http://english.aljazeera.net/NR/exeres/8A006ADA-12A2-4753-B02F-4F876489D290..htm
Millions left homeless in Myanmar
Millions of people in Myanmar have been left homeless by the devastating
Cyclone Nargis and piles of bodies have begun rotting in the disaster zone.
Andrew Kirkwood, director of the aid agency Save the Children, said on
Wednesday that he believed millions had been left homeless although he didn't
"know how many millions".
Speaking by telephone to the AFP from Yangon, Myanma'r former capital, Kirkwood
also said: "There are 41,000 people missing but most people assume most of
those 41,000 missing are dead."
Cyclone Nargis, which slammed into Myanmar's southern coast on Saturday, has
left at least 22,000 people dead and another 41,000 missing by the official
count, but the toll is expected to rise.
Harrowing tales
Kirkwood said the organisation's staff had gathered harrowing eyewitness
accounts from the worst-hit area of the Irrawaddy Delta region, a low-lying
agricultural region which was inundated by a huge storm surge.
"One team came across thousands of people killed in one township, with piles of
rotting bodies lying on the ground as the water had receded," he said.
He said there were "really worrying" reports that people were dying in the town
of Pyinkaya in the southwest of the delta, home to 150,000 people, which
received no supplies of food or clean water since the storm hit.
"Assistance hasn't reached them yet and they are dying - completely isolated,"
he said.
Government red tape
Countries around the world are pledging aid in the wake of the devastation in
Myanmar, but few relief agencies have actually been able to get on the ground.
Although the military government has given the green light to foreign aid in
principle, many agencies have complained that red tape and the government's
inexperience have delayed efforts.
There are also concerns over what the military government will do with the
money.
The United Nations says a million people may have been displaced and the
situation on the ground is desperate, with survivors sleeping where they can
and running out of food and water.
The government has been criticised for responding slowly, before and after the
cyclone struck.
Meteorologists say they gave 48 hours warning before the storm, but people were
not told early enough to evacuate.
A spokesman for the UN's World Food Programme said on Tuesday it had begun
distributing food in damaged areas of Yangon and that 800 tonnes of food had
already arrived.
But many other aid providers were still waiting for visas to allow their teams
entry into Myanmar, including a five-person UN disaster assessment team waiting
to go in from Bangkok.
Two US navy ships are waiting near the waters of Myanmar for its green light to
carry out evacuation and other critical relief activities.
Aid abuse fears
George Bush, the US president, said: "We're prepared to move US navy assets to
help find those who have lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help
stabilise the situation.
"But in order to do so, the military junta must allow our disaster assessment
teams into the country."
Some refugees from Myanmar have criticised Bush for setting conditions on aid
in their country's hour of need.
But others are pushing for caution, saying they do not want humanitarian
assistance to end up enriching the generals who run the country.
They have warned that aid may be funnelled off to the military if it is not
distributed directly to the people who need it.
Bush Gulati, with the Committee for the Restoration of Democracy in Burma,
said: "If any aid goes in the hands of the government, even if it's a blanket,
the army will use it for themselves."
Countries such as France have also expressed concerns over how the relief will
be distributed.
It seems clear the military rulers in the secretive country are trying to
control the situation.
Rashid Khalikov, director of the Geneva-based UN Office for the Co-ordination
of Humanitarian Affairs, said that efforts to assist hundreds of thousands of
people in need of help were being hampered by the government's inexperience and
red tape such as the need for visas.
The scale of the devastation is also posing logistical problems for relief
teams, with communications and transport severely affected.
Difficult decision
The worst-hit Irrawaddy delta remained largely cut off from the rest of the
world four days after winds, floods and high tidal waves tore through the
densely populated region.
Despite all that, governments and aid agencies have already pledged more than
$10m in aid with the European Commission and the US contributing $3m each.
Walter Lohman, a South-East Asian expert at the Washington-based Heritage
Foundation, said Myanmar's military rulers now face a difficult decision
because of years of isolation from the rest of the world.
"The generals have a choice to make between helping the Burmese people - who
are in dire need of help - or out of fear of losing their total grip on power
and spoils, effectively turning away international assistance," he said.
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