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Myanmar disaster
Whats worse -regime in Myanmar or Zimbabwe? After this tragedy, its hard to decide. Juntas refuse to allow professionals into the country to help with the terrible situation, those f*ckers. Not only visas have to be approved, but some UN and aid officials with their kits have not been allowed to enter the country.
The nature, the planet is very angry for the destruction and pain that humans are causing. "Rain hit with such speed 'it left marks on their faces'".
These disasters are just the beginning of the really terrible disasters that are to come this century (no brainer). Unfortunately. But there's no other way - environmental pollution and destruction has not stopped.
http://www.theglobeandmail.com/serv.../International/
quote:
Rain hit with such speed 'it left marks on their faces'
Aid workers stunned to find survivors with 'visible scars, almost burns' as Myanmar toll climbs to 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing
GEOFFREY YORK
From Wednesday's Globe and Mail
May 7, 2008 at 1:48 AM EDT
BEIJING � The toll continued to rise Tuesday in the aftermath of a catastrophic cyclone in Myanmar, with 22,000 people dead and officials acknowledging that 41,000 more are missing. More than a million survivors are without food, water, electricity or telephones.
Relief workers who finally reached the survivors of Myanmar's cyclone Nargis Tuesday were stunned to find scars on their faces, evidence of the ferocity of the rain storm.
�They had visible scars, almost burns, on their faces from the driving force of the rain,� said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the United Nations World Food Program. �The rain had pelted them at such a velocity that it left marks on their faces. Our workers had never seen that before.�
UN assessment teams were struggling to reach the hardest-hit villages in the Irrawaddy delta, the main rice-producing region of Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, where roads are almost impassable. When they did arrive, relief-agency helicopters encountered corpses scattered across the rice fields that bore the brunt of the storm.
Many people were killed by a massive 31/2-metre-high tidal wave that crashed through the delta at the peak of the storm. �It swept away and inundated half the houses in low-lying villages,� Maung Maung Swe, Myanmar's Minister for Relief and Resettlement, said in Rangoon Tuesday. �They did not have anywhere to flee.�
In the town of Bogalay in the delta region, 95 per cent of the houses were destroyed, he said.
The first trickle of relief supplies was beginning to reach some survivors yesterday, but Myanmar's military regime was still limiting the flow of food supplies and relief workers to the long-isolated country.
The regime is forcing all foreign relief workers to apply for entry visas, a process that can take several days. Some UN aid workers, who had wanted to go to Myanmar three days ago, will not be able to enter the devastated country until tomorrow because of delays in issuing them visas.
Other aid workers were still awaiting visas without any indication of when they will get them. The regime said the aid workers would have to �negotiate� for access to the country.
�It's been a very difficult process to get the government to accept offers of international assistance,� Mr. Risley said.
U.S. President George W. Bush urged the military regime to allow U.S. experts to assess the extent of the disaster. Two U.S. Navy ships, loaded with relief supplies for a nearby disaster-relief exercise, were heading toward Myanmar yesterday, without any assurance that they will be allowed to distribute their supplies.
�We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who've lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation,� Mr. Bush said. �But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster-assessment teams into the country.�
Myanmar's military junta prefers to receive bilateral aid from donor countries, which allows the regime to control its distribution. Thailand and India have already sent shipments of relief supplies to Myanmar, but the UN warned that those shipments are unco-ordinated. �The UN is very concerned that this will lead to a haphazard response,� Mr. Risley said. �There is an urgent need for co-ordination.�
The French government also complained about Myanmar's attempts to win control of the aid distribution. �The United Nations is asking the Burmese government to open its doors,� French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner told parliament. �The Burmese government replies, �Give us money, we'll distribute it.' We can't accept that.�
Tin Maung Htoo, executive director of Canadian Friends of Burma, said it's wishful thinking to expect that the Myanmar regime will shift to more democratic ways as a result of allowing foreigners to assist the country.
�This time we should focus on the relief effort first, but in return, I think, I'm hoping that the military will realize that these international people have good intentions,� Mr. Htoo said.
Not everyone was discouraged. Ramesh Shrestha, the Unicef representative in Myanmar, said the biggest problem facing relief efforts is a logistical one.
