With an estimated 40,000 lives lost in the cyclone three days ago, the Burmese dictatorship has said they will today allow humanitarian aid to come into Burma, along with aid workers.
There may be tremendous good come from this horrible disaster
— that the Burmese receive sypathetic and kind touches from others for once.
— that stories come out of Burma via the aid givers; true stories instead of those filtered through the regime.
Hopefully Senior General Than Shwe wont require all aid workers to leave their cell phones and laptops behind, putting aid workers out of touch with each other– communication about supplies and injuries is critical triage– as well as out of touch of their own families far away.
Several someones in the government of Burma have hearts and souls. The minister of health went on television to say aid would be coming. Not like last time there was a huge disaster and those governing Burma (now called Myanmar) hunkered down and allowed no aid to come in, allowing their people to die.
Hopefully the government will allow those from other nations who have real experience at post-trauma sites, to organize food, water and shelter distribution… So that transport planes do not sit on the tarmac for weeks on end without being unloaded, and medical equipment going only to the members of the regime and their families, instead of to the people who suffer so.
Hopefully, the government will not stand in the way again, but let aid flow to the people effectively this time.
CODA
There are conflicting reports thus far about Than Shwe’s government possibly suspending their ‘referendum’ this coming week that would have altered the Constitution of Myanmar giving the military junta perpetual dominion.