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HEADLINES
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AP - UN plans massive anti-dengue operation in cyclone-hit Myanmar
AFP - Sports writer arrested after aiding Myanmar cyclone victims
AFP - In cyclone-hit Myanmar, rain drenches children in roofless school
AFP - Cyclone dead wash ashore on distant Myanmar beach: official
IRIN - Emergency shelter needs still great, say aid workers
CNN News - Monsoon rains hinder Myanmar aid effort
NST Online - Strong winds expected to hit Myanmar again
The Hindu - We can’t decide on Myanmar: Pranab
Brudirect.com News - New Myanmar Guidelines Will Not Hamper Relief Efforts: Asean
ReliefWeb - WHO releases first disease surveillance reports in Myanmar
Daily Yomiuri Online - Disastrous moments put in focus
The New Republic - Dodging the Junta
The Nation - Mekong nations will meet
Mizzima News - Actor Kyaw Thu hospitalised
Irrawaddy - Rumors of New Catastrophe Sweep Rangoon
Irrawaddy - More Aid Workers Arrested
DVB News - Phyar Pon cyclone victims fear food shortage

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UN plans massive anti-dengue operation in cyclone-hit Myanmar
AP - Tuesday, June 17

YANGON, Myanmar - The United Nations plans to launch a massive anti-dengue campaign this week in cyclone-hit areas of Myanmar where mosquitoes that carry the disease have become a major concern, an official said Monday.

More than 1,700 volunteers will fan out across 22 priority areas in Yangon, Myanmar's biggest city, and the harder-hit Irrawaddy delta treating stagnant water with chemicals that will kill larva in places mosquitoes are likely to breed, said Leonard Ortega, the World Health Organization' s dengue expert in Yangon.

The WHO and UNICEF are handling the operation with local aid groups. Known as the "bone-breaker disease," dengue causes rashes, blistering headaches, nausea and excruciating joint aches.

"It is a major concern not just because this is dengue season, but because of the displacement of the population, the destruction of houses and because people are more exposed to mosquitoes," Ortega said.

The U.N. estimates a total of 2.4 million people were affected by the May 2-3 cyclone and warns that more than 1 million of those still need help, mostly in hard-to-reach spots in the Irrawaddy delta. The cyclone killed more than 78,000 people and left another 56,000 missing.

"We fear that there will be more cases this year," Ortega said.

So far this year, the number of cases is roughly in line with previous years, Ortega said. There were 781 cases of dengue fever reported in Yangon as of June 10, and 481 cases reported in the delta through the end of May.

The WHO has identified three cases of the most severe type of dengue that can cause internal bleeding, liver enlargement and circulatory shut down.

"We're all fearing that there could be an epidemic," said Eric Laroche, the WHO's point man in Geneva on emergencies who is working on the Myanmar crisis.

No outbreaks of any disease have been reported since the cyclone hit, but there have been about 685 cases of pneumonia or other severe respiratory diseases reported along with more than 115 cases of bloody diarrhea, he said.

A few measles cases have been found, but Laroche said a massive immunization campaign should help to prevent outbreaks. Several million children will be vaccinated in Yangon and in the delta.

With the rainy season starting, he emphasized the need to prevent mosquitoes from breeding. So far, only 1.5 tons of mosquito-killing chemicals have arrived in Myanmar with another 5 tons waiting to be delivered from neighboring Bangkok, Thailand, he said. The remainder is in the process of being bought.

The WHO hopes to start the operation Tuesday in Yangon and continue later in the week in the delta if supplies of larvicide are available, Ortega said.

State-run media and volunteers from the Myanmar Red Cross and other organizations will inform the public about the campaign and advise home owners to dispose of old tires, bottles, tin cans and other objects where water can collect and become breeding grounds for mosquitoes.

The WHO has also provided the government with 200 fogging machines to spray pesticide in areas where dengue cases have been reported, Ortega said, noting that fogging only kills adult mosquitoes but does not destroy the larva.

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Sports writer arrested after aiding Myanmar cyclone victims
Mon Jun 16, 2:11 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - A popular sports writer who helped deliver aid to victims of the cyclone in Myanmar has been arrested, the second aid volunteer detained in two weeks, his wife told AFP on Monday.

Zaw Thet Htwe, 42, was arrested Friday by special branch police in the central town of Minbu, where he was visiting his ailing mother, his wife said.

He had organised five trips to deliver aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis in the devastated Irrawaddy Delta, but police said that was not the reason for his arrest, his wife Khaing Cho said.

No reason was given for his detention, she said, adding that police had searched their home in Yangon and seized his computer and cell phone.

"We went to his mother's home in Minbu because she had a stroke," Khaing Cho said.

"I cannot imagine what they suspect him of doing. He is only interested in his career, because we have to provide for our 14-month-old baby," she said.

"I hope he will come back soon."

The week before Zaw Thet Htwe's arrest, Myanmar detained the country's most famous comedian, Zaganar, who had also been delivering aid to cyclone victims.

