Japanese ambassador to Bhutan

The Japanese ambassador to Bhutan presented his credentials to His Majesty the King at the Tashichhodzong this morning.

Ambassador Akitaka Saiki was serving as the Director General for Asia and Oceania in the Ministry of Foreign Affairs before he was appointed as ambassador to Bhutan.

Later, His Majesty the King hosted a lunch for Ambassador Akitaka Saiki and his delegation and Japanese working in the capital.

His Majesty the King expressed his condolence for the recent tragic earthquake in Japan and the resultant tsunami in which thousands of people perished. Thousands are still missing and a countless number have been rendered homeless.

The Japanese ambassador conveyed his sincere thanks to His Majesty the King, the royal government, and the people of Bhutan for their support, solidarity, and good wishes. He said the Japanese people are deeply touched by the concern and the affection of the Bhutanese people, from His Majesty to the King to the cabinet ministers and common people.

“I would like to convey my sincere thanks to Bhutan for the tremendous help and support. I would like to thank for their condolence, the sympathy and the kind messages from the Bhutanese people. The messages are reaching the hearts of the Japanese people and the government,” he said.

He said despite the tragedy, the Japanese government’s commitment towards Bhutan will remain unchanged. He said their assistance in various areas will continue. “The assistance will continue but because of the disaster some delay has to be accepted. A commitment is a commitment,” he said.

Source: BBS

Bhutan finance ministry received Nu 1.3B from the World Bank yesterday

In a move that will help government strengthen and develop its institutions and rural infrastructure, among others, the finance ministry received Nu 1.3B from the World Bank yesterday.

The fund is more of a concessional loan than commercial borrowing.

Finance minister Wangdi Norbu said the concessional loan is not related to any specific project, but can be used for different types of expenditure, like the building of schools, hospitals and other capital assets.

“However, the amount cannot be utilised in meeting recurrent expenditure,” he said, adding that government’s establishment cost will have to be met from internal revenue.

Of the total, Nu 1,086M will be channeled towards the development policy credit, which will strengthen government institutions to promote efficiency and effectiveness through sound fiscal and public financial management.

The rest of the amount will be used for additional financing of the decentralised rural development project, targeted at strengthening local government administration through capacity building at a local level.

Bhutan's World Bank representative, Mark LaPrairie said the rural development project was also aimed at providing increased access to market, farm roads and in increasing agriculture productivity of cash crops.

“It will also focus on rural infrastructure development, support improved technologies and in institutional strengthening of the renewable natural resources sectors,” he said.

The original amount, negotiated some time in March 2005, was at USD 7M.

During World Bank's managing director Dr Ngozi Okonjo-lweala’s visit last year, Bhutan was assured of receiving concessionary loans until 2014, despite the per capita income disqualifying the country from receiving the assistance.

Lyonpo Wangdi Norbu said such type of concessionary loans will soon become less common, as the country gradually sees a domestic growth and develops, in terms of the per capita income.

Meanwhile, the signing of the financing agreement was postponed, following the High Court ruling on constitutional validity of receiving loans, that was considered a money bill and demanded its approval through the parliament.

But the Supreme Court had clarified that the government could raise loans and make grants in accordance to the Public Finance Act.

The agreement signing between the finance minister Wangdi Norbu and World Bank’s vice president Isabel Guerrero yesterday also marked the opening of the bank’s new office in Thimphu.

Officials said it will facilitate the bank to work closely with different branches of the government.

World Bank remains one of Bhutan’s major development partners starting 1983. Since then, it has financed over 13 loan projects amounting to USD 150.127M and 20 grant projects amounting to USD 62.970M.

Bhutan: Some truths to take home

Japan has always been known for being tectonically active.

Preempting disastrous quakes, it prepared relentlessly for years, like no other nations across the world, building seismic resistant structures, as global citizens watched in awe.

The March 11, 2011 earthquake, experts have said, was a result of movement along two major plate boundaries that caused a tremour almost a thousand times more powerful than what Bhutanese in the east experienced about two years ago.

Bhutan too has been warned of being situated on a fault line on the Himalayan range, where a major earthquake, much like the one Japan recently experienced, awaits to occur.

Although the government is educating people on disaster management and demanding strict building rules, geologists say it is high time Bhutan set up its own seismic stations to prepare itself for a disaster that is unpredictable but expected.

Geologist and expert on earthquake engineering Dr Karma Kuenza said, with seismic stations, the nation would know exactly which parts of Bhutan were prone to earthquakes. “If we need to know how Bhutan is behaving to earthquakes, we need to know our local zones,” he said. “We have no information of the sort today.”

Despite support from the government on the need for such stations, lack of budget, as always, stands in the way to implementing the plan.

Building the stations, he said, alone would cost Nu 67M.

