Burmese fields 'littered with rotting corpses'
Pastor Dale Morgan
Burmese fields 'littered with rotting corpses'*
From correspondents in Bangkok
May 06, 2008 02:40pm
Article from: Agence France-Presse
BURMA may have been hit harder by the latest cyclone than the 2004 Asian
tsunami, an aid worker said today, describing fields littered with the
rotting corpses of the storm's victims.
Christian relief organisation World Vision, one of the few international
agencies allowed to work inside the military-ruled state, said its teams
had surveyed the most affected regions and witnessed scenes of desperation.
"They saw the dead bodies from the helicopters, so it's quite
overwhelming from that height," said Kyi Minn, an adviser to World
Vision's office in Burma's main city of Rangoon.
"Even from that height it's devastating."
The Government said more than 15,000 people were killed after tropical
cyclone Nargis hit from the Bay of Bengal on Saturday, with thousands
more feared dead.
The storm ravaged a huge swathe of southwestern Burma, also known as
Myanmar, affecting some 24 million people or nearly half the country's
population, according to the United Nations.
The most heavily damaged regions are remote areas in the Irrawaddy river
delta, a swampy region heavily cultivated with rice paddies and
difficult to access even in the best of times.
"The impact of the disaster could be worse than the tsunami because it
is compounded by the limited availability of resources on top of the
transport constraints," Kyi Minn said by telephone from Rangoon.
The 2004 tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean killed 220,000
people in a dozen countries but caused little damage in Burma.
"Eyewitnesses tell us there are thousands without the basic needs of
water, food and, in some areas, shelter. Now the weather is getting
hotter again, people are quite desperate," he said.
"They have no water to drink, no food - and they are having to stand
outside with no roof. This is quite desperate."
World Vision is distributing its limited supplies already inside the
country, including clean water, clothing, shelter and rice. But Kyi Minn
appealed to the international community for more help.
"We need outside assistance right away," he said. "Without clean water,
there could be outbreaks of infectious diseases."