Japan and Bangladesh signed an agreement in Tokyo yesterday concerning Japanese loan assistance of US$ 65 million for 'emergency disaster damage rehabilitation' project in the country. Foreign Adviser Iftekhar Ahmed Chowdhury, who is now visiting Japan, and Masahiko Koumura, minister for foreign affairs of Japan, signed the agreement after their bilateral meeting, said a release from the Japan embassy. Japanese Ambassador Masayuki Inoue pledged the loan to Finance Adviser Dr Mirza Azizul Islam last month. The rehabilitation project under the loan will be started following the signed agreement. Asian Development Bank (ADB) is co-financing the loan. The objective of the project is to support 'quick restoration of economic and social activity' in the areas damaged by the floods and cyclone, through providing quick-disbursement type of import financing for essential agricultural commodities. Rehabilitating and reconstructing damaged public infrastructure, thereby contributing to sustainable economic growth, are also among the objectives. Japan has been assisting disaster mitigation and damage recovery of Bangladesh for long. For recovery from the damage caused by cyclone Sidr, Japan already has provided emergency relief goods equivalent to about US$ 327,100 and emergency grant aid through UN agencies equivalent to US$ 3.7 million. Japan has already started the assessment procedure for construction of additional cyclone shelters in affected area. In addition, Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) is planning to support for rehabilitation of rural infrastructures with Local Government Engineering Department (LGED) and water supply facilities with the Department of Public Health and Engineering (DPHE) under technical cooperation projects.

One Bundelkhand village uses water retention techniques to achieve a good crop in spite of 4 years of drought, with a little help from NGO Parmarth. Uttar Pradesh's Bundelkhand region has been devastated by drought and other adverse weather conditions over the past four years. Madhaiya Anghela village in Madhogarh sub-division of Jalaun district exhibits the typical symptoms. Villagers say the kharif crop this year is only 20 per cent of the normal years. The prospects for the rabi crop are very dim

A seven-day training programme titled 'Regional learning by doing VCA (vulnerable capacity assessment) exercise' started at a city hotel yesterday, says a press release. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society together with International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent organised the training. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society Chairman Prof Dr Mohammed Abdur Rabb inaugurated the training programme. Through this training we could assist better the most vulnerable people during natural disaster, Abdur Rabb said in his speech. Members of the sister national societies from Canada, Mexico, Afghanistan, India, Pakistan, Sri Lanka, Maldives and Nepal are attending the training. Bangladesh Red Crescent Society secretary general and Head of Delegation of the Federation Selvaratnam Sinnaduarai were also present in the inaugural ceremony.

The French Government has given a loan of

Even as the Congress is battling the BJP Government within the State Assembly and outside over the "inadequate' relief package for farmers affected by the frost and extreme cold conditions in Rajasthan, the party is leading a large group of the victims this Thursday to meet Congress president Sonia Gandhi in New Delhi. The party's strategy seemingly is to extract some concrete announcements from the Centre in favour of the farmers in general and the frost-hit in particular.

The Communist Party of India (Marxist) has termed the Rajasthan Government's relief package for farmers affected by frost and extreme weather conditions as "grossly inadequate'. Even while asking the United Progressive Alliance Government at the Centre to include crop-based catastrophes eligible for compensation under the Calamity Relief Fund, the party has decided to start district-wise protests against the inadequate relief.

The Rajasthan Government has announced a Rs. 126-crore relief package for the State's farmers who have suffered damage to their crops recently due to frost, hailstorm and cold wave conditions. The package, coming after an acrimonious political exchange between the ruling Bharatiya Janata Party and the Opposition Congress over who should compensate the farmer, earmarks Rs. 101 crore for farm subsidies, Rs. 15 crore for waiving four months electricity bill to small and marginal farmers and Rs. 10 crore for waiving the water cess.

Rajasthan Chief Minister Vasundhara Raje on Tuesday called upon the Centre to include "frost' and "cold wave' in the notified disaster list of the Calamity Relief Fund (CRF) and sought prompt disbursal of financial assistance to the affected farmers in the State. Ms. Raje, who met Union Home Minister Shivraj Patil at his North Block office in New Delhi, pointed out that the cold wave sweeping North India had severely damaged rabi crop in many districts of Rajasthan and affected agricultural economy. Ms.

The recent snowstorms in China have signalled that "freak weather' is becoming increasingly more common, a United Nations body that seeks to mitigate the impact of natural disasters has warned. The unprecedented scale, cost, and human impacts of China's snowstorms, its worst in 50 years, herald a need for the world to get ready for "new kinds of disasters,' said the Geneva-based International Strategy for Disaster Reduction (ISDR).