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05 May 2008, 6:12 pm

Burma Cyclone

More than 10,000 people were killed in a devastating cyclone that hit western Burma on Saturday, Foreign Minister Nyan Win has said on state TV.

He said his government was ready to accept international assistance. Aid shipments are now being prepared.

qgambit
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05 May 2008, 6:15 pm

news like this proves that wealth saves lives.

Venger
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06 May 2008, 3:03 pm

Rambo 4 which takes place in Burma is coming out soon on DVD and Blu-Ray. The regime there will give viewers of it 10 years in prison and 20 lashes if they are caught watching it.

iamnotaparakeet
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06 May 2008, 4:14 pm

Do they normally get these storms? If so, why were they unprepared?

My family is unprepared for a tornado though, so I'm not really one to speak...

Venger
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07 May 2008, 1:37 pm

Now CNN says 100,000 may have died.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/0 ... index.html

Last edited by Venger on 07 May 2008, 1:55 pm, edited 1 time in total.

oscuria
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07 May 2008, 1:55 pm

Venger wrote:

Now CNN says 100,000 may have died.

Quote:

Foreign aid is beginning to arrive in Burma, devastated by a cyclone that has left more than 22,000 people dead.

Neighbouring countries and the UN have dispatched planes carrying supplies - amid complaints that ruling generals are hampering the foreign aid effort.

The UN has urged the authorities to let foreign aid workers into Burma.

A vast swathe of the southern Irrawaddy delta remains under water. A US envoy in Burma told reporters the death toll could reach 100,000.

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07 May 2008, 3:21 pm

If the 100,000 death toll is confirmed, I think this is the deadliest disaster ANYWHERE in the world since the 2004 tsunami that killed 230,000 people. This is a sad story. It makes me want to cry.

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07 May 2008, 4:18 pm

Actually that type of death toll has occurred before in Bangladesh back in the early seventies.
Myanmar (Burma) is very close by and the Bay of Bengal acts as a funnel for storm surges.

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oscuria
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07 May 2008, 6:28 pm

richie wrote:

Actually that type of death toll has occurred before in Bangladesh back in the early seventies.
Myanmar (Burma) is very close by and the Bay of Bengal acts as a funnel for storm surges.

Bangladesh is always getting hit with disasters.

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08 May 2008, 1:41 pm

I am not sure how often storms hit Burma, but this has to be the worst one yet, mother nature was really grumpy.

What really makes me mad is the fact that the country would not allow forgin aid to enter as soon as the storm ended, it is because of their government that the death toll raised to 100,000, if aid was allowed in sooner, many of those lives could have been saved.

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oscuria
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08 May 2008, 4:24 pm

Chibi_Neko wrote:

Would you think something good would come out of this tragedy?

I would think the people would see this as a reason to either fight against the military regime or vote them out of office in the coming elections.

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08 May 2008, 8:39 pm

From what I hear, the citizens of Myanmar are rather bitter at their government for a number of reasons. The military regime's inadequate warning and poor recovery efforts are just the latest of these.

I have a feeling that Myanmar will become a truly democratic nation soon enough. A government simply can't rule without the support of the people indefinitely. Something will give very soon.

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09 May 2008, 2:07 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Do they normally get these storms? If so, why were they unprepared?

My family is unprepared for a tornado though, so I'm not really one to speak...

Its hard to prepare for such a disaster, we had a big tornado in Edmonton which is far north of tornado alley, that one killed 27 people in our city, it was F5 near where my mom was watching it. The funnel was so big it looked like a black wall of cloud, it was only 4 blocks away from the house. People in Edmonton who lived though Black Friday are still paranoid of any lighting storms or weird cloud formations.

Last edited by spudnik on 09 May 2008, 2:22 pm, edited 1 time in total.

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09 May 2008, 2:11 pm

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Do they normally get these storms? If so, why were they unprepared?

My family is unprepared for a tornado though, so I'm not really one to speak...

They weren't warned it was so severe. Also, they're a very reclusive and impoverished nation with a ruling military junta who allow very few freedoms.

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oscuria
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09 May 2008, 4:00 pm

LeKiwi wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Do they normally get these storms? If so, why were they unprepared?

My family is unprepared for a tornado though, so I'm not really one to speak...

They weren't warned it was so severe. Also, they're a very reclusive and impoverished nation with a ruling military junta who allow very few freedoms.

They WERE warned. India told them 4 days prior that something disastrous was heading their way. Burma claims it sent out warnings, but it didn't tell the people what to do (from what I heard in the news). Just "There's a storm coming, prepare." something to that effect.

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09 May 2008, 4:11 pm

oscuria wrote:

LeKiwi wrote:

iamnotaparakeet wrote:

Do they normally get these storms? If so, why were they unprepared?

My family is unprepared for a tornado though, so I'm not really one to speak...

They weren't warned it was so severe. Also, they're a very reclusive and impoverished nation with a ruling military junta who allow very few freedoms.

I meant the people of the country. The junta knew, of course, but not the lay-people of the country. As far as I'm aware they were told at most 'There's a storm coming', not that it was a whopping great cyclone that would probably wreck most of the land and they should really get to high ground and do something to prepare.

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