Thousands killed in Burma(update NEW Cyclone on the way!)

Sadly I expect the death toll to rise a lot over the coming days

This is a very major tragedy. How well it could have been avoided is a moot point but this story is very disturbing (especially following on from the (alleged) indiscriminate murder of Buddhist monks last year)

Sourec

Indian meteorologists say that they gave authorities in neighbouring Burma 48 hours warning before a cyclone slammed into the country, killing as many as 60,000 people.

The comments from Indian Meteorological Department (IMD) came after allegations from Laura Bush, the US First Lady, that Burma's military junta failed to warn its citizens of the impending storm.

“Forty-eight hours before (tropical cyclone) Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing (landfall), its severity and all related issues to Myanmarese agencies,” B.P. Yadav, an IMD spokesman, said.

The department is mandated by the United Nations’ World Meteorological Organisation to track cyclones in the region. “Our job is to give warnings and in advance, and we take pride in saying that we gave warnings much, much in advance and there was enough time to take precautionary measures such as evacuation,” Mr Yadav added.

Also worth adding that according to radio news here this afternoon, relief agencies were still awaiting visas to allow them into the country.

The effects of an estimated 3.5m tidal surge can be very clearly (amnd disturbingly) seen here:

earthobservatory.nasa.gov...


With the accompanying severe winds and rain it must have been just like 'Noah's flood' - imagine a more primitive society and the stories they'd tell of the day the gods flooded the world ....

As the Earth's population continues to balloon out of control, expect more of this kind of thing to happen all the time. It's not that the storm was that devastating, it's just that there are now so many people in the way.

I can't imagine what kind of media weep-fest this would be if it happened in the United States. Otherwise, it gets a nod here and we get on with our lives.

Here are some other "breaking news" sources on this story. I don't know if you were able to catch the Wikipedia News stories on the December 2004 tsunami in the Indian Ocean, but their coverage was the most current, the most comprehensive, and had the most innovative graphics to better explain the staggering scope and depth of that story than conventional news outlets could muster. So first, here is the Wikipedia News coverage thus far of the Myanmar Cyclone story:


en.wikipedia.org...


And here is today's coverage (including photos) from the International Herald Tribune online:


www.iht.com...


Last night's mainstream media coverage of this cyclone was startling - first time I've seen an Al Jazeera credit on video footage aired in a U.S. TV news story. But Myanmar has had such a news blackout that normal media outlets were out of luck, at least at first.

The United Nations News Service has detailed information on the scale of the losses, as well as plans to send aid:


www.un.org...


[edit on 5/6/2008 by Uphill]

Yup and heres the Map there using, All the areas in red are the underwater parts now




blog.foreignpolicy.com...

[edit on 6-5-2008 by asala]

Damn. That an ungodly amount of flooding. You know its bad, then you get something that tells you, you had no clue at all. Damn.

International Red Cross will be getting a call from me tonight...can't donate a lot, but somes better than nothing at all.

This was a non-story for me when I was listening on the radio. Until I heard the reporter say that Burma was once known as the "rice basket of Asia" Well it may no longer be quite like that, but I bet they still produce a lot of rice.

I heard that the entire city was wiped and all the surrounding villages, I bet a lot of rice paddies got ruined there. Wonder what that's going to do to the food prices in that country, and the rest of the world perhaps. Can anyone say CIA weather control? No story here, nothing to see folks!

I saw the Satalight pics. And damm...


Something like 60,000+ dead or missing.

There seems like there was no warning for these people.

Entire towns and villages are gone.

This is a tragedy.

Right now all that needs to be adressed is the people still with thier lifes in ruin. But why this tragedy happen, will be adressed later.

Have a place in your heart for the people in Burma/Myarnar

Sadly, I see that their weather forecast today is nothing but a lot of rain and thunderstorms. Just what everyone over there needs right now. Oh, boy...

Anyone wondering whose playing the HAARP at the moment?
I know I am.

How many innocents should die?
Course it could just be nature.

Originally posted by Dr X
Anyone wondering whose playing the HAARP at the moment?
I know I am.

How many innocents should die?
Course it could just be nature.

If you want to strat blameing people, look at the Burma Goverment.

This was a huge storm, and the people should have cleared out, but they didn't, they didnt becausee they didn't know what to expect. They were let down by thier goverment.

We could end up seeing 100's of thousands dead because of this aftermath...

Unless they open up to Aid, its going to look bad... and get worse...

I really, REALLY hope I am wrong, but I think there is reason to believe that the real death toll will be a seven-figure number.

EDIT: Sorry, I only now noticed that there is a more recent thread about this. Please, feel free to move it, if necessary.




[edit on 7-5-2008 by Vanitas]

This needs to be updated...

100,000's are dead, and many more are dying.

The goverment is letting the people die.

The junta....

500,000 dead?

To see fair play

The scum who tyrannize over that poor, benighted country are now refusing to led aid in if it comes with 'foreigners' (quote unquote). They say they're going to distribute it themselves.

Well. A few days after the 2004 tsunami, which affected my country terribly, I saw a water bowser that had been sent to an area where drinking-water supplies were disrupted sitting in the backyard of a local police official's house. He'd kept it for himself, his family and his cronies. But on the whole, such incidents were relatively few, because the tsunami and its aftermath were witnessed by the whole world.

Imagine what will happen to aid to Burma unless a few 'foreigners' are allowed in to see fair play.

Hmm Not to good news,

World aid is halting there food program as its reported that Burma has impounded some of the Aid,

This is not good at all,

Im sure news will e covering this neww info soon,

reply to post by Vanitas


Eventually the toll is going to be that high...storm damage compounded by disease, starvation, and God only knows what else.

The junta starts seizing supplies forcing the UN to terminate supply deliveries. Shouldn't the deliveries continue? Some getting to where they need to go is better than none. Not all the govt. is corrupt, it's to be hoped.

Seagull-

well seems they have decided to send it now anyway, They have also said thwy will accept US aid but not US aid workers,

Im worried for next week as heavy rain in being predicted there, This is a race against time,

This is such bad situation.

The junta will steal everything that we give to the goverment... and they only want to accept things 'goverment to goverment'...

So after a few days of refusing to allow foriegn help, as soon as they do they steal the stuff... and now the foriegn aid stops...

From the Get-go we shouldn't of cared what the junta thought, and we should have just done what we know is right, and gotten those people what they need.

Water, and food, just the bare basic first aid, all could have been flown in via C-130 airdrop... but we didn't want to cause a fuss... now 10'000's are dead, and many more are going to die...

So here it come, i never done this before, but, i blame George W Bush. As commander and Cheif, he could have said, "To hell with the Mynarar junta, and lets drops water and food on the country side", inside we have sat for days as people died.

Terrible news another cyclone is forming and looks like is going to pretty much hit the same area,

ANOTHER cyclone is forming near Burma, the United Nations has said, as the country still struggles to contain the humanitarian crisis caused by Cyclone Nargis earlier this month.

The grim forecast has come from the UN's Joint Typhoon Warning Centre, which said the storm was west-southwest of Rangoon and was gaining intensity.

UN humanitarian relief program spokeswoman Amanda Pitt could not say where it would make landfall or when it would become a full-fledged cyclone, the Associated Press reported.

www.news.com.au...

i wonder if this will effect opium production
two main worldwide producers of opium, afgan and burma
no guesses as to who runs the trade in afghanistan
taking out the opposition?