Kenneth Abeywickrama, presented in his blog under a different title, 9 June 2011
Refugees in Kayts, June 210 –Pic by Roberts
Refugees worldwide: Not since the partition ofIndiain 1947 has the world seen refugee problems of the magnitude that we see today. Wars, terrorism, economic deprivation and unprecedented natural calamities have combined to make this the major humanitarian problem of our present time. The largest numbers today are from the Iraq war. According to the UN High Commission for Refugees report of January 2009, there were 1,955,000 Iraqi refugees in the neighbouring countries of Jordan, Syria, Lebanon, Egypt, Turkey, Iran and the Gulf States[1]. This is apart from the over two million Iraqis displaced within their own country, categorised as Internally Displaced Persons (IDPs). The massive earthquake in Haiti on January 12, 2010, left 300,000 dead and over a million internally displaced persons. Even with the high profile President Clinton as rehabilitation fund manager, over 80% of the displaced are still living in squalid camps with poor sanitation and no access to potable water. In 2005 Hurricane Katrina devastated large parts of New Orleans and the centralGulf States of the USA due to poorly constructed levees protecting the land. It killed 1,836 and permanently displaced a million people who have sought refuge in other parts of the country. After nearly 6 years, only half the population of New Orleans were able to return to the city. FOR THE REST SEE http://www.kennethabhaya.com/?page_id=25
