Let's stand by Myanmar cyclone victims
Photo: AFP
Cyclone Nargis swept Myanmar's Ayeyawaddy (Irrawaddy) delta and the country's biggest city, Yangon, killing tens of thousands of people, and leaving many more without food, drinking water and shelter. The cyclonic storm was heading toward Bangladesh, but changed its course and turned to Myanmar to batter the coastal region of that country.
A cyclonic storm, brewed in Bay of Bengal, almost always ends up with hitting coastal Bangladesh. Sometimes it misses Bangladesh and hits the coast of Orissa. But not in recent history has a severe cyclone hit the thickly populated Irrawaddy delta. So the storm caught the people of that delta and the government of that country unprepared for the disaster, which shot up the death toll.
The inexperience on the part of the Myanmar government in coping with a natural disaster of such a huge magnitude will increase the sufferings of the affected people.
Naturally, the government of Myanmar will stand, with everything at its disposal, by the victims of the storm; but it needs international aid in its efforts to help the victims. In fact, the Foreign Minister of Myanmar, Nyan Win, has already said his country would welcome international aid.
As a next-door neighbour, it's our moral obligation to stand by the people and the government of Myanmar in their distress. We must not forget, during our time of distress we get aid from other countries.
We have long experience in coping with the aftermaths of cyclones and tidal bores. In short-term assistance, the government of Bangladesh and some NGOs of our country may immediately send people experienced in disaster management to Myanmar. Our experienced field workers with water purification equipment may be sent there. We must immediately send medical teams and medicines to nurse the wounded. The medical teams may even be from our armed forces, who have long working experience in foreign countries as UN peacekeepers.
Myanmar is a food surplus country. What it needs at this moment is the means of bringing the food to the victims in the remote storm-effected coastal region and islands as quickly as possible. The Bangladesh government may provide the government of Myanmar with some helicopters and motorised boats to be used for carrying food, medicine etc. to the cyclone-battered islands.
In the long-term assistance, Bangladesh may help Myanmar with the technology of building cyclone-shelters. We may share our experience and help the government of that country to build up an advance cyclone warning system as well as a disaster management system. Our disaster management system has drawn international acclaim. Let our neighbours as well as other countries benefit from our expertise in disaster management.
Till Monday last, 20,000 people have been reported killed by the storm. Hundreds of thousands of people have been left homeless. Information is still being collected. The casualties will be rising further with the coming of new information from the devastated remote areas. We hope international politics will not hamper the foreign aid flow to the people of Myanmar.
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