TotalNV

YANGON: Myanmar said on Monday more than 10,000 people died in the cyclone that battered the impoverished nation, whose military rulers made a rare appeal for international help to cope with the tragedy.

Reeling from the weekend disaster, which also left thousands missing, the Southeast Asian country warned that the staggering death toll could still rise further.

"There could be more casualties," said Nyan Win, foreign minister of the military junta which has ruled the country with an iron fist for decades, and normally puts tight restrictions on aid agencies from the outside world.

"We will welcome help like this from other countries, because our people are in difficulty," he said.

Governments around the world pledged help for a country that has more often earned the ire of the international community, not least for keeping democracy icon Aung San Suu Kyi in detention for much of the past two decades.

Even the United States, which tightened sanctions on Myanmar in the wake of a crackdown on anti-junta protests last year in which the UN says 31 people were killed, offered emergency aid and put a disaster response team on standby.

But US First Lady Laura Bush accused the regime of failing to issue a "timely warning" to those in the path of one of the worst storms here in recent memory.

State television showed images of entire communities that had flooded since Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck late Friday near the mouth of the Ayeyawaddy (Irrawaddy) river, about 220 kilometres southwest of Yangon.

"According to the latest information, more than 10,000 people were killed," Nyan Win said after briefing foreign diplomats.

"Information is still being collected, and there could be more casualties."

The United Nations said hundreds of thousands of people had been left homeless when the storm, packing winds of 190 kilometres per hour, ripped through the countryside, destroying whole villages in its fury.

Thousands of buildings were flattened as the cyclone tore power lines to shreds, uprooted trees that blocked key roads and disrupted water supplies in the main city and former capital, Yangon.

"I haven't seen anything like this in my whole life," one elderly resident told AFP.

The announcement of the new death toll came as aid organisations were battling the devastation on the ground and the difficulties of getting supplies and personnel into one of the world's most isolated nations.

The International Federation of the Red Cross said in a preliminary estimate that several villages had been destroyed - wiped out by one of the worst storms here in memory.

Richard Horsey, a UN official in neighbouring Thailand, said that several hundred thousand people had been left homeless and without drinking water across a broad swathe of the country.

"If we look at the emergency needs for shelter and drinking water, there are several hundred thousand people who will need urgent assistance," he told AFP.

UN Secretary General Ban Ki-moon said he was "very much alarmed" by news of the high death toll, vowing that the world body would "do whatever (necessary) to provide urgent humanitarian assistance."

A spokeswoman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) said the ruling generals had "shown their disposition to receive international aid" but that methods of delivery had not been decided.

In Washington, Bush echoed calls made by Britain and Germany, urging the junta not to delay accepting the global offers of help.

"The United States stands prepared to provide an assistance team and much-needed supplies to Burma, as soon as the Burmese government accepts our offer," she told a White House news conference.

"The government of Burma should accept this team quickly, as well as other offers of international assistance."

The European Union released two million euros (three million dollars) in initial emergency aid. Germany, India, Japan, Norway and Sweden also quickly pledged to help.

The military government said Saturday's referendum on a new constitution intended to usher in democracy would go ahead, but many residents said they had more pressing problems.

"We don't want any democracy," said one man queuing urgently at a neighbour's well. "We just want water now."



Source

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


Email:
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.


To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.
Complete NV, Angular One, Raid, Vortex V2 Particle & Maxim

Huaikong

they r appealing outsider for help.wonder their govt will care anyway.'eat' $$ only....

oooLAooo

lol, our myanmars so pitty

oooLAooo

Sad lol...........

shypineapple

pity the people of burma...what a *****-up military goverment they have =.=''''

I know i screwed it up but I will love you forever.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

xRebornZ

RIP.. = [ *one minute of silence*

hooolahoop

can't any international organisation do anything?

Huaikong

imo the best cure is to overthrow the junta.....

CaRe

S'pore offers US$200,000 in aid to cyclone-hit Myanmar

Asean also appeals for generous help from the international community

SINGAPORE will provide US$200,000 (S$272,000) in humanitarian aid to Myanmar, which was devastated by Cyclone Nargis over the weekend.

The humanitarian assistance package includes medical supplies, drinking water, water purifying tablets, tents, groundsheets, blankets, sleeping bags and emergency food, said a statement from the Ministry of Foreign Affairs on Tuesday.

At least 15,000 people were killed in the cyclone and the death toll was likely to rise as officials made contact with the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta areas, Myanmar's foreign minister said on state television.

Myanmar has declared five divisions and states - Yangon, Bago, Ayeyawaddy, Kayin and Mon as natural-disaster-hit regions.

Relief and resettlement measures are underway after the government formed a national central committee for prevention of natural disaster to promptly and effectively carry out the undertakings.

The cyclone has affected about 24 million people or nearly half the population, according to the United Nations.

Appeal for 'generous' help from Asean
Asean on Tuesday appealed for 'generous' international aid for its member Myanmar.

'We are now appealing to all Asean governments, the private sector and the civil society ... to please respond generously,' Surin Pitsuwan, Asean secretary general told reporters in Singapore.

Mr Surin also called for help from Asean's dialogue partners, which include the United States, the European Union, China, Japan and South Korea, as well as from non-government organisations and civil society groups worldwide.

'Bilateral and regional efforts are now being coordinated with the international agencies, including the UN agencies, in order to bring quick, effective and adequate assistance to Myanmar,' he said.

Mr Surin, a former Thai foreign minister, said he had discussed the disaster with Brunei's Sultan Hassanal Bolkiah, who proposed that Asean should help stricken members as a regional grouping.

He said he hoped that 'we, Asean, can begin to build a stockpile of emergency relief as a network in the region in order to be prepared for such natural calamities and disasters,' Mr Surin said.

Asean and its three biggest trading partners in the region, China, Japan and South Korea - also known as 'Plus Three' countries - already have an East Asian emergency supply of rice.

Mr Surin said discussions are underway on how to tap into this rice stockpile to help Myanmar.

'There is a stockpile ready to be delivered in times of emergency among Asean and Asean Plus Three,' he said, adding that regulations governing disbursement needed to be worked out.

'The intention is there. The stock is available,' he said.

'I think they are getting into serious discussions now.'

Lessons from the 2004 tsunami that hit countries bordering the Indian Ocean, including Asean states Indonesia, Thailand and Malaysia, 'have given us a wake-up call and has triggered a sense of urgency among us all to get going,' he said.

'We cannot be complacent any longer about this kind of disasters that can come anytime.'

The 2004 tsunami killed 220,000 people in a dozen countries but caused little damage in Myanmar.

Mr Surin was in Singapore to speak at the launch of a new centre on non-traditional security issues - including climate change and degradation of the environment.

shypineapple

can...but not easy...afterall, they have the largest army in asia...

yeah,killed the junta :x

I know i screwed it up but I will love you forever.
To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

CaRe

Now I'm worried that the aid do not reach the people who need it most.

chikon

heard from my myanmmar fren that the thing they need most now is drinkable water. Other things like food can still be found at high prices

To view links or images in signatures your post count must be 10 or greater. You currently have 0 posts.

*StarDust*

The army control the country. Most of it will feed the army. Sad for those who have suffered.

Usually, that's the case. Everyone want to get the best deal out of a situation.

Voodoo Vince