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Awzar Thi March 31, 2011 at 6:22 am

'Eighty Thousand People Dead’; Cholera Cases Reported
By AUNG THET WINE / BOGALAY Thursday, May 8, 2008, The Irrawaddy

(An Irrawaddy correspondent has returned from the delta area after interviewing military officers, government officials, medical personnel and survivors of Cyclone Nargis.)

An army major with the Irrawaddy Division military headquarters who asked not to be identified said on Wednesday more than 600 villages are submerged in the Irrawaddy delta along Cyclone Nargis’ deadly path.

The worst-hit areas are Bogalay, Laputta, Mawlamyaing Gyun and Pyapon townships where, he said, more than 80,000 people have died and more than 700,000 people are homeless.

Local medical personnel said some survivors from Kyein Kyi Chaung village in Bogalay have died of cholera. Cholera has also occurred among some survivors from Laputta. The government has been transferring Laputta refugees to Myang Mya Township daily, according to an army officer.

“The cholera outbreak has begun,” said one medical worker. “People have nothing to drink so they drink water from the creeks and rivers. So that is how the outbreak began.

“These waterways are dirty because they are littered with bodies and animals. The survivors know the water is dirty, but they have no other choice and have had to drink the dirty water. That’s how they contracted cholera.

“This is the time for us to stock up on cholera medicine for the possibility of an outbreak in the near future. However, we do not have enough medicine.”

Bogalay was the hardest-hit township with the highest death toll, believed to be around 50,000 people. The military officer said the second largest death toll was in Laputta, with Pyapon third in the number of fatalities.

“Laputta had nearly 20,000 deaths,” he said.

An army officer with Light Infantry 66 who has been involved in relief efforts said:
“A total of 142 villages went under water in Bogalay Township. The majority of the people in these villages have died. Only a few survived. For instance, Khaing Shwe Wa village in Kyun Thaya Dai Nel (village tract) had about 400 people before the cyclone; now they have only four people left. So you can say that the whole village was wiped out.”

All 50 villages in Kyun Thaya Dai Nel located between Meinmahla Kyun and Kadonkana islands southwest of Boglay are submerged. (The villages include Mi Laung Gwin, Kapanan, Yei Kyaw Gyi, Chaung Phye, Gway Chaung, Khaing Shwe Wa, Danyinphyu, inner and outer parts of Khaung Gyi Island, Buyakyaung, Hmon Tine Gyi, Hmon Tine Lay, Tayaw Chaung, Pulonetaing, Ashe-mae, Kantmalar, Chachee Island village, Thakinma Gyi, Thitpoke village, Letwel Gyi, Kyat Pyay and Thamadi).

Thirty-three villages located in the Kyein Chaung Gyi village tract about 40 miles (64 kilometers) west of Bogalay were wiped out, including Shwe Htoo, Lamu Oat Gyi, Lamu Oat Lay, Ma Kyin Myaing, Hlay Lone Kwe, Arr-makhan, Japan Island and Lay Gwa.

The officer from Light Infantry 66 said thousands of people were rescued in recent days from villages where the water level has gone down.

Local residents said many people have seen no relief supplies during the past six days following the disaster. People do not know where to go to seek help, and they are in desperate need of safe drinking water, food and medicine.

A government officer with the Maternal and Child Care Association serving Laputta and Pyapon said there is widespread fear of diseases such as malaria, diarrhea and cholera because of dead bodies that litter the area and unsanitary living conditions.

A resident in the Kadon village tract who has been involved in the relief effort, said: “We are using May Kha, a double-deck boat; Thuria, a long-tale boat; and local fishing boats known as jote (30-35 feet long) in our efforts to find survivors.”

Another soldier with Light Infantry 66 said, “There is not even a trace of a village left after the water has receded; they are just open, empty places now. There are thousands of decaying corpses around islands, villages and along the waterfronts. There is no one to cremate the bodies.”

A rescue worker said: “There’s a pile of dead bodies amounting to hundreds in and around Mein Ma Hla Island. The waterfront along this area is littered with bodies, carcasses of live stock, buffaloes, cupboards, furniture and other household materials. There are so many corpses that it is impossible to bury them.

“Even at the Irrawaddy jetty in Bogalay, the locals have had to pick up 30 to 40 dead bodies floating in the water daily. We went on a rescue mission to a place about 60 miles from Bogalay and saw countless bodies floating in the water.”

A soldier from Light Infantry 66 said the government has opened shelters for refugees at Bogalay Education College, state high schools Nos1 and 2 and state middle school Nos 1 and 2.

“Some 50 monasteries in the areas have opened shelters for the victims of the cyclone,” he said. “There are some 70,000 refugees in these shelters. These shelters can no longer cope with the growing number of people. The government has also set up shelters in Ma-u-ban Township. They are using double-deck boats in the rescue efforts and transferring victims, close to 1,000 a day, to these shelters.”

