Home / News / Urgent Appeals / BURMA: Hardest hit Laputta Township yet to receive aid
 

BURMA: Hardest hit Laputta Township yet to receive aid

May 7, 2008

ASIAN HUMAN RIGHTS COMMISSION – URGENT APPEALS PROGRAMME

Urgent Appeal Case: AHRC-UAC-093-2008

8 May 2008
------------------------------------------------------
BURMA: Hardest hit Laputta Township yet to receive aid

ISSUES: Right to food; health care, shelter
------------------------------------------------------

NEW NEW NEW
CYCLONE NARGIS WEBPAGE
http://campaigns.ahrchk.net/cyclonenargis/

------------------------------------------------------

Dear friends,

The Asian Human Rights Commission (AHRC) writes with deep concern over the continuing delay in provision of food aid, drinking water and needed medical attention to people in areas of Burma hit hardest by Cyclone Nargis, particularly in Laputta, in the Irrawaddy Delta. Several days after the tragedy, nothing has reached the survivors, and the loss of lives could go up dramatically as a result of disease and famine unless aid gets through now.

CASE DETAILS: (According to Yoma3 news, Thailand; Democratic Voice of Burma, DVB; and various other sources)

It is now being reported that in addition to Bogalay, Laputta Township in the Irrawaddy Delta is amongst the areas hit hardest by the cyclone on May 2-3. Dozens of villages were wiped out, and tens of thousands of villagers from towns with a total population of about 200,000 people are either dead or missing.

The government has pegged the total casualties of cyclone as of May 6 as reaching to 22,262 dead and 41,500 missing, but even the government figure continues to rise. Independent observers suggest it could top 100,000, most from the coastal and riverine areas of the Irrawaddy Delta.

According to the account of a doctor, Aye Kyu, who had come from Laputta to Rangoon, at the time the cyclone had struck, the strong winds coming from different directions and rains were followed by a rise in the seawater level. As it constantly went up, people started climbing onto the roofs of houses and buildings. However, the terrible loss of lives was in part a result of people drowning after the water submerged houses completely or when bigger ones collapsed.

Apart from drowning, some survivors have said that people also died from being bitten by snakes coming with the increasing water level.

As Laputta is in a low-lying region at the shore front, only four of the 26 villages submerged by the flooding in the township had emerged as of last reports. The other villages have been obliterated. For every ten villagers, only around three are reported to have survived.

One of the villagers who had come to town also said that dead bodies can be seen scattered along the roadside. This villager said many more could have died. "My mother, father, brothers and sisters are all dead. I can't do anything. I'm left all alone," he said by telephone.

The villagers had also gone to stay in the monasteries after running out of food. There has not been any food aid reaching them; however, some local social welfare groups have boiled rice soup as they are running low on supplies and unable to serve bowls of rice.

Yesterday night, May 7, the UN World Food Programme (WFP) was reportedly due to transport food aid to this area. However, it is not yet known to the AHRC to what extent people have so far been able to get assistance and whether or not the WFP encountered any difficulties in making its delivery.

The lives of remaining survivors have been threatened due to lack of food and safe drinking water. Wells and ponds have been polluted with water from areas where there are corpses and were also flooded with seawater.

In addition to the damage at Laputta, all surrounding areas have been greatly affected. According to the conservative official figures mentioned above, there are 1,835 dead and 2,187 missing on Mawlamyaing Island; 975 dead on Heingyi Island; 253 dead and 10 missing on Khetta Island; 789 dead, 172 missing in Dedaye Township; and about 10,000 dead in Bogalay Township.

In Rangoon Division, about 59 have been reported dead, over 500 missing. These include 19 dead, 4 missing in Rangoon; and 40 dead and about 500 missing in Kunchankone. On Thursday, bodies were reported to be floating in the Hlaing River next to the city of Rangoon, that are believed to have come from Kunchankone about 40 miles away. Presumably these figures do not include the prisoners that were allegedly shot dead at Insein Prison on May 2 at height of cyclone (for details please read: AHRC-UAG-006-2008).

ADDITIONAL INFORMATION:

Despite the massive devastation, the government has continued to insist that it will hold a referendum on the new draft constitution in most parts of the country on this Saturday, May 10, and also campaign on it instead of put all its efforts into rescuing survivors. For instance, industry minister U Aung Thaung continued campaigning for Yes votes in Taunghsin township of Mandalay as if nothing had happened in the lower part of the country.

