Yangon - Myanmar's largest city, Yangon, was without
electricity and water Monday in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which
killed hundreds at the weekend and caused untold damage to the
country's already fragile infrastructure and food supply.
Nargis, which blew off the Bay of Bengal late Friday packing winds
of up to 200 kilometres per hour, killed 19 people in Yangon, 109 on
the island of Hai Gyi and 223 in the coastal Irrawaddy Division, the
state-controlled media reported.
The actual death toll was expected to be much higher.
Kawhmu and Kungyagon, two cities about 50 kilometres south of
Yangon, were reporting more than 100 dead, sources close to the
government said.
Yangon, Myanmar's former capital and the country's commercial hub,
was among the places hardest hit by the storm, which uprooted trees,
toppled electricity and telephone poles, and burst water pipes,
leaving the city of several million without basic utilities.
Nonetheless, state media reports on Monday confirmed that
Myanmar's military regime intended to go ahead with a referendum
Saturday on a new
constitution that promises to cement the military's dominant role in
the country's politics.
'The referendum is only a few days away, and the people are eagerly
looking forward to voting,' a government statement carried by
state-run media said.
The storm's devastation has raised questions about the propriety of
the government's plan.
'Yangon, a city of several million people is without electricity
and without water, so I don't see how you can conduct a referendum
under those conditions,' one Yangon-based Western diplomat said.
'It's a catastrophe,' he added. 'Almost all the electricity poles
were blown down. It will take weeks to repair.'
The Irrawaddy
Division was also hard hit by Nargis although details about its
effects there remained sketchy.
Myanmar's third most populous city of Pathein, the Irrawaddy
capital, was reportedly inundated by floodwaters, causing untold
damage and deaths.
The fertile, low-lying division is Myanmar's chief rice-growing
area. Damage to the Irrawaddy's irrigation systems and crops was
unreported by state television, which is tightly monitored in the
military-run country.
'The rice was high,' a Western diplomat said. 'This will certainly
effect the rice crop negatively.'
The disaster caused sharp rises in fuel and food prices by Monday
in Yangon.
A bottle of water was selling for 1,000 kyat, compared with 350
kyats last week, while the minimum bus fare had jumped from 50 kyats
to 500 kyats in the city, a Yangon resident said.
Last week's black-market rate for the kyat was 1,120 to the
dollar.
Myanmar Prime Minister Thein Sein appeared Sunday in Yangon
to pass out food and supplies to victims of the cyclone, but much of
the cleanup work has been done by the people themselves.
It remained to be seen whether the government would launch an
appeal for international humanitarian aid.
'I think they are too proud to call for international aid,' said
Jens Orback, a former Swedish minister for democracy and gender
equality who was in Yangon at the weekend to assess preparations
for the referendum when he got caught in the cyclone.
'I think that now, the generals want to show that they can put the
country in order again without international help,' Orback said in
Bangkok.
If they fail to cope with the disaster well this week, many
frustrated voters could use Saturday's referendum to cast ballots
against the military-backed constitution, observers said.
On the other hand, Myanmar's military rulers might also use the
catastrophe to their advantage.
'With many of the town polling station destroyed, I'm worried
that they may now make people vote in more public places, like
stadiums, so they can watch how they vote,' said Win Min, a lecturer
on Myanmar affairs at Chiang Mai University in Thailand.
'Many people are saying this [cyclone] is a bad omen for the
regime and punishment for their crackdown on Buddhist monks last
September,' he added.
On September 26 to 27, Myanmar's junta unleashed its troops on
hundreds of Buddhist monks who had led anti-government protests in
Yangon, sending thugs to beat and round up the protectors of
Myanmar's national religion.
The brutal onslaught, which left at least 31 dead, enraged
Myanmar's predominantly Buddhist population against their rulers
and drew harsh criticism from the international community.
ProximakingMay 6th, 2008 - 08:54:18
Ever notice that all the countries that have changed their names are the ones who have all the trouble? Ceylon, Northern Rhodesia, Southern Rhodesia, Burma, parts of India (Pakistan/Bangladesh), etc. Maybe someone is trying to tell them something. 'In the beginning the names were correct'. Seriously though it looks as if all of these countries will be heading for more sensible governments in the not too distant future.
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