I wouldn't crow to loud yet Neo-Fascist. Our Hurricane season hasn't
started
yet.
"SheBlewHimDidYouBlowHim" <killgod@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> wrote in message
news:YeidnZ_xOPOdpr_VnZ2dnUVZ_hGdnZ2d@[EMAIL PROTECTED]
> THE COLD-HEARTED BASTARD CHRSITIAN GOD STRIKES AGAIN
>
http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/myanmar.aidcyclone/index.html
>
> YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the cyclone that ravaged
the
> Irrawaddy delta in Myanmar may exceed 100,000, the senior U.S. diplomat
in
> the military-ruled country said Wednesday.
>
> "The information we are receiving indicates over 100,000 deaths," said
the
> U.S. charge d'affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa.
>
> The U.S. figure is almost five times the 22,000 the Myanmar government
has
> estimated.
>
> The U.S. estimate is based on data from an international
non-governmental
> organization, Villarosa said without naming the group. She called the
> situation in Myanmar "more and more horrendous."
>
> "I think most of the damage was caused by these 12-foot storm surges,"
she
> said.
>
> Villarosa also said that about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta
> region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday
> into Saturday.
>
> On Wednesday, U.S. Secretary of State Condoleeza Rice once again called
on
> the junta to allow aid into the country and said she is speaking with
> leaders from other nations who may be able to help persuade Myanmar's
> leaders to do so.
>
> "It should be a simple matter," Rice said. "This is not a matter of
> politics; this is a matter of a humanitarian crisis, and it should be a
> matter that the government of Burma wants to see its people receive the
> help that is available to them, and so we are speaking with governments
> that might have influence with Burma."
>
> Myanmar is also known as Burma.
>
> The United States has pledged $3.25 million and offered to send Navy
****ps
> to the region to help relief efforts -- if Myanmar's government agrees.
>
> The U.S. military has flown six cargo helicopters onto a Thai airbase as
> Wa****ngton awaits permission to go into the south Asian country, two
> senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.
>
> Villarosa said 70,000 people are missing in the Irrawaddy Delta, which
has
> a population of nearly 6 million people. The official Myanmar government
> figure for the missing is 41,000.
>
> "I can only assume that the longer the delay, the more victims that are
> created," Villarosa said.
>
> Little aid has reached the area since Nargis hit, and on Wednesday,
crowds
> of hungry survivors stormed reopened shops in the devastated Irrawaddy
> delta.
>
> The United Nations urged the military junta to grant visas to
> international relief workers amid estimates of 1 million homeless.
>
> A United Nations official said that nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000
> square km) of the hard-hit delta are still underwater.
>
> Charity workers have gathered at Myanmar's embassy in Bangkok, Thailand,
> with vehicles, emergency food supplies and medicine, waiting for their
> visa requests to be approved.
>
> "We need this to move much faster," said John Holmes, U.N. humanitarian
> chief, after reading a statement from Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon.
>
> There were re****ts of "civil unrest" in the worst-hit areas where people
> are scrambling for limited food supplies, a U.N. spokesman said.
>
> In the flood-soaked Irrawaddy delta town****ps, U.N. *****sment teams
> observed "large crowds gathering around shops -- the few that were open
--
> literally fighting over the chance to buy what food was available,"
World
> Food Program spokesman Paul Risley said Wednesday from Bangkok.
>
> There were also also re****ts of price gouging in urban areas around
> Yangon, Myanmar's largest city and former capital.
>
> "There were long lines of people trying to buy what food was available,
> even at those higher prices," Risley said.
>
> The delta, Myanmar's rice-growing heartland, has been devastated by
> Cyclone Nargis, threatening long-term food shortages for survivors,
> experts said.
>
> "We can't delay on this; this is a huge disaster, and the longer
[Myanmar]
> waits, the worse it's going to become," International Rescue Committee
> spokesman Gregory Beck said.
>
> The Rome, Italy-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization estimates
> that five states hit hardest by Saturday's cyclone produce 65 percent of
> the country's rice, The Associated Press re****ted.
>
> "There is likely going to be incredible shortages in the next 18 to 24
> months," Sean Turnell, an economist specializing in Myanmar at
Australia's
> Macquarie University, told AP.
>
> Holmes said 24 countries had pledged financial sup****t, with a total of
> $30 million expected in aid.
>
> The WFP, which has started feeding the estimated million homeless, said
> there were immediate concerns about salvaging harvested rice in the
> flooded Irrawaddy delta.
>
> The cyclone battered the country with winds of 240 kph (150 mph) and
> 3.5-meter (11.48 feet) storm surges.
>
> Damage was also extensive in the country's largest city, Yangon. Much of
> the former capital is without power and littered with debris and fallen
> trees. »
>
> CNN's Dan Rivers, the first Western journalist into the devastated town
of
> Bogalay, said Wednesday that it was difficult to find the words to
> describe the level of destruction. W
>
> "Ninety percent of the houses have been flattened. ... The help that
these
> people are getting seems to be pretty much nonexistent, from what we've
> seen."
>
> He saw members of Myanmar's army clearing roads but handing out little
> food or medicine.
>
> "There has been scant help, really. I think we saw one or two Red Cross
> vehicles in the entire time we were driving," Rivers said of his travels
> over a 12-hour period. Learn more about Myanmar »
>
> Hundreds of World Vision staff are in Myanmar with limited supplies,
> according to spokesman James East.
>
> Tons of supplies have been readied in Dubai and can be brought in
quickly
> once clearance is given.
>
> "Even when aid comes in, it's going to be a logistical nightmare to get
it
> out to the remote delta region," East said.
>
> However, Yangon is almost back to normal, World Vision health adviser
Dr.
> Kyi Minn said. Roads have been cleared of debris, and electricity and
> potable water are available.
>
> The Myanmar Red Cross has been handing out relief supplies, such as
> drinking water, plastic sheeting, clothing, insecticide-treated bed nets
> to help prevent malaria, and kitchen items, the International Federation
> of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said.
>
>
> Other countries and world bodies offering help include Britain, Japan,
the
> European Union, China, India, Thailand, Australia, Canada and Bangladesh
> have also pitched in.
> Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage
> was concentrated over a 30,000-square-kilometer area along the Andaman
Sea
> and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's
57
> million people.
>
>
>
>
|
