nargis

Nothing exposes the brutality and inhumanity of tinpot tyrants like a natural disaster.

As the death toll from Nargis  climbs to over 20,000, with tens of thousands missing and countless more thousands left homeless, Myanmar's junta is still piss-farting around placing all sorts of obstructions to those willing to provide aid - not even allowing foreign helicopters to use their airspace to assess damage, effect rescues, much less distribute aid.

The category 3 tropical storm, hit the southern coast of Myanmar on Saturday, sweeping away entire villages and leaving the region without electricity and running water; a state of emergency has been declared in the cities of Yangon, Irrawaddy, Pegu and in the Karen and Mon states.

Here's the sort of devastation we are talking about:

The image on the left taken in April 15 shows the Irrawaddy river flowing south and splitting into numerous distributaries. Rivers and lakes are sharply defined against a backdrop of vegetation and fallow agricultural land. The image on the right taken on May 5 shows the entire coastal plain is flooded after the area took a direct hit from the cyclone. The city of Yangon (located by the red rectangle) is almost completely surrounded by floods.  Images: NASA

Early reports suggested that the junta failed to give its people warning of the cyclone's approach or make any other preparations, despite knowing the storm was about to hit.  Today, media outlets are carrying reports that Indian meteorologists gave Myanmar warnings about the cyclone's impending landfall some 48 hours beforehand.

Other reports too, that the army was soon out on the streets of Yangon after the winds subsided to clean up: but that was only in the affluent areas of the ruling elite.  In the meantime  most Yangon residents have been without fresh water for three days.  Don't even ask what those in rural areas are sufferring.

Unable to cope with the emergency, the Naypydaw generals quietly asked Thailand for “food, medicine and building materials.”  The first shipment should have arrived yesterday. China sent a similar batch of supplies. The junta has also begrudgingly accepted assistance from international aid agencies, tending to favour the totally ineffective U.N.  And if assessment of needs is one problem, distribution is another problem.   This without the belligerence and obstructionist tactics of the xenophobic regime. 

No use sending cash to them. They are so isolated in the world's community they couldn't spend it, much less know how to spend it for their people's welfare, even if they are more likely to pocket it.

Besides, they do have a referendum to run.

Despicable.