Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

Peaceful Burma (ျငိမ္းခ်မ္းျမန္မာ)平和なビルマ

TO PEOPLE OF JAPAN



JAPAN YOU ARE NOT ALONE



GANBARE JAPAN



WE ARE WITH YOU



ဗိုလ္ခ်ဳပ္ေျပာတဲ့ညီညြတ္ေရး


“ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာလဲ နားလည္ဖုိ႔လုိတယ္။ ဒီေတာ့ကာ ဒီအပုိဒ္ ဒီ၀ါက်မွာ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတဲ့အေၾကာင္းကုိ သ႐ုပ္ေဖာ္ျပ ထားတယ္။ တူညီေသာအက်ဳိး၊ တူညီေသာအလုပ္၊ တူညီေသာ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ရွိရမယ္။ က်ေနာ္တုိ႔ ညီၫြတ္ေရးဆုိတာ ဘာအတြက္ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ဘယ္လုိရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္နဲ႔ ညီၫြတ္ရမွာလဲ။ ရည္ရြယ္ခ်က္ဆုိတာ ရွိရမယ္။

“မတရားမႈတခုမွာ သင္ဟာ ၾကားေနတယ္ဆုိရင္… သင္ဟာ ဖိႏွိပ္သူဘက္က လုိက္ဖုိ႔ ေရြးခ်ယ္လုိက္တာနဲ႔ အတူတူဘဲ”

“If you are neutral in a situation of injustice, you have chosen to side with the oppressor.”
ေတာင္အာဖရိကက ႏိုဘယ္လ္ဆုရွင္ ဘုန္းေတာ္ၾကီး ဒက္စ္မြန္တူးတူး

THANK YOU MR. SECRETARY GENERAL

Ban’s visit may not have achieved any visible outcome, but the people of Burma will remember what he promised: "I have come to show the unequivocal shared commitment of the United Nations to the people of Myanmar. I am here today to say: Myanmar – you are not alone."

QUOTES BY UN SECRETARY GENERAL

Without participation of Aung San Suu Kyi, without her being able to campaign freely, and without her NLD party [being able] to establish party offices all throughout the provinces, this [2010] election may not be regarded as credible and legitimate. ­
United Nations Secretary General Ban Ki-moon

Where there's political will, there is a way

政治的な意思がある一方、方法がある
စစ္မွန္တဲ့ခိုင္မာတဲ့နိုင္ငံေရးခံယူခ်က္ရိွရင္ႀကိဳးစားမႈရိွရင္ နိုင္ငံေရးအေျဖ
ထြက္ရပ္လမ္းဟာေသခ်ာေပါက္ရိွတယ္
Burmese Translation-Phone Hlaing-fwubc

