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An unarmed U.S. C-130 cargo plane landed in the capital Yangon
(formally called Rangoon) carrying 25,000 pounds of supplies
including mosquito nets, blankets and water.
This first shipment had been held up by the Myanmar government,
which is highly suspicious of outside help, especially from
Western countries like the United States.
"We're limited only by the permission from the authorities
in Burma," Adm. Timothy Keating, head of the U.S. Pacific
Command, told reporters at the launching airbase in Thailand
where more planes are waiting for permission to transport
supplies.
The cyclone
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The cyclone destroyed villages and infrastructure in the
Irrawaddy delta region of the country. |
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The destructive Category
3 cyclone struck the low-lying Irrawaddy delta region of the
country on May 3, destroying villages and wiping out electrical
lines. It also slammed the country's largest city, Yangon, in
the south.
The Myanmar government estimates 31,938 people died and 29,770
are missing but international aid organizations say the number
of those killed is much higher, closer to 100,000 and that
nearly 2 million people are impacted in some manner.
Survivors are packed into Buddhist temples and schools on
the outskirts of the storm's path of destruction. But these
makeshift gathering places lack sufficient food, water, shelter
and medicine.
"It's grim and getting grimmer," a Western diplomat
in Yangon told the New York Times. "The vast majority
of people out there haven't been reached. It's a challenge
to get stuff there anyway. Now it's a double challenge."
The destructive Category 3 cyclone struck the low-lying Irrawaddy
delta region of the country on May 3, destroying villages and
wiping out electrical lines. It also slammed the country's largest
city, Yangon, in the south.
The Myanmar government estimates 31,938 people died and 29,770
are missing but international aid organizations say the number
of those killed is much higher, closer to 100,000 and that
nearly 2 million people are impacted in some manner.
Survivors are packed into Buddhist temples and schools on
the outskirts of the storm's path of destruction. But these
makeshift gathering places lack sufficient food, water, shelter
and medicine.
"It's grim and getting grimmer," a Western diplomat
in Yangon told the New York Times. "The vast majority
of people out there haven't been reached. It's a challenge
to get stuff there anyway. Now it's a double challenge."
Hindering outside help
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United Nations Under Secretary John Holmes told the NewsHour
that Myanmar's military regime can't handle the relief
effort alone. |
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Getting relief aid to
the affected region is difficult enough but the Myanmar government
has thus far said it will only accept packets of food, not the
skilled relief workers to distribute it.
Aid workers, experts in the distribution of relief following
massive disasters such as the cyclone, are pressing on the
government to change their policy.
"The regime simply can't cope on its own, and they mustn't
imagine they can. That's why we need these people in there,"
United Nations Under Secretary John Holmes told the NewsHour.
"We're trying to make the point privately and publicly
that these are international aid workers. They have nothing
to do with politics; they're not interested in regime change
or anything else. They're just interested in helping people,"
Holmes also said.
International aid organizations are hoping to prevent a second
catastrophe - the outbreak of disease and starvation caused
by a lack of relief for those who initially survived the cyclone.
"We are afraid there is a real risk of a massive public
catastrophe waiting to happen in Myanmar," British aid
group Oxfam's regional chief Sarah Ireland told reporters
Sunday.
Myanmar's government
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Last fall the Myanmar junta used force to stop Buddhist
monks from holding protests against its regime. |
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Myanmar was a British
colony called Burma until 1948. Since 1962, Myanmar has been
ruled by a small group of socialist military generals (a "junta").
The rulers changed the name from Burma to Myanmar, which is
similar to the country's official name in the local language.
The period since then has been marked by severe economic decline
and erosion of political rights. The junta has refused to recognize
democratic elections, and dissenters face arrest and torture.
The government has disabled the Internet and other communications
to the outside world, and media reports suggest they are passing
off the international food and fresh water supplies as their
own.
The country was in the international spotlight last fall when
the military regime violently put down anti-government protests
by Buddhist monks and other civilians.
The government has also faced criticism for holding a referendum
vote on a new constitution despite the devastating cyclone.
The new constitution guarantees 25 percent of parliamentary
seats to the military and allows unelected leaders to take control
of executive and legislative powers in a state of emergency.
It also bars the famous reformer Aung San Suu Kyi, whose party
won elections in 1990 before the military junta nullified the
results, from seeking office, but does call for general elections
in 2010.
The vote was delayed by two weeks in areas hardest-hit by the
cyclone. |
Like many Californians, I live in a town where teenagers drive to school in gas-guzzling SUVs and pick-up trucks just because they want to look powerful and extravagant.
