10,000 dead and thousands missing in Burma cyclone!!!
- added May 5, 2008
- 0 responses
More than 10,000 people are dead and thousands more are missing after a powerful cyclone swept across patrs of Burma.
The storm has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and without clean drinking water, according to UN officials.
Hospital roofs were blown off, trees came crashing down and electricity supplies were hit in the storm, which swept into the country, also known as Myanmar.
Some dissident groups fear that the country's military government will be reluctant to ask for international help and claim that the all-powerful military is not helping the people.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit at a delicate time for the junta, less than a week ahead of a crucial referendum on a new constitution.
Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.
Some in Yangon complained the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday's storm.
"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?" a trishaw driver, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution, said "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."
The storm's 120mph winds blew the roofs off hospitals and cut electricity to the country's largest city.
At least 351 people were killed, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's southwest coast, military-run Myaddy television station reported.
The storm has left hundreds of thousands of people homeless and without clean drinking water, according to UN officials.
Hospital roofs were blown off, trees came crashing down and electricity supplies were hit in the storm, which swept into the country, also known as Myanmar.
Some dissident groups fear that the country's military government will be reluctant to ask for international help and claim that the all-powerful military is not helping the people.
Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit at a delicate time for the junta, less than a week ahead of a crucial referendum on a new constitution.
Should the junta be seen as failing disaster victims, voters who already blame the regime for ruining the economy and squashing democracy could take out their frustrations at the ballot box.
Some in Yangon complained the 400,000-strong military was doing little to help victims after Saturday's storm.
"Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat civilians?" a trishaw driver, who refused to be identified for fear of retribution, said "They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and restore electricity."
The storm's 120mph winds blew the roofs off hospitals and cut electricity to the country's largest city.
At least 351 people were killed, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi island off the country's southwest coast, military-run Myaddy television station reported.
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