Burma Cyclone

McLovin · 8th May 2008, 12:16

100,000 people thought to have been killed and more than a million homeless.

The cyclone slammed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta six days ago, bringing winds up to 190mph and a giant tidal wave.

Aid is being sent by the West to Burma ..

R I P to all that have perished. Our thoughts are with you ..

Team Brian GB · 8th May 2008, 12:20

Quote:

Originally Posted by McLovin

Aid is being sent by the West to Burma ..

Or not as the case seems to be in a country who is just as scared of foreign influences as North Korea.

Which makes you feel for them even more so, that the inevitable wave of emergency aid is being blocked for domestic political purposes. Most countries get mad when they don't get enough aid, I never thought the contrary would occur.

McLovin · 8th May 2008, 12:24

Burma's military generals have bowed to a chorus of international pressure, agreeing today to allow the US military and UN to fly critical aid to the country's cyclone survivors.

With up to 100,000 feared dead and one million missing, Thailand said it had convinced Burma's secretive junta to accept US assistance, almost a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country.

The decision came as the United Nations today said disaster management experts had received permission to enter the country six days after the cyclone hit. The UN said it would also immediately release $US10 million ($10.6 million) from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Thailand's Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said Rangoon had agreed to allow in US planes that have been participating in joint Thai-US military exercises.

"We have helped the Americans to talk to the Myanmar (Burma) government to allow US planes ... to fly humanitarian aid to Myanmar. They just agreed," he said.

Team Brian GB · 8th May 2008, 12:29

Quote:

Originally Posted by McLovin

Burma's military generals have bowed to a chorus of international pressure, agreeing today to allow the US military and UN to fly critical aid to the country's cyclone survivors.

With up to 100,000 feared dead and one million missing, Thailand said it had convinced Burma's secretive junta to accept US assistance, almost a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country.

The decision came as the United Nations today said disaster management experts had received permission to enter the country six days after the cyclone hit. The UN said it would also immediately release $US10 million ($10.6 million) from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF).

Thailand's Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said Rangoon had agreed to allow in US planes that have been participating in joint Thai-US military exercises.

"We have helped the Americans to talk to the Myanmar (Burma) government to allow US planes ... to fly humanitarian aid to Myanmar. They just agreed," he said.

I don't know how old that is, but this is currently leading BBC News online:
(Last Updated, today at 11:40 BST)

Confusion over US aid for Burma

Burma has faced international appeals to allow more help

The US says it has not yet been given permission to fly aid into cyclone-hit Burma - despite reports that it had.

The US ambassador to Thailand said it was unclear whether there had been a U-turn by Burma or "miscommunication".

There has been growing international concern over the military regime's reluctance to accept help.

However, the UN has now confirmed its first aid flight has landed in Burma. Cyclone Nargis killed tens of thousands of people and left a million homeless.

It smashed into the low-lying Irrawaddy delta region on Saturday.

The BBC's Paul Danahar, who is in southern Burma, says he has seen the terrible trail of destruction, with survivors scavenging to find some shelter.

They are living with thousands of corpses, polluting their environment, with the risk of disease taking hold getting worse by the day.

Normally after a natural disaster, he says, roads are choked with relief effort but these into the Irrawaddy delta are empty.

Delays

The US ambassador to Thailand, Eric John, called a news conference to address the issue of aid flights.

"This morning, we and our Thai allies thought we had a decision from the Burmese leadership to let the C-130 (Hercules transport aircraft) in. As of now, we don't have that decision.

"I don't know whether they rescinded the decision or if there was a miscommunication."

The BBC's Jonathan Head in Bangkok says Burma's generals have always been intensely suspicious of outside interference and the US has all but called for regime change in Burma.

If countries were allowed to begin aid flights, our correspondent says, Burma could experience the biggest international presence in its recent history.

The first UN aid flight, carrying vital food supplies, landed in Rangoon after two days of delays.

The UN World Food Programme said concern about the military siphoning off aid was one reason for the delay.

WFP regional director Anthony Banbury said: "We will not just bring our supplies to an airport, dump it and take off."

The UN also said its four-member disaster assessment and co-ordination team had now been given visas to travel to Burma.

The regional Association of South-East Asian Nations had earlier urged the military regime to allow in aid flights "before it's too late".

Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said it was trying to communicate to the military regime the sense of urgency.

China, a close ally of Burma, has also urged it to work with the international community. Foreign ministry spokesman Qin Gang added that Beijing would raise its relief aid to $5.3m.

UK aid agencies have launched an urgent joint appeal to raise funds for victims. The Disasters Emergency Committee said the need for aid was "immediate and vast".

Death toll

Burmese troops are pushing into the affected areas but our correspondent Jonathan Head says their resources are inadequate to deal with a disaster of this magnitude.

On Wednesday, the top US diplomat in Burma said that the number of deaths could be much higher than reported.

Burmese state media says 22,980 people have been confirmed dead and another 42,119 are missing.

But Shari Villarosa, the charge d'affaires of the US embassy in Burma, said the death toll could reach or exceed 100,000, based on information from a non-governmental organisation that she would not name.

A local military official, Tin Win, told AFP news agency 80,000 had died in the remote district of Labutta alone.

There are reports that the Rangoon home of opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi, who has been under house arrest for 12 of the past 18 years, was damaged in the cyclone but that she is unhurt.

VidaRed · 8th May 2008, 12:32

Apparently they had been warned about the cyclone two days before.

Quote:

Even before you set foot in Burma, as the aircraft begins its descent towards Rangoon airport, it is obvious that something appalling has happened. Usually, the Irrawaddy delta is a land of deep and varied greens — the rice and vegetable fields, the river banks and the tropical trees that shade the towns and villages. But today the landscape is dominated by a different colour — the thick enveloping brown of river mud.

It fills the swollen rivers and creeks and lies in a sticky blanket over vast areas of rice paddy. Ponds have been turned into brown lakes, meadows have become marshes and somewhere down there are millions of people whose lives were overturned on Saturday by a rising tide of brown water.

Every day, the extent of the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis has been revised upwards, from alarming to grim to disastrous — and yesterday it became clear that this is not just a local, but an historic catastrophe. Foreign aid workers in Rangoon have concluded that as many as 50,000 people died in last Saturday’s cyclone, and two to three million are homeless, the worst disaster in the country’s modern history, and of a scale comparable with the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The people’s plight is not helped by the disposition of their Government. Running the country on a combination of internal repression and xenophobia, the junta seems not to have made up its mind that this is a tragedy that it cannot remedy on its own.

It certainly was not too concerned when the cyclone approached the Burmase coast. A spokesman for the Indian Meteorological Department revealed yesterday that it had given Burma two days’ warning of Cyclone Nargis. “Forty-eight hours before Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing \, its severity and all related issues to Burmese agencies,” he said. Weather systems in the Bay of Bengal are tracked by India by satellite.

As the generals dithered, President Bush made a direct appeal to the regime yesterday, urging it to open up to foreign aid and offering the assistance of the US Navy, which had two ships within two days’ sailing time of Burma. Bernard Kouchner, the French Foreign Minister, accused the junta of placing conditions on aid. Britain pledged £5 million and offered an emergency field team to the country.

The latest official death toll was 22,500, according to Burmese state media. But even after three days there has been no comprehensive survey. Assuming that there are many casualties to be revealed, and that a significant proportion of the 41,000 listed as “missing” are dead, the final toll will be much higher.

“We’re looking at 50,000 dead and millions of homeless,” Andrew Kirkwood, country director of the British charity Save The Children told The Times. “I’d characterise it as unprecedented in the history of Burma and on an order of magnitude with the effect of the tsunami on individual countries. There might well be more dead than the tsunami caused in Sri Lanka.”

In New York yesterday, the Burmese Government formally asked the UN for help. But in other ways it remains resistant to the most obvious and basic assistance. According to its own figures at least 10,000 died in one obscure town alone, Bogalay, 75 miles southwest of Rangoon.

Seven townships have been designated as “priority one” disaster areas, because between 90 and 95 per cent of the buildings have been destroyed. “Anything less than 60 per cent destroyed is not being counted as a priority at this stage by the Government,” Mr Kirkwood said. “That gives some indication of the scale of the problem.”

And yet three days after the cyclone, which swept the Irrawaddy delta with winds as high as 160mph and drove before it a storm surge 7.5 metres high, there is still no co-ordinated relief effort. Last night, the UN World Food Programme said that it had begun distributing food in hard-to-reach areas, but the difficulty of providing prompt and meaningful assistance remains a key concern.

