Agencies rush emergency aid to Myanmar cyclone victims

Aid agencies rushed emergency food and water into Myanmar on Monday after a cyclone tore into the impoverished nation, killing more than 350 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

More than 10,000 people are feared dead, and "several hundreds of thousands" have been left homeless by a tropical cyclone in southwestern Burma, a United Nations relief official has told CBC News.

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The authorities in Burma, also known as Myanmar, are struggling to assess damage and casualties in the wake of Saturday's Cyclone Nargis, said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN's disaster response office in Bangkok. The cyclone came ashore in the delta of the Irrawaddy River, the country's most heavily populated region.

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The Burmese foreign minister, Nyan Win, confirmed that the authorities are still waiting for reports from outlying areas and are expecting the death toll to surpass 10,000 people.

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The former capital, Rangoon, has also been hard hit, Horsey said.

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He said the normally reclusive Burmese military junta was in talks with international agencies to discuss aid requirements and how to get help to the worst affected areas. The UN has been invited to send aid and expert help, say news agency reports from Rangoon.

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With several hundred thousand people homeless, Horsey said, the most immediate needs will be clean drinking water, food, medicine and materials for repairing houses or sheltering people whose homes have been devastated.

Food shortages a concern

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Freelance journalist Andrew Chant, talking to CBC News from Bangkok, said most of the casualties are in the densely populated rice-growing areas in the Irrawaddy River delta around Rangoon.

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"People there live along rivers and streams," Chant said, "and they'll have experienced a double hit from both the winds and rising waters." There is rising concern that extensive damage to rice paddies could lead to food shortages all over the country, he said.

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Workers from several international aid agencies have been travelling in Rangoon and outside the city to discover how much aid is needed, and where help is needed most.

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James East of the relief organization World Vision said assessment teams from his organization were having trouble getting out of the city because of blocked, flooded and damaged roads.

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"Our people are saying they haven't seen anything like it," East told CBC news.

Size of disaster still unknown: official

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Telecommunications have also been cut with many areas, according to Michael Annear of the International Committee of the Red Cross mission in Bangkok.

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"Widespread destruction is obviously making it more difficult to get aid to people who need it most, " Annear said.

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In Rangoon, people huddled in darkened rooms and stood in line to buy candles and cooking gas as the city's already unreliable electricity supply remained severely disrupted. Winds approaching 160 km/h blew roofs from hospitals, schools and government buildings.

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The city's airport has reopened and a Thai military flight has been sent with shelter materials and food. More flights are expected to arrive Tuesday, sent by the Red Cross and other agencies.

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The Associated Press reported from the city that residents were angry that the military regime had so far extended a helping hand only to wealthy neighbourhoods, leaving others to fend for themselves. Burma's authorities are ensconced in the newly built capital city, Naypyitawm, far from the cyclone-effected area.

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People were staying away from work Monday to find food and shelter for their families, AP reported.

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"Without my daily earning, just survival has become a big problem for us," said Tin Hia, who runs a roadside stand repairing umbrellas for passersby. His makeshift hut in one of the city's many slums had been destroyed, he said.

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"The Irrawaddy [River] delta was hit extremely hard, not only because of the wind and rain but [also] because of the storm surge," said Chris Kaye, the UN's acting humanitarian co-ordinator in Rangoon.

Burmese-Canadian community concerned

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Members of Canada's Burmese community have been in contact with relatives in their homeland, according to Tin Muang Htoo of the activist group Canadian Friends of Burma.

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"It's typical that storms are hitting [at this time of year]," Htoo told CBC news, "but this time, this is the worst.

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"After this crisis, there will be lots of difficulties dealing with food crisis and sanitation, especially with water."

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Htoo called on Canada to offer help to hard-hit people in Burma when parliament confers honourary Canadian citizenship on the imprisoned Burmese democracy activist, Aung San Suu Kyi, on Monday afternoon in Ottawa.

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The cyclone came just a few days before the military junta in Burma was to hold a referendum on a new constitution that could lead to multi-party elections in 2010. State media are insisting the vote will go ahead, but government ministers have told diplomats that a postponement is possible, news agencies report.

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Pro-democracy groups say the proposed new constitution would merely perpetuate military rule in the country.

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Last year, at least 31 people died in anti-junta protests that were brutally surpressed by the authorities.

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Despite the devastating storm, the Burmese junta said plans would go ahead for a referendum May 10 on a new constitution that would pave the way for multi-party elections in 2010.

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Last September, at least 31 people were killed and thousands more detained when the military regime cracked down brutally on peaceful pro-democracy protests led by Buddhist monks and students.

