2.5 million affected by cyclone - UN
Pastor Dale Morgan
*2.5 million affected by cyclone - UN*
By Aung Hla Tun in Rangoon
May 15, 2008 08:28am
Article from: Reuters
THE UN has estimated the number of people affected by the Burma cyclone
at up to 2.5 million and has called an urgent meeting of big donors and
Asian states as the Burma junta continues to limit foreign aid.
The European Union's top aid official said the military Government's
restrictions were increasing the risk of starvation and disease.
UN humanitarian affairs chief John Holmes said there were now between
1.6 million and 2.5 million people who were "severely affected" by
Cyclone Nargis and urgently needed aid, up from a previous estimate of
at least 1.5 million people.
In New York, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who has expressed
frustration over the response by Burma's reclusive leaders, met key
donor states and Asian powers to discuss "what kind of concrete measures
we can do from now on".
"Even though the Myanmarese Government has shown some sense of
flexibility, at this time it is far, far too short," he said.
"The magnitude of this situation requires much more mobilisation of
resources and aid workers."
Among those invited were the US, Britain, France, Russia, China, India,
Bangladesh, Australia and Japan.
Trickle of aid
Nearly two weeks after the cyclone swept through the heavily populated
Irrawaddy delta rice bowl, killing tens of thousands of people, foreign
aid still amounts to little more than a trickle.
Burma was once the world's biggest rice exporting country but more than
40 years of military rule have left it impoverished. The military junta
has repeatedly crushed pro-democracy movements and tightly restricts
visits by foreigners.
Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said after a two-hour meeting in
Rangoon, where he urged his counterpart Thein Sein to ease visa rules
for relief workers, that he was told Burma could "tackle the problem by
themselves".
Mr Samak said Burma's leaders had insisted that teams of foreign
experts, who have been refused entry, were not needed.
"They are confident of dealing with the problem by themselves. There are
no outbreaks of diseases, no starvation, no famine. They don't need
experts, but are willing to get aid supplies from every country," Mr
Samak said.
Louis Michel, the top European Union aid official, disagreed. "There is
a risk of water pollution. There is a risk of starvation because the
storages of rice have been destroyed," he said.
"We want to convince the authorities of our good faith. We are there for
humanitarian reasons," he said. He threw cold water on suggestions from
some European countries that foreign countries move unilaterally to
bring in aid.
Admiral Timothy Keating, the commander of US forces in the Pacific, also
rejected that idea. "We have absolutely no intention of forcefully
providing relief supplies," he said.
He said US flights of emergency aid would continue for the time being,
even though Burma was refusing permission for US officials to monitor,
or help with, distribution.
A senior US military official in Washington said there were signs that
aid was stacking up at Rangoon airport and said Washington was keen to
get permission to fly helicopters to the worst-affected areas.
The official said there were reports that some 230 camps had been set up
to house more than 230,000 displaced people.
"They're springing up all over the place," he said. "The problem they
have is a lack of water and sanitary facilities."
Officials said despite reports that some supplies were being stolen or
diverted by the army, the humanitarian needs were so great that they
would keep making deliveries - while continuing to urge that US aid
workers be granted visas.
More heavy rain and winds are forecast in the delta as a tropical
depression moved in, but the UN weather agency has discounted fears that
a new cyclone was forming.
Burma state television raised its official toll to 38,491 dead, 1403
injured and 27,838 missing overnight.
The International Federation of the Red Cross estimated on the basis of
reports from 22 organisations working in Burma that between 68,833 and
127,990 people had died.
In a gesture to critics, Burma's rulers invited 160 personnel from
Bangladesh, China, India and Thailand to assist in the relief efforts
but that was a fraction of the number needed, experts said.