BURMA CYCLONE

[frankbangkok]

The Burma junta is apparently defying the Un and syphoning off aid. Hopefully the UN will hold them accountable and make thempay for this.

THE United Nations yesterday said that only a tiny portion of foreign aid was reaching Myanmar’s cyclone victims, amid fears the country’s military regime is hoarding high- quality foreign aid for itself while people make do with rotten food. “There is obviously still a lot of frustration that this aid effort hasn’t picked up pace 10 days after the cyclone hit,” said Richard Horsey, spokesperson for the UN humanitarian operation in Bangkok, the capital of Thailand. Cyclone Nargis devastated Myanmar’s Irrawaddy delta leaving about 62000 people dead or missing according to the government count. The UN has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100000. With their homes washed away and large tracts of land under water, some two million survivors – mostly poor rice farmers – are living in abject misery, facing disease and starvation.
The UN said the World Food Programme was getting in 20 percent of the food needed because of bottlenecks, logistics problems and government-imposed restrictions. The military – which has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1962 – has taken control of most aid sent by other countries, including the United States. The regime told a US military commander who delivered the first American shipment on Monday that storm victims’ basic needs are being fulfilled – and that “skilful humanitarian workers are not necessary”. The government has barred nearly all foreigners experienced in managing such catastrophes from the delta west of Yangon, and is expelling those who have managed to go in. Jean-Sebastien Matte, an emergency co-ordinator with Doctors Without Borders, said his foreign staff had repeatedly been forced to return to Yangon from the delta by armed police at checkpoints outside Yangon. “No foreigners allowed,” a police officer said yesterday after waving a car back .

[The understudy]

128000 dead and over 2.5 Million

[Spitfire]

Stand by my earlier posts, which were,

A country can often be judged by the way it treats those that need its help, particulary its own citizens.

And

If there were any countries ripe for regime change, then it's Burma and Zimbawe.

It's breath taking that they are both going to get away with it.

[STEVE G]

Rangoon - The Burmese junta claimed on Monday that an extraordinary 92.94 per cent of the survivors of Cyclone Nargis supposedly voted "yes" for a new constitution to perpetuate military rule in the country.http://bangkokpost.com/topstories/topst ... ?id=127844

[Spitfire]

Imagine that, they must think we are all daft.

Funny thing about denile is that it gets worse and more comical every time.

What planet are they on releasing statements like that. They couldn't even conduct a census, let alone an election or referendum.

Cheers Steve G, hadn't heard that yet.

[Super Joe]

Todays' news:

Rangoon - The military junta began evicting destitute families from cyclone relief centres on Friday and rejected foreign food aid - because people can survive perfectly well by hunting "large, edible frogs."

Unbelievable really.

[redzonerocker]

Todays' news:

Rangoon - The military junta began evicting destitute families from cyclone relief centres on Friday and rejected foreign food aid - because people can survive perfectly well by hunting "large, edible frogs."

Unbelievable really.

i was reading this report last night, agree, unbelievable & unbelievably sad too

[The understudy]

Hi there Y'all

I think I can decifer the very sick Mindset of them Generals of Burma

They see that their people are taken care for by Foreign aid Organisations and before people realize that they too can live a better life with some standard Housing ect. That's what the Generals are afraid of and send them into the "Irrawadi Swamp" and fend for themselves.

Your's completly sickened by Them Burmese Junta
The understudy!!!

[frankbangkok]

The foreign aid and UN emergency relief operations in Burma are growing by leaps and bounds and are out of all proportion to the amount of donations received thus far. The UN appears to be preparing for the long haul in Burma, knowing that the entire country is on the verge of total starvation. UN professionals on the ground in Burma reportedly believe that a quarter of a million people may have died and three million are homeless due to Cyclone Nargis.

I don’t know where they are planning to get the money for such a major undertaking, as donations have been quite low and are now drying up. In my opinion, and based on my experience with major UN disaster assistance programs in the past, the present operation in Burma is going to cost billions of dollars. This is a major operation just now getting underway, and all parties involved, including the UN, are hiring very large numbers of people on long term contracts for positions in Burma. They even asked me to take a short term service contract of one year. All this makes me wonder what UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon may have promised General Than Shwe when he visited him in Rangoon. Look for a pledging conference in New York in the near future to raise more money for Burma. However, with the international outrage over Aung San Suu Kyi, I fear the UN, and others, may experience some difficulty in reaching their goals.