Comments on: A good day in Yangon, Myanmar... finally help has arrived

By: Janna

Janna — Sun, 25 May 2008 01:06:23 +0000

Mr. McGill, Thank you so much for putting your compassion & passion where it is most needed. We are relieved to hear of any progress. I am wondering however, how much allowance the Disater Response Team is being given by the Junta. Are the experts being allowed to allocate relief to the areas most in need? or is the govt still pulling the strings & helping only those who THEY deem to be deserving?

By: Julie San Diego, CA

Julie San Diego, CA — Sat, 24 May 2008 03:02:00 +0000

Scott, thanks for your hard work and continued attention to this disaster.

It's fairly common knowledge that General Than Shwe, Myanmar's top leader and the man largely responsible for the aid holdup, is a superstitious, paranoid, possibly mentally ill dictator who makes Venezuela's Hugo Chavez look pleasant and "normal" by comparison.

Every morning Than Shwe meets with his advisors – fortunetellers and astrologers.

Our diplomats have mistakenly tried to rationalize with an irrational man. You talk rationally to the rational – that approach works. When you're dealing with someone who isn't living in the real world, you have to start talking a little crazy.

If someone can get inside this guy's head and make him see the payoff for giving aid workers unfettered access into the country, countless lives that hang in the balance could potentially be saved.

Where's Miss Cleo when you need her? I've already written the script: "It is written in the stars that a military leader will be assassinated unless he allows relief workers to enter his country."

You have to talk crazy to the crazy. At this point, it's worth a try.

By: Annie Kate

Annie Kate — Sat, 24 May 2008 00:25:33 +0000

Its hard to understand why the Burmese government would wait so long to let aid workers in especially with the number of dead and what has to be a huge number of homeless now . At least now that aid workers are coming in the people will get the help they have so desperately needed from the beginning. Annie Kate Birmingham AL

By: Sharon from Indy

Sharon from Indy — Fri, 23 May 2008 21:25:42 +0000

Let's put the numbers in peril after Cyclone (Hurricane) Nargis in Myanmar compared to Hurricane Katrina.

Over 138,000 dead and missing ( and counting) have been estimated to have perished due to Cyclone Nargis; Over 3,000 lost their lives on the Gulf Coast including New Orleans.

I realize there are millions more living in Myanmar than the Gulf Coast but the enormous for need for the millions displaced and homeless needs to be seen as relief emergency.

By: Sharon

Sharon — Fri, 23 May 2008 19:44:49 +0000

Thank God

Those poor people suffered far to long.

By: Jan from Wood Dale IL

Jan from Wood Dale IL — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:46:58 +0000

I think your post and the announcement made by UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon need to be viewed with cautious optimism. The photo of the Kyondah Relief Camp used in your post has become somewhat of a showcase for the junta. While in Myanmar, Ban only visited the Kyondah Relief Camp and the town of Mawlamyinegyrin. He did not see the devastation in the townships of Labutta and Bogalay.

Since the junta is still restricting access to those regions, many of those people who have survived the cyclone are still without food, shelter, or clothing. The monks are doing the best they can in distributing aid to those survivors, but both aid organizations and private donaters have had to pay the guards along the route in order to get their supplies through.

Also, the military junta is now requesting somewhere in the area of $13 billion USD for reconstruction efforts. Considering it been nearly 3 weeks since the storm, and the military leaders have not even made a decent effort to help their own people survive, I would hope the UN and the international community would keep a very tight control on any reconstruction money they release.

By: deborah,OH

deborah,OH — Fri, 23 May 2008 17:05:48 +0000

Thank Goodness! I just hope it isn't too late for most of the people there. The Disaster Aid People will help, almost more than the supplies at times. My prayers & thoughts are still with the people of Myanmar.

By: Cindy

Cindy — Fri, 23 May 2008 14:50:41 +0000

Finally the government has come to their senses and are letting in aid. It was ridiculous to begin with that they thought that they didn't need help. Any nation going through something like that would. Thankfully the people of Myanmar are finally getting the help that they deserve!