Burma Cyclone News

Shiver me Timbers

Unbelievable, isn't it? Sichuan is home to almost 90 million people, so I guess we can expect this death toll to continue rising as well (it's currently at 8,700).

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PeakXV

junta are still fiddling, manipulating, & most likely wanking while the Burmese people wait patiently & oblivious to the ticking time bomb.... meanwhile the monsoon's approach becomes a factor of concern.

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Don't go to India ~ Pre-trip Warnings & Misconceptions?

TheFoolOnTheHill

Sometimes, there's nothing more one can say when news of another cyclone hitting Bangaldesh comes in.

There's precious little we as individuals can actually do apart from armchair venting. Sometimes I think Bangaldesh is one of those cursed countries - like (the state of) Gujarat in India. Decades after George Harrison's concert for Bangladesh, that country continues to suffer cyclones, flooding, and often destructive monsoons...location, location, location. Too many people living in cyclone alley, and / or close to flooding rivers.

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machadinha

Hm. Waters and flooding can be controlled to an extent however. The Dutch are very good at and famous for it of course, the country wouldn't have existed without it.

Our crown prince is a graduate in the field. And takes it to Bangladesh too, I believe.

I just never understand if we have the technology, why is it not working there. My hunch is it's more to do with human failures (economic interests etc.) And the Dutch have been working at projects in Bangladesh for a long time. We may not have cyclones here, but controlling floods as such we have quite some experience with. So I just can't really see why after decades of aid we wouldn't be able to do something effective.

btw Just as a sidenote, I believe China and India were the first to send in support goods to Myanmar. The cynic could remark China has a weird relationship with Myanmar anyway of course.

And with Myanmar as such btw, I think it's just a disgrace how we let them carry on, and did little to support the opposition. Now there's a disaster (which again I wonder really how it compares to other annual statistics in the region) and we suddenly want it to be different than we already knew it was, and have supported it in being so? Goodness grief.

You'll have heard despite the disaster the ruling junta pressed on with a supposedly "democratic" poll for a constitution change that consolidated their power, not lessened it, and was mysteriously supported by an overwhelming majority? (I.e., people who claimed they had little choice as there were military onlookers.)

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capt_mahajan

=crossposted=

and low lying land in a delta too.

slightly offtopic, but amost the entire population of Bangladesh is alarmingly predicted to migrate to India if Global Warming strengthens.

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TheFoolOnTheHill

Human failing was my frame of reference…we have the (preventative + aftershock handling) technologies available, but for many reasons fail to see it implemented. To add to the posts above, the reasons could be (mostly) political apathy, individual indifference in the light of more pressing concerns at home. Plus: cost, time, distance.

Back to topic.

Shiver me Timbers

Here's some articles some might find interesting, giving various views dealing with the issue of possible interventionism.....

Burma - the case for intervention

A Drastic Remedy

Regional solutions

Burma: a deluge of moral posturing

We must not shrink from our moral obligation to Burma

machadinha

Reuters: Myanmar allows in "all" cyclone aid workers

PeakXV

At long last a brilliant decision! ...... no flies on those junta dudes!

machadinha

Yes, talk about rapid response, eh.

Haylo

Good news, if way overdue.

Perhaps the junta finally realised that without that help, the rice planting window will be missed; without a successful crop, the entire country will be in trouble, not just the areas affected by the cyclone.

PeakXV

.... or maybe Ki-Moon whispered some sweet ultimatums into the juntas collective ear.

70s-80s overlander

Uh, not quite. In other words, the folks most able to bring in water, water purification plants, food, tents, hospitals -- are barred from participating. I guess the good news is that Myanmar appears to have accepted help from the Indian navy.

The French navy sent a ship that way pronto, but, as usual, it was the US navy that had the most ships of all sizes, supply barges, and helicopters sitting off-shore from the Indian subcontinent. It's getting to be a real "Catch 22" that those most able to help in a disaster keep being excluded from the effort. During the Indonesian tsunami there was some rule that US navy helicopters could drop cargo while hovering but were not allowed to land. Weird. Did anyone notice that the US navy's disaster team "invaded" Kashmir after its earthquake -- leaving behind an entire hospital -- but made no effort to "capture" or "occupy" Kashmir?