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Myanmar opens door to help from Asian neighbors for cyclone victims

The Associated Press ,  Yangon  

Myanmar began three days of mourning Tuesday for some 78,000 cyclone victims after its ruling junta appeared to relent to foreign pressure to let in more outside help.

Flags at government offices, schools and large hotels were lowered to half-staff, but there was no period of silence, shops were open as usual and many people in Yangon said they had little idea of what the government-announced mourning entailed.

The military-led regime said Monday it would allow its Asian neighbors to oversee distribution of foreign relief to survivors of Cyclone Nargis, which battered the country May 2-3. It also approved a visit by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and prepared to host a meeting of aid donors, while claiming losses from the disaster exceeded US$10 billion.

One of the world’s poorest nations, Myanmar may have problems covering such losses.

World Bank Managing Director Juan Jose Daboub said Tuesday the bank will not give any financial aid or loans because Myanmar has failed to repay its debts for a decade.

Daboub said the World Bank is providing technical support to assess damage in Myanmar and help plan economic reconstruction.

“But the bank cannot legally provide any (financial) resources to Myanmar because it is in arrears with the bank since 1998,” he said in Singapore.

The state-owned media reported Tuesday that junta leader Senior Gen. Than Shwe met storm victims in the hard-hit Irrawaddy delta Monday, saying the regime had “promptly carried out rescue and rehabilitation tasks.”

The general said the government has spent more than 50 billion kyat (US$45.5 million) on relief operations, has met immediate needs such as food, shelter and health care and is moving into the reconstruction phase.

Foreign aid agencies and the United Nations were less upbeat. They said only some 500,000 of the 2.4 million storm victims have received some form of international assistance.

“It is clear that the emergency phase is set to continue for some time,” the United Nations said.

The official death toll stands at about 78,000, with another 56,000 people missing. Conditions in the low-lying delta remain precarious, with survivors facing disease, malnutrition and exposure to the elements.

Heavy rain fell on the delta again Monday, said the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies, noting that it can have the benefit of providing clean water for those able to catch the downpour with plastic sheeting.

“However, the rain for many others simply adds to the misery as they look forward to their 18th night in often-wretched conditions,” the IFRC said in a situation report.

“In addition, access to already relatively inaccessible locations is set to remain very difficult.”

The IFRC remained concerned about the distribution of relief supplies, saying: “Reports indicate that in most of the bigger affected townships, basic relief and food is available but much less so in the more remote areas.”

It said there seemed to be problems even at some of the temporary relief camps set up by the government: “While significant relief is getting through, there are indications of mounting frustration among many displaced communities.”

Myanmar, responding to entreaties from its Southeast Asia neighbors, promised Monday it would let them into devastated areas to oversee and help in the provision of foreign assistance.

In Singapore, an emergency meeting of foreign ministers from the 10-member Association of Southeast Asian Nations agreed to set up an ASEAN-led task force for redistributing foreign aid.

Myanmar agreed to open its doors to medical teams from all ASEAN countries, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said.

ASEAN member Thailand already has sent teams, as have non- ASEAN neighbors India and China.

ASEAN and the UN jointly announced an ASEAN-UN International Pledging Conference to seek some of the needed funding, to be held Sunday in Yangon.

UN chief Ban will arrive in Yangon on Thursday and tour the battered delta, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said in New York. He plans to fly to Bangkok on Friday night, then will return to Yangon on Sunday to co-chair the conference.

Earlier, Than Shwe refused to take telephone calls from Ban and had not responded to letters from him, Montas said.

John Holmes, the U.N. undersecretary-general for humanitarian affairs, flew Monday by helicopter to the delta before returning to Yangon to meet with international aid agencies.

The United Nations said the rest of its foreign staff were still barred from the delta. It described conditions there as “terrible,” with hundreds of thousands of survivors suffering from hunger, disease and lack of shelter.

Source: thejakartapost.com/