�The whole area is flooded,� he said. �Lots of bridges have collapsed. Hundreds of trees have fallen and are blocking the highways. The military is helping to clear the road and airlifting their supplies.�
Unicef Canada announced Tuesday it has launched an emergency appeal for funding to assist cyclone victims.
Mr. Shrestha was visiting family in Canada when the cyclone hit but spoke with workers in Myanmar, who relayed stories to him about contaminated wells, serious damage to crops and blocked seaports.
�Our office had a meeting with the Foreign Ministry and we were assured there would be free access to the UN and the international staff for movement and distribution of supplies, and we have been assured the same for visas; once [relief workers] apply for the visa, it will be granted.�
The World Food Program, with the help of a Dutch relief agency, distributed 30 tonnes of food from its local warehouse to homeless survivors at feeding centres in Rangoon yesterday. It is aiming to send another 26 tonnes of food to Myanmar in two flights from Thailand today. But a full-scale airlift or �air bridge� will be needed, as it was during the tsunami that devastated much of Southeast Asia in 2004, Mr. Risley said.
The 30 tonnes of aid delivered yesterday is a small amount, barely enough for 2,000 people to be fed for several weeks, he said.
Assessment teams in a township near Rangoon found that 27,000 homeless survivors were living in 42 shelters, including schools and monasteries, Mr. Risley said. Only 10 of the 42 shelters had any food or water. �The health situation in those shelters is reported to be deteriorating.�
In another district with a population of 140,000, about 40,000 are missing in the cyclone's wake, he said. �This is an extreme crisis. If these numbers hold up in other places, the death toll will likely continue to rise.�
According to the Canadian Friends of Burma, 3,000 to 4,000 Myanmarese expatriates moved to Canada since the pro-democratic uprisings in 1988. Many of those people who have relatives living in the Irrawaddy delta have been trying anxiously to reach them with no luck. Land lines and cellular contact have been disrupted since the cyclone hit last Friday.
Timothy Zaw Zaw, a 39-year-old who lives in Mississauga, has been trying to reach his mother and two sisters in Rangoon. He also has relatives in Singapore, India and Thailand trying to get through.
�I'm concerned for their safety,� he said. �I'm trying to contact them as much as possible.�
In an e-mail to family members, Canadian Andrew Kirkwood, the Myanmar program director for Save the Children, wrote that �there is no power in the city (and therefore no running water) and won't be for a month.�
�As you've probably seen on the news, the scale of the devastation here is unimaginable. We estimate 50,000 dead and millions homeless. We're going to be mounting a huge logistics operation for at least a year � we're all going to be working flat out for the foreseeable future.�
Dave Toycen, president and CEO of World Vision Canada, said 580 relief workers from his organization are in the process of providing bottled water, tents, tarpaulins, clothing and emergency medicines to affected areas.
�I think it's a good news/bad news story,� he said. �The good news is, we've got almost 600 staff on ground doing basic relief work. The bad news is, the numbers keep going up and it still appears the aid is simply not moving in fast enough.�
This is absolutely devastating news. The Burmese are some of the nicest people on earth. Ive been planning to go to Burma and Thailand to do a journalism piece, I have contacts in the Burmese refugee camps on the Thailand border...
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| Originally posted by ******** This issue is a classic example of how western foreign policy attacking a foregin state for their domestic policies hurts the common people. If prior to disaster good will existed maybe they wouldn't be so hard pressed to accept help when they needed it. If the west didn't insult them for the last 20 years this issue likely wouldn't exist today. |
the thread starter thinks that the Cyclone that hit Myanmar is the fault of "environmental attrocities" and the first poster thinks the attrocity is the West's fault.
i bet they're both in agreement with each other too. thats awesome.
Burma's military cares about staying power more than any destruction to their people...
