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First US airlift
of aid
lands in Myanmar!
59 minutes ago
YANGON, Myanmar - The first U.S. relief airlift arrived in Myanmar
on Monday after prolonged negotiations with the country's isolationist
junta, which considers Washington its enemy and has restricted
international aid to as many as 2 million cyclone victims.
The unarmed military C-130 cargo plane, packed with supplies, flew out of the Thai air force base of Utapao and landed in Yangon. Two more air shipments are scheduled to land Tuesday.
After the plane's arrival, the supplies were transferred to Myanmar army trucks.
Myanmar's junta said Sunday the official death toll from the May 3
Cyclone Nargis has jumped to nearly 29,000 with more than 33,000
missing.
But Richard Horsey, a spokesman for U.N. humanitarian operations,
said a toll of 100,000 dead or missing was possible based on "reports
that we are receiving from our teams in the field from the authorities
there."
Though the green light for the U.S. airlift was a positive sign,
Horsey said the junta continued to frustrate international efforts to
deliver aid. He said clean drinking water, shelter, medical supplies
and food are still desperately needed by hundreds of thousands of
people in order to prevent widespread starvation and disease.
"It's still a very serious situation. There are up to 2 million
people in urgent need of assistance. Assistance is getting through" but
not fast enough, he told The Associated Press in Bangkok, Thailand.
He said authorities must allow not only goods to come in urgently
but also expedite visas for foreign experts and allowing equipment into
the country.
"The authorities of the country need to open up to an international
relief effort. There aren't enough boats, trucks, helicopters in the
country to run the relief effort of the scale we need," he said. "It's
urgent that the authorities do open themselves up."
In the hardest hit Irrawaddy delta, people were surviving in
miserable conditions -- hundreds crowded into monasteries, where they
slept on the floor. Others camped outside, drinking water contaminated
by human feces, dead bodies and animal carcasses.
Heavy rains were forecast this week, which would further hinder aid delivery.
"So far we have enough water by collecting rain. But we do not have
food anymore," said U Patanyale, the abbot of a monastery in Pyapon
town in the delta.
Horsey said the U.N. is getting "a lot of reports" of widespread
diarrhea outbreaks in the delta, but not of an epidemic scale. Malaria
and dengue could also become a problem.
"But basic shelter, clean water and emergency food will be the thing
that if we can get it out fast enough will prevent hopefully these
major problems," he said.
The junta has been sharply criticized for its handling of the
disaster, from failing to provide adequate warnings about the pending
storm to responding slowly to offers of help.
Though international assistance has started trickling in, the few
foreign relief workers who have been allowed entry have been restricted
to Yangon. Only a handful have succeeded in getting past checkpoints into the worst-affected areas.
The government is also insisting on handling the aid distribution
through its feared military, which has ruled this isolated country
since 1962.
"The government is very controlling," said U Patanyale. "Those who
want to give directly to the victims get into trouble. They have to
give to the government or do it secretly. They follow international aid
trucks everywhere. They don't want others to take credit."
The Myanmar junta's
restrictions on foreign help stems from its strained relations with the
internat
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