Posted on 05/06/2008 7:04:24 PM PDT by Kaslin
Myanmar: It's feared that the death toll from Cyclone Nargis will hit 50,000. This is a tragedy that did not have to happen. A more-competent, less-venal government would have limited the damage.
Though rich in resources and once prosperous, the nation is wracked by indigence, with a third of the people living below the poverty line. On some level, the catastrophe hit Burma long before the storm struck on Saturday.
Beyond the capital of Rangoon, most Burmese live out desperate lives in huts of tin and bamboo that offer little protection from mildly intemperate weather, much less a deadly cyclone. They have no running water. Their transportation, which provides a means to escape a storm's path, is primarily a cart pulled by two bulls.
But then, fleeing from a cyclone is possible only when people are aware it's coming. The Burmese government, which controls the media and was given 48 hours of notice by the Indian government that a natural disaster of biblical proportions was brewing, did not provide an adequate warning.
Even if they had been notified, the people were mortally vulnerable. Blame the socialist junta. More interested in keeping itself in power, the regime has never developed an economy that would improve living standards and protect humans from the elements. It is guilty of economic oppression and the sort of corruption that too often plagues socialist systems.
(Excerpt) Read more at ibdeditorials.com ...
can anyone give me some straight info on what’s going on over there?
thanks
I had contact with a Burmese friend living in Thailand. He is almost equally filled with sorrow as with hatred toward the "leadership". It has been eight years in his individual situation since he has been able to return home. However, it is quite possible he will return to the mountains of his home. I hope he makes it OK.
Naypyidaw(was Pyinmana), the new capital city where the Generals (kings?) reside, is far from the reality of death and destruction. It is also the military capital. Easy to defend. Understanding that 80% of the common people are against the leadership but most of the military like the graft and corruption from drug dealing and you can see why there is not a lot of hope. The reason the Generals are not postponing the elections and don't care about the deaths is that they don't have too. If anything, the deaths will weaken the opposition.
Wow. Sounds like the New Orleans of Southeast Asia.
Maybe they should make Ray Nagin an honorary member of the Junta.
The bad guys will burn in hell.....
As opposed to a tragedy that had to happen.
I wish these people the best. I’m going there in September.
Honestly, Your reply doesn't make any sense whatsoever.
U.S. Diplomat Says 100,000 May Have Died in Myanmar Cyclone
And First Lady Laura Bush's Statement on Burma, which she gave on Monday
Fair enough. Help me out here, if you would.
I frequently hear of 'unneccesary deaths', or in this case, 'a tragedy that did not have to happen'. Is this just hyperbole and sensationalism? Or, are there 'necessary deaths' and 'tragedies that had to happen'?
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