Thursday, May 15, 2008

No More Waiting For Permission




No More Waiting For PermissionUK, US, and France Must Deliver Aid NowDear Friends, We are writing with an emergency appeal. It is now clear that China and its allies at the United Nations will block the UN Security Council from authorizing aid to Burma over the objections of the military regime. Please send a message now to the UK, French, and US governments to send aid in now, even without approval of the Burmese junta. The Burmese regime's denial of aid to its own people is a crime against humanity. Yet, because of China's objections, the UN remains virtually powerless. The major opposition groups inside Burma released a statement on the 9th saying "To save thousands of lives before it's too late, we would like to urge the United Nations and foreign governments to intervene in Burma immediately to provide humanitarian and relief assistance directly to the people of Burma, without waiting for the permission of the military junta, with a decision made by the UN Security Council or individual country."The world sat by, hiding behind diplomatic and legal protocols, when 800,000 were slaughtered in Rwanda. Now, millions are at risk in Burma and the world is similarly paralyzed. There are estimates that 1.5 million Burmese are on the brink of a "massive public health catastrophe." The world knew what was happening in Rwanda and did nothing, and the world is aware of what could happen in Burma. This is a regime that has already destroyed 3200 ethnic minority villages, recruited more child soldiers than any other country, and now is blocking aid to millions of people.News reports indicate that at a meeting in Rangoon yesterday a Burmese cabinet minister told aid agenices that foreign aid workers are prohibited from entering the disaster zones and that all aid must be delivered through the government. This comes with reports that local Burmese officials are stealing supplies, and that only 30% of aid is reaching people. The United States, France, and the UK have rightly deployed ships, helicopters, cargo planes, and other life-saving equipment and supplies to the seas and countries neighboring Burma. Yet, those materials sit by almost completely unused as the Burmese people perish from thirst, hunger, and disease. These countries have stated that they are waiting for "permission" from the Burmese regime as China blocks UN Security Council action. The UK, US, and France have done the right thing, trying to work through the UN. They cannot be blamed for the intransigence of Burma's regime and China. But, now is the time to act. Please send a message to UK Prime Minister Brown, US President Bush, and French President Sarkozy calling on them to stop waiting for the Chinese and Burmese regimes' approval and send in relief immediately. After Rwanda, the world pledged 'never again'. Yet again the world stands by as an impending catastrophe can claim hundreds of thousands of lives. **Please send this message as far and wide as you possibly can.** Aung Din, Jeremy Woodrum, Jennifer Quigley, and Thelma YoungP.S We have set up a section of our webpage dedicated to the cyclone so you can get all the latest news. Also, we are still accepting donations for cyclone victims.
Support 1991 Nobel Peace Prize recipient Aung San Suu Kyi and the struggle for freedom and democracy in Burma. Become a member of the United States Campaign for Burma today.
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China Digs for Quake Survivors as 25,000 People Remain Trapped



China Digs for Quake Survivors as 25,000 People Remain Trapped
By William Bi and Aaron Sheldrick