Even as the cyclone was blowing itself out, the UN’s acting boss in Rangoon, Chris Kaye, was pressing the Government to receive a humanitarian team trained to make rapid judgments about the needs of survivors. Yesterday, permission had still not been granted.

UN and charity staff are still waiting for visas to enter Burma. Foreign journalists are barred from openly operating and the thinness of press and television coverage makes it all the harder for charities to raise money.

The sheer physical difficulties of penetrating the delta region pose another problem. Three million people live there but with few roads and much water, transport has always been slow, relying on boats that travel the rivers, canals and channels known as the “mouths of the Irrawaddy”. The cyclone destroyed an uncounted number of boats, as well as inundating roads and tracks.

Short distances from Rangoon, the biggest city, and home to most of its expatriate aid workers, are towns where almost no houses remain, where people are living in the open without clean water, power or food. The few aid workers who have overflown the stricken areas in military helicopters report corpses clogging the fields. The human need is acute and yet no one with the capacity to provide full and co-ordinated help can get near. Reflecting the scale of the crisis, the junta said that it would postpone in the worst-hit areas a constitutional referendum — the “roadmap to democracy” — but the rest of the nation would vote as planned on Saturday.

Even in Rangoon, which came off relatively lightly, the extent of the destruction is breathtaking. Every road in the city is littered with fallen trees. The lightest houses, of wood and corrugated iron, blew away; heavier ones sustained broken windows, lost tiles and were damaged by trees that crashed into them like battering rams.

The people hurt the most are the people who began with the least. In North Okkalopa township, the usually sluggish Nga Moe Yeik creek turned into a torrent and washed away parts of the shantytowns on its banks, forcing thousands to take shelter in two schools. Many work as day labourers in factories in other parts of the city but the cost of fuel means that the bus fare now exceeds the daily wages.

Thousands of cars form half-mile queues across the city, waiting up to six hours for the ration of two gallons of petrol. Few people have water, because the electricity that drives the pumping stations is down. At night the few big hotels and expatriate apartments fire up lights from generators. Elsewhere and far down through the delta to the Andaman Sea: darkness.

VidaRed · 8th May 2008, 12:37

US aid flight to Burma not going ahead

Quote:

A planned US aid flight to Burma is not going ahead, the US ambassador to Thailand has said.

The US embassy had said earlier that the junta had agreed to accept US emergency aid after last weekend's devastating cyclone, allowing at least one US plane to deliver supplies.

It is unclear whether there was a mix-up in communication or whether the military junta withdrew permission.

Cyclone Nargis pounded the country's low-lying south on Saturday, killing nearly 23,000 people by the regime's official count.

Witnesses reported villages destroyed and people fighting for survival by clutching trees.

The US has urged Burma's military rulers to accept international disaster relief after the top US diplomat in Rangoon warned that more than 100,000 people may have died when the cyclone pounded the country.

Limited international aid has trickled in and the military regime's own aid operation has moved up a gear with some helicopter drops, but land convoys have not been seen.

State radio and television in Burma reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in the world's most devastating cyclone since 1991.

Officials at the US embassy in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, said there may be well over 100,000 deaths in the delta region.

That figure has not been confirmed, but is based on estimates by an international non-governmental organisation.

In one town alone, Bogalay, at least 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the military government.

Thailand, China, India and Indonesia were flying in relief supplies and the UN World Food Programme said it had sent four planes with aid that were expected to arrive today.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also urged Burma do more to facilitate international aid.

24 countries have pledged €19m and more aid offers were expected after the UN sets out its priorities and target for aid in a flash appeal on Friday. The UN emergency relief will contribute at least €6m.

McLovin · 8th May 2008, 12:42

Whether or not aid arrived or not, it's just a matter of time it will.

I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Burma.

100 000+ dead .. a huge disaster.

Nick 0208 Ldn · 8th May 2008, 13:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by VidaRed

US aid flight to Burma not going ahead

The world knew that it was coming and where it was heading, the Burmese Junta had warning enough to do something and yet, for all intents appeared to do nothing. And now they compound earlier mistakes with this politicking.

