Monday
(0)On the anniversary of last year's tsunami, is it time to revisit the damage that this natural disaster may have caused in Myanmar? The secretive and totalitarian government is not known for providing welfare to its citizens. The official death toll was finalised at 86, although sources from within the country placed the number of deaths in the hundreds.
The official death toll was established by the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC) in co-operation with the Myanmar Red Cross. The Myanmar Red Cross (pdf file) works closely with the Myanmar state and 23 members of the 37 member governing council are appointed by the government or act as representatives of its ministries. The IFRC, the Myanmar Red Cross, the United Nations Development Programme, UNICEF and World Vision were already working within the country and inspected the affected islands in January 2005. Their conclusions were in line with the government's assessment:
The group concluded that Myanmar has been largely spared from the destructive forces of the earthquake and subsequent Tsunami, and that the initial emergency needs have been met by the Government and by the aid community. The group’s assessment of the scale of impact is in line with the Government’s own findings. The group confirms a death toll of 60-80, and estimates the longer-term affected population at 10-15,000, of whom 5-7,000 are directly affected......Over the course of the last 10 days a series of assessment and verification missions were undertaken by one or more of the partners already working in Myanmar - to the Rakhine Coast, the Ayeyarwady Delta and the southern coast including the most populated islands of the Myeik archipelago and the islands off Kawthaung around Lampi Island.
Moreover, Kerry Howley, assistant editor at Reason, questioned these statistics on January 7th 2005. All of the organisations that carried out the assessments were unlikely to disagree with the government's figures since they wished to continue their own work.
I spent last year working with a weekly newspaper in Myanmar, where I attempted to cover some of the worst floods to hit the country in 30 years. Getting people to talk about the flooding, which left thousands homeless last August, was tantamount to asking them to denounce the dictatorship. Government officials hung up when my translator asked for specifics (except for one who helpfully explained, "it's not our culture to talk to the public.") The government's Department of Meteorology and Hydrology would not reveal the water levels or would simply lie. The local Red Cross representatives claimed they couldn't tell me about the floods because the branch office in that area was, in fact, flooded. Major International NGOs like WorldVision were afraid their operations would be halted if they so much as revealed how many blankets they were distributing. After much hand-wringing, WorldVision representatives gave me the story, at which point a government censor perused the piece and expunged all reference to death and destruction.
One Year on: when will we know how many died in Myanmar? A United Nations report that 'agrees' with the Myanmar government's own figures should be treated with grave suspicion. The final damage and death toll remains hostage to the murderers of Yangon.
Come on now! Every thinking person knows that a fine organization such as the U.N wouldn't possibly lie to the public!
Posted by Stephan at December 27, 2005 03:41 AM
I have always been fascinated by the story of how the Earth developed, how life began and differentiated, in short, the history of reality.
It is now known with some certainty, for instance, that there have been several periods in which life on Earth was nearly extinguished. It has also been found by analysis of human genetics that there have been "bottlenecks" in our history during which the number of our ancestors was reduced to only a few thousands.
It is very clear from this history that the real world, the real solar system, the real universe we inhabit is utterly indifferent to our existence. Our ancestors needed a drive for survival every bit as ferocious as the fabled instincts that drive a mother Grizzly bear to defend her cubs, as they dealt with climate changes, disease, and predators.
In all that long and perilous history, however, there is nothing so completely inimical to human life as the deadly development of modern totalitarian states.
However many unfortunate Burmese were killed by the natural disaster cited, it is less than the number whose lives have been destroyed day in and day out, year after year, by a state which holds each individual in a condition of slavery, their lives forfeit to the same whims which identified some as kulaks, some as untermencsh, some as heretics, some as class enemies, some as infidels, some as intellectuals... there is no end to the list of those who have been de-humanized.
The power of the tsunami, the quake, the volcano, the meteor, the hurricane is impersonal, i.e., it is utterly indifferent to our, or any, life. The destruction, while tragic, is amoral.
The power of the totalitarian state, however, is totally focused on the suppression of any manifestation of truly human life. The destruction it causes is profoundly immoral, at a level which we as a species have still not been able to fully engage or understand.
Centuries ago, in Central America, a culture engaged in human sacrifice as a central feature of its religious and social life. We look back on these practices from the 21st century and are aghast that such savagery could become the central focus of an entire society.
And yet, in several places around the Earth, we tolerate as bad, and worse, every day. Who will be the Speaker for the Dead?
Posted by veryretired at December 27, 2005 04:36 AM
Painfully true Veryretired.
I, too still call it Burma and not "Myanmar".
Posted by gravid at December 27, 2005 10:25 AM
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Posted by Mandalay Bookshop at December 27, 2005 11:19 AM
