Geneva
07 May 2008
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies is appealing for nearly $6 million to help cyclone victims in Burma. The Red Cross says this preliminary appeal will deal with emergency needs and will be followed by a much larger appeal, once the full extent of the disaster is known. Lisa Schlein reports for VOA from Red Cross headquarters in Geneva.
"We are really looking to get purification tablets in and potable water out to these affected communities as quickly as possible," he said. "There is always a risk in a disaster like this that, if clean water does not get out to communities very quickly, then you run the risk of a second disaster of serious outbreaks of water-borne diseases."
Polluted water can cause cholera and an epidemic of diarrhea, a major killer of children under five.
Burmese officials are suspicious of foreign interference and experts from international aid agencies are having difficulty in getting the visas they need to enter the country. Relief agencies are calling on the government's military rulers to relax restrictions so that life-saving operations can get fully underway.
Meteorologists say cyclones can be predicted with great certainty 48 hours before they occur. The government of Burma is being criticized for not having alerted its people of the impending storm early enough for them to take action that could have saved lives.
Matthew Cochrane says he cannot speculate on these reports. But, he agrees that early warning is of vital importance.
"In the lead-up to this disaster, we had been working with the Myanmar [Burmese] Red Cross to preposition stocks as we do in many countries in southeast Asia as the monsoon season and the storm seasons approach," he said. "We preposition stock in areas vulnerable to flooding and storms... But, I think again you have got the absolute point that it is always so much more effective to respond to a disaster before it happens than to have to respond once it has happened and it claims so many lives and displaced so many people."
Cochrane says the federation's regional disaster management coordinator has arrived in Burma and that this will make the humanitarian operation more effective. He says a plane with emergency shelter kits from Kuala Lumpur arrived in the country Wednesday.