Burma Rescue
Knowledge and Aid Resources for
Nargis Relief and Recovery Projects
Cyclone Nargis and the Politics of Relief and Reconstruction Aid in Burma (Myanmar)
August 13, 2008Journal of American Medical Association
In early May 2008, Cyclone Nargis tore across southern coastal areas of Burma (Myanmar), pushing a tidal surge through villages and rice paddies. The 12-foot wall of water killed tens of thousands of people and left hundreds of thousands homeless and vulnerable to injury and disease. Even in the commercial capital of Rangoon, where structures are more sturdily constructed, winds up to 120 mph sheared off roofs and uprooted trees and electrical poles. The UN Food and Agriculture Organization estimates that the tropical storm rendered 500 000 or more acres of the 3.2 million acres of paddy land in the Irrawaddy Delta, the hardest hit region, unavailable for the monsoon planting season that began in June.1 After the storm, Burma's commander-in-chief, Senior General Than Shwe, declared that Burma was capable of handling the relief effort but would allow limited international assistance so long as "no strings were attached."2
Typically, the public health model for disasters highlights a cycle of preparedness, mitigation, response, and recovery. When a natural disaster strikes, national and, if needed, international relief workers rush to the scene in an effort to save lives by providing 5 essential types of aid: search/rescue/protection, health, food, water, and shelter.3 At the same time, public health professionals conduct rapid assessments using cluster sampling methods to document mortality and morbidity, emerging epidemics, property destruction, homelessness and displacement, damage to water and sanitation networks, loss of electrical power and livestock, disruption of health care services, and food shortages. They also apply immediate public health measures—removing corpses, managing solid waste, immunizing survivors, disinfecting drinking water, educating displaced survivors about hygienic practices, and developing systems to detect and prevent increases in infectious diseases.
The Burmese government failed to implement these essential measures
Disaster Lessons
August 06, 2008Three months have passed since Cyclone Nargis and an accompanying tidal surge swept across Myanmar's fertile Irrawaddy Delta region, claiming nearly 140,000 lives and devastating the livelihoods of many more people. All told, some 2.4 million people were seriously affected by Nargis, ranking it among the worst cyclones in Asia in the past 15 years and the worst in Myanmar's history.
I recently completed my second trip to Myanmar, where I was again sobered by the immensity of the tragedy but was also cautiously hopeful about relief efforts. In May, government reluctance to allow international aid workers into the affected region sparked a storm of international criticism.
We have made a lot of progress since then. Touring the delta by helicopter, I could see that many houses had been repaired one way or another. There was agricultural activity in the fields and commercial activity on the waterways. Schools are in session, in tents if not permanent classrooms. And hundreds of...
ANALYSIS: ASEAN finally gets something right on Myanmar
July 17, 2008Bangkok - The Association of South-East Asian Nations (ASEAN) has had little to brag about with its handling of bad-boy member Myanmar over the past 11 years.
Myanmar, also known as Burma, joined the club in 1997 and has been a constant embarrassment since, to the extent of raising serious questions about the relevance of ASEAN as a regional-problem solving forum.
Then came Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3, which devastated Myanmar's central coastal region, including the rice-rich Irrawaddy Delta and the former capital of Yangon, leaving some 140,000 people dead or missing.
Myanmar's military junta, in their inimitable style, turned the natural disaster into a diplomatic one, by initially blocking the free-flow of international aid and aid workers to the devastated areas while pushing ahead with a national referendum designed to cement their political dominance over any future elected government.
The...
Stick by stick, Myanmar rebuilds
July 12, 2008Red tape and logistical barriers have kept aid down to a trickle for the hardest-hit villages.
BOGALAY, MYANMAR
Two months after a cyclone savaged the fertile Irrawaddy Delta, in Myanmar's southwest, the bones of drowning victims still clutter the muddy banks of waterways.
One bamboo stick at a time, survivors in hundreds of flattened villages are struggling to rebuild their homes. For shelter, they squeeze several families into a single tent. For drinking water, they collect monsoon rainwater that trickles off tarpaulin roof coverings into buckets or salvaged ceramic vases. For food, they cook communal meals with rice, beans and oil from handouts. Sometimes it is spoiled.
On a recent visit, one village looked as if it had been carpet-bombed, a craterous landscape of muddy pools, debris and the remains of water buffaloes. A few hundred feet away, villagers sawed and hammered at planks salvaged from the wreckage. A teenage boy in an oversize shirt donated by a Buddhist monastery...