Myanmar Mourns; 1.4M Still At Risk

Critics Call Official Mourning Period A Gesture; Junta Moves On To Reconstruction

(CBS/AP)  The United Nations will need to continue its emergency operations for the victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar for the foreseeable future, the global body said Tuesday, as the nation began an official 3-day mourning period.

The assessment contrasts with that of the military-led government in Myanmar. Junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe said earlier this week that the government is moving into the reconstruction phase more than two weeks after the May 2-3 disaster.

Out of 2.4 million people affected by the storm, only 500,000 have so far received international aid, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The cyclone has claimed about 78,000 lives, and some residents have been frustrated with the junta's response to the disaster calling the official mourning period a symbolic gesture lacking sincerity.

Flags at government offices, schools and large hotels were lowered to half-staff, but there was no period of silence. Shops were open as usual and many people in Yangon said they had little idea of what the government-announced mourning entailed. Others were angry.

"I don't think flying flags at half-mast is going to help. If they are sincere, they should welcome help from everyone," said Zin Moe, 32, who sells clothes. "They are not letting in aid quickly enough and people are angry."

Some 1.4 million people need urgent assistance and aid workers have yet to reach some remote areas in the badly hit Irrawaddy River delta, she said.

"There are still urgent needs for a part of the population," Byrs told reporters in Geneva. "So far the emergency phase continues for the U.N."

CBS News correspondent Allen Pizzey reported that the lack of fresh water and shelter are causing outbreaks of diarrhea and respiratory illnesses, according to the British charity Merlin.

Foreign U.N. staff in Myanmar are still prevented from moving freely outside the country's main city, Yangon, Byrs said. But local staff have been allowed access to eight government-run distribution centers outside the city and further progress in getting aid to the needy is expected in the coming days, she said.

"We hope to see a scaling-up of the operation in the near future" Byrs said, noting that the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations will create a task force to redistribute foreign aid in Myanmar.

United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon was to meet Shwe when he visits the Southeast Asian country this week to discuss assistance for victims of its recent cyclone.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes says Ban Ki-moon is supposed to visit Myanmar on Thursday for talks and an inspection of the devastated area. On Sunday he is supposed to attend a meeting of aid donors in Yangon.

Byrs said the U.N. has so far received only 22 percent - or about $43 million - of the $201 million it appealed for to help the cyclone victims in Myanmar. Donors have pledged about as much again but not yet transferred the funds to the global body.

[nyeinc]

Lesley Wroughton of Reuters report on May 20, 2008 that "We have teams ready from our disaster recovery experts who have worked in Aceh (province of Indonesia) in the aftermath of the tsunami and other situations around the region and have them ready for immediate deployment as soon as there is an agreement that we could assess the damage," Sarah Cliffe, director of World Bank operations for East Asia and the Pacific, added. The World Bank said in a statement Myanmar had not requested financial assistance from the development lender to deal with effects of the cyclone. (Washington, D.C, May 20, 2008, 3:29pm EDT)



Where does the World Bank Disaster Recovery Experts want to apply for visas?

The Burmese military government, particularly the Ministry of National Planning and Economic Development, might better help its fellow Burmese by initiating the process and paperwork necessary for requesting the financial assistance from World Bank.

[nyeinc]

Some private donors have been reportedly prevented from going into the cyclone-hit areas. NO, it is neither efficient nor effective to drop aid from the moving vehicles, possibly even dangerous. At the same time, it is not feasible and recommendable to totally block the private donors and small groups acting on their own to help the cyclone victims.
YES, the individual donors and small groups MAY go and donate what they want to who they think need their help. That is, the donations and relief materials are NOT required to go through (take the order and accept the supervision of) the government agencies or government-led committees. (They must accept the monitoring though.)
In stead of attempting to circumvent some local authorities who have been attempting to prevent havoc aid donations, the individual donors, groups and the non-government organizations should be aware that the cyclone victims would be better off if they can coordinate their donations/efforts with the government.

