Dedicated to the Burmese people


Myanmar junta hands out aid boxes with generals' names

Burma: How you can help

Disasters Emergency Committee appeal for aid to Burma
The cyclone in Burma has killed tens of thousands of people and left up to one million homeless.


Aid agencies are appealing for help and say the need is "immediate and vast".

While there are questions over what access the Burmese government is giving to aid agencies, most say they have partners on the ground and they are confident aid will get through.

http://news.yahoo.com/fc/World/Myanmar

Myanmar's junta holds referendum despite cyclone crisis

Behind the Scenes: Escaping cyclone-ravaged Myanmar
(CNN) -- Hiding under a blanket in the back of a car at a police checkpoint. Hopping on boats instead of staying on a road. Constantly looking over your shoulder, knowing that at any moment you -- and those with you -- face the possibility of imprisonment, torture, even death.

It sounds like a spy movie. But CNN's Dan Rivers, who sneaked into storm-ravaged Myanmar without the knowledge of the nation's secretive ruling junta, says the reality is even more frightening than it appears on the silver screen.

Now out of Myanmar, Rivers said Friday that his experience raises a question: If the government is chasing down a journalist reporting on a natural disaster, what kinds of problems are aid workers facing?

"The whole country is kind of a basket case," Rivers said. "Combine that with a disaster on this scale and a government that won't let anyone in -- they're turning a bad situation into ... what really is criminal negligence on a massive scale."
more at
http://edition.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/09/rivers.btsc/ index.html#cnnSTCText

Cyclone devastates Burma

7.30 Report | Tue, 06 May 2008 18:54:00 +1000 | Duration 6m 5s

Cyclone Nagis and its repercussions have killed 15,000 people and this figure is expected to rise. The humanitarian crisis is so grave that the military junta has been forced to accept international aid.

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Tags: disasters-and-accidents, cyclones, storm, tidal-wave, burma

ear friends,

Burma has been devastated by a cyclone—and by the military junta's failure to help its people cope. Help raise relief funds for distribution by Burma's monks:

CLICK TO DONATE!

In the wake of a massive cyclone, tens of thousands of Burmese are dead. More than 40,000 are missing. A million are homeless.

But what's happening in Burma is not just a natural disaster—it's also a catastrophe of bad leadership.

Burma's brutal and corrupt military junta failed to warn the people, failed to evacuate any areas, and suppressed freedom of communication so that Burmese people didn't know the storm was coming when the rest of the world did. Now the government is failing to respond to the disaster and obstructing international aid organizations.

Humanitarian relief is urgently needed, but Burma's government could easily delay, divert or misuse any aid. Today the International Burmese Monks Organization, including many leaders of the democracy protests last fall, launched a new effort to provide relief through Burma's powerful grass roots network of monasteries—the most trusted institutions in the country and currently the only source of housing and support in many devastated communities. Click below to help the Burmese people with a donation and see a video appeal to Avaaz from a leader of the monks:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

Giving to the monks is a smart, fast way to get aid directly to Burma's people. Governments and international aid organizations are important, but face challenges—they may not be allowed into Burma, or they may be forced to provide aid according to the junta's rules. And most will have to spend large amounts of money just setting up operations in the country. The monks are already on the front lines of the aid effort—housing, feeding, and supporting the victims of the cyclone since the day it struck. The International Burmese Monks Organization will send money directly to each monastery through their own networks, bypassing regime controls.

Last year, more than 800,000 of us around the world stood with the Burmese people as they rose up against the military dictatorship. The government lost no time then in dispatching its armies to ruthlessly crush the nonviolent democracy movement—but now, as tens of thousands die, the junta's response is slow and threatens to divert precious aid into the corrupt regime's pockets.

The monks are unlikely to receive aid from governments or large humanitarian organizations, but they have a stronger presence and trust among the Burmese people than both. If we all chip in a little bit, we can help them to make a big difference.

Click here to donate:

https://secure.avaaz.org/en/burma_cyclone/77.php

With hope,

Ricken, Ben, Graziela, Paul, Iain, Veronique, Pascal, Galit and the whole Avaaz team

PS: Here are some links to more information:

For more information about Avaaz's work to support the Burmese people, click here: http://www.avaaz.org/en/burma_report_back/

For more information about the cyclone, the humanitarian crisis, and the political dimension, see these articles:

New York Times: "A Challenge Getting Relief to Myanmar's Remote Areas." 7 May 2008.

BBC: "Will Burma's leaders let aid in?" 6 May 2008.

India's Economic Times: Indian meteorological department advised junta 48 hours in advance, 6 May 2008.

BBC: "Disaster tests Burma's junta." 5 May 2008

Times Online: "Aid workers fear Burma cyclone deaths will top 50,000." 6 May 2008.

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ABOUT AVAAZ
Avaaz.org is an independent, not-for-profit global campaigning organization that works to ensure that the views and values of the world's people inform global decision-making. (Avaaz means "voice" in many languages.) Avaaz receives no money from governments or corporations, and is staffed by a global team based in London, Rio de Janeiro, New York, Paris, Washington DC, and Geneva.

Rangon Burma,3 May 2008
http://afp.google.com/article/ALeqM5iWphuVAXdBMQA0oBQJ6dlH8v nBPw
Myanmar junta failed to warn people on cyclone
"WASHINGTON (AFP) — US First Lady Laura Bush accused Myanmar's military rulers of failing to warn their citizens in time about a killer cyclone and pressed the junta to accept US aid in the disaster's wake.

"Although they were aware of the threat, Burma's state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm's path," Bush said Monday in an unusual appearance at the White House briefing room podium."
Burmese Cyclone Death Toll Rising