Myanmar: Monster Monsoons bring more suffering to Cyclone Victims
Pastor Dale Morgan
Myanmar: Monster Monsoons bring more suffering to Cyclone Victims*
* Story Highlights
* Housing shortage leaves cyclone survivors at monsoon season's mercy
* Aid agencies say there is an urgent need for tarpaulins to provide
shelter
* There are an estimated 1.5 million homeless survivors in need of help
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) -- A severe shortage of housing has left hundreds
of thousands of cyclone survivors in Myanmar exposed to heavy rain as a
Monster monsoon season begins, aid agencies said Saturday.
Aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of survivors are without shelter
as a Monster size monsoon season begins.
The U.N. and the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies said there was an urgent need for tarpaulins to provide
temporary shelter to an estimated 1.5 million homeless survivors.
Otherwise, the threats of hunger and disease could intensify, they warned.
"Exposure to the elements five weeks after a disaster of this magnitude
has to be a major concern," spokesman John Sparrow said. "People are in
a weakened condition. They are sick; they are hungry. Without shelter,
their whole situation is seriously exacerbated."
Sparrow estimated that only a quarter of those who needed shelter
materials had been reached. Video Watch refugees talk about the lack of
aid »
The U.N. estimates that 2.4 million people were affected when Cyclone
Nargis hit May 2-3 and that warns that more than 1 million still need
help, mostly in the hard-to-reach Irrawaddy Delta.
John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs,
said "relatively few" of those survivors who were badly affected by the
storm had not received any sort of aid. But he said the U.N.'s effort
needs to be stepped up because many survivors still needed help and
supplies.
"I think people are getting to all the main places, although it's not
always as easy as it should be," he said. "There's no evidence of
starvation at the moment, although as I say many people are still in
significant need of aid."
U.N. officials and aid groups have criticized the regime for hindering
access to the delta, saying it has prevented enough food, water and
shelter from reaching desperate survivors.
The U.N. also said Saturday that a lack of funding was hindering the aid
effort, with only $20 million of the required $50 million received to
finance logistic efforts that allow it to extend aid operations into
remote regions.
The U.N. has said that access could also be greatly improved if the
country's military junta would accept American offers of support which
include the use of military helicopters to ferry aid to remote locations.
The U.S. military said it was keeping 22 helicopters on standby in case
Myanmar's ruling junta reversed its rejection of such help for cyclone
victims, saying the aircraft could reach survivors within three days.
With only seven Myanmar government helicopters reportedly flying, relief
supplies are mostly being transported along dirt roads and then by boat.
International aid agencies say boats able to navigate the delta's canals
are scarce and efforts to import vehicles had been hampered by
government red tape.
"Of the 1 million or 1.5 million people in need of relief support, we
think that between 450,000 to 750,000 are in emergency need," said Lt.
Gen. John Goodman, commander of Marine Forces Pacific and head of the
U.S. relief operation for Myanmar.
They could be reached "over the course of a three-day period" by
American helicopters and landing craft, he said from a temporary U.S.
staging area at Utapao, Thailand.
Goodman said the junta was "still considering" the offer of the use of
U.S. helicopters, which would include allowing Myanmar officials aboard
all U.S. helicopters to monitor their routes and to unload relief supplies.
The country's military leaders are particularly sensitive to allowing
U.S. helicopters into the delta, given the fact that Washington has been
a leading critic of the junta for its poor human rights record and
refusal to hand power to a democratically elected government.