Burma After Nargis : Devastated, Depressed And Dejected

Burma After Nargis : Devastated, Depressed And Dejected
By Nava Thakuria
13 July, 2008
http://www.counterc urrents.org/ thakuria130708. htm

The devastating tropical cyclone Nargis that struck southern Burma
(Myanmar) two months ago, has revealed to the world that it was even
less disastrous compared to its regime. The military regime, which
not only ignored the difficulties faced by its own people after the
disaster, but also restricted relief from international communities
for them. The group of Generals, known as the State Peace and
Development Council, had one apprehension that the massive flow of
foreign aid workers to their country might create an ambiance for a
major uprising against the government.

The deadly cyclone moved towards the Burmese land from the Bay of
Bengal on the night of May 2, and it devastated the entire Irrawaddy
and Rangoon divisions of the country. Nargis also embraced three
other divisions and states (Bago, Mon and Kayin) and killed nearly
ninety thousand people and made another few thousands homeless. It
also left a trail of devastation on social infrastructures, killing
thousands of livestock and also causing flood, destroying the paddy
fields, which were made ready for Myanmar's primary crops rice.

According to the latest government information, made available with
the government run daily newspaper 'The New Light of Myanmar', the
storm killed 84,537 people, leaving 53,836 missing and 19,359
injured. The United Nations estimates that Nargis affected 2.4
million people and directly made thousands homeless. At the same
time, over 3,00,000 water buffaloes and cows died in Irrawaddy delta
and Yangon localities. Moreover, nearly 10,00,000 acres of farmland
in Irrawaddy and 3,00,000 acres in Yangon division were destroyed.
Over one million acres of fertile land were also flooded with the
salty seawater.

But the response to the disaster by its own rulers was simply
shocking. First, the rulers couldn't provide immediate relief to the
victims and secondly, they tried to prevent (and restrict) the
international aid for their very own people, who were in desperate
need of food, medicine and shelter.

"The military regime at Nay Pyi Taw always remained blind to the
political power and they can go to all extent to maintain it. Hence,
they could ignore all the troubles faced by the cyclone victims. The
State Peace and Development Council (SPDC) chief senior general,
Than Shwe got time to visit those victims only after international
criticism came out in a bigger way. Mind it, they can easily
sacrifice the people, but never tolerate international access
(through the aid workers) to its common people," commented a Yangon
based opposition political leader, who wanted anonymity.

The callousness of the junta was also criticised by Suzanne
DiMaggio, director of the Asia Society's Social Issues Programme
(and former vice president of Global Policy Programmes at the United
Nations Association of America) saying that for nearly five decades,
Myanmar's military rulers had systematically undermined the
interests of their own citizens. Referring to Narigs, she stated
that the junta-controlled news media failed to announce warnings
about the approaching cyclone.

"The entry of UN humanitarian personnel, has been delayed due to the
government's refusal to allow aid workers into the country without
first applying for visas. Moreover, the military leaders are
dragging their feet on easing restrictions on the import of
humanitarian supplies and allowing a UN assessment team into the
country," she added.

Similar views were expressed by a Burmese exile, Dr Tayzathuria, who
revealed that the junta did not put any effort to warn the people
about the deadly storm. Talking to this writer from London,
Tayzathuria claimed that the government had done nothing for
rehabilitation of the victims and nearly two million people, mostly
farmers and their families, were still living in horrible conditions
in the makeshift camps.

"The SPDC doesn't care about its people except maintaining their
strong holds on power. Otherwise, the government would have never
gone ahead with referendum immediately after the disaster," he also
added saying that the referendum was only to forcefully approve the
pro-military constitution and finally to install a puppet civilian
regime after the 2010 polls.

The referendum, which took places in two phases throughout Burma,
was a major initiative of the government under their road map to
democracy. But the new constitution adopted after the referendum is
alleged to comprise many provisions for the armed forces, which
would enjoy emergency power and could topple an elected government
in need. Moreover, seats will be reserved for them in the
Parliament. The new constitution will also prevent the pro-democracy
icon Daw Aung San Suu Kyi from contesting the election as she had
married a non-Burmese (an Englishman).

Moreover, the junta had extended the period of house arrest for Suu
Kyi for one more year. The Nobel laureate had already spent five
full years under detention since May, 2003. Hence, the decision of
the junta on Suu Kyi's detention invited prompt and harsh criticism
from the world communities. From the United Nations to European
Union and America to other pro-democratic regimes, all came out with
stronger words of condemnation against the military regime.

The UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-Moon visited Myanmar and met the
SPDC chief Than Shwe on May 23, days ahead of junta's decision (on
Suu Kyi) and he had no other option than expressing regret later on
the development. He, however, commented that 'the sooner the
restrictions on Suu Kyi and other political figures are lifted, the
sooner Myanmar will be able to move towards inclusive national
reconciliation, the restoration of democracy and full respect for
human rights'.

Of course, the initiative of the UN chief resulted on softening the
stand of the junta to allow the foreign aid workers irrespective of
their nationalities. More recently, the Burmese government had
issued more than 1500 visas to the relief workers to visit the
victims and extend their services.

Nargis, on the other hand, hit the country in a critical period of
the year. The month of May in English calendar year brings the
season for preparing rice seedlings, which are to be planted later.
Like many south and Southeast Asian countries, rice is the primary
crop (also the staple food) of Myanmar. The traditional rice
plantation needs to be completed within the rainy season, more
preferably by July end. The harvesting time starts from October.

Hence, the May 2-3 disaster can put a heavy toll on rice production
in Myanmar. The cyclone in one hand, flooded the arable lands with
the salty sea water, destroyed the already grown saplings and on the
other hand, it killed the water buffaloes (also cows), which are
essential for the poor Burmese cultivators for ploughing. If
immediate actions are not taken to support the farmers with tiller
and fresh rice saplings, it can be guessed that Burma might face
food severe crisis at the end of the year because the Irrawaddy
delta region produces most (almost 60 per cent) of the country's
rice. Besides rice, the region also contributes in fish productions.
The cyclone damaged most of the fishing ponds, hatcheries and shrimp
farms of the area and it could add more people under the acute
poverty tag in the coming days.

Meanwhile, the UN Undersecretary- General Noeleen Heyzer issued a
clarion call for supplying fuel (to run the power tillers) for the
Burmese farmers. Heyzer had reportedly stated that this initiative
was crucial for the affected Burmese farmers 'to meet their planting
season' to rebuild their livelihood.

Earlier, the Myanmarese Agriculture minister, Htay Oo informed that
they urgently needed diesel (it might be a volume of five million
litre) to run around 5,000 power tillers. It may be mentioned that
understanding the real and immediate difficulties of the rice
growers, many countries including China and Thailand donated the
power tillers to the farmers.

Burma, which was once known as the rice bowl of Asia, has slowly
lost the volume of rice production. Four decades of non-governance
under the military rule and disastrous economic policies of the
junta has left Myanmar in such a pathetic condition that the farmers
have now lost their interest and motivation for surplus rice
productions.