More than 1 million warned they may have to evacuate China disaster

More than 1 million warned they may have to evacuate China disaster
The Associated Press , Chengdu Fri, 05/30/2008 6:43 PM World
More than 1 million people may have to urgently evacuate a Chinese valley that is being threatened with flooding from an earthquake-spawned lake, an emergency official warned Friday.
Authorities were preparing to run a drill starting Saturday to ensure 1.3 million people in dozens of villages in the Mianyang region could get out quickly if the lake breaks through a wall of debris that has clogged a river.
Hundreds of Chinese troops are working around the clock in the northern part of stricken Sichuan province to drain the Tangjiashan lake, which formed above Beichuan town when a hillside plunged into the river valley.
An official with the press office of Mianyang City Quake Control and Relief Headquarters, who would giver only her surname of Chen, said a report Friday by the official Xinhua News Agency that 1.3 million had been ordered to evacuate from the valley was wrong.
"Not all 1.3 million people will be actually evacuated," Chen told The Associated Press. "People will only be evacuated in case of the actual collapse of the whole bank."
On Saturday, officials will start a three-day drill that will test government communications systems to ensure that any evacuation order - if it comes - quickly filters down to residents in the valley.
Chen said 197,500 people in the valley are being moved to higher ground - about 30,000 more than previously announced - while the rest would be removed only if the dam breaks.
There was no sign that the dam formed by a landslide caused by the May 12 quake was about to burst on Friday, though officials say it could do so in coming days.
The soldiers were using 40 heavy earth-moving machines to dig drainage channels. Officials quoted in state media have not said how long the work would take.
Some 158,000 people living downstream from Tangjiashan lake have already been evacuated. Troops have sealed off Beichuan to the public.
Tangjiashan is the largest of more than 30 lakes that have formed behind landslides caused by the quake, which also weakened man-made dams in the mountainous parts of the disaster zone.
Outside the town of Hanwang, a brigade of 50 workers on Friday was busy mixing concrete to reinforce dikes around a dam on the Mianyuan River. The quake damaged the dam's embankments, and Hanwang faces inundation if the structures fail.
The government announced Friday that the confirmed death toll from China's worst disaster in three decades was 68,858, an increase of about 350 from a day earlier. Another 18,618 people were still missing. In the chaos after the magnitude 7.9 earthquake, which made 5 million homeless, many survivors were separated from their families.
Social workers have helped reunite more than 7,000 children separated from their parents by the earthquake in Sichuan, but some 1,000 remain unclaimed.
About 8,000 children were reported to be separated from their families in the first few days after the 7.9 magnitude quake, and that figure has now been drastically reduced to 1,000, said Civil Affairs Department official Ye Lu.
"We are still getting thousands of calls per week asking about how to adopt, but we are still hoping to find the parents of these 1,000 kids," Ye said.
Millions are living in tent camps or prefabricated housing being erected by troops, which were taking on the tone of new villages.
In Mianzhu, hospitals, schools and even a makeshift shopping mall had emerged in a tent camp, with stores selling shampoo, shoes, beer and clothes.
A mobile medical center on the back of a tractor-trailer rig was providing free eye exams. About 50 people - mostly senior citizens and children - lined up for the checkups.
"I've never had my eyes checked before. Even before the quake. This is the first time," said Yu Xiaoling, a 54-year-old farmer who lost her home in the quake.
But some residents were longing for the comforts of home.
"Life is really good here, but we don't have a TV. The things I miss most, though, are my stuffed animals. I lost them when our home collapsed," said Fang Ming, a 10-year-old girl standing outside her tent peeling an orange with the sharp edge of a chopstick.
China Red Cross sought to address concerns that some of the billions of yuan (billions of dollars) that has been donated to help quake victims could be siphoned off by corrupt officials by promising monthly audits of its relief operations.
"We will release the audit report every month," Red Cross deputy director Jiang Yiman told reporters in Beijing. "All money will be used for disaster relief, rescue and rebuilding efforts. No one should embezzle a penny."
Also Friday, government officials in Tokyo said Japan would not use military planes to deliver relief goods to China after Beijing voiced uneasiness over the idea.
Beijing had been in talks with Tokyo about using Japanese military planes to deliver aid, which could have become the first significant military dispatch between the two nations since World War II.
South Korean President Lee Myung-bak ended an official visit to China on Friday by making a short visit to Sichuan. He was the first foreign head of state to visit. (*) From. http://www.thejakartapost.com

