By WAI MOE
The Irrawaddy News
As Burma’s state-run media urged private citizens to donate “cash and kind” to relief efforts in the cyclone-stricken Irrawaddy delta, donors say that the government is moving to tighten its control over private donations.
On Monday, The New Light of Myanmar, a junta mouthpiece, announced that donations could be made through the Rehabilitation and Reconstruction Sub-committee of the National Disaster Preparedness Central Committee, as well as through authorities at the district and township levels.
Although the announcement did not state that donations had to be made through these channels, sources actively involved in relief efforts say that the junta’s invitation to would-be donors was effectively an order.
“The restrictions have now been stated publicly in the government’s newspapers, but actually, tighter controls on private donations started at least two weeks ago,” said one private donor, speaking on condition of anonymity. “Donors must now get permission from the authorities before making any donations.”
According to the announcement in The New Light of Myanmar, cash donations should be made to Col Hla Thein Swe, the deputy finance and revenue minister, or to two high-ranking officials of Burma’s central bank, Maung Maung Win and Kyaw Win Tin.
Relief items should be donated to Than Oo, director general of the relief and resettlement department, or Aung Tun Khaing, an official of the social welfare department.
The newspaper also listed the officials’ phone numbers.
The junta has arrested at least five private relief workers recently. Zarganar, a well-known comedian who led relief efforts by Burmese celebrities and organized one of the biggest local relief groups was arrested on June 4.
Two female aid workers, Yin Yin Wei and Tin Tin Cho, were arrested last Thursday along with their colleague Myat Thu. Zaw Thet Htway, a journalist and a private relief worker, was arrested on Friday.
“People who have a history of political activity have the most trouble when they get involved in relief work. People who have contact with the opposition party also find it difficult. Other relief workers who do not have good relations with the authorities also get into trouble,” said Khin Zaw Win, a Burmese researcher and relief worker in Rangoon.
Analysts say the recent arrests were an attempt by the ruling junta to weaken Burma’s civil society, which has gained strength through its involvement in relief efforts after the cyclone.
Meanwhile, villagers in Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy delta, one of the worst-hit areas, complained about corruption by local authorities, the main opposition party, the National League for Democracy (NLD), told The Irrawaddy on Tuesday.
Kyi Win, a member of the NLD’s disaster response committee, said that the party received a letter from residents of the villages of Nyaung Lein and Peti, explaining that local authorities took 20 head of cattle which were supposed to be distributed to farmers who lost livestock in the disaster.
Wednesday, 18 June 2008
Renew Focus on Burma - Analysis
By MIN ZIN
The Irrawaddy News
As Aung San Suu Kyi quietly spends another birthday under house arrest on Thursday, the UN Security Council will sit down to a debate on women’s rights, while the European Council is scheduled to examine the role of the European Union (EU) in international affairs. Perhaps the conjunction of events on June 19 will mark a perfect date to start refocusing on Burma’s political crisis.
At her home on the banks of Inya Lake in Rangoon, the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the world, Suu Kyi, will turn 63 on Thursday, having spent almost 13 of the last 19 years under detention.
On the same date on the other side of the world, in New York, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will sit to examine the global progress on Resolution 1325, which was passed unanimously in October 2000. The resolution specifically addresses the impact of war on women by protecting them from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and addresses women's contributions to conflict resolution and creating sustainable peace.
“There is no more opportune and timely an international gathering to raise the issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's unlawful detention and the plight of women in Burma than at this significant occasion,” said Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the National League for Democracy.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will chair the debate, as the US holds the presidency of the UNSC for June 2008. According to sources close to the US state department, Rice is expected to highlight the situation of Suu Kyi, as well as the plight of women political prisoners and ethnic women in Burma.
There are about 154 imprisoned women activists languishing in Burma's jails, out of almost 2,000 political prisoners. Last week, at least three women volunteers distributing relief supplies to cyclone victims were arrested by Burmese authorities.
Meanwhile, the situation for women and girls in many ethnic areas in Burma is critically serious. In conflict areas such as Karen, Karenni and Shan states, ethnic women and girls, some reportedly as young as 10 years old, are raped by Burmese soldiers during military operations in these areas. This issue commands not only debate, but urgent action from the Security Council.
Also on June 19, the European Council will meet in Brussels and the 27 heads of state will discuss the role of the EU in international affairs.
The issue of Burma should be high the agenda of EU leaders. In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, many analysts observe that the regime's handling of the humanitarian crisis in the country was tantamount to a “crime against humanity.” France, one of the leading members of the EU, correctly invoked the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine to intervene in Burma on humanitarian grounds.
“We demand the EU's heads of state bring Than Shwe before the International Criminal Court to be tried for his crimes against humanity, as recommended by the European parliament,” said Aung Din, the director of the US Campaign for Burma.
Of course, such a demand may not find an immediately positive reception in the halls of the parliament in Brussels.
However, the bottom line is that the international community must renew its focus and prioritize Burma's underlying political crisis. To this end, the date of Suu Kyi's birthday in conjunction with two major international meetings would be a symbolically good start.
One of the key obstacles in reorienting the international community's focus on the political crisis in Burma is the misleading UN principle of keeping humanitarian aspects totally separate from political aspect, according to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.
In fact, Holmes was echoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's words. “Issues of assistance and aid in Myanmar [Burma] should not be politicized,” he said before his first meeting with the regime’s leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to plead for international access to the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.
“While the UN secretary-general, the Burmese regime and allies of the junta have urged that the question of humanitarian aid not be “politicized,” the regime itself is taking every advantage of the cyclone to cement its grip on power to the exclusion of helping its own people,” said Jared Genser, attorney for Suu Kyi. “As is often the case, distraction and delay in discussing the fundamental issues in Burma only serve the interests of the regime.”
Some sources close to the UN said that Ban is considering a proposal to the Burmese military government that a political solution in Burma be implemented as an integral part in the coordinated reconstruction phase of the cyclone disaster.
However, the prevailing attitude and insistence among some key officials from the UN and INGOs is that even any tough talk from the international community could upset the generals and make the continuation of current access to the country impossible.
During last week's panel discussion in New York convened by the Asia Society and the Open Society Institute, Holmes said that further international sanctions or the threat of force would only have kept aid from the people who so desperately need it.
However, many Burmese opposition groups say such an attitude is appeasement.
“How inhumane are they?” asked Aung Din. “They are trying to reward Than Shwe and his clique in the name of humanitarian access. Actually, they have become complicit in allowing Than Shwe to commit crimes against humanity.”
NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said that the party always views the issues of politics and humanitarian crises as interrelated.
"A softly-softly policy has never yielded any solution in the past,” he said. “Nor will it in the future.”
Several UN officials expect the Burmese military may be more confident in dealing with the UN when they come to realize that the UN avoids politicizing humanitarian issues.
It could create a better mutual understanding and ultimately lead the junta to become more receptive in cooperating with the UN, even in a political area, said a UN source in New York.
If there were an implicit expectation behind such a jealously guarded humanitarian attitude, it would be dead wrong. The mentality of the Burmese generals will not allow such tactical optimism feasible.
Recently, the junta's top leaders—especially Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye—declared war on UN and INGO officials during the regime's relief-related meetings in the delta area.
According to sources close to the military, Maung Aye said that the foreigners are attempting to enslave the country. He also noted that it was China and Russia, not the UN, that helped convince the US and France to withdraw their naval vessels from international waters off the coast of Burma. The general also gave instructions to stamp out local NGOs and volunteer groups who, in his words, were “like slaves” receiving support from international donors.
Nonetheless, it should always be welcomed that the international community uses persuasion, not force, to achieve its goals, in this case opening up the delta in the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. However, the tactic of persuasion should not undermine the strategic goal—that of facilitating an acceptable political transition in Burma.
Engaging humanitarian work and pushing for genuine political transition should not be mutually exclusive. Avoiding tough talk and action against a brutal regime out of a fear of upsetting that regime is morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable.
The international community must renew its attention on Burma’s political crisis. Otherwise, Suu Kyi will be blowing out the candles on her birthday cake alone in her house for many more years to come.
The Irrawaddy News
As Aung San Suu Kyi quietly spends another birthday under house arrest on Thursday, the UN Security Council will sit down to a debate on women’s rights, while the European Council is scheduled to examine the role of the European Union (EU) in international affairs. Perhaps the conjunction of events on June 19 will mark a perfect date to start refocusing on Burma’s political crisis.
At her home on the banks of Inya Lake in Rangoon, the only imprisoned Nobel Peace Prize laureate in the world, Suu Kyi, will turn 63 on Thursday, having spent almost 13 of the last 19 years under detention.
On the same date on the other side of the world, in New York, the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) will sit to examine the global progress on Resolution 1325, which was passed unanimously in October 2000. The resolution specifically addresses the impact of war on women by protecting them from gender-based violence, particularly rape and other forms of sexual abuse, and addresses women's contributions to conflict resolution and creating sustainable peace.
“There is no more opportune and timely an international gathering to raise the issue of Daw Aung San Suu Kyi's unlawful detention and the plight of women in Burma than at this significant occasion,” said Nyan Win, a spokesperson for the National League for Democracy.
United States Secretary of State Condoleezza Rice will chair the debate, as the US holds the presidency of the UNSC for June 2008. According to sources close to the US state department, Rice is expected to highlight the situation of Suu Kyi, as well as the plight of women political prisoners and ethnic women in Burma.
There are about 154 imprisoned women activists languishing in Burma's jails, out of almost 2,000 political prisoners. Last week, at least three women volunteers distributing relief supplies to cyclone victims were arrested by Burmese authorities.
Meanwhile, the situation for women and girls in many ethnic areas in Burma is critically serious. In conflict areas such as Karen, Karenni and Shan states, ethnic women and girls, some reportedly as young as 10 years old, are raped by Burmese soldiers during military operations in these areas. This issue commands not only debate, but urgent action from the Security Council.
Also on June 19, the European Council will meet in Brussels and the 27 heads of state will discuss the role of the EU in international affairs.
The issue of Burma should be high the agenda of EU leaders. In the wake of Cyclone Nargis, many analysts observe that the regime's handling of the humanitarian crisis in the country was tantamount to a “crime against humanity.” France, one of the leading members of the EU, correctly invoked the "Responsibility to Protect" doctrine to intervene in Burma on humanitarian grounds.
“We demand the EU's heads of state bring Than Shwe before the International Criminal Court to be tried for his crimes against humanity, as recommended by the European parliament,” said Aung Din, the director of the US Campaign for Burma.
Of course, such a demand may not find an immediately positive reception in the halls of the parliament in Brussels.
However, the bottom line is that the international community must renew its focus and prioritize Burma's underlying political crisis. To this end, the date of Suu Kyi's birthday in conjunction with two major international meetings would be a symbolically good start.
One of the key obstacles in reorienting the international community's focus on the political crisis in Burma is the misleading UN principle of keeping humanitarian aspects totally separate from political aspect, according to UN Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes.
In fact, Holmes was echoing UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon's words. “Issues of assistance and aid in Myanmar [Burma] should not be politicized,” he said before his first meeting with the regime’s leader, Snr-Gen Than Shwe, to plead for international access to the cyclone-ravaged Irrawaddy delta.
“While the UN secretary-general, the Burmese regime and allies of the junta have urged that the question of humanitarian aid not be “politicized,” the regime itself is taking every advantage of the cyclone to cement its grip on power to the exclusion of helping its own people,” said Jared Genser, attorney for Suu Kyi. “As is often the case, distraction and delay in discussing the fundamental issues in Burma only serve the interests of the regime.”
Some sources close to the UN said that Ban is considering a proposal to the Burmese military government that a political solution in Burma be implemented as an integral part in the coordinated reconstruction phase of the cyclone disaster.
However, the prevailing attitude and insistence among some key officials from the UN and INGOs is that even any tough talk from the international community could upset the generals and make the continuation of current access to the country impossible.
During last week's panel discussion in New York convened by the Asia Society and the Open Society Institute, Holmes said that further international sanctions or the threat of force would only have kept aid from the people who so desperately need it.
However, many Burmese opposition groups say such an attitude is appeasement.
“How inhumane are they?” asked Aung Din. “They are trying to reward Than Shwe and his clique in the name of humanitarian access. Actually, they have become complicit in allowing Than Shwe to commit crimes against humanity.”
NLD spokesperson Nyan Win said that the party always views the issues of politics and humanitarian crises as interrelated.
"A softly-softly policy has never yielded any solution in the past,” he said. “Nor will it in the future.”
Several UN officials expect the Burmese military may be more confident in dealing with the UN when they come to realize that the UN avoids politicizing humanitarian issues.
It could create a better mutual understanding and ultimately lead the junta to become more receptive in cooperating with the UN, even in a political area, said a UN source in New York.
If there were an implicit expectation behind such a jealously guarded humanitarian attitude, it would be dead wrong. The mentality of the Burmese generals will not allow such tactical optimism feasible.
Recently, the junta's top leaders—especially Vice Snr-Gen Maung Aye—declared war on UN and INGO officials during the regime's relief-related meetings in the delta area.
According to sources close to the military, Maung Aye said that the foreigners are attempting to enslave the country. He also noted that it was China and Russia, not the UN, that helped convince the US and France to withdraw their naval vessels from international waters off the coast of Burma. The general also gave instructions to stamp out local NGOs and volunteer groups who, in his words, were “like slaves” receiving support from international donors.
Nonetheless, it should always be welcomed that the international community uses persuasion, not force, to achieve its goals, in this case opening up the delta in the aftermath of a devastating cyclone. However, the tactic of persuasion should not undermine the strategic goal—that of facilitating an acceptable political transition in Burma.