“Work is underway and we’ve partnered with some universities and professors in Japan and Germany,” he said. “It should take a few more years for the stations to start running.” Once established, all portable stations placed across the country would be connected to a central system at the headquarters.

“They’ll be automatic, meaning when a major earthquake strikes, they’ll tell you in real time, the magnitude and location, and also record information on any other small earthquakes,” he said.

The 1950 Assam earthquake, Dr Karma Kuenza said, was about 80km away from the nearest Indo-Bhutan border.

“It was about 200km from Trashichhodzong, yet it destroyed a part of the dzong,” he said. “The effect of earthquakes, above magnitude eight, can be felt within a radius of 200km.”

In the last 100 years, about 18 large earthquakes occurred in the Himalayan region. The large earthquakes that were felt in Bhutan include the 1713 Arunachal Pradesh earthquake (M7.0), the 1897 Great Shillong earthquake (M8.3), the 1905 Kangra earthquake (M8.0), the 1934 Bihar-Nepal earthquake (M8.1), the 1947 Assam earthquake (M7.8) and the 1950 Assam earthquake (M8.7).

Bhutan, he said, is divided into two zones by a fault. A fault is a place where earthquakes occur and both Japan and Bhutan are on fault lines.

“We’ve a major fault in Bhutan and so should expect earthquake mostly in the southern belt, because that’s where the earthquake faults are,” he said.

This fault runs more than 2,000km from east to west of Himalayas.

A study by a geologist from the university of Colorado has predicted that the region, where Bhutan is, should expect an earthquake of magnitude of 8, 8.2 or 9.

Dr Karma Kuenza explained that earthquakes occur when the stress built from the continuous movement of plates become too much that they break.

The study said that the Himalayan region is between the Tibetan plate, which is fixed and the Indian plate, which is moving and pushing, 2 cm every year. In 100 years, it would have moved by two metres and in 200 years, four metres.

“And if its four metres of strength accumulation, it will break and the impact of that would give an earthquake of 8 magnitude,” Dr Karma Kuenza said. “But, for the last more than 200 years, even with the four metres of strain, there has been no earthquake in the Himalayan range. And based on the movement and the prediction, we’re actually in a very crucial earthquake prone area.”

Bhutan doesn’t have data to divide itself into zones, safe or prone to earthquakes but based on India, eastern Bhutan falls on zone five and western Bhutan falls on zone four. This means it’s in a zone, where the biggest tremors of an earthquake can be felt.

“That’s why all structures built in Bhutan are built for a big earthquake, with bigger bars and columns and only five storied tall, which are more expensive,” Dr Karma Kuenza said. “And the last earthquake was a national wake up call.”

Like the 1923 quake in Japan, which initiated a massive effort to predict earthquakes and tsunamis. Scientists at Japanese universities received millions to support projects on earthquakes.

Bhutan has at least started.

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutanese culture, an exhibition on traditional masks was inaugurated at the national museum, Ta dzong in Paro

In another effort at preserving Bhutanese culture, an exhibition on traditional masks was inaugurated on March 11, at the national museum, located at Ta dzong in Paro.

The director of the national museum, Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi, explained during the inauguration ceremony why such an exhibition had been created. He said that mask dances are an important aspect of Bhutanese culture and so the masks used in the dances had to be preserved. He said that it is important for Bhutanese citizens to know the various kinds of masks that exist, the differences between them, how they are manufactured, and who make them.

Khenpo Phuntshok Tashi added that the significance of the masks did not have to be limited to only Bhutanese. He said that the exhibition would also allow the significance of the masks to be shared with foreign visitors as well.

He pointed out that if the significance of the masks were not shared today, then it could become a reality that the masks are only used and viewed as entertainment, eventually to go extinct.

Chief guest at the function, Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk, also shared a similar perspective. He said that tsechus had to be continued and for that to happen, the significance of the masks had to be shared and preserved.

Lyonpo Khandu Wangchuk pointed out that, despite Bhutan not remaining in self-imposed isolation and achieving a relatively giant leap out of medievalism, Bhutanese culture had still remained intact from the time of Zhabdrung Ngawang Namgyel. He pointed out that, as Bhutan is a small country, it was important to have an identity, especially with globalisation taking place.

A total of 161 traditional masks used in 21 religious dances or cham are now in display at the museum.

For instance, masks used in religious dances such as, among others, the guru tshengye, bardo cham, Peling gingsum ging and tsholing, and drametse ngacham are displayed.

Source: Kuenselonline

Bhutan: Earthquake and Tsunami that hit north Japan

His Majesty the King and the Japanese community in Bhutan offer Karmi Tongchey (a thousand Butter lamps) and prayers at the Tashichhodzong yesterday, for the victims of the March 11 earthquake and Tsunami that hit north Japan on Friday.

Source: Kuenselonline