Suu Kyi begins another year in detention in Myanmar

Suu Kyi begins another year in detention in Myanmar
The Associated Press , Yangon Wed, 05/28/2008 2:00 PM World
Pro-democracy leader Aung San Suu Kyi began a sixth year under detention Wednesday as foreign donors said aid would continue to flow into the military-ruled nation to save cyclone victims.
UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon expressed regret over Suu Kyi's continued arrest while praising "a new spirit of cooperation" between the junta and the international community in the aid effort.
In Washington, President George W. Bush said Tuesday he was "deeply troubled" by the extension of Suu Kyi's house arrest but stressed the U.S. would continue to provide aid to the victims.
Suu Kyi, a Nobel Peace laureate who has been detained for more than 12 of the past 18 years, had her detention extended by one year Tuesday, a government official said on condition of anonymity because he was not authorized to speak to the media.
On Wednesday, her National League for Democracy party denounced the extension as "illegal," saying it would launch an appeal. Party spokesman Nyan Win said the regime should also open a public hearing on the case.
Suu Kyi has long been the symbol of the regime's heavy-handed intolerance of opposition and the focus of a worldwide campaign lobbying for her release.
"The United States calls upon the regime to release all political prisoners in Burma and begin a genuine dialogue with Aung San Suu Kyi, the National League for Democracy, and other democratic and ethnic minority groups on a transition to democracy," Bush said in a statement.
The junta's extension of Suu Kyi's detention came as Myanmar fended off worldwide criticism for its inadequate aid effort for the survivors of the May 2-3 Cyclone Nargis.
The storm left an estimated 2.4 million people in desperate need of food, shelter and medical care, according to the UN, and the government says it killed 78,000 people and left 56,000 missing. The UN said cyclone devastation has forced postponement of the new school term in the delta for one month, to July.
Only after intense international pressure and a personal appeal by Ban, who visited Myanmar last week to meet with junta chief Senior Gen. Than Shwe, did the government relent and say it would allow foreign relief workers to travel to the Irrawaddy delta, the area hardest hit by the cyclone.
The UN says some of their foreign staffers have begun moving into the delta and emergency food supplies are being ferried in on its helicopters.
The French warship Mistral Wednesday landed on the resort island of Phuket, Thailand, to unload some 1,000 tons of humanitarian supplies for shipment by the United Nations to Myanmar.
The regime has forbidden direct aid by warships of France, the United States and Great Britain, which have been standing by off the Myanmar coast to deliver the assistance.
Myanmar's state media has voiced fears of a U.S. invasion to grab the country's oil reserves.
"The Myanmar government appears to be moving toward the right direction, to implement these accords," Ban told reporters in New York Tuesday.
"Some international aid workers and NGOs have already gone into the regions of the Irrawaddy delta, without any problem."
"I hope -- and I believe -- that this marks a new spirit of cooperation between Myanmar and the international community as a whole."
Adding to criticism against the junta, Indonesian Foreign Minister Hasan Wirayuda said Suu Kyi's continued detention went against the "goodwill of the international community" in its efforts to aid Myanmar in its moment of need.
"While we are all trying to help, this is very much against that spirit," he told The Associated Press in the Philippines. (****) from www.thejakartapoast.com

International conference pledging aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims