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Chinese disaster workers, battling bad weather and rubble-strewn roads, tried to reach an estimated 25,000 people trapped under debris after the strongest earthquake in more than half a century.
Ambulances and double-decker buses packed with rescue workers streamed along the main highway from Chengdu, the capital of Sichuan province, to Dujiangyan, the center of relief operations. The 7.9-magnitude quake two days ago killed at least 14,866 people, according to state-run China Central Television.
About 100,000 relief workers, including soldiers, police and medical teams, are working in the affected areas, Prime Minister Wen Jiabao said on state television. More troops arrived in Wenchuan, a city of 118,000 about 42 kilometers (26 miles) from the epicenter and along the highway from Dujiangyan.
``Our top task now is to save lives, as many as possible,'' Wang Zhenyao, director of the disaster relief department of the Ministry of Civil Affairs, said at a news conference in Beijing yesterday broadcast on state television. ``It is not the time to talk about giving up.''
The quake has left an estimated 64,746 people injured in Sichuan Province, state-run Xinhua news agency reported.
Some 2,000 troops have been sent to work on the Zipingku Dam, upriver from Dujiangyan in Sichuan province, the Associated Press said, where cracks have been detected, the agency said, citing state media.
Tents were pitched in soccer fields and vehicles waved through toll booths without charge on the highway into Dujiangyan. On the outskirts of the town, local residents provided food and water from makeshift stands. Some complained about delays in helping survivors.
Local Government
``The local government is nowhere in sight,'' Pu Juan, a resident, said on Jincheng Road in Dujiangyan. ``We are very disappointed that there's been no action. The only help we've received has come from the initiatives of our neighbors.''
Rescue workers are searching for 30 missing patients and employees at Dujiangyan Hospital. Eighty bodies have been recovered and 20 survivors pulled from the rubble of the hospital, which collapsed after the quake.
In Beichuan county, in southwestern Sichuan, rescue workers pulled a three-year-old girl out of the rubble from under the bodies of her dead parents. The girl had survived, with serious leg injuries, after being buried for more than forty hours, Xinhua reported. Eighty-four survivors have been found in Sichuan Province so far.
In the province's Quinchuan County, 178 students were killed when a school building collapsed during the quake, Xinhua reported, while a further 139 pupils escaped.
Yingxiu Town
Three-quarters of the 10,000 residents of Yingxiu town in Wenchuan County died in the quake, Xinhua said. It didn't say whether they were included in its official toll. In Mianyang, a city of more than 5 million west of Wenchuan, more than 18,000 people are estimated to be buried.
The candor about the quake and access to Chinese leaders contrasts with the media lockdown during Tibetan riots two months ago, when the leadership stayed at home and sealed off the region. Wen's rapid response also signals a determination to avoid missteps that followed January's deadly snow storms and the 2003 SARS outbreak and shore up support for the ruling Communist Party.
``There's very little effort to control information,'' said Huang Jing, a visiting senior fellow at the National University of Singapore East Asian Institute. ``Compared with the Tibet crisis, it looks almost like two governments.''
Aftershocks Continue
Aftershocks continued to rattle the region, disrupting search and rescue efforts and keeping survivors huddled in the rain outside shattered buildings. A 5.4-magnitude quake that was 10 kilometers deep hit today at 10:54 a.m. local time, the U.S. Geological Survey said on its Web site.
Rain that hampered rescue efforts for the past two days eased and eight planes took off to drop supplies on Wenchuan and other areas, China Central Television said in its latest update. Wen arrived in Qushan County 2 kilometers from Wenchuan at about 10 a.m. local time today, Xinhua said. Later, he returned to Chengdu.