Comparing the situation to post-Tsunami Aceh is a stark contrast indeed. Road and transportation infrastructure was poor before the disaster, one can only iagine the state of it now and how it will be slowing the aid effort.

Apparently they are still only accepting supplies and humanitarian teams from "friendly Asian countries" in the main.

All the while in an attempt to win favour we have unpleasant sight of aid agencies, UN officials, International Development ministers, groveling to the very same people who are costing lives.

Dr. Dwayne · 8th May 2008, 13:23

the people of Myanmar have my eternal sympathy because they are ruled by an army of shitheads.

utdalltheway · 8th May 2008, 14:49

what a fcuk up!
100,000 people, my God.
hopefully the response (or lack of it) by the Govmnt of Burma will lead people to overthrow those idiots in charge.

props to the Americans btw. They get a lot of stick around the world but when something like this happens they are normally there to help. that makes me proud which is something I don't normally feel now that I'm living here.

Team Brian GB · 8th May 2008, 14:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by utdalltheway

props to the Americans btw. They get a lot of stick around the world but when something like this happens they are normally there to help. that makes me proud which is something I don't normally feel now that I'm living here.

Which is something that I have noted, The United States unduly gets criticised but it is they who are mobilising their air force, not the Chinese or the Indians or the Russians (or the French or Germans)- something the Anti-American brigade will fail to notice.

comlag · 8th May 2008, 15:25

The US owes the area a great deal for what happened in the past. However, as you say kudos to them for trying to get help there...not a word from China, Russia etc.

spinoza · 8th May 2008, 15:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Brian GB

Which is something that I have noted, The United States unduly gets criticised but it is they who are mobilising their air force, not the Chinese or the Indians or the Russians (or the French or Germans)- something the Anti-American brigade will fail to notice.

Possibly also because the Chinese, Indians and Russians don't have a great deal of transport planes. Not sure about the French and Germans.

The US has the best military in the world, both in terms of power and logistics. They use it to do humanitarian stuff, but then they can actually do it.

Quote:

Originally Posted by comlag

The US owes the area a great deal for what happened in the past. However, as you say kudos to them for trying to get help there...not a word from China, Russia etc.

Whenever there's a disaster the Yanks have offered help, generally. More so now than before September 11.

utdalltheway · 8th May 2008, 15:32

maybe I'm forgetting my history here and I'm happy to be educated - but what did the US do to this area (Burma) that would make them owe them?
The Brits have a long hsitory of involvement in Burma but I didn't know the US were there.

spinoza · 8th May 2008, 15:38

Quote:

Originally Posted by utdalltheway

maybe I'm forgetting my history here and I'm happy to be educated - but what did the US do to this area (Burma) that would make them owe them?
The Brits have a long hsitory of involvement in Burma but I didn't know the US were there.

Guess he's referring to the Vietnam war, which had only tangential relevance to Burma. Ne Win's coup in 1962 was initially caused by an anti-communist crackdown, but arguably that would have happened whether or not the US were fighting in Vietnam.

Nick 0208 Ldn · 8th May 2008, 15:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinoza

Possibly also because the Chinese, Indians and Russians don't have a great deal of transport planes. Not sure about the French and Germans.

I would say that it is more a question of priorities, i am not referring to the Indians here but rather the Chinese and the Russians. Do you think they actually care?

spinoza · 8th May 2008, 15:47

Quote:

Originally Posted by Nick 0208 Ldn

I would say that it is more a question of priorities, i am not referring to the Indians here but rather the Chinese and the Russians. Do you think they actually care?

The Chinese don't care about anyone, except other Chinese. But they sent aid, because they need Burma's resources. I think they just don't have the planes to stage a big airlift operation.

The Russians don't care about anyone, even other Russians, as long as they get the respect they think is due, and they're not about to send aid to Burma, because Burma doesn't have anything to give them. That, and their airforce is decrepit.

The US at least has some noble sentiments when doing things like this - some, which is better than none, and it shows.

kuanteen · 8th May 2008, 16:13

From the Thai side of things, we've also warned the Burmese and apparently gave them our detailed projections about the course of the cyclone.