International conference pledging aid to Myanmar's cyclone victims
The Associated Press , Rangoon Sun, 05/25/2008 3:52 PM World
A 50-nation conference to pledge funds for survivors of Myanmar's cyclone convened Sunday after the country's xenophobic junta promised to open their doors to critically needed foreign assistance.
Myanmar's military regime was expected to call for US$10.7 billion in foreign funds. But donors were unlikely to dig deep into their pockets until they actually gain access to devastated regions from which foreigners had been earlier banned.
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon, who obtained the open-door agreement from the ruling generals, flew back to Yangon from Bangkok, Thailand, to attend the conference of some 50 countries along with U.N. and non-governmental aid agencies.
After weeks of stubbornly refusing assistance, Myanmar's ruling generals told the United Nations they were now willing to allow workers of all nationalities to go into the devastated Irrawaddy delta to assess the damage.
The ability to make such assessments will be essential in winning aid pledges from potential donors in Yangon, Myanmar's largest city.
And some agencies voiced concern about how the junta would implement the agreement.
Myanmar's generals have a long history of making promises to top U.N. envoys, then breaking them when the international spotlight on their country fades.
The world body has repeatedly failed to convince the military to make democratic reforms and to release opposition leader and Nobel laureate Aung San Suu Kyi, whose five-year period of house arrest expires this week.
Nyan Win, spokesman for Suu Kyi's National League of Democracy, said Sunday there has been "no sign at all" that she would be released. He said a decision on whether to free her or continue her detention would probably come Monday.
Sunday's donor conference in Yangon was aimed at finally bringing desperately needed help to homeless and hungry survivors of the cyclone.
An estimate released Saturday by the U.N. said of the total 2.4 million people affected by the storm, about 42 percent had received some kind of emergency assistance. But of the 2 million people living in the 15 worst-affected townships, only 23 percent had been reached.
The United Nations has launched an emergency appeal for US$201 million. That figure will likely increase further once disaster relief experts are able to survey the Irrawaddy delta.
So far, the U.N. has received about US$50 million in contributions and about US$42.5 million in pledges in response to the appeal, said Stephanie Bunker, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.
Ban said Myanmar's ruling generals had told him international aid workers would be able "to freely reach the needy people," a pledge the junta has not publicly acknowledged.
He made the comments during a Saturday afternoon trip to China's earthquake zone. While touring earthquake-hit areas with Ban, Chinese Premier Wen Jiabao said China would pledge US$10 million at Sunday's conference.
Ban later returned to Bangkok where he and the Thai prime minister inaugurated a new hub for relief efforts, a warehouse at the city's former international airport. Ban said authorities were planning two flights a day into Yangon.
The World Food Program - which has gotten the go-ahead for helicopter operations - and NGOs will also use this hub.
On the first flight from the hub Saturday, UNICEF sent three mobile water treatment plants, donated by a Norwegian church, that can produce 10,000 liters (2,600 gallons) of water a day to help 3,200 people.
"It will save lives," Ban said.
The junta's apparent concession came Friday after three weeks of blocking international relief efforts for cyclone survivors.
"I want to be optimistic, but I'm skeptical," said Lionel Rosenblatt, president emeritus of U.S.-based Refugees International.
"The devil is going to be in the implementation."
Aid agencies said much needs to be clarified from Ban's meeting, ranging from logistical issues about when aid workers' visas will be granted to how long they will be allowed to stay in Myanmar and where they can work.
"We're hopeful that it means more foreign aid workers will go to the worst-affected areas," said Save the Children spokeswoman Kate Conradt. "We already have a number of expatriate staff in Yangon. They just can't leave the city."
Official estimates put the death toll at about78,000, with another 56,000 missing. Myanmar has estimated the economic damage at about US$11 billion (euro7 billion). (*) from www.thejakartapost.com

Malaysian lawmakers snub calls by former PM Mahathir to leave ruling

Malaysian lawmakers snub calls by former PM Mahathir to leave ruling
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur Thu, 05/22/2008 8:21 PM Headlines
Malaysia's ruling party accepted former leader Mahathir Mohamad's resignation Thursday as government lawmakers snubbed his call to leave with him in a bid to force aleadership change.
Mahathir dropped a political bombshell Monday by announcing he was quitting the ruling United Malays National Organization party.
He said he would rejoin if Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi resigns.
But after a four-hour emergency session that ended early Thursday, the party said Mahathir is free to leave. Abdullah has repeatedly said he will not quit immediately.
Deputy Prime Minister Najib Razak told reporters that the party will accept Mahathir if he wants to come back but will not bow to his demands. He said Badawi has the full support of lawmakers fromUMNO and its junior partners in the ruling National Front coalition.
"We do not anticipate an exodus from UMNO. Our party members are very loyal to UMNO. Any problems will be resolved within UMNO," he told reporters after a meeting of the top party leadrs. Abdullah sat next to Najib at the news conference but said nothing.
"We have accepted the decision (by Mahathir) because it is his desire to leave the party. But we hope that he will return one day," Najib said.
Despite the show of support, Abdullah has his back to the wall and many political anlysts say his days are numbered.
His troubles began after the National Front, which is dominated by UMNO, was delivered its worst electoral result in history during the March 8 general elections. It lost its traditional two-thirdsmajority in Parliament - scraping through with a simple majority - and conceed control of five of Malaysia's 13 states to the opposition.
The massive losses and the internal troubles caused by Mahathir have increased chances for the three-party opposition coalition, led by former Deputy Prime Minister Anwar Ibrahim, to form the next government.
Anwar said in Singapore on Wednsday that he, too, is looking to topple Abdullah. His coalition has 82 seats in the 222-member Parliament, 30 short of the number needed to form a government.
"I look forward to early elections, hopefully before September," Anwar said.
On Wednesday, the 82-year-old Mahathir stepped up his campaign partners in the National Front also to leave their parties and become independent.
But no lawmaker has so far heeded his call, and only some of Mahathir's family members and longtime loyalists have joined him in leaving the party.
Mahathir handed over power to Abdullah in 2003 after 22 years in office. (***) From www.thejakartapost.com

Countries worldwide need closer cooperation to curb cyber terrorism threat, officials say

Countries worldwide need closer cooperation to curb cyber terrorism threat, officials say
The Associated Press , Kuala Lumpur Tue, 05/20/2008 5:19 PM World

The world's countries must cooperate more to fight the threat of cyberterrorism attacks, which could threaten facilities such as nuclear power plants, officials said Tuesday at an international conference.
Government authorities and technology experts from more than 30 nations made the call at the opening of the meeting in Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.
Information technology has "changed the dynamics of terrorism," said Hamadoun Toure, secretary general of the International Telecommunication Union, the UN's leading information technology agency.
"The harsh reality is that (information technology) has become a tool for cybercrime and cyberterrorism," Toure said in a speech. "Cybersecurity must become a cornerstone of every aspect of keeping ourselves, our countries and our world safe."
Delegates came from countries including Australia, Canada, France, India, Japan, Mexico, Saudi Arabia, Singapore, Sweden, Thailand and the United States.
Malaysian Prime Minister Abdullah Ahmad Badawi said cyberattacks could trigger "truly catastrophic consequences" by disrupting systems that control telecommunications networks, emergency services, nuclear power plants or major dams.
"Cyberthreats are not something that modern societies and their governments can ignore," the prime minister said. "It is necessary for governments and countries throughout the world to work in concert."
Malaysia will be home to a new center to be run by the International Multilateral Partnership Against Cyber Terrorism, a project involving both the public and private sectors.
The center is expected to open by the end of year and will serve as emergency response, training and resource center to counter cyberthreats.
"The bottom line is the threat is real," said Howard Schmidt, a former U.S. adviser to the White House on cybersecurity.
"It'll be from criminals, it'll be from state-sponsored activity, it'll be from organized crime, so the idea of this is to reduce the vulnerability" of countries. (****) from www.thejakartapost.com

Jailed N. Korean commando dies after 25 years in Myanmar prison

Jailed N. Korean commando dies after 25 years in Myanmar prison
The Associated Press , Yangon Tue, 05/20/2008 7:36 PM World
A North Korean commando has died after nearly 25 years' imprisonment in Myanmar for a bloody bombing attack against visiting South Korean Cabinet members, a prison official said Tuesday.
Kang Min Chol, 53, died in Yangon's notorious Insein prison Sunday, said the official, who demanded anonymity because he was not authorized to talk with the media. Kang was treated for a serious liver ailment in March.
He was the only survivor among three North Korean commandos involved in a bombing during an October 1983 visit by South Korea's then-President Chun Doo-hwan. Chun was unhurt but the attack killed 21 other people including four South Korean Cabinet ministers.
One of the commandos involved was hanged in Insein prison and a second blew himself up during his arrest.
After the incident Myanmar severed diplomatic relations and closed North Korea's embassy in Myanmar, but relations have warmed in recent years as Pyongyang has become a supplier to Myanmar's military. The two countries resumed diplomatic ties in April last year.
The official at Insein, where political prisoners are also held, said Kang was the longest serving foreigner prisoner and could speak the local language. (****) From www.thejakartapost.com

