The UN family of organizations is often called upon to help in times of disaster natural and man-made. The office of the UN High Commissioner for Refugees (UNHCR) provides legal protection and material assistance to refugees. The UN Relief and Works Agency for Palestine Refugees in the Near East (UNRWA) helps the victims of the Arab-Israeli Conflict. In 1972 the UN Disaster Relief Office was established headed by a Disaster Relief Coordinator. The tasks of the new office include directing international relief efforts in cases of natural and other disasters, promoting the prevention and prediction of natural disasters, providing advice to Governments on pre-disaster planning, and disseminating information relevant to disaster relief.
A mushroom cloud formed over a small uninhabited island in the Pacific after the explosion of an experimental Atomic bomb by France.
Sygma (author)Oil was the cheapest form of energy until relatively recently. The industrial world thrived on it. Many countries became dependent for their food on its by-products - fertilizers and pesticides. Other sources of power - the sun, the wind, the tides, steam in the earth's crust, coal, nuclear fission and fusion - were neglected as too expensive. Some are more costly to the environment to exploit than others. But many are relatively inexhaustible by comparison with oil. A fair price for energy must be fair to buyers and sellers, but also to the earth and to future generations.
Atomic ice-breaker "Arktika" reaching the North Pole. This is the first ship to break the thick ice cover of the Central Polar region and reach the most northern point of the globe.
Maisterman, S. (author)Pont sur Konza et le palais de la reine Thamar.