Cyclone Nargis left more than 133,000 dead or missing when it struck Myanmar six weeks ago, with 2.4 million people in need of humanitarian aid.

The international relief effort has been hampered by restrictions imposed by the ruling junta, but private donors have tried to fill the gap, creating their own grassroots networks to bring desperately need food and other supplies.

Zaw Thet Htwe had previously been arrested in July 2003, after publishing a story questioning how authorities were spending a four-million- dollar grant meant to develop football in Myanmar.

He had been sentenced to death after authorities charged him with treason over claims that he had plotted to overthrow the government. The Supreme Court commuted his sentence and he was released after 18 months.

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In cyclone-hit Myanmar, rain drenches children in roofless school
Monday June 16, 02:39 AM

KAWHMU, Myanmar (AFP) - Teacher Hlang Thein gently admonishes a group of primary school children to carefully repeat the alphabet after her so they can wrap up the lesson before the heavy rains drench them again.

Hlang Thein, in her immaculate white teacher's blouse, is trying to bring some semblance of normality back to the children in her community.

Many remain traumatised after Cyclone Nargis flattened the impoverished farming village of Mawin, which is in Kawhmu township in a remote corner of the Irrawaddy Delta only accessible by a small motorized boat.

"But how can they not remember? We are studying in a house without a roof and walls and every time the rain comes, they get wet," Hlang Thein told AFP. "Our books and notepads are still damp."

The children sit on the wooden floor, and while some have managed to save their green and white uniforms when the cyclone struck in early May, many are wearing clothes donated by private relief agencies.

Hlang Thein said she has to be very patient with her pupils. Many of them do not want to study until the school house is rebuilt -- and that will take time.

Building materials are difficult to come by. All of the 275 houses clustered in this village were blown away, except Hlang Thein's. It is, however, heavily damaged, and only the wooden frame and floor were left behind.

It is here where she has decided to teach the children.

"I do not want them to miss any lessons, even under these conditions," she said.

The village's brick schoolhouse was destroyed by Nargis, and a broken blackboard and a tiny Buddha statue are the only reminders that the rubble was once classrooms.

None of the village's 100 registered primary school pupils were injured or killed "but their minds are stuck on Nargis," she said.

Myanmar's military rulers insisted that schools around Yangon open on schedule on June 2 after a long holiday, despite the cyclone that left 133,600 dead or missing, with 2.4 million people in need of food, shelter and medicine.

Schools in the hardest-hit regions of the delta were given another month to open, but UNICEF says 3,000 schools were wiped out by the cyclone. About 500,000 children have no classrooms at all.

In Mawin, village chief Zaw Win, 46, said little aid had arrived so far, blaming intermittent heavy rains which make it hard to navigate the narrow tributary that connects the hamlet to the nearest port upriver.

The tributary itself is still littered with debris, including uprooted, centuries-old birch trees and bloated animal carcasses.

"This is only accessible through the river. But only small motorized boats can get through," Zaw Win said. "And they are too small to carry loads of relief supplies or building materials."

He said the remaining food supplies will only be enough for 90 families, leaving 1,100 more families without any rations for the next few days.

The cyclone has also wreaked havoc on the fields, with the flood waters washing away what would have been a bountiful harvest in early May. Now it is between planting seasons, and while the fields are ripe for ploughing and there is enough irrigation, the rice seedlings have been spoiled.

"We have vast rice fields, but no rice to eat," Zaw Win said. "I am asking for donors to bring rice seedlings so we can again plant in the June-July season. Rice for cooking is also very essential."

"There is nothing left on the fields," he said, adding that government officials and medical personnel had visited once since the cyclone struck, but despite promising more rations have not returned.

Many of the other villages lying along the tributary are in the same condition. What once were houses are now just mounds of broken wood and debris.

Kitchen wares, trash and plastic containers line the shore and bamboo bridges that connected communities on both sides have not been repaired.

Thein's students meanwhile are distracted by a distant rumbling of thunder. The sky is dark, and she decides to call off lessons for the day.

"We will try to get them to sing nursery rhymes tomorrow," she said smiling, but with a concerned look in her eyes.

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Cyclone dead wash ashore on distant Myanmar beach: official
Sat Jun 14, 4:05 AM ET

YANGON (AFP) - About 300 bloated and decaying corpses, apparently victims of Cyclone Nargis, washed up on a beach in eastern Myanmar more than one month after the storm, a local official said Saturday.

The bodies had been found in the last week on the beach near Mawlamyine town, across the Gulf of Martaban, more than 100 miles (160 kilometres) east of the devastated Irrawaddy Delta, the official told AFP.

More than 133,000 people were killed or are missing after the cyclone struck six weeks ago. Many were washed out to sea as a tidal surge wiped out their villages.

"About 300 dead bodies have been cremated in the last week, after they floated into Kyaikkhami and Setse beaches. They were all decomposing. Most of them appeared to be women," said the official who spoke on condition of anonymity.

