Aid Finally Allowed Into Battered Myanmar

First Plane Lands With Food For Cyclone Victims; U.S. Official Says May Be 100,000 Dead

(CBS/AP)  The U.N.'s World Food Program said Thursday one of its relief planes had landed in Myanmar as part of the first major international airlift of aid to cyclone victims.

A U.N. official said a plane from Italy arrived in Myanmar, and three more were to land later in the day. The official said the planes were bringing key relief items including high-energy biscuits and medical kits.

The planes had waited on the tarmac for the last two days to get the clearance from Myanmar's military junta to bring in relief supplies to the devastated Southeast Asian country. A top U.S. diplomat warned the death toll from Saturday's storm could climb to as many as 100,000 people.

CBS News reporter Celia Hatton said the most urgent danger for the millions left behind is the lack of fresh water, and the risk of disease spreading with dead bodies still littering fields in the hardest-hit regions.

Pressure mounted quickly Thursday morning as a U.N. official said the junta had not given clearance for relief flights to land.

Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in Bangkok, old The Associated Press that the WFP is in "constant touch" with the military junta to obtain the flight clearance.

He said "it is especially frustrating that critically needed food aid is being held up."

Andrew Kirkwood, Save the Children's Burma director, was in the Yangon when the cyclone hit.

"It's hard to describe just how urgent the humanitarian need is at the moment," he told CBS Early Show co-anchor Julie Chen. "I think that everybody was just completely amazed by the scale of the destruction."

Kirkwood, who has been delivering what assistance he can since the disaster struck, said "people in the worst affected regions right now, their absolute most urgent need is drinking water and food. Many people are still in areas that are inundated with saltwater, so fresh water is an absolute necessity.

The minutes of a U.N. aid meeting obtained Wednesday by The Associated Press revealed the military junta's visa restrictions were hampering international relief efforts.

Only a handful of U.N. aid workers had been let into the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which the government has kept isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control. The U.S. and other countries rushed supplies to the region, but most of it was being held outside Myanmar while awaiting the junta's permission to deliver it.

"They're suspicious of the motives of NGO's and the U.S. government and that is not going to change," said Hatton. "Also many people believe that the military regime wants to get political credit for distributing aid itself so it has asked for help but it wants to be seen as giving the aid directly to the people and it wants to be able to get the thanks from the Burmese people for doing so."

Meanwhile, the military government warned residents Thursday not to be duped by rumors of an impending earthquake, a second cyclone or looting.

The state media said that "unscrupulous persons are circulating rumors" in the wake of the devastating cyclone last weekend.

It said "do not believe in rumors. Help expose the rumormongers and inform the authorities if they hear of any rumors."

Hungry people swarmed the few open shops and fistfights broke out over food and water in Myanmar's swamped Irrawaddy delta Wednesday.

Entire villages in the Irrawaddy delta were still submerged from Saturday's storm, and bloated corpses could be seen stuck in the mangroves. Some survivors stripped clothes off the dead. People wailed as they described the horror of the torrent swept ashore by the cyclone.

"I don't know what happened to my wife and young children," said Phan Maung, 55, who held onto a coconut tree until the water level dropped. By then his family was gone.

A spokesman for the U.N. Children's Fund said its staff in Myanmar reported seeing many people huddled in rude shelters and children who had lost their parents.

"There's widespread devastation. Buildings and health centers are flattened and bloated dead animals are floating around, which is an alarm for spreading disease. These are massive and horrific scenes," Patrick McCormick said at UNICEF offices in New York.

Myanmar's state media said Cyclone Nargis killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing.

American diplomat Shari Villarosa, who heads the U.S. Embassy in Yangon, said the number of dead could eventually exceed 100,000 because safe food and water were scarce and unsanitary conditions widespread.

The situation is "increasingly horrendous," she said in a telephone call to reporters. "There is a very real risk of disease outbreaks."

A few shops reopened in the Irrawaddy delta, but they were quickly overwhelmed by desperate people, said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the U.N. World Food Program in Bangkok, Thailand, quoting his agency's workers in the area.

"Fistfights are breaking out," he said.

A Yangon resident who returned to the city from the delta area said people were drinking coconut water because there was no safe drinking water. He said many people were on boats using blankets as sails.

Local aid groups distributed rice porridge, which people collected in dirty plastic shopping bags, he said. He spoke on condition of anonymity because he feared getting into trouble with authorities for talking to a foreign news agency.

U.N. officials estimated some 1 million people had been left homeless in Myanmar, which also is known as Burma.

[fuzzybear9]

Hello Concerned American Viewers

Fuzzy what is on the agenda today ?

Well introspection yes introspection is the buzz word today.

One of the local tv broadcasters near by had a commentary about how terrible it was for the despot goverment of Myanmar, to deprive its Cyclone impoverished citizens from recieving American Aid
because it would make the goverment look weak and unable to provide for its citizens.
and it dawned on me
Introspection
I recall oh say four years ago when Hurricane Katrina pounded the Gulf Coast and many standed and starving New Orleans people were in desperation, you all remember the big sign HELP, and you will recall that the Russian goverment aand Italian goverment offered to send Hospital ships to the Gulf Coast to help the desperate people, and were turned down by GW and Fema under Jim Brown,
Hello, Hello,
is this ringing a bell ?
Hello ?
Just an observation.

sincerely your in the world news Bear
Fuzzy

[fabrat1]

This is what I thought how do we go to this high number, who is to say this horrible junta didn''''t use this horrible weather phenomenon to literary obliterate the people to finally get rid of the problem people the government thought they had. Do you doubt they would do that?


--------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Posted by starleo14672 at 09:31 AM : May 08, 2008

No, I don''t doubt it for a minute. That''s just too many people and for the death toll to go up so fast I don''t see how they would know the numbers that fast without helping it out a bit or even quite a bit.

