Myanmar / TC NARGIS (TC 01B) Update: 84,500 dead

[P.K.]

The UN estimates the death toll in the country could be 100,000 or more. Burma's state media says 28,458 died and 33,416 are missing.

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/uk/7394586.stm

[Chacor]

Increased amounts of aid have started to reach cyclone-stricken Burma amid signs the government is easing restrictions on foreign access.

The World Food Programme distributed 38 tonnes of previously held-up aid, but warned much more had to get through.

And in a major setback for the aid effort, a Red Cross boat carrying aid sank in the Irrawaddy Delta.

State TV said the death toll had increased to 28,458, while 33,416 were still missing after the cyclone.

[Sanibel]

The CNN scrolling news on the bottom of the screen said "100,000 dead since the cyclone last week."

I can only relate what I've seen. Like you I have no way of knowing what is accurate or what it is based on.

[CrazyC83]

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080511/ap_on_re_as/myanmar
News article about aid and Burma from Yahoo news. Not my closest source of news, but one statement here scares me:

Oxfam regional chief Sarah Ireland said "there are all the factors" for a public health catastrophe." She said the death toll from the May 3 cyclone is likely to be 100,000 and the number could multiply by 15 times in the coming period.

1,500,000 deaths...due to both a cyclone and gross negligence on the part of the junta. Even Bhola didn't have this bad a number, and I desperately pray this number never sees the light of day as a death toll. If this becomes the toll (and it likely will not), it will become the third (possibly second deadliest) natural disaster ever, next only to the 1887 and 1931 Yellow River Floods in China.

If the death toll goes that high, the Burmese government should be dissolved by international treaties.

[Chacor]

"The first US aid flight to Burma following the devastating cyclone nine days ago has landed in Rangoon after a journey from an air base in Thailand."

[senorpepr]

Just to make note... this thread is now a merge between the active storms (Bay of Bengal: NARGIS (TC 01B) Update = 28,458 dead) thread and the Talkin' Tropics thread (Myanmar Cyclone).

Additionally, the thread was moved out of active storms and into here since the cyclone isn't active anymore.

[Chacor]

"LATEST: Burma says 31,938 died in this month's devastating cyclone. More soon."

[senorpepr]

US airlifts aid to Myanmar, UN urges junta to cooperate
YANGON, Myanmar - The United States delivered its first relief supplies to Myanmar on Monday, as the U.N. urged the reclusive nation to open its doors to foreign experts who can help up to 2 million cyclone victims facing disease and starvation.

Myanmar reported that the official death toll from Cyclone Nargis had risen by nearly 3,500 to 31,938. Nearly 30,000 others remain missing, and the U.N. and others have said the death toll could reach 100,000 or higher.

Britain's opposition leader called for air-dropping aid if Myanmar's military government remains adamant.

The U.S. military C-130 cargo plane, packed with 14 tons of supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon, capping prolonged negotiations to persuade Myanmar's military government to accept U.S. help.

Several Myanmar Cabinet ministers, military officers and the top U.S. diplomat in Myanmar, Shari Villarosa, greeted the plane.

Government spokesman Ye Htut said the aid, which was transferred to Myanmar army trucks, would be ferried by air force helicopters to the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta later Monday. Two more U.S. air shipments were scheduled to land Tuesday.

At the White House, presidential press secretary Dana Perino said the C-130 flights hopefully were "just the beginning of what will be much needed assistance that we were happy to provide. So we hope it gets to the people as quickly as possible."

She also said the United States was prepared to provide an additional $13 million in food and logistical assistance to the United Nations' world food program for distribution to cyclone victims, bringing overall U.S. aid to $16.25 million.

Also Monday, two planes carrying 56 tons of medical and other aid from Europe-based humanitarian groups also arrived in Yangon.

Medecins Sans Frontieres sent a charter plane carrying 34 tons of medical and logistical aid, while Medecins du Monde flew in 22 tons of aid, including emergency first aid kits and medicines to treat malaria and diarrhea.

Medecins Sans Frontieres said in a statement that three more planes were en route, but protested "growing restrictions" by Myanmar authorities on the movement of aid within the country.

Though international assistance has started trickling in, the authoritarian government has barred most foreign experts who are experienced in managing humanitarian crises.

Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations, in Bangkok, Thailand, said clean drinking water, shelter, medical support and food were sorely lacking.

"The authorities of the country need to open up to an international relief effort. There aren't enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the country to run the relief effort of the scale we need," he said. "It's urgent that the authorities do open themselves up."

The government, which wants full control of relief operations, has less than 40 helicopters, most of them small or old. It also has only about 15 transport planes, primarily small jets unable to carry hundreds of tons of supplies.

The junta has made a huge concession in letting the U.S. — the fiercest critic of its human rights record — bring in relief.

The U.S. plane carried mosquito nets, blankets and water in an operation dubbed "Joint Task Force Caring Response."

Also on the plane was Adm. Timothy J. Keating, the commander of the U.S. military in the Pacific, who will try to personally negotiate with the junta for a larger U.S. role in providing relief.

U.S. Marine spokesman Lt. Col. Douglas Powell said there are 11,000 service members and four ships in the region for an annual military exercise, Cobra Gold, that could be harnessed to help the mercy mission.