The Nation

Quote:

Burma warned a week ago
By By Nophkhun Limsamarnphun
Published on May 7, 2008

Despite weather advisory from Thailand-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre, Burmese citizens were not given enough notice to prepare for Cyclone Nargis

Burma's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology was told of the formation of Cyclone Nargis a week in advance, but the country was not prepared to handle a disaster of this magnitude.

Bhichit Rattakul, executive director of Thailand-based Asian Disaster Preparedness Centre (ADPC), said yesterday that one of the first warnings came from the US Navy's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, which issued an alert on April 27.

The ADPC, which established an Asia-Pacific-wide early-warning centre for natural disasters at Thailand's Asian Institute of Technology in the wake of 2004 tsunami disaster, forecast the tropical cyclone in the Bay of Bengal, he said.

According to Bhichit, a former science minister and Bangkok governor, the data were passed on to authorities in several countries in the region, including India and Burma.

"Our model forecast was right in the landfall position of Cyclone Nargis and we issued this forecast to Burma seven days before the landfall. This accuracy is because the ADPC can provide maps with a high-resolution, 9-kilometre radius to pinpoint the location of our forecasts.

"In turn, we can identify communities and farmland that are at risk.

"Upon request from our partner countries, these severe weather advisories are given to national meteorological departments to enable them to issue disaster warnings to their people," he said.

Bhichit added that preparedness was no less important than early warnings, given that the lack of capacity to prepare well in advance could help prevent avoiding the consequences of natural disasters.

He declined to comment specifically on the Burma case.

Dying in a deluge

According to news reports, large areas of southwest Burma are under water after the devastating cyclone that struck at the weekend, killing at least 22,000 people, satellite images show.

Tropical Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma late on Friday, wiping away entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta and wreaking destruction on a country that is already one of the poorest on the planet.

Nasa pictures taken on Monday show the entire coastal plain under water, with fallow agricultural areas of the delta - the country's main rice-growing region - particularly hard hit by flooding.

Apparently, Thailand's own $100,000 worth of supplies has also been flown in but is apparently just sitting there in the airport.

redfromcanada · 8th May 2008, 16:27

You have to feel sorry for the Burmese population. It seems like the lunatics are running the country as they are in a few other nations of the world.

VidaRed · 8th May 2008, 17:34

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinoza

Possibly also because the Chinese, Indians and Russians don't have a great deal of transport planes. Not sure about the French and Germans.

Quote:

A planned US aid flight to Burma is not going ahead, the US ambassador to Thailand has said.

The US embassy had said earlier that the junta had agreed to accept US emergency aid after last weekend's devastating cyclone, allowing at least one US plane to deliver supplies.

It is unclear whether there was a mix-up in communication or whether the military junta withdrew permission.

Cyclone Nargis pounded the country's low-lying south on Saturday, killing nearly 23,000 people by the regime's official count.

Witnesses reported villages destroyed and people fighting for survival by clutching trees.

The US has urged Burma's military rulers to accept international disaster relief after the top US diplomat in Rangoon warned that more than 100,000 people may have died when the cyclone pounded the country.

Limited international aid has trickled in and the military regime's own aid operation has moved up a gear with some helicopter drops, but land convoys have not been seen.

State radio and television in Burma reported a death toll of 22,980 with 42,119 missing and 1,383 injured in the world's most devastating cyclone since 1991.

Officials at the US embassy in Burma, which is also known as Myanmar, said there may be well over 100,000 deaths in the delta region.

That figure has not been confirmed, but is based on estimates by an international non-governmental organisation.

In one town alone, Bogalay, at least 10,000 people were killed, according to a town-by-town list of casualties and damage announced by the military government.

Thailand, China, India and Indonesia were flying in relief supplies and the UN World Food Programme said it had sent four planes with aid that were expected to arrive today.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon has also urged Burma do more to facilitate international aid.

24 countries have pledged €19m and more aid offers were expected after the UN sets out its priorities and target for aid in a flash appeal on Friday. The UN emergency relief will contribute at least €6m.

...

Team Brian GB · 8th May 2008, 20:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by spinoza

The Russians don't care about anyone, even other Russians, as long as they get the respect they think is due, and they're not about to send aid to Burma, because Burma doesn't have anything to give them. That, and their airforce is decrepit.

Don't forget they are busy flying sorties near our airspaces so we have to scramble fighters to meet them, as we have done 21 times in a year.