Engaging humanitarian work and pushing for genuine political transition should not be mutually exclusive. Avoiding tough talk and action against a brutal regime out of a fear of upsetting that regime is morally unacceptable and politically unsustainable.
The international community must renew its attention on Burma’s political crisis. Otherwise, Suu Kyi will be blowing out the candles on her birthday cake alone in her house for many more years to come.
Burmese Endure in Spite of Junta, Aid Workers Say
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
YANGON, Myanmar — More than six weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar, leaving a trail of flattened villages and broken lives and arousing international sympathy that turned to anguish as the military government obstructed foreign aid.
Now doctors and aid workers returning from remote areas of the delta are offering a less pessimistic picture of the human cost of the delay in reaching survivors.
They say they have seen no signs of starvation or widespread outbreaks of disease. While it is estimated that the cyclone may have killed 130,000 people, the number of lives lost specifically because of the junta’s slow response to the disaster appears to have been smaller than expected. (JEG's: what about the badly injured buried alive? those numbers will never count I suppose)
Relief workers here continue to criticize the government’s secretive posture and obsession with security, its restrictions on foreign aid experts and the weeks of dawdling that left bloated bodies befouling waterways and survivors marooned with little food. But the specific character of the cyclone, the hardiness of villagers and aid from private citizens helped prevent further death and sickness, aid workers say.
Most of the people killed by the cyclone, which struck on May 2-3, drowned. But those who survived were not likely to need urgent medical attention, doctors say.
“We saw very, very few serious injuries,” said Frank Smithuis, manager of the substantial mission of Doctors Without Borders in Myanmar. “You were dead or you were in O.K. shape.”
The cyclone swept away bamboo huts throughout the delta; in the hardest-hit villages, it left almost no trace of habitation. Some survivors carried away by floods found themselves many miles from home when the waters receded.
But those who survived were not likely to be injured in the aftermath by falling rocks or collapsing buildings, as often happens during natural disasters, like the earthquake in China.
That appears to be the primary reason villagers were able to stay alive for weeks without aid. As they waited, the survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish.
“The Burmese people are used to getting nothing,” said Shari Villarosa, the highest-ranking United States diplomat in Myanmar, formerly Burma. “I’m not getting the sense that there have been a lot of deaths as a result of the delay.”
The United States has accused the military government of “criminal neglect” in its handling of the disaster caused by the cyclone. Privately, many aid workers have, too. The junta, widely disliked among Myanmar’s citizens, did not have the means to lead a sustained relief campaign, they say.
But relief workers say the debate over access for foreigners and the refusal of the government to allow in military helicopters and ships from the United States, France and Britain overshadowed a substantial relief operation carried out mainly by Burmese citizens and monks.
They organized convoys of trucks filled with drinking water, clothing, food and construction materials that poured into the delta.
“It’s been overwhelmingly impressive what local organizations, medical groups and some businessmen have done,” said Ruth Bradley Jones, second secretary in the British Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. “They are the true heroes of the relief effort.”
Aid workers emphasize that of the estimated 2.4 million Burmese strongly affected by the storm, thousands remain vulnerable to sickness and many are still without adequate food, shelter and supplies.
But their ailments are — for now — minor. Medical logs from Doctors Without Borders show that of the 30,000 people the group’s workers treated in the six weeks after the cyclone, most had flesh wounds, diarrhea or respiratory infections. The latter two afflictions are common in rural Southeast Asia even in normal times. Diarrhea can be especially dangerous for infants and young children, but doctors say that, while they have treated thousands of cases, the illness has not reached critical levels.
“I can’t say it was an outbreak,” said May Myad Win, a general practitioner who works for Doctors Without Borders and spent 25 days in the delta treating an average of 25 patients a day. “It was not as severe as we feared.”
The number of people in need of serious medical aid was judged to be low enough that officials at a British medical group canceled plans to bring in a team of surgeons in the days after the storm, said Paula Sansom, the manager of the emergency response team for the group, Merlin.
For several weeks after the disaster, the government prevented all but a small number of foreigners from entering the delta. Now a more comprehensive picture of the damage is being assembled by a team of 250 officials led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The officials plan to release their findings next week.
The number of people killed in the storm may never be known. The government has not updated its toll since May 16, when it said 77,738 people were killed and 55,917 were missing.
In a country that has not had a full census in decades, it is not even certain how many people had been living in the area before the storm. Itinerants who worked in the salt marshes and shrimp farms were probably not counted among the dead, aid workers say.
But it is clear that in many villages, women and children died in disproportionate numbers, said Osamu Kunii, chief of the health and nutrition section of Unicef in Myanmar.
“Only people who could endure the tidal surge and high winds could survive,” Mr. Kunii said. In one village of 700, all children under the age of 7 died, he said.
With only minimal food supplies in villages, aid workers say, delta residents will require aid until at least the end of the year. The United Nations, after weeks of haggling with Myanmar’s government for permission to provide assistance, is now using 10 helicopters to deliver supplies to hard-to-reach places and alerting relief experts at the earliest sign of disease outbreaks.
Still, the military government continues to make it difficult for aid agencies to operate.
Last week, the government issued a directive that accused foreign aid agencies and the United Nations of having “deviated from the normal procedures.” The government imposed an extra layer of approvals for travel into the delta, effectively requiring that all foreigners be accompanied by government officials.
“They’re changing the goal posts,” said Chris Kaye, the director of operations in Myanmar for the United Nations World Food Program. “We have a whole set of new procedures.”
Myanmar’s government says it issued 815 visas for foreign aid workers and medical personnel in the month after the cyclone. But some aid workers were never allowed in, including the disaster response team from the United States Agency for International Development.
Local news media reported over the weekend that the government planned to build 500 cyclone shelters in the delta. These structures are used in neighboring Bangladesh, which has a relatively widespread early warning system.
When Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh in November, the winds reached an intensity similar to the 155-mile-an-hour gusts that blew through the Irrawaddy Delta last month.
Tellingly, the number of people killed by Cyclone Sidr — about 3,500 — was a small fraction of those killed in last month’s cyclone here.
YANGON, Myanmar — More than six weeks have passed since Cyclone Nargis swept through the Irrawaddy Delta in southern Myanmar, leaving a trail of flattened villages and broken lives and arousing international sympathy that turned to anguish as the military government obstructed foreign aid.
Now doctors and aid workers returning from remote areas of the delta are offering a less pessimistic picture of the human cost of the delay in reaching survivors.
They say they have seen no signs of starvation or widespread outbreaks of disease. While it is estimated that the cyclone may have killed 130,000 people, the number of lives lost specifically because of the junta’s slow response to the disaster appears to have been smaller than expected. (JEG's: what about the badly injured buried alive? those numbers will never count I suppose)
Relief workers here continue to criticize the government’s secretive posture and obsession with security, its restrictions on foreign aid experts and the weeks of dawdling that left bloated bodies befouling waterways and survivors marooned with little food. But the specific character of the cyclone, the hardiness of villagers and aid from private citizens helped prevent further death and sickness, aid workers say.
Most of the people killed by the cyclone, which struck on May 2-3, drowned. But those who survived were not likely to need urgent medical attention, doctors say.
“We saw very, very few serious injuries,” said Frank Smithuis, manager of the substantial mission of Doctors Without Borders in Myanmar. “You were dead or you were in O.K. shape.”
The cyclone swept away bamboo huts throughout the delta; in the hardest-hit villages, it left almost no trace of habitation. Some survivors carried away by floods found themselves many miles from home when the waters receded.
But those who survived were not likely to be injured in the aftermath by falling rocks or collapsing buildings, as often happens during natural disasters, like the earthquake in China.
That appears to be the primary reason villagers were able to stay alive for weeks without aid. As they waited, the survivors, most of whom were fishermen and farmers, lived off of coconuts, rotten rice and fish.
“The Burmese people are used to getting nothing,” said Shari Villarosa, the highest-ranking United States diplomat in Myanmar, formerly Burma. “I’m not getting the sense that there have been a lot of deaths as a result of the delay.”
The United States has accused the military government of “criminal neglect” in its handling of the disaster caused by the cyclone. Privately, many aid workers have, too. The junta, widely disliked among Myanmar’s citizens, did not have the means to lead a sustained relief campaign, they say.
But relief workers say the debate over access for foreigners and the refusal of the government to allow in military helicopters and ships from the United States, France and Britain overshadowed a substantial relief operation carried out mainly by Burmese citizens and monks.
They organized convoys of trucks filled with drinking water, clothing, food and construction materials that poured into the delta.
“It’s been overwhelmingly impressive what local organizations, medical groups and some businessmen have done,” said Ruth Bradley Jones, second secretary in the British Embassy in Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city. “They are the true heroes of the relief effort.”
Aid workers emphasize that of the estimated 2.4 million Burmese strongly affected by the storm, thousands remain vulnerable to sickness and many are still without adequate food, shelter and supplies.
But their ailments are — for now — minor. Medical logs from Doctors Without Borders show that of the 30,000 people the group’s workers treated in the six weeks after the cyclone, most had flesh wounds, diarrhea or respiratory infections. The latter two afflictions are common in rural Southeast Asia even in normal times. Diarrhea can be especially dangerous for infants and young children, but doctors say that, while they have treated thousands of cases, the illness has not reached critical levels.
“I can’t say it was an outbreak,” said May Myad Win, a general practitioner who works for Doctors Without Borders and spent 25 days in the delta treating an average of 25 patients a day. “It was not as severe as we feared.”
The number of people in need of serious medical aid was judged to be low enough that officials at a British medical group canceled plans to bring in a team of surgeons in the days after the storm, said Paula Sansom, the manager of the emergency response team for the group, Merlin.
For several weeks after the disaster, the government prevented all but a small number of foreigners from entering the delta. Now a more comprehensive picture of the damage is being assembled by a team of 250 officials led by the Association of Southeast Asian Nations. The officials plan to release their findings next week.
The number of people killed in the storm may never be known. The government has not updated its toll since May 16, when it said 77,738 people were killed and 55,917 were missing.
In a country that has not had a full census in decades, it is not even certain how many people had been living in the area before the storm. Itinerants who worked in the salt marshes and shrimp farms were probably not counted among the dead, aid workers say.
But it is clear that in many villages, women and children died in disproportionate numbers, said Osamu Kunii, chief of the health and nutrition section of Unicef in Myanmar.
“Only people who could endure the tidal surge and high winds could survive,” Mr. Kunii said. In one village of 700, all children under the age of 7 died, he said.
With only minimal food supplies in villages, aid workers say, delta residents will require aid until at least the end of the year. The United Nations, after weeks of haggling with Myanmar’s government for permission to provide assistance, is now using 10 helicopters to deliver supplies to hard-to-reach places and alerting relief experts at the earliest sign of disease outbreaks.
Still, the military government continues to make it difficult for aid agencies to operate.
Last week, the government issued a directive that accused foreign aid agencies and the United Nations of having “deviated from the normal procedures.” The government imposed an extra layer of approvals for travel into the delta, effectively requiring that all foreigners be accompanied by government officials.
“They’re changing the goal posts,” said Chris Kaye, the director of operations in Myanmar for the United Nations World Food Program. “We have a whole set of new procedures.”
Myanmar’s government says it issued 815 visas for foreign aid workers and medical personnel in the month after the cyclone. But some aid workers were never allowed in, including the disaster response team from the United States Agency for International Development.
Local news media reported over the weekend that the government planned to build 500 cyclone shelters in the delta. These structures are used in neighboring Bangladesh, which has a relatively widespread early warning system.
When Cyclone Sidr struck Bangladesh in November, the winds reached an intensity similar to the 155-mile-an-hour gusts that blew through the Irrawaddy Delta last month.
Tellingly, the number of people killed by Cyclone Sidr — about 3,500 — was a small fraction of those killed in last month’s cyclone here.
"In that one night my whole life was destroyed" : International Medical Corps and Mingalar/Myanmar Helps Survivors Rebuild Their Lives
International Medical Corps
Website: http://www.imcworldwide.org
Reuters
Yangon, Myanmar - Tint had moved his family to Dedaye town in April and was about to return to his home village to start preparing his paddies for the planting season when cyclone Nargis hit the delta. "The morning after the storm I looked around town and saw only devastation," he remembers. "I was convinced that everybody in my village was dead."
For five days he worried and waited for news but none came. Finally, he managed to hire one of the few boats that had not been destroyed in the storm and made the 90 minute trip to his home town. When Tint reached the village it was wrecked. "In that one night my whole life was destroyed."
Tint lost 20 relatives. One cousin's family was completely wiped out. Another uncle lost his wife and daughter. A nephew saw all of his children dying; a sister survived by hanging on to the remains of a cow shed.
A Trail of Destruction Only 17 houses were still standing, more than 100 had simply disappeared. First the wind had come, carrying away the thatched roofs. Then the water rose to the level of a grown man's chest. And finally huge waves gushed up from the delta carrying away the bamboo houses, the animals, and the people.
Tint's house is also gone. Only one of his water buffalos survived, now too weak to plough the paddies. He lost 300 baskets of rice he had stored in the village's granary that was washed away. This included all his food and seed savings.
"We all cried and then they told me how they survived," Tint remembers. The survivors were huddling in the monastery, the only brick building in the village. The morning after the storm they organized rescue missions. "They rowed out on to the water collecting people clinging to trees in the only two boats that were still intact."
The economic base of the whole village is gone. Half of the villagers live from growing rice; the others are fishermen or work as casual laborers. With only weeks left for preparing the paddies and planting this year's crop the outlook was grim.
