What is Digg?229 Comments
- booshack, on 05/09/2008, -2/+51The thing is, the junta are doing nothing to clean up after the catastrophy. This means that dead bodies are floating around everywhere, contaminating water supplies. Another estimate is 200.000 dead or dying NOW, and a total toll of 500.000 after the widespread disease due to lack of cleanup.
http://www.thesun.co.uk/sol/homepage/news/article1 ... - eigenweasel, on 05/09/2008, -1/+42And here http://www.strategypage.com/military_photos/200805 ... is a lovely picture of the USS Essex with 1800 Marines, each trained in relief operations, ready and willing to help but not able to do so because the gang of thugs that controls Burma doesn't want "foreigners" in their country.
The natural disaster in Burma has been and gone, any further death and suffering there has been wilfully inflicted by their government. - Bukowsky, on 05/09/2008, -2/+34100,000 people?! What a tragedy!
- shervin123, on 05/09/2008, -7/+36100,000 folks? Ouch, that means 1 in 550 is dead!
- diargasm, on 05/09/2008, -5/+31The world population is expected to rise to around 10 billion by 2050. It's a tragic thing to what happened in Burma, but I think as a world we are going to see more deaths by natural disasters in our lifetime than ever before. The status quo for western society and lifestyle seems like at a tripping point. It didn't happen to us, but if it does it will hurt.
- gubatron2, on 05/09/2008, -0/+26wow. We had something similar happen to us in Venezuela in 1999, they estimated 50k casualties, it's been almost 10 years after that and the nation still hasn't recovered completely.
Can't help to think of how bad it must be there with double the loss. - Berkana, on 05/09/2008, -1/+26The military junta ruling in Myanmar/Burma has a unnecessarily large standing army of about 400,000 soldiers, which it rapidly mobilized to crush non-violent demonstrations by Buddhist monks during the "Safron revolution", but a week has gone by since this devastating cyclone, and this same military junta has yet to mobilize the military to help rescue the lost, bury the dead, and bring relief to the people. They have yet to give the go-ahead for foreign aid workers waiting to help the victims, for fear that they will be embarrassed by what the people say about them. What sick, disgusting, selfish evil!
- poidh, on 05/09/2008, -2/+26And there'll be more, bcause the China-backed military dictatorship isn't too keen about allowing foreigners in to help.
- dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+20Why are you being dugg down? Myanmar has 55M people. that's exactly 1 in 550.
- jozb, on 05/09/2008, -3/+20This is why I love the US. Even though the US gets a lot of bad rep, it is the (if not one of the) first to respond when some natural disaster happens in the world.
- cramming, on 05/09/2008, -1/+15Correct me if I'm wrong (someone), I think it is more or less the same thing as a hurricane, just under a different name as it's in a different part of the world.
- Risingashes, on 05/09/2008, -0/+13We are don't like maths.
- dillonstars, on 05/09/2008, -3/+14Burma not Myanmar please.
- secrity, on 05/09/2008, -1/+12Buried for not knowing how to use wikipedia, or a dictionary, or google, or any of thousands of sources.
- Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -0/+10Actually, we probably will, simply because the population explosions are in areas without an infrastructure capable of dealing with natural disasters.
- 3rdDay, on 05/09/2008, -2/+12Astounding after the tsunami that an event that they had so much warning of could cause so many deaths. And the junta is refusing aid entry!
http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7391 ...
Burma's military junta says the country is not ready to accept foreign aid workers, amid mounting criticism of its response to the devastating cyclone.
The foreign ministry said Burma was happy to accept aid, but insisted it would control the distribution itself.
The statement follows pressure from the United Nations to speed up the issuing of visas to foreign relief experts.
The World Food Programme's Paul Risley said the delays were "unprecedented in modern humanitarian relief efforts". - Spuy767, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9I can see upwards of 50k more dying of starvation and disease as a result of the lack of humanitarian aid.
- getbusylivin, on 05/09/2008, -0/+9I've heard the same story everywhere; cholera, dysentery, malaria - all being *allowed* to flourish.
- logan074, on 05/09/2008, -1/+10Yep this is the worst country ever. Every injustice in the history of the world is because of the US.
- dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+10The second hated country, to always send aid is Israel.
Myanmar: http://www.ynetnews.com/articles/0,7340,L-3540460, ...
Turkey: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/MFAArchive/1990_1999/199 ...
Southeast Asia 2005 Tsunami: http://www.israel21c.org/bin/en.jsp?enDispWho=Arti ...
Hurricane Katrina: http://www.mfa.gov.il/MFA/About+the+Ministry/MFA+S ...
Hurricane Felix, Nicaragua: http://www.israaid.org.il/story_page.asp?id=1138
And perhaps the most heartly offer of aid - "Israel Offers Humanitarian Aid to Iranian Earthquake Victims", a country that has vowed to destroy Israel, and supports terrorist organisations fighting Israel. Needless to say, their offer was refused: http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israeliran10014.ht ... - Nintendesert, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9The real disaster in that country is the junta that's ruling it, I suspect they've killed far more than this cyclone has in their quest to hold onto and extend their power. And now they refuse entry of international aid.
I don't even know how many hundreds or thousands of Buddhist Monks they slaughtered. - JanYpe, on 05/09/2008, -2/+10Would you ***** off and die already?
- lamiaconfitor, on 05/09/2008, -4/+12people are throwing bodies into rivers just to get them out of town :( they still refuse foreign aid workers. And we invade countries because we don't like their politics.
- dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8That was his joke dumbwat.
- jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+9Yeah, because all that food sitting in Thailand from foreign nations is just a clever ploy. Once they're allowed in they'll eat all the food, burn all the medicine and pour the water into the river.