Two helicopters flew into Wenchuan earlier today, dropping medicine, food and tents, Xinhua said. More than 800 police officers and soldiers have arrived in the city, which was cut off until yesterday, and about 100 paratroopers landed in the area at 12:20 p.m. local time today, it said.
Relief Supplies
Nine trains carrying 14,000 troops were scheduled to arrive in the ``affected area'' today, Wang Yongping, a spokesman for the Ministry of Railways, said at a news conference in Beijing. They're part of a convoy of 50 trains containing goods for use by the military that are being sent to the area. By 6 a.m. tomorrow, 15 more trains will have arrived, Wang said. A further 619 train carriages loaded with tents, fuel and food are also being sent, Wang said.
State Grid Corp. of China, the nation's largest electricity distributor, has meanwhile restored power to almost 300,000 homes.
The weather forecast in the affected region is for cloudy conditions for the next two days, according to the China Meteorological Administration's Web site.
About 3.5 million homes were damaged or destroyed across Sichuan, Xinhua said, citing Vice Governor Li Chengyun. More than 2,000 students and teachers were buried in schools in Sichuan province, CCTV said.
Xinhua's death toll includes 206 in Gansu province north of Sichuan and 103 in Shaanxi to the northwest.
Flights to Sichuan are restricted to relief supplies and authorities called on passengers to avoid flying in central and southwestern China. The rail link between Baoji in Shaanxi and Chengdu is still closed, the Ministry of Railways said. Chinese shipments of steel, copper and other commodities have been disrupted by the quake.
Clearer Picture
It may be a week before a full assessment of casualties, damage and the needs of survivors is made, Nan Buzard, senior director of international disaster response at the American Red Cross, said on Bloomberg Television.
``Communications are very patchy,'' she said yesterday.
The government increased the allocation for disaster relief by more than four times to 860 million yuan ($123 million), the Ministry of Finance said in a statement yesterday.
China will ``welcome help and assistance from the international community,'' Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said at a regular news briefing in Beijing yesterday.
International relief officials said efforts to respond simultaneously to the China quake and the May 3 Myanmar cyclone, while difficult, aren't unprecedented. In 2004 and 2005, relief agencies raised money for victims of Hurricane Katrina in the U.S., the Indian Ocean tsunami and an earthquake in Pakistan.
Three Gorges Dam
No damage was reported at the Three Gorges Dam, the world's largest hydroelectric dam, located about 760 kilometers from the quake's epicenter, Xinhua said.
The quake may fuel price increases in corn and soybeans after the disaster threatened to disrupt domestic supplies, analysts said.
Food prices in China already were expected to rise by an average of 10 percent or more this year as demand outpaces farm production and record global prices boost import costs, the Chinese Academy of Social Sciences said in an April 29 report. The quake struck on May 12 at 2:28 p.m., about 75 kilometers from Chengdu, a metropolitan area that is home to 11 million people about 1,500 kilometers southwest of Beijing.
The quake was the world's strongest since an 8.5-magnitude temblor struck Indonesia in September, according to the USGS. It was the most powerful to hit China since a magnitude-8.6 quake struck Tibet in 1950, killing 1,526 people. A 7.5-magnitude quake killed 250,000 people in northeastern China's Tangshan in 1976, according to the USGS.
USGS defines an earthquake of magnitude 7 or more as ``major,'' and one above 8 as ``great.''
There are 17 quakes measuring 7 to 7.9 annually worldwide on average, USGS said on its Web site, with five occurring so far this year. On average, there is one temblor annually measuring 8 or more.
To contact the reporters on this story: William Bi near quake zone at wbi@bloomberg.net; Aaron Sheldrick in Tokyo at asheldrick@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 14, 2008 11:01 EDT