Rebuilding Lives and Livelihoods But there was also good news. The salt water that was swept into the fields was washed away by heavy rains following the storm. And slowly help came trickling in.
Mingalar/Myanmar, International Medical Corps' local partner organization, brought food to the village. Other organizations delivered tarpaulin for makeshift houses and distributed mosquito nets. The three fresh water ponds were contaminated and an aid group fixed one of them so that villagers had drinking water.
Now International Medical Corps and its local partner have teamed up to kick start the economic recovery in this and other villages. The poorest farming families in the village will receive equipment, including tractors to replace the water buffalos, fuel, and seeds. A village committee will be in charge of the equipment, making sure that as many people as possible will benefit. The machines will work every day on a different farm during the early planting season to prepare as many fields of as many farmers as possible. Tint will be one of them. "Without this assistance we would struggle. Maybe we would have planted only a small part for our own consumption; and next year a bit more. But maybe it would have taken us ten years to recover completely."
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Website: http://www.imcworldwide.org
Reuters
Yangon, Myanmar - Tint had moved his family to Dedaye town in April and was about to return to his home village to start preparing his paddies for the planting season when cyclone Nargis hit the delta. "The morning after the storm I looked around town and saw only devastation," he remembers. "I was convinced that everybody in my village was dead."
For five days he worried and waited for news but none came. Finally, he managed to hire one of the few boats that had not been destroyed in the storm and made the 90 minute trip to his home town. When Tint reached the village it was wrecked. "In that one night my whole life was destroyed."
Tint lost 20 relatives. One cousin's family was completely wiped out. Another uncle lost his wife and daughter. A nephew saw all of his children dying; a sister survived by hanging on to the remains of a cow shed.
A Trail of Destruction Only 17 houses were still standing, more than 100 had simply disappeared. First the wind had come, carrying away the thatched roofs. Then the water rose to the level of a grown man's chest. And finally huge waves gushed up from the delta carrying away the bamboo houses, the animals, and the people.
Tint's house is also gone. Only one of his water buffalos survived, now too weak to plough the paddies. He lost 300 baskets of rice he had stored in the village's granary that was washed away. This included all his food and seed savings.
"We all cried and then they told me how they survived," Tint remembers. The survivors were huddling in the monastery, the only brick building in the village. The morning after the storm they organized rescue missions. "They rowed out on to the water collecting people clinging to trees in the only two boats that were still intact."
The economic base of the whole village is gone. Half of the villagers live from growing rice; the others are fishermen or work as casual laborers. With only weeks left for preparing the paddies and planting this year's crop the outlook was grim.
Rebuilding Lives and Livelihoods But there was also good news. The salt water that was swept into the fields was washed away by heavy rains following the storm. And slowly help came trickling in.
Mingalar/Myanmar, International Medical Corps' local partner organization, brought food to the village. Other organizations delivered tarpaulin for makeshift houses and distributed mosquito nets. The three fresh water ponds were contaminated and an aid group fixed one of them so that villagers had drinking water.
Now International Medical Corps and its local partner have teamed up to kick start the economic recovery in this and other villages. The poorest farming families in the village will receive equipment, including tractors to replace the water buffalos, fuel, and seeds. A village committee will be in charge of the equipment, making sure that as many people as possible will benefit. The machines will work every day on a different farm during the early planting season to prepare as many fields of as many farmers as possible. Tint will be one of them. "Without this assistance we would struggle. Maybe we would have planted only a small part for our own consumption; and next year a bit more. But maybe it would have taken us ten years to recover completely."
[ Any views expressed in this article are those of the writer and not of Reuters. ]
Myanmar bloggers help build 'Budget Huts' for cyclone survivors
LABUTTA, Myanmar (IHT): Bloggers may find their messages blocked by Myanmar's military regime, but that hasn't stopped blogger Nyi Lynn Seck from raising tens of thousands of dollars for cyclone survivors through his Web site.
The 29-year-old IT specialist and his friends are getting their hands dirty and putting the donations to work by helping to build "Budget Huts" in the Irrawaddy delta, a region still reeling from the May 2-3 killer storm.
Days after Cyclone Nargis hit, Nyi Lynn Seck traveled from Yangon to the delta to document the survivors' stories. He posted their accounts and his photographs on his Web journal.
"I have been blogging for quite a long time and many overseas Myanmar citizens read it. They wanted me to go to the delta and help out," he said.
Nyi Lynn Seck quit his job as a manager at a software solutions company to lead six volunteers, including four other bloggers, on a mission to aid villages around Labutta. They have been here since May 9.
He is just one example of a grass-roots movement that has emerged in Myanmar. Many of those doing private relief work are highly critical of the government effort that followed the storm.
Private efforts have filled a lot of gaps in the relief effort, especially in the early weeks after the storm, when the junta turned back most foreign relief workers. After pleas from the U.N., the junta agreed to international aid, but it still limits foreigners' activities.
Nyi Lynn Seck said most of the US$30,000 received by the group came from Myanmar expatriates in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, but that money had come in from as far away as Europe.
Myanmar's military government, which strictly controls all media including the Internet, blocks most blogging sites. However, they are sometimes accessible by using a server that masks the site's true origin.
Bloggers played a major role in ensuring the free flow of information during anti-government protests in Myanmar last fall and the violent crackdown that followed. At least one blogger, Nay Phone Latt, remains in prison.
Nyi Lynn Seck's blog has in the past included personal observations, advice for would-be bloggers and news items. It has not been seen as anti-government.
Nyi Lynn Seck said he became an aid worker because he felt the junta's response to the storm — which killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing — was inefficient.
"The government doesn't rely much on a system or technology and they don't know what to do. They work only on paper, so the help was really delayed," he said.
Nyi Lynn Seck picked up his black leather laptop bag and pulled out a stack of slides he shows to would-be donors. He also has two models of wood-and-blue plastic shelters, dubbed "Budget Huts."
The group, which calls itself "Handy Myanmar Youths" because it wants to lend a hand to survivors, has put up 88 huts in delta villages.
Such volunteerism is not always welcomed by the junta. A popular comedian was taken from his Yangon home by police this month after going to the delta to help survivors.
Many Myanmar volunteers and the local staff of foreign aid agencies pack their vehicles with food, water and other supplies when heading into the delta; several have reported being harassed by police or having their vehicles impounded.
Nyi Lynn Seck said the government approved his group's project after they detailed their plans to authorities in Labutta and declared that no foreigners were directly involved.
The group makes five- to six-hour boat rides to coastal villages to deliver materials and tools to build the huts and supervise the construction, which is done mostly by survivors.
Due to tides, the volunteers are unable to return to Labutta on the same day, so they usually spend at least one night sleeping on the bare ground without shelter from mosquitoes. Several have fallen ill.
The blogger said the group's most pressing concerns were about sustaining the project despite the high price of materials and transportation.
"Now the biggest problem is that we're having trouble finding wood in Labutta, and the wood is also getting very expensive," Nyi Lynn Seck said.
"As long as there are funds and donors, hopefully we can keep this up for another two to three months here," he said. "But I'm not so sure about the future."
___
On the Net:
Nyi Lynn Seck's Myanmar-language blog: http://nyilynnseck.blogspot.com/
The 29-year-old IT specialist and his friends are getting their hands dirty and putting the donations to work by helping to build "Budget Huts" in the Irrawaddy delta, a region still reeling from the May 2-3 killer storm.
Days after Cyclone Nargis hit, Nyi Lynn Seck traveled from Yangon to the delta to document the survivors' stories. He posted their accounts and his photographs on his Web journal.
"I have been blogging for quite a long time and many overseas Myanmar citizens read it. They wanted me to go to the delta and help out," he said.
Nyi Lynn Seck quit his job as a manager at a software solutions company to lead six volunteers, including four other bloggers, on a mission to aid villages around Labutta. They have been here since May 9.
He is just one example of a grass-roots movement that has emerged in Myanmar. Many of those doing private relief work are highly critical of the government effort that followed the storm.
Private efforts have filled a lot of gaps in the relief effort, especially in the early weeks after the storm, when the junta turned back most foreign relief workers. After pleas from the U.N., the junta agreed to international aid, but it still limits foreigners' activities.
Nyi Lynn Seck said most of the US$30,000 received by the group came from Myanmar expatriates in Thailand, Singapore and Malaysia, but that money had come in from as far away as Europe.
Myanmar's military government, which strictly controls all media including the Internet, blocks most blogging sites. However, they are sometimes accessible by using a server that masks the site's true origin.
Bloggers played a major role in ensuring the free flow of information during anti-government protests in Myanmar last fall and the violent crackdown that followed. At least one blogger, Nay Phone Latt, remains in prison.
Nyi Lynn Seck's blog has in the past included personal observations, advice for would-be bloggers and news items. It has not been seen as anti-government.
Nyi Lynn Seck said he became an aid worker because he felt the junta's response to the storm — which killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing — was inefficient.
"The government doesn't rely much on a system or technology and they don't know what to do. They work only on paper, so the help was really delayed," he said.
Nyi Lynn Seck picked up his black leather laptop bag and pulled out a stack of slides he shows to would-be donors. He also has two models of wood-and-blue plastic shelters, dubbed "Budget Huts."
The group, which calls itself "Handy Myanmar Youths" because it wants to lend a hand to survivors, has put up 88 huts in delta villages.
Such volunteerism is not always welcomed by the junta. A popular comedian was taken from his Yangon home by police this month after going to the delta to help survivors.
Many Myanmar volunteers and the local staff of foreign aid agencies pack their vehicles with food, water and other supplies when heading into the delta; several have reported being harassed by police or having their vehicles impounded.
Nyi Lynn Seck said the government approved his group's project after they detailed their plans to authorities in Labutta and declared that no foreigners were directly involved.
The group makes five- to six-hour boat rides to coastal villages to deliver materials and tools to build the huts and supervise the construction, which is done mostly by survivors.
Due to tides, the volunteers are unable to return to Labutta on the same day, so they usually spend at least one night sleeping on the bare ground without shelter from mosquitoes. Several have fallen ill.
The blogger said the group's most pressing concerns were about sustaining the project despite the high price of materials and transportation.
"Now the biggest problem is that we're having trouble finding wood in Labutta, and the wood is also getting very expensive," Nyi Lynn Seck said.
"As long as there are funds and donors, hopefully we can keep this up for another two to three months here," he said. "But I'm not so sure about the future."
___
On the Net:
Nyi Lynn Seck's Myanmar-language blog: http://nyilynnseck.blogspot.com/
Volunteers help Myanmar cyclone victims still without foreign aid
By Moe Moe Yu
Tue Jun 17, 2008, KYON KA NAN, Myanmar (AFP) - Cyclone Nargis almost destroyed the remote village of Kyon Ka Nan, but residents are now rebuilding their homes and their food stocks, aided by a resilient group of Myanmar volunteers.
In this village of 300 homes, only six houses were left after the cyclone hit nearly seven weeks ago. Residents say 114 people died, many of their bodies washed into the freshwater ponds once used for drinking water.
Residents in Kyon Ka Nan say they have yet to receive any international aid, and official assistance has been meagre.
But they are slowly piecing together their shattered lives with the help of a resourceful network of local volunteers, who have delivered enormous amounts of aid despite their meagre resources and restrictions imposed by the military regime.
The latest shipment filled a cargo ship and a small boat, carrying 22 tonnes of rice, 100,000 tins of fish, and a team of doctors.
As the boat docked, men from the village helped unload 500 bags of rice, each weighing 100 kilos (225 pounds), and carried them to the Buddhist temple, which has become the focal point of the relief effort.
Many of the surviving villagers are living with the monks, as they rebuild their homes with bamboo and whatever they can salvage from the wreckage.
Villages like this one in the Irrawaddy delta bore the brunt of the cyclone's power, with more than 133,000 dead and 2.4 million in need of humanitarian aid.
Myanmar's regime has limited the scope of the international aid operation, and the UN says one million people have yet to receive any foreign assistance.
Even local volunteers -- often of modest means themselves -- struggle to skirt military roadblocks, and two prominent leaders of the aid movement have been arrested.
Despite the obstacles, Lae Lae, a 39-year-old helping to deliver the aid to Kyon Ka Nan, said they have reached more than 40 villages in this area southwest of Yangon.
"The donations came from several different sources -- monks, private companies or our friends working overseas," she said.
"They donated money through us and we have tried to reach villages where not much aid has arrived."
This is the group's fourth visit to Kyon Ka Nan. The volunteers hope to leave them with a month's supply of food, so the villagers can focus on reviving their rice fields.
The volunteers have organised themselves by specialty.
Five young volunteer doctors set up a temporary clinic at the monastery to treat people with injuries from the storm, as well as minor illnesses and in some cases trauma among people who watched their loved ones die.
A second group headed to the freshwater ponds that were once used for drinking, but were filled with debris and rotting corpses.
The bodies have already been cremated and the wreckage cleared, but residents are too afraid to drink from the ponds and have relied on rainwater instead.
The volunteers assure them they will take samples back to the main city of Yangon for testing, to see if the water is safe. But they will likely need to find a pump to empty the ponds and let the monsoon rains refill them.
A third group begins distributing the food, including rice, fish, cooking oil, beans and onions. The villager's leader had already made a roster of the families, and called out each family to receive their share.
"Ever since Nargis, we have lived on food donated from local groups. Otherwise we wouldn't have survived," said Win, one of the women lining up for food.
