The Indian institute of technology in Rourkee, India, has done a seismic hazard map of Bhutan showing, for the first time, hazard zones in the event of an earthquake.
As the Copenhagen Conference on climate change draws nearer, South Asia, which appears poised for severe threats from the impacts of climate change, faces a stiff challenge on two fronts.
Thousands of people in the eastern dzongkhags spent the night out in the open after a powerful earthquake, which hit yesterday afternoon, damaged homes, government offices, historical monuments, blocked roads and reportedly killed at least 12 people as of 9:30 pm last night.
Records with the gup of Lumang gewog in Trashigang show that 128 households from four of its villages have abandoned their homes for resettlement elsewhere in the country.
Drying streams, lesser snowfall, and dengue fever cases in Thimphu, the March 26 rain and storm. All these are indication that climate change is happening here in Bhutan, said the deputy minister of national environment commission, Dasho Nado Rinchen.
With the rains gone, farmers in Dagana are estimating the damage caused by heavy and continuous rain last month, which include cultivated paddy fields, maize crops, irrigation channels and citrus mandarin (orange) trees.
The health ministry has introduced an additional vaccine to protect infants against pneumonia, one of the leading causes of death in children under 15 years in Bhutan, and meningitis.
Oil in the Bangtar area under Samdrupjongkhar dzongkhag, copper, gold and silver in the black mountain area of central Bhutan and tungsten in Sarpang are the potential minerals an American businessman J Matthew Fifield has offered to prospect for and, if found viable, then extract them.