It is good to hear that India, China, Thailand and Indonesia are getting involved- all of them have suffered terribly from such disasters in recent times so what comes around goes around.

I know China offered £2.5million and we offered £5.3million, though what is needed now more than anything is open borders- it is 40c in this part of the world and 100,000 could be lying dead, Burma must get a grip on this before they have a pandemic on their hands.

kuanteen · 8th May 2008, 21:08

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Brian GB

Don't forget they are busy flying sorties near our airspaces so we have to scramble fighters to meet them, as we have done 21 times in a year.

It is good to hear that India, China, Thailand and Indonesia are getting involved- all of them have suffered terribly from such disasters in recent times so what comes around goes around.

I know China offered £2.5million and we offered £5.3million, though what is needed now more than anything is open borders- it is 40c in this part of the world and 100,000 could be lying dead, Burma must get a grip on this before they have a pandemic on their hands.

It appears the junta don't give a shit. All the news reports seem quite bleak...

spinoza · 9th May 2008, 09:07

Quote:

Originally Posted by Team Brian GB

Don't forget they are busy flying sorties near our airspaces so we have to scramble fighters to meet them, as we have done 21 times in a year.

Quote:

Originally Posted by VidaRed

...

There's a big difference betweeen a commercial jumbo and a USAF Globemaster. I don't think the PLAF or Russian Air Force is flying in stuff using military planes.

Quote:

Originally Posted by redfromcanada

You have to feel sorry for the Burmese population. It seems like the lunatics are running the country as they are in a few other nations of the world.

Quote:

Originally Posted by kuanteen

It appears the junta don't give a shit. All the news reports seem quite bleak...

Burma is one of those countries where spastics with guns took over and haven't been kicked out. It is very sad indeed.

topper · 9th May 2008, 10:00

Myanmar embassy takes a holiday, prolonging visa wait

BANGKOK (Reuters) - Western aid experts in Bangkok will have to wait at least four more days to get into Myanmar to help cyclone victims because the Myanmar embassy in the Thai capital has taken a local holiday on Friday.

U.N. officials and travel agents said they had been told by the Myanmar embassy that any visa applications would not be processed until Monday or Tuesday, adding to the frustration of western relief workers eager to help the 1.5 million victims.

"This is a four-day wait which just should not happen," said Paul Risley, spokesman for the U.N. World Food Programme. "This is too long to wait for people whose lives are at such a precarious balance."

Thailand is observing an annual ancient Brahminical rite, or ploughing ceremony, dating back around 700 years heralding the start of the new rice-growing season. Friday was a holiday for civil servants but financial markets and businesses were open.

Nearly a week after a disaster that diplomats and aid experts believe may have killed 100,000 people, relief workers were still in the dark about visas, which are tightly guarded by the ruling military deeply suspicious of the outside world

The Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok usually does not accept phone calls and there was no response on Friday. A travel agent was told the embassy was closed and visa applications would not be processed until Tuesday.

Myanmar has allowed a handful of cargo flights from several Asian countries and two U.N. flights to land in the former capital Yangon and unload emergency supplies, but has responded slowly to allowing westerners to enter.

U.N. humanitarian agency officials said 30 to 40 "critical" U.N. and other aid agency staff were in the visa queue, most of them in Bangkok.

8th May 2008, 12:16	#1 (permalink)
McLovin Reserve Team Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: From the banks of the River Irwell To the shores of Sicily, We will fight, fight, fight for United 'Till we win the Football League! - Beirut, Leb. Posts: 1,113	Burma Cyclone 100,000 people thought to have been killed and more than a million homeless. The cyclone slammed into coastal towns and villages in the rice-growing Irrawaddy Delta six days ago, bringing winds up to 190mph and a giant tidal wave. Aid is being sent by the West to Burma .. R I P to all that have perished. Our thoughts are with you ..

