THE MASS-MURDERING MOTHER****ER COLD-HEARTED BASTARD CHRISTIAN GOD, BUSY AS
USUAL, COMMITTING MASS MURDER
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/05/myanmar.cyclone/index.html
YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more
than 10,000 people, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry said Monday.
Survivors were facing their third night without electricity in the
aftermath
of the historic cyclone that also clogged roads with thousands of downed
trees.
Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive
southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for
international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.
A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the
10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.
The staggering death toll would make the cyclone the deadliest natural
disaster to hit Myanmar in recent history, according to figures compiled
by
a United Nations-funded disaster database.
The government of neighboring Thailand said Myanmar's leaders had already
requested food, medical supplies and construction equipment, AP re****ted.
The first plane-load of supplies was due to arrive Tuesday, a Thai
spokesman
said.
United Nations Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon said in a statement he was
"deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the
people of Myanmar" and pledged to mobilize international aid and
assistance
as needed.
A United Nations Disaster *****sment and Coordination team is on stand-by
to
assist the government in responding to humanitarian needs if required, the
statement said.
Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats on their sides
in
Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power
lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (241
km) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20
inches of rain.
Residents of Yangon trudged through knee-deep swirling brown waters Monday
as the delta city remained mostly without electricity and phone
connections
The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar has issued a "disaster declaration" in the
country and authorized the release of $250,000 for cyclone relief efforts,
Deputy State Department spokesman Tom Casey said Monday.
A disaster relief team is standing by, Casey said, but the Myanmar
government had not given permission for the team to enter the country.
U.S. first lady Laura Bush blasted the military government, saying the
lack
of warning before the deadly cyclone hit was the latest example of "the
junta's failure to meet its people's basic needs."
Hakan Tongkul, with the United Nation's World Food Programme, said
residents
in Yangon needed urgent assistance. "This has pushed people to the edge.
All
that they have has been blown away."
Michael Annear, regional disaster manger for the Red Cross, said the group
was helping provide safe drinking water.
Relief agencies met at the United Nations' Bangkok headquarters Monday to
coordinate their response to the disaster. The International Federation of
Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said it had released 200,000 Swiss
Francs (about $190,000) to help with the aftermath.
A state of emergency was declared Sunday across five regions: the city of
Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and the states of Karen and Mon. All flights to
Yangon, the former capital, were canceled.
"Most Burmese with whom we've been in touch re****t they lost their roofs,
although so far everyone we have been able to contact re****ts that they
and
their families are safe," said a Yangon-based diplomat who requested
anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
Most telephone and cell phone service was down in Yangon, a city of about
6.5 million people, according to Dan Rivers, a CNN correspondent in the
country.
In some places, the price of fuel had quadrupled to $10 a gallon. Even
with
that price lines for gas stretched around the block and some sought to buy
gas on the black market.
The main water supply has been cut in many areas and power lines are down,
Rivers re****ted.
Earlier Monday, an editor for an independent Myanmar newspaper based in
Thailand told CNN that people in the Southeast Asian nation were angry
over
the response to the disaster by the ruling military junta.
"People are very angry with the slow response coming from the military
government," said Aung Zaw of Irrawaddy news magazine
Khin Maung Win, a spokesman for the Democratic Voice of Burma -- a
broadcast
media group run by opposition expatriates -- said the whole of the delta
region had been affected and entire villages had disappeared.
Pictures from inside the country showed a cyclone-ravaged region with tin
huts crushed under trees. Bicyclists navigated around large branches that
littered the deserted roads.
A man with his pant legs rolled up waded through knee-deep water and
strained to clear massive limbs that were blocking the entrance to a
house.
Despite widespread damage, Myanmar's junta plans to proceed with a
referendum on the country's constitution on May 10 -- the fourth step of a
"seven-step road map to democracy" -- according to state-run media re****ts
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