Burma (Myanmar) is in the news again for the suffering of its people, this time at the hands of a disastrous cyclone. On Saturday, Cyclone Nargis hit hard causing at least five states and the city of Rangoon to be declared disaster zones. At this point, the exact death toll is unknown, but just in the last day it has gone up from a little over 300 to now close to 10,000 and still counting. Whole villages have been wiped out and hundreds of thousands of people are without shelter, clean water, and basic supplies. Profiteering is taking its toll as the prices for goods are drastically increasing.

Aid organizations and foreign governments are scrambling to put together packages, as well as ship out stocks of supplies already prepared for natural disasters. The government of Burma has said they are willing to accept this aid, but it is hard to say what the future will bring for the affected populations, especially those completely cut off by destroyed infrastructure. In fact, these outlying areas are “still under negotiation” as to whether the UN and other aid organizations will be allowed to go there. The aid will also be difficult to watch from the outside as many major news organizations are still not allowed to report out of Burma.

Even in cases where countries have infrastructure, money, and the capability to respond to natural disasters, as Americans, we know what a lack of organization and political will can do to prevent assistance from reaching those most deeply affected by severe natural disasters. And if the death toll continues to rise in Burma, it will be the biggest natural disaster in Asia since the Tsunami of 2004.

Disasters of this magnitude take a great deal of time to recover from. For example, India, despite having a more modern infrastructure and more money than Burma, is still dealing with the remnants of the Tsunami in 2007, almost three years after the storm hit. This is especially the case for Indians among the poorest classes living in the affected areas. According to a report by the United Nations in December of 2007, the “recovery effort is still in full swing” as “Reconstruction has taken longer than originally anticipated” even though the national and local governments of the affected areas are credited with being helpful in the effort. Although the recovery seems to be almost complete, these populations, in the mean time, have been exposed to risks of human trafficking, setbacks in their education and livelihoods, among other issues. Not to mention this disaster affected mostly women and children. Seventy-five percent of the people killed by the tsunami were women and children.

Now, let’s take the situation and turn to Burma, where the disaster is at least equal, if not more devastating. India lost about 12,000 people, hundreds of thousands more were displaced, about 100,000 completely lost their homes. So far, Burma has lost about 10,000 with the number expected to grow as more accurate reports come in. The disaster zones encompass areas that are (were) home to about 24 million Burmese. And instead of the world’s biggest democracy working with foreign governments and aid organizations to organize the delivery of food, supplies, and basic needs, there is the military junta with a less-than-perfect record on human rights even in fair weather.

In fact, the Burmese government has decided to push ahead with Saturday’s vote on the Constitution despite the fact that almost half of Burma’s population are living in areas declared disaster zones. This is also despite the fact that some areas have reported not even so much as seeing the authorities come to their area to patrol and assist people. People have already expressed their frustrations with this blatant expression of indifference on the part of the government about the well being of its population:

Pictures on state TV show security services working to clear roads but in Rangoon and elsewhere there are complaints that the response to the disaster has been weak.

“Where are the soldiers and police? They were very quick and aggressive when there were protests in the streets last year,” a retired government worker complained to Reuters news agency.

Even if it seemed likely that this vote would have a positive effect on the freedoms and rights of the Burmese people (the general consensus seems to be that it will not), the fact that at least hundreds of thousands will not be able to participate already delegitimizes the results.

But as a depressing article from the BBC expresses:

Whatever they think of their leaders right now, the people of Burma desperately need their help.

Some photos and videos from the disaster:

Photo taken during the cyclone:

Video of storm footage from the AP:

Video of the aftermath from Al Jazeera (still allowed to report inside Burma):

Aftermath pictures from the BBC:

ReliefWeb has an appeal call from Church World Services, who is working with the Myanmar Council of Churches to get aid to people affected by the storm. They are looking to raise $50,000 and fast. The details of how you can contribute are on this page.

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