[nyeinc]

Coordinating the private donations and non-governmental efforts for cyclone relief does not mean that the authorities have the final say. It simply means that the individual donors/small groups should FIRST inform the central coordinating committee their intent, capacity and resources so that, the committee, keeping track of who has been provided help where, when and how, could direct the aid where they are needed most.
The coordinating committee might even arrange some local authorities or law-enforcement officers to accompany the relief groups so that the order is maintained. Notice that the accompanying authorities are there to monitor and help, not to supervise and direct.
The Burmese military government should take a clear and pragmatic position about the cyclone relief assistance from individuals, small groups and non-governmental organizations. The Burmese military government should also let its position be known clearly and colloquially via the newspaper, radio and television.

[nyeinc]

It may be time to publicly inquire the Bush Administration officials about U.S. position on the World Bank (and Asia Development Bank) aiding (giving loans) to Burma for reconstruction?

Of course, the usual line of question would be

What is the Administration%u2019s position on World Bank financially aiding the cyclone reconstruction efforts in Burma?

What is your individual position on whether the Untied States should block the World Bank aid or not?

[nyeinc]

An impromptu tour of point and go, would increase their confidence in what they see and decrease their tendencies to wonder about what they have NOT seen. This simple solution would also attest that the Burmese government has nothing to hide. This simple solution would also minimize the space for making the speculative, exaggerated, unfounded allegations. It would also be equivalent of a thousand guided tours, a million media releases and a billion guarantees that the Burmese government is doing all they can to help the cyclone victims and that we now NEED the international help for reconstruction and rehabilitation while maintaining the ongoing operations for food and health care.

Of course, an impromptu tour, point and go, should be accorded to UN Chief.

[nyeinc]

Shari Villarosa, the top American diplomat in Burma, said in News Hour with Judy Woodruff that in the relief camps, %u201Cnobody interfered with me as I wandered about. But certainly since we were taken from helicopter, from place to place -- but we couldn''t sit there and say, OK, we want you to touch down here.%u201D (the Online News Hour Website, May 19, 2008) It appears that the Western diplomats are skeptical of what they were shown in the relief camps partly because what they saw do NOT fit with what they were led to believe and partly because those relief camps could be completely staged.

The Burmese government should not only take the Western diplomats and visiting foreign dignitaries by helicopters but also allow them to see what they want to see at a place where they want to go impromptu. If possible, they should be allowed to say %u201Cthere, we want to go and see%u201D from the helicopters or %u201Cthere, we want to go and see%u201D on the map. Of course, so long as they want to go anywhere in the delta, not in the regions where the government troops and the armed rebels are still fighting and they don%u2019t fight each other over where they want the helicopter to descend.

[nyeinc]

Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003, Section 5

Loans at International Financial Institutions

The Secretary of the Treasury shall instruct the United States executive director to each appropriate international financial institution in which the United States participates, to oppose, and vote against the extension by such institution of any loan or financial or technical assistance to Burma

H.R.2330: Burmese Freedom and Democracy Act of 2003 (Enrolled as Agreed to or Passed by Both House and Senate), One Hundred Eighth Congress of the United States of America, AT THE FIRST SESSION

[nyeinc]

I wrote on May 12/13 criticizing an op-ed Fred Hiatt wrote in Washington Post %u201CIn Burma, a U.N. Promise Not Kept, Washington Post, May 12, 2008; Page A19.%u201D as follows:

This is not the only opinion editorial hostile Fred Hiatt wrote. It is not for the sake of the cyclone victims that Fred Hiatt has called for the overthrow of Burmese government. The following are the list of hostile op-ed he wrote throughout the past decade or so. It appears that Fred Hiatt ALSO wrote most Washington Post editorials. He is the reason why I said that Washington Post is so close and cozy with the regime opponent lobbyists that it publishes the news, articles, op-ed, editorials based on the information fed by the regime opponent lobbyists, in addition to the wire news. [Given how little interest the U.S media covers the usually uneventful Burma, it appears that we might have to thank Fred Hiatt EVEN for publishing these shallow and damaging editorials.] It would be great if someone with a little knowledge of lexicography compare Fred Hiatt%u2019s op-eds and Post editorials with the press releases and publications of Burma lobby in Washington, US Campaign for Burma, previously known as Free Burma Coalition.