Local medical service personnel say many people have serious injuries; they are turning away people with minor injuries because they can not cope with the numbers.

Part of Bogalay Hospital was destroyed in the cyclone, including the delivery room, operating theater, OPD and several wards.

The cyclone destroyed 90 percent of Bogalay, said officials. There are only two working telephones reserved for emergency purposes.

An official from Boglay Township Maternal and Child Care Association said, “Soldiers from Division 66 and an engineering regiment from Taunggo have arrived for rescue efforts. But we have not been able to distribute enough food and water to the victims.

“The longer we have to wait for aid the more people will die. I have so far seen only a few UN personnel and groups working under the UN.”

Recently, officials said the government started distributing three egg-sized potatoes and one condensed milk tin of rice per survivor in villages around Bogalay and 8 tins of rice per household to families in Bogalay.

A soldier said, “To provide supplies sufficient for the victims, we will need between 1,200 and 1,500 rice sacks daily for survivors in and around Bogalay. Now we are distributing what little supply we have.”

Local officials said they do not have enough rice to feed some 200,000 people in villages destroyed or submerged in Laputta Township; it is providing rice soup instead.

According to Phyapon residents, 46 villages have totaled disappeared and more than 10,000 people have died in their area.

A journalist in Rangoon said many people arriving in the former capital show signs of psychological problems.

“I’d like to urge the government as well as the international community to speed up the rescue and relief work,” he said. “This sort of situation does not require an order from the military. There’s no need to wait for an order from the military. Just one day delay can cause the loss of hundreds of lives.

“It’s already been a week since the cyclone and little has been done effectively. If there is going to be more delay, many more lives will be lost unnecessarily. I want everyone to hurry.”

Aid Finally Arrives
By SAW YAN NAING, Thursday, May 8, 2008, The Irrawaddy

Emergency aid arrived in areas of Rangoon Division and Laputta Township on Thursday afternoon, some six days after Cyclone Nargis devastated the region. However, aid agencies could not confirm whether aid had been delivered to Bogalay—one of the areas most affected by the disaster.

Speaking to The Irrawaddy on Thursday afternoon, Veronique Terrasse, a communications officer for Médecins Sans Frontières (MSF) in Bangkok, said that some emergency food had been delivered in Rangoon and in Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy Delta. However, she could not confirm whether the MSF relief team had arrived in Bogalay, some 60 miles (96 kilometers) southwest of Rangoon, due to a lack of telephone communications.

Burmese men ride on a vehicle loaded with rice in Kyauktan Township, in southern Rangoon on Thursday. The UN's World Food Program says its first flight carrying aid has landed in Burma after the military regime gave clearance to send relief material to cyclone victims. (Photo: AP)
“We are distributing food from the World Food Program (WFP) to victims,” Terrasse said. “In Rangoon, we’re distributing plastic sheeting, some medical equipment and other materials.

“In the meantime, we have a second team now heading to what we believe is the most affected area in the delta—Laputta,” she said. “They are assessing the situation there. We sent two trucks with the team carrying drugs, materials and plastic sheeting. The main problem we have now is that it’s logistically hard to move around.”

The arrival of aid in affected areas marks an easing of restrictions imposed by the Burmese military government against international aid agencies.

Burmese soldiers and police officers unload boxes of supplies from a Thai transport plane at Rangoon airport in Burma on May 6. (Photo: AP)
Speaking to the BBC on Wednesday night from Bangkok, WFP spokesman Paul Risley said that WFP had 90 tons of food, such as rice and beans, ready to be delivered along with 45 tons of high-energy biscuits, but that the junta was denying the agency access to those in need.

However, on Thursday afternoon, WFP confirmed that 120 metric tons of rice had been delivered to temporary “camps” in Rangoon—schools, community centers, monasteries and other buildings where victims of the cyclone had taken refuge.

International agencies could not confirm whether aid had been received by survivors in Bogalay where 50,000 people are believed to have been killed. However local officials said they had distributed three potatoes and one tin of rice to each survivor in villages around Bogalay and 8 tins of rice per household to families in Bogalay.

Meanwhile, the United Nations confirmed on Thursday afternoon that an airlift of supplies was being organized from the Italian port of Brindisi.

Emergency Relief Coordinator of the United Nations and Under-Secretary-General for Humanitarian Affairs John Holmes stated that visas for the staff of non-governmental organizations and non-United Nations staff were also being discussed with the Burmese authorities. Sources in Rangoon said that the junta will reportedly only respond to the UN relief workers’ needs after the May 10 referendum.

So far, foreign governments and international aid agencies have now pledged more than US $30 million in humanitarian assistance and technical support to Burma in the wake of the destruction caused by Cyclone Nargis.