....the wake of the Cyclone Nargis...
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There is little beyond the new pieces circulating the television and newspapers outlets at this time to cover the realities of what's happening for our neighbors in Burma....of course the restrictions placed on any external voice by the Junta in Burma makes it even more difficult to obtain accurate information. This blog entry is expressley to inform... THIS BLOG IS UPDATED REGULARLY
I have compiled photographs and video links for any of you interested.....the sources are a combination of public media, forwarded information and comments and pieces I have compiled from any information that is close to the scene.
BBC gallery A daily Journal from and aid worker inside Burma Also, I have been in contact with friends and collegues in the Ranong Border town between Thailand and Burma...the indie news on the subject is more dire than we are hearing in the mainstream media. The reports are that the border areas of Burma are growing with refugees attempting to seek what aid they can outside the delta regions. Yangoon is functioning at a minimum, but four days later the city has cleared major roads and while the military are busy selling what relief stores of goods they have for a price to the desperate and needy,
the monks are continuing to feed those they can.
Here is what the indie press are saying:
"May 6, 2008 at 6:56 am
The Cyclone Nargis also hit Insein Prison in Rangoon. On Saturday morning at around 8 am local time, the roof of the Insein prison building was ripped off by the cyclone and a fire broke out in Hall No 1. The prisoners inside the cells called for help for hours, but prison authorities failed to show up. Finally some young jail service men opened the doors to the cells. As prisoners ran around in the prison compound, army soldiers fired at least 30 gun shots at them from the top of the roof. At least thirty-six prisoners were killed by the shots and 70 more injured. No political prisoners are among the dead. All prisoners are in great need of health assistance, blankets and drinking water, and political prisoners have made demands for these needs but prison authorities denied their demands as well as aid delivery from family members who went to the prison today."
“The township has 16 village tracts. There are at least five villages per tract, and over 200 villages
in total. People coming from the villages said that out of these villagers, for every ten, only around three are alive.”
"Township councils in Rangoon are not distributing emergency supplies free of charge but are selling them. Council vehicles are travelling in some areas announcing by loudspeaker that the government’s tax-free markets are open. But the products are not free. Low-grade rice is selling for 720 Kyat (about 45 US cents) for one viss (1.6kg), vegetable oil for 2240 Kyat for one viss and a sheet of roofing zinc for 4500 Kyat. Fuel for generators is also available at a price. (Source: DVB, May 6)"
"Infrastructure is destroyed. Many volunteers from the local Red Cross have died in the disaster. I think it will be a major challenge to bring assistance to these areas."
The pledged relief as of dawn on the fifth day after the cyclone hit is:
UNITED KINGDOM: $10 million for emergency relief efforts.
EUROPEAN COMMISSION: $3 million for fast-track humanitarian aid.
UNITED STATES: $3 million through the US Agency for International Development (USAID), from an initial $250,000 in emergency aid.
AUSTRALIA: US $2.8 million in emergency aid to UN,
with an extra $900,000 to aid agencies to provide shelter, water purification and food.
NORWAY: $2 million in aid.
CANADA: Nearly $2 million distributed among the UN, International Red Cross and the World Food Program.
INDONESIA: $1 million to UN, plus food, medicines and other humanitarian aid.
SPAIN: $775,000 to the World Food Program for Burma.
GERMANY: $775,000 to German aid organizations to provide shelter, drinking water and mosquito nets.
CHINA: $500,000 in cash, plus supplies such as tents, blankets and food.
NEW ZEALAND: $394,000 direct to UN.
FRANCE: $320,000 in aid.
GREECE: $300,000, plus an airlift of supplies.
JAPAN: $267,570 in emergency aid and supplies to UN.
SINGAPORE: $200,000 in humanitarian assistance, plus an offer to send rescue and medical teams.
THAILAND: $100,000 direct to Burmese government, plus airlifts of food and medicine.
SOUTH KOREA: $2.1 million in material aid, including tents, medicines and water-purifying chemicals.
CZECH REPUBLIC: $65,000 in aid.
SRI LANKA: $25,000 direct to Burmese government.
SWEDEN: Has pledged generators and other emergency equipment.
