shit shit shi
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004405459_apmyanmar.htmlDeath toll from Myanmar cyclone nearly doubles
The official death toll nearly doubled to 78,000 from Myanmar's killer cyclone as heavy rains on Friday lashed much of the area stricken two weeks ago, further hampering relief efforts.
Aid workers shackled by the country's military regime struggled to get even the most basic data about the needs of up to 2.5 million survivors. The Red Cross warned that a lack of clean water may swell the ranks of the dead.
Myanmar state television said the official death count from the May 3 cyclone was 77,738, with 55,917 others missing.
The toll was nearly double the 43,000 previously reported, but the TV announcement suggested it might be close to a final figure. It said the government had "carried out search and rescue and relief work and collection of data, promptly, immediately and extensively." The release of the figures led to dire warnings from the United Nations and renewed calls for the military regime to allow international aid workers access to devastated areas....(more)
http://seattletimes.nwsource.com/html/nationworld/2004418994_apmyanmarringingyangon.htmlMyanmar's junta confines foreigners to Yangon
Myanmar's military rulers have thrown a tightening ring of security around Yangon, blocking aid workers, foreign diplomats and journalists from reaching cyclone-battered regions where millions need food and medicine. New roadblocks manned by armed police have sprung up around Myanmar's largest city. Authorities at the checkpoints take down passport information and license plate numbers and sometimes interrogate drivers and their foreign passengers before ordering them to return to Yangon.
"A circle has been drawn around Yangon and expats are confined there. While you are getting aid through, it's like getting it through a 3-inch pipe, not a 30-inch pipe," said Tim Costello, president of the aid agency World Vision-Australia, in Yangon.
"Foreigners can't go this way," a policemen Friday told a driver with a foreign journalist at a checkpoint manned by 10 police and an immigration official dressed in khaki.
The reporter was heading north of Yangon, not even in the direction of the Irrawaddy delta, where Cyclone Nagris spent its greatest fury two weeks ago. The United Nations says more than 100,000 may have perished while up to 2.5 million survivors face starvation and disease. In the week after the storm hit, entry by foreigners into the delta was difficult but not impossible. However, the security cordon has been noticeably tightened in recent days, with numerous new roadblocks thrown up along roads leading south and west into the delta from Yangon... (more)
Some diplomats will be taken on a visit to the delta by the Foreign Ministry on Saturday, said U.S. Ambassador Shari Villarosa. Diplomats, who must seek official permission to travel outside Yangon, have faced the same barriers in trying to enter the affected region...(more)
Here are edited email dispatches from friends and relief workers inside Myanmar.
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May 9, from Bryan Berenguer, Myanmar Field Director, Thirst-Aid:
It is very unclear how many are affected but we can put them in three categories: Homeless, injured or ill, and dead....
Currently, there is an estimated amount of food and water for some areas for only two more days. Hundreds of thousands are without shelter and are taking cover in any places they can to avoid the monsoon rains that are beginning. Food stores of rice are now soaked and fermenting and wells and ponds are now salt infused or contaminated from decomposing bodies — human and animal.
So what is needed: Buckets, plastic tanks — anything that can hold water! Right now people have nothing to collect rainwater or to hold the water to treat it or to store it. ...
We may be flesh and bone like every other living thing, but humanity makes us different and binds us, regardless of race, border or government.
P.S. Please also send some anti-stress medicine for the author of this email.
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May 11, name withheld by request:
C called. Cholera outbreak in town of 100,000. PSI has run dry of waterguard; is producing as fast as they can. UNICEF cannot get a hold of their Aquatabs. We are only people who can bring it in now. C talked to global medics — they will give us more. S is willing to make trips as well. C bought 1000 buckets, needs 4 thousand and so more. Our wires have not arrived yet.
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