A Tale of two disasters: Cyclone Nargis in Burma, quake in China

by Mizzima News

Monday, 19 May 2008 15:05

A sharper contrast is hardly imaginable. In the aftermath of natural disasters in Burma and China, the fleeting images of the relief effort in the two countries is the difference between night and day. From China's Sichuan province, new pictures and video footage are available in virtual real time. Army paratroopers are seen jumping off helicopters into difficult to access locations. The media is teamed with rescue crews as they struggle to reach the hardest hit areas. Statistics on those killed and injured is constantly being updated. Moving images of people being pulled out alive from the wreckage of collapsed buildings in the first several days filled the airwaves, with citizens vociferously applauding the government's relief efforts. The media has also been able to report the stories of sorrow. Compare this to Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis, and the story immediately following the China earthquake on many regional stations. Several of the images on the screen are now a week old or longer - the same Red Cross workers are seen rushing the same relief supplies off the same planes. The media has been increasingly stifled from reporting on the extent of the tragedy - with access to the delta region only growing more difficult by the day. Information from the generals in Naypyitaw relating to the extent of damage and ongoing obstacles is few and far between. And where were the pictures of people being saved, of crowds of civilians applauding the efforts of the government? What becomes starkly apparent when comparing and contrasting the situations in China and Burma is that, at least when confronting governmental response to natural disasters, it is not a question of political system but of political will. Unfortunately, as it is with other issues at the heart of Burma's ongoing national travails, the question of the government's response is an eerie repeat of colonial directives towards the region. Following a cyclone in Bengal in 1876 that killed an estimated quarter of a million people, The Times reported: 'The calamity is not likely to give rise to much material distress among the people. Government relief centers have been opened but no large sums of money will be spent and care will be taken to leave everything as far as possible to private trade.' Such is the response of the current Burmese regime. Yet, as crowds of people watch the images in a multitude of teashops, restaurants and homes throughout Rangoon - though interested - little if anything is said, and certainly there is no discernible public outrage calling for a drastic change in the policies and practices of the relief effort. Individually people will speak their minds and private aid has been critical in delivering what assistance has been forthcoming for cyclone affected communities. But on a public, national level the picture is one of general hopelessness. This feeling is reciprocated in the sentiments on the streets of Rangoon in the run-up to next weekend's constitutional referendum vote. Individually, people have hopes and opinions, but there is a widespread belief that their opinion cannot translate into any meaningful result or policy. From an issue, that only weeks ago it was hoped would harness the collective wishes of the streets, at least in Rangoon the forthcoming referendum is greeted largely with mass disinterest - in no small part it must be acknowledged due to the government's announcement that the constitution has already been approved. The people, in short, are increasingly losing any public, formal attachment to the state, their convictions and actions being relegated more and more to what little space there is to operate within the private theatre. While their thoughts and dreams are real, the belief that those thoughts and dreams are destined to remain just that - mere thoughts and dreams - grows by the day. < Prev   Next >