Junta Unable To Dole Out Aid, Experts Say

Limited Resources And Disaster Relief Experience Make Myanmar's Military Government Ill-Equipped To Help Its Citizens

(CBS/AP)  With only a few aging helicopters and little disaster experience, Myanmar's junta is risking the lives of cyclone survivors by running a massive relief operation alone, aid experts say.

Since Cyclone Nargis struck a week ago, few of the estimated 1.9 million survivors in the country's flooded Irrawaddy delta have received any assistance. Aid agencies fear deadly outbreaks of diseases with clean water and food in desperately short supply.

The military government seized U.N. aid shipments Friday and continued to block entry of many emergency relief experts from international agencies and foreign governments. The junta said it would distribute the aid itself.

"Not only don't they have the capacity to deliver assistance, they don't have experience," Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country, said Friday. "It's already too late for many people. Every day of delays is costing thousands of lives."

The flow of aid has picked up speed but nowhere near enough, said CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey, reporting from Bangkok.

Food has begun to reach some of the worst hit areas, but there's a chronic shortage of medical assistance and little sign of government help, according to a CBS News source who has just visited one of the villages devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

A convoy from across the border in Thailand, even though it was a gift from the Thai king, still had to be dropped at the airport, where the Myanmar authorities would take it away, Pizzey reported on the CBS Early Show.

"They weren't even going to let the Thai see where it went," Pizzey said. "We have to take them on faith that they are delivering it. But they can't say for sure that it is getting there in the quantities that it has to."

Today, planes were loaded with food, medicine and three generators, items sorely needed in Myanmar, where there is little prospect of any power being restored in the near future. The ruling junta is maintaining its hard line against allowing in aid workers.

Few countries have the capability to deal with a disaster of this magnitude, and Myanmar's plight is magnified by its status as one of the poorest nations in Asia.

The government has spent the bulk of its money on building up the 400,000-strong military - at the expense of almost everything else - and lacks even the most basic equipment for a relief effort.

Andrew Brookes, an aerospace specialist at the International Institute for Strategic Studies in London, an independent think tank, estimates the country only has 15 transport planes and fewer than 40 helicopters. The planes, he said, are not capable of carrying tons of food, while many of the choppers no longer work.

"Even if they (the helicopters) were all serviceable, it's not even a drop in the ocean," Brookes said. "The task is so awesome. It would faze even a sophisticated force like the British, French or Germans."

Foreign aid agencies and governments, many of which have been stymied in their efforts to get visas for their workers, argue they can bring years, if not decades, of experience from managing disasters like the 2004 tsunami and the 2005 Pakistan earthquake.

They have the helicopters, cargo planes and trucks to quickly deliver supplies, the expertise to reach survivors in the most inhospitable conditions and the ability to avert humanitarian crises like disease outbreaks and starvation.

"As we know, the first two weeks are crucial. Speed is crucial," said Sarah Ireland, a regional director for the aid agency Oxfam, which has yet to receive permission to join the relief effort.

"The government of Myanmar can draw on huge amounts of experience, goodwill and resources to help in this effort," Ireland said. "Whilst we understand concerns the government might have, we would urge them to listen to organizations like us."

Christiane Berthiaume, spokeswoman for the World Food Program, agreed aid agencies are an integral part of any relief effort because of their expertise.

"You need people who know how to do the job," Berthiaume said. "When it's a situation of life or death, you have no time for training."

Others contend that handing over relief supplies to the government - especially one as secretive as Myanmar's - without outside oversight could result in assistance being diverted to the military and junta supporters or lost to corruption. Myanmar ranks with North Korea and Zimbabwe as one of the world's most isolated countries, and the regime is both unaccountable to its own people and suspicious of any foreign influence.

Already, Farmaner said he has heard reports of the military taking relief supplies from some Asian countries and putting generals' names on them as part of a government propaganda campaign.

"We have to be accountable to our donors in the states that paid for this assistance and we have to be transparent," said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs. "We have to be sure the aid is reaching the victims."

So far, arguments on allowing experts and equipment into the country have fallen on deaf ears.

In a statement e-mailed to The Associated Press, government spokesman Ye Htut said the junta was already conducting relief operations "systematically and orderly" and saw no need for outside assistance beyond cash and relief supplies.

"Myanmar has prioritized receiving emergency relief provisions and is making strenuous efforts to transport those provisions without delay by its own labor to the affected areas," Ye Htut said.

