Red Cross workers get visas for Burma
10/5/08
Seven Red Cross aid workers, including four Australians, have received visas to enter cyclone-hit Burma. Australian Michael Annear, regional disaster response coordinator who has been in Burma since Tuesday, spoke to international media tonight. An estimated 1.5 million people have been left homeless by the deadly cyclone Nargis, which has killed an estimated 66,000 people. Red Cross workers in Burma have had two truckloads of aid supplies arrive, Mr Annear said.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23674642-26103,00.html
Burmese junta seizes UN relief aid
10/5/08
The Burmese junta last night seized all the relief aid the UN World Food Program had flown into the country even as survivors of Cyclone Nargis waited for food, shelter and medicine. The move by Burma’s generals left the WFP with no choice but to suspend the aid operation, already staggering under the obstruction of the regime. WFP spokesman Paul Risley said last night that all “the food aid and equipment that we managed to get in has been confiscated”. The shipment included 38 tonnes of high-energy biscuits. Mr Risley said it was not clear why the material was seized, but he had earlier blasted the junta, saying its refusal to let in foreign aid workers was “unprecedented” in the history of humanitarian work.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23674591-2703,00.html
Human toll grows as generals stall
Kenneth Denby; 10/5/08
If a doctor had seen him on the first day, or the third day, or even yesterday, then something might have been done for Kyaw Zin Law. The ailment that bloats his stomach and drains his strength is almost certainly something readily curable - malaria, or parasites perhaps, or a straightforward case of malnutrition. But since the cyclone drowned his neighbours and destroyed his home, there have been no doctors in this part of Burma, and Kyaw Zin Law has little time to live. Cradled in his mother’s lap, in a storm-damaged Buddhist monastery which houses hundreds of other refugees, he lacks even the strength to cry. His eyes are narrow slits, his skin is grey, and his skinny arms and legs stir feebly. A midwife, armed with nothing more potent than paracetamol and coughdrops, ministers to him as best she can, but it is hard to believe he will live out the week. He is two months old.
See: http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23672740-2703,00.html
US threatens food aid drops on Burma; 9/5/08; http://www.theaustralian.news.com.au/story/0,25197,23669943-25837,00.html
Born of tragedy, a baby clings to life
Jennifer Cavagnol;10/5/08
Ma Gan survived cyclone Nargis. The storm tore the roof off the tiny brick house where the 22-year-old and her extended family live, 95 kilometres south-west of Rangoon. Two days later, she gave birth. Now her baby girl is growing weaker by the day. Ma Gan is not producing breast milk, and almost a week after the storm blasted through, there is virtually no clean water in the town of Bogalay or the rest of the disaster zone.
See: http://www.theage.com.au/news/world/born-of-tragedy-a-baby-clings-to-life/2008/05/09/1210131264949.html
Tags: Burma, Environment, health, Human Rights, UN Aid confiscated