With files from the Associated Press

Downed telegraph poles and trees, flooded streets, broken buildings and general infrastructure are some of the lesser problems urban dwelling people in Myanmar are negotiating in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Outside of the capital, desperate survivors cried out for aid nearly a week after the cyclone killed up to 100,000 people, as pressure piled up on Myanmar to throw its doors open to an international relief operation. The United States was still awaiting approval from Myanmar's junta to start military aid flights, but the U.N. food agency and Red Cross/Red Crescent said they have started flying in emergency relief after some delays. U.S. ambassador Eric John told a news conference in Bangkok that the United States and Thailand had thought the Myanmar generals had agreed to let a U.S military cargo plane fly in supplies. But that turned out to be premature. "We don't have permission yet for the C-130 to go in, but I emphasise 'yet'," John said. Approval for such a flight would be surprising given the huge distrust and acrimony between former Burma's generals and Washington, which has imposed tough sanctions to try to end decades of military rule. Aid has barely trickled into one of the world's most isolated and impoverished countries, although experts feared it would be too little to cope with the aftermath of Nargis, which left up to 100,000 feared dead and one million homeless. Witnesses saw little evidence of a relief effort under way in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta region. The storm pulverised the delta on Saturday (May 3) with 190 km (120 mph) winds followed by a massive tidal wave that caused most of the casualties and damage, virtually destroying some villages. It was the worst cyclone in Asia since 1991, when 143,000 people were killed in neighbouring Bangladesh. U.N. officials, who had earlier complained that an airlift of emergency supplies for the victims was being delayed, said several cargo planes had now landed at Yangon's airport. WFP spokesman Paul Risley in Bangkok said a Thai cargo plane delivered seven tons of high-energy biscuits and a U.N. chartered flight from Brindisi, Italy arrived in Yangon with water, plastic sheeting, medical kits and other equipment. He said one other charter flight in Bangkok was awaiting landing clearance permission and a fourth flight was expected to leave from Dubai on Thursday. The Red Cross/Red Crescent confirmed its first aid plane took off from Kuala Lumpur, carrying six tonnes of shelter materials. Medicins sans Frontieres, which has 1,000 people in Myanmar, said it was ferrying aid supplies into the delta via trucks and boats. It said it had been granted permission to fly in supplies. Jean-Michel Grand, executive director of Action contra la Faim in London said the logistical obstacles were formidable. The WFP's Risley said aid agencies normally expect to fly in experts and supplies within 48 hours of a disaster, but nearly a week after this cyclone, few international groups have been able to send reinforcements into Myanmar. Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej failed to reach Myanmar's ruling generals on Thursday after U.S. President George W. Bush asked him to intervene with the junta to expedite the international aid effort. State media had reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing as of Tuesday, but diplomats and disaster experts said the real figure is likely to be much higher. Asean secretary general Surin Pitsuwan told reporters that the bloc was pushing for access to Myanmar to help aid effort.

Aid agencies rushed emergency food and water into Myanmar on Monday after a cyclone tore into the impoverished nation, killing more than 350 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Aid agencies rushed emergency food and water into Myanmar on Monday after a cyclone tore into the impoverished nation, killing more than 350 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

Aid agencies rushed emergency food and water into Myanmar on Monday after a cyclone tore into the impoverished nation, killing more than 350 people and leaving hundreds of thousands homeless.

According to the U.N., majority of victims of Myanmar storm not receiving aid.

International aid pledges worth 10 million U.S. dollars were made on Tuesday (May 6) as the death toll as a result of a cyclone and ensuing storm surge in Myanmar climbed. Myanmar state media said the death toll had risen to 22,464 and 41,000 people were missing after the cyclone hit the country's Irrawaddy delta and triggered a tidal wave reported to have been 12 feet (3.5 metres) high. Myanmar' s Minister for Relief and Resettlement Maung Maung Swe said the tidal wave had killed most of the cyclone's victims. The European Commission will provide a two million euro aid package in response. Commission spokesman for the Humanitarian Aid office Amadeu Altafaj told reporters in Brussels the initial funding would concentrate of providing clean water and that the organisation expected to hand out more aid later. "The most urgent need appears to be for shelter and clean water and these areas will be of course priorities for this package," Altafaj said. Myanmar's military rulers are allowing in food and other emergency supplies but have not yet approved visas for some aid workers seeking to assess the damage from a massive cyclone, the United Nations said on Tuesday. In Paris, French Foreign Minister Bernard Kouchner expressed concerns that the Myanmar authorities wanted to deliver the aid to the cyclone victims. "Burma has apparently accepted international aid but as long as they distribute themselves. But we are not confident in the way they would distribute it and the i...

Myanmar's military junta has agreed to accept more U.S. Help, opening the door for what could be a massive cyclone relief operation. However, the United Nations warned that less than a quarter of the victims' needs are being met. (May 13)

Myanmar generals force vote despite cyclone crisis Larry Jagan: Myanmar generals do not care about the Burmese people Sunday May 11th, 2008 Myanmar's leadership held a constitutional referendum on Sunday. As the country is still reeling from deadly cyclone Nargis which has claimed at least 70,000 casualties and displaced over 2 million people. The regime received sharp criticism from Myanmar specialist Larry Jagan who claims top general Than Shwe "only cares about his own priorities." The referendum is seen as a fait accompli and would guarantee the military junta 25 percent of the seats in parliament, allow the president exclusive power in the event of a state of emergency, and would bar Nobel Peace Prize winner, Aung San Suu Kyi from running for public office.