Burma Cyclone

The Independent reports that in just one day Burma (Burmese State Television) reported that the official death toll had risen from 43,000 to 78,000. The number of missing had similarly jumped to exactly double from 28,000 to 56,000. The UN now estimates the death toll to be as high as 200,000 whereas the Red Cross estimates 128,000, according to the article. Without proper access, there is no accurate basis to back these numbers, the article added.

Other highlights from the article:

• An estimated 2.5 million survivors of the cyclone are facing an uphill battle to avoid disease and stand up on their feet again.
• Regime claims the crisis is fully under control - roadside begging for aid along mile-long stretches outside of Rangoon suggests otherwise.
• Red Cross warns that what survivors need most is clean drinking water if they are to not fall victims to deadly water-borne diseases.”Food is urgent, but you die in three days from acute diarrhea. You die of starvation in a period of weeks, ” said Thomas Gurtner, the head of operations for the Red Cross.
• Myanmar Red Cross Society is currently one of the very few agents distributing aid extensively on ground. Gurtner admits that its 27,000 volunteers are not enough and they are lacking material, logistical and staff capacity to take on the challenge they are facing on the ground.
• Military government continues to make tiny concessions - foreign diplomats will be given a tour of the severely affected Irrawaddy delta. They will be the first foreigners to inspect the region.
• The United Nations chief humanitarian affairs officer, John Holmes, flies to Burma tomorrow for talks which he hopes will persuade the generals to open the door to foreign aid.
• United Nations admitted it did not have a clue about the size of the emergency. At a press conference called by several UN agencies in Bangkok, the most basic data was missing, from the number of children orphaned to the extent of disease to the number of refugee camps.

Read full article here.

–Divya

I just learned that Reuters has a site, AlertNet, that carries news “alerting humanitarians to emergencies.” Their top story today is on Myanmar. The lede:

<<Torrential tropical downpours lashed Myanmar’s cyclone-hit Irrawaddy delta on Friday as thousands of destitute victims took to roadsides to beg for help to supplement the meagre trickle of aid flowing in.>>

See AlertNet’s full cyclone coverage, including videos, maps, links and more.

–Karen

Simon Jenkins asks where the saber-rattlers of the West are “as Burma’s dying cry out to be saved” on the Huffington Post.

Excerpt:

I have opposed many of the macho military interventions conducted by the west over the past decade. Their justifications have been obscure, their motives mixed and their morality situational, especially those aimed at “regime change”. Those in Afghanistan and Iraq had the additional defect of built-in failure.

On the other hand the west did intervene to try to stop humanitarian catastrophes in Bosnia from 1992, Somalia in 1993, Kosovo in 1998 and Sierra Leone in 2000. The failure to intervene in Rwanda in 1994 and more recently in Sudan’s Darfur province was generally attributed not to timidity but to the logistical difficulty of deploying power in the African interior.>>

I disagree with that last sentence, but an interesting discussion nonetheless.

U.S. Campaign for Burma also compared Burma and Rwanda, calling on the U.S., U.K and France to send in aid without the junta’s permission and despite China’s block on a Security Council resolution to authorize such a move.

–Karen

Useful resource: Just found this list of Nargis-related news articles on the U.S. Campaign for Burma Web site.

In the campaign’s last email blast, they asked supporters to contact their Congressional representatives and push for humanitarian intervention in Burma. Excerpt:

<<Congressional leaders, Rep. Peter King (R) and Rep. Joseph Crowley (D), are organizing a letter to President Bush urging him to “work with the British, French, German, Danish and other supportive and regional governments to immediately intervene in the Irrawaddy Delta region of Burma to provide urgent life-saving humanitarian aid to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis.

Call your member of the U.S. House of Representative today and urge them to sign this letter to President Bush.>>

More info here.

–Karen

A number of times over the last few days, people have asked me why the Burmese regime is, essentially, killing its own people, and whether there was any logic or reason behind it. The answer is yes, and Anne Applebaum did a great job of explaining it in the Washington Post.

–Karen

The unnamed New York Times reporter(s?) in Myanmar have been doing great work to report the suffering of the people in the Irrawaddy Delta region. The following line is from a report on Bogale, one of the hardest-hit areas, in today’s paper.

<<This reporter, whose name is being withheld to avoid detection by the government, was able to reach some, but not all, of the worst-affected areas by hiding in the bottom of a boat.>>

–Karen

From 8-8-08 for Burma, the opposition group born out of the 1988 student-led protests in Rangoon, now called Yangon:

May 15-16, 2008 UN PROTEST VIGIL & FAST BY BURMESE BUDDHIST MONKS

==============

WHEN: Thursday, May 13, 12pm-8pm // Friday, May 14, 12pm-8pm

WHERE: Ralph Bunche Park, United Nations, 43rd St and 1st Ave

WHO: Sasana Moli International Burmese Monks Organization, Buddhist Peace Fellowship, NY Burma activists

More information on the Global Day of Action available at www.burma-network.org

–Karen

(Via Sree Sreenivasan, Dean of Students, Columbia Journalism School)

Rebtel, a global calling service, is offering the ability for anyone to call China or Myanmar for free due to the recent tragedies in both countries.

This would be helpful for families, non-profits trying to contact people in those countries to distribute aid and journalists looking to call these countries.

A typical one hour call to either country would cost over $100. Rebtel works
without use of a computer to make calls. Anyone can add their contacts phone
numbers to the site and get a local 415 or 510 number that they use to call
contacts abroad.

*WHEN *May 14 through May 22

*HOW *

1. Sign up at http://www.rebtel.com/callforhelp
2. Enter your mobile number and your friend’s mobile number in China or Myanmar
3. Rebtel will send a local number where you live
4. Dial the local phone number to speak with your friend in China or Myanmar

*WHO *Available to anyone in 47 countries
http://www.rebtel.com/en/Rates/Rebtel-countries/
–Divya

In June 2007, the Economist came out with a great article titled, ‘Flood, famines and mobile phones.” It’s about how technology is transforming humanitarian relief operations. Given how angry the Gods have been with our planet off late, its highly relevant and worth reading in its entirety.

It also mentions an excellent resource on humanitarian disasters and relief work across the globe – ReliefWeb. According to the Economist article, the site got 3 million hits the day after the Tsunami struck.

– Divya

In a recent post, I summarized the main highlights of an article in Australia’s Special Broadcasting Service titled, “A second cyclone may affect Burma.” Another Burma-blogger, Danny Fisher, posted the following comment on it.

“Just a quick note to say that this report is not exactly accurate on the point that His Holiness the Dalai Lama has traditionally “refrained” from commenting on Burma. This past fall, he offered his “full support” to the Buddhist monastics who demonstrated against the junta. I would refer your readers here and here for more information.”

– Divya