[gurusavant]

Re: to Posted by starleo14672 at 09:31 AM : May 08, 2008

hard to imagine, but in places like that, a life means nothing. if killing a nothing can get you a couple of $$, and even more so, maintaining that ''nothing'' under the worst conditions as well, it is a lose lose situation for a country like the US, which is even presented as the responsible global caretaker/doctor/parent/nurse- what have you... it is an unfair position that many impoverished contries take advantage of...

[starleo146]

how do 100,000 people die in a cyclone?! it went from 350 to 100,000 in about 2 days!! that is a loTTTTTTTTTTT of people. how is something like that possible?! with corrupt governments like that who only use their population (even massacring them) to exert their control over other financially powerful countries, that ''''something''''s fishy'''' feeling comes real quick. absolutely more to this story than we are getting. without a doubt.

Posted by gurusavant at 09:17 AM : May 08, 2008

This is what I thought how do we go to this high number, who is to say this horrible junta didn''t use this horrible weather phenomenon to literary obliterate the people to finally get rid of the problem people the government thought they had. Do you doubt they would do that?

[gurusavant]

with the global food crisis, an event like this one seems to be a new form of blackmail toward especially the US. this regieme (myanmar) is obviously threatening to starve it''s population, or waste it away if this country (the US)does not comply. it is the most complicit form of bribery exhibited by violent leaders against inherently pacific nations like the US. many other impoverished nations use so called natural disasters for this purpose. just think of how much money/supplies are sent to them in these events (-for free!!)...sound callous, but it is a viable source of income to these regiemes.

[starleo146]

Wow!! if we only put out this much energy into Katrina, as we are to a country that doesn''t even want our help, why not help these people through a country they will accept and do it quietly, not like look look I am America and let me in.Katrina folks are still needing help Hello

[nwihoosier]

Peace and Love
Fibonazi, you say "demslie, give me a break. I side more with the democrats than you idiotic Republicans and I despise the government of "Myanmar". You are one of the dumber people on here commenting. Most likely a Christian. "

And YOU call other people ''dumb''. Whoa, boy

Peace and Love

[gurusavant]

how do 100,000 people die in a cyclone?! it went from 350 to 100,000 in about 2 days!! that is a loTTTTTTTTTTT of people. how is something like that possible?! with corrupt governments like that who only use their population (even massacring them) to exert their control over other financially powerful countries, that ''something''s fishy'' feeling comes real quick. absolutely more to this story than we are getting. without a doubt.

[swwils]

WE are the most powerful nation in the world ,yet we have these **** a.s.s. countries like myanmar bucking us!We should take the grub and leave,or bring it via gunship,then pass it out!I get so sick of these little countries who can''t feed themselves holding back food for political reason,while little children starve.Sens the delta force over there and pass out the food!

[beehive21-2009]

Why ,are you people making a big deal of a natural disaster,you may be next ,fires,floods,tornadoes,earthquakes, are all lined up waiting to come visit you.Start a food storage going if don''t have one,as you can see, when the raft of nature comes calling ,then you realize how small humans are on the earth ,Like sand on the beach.

[swwils]

If they don''t want our food ,there are plenty of hungry people here in the States who need it.

[fibonacci_]

demslie, give me a break. I side more with the democrats than you idiotic Republicans and I despise the government of "Myanmar". You are one of the dumber people on here commenting. Most likely a Christian.

[srebeiro]

And what makes you think that the US is only providing AID.
As of today - 3 AIRFORCE relief planes from INDIA have already landed.
2 INDIAN NAVAL WARSHIPS have already provided AID.
Left hand should not know what the right hand is doing. No need of making such a big hulla bulla over US aid. If it pains you to give, don''t give.

[louklou51]

They won''t led US aid in? Guess what? Screw them! They don''t want outside help, they are on their own.

[demslie]

This is still much quicker than the Cowardly Cowboy responded to Katrina victims. Others have, again, learned from another one of our moron''''s mistakes.

Posted by excoachken

There reason the Democrats will lose this election is that the American People are tired of the endless Hate, Anger and Rage Democrats show toward the United States. Notice here and everywhere else that Democrats have not rage and anger towards the Military Dictatorship of Myanmar that has starved and killed thousnads of its own citizens while spending billions on its military. And the genocidal goverment has refused help because, like Democrats, they could not give a DAMNN about dead people. The only thing that counts is thier evil political agenda. Democrats are silent about the murderers in Myanmar, the terrorsts IRAN, and Al Qaeda because they Hate George Bush and America just like Democrats. So, "The enemy of my enemy is my friend". I can''t wait to vote for these people?

UN aid is being allowed in. You can help by donating here - http://www.wfp.org/.

[trenticus-2009]

"But the regime, angry over U.S. sanctions, is unlikely to let the U.S. military on its soil."

Like I said screw''em! They are angry at the U.S. then let someother third-world country bail them out.

[excoachken]

This is still much quicker than the Cowardly Cowboy responded to Katrina victims. Others have, again, learned from another one of our moron''s mistakes.

[emelder]

Sanctions! If the US can stop disciplining and teaching nations ... to do it OUR way ... and if we can start listening more ... maybe, just maybe, we can be seen as reasonable partners in this increasingly interdependent world. It may take decades to undo the harm caused by Bush/Cheney, Wolfawitz, Rove, and Rumsfield. The fools!

[j62kd4b]

US Sanctions have caused WORLDWIDE problems - hope the next U.S. Administration will "undo" some of these injustices - Luckily the Myanmar Monks are HARD AT WORK TRYING TO HELP...not every country''s 5000 years old history can support a democracy!
Let them now have their God''s promised FREEDOM from Sanctions!