Myanmar

It's bad

It's 3 days after Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar (formerly Burma), causing the most damage with it's 12 foot storm surge ("tidal" surge) that Nasa pictures show has inundated the Irrawaddy river delta, and coastal villages. (Typhoons, hurricanes, and cyclones are all the same weather phenomena, depending on the ocean in which they originate).

There are no firm figures on the death toll, or number of homeless (although 22,464 people have now been confirmed as dead and an additional 41,054 missing). Estimates go up to 100 thousand people affected (greater than the tsunami in '04).

The government is suspicious of the West, and of the international community in general, but it's leaders have said they will accept help, indicating the scale of the disaster. (There's a referendum on the constitution set for the 10th of May, still on, but rescheduled for the 24th for the affected regions).

World Vision, the only aid organization let in thus far, has reported horrific visions of "rice fields strewn with piles of dead bodies" and desperate survivors without food or shelter, in this already impoverished rice-growing country.

Like I said, it's bad.
An act of God? Maybe I breathed wrong. Sorry, if I did.

5-14 note: The United Nations estimates that between 63,000 and 100,000 people died as a result of the cyclone, but the junta has put the figure at less than 30,000. There's another cyclone on the way (!). The Red Cross warned the actual figure could be as high as 128,000 dead. A BBC correspondent said one devastated village - with one in four of its 400 homes left standing - had received just one bag of rice from the government.

5-16 update: Torrential rain lashed victims of Cyclone Nargis on Friday as Myanmar's junta admitted more than 130,000 people were dead or missing, putting the disaster on a par with a 1991 cyclone that killed 143,000 in neighboring Bangladesh. 2.5 million people cling to survival in the delta, where thousands of destitute victims are lining roadsides, begging for help in the absence of large-scale government or foreign relief operations. Many refugees have died or suffer with diarrhea, dysentery and skin infections. Citizens are taking matters into their own hands, sending trucks into the delta with clothes, biscuits, dried noodles, and rice provided by private companies and individuals. The generals, who have held a "vice-like" grip on power for the last 46 years, insist their relief operations are running smoothly, justifying their refusal to allow major aid distribution by outside agencies and workers. Shoot, generals.. geez.

6-6 update: Earlier this week US Navy ships carrying much-needed helicopters and landing craft left Burma's coastline after 15 failed attempts to convince the regime to let them in. The regime is reportedly desperate to show they can handle the crisis on their own, although they have recently allowed UN and neighbor country relief efforts entry. According to official figures, 78,000 people were killed and another 56,000 are missing. More than two million people have been affected, aid agencies say.

So numbers aside, it's still rough, and for many.