The AHRC has already issued a statement calling for the Burmese government to postpone the referendum (not just to May 24 in some areas as announced) and take immediate action into opening up into ensuring that the food aid and water, medicines and medical attention, rescue teams, amongst other reach the needy. It and its sister organisation have also called on countries in Asia, including Thailand (AHRC-OLT-012-2008), India (ALRC-STM-008-2008) and the Philippines (AHRC-OLT- 013-2008) to take action.


SUGGESTED ACTION:
Please send letters to the concerned government agencies calling for their immediate action to ensure that aid gets through to the people of Laputta Township and other affected areas. For the sake of the letter, please refer to Burma as Myanmar, Rangoon as Yangon, Irrawaddy as Ayeyarwaddy and Laputta as Labutta. Please also be informed that the AHRC is writing separate letters to numerous UN and international agencies encouraging their interventions in this worst-affected area.

To support this appeal, please click here:

Sample letter:

Dear __________,

MYANMAR: CYCLONE NARGIS--Please ensure that hardest hit Laputta Township receives aid at once

I am writing to express my grave concern that the survivors of the 2-3 May 2008 Cyclone Nargis in Labutta Township, Ayeyarwaddy Division, have not yet received the aid that they require in order to survive.

In am aware that Labutta was devastated by the storm and rising seawater and fear that the number of over 22,000 people already officially described as dead could rise far higher because in this township among others the numbers have not yet been accounted for.

According to survivors there, the loss of lives and damage to the property was so severe that 22 out of 26 villages nearby the town no longer exist. The storm also demolished buildings, uprooted trees and drowned thousands of people who tried to escape its force.

I have learned that despite this terrible tragedy, four days on the survivors from this town and nearby areas have not been able to receive food, drinking water, shelter and medical attention. Those coming into the town expecting to get help are getting nothing and there are security concerns as people are becoming more desperate.

Meanwhile, dead bodies remain scattered all over the countryside, raising serious concern of the inevitable spread of diseases, particularly water borne ones.

I am aware that the government of Myanmar has no capacity to respond effectively to a tragedy of this scale, and that indeed any country in the world needs help from outside in drastic times like these. I call upon the government to accept all offers of assistance, make requests for more, and not obstruct or attempt to profit from its delivery. And I call upon all parties to see that the assistance gets through to the worst affected areas, especially Labutta, before it is too late. It is a race against time to save the remaining human lives from being plunged from one nightmare into another, and which this time at least can be avoided.

Yours sincerely,

-------------------------
PLEASE SEND YOUR LETTERS TO:

1. Lt-Gen. Thein Sein
Prime Minister
c/o Ministry of Defence
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: + 95 1 372 681
Fax: + 95 1 652 624

2. Maj-Gen. Maung Oo
Minister for Home Affairs
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439

3. Brig-Gen. Khin Yi
Director General
Myanmar Police Force
Ministry of Home Affairs
Office No. 10
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67 412 079/ 549 393/ 549 663
Fax: +95 67 412 439

4. Maj-Gen. Maung Maung Swe
Minister for Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement
Ministry of Social Welfare, Relief and Resettlement
Office No. 23
Naypyitaw
MYANMAR
Tel: +95 67- 404 020-22/ 404 337
Fax: +95 67- 404 335
Email: social-wel-myan@mptmail.net.mm or social.wel.myan@mptmail.net.mm

5. U Aung Bwa
Director-General, ASEAN-Myanmar
Ministry of Foreign Affairs
Pyinmana
MYANMAR
Tel: +951 229 214; 221 191
Fax: +951 222 950; 221 719
E-mail: dgaseanmofa@myanmar.com.mm

6. Mr. Patrick Vial
Head of Delegation
ICRC
No. 2 (C) - 5 Dr. Ba Han Lane
Kaba Aye Pagoda Road, 8th Mile
Mayangone Township
Yangon
MYANMAR
Tel.: +951 662 613 / 664 524
Fax: +951 650 117
E-mail: yangon.yan@icrc.org

Thank you.