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| Originally posted by tathi The poor "SLORC" have hurt feelings because the west is criticising their internal policies like genocide http://www.genocidewatch.org/alerts/burma.htm http://burmamyanmargenocide.blogspot.com/ http://www.hawaii.edu/powerkills/RM1.B.DEAD.PORTER.HTM we should be ashamed of ourselves! |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo the thread starter thinks that the Cyclone that hit Myanmar is the fault of "environmental attrocities" |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo the thread starter thinks that the Cyclone that hit Myanmar is the fault of "environmental attrocities" and the first poster thinks the attrocity is the West's fault. i bet they're both in agreement with each other too. thats awesome. |
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| Originally posted by Magnetonium Remember than tsunami couple years back that took lives of over 250,000 people around Indian Ocean?  |
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| Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN which was caused by an earthquake. which particular human activities do you believe contributed to the stress and movement of tectonic plates? |
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| Originally posted by ******** Their country their choice. Countries like the US won't even recognize Myanmar, still calling it by it's imperialist colony name Burma, and have been bad talking it for years, then people wonder why countries like North Korea, Iran and Myanmar shun foreign intervention - maybe cause the west is out to get them, and letting anyone in is a security risk. This issue is a classic example of how western foreign policy attacking a foregin state for their domestic policies hurts the common people. If prior to disaster good will existed maybe they wouldn't be so hard pressed to accept help when they needed it. They will recover none the less. If the west didn't insult them for the last 20 years this issue likely wouldn't exist today. If you insult someone for long enough on a daily basis chances are they will consider any help you have to give to be some sort of intended harm. |
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| Originally posted by Magnetonium Not quite - human overpopulation is resulting in the higher number of people dying from disasters. About 150 years ago there was 4-5 times less people in the world. That same Burma was not that densely populated. But at the same time the stress imposed by the population on the environment by destruction of rainforests, changing of terrain, release of pollution, methane (greenhouse gases), etc. = fuels the rage of the weather systems. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium Not quite - human overpopulation is resulting in the higher number of people dying from disasters. About 150 years ago there was 4-5 times less people in the world. That same Burma was not that densely populated. But at the same time the stress imposed by the population on the environment by destruction of rainforests, changing of terrain, release of pollution, methane (greenhouse gases), etc. = fuels the rage of the weather systems. |
Wow. Just wow.
First of all, it's Burma - and not Myanmar - for a very specific reason. Look up why the junta changed the name in 1989 and then ask a Burmese refugee what they call their country.
Second, the Burmese junta is among the most repressive in the world - to blame the West for the lack of aid reaching citizens there is simply absurd.
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium Remember than tsunami couple years back that took lives of over 250,000 people around Indian Ocean? |
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| Originally posted by Q5echo yeah, and...? remember the Bhola Cyclone on 1970? killed almost half a million. |
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| Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Remember Noah's Ark? Nuff said. |
| quote: |
| Originally posted by Magnetonium Not quite - human overpopulation is resulting in the higher number of people dying from disasters. About 150 years ago there was 4-5 times less people in the world. That same Burma was not that densely populated. But at the same time the stress imposed by the population on the environment by destruction of rainforests, changing of terrain, release of pollution, methane (greenhouse gases), etc. = fuels the rage of the weather systems. |
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| Originally posted by pkcRAISTLIN Over population obviously doesn't help, but the central problem with these disasters is lack of infrastructure to adequately cope with such weather systems. Everyone knows burma is a hotspot for extreme weather conditions, but they are poor and lack the means to adequately house and protect their citizens. The higher death tolls obviously go hand in hand with higher populations, but compare the number of deaths from katrina to the number of deaths from the tsunami. |
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| Originally posted by jerZ07002 hurricane Andrew hit florida in 92 at 165 mph and only 65 people died. it has everything to do with preparation and moving people out of the way. |
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| Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov And the fact that in the United States most people have houses with concrete foundations and solid walls. |
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| Originally posted by jerZ07002 very true, i can't argue with that. but most people don't stay in their homes during a serious hurricane. they usually get far away. that fact merely limits the damage in less severe hurricanes/tropical storms. |
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| Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Not in the developing world, where villagers probably don't know it's coming and surely don't have vehicles to drive inland. |
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| Originally posted by jerZ07002 i meant in the US. if that was true globally we wouldn't be talking about 100,000+ dead (or whatever the number is) in burma. |
while i agree that in the first world there wouldnt be as many dead, but a 35 metre tidle wave and rain that left "scars on peoples faces" doesnt sound like any normal storm.
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| Originally posted by tathi while i agree that in the first world there wouldnt be as many dead, but a 35 metre tidle wave and rain that left "scars on peoples faces" doesnt sound like any normal storm. |
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| Originally posted by Lebezniatnikov Ah, I got ya - I thought you were supporting Mag's argument that the environment or overcrowding is responsible for the high death toll. |
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