In the six weeks since the storm, Win says the only official aid she has received was 13 cups of rice and a few potatoes, plus a tarpaulin sheet from the local Red Cross Association.
Like most families in the delta, Win and her husband make their living by fishing and working as tenant farmers in the rice paddies.
She said the villagers already know how to supplement their diets with fish and wild vegetables, but she said their own supplies of rice were washed away.
"We mainly need rice. Fish and vegetables can be found easily," Win said.
The volunteers say they hope that if the village's most basic needs are cared for, the residents will be able to focus on farming
"We think that if they have enough food, then they can get back to work," said one of the volunteers. "So we are thinking about donating farming and fishing equipment next time."
Tue Jun 17, 2008, KYON KA NAN, Myanmar (AFP) - Cyclone Nargis almost destroyed the remote village of Kyon Ka Nan, but residents are now rebuilding their homes and their food stocks, aided by a resilient group of Myanmar volunteers.
In this village of 300 homes, only six houses were left after the cyclone hit nearly seven weeks ago. Residents say 114 people died, many of their bodies washed into the freshwater ponds once used for drinking water.
Residents in Kyon Ka Nan say they have yet to receive any international aid, and official assistance has been meagre.
But they are slowly piecing together their shattered lives with the help of a resourceful network of local volunteers, who have delivered enormous amounts of aid despite their meagre resources and restrictions imposed by the military regime.
The latest shipment filled a cargo ship and a small boat, carrying 22 tonnes of rice, 100,000 tins of fish, and a team of doctors.
As the boat docked, men from the village helped unload 500 bags of rice, each weighing 100 kilos (225 pounds), and carried them to the Buddhist temple, which has become the focal point of the relief effort.
Many of the surviving villagers are living with the monks, as they rebuild their homes with bamboo and whatever they can salvage from the wreckage.
Villages like this one in the Irrawaddy delta bore the brunt of the cyclone's power, with more than 133,000 dead and 2.4 million in need of humanitarian aid.
Myanmar's regime has limited the scope of the international aid operation, and the UN says one million people have yet to receive any foreign assistance.
Even local volunteers -- often of modest means themselves -- struggle to skirt military roadblocks, and two prominent leaders of the aid movement have been arrested.
Despite the obstacles, Lae Lae, a 39-year-old helping to deliver the aid to Kyon Ka Nan, said they have reached more than 40 villages in this area southwest of Yangon.
"The donations came from several different sources -- monks, private companies or our friends working overseas," she said.
"They donated money through us and we have tried to reach villages where not much aid has arrived."
This is the group's fourth visit to Kyon Ka Nan. The volunteers hope to leave them with a month's supply of food, so the villagers can focus on reviving their rice fields.
The volunteers have organised themselves by specialty.
Five young volunteer doctors set up a temporary clinic at the monastery to treat people with injuries from the storm, as well as minor illnesses and in some cases trauma among people who watched their loved ones die.
A second group headed to the freshwater ponds that were once used for drinking, but were filled with debris and rotting corpses.
The bodies have already been cremated and the wreckage cleared, but residents are too afraid to drink from the ponds and have relied on rainwater instead.
The volunteers assure them they will take samples back to the main city of Yangon for testing, to see if the water is safe. But they will likely need to find a pump to empty the ponds and let the monsoon rains refill them.
A third group begins distributing the food, including rice, fish, cooking oil, beans and onions. The villager's leader had already made a roster of the families, and called out each family to receive their share.
"Ever since Nargis, we have lived on food donated from local groups. Otherwise we wouldn't have survived," said Win, one of the women lining up for food.
In the six weeks since the storm, Win says the only official aid she has received was 13 cups of rice and a few potatoes, plus a tarpaulin sheet from the local Red Cross Association.
Like most families in the delta, Win and her husband make their living by fishing and working as tenant farmers in the rice paddies.
She said the villagers already know how to supplement their diets with fish and wild vegetables, but she said their own supplies of rice were washed away.
"We mainly need rice. Fish and vegetables can be found easily," Win said.
The volunteers say they hope that if the village's most basic needs are cared for, the residents will be able to focus on farming
"We think that if they have enough food, then they can get back to work," said one of the volunteers. "So we are thinking about donating farming and fishing equipment next time."
New Asean emerging from response to Myanmar cyclone: Surin
Straits Times
ASEAN, often criticised for not dealing firmly with member Myanmar, was 'baptised' by its response to the cyclone in the junta-led nation and was ready for new responsibilities, the bloc's chief said.
Cyclone Nargis pounded the south-west Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of Yangon in early May, leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing. Inciting international outrage, Myanmar's isolated military regime largely barred foreign aid workers from the delta.
But relief workers slowly moved into the region in late May after the junta began to ease restrictions on access, and asked fellow Asean nations to coordinate the international relief effort.
'We have been able to open the humanitarian space,' Mr Surin Pitsuwan told a forum in Singapore on Wednesday of the efforts by the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
'I think that's the success of Asean. I think that's the resiliency of Asean. I think that's a new Asean ready to take on the responsibility placed on it, expected of it.'
Nearly 300 Asean assessment team volunteers were now in the delta, working 'with full support, collaboration from the government of Myanmar', said Mr Surin, a former Thai foreign minister. (JEG's: whatever happened to the foreign Meds that returned to their bases as the camps have been closed??)
'It just so happened that we are being baptised by the Cyclone Nargis. That is the test of our new Asean,' Mr Surin said.
Asean said in early June that its emergency assessment team had begun to deploy in the delta to start a long-awaited assessment of those affected by the storm.
It said then that its advance teams would compile a first-hand 'progress report' for an Asean Roundtable meeting in Yangon on June 24.
The 10-member Asean has often been criticised for failing to act firmly with Myanmar, a member that has frequently embarrassed its neighbours with its refusal to shift towards democracy. -- AFP
ASEAN, often criticised for not dealing firmly with member Myanmar, was 'baptised' by its response to the cyclone in the junta-led nation and was ready for new responsibilities, the bloc's chief said.
Cyclone Nargis pounded the south-west Irrawaddy Delta and the main city of Yangon in early May, leaving more than 133,000 people dead or missing. Inciting international outrage, Myanmar's isolated military regime largely barred foreign aid workers from the delta.
But relief workers slowly moved into the region in late May after the junta began to ease restrictions on access, and asked fellow Asean nations to coordinate the international relief effort.
'We have been able to open the humanitarian space,' Mr Surin Pitsuwan told a forum in Singapore on Wednesday of the efforts by the Association of South-east Asian Nations (Asean).
'I think that's the success of Asean. I think that's the resiliency of Asean. I think that's a new Asean ready to take on the responsibility placed on it, expected of it.'
Nearly 300 Asean assessment team volunteers were now in the delta, working 'with full support, collaboration from the government of Myanmar', said Mr Surin, a former Thai foreign minister. (JEG's: whatever happened to the foreign Meds that returned to their bases as the camps have been closed??)
'It just so happened that we are being baptised by the Cyclone Nargis. That is the test of our new Asean,' Mr Surin said.
Asean said in early June that its emergency assessment team had begun to deploy in the delta to start a long-awaited assessment of those affected by the storm.
It said then that its advance teams would compile a first-hand 'progress report' for an Asean Roundtable meeting in Yangon on June 24.
The 10-member Asean has often been criticised for failing to act firmly with Myanmar, a member that has frequently embarrassed its neighbours with its refusal to shift towards democracy. -- AFP
Tuesday, 17 June 2008
Blogger Nay Phone Latt being reinvestigated
Phanida - Mizzima
16 June 2008, Chiang Mai – The Burmese military junta authorities are reinvestigating blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt who has been in custody for about five months.
He was interrogated twice without being produced in court soon after Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma and again yesterday for his blog.
Liverpool fan Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt. The Burmese military junta authorities are re-investigating blogger Nay Phone Latt who has been in notorious Insein jail for about five months.
"He was interrogated inside the prison. He said he was interrogated twice. He was asked about his blog and if he had a pseudonym. They said that some writers post their articles and news under pseudonyms while some use their own names such as Sayama (former lecturer) May Nyein and Dr. Lunn Swe. They asked him if they knew them," Daw Aye Than, his mother who visited him in prison today, told Mizzima.
"It's strange that he was being questioned again and again. I think they are trying to frame him and charge him in court with a crime he didn't commit. As far as I know, he's never sent any news outside," she added.
The blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt was arrested on January 29 this year and the authorities lodged a case against him under section 32(b) of the Video Act.
His defence counsel U Aung Thein submitted an application to the Insein prison authorities to get power of attorney from his client and sought permission to meet him.
A source in the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that Ko Nay Phone Latt was questioned again and the authorities wanted information regarding anonymous blogs posted from Burma, Mizzima has learnt.
A special meeting of Special Branch police officers was held recently in Rangoon and crackdowns against pro-democracy activists followed soon after.
"We have to submit an application to the prison authorities. We never got a chance to meet him. We applied after seeing the statement posted on the notice board suggesting he would be permitted to meet his counsel. I will represent him in court and meet him when it is permitted which is usually on working days," U Aung Thein said.
"He was charged under the Video Act section 32(b). I think the authorities are interrogating him only for his blog. But he has not been produced in court. It seems the authorities are trying to frame him in another case as their first case under section 32(b) of the Video Act does not hold much water. He was first charged under this section just to keep him in custody. The authorities could find only a video disc of 'Ahnyeint' (variety dance show) performed in Singapore when he was taken away from his home", Daw Aye Than added.
16 June 2008, Chiang Mai – The Burmese military junta authorities are reinvestigating blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt who has been in custody for about five months.
He was interrogated twice without being produced in court soon after Cyclone Nargis lashed Burma and again yesterday for his blog.
Liverpool fan Burmese blogger Nay Phone Latt. The Burmese military junta authorities are re-investigating blogger Nay Phone Latt who has been in notorious Insein jail for about five months.
"He was interrogated inside the prison. He said he was interrogated twice. He was asked about his blog and if he had a pseudonym. They said that some writers post their articles and news under pseudonyms while some use their own names such as Sayama (former lecturer) May Nyein and Dr. Lunn Swe. They asked him if they knew them," Daw Aye Than, his mother who visited him in prison today, told Mizzima.
"It's strange that he was being questioned again and again. I think they are trying to frame him and charge him in court with a crime he didn't commit. As far as I know, he's never sent any news outside," she added.
The blogger Ko Nay Phone Latt was arrested on January 29 this year and the authorities lodged a case against him under section 32(b) of the Video Act.
His defence counsel U Aung Thein submitted an application to the Insein prison authorities to get power of attorney from his client and sought permission to meet him.
A source in the Ministry of Home Affairs confirmed that Ko Nay Phone Latt was questioned again and the authorities wanted information regarding anonymous blogs posted from Burma, Mizzima has learnt.
A special meeting of Special Branch police officers was held recently in Rangoon and crackdowns against pro-democracy activists followed soon after.
"We have to submit an application to the prison authorities. We never got a chance to meet him. We applied after seeing the statement posted on the notice board suggesting he would be permitted to meet his counsel. I will represent him in court and meet him when it is permitted which is usually on working days," U Aung Thein said.
"He was charged under the Video Act section 32(b). I think the authorities are interrogating him only for his blog. But he has not been produced in court. It seems the authorities are trying to frame him in another case as their first case under section 32(b) of the Video Act does not hold much water. He was first charged under this section just to keep him in custody. The authorities could find only a video disc of 'Ahnyeint' (variety dance show) performed in Singapore when he was taken away from his home", Daw Aye Than added.
Twilight of the Idle Regime
By SAW HTUN
The Irrawaddy News
I lived in a military compound during my youth, when my father was an army officer and Burma was still ruled by the Burmese Socialist Party Program under Gen Ne Win.
In the final years of the Ne Win regime, two incidents occurred which I can still remember very distinctly. One was a storm warning that put everyone in the small-town base where we lived on alert. When the storm hit, soldiers were ordered to patrol the town to come to the assistance of any who might need it. This included not only government officials, but also people living in surrounding villages.
The other episode involved a major fire which destroyed several buildings and threatened many lives. Soldiers were promptly sent to prevent looting and to save children and the elderly from the conflagration. They also quickly tore down thatched roofs to prevent the fire from spreading uncontrollably.
As dramatic as these events were, however, they don’t compare to the night of May 2-3, when Cyclone Nargis tore through Rangoon. Fortunately, my family and I live in a flat about half-way up a tall building, so we were safe from danger. But after we put our children to bed, my wife and I spent a sleepless night, on constant watch like two soldiers who did not want to miss the battle raging all around us.
Outside we saw taxis and small cars driving with great care, as if they were clinging to the asphalt for all they were worth. Sheets of corrugated zinc flew through the air like paper. We even saw a few foolish people trying to walk in the streets, struggling against the incredibly powerful wind and rain. We worried ceaselessly about our friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
The next day, I was even more surprised by what I saw—or rather, by what I did not see.
Rangoon looked like a battleground, with trees toppled everywhere. Roads were impassable, and the city was at a standstill. The only signs of life were Buddhist monks—some of them helped by youths in their distinctive hip-hop garb—cutting the massive trunks and branches with handsaws to make them easier to clear from the roads.
Instinctively, I looked for soldiers, who were never in short supply in military-ruled Burma (whereas monks have been noticeably less visible in Rangoon since last September, when they dared to challenge the ruling regime’s authority). But they were nowhere to be seen.
Where were the soldiers? Some people suggested that they were waiting for orders from the generals. But I knew from experience that orders from on high were not required in these circumstances. Any commanding officer could have put his men to work. After all, the natural response to a natural disaster is action, not paralysis.