INDIA: Two naval ships containing food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicine sent to Rangoon. Two aircraft
carriers with supplies to leave for Burma on Wednesday.
An updated list of donated aid can be found
here The problem of course is that as of the fifth day after the cyclone, the Junta are denying all humanitarian aid volunteers and staff into the country. The Red Cross, World Vision, Save the Children, and World Food Program are few of the aid organisations with members already in place prior to the cyclone. No additional foreigners have been granted entrance visas, including senior aid workers with Doctors without Borders. While aid continues to arrive piecemeal by the few aircraft given clearance to land, US and French naval carriers and ships draw closer to the delta region from the East of Thailand to prepare for the possibility of acting as platforms for ongoing aid development. At this point however, it is estimated that thousands are dying daily from lack of water, shelter, food and sanitation.
The indie news and CNN, Reuters report the military dumping bodies into the rivers to clear the roads and passages for government vehicles, though no aid save the little in stores already in the country has reached the people. Outside Yangoon, in Bogalay
shelter
New York Times imageand other southern ares of the Irriwaddy delta, no aid has been recieved at all. It is estimated at this time that the actual figures are nearly 100,000 dead and missing...this number will increase with each hour that aid is not allowed to reach the people.
The following videos and links are useful:
Video Cyclone Update Reuters News May 8 Cyclone Nargis: disaster relief in Burma as reported in Guardian Unlimited News Blog by Matthew Weaver:
Follow the latest from Burma as the extent of the cyclone damage becomes clearer amid fears that the aftermath could prove more lethal than the storm
May 8, 2008 9:10 AM
It is now feared that cyclone Nargis may have killed 100,000 people amid mounting anger at the ruling military junta's handling of the crisis.
Scroll down and refresh for news, reaction and your chance to comment and report updates.
9.15am
Seventeen Britons in Burma have failed to make contact since cyclone Nargis struck, the Foreign Office has announced.
Three aid flights are waiting to leave Dubai, Bangladesh and Thailand, but are not being allowed into Burma, the UN World Food Programme said.
9.25am
The UN's children's fund
Unicef has posted this update to YouTube:
9.45am
Burma must allow international aid "before it's too late", ASEAN secretary-general, Surin Pitsuwan, told AFP.
Even China, Burma's closest ally, has urged the regime to work with the international community.
10am
A film crew from al-Jazeera reached one of the worst-effected areas, recording eyewitness accounts of the disaster and listening to families furious at the lack of aid.
/"> Video
10.05am
Hospitals in Rangoon are being forced to turn away patients because of a lack of electricity and water, according to a hospital employee quoted by blogger Awzar Thi from the Asian Human Rights Commission.
"The radiotherapy department had to discharge 30 patients because it has no electricity. Because of transport problems patients can't get to the outpatients department," the employee said.
10.15am
Burma's top general, Than Shwe, may have gone into hiding, speculates the Irrawaddy, a website by dissident Burmese in Thailand.
10.25am
The Red Cross has got permission to send in its first aid flight to Burma, according to Deutsche Presse-Agentur, via Relief Web.
10.35am
A UN plane has landed in Burma with relief material for cyclone victims, the organisation told AP.
10.45am
Rumours are spreading that the Burmese authorities are selling international aid to cyclone victims.
10.55am
The failure of the regime to act on cyclone warnings is detailed in a post by Burmese Bloggers without Borders. A forecast in a state-run newspaper last week said the winds would not be damaging.
11am
The story of cyclone Nargis and its aftermath is told in 134 photos (some of which are very disturbing) in this
photo gallery by Iun.
11.05am
Burma's opposition leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, is safe despite the roof of her home, where she is being held under arrest, being blown off, according to a neighbour.
"I saw parts of the roof broken and saw the uprooted tree hit the gate but the army has removed the tree," he told Mizzima.
11.10am
Burma is still blocking US relief flights, according to US ambassador Eric John, AP reports.
11.40am
The state newspaper, the New Light of Myanmar, is reporting a death toll of only 22,980, according blogger Myat Thura. The paper's website hasn't been updated for a week.
11.55am
The death toll could be as high as 600,000, according to an interview with an unnamed
Waiting...
