Posted on 05/05/2008 6:01:14 AM PDT by Strategerist
Cyclone death toll nears 4,000 in Myanmar, state radio says 11 minutes ago
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — Almost 4,000 people were killed and nearly 3,000 others are unaccounted for in a single town after a devastating cyclone in Myanmar, a state radio station said Monday.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country, also known as Burma, early Saturday with winds of up to 120 mph. The cyclone blew roofs off hospitals and schools and cut electricity in Myanmar's largest city, Yangon.
The government had previously put the death toll countrywide at 351 before increasing it Monday to 3,939.
The radio station broadcasting from the country's capital, Naypyitaw, said that 2,879 more people are unaccounted for in a single town, Bogalay, in the country's low-lying Irrawaddy River delta area where the storm wreaked the most havoc.
The situation in the countryside remained unclear because of poor communications and roads left impassable by the storm.
"It's clear that we're dealing with a very serious situation. The full extent of the impact and needs will require an extensive on-the-ground assessment," said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok, Thailand for United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
"What is clear at this point is that there are several hundred thousands of people in dire need of shelter and clean drinking water," Horsey said.
At a meeting with foreign diplomats and representatives of U.N. and international aid agencies, Myanmar's foreign ministry officials said they welcomed international humanitarian assistance and urgently need roofing materials, plastic sheets and temporary tents, medicine, water purifying tablets, blankets and mosquito nets.
Neighboring Thailand announced that it would fly some aid in Tuesday.
(Excerpt) Read more at ap.google.com ...
There is only one cure for totalitarian rule: acute lead poisoning.
The Irrawaddy. Much WW II history from this area.
Fox is now reporting 10,000 dead.
IIRC, wasn’t there a cyclone in Bangladesh 30-40 years ago that supposedly killed 100,000+?
I haven’t seen any word about their buddies the PRC lifting a finger yet.
I doubt whether they’d let the US Military in to help.
Yes, there was a horrific cyclone in 1970 that killed 100,000+ in Bangladesh. Hit much more often than Burma is.
Notable tropical cyclones (Wiki)
Main articles: List of notable tropical cyclones, List of Atlantic hurricanes, and List of Pacific hurricanes
Tropical cyclones that cause extreme destruction are rare, although when they occur, they can cause great amounts of damage or thousands of fatalities.
The 1970 Bhola cyclone is the deadliest tropical cyclone on record, killing more than 300,000 people[98] and potentially as many as 1 million[99] after striking the densely populated Ganges Delta region of Bangladesh on November 13, 1970.
I just read that the storm was forecasted to turn later and make landfall several hundred miles to the north through gradual eastward trending, but instead it made it’s easterly turn harder and earlier, bringing it ashore right around Burma’s most populated city, Yangon, and nearby the most populated region, the Ayeyarwady River Valley.
Aren’t we all glad we live in the USA?
Thanks for the info. IIRC, it was shortly after Bangladesh became independent from Pakistan..it used to be called East Pakistan. I remember wondering how that was possible..so high a death toll..until I read that much of the country is a coastal lowland/wetland..literally a few inches above sea level..but one million dwead??..wow..that’s unreal. It’s almost impossbile for the mind to grasp..
Wow..thanks.. imagine a storm surge..say 20 feet high..coming ashore..my God..
Amen.
http://www.terradaily.com/2007/080505143749.cvaiun7l.html
BANGKOK, May 5 (AFP) May 05, 2008
A Myanmar rights watchdog said Monday that 36 people died when security forces opened fire to quell a riot inside the nation’s most notorious prison as a cyclone hit at the weekend.
When Tropical Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar, the winds ripped off many of the zinc roofs at the Insein prison outside Yangon, the Thailand-based Assistance Association for Political Prisoners said in a statement.
Guards forced about 1,000 prisoners to weather the storm inside a prison hall. When some inmates started a fire to keep warm, others panicked and a riot broke out, the group said.
Sounds like the riot was quelled
In 1991 my ship was part of the relief effort after a tropical cyclone that hit Chittagong, Bangladesh and killed over 130,000. I know they’ve had other storms with even higher death tolls.
Being from eastern South Dakota, it looks remarkably familiar. No tall trees, flat, nothing to see as far as the eye can see. To add insult to injury, folks there are completely on their own. The government takes, it doesn't give. I probably have met some of the dead, though I don't know their names. I went through Dala and some of the other towns on my last trip there.
I can't find the thread right now but FR was one of the few places to report that the December 2004 devastating tsunami that hit Thailand caused similar damage and death tolls ( or worse ) in Myanmar. Their crappy government banned all access and reporting from the area but some info did slip out.
Anyone have any updates about aid? Just a few hours ago I heard their useless leaders were now banning all outside aid. Any changes?
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