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Zomi says:
Are the generals stone-hearted? They claim to be Buddists. Real Buddhists
are are kind to other human beings. Buddhism teach it is not all right to
kill human beings, to steal, etc.
They want to receive the aid money but they do do not want to let the aid
workers to come. They want to steal. If the aid workers are present, it
will
be a little more difficult for the SPDC steal. That's why the SPDC does
not
want the aid workers.
Highlights:
More than one million homeless in Myanmarwere battling to stave off
disease
and hunger Thursday, with the military government still limiting foreign
assistance six days after a massive cyclone.
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Agence France-Presse - 5/8/2008 12:31 GMT
Grim fight for survival after Myanmar cyclone
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Photo:
1851157E4A3B92322146367BD9EF59.jpg
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A few aid shipments have arrived in Myanmar's main city, but the
planeloads
of supplies and heavy equipment needed to help millions of cyclone victims
remain largely stranded outside the country.
More than one million homeless in Myanmarwere battling to stave off
disease
and hunger Thursday, with the military government still limiting foreign
assistance six days after a massive cyclone.
With death toll estimates near 100,000 and the clock ticking for those who
survived, Myanmar's junta -- long suspicious of the outside world -- came
under new pressure to fully open up to help from abroad.
Aid was only trickling in despite warnings that specialists were needed to
deliver food and water through disaster zones strewn with rotting bodies,
and it was unclear if the regime was giving visas to foreign aid staff.
The United States, one of the military junta 's most vocal critics,
announced it was not sending an aid flight after earlier saying it was,
adding to the sense of confusion and frustration over the international
relief effort.
Aid groups said the country needs hundreds of planes to cope with Cyclone
Nargis, which barrelled into Myanmar overnight Friday, unleashing one of
the
worst natural disasters in recent memory.
They said help was slowly arriving from Thailand, China and India, but not
enough -- and not quickly enough -- for most of those in the stricken
southwest Irrawaddy delta who saw their villages ripped apart or washed
away.
The United Nations said four disaster experts received permission to
travel
to Myanmar, but there was no immediate word for hundreds of others
awaiting
a green light from the military, which has ruled the former Burma since
1962.
In a rare break from its policy of non-interference in its members'
affairs,
the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) pressed the junta to
soften its stance, as did China, Myanmar's most powerful ally.
ASEAN secretary general Surin Pitsuwan said the regime needed to work with
the international aid community "before it's too late."
"It's very much a matter of urgency," he said.
Authorities in Yangon raised their official death toll to nearly 23,000
late
Wednesday, with state media saying more than 42,000 others were missing.
But a military official in the delta township of Labutta estimated 80,000
dead there alone, and many families there told an AFP reporter most of
their
relatives had been killed.
"The storm came into our village," said one man in his 20s, "and a giant
wave washed in, dragging everything into the sea.
"Houses collapsed, buildings collapsed, and people were swept away. I only
survived by hanging on to a big tree." His wife and two children died.
"The waves were so strong, they ripped off all my clothes. I was left
naked
hanging in a tree," said one teenager.
Around 5,000 square kilometres (1,930 square miles) remain underwater, and
more than a million homeless need emergency relief, a UN spokesman said.
"The bottle-neck (in aid) is getting it out in the delta. That needs
boats,
helicopters, trucks," said Richard Horsey, a Bangkok-based spokesman with
the UN's Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Shari Villarosa, US charge d'affaires in Myanmar's main city Yangon, said
there could be more than 100,000 dead in the Irrawaddy delta, where 95
percent of buildings were reported to have disappeared.
Food prices in Myanmar, already one of the most impoverished nations in
the
world, have soared. A bag of rice now costs 40,000 kyats (35 dollars) in
the
commercial hub Yangon, up from 25,000 last week.
Petrol on the black market, where most people obtain their fuel, has more
than doubled.
Frustrated aid agencies said they are still being denied permission to
enter
Myanmar and use their experience and expertise to ensure the right aid
gets
to the neediest places as soon as possible.
The UN's head of emergency relief, John Holmes, told the BBC 30 countries
had offered assistance, adding up to well over 30 million dollars.
In Labutta, an AFP reporter said there was hardly any food or fresh water
left and, as the waters receded, countless corpses have been left rotting
in
the heat alongside the bloated carcasses of animals.
In some remote villages, residents said rotting corpses were stacking up
--
posing the risk of disease -- because they did not have enough fuel to
cremate them.
http://news.my.msn.com/topstories/article.aspx?cp-documentid=1378860
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