World turns up heat on Myanmar

Just hours after the regime nearly doubled the toll of dead and missing to 134,000, the international community blamed the generals for the fate of up to 2.5 million survivors battling to stay alive two weeks after the storm hit.

"This is inhumane. We have an intolerable situation created by a natural disaster," Prime Minister Gordon Brown of Britain told the BBC.

"It is being made into a man-made catastrophe by the negligence, the neglect and the inhuman treatment of the Burmese people by a regime that is failing to act and to allow the international community to do what it wants to do."

Deeply suspicious of any foreign influence that could weaken its 46 years of iron rule in Myanmar, the junta has insisted on managing the relief operation itself and kept most international disaster experts away.

But aid groups say the government cannot possibly handle the tragedy by itself, with hundreds of tonnes of supplies and high-tech equipment piling up in warehouses, bottle-necked by logistics and other problems.

"The refusal of the Burmese military regime to accept full, adequate humanitarian aid from the international community is nothing short of criminal, and unprecedented in recent history," Nobel Peace Prize winner Desmond Tutu said.

The junta has blocked journalists from getting to the southern Irrawaddy Delta, the rice-growing region hardest hit when Cyclone Nargis hit on May 2-3, bringing powerful winds and massive waves that wiped whole villages away.

But those who have got through have returned with tales of unspeakable misery - thousands begging for food, corpses rotting in swamps and countless reports from people saying they had received little or no aid from the government.

Aid agency Save the Children said up to 2,000 children were lost and unable to find their parents.

Survivors have reported that the military was pushing survivors out of temporary shelter in monasteries, whose revered Buddhist monks helped lead massive protests against the regime last year.

Navy ships from France and the United States are positioned off the Myanmar coast stocked with emergency supplies, but the regime has denied them entry.

The regime is said to fear a possible invasion by the United States, which has criticised Myanmar for keeping democracy activist Aung San Suu Kyi under house arrest -- and for its slow moves toward elections promised in 2010.

The government said this week that 99 per cent of eligible voters had cast their ballots last Saturday in a referendum it said approved a new constitution which would bar her from office.

Her party rejected the result and said the vote should never have been held amid the cyclone tragedy. The regime has scheduled round two, in the disaster areas, on May 24.

Vocabulary

frustrated, adj: feeling unhappy because a problem is not being taken care of

to condemn, v: to feel and express strong disapproval

negligence, n: failure to perform your duties because you are lazy or don't care

survivor, n: person who stays alive during a dangerous event that killed other people

inhumane, adj: without feeling sorry or being affected by the suffering of others

intolerable, adj: so bad that it cannot be accepted; unbearable

suspicious, adj: feeling that you cannot or should not trust

iron, adj: stern; harsh; cruel

logistics, n: planning, coordination and implementation of the details of an operation

unprecedented, adj: new; never happened before

Questions

1. Why are world leaders condemning Myanmar's military rulers?

a. They caused a terrible tornado.

b. They rely entirely on foreign aid.

c. They refuse foreign relief efforts.

d. They insist on going into endangered areas.

2. How many survivors of the storm need help?

a. 2,000

b. 2,010

c. 134,000

d. 2.5 million

3. What special significance does the southern Irrawaddy Delta hold?

a. It is immune to flooding.

b. It is the rice-growing region.

c. It is the centre of foreign spies.

d. It is the stronghold of the military.

4. What state is this region reportedly in?

a. great improvement

b. religious wasteland

c. unspeakable misery

d. the nation's pride and glory

5. What did the military rulers do instead of helping their people?

a. ordain as monks

b. hold a referendum

c. free political prisoners

d. meