Cyclone Nargis has caused horrific suffering, and the military junta ruling Burma has only been compounding it. In the face of this humanitarian calamity, international aid organizations and governments must focus on saving lives.
There were forecasts as early as last Wednesday about the 150-mile-per-hour winds that tore through the Irrawaddy River delta Friday night and Saturday, but the military regime failed to issue timely warnings. In the crucial days following the disaster, when rapid delivery of disaster relief is needed for people who are without food, water, power or shelter, the generals are delaying or thwarting aid shipments from the United States and other nations critical of the junta.
Some knowledgeable outsiders estimate that hundreds of thousands of people who initially survived the cyclone are now at risk of perishing. To his credit, President Bush has offered to send in U. S. teams trained for disaster assessment, and to have helicopters from U. S. naval ships in the region fly in drinking water, biscuits, blankets, and building materials for the millions left homeless by the cyclone. But the paranoid generals are refusing to allow U. S. aircraft into Burma's airspace. They are denying needed visas to foreign aid workers representing international relief agencies. They have a history of treating aid workers from abroad as spies. The ruin brought to Burma by Cyclone Nargis is multiplied by the political catastrophe wrought by the junta.
- The Boston Globe
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