Is Aid Reaching Burma?

The military junta that controls Burma (Myanmar) continues to delay and frustrate efforts to bring help to the people of Burma. Although United Nations relief planes now are landing supplies in Burma, other aid is still on hold.

Of the aid organizations listed in the last post -- the UN World Food Programme (WFP) has landed four aircraft loaded with food and supplies. Likewise, the Red Cross managed to land its first planes in Burma today. UNICEF technical and operations staff are on the ground in Burma assessing need and delivering supplies. Small teams from Doctors Without Borders are delivering food and other supplies. Save the Children says it has reached 50,000 people.

However, the junta remains reluctant to receive help from some foreign governments. For example, as of this writing planes with supplies from the United States are still denied access.

In fact, according to Burma's state media, the situation in Burma is "returning to normal." However, bodies can be seen floating in floodwater, and millions of survivors are short of food, clean water, fuel, and medicine. The death toll from Saturday's cyclone is estimated by some to be as high as 100,000.

Writing for Time magazine, Phil Zabriskie explains that the junta fears aid workers and journalists will bring pro-democratic influence to Burma along with food and medicine. Zabriskie says also that Buddhist monks have been warned not to open their monasteries to the homeless for sanctuary.

Kenneth Denby of the Times (UK) writes that even as people are starving, the Burmese also are distressed at the damage done to pagodas. "During a four-hour drive through the Irrawaddy delta yesterday, that was the most striking among many remarkable sights: towering above the wreckage of Cyclone Nargis, dozens and dozens of decapitated golden pagodas," he writes. The spires and gilt umbrellas that symbolize the attainment of nirvana are gone.