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UN Says Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid.



Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid, UN Says (Update2)
By Michael Heath

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar should open an air and sea corridor to allow aid in large quantities to reach the country quickly and prevent disease from causing a second catastrophe after Cyclone Nargis hit 11 days ago, the United Nations said.
The UN used an ``air or sea'' bridge after the 2004 tsunami devastated Indian Ocean countries, Elizabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday. The UN's disaster-response agency warned that the coming monsoon rains will worsen the crisis, especially for people who lack shelter. A new storm was crossing southern Myanmar, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever may surge as soon as next week unless aid is rushed to survivors, the World Health Organization said.
The military junta must let international aid workers enter because ``hundreds of thousands of lives are in the balance,'' European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said yesterday. The junta barred outsiders from distributing aid, and supplies have so far reached 270,000 people, only about a third of those at risk, the UN says.
The death toll has reached 31,000, and another 29,000 people are missing, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told reporters today in Bangkok after he returned from Myanmar, where he met with the military leaders. He said they told him Myanmar can handle the response to the emergency without help from foreign specialists, though some Thai doctors will be allowed in.
`Manmade Catastrophe'
``They said they welcome help from all nations,'' Samak said. ``But they don't want any experts or any team. They have a private sector there to help their people. They assure us there will be no outbreak or famine there.''
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Parliament in London today that ruling junta was creating a ``manmade catastrophe'' in Myanmar.
``I've asked Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an emergency summit'' involving Western and Asian nations, Brown said. He said the summit should be similar to the one the UN organized to get aid to the tsunami victims.
The UN estimates as many as 100,000 people died in Myanmar in the May 3 cyclone, the worst natural disaster in Southeast Asia since the 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people. More than 1.5 million people need aid, the UN said.
Monsoon Season
The new storm, which was passing near the former capital, Yangon, may develop into a cyclone once it reaches the Bay of Bengal, the typhoon center said in a bulletin issued at 3 a.m. today Yangon time. The system was packing winds of 46 kilometers (29 miles) per hour and heading west-northwest across Myanmar at 11 kilometers an hour, it said.
The storm was already producing ``substantial amounts of rainfall,'' the UN's World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed statement. ``With the monsoon season approaching, this type of weather will continue and periods of intensive rainfall will become more frequent,'' the agency said.
Tens of thousands of people throughout the southern Irrawaddy delta, the worst-hit region, are crammed into monasteries and informal camps and many are living by the roadside, Michel said. ``Disease is one of the biggest concerns as so many streams are contaminated by bodies, both human and animals.'' He arrived in Myanmar today, Agence France-Presse reported.
Malaria Reported
Some cases of malaria have been reported since the cyclone struck, though no disease outbreaks have been confirmed, said Maureen Birmingham, the WHO's acting representative in Thailand. Still, mosquito-borne diseases usually start spreading more rapidly in the ``third week or so'' after a flood, Birmingham said by phone from Bangkok today.
``It's already an endemic area and the high season is coming up, so we would not be surprised to see that surge,'' she said. ``We might have another week, but maybe we won't.''
There is still ``a considerable amount of surface area under water'' in Myanmar, she said.
Survivors, particularly children and the elderly, are suffering severe trauma, according to the Irrawaddy, a magazine published by Myanmar dissidents in neighboring Thailand.
They are surrounded by bodies and young children are particularly afraid of the water, the magazine reported, citing an unidentified resident of Yangon, who traveled to the delta town of Bogalay to help with relief work.
Children are most vulnerable to infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, dengue fever and malaria. The WHO said diarrhea and dysentery have been reported, while there have been no confirmed cholera cases.
U.S. Aid
Before Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, about one in three children in the country formerly known as Burma were malnourished, the UN said.
President George W. Bush told China's President Hu Jintao during a telephone conversation yesterday that the U.S. wants to send more aid to Myanmar, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington. ``Hu offered to assist our efforts,'' she said. China is a key ally of Myanmar.
The first U.S. plane carrying relief supplies touched down two days ago in Yangon.
The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Myanmar's military, which has ruled the nation since 1962, over its corrupt and oppressive rule. Bush said two days ago the world ``ought to be angry'' at the way the junta has delayed the relief effort.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet in Singapore May 19 to discuss how to assist Myanmar, the group said in a statement today. Myanmar is a member of Asean.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 14, 2008 09:42 EDT

