February 11, 2009 2:59 PM
- Text
Aid Finally Allowed Into Battered Myanmar
(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.
"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.
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.
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