10 May 2008
The Tragedy in Myanmar
Posted by Joy Bischoff under: Uncategorized; World Affairs .
I honestly can’t imagine what we should do under these circumstances. Myanmar is suffering and people need help or they will die. Yet if we bring supplies, the majority of the food could easily end up in the hands of the government instead. My heart aches for this human tragedy.
Myanmar exports rice as cyclone victims struggle
THILAWA, MYANMAR — While Myanmar’s military regime Friday restricted the rush of international aid offered to help hungry and homeless cyclone survivors, the government was exporting tons of rice through its main port.
Four of the five berths at the port of Thilawa for oceangoing container vessels were empty, but a crane was loading large white sacks into the hold of a freighter. The sacks were filled with rice destined for Bangladesh, said the drivers of at least 10 transport trucks waiting to deliver several tons more of rice to the docks.
The regime has a monopoly on rice exports and said this week that it planned to meet commitments to sell rice, whose price has reached record highs on the world market, to 
countries such as Bangladesh and Sri Lanka, even though Myanmar’s main rice-producing region suffered the worst damage from the cyclone, which hit a week ago.
The storm caused massive destruction in the Irrawaddy River delta, where farmers are now desperate for food.
As rice was loaded onto the freighter, people in nearby villages said authorities had handed out rations of rotting rice, apparently from ruined stocks in the port’s massive warehouse. The storm soaked about 40% of the stored rice, worth millions of dollars, said the chief driver, who requested anonymity to avoid problems with government officials…
Kyaw Win, 31, head of the village of Thamalone, swore at the mention of the military rulers. As he stood among broken wood planks, woven bamboo and thatch that had been his neighbors’ homes, he began to cry.
The village is only 15 miles from Myanmar’s commercial center, Yangon. It’s easy to reach by road and close to the country’s best seaport. But the only relief aid came from a private charity, the Free Funeral Service Assn.
Headed by movie star and opposition supporter Kyaw Thu, the association normally provides coffins so the poor can get a proper burial. But since the weekend storm, the charity’s pickup trucks and volunteer workers have been one of the main lifelines in the disaster zone.
They delivered 4.4 pounds of rice each to many families Wednesday and promised to return in a few days with more.
Villagers said that they saw cartons of instant noodles unloaded at a government office and that officials kept them for themselves.
The only help the villagers received from the government was half a pound of rotting rice, they said, and the absurdity made them laugh.
6 Comments so far...
Cameron Says:
10 May 2008 at 8:50 am.
Myanmar junta hands out aid boxes with generals’ names
YANGON, Myanmar - Myanmar’s military regime distributed international aid Saturday but plastered the boxes with the names of top generals in an apparent effort to turn the relief effort for last week’s devastating cyclone into a propaganda exercise.
The United Nations sent in three more planes and several trucks loaded with aid, though the junta took over its first two shipments. The government agreed to let a U.S. cargo plane bring in supplies Monday, but foreign disaster experts were still being barred entry.
State-run television continuously ran images of top generals — including the junta leader, Senior Gen. Than Shwe — handing out boxes of aid to survivors at elaborate ceremonies.
One box bore the name of Lt. Gen. Myint Swe, a rising star in the government hierarchy, in bold letters that overshadowed a smaller label reading: “Aid from the Kingdom of Thailand.”
“We have already seen regional commanders putting their names on the side of aid shipments from Asia, saying this was a gift from them and then distributing it in their region,” said Mark Farmaner, director of Burma Campaign UK, which campaigns for human rights and democracy in the country.
“It is not going to areas where it is most in need,” he said in London.
http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080510/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_cyclone
Jan W. Says:
10 May 2008 at 10:26 am.
Even if the junta takes a lot of the food we have to give. We can’t stand idly by and watch people starve without trying to help.
Mac Says:
10 May 2008 at 12:07 pm.
We shouldn’t give the food to the Myanmar government to steal. We should storm in there with our military and save those people. Thousands of lives are at risk and we can’t wait around and play games. I don’t think they would seriously try and stop us if we did it right.
Benjamin Says:
10 May 2008 at 1:13 pm.
Mac, I have read comments on some of the articles about this situation that are from Burmese people who believe that Bush manufactured the cyclone and is using it as an excuse to go in with the military and take over their country. This is a very paranoid government we are dealing with and it is a volatile situation. I’m not sure it would be the right thing to go in with the military. I know this is a human tragedy that is huge and devastating but the clash of militaries could escalate into something even worse.
Sharon Anderson Says:
10 May 2008 at 8:50 pm.
I wish we could just airlift supplies and parachute them into the areas where people are suffering.
Ghost Says:
10 May 2008 at 9:07 pm.
Maybe they could drop them in rubber rafts because most of the area is flooded.
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