Urgent Appeals Programme
Asian Human Rights Commission (ua@ahrchk.org)

Document Type :
Urgent Appeal Case
Document ID :
AHRC-UAC-093-2008
Countries :
Issues :
Document Actions
Share |
Subscribe to our Mailing List
Follow AHRC
Extended Introduction: Urgent Appeals, theory and practice

A need for dialogue

Many people across Asia are frustrated by the widespread lack of respect for human rights in their countries.  Some may be unhappy about the limitations on the freedom of expression or restrictions on privacy, while some are affected by police brutality and military killings.  Many others are frustrated with the absence of rights on labour issues, the environment, gender and the like. 

Yet the expression of this frustration tends to stay firmly in the private sphere.  People complain among friends and family and within their social circles, but often on a low profile basis. This kind of public discourse is not usually an effective measure of the situation in a country because it is so hard to monitor. 

Though the media may cover the issues in a broad manner they rarely broadcast the private fears and anxieties of the average person.  And along with censorship – a common blight in Asia – there is also often a conscious attempt in the media to reflect a positive or at least sober mood at home, where expressions of domestic malcontent are discouraged as unfashionably unpatriotic. Talking about issues like torture is rarely encouraged in the public realm.

There may also be unwritten, possibly unconscious social taboos that stop the public reflection of private grievances.  Where authoritarian control is tight, sophisticated strategies are put into play by equally sophisticated media practices to keep complaints out of the public space, sometimes very subtly.  In other places an inner consensus is influenced by the privileged section of a society, which can control social expression of those less fortunate.  Moral and ethical qualms can also be an obstacle.

In this way, causes for complaint go unaddressed, un-discussed and unresolved and oppression in its many forms, self perpetuates.  For any action to arise out of private frustration, people need ways to get these issues into the public sphere.

Changing society

In the past bridging this gap was a formidable task; it relied on channels of public expression that required money and were therefore controlled by investors.  Printing presses were expensive, which blocked the gate to expression to anyone without money.  Except in times of revolution the media in Asia has tended to serve the well-off and sideline or misrepresent the poor.

Still, thanks to the IT revolution it is now possible to communicate with large audiences at little cost.  In this situation there is a real avenue for taking issues from private to public, regardless of the class or caste of the individual.

Practical action

The AHRC Urgent Appeals system was created to give a voice to those affected by human rights violations, and by doing so, to create a network of support and open avenues for action.  If X’s freedom of expression is denied, if Y is tortured by someone in power or if Z finds his or her labour rights abused, the incident can be swiftly and effectively broadcast and dealt with. The resulting solidarity can lead to action, resolution and change. And as more people understand their rights and follow suit, as the human rights consciousness grows, change happens faster. The Internet has become one of the human rights community’s most powerful tools.   

At the core of the Urgent Appeals Program is the recording of human rights violations at a grass roots level with objectivity, sympathy and competence. Our information is firstly gathered on the ground, close to the victim of the violation, and is then broadcast by a team of advocates, who can apply decades of experience in the field and a working knowledge of the international human rights arena. The flow of information – due to domestic restrictions – often goes from the source and out to the international community via our program, which then builds a pressure for action that steadily makes its way back to the source through his or her own government.   However these cases in bulk create a narrative – and this is most important aspect of our program. As noted by Sri Lankan human rights lawyer and director of the Asian Human Rights Commission, Basil Fernando:

"The urgent appeal introduces narrative as the driving force for social change. This idea was well expressed in the film Amistad, regarding the issue of slavery. The old man in the film, former president and lawyer, states that to resolve this historical problem it is very essential to know the narrative of the people. It was on this basis that a court case is conducted later. The AHRC establishes the narrative of human rights violations through the urgent appeals. If the narrative is right, the organisation will be doing all right."

Patterns start to emerge as violations are documented across the continent, allowing us to take a more authoritative, systemic response, and to pinpoint the systems within each country that are breaking down. This way we are able to discover and explain why and how violations take place, and how they can most effectively be addressed. On this path, larger audiences have opened up to us and become involved: international NGOs and think tanks, national human rights commissions and United Nations bodies.  The program and its coordinators have become a well-used tool for the international media and for human rights education programs. All this helps pave the way for radical reforms to improve, protect and to promote human rights in the region.