Death toll in China quake reportedly nears 12,000

Death toll in China quake reportedly nears 12,000
The Associated Press , Dujiangyan, China Tue, 05/13/2008 6:12 PM Headlines
Bodies covered with sheets lined the streets Tuesday as rescue workers dug through schools and homes turned into rubble by China's worst earthquake in three decades in a search for more victims. The official death toll rose to nearly 12,000, and thousands remained missing.
But hope that many survivors would be found was slim. Buildings were knocked down on every block in some cities, and corpses were laid out in the street and in schoolyards.
Only 58 people were extricated from demolished buildings across the quake area so far, China Seismological Bureau spokesman Zhang Hongwei told the official Xinhua.
"Survivors can hold on for some time. Now it's not time to give up," said Wang Zhenyao, disaster relief division director at the Ministry of Civil Affairs, adding that rescue efforts could take a week.
A day after the powerful 7.9 magnitude quake struck, state media said rescue workers had only just reached the epicenter in Wenchuan county — cut off by the disaster and where the number of casualties was unknown. China said it would welcome international aid but would not yet allow foreign relief workers into the affected area.
Heavy rain, which had contributed to the difficulty of reaching the epicenter, continued to impede efforts and a group of paratroopers called off a mission to the area, Xinhua said.
The death toll rose to 11,921, Wang said. At least 4,800 people remained buried in Mianzhu, 60 miles from the epicenter, Xinhua said, citing local authorities.
The casualty figures were expected to rise and remained uncertain due to the remote areas affected by the quake and difficulty in finding buried victims.
The earthquake caused a wide swath of damage across central China, leveling buildings and severing roads and communications. It sent people rushing out of their offices across the country in Beijing, and was felt as far away as Vietnam.
Nearly 10,000 people died in Sichuan province alone and 300 others in other provinces and the mega-city of Chongqing, Xinhua reported.
A 40-car freight train with 13 gasoline tankers derailed in the quake and was still burning Tuesday, the agency said, with no word on casualties.
Earthquake rescue experts in orange jumpsuits extricated bloody survivors on stretchers from demolished buildings, and some 34,000 troops swarmed into the region to help.
Aftershocks rattled the region for a second day, sending people running into the streets in the city of Chengdu. The U.S. Geological Survey measured the shocks between magnitude 4 and 6, some of the strongest since Monday's quake.
In Dujiangyan, rescue teams were trying to get to a woman who was eight months pregnant and trapped in a seven-story apartment building that collapsed.
Zhou Chun, a 70-year-old retired mechanic, was leaving Dujiangyan with a soiled light blue blanket draped over his shoulders.
"My wife died in the quake. My house was destroyed," he said. "I am going to Chengdu, but I don't know where I'll live."
Nearby, a man in his late 50s who refused to give his name, said his father was missing in the rubble of his home. "Yesterday, when the earthquake happened our home collapsed really quickly and I heard my father yell, 'Help, help, help,'" the man said.
People were seeking rides out of town, where makeshift tent cities were being erected as shelter from rain that began Tuesday and could affect rescue efforts.
Just east of the epicenter, 1,000 students and teachers were killed or missing at a collapsed high school in Beichuan county. The six- or seven-story building was reduced to a pile of rubble about two yards high, according to Xinhua. Another 900 students were feared dead when their school collapsed in Juyuan, which is in Dujiangyan city.
The Beichuan school had more than 2,000 students and teachers in three school buildings. The other two buildings collapsed partially, Xinhua said.
Up to 5,000 people were killed and 80 percent of the buildings had collapsed in Beichuan, Xinhua said, in a region of small cities and towns set amid steep hills north of Sichuan's provincial capital of Chengdu. The government has poured more than 16,000 troops into the area with tens of thousands more on the way.
Premier Wen Jiabao, who flew to the area to oversee rescue efforts, said a push was on to clear roads and restore electricity as soon as possible.
China's Ministry of Health issued an appeal for blood donations to help the victims of the quake. "There is a large demand for blood in quake-hit areas and we hope the public actively donate blood," spokesman Mao Quan said.
Before the rescue workers arrived, the only previous contact with hard-hit Wenchuan, Xinhua said, was a satellite phone call from the local Communist Party secretary to appeal for air drops of tents, food and medicine.
The official, Wang Bin, said there were 57 reported deaths so far, with more than 300 other people seriously injured. He said the figures were likely to rise as there was no information from mountainous areas.
He estimated that at least 30,000 of the county's 105,000 residents slept outside Monday night.
Fifteen missing British tourists were believed to be in that area at the time of the quake and were "out of reach," Xinhua reported.
They were likely visiting the Wolong Nature Reserve, home to more than 100 giant pandas, whose fate also was not known, Xinhua said. It reported that 60 pandas at another breeding center in Chengdu were safe.
Also, two Chinese-Americans and a Thai tourist were missing in Sichuan province, the agency said, citing tourism officials.
Disasters pose a test to China's communist government, whose mandate rests heavily on maintaining order, delivering economic growth and providing relief in emergencies.
Pressure for a rapid response was particularly intense this year, as the government was already grappling with public discontent over high inflation and a widespread uprising among Tibetans in western China while trying to prepare for the Beijing Olympics this August.
Expressions of sympathy and offers of help poured in from the United States, Japan and the European Union, among others. Even rival Taiwan, which is frequently hit by quakes and has highly developed expertise in rescue operations, offered aid.
The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid. Foreign Ministry spokesman Qin Gang said relief authorities "are ready to make contact with relevant countries and organizations."
But Wang, the disaster relief official, said international aid workers would not be allowed to travel to the affected area.
"We welcome funds and supplies, we can't accommodate personnel at this point," he said.
Russia was sending a plane with rescuers and aid, the country's Interfax news agency reported. Department spokesman Sean McCormack said no aid requests had been made by China. China's Ministry of Finance said it had allocated about $123 million, in aid for quake-hit areas.
The quake was China's deadliest since 1976, when 240,000 people were killed in the city of Tangshan, near Beijing in 1976. (***) from www.thejakartapost.com

