Slow deaths in delta

by May Ng

Saturday, 17 May 2008 22:45

In the latest reports, shocked and distraught aid volunteers have described the rapidly deteriorating scenario where rows of beggars are seen on either side of the road for miles in Irrawaddy delta---hinting at the unfolding man-made catastrophe in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. After the 2004 tsunami, the immediate, massive, and non-stop international and ASEAN aid had helped Southeast Asian nations to avoid one of the largest catastrophic humanitarian crises. Elizabeth Byrs, the UN spokeswoman for the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said that a massive operation in Burma to save a majority of the survivors, is necessary now to prevent an impending human catastrophe. She said that only about 10 percent of the people in need are receiving relief assistance in Burma. Two weeks have passed since the cyclone and the Burmese government has only allowed a handful of aid workers into the disaster zone so far, and none are from the UN agencies. News reports from the delta area are flooded with images of injured people with untreated festering wounds and many could also have sustained invisible internal injuries. While accepting aid from abroad, Burma's military rulers refuse to let foreign experts carry out large scale relief efforts for the estimated 2.5 million cyclone survivors. The World Health Organization has issued a warning that mosquito borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever may surface without effective humanitarian intervention from outside. The WHO is already reporting the beginning of a possible outbreak of diarrhea and dysentery. The Red Cross warns that to prevent dysentery and other diseases, the cyclone survivors urgently need clean drinking water. Thomas Gurtner, the head of operations for the Red Cross, warned that without adequate humanitarian aid assistance storm victims can die in a matter of days from dehydration and acute diarrhea. Mr Gurtner said that Myanmar Red Cross does not have enough capacity in Burma to assist all the 2.5 million cyclone victims in Burma. While there is little sign of official help, government agents continue to intimidate and harass citizens who are reaching out to the disaster victims. As the military seals off the cyclone ravaged delta, relief workers are prevented from reaching the cyclone victims outside of Rangoon. Safety and security of the volunteers and private individuals is a matter of concern as well since cyclone victims are increasingly more desperate in some areas. The UN chief Ban Ki-moon said that since Burma's generals have not responded to the call for cooperation with the UN and other international relief efforts, he is sending the UN humanitarian affairs coordinator, John Holmes, to Burma on Sunday to convince the military leaders there to open up the country for large scale international assistance. The EU's humanitarian aid official Louis Michel was denied access to the storm ravaged zone outside the army run camp near Rangoon. British diplomat Mark Malloch Brown said that he has never experienced a relief operation purposely being disrupted by its own government. Several countries have called on the UN to bypass the junta and deliver aid without approval under its 'responsibility to act' resolution, but the UN council members, China, Russia, South Africa, Indonesia, Vietnam, Costa Rica, Libya and Panama rejected the proposal. In additional to the military checkpoints that turn away humanitarian relief workers, aid efforts are hampered by poor infrastructure, and government bureaucracy. The United Nations and the European Union have again asked the Burmese junta to open up an air or sea corridor to channel large amounts of aid to the cyclone victims, and requested visas for the international aid workers. In the United States, 41 members of the House of Representatives have strongly urged President George W Bush to consider the option of humanitarian intervention in Burma by joining France, Britain, Germany, Denmark, and other nations looking for access into the devastated Irrawaddy Delta region, to help save millions of lives. According to the reports, French and the US naval ships are waiting off the Burmese coast to deliver large quantities of aid supply, including drinking water, but so far the Burmese military has refused aid shipments coming by sea. France's ambassador to the United Nations, Jean-Maurice Ripert warned the Burmese government that they are "on the verge of committing a crime against humanity" by not allowing international aid to reach the victims of Cyclone Nargis. With stronger insistence, for the first time, two of four shipments by Americans were allowed to be given directly to nongovernmental organizations without interference from the Burma's junta. And the U.S. Navy Rear Admiral Carol Pottenger, Commander of the Seventh Fleet Amphibian Force, is beginning to talk about building trust and of assuring the Burmese generals about the US commitment to helping the cyclone victims of Burma. Vitavas Srivihok, a diplomat from Thailand, has urged the ASEAN to activate the emergency assistance plans and send more relief workers. On May 19, the ASEAN is planning to discuss a long term strategy to rebuild Burma. But aside from these inconclusive talks ASEAN has not done anything substantial yet. Lim Kit Sian from the ASEAN Inter-Parliamentary Caucus said that ASEAN leaders should do much more to aid the cyclone victims in Burma. As international pressure begins to mount, the Burmese junta has agreed to issue visas to ASEAN assessment teams, and an ASEAN lead coalition of international aid is expected in Burma afterwards. Thirty Thai doctors and 130 more aid workers from Taiwan, India, Bangladesh, and China are also expected to enter Burma to help cyclone victims. Even though they believe that large scale and immediate relief is urgently needed to prevent additional catastrophic loss of lives in the Irrawaddy delta, the ASEAN will not consider a more forceful humanitarian intervention in Burma at this time. While Indonesia, Malaysia, Singapore, and Thailand are preparing to give needed assistance, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia are not offering much help. Approximately 1, 28, 000 people may have died from Cyclone Nargis according to the Red Cross. And the United Nations has estimated that about 2.5 million storm victims are at risk of starvation, diseases and death, in the Irrawaddy delta, as the army generals continue to prevent humanitarian aid from reaching the neediest cyclone victims in Burma. As the hours rolls by, cruel negligence of the military government becomes a virtual death sentence for the surviving victims of Cyclone Nargis in Burma. This is hardly surprising for the Burmese people, as the military junta is already famous for committing rapes, tortures, extrajudicial killings, massacres, forced labour and relocations, use of landmines in civilian areas, genocides and ethnic cleansings. Any nation that supports the negligent act of Burmese junta will be guilty of murders by helping to deny the most urgent humanitarian aid for dying people in Burma's delta. Whether it is China or an ASEAN nation, it will share the responsibility of the junta's criminal negligence, if it continues to insist that only the Burmese government's actions are best suited for its the people while the government is clearly letting them die without help.' According to Larry Diamond, a senior fellow at the Hoover Institution, public policies and programs do not really matter for the belligerent rulers in the most egregious predatory state (like Burma), since rulers have few intentions of delivering on them anyway. He said that political actors in predatory societies use any means necessary and break any rules possible in their quest for power and wealth. But in a karmic term, Cyclone Nargis in Burma and the devastating earthquake in China's south-western Sichuan Province might be significant; for both of these nations have recently attacked or murdered Buddhist monks. Though the storm did not strike the murderers directly, the cyclone came on the week when Burmese generals were finalizing the army constitutional referendum, and the earthquake struck China as the Olympic torch was carried out of Tibet. However, at the end, no matter what the karmic consequence is, optimism for the future of humanity will fade if hopes continue to dim in the Irrawaddy delta. May Ng is from the Southern Shan State, and New York regional director of Justice for Human Rights in Burma.   < Prev   Next >