New York Times image government official quoted by blogger Moethee Zun. He says 180,000 were killed in Lutbutta alone. A further 90,000 died in Phyar Pone township, and 80,000 in Bogalay, according to the source.
12.15pm
The international development secretary, Douglas Alexander, has begun to give a statement to the House of Commons about the crisis. "The situation is becoming increasingly perilous," he said. It was vital that aid workers get access, he added and said the UK government was lobbying the Burmese to allow access.
"It is important that the Burmese government accepts all offers of international help offered to it. This is a grave crisis on a scale that has not been seen since the 2004 tsunami," Alexander said.
12.30pm
The British medical relief charity Merlin is converting a river cruiser into floating hospital.
12.45pm
Burmese authorities must give assurances that they won't profiteer from the crisis, says Amnesty International.
Benjamin Zawacki, the human rights organisation's Burma researcher, said: "Government red tape in providing visas is costing lives, while some donors are delaying aid in the fear that it will be siphoned off to the army. The government should now provide access and assurances to international relief
workers."
1pm
The UK should send in the navy and back a French bid to force Burma to allow aid in, the Burma Campaign UK has said.
"Every day of delay is costing lives. If the regime won't give permission for aid, the international community must deliver it anyway. We can't stand by and let thousands more die," said its director, Mark Farmaner.
He added: "The government must also send the British Navy off the coast of Burma, ready to deliver aid by helicopter."
1.30pm
There are signs of a "gradual recovery" in Rangoon, according to Aung Hla Tun at Australia's News.com.
The article says sporadic power and water supplies have returned to parts of Rangoon and that food prices are dropping.
2.45am
In this clip posted to YouTube, Al-Jazeera contrasts what it has seen in Burma with the way state TV is reporting the crisis. Listen out for a Burmese newsreader saying: "Foreign correspondents have entered Myanmar illegally and broadcasted fabricated news and incorrect news, very often with the help of anti-government associations".
3pm
An outbreak of cholera has begun, a medical worker has told the Irrawaddy website:
"People have nothing
to drink so they drink water from the creeks and rivers. So that is how the outbreak began. These waterways are dirty because they are littered with bodies and animals. The survivors know the water is dirty, but they have no other choice and have had to drink the dirty water. That's how they contracted cholera.
"This is the time for us to stock up on cholera medicine for the possibility of an outbreak in the near future. However, we do not have enough medicine," the unnamed worker said.
3.15pm
A fist fight broke out in Rangoon when locals saw water being delivered to the homes of council members and military officers, according to Awzar Thi's translation of a post from Khitpyaing.
3.35pm
"It's been six days since the cyclone Nargis struck and the situation is getting worse day by day due to the decomposed animals and humans lying around the affected areas. In recent days, we had witnessed the generosity of the world as the humanitarian aid in millions of dollars. But it is very sad to find out that Burmese government is hesitating to grant visas to UN aid workers and NGOs in the name
The Nargis Cyclone
CNN illustration, note the outline of land beneath the storm of politics," says blogger Soe Moe.
The post adds: "I was so surprised to see that dead people being dumped into the rivers. It will endanger the people who are living along the river bank with deadly diseases."
4pm
The Disasters Emergency Committee has emailed to say that their teams are beginning to arrive in Burma and have started to distribute aid. But it added that more aid is desperately needed.
4.55pm
The monsoon season, which starts this months and continues into June, could worsen the situation in Burma, the European Union has warned.
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This is the best
location for combined info I have found so far. As the mainstream news loses interest in watching Burma massacre its own people through lethargy and inaction, the updates are harder to find. This blog is updated daily however....
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Melanie
non-member comment
Steph, a very well written article. This is yet another tragic incident to hit the world, particularly when occuring in a country such as Burma, who's corruption and exploitation makes the entire situation much harder to deal with. However, I am pleased to say that this is has hit mainstream media in the UK, and that we have seen a reasonable amount of actual footage, considering Burma's attitude towards the notion of free press. The coverage of the cyclone has emphasised the plight of the Burmese, and I hope that it is raising awareness amongst the British at least, as with awareness comes change (I hope!). I'm also pleased to see stats regarding the response from other countries in this article, so thanks! Keep up the informative and interesting blogs, and I hope to be able to provide with some pro-activity from myself later in the year!