=====
Zomi says:
The life of the people of Myanmar is not important. The people can be
killed at will, or torured at will. There is no RULE of law, while there
are
many laws in the country.
To stay on in power is the most important thing.
This is the mind-set of the the isolationist, undeducated, paranoid
generals.
=====
UN and NGOs rush to ready aid for Myanmar cyclone victims
By ALEXANDER G. HIGGINS, Associated Press Writer
2 hours, 23 minutes ago
U.N. agencies and independent humanitarian groups rushed Monday to prepare
assistance for victims of a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, while awaiting
a
formal go-ahead from the military regime in the Southeast Asian nation.
As the death toll climbed, Myanmar's isolationist government indicated a
willingness to accept outside help. But details on how aid would be
delivered were still to be worked out, said Elisabeth Byrs of the U.N.
Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"The U.N. team has been activated and is ready to supplement the effort of
the government in responding to this disaster as soon as they receive
visas," Byrs said.
Some potential donors said governments and aid groups apparently would
need
individual approval to deliver supplies to Myanmar, which is also known as
Burma.
The United States said the junta had so far refused to allow an American
disaster team in to assess damage to follow up on an emergency U.S.
contribution of $250,000.
"That is a barrier to us being able to move forward," deputy State
Department spokesman Tom Casey said. "We asked for permission, but the
initial response from the government was that they were not inclined to
let
them in."
German Foreign Minister Frank-Walter Steinmeier, in announcing he was
making
$773,000 available to German aid groups to help Myanmar, urged the
military
government "to allow an effective aid operation and to work together with
international aid organizations."
Relief agency representatives met in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, as
well
as in Bangkok, Thailand, to assess the damage and prepare supplies.
U.N. officials said hundreds of thousands of people urgently need safe
drinking water and shelter. The international Red Cross said Myanmar's
national Red Cross society was already distributing supplies.
"Widespread destruction is obviously making it more difficult to get aid
to
people who need it most," said Michael Annear, regional disaster
management
coordinator for the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent
Societies.
In Geneva, Carsten Voelz, operations manager for CARE, said the
humanitarian
group would need more staff in Myanmar. "We have received a long list of
things that are needed, including shelter material, food, water
purification
stuff, tarpaulins and things like that," he said.
"We are basically standing on our toes, ready to run," he added.
The United Nations Children's Fund said it was working with other agencies
and Myanmar's Red Cross to determine how it could help.
"We have five teams assessing the situation on the ground at the moment,"
UNICEF spokeswoman Veronique Taveau said. "The situation seems to be quite
difficult."
Byrs, the spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs, said the World Food Program has 500 tons of food in
Yangon and planned to bring in more supplies.
Voelz, of CARE, said the list of needed supplies "was put together in
Bangkok based on our experience on what you need in situations like that.
As
humanitarian organizations we have worked in many cyclone situations, so
we
know what's needed."
Other groups preparing aid included Save the Children, Oxfam and World
Vision.
The European Union said it was providing $3 million in urgent humanitarian
aid for cyclone victims.
"With every hour that passes, the news coming out of Myanmar gets grimmer
and grimmer," EU Development Commissioner Louis Michel said. "This is a
terrible catastrophe that demands a quick and effective humanitarian
response."
Yangon was mostly without electricity. The situation in the countryside
remained unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable
by
the storm.
"Reports are coming out of the delta coast, particularly the Irrawaddy
region, that in some villages up to 95 percent of houses have been
destroyed," said Matthew Cochrane at the international Red Cross
headquarters in Geneva.
___
Associated Press writers Eliane Engeler in Geneva, Matthew Lee in
Washington, David Rising in Berlin and Paul Ames in Brussels, Belgium,
contributed to this report.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080505/ap_on_re_eu/myanmar_cyclone_aid
=====
|
