Around 100,000 death and 1 million displaced. It beats the tsunami (40,000 death). Really sad.

"I think most of the damage was caused by these 12-foot storm surges," she said.

Villarosa also said that about 95 percent of the buildings in the delta region were destroyed when Cyclone Nargis battered the area late Friday into Saturday.

Little aid has reached the area since Nargis hit, and on Wednesday, crowds of hungry survivors stormed reopened shops in the devastated Irrawaddy delta.

The United Nations urged the military junta to grant visas to international relief workers amid estimates of 1 million homeless.

A United Nations official said that nearly 2,000 square miles (5,000 square km) of the hard-hit delta are still underwater.

Based on a satellite map made available by the U.N., the storm's damage was concentrated over a 30,000-square-kilometer area along the Andaman Sea and Gulf of Martaban coastlines, home to nearly a quarter of Myanmar's 57 million people. - http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/myanmar.aidcyclone/index.html

Some comparisons -

Manhattan - 33.77 sq mi (87.5 km²)
City of New York - 303.3 sq mi (785.6 km²) (Land Area only)
Rhode Island - 1,545 sq mi (3,144 km²)
Delaware - 2,489 sq mi (6447 km²)

Maryland - 12,407 sq mi (32,133 km²) (Population - 5.6 million)

Not only a natural tragedy:

Myanmar junta ignored cyclone warning till the end

I can't even comprehend the staggering loss of life and property. I can't even begin to imagine what these people must be going through -their lives were difficult enough but now their future is even bleaker (for those that survived, anyway). I suppose it doesn't help that, even though I remember doing a report on the country in ninth grade, all I really know about Burma/Myanmar is from MacGyver.
Absolutely horrifying, especially looking at the before-and-after shots of the coastline and villages.

I'm stunned by the government forces there that aren't allowing supplies in and the speculation that aid won't reach the people who need it. What'd they do? Take lessons from the bush administration on disaster relief?

quote:

Originally posted by Rakuchild:
What'd they do? Take lessons from the bush administration on disaster relief?

"Take lessons from the bush administration on disaster relief?"

I don't think the comparison is a fair one. After all, bush only prevented Cuba from sending medical aid in the first few days after Katrina. (He may have also rejected aid from Venezuela, too; I'm not sure.) Other than that, he just delayed the help. The US ship that was in the Gulf, ready to take those needing medical care was allowed to stay; it just wasn't allowed to help. The trucks coming from the East Coast with ice had to first stop in Iowa for directions, so that can't be blamed on bush. One military person pointed out that it was still unsafe to send in the National Guard because it had only been a day or so since the hurricane, and thus was too dangerous.

Personally, I blame the networks for the lack of supplies in New Orleans. Since they were there the next day, they could have brought water and food with them. There was no need to wait for FEMA.

All in all, I think bush did a heck of a job.

quote:

Originally posted by DorianGreyed:

All in all, I think bush did a heck of a job.

FEMA was overwhelmed by an unprecedented event in our country and seized the opportunity to show us exactly how NOT to manage a crisis.

My fear is that we learned no valuable lessons from the experience; I hope I am wrong, but am concerned that New Orleans could be devastated again, with an equally poor response. I think their bathtub still leaks.

I think the city's response will be much better, as, I think, will the state's. I hope the next president hires someone like ClLinton had. Then, FEMA was noted world-wide by other countries' emergency management systems.