EDITORIAL
The extensive havoc wreaked on the Burmese people by Cyclone Nargis is very disheartening. And the slowness with which the Burmese military junta is responding to the world community's offer of help will only exacerbate the death toll, which has reached 22,980.
The powerful storm on Saturday, packing winds of 190kph, severely damaged Burma's Irrawaddy delta. An estimated 40,000 people are missing, as accounts from survivors and local relief workers begin to emerge.
Although the military bosses in Rangoon finally decided to allow the first UN shipment of relief assistance to be flown in on Wednesday - four days after the cyclone hit - complaints about the junta's working speed has been persistent.
News reports that elements in the Burmese ruling class are dragging their feet in issuing visas for relief volunteers to enter Burma is most irritating. Every minute that passes by means more lives are being lost.
The generals have been able to retain their iron grip on the country by shutting its doors to the West. Visitors entering the country are usually viewed with suspicion and distrust - especially foreign journalists. It is a pity the generals continue to operate under this mentality, even with the fate of their people now at the mercy of the international community's assistance.
According to information that is slowly trickling out, it seems the damage done by Cyclone Nargis has turned Burma's southern region into one of the world's worst natural disaster zones in recent history. Apart from the known death toll and the number of missing people, as many as one million people are now in grave need of shelter, food, water and medicine. A picture of surviving victims eating porridge from plastic shopping bags speaks volumes of the situation the survivors are facing.
It is imperative that Rangoon open its doors to facilitate a massive relief operation. This would enable international organisations to bring basic necessities to the survivors. Without such help, the second wave of tragedy - fatalities from putrid water, food shortage and from possible epidemics caused by lack of sanitation and medicine - could be equally devastating for the Burmese.
The junta must admit it does not have the capacity to tackle this gigantic relief task by itself. Nor can it rely on the assistance of a few trusted neighbours like Thailand, India and China. The work of delivering help to the survivors of Cyclone Nargis will be one of the biggest logistics challenges the international aid agencies have ever faced. Burma will need all the assistance it can get to to bring this help to its people in the first stage and to rebuild their homes and restore their normal life at a later stage.
The Burmese junta is notorious for its ruthlessness and lack of human concern whenever it needs to exert power to remain in control. There is little doubt the leaders in Rangoon will not care if more of their own people die, so long as they can keep Western influence out of Burmese internal affairs.
The junta has already wasted valuable time hiding behind its fear of the West and its own insecurities. This can no longer be acceptable while the poor people of Burma are dying.
The United Nations is reportedly mulling the option of invoking its "responsibility to protect" to bring relief assistance to the Burmese people without seeking Rangoon's permission. Such a move would become necessary should the junta continue to deny its own people the basic right to humanitarian assistance in such an extreme moment of crisis.
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