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UN Says Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid.



Myanmar Should Open Corridor for Cyclone Aid, UN Says (Update2)
By Michael Heath

May 14 (Bloomberg) -- Myanmar should open an air and sea corridor to allow aid in large quantities to reach the country quickly and prevent disease from causing a second catastrophe after Cyclone Nargis hit 11 days ago, the United Nations said.
The UN used an ``air or sea'' bridge after the 2004 tsunami devastated Indian Ocean countries, Elizabeth Byrs of the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs said yesterday. The UN's disaster-response agency warned that the coming monsoon rains will worsen the crisis, especially for people who lack shelter. A new storm was crossing southern Myanmar, according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center.
Mosquito-borne diseases such as malaria and dengue fever may surge as soon as next week unless aid is rushed to survivors, the World Health Organization said.
The military junta must let international aid workers enter because ``hundreds of thousands of lives are in the balance,'' European Commissioner for Development and Humanitarian Aid Louis Michel said yesterday. The junta barred outsiders from distributing aid, and supplies have so far reached 270,000 people, only about a third of those at risk, the UN says.
The death toll has reached 31,000, and another 29,000 people are missing, Thai Prime Minister Samak Sundaravej told reporters today in Bangkok after he returned from Myanmar, where he met with the military leaders. He said they told him Myanmar can handle the response to the emergency without help from foreign specialists, though some Thai doctors will be allowed in.
`Manmade Catastrophe'
``They said they welcome help from all nations,'' Samak said. ``But they don't want any experts or any team. They have a private sector there to help their people. They assure us there will be no outbreak or famine there.''
U.K. Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the Parliament in London today that ruling junta was creating a ``manmade catastrophe'' in Myanmar.
``I've asked Ban Ki-moon, secretary general of the United Nations, to hold an emergency summit'' involving Western and Asian nations, Brown said. He said the summit should be similar to the one the UN organized to get aid to the tsunami victims.
The UN estimates as many as 100,000 people died in Myanmar in the May 3 cyclone, the worst natural disaster in Southeast Asia since the 2004 tsunami killed more than 220,000 people. More than 1.5 million people need aid, the UN said.
Monsoon Season
The new storm, which was passing near the former capital, Yangon, may develop into a cyclone once it reaches the Bay of Bengal, the typhoon center said in a bulletin issued at 3 a.m. today Yangon time. The system was packing winds of 46 kilometers (29 miles) per hour and heading west-northwest across Myanmar at 11 kilometers an hour, it said.
The storm was already producing ``substantial amounts of rainfall,'' the UN's World Meteorological Organization said today in an e-mailed statement. ``With the monsoon season approaching, this type of weather will continue and periods of intensive rainfall will become more frequent,'' the agency said.
Tens of thousands of people throughout the southern Irrawaddy delta, the worst-hit region, are crammed into monasteries and informal camps and many are living by the roadside, Michel said. ``Disease is one of the biggest concerns as so many streams are contaminated by bodies, both human and animals.'' He arrived in Myanmar today, Agence France-Presse reported.
Malaria Reported
Some cases of malaria have been reported since the cyclone struck, though no disease outbreaks have been confirmed, said Maureen Birmingham, the WHO's acting representative in Thailand. Still, mosquito-borne diseases usually start spreading more rapidly in the ``third week or so'' after a flood, Birmingham said by phone from Bangkok today.
``It's already an endemic area and the high season is coming up, so we would not be surprised to see that surge,'' she said. ``We might have another week, but maybe we won't.''
There is still ``a considerable amount of surface area under water'' in Myanmar, she said.
Survivors, particularly children and the elderly, are suffering severe trauma, according to the Irrawaddy, a magazine published by Myanmar dissidents in neighboring Thailand.
They are surrounded by bodies and young children are particularly afraid of the water, the magazine reported, citing an unidentified resident of Yangon, who traveled to the delta town of Bogalay to help with relief work.
Children are most vulnerable to infectious diseases such as cholera, diarrhea, dysentery, dengue fever and malaria. The WHO said diarrhea and dysentery have been reported, while there have been no confirmed cholera cases.
U.S. Aid
Before Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck, about one in three children in the country formerly known as Burma were malnourished, the UN said.
President George W. Bush told China's President Hu Jintao during a telephone conversation yesterday that the U.S. wants to send more aid to Myanmar, White House spokeswoman Dana Perino said in Washington. ``Hu offered to assist our efforts,'' she said. China is a key ally of Myanmar.
The first U.S. plane carrying relief supplies touched down two days ago in Yangon.
The U.S. has repeatedly criticized Myanmar's military, which has ruled the nation since 1962, over its corrupt and oppressive rule. Bush said two days ago the world ``ought to be angry'' at the way the junta has delayed the relief effort.
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will meet in Singapore May 19 to discuss how to assist Myanmar, the group said in a statement today. Myanmar is a member of Asean.
To contact the reporter on this story: Michael Heath in Sydney at mheath1@bloomberg.net. Last Updated: May 14, 2008 09:42 EDT

