Burma: Time for UN Security Council to Act

Official Burmese government estimates of the death toll have risen to 77,738, with some 55,917 missing. Other estimates of the dead are considerably higher. Yet more than two weeks after Cyclone Nargis hit the Irrawaddy Delta region, rendering an estimated 2.4 million people homeless and in need of food and medical care, the World Food Programme said it had been able to provide aid to only approximately 30 percent of victims. Whole areas of the delta have still not received any assistance.  
 
While the Burmese government has accepted more aid flights and granted more visas to aid workers in recent days, this continues to be just a fraction of the total needed. Meanwhile, ships from France, the United Kingdom and the United States packed with aid that could save large numbers of lives and alleviate the suffering of survivors continue to be refused entry.  
 
The Security Council is avoiding its responsibilities to save lives by not insisting that Burma accept all aid and humanitarian workers being offered, said Brad Adams, Asia director at Human Rights Watch. It is not acceptable to dither and allow large numbers of people to die while ships are sitting offshore and humanitarian workers are in Bangkok ready to deliver aid.  
 
There are now an estimated 120 official or makeshift shelter camps housing some 150,000 internally displaced people in parts of Laputta and Bogale townships alone. International health organizations have reported isolated outbreaks of cholera and are fearful that respiratory diseases and the effects of poor sanitation and access to drinking water will increase the spread of illness.  

Read More