’s signing of an official Memorandum of Understanding with the Government of Myanmar in June, to help establish conditions conducive for the safe, dignified and sustainable repatriation of the Rohingya.

According to OCHA, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, the mainly Muslim Rohingya communities that have stayed in Rakhine state require urgent – and in some cases lifesaving – help.

Some 660,000 people are in need across Rakhine state including more than 176,000 in Northern Rakhine, OCHA spokesperson Jens Laerke said.

“We stand ready to go there as soon as access allows,” he added.” Most humanitarian organizations that have been working in Northern Rakhine state for years have still not been able to resume programmes and services for these population which are some of the most vulnerable in the world.”

To date, the $950 million Rohingya 2018 appeal is only just over 30 per cent funded.

Impacts

• Shelters / Occupants: 3 (-31) / 85 (-1,017) (ARC Midnight Shelter Count as of 6:45 am EDT August 26)

• Closures o State government offices beginning to return to normal operations o Federal buildings will re-open on August 27 o Schools will re-open on August 27 except for 4 Maui schools

• Transportation o All state routes in Hawaii County are open; minor road flooding and debris obstructions reported across the state o Bus service at limited schedules across all islands, resuming normal operations

Response State / Local

• HI EOC at Partial Activation (Kilauea lava flow and Tropical Storm Lane)

• County EOC Activations o Hawaii County – Full Activation o City and County of Honolulu (Oahu) – Partial Activation o Maui – Normal Operations o Kauai County – Monitoring

• Commodities pre-staged across all the islands with sufficient food available

Federal Response FEMA Region IX

• RWC at Enhanced Watch (24/7)

• IMAT-1 deployed to HI (Kilauea lava flow & Hurricane Lane)

• LNOs deployed to all county EOCs

• Region VII IMAT deployed to Oakland, CA (Hurricane Lane) FEMA HQ

• NRCC de-activated

• FEMA NWC at Enhanced Watch (8:00 a.m. to 8:00 p.m. EDT)

• MERS: Bothell MERS deployed to Honolulu, Hilo, Wailuku and Lihue; Denver MERS deployed to Honolulu

• ISBs established in Maui, Kona, and Kauai • Reservist from HLT supporting / monitoring in HI US&R

• Federal Search and Rescue Coordination Group deployed to Honolulu

• Incident Support Team (IST) White deployed to Honolulu

• Three NIMS Type 3 US&R Task Forces deployed to Hawaii: CA-TF8 (Kauai), CA-TF3 (Oahu), and WA-TF1 (Maui)

• Six US&R Mission Ready Packages – Water Operations are on Alert

• Cache for Kauai team arrived at the Honolulu airport on August 25 USACE • Staff (56 (+2) personnel) on Oahu and Kauai including two USACE Power Planning and Response Teams (PRT); two 249th Prime Power Teams; and a Debris PRT