Burma cyclone toll passes 22,000
Mark Dodd; 7/5/08
The Burmese junta last night threw a roadblock in the path of the biggest regional rescue operation since the 2004 Boxing Day tsunami, as the toll from Cyclone Nargis rose to 22,500 dead with a further 41,000 people missing. The scale of the disaster in the military-ruled Southeast Asian nation had drawn a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches after the 2004 tsunami that killed 220,000 people in the region. But last night, Social Welfare Minister Maung Maung Swe said foreign aid teams wanting to enter the country to help with the relief effort would have to negotiate with the regime to be granted access. “For expert teams from overseas to come here, they have to negotiate with the Foreign Ministry and our senior authorities,” he said in Rangoon.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23658456-2703,00.html
Disaster’s impact will spread far; Richard Lloyd Parry; 7/5/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23656775-25837,00.html
Wave of death swamped the delta; Aung Hla Tun; 7/5/08; http://www.theage.com.au/news/national/wave-of-death-swamped-the-delta/2008/05/06/1209839650059.html
Rangoon keeps agencies waiting as offers of help pour in; 7/5/08; http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/rangoon-keeps-agencies-waiting-as-offers-of-help-pour-in/2008/05/06/1209839648165.html
Tags: Burma, Environment