Three U.S. Navy ships in the Bay of Bengal were sailing closer to Myanmar on Monday, ready to aid cyclone victims if they are given permission, Vice Adm. Doug Crowder told reporters in Jakarta, Indonesia.

In Irrawaddy delta, people were surviving in miserable conditions — hundreds cramped in monasteries with little access to food. Others camped in the open, drinking dirty water contaminated by human feces or dead bodies and animal carcasses.

"The lives of thousands of cyclone survivors are at extreme risk," aid group World Vision said. "Displaced people are living in appalling conditions in makeshift shelters and camps where overcrowding and unsanitary conditions are prevalent."

Children — many of them orphans — are suffering from fever, diarrhea and respiratory infections, it said.

Heavy rains were forecast this week, which would further hinder aid delivery, even though it could be the only source of drinking water.

Britain's opposition Conservative party leader David Cameron suggested Monday that aid should be air-dropped into Myanmar if the junta does not provide access soon.

"The sands of time are running out," he told BBC Radio. "In the end what matters is getting aid through to people and feeding them and stopping them from dying."

Meanwhile, the Oslo-based opposition news network Democratic Voice of Burma called Monday for a U.N. resolution to make sure aid gets to those who need it.

Deputy chief editor Khin Maung Win said "intervention is needed so that people can get their aid." He said the Security Council should consider a resolution along the lines of a French proposal last week.

The French raised the possibility of U.N. authorization to enter Myanmar and deliver aid without waiting for approval from the military in Yangon.

Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej sent a letter to his Myanmar counterpart Monday, urging the junta to issue more visas. But the junta replied that visas for foreigners would be considered on a case-by-case basis, Thai government spokesman Wichianchote Sukchotrate said.

Samak's letter was carried by his personal envoy, Lt. Gen. Niphat Thonglek, who traveled to Myanmar on the U.S. plane, Wichianchote said. He said Myanmar informed Niphat that it will open the Thilawa port in Yangon to receive international relief supplies.

Still, the reclusive junta insists it will handle the aid distribution itself, through its feared military, which has ruled the country with an iron fist since 1962.

Many people have complained that they are getting rotting rice and that soldiers are keeping the best food for themselves.

"The government is very controlling," said U Patanyale, the abbot of a monastery in Kyi Bui Khaw village.

"Those who want to give directly to the victims get into trouble. They have to give to the government or do it secretly. They follow international aid trucks everywhere. They don't want others to take credit. That's the Myanmar government," he said.

[feederband]

Now with the China quake the Myanmar government is going to wish they would of took what they could when they could of...

[P.K.]

Burma: disease fears realised in cyclone aftermath
Thousands of Burmese survivors, living cheek by jowl, now face a list of health menaces, as aid agencies had predicted

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3918872.ece

Burma: Nine days ago, 12,000 people lived in Pyinsalu. Few are still alive
Coastal villages that were swept away by the tsunami had just been rebuilt when tragedy struck them for a second time

http://www.timesonline.co.uk/tol/news/world/asia/article3913105.ece

[fasterdisaster]

Surely I'm not the only one who noticed the suspicious constant that is the sum of the dead and the missing? It's like they'll go up to 61,000-some-odd and not a digit higher.

[HurricaneRobert]

People are gullible if they think any of the very few relief loads are going to civilians. If this keeps up there will be more than a million dead.

[fasterdisaster]

To be fair, a few people have gotten aid because of third parties like Red Cross and UNICEF, but even then I think the estimate was only 1 in 10 people who need aid have actually gotten any.

[Chacor]

Burma's military government has said it is still opposed to letting foreign aid workers in to help the many victims of Cyclone Nargis.

Vice-Admiral Soe Thein, of the military leadership, said Burma was grateful for the aid shipment from the United States which arrived on Monday.

But he said that so far there was no need for aid workers.

[fasterdisaster]

State media now saying 34,273

Their not letting in rescue workers sounds like they're trying to hide the true 6-digit scale tragedy.

[RL3AO]

Looks like we will never know the actual death toll.

[P.K.]

Might be of interest to people to see how the Burma state media has reported this.

http://www.mrtv3.net.mm/news/070508press.html

The wind when it was out to sea has been under-reported somewhat. They claim to have issued warnings of this from a full two days before a LPA even formed which seems rather odd. Even on there they are downplaying the damage.

There are rumours related to the loss and damage and people should not believe them. The State-owned media has released information and news. Relief and rehabilitation works are being carried out as a national duty. People are to inform the local authority if they find those who spread rumours.

[HurricaneRobert]

U.S. admiral: Myanmar junta unconcerned by cyclone

[HurricaneBill]

Might be of interest to people to see how the Burma state media has reported this.

http://www.mrtv3.net.mm/news/070508press.html

The wind when it was out to sea has been under-reported somewhat. They claim to have issued warnings of this from a full two days before a LPA even formed which seems rather odd. Even on there they are downplaying the damage.

There are rumours related to the loss and damage and people should not believe them. The State-owned media has released information and news. Relief and rehabilitation works are being carried out as a national duty. People are to inform the local authority if they find those who spread rumours.

[RL3AO]

LOL Bill.