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Charity worker’s Burma mission

May 20 2008 by Katie Norman, South Wales Echo

A CHARITY campaigner is today poised for emergency deployment to disaster-struck Burma.

Jessica Camburn, left, who works for Save the Children, is heading to Burma to support the team of international emergency workers who are trying to ease the devastating impact of Cyclone Nargis.

The Burmese government says at least 78,000 people have died because of the cyclone on May 2 with a further million people homeless. However, the United Nations has put the death toll at 216,000, with around two million homeless and 220,000 missing.

Jess, 29, from Adamsdown, Cardiff, has been called up to travel to Burma at short notice to help develop funding proposals for projects helping children fighting for survival. She is due to fly out today.

She said: “It’s hard to find the right words or even know how to feel about this.

“The scale of this emergency is difficult to comprehend, despite the news reports that we are getting from Myanmar (Burma). I don’t think I’ll really be able to understand the situation until I’m out there.”

Jess, who is originally from Edinburgh, has worked for Save the Children for four years. She has previously worked in Uganda and spent a year training to be part of Save the Children’s General Emergency Standby Team. Her first two-month mission was to war-torn Afghanistan last year, but this is her first rapid-response call-out.

She said: “To be honest I never thought I would get the call to join the Myanmar team because it was proving to be difficult to get visas for international staff.

“However, it seems that finally visas are being granted and I was asked how quickly I could get my passport to London.”

Save the Children’s 500-strong workforce in Burma has spent the last week distributing food, clean water, shelter, blankets, cooking materials and oral-rehydration solution to treat diarrhoea.

Wales’ leading international aid charities have joined forces to launch an emergency DEC Myanmar (Burma) Cyclone Appeal, which has already raised £8m, but more cash is urgently needed.

To donate, call 0870 6060900 or visit www.dec.org.uk.

katie.norman@mediawales.co.uk
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World Bank won't lend to Myanmar, cites old debts

INGAPORE — A top World Bank official says the bank won't give financial aid or a loan to cyclone-hit Myanmar because of its outstanding debts.

Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub says the World Bank is working with Southeast Asian countries by providing technical support to assess damages in Myanmar and to help them to plan rehabilitation efforts.

But he says it is "not in a position to provide (financial) resources to Myanmar" because the military-ruled nation has been in arrears with the World Bank since 1998.

His comments Tuesday come ahead of an aid donors' conference in Yangon on Sunday to pledge funds for Myanmar.

The country has said that losses from the recent Cyclone Nargis exceeded $10 billion.

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Flags at half-mast as U.N. aid envoy presses Myanmar

By Aung Hla Tun

YANGON (Reuters) - Flags across Myanmar flew at half-mast on Tuesday for the victims of Cyclone Nargis as the U.N.'s top aid envoy pressed the military government to allow foreign helicopters to fly in supplies to survivors.

The army declared three days of mourning after a visit by 75-year-old junta supremo Than Shwe to the stricken Irrawaddy Delta on Monday, his first since the cyclone struck two weeks ago, leaving nearly 134,000 dead or missing.

Diplomats, aid workers and some citizens took it as a possible sign the reclusive leadership had woken up to the scale of the catastrophe and would allow in more international aid.

U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes told reporters he had discussed the use of helicopters with Prime Minister Thein Sein, who had said his government would consider it. Myanmar has allowed relief flights to deliver supplies to Yangon but baulked at any aerial access to the delta.

"Myanmar's government is very grateful for the U.N. and international support," Holmes said at a news conference.

Asked whether U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon would meet Senior General Than Shwe when he visits Myanmar on Thursday, Holmes said: "I think he will".

The bespectacled Senior General, who has run the country since 2005 from a bunker in a new capital 250 miles (390 km) north of Yangon, was shown on state-run TV touring hard-hit towns.

"The old man must have been shocked to see the real situation with his own eyes," one retired government official said in Yangon, the former capital where torrential rain is causing more flooding and misery for storm victims.
he government's toll stands at 77,738 killed and 55,917 missing, although the United Nations says that could rise dramatically if the 2.4 million people left destitute by the May 2 cyclone do not get a lot of aid quickly.