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Some Myanmar aids stolen by military


May 15, 2008
Some Myanmar Aid Reportedly Stolen
By THE NEW YORK TIMES
YANGON, Myanmar — The directors of several relief organizations in Myanmar said Wednesday that some of the international aid arriving into the country for the victims of Cyclone Nargis was being stolen, diverted or warehoused by the country’s military.
The United States military’s Joint Typhoon Warning Center said there was a good chance that “a significant tropical cyclone” — a second big storm — would form within the next 24 hours and head across the Irrawaddy Delta, the region that suffered most from the first storm that struck on May 3.
In Yangon, the main commercial city, winds were already beginning to whip up Wednesday evening, but it was unclear how strong the storm would become.
Thailand’s prime minister, Samak Sundaravej, flew to Yangon on Wednesday to persuade Myanmar’s leaders to allow more foreign aid workers into the country. The members of the military junta told him they were in control of the relief operations and had no need for foreign experts, he told reporters after returning to Bangkok, The Associated Press reported.
The government said there were no outbreaks of disease or starvation among the hundreds of thousands of people affected by the cyclone. In Yangon, Mr. Sundaravej met the prime minister, Lt. Gen. Thein Sein, The A.P. said.
The aid directors in Myanmar declined to be quoted directly on their concerns about the stolen relief supplies for fear of angering the ruling junta and jeopardizing their operations, although Marcel Wagner, country director of the Adventist Development and Relief Agency, confirmed that aid was being diverted by the army. He said the issue would become an increasing problem, although he declined to give further details because of the sensitivity of the situation.
International aid shipments continued to arrive Wednesday, including five new air deliveries of relief supplies from the United States. Western diplomats said their representatives at the airport were making sure the cargo was unloaded efficiently and then trucked to staging areas.
The fate of the supplies after that, however, remained unknown, because the junta has barred all foreigners, including credentialed diplomats and aid workers, from accompanying any donated aid, tracking its distribution or following up on its delivery. Myanmar state radio reported Wednesday that the death toll from the May 3 cyclone had risen again, to 38,491, Agence France-Presse reported, with 27,838 people still missing. The toll has been increasing daily as more of the missing are identified as dead. The United Nations has estimated that the toll could be more than 60,000.
The International Red Cross estimated Wednesday that the cyclone death toll was between 68,833 and 127,990, according to the A.P.
There were rumors in the capital on Wednesday that special high-energy biscuits donated for distribution in the disaster areas had been replaced by cheaper, off-the-shelf crackers. But Mr. Wagner and the others said they had not heard of high-quality foodstuffs being stolen and replaced by inferior products.
Although aid flights are now regularly seen arriving at the Yangon airport, international rescue teams and disaster-relief experts for the most part are being kept away from the country. A small French rescue team has arrived in Yangon, although it was unclear whether it had received official permission. Diplomats and representatives of aid missions said that visas for overseas experts were still being denied.
Mr. Wagner said he and his agency’s foreign staff members were now barred from the Irrawaddy Delta, even to areas where the group has ongoing projects dating from before the storm. Fortunately, he said, he has Burmese staff who are permitted come and go through an increasing number of military checkpoints.
The Adventist group specializes in rainwater collection, water filtration and sanitation — just the kinds of expertise most needed now — and Mr. Wagner said outside experts were needed to train local people in the proper use of filters, pumps and hygiene practices.
Reports have been mixed about how much aid was actually getting through to the delta. One longtime relief coordinator in Myanmar said Tuesday that 30 percent of the people in the damaged areas had been reached. But other agencies were encouraged about recent improvements in deliveries, especially those groups with projects and local staff already in place, and the agencies with established working relationships with the government.
The World Health Organization said that its medical supplies were arriving in the country normally, without being diverted, siphoned off or replaced with substandard items. Its deliveries were even being made to Labutta and Bogale, two badly damaged areas deep in the southern delta.
Mr. Wagner said that his agency had success in getting its trucks into Labutta, although daily rainstorms were beginning to make road travel more difficult. The upcoming monsoon season would make things worse, he said, and he and the World Health Organization experts said they expected to start getting reports from the field soon about malaria, dengue fever and water-borne diseases.
Mr. Wagner was careful to point out that these afflictions were not unusual in the delta region, saying, “They happen every year at this time, with or without a cyclone.”
His group also uses shallow-draft motorboats of the kind typically used in the delta, craft capable of carrying 15 to 20 people. Another veteran aid director said that availability of boats was one of the bottlenecks in aid distribution in the delta.
Shari Villarosa, the senior diplomat at the United States Embassy in Yangon, said she was encouraged by the military government’s acceptance of aid and said it was a remarkable development given what she called the xenophobia of the regime, but that aid itself would not be enough.
“The Burmese will see they’re going to need help getting this aid out, but they’re going to come around way too slow — and too late for many,” Ms. Villarosa said during an interview in her office.
A number of countries have offered to bring in aid and deliver it from the south, by ship, but the junta has adamantly refused. One of the generals’ most enduring fears is a seaborne invasion by Western powers it refers to as “foreign saboteurs.”
Fear of a southern invasion is one of the reasons, along with ominous astrological portents, that the junta moved the country’s capital to the hinterlands. The new capital, in the city of Naypyidaw, was carved out of the jungle about 180 miles north of Yangon, the former capital and still the country’s commercial capital.
“These guys really believe we are planning an invasion,” Ms. Villarosa said. The United States said this week that several of its military ships were in the area and ready to provide help in Myanmar. “It’s nuts! We’re not! But if they hear that a large U.S. ship is off the coast, they don’t receive the message that it’s a genuine humanitarian effort,” she said.
A medical officer from the World Health Organization said Wednesday that the most pressing public health issue facing the delta was not the presence of corpses in the region’s waters.
“I know this issue of dead bodies is a worldwide concern, but the dead bodies do not represent any specific additional public health risk,” said Pino Annunziata, a medical officer in the organization’s Department of Emergency Response and Operations.
“This is a very negligible risk from a public health standpoint. We have to focus on the survivors.”
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ビルマを援助してくださる日本人の皆様