Personally, I suspected that the soldiers were reluctant to show themselves because they believed that the cyclone had been sent as punishment for their actions last September, when they mistreated and killed Buddhist monks. Many ordinary Burmese had suggested as much, half in jest, but perhaps the soldiers really believed it and were afraid to face the wrath the nature.
Meanwhile, we started to hear horrific stories coming from the Irrawaddy delta, which was much more severely affected by the cyclone than Rangoon. We received this news via the BBC and VOA: Local radio stations and the state-run television station were silent on the impact of the disaster in the delta. Like many other people in Rangoon, we started to think about ways to help.
When it came time to take action, we followed the example of the ’88 Generation Students group, which initiated last year’s protests by boycotting public transport after the government suddenly raised fuel prices and bus fares. Like them, we decided to bypass the government’s belated relief efforts (which came only after thousands of cyclone victims had needlessly perished in the crucial days after the cyclone hit). Instead, we entrusted our donations to monks, who had worked side by side with us as we tried to bring our lives back to normal.
It was not until two days after the cyclone struck that the soldiers finally made an appearance on the streets of Rangoon. Young captains commandeered the municipal government’s heaviest equipment to remove trees from the roads. They even used these machines to move small branches, in a show of their immense efforts to help the people.
Then Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein was named “president of the national committee for natural disaster mitigation.” It was all very impressive.
Of course, this was also the week before the referendum, when the generals were giving us a chance to vote for their constitution. With the aftermath of a major disaster on our hands, however, no one had any interest in the referendum, the outcome of which was decided in advance, in any case.
But we were surprised that the regime didn’t at least try to win support by making a serious effort to help the people in the delta. Apparently, it didn’t matter much what voters thought, since “victory” was already in the bag.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring China, a major earthquake struck, and the world witnessed a dramatically different response to a deadly disaster. It is ironic that in China, where the ruling Communist Party does not even pretend to be democratic, the authorities paid far greater attention to public opinion than the generals in Burma, who were trying to make everyone believe that they were steering the country towards democracy.
It is also ironic that, at a time when they were trying to impose a new constitution on the country, the regime showed its disdain for rule of law by illegally extending Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
This was not only another slap in the face of Burmese voters, but also another lost public relations opportunity. Suu Kyi’s sentence ended the same weekend that international donors were in Rangoon, ready to pledge generously to relief and reconstruction efforts in the delta. Snr-Gen Than Shwe wanted $11 billion in aid, no strings attached. But he was unwilling to show good faith by honouring a previous promise to the international community that he would negotiate directly with Suu Kyi to achieve national reconciliation.
Burma under its current rulers makes the Ne Win era seem almost a model of competence and efficiency. If there is any consolation to be drawn from this experience, it is that the junta has shown its weakness, and sown the seeds of its future downfall.
With the military hiding from its own shadow, and the people defiantly taking the initiative, the ruling generals must be having many sleepless nights. If they doze off again, they may one day wake up to find that they are the casualties of a crisis of their own making.
The Irrawaddy News
I lived in a military compound during my youth, when my father was an army officer and Burma was still ruled by the Burmese Socialist Party Program under Gen Ne Win.
In the final years of the Ne Win regime, two incidents occurred which I can still remember very distinctly. One was a storm warning that put everyone in the small-town base where we lived on alert. When the storm hit, soldiers were ordered to patrol the town to come to the assistance of any who might need it. This included not only government officials, but also people living in surrounding villages.
The other episode involved a major fire which destroyed several buildings and threatened many lives. Soldiers were promptly sent to prevent looting and to save children and the elderly from the conflagration. They also quickly tore down thatched roofs to prevent the fire from spreading uncontrollably.
As dramatic as these events were, however, they don’t compare to the night of May 2-3, when Cyclone Nargis tore through Rangoon. Fortunately, my family and I live in a flat about half-way up a tall building, so we were safe from danger. But after we put our children to bed, my wife and I spent a sleepless night, on constant watch like two soldiers who did not want to miss the battle raging all around us.
Outside we saw taxis and small cars driving with great care, as if they were clinging to the asphalt for all they were worth. Sheets of corrugated zinc flew through the air like paper. We even saw a few foolish people trying to walk in the streets, struggling against the incredibly powerful wind and rain. We worried ceaselessly about our friends and relatives in other parts of the city.
The next day, I was even more surprised by what I saw—or rather, by what I did not see.
Rangoon looked like a battleground, with trees toppled everywhere. Roads were impassable, and the city was at a standstill. The only signs of life were Buddhist monks—some of them helped by youths in their distinctive hip-hop garb—cutting the massive trunks and branches with handsaws to make them easier to clear from the roads.
Instinctively, I looked for soldiers, who were never in short supply in military-ruled Burma (whereas monks have been noticeably less visible in Rangoon since last September, when they dared to challenge the ruling regime’s authority). But they were nowhere to be seen.
Where were the soldiers? Some people suggested that they were waiting for orders from the generals. But I knew from experience that orders from on high were not required in these circumstances. Any commanding officer could have put his men to work. After all, the natural response to a natural disaster is action, not paralysis.
Personally, I suspected that the soldiers were reluctant to show themselves because they believed that the cyclone had been sent as punishment for their actions last September, when they mistreated and killed Buddhist monks. Many ordinary Burmese had suggested as much, half in jest, but perhaps the soldiers really believed it and were afraid to face the wrath the nature.
Meanwhile, we started to hear horrific stories coming from the Irrawaddy delta, which was much more severely affected by the cyclone than Rangoon. We received this news via the BBC and VOA: Local radio stations and the state-run television station were silent on the impact of the disaster in the delta. Like many other people in Rangoon, we started to think about ways to help.
When it came time to take action, we followed the example of the ’88 Generation Students group, which initiated last year’s protests by boycotting public transport after the government suddenly raised fuel prices and bus fares. Like them, we decided to bypass the government’s belated relief efforts (which came only after thousands of cyclone victims had needlessly perished in the crucial days after the cyclone hit). Instead, we entrusted our donations to monks, who had worked side by side with us as we tried to bring our lives back to normal.
It was not until two days after the cyclone struck that the soldiers finally made an appearance on the streets of Rangoon. Young captains commandeered the municipal government’s heaviest equipment to remove trees from the roads. They even used these machines to move small branches, in a show of their immense efforts to help the people.
Then Prime Minister Gen Thein Sein was named “president of the national committee for natural disaster mitigation.” It was all very impressive.
Of course, this was also the week before the referendum, when the generals were giving us a chance to vote for their constitution. With the aftermath of a major disaster on our hands, however, no one had any interest in the referendum, the outcome of which was decided in advance, in any case.
But we were surprised that the regime didn’t at least try to win support by making a serious effort to help the people in the delta. Apparently, it didn’t matter much what voters thought, since “victory” was already in the bag.
Meanwhile, in neighbouring China, a major earthquake struck, and the world witnessed a dramatically different response to a deadly disaster. It is ironic that in China, where the ruling Communist Party does not even pretend to be democratic, the authorities paid far greater attention to public opinion than the generals in Burma, who were trying to make everyone believe that they were steering the country towards democracy.
It is also ironic that, at a time when they were trying to impose a new constitution on the country, the regime showed its disdain for rule of law by illegally extending Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest.
This was not only another slap in the face of Burmese voters, but also another lost public relations opportunity. Suu Kyi’s sentence ended the same weekend that international donors were in Rangoon, ready to pledge generously to relief and reconstruction efforts in the delta. Snr-Gen Than Shwe wanted $11 billion in aid, no strings attached. But he was unwilling to show good faith by honouring a previous promise to the international community that he would negotiate directly with Suu Kyi to achieve national reconciliation.
Burma under its current rulers makes the Ne Win era seem almost a model of competence and efficiency. If there is any consolation to be drawn from this experience, it is that the junta has shown its weakness, and sown the seeds of its future downfall.
With the military hiding from its own shadow, and the people defiantly taking the initiative, the ruling generals must be having many sleepless nights. If they doze off again, they may one day wake up to find that they are the casualties of a crisis of their own making.
Rumors of New Catastrophe Sweep Rangoon
By MIN LWIN
The Irrawaddy News
Now all hope of humanitarian intervention in Burma’s cyclone-devastated regions has vanished, rumors of another imminent natural catastrophe are sweeping Rangoon.
In the weeks following the cyclone, as US, British and French ships loaded with aid stood ready in international waters off Burma, many were certain that the three Western powers would decide to launch unilateral relief operations. Rumors spread widely that help was on its way.
Those rumors came to nothing. Now, others have replaced them. The most fanciful relates that three senior monks, Myaungmya Sayadaw, Bassein Sayadaw and Hlaing Tharyar Sayadaw, dreamt that another catastrophe, either another big storm or an earthquake, would strike the country, and that floodwater would reach Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda.
A nurse at Rangoon Western Hospital said: “Everyone is talking with fear about another big storm.”
One resident said the rumor was causing a lot of uncertainty in Rangoon, where memories of last month’s cyclone were still vivid.
Shortly after the cyclone hit on May 2, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, accused unnamed Western countries of being responsible for the rumors then circulating within Burma.
Dr Than Tun, the late influential historian and outspoken critic of the military junta, once wrote that Burmese oral history related that Sri Ksetra, an early Burmese capital, fell when rumors caused mass panic and hysteria.
The current rumors have also been fuelled by official forecasts of squalls in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with rain and winds reaching 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour along the Mon and Tenasserim coasts.
The Irrawaddy News
Now all hope of humanitarian intervention in Burma’s cyclone-devastated regions has vanished, rumors of another imminent natural catastrophe are sweeping Rangoon.
In the weeks following the cyclone, as US, British and French ships loaded with aid stood ready in international waters off Burma, many were certain that the three Western powers would decide to launch unilateral relief operations. Rumors spread widely that help was on its way.
Those rumors came to nothing. Now, others have replaced them. The most fanciful relates that three senior monks, Myaungmya Sayadaw, Bassein Sayadaw and Hlaing Tharyar Sayadaw, dreamt that another catastrophe, either another big storm or an earthquake, would strike the country, and that floodwater would reach Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda.
A nurse at Rangoon Western Hospital said: “Everyone is talking with fear about another big storm.”
One resident said the rumor was causing a lot of uncertainty in Rangoon, where memories of last month’s cyclone were still vivid.
Shortly after the cyclone hit on May 2, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, accused unnamed Western countries of being responsible for the rumors then circulating within Burma.
Dr Than Tun, the late influential historian and outspoken critic of the military junta, once wrote that Burmese oral history related that Sri Ksetra, an early Burmese capital, fell when rumors caused mass panic and hysteria.
The current rumors have also been fuelled by official forecasts of squalls in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with rain and winds reaching 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour along the Mon and Tenasserim coasts.
Student activists helping Nargis victims arrested
New Delhi: The Burmese military junta authorities detained at least three members of 88 Generation Students last Thursday.
Three senior members, one man and three women- Myet Thu, Yin Yin Wai and Tin Tin Cho who were into cyclone relief efforts and aid distribution were arrested while they were sitting in a teashop in Maynigone, Rangoon.
"They were in a tea shop waiting to discuss aid with monks when unknown people came and said they were representatives of the monks and took them away. They have disappeared," said a relative of Yin Yin Wai who requested anonymity. The relatives do not know their whereabouts.
The Special Branch of the police which has been after the dissidents had searched the house of those detained at least twice and asked their family members about the lists relating to cyclone aid distribution in Irrawaddy and Rangoon division.
"Around 15 officials including the police searched twice on June 14 and 15 and they asked us where the aid funds were and demanded to see the ledger," she said.
The 88 Generation Students have formed a team which is called Myitta Paung Ku. It has distributed aid at least six times to cyclone survivors.
"They searched the entire house and took some newspaper pictures of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The second time they asked for the laptop," said another family member.
88 Generation Students are known to be supporters of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their top leaders are being detained in jails after the mass uprising in August last year.
Meanwhile, an NGO staffer told Mizzima that the police are patrolling around their office in Inyamyaeing Streets in Rangoon. His organisation is distributing aid in Irrawaddy delta.
The junta arrested a well know comedian Zarganar (tweezers in Burmese) on June 4 and former First Eleven weekly journal Editor Zaw Thet Htwe last Friday. They were both distributing relief material in Irrawaddy delta.
Relief Web
Three senior members, one man and three women- Myet Thu, Yin Yin Wai and Tin Tin Cho who were into cyclone relief efforts and aid distribution were arrested while they were sitting in a teashop in Maynigone, Rangoon.
"They were in a tea shop waiting to discuss aid with monks when unknown people came and said they were representatives of the monks and took them away. They have disappeared," said a relative of Yin Yin Wai who requested anonymity. The relatives do not know their whereabouts.
The Special Branch of the police which has been after the dissidents had searched the house of those detained at least twice and asked their family members about the lists relating to cyclone aid distribution in Irrawaddy and Rangoon division.
"Around 15 officials including the police searched twice on June 14 and 15 and they asked us where the aid funds were and demanded to see the ledger," she said.
The 88 Generation Students have formed a team which is called Myitta Paung Ku. It has distributed aid at least six times to cyclone survivors.
"They searched the entire house and took some newspaper pictures of pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi. The second time they asked for the laptop," said another family member.
88 Generation Students are known to be supporters of the opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. Their top leaders are being detained in jails after the mass uprising in August last year.
Meanwhile, an NGO staffer told Mizzima that the police are patrolling around their office in Inyamyaeing Streets in Rangoon. His organisation is distributing aid in Irrawaddy delta.
