At Least 4,000 Killed In Myanmar Cyclone
Posted May 5, 2008 12:00 pm.
This article is more than 5 years old.
Nearly 4,000 people have been reported dead after a highly destructive cyclone hit Myanmar, and the death toll is expected to rise as the storm has made it hard to access many rural areas.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit early Saturday with winds of up to 195 kilometres per hour, ripping roofs off and knocking out electricity in the capital of the Southeast Asian nation also known as Burma.
Nearly 3,000 people have been reported missing in the town of Bogalay alone, which is located in the country’s low-lying Irrawaddy River delta – an area that was hardest hit by the storm.
Officials believe at least 10,000 died in the cyclone and its aftermath. The official death toll sits at 3,394.
“It’s clear that we’re dealing with a very serious situation,” said Richard Horsey, a spokesman in Bangkok, Thailand for United Nations Office for the Co-ordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
“The full extent of the impact and needs will require an extensive on-the-ground assessment,” Horsey said.
“What is clear at this point is that there are several hundred thousands of people in dire need of shelter and clean drinking water.”
Myanmar government officials have said they’ll welcome international assistance, and said roofing supplies, plastic sheets, tents, medicine and water purifying tablets are desperately needed. Thailand has said it will send aid Tuesday.
The United Nations said it is “pulling out all the stops” in its aid effort, which is apparently being hampered by the military junta.
The prices of candles and water in the nation’s former capital of Yangon have nearly doubled and most households don’t have access to water. The junta leaders moved the capital to the city of Naypyidaw.
Despite the storm, the secretive government said it would go ahead with a constitutional referendum on May 10 that critics say would further entrench the military.
Photo credit: Getty Images/Khin Maung
Some Facts About Myanmar, also known as Burma
- Burma was conquered by the British in the 1800s and became a province of India until it became an independent colony in 1937.
- The country broke away from the Commonwealth in 1948.
- Democratic rule ended in 1962 when Gen. Ne Win led a military coup d’etat. He ruled the nation as a military dictator for several years.
- Opposition National League for Democracy won power in 1990, but military junta refused to hand over power.
- Nobel Peace Prize Winner Aung San Suu Kyi was placed under house arrest between 1989 and 1995 and 2000 to 2002. She was imprisoned in 2003 and placed under house arrest again.
- Last September the government brutally cracked down on pro-democracy protests led, in part, by Buddhist monks.
Location:
Southeast Asia
Bordering nations:
India, Bangladesh, China, Laos and Thailand
Population: 47,758,181
Note: Burma has rich oil, gas, mining and timber industries. It is also the world’s second-largest producer of illicit opium