"Some fishermen saw these dead bodies on the beaches and informed the authorities, " he said. "We decided to cremate them for the sake of the environment, " he said.

Residents told AFP by telephone that many people had moved away to avoid the grim scenes of bodies washing onto the beaches.

The descriptions recalled the devastation in the delta last month, when victims' bodies were left rotting on roadsides and floating in rice fields, where in many cases they laid for weeks.

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MYANMAR: Emergency shelter needs still great, say aid workers
16 Jun 2008 12:23:44 GMT

BANGKOK, 16 June 2008 (IRIN) - Six weeks after Cyclone Nargis battered Myanmar's Ayeyarwady Delta, scores of survivors are still without adequate protective emergency shelter and exposed to the heavy monsoon rains, adding to their risk of disease.

Many survivors have tried to create protective shelter for themselves using traditional natural materials, such as palm fronds, several aid workers, who had travelled around the stricken delta, told IRIN.

These improvised shelters, they said, were not waterproof, however.

"Six weeks on, there are still people who do not have a roof over their head," said John Sparrow, a spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross (IFRC), who has just returned from the delta.

"There are lots of people who have put up temporary shelter, but it leaves them still in great need. They are resilient, and they are doing the best they can for themselves, but it isn't enough."

To date, aid agencies have been distributing protective tarpaulins, but the effort has been hampered by a shortage of materials, exacerbated by the demand for similar emergency material for survivors of the Sichuan earthquake in neighbouring China.

Logistical problems

Agencies have also faced logistical difficulties moving the tarpaulins into affected areas and into the hands of survivors.

The IFRC estimated last week that only 22 percent of those in need had obtained any shelter materials from international agencies.

And while distribution was now accelerating, the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA) estimated another 500,000 tarpaulins were still needed.

On 13 June, OCHA estimated that just 160,000 households had received some form of emergency shelter, typically plastic sheeting material.

However, Graham Eastmond, a Bangkok-based coordinator with the Emergency Shelter Cluster, a coordinating group of UN agencies and NGOs, told IRIN more tarpaulins were on the way.

Already the US Department of Defense has ordered around 125,000, which will be available in Myanmar for distribution from 19 June, while another 110,000 for the IFRC were also en route.

Most of those who had received tarpaulins, though, still needed household kits that would include mosquito nets, blankets and other implements, Eastmond said.

Cyclone Nargis, and the accompanying tidal surge, left an estimated 133,000 people dead or missing when it struck on 2 and 3 May, leaving some 2.4 million people destitute.
Assessments still needed

Aid agencies still do not know exactly how many homes were seriously damaged or totally destroyed in the disaster but they are carrying out a detailed damage assessment, due to be completed by 24 June.

The initiative involves more than 250 people from UN agencies, the Association of South East Asian Nations (ASEAN), World Bank, Asian Development Bank, IFRC, and 18 Myanmar government ministries, and will carry out detailed field assessments in the 30 worst-affected townships.

"We are struggling generally in terms of information flow," Eastmond told IRIN, adding that the assessment would assist enormously in allowing aid agencies to better respond.

For now, the Emergency Shelter Cluster estimates that around 480,000 families in the affected area have lost their shelter, though it cautions that this is a very rough, preliminary figure.

Tens of thousands of survivors have returned to their villages from temporary settlements, and a 9 June report from the UN Children's Fund (UNICEF) reported "extremely poor" conditions for returnees in some villages visited by its field teams in badly affected Labutta, and said more tarps were urgently needed.

Sparrow said he met a mother of five children - including a seven-month- old baby - who had managed to erect a partial shelter. When asked how she protected the baby – who had already developed respiratory problems – from the monsoon rains, she said, "I hold him closer."

Another aid worker said tarp recipients mainly use them to waterproof structures they have built themselves from natural materials.

"When they get them, they say 'thanks – now we will really sleep well tonight'," she said.

Yet even as tarp distribution accelerates, Eastmond said agencies were beginning to discuss how best to meet long-term shelter needs. Teams are carrying out detailed surveys of building materials available in local markets, and of skilled workers who can help with the task of home-building.

"The next step is early recovery – providing inputs to help people rebuild their houses. We should be looking at what is the best way of doing that, what a standard kit of assistance would consist of, with the aim of producing an adequate shelter for a family. There is a lot of work to be done," he said.

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Monsoon rains hinder Myanmar aid effort
Monday, June 16, 2008.

(CNN) -- Monsoon rains are hindering relief efforts in Myanmar as humanitarian agencies attempt to get aid into the cyclone-ravaged country, a UNICEF spokesman said on Monday.

Aid agencies say hundreds of thousands of survivors are without shelter as the monsoon season begins.

More than 77,000 people have already died in the secretive southeast Asian since Cyclone Nargis devastated the Irrawaddy delta region in early May, according to United Nations estimates.

