Environmental Disasters

Tsunami in 2004 left traumatic memory to the world especially to south eastern Asian countries. Natural disasters have visited these eastern Asian countries very frequently throughout their history, floods, earthquakes, natural fire, dust storm, tsunami, typhoon, and so on. When people are blaming all guilt on nature, it is time for the world to think over their own responsibilities in these "natural disasters."

In the news:

• "Green GDP" Reflects Shifting Priorities, by Antoaneta Bezlova, Asia Times Online, Nov. 3 2005.

  "Increasingly aware of the deteriorating state of China's environment, the Chinese leadership has decided that it wants the national economy to not only grow fast, but grow green. They have asked state planners to develop a new indicator to measure the country's growth, a "green GDP", which would account for the costs of environmental impact and resource consumption."

• Wrangle over Green GDP, by Yan Hua, Asia Times online, Mar. 16, 2005.

  "State Environmental Protection Administration (SEPA) Vice President Pan Yue told a press conference on February 28 that SEPA and the National Bureau of Statistics would enforce a pilot green GDP accounting system in 10 provinces and municipalities in Beijing, Tianjin and Hebei. This would mark China's first step to evaluate the tremendous cost of environmental pollution in the course of its breathtaking economic progress."