Until the last few days, the junta's attention appears to have been on a May 10 referendum on an army-drafted constitution that is meant to precede multiparty elections in 2010. The vote was postponed to May 24 in areas worst-hit by the cyclone.

JOINT PLEDGING CONFERENCE

The top general's visit also coincided with moves by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which Myanmar is a member, and the U.N. to convene an aid pledging conference on Sunday in Yangon and work on a bigger aid delivery plan.

"There are obviously some in the military who see how enormous this is, and how enormously wrong it could go without further support," one Yangon-based diplomat said.

Across the Southeast Asian country, flags flew at half mast from government buildings and a few private buildings amid growing criticism of the slow and insufficient measures mustered by the military.

But the New Light of Myanmar, the junta's main mouthpiece, quoted Than Shwe as saying the government "took prompt action to carry out the relief and rehabilitation work shortly after the storm".

The onset of the monsoon season is making life even more miserable for those in need.
Some donors returning from the worst-hit areas on the outskirts of Yangon said the authorities were handing out leaflets telling people not to hand donations directly to victims, but to do it under their management.

"There were victims waiting in the torrential rains along the road for donors to come," one man said.

The leaflets said the handouts might make victims "lazy and more dependent on others", people who were given them said.

"One young man felt very sad to see what was written in the leaflet," one woman said. "He murmured 'what are we supposed to do if we don't depend on donations in this situation?'."

The diplomatic effort to deliver more aid and expertise has picked up a little pace, but the World Bank said it could not provide financial aid to Myanmar because it has made no debt repayments since 1998.

The United States and France have naval vessels waiting in waters near Myanmar ready to deliver supplies.

Although there is little detail of how ASEAN will carry out what it called an aid "mechanism", Western governments and relief groups know it is the only option acceptable to the generals.

"It's a face-saving way to get them to admit outside help, but we'll have to wait and see if it works or if it's fudge," one humanitarian official told Reuters.

Historically the military in the former Burma has been suspicious of foreign interference. That distrust has deepened since the wave of international outrage and tighter sanctions following last year's crackdown on pro-democracy demonstrators.

(Additional reporting by Ed Cropley)
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Myanmar Mourns Victims of Cyclone

BANGKOK — Myanmar began three days of national mourning for cyclone victims Tuesday, one day after agreeing to let its Southeast Asian neighbors help coordinate foreign relief assistance following the devastating Cyclone Nargis more than two weeks ago.
The supply of aid and the entry of relief workers from countries outside the Southeast Asian bloc will continue to be limited, said Singapore’s Foreign Minister George Yeo after an emergency meeting in Singapore of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations, or Asean, which includes Myanmar. But the move was taken as a signal that Myanmar’s reclusive military rulers had bowed somewhat to international pressure to allow more outside aid.

“We will establish a mechanism so that aid from all over the world can flow into Myanmar,” Mr. Yeo said.

“Myanmar is also prepared to accept the expertise of international and regional agencies to help in its rehabilitation efforts,” he said at a news conference Monday. Referring to the continuing limits on help from countries outside Southeast Asia, he said, “We have to look at specific needs — there will not be uncontrolled access.”

Since the cyclone, which struck Myanmar on May 3, Western nations and major relief groups have expressed alarm about Myanmar’s refusal to allow in large-scale shipments to the estimated 2.5 million victims in need of aid.

Myanmar has permitted a small flow of aid from several nations, including the United States. But relief officials say that this amounts to only 20 percent of the needed supplies. Without more aid, they say, many more people may yet die of disease and starvation.

In an echo of China’s public response to its earthquake disaster, Myanmar lowered flags on Tuesday to begin a three-day mourning period for the tens of thousands of people who lost their lives in the cyclone. China observed an official silence Monday for those who perished in the quake just one week earlier.

