Hundreds of thousands without food. water or shelter in Myanmar: U.N.
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds of thousands without food. water or shelter in Myanmar: U.N.*
By Aung Hla Tun
Reuters
Monday, May 5, 2008; 6:33 AM
YANGON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people are without shelter
and drinking water in military-ruled Myanmar after a devastating cyclone
tore through the Irrawaddy delta, a United Nations official said on Monday.
Aid agencies scrambled to deliver plastic sheeting, water and clothing
from stockpiles in the former Burma, where at least 351 people died in
the cyclone that slammed into the delta region on Saturday before
devastating Yangon.
The death toll is likely to climb as the authorities make contact with
hard-hit islands and villages in the delta, the rice bowl of the
impoverished Southeast Asian nation of 53 million.
"How many people are affected? We know that it's in the six figures,"
Richard Horsey, of the United Nations disaster response office in
Bangkok, told Reuters after an emergency aid meeting. "We know that it's
several hundred thousand needing shelter and clean drinking water, but
how many hundred thousand we just don't know."
Assessment teams were working in the five declared disaster zones that
are home to 24 million people, but it could take days to get a fuller
picture due to impassable roads and flooding.
The U.N. office in Yangon said there was an urgent need for plastic
sheeting, water purification tablets, cooking equipment, mosquito nets,
health kits and food.
It said the situation outside Yangon was "critical, with shelter and
safe water being the principal immediate needs."
The military, which has ruled the impoverished Southeast Asian nation
for 46 years and is shunned by the West, has not issued a formal appeal
for help since Cyclone Nagris struck on Saturday.
Thailand responded to the disaster, sending a C-130 transport plane
loaded with food and medicines to Yangon after the airport reopened on
Monday, Foreign Minister Noppadon Pattama said.
WHERE IS THE ARMY?
In Yangon, many roofs were ripped off even sturdy buildings, suggesting
damage would be severe in the shanty towns that lie on the outskirts of
the city of 5 million people.
State television was still off the air in the former capital and clean
water was scarce. Most shops had sold out of candles and batteries and
there was no word when power would be restored.
Long queues formed at the few open petrol stations. The price of a
gallon of petrol has doubled on the black market, while egg prices have
tripled since Saturday.
In one western suburb, a group of 100 monks led efforts to clear streets
littered with fallen trees and debris.
State television showed military and police units on rescue and clean-up
operations in Yangon, but residents complained the junta's response was
weak.
"Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive
when there were protests in the streets last year," a retired government
worker told Reuters, referring to protests led by Buddhist monks last
year that were swiftly crushed.
Michael Annear, regional disaster chief for the International Red Cross,
said emergency supplies were being handed out from stockpiles in
Myanmar, but more was needed.
"We're preparing to send more stuff into the country. We have not been
restricted," he said.
The military government requires foreign aid workers to obtain travel
permits and official escorts for field trips, and sets tight rules of
the transport of supplies.
CHARTER VOTE STILL ON
It is not know whether Myanmar, the world's largest rice exporter when
it won independence from Britain in 1948, will need to import emergency
rice supplies. If it does, it is likely to inflate yet further the
already sky-high prices of the staple.
The World Food Programme has stocks of around 500,000 tonnes in Yangon
and hoped to bring in more food.
State media said 19 people were killed in Yangon and 332 in the delta,
including 162 on Haingyi island, where weather experts had predicted a
storm surge of as much as 12 feet (3.5 meters).
Only one in four buildings were left standing in Laputta and Kyaik Lat,
two towns deep in the rice-producing region.
However, the carnage was not enough to derail a May 10 referendum on a
new army-drafted constitution.
"The referendum is only a few days away and the people are eagerly
looking forward to voting," the junta said in a statement confirming the
vote would go ahead as planned.
The charter is part of a "roadmap to democracy" meant to culminate in
multiparty elections in 2010, but critics say it allows the army to
retain an unacceptable degree of power.
The party of detained democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi, which has urged a
"no" vote, said the referendum should be called off.
Bunkered down in their new capital, Naypyidaw, 240 miles to the north of
Yangon, the junta's top brass has not formerly responded to an offer of
assistance, but officials told the U.N. help may be welcomed.
(Additional reporting by Bangkok bureau)
(Writing by Darren Schuettler; Editing by Grant McCool and Alex Richardson)
Pastor Dale Morgan
Hundreds of thousands without food. water or shelter in Myanmar: U.N.*
By Aung Hla Tun
Reuters
Monday, May 5, 2008; 6:33 AM
YANGON (Reuters) - Hundreds of thousands of people are without food,
shelter and drinking water in military-ruled Myanmar after a devastating
cyclone tore through the Irrawaddy delta, a United Nations official said
on Monday.
Aid agencies scrambled to deliver plastic sheeting, water and clothing
from stockpiles in the former Burma, where at least 400 people died in