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Burma: INTERNATIONAL ASSISTANCE NEEDED NOW

http://www.ahrchk.net/statements/mainfile.php/2008statements/1499/

The physical damage caused by Cyclone Nargis, which swept through Burma this May 2 and 3 is clearly enormous. In addition to the at least 350 dead and uncounted numbers of injured, houses have been demolished. According to government reports, at least 20,000 homes housing 100,000 people have been destroyed. In a city with few sturdy concrete structures outside the city centre, there are reports that in the new towns and satellite suburbs of Rangoon occupied by the poorest workers and their families, there is very little left fit for human habitation. The electricity and water supplies, which were never good, have stopped completely. People are queuing to buy water from tankers being run by the fire brigade.
So far, there are even fewer reports coming from the Irrawaddy region to the west, and Pegu and Karen and Mon States to the east, which have together with Rangoon been declared disaster areas.: at least two-thirds of the dead are believed to have been in Irrawaddy Division.
The conditions will rapidly get worse and international assistance is needed now. The cyclone comes on the back of a very hard period of Burma’s impoverished millions, following the fuel price hikes of last August and galloping inflation of basic commodity prices, as well as a further depressed domestic economy affected by these conditions and the rising costs of food globally.
The international community should not wait for the government of Burma to make a request for help. It has virtually no specialised disaster personnel or equipment and quite simply not have even a fraction of the money, materials and people needed to respond.
The Asian Human Rights Commission calls upon the concerned United Nations agencies, which are meeting to coordinate a response, and governments around the world, to offer specific assistance --financial and material, and including where possible the sending skilled persons to assist in the recovery effort -- without any delay. At this juncture, speed, not diplomatic niceties, is of the utmost importance.