The junta arrested a well know comedian Zarganar (tweezers in Burmese) on June 4 and former First Eleven weekly journal Editor Zaw Thet Htwe last Friday. They were both distributing relief material in Irrawaddy delta.
Relief Web
Call for release of magazine chief editor and blogger held for distributing aid to cyclone victims - Zaw Thet Htwe
Reporters Without Borders and the Burma Media Association condemn the arrest of Love Journal chief editor Zaw Thet Htwe on 13 June for assisting in the distribution of food and clothes in areas hit by Cyclone Nargis. While editor of the sports magazine First Eleven Journal in 2003, he was arrested, tortured and sentenced to death, and then pardoned by the supreme court.
‘Zaw Thet Htwe is a respected journalist who was moved by the woes of his compatriots after the cyclone,’ the two organisations said. ‘Banned by the military government’s censorship from writing openly about the tragedy in his magazine, he decided to act. We urge UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to intercede with the Burmese authorities so that civilians distributing aid should no longer be treated as criminals, and so that the Burmese and international media should be allowed to operate freely in the cyclone-hit areas.’
At least eight journalists and one blogger are currently in prison in Burma.
Zaw Thet Htwe was arrested by members of the military police while with his seriously-ill mother in the central city of Minbu on 13 June. The police searched his home in Rangoon yesterday. His wife, fellow journalist Ma Khine Cho, told Democratic Voice of Burma, an exile radio station, that the police confiscated his mobile, phone, computer and various documents.
Like the comedian and blogger known as Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htwe had been helping to channel relief to the victims of the Cyclone Nargis. Zarganar was arrested on 4 June after talking to the foreign news media about the slowness of the relief efforts being organised by the military government.
A Rangoon-based journalist reported that the authorities have stepped up control of cameras in the delta region. Equipment has been seized from the home of private individuals for fear that it could be used to film or photograph victims.
A military court sentenced Zaw Thet Htwe and eight other people for ‘high treason’ on 28 November 2003. The real reason for Zaw Thet Htwe’s arrest was the success of his football magazine and its independent line. The supreme court commuted his sentence to three years in prison on 12 May 2004 and he was finally released from Insein prison in January 2005.
Blogger Nay Phone Latt has meanwhile been transferred from cell No. 7 to cell No. 3 in Insein prison’s Building 1. During a recent interrogation session, the police threatened to bring other charges against him, in addition to the charge of possessing banned DVDs.
Relief Web
‘Zaw Thet Htwe is a respected journalist who was moved by the woes of his compatriots after the cyclone,’ the two organisations said. ‘Banned by the military government’s censorship from writing openly about the tragedy in his magazine, he decided to act. We urge UN secretary-general Ban Ki-Moon to intercede with the Burmese authorities so that civilians distributing aid should no longer be treated as criminals, and so that the Burmese and international media should be allowed to operate freely in the cyclone-hit areas.’
At least eight journalists and one blogger are currently in prison in Burma.
Zaw Thet Htwe was arrested by members of the military police while with his seriously-ill mother in the central city of Minbu on 13 June. The police searched his home in Rangoon yesterday. His wife, fellow journalist Ma Khine Cho, told Democratic Voice of Burma, an exile radio station, that the police confiscated his mobile, phone, computer and various documents.
Like the comedian and blogger known as Zarganar, Zaw Thet Htwe had been helping to channel relief to the victims of the Cyclone Nargis. Zarganar was arrested on 4 June after talking to the foreign news media about the slowness of the relief efforts being organised by the military government.
A Rangoon-based journalist reported that the authorities have stepped up control of cameras in the delta region. Equipment has been seized from the home of private individuals for fear that it could be used to film or photograph victims.
A military court sentenced Zaw Thet Htwe and eight other people for ‘high treason’ on 28 November 2003. The real reason for Zaw Thet Htwe’s arrest was the success of his football magazine and its independent line. The supreme court commuted his sentence to three years in prison on 12 May 2004 and he was finally released from Insein prison in January 2005.
Blogger Nay Phone Latt has meanwhile been transferred from cell No. 7 to cell No. 3 in Insein prison’s Building 1. During a recent interrogation session, the police threatened to bring other charges against him, in addition to the charge of possessing banned DVDs.
Relief Web
Burma cyclone impacting world food supply; forced evictions make post-cyclone hell worse
World Tribune
The military officers who have run the Burmese (Myanmar) economy for the past half century has little to show for their efforts. Endowed with vast raw materials and agricultural resources — the latter made Burma in colonial times the world’s No. 1 rice exporter — the economy has fallen to almost subsistence levels.
The effects of Cyclone Nargis in early May have not only added new misery for the country’s 50 million people but have negated rice exports needed by neighboring countries and contributing to the global food crisis. The storm hit hardest in Burma’s main rice-growing region in the isolated Irrawaddy Delta, where some 2 million people were driven from their homes and farmland.
Now comes word from human rights organizations that the military is driving displaced villagers from temporary camps set up in the continuing heavy monsoon rains, and is attempting to get them back on their salt water-logged fields to begin the recuperation of the paddy.
Human rights groups say that forced evictions — involving churches, monasteries, schools and other public buildings — are putting lives at risk and flouting international principles of humanitarian relief. Amnesty International reports 30 cases since May 19 of forcible removals of thousands of people who sought temporary shelter.
The force of the storm was so great that local stocks of food were destroyed. The few foreign refugee workers the regime has permitted to enter have described heart-rending stories of many displaced villagers trying to capture a few grains of rice out of inundated areas filled with decaying human corpses and animal carcasses.
The regime has permitted only minimal outside aid. And much of that, apparently, has been diverted to the military itself. Four American naval vessels that happened to be in the region on exercises when the storm struck waited for several weeks before gaining permission to enter the Delta area with small boats carrying water, emergency food and emergency items. The generals apparently fear exposure to foreign aid would strengthen opposition forces and their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of a founding father of the post-colonial nation and political prisoner for more than a decade.
Humanitarian organizations, including the UN World Food Program, were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people in the country where one in three children are chronically malnourished. The fear now is that the damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl" will make a bad situation a lot worse.
Burma’s plight is already impacting world food supplies. The World Food program said that it was not yet known whether Burma would be able to meet its commitments to supply Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If Burmese exports disappear — as now seems possible — the domino effect on Asia neighbors would be fierce. The International Rice Research Institute warned that, with the year’s second harvest imminent, weather patterns in Asia would come under unprecedented scrutiny: the freak damage caused by the cyclone will now exacerbate that.
The price of rice had already trebled across Asia this year, hitting a record $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24. Some local market prices have risen tenfold in the past year. Several governments — including those of China and India — responded by imposing export bans. Rice is currently trading around $20.96 per 100 pounds.
If the worst conditions prevail, Burma, with a rickety food economy and impoverished population, could become a net importer of rice.
The military officers who have run the Burmese (Myanmar) economy for the past half century has little to show for their efforts. Endowed with vast raw materials and agricultural resources — the latter made Burma in colonial times the world’s No. 1 rice exporter — the economy has fallen to almost subsistence levels.
The effects of Cyclone Nargis in early May have not only added new misery for the country’s 50 million people but have negated rice exports needed by neighboring countries and contributing to the global food crisis. The storm hit hardest in Burma’s main rice-growing region in the isolated Irrawaddy Delta, where some 2 million people were driven from their homes and farmland.
Now comes word from human rights organizations that the military is driving displaced villagers from temporary camps set up in the continuing heavy monsoon rains, and is attempting to get them back on their salt water-logged fields to begin the recuperation of the paddy.
Human rights groups say that forced evictions — involving churches, monasteries, schools and other public buildings — are putting lives at risk and flouting international principles of humanitarian relief. Amnesty International reports 30 cases since May 19 of forcible removals of thousands of people who sought temporary shelter.
The force of the storm was so great that local stocks of food were destroyed. The few foreign refugee workers the regime has permitted to enter have described heart-rending stories of many displaced villagers trying to capture a few grains of rice out of inundated areas filled with decaying human corpses and animal carcasses.
The regime has permitted only minimal outside aid. And much of that, apparently, has been diverted to the military itself. Four American naval vessels that happened to be in the region on exercises when the storm struck waited for several weeks before gaining permission to enter the Delta area with small boats carrying water, emergency food and emergency items. The generals apparently fear exposure to foreign aid would strengthen opposition forces and their leader, Aung San Suu Kyi, daughter of a founding father of the post-colonial nation and political prisoner for more than a decade.
Humanitarian organizations, including the UN World Food Program, were operating in Burma before the cyclone struck, providing food aid to half a million people in the country where one in three children are chronically malnourished. The fear now is that the damage to the area known as the country's "rice bowl" will make a bad situation a lot worse.
Burma’s plight is already impacting world food supplies. The World Food program said that it was not yet known whether Burma would be able to meet its commitments to supply Sri Lanka and Bangladesh. If Burmese exports disappear — as now seems possible — the domino effect on Asia neighbors would be fierce. The International Rice Research Institute warned that, with the year’s second harvest imminent, weather patterns in Asia would come under unprecedented scrutiny: the freak damage caused by the cyclone will now exacerbate that.
The price of rice had already trebled across Asia this year, hitting a record $25.07 per 100 pounds on April 24. Some local market prices have risen tenfold in the past year. Several governments — including those of China and India — responded by imposing export bans. Rice is currently trading around $20.96 per 100 pounds.
If the worst conditions prevail, Burma, with a rickety food economy and impoverished population, could become a net importer of rice.
Myanmar Cyclone Survivors Left Without Shelter, Aid Workers Say
By Paul Tighe
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- More than 75 percent of people needing shelter after Myanmar's cyclone are without tarpaulins for emergency protection six weeks after the storm devastated the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, aid workers said.
``There are still people who need a roof over their head,'' John Sparrow of the International Federation of the Red Cross said yesterday after returning from the delta, according to the United Nations IRIN news service. ``They are resilient, and they are doing the best they can for themselves, but it isn't enough.''
Only 22 percent of people in need have been given protective materials by international agencies, the IFRC said. The UN estimates that only 160,000 households have received some form of emergency shelter such as plastic sheeting.
The UN is trying to aid more than 2.4 million people affected by the May 2-3 storm. The military junta in the country formerly known as Burma is still complicating the relief effort by imposing restrictions on international aid workers, such as limiting their visits to the delta to two to three days at a time, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Aid agencies have yet to establish how many homes were destroyed when Tropical Cyclone Nargis caused a tidal surge to sweep 35 kilometers (22 miles) inland through the delta, Myanmar's main rice-growing region.
Assessment Team
A team of 250 people from UN agencies is now visiting 30 of the worst-hit townships and plans to have an assessment completed by June 24, according to IRIN.
``We are struggling generally in terms of information flow,'' IRIN cited Graham Eastmond, the Bangkok-based coordinator of Emergency Shelter Cluster, which groups relief agencies, as saying yesterday. As many as 480,000 families may need some shelter materials, the ESC estimates.
Supplies of tarpaulins are hampered by a shortage caused by the relief effort needed for survivors of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province that killed more than 69,000 people and affected 3.3 million people in the region.
The UN's appeal for Myanmar was 62 percent funded as of yesterday, OCHA said in a statement. More access to the delta region by international aid workers is needed to bring relief to the worst-hit areas, it said.
``The quality and availability of water remains a major health concern,'' it said in its latest report yesterday.
A shortage of funds may affect food, shelter and medicines reaching the region in coming weeks, the UN said last week. Survivors will probably need food aid for a year because Nargis destroyed fields, preventing planting, Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, said in Bangkok last week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
June 17 (Bloomberg) -- More than 75 percent of people needing shelter after Myanmar's cyclone are without tarpaulins for emergency protection six weeks after the storm devastated the southern Irrawaddy River Delta, aid workers said.
``There are still people who need a roof over their head,'' John Sparrow of the International Federation of the Red Cross said yesterday after returning from the delta, according to the United Nations IRIN news service. ``They are resilient, and they are doing the best they can for themselves, but it isn't enough.''
Only 22 percent of people in need have been given protective materials by international agencies, the IFRC said. The UN estimates that only 160,000 households have received some form of emergency shelter such as plastic sheeting.
The UN is trying to aid more than 2.4 million people affected by the May 2-3 storm. The military junta in the country formerly known as Burma is still complicating the relief effort by imposing restrictions on international aid workers, such as limiting their visits to the delta to two to three days at a time, the Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said in a statement yesterday.
Aid agencies have yet to establish how many homes were destroyed when Tropical Cyclone Nargis caused a tidal surge to sweep 35 kilometers (22 miles) inland through the delta, Myanmar's main rice-growing region.
Assessment Team
A team of 250 people from UN agencies is now visiting 30 of the worst-hit townships and plans to have an assessment completed by June 24, according to IRIN.
``We are struggling generally in terms of information flow,'' IRIN cited Graham Eastmond, the Bangkok-based coordinator of Emergency Shelter Cluster, which groups relief agencies, as saying yesterday. As many as 480,000 families may need some shelter materials, the ESC estimates.
Supplies of tarpaulins are hampered by a shortage caused by the relief effort needed for survivors of the May 12 earthquake in China's Sichuan province that killed more than 69,000 people and affected 3.3 million people in the region.
The UN's appeal for Myanmar was 62 percent funded as of yesterday, OCHA said in a statement. More access to the delta region by international aid workers is needed to bring relief to the worst-hit areas, it said.
``The quality and availability of water remains a major health concern,'' it said in its latest report yesterday.