International pressure continued to build on Tuesday from several directions after the French foreign minister, Bernard Kouchner, warned Monday that the ruling junta could be guilty of “crimes against humanity” if it continued to restrict the supply of aid into the country.

In New York, the human rights group Human Rights Watch Tuesday urged the United Nations Security Council to insist that “aid deliveries and humanitarian workers be given unfettered access” to Myanmar.

However, despite the international criticism, Myanmar’s foreign minister, Nyan Win, was quoted by Reuters as telling reporters that there had been no delay in accepting aid. “We always welcomed international aid,” he said.

After failing to receive a reply to letters and telephone calls made to the military junta, Secretary General Ban Ki-moon of the United Nations was to travel to Yangon, Myanmar’s main city, this week in hopes of meeting the country’s leader, Senior General Than Shwe.

On Sunday, state-run television broadcast the first public video images of the general since the cyclone, showing him meeting ministers involved in the rescue effort and touring some affected areas.

The United Nations under secretary for humanitarian affairs, John Holmes, toured the Irrawaddy Delta region by helicopter on Monday, according to Michèle Montas, Mr. Ban’s spokeswoman.

Mr. Yeo, the foreign minister, said Asean would work with the United Nations at the conference in Yangon on Sunday to coordinate aid deliveries. He said Myanmar had agreed to allow in medical teams from any of its nine neighbors in Asean. Thailand has already sent a contingent of more than 30 medical workers.

In addition, Myanmar has allowed in 50 medical workers from India. China’s official news agency, Xinhua, reported that a team of 50 Chinese medics arrived in Yangon on Sunday night.

Mr. Yeo said the Myanmar government estimated losses at $10 billion in the cyclone, which swept through the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon.

Myanmar has raised its official death toll to 78,000. The United Nations and the Red Cross estimate that the toll is more than 100,000, and that it might be as high as 138,000.

Representatives of United Nations relief agencies said that some of their supplies were getting into Myanmar but that the authorities were still severely limiting delivery and withholding many visas from foreign relief experts.

The United Nations World Food Program said it had managed to deliver food aid to just 212,000 of the 750,000 people it thinks are most in need.

The United States and France have naval vessels just outside Myanmar’s territorial waters, and are prepared to deliver supplies directly to affected areas along the coast, but they have not received clearance from the government.

In a column in the French newspaper Le Monde, Mr. Kouchner said the United Nations should intervene by force, or would be guilty of cowardice in the eyes of the world.

“What we need to bring is hand-to-hand, heart-to-heart help, not donor conferences with all their bowing and scraping,” he said later in an interview with French radio. “In the meantime, people are dying.”

Mr. Yeo rejected the idea of delivery by force. “That will create unnecessary complication,” he said at the news conference. “It will only lead to more suffering for Myanmar’s people.”

Seth Mydans reported from Bangkok and Alan Cowell from Paris.
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Diplomatic Licence: France vs Britain helping Burma

By South-east Asia correspondent Karen Percy
Burma is mourning the dead from the cyclone which struck 18 days ago and claimed the lives of 133,000 people, lowering national flags to half mast.

The junta is starting to open up to the outside world, inviting the Association of South East Asian Nations to oversee an expanded aid effort.

It is also inviting representatives from 29 countries to visit and see the devastation for themselves, ahead of a donors' meeting that is scheduled for the weekend.

United Nations secretary-general Ban Ki Moon will arrive in Burma tomorrow and on Thursday he will be taken to the Irrawaddy Delta.

Already Burma has agreed to allow about 300 medical officers from ASEAN nations to enter to provide assistance.

The three-day mourning period is one of the first demonstrations of public grief since the tropical storm ravaged swathes of the nation 18 days ago, leaving about 2.4 million survivors in need of aid.

Flags in front of Rangoon's City Hall fluttered at half mast in the light morning rain, but there was no minute of silence or a public ceremony, leaving many people unsure how to mark the occasion.

"We didn't know about this news. How are we meant to show our grief for storm victims?" said Mya Mya, a 43-year-old flower seller who is sheltering in a public school after the storm destroyed her home.

