BP Update: BP calls into question the UN’s assertion that 1 million got aid

More aid, more assistance and more information still urgently needed.

Update June 4th, 2008.

Dear Friends and Colleagues,

On June 2nd, one month after Cyclone Nargis struck the coast of Burma, the New Zero art collective held a memorial service in Rangoon for the victims. Cyclone survivors from Labutta Township in the Irrawaddy Delta were among the 500 people who took part in the ceremony. 6000 candles were lit during the silent prayer-session held in the New Zero exhibition space.

Even one month after the cyclone, many survivors have yet to receive aid and substantive information is difficult to obtain. Burma Partnership calls into question the UN’s assertion that 1 million people have now received aid. Until very recently, estimates have stood at just 25% of the 2.4 million believed to have been affected. We also query the level of aid that this refers to, as we are aware that some victims have received only an excruciatingly small amount of assistance. We take this opportunity to urge the UN to issue more detailed information regarding its understanding of the current situation.

On May 31st, two cyclone victims from Kun Gyan Kone, Rangoon Division, described their situation to Burma Partnership. In the three weeks immediately following Cyclone Nargis, their village received aid three times. On each occasion, every family received six cups of rice. The first distribution included a single potato per family in addition to the wet and rotten rice; the second granted approximately half of the families a packet of noodles; the third gave a fortunate few families each an egg and a tin bowl. They have yet
to receive clean drinking water.

Villagers wanting to go to the refugee camp in Kun Gyan Kone Town to complain about corruption were told that they would be punished by the military. On May 22nd, villagers were told that the state would provide aid if they voted ‘yes’ in the referendum on May 24th. The bodies of dead people and animals still litter the area.

A number of Burmese celebrities such as Zarganar, the popular comedian and social activist, are heavily involved in the relief effort in cyclone-afflicted areas. In an interview with the Irrawaddy magazine on May 31st, Zarganar expressed his dissatisfaction with the UN. The international agencies are unable to reach many of the cyclone victims due to their concern with the regime’s endorsement of their activities, Zarganar claims, and ought to better utilize the local volunteers willing to go to remote villages without the junta’s permission.

In Solidarity,

The Burma Partnership Secretariat