A shortage of funds may affect food, shelter and medicines reaching the region in coming weeks, the UN said last week. Survivors will probably need food aid for a year because Nargis destroyed fields, preventing planting, Paul Risley, a WFP spokesman, said in Bangkok last week.
To contact the reporter on this story: Paul Tighe in Sydney at ptighe@bloomberg.net.
Myanmar: Cyclone Nargis OCHA Situation Report No. 32
SITUATION OVERVIEW
1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. 37 townships were significantly affected by the cyclone. Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million people were affected. 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached so far by International NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. Official figures put the number of dead or missing at more than 130,000.
2. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of high-level representatives of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at a donor conference in Yangon on 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief assistance. The group’s fifth meeting took place in Yangon on 14 June. The ASEAN Secretary-General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, visited Yangon on 14 June. The Secretary-General met with TCG partners, PONJA management teams (see below) and Government representatives.
3. A joint relief and early recovery assessment (Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA) is underway. The assessment involves humanitarian needs (Village Tract Assessment/VTA) and damage components (Damage and Loss Assessment/DaLA). Field surveys involving some 250 assessment personnel are taking place in 30 of the worst-affected townships between 10 and 19 June. As of 16 June 32 VTA teams have covered 84 out of 128 assessment ‘quadrants’ in Bogale, Labutta, Pathein, Pyapon, Wakema and Yangon.
4. New Government guidelines for international organizations providing assistance in cyclone-affected areas were introduced on 10 June. UN agencies and NGOs report difficulties with requests for visas and travel authorizations carried out in accordance with the new guidelines, with many line ministries not provided with instructions to expedite requests. More than 200 visas have been issued to UN staff as of 15 June. Most of the visas issued have been single entry visas for two weeks. Extensions are currently being approved in approximately 7-10 days. Close to 150 international operational UN staff have been to the affected areas as of 15 June, and at least five international UN staff have now been given permission to be based for up to 3 months in the field.
NATIONAL RESPONSE
5. The Xinhua news service reports that the Myanmar Engineers' Society (MES) and the Geological Science Society (GSS) are planning to build cyclone shelters in 500 vulnerable villages. The total cost of the project is estimated to be at least US$15 million. Designs are reportedly being developed by MES and sample shelters will initially be constructed in Ayeyarwady division.
6. IFRC reports that the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), working with the IFRC and the ICRC, has reached more than 250,000 beneficiaries with water, food and other relief items as of 9 June. More than 189,950 of these beneficiaries are located in the Ayeyarwady delta. Approximately 10,000 people per day are being reached.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
7. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. For more detailed up-to-date information relating to cluster activities please visit the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) website: http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org.
Relief Web
1. Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on 2 and 3 May 2008, making landfall in the Ayeyarwady Division and hitting the former capital, Yangon. 37 townships were significantly affected by the cyclone. Current estimates suggest that 2.4 million people were affected. 1.3 million people are estimated to have been reached so far by International NGOs, the Red Cross and the UN. Official figures put the number of dead or missing at more than 130,000.
2. A Tripartite Core Group (TCG), consisting of high-level representatives of the Government of Myanmar, ASEAN and the UN, was established at a donor conference in Yangon on 25 May to oversee the coordination of relief assistance. The group’s fifth meeting took place in Yangon on 14 June. The ASEAN Secretary-General, Dr. Surin Pitsuwan, visited Yangon on 14 June. The Secretary-General met with TCG partners, PONJA management teams (see below) and Government representatives.
3. A joint relief and early recovery assessment (Post-Nargis Joint Assessment/PONJA) is underway. The assessment involves humanitarian needs (Village Tract Assessment/VTA) and damage components (Damage and Loss Assessment/DaLA). Field surveys involving some 250 assessment personnel are taking place in 30 of the worst-affected townships between 10 and 19 June. As of 16 June 32 VTA teams have covered 84 out of 128 assessment ‘quadrants’ in Bogale, Labutta, Pathein, Pyapon, Wakema and Yangon.
4. New Government guidelines for international organizations providing assistance in cyclone-affected areas were introduced on 10 June. UN agencies and NGOs report difficulties with requests for visas and travel authorizations carried out in accordance with the new guidelines, with many line ministries not provided with instructions to expedite requests. More than 200 visas have been issued to UN staff as of 15 June. Most of the visas issued have been single entry visas for two weeks. Extensions are currently being approved in approximately 7-10 days. Close to 150 international operational UN staff have been to the affected areas as of 15 June, and at least five international UN staff have now been given permission to be based for up to 3 months in the field.
NATIONAL RESPONSE
5. The Xinhua news service reports that the Myanmar Engineers' Society (MES) and the Geological Science Society (GSS) are planning to build cyclone shelters in 500 vulnerable villages. The total cost of the project is estimated to be at least US$15 million. Designs are reportedly being developed by MES and sample shelters will initially be constructed in Ayeyarwady division.
6. IFRC reports that the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS), working with the IFRC and the ICRC, has reached more than 250,000 beneficiaries with water, food and other relief items as of 9 June. More than 189,950 of these beneficiaries are located in the Ayeyarwady delta. Approximately 10,000 people per day are being reached.
INTERNATIONAL RESPONSE
7. The following information is provided by the clusters, which meet regularly to coordinate the humanitarian response of national and international NGOs, the Red Cross/Red Crescent Movement and UN agencies. For more detailed up-to-date information relating to cluster activities please visit the Humanitarian Information Centre (HIC) website: http://myanmar.humanitarianinfo.org.
Relief Web
Myanmar rice farmers get tillers to replace buffalo, but don't know how to use them
KYUNG GWIN, Myanmar (IHT): Farmer Zaw Naing was puzzled as he stared at the brand new, unassembled tilling machine — equipment not seen in most of Myanmar's rice belt before the deadly cyclone.
Thousands of the tillers, donated by international and private aid donors, have been brought in to replace the water buffalo that once plowed the rice paddies but were killed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.
The plan is for farmers in the devastated Irrawaddy delta to rebuild their livelihoods and begin producing the rice that feeds this impoverished country.
But time is running out
The rice planting season should have started by early June, when farmers here typically plow their fields with water buffalo and prepare to plant new seeds for the October harvest. The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, and without immediate help, food security will be seriously threatened, international experts have warned.
The Agriculture Ministry has said 13,600 power tillers are needed to replace more than 280,000 cattle that died in the storm.
Some farmers say they have been lucky enough to receive the new machines but need to reassemble them since the tillers were shipped in several pieces.
"We don't know how to put it together. We have to wait for a mechanic to come," Zaw Naing said on a recent afternoon in the delta village of Kyaung Gwin as he unwrapped the plastic cover of the Chinese-made machine's red engine. He watched as a neighbor tugged at the machine's parts and pulled its gear shifts.
Most farmers in the delta have not managed to get a mechanical tiller. But once they do, they face further challenges: farmers can't afford the diesel fuel to power the machines and don't know how to operate them.
"I don't know how to use this machine. We only used buffalo in the past," said Zaw Naing, who lost his home in the cyclone as well as the 10 water buffalo that plowed his fields.
He has been told by local authorities to share the tiller with five other farmers in his village, which is south of the town of Labutta in one of the hardest hit areas. The cyclone killed some 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an assessment last week the delta normally produces about 60 percent of Myanmar's rice and the outlook for this year's crop is "very uncertain" after the storm flooded paddy fields with sea water, damaged irrigation systems and destroyed seed supplies.
"Little to no actual progress has been made to restore or rehabilitate damaged lands and infrastructure," the report said. "Farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement mechanical tillers and fuel."
Myanmar's Agriculture Ministry says it is sending experts to train farmers and will send 140,000 baskets of salt-resistant rice seed — the equivalent of 2,900 tons — to the delta, a fraction of what is needed.
Once the world's top producer, Myanmar has seen rice exports drop from nearly 4 million tons to about 40,000 tons last year, after four decades of military rule and disastrous economic policies. Its exports are so small these days that few expect the cyclone will have any impact on world rice prices; the people of Myanmar consume most of the rice the country produces.
U.N. Undersecretary-General Noeleen Heyzer issued an urgent plea Friday for donations of 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of diesel fuel to help farmers run the tillers.
Myanmar's agriculture minister, Maj. Gen. Htay Oo, told Heyzer the fuel is needed to run some 5,000 tillers donated by Thailand, China and other countries. Private donors and aid agencies have contributed additional machines.
"The window of opportunity is very short," said Heyzer, the senior U.N. official in Asia. After the planting season ends in July, it will be too late, she said, warning of "disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar."
The sense of urgency — and frustration — was shared by rice farmer Tin Yein, whose wife, five farm hands and eight buffalo were killed in the cyclone. He spent a whole day recently lined up with 200 other farmers in Labutta, where dozens of donated tillers were being stored in a government warehouse waiting to be distributed.
"I didn't get one today, but maybe I will get it tomorrow," said Tin Yein, sitting at a tea shop in town after a day of dealing with red tape. Farmers applying for the mechanical tillers must be accompanied by their village headmen, said Tin Yein, and his local official arrived too late to process the request that day.
"Normally, planting season starts May 15. I'm already a month late," said the farmer, who has 70 acres (28 hectares) of land. Each harvest produced about 30,000 baskets of rice, enough to feed his family and bring in some US$9,000 a year in income.
Tin Yein wonders how he'll afford to use the mechanical tiller. He says he'll need to hire eight men and a boat to transport the machine to his village, about an hour away and accessible only by narrow waterways.
Each machine uses 2 gallons (8 liters) of diesel per acre and government rations restrict each person to 5 gallons (19 liters) of fuel every few days. Fuel is available on the black market but for twice the official price of US$2.70 per gallon.
"I have no money for diesel because every day I struggle just to buy food," Tin Yein said. "I'm not hopeful of planting before the rainy season is over."
Thousands of the tillers, donated by international and private aid donors, have been brought in to replace the water buffalo that once plowed the rice paddies but were killed by Cyclone Nargis on May 2-3.
The plan is for farmers in the devastated Irrawaddy delta to rebuild their livelihoods and begin producing the rice that feeds this impoverished country.
But time is running out
The rice planting season should have started by early June, when farmers here typically plow their fields with water buffalo and prepare to plant new seeds for the October harvest. The delta produces most of Myanmar's rice, and without immediate help, food security will be seriously threatened, international experts have warned.
The Agriculture Ministry has said 13,600 power tillers are needed to replace more than 280,000 cattle that died in the storm.
Some farmers say they have been lucky enough to receive the new machines but need to reassemble them since the tillers were shipped in several pieces.
"We don't know how to put it together. We have to wait for a mechanic to come," Zaw Naing said on a recent afternoon in the delta village of Kyaung Gwin as he unwrapped the plastic cover of the Chinese-made machine's red engine. He watched as a neighbor tugged at the machine's parts and pulled its gear shifts.
Most farmers in the delta have not managed to get a mechanical tiller. But once they do, they face further challenges: farmers can't afford the diesel fuel to power the machines and don't know how to operate them.
"I don't know how to use this machine. We only used buffalo in the past," said Zaw Naing, who lost his home in the cyclone as well as the 10 water buffalo that plowed his fields.
He has been told by local authorities to share the tiller with five other farmers in his village, which is south of the town of Labutta in one of the hardest hit areas. The cyclone killed some 78,000 people and left 56,000 more missing.
The U.S. Department of Agriculture said in an assessment last week the delta normally produces about 60 percent of Myanmar's rice and the outlook for this year's crop is "very uncertain" after the storm flooded paddy fields with sea water, damaged irrigation systems and destroyed seed supplies.
"Little to no actual progress has been made to restore or rehabilitate damaged lands and infrastructure," the report said. "Farmers are yet to be supplied with sufficient food, viable seed, tools, livestock or replacement mechanical tillers and fuel."
Myanmar's Agriculture Ministry says it is sending experts to train farmers and will send 140,000 baskets of salt-resistant rice seed — the equivalent of 2,900 tons — to the delta, a fraction of what is needed.
Once the world's top producer, Myanmar has seen rice exports drop from nearly 4 million tons to about 40,000 tons last year, after four decades of military rule and disastrous economic policies. Its exports are so small these days that few expect the cyclone will have any impact on world rice prices; the people of Myanmar consume most of the rice the country produces.
U.N. Undersecretary-General Noeleen Heyzer issued an urgent plea Friday for donations of 1 million gallons (3.8 million liters) of diesel fuel to help farmers run the tillers.
Myanmar's agriculture minister, Maj. Gen. Htay Oo, told Heyzer the fuel is needed to run some 5,000 tillers donated by Thailand, China and other countries. Private donors and aid agencies have contributed additional machines.
"The window of opportunity is very short," said Heyzer, the senior U.N. official in Asia. After the planting season ends in July, it will be too late, she said, warning of "disastrous consequences for food security in Myanmar."
The sense of urgency — and frustration — was shared by rice farmer Tin Yein, whose wife, five farm hands and eight buffalo were killed in the cyclone. He spent a whole day recently lined up with 200 other farmers in Labutta, where dozens of donated tillers were being stored in a government warehouse waiting to be distributed.
"I didn't get one today, but maybe I will get it tomorrow," said Tin Yein, sitting at a tea shop in town after a day of dealing with red tape. Farmers applying for the mechanical tillers must be accompanied by their village headmen, said Tin Yein, and his local official arrived too late to process the request that day.
"Normally, planting season starts May 15. I'm already a month late," said the farmer, who has 70 acres (28 hectares) of land. Each harvest produced about 30,000 baskets of rice, enough to feed his family and bring in some US$9,000 a year in income.
Tin Yein wonders how he'll afford to use the mechanical tiller. He says he'll need to hire eight men and a boat to transport the machine to his village, about an hour away and accessible only by narrow waterways.