"So far we haven't got any supplies from the government. We just got some supplies from private donors, so that's why I have to work for my family."

A 45-year-old taxi driver said: "I just found out this morning, but I also don't know how I am meant to show my grief."

- ABC/AFP
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Starvation threatens in once fertile Myanmar

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- Farmer U Han Nyunt stands on some of the most fertile land in the world -- and fears that he will starve to death.
Acres and acres of rice fields surround him. Once they were his source of livelihood. Now they lie submerged and useless, after a devastating cyclone tore through Myanmar in early May.

Cyclone Nargis claimed more than 130,000 lives and left more than 2 million homeless, the U.N. says.

Now a second catastrophe awaits if new rice is not planted in the coming weeks -- potentially inviting a massive food shortage.

"We are all going to die here," Nyunt said. "But not because of the cyclone. We will die because we have no food."

The low-lying Irrawaddy Delta, which bore the brunt of the storm, is known as Myanmar's rice bowl region and produces up to 60 percent of the country's crop, the U.N .Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO) estimates.
By the time the storm hit, farmers had harvested their dry season crop.

"But the problem," says Concepcion Calpe, a senior economist with the FAO, "is that a lot of it was still in the field and it was completely wiped out."

Farmers tried to salvage some of the yield by drying it, but the country has entered its rainy season -- and downpours have dampened that prospect.

Calpe's organization estimates that 200,000 tons of rice may have been damaged by the cyclone.

She says the government has enough rice in its reserves to offset the loss. The challenge is to deliver it to hard-to-reach areas.

"The problem is not of supply," she says. "It is now a problem of logistics because you have to reach people and provide some minimum supply of rice."

The bigger worry for aid groups is what lies ahead.

With the rainy season here, farmers will need to plant in the next two months if they stand any hope of a second yield.

Salt from the cyclone flooding has seeped into the soil, preventing planting in some areas altogether, the U.S. Department of Agriculture said.

"No rice will grow here for a very long time," said Han Nyunt. "The soil is dead because of the flood water that the storm brought.

"We are trying to dry the seeds in the sun," he said. "But it is hopeless. Once the seeds have started sprouting like this, we can't plant them anymore. All we can do is feed them to the animals." Video Watch footage on aid bottleneck »

There is also a lack of animals to help plow the crop.

A boat trip down the delta's rivers revealed bloated carcasses of water buffaloes, the main farming animals in the area.

Soon after its independence from Britain in 1948, Myanmar -- then known as Burma -- was the world's largest rice exporter.

But decades of economic policies by the ruling military junta, which came into power in 1962, stripped it of the title. Still, it produces a significant amount.

This year, the secretive junta had granted private companies licenses to export excess rice to Myanmar's neighbors.

The government had expected to export about 600,000 tons. And aid groups had hoped that the delivery would help mollify the recent global panic over scarce rice.

Now, however, it is unlikely that Myanmar will be selling rice to Sri Lanka, Bangladesh or other countries.

People in Myanmar consume about 44 pounds of rice every month, compared with 15 pounds in Asia as a whole, according to the FAO.

Yet there may be one silver lining in the cyclone's dark cloud: the same rainfall that prevents farmers from drying their harvest will also, with time, wash away the salinity from the soil.

Calpe was optimistic the fields could recover in time for a healthy, albeit slightly smaller, rice yield.

The USDA estimates Myanmar's rainy season rice yield at 10 million tons.

But to achieve that, farmers -- homeless and hungry -- need help.

Aid agencies have struggled to gain access to the country, and only a limited number of relief flights have landed. The regime has indicated it would like supplies but not international aid workers.

The message may slowly be sinking in.
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Even as it began a three-day mourning period Tuesday for the victims of the cyclone, Myanmar agreed to let its South Asian neighbors send medical personnel and an assessment team to the country.

Myanmar's decision to accept aid from its neighbors came after an emergency meeting in Singapore of the 10 countries that make up the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).
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