How You Can Support the People of Burma
Now, four weeks after Cyclone Nargis slammed into Burma, the conditions for refugees have improved only in small, incremental steps, with the majority of survivors yet to see aid of any kind.
In the aftermath of the cyclone, some 134,000 Burmese are now dead or missing - over 40 percent of which are believed to be children. The United Nations reports that less than 50% percent of the storm’s 2.4 million affected victims have received any humanitarian relief. Survivors line the roadways waiting for relief. While the United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki Moon has received promises that relief workers would be allowed access to the Irawaddy Delta, some 1.5 million people have not seen any aid.
The rice paddies are contaminated with salt water and corpses, including the rotting carcasses of more than 280,000 cattle and water buffalo, without which the planting cannot proceed. The seed for this June’s rice planting have been swept out to sea.
As always, the monks are at the forefront of serving their people. Some crafty monks are running an underground supply chain operated out of one of the bigger towns in the Delta and defying the ban on private relief operations in the delta, by bringing in food and supplies at great personal risk.
The monks are also reporting that storm victims are being loaded onto government trucks to work on forced labor projects.
The international community still waits for permission to mount a full aid campaign. Ships and helicopters remain off the shores. While the Junta has agreed to let in aid workers and increased aid, the process is agonizingly slow; how many aid workers, and how soon they will be allowed in, still remains to be seen.
In the midst of this crisis, the Burmese government went ahead and held the scheduled Referendum as their people were starving. They claim there was an overwhelming turnout for the election, even in the Delta region, and declared an overwhelming Referendum victory. The international community knows this election to be a farce and sham. The junta also saw it fit this week to illegally extend Aung San Suu Kyi’s house arrest for another year, thereby dashing any hopes that she might from her prison any time soon.
For the latest news on Burma’s suffering, go to uscampaignforburma.org
It is important to keep the light of awareness on Burma now. The international response to the cyclone could have accumulating effects on the government. The junta is being forced to open its doors a little and this light shining in the darkness can be a great catalyst. The UN Secretary General was allowed into the country, and more foreigners are there than ever before.
Here are some suggestions on how to respond to this crisis.
1. Offer humanitarian aid now to those directly affected by Cyclone Nargis or hold a benefit for Burma. Emergency relief efforts can be directed towards BPF’s affiliate, the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB), which is continuing to expand its reach in the Delta. With its trained medical personnel and 300 workers on the ground, FPB is one of the private aid agencies that is operating while the large ones wait for permission and visas. They have reached over 70,000 people with food, water purification tablets, tarps, oral rehydration, and medicine. Donations can be made via the FPB website www.foundationburma.org/ or by check or money order to Foundation for the People of Burma, 225 Bush Street Suite 590, San Francisco, CA 94104. For questions call (415) 217-7015. Email: info@foundationburma.org
2. Write or email the Myanmar Embassy, expressing your compassionate concern for the Burmese people in this natural disaster, and sincere wishes that the Burmese government will wholeheartedly devote all its considerable military and civilian resources to rescue those trapped in the path of the cyclone. Ask the government to allow the free flow of international relief aid.
The Honorable Ambassador U Linn Myaing
Embassy of the Union of Myanmar
2300 S Street NW, Washington D.C. – 20008
info@mewashingtondc.com
3. Write or call your Representative and Senator in the US Congress. Ask him or her to use their influence with China and India to help the situation in Burma. Visit forms.house.gov to locate the contacts to your representatives.
4. Write to the Secretary General of the United Nations asking him to endorse an arms embargo against Burma and to pressure the UN Security Council to consider introducing a universal arms embargo. Write him at:
Ban Ki-Moon
Secretary General
Executive Office Room S-3830
1 United Nations Plaza
New York, NY 10017
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