Washington
09 May 2008
Days after a deadly cyclone swept through Burma, governments and aid organizations around the world are ready to help, but Burma's military government has allowed very few aid workers to enter the country. As VOA's Kent Klein reports from Washington, these groups want the international community to put more pressure on Burma to let them in.
Meanwhile, public health officials are warning that unsanitary conditions and malnutrition will lead to disease epidemics. Dr. Chris Beyrer, with the Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health, says tens of thousands of more deaths are likely to result in Burma from cholera, e-coli and childhood measles.
"It is a recurring problem when this happens in disasters, that you have outbreaks of childhood measles," he said. "Immunization coverage rates are relatively low in some of these areas. We do not have great date on coverage, but there is an expectation that measles will be an outbreak."
Burma's government-in-exile is also calling on the military leaders to allow humanitarian aid workers to enter the country. Sein Win is the prime minister of the government, which was democratically elected in 1990, but not allowed to take office. At a press conference in Washington, he said he wants international pressure on China to put pressure on Burma's junta to let the workers in.
"We want China to tell the military this is not time for delaying tactics, no time for that," he said. "Let the relief mission come in and start their work."
U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and other officials have also appealed to Burma's military leaders to postpone Saturday's constitutional referendum. The government has said it will go ahead with the vote.