Toll rises to 99 in Vietnam

AP

People walk along a flooded railroad in Binh Dinh province, in the south central coast, in Vietnam, Tuesday, Nov. 3, 2009. The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae rose to 57 in Vietnam on Wednesday as authorities stepped up rescue and relief operations in the affected central regions.

HANOI: The death toll from Tropical Storm Mirinae rose to 99 in central Vietnam on Thursday and authorities estimated damage from the storm at $55 million.
In the hardest-hit province Phu Yen, three districts that are home to 300,000 people remained inundated, said Nguyen Ba Loc, deputy chairman of the provincial People's Committee.
Some areas of the province suffered their most severe flooding ever and many families lost their homes, he said. Some 24,000 people continued to take shelter at government buildings.
Military helicopters continued to drop instant noodles and water to victims in the isolated areas, he said, and soldiers in speed boats also contributed to the relief efforts.

The death toll in Phu Yen reached 69 on Thursday, and 16 residents were still missing, he said.Fourteen people died in the neighboring province of Binh Dinh and two were missing, said
disaster official Phan Ke Hung.

Binh Dinh residents began returning to their homes Thursday as flood waters continued receding. Elsewhere in the region, Mirinae left 16 people dead and one missing, according to the government's Web site. The storm also injured 66 people, destroyed or damaged more than 16,000 homes and damaged about 74,000 acres (30,000 hectares) of rice and other crops, according the national committee for flood and storm control.The committee made an initial damage estimate of 1 trillion dong ($55 million), but the number is likely to rise after a more complete assessment of losses is made.Prime Minister Nguyen Tan Dung has ordered authorities to send 10,000 tons of rice and 225 billion dong ($12 million) to help the victims, the government said.Central Vietnam, one of the communist country's poorest regions, has been battered by two rounds of storms and flooding in just over a month. Ketsana killed more than 160 people in the region in late September.In the Philippines, Ketsana and two later storms killed more than 900.

Mahasamiti clips wings of NC prez

KATHMANDU: The Mashasamiti meeting of the Nepali Congress (NC), which was extended by a day, concluded here this evening, endorsing a provision to elect 75 per cent members in the 85-member Central Committee (CC). The party president will now have the right to recommend three office-bearers — vice president, general secretary and joint general secretary — and nominate 21 CC members from the Mahasamiti. The CC has six officer-bearers, including the president. The new provision will come into effect from March when the party’s next General Convention (GC) is scheduled to be held. The convention will elect 61 CC members and three office-bearers. This arrangement was put in place following a majority of Mahasamiti members’ dissatisfaction over the existing presidential model. The proposal was ratified by a voice vote.

Earlier this afternoon, senior party leaders — Sher Bahadur Deuba, Sushil Koirala and Ram Chandra Paudel — went to president Girija Prasad Koirala’s private residence in Maharajgunj to apprise him of the new provision. Koirala had suggested to his colleagues not to weaken the post of the president since the country was facing a political crisis. The party president and his cousin Sushil was in favour of the presidential system. While, Paudel rooted for election, Deuba remained non-committal. Discussions were held till 7.30 this evening to forge a consensus. Going by the latest development, the president’s power has been curbed to a great extent. Earlier, the president could nominate 50 per cent CC members and all the office-bearers.

“It’s an ‘institutionalised’ system, where the party’s working committee will be accountable for its decisions, and the president will lead the team,” said Krishna Prasad Sitaula. While, a section of leaders dubbed the party’s new structure as a step towards a ‘semi-collective leadership system’. Arjun Narsingh KC, spokesperson, NC, hailed the “significant transformation of the party’s organisational structure”. He felt that it would help the NC’s internal democracy, making it more inclusive. A similar pattern will be followed while forming the NC’s district and village-level working committees. This will come into effect before March. The revised statute has also increased the number of Mahasamiti members and GC representatives. Each constituency will now have five Mahasamiti members, including at least one woman, and 12 GC representatives.

New central committee structure

President 1 Elected
Vice-President 1 Nominated
General Secretary 2 Elected 1/ Nominated 1
Joint General Secretary 1 Nominated
Treasurer 1 Elected
CC members 25 (open competition) Elected
CC members 14 (from each zone) Elected
CC members 6 (woman) Elected
CC members 5 (Dalit) Elected
CC members 5 (Madhesi) Elected
CC members 5 (Indigenous nationalities) Elected
CC members 1 (Muslim) Elected
CC members 16 Nominated
CC members 5 (Woman, Dalit, Nominated Indigenous nationality, Madhesi, Muslim)