- spankaccount, on 05/09/2008, -6/+14Why does Bush get to deal with all the huge disasters... 9/11, Katrina, Darfur, John Kerry, and now this!!!
- masterofshadows, on 05/09/2008, -0/+8actually it was from a Soviet leader, Stalin i think.
- IgWannA, on 05/09/2008, -0/+7wow, either you have no idea how natural selection works or you are just plain racist.
- nusuni, on 05/09/2008, -2/+9I don't know what makes me more disgusted: the fact the dictatorship won't let in foreign aid, or the fact that anti-american idiots are using this as an excuse to bash america.
- weeman43302, on 05/09/2008, -3/+10They're all his fault!
- itstodd, on 05/09/2008, -3/+9and guess who they are going to look for to cough up the aid. Yep dem damn evil americans. Its pretty pathetic how evil we are until someone need us.
- crimsonc, on 05/09/2008, -1/+7Yes it's a hurricane.
- fenderwasher, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Ah yes, the old $ list posted above. These people don’t need $$$, the junta has over $2billion in cash reserves from selling natural gas to Thailand (source: 5/9 WSJ). What these people need is food, water, shelter, electricity, clothing, medicines, sanitation and the other basics of survival as well as highly skilled people to deliver all that relief. The $3m listed for the USA only represents a cash donation, but when you include all the expense the USA will incur in providing relief the good old USA will far exceed any country on this planet in terms of recourses provided. Most people have no idea that it takes about $1 million per day just to keep the lights on many US NAVY ships. We have 3 such ships idling off the coast with supplies to provide relief. Bring in an aircraft carrier like we did for tsunami relief and the costs per day jump to almost $10 million just to keep the lights on.
And before the jokes and the snide comments come about what an aircraft carrier can do in a natural disaster here is a quick summary. A typical Nimitz-class carrier like the USS Abraham Lincoln that provided relief the tsunami victims have three hospitals on board that can treat several hundred people; they are nuclear powered and can supply emergency electrical power to shore facilities; they have three cafeterias with the capacity to feed 3,000 people three meals a day, they can produce several thousand gallons of fresh water from sea water each day, and they carry a dozen helicopters for use in transporting victims and supplies to and from their flight deck.
We don’t need to send any more $$$, the juntas to let us in and help. - CaptTu, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6As reported by the BBC today...
http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/asia-pacific/7392331.st ...
The World Food Programme has halted aid shipments to Burma after it says two plane-loads of food were impounded on arrival by the military authorities.
Military leaders appeared to be putting their pride and entrenched suspicion of foreigners before the lives of their people. - TrevorBradley, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Building codes are a good thing. I'm not saying we'll shrug off a 9.0 earthquake without any deaths, but we can shrug off 7's without any deaths. Things have changed a lot in 100 years.
- schnikies79, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Really? I guess you tuned it out because it was damn near 24/7 in the media.
I heard about it for months after it happened. - inactive, on 05/09/2008, -0/+6Well every generation is more popular than the previous, so in the case of a great disaster like this, more people will be likely to die.
Just imagine the San Fransisco earth quake happening now instead of the early 1900's, much more people will perish. - jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Guess it gets borrowed a lot:
“The death of one man is a tragedy. The death of millions is a statistic.” -Stalin - jsmith39, on 05/09/2008, -1/+6WTF does 'Why does Bush get to deal...' even mean? Just throwing around bottled angst or was there a fleeting glimmer of rationale to that comment?
- Benkelly11, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5Might have something to do with having the highest population of all developed nations though.
It's unimportant though, this isn't an excuse to compare how charitable we all are. I am impressed by the UK govt. donation though. Hope it reaches the right people. - Kmap, on 05/09/2008, -5/+10 AID PLEDGES
UK $10m
UN $10m
Japan $10m
US $3m
France $3m
Australia $2.8m - dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -5/+10Can't help but remembering the 2004 earthquake in Iran, and the dictatorship their refusing the accept aid from Israel.
http://www.israelnewsagency.com/israeliran10014.ht ... - patleeman, on 05/09/2008, -4/+9One man's terrorist is another man's freedom fighter. One mans government is another man's oppressor. Its all relative, things are not as black and white as, "If you don't believe the same things we believe, you are our enemy". That is the type of reasoning that makes America so hated in the world.
- rz8472, on 05/09/2008, -0/+5The real tragedy is that the Junta, which is one of the most evil, self-serving regimes in the world, insists that it wants total control over aid distribution. This is a government that changed their currency base to multiples and sums of 9 and ruined the entire economy - all because 9 was General Win's lucky number and an astrologer said he would live longer if he surrounded himself with the symbolism of 9. They can't be trusted at all to take care of their own people.
- dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5How would you go about asking for help, when your government has cut off internet access, telephones, doesn't allow foreign journalists in, and refuses to accept international aid. This wasn't an elected government that has to do the people's bidding. It's a military junta. Perhaps from their perspective, there are many reason not to accept aid (This might portray the government as weak and unable to take care of the people), but this doesn't make the civilians suffer any less, and doesn't change the fact that they have been striken by a natural disaster, and are in dire need for aid.
- Benkelly11, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5This is only true if you know the 2 people who died.
Plus, Stalin is hardly the right man to go to for quotes about how to feel about death. - dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4It took a ***** week until the dimensions of this disaster started to emerge, since the burmese government pretty much put a blackout on what's going on.
- dkapuchino, on 05/09/2008, -1/+5Anti Americans will use anything to bash America. Even the unexpected ending of last nights lost episode is the bush administration's fault.
- MWeather, on 05/09/2008, -0/+4It hasn't even been a week. It took that long for the US government to reach the Superdome. They didn't start clearing bodies for a month.
- ripple123, on 05/09/2008, -4/+8Almost as many as Rambo killed.
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