07 May 2008
U.S. Seeks Neighbors' Help on Sending Disaster Aid Teams to Burma
Storm's aftermath "humanitarian disaster of immense scope," McCormack says
Washington -- The United States is asking Burma's neighbors to convince the ruling military junta to permit U.S. and other disaster assessment teams into the country so that global humanitarian relief efforts can begin the recovery from "a humanitarian disaster of immense scope," a State Department official says.
"We've been in touch with the Burmese Embassy here in Washington to encourage access for U.S. assistance and experts, and we have also been in contact with neighboring countries to Burma, including Thailand, Malaysia and Indonesia, to encourage them to use whatever leverage they may have with the Burmese government to allow assistance teams in," State Department spokesman Sean McCormack said May 7.
McCormack also said U.S. Ambassador to the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) Scott Marciel, who is in the region, is working on the issue. According to McCormack, the United States has been in contact with China, Japan and India to use their influence to convince the Burmese regime, which has controlled the country for 46 years, to permit outside support.
Shari Villarosa, the U.S. chargé d'affaires in Rangoon, told journalists in a conference call from the embassy that the death toll is much higher than what has been reported so far by the government there. "The information that we're receiving indicates that there may well be over 100,000 deaths in the [Irrawaddy] delta area," she said, and approximately 95 percent of the homes in the delta region have been destroyed.
On May 2 at about 4 p.m. local time, Cyclone Nargis struck Burma near the mouth of the Irrawaddy River with a maximum sustained wind speed of approximately 132 mph (2ll km/hr) and a storm surge of 12 feet (approximately 3.6 meters), according to the U.S. Joint Typhoon Warning Center. The storm continued moving in an east-to-northeasterly direction affecting Rangoon, Burma's largest city, through May 3, the center reported.
State-run Burmese radio reported May 7 that 22,980 people were killed, 42,119 were reported missing and 1,383 were injured, but there has been no independent confirmation.
The United Nations announced May 7 that it immediately would release $10 million from its emergency relief fund for Burma.
McCormack said the United States is working to pre-position relief supplies and materials in the greatest demand when assistance is allowed in the country. Although the United States, other nations and world relief agencies all have requested visas to bring in assistance teams, the Burmese government has not responded, he said.
"We're in that regard working very closely with the Pacific Command of the U.S. military. We have provided overhead imagery to the Burmese government and to the [United Nations] to assist them in damage assessment," McCormack said. "And our people on the ground at the Embassy Rangoon have been working with the [nongovernmental organization], donor community, U.N. relief agencies and the Burmese foreign ministry on assistance needs."
McCormack said a disaster assessment team from the U.S. Agency for International Development is on standby in Bangkok, Thailand, waiting for visa approval from Burma to begin work in the disaster area.
President Bush announced May 6 that the United States was providing $3.25 million in emergency funds to Burma for relief efforts, and that assets of the U.S. Navy and Air Force are on standby to provide immediate relief assistance.
"We're prepared to move U.S. Navy assets to help find those who've lost their lives, to help find the missing, to help stabilize the situation," Bush said in a direct appeal to the Burmese government.
The U.S. Navy has three ships in the Gulf of Thailand for military training exercises that could be dispatched to Burma in less than four days, Pentagon spokesman Bryan Whitman says. That group includes the USS Essex, which carries 23 helicopters, the USS Juneau, and the USS Harper's Ferry. The Essex helicopters can be used for moving emergency supplies inland to remote areas struck by the cyclone.
Also within reach of Burma are two aircraft carrier groups led by the USS Kitty Hawk and the USS Nimitz, which have helicopters on board along with extensive medical teams and support personnel, the Pentagon says. The Air Force also could begin flying relief supplies into Rangoon at any time because the main airport has reopened.
"The military has vast resources and experience in dealing with this type of situation, unfortunately," said Pentagon press secretary Geoff Morrell. "And we stand ready to provide that expertise and those resources to the Burmese people, hopefully, when their government sees fit to ask us to provide them."
In addition to the loss of human life, a significant area of Burma's food producing region was hit directly by the cyclone, and still is flooded with sea water. According to the Rome-based U.N. Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO), the five states hit hardest produce 65 percent of Burma’s rice crop. The region is also home to 80 percent of its aquaculture, 50 percent of its poultry and 40 percent of its pig production, the FAO said.
