Myanmar - death toll might be 100,000
Crap --
from CNN:
U.S. envoy: Myanmar deaths may top 100,000
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," the U.S. Charge D'Affaires in Yangon, Shari Villarosa, said on a conference call.
The U.S. figure is almost five times more than 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 about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.
To have so many people unprotected from such a minor event is unconscionable. Makes the poor local government planning of pre-Katrina New Orleans look like a walk in the park.
And their government (a military junta -- read dictatorship) is activly stalling:
The United States has pledged $3.25 million and offered to send Navy ships 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 Washington awaits permission to go into the south Asian country, two senior military officials told CNN's Barbara Starr.
Other countries and world bodies including Britain, Japan, the European Union, China, India, Thailand, Australia, Canada and Bangladesh have also pitched in.
The leaders must really care for their people.
Posted by DaveH at May 7, 2008 5:45 PM
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