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Humanitarian disaster
As if life in Burma is not bad enough, since May 2008 we have seen a cyclone and famine devastate parts of the country. Thousands of farmers have been reduced to starvation in Chin state.
Cyclone Nargis ravages Burma
One cannot fail to have been moved by the scenes of devastation in Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. Yet, since May, the pictures have disappeared from our screens. Does that mean the suffering is over? The regime would like us to believe that rebuilding is beginning.
In reality, aid is still only trickling in and only a few hundred international aid workers have been let into the country - even fewer into the worst affected areas. The regime’s failure to clean up decomposing bodies has resulted in a chronic deterioration in health and the spreading of disease. The police reportedly steal valuables from the dead bodies they find, and the regime has arrested and beaten up those attempting to help the cyclone victims.
The glimmer of hope shows through in the Burmese people themselves who have organised relief efforts – united in the midst of suffering.
Chin state in the grip of famine
Virtually unseen by the world, thousands of farmers have been reduced to starvation in Chin State, the poorest part of Burma.
Twice a century, when the bamboo flowers and seeds, then dies, packs of rats descend upon the area with their numbers exploding at an alarming rate. They then turn on the rice stocks, strip unripened corn and dig up crop seeds in the night.
The regime won’t permit food aid or aid workers into the devastated areas. Villagers are too weak to flee across the borders and have already begun to die. Thousands more face death in the bamboo forests where most of the state’s Christian tribal population lives. The Chin Human Rights Organisation estimates that over 200 villages are affected and more than 100,000 people, 20% of the Chin population, face severe food shortages. The situation is critical.
Change for Burma! calls for:
- Aid and international humanitarian organisations to be allowed to assist those suffering as a result of humanitarian crises:
- For the distribution of aid and access to aid workers to be granted to help victims of Cyclone Nargis.
- For practical support and assistance to be granted to villages suffering the affects of famine in Chin state.
- For aid to reach the IDPs in the conflict zones and in Eastern Burma.
Now is the time for action... now is the time for change!
