Junta letting people die: aid groups
8/5/08
Frustrated aid groups rounded on Burma’s military rulers last night, accusing them of letting cyclone survivors die while the junta blocked urgent visa applications from disaster experts. The junta stalled on issuing visas to aid workers as millions of people were left homeless in the wake of Cyclone Nargis and tens of thousands of bodies piled up in the disaster zone. The number of dead and missing soared past 60,000 yesterday, and was expected to climb as a vast swath of Burma’s inundated delta region remained cut off. Entire towns were swept away by the storm and ocean surge, leaving millions homeless and lacking food and clean water, triggering fears disease could push the death toll still higher.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23661392-2703,00.html
Burmese bodies pile up after cyclone
7/5/08
Millions of people in Burma have been left homeless by devastating Cyclone Nargis and piles of bodies have begun rotting in the disaster zone, aid agency Save the Children said today. Nargis, which slammed into the 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. “There are 41,000 people missing but most people assume most of those 41,000 missing are dead,” said Andrew Kirkwood, Burma country director for Save the Children, one of the few aid agencies allowed to operate there.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23659777-25837,00.html
Eyewitness to tragedy in Burma; Max Quincey; 8/5/08; http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/eyewitness-to-tragedy-in-burma/2008/05/07/1210131068710.html
Charlie McDonald-Gibson; 8/5/08; http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/anger-brews-on-devastated-streets-over-food/2008/05/07/1210131068726.html Million Burmese fight for life; 8/5/08; http://www.smh.com.au/news/world/million-burmese-fight-for-life/2008/05/07/1210131068181.html