But at least 55,000 more remain missing and as many as 600,000 require relocating after losing their homes. Aid agencies have been frustrated in their rescue efforts by restrictions placed on their movements inside the country by Myanmar's military junta government.

UNICEF's Michael Bociurkiw told CNN that the government had finally granted permission for the organization to use helicopters to deliver aid to those in need but said making deliveries meant battling strong winds and rain.

"Monsoon season has come to Myanmar," Bociurkiw said. "It is very very difficult to deliver aid even in very large helicopters. But we are getting out there and putting up with the elements."  Watch refugees talk about the lack of aid »

Prior to the government's decision to allow aid agency helicopters to be used, getting relief supplies to the worst-hit areas had involved delivering them by truck along dirt tracks and transporting them by boat.

Bociurkiw said his organization, along with others, had been able to reach people living in the southern Irrawaddy delta region, but said the need for aid was still intense.

"I think everybody would agree that there still is a substantial amount of people that have not received aid," he said.

"But with the government allowing these helicopters in, it has given us a totally new avenue into the worst affected areas."

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Strong winds expected to hit Myanmar again
The New Straits Times - 2008/06/16
BERNAMA

YANGON, MON: Myanmar has warned against probable onslaught of a strong wind on Monday in the country’s delta and coastal regions, Xinhua news agency quoted a weather forecast report as saying on Monday.

“Southwest monsoon is strong to vigorous in the Andaman Sea and the Bay of Bengal. Frequent squalls with rough seas will be experienced at the delta region and off and along Mon and Taninthatyi coasts and heavy waves will also be occurred at sea,” the report was carried in a local newspaper.

The surface wind speed in squall may reach 45 to 50 miles (72 to 80 kilometers) per hour, the report said.

Due to strong monsoon, rain may be widespread along the two coastal regions with isolated heavy rains, the report said. Such strong wind warning through official media to raise people ’s awareness to take preventive measures against the probability came for the first time nearly one and a half months after a severe cyclone storm Nargis swept Myanmar’s five divisions and states on last May 2-3 mainly with Ayeyawaddy delta and Yangon inflicting the heaviest casualties and massive infrastructural damage.

The storm has killed 77,738 people and left 55,917 missing and 19,359 injured according to official-released death toll.

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We can’t decide on Myanmar: Pranab
The Hindu - Date:16/06/2008

Guwahati: Often under international pressure to nudge the junta in Myanmar to usher in democracy, India on Sunday made it clear that “it is not our job to determine what kind of government is” in that country.

“It is not our job to determine what kind of government is there (in Myanmar).... economic development and peace should go side by side,” External Affairs Minister Pranab Mukherjee said, while inaugurating a branch secretariat of the External Affairs Ministry here.

“We want to have good relations with China, Bangladesh and Myanmar so that trade between the North East (NE) region and the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) countries are promoted,” he said.

Connectivity

India had over the years promoted its engagement with the military rulers in Myanmar bilaterally as well as part of its “Look-East” policy.

Mr. Mukherjee said the core issue should not be the dispute but promoting close relationship through which trade links would be established.

Stressing on the need to improve connectivity, he said economic development of the area depends on “how fast we can build connectivity between the ASEAN and neighbouring countries with NE region.”

The Minister said that prior to 1991, external relations were a subject matter of diplomats but with liberalisation there had been a transformation in the economic system, where the States had a major role to play.

India’s trade target

Mr. Mukherjee said India had fixed a target of trade worth $ 60 million by 2020 with the ASEAN countries with which sectoral dialogues had already started. PTI

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New Myanmar Guidelines Will Not Hamper Relief Efforts: Asean
Brudirect.com News - June 16, 2008.
By James Kon

Bandar Seri Begawan - Following a meeting with Myanmar Minister of Social Welfare Brigadier General Maung Maung Swe in Yangon, Myanmar on Saturday, Asean Secretary-General Dr Surin Pitsuwan said he was given assurance by the minister that the guiding principles on foreign assistance recently, issued by the Government of Myanmar, would not hamper the relief efforts of the Asean-led coordination mechanism.

Dr Surin hoped it would address some concerns that had been raised by the international community with respect to relief, recovery and rehabilitation in Myanmar.

The guidelines essentially outline the procedures that the UN agencies, international organisations and non-government organisations have to follow in carrying out aid and assistance activities for the Cyclone Nargis victims.

During his one-day visit to Yangon, Dr Suring also met with members of Tripartite Core Group (TCG), chaired by Deputy Minister of Foreign Affairs Kyaw Thu.

The TCG comprised two other senior officials from the Government of Myanmar and representatives of Asean and the United Nations.

Dr Surin updated the group on the Asean Rountable for Response, Recovery and Reconstruction, which will convene on June 24 in Yangon.

He also noted that the roundtable will include participants from all potential donors and partners to ensure that there is a greater ownership and buy-in by the international community on the findings of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Report, which is expected to be published in mid July.