ASEAN sending Emergency Rapid Assessment team to Myanmar

ASEAN sending Emergency Rapid Assessment team to Myanmar
Antara , Jakarta Tue, 05/13/2008 7:40 PM World
The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) is set to send an emergency rapid assessment team (ERAT) to cyclone-devastated Myanmar to assist the local government in overcoming the impact of the natural disaster.
The team, which will comprise experts with specific knowledge in coordination and liaison, water and sanitation, health, logistics and food, was formed by the ASEAN Secretariat in coordination with the ASEAN Committee on Disaster Management (ACDM) and the Myanmar government, the ASEAN Secretariat said in a statement made available on Tuesday.
ERAT will be deployed in Yangon to complement the current rapid assessment efforts by the ASEAN Secretariat, the UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team and the Myanmar government, it said.
The team will depart for Myanmar within 48 hours.
"Following ERAT's assessment, the teams from the ASEAN member states will be deployed to Myanmar to provide targeted assistance which supports the capacity of the Government of Myanmar to implement useful and effective aid distribution to the affected population," ASEAN Secretary General Surin Pitsuwan said. (*) from www.thejakartapost.com

UN wants RI to lead Myanmar relief efforts

UN wants RI to lead Myanmar relief efforts
Abdul Khalik and Lilian Budianto , The Jakarta Post , Jakarta Sat, 05/10/2008 10:34 AM Headlines
With the United States and other Western countries denied access to cyclone-ravaged Myanmar, the UN is asking Indonesia to take the lead in the region to help the reclusive country cope with the disaster.
Indonesia could draw on its experience with the 2004 tsunami in Aceh to help Myanmar handle the disaster, UN Economic and Social Commission for Asia and the Pacific (ESCAP) executive director Noeleen Heyzer said.
"Indonesia did amazing work in responding to the tsunami in Aceh and has become a leader in effective natural disaster response. Therefore, I would like ESCAP to facilitate a strong Indonesian role in Myanmar," she told The Jakarta Post on Friday.
About 150,000 people were killed when an earthquake-caused tsunami struck Aceh and Nias in December 2004.
The cyclone that swept through Myanmar last weekend has left more than 100,000 dead, according to local and foreign observers in the military-run country.
Heyzer, who is also a UN under-secretary-general, said Myanmar needed considerable advice on coordinating a response the way Indonesia did for the tsunami.
"The tsunami was a dreadful disaster, but there was no further disaster from the spread of disease. People had water and food, and a good health system and sanitation. And there was a coordinated response of foreign aid from across the world," she said.
Heyzer said she was seeking to bring Indonesia and ASEAN on board to work together with ESCAP in a regional cooperation framework to push the Myanmar junta to allow in more foreign aid.
"I am preparing to go to Myanmar to show my sympathy at this time and hopefully to talk with leaders there. I think it's time to bring in friends to provide the quickest and the most effective response for the people of Myanmar in this particular situation," she said.
Indonesia sent Myanmar relief aid Thursday worth US$1 million. President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono sent a letter to Myanmar military junta leader Sr. Gen. Tan Shwe to convey his and Indonesia's condolences and sympathy over the cyclone.
Presidential spokesman Dino Patti Djalal said Yudhoyono's letter shared Indonesia's experiences in handling the tsunami.
Presidential advisor on foreign policy Ali Alatas told the Post the letter also discussed Indonesia's experiences in managing foreign aid.
A military and international relations expert with the Centre for Strategic and International Studies, Kusnanto Anggoro, similarly urged Indonesia to use its good relationship with Myanmar to persuade the country to receive immediate international aid to avoid making the humanitarian disaster worse.
"This is a golden opportunity for Indonesia to play a greater role in Myanmar by forming a bridge between the West and the military junta, and to show them how Indonesia received foreign aid without compromising its sovereignty," he told the Post.
As of Friday, the military junta was still rejecting relief aid from the United States and European countries and was refusing to grant visas to Western humanitarian workers.
The United States and France have threatened to use force to intervene in the reclusive country for humanitarian reasons. From www.thejakartapost.com