If you go and visit its website on May 20, 2008, you will find that it was taken down.

Our site is temporarily down. Please bear with us and try back again soon.
US Campaign for Burma

Why? Only God will know!%u201D

[nyeinc]

The U.S. %u2026. its policy of blocking loans and assistance to Burma from the World Bank and the International Monetary Fund and should do likewise at the Asian Development Bank (ADB). (Philip S. Robertson, U.S. Policy Regarding Burma, Foreign Policy in Focus, Volume 5, Number 31, September 2000; Phil Robertson [e-mail] is the Mainland Southeast Asia Representative of the American Center for International Labor Solidarity, based in Bangkok, Thailand. These are the personal views of the author and do not necessarily represent the views or policies of either the American Center for International Labor Solidarity or the AFL-CIO.)

[nyeinc]

The US blocks Burmese access to International Monetary Fund and World Bank loan. (Free Burma Coalition, Press Release, J. Crew Drops Burma, January 20, 1997)

[nyeinc]

The relationship between the international financial institutions and Burma can best be described by the country background report on U.S State Department website. %u201CSince July 1987, the World Bank has not made any loans to Burma. Since 1998 Burma has been in non-accrual status with the Bank. The IMF performs its mandated annual Article IV consultations, but there are no IMF assistance programs. The ADB has not extended loans to Burma since 1986. Bilateral technical assistance ended in 1988. Burma has not serviced its ADB loans since January 1998.%u201D (http:// www. state. gov/r/pa/ei/bgn/35910. htm)

[nyeinc]

We the Burmese people have NOT received any grants and loans from World Bank, IMF or even Asian Development Bank. U.S Government has so far led the efforts to block the international developmental aid the poor countries normally receive even under the notoriously corrupt governments. I hope and pray that my fellow Burmese people will receive the help they need and deserve, with all precautionary and preventive measures taken to prevent the abuse/misuse/waste of the reconstruction aid.

[nyeinc]

The Gates Foundation has donated US$3 million for emergency relief efforts in Myanmar and will provide software to help reunite family members separated in the cyclone, Microsoft Chairman Bill Gates said Friday. (The Associated Press - May 9, 2008)
Burma needs software (database and GIS system) to keep track of the cyclone relief materials and delivery as well as planning. Is there any such software (database system)? Can the Gates Foundation create one if not?
A Burmese team has recently created a Unicode system for Burmese fonts which can be used to relate the program records in Burmese and English language. Short of that, the software with English version only would be helpful too. We can use the transliteration for the geographical locations.

[nyeinc]

In stead of giving two-hour-long lecture on the history of their country and three-hour-long presentation on how (well and immediately) their government did act to help the cyclone victims, the Burmese military government leaders might better, in their meetings with the world leaders and UN Chief, help their fellow Burmese by conveying what they think would be needed for their people in terms of financial and technical help from whom and what amount specifically, what necessary measures would be taken to prevent the waste of the international aid for post-cyclone reconstruction and economic revival, what is, very short version of, the current barriers for receiving the help from the international financial institutions such as World Bank and Asian Development Bank, and what can be done by the individuals they are meeting on behalf of the entities, countries, institutions, organizations, they are representing, etc.

[al2008-2009]

I%u2019m appalled at the administration%u2019s lack of response to the global warming earthquakes, hurricanes, and cyclones as well. We have no comprehensive strategy in place whatsoever, let alone a detailed plan of action to mitigate the effects of these quakes and cyclones, and mother earth continues to suffer while the administration refuses to go forward and do what%u2019s right for mother earth.
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How long must we sit idly by while our mother continues to suffer from the warming taking place at a feverish pace? How long must our mother suffer before we have proper c02 taxes put into place? How long must the destruction of mother earth take place before we finally put responsible regulations into effect? How long must we wait until we beef up our corn ethanol production? At least Obama wants to cut c02 pollution by 80%; he is definitely our best hope.
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We the people call upon our leaders to implement a comprehensive antiglobal warming strategy at once and work in coordination with state and federal officials; these quakes, cyclones and disasters continue to worsen and the quicker we stop the warming the sooner we will see these quakes and storms cease. We need action now.