The roundtable will also help to further build confidence in the Asean-led initiative in Myanmar.

Following the roundtable is the 3rd Asean Humanitarian Task Force Meeting, which will discuss the next steps, following the publication of the Post-Nargis Joint Assessment Report.

This may include the possibility of the 2nd Pledging Conference and the setting up of an appropriate mechanism to manage and coordinate medium- to long-term recovery, rehabilitation and reconstruction.

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WHO releases first disease surveillance reports in Myanmar
ReliefWeb (press release)
Source: World Health Organization (WHO)
Date: 16 Jun 2008
SEA/PR/1471

New Delhi, 16 June, 2008: The World Health Organization and Health Cluster partners have released the first disease surveillance bulletin in cyclone affected areas based on the Early Warning, Alert and Response System (EWARS). Between 1-7 June, 685 cases of acute respiratory infections, 117 cases of bloody diarrhoea, 542 cases of acute diarrhoea, 337 cases of trauma/injuries, 10 cases of measles, 5 cases of malaria and three cases of suspected dengue hemorrhagic fever were reported.

WHO in collaboration with the Ministry of Health and other stakeholders has developed a plan of action for dengue prevention and control. Dengue is endemic to Myanmar however the number of cases is expected to rise due to a possible increase in mosquito breeding sites after the cyclone. WHO is supporting the Ministry of Health in measles vaccination for all children aged 9 months to 10 years.

WHO is playing a key role in a comprehensive impact assessment conducted by the UN, ASEAN and the Myanmar Government. WHO experts are actively involved in training, planning, management and logistics for the assessment. This Post-Nargis Joint Assessment (PONJA) has two components: community-oriented Village Tract Assessment, and Damage and Loss Assessment, which will focus on the cost of rebuilding the damaged infrastructure. Over 20 UN teams comprising of more than 200 experts are involved.'Data from this assessment will help us respond effectively to the health needs of the affected people. We will be able to tailor our actions precisely to their needs' said Dr. Samlee Plianbangchang, WHO Regional Director for South-East Asia, on his return from Myanmar.

Over 6 million liters of water is being disinfected daily, covering the needs of approximately two million people. 50 water treatment units have been sent to Myanmar out of which 10 have been deployed in the Delta. Local staffs are being trained to use these units. Rainwater collection is increasingly being introduced and represents the main source of fresh water in southern parts of the Delta. Sea water has contaminated ponds, which are the main source of water for many villages, and are being cleaned on a priority basis.

'The quality and availability of water remains a major health concern. Based on our past experience in disasters, WHO standards and guidelines in water quality management are being applied on the ground' said Dr. Poonam Khetrapal Singh, WHO Deputy Regional Director for South-East Asia.

WHO in collaboration with Ministry of Health is planning more field visits during the coming weeks to provide technical assistance on the ground, to help monitor the health response activities, identify gaps and plan further interventions.

For further information, go to: http://www.searo. who.intNew Delhi: Ms Vismita Gupta-Smith, Public Information and Advocacy officer, WHO South-East Asia Region Tel: +91-11-23309401, e-mail: guptasmithv@ searo.who. int; Bangkok: Mr Chadin Tephaval, Communications Officer WHO Thailand, Tel: +62-2-5807535 email: chadin@searo. who.int ; Geneva: Mr Paul Garwood, Communications Officer WHO Health Action in Crises (Geneva), cell phone +41-794755546 garwoodp@who. Int

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Disastrous moments put in focus
Daily Yomiuri Online - Jun. 15, 2008
Arata Adachi

A number of catastrophic natural disasters occurred in May.

This month's prizewinning photographs include two pictures of the devastation wreaked by Cyclone Nargis in Myanmar.

Wataru Yamamoto, who won first prize with a set of four photos, was touring Yangon when the cyclone stormed ashore. He witnessed firsthand the chaos that resulted. One of his photos was of people forming long lines to get water.

"What I found most striking was that people seemed to be in a daze, rather than acting as if something terrible had happened," Yamamoto said.

It was the seventh trip to Myanmar for Yamamoto, who has traveled overseas more than 30 times. He said he likes to photograph local people whenever he visits another country.

Atsushi Hirota, who won one of the third prizes, was in Yangon working as a volunteer eye doctor when the disaster struck.

He said he saw a large tree that had been felled by the cyclone blocking a road and roofs ripped off houses, but the local people moved industriously and bravely among the debris. He took a picture of a monk who was walking through the town, apparently looking at the extent of the damage.

Two other photographs that also shared third prize convey the spontaneity of photographers due to their proximity to certain events.

Isamu Nitobe was on his way home when he spotted a car that had plunged into a restaurant after smashing through a guardrail, prompting him to rush home for his camera.

Hatsuko Maeda woke up to the sound of a fire engine's siren in the middle of the night and saw a red pillar of fire illuminating the neighborhood.

When she took the picture she was not sure what was ablaze. "It turned out to be the main pavilion of a shrine for a local guardian god," she said sadly.