Commentary: Myanmar junta must ensure relief aid reaches survivors

Commentary: Myanmar junta must ensure relief aid reaches survivors
Ati Nurbaiti , The Jakarta Post , Bangkok Thu, 05/08/2008 1:06 AM Headlines
Myanmar, we are told by those who have been there, "is not a black hole of information". Yangon is not Pyongyang. But the trickle of news that has managed to come out of the country since Saturday's devastating cyclone has brought about anxiety regarding the disaster itself, while reaffirming the junta's grip on the information that reaches both the outside world and its own citizens.
As of Wednesday, there was no change to an earlier statement from the regime that despite the natural disaster, a referendum on amendments to the constitution planned for Friday would go ahead -- even as a private local media outlet was quoting residents as saying a few towns were virtually "gone" following the cyclone.
Travelers returning from Yangon late Monday said they received very little information on the cyclone. The state's meteorology agency did initially send information to locals with mobile phones.
The government is now reporting some 22,000 dead and 41,000 missing in the cyclone, while opposition leaders estimate 100,000 are dead and missing, mainly in the region around Irrawaddy delta, which includes the capital.
The junta has gone out of its way to accept international aid, signaling that the situation is indeed beyond their capacity. Indonesia has pledged US$1 million worth of aid.
We cannot imagine exactly what the people of Myanmar are having to cope with. BBC reported many are spending their fourth night in the open. Soaring prices already led people to peaceful demonstrations late last year, which were met with a brutal response.
Ahead of the planned constitutional referendum came reports of tightened security, and travelers were warned not to question locals lest they be interrogated later, to say the least.
Still fresh in our minds is the tsunami that hit Indian Ocean countries, including Indonesia's Aceh province, in December 2004, a tragedy so great that the world concentrated on how to channel aid to survivors. The war in Aceh became comparatively meaningless. Eventually, peace was achieved.
Myanmar's cyclone, reports say, is also unprecedented in its scale and impact. This is not to say that everything else in Myanmar is meaningless.
But is now the time to talk of referendums? Just because people "are eager to vote", as the junta says? Is now the time for observers and opposition leaders to discuss surveys on whether people will vote yes or no, as they were still doing this week?
Because the junta has said the referendum will go ahead as planned, it seems the opposition still has to address the issue.
Yet from Rangoon, or Yangon, the Democratic Voice of Burma radio and television reported "there is nothing left". That if international aid doesn't come soon, "there will be nothing to eat".
For the time being there is still food and building materials, but the price of everything, from rice and eggs to nails has increased multifold. Before the cyclone a gallon of gas was 2,500 kyat (about US$2,); it is now 10,000 kyat, according to Burmese in Bangkok. They can only quietly imagine how their families were affected.
In some areas electricity has reportedly resumed, a slice of good news for the exiles, refugees, undocumented illegal workers and others on the run, who have rare contact with home.
In the weeks or months ahead, friends and neighbors of Myanmar, including the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN), of which it is a member, must focus on how to prevent more casualties and alleviate the suffering as best as possible. We don't even know the number of those injured, but then, as in the Aceh tragedy, numbers become blurred in the frantic rush to help as many as possible.
Burma watchers have mentioned Indonesia as the current source of hope to break the deadlock in attempts to bring the regime to talks, as President Susilo Bambang Yudhoyono has said he has started a correspondence with junta leader Gen. Than Shwe.
In the wake of this natural disaster, we can only join others in aid efforts. It is tempting to look at the situation as a God-given opportunity for Myanmar to open up, for the sake of its already impoverished citizens.
But outsiders are rightly wary of the junta's paranoia toward foreigners, as the country's rulers have been forced into further isolation through sanctions. We can only hope Myanmar's leaders prioritize the urgent needs of their people, and do everything in their power to ensure aid reaches them as fast as possible. From www.thejakartapost.com

