The politicisation of Burma's response to cyclone Nargis
Updated
U-N chief Ban Ki Moon will meet with Burma's military leaders to convince them to a wider international aid effort. But aid agencies warn that the Generals are more preoccupied with public relations than with the mounting health crisis.
Presenter: South East Asia correspondent Karen Percy
Speakers: Jean Sebastian Matte Is With Medicin Sans Frontiers.
PERCY: Even before this disaster, Burma's health services were stretched to the limit. The generals devote about three to four per cent of GDP (gross domestic product) to health spending. Defence expenditure is more than 10 times that.
Since Cyclone Nargis hit, the health needs of the people have increased dramatically. There are reports that dysentery and diarrhoea are taking hold in many of the makeshift camps that have been set up since the cyclone.
There's also the threat from water that's been contaminated by human and animal bodies. The task has been made all the harder because of the continuing logistical obstacles.
Jean-Sebastien Matte is with Medecins Sans Frontieres:
MATTE: We are ready to go with some experts. We have been training some national staff in the past week, but we are far, far, far from doing what we should be doing at the moment for the people that are in great, great need, still waiting for relief.
PERCY: Approximately 300 medical staff recruited from members of the Association of South-East Asian Nations are said to be on their way.
But Jean-Sebastien Matte says the needs are much greater than that.
MATTE: The thing is that it is not only medical staff that we need but logisticians, water and sanitation specialists that can upgrade the operation at this stage. So it is welcome but still not enough.
PERCY: While there are some positive signs that the junta is softening its hard line there have been strong reactions to the way generals have handled Cyclone Nargis.
Some people claim they should be charged with crimes against humanity. Others want to see a forced intervention. But from where the aid agencies stand, this kind of discussion isn't helpful. They want to keep politics right out of it.
Jean-Sebastien Matte from Medecins Sans Frontieres:
MATTE: There is a bit of distraction from different countries that are putting it on, let's say, a negative way. Personally not helping our effort so it can be seen as an unfortunately and to give us a bit of space.
We are not there to do any politics but to get relief for the people that have lost everything, and many of them have left half of their families.
They are in pretty bad shape today and many of them are shocked. Many of them are complaining not being able to sleep. No roof, no shelter, no food. I mean, there is nothing.
PERCY: Today, the people of Burma will mark a second day of mourning.
The military junta called the three day mourning period after seeing what was happening in China. Aid groups on the ground are hoping the generals might take another lead from China in accepting the help of outsiders.