Among the images of disasters and accidents is a heartwarming photo by Mamoru Kubota featuring two mudskippers. Kubota, who won second prize, found the fish on an intertidal flat while strolling beside the Arakawa river in Tokyo. Mudskippers used to be a common sight around Tokyo Bay, but are now rare.

"Does this mean the water in the Arakawa has become cleaner? I was so pleased to come across the mudskippers, which I often saw as a child," Kubota said happily, reflecting the excitement of a photographer who happened to be in the right place at the right time.

Adachi is the photo news editor of The Yomiuri Shimbun Osaka Headquarters.

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Dodging the Junta by Suzy Khimm
The New Republic - Post Date Monday, June 16, 2008

An ad hoc grassroots aid network in Burma has had some success working around the country's repressive leaders.

Over a month after Cyclone Nargis devastated Burma's southern coast, the country's ruling junta continues to restrict international efforts to assist the disaster's victims, so domestic ad-hoc groups are taking the lead in funneling aid through back channels. The organization of these impromptu relief efforts speaks to the surprising resilience of civil society in a brutally repressive environment, showing how, despite the junta's stranglehold on Burmese society, grassroots networks and alliances have emerged within the country.

Though the junta has attempted to commandeer every level of the relief effort--backed by its legions of foot soldiers in the army and police--some local groups have found detours around the blockades, helped by ground-level officials willing to look the other way. On a Wednesday afternoon last month, a group of volunteers visited a makeshift shelter in Shwebaukan, an area in the outlying districts of Rangoon. Inside a government school--the only concrete building in the neighborhood- -500 homeless cyclone victims were huddled, "being threatened by the local army guy [who was saying] that they could not stay there for long," according to a Western expatriate who accompanied the group. The military man turned out to be a member of Suan Aa Shin, the local "brute force" contingent. Two days later, the victims were evicted from the school, left to patch together lean-to shacks from the wreckage of ruined huts.

Despite the clampdown, no one stopped volunteers from returning to the area the next weekend to pass out rice, beans, and oral rehydration solution to the evicted residents. The volunteers were able to do their work because they had an established history with area leaders. Before the cyclone, they had worked on educational activities in the neighborhood, building local ties. "Local authorities are in many ways our biggest allies," said Beth Jones, program director of the Foundation for the People of Burma (FPB), a U.S.-based humanitarian group funding some of these grassroots relief efforts. "They sit on these [township] councils, participate in military activities on occasion. But there are people who have hearts and minds, concern for their fellow citizens. They're the smokescreens between the small civic groups and the higher-ups who don't want any of this going on, on the ground."

Since coming to power in 1962, Burma's junta has maintained an unyielding grip on the country's politics, media outlets, schools, public gatherings, and commercial industries. Over the past decade, however, it has conceded limited opportunities for humanitarian and educational activities to take place. Alongside a small number of international NGOs, a loose network of local advocates and community leaders has conducted public health campaigns, cultural programs, and religious activities. The regime has maintained a harsh and capricious attitude toward these civic groups, frequently cutting off access and closely monitoring their members. But their work has been provisionally tolerated, if not openly embraced, so long as the groups steer clear of politics.

Burma's monks have frequently served as the first point of contact for any grassroots-level initiative (along with their Christian and Muslim counterparts in ethnic minority communities) . Among the first to be seen clearing trees after the cyclone, the monks have joined in supporting the ad-hoc relief effort. Despite the crackdown on monasteries following last year's mass demonstrations, a number of powerful local abbots have leveraged their ties with government officials to pave the way for distributions of food, clean water, and medicine, one volunteer in Rangoon reported.

Within a week of the cyclone, a coalition of local religious leaders, ethnic minority groups, student unions, labor organizers, and artists distributed aid to some 4,000 victims and quickly expanded ongoing relief to over 70,000 people. The volunteers described the junta's attempt to intensify its control of aid handouts, confiscating supplies and cutting off access to the devastated southern Delta region.

International aid groups may be easy marks, but local volunteers and civic groups have also been targeted. FPB has received ongoing reports of interference by military personnel and police. Outside one of the makeshift refugee camps in Rangoon's satellite communities, "a soldier informed us that we could not give supplies to the shelter, and should instead give the money and food to a local government official," a local volunteer said in a statement released last month by the FPB. In another instance, an armed official confiscated the notebooks of local volunteers who were trying to create a census of the dead, Jones says.

In response, the ad hoc coalition has continued aid delivery under the cover of night--at times quite literally. On Saturday, May 10, one team attempted to bring clean water and medical supplies to a small hospital in one of the devastated towns beyond Rangoon. (The organizers declined to specify the exact location.) The hospital, one of the few operating in the region, had victims with broken bones and gangrenous-looking wounds waiting in a line that stretched past the doors. None had received treatment within in a week's time. The medical director tried to hurry the volunteers away, saying "You can't do it right now, you can't do it right now or they will take it away--please come back after dark," the group reported. Later that evening, the volunteers snuck back into the hospital to drop off the supplies.