ASEAN urges world to keep sending aid to Myanmar through Thailand

ASEAN urges world to keep sending aid to Myanmar through Thailand
The Associated Press , Bangkok Thu, 05/08/2008 5:50 PM Headlines
A bloc of Southeast Asian countries appealed to the international community Thursday to keep sending aid through neighboring Thailand to cyclone-stricken Myanmar.
"Please keep the help coming, keep the contributions coming, and if you have to, go to Thailand, park there and wait for redistribution from there," said Association of Southeast Nationssecretary-general Surin Pitsuwan.
Myanmar's state media said Cyclone Nargis has killed at least 22,980 people and left 42,119 missing, but only a handful of U.N. aid workers had so far been allowed into the impoverished Southeast Asian country, which the government has kept isolated for five decades to maintain its iron-fisted control.
The U.S. and other countries rushed supplies to the region, but most of it was being held outside Myanmar while awaiting the junta's permission to deliver it.
"I'm very concerned, I'm under tremendous pressure," Pitsuwan said. "We hope we will have the permission and the opening soon before it is too late."
Pitsuwan said he had been trying to persuade aid agencies to go first to Bangkok because it was "the most logical point now, before any other long-term arrangement can be made."
He said Thailand was geographically well placed to make aid deliveries to Myanmar.
International assistance began trickling in Wednesday with the first shipments of medicine, clothing and food. But the junta, which normally restricts access by foreign officials and groups, was slow to give permission for workers to enter.
Pitsuwan said the military junta was having consultations about the best way to accept the international assistance.
"I don't think they say no (to international aid) ... they are considering picking and choosing," he said.
Pitsuwan said ASEAN was looking for ways of "accommodating those concerns." (***) From www.thejakarta.post

UN says Myanmar's refusal to grant visas is unprecedented in modern relief history

UN says Myanmar's refusal to grant visas is unprecedented in modern relief history
The Associated Press , Yangon Fri, 05/09/2008 4:54 PM World
The UN blasted Myanmar's military government Friday, saying its refusal to let in foreign aid workers to help victims of a devastating cyclone was "unprecedented" in the history of humanitarian work.
While the junta dithered and appeared overwhelmed by last Saturday's disaster -- the worst in the country's records -- more than 1 million homeless people waited for food, shelter and medicine, many crammed in Buddhist monasteries or just camped in the open.
Entire villages have been submerged in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents arms. At least 62,000 people are dead or missing. Aid groups have warned that thousands of children may have been orphaned and a medical disaster is waiting to happen.
The UN estimates 1.5 million people have been "severely affected" and voiced "significant concern" about the disposal of dead bodies.
While accepting international aid, the isolationist regime of this Southeast Asian nation has refused to grant visas to foreign aid workers who could assess the extent of the disaster and manage the logistics.
"The frustration caused by what appears to be a paperwork delay is unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts," said Paul Risley, a spokesman for the UN World Food Program in Bangkok. "It's astonishing."
He said the WFP submitted 10 visa applications around the world, including six in Bangkok, Thailand, but that none has been approved.
"We strongly urge the government of Myanmar to process these visa applications as quickly as possible, including work over the weekend," he said.
A Norway-based opposition news network, the Democratic Voice of Burma, provided graphic details of misery in the Irrawaddy delta, which few foreign reporters have been able to reach because roads have been flooded and bridges washed away.
Myanmar has refused to allow foreign journalists to come in.
In the village of Kongyangon, someone had written in Burmese, "We are all in trouble. Please come help us" on the black asphalt, a DVB video showed. A few meters away was another plea: "We're hungry," the words too small to be seen by air rescuers.
Grim assessments about the immediate future continued.
"The delta region is known as the country's granary and the cyclone has hit before the harvest. If the harvest has been destroyed this will have a devastating impact on food security in Myanmar," said the aid group Action Against Hunger.
Anders Ladegaard, the secretary-general of the Danish Red Cross, called the relief operation "a nightmare."
"There are problems to the aid inside (Myanmar) and there are problems to get the aid out to the delta area. There are almost no boats and no helicopters," Ladegaard said by satellite telephone to Danish broadcaster DR.
In Yangon itself, the price of increasingly scarce water shot up by more than 500 percent while rice and oil jumped by 60 percent over the last three days, Action Against Hunger said in a statement.
Hardships in the country's largest city have prompted some embassies, including the U.S., to send diplomats' families out of the country.
In an e-mail to The Associated Press, Shari Villarosa, the top U.S. diplomat in Yangon, said the embassy is letting family members depart the country until the situation stabilizes.
The junta said Friday it was grateful to the international community for its assistance, which has included 11 chartered planes loaded with aid supplies. But it said in a statement that the best way to help was to just send in material rather than personnel.
It said one relief flight was sent back after landing in Yangon on Thursday because it carried a search and rescue team and media who had not received permission to enter the country.
It did not give details, but said the plane had flown in from Qatar, which apparently referred to one of the four UN flights that was allowed in with high-energy biscuits.
On Friday, Japan said it will give aid worth US$10 million through the U.N. to Myanmar, adding to the massive amounts of aid that has been pledged by foreign governments. (****) From www.thejakartapost.com