Myanmar

Road blocks prevent aid workers from reaching affected areas

Article published on the 2008-05-14 Latest update 2008-05-14 15:24 TU

Food aid in Bogalay, 13 May 2008.
( Photo : AFP )

Myanmar's government now says that 62,000 people are dead or missing after the devastating 3 May cyclone. International aid workers complain that the military junta is tightening access to affected areas, preventing an estimated two million survivors from receiving the water and food supplies.

The military has set up road blocks on all major roads leaving the country's main city Yangon and is preventing any foreigners – aid workers, doctors and journalists – from reaching the affected areas.

 

Even Myanmar nationals have reported difficulty reaching the stricken south.

 

These measures, in addition to the restriction on the use of heavy-lifting helicopters, have forced aid agencies to use unconventional methods to reach affected areas, such as navigating swollen rivers in hired boats and trekking food in from Thailand.

 

Meanwhile top foreign officials are headed to Myanmar in an attempt to convince the military junta to accept foreign aid workers – something that it has refused to do so far - and open up a "humanitarian corridor" to speed aid delivery.

 

Thai Foreign Minister Samak Sundaravej was expected to arrive in the country Wednesday. The European Union's Humanitarian Aid Commissioner Louis Michel arrived in Yangon Wednesday, where he repeated UN Secretary General Ban Ki Moon’s calls on Myanmar’s officials to put their people first.

 

“For two years, we have run programmes in Myanmar and the results … are very positive. We scrupulously respect the impartial, neutral and independent character of humanitarian aid. It’s a positive experience and a real value-added that, I hope, will allow us to succeed,” Michel said upon arrival.

 

European ministers charged with humanitarian relief have called an emergency meeting in Brussels Wednesday to determine the best way to help victims of Cyclone Nargis.

 

World Vision, an aid group working within Myanmar, said it may need to redouble efforts in order to distribute organisations.