The government hammered home that point Friday, when it seized 38 tons of high-energy biscuits from two WFP flights that had just landed in Yangon. The biscuits were enough to feed 95,000 people.

That prompted the U.N. agency to say it would temporarily halt relief flights. Later, WFP chief spokeswoman Nancy Roman said flights would resume Saturday while negotiations continued for the release of the supplies.

But the government appears to be more concerned about losing its iron grip on the country, said Pizzey. Instead of news about the national disaster, state TV was broadcasting cheerful advertisements calling on people to vote for their future in the national referendum. That vote is being held this weekend, to extend the junta's 45 years in power.

It is also seen as one reason why foreign aid officials are banned. >>

"They don't want anyone to witness this massive rigging of the referendum," one man told a reporter, who called the election "a sham."

[sistatee-2009]

When American corporations see how dirt-poor this place is, they''ll leave Mexico, Honduras, China and India to rid themselves of the high labor costs there, and flock to Myanmar.

[naucoming4u]

If there is any bit of "silver lining" to this disaster...

...is that possibly, just possibly a few (or more) Junta officials also died a painful death!

Ah, but the tyrannical and murderous Junta need not worry about their country being invaded and their power overthrown...

...there''s just not enough oil there for Cheney (and Bush) to care about.

[barbaraf4]

If the world watches and waits a few more days, then the only problem will be corpse disposal. This is making me crazy. The food drop sounds like a wonderful idea. Let''s make it happen!

[cbsfan73]

Yep, it''s a shame they don''t have a lot of oil, we could conjure up a reason to invade them.

[johngoodnews]

The troubling story lurking beneath the aid distribution impasse is the fact that Burma is continuing to export rice due to the windfall profits to be made because of the upward surge in its price due to increased demand, with price now increasing even more because of the reduced supply due to the damage to the fields in the Delta. Wow. Now that''s capitalism. And I thought only Haliburton and the other Bush neoliberal capitalist cabalists understood how to turn disaster into personal profit.

[cbsblogger]

It''s a real shame that leadership incompetence, politics one upmanship and cronyism prevents relief work from being done that would actually help the people.

But that''s the same thing that happened with Katrina on a smaller scale.

[singingrick]

Just like Bush and his FEMA cronies after Katrina.

[harrydoghiny]

Too bad there''s no oil. We''d have been there yesterday.

[matter77]

Once again western leaders including Bush are caught in an impossible situation. If they don''t act they will pay, and if they do act they will be blamed for every last thing that goes wrong.
It takes a lot more than dropping packages of biscuits from the air. You have to put workers on the ground to distribute the relief. And hunger is only one of many problems. If you drop the food in the wrong place people will drown or get trampled getting to it. The next thing is all America''s enemies will then run footage of it forever, showing the World how America killed all these people when the gov''t had it all under control. And you can''t drop anti-disease in little packages. And there is no telling how many people will refuse to consume the little packages if they have been told by their lunatic leaders that the food is poisoned. Ever think about that?
Everyone is screaming the West needs to act now. This is an horrible, horrible situation no matter what we do.

[nothappyatall]

"They weren''t even going to let the Thai see where it went," Pizzey said. "We have to take them on faith that they are delivering it. But they can''t say for sure that it is getting there in the quantities that it has to."


More than likely, as is typical- all the money and food will wind up in the bank accounts and closets of the corrupt local officials and other corrupt people. Years from now we''ll read about how only 5% of the cash and food and supplies ever wound up being distributed, and that the cash is gone and the food- supplies dumped in some remote garbage dump.

[nothappyatall]

Too bad theres no oil. Wed have been there yesterday.

Posted by HarryDoghiny

Yeah, oil or RICH Hollywood types whose $20 million mansions are threatened by wildfires, then oh by gawd the whole army would there with helicopters, water tanks, fire crews, money, food, and hotel vouchers for the poor "victims"

[nothappyatall]

I like how they said they will "ACCEPT" US aid, but not aid WORKERS, LOL don''t make us FORCE you to take our cash and food! Like they do- have their hands out for cash and food but then tell us to go to hel1 satan after we send it.


"The government has spent the bulk of its money on building up the 400,000-strong military - at the expense of almost everything else - and lacks even the most basic equipment for a relief effort. "

I say phux em all, let em drop dead.

[nothappyatall]

This is an horrible, horrible situation no matter what we do.

