LAOS:
Residents Fret Over Parched Mekong River
By Vannaphone Sitthirath

VIENTIANE, Mar 24, 2010 (IPS) - Like many residents of this slow-paced Lao capital, graduate student Packno usually enjoys meeting up with her family and friends for dinner at any of the restaurants along the Mekong River.

That’s because once the sun begins to set, the riverside breeze also starts getting cooler. Or at least that’s how it used to be. Nowadays, "it’s still very hot in the evening at six or seven p.m. Since the Mekong has been running dry, the weather is getting hotter," says Packno, who preferred to give just her first name.

It is still accurate to say that for Laos’ 6.3 million people, the Mekong River remains a very important part of their everyday lives. But lately, it has also become a source of their daily worries as its water level continues to drop given the drought that has been plaguing wide areas of the Mekong region and South-east Asia.