Burma's civic groups and community leaders have spent years learning how to maneuver around such crushing restraints. "They have faced controls on their movements, on goods and money, on their general freedom for so long, they have learned how to rely on some of these backdoor and relationship systems," said Jones. "They know how to get things done in this environment. " Because most foreign aid workers still face visa blockades and are prohibited from entering the hardest-hit regions, the coalition has recruited local doctors and nurses to tend to victims. Only a modest flow of aid from abroad has been allowed into the country, so the volunteers rely on well-connected businessmen to procure chlorine tablets and temporary toilets from local suppliers. Low-level military officers helped secure access to the Irrawaddy Delta, the epicenter of the disaster. And the civic groups have turned to blogs and fundraising newsletters to convince potential donors that their contributions won't go straight into the hands of the junta.

Given the magnitude of the devastation, however, even the most enterprising and resourceful grassroots efforts can only go so far. By the government's count, 134,000 people have died or are missing, and the U.N. says that 2.5 million are still in need of aid. The logistical hurdles of reaching the entire Delta region are beyond the scope of any small-scale operation. But though their reach may be limited, the ability of civic groups to persist with their work is evidence that the junta's control is less than total, according to Bridget Welsh, a Southeast Asia expert at Johns Hopkins University. "The fact that they let them have a space, that they have let people act, shows that [officials] on the ground believe the military is not capable of addressing the issues," She says. Such cooperation between local officials and organizers "serves to build trust and networks that bridge divides in the community that the military foster to hold onto power."

In the long run, these kinds of internal networks and linkages are key to any hope for a more open society. As Joshua Kurlantzick argued on this site, neither popular revolt nor international condemnation has led the junta to budge in the past. Over the past month, the generals have acted true to form, limiting foreign aid for fear that "destructive elements" will undermine their grip on the state. By working outside of official channels to deliver humanitarian relief, domestic civic groups have created unlikely alliances within Burma's highly militarized and stratified society: between monks and low-level officials, Delta villagers and city residents, community organizers and military cronies. However precarious these relationships, their potential impact should not be discounted. For ultimately, some analysts say, the catalyst for long-term reform will have to come from within the regime's ruling cadre itself--prompted not only by internal discontent among officers, but also by sympathy for other factions of Burmese society. "The military's mid-level officers would need to see that people are all are suffering, the same as them," says U Win Min, a Burmese exile and political analyst based in Thailand.

In the meantime, the recent disaster has created some small opportunities for Burma's fragile civil society to reconcile with the army. In the cyclone's aftermath, "[the military] even neglect their own," an expatriate in Rangoon said by email last month. "As I passed some soldiers cutting trees yesterday, I asked if they'd eaten breakfast. Of course not! So, I went back home to get them some bread."

Suzy Khimm is a writer based in New York.

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Mekong nations will meet
The Nation
Published on Jun 17, 2008

Energy officials from the Greater Mekong Subregion (GMS) plan to meet this week to discuss ways to move the region closer to a "fully integrated power sector".

During meetings sponsored by the Asian Development Bank (ADB), the delegates are expected to discuss performance standards and transmission regulations for cross-border power trade, the first of four stages leading to an integrated power sector.

"National forecasts show demand for electricity in the GMS region is expected to grow 9-15 per cent per year for the next decade," said Yongping Zhai, the ADB's energy specialist and co-chair of the meetings in Vientiane.

"Regional cooperation in power trading offers efficient use of regional energy resources to meet this rising demand," he said.

The first phase is expected to be completed in 2010, and seeks to promote country-to-country power transactions where excess capacity of existing cross-border transmission lines is used.

This phase will initially involve three interconnections, including one between Laos and Thailand, another between Laos and Vietnam and one connecting Laos and Cambodia. Delegates from Cambodia, China, Laos, Burma, Thailand and Vietnam will also launch a joint power-sector database at the meetings.

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Actor Kyaw Thu hospitalised 
Mizzima News - Monday, 16 June 2008 19:41

New Delhi – Famous actor Kyaw Thu, who was helping cyclone victims, has been hospitalised in Rangoon.

Ko Kyaw Thu (48), leader of the Free Funeral Service charity group and a leading Burmese actor, has been hospitalised at 'Panhlaing' private hospital since the 14th of this month, after complaining of uneasiness during his 'Pyin' district tour in Irrawaddy Division.

"He usually suffers like that when he is under stress. He is also suffering from an enlarged heart, enlarged liver and hypertension. His habit of smoking and an unhealthy diet has affected his health," Daw Shwe Zigwet, his wife, said. 

"He was sweating and his hands and feet were cold, when we reached Pathein during his tour to 'Pyin' district. Then he had to be hospitalised, " a person who accompanied him on his tour to help the cyclone victims in Irrawaddy Division said. 

