Rotting corpses pile up as Myanmar stall over aid
Pastor Dale Morgan
Rotting corpses pile up as Myanmar stall over aid*
* Story Highlights
* NEW: Rotting corpses pile up as military junta continues to drag feet
* Four aid planes finally get permission to land in the devastated
country
* Lack of clean water, food and medical supplies prompt disease fears
* U.N. official says nearly 2,000 square miles remains underwater
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Myanmar's cyclone survivors do not have enough
fuel to burn the rotting corpses of the dead as the country's military
junta continues to drag its feet over access for aid groups.
International concern is growing over the health of Myanmar's cyclone
survivors as aid is delayed.
Relief agencies said decomposing corpses littered ditches and fields in
the worst hit Irrawaddy delta area as survivors tried to conserve fuel
for the transporting of much needed supplies.
The international community was growing increasingly frustrated Thursday
with the junta's lack of progress in granting visas for relief workers
and giving clearance for aid flights to land.
They were concerned the lack of medical supplies and clean food and
water threatened to increase the already staggering death toll.
Myanmar's military government says more than 22,000 people died when the
killer cyclone battered the country's low-lying delta region over the
weekend. The top U.S. diplomat in the country said the toll could top
100,000.
Four World Food Programme (WFP) planes laden with supplies were finally
given permission to land in the country Thursday, according to The
Associated Press. The first, from Italy, landed Thursday morning.
"We have gotten valuable cooperation. The first steps have been taken,"
Bettina Luescher, a spokeswoman for the WFP, told CNN Thursday morning.
"But it's taking too slow. It needs to go much quicker.
"We have lots of experience in situations like these. We know how to do
this," WFP's Luescher said. "We just need the cooperation."
Paul Risley, another WFP spokesman, told CNN that there were reports of
"civil unrest" in the worst-hit areas where people were scrambling for
limited food supplies.
He said U.N. assessment teams had observed "large crowds gathering
around shops -- the few that were open -- literally fighting over the
chance to buy what food was available."
There were also reports of price gouging in urban areas around Yangon,
Myanmar's largest city and former capital, Risley said.
Shari Villarosa, U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon, said the "situation
in the delta sounds more and more horrendous."
The delta region had few roads to begin with, many of them were now
under water and the storm had washed away numerous bridges, Villarosa said.
CNN's Dan Rivers, one of the few international journalists to have
visited the hardest-hit areas of Myanmar, said relief had not reached
the people who needed it most.
"We're hearing dreadful stories of hundreds of dead bodies left lying in
the fields, decomposing," he said. "These people need help immediately."
China urges Myanmar junta to 'open up'
Meanwhile, China urged close ally Myanmar to work with the international
community to help overcome the disaster.
Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said Thursday that it hoped the
country would "cooperate with the international community" to help
overcome the disaster quickly.
The U.S has also been pushing for access, pledging $3.25 million and
offering to send U.S. Navy ships to the region to help relief efforts.
The U.S. military had already flown six helicopters on to a Thai
airbase, as Washington awaits permission to go into the south Asian
country, two senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.
In addition, several C-130 cargo aircraft aboard the USS Essex, which
was conducting an exercise in the region, were available for relief
missions.
Eric John, the U.S. ambassador to Thailand, told AP Thursday that they
had still not been given permission to send relief flights to Myanmar
despite reports to the contrary.
The U.S. and other nations do not recognize the military junta -- which
maintained control of the country even after 1990, when an opposition
political party won victory in democratic elections. The country's name
was changed from Burma to Myanmar in 1989. Learn more about Myanmar's
recent history »
Aid strategy: Don't 'flood' Yangon
Gregory Beck, of the International Rescue Committee, said the struggle
to get aid workers and supplies into the country continued.
"We can't delay on this -- this is a huge disaster and the longer
[Myanmar] waits the worse it's going to become."
Myanmar's government has asked for international aid, but the junta has
balked at allowing assessment teams into the country -- a step that most
agencies and countries take before deciding how much and what kind of
aid to provide.
The strategy is not to "flood Yangon" with aid workers, but get 30 to 40
experienced U.N staffers into the country, according to Richard Horsey,
a spokesman for the U.N.'s Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian
Affairs.
"It's quality over quantity," he said from his office in Bangkok.
Horsey said Myanmar's government "is more open to goods" rather than aid
workers, but said it was understandable considering the military
regime's "reticence to engage with the international community." But he
pointed out that such a major disaster "would overwhelm any government."
Horsey said the regime had provided a number of helicopters and a larger
number of boats to the relief effort.
He said the main hurdle was getting them into the flood-soaked delta,
where nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square kilometers) remained
underwater.
"When vast areas are flooded.. helicopters can't land," Horsey said.
"When you get down to the tip of the delta, it's not much above sea
level. When you get a major storm surge ... it doesn't drain back again."
The problem, he said, was compounded by the current monsoon period in
South Asia.
One of the hardest-hit areas is Pyinzalu, a small town on the tip of the
Irrawaddy delta, which has not fully recovered from the 2004 tsunami,
according to World Vision health advisor Dr. Kyi Minn in Yangon.
Survivors from the delta villages described bodies along the road and
floating in the rivers as they walked more than 100 kilometers to
Yangon. That, Minn said, has had a significant mental impact on the
survivors.
Yangon was pretty much back to normal, he said. Roads had been cleared
of debris, and electricity and potable water were available. Video Watch
a report on the damage to Myanmar's infrastructure »
World Vision, which has 500 aid workers in Myanmar, has provided aid in
the country for more than 40 years. In a rare move, Myanmar's junta
specifically asked World Vision to help provide aid to cyclone
survivors.elp provide aid to cyclone survivors.