US Campaign for Burma » International Relief Aid For Cyclone Survivors

International Relief Aid For Cyclone Survivors

World governments gave
towards relief aid:

During this time, there were French and U.S. Navy ships laden with relief supplies anchored off the coast for more than three weeks, hoping for a green light from the military junta to deliver aid to the cyclone survivors.

The secretive and xenophobic military regime, despite being fully aware of the heightened desperation among the people of Burma at this time, refused to let the U.S. ships from docking and delivering the much-needed aid. The regime continued to impose restrictions and constraints on other international rescue efforts and delay entry visas into the country to aid workers.

The UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown told the BBC that a natural disaster had been turned into a “man-made catastrophe” because of the negligence of the ruling generals.

When Ban Ki-moon visited Burma on 21 days after the cyclone hit, the Burmese junta promised the UN Secretary General to ‘allow all aid workers regardless of nationalities’ into the country to help cyclone survivors. However, these words failed to translate into action, and no more than a handful of aid agencies were allowed to work with the local population to deliver aid, resulting in more preventable loss of lives.

The situation in Burma was made worse by the heavy monsoon rain that arrived about a month after Cyclone Nargis left tens of thousands of impoverished people homeless. When people started seeking refuge at Buddhist monasteries, the military regime, alarmed by the role of Buddhist monks during the Saffron Revolution of 2007, closed down monasteries that were sheltering the homeless survivors of cyclone.

Given the regime’s deliberate obstruction of international aid agencies, local residents took up community-led relief efforts to deliver food and medical supplies to the remote cyclone-ridden areas. Among those who rushed to deliver aid were celebrities, artists, and pro-democracy activists, who then became a target for arbitrary arrest and persecution at the hands of the authorities.

The regime hunted down cyclone aid workers and imprisoned them on various false charges. Among those who were arrested is Zarganar, a comedian famous for his anti-junta satires. He was arrested for helping the survivors of cyclone, given trumped-up charges and was sentenced to 59 years in jail, which was later reduced to 35 years. Nearly every day, Burma’s military dictator Than Shwe sent dozens of human rights activists, journalists, and aid workers to long terms in prison.

Despite the fact that two full years have passed since the cyclone, relief efforts from international agencies, originally blocked by the junta, remains sporadic, insufficient, and tragically late.

Organizations providing relief in Burma

World Food Program
International Red Cross
Save the Children
CARE
Direct Relief International
Global Giving
CHF International
UNICEF
Thirst Aid
American Burma Buddhist Association
International Rescue Committee
Doctors Without Borders
World Vision
Mercy Malaysia
Church World Services
Foundation for the People of Burma
Medical Corps
IDE
Unitarian Universalist Service Committee
Oxfam International
Americares

Volunteer Groups in Burma

Lin Let Kye (The Shining Star) was formed in early May 2008 and has over 40 members. Most of the members are Rangoon based reporters and young social activists who donated school text books and provided other school expenses for children effected by Cyclone Nargis