Posted by matter77"

Not our problem, this was caused by the right winger''s GOD, he/she/it had the power to stop/prevent it, or not created the things which would cause these storms in the FIRST PLACE.
Put the blame squarely on the shoulders of the one responsible.

[nyeinc]

Everyone with a little knowledge of U.S-Burma relations in the past twenty years know that the Burmese military government is NOT going to allow U.S military aircrafts or warships into the country, even in the context of delivering relief materials and humanitarian aid. Consequently, U.S has NOT delivered so far any relief materials or assistance (beyond $ 250,000 released from U.S Embassy in Yangon). Instead, U.S has delivered more criticisms and more negative media reports about Burmese military regime while Thailand, China, Italy and India has delivered the first batch of relief materials, and even the relief materials from Israel and UAE are on the way.

If the US-Burma relations do not leave enough room for US to deliver direct assistance or deliver it in the forms/modes it prefers, at least US can help the cyclone victims via United Nations.

If the US-Burma relations do not leave enough room for US to deliver the relief materials with U.S military aircrafts, Bush Administration can at least request Royal Thai Air Force to deliver the relief materials on its behalf since its aircrafts carrying the relief materials are already in Thailand.

[nyeinc]

Everyone with a little knowledge of U.S-Burma relations in the past twenty years know that the Burmese military government is NOT going to allow U.S military aircrafts or warships into the country, even in the context of delivering relief materials and humanitarian aid. Consequently, U.S has NOT delivered so far any relief materials or assistance (beyond $ 250,000 released from U.S Embassy in Yangon). Instead, U.S has delivered more criticisms and more negative media reports about Burmese military regime while Thailand, China, Italy and India has delivered the first batch of relief materials, and even the relief materials from Israel and UAE are on the way.

If the US-Burma relations do not leave enough room for US to deliver direct assistance or deliver it in the forms/modes it prefers, at least US can help the cyclone victims via United Nations.

If the US-Burma relations do not leave enough room for US to deliver the relief materials with U.S military aircrafts, Bush Administration can at least request Royal Thai Air Force to deliver the relief materials on its behalf since its aircrafts carrying the relief materials are already in Thailand.

[veteran72]

Huh,....It looks like these people are just like Americans after Katrina....No assistance and a Government only concerned with supporting a Military Dictatorship......Shrub should contact the leaders to congratulate them on following his model....

[nyeinc]

In stead of exploring the alternative routes of delivering help to the cyclone victims, President Bush, as usual, is bogged down on the blocked routes. It might appear that Bush Administration is offering help cyclone victims in the formats/modes that will most likely be rejected so that it doesn%u2019t have to help at all at the end and place the blame on the Burmese military government for not allowing U.S warships and military aircrafts carrying the relief materials into the country. It is a good media strategy, isn%u2019t it?

[randynason]

-Another fascist little dictatorship, unable to care for its'' own. Maybe Laura and George can think about retiring over there. I''m sure the American dollar will go far, in that place. Obtaining gas might be a problem, though.

[nyeinc]

In stead of exploring the alternative routes of delivering help to the cyclone victims, President Bush, as usual, is bogged down on the blocked routes. It might appear that Bush Administration is offering help cyclone victims in the formats/modes that will most likely be rejected so that it doesn%u2019t have to help at all at the end and place the blame on the Burmese military government for not allowing U.S warships and military aircrafts carrying the relief materials into the country. It is a good media strategy, isn%u2019t it?

[johnshaft4]

They act like FEMA. They must have learned it from Bush and "heck of a job" Brownie and "magnificent job" Chertoff.

[cnjcc]

In addition to the oil, another reason we went into Iraq was the threat that Saddam''s WMD (including the gassing of 5000 Kurds) meant to opposition civilians and neighbors. In Myanmar, the actions of the political regime are the cause of much more than that in death and suffering of it''s civilians. As the 800 lb gorilla, we should just say to them, "We are going to send in aid and teams to administer and distribute it, and if you use your forces against us, we will take you out.

[j-whitman]

cbsn9000,,,, Quandry here pal --- McCoin''s lobbists, aided the Myanmar''s Junta

[mgpyu]

What is going on With UN? They should put Myanmar Junta general in World Tribunal Court due to their crime to kill thousands of cyclone survivors due to block international Aids and experts

[usbrit-2009]

Although an independant airlift sounds like a great idea but is somewhat impractical. You have to remember that the disaster area, the Irrawaddy Delta, is essentially a vast swamp. Undirected air drops would be more likely to be lost in rivers, bogs etc. than to fall on dry land.