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May 31, 2008: America's Defence Secretary Robert Gates says the delay by Burma's junta in
allowing international aid into the cyclone-hit country cost tens of thousands
of lives.
Speaking at a top-level security conference in Singapore he says US Navy ships
could have quickly delivered much needed aid in the aftermath of the storm that
left 133,000 people dead or missing.
GENEVA, May 27, 2008:
More than 1 million victims of the Myanmar cyclone have now received international aid as relief groups battle to reach hundreds of thousands more
still stranded in remote areas, the United Nations said Tuesday.
About 42 percent of the 2.4 million people affected by the storm that hit the
Southeast Asian country three weeks ago have received outside help, a spokeswoman for the U.N.'s emergency coordination body said.
The figure has increased steeply since the military-led government announced
last week it would let in more foreign aid specialists.
Relief groups are hoping to capitalize on the junta's new openness to reach the
1.4 million people that are living in outlying areas who have so far received no
international aid, said Elisabeth Byrs, a spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for
the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
The government too has been distributing assistance to cyclone victims but the
U.N. does not know how many people were reached this way, she said.
Cyclone Nargis killed at least 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing
when it hit Myanmar on May 2-3. Aid groups are still considering the situation
an emergency even though the government says it is time to move on to reconstruction.
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The country
Myanmar formerly known as Burma is still struggling to recover from Cyclone
Nargis, which roared through its rice bowl on May 3, 2008 killing up to 100,000
people and leaving 1.5 million people destitute. The United Nations says more than 1.5 million people are struggling to survive and up to 100,000 are dead or missing after cyclone Nargis hit.
Junta blocked foreign aid for cyclone victims and provided little relief of its own, some outside Burma considered a radical
solution: a unilateral intervention to save Burma's beleaguered citizens. In Brussels, the European Union called on the military junta to allow entry to
aid workers to help victims avert "an even greater tragedy," and France urged
U.N. action if the junta did not cooperate. Spain said that failure to allow aid
in could amount to a crime against humanity.
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In Laputta,
Burma 58 refugee camps have been set up for tens of thousands of
dazed villagers who have nowhere else to go.
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A week and a half after the storm inundated the Irrawaddy delta
with a 12-foot-high tidal surge, flattening countless homes, the Burma's
junta was still blocking much of the aid proffered by foreign nations. Although three U.S.
military cargo planes were allowed to offload relief supplies in Rangoon, the World Food Program estimates that the amount of aid reaching storm victims is
just a fraction of what's needed. Hundreds of international disaster experts are
still awaiting visas to enter the country. Meanwhile, the junta's own relief
efforts are painfully inadequate, with some army trucks delivering only rotting
rice. Those who received the spoiled food are the lucky ones. In village after
remote village in the flooded delta, no government officials had come to assess the damage, much less bring desperately needed food, water or
shelter. Blackened, bloated corpses floated in rivers, the putrid smell of
rotting flesh permeating the air. Yet few people seemed to hold any expectations
that their leaders would help anytime soon. It is a remarkable accomplishment by
the junta to have set the bar for competence so low that resignation reigns as
the prospect of slow starvation mounts.
"I want to register my deep concern and immense frustration at the unacceptably
slow response to this grave humanitarian crisis," said U.N. Secretary-General
Ban Ki-Moon. French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner referred to the U.N.'s
"responsibility to protect" and hinted that international action should be taken
to ensure that relief reached those who needed it. David Cameron, the leader of
Britain's opposition Conservatives, called any further foot-dragging by the
Burmese leadership "a crime against humanity."
In Burma today, the overwhelming sense is that the regime is more concerned with
keeping foreigners out than allowing aid in. But unless international relief
arrives quickly, the death toll of Cyclone Nargis will skyrocket. Already,
disease is beginning to stalk makeshift refugee camps set up in monasteries and
schools. In Laputta, 58 refugee camps have been set up for tens of thousands of
dazed villagers who have nowhere else to go; the local hospital reports that
one-quarter of new patients have diarrhea, a potential harbinger of killer
epidemics. International health officials warn that as many people could perish in the aftermath of the
storm as from the cyclone itself. And by the middle of this month,
seasonal monsoons are expected to further inundate the region. What will happen
then to those hundreds of thousands of people with no shelter?
May 18, 2008: A senior U.N. envoy traveled to Myanmar on Sunday to urge
its military junta to accept more international aid for cyclone survivors, amid
mounting fears of starvation, especially among children. About 78,000 people are confirmed dead and 56,000 missing in the cyclone,
according to the government. Aid agencies, however, say the death toll in
Myanmar, could be 128,000.
Save the Children, a global aid agency, said Sunday that thousands of young
children face starvation without quick food aid. "We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now
suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger,"
said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the agency's operation in Britain. "When
people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days."
The U.N. report said the ruling generals were even forbidding the import of
communications equipment, hampering already difficult contact among relief
agencies. India also sent 50 Army doctors and paramedics, along with medical supplies to
set up emergency medical clinics, to Yangon on Saturday, although it is unclear
if they had government approval to travel to affected areas. All foreigners have been expelled and banned from the hard-hit Irrawaddy Delta,
even humanitarian aid workers with long experience in Myanmar.
May 22, 2008: The Red Cross says Cyclone Nargis may have affected as many as 2.5 million people in Burma, and international groups say the death toll could end up being
more than 100,000.
Burma raised its official death toll last week to 38,000, as weather
organizations predicted more heavy rain that could make flooding in the
country's agricultural belt even worse. The United Nations says lack of emergency aid could contribute to famine and
disease that would send the death toll even higher.
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