Each machine uses 2 gallons (8 liters) of diesel per acre and government rations restrict each person to 5 gallons (19 liters) of fuel every few days. Fuel is available on the black market but for twice the official price of US$2.70 per gallon.
"I have no money for diesel because every day I struggle just to buy food," Tin Yein said. "I'm not hopeful of planting before the rainy season is over."
Monday, 16 June 2008
Who in China Is Happy?
In an increasingly diverse and divided China, experts cite a new key distinction: those who are burdened by the expectations of others, and those who follow their own paths.
HONG KONG—Two decades of breakneck economic growth have left Chinese society divided against itself, into rich and poor, urban and rural, old and young, with implications for the happiness of individuals and the country as a whole.
She Jixiang of the Yunnan Mental Health Center was one of the earliest Chinese psychoanalysts and psychotherapists, as China under the late reformer Deng Xiaoping emerged from Maoist isolationism and the chaos of the Cultural Revolution (1966-76).
He said that while he saw no particular reason why having more money should necessarily lead to greater happiness and satisfaction, his many years of clinical experience have shown that richer people do feel happier than poor people in China.
"I think there's a difference between rich and poor, and countryside and city. If we are talking about what sort of people we get as patients, I think there are more poor people, actually," She said.
"They are naturally going to have more worries and anxieties as a result of the requirements that life puts upon them."
High property prices, healthcare costs, and school and university fees are all economic factors that increase the amount of pressure on the individual and affect overall happiness, She added.
Impatience cited
A Beijing-based psychologist surnamed Ning said Chinese people's overall happiness has been affected in recent years by widespread impatience, an approach to goal-setting entirely geared to material wealth, and a need to compete and compare well with others.
"Most Chinese people today are focused on money, wealth, material gain," Ning said. "They think that as long as they can achieve that then everything will be fine. They get their entire sense of life satisfaction from economic success right now."
"If that goes, they have nothing to fall back on," he said.
Rural-urban divide
A major schism in Chinese society now exists between the booming high-tech cities of China's eastern seaboard and the underdeveloped rural hinterland.
Recent studies of depression and suicide in China have revealed a unique social pattern: China is the only country in which the suicide rate for females is higher than for males.
Around 90 percent of Chinese women who end their own lives live in the countryside, where they have ready access to poisonous pesticides, and where, says She, they are oppressed under traditional family structures.
"I think one of the best indicators of happiness levels in the countryside as compared with the city is in the suicide rate, which is much higher in the countryside than it is in urban areas," She said.
But he added that if people are able to break out of rural life and venture into the big cities in search of work, further psychological problems await them.
"Someone who has grown up in the country and who has never been to the big city will, I believe, actually be a bit happier than their urban counterpart," he said. "There are not so many requirements attached to rural life. You don't need much to get by. They are more satisfied because there is less of a gap between what they desire and what they have."
"But when those same people go to the cities, they see rich people everywhere, and this boosts their expectations and desire for material gain and enjoyment of life. But someone from the countryside is unlikely to be able to realize such desires, which is a very painful state, and after that happiness becomes very elusive for them," he added.
Officials are satisfied
If rural women are the least happy people in China, then a series of recent surveys has shown government officials—the most empowered people in Chinese society—at the top of surveys of life satisfaction and well-being.
A poll in September 2007 for the Chinese-language Health magazine found that civil servants make up the happiest sector of Chinese society, followed by teachers and independent professionals.
And a recent Chinese Academy of Social Sciences survey found that government officials are the happiest, followed by intellectuals and upwardly mobile professionals including private entrepreneurs, independent professionals, and management-grade workers in foreign-invested companies.
Why are Chinese officials so happy?
"Well, political power is certainly a factor," She said. "But there are a lot of other benefits to the position, including opportunities for their children and access to resources that other people don't have."
In Western countries, doctors and lawyers are highly paid, he said. In China, this is also true, but professional standards are still struggling to meet the social challenges of the market economy.
"There is now a crisis of trust in Chinese society," She said. "The basic trust between people has been eroded. There is something of a crisis too between doctors and their patients...Sure, the salary is quite high, but doctors are not a very happy bunch of people."
Generation gap
Another major form of stress and social division, according to a number of interviewees, is China's generation gap: the difference in attitude between people born and raised in an era of cradle-to-grave socialism, and their children, who must make their way in today's highly competitive labor market.
While parents said they often struggled to find enough money to educate their children to give them the best possible start in life, in keeping with traditional Chinese values, children are increasingly at odds with their parents' world view.
China's young people, according to Ning, pursue goals of greater freedom, while their parents' generation is still influenced by traditional mores that dictate what direction they think their sons and daughters should take in life.
Ms. Wu, a white-collar worker in Beijing, said she rarely discussed career matters with her parents because of a gap in understanding between the generations. "I don't tend to talk to my parents about a problem at work because they are very unlikely to know how to handle it. I find it is better to sort it out by myself," she said.
Pressure on children
Meanwhile, the obsession with competition and success is already taking a psychological toll on the young and straining family relationships, She said.
"There are a lot of middle-income families putting too much pressure on their children, who go off the rails," he said.
"We are talking about the families of teachers, workers, policemen. Especially teachers. All the way through the kids' high-school years, the parents are pushing them to work harder and achieve more, and finally the kids can't take it any more and they start to have psychological problems."
Guo Xue'an, a laid-off worker from Yichun in the northeastern province of Heilongjiang, waved goodbye to his young son, who can't find a job in his hometown and is off to the booming south to find work.
"We don't ask much in order to be happy," Guo said. "We want to be able to support ourselves in life. We want our kids to get a bit of education. That's enough...if our children can't get an education, then how can they live?" he said.
Yang Yushu, the proprietor of a privately owned restaurant in Beijing, agreed. "The two biggest problems faced by ordinary people in China these days is what to do if they get sick, and where to send their kids to school," he said.
Dreams of others
Meanwhile, psychologist Ning said the Chinese tendency to live one's entire life according to the goals and expectations of other people doesn't always lead to happiness.
"There are many aspects to happiness. One shouldn't impose too many fixed expectations on life. That way, if things aren't going very well for you in one area, often there is an opportunity to compensate in another area," he said, urging young people to resist sacrificing too much of themselves to conform to collective demands.
"Or you can take the chance to broaden your direction in life, and to deepen your understanding of what it means to be human. This is a much more complete realization of one's needs as an individual. Life is not just about material success, nor even just about feeling happy. There are many more aspects to it than that," he said.
Original reporting in Mandarin by Bai Fan. Mandarin service director: Jennifer Chou. Translated and written for the Web in English by Luisetta Mudie. Edited by Sarah Jackson-Han.
Radio Free Asia
Editor aiding cyclone victims arrested by Junta
By Wai Sann - Mizzima News
15 June 2008
The Burmese military junta continues to harass and detain people and despite odds have gone out of their way to help victims of Cyclone Nargis. In its latest instance of intolerance it arrested a journalist on Friday, who had been helping survivors.
Zaw Thet Htwe, the former editor of a weekly sports journal was arrested in his home town, Minbu, according to a close relative according to a close relative who refused to be quoted by his name.
"They [local authorities] came and arrested him and blocked mobile phone connection," he said.
Zaw Thet Htwe was visiting his native town after delivering some kitchen utensils for cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy Delta.
No official reason has been given by the authorities. Nevertheless, Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest is thought to have a link with Zarganar's arrest last week.
The well-known outspoken comedian was arrested after his team was caught supplying food and shelter to cyclone victims. The authorities confiscated relief money along with the VCDs of records of his team's activities in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
It is not the first time that Zaw Thet Htwe has been arrested on November 2003 . He was charged with sending reports to the International Labour Organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court quashed the sentence later against him due to pressure from the ILO.
Till date, it is not known where he has been taken. His home in Rangoon was reportedly stormed by the special police and his phone connection was also cut off.
Some reports said he was being detained in an interrogation camp in Rangoon after being transferred from Minbu Township.
15 June 2008
The Burmese military junta continues to harass and detain people and despite odds have gone out of their way to help victims of Cyclone Nargis. In its latest instance of intolerance it arrested a journalist on Friday, who had been helping survivors.
Zaw Thet Htwe, the former editor of a weekly sports journal was arrested in his home town, Minbu, according to a close relative according to a close relative who refused to be quoted by his name.
"They [local authorities] came and arrested him and blocked mobile phone connection," he said.
Zaw Thet Htwe was visiting his native town after delivering some kitchen utensils for cyclone victims in the Irrawaddy Delta.
No official reason has been given by the authorities. Nevertheless, Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest is thought to have a link with Zarganar's arrest last week.
The well-known outspoken comedian was arrested after his team was caught supplying food and shelter to cyclone victims. The authorities confiscated relief money along with the VCDs of records of his team's activities in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
It is not the first time that Zaw Thet Htwe has been arrested on November 2003 . He was charged with sending reports to the International Labour Organization and sentenced to life imprisonment. However, the Supreme Court quashed the sentence later against him due to pressure from the ILO.
Till date, it is not known where he has been taken. His home in Rangoon was reportedly stormed by the special police and his phone connection was also cut off.
Some reports said he was being detained in an interrogation camp in Rangoon after being transferred from Minbu Township.
Red Cross welcomes special cyclone support
Australian Red Cross CEO Robert Tickner today warmly welcomed a special contribution by the Government of South Australia to aid victims of Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar(Burma).
Mr Tickner also acknowledged the generous support of the Australian community while recognising the South Australian government's special donation of $200,000 to aid victims of the disaster cyclone.
'We sincerely appreciate this strong financial contribution from South Australian Premier Mike Rann,' Mr Tickner said.
Mr Tickner said the Government of South Australia showed 'very timely humanitarian spirit' in helping meet the massive needs in the recovery efforts for families and communities affected by the cyclone.
'This special contribution will help extend a hand to people who survived the original cyclone trauma but are now extremely vulnerable. It recognises that, as neighbours, we are able to help in times of dire need.'
Mr Tickner said there was a desperate requirement for basic shelter as well as access to clean water and first aid in the country.
Over the last few days, Red Cross flights have managed to reach the Yangon region carrying over 35 tonnes of shelter materials and supplies.
Red Cross officials estimate that by Friday (16 May) a total of 180 tonnes of Red Cross aid will have arrived in Myanmar.
Mr Tickner praised the work of Myanmar Red Cross aid workers and volunteers currently distributing life-saving relief items to affected families including drinking water, clothing, food and emergency shelter.
The Myanmar Red Cross network covers the country with key branches in the most affected areas with more than 19,000 staff and volunteers able to help in areas including first aid and relief activities.
To donate to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008:
- make an online donation
- phone 1800 811 700
- send a cheque or money order to PO Box 2957, Melbourne, 8060
- at any branch of the Commonwealth bank
Donations to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008 will:
- support the relief and recovery needs of households and communities affected by Cyclone Nargis, including clean water, emergency shelter and household items
- send specialist aid workers to assist in the Red Cross response
- assist Myanmar Red Cross in preparing and responding to this and future emergencies
Australian Red Cross will deduct no more than 10% of any donation for an international Appeal to cover its appeal costs.
Should the funds raised exceed the amount required to meet the immediate and longer term needs of the people in the affected areas, Australian Red Cross will direct the excess funds to other emergency preparedness and response initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.
Available for interview:
Or for further information:
Lachlan Quick, National media coordinator
m: 0412 912 378
Relief Web
Mr Tickner also acknowledged the generous support of the Australian community while recognising the South Australian government's special donation of $200,000 to aid victims of the disaster cyclone.
'We sincerely appreciate this strong financial contribution from South Australian Premier Mike Rann,' Mr Tickner said.
Mr Tickner said the Government of South Australia showed 'very timely humanitarian spirit' in helping meet the massive needs in the recovery efforts for families and communities affected by the cyclone.
'This special contribution will help extend a hand to people who survived the original cyclone trauma but are now extremely vulnerable. It recognises that, as neighbours, we are able to help in times of dire need.'
Mr Tickner said there was a desperate requirement for basic shelter as well as access to clean water and first aid in the country.
Over the last few days, Red Cross flights have managed to reach the Yangon region carrying over 35 tonnes of shelter materials and supplies.
Red Cross officials estimate that by Friday (16 May) a total of 180 tonnes of Red Cross aid will have arrived in Myanmar.
Mr Tickner praised the work of Myanmar Red Cross aid workers and volunteers currently distributing life-saving relief items to affected families including drinking water, clothing, food and emergency shelter.
The Myanmar Red Cross network covers the country with key branches in the most affected areas with more than 19,000 staff and volunteers able to help in areas including first aid and relief activities.
To donate to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008:
- make an online donation
- phone 1800 811 700
- send a cheque or money order to PO Box 2957, Melbourne, 8060
- at any branch of the Commonwealth bank
Donations to the Myanmar Cyclone Nargis Appeal 2008 will:
- support the relief and recovery needs of households and communities affected by Cyclone Nargis, including clean water, emergency shelter and household items
- send specialist aid workers to assist in the Red Cross response
- assist Myanmar Red Cross in preparing and responding to this and future emergencies
Australian Red Cross will deduct no more than 10% of any donation for an international Appeal to cover its appeal costs.
Should the funds raised exceed the amount required to meet the immediate and longer term needs of the people in the affected areas, Australian Red Cross will direct the excess funds to other emergency preparedness and response initiatives in the Asia Pacific region.
Available for interview:
Or for further information:
Lachlan Quick, National media coordinator
m: 0412 912 378
Relief Web
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