Why the Cyclone in Myanmar Was So Deadly

National Geographic News ^ | 5-8-2008 | AP - Michael Casey

[RobbyS]

Even if the government cares, these storms can overwhelm any defences, and if people are in the way, they will die. Can’t blame even the most negligent government for an event of this magnitude. Of course, one can blame them for their poor responses and the general undevelopment of the country.

[RobbyS]

If they were dependent on local supplies of fresh water, then these would inundated. The land will be spoiled.

[yankeedame]

I had read where Myanmar was an exporter of rice (to India and somewhere else). I imagine what is now left will stay home.

No necessarily. At the height of the Soviet famine(s) the government regularly exported Russian grain for cash and/or weapons, leaving international relief agencies to feed the starving.

[21twelve]

Thanks. I think. Well - not really. Now I have to get rid of this pit in my stomach and the disgust in my mouth out. It really does piss me off as I think you are probably exactly right. And our aid will of course be distributed by the junta to “those most deemed in need”.

[wafflehouse]

i suppose you are correct.

"It was Asia's answer to Hurricane Katrina—though with a reported 100,000 killed, it was many times more deadly."

how do you suppose it could be 'many times more deadly'?

[rontorr]

The same generals have sat on their hands with their troop in the street to preserve order
..............

the only thing that they have their attention on is the farce election tomorrow, maybe on Sunday or monday, after a few thousand people die they will give visa to all non American aid workers

[rontorr]

I have not heard about anything happening that was attributed to the cyclone, just some of the usual thunderstorms that cause caused some damage, but in limited areas and that is normal for this time of year

[rontorr]

those warnings were about some monsoons building up in the gulf, and the south china sea, and yesterday, they were speculating some other storms might follow in the wake of nargis

[rontorr]

And our aid will of course be distributed by the junta to “those most deemed in need”.
..............

Which in the case of the Junta means only them and their friends

[Yardstick]

I would say that killing 100,000 versus killing 1000 or so qualifies as being many times more deadly (I can’t remember the official count after Katrina but I think that’s about right - in fact it may have been less than 1000). Or am I missing something here?

[b4its2late]

Oh yeah. Thanks. I forgot to complete my thought.. LOL.

[Bender2]

Never fear, as the MSM tells us, nObama shall walk across the water, speak a few well chosen words, feed all those hungry with four loves of bread and two fish. Then all will be perfect!

[verum ago]

Just empty houses ~ frankly, pictures on the ground look like a vast area was raked by large numbers of CAT 5 tornados ~ not just the flood.

I used to live in New Orleans (attended Tulane University); I saw what the moving water from the Industrial Canal did to the Lower Ninth Ward in person. The exact thing that came to mind for me too was an F5 tornado. The pictures shown by the media were dramatic, but they didn't quite show just how bad it was- they shot footage as they drove of heaps of rubble where houses had been. But when I first saw it, it was a more or less homogeneous and flat debris field; in some places I could not tell where the streets were. Many of those rubble piles they filmed weren't the collapsed remains of houses— they were the piles of debris made by the bulldozers that had cleared the streets they were driving their news vans down.


The Lower Ninth after the flood— F5 just about sums it up.

Those pics of F5 tornado-esque damage may well be of flood and not wind damage. Moving water is capable of some pretty nasty stuff (I saw cars stuck in two separate old Live Oaks in the Ninth too). And while I'm sure the storm surge driven inland by Nargis wasn't moving as fast as the water from the breach in the Industrial Canal, I'm also sure that waves driven in 130mph winds must be capable of some pretty spectacular damage on their own.

[verum ago]

oops
drove of heaps= drove by heaps

[PISANO]

BINGO!!

You understand!

[SuziQ]

Even if the government cares, these storms can overwhelm any defences, and if people are in the way, they will die.

They didn't get out of the way, because they didn't KNOW about it. Their government made the conscious decision NOT to tell them about it!

[combat_boots]

injured/critically injured people without medical care—bandages—drugs—pain killers, no shelter, dead animals, bodies in the sun, no food, families decimated, 40% of the dead children.......feces and urine, broken legs, some injured lying in the sun.

Cholera, typhoid, gang green, starvation, dehydration, in the 3rd world.

This is a monumental disaster that makes anyone’s problems here not on the same level. Not to say that there are not severe problems for many here, but the scale is hard to imagine. It must be just about impossible to be in.