ビルマを援助してくださる 日本人の皆様へ

サイクロンにみまわれた ビルマのことを 毎日のように、新聞やテレビ、ラジオなどで取り上げてくださいまして有難うございます。そして日本中の皆様の暖かい心で色々な援助をしてくださったり、募金活動をしてくださっている運動が日本各地に広がっていることに本当に感謝してあります。日本に暮らすビルマ人としてお礼を言わせていたたきます。本来なら全国各地へかけつけて、一緒に活動したいところですが、行くことができず申し訳ありません。ビルマのために活動してくださっている人々にどうか、この感謝の気持ちを伝えていただけますでしょうか、お願いいたします。
このような状況でも、軍事政権の トップであるタンシュエからはいまだに、国民をいたわる言葉の一つも聞くことができません。本当に情けないです。国際社会の援助に対して物とお金たけを受け取って援助活動の人々を受け入れないのです。今ビルマに本当に必要なのは援助なのです。世界中の人々が助けに来てくれることに勇気つけられるのです。こうしている間にも、苦しんだり、死んだりしている人がいると思うととても辛くなります。タンシュエは、国民を助けないで自分たちに都合のよい憲法を制定することばかり考えています。国連、日本、米国、英国、などの国際社会から圧力をかけてもらっても無視します。どうか日本国民の力を貸してください。ビルマ国民を助けてください。
また、 これからもビルマ国民を苦しめるミャンマー軍事政権から目を離さないでください。私たち JAC も祖国民主化のために頑張っていきます。どうか、皆様 宜しくお願いします。


2008-5-15  

在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会 (JAC )











JAC(在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会)

私たちは 日本で暮らしながら 祖国ビルまが平和的に民主化できるよう 活動している団体です。様々な民族、色々な立場の 下記の 31 団体で構成されており、、、
1、 全ビルマ学生連盟(国際委員会)
2、 ビルマ民主アクショングループ
3、 ビルマ民主戦線
4、 新社会民主党
5、 ビルマ民主化同盟
6、 国民民主連盟(解放地区ー日本支部)
7、 民放民主戦線(日本支部)
8、 カチン民放発展社会
9、 海外カレン機構(日本支部)
10、カレン民族同盟(日本支部)
11、カチン民族機構-日本
12、カレン民族連盟
13、チン民族コミュニテイ
14、ナガ民族社会
15、パラウ民族社会
16、ポンニヤガリモン民族社会
17、アラケン民主連盟(亡命グループ/日本)
18、シャン民主化民族
19、シャン州民族民主化
20、カチン国民民主コングレス党
21、ビルマ女性連合
22、ビルマ労働組合連盟
23、在日ビルマ市民労働組合
24、在日ビルマ人ホテル。レストラン労働組合
25、ビルマ船員組合
26、人的資源発展プログラム
27、アハラ誌



28、アリンアイン誌
29、テイッサ革命雑誌
30、ビルマ愛国友会
31、ビルマ連邦国民評議会日本代表


今度の活動予定
祖国ビルマのサイクロン被災者を救うために 下記の通り活動します。どうか皆様の暖かい心を 宜しくお願いします。

セレモニ(祈りー キャンドルーライト )
  2008-5-18(日曜日)17:00-18:30-渋谷 国連
 大学前 広場
         在日ビルマ人共同行動実行委員会 (JAC)


問い合わせ
ウータンスエ ―――――thanswe@gol.com
Dr.ミンニョ ―――――burmaoffice-jp@chime.ocn.ne.jp
ウーチョチョソウ  ーーー sayakway@hotmail.com
タウンミインウー ―――thaungmyintoo@yahoo.com
マイチョウー  ―――― maikyawoo@yahoo.com

(X)
全国各地で ビルマを助ける運動をしていただいている報道をしりました、どうか、支局の皆差へもこの感謝の気持ちを送っていただけますでしょうか。宜しくお願い いたします

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Dealing with nuclear power issues › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

Dealing with nuclear power issues › Japan Today: Japan News and Discussion

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