Other May 2008 News

May 7: Burma Cyclone Relief

We suggest you give generously to the Foundation for the People of Burma. FPB provides humanitarian aid to Burmese people of all ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. FPB already is distributing food to refugees on the outskirts of Rangoon.

Every gemologist and aficionado of fine colored gemstones holds a special place for Burma in her or his heart. Its production of the most highly valued rubies is legend, having endured at least 1,500 years of human dramatics (Hughes, pp. 304–305), most recently being strained by two centuries of colonial and military rule. Chinese merchants continue to clog the Burma gemstone markets, as voices from inside and outside the region debate the prudence of prohibition—on the eve of a contentious constitutional referendum, scheduled by Burma’s rulers for Saturday, May 10. Well, maybe.

Waterlogged. The photos above use a combination of visible and infrared light to make floodwaters obvious. On May 5, they appear as light and dark blue, swamping the areas that on April 15 were covered with vegetation (bright green) or bare (tan). (Photos: NASA)

Just a week before the referendum was to take place, Cyclone Nargis (the first named storm to come out of the North Indian Ocean this year) pounded the southern coast of Burma’s populous Ayeyawady state. The region is home to the many mouths of the Irrawaddy River—a “rice bowl” of the country that had fed many hungry mouths. The storm continued its devastation, skirting the coast, and wrecking Burma’s former capital, Yangon (Rangoon).

Estimates of Nargis’s death toll climb by increments of 10,000. As an Australian academic familiar with Burma said in a story yesterday, “We’ll never know how many died,” he said. “This a country that hasn’t had a full census since 1937.”

Relief, Eventually; Relief Today

Statistics—accurate or otherwise (and we at Pala are keepers of our own…)—hardly matter to people who are putting their lives and livelihoods back together. Unpleasantly, but not unexpectedly, Burma’s rulers are reluctant to exhibit impotence by accepting foreign aid—reminiscent of George W. Bush during a particular domestic natural disaster in 2005; the irony of a tongue-lashing from Laura Bush on Monday is self-evident.

The government of Burma should accept this [international aid] team quickly, as well as other offers of international assistance. … It’s troubling that many of the Burmese people learned of this impending disaster only when foreign outlets, such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, sounded the alarm. Although they were aware of the threat, Burma’s state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm’s path.

Regardless of how speedily government officials fully heed the international call for acceptance of aid, efforts are in place to collect donations. And some groups, like the Foundation for the People of Burma, actually give a day-by-day account of their successful relief efforts.

We suggest you give generously to the Foundation for the People of Burma. FPB provides humanitarian aid to Burmese people of all ethnic backgrounds and beliefs. BurmaNet, the news clearinghouse, has published a short list of organizations involved in aid efforts. That list includes a variety of NGOs, and Pala International urges you to choose with care.

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