May 24
China pledges US$10 million in aid to Myanmar. It is the military government's closest ally.
May 25
Desperate times, desperates measures
A donor conference opens in Myanmar, sponsored by ASEAN and the United Nations. About 45 countries and organisations will be attending. The UN is asking for US$201 million. Ensuring access to the affected areas will also figure high on the agenda. The world body estimates that aid workers have managed to reach only 23% of the 2 million affected ( 470,000).
Human rights groups say the poorly-paid Myanmar military is turning to looting in already turbulent border regions privy to local ethnic militia battles. Locals in these areas who have been subjected to extortion by military stationed there say the situation has worsened with the soldiers afraid that the pittance they are being paid - US$12 a month - will be channelled to cyclone relief.
According to a Reuters report,
"The military has no sympathy for the people," said one government clerk who did not want to be named. "They have no emotion or human feelings. They behave like animals."Next month's arrival of the monsoon rains, which makes the jungle-clad mountainous region's dirt roads impassable, is adding to fears about a shortage of staples such as rice, salt and edible oils, causing ordinary people to stock up.
Soldiers have put up check points on roads and are charging vehicles up to 100,000 kyats to pass.
"There is complete lawlessness here. Whatever the army says is the law," another Kalaymo resident said.
Security personnel are everywhere in the town, armed with automatic rifles and walkie-talkies.
May 26
Giving aid
Attendees at the donor conference in Myanmar have pledged close to US$50 million.
Individual contributions
The World Health Organisation says that relief has reached 42% of the 2.5 million affected. However in the 15 worst-affected townships, 77 % of the people remain unreached. About 470,000 have received food aids.
Medical teams from at least seven countries are working in the affected areas. A 30-member team from the Philippines will arrive later today with Indonesia, Japan and Belgium sending teams in the next few days. So far there have been no outbreaks of diseases. The WHO and medical teams are monitoring the situatio for malaria and dengue fever.
May 27
The Myanmar government has found time in the midst of a massive relief operation to tighten controls on pro-democracy opposition leader Aung San Suu Kyi. There has been increased police presence as her current house arrest sentence was extended by another six months. She has spent 12 of the last 18 years detained in her own home. Neighbours say power was cut off to her house when the cyclone struck. It is not clear if it has been restored.
International donors have reacted to the news, saying that it will not detract from relief operations at hand.
May 28
Expert speak
Jemilah Mahmood, a veteran aid worker with the United Nations Disaster Assessment and Coordination gives her verdict on the post-Nargis situation, saying it is worse that the 2004 tsunami.
"Arriving in Yangon, you don't really see the full extent of the destruction. Of course there are damaged buildings and uprooted trees, but it's not until you reach the delta that you see the true scale of the disaster.Flying over the affected area, I couldn't help but think this is worse than the 2004 Asian tsunami; so many deaths and displacement over such a large area. The flood surge was certainly much wider - up to 35km in some areas compared with 5km or 6km in the tsunami.
But a lot of the areas I could visit in the delta, including Labutta and Mawlamyinegyun townships, were obviously not the worst.
Although hospitals were badly affected, the hospitals I visited in both areas were up and running. Both Labutta and Mawlamyinegyun were badly hit and you could see a lot of damaged homes and displaced people in camps, but the worst affected areas were farther south.
It's here in the rural and more isolated parts of the delta - much of which remains inaccessible - that the real challenge lies."
May 29
When you are Myanmese you learn not to count on the government
The Myanmar government has sent refugees in a tented city 30 km from Yangon packing with four bamboo poles and a canvas sheet. Plus an unlikely promise of a monthly rice ration.
The state newspaper says the cyclone victims can "stand by themselves", and lashed out at foreign donors for "chocolate bars" given.
May 30
"The major threat in health now is communicable disease... It was also the monsoon season in Myanmar, a time when malaria, dengue fever and cholera outbreaks tend to occur."
More camps set up to help those displaced by the cyclone have been emptied. A government official interviewed noted that "It is better that they move to their homes where they are more stable." These families were being evicted with bamboo poles and canvas sheets, presumably to build these homes where they will feel more stable.
The estimated 1.1 million children affected by the cyclone will continue to have their schools shut to them for possibly another month. About 3,00 schools were destroyed, leaving students without school supplies, classrooms and teachers.
International aid agencies emphasise that it is important for the children to get back to being in an organised environment to help restore some semblance of normalcy to their lives . School-in-a-box kits that include textbooks, crayons, notebooks, balls and skipping ropes have been distributed and open spaces have been set up where they can play under supervision.
May 31
The International Labour Organisation warns that the Myanmar government may resort to forced labour to handle the massive reconstruction projects at hand. It pointed to the " increased risk of incidences of forced labour, child labour, human trafficking and migrant labour as the authorities and individuals come to grips with the sheer size of the tragedy."
The military government had passed a decree in October 2000 abolishing forced labour but it is still occurring and victims are allegedly prevented from coming forward.