He will be discharged from hospital after two more days and would proceed to 'Titukone' village in 'Pyin' district, where he is supervising construction of a middle school, which could accommodate 620 students.

His charity group, the Free Funeral Service', is continuing relief work in Amar Kunmu in Bogale Township and in Hmawdaw near Kyaiktaw.

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Rumors of New Catastrophe Sweep Rangoon
The Irrawaddy - Monday, June 16, 2008
By MIN LWIN

Now all hope of humanitarian intervention in Burma’s cyclone-devastated regions has vanished, rumors of another imminent natural catastrophe are sweeping Rangoon.

In the weeks following the cyclone, as US, British and French ships loaded with aid stood ready in international waters off Burma, many were certain that the three Western powers would decide to launch unilateral relief operations. Rumors spread widely that help was on its way.

Those rumors came to nothing. Now, others have replaced them. The most fanciful relates that three senior monks, Myaungmya Sayadaw, Bassein Sayadaw and Hlaing Tharyar Sayadaw, dreamt that another catastrophe, either another big storm or an earthquake, would strike the country, and that floodwater would reach Rangoon’s revered Shwedagon Pagoda.

A nurse at Rangoon Western Hospital said: “Everyone is talking with fear about another big storm.”

One resident said the rumor was causing a lot of uncertainty in Rangoon, where memories of last month’s cyclone were still vivid.

Shortly after the cyclone hit on May 2, the regime’s mouthpiece, The New Light of Myanmar, accused unnamed Western countries of being responsible for the rumors then circulating within Burma.

Dr Than Tun, the late influential historian and outspoken critic of the military junta, once wrote that Burmese oral history related that Sri Ksetra, an early Burmese capital, fell when rumors caused mass panic and hysteria.

The current rumors have also been fuelled by official forecasts of squalls in the Andaman Sea and Bay of Bengal, with rain and winds reaching 50 miles (80 kilometers) an hour along the Mon and Tenasserim coasts.

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More Aid Workers Arrested
The Irrawaddy - Monday, June 16, 2008
By WAI MOE

Three private aid workers were arrested in Rangoon on Thursday, according to one of their friends.

Yin Yin Wie, Tin Tin Cho and Myat Thu were detained by the special branch of Burma’s police in Sanchaung Township in Rangoon on Thursday, June 12.

“That evening, special branch officers went to their houses and conducted searches,” a personal friend who spoke on condition of anonymity said. “They told their families that the case was related to donations from friends abroad. The police didn’t say where they were being detained or when they would be released. Their families are very worried about them,” she added.

The three detainees began working as private aid workers shortly after Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2-3. They volunteered help in cyclone-devastated areas of the Irrawaddy delta, particularly in Dedaye, Kungyangone and Twante townships, providing medicine, rice and clothes to survivors.

Meanwhile, Zaw Thet Htwe, a journalist and private aid worker, was arrested on Friday evening. His arrest follows the detention of his colleague, well-known comedian and junta critic, Zarganar, who was arrested on June 4.

One of Zarganar’s co-workers in the cyclone aid mission told The Irrawaddy on Monday that their group had temporarily postponed their relief activities because repercussions against donors by military authorities had become increasingly worse.

Responding to the latest arrests, David Mathieson of Human Rights Watch told The Irrawaddy on Monday the detentions were “unacceptable.”

He said, “Private donors trying to help people should be left to do that. The UN should be calling for their immediate release.

Since the cyclone, a state-run newspaper, The New Light of Myanmar, has been carrying a slogan on its back page stating: “Everybody may make donations freely. Everybody may make donations to any person or any area.”

“These arrests demonstrate the SPDC’s statement is not sincere,” Mathieson said.

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Phyar Pon cyclone victims fear food shortage

Jun 16, 2008 (DVB)–Cyclone survivors in Phyar Pon township in the Irrawaddy Delta will run out of food in a month if they don’t receive sufficient supplies from the authorities, according to a National League for Democracy member.

NLD MP-elect U Min Swe, who has been working on relief efforts, came back from the area on Friday.

“Their food situation will be desperate in a month, especially for those who live in remote villages, if the state doesn’t provide them with enough food because the amount of private donations has noticeably decreased these days,” said U Min Swe.

The MP-elect told DVB that dried food for victims was stockpiled at local military units but soldiers did not distribute it among refugees in time and eventually the food was thrown away because it had gone rotten.

“It was sad to learn that donated onions and potatoes stored at Pakhan monastery, where the local military unit was based, were dumped into a stream as they had rotted,” the MP said.

“I was informed that the soldiers didn’t distribute food to refugees because they were not given orders to do so.”

DVB has learned that cyclone victims in Phyar Pon have so far survived on aid distributions from other townships and from private donors.

“The authorities haven’t provided people there with enough food supplies,” U Min Swe said.

“They are more or less dependent on private donors. Now there are getting to be fewer donors every day, which means those in desperate needs are getting less food.”

Reporting by Khin Hnin Htet

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