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Zomi says:
The SPDC is intent to cling on to power and does not value human life, as
long as that life is ont the life of ,embers of the SPDC. The hands that
itch to shoot innocent people do not want to help the victims of the
present
disaster.
Highlights:
The U.S. yesterday offered an initial $250,000 in aid to the country,
which
is among the world's least-developed, while castigating its military
leader****p for failing to alert citizens to the approaching cyclone.
``Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed
to
issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path,'' First Lady Laura
Bush said from the White House.
Stothard condemned the decision to hold the referendum. ``More and more
people are going to die and the regime might not have much of a Burma to
rule after this,'' she said from Bangkok.
``People in Burma were kept in the dark,'' Stothard said in a separate
television interview with Bloomberg News and the military regime was
``radically unprepared to deal with such a disaster,'' she said.
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Myanmar Death Toll Rises to 22,000; Thousands Missing (Update8)
By Rattaphol Onsanit and Ed Johnson
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Photo:
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May 6 (Bloomberg) -- The tropical cyclone that slammed into Myanmar May 3
killed as many as 22,000 people and left tens of thousands missing, making
the storm Southeast Asia's deadliest natural disaster since the 2004
tsunami.
Myanmar state radio revised the death toll today and re****ted 41,000
people
missing, according to Western news organizations. Earlier, U Ye Win,
Myanmar's ambassador to Thailand, put the death toll at 15,000 when he
briefed officials in Bangkok on the scale of the disaster, Kallayana
Vipattipumiprates of the Thai Foreign Ministry said by telephone.
``At least eight town****ps are completely or mostly destroyed,'' said
Pamela
Sitko, a Bangkok-based worker with the Christian relief group World Vision
who was briefed by colleagues in Myanmar, formerly known as Burma.
Power was knocked out in the former capital, Yangon, and drinking water
was
contaminated in the city of 5 million people. In the town of Bogalay,
about
100 kilometers (62 miles) southwest of Yangon, ``we are getting re****ts
that
there are 10,000 dead,'' said Debbie Stothard, a spokeswoman for the civic
group Alternative Asean Network on Burma.
The U.S. yesterday offered an initial $250,000 in aid to the country,
which
is among the world's least-developed, while castigating its military
leader****p for failing to alert citizens to the approaching cyclone.
``Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed
to
issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path,'' First Lady Laura
Bush said from the White House.
New Constitution
Myanmar, a nation of 47.8 million people, is regularly hit by cyclones
that
form in the Bay of Bengal between April and November. Tropical Cyclone
Nargis struck as Myanmar, which has been ruled by the military since 1962,
prepares to hold a referendum on May 10 for a new constitution before
elections scheduled for 2010.
The junta vowed to press ahead with the referendum after the storm, Agence
France-Presse re****ted, citing state media. The U.S. State Department says
the referendum is an attempt by the military to retain power.
Stothard condemned the decision to hold the referendum. ``More and more
people are going to die and the regime might not have much of a Burma to
rule after this,'' she said from Bangkok.
``People in Burma were kept in the dark,'' Stothard said in a separate
television interview with Bloomberg News and the military regime was
``radically unprepared to deal with such a disaster,'' she said.
The disaster is the worst in the region since a 9.1 magnitude earthquake
offshore from Aceh on Indonesia's Sumatra island in December 2004 caused a
tsunami that swept across the Indian Ocean, devastating coastal
communities
and leaving more than 220,000 people dead or missing.
`Hit Hardest'
``The damage is very serious,'' U.K. Ambassador to Myanmar Mark Canning
said
today by e-mail from Yangon. The city, formerly known as Rangoon,
``remains
in very bad shape, but it's the southern areas of the delta region that
will
have been hit hardest. They are remote and difficult to access at the best
of times, so the picture will take time to build.''
The United Nations ``will do whatever it can to provide urgent
humanitarian
assistance,'' Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon told re****ters in New York.
``Because of the lack of communications, we are not quite sure what will
be
the total extent of damages and casualties.''
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown called for urgent food aid to the
country.
``Nearly a million people are now in need of food aid,'' Brown said to an
audience of business executives in London. ``We will work with the whole
international community to make sure that the food aid and other help
that's
necessary is available to the people of Burma,'' he said.
Thai Aid
The 10-nation Association of Southeast Asian Nations, which includes
Myanmar, will organize aid supplies through its coordinating center, Surin
Pitsuwan, the body's secretary- general, said in Singa****e today.
The Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej said today that the Thai
government
has prepared 30 tons of medicines and 12 tons of food to be ****pped to
Myanmar tomorrow. The government has also prepared emergency teams,
including doctors, which can go to Myanmar to help the victims of the
cyclone if they get permission from Myanmar's government.
Singa****e will contribute a $200,000 humanitarian assistance package,
Prime
Minister Lee Hsien Loong wrote in a letter to General Thein Sein, prime
minister of Myanmar. An e-mailed copy of the letter was sent to Bloomberg.
Sea Surge
Nargis packed winds of 120 miles (190 kilometers) per hour when it struck
the coast, sending the sea surging as much as 12 feet (3.5 meters).
The government declared a state of emergency in five low- lying provinces,
mostly in the rice-growing Irrawaddy delta, where villages were flattened
by
winds and rain, the UN said.
Myanmar may have to im****t rice because of ``huge'' damage to crops, said
Chookiat Ophaswongse, the head of the Thai Rice Ex****ters Association.
The country would probably have ex****ted about 400,000 metric tons of rice
this year because of soaring global prices, up from normal ****pments of
about 100,000 tons, Chookiat said in an interview on Bloomberg Television.
The storm will definitely ``jeopardize'' ex****ts and it is possible
Myanmar
will have to im****t some rice, he said.
State radio warned people to drink boiled water and be wary of mosquitoes
and s****s, AFP said.
`Huge Water Shortage'
Houses in Yangon use electricity to pump water, and with power supplies
cut
by the storm there will be a ``huge water shortage,'' Jyri Rantanen,
acting
head of disaster management in the Asia Pacific for the International
Committee of the Red Cross, said by telephone from Kuala Lumpur.
A UN disaster-*****sment team was dispatched to Bangkok, and the world
body
is prepared to provide a grant from the $500 million Central Emergency
Response Fund, created to rush aid to nations in need, spokesman Farhan
Haq
said.
The UN Children's Fund and its Development Program, which have offices in
Myanmar, stockpiled food, water and medicine before the storm. They will
distribute water-purification tablets, plastic sheeting, food and cooking
sets in Yangon and the delta region.
Flooding, blocked roads and disrupted communications are hampering efforts
to *****s the extent of the damage, according to the world body.
The junta has requested international assistance and UN officials are
engaged in talks with Myanmar authorities on how best to help, the UN news
agency IRIN cited Richard Horsey of the UN Office for the Coordination of
Humanitarian Affairs as saying.
To contact the re****ters on this story: Rattaphol Onsanit in Bangkok at
ronsanit@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Ed Johnson in Sydney at ejohnson28@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
Updated: May 6, 2008 08:49 EDT
http://www.bloomberg.com/apps/news?pid=20601087&sid=aHAw7bbQQHgs&refer=home
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