Myanmar FINALLY Agrees To Assistance

Well, Finally the Myanmar military junta is going to allow aid workers in to assist the survivors, but it should be noted that thousands may have died because of their refusal to allow aid workers in right away. So while this is a positive step, "they" deserve nothing but disdain for their attitudes and behaviors over the last two weeks.

The story at Yahoo News reads:

Myanmar's junta agreed on Friday to admit cyclone aid workers "regardless of nationalities" to the hardest-hit Irrawaddy Delta, a breakthrough for delivering help to survivors, U.N. officials said.

Western disaster experts, largely kept out of the delta and restricted to the former capital Yangon, welcomed the news but wanted more details on the deal struck by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and junta supremo Than Shwe.

"The general said he saw no reason why that should not happen ... as long as they were genuine humanitarian workers and it was clear what they were going to be doing," a U.N. official with Ban said. The U.N. chief and his aides, on a mission to help 2.4 million left destitute by the storm that struck three weeks ago, met Senior General Than Shwe for more than two hours in the remote new capital of Naypyidaw.

LINK TO FULL STORY

Bangladesh Death Toll May Top 10,000

Another rise in the reported number of dead in Bangladesh.

The death toll from Thursday's cyclone in Bangladesh is now more than 3,100, and officials say that number could reach 10,000 once rescuers get to outlying islands. Rescuers are struggling to reach thousands of survivors, and relief items have been slow to reach many. Survivors grieved and buried their loved ones Monday as they waited for aid to arrive.

The death toll from the Thursday cyclone reached 3,113 after reports finally reached Dhaka from storm-ravaged areas which had been largely cut off because of washed-out roads and downed telephone lines, said Lt. Col. Main Ullah Chowdhury, a spokesman of the army coordinating the relief and rescue work.

I did find out this morning that our neighborhood church is going to provide Bangladesh relief, so I am going to help them out. I hope you can find a way to help as well. Thanks!

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