Cyclone in Myanmar....   Its really  bad thing tho..... Hmm.......and i read some comment on youtube... so i feel like.this.. Gov... hmm *****Where is all these thousand of military army who beat the monk in September ? I hope they can help them as fast as they beat.   ******kk: Generals knew the storm has been coming. Why didnot they make any plan ahead..at least they should suggest people to store water and food for aftermath. It is funny to hear that they form a disaster prevention committee...blar blar after the storm has devastaed entire cities  

   

*****form a disaster prevention committee? How embarrassing it is! why didn't they announce about the Cyclone prevention in advance? ****** Junta

But  the government had accepted offer to help, from UN and other country already...

So,,, thats Cool....

I remember, I felt the exact same way you feel now when I heard about the disaster caused by hurricane Katrina in New Orleans a few years ago. I hope that the Myanmar junta will be smarter than the US government... At least they were smart enough to accept the help offer from the UN.

There are several US Navy ships off the east coast of Thailand right now preparing to sail to Myanmar and deliver aid, as they did after the tsunami, if the Myanmar government asks.

I may be wrong, but I would not count on the Myanmar government asking the US military for help.

Just two days ago, the death toll was at 3,000. Now it stands at over 22,000. Why are they ignoring the international community?. They can clearly see that this is a crisis!. The Mynamar government and military really sucks.

"*****I hate those generals. They only know how to hurt the public and hold the guns. They was too quick to hit monks in September, but this time why they are delay to help people. F### to those generals..."

But, but, but....Samak told the Thai public that those generals are good Buddhists!

Really!!

US $$ aid is awaiting, why do the leaders let their people suffer with a disaster?

The government does not care about the common people, obviously, they seem to use them as slaves to help them increase their own personal fortunes. Myanmar only continues to be a dictatorship because of its primary trading partners. Who would that be? India, China, Thailand???????

You're always screwed when u trust any government or army...

"Help yourself, then God will help you!" (German proverb)

I'll bet the Burmese government is using this disaster as an opportunity to eliminate some of its political opponents. Who is going to notice a few thousand dead formerly-protesting monks among tens of thousands who actually died in the storm?

For humanitarian updates and good info (as best that can be got at the moment) from UN and NGOs on the ground check out the UN OCHA site www.reliefweb.int or http://www.reliefweb.int/rw/dbc.nsf/doc108?OpenForm&emid=TC-2008-000057-MMR&rc=3

BVurma will not ask US for any help esp from the armed forces. The Junta doesn't care about people as firendlycat right and lucidly said, Military isn't helping as they are taking care of their own first and they don't have the knowledge nor capacity. Only the international community (UN agencies and INGOs) with locals implementation can assist in the urgent need to distribute emergency food, water, shelter and medical needs - logistics will be a huge problem for first few weeks given lack of road access. I suspect that the death toll may end up approaching around 35K- 40K based on the numbers of the last 72 hrs.

Last point - given the number of Burmese migrant workers in Thailand (est 1m) spare a thought for them all as they will not be able to cannot contact family members and the Burmese Embassy will do sweet FA to provide info to them.

FYI, here in the USA this is getting attention. Laura Bush, president's wife did a press conference about helping the Burmese people through money to local NGO's. I do not ever remember her doing anything similar in the last 8 years. She is a supporter of Aung San Suu Kyi. The USA, along with Australia, UK, several others have been trying to freeze the personal assets of Myranmar's corrupt leadership that is kept in bank accounts here. I doubt that this has done much, but is the reason that they would not accept direct help from the USA.

Problems are severe as there is a lack of drinking water, food, and much of their crops were destroyed.

"USA, along with Australia, UK, several others have been trying to freeze the personal assets of Myranmar's corrupt leadership that is kept in bank accounts here. I doubt that this has done much, but is the reason that they would not accept direct help from the USA."

There is a bit more to it than that. Some of Burma's military leaders are extremely paranoid individuals (perhaps rightly so considering how hated they are by their own people) and fear a US invasion a la Iraq (which obviously will not happen for a variety of reasons). And so the last thing they will allow is the US military into their country.

Beyond that, they wouldn't want any outside military force in their country. First, they are extremely xenophobic. Second, their whole raison d'etre is that only the Army can provide for and protect the people, and so it must rule. The presence of an outside military force would be an admission of how hollow that lie is. More of an admission to themselves, than the Burmese people, who already know it.

Speaking of karma, this is also a blow to the generals on a religious/supernatural level. Burma's leaders put a lot of faith in things such as astrology, numerology, merit-making, karma, etc. A natural disaster such as this will be viewed as enormously auspicious in a purely negative way.

Had this happened a little more than 20 years ago, we may have known next to nothing about it, beyond rumor. In the early 1980s, something like more than half of the city of Mandalay was destroyed in a great fire. The outside world heard nothing about this until years later because the dictatorship suppressed all reports about it.

Natural disasters are seen as the wrath of the gods or fate. A sign that the mandate of heaven is no longer with you. And so the generals fear that if the people see it the same way, they may rise up against them.

Even the karma system is corrupted!