A month has passed since a devastating flood swept through Burma causing over 100,00 deaths and leaving at least 1.5 million people without the basic necessities of life. A month has passed since the international community reached out in an effort to assist cyclone survivors, but one month later the xenophoic military junta which rules the nation still displays its fears of allowing foreigners into the country. Sarah Ireland, of Oxfam, the famous organization which brings aid to people who have been impacted by disaster, quietly notes “people need basic relief which is shocking after four weeks.” It was not until this week the International Red Cross was even able to send in several disaster relief experts in order to identify solutions to problems caused by the cyclone.
The Burma military thugs who run the nation have displayed unparalleled indifference to the problems facing their own people. The have, in many cases, given people fifteen poles and told them to build their own homes or blandly remarked if they are hungry they should eat “frogs.” Ships are off the shores of their nation with food and water and clothing but they have been refused entry because the junta fears foreign spies will somehow use the cyclone disaster as a pretext to overthrow the regime. All the world can do at this point in time is sit by idly and wonder.
