Burma’s Katrina

Remarkably, tragically, the news from Burma just gets more discouraging. A long-time friend of ours passed through Bangkok on a quick visit she was making to the Burmese border from Seattle in the wake of Cyclone Nargis.

She was of course furious at the Burmese government’s refusal to help its own people recover, and so had flown over on her own because she knows some back channel ways of getting help into the country.

Her sense is that the best disaster response work is being done by groups that have been operating in the country for some time, and thus have large Burmese staffs, who can distribute supplies without attracting unwanted attention from the military. Our friend was impressed with Thirst-Aid. Money contributed at my birthday fundraiser will go to them. I encourage you to send them a check as well.

She had learned that in some villages, outside medical personnel and aid dispensers had to work secretly, in order to avoid authorities who want the people to see only Burmese soldiers providing relief.

Yet the message that comes through loudest is that the government doesn’t care about anything but its own survival. Nobody is collecting the corpses. Homeless villagers who made their way to emergency shelters in nearby towns are being told that they must return “home” in order to vote in a referendum that would validate the military’s right to rule.

News coverage by the BBC remains quite good.