Myanmar faces up to cyclone
disaster By Larry Jagan
BANGKOK - While Myanmar reports that at
least 15,000 people were killed and another 30,000
are missing following the cyclone that devastated
the country on Saturday, there is little the
international community can do by way of
assistance without a formal request from its
secretive military rulers.
By admitting to
foreign diplomats on Monday that the death toll
could be as high as 15,000, Myanmar's Foreign
Minister Nyan Win may have been hinting that the
generals were prepared to receive outside
assistance, which necessarily would expose the
full extent of the disaster and the inadequacy of
the government's initial response.
Some
20,000 homes were destroyed on one island alone,
the country's state media reported after Cyclone
Nargis - a Category
3 storm with winds up to
200 kilometers per hour - ripped through coastal
Myanmar early Saturday.
In the meantime,
the state-run media have said that the referendum
on a new constitution will go ahead as planned on
May 10. "The referendum is only a few days away
and the people are eagerly looking forward to
voting," the government said in a statement
carried by state media. However, state-run
television later said the vote would be postponed
until May 24 in those districts worst hit by the
disaster.
The charter vote is part of the
junta's "roadmap to democracy", which if followed
would end in multi-party elections held in 2010.
The government is not allowing public debate on
the constitution and only arguments in favor of
the constitution are permitted while local media
are forbidden from reporting any "no" campaign.
The former capital Yangon and the
Irrawaddy delta to the east were in the eye of the
storm. The death toll is expected to climb as
Myanmar authorities and United Nations officials
have been unable to contact the islands and
low-lying villages in the delta, the country's
rice bowl. Millions of people are homeless.
"Everyone is having trouble making a quick
and accurate assessment of the damage and the
needs, and obviously the government is likely to
be facing the same constraints," Richard Horsey, a
spokesman for the regional United Nations Office
for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in
Bangkok, told Inter Press Service. "Communication
lines are down, roads are inaccessible and it will
take time to reach many of the small villages
which were worst hit," he said.
In Yangon,
trees were uprooted and strewn all over roads.
Roofs of many houses and buildings were torn off
and the debris added to the chaos, according to
eyewitnesses. Hospitals have also been badly
damaged. Telephone and power lines were cut. "It's
like a war zone," said a Western diplomat who
wanted to remain anonymous.
Access by
foreign aid workers trying to assess the damage
and aid needs has been severely restricted by the
military authorities. The junta has in recent
years restricted the activities of various
non-governmental organizations, many of which left
the country in frustration.
Any
information coming out of the country flows mainly
through the several UN agencies that have
personnel on the ground. "The most urgent needs
are definitely shelter and clean water," Horsey
said. "Plastic sheeting, tents, mosquito nets,
cooking equipment and water-purification tablets
are urgently needed."
The Red Cross said
its teams are already distributing emergency
supplies, including clean water and blankets, in
the apparently worst-hit Irrawaddy region. The
UN's main rapid-response teams are still waiting
for approval from the notoriously reclusive and
paranoid Myanmar military government. It's unclear
how many lives might have been saved if the junta
had rapidly approved outside intervention in
disaster areas.
That said, there has been
regular contact between aid workers in Yangon and
Myanmar government officials since the cyclone hit
on Saturday and UN sources said privately the
government is likely to begin accepting aid and
assistance from the international community before
long.
"The indications are that the
government is receptive to receiving international
assistance," said Horsey. "And we expect to get a
clearer indication of that soon."
Thailand, the United Nations, the European
Union, Japan and India are sending supplies and US
first lady Laura Bush said the US was offering
US$300,000 of aid and assistance teams were ready
to go to help as soon as they were requested. Aid
agency World Vision, in Australia, said it had
been granted special visas to send in personnel to
back up 600 local staff.
The government
has set up a disaster response committee in the
capital of Naypitdaw under Prime Minister General
Thein Sein. He has already been to Yangon to see
the cyclone damage first-hand and state-run
television showed footage of soldiers clearing
trees from roads. Thein Sein was shown meeting
people sheltering in a Buddhist pagoda.
Most assessments say the damage is so
extensive that the military authorities will not
be able to cope. "Whereas the junta is likely to
accept equipment and supplies, the top generals
will be less keen to allow a whole lot of
foreigners running around the county," said Win
Min, an independent academic based in the northern
Thai town of Chiang Mai.
Exile groups have
been calling for international assistance ever
since the cyclone struck. "The military regime is
ill-prepared to deal with the aftermath of the
cyclone," Naing Aung of the Thailand-based Forum
for Democracy in Burma said in a statement
published on its website.
Myanmar has
traditionally been loath to admit to needing help
from international relief organizations to deal
with its myriad problems, ranging from an HIV/AIDS
epidemic to extreme poverty. Authorities refuse to
allow UN organizations and international aid
agencies unfettered access to rural parts of
Myanmar and, over the past year, restrictions on
international aid workers has become more rigid
than ever.
"The clean-up [by the
government] has begun but it will take a very long
time to complete," a Yangon-based diplomat told
IPS. "The damage around town is so extensive."
According to the exile-run Irrawaddy
newspaper, food prices have surged since the
cyclone struck. An egg now costs around 250 kyat
(20 US cents) in Yangon, or about three times what
it cost before Saturday, the paper said.
"The price hikes are crippling," said a
Myanmar economist who did not want to be
identified. "People are soon going to be reduced
to begging. If the government doesn't begin to act
quickly the current frustration will soon boil
over into anger and more street protests are
almost certain to follow," he said.
"In
[Yangon] people feel they have lost everything and
have nothing else to lose," said a young student
activist reached over the phone.
(Inter
Press Service with additions by Asia Times
Online.)
Head
Office: Unit B, 16/F, Li Dong Building, No. 9 Li Yuen Street East,
Central, Hong Kong Thailand Bureau:
11/13 Petchkasem Road,
Hua Hin, Prachuab Kirikhan, Thailand 77110