8th May 2008, 12:24	#3 (permalink)
McLovin Reserve Team Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: From the banks of the River Irwell To the shores of Sicily, We will fight, fight, fight for United 'Till we win the Football League! - Beirut, Leb. Posts: 1,113	Burma's military generals have bowed to a chorus of international pressure, agreeing today to allow the US military and UN to fly critical aid to the country's cyclone survivors. With up to 100,000 feared dead and one million missing, Thailand said it had convinced Burma's secretive junta to accept US assistance, almost a week after Cyclone Nargis devastated the country. The decision came as the United Nations today said disaster management experts had received permission to enter the country six days after the cyclone hit. The UN said it would also immediately release $US10 million ($10.6 million) from its Central Emergency Response Fund (CERF). Thailand's Supreme Commander Boonsrang Niumpradit said Rangoon had agreed to allow in US planes that have been participating in joint Thai-US military exercises. "We have helped the Americans to talk to the Myanmar (Burma) government to allow US planes ... to fly humanitarian aid to Myanmar. They just agreed," he said.

8th May 2008, 12:42	#7 (permalink)
McLovin Reserve Team Player Join Date: Sep 2007 Location: From the banks of the River Irwell To the shores of Sicily, We will fight, fight, fight for United 'Till we win the Football League! - Beirut, Leb. Posts: 1,113	Whether or not aid arrived or not, it's just a matter of time it will. I just wanted to say that my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Burma. 100 000+ dead .. a huge disaster.

8th May 2008, 13:23	#9 (permalink)
Dr. Dwayne self confessed womens pantie wearer Join Date: May 2006 Location: form is emptiness, emptiness is form. Posts: 8,794	the people of Myanmar have my eternal sympathy because they are ruled by an army of shitheads.

8th May 2008, 14:49	#10 (permalink)
utdalltheway First Team Sub Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA (orig. Cobh) Posts: 5,693	what a fcuk up! 100,000 people, my God. hopefully the response (or lack of it) by the Govmnt of Burma will lead people to overthrow those idiots in charge. props to the Americans btw. They get a lot of stick around the world but when something like this happens they are normally there to help. that makes me proud which is something I don't normally feel now that I'm living here.

8th May 2008, 15:25	#12 (permalink)
comlag Reserve Team Player Join Date: May 2006 Location: Daydream Nation Posts: 974	The US owes the area a great deal for what happened in the past. However, as you say kudos to them for trying to get help there...not a word from China, Russia etc.

8th May 2008, 15:32	#14 (permalink)
utdalltheway First Team Sub Join Date: Aug 2001 Location: USA (orig. Cobh) Posts: 5,693	maybe I'm forgetting my history here and I'm happy to be educated - but what did the US do to this area (Burma) that would make them owe them? The Brits have a long hsitory of involvement in Burma but I didn't know the US were there.

8th May 2008, 16:27	#19 (permalink)
redfromcanada Reserve Team Player Join Date: Apr 2004 Posts: 642	You have to feel sorry for the Burmese population. It seems like the lunatics are running the country as they are in a few other nations of the world.

9th May 2008, 10:00	#24 (permalink)
topper Pooper Trooper Join Date: Sep 2004 Posts: 10,859	Myanmar embassy takes a holiday, prolonging visa wait BANGKOK (Reuters) - Western aid experts in Bangkok will have to wait at least four more days to get into Myanmar to help cyclone victims because the Myanmar embassy in the Thai capital has taken a local holiday on Friday. U.N. officials and travel agents said they had been told by the Myanmar embassy that any visa applications would not be processed until Monday or Tuesday, adding to the frustration of western relief workers eager to help the 1.5 million victims. "This is a four-day wait which just should not happen," said Paul Risley, spokesman for the U.N. World Food Programme. "This is too long to wait for people whose lives are at such a precarious balance." Thailand is observing an annual ancient Brahminical rite, or ploughing ceremony, dating back around 700 years heralding the start of the new rice-growing season. Friday was a holiday for civil servants but financial markets and businesses were open. Nearly a week after a disaster that diplomats and aid experts believe may have killed 100,000 people, relief workers were still in the dark about visas, which are tightly guarded by the ruling military deeply suspicious of the outside world The Myanmar Embassy in Bangkok usually does not accept phone calls and there was no response on Friday. A travel agent was told the embassy was closed and visa applications would not be processed until Tuesday. Myanmar has allowed a handful of cargo flights from several Asian countries and two U.N. flights to land in the former capital Yangon and unload emergency supplies, but has responded slowly to allowing westerners to enter. U.N. humanitarian agency officials said 30 to 40 "critical" U.N. and other aid agency staff were in the visa queue, most of them in Bangkok.