The United Nations children's agency (UNICEF) is trying to convince army-ruled Myanmar not to place at least 2,000 youngsters orphaned by this month's cyclone into state-run homes, a senior official said on Monday. "We should try and place children within family environments as a priority, and not in institutions," Anne-Claire Dufay, UNICEF's child protection chief in the former Burma, told Reuters in an interview on Monday.

CHINA will dynamite rock, mud and rubble forming a dangerously large "quake lake", hoping to avert a new disaster two weeks after a catastrophic tremor struck Sichuan province. The official death toll from the May 12 earthquake is now more than 60,000, but that number is certain to grow as searchers account for more of the 30,000 missing. Premier Wen Jiabao believes the toll could exceed 80,000. The frenzied initial rescue response is cooling into a battle with nature, deprivation and discontent sure to last long after thousands of aftershocks.

With several irrigation projects in the state falling in the moderate seismic zone, the state government will conduct tests to ascertain their structural safety. The Chief Minister, Dr Y.S. Rajasekhar Reddy, has already taken a decision on the issue, following the recent earthquake in China, which the scientists attributed to the Three Gorges project.

One of the most powerful aftershocks to hit quake-ravaged central China killed one person, left dozens more injured and levelled homes yesterday, as soldiers carrying explosives hiked to a blocked-off river to alleviate the threat of floods. Some 260 people were injured in the aftershock Sunday afternoon, the government-run China News Service said, with 24 in serious condition. The agency said many homes had collapsed and roads were damaged, but gave no specific figures.

The flood fright has always remained a cause of concern for the planners of various water-based projects. Now, the planners can architect their structures with greater precision to counter the flood threats. The National Institute of Hydrology (NIH), Roorkee, has developed a package called "FLPACK' to estimate the flood for large, medium and small sized catchments by putting in use hydrograph approach and reservoir and channel-routing procedures.

Well before this city was destroyed by an earthquake 32 years ago, the coming disaster was loudly preceded by strange animal behaviour and other bizarre signals that survivors wish they heeded. "The animals were trying to tell us something. If only we knew that, not so many people would have died," said Fu Wenran, a retired farmer, whose wife was among the estimated 240,000 who perished in Tangshan's quake on July 28, 1976 in China.

Beijing: Quake-hit Sichuan province in China witnessed its worst aftershock 13 days after the main earthquake on May 12. The aftershock at 6.4 magnitude on Richter scale gave rise to serious fears of quake-created lakes bursting and causing serious floods. Initial reports showed that one person had died and 260 injured in the aftershock, but detailed reports were being awaited.

Cyclone relief hit by politics

Tangshan(China): Well before this city was destroyed by an earthquake 32 years ago, the coming disaster was loudly preceded by strange animal behaviour and other bizarre signals that survivors wish they heeded.

Hundreds of Colombians huddled in makeshift shelters on Sunday afraid to go home a day after a 5.6-magnitude earthquake damaged scores of homes and triggered landslides killing at least 11 people. In the rural town of Quetame, the most seriously hit, families spent the night sheltered on the town's football field or in a public building after the quake knocked out water supplies and damaged or collapsed houses and its church.