Burma Cyclone


Latest News: Vollies funnel aid through Thai Border:Christian Science Monitor

Simon Montlake reports in the Christian Science Monitor that grassroots groups are funneling aid through the volative Thai-Burma border region.

An excerpt:

<<Aid is also trickling over the Thai-Burmese border, a hotbed of activism against Burma’s regime. It’s a backdoor channel for aid groups unwilling or unable to go through the front. By tapping an existing underground network in Burma, they try to bypass official channels and put aid directly in the hands of the most needy. >>

–Karen



From the field: First-person account from anon l.a. times writer inside myanmar

The Los Angeles Times has published a first-person account by one its reporters who traveled secretly and extensively throughout the Delta region.

An excerpt:

<<Over the last 16 years, I have reported on famine, massive earthquakes and a tsunami. Cyclone Nargis is the first natural disaster that required working undercover to write about the hungry, sick and homeless.>>

Also check out the L.A. Times Cyclone Nargis news roundup, photos, and videos.

–Karen



Opinion/Editorial: When natural disasters turn state-sponsored: Time Magazine

This article is about Zimbabwe and Mugabe’s dictatorial ways that are proving all too self-destructive for his own country. It raises an interesting point for humanitarian relief, however, particularly in the wake of the Burma and China disasters, and I quote…

“Zimbabwe is in the midst of a slow-motion, man-made disaster. It is as if the cyclone in Burma and the earthquake in China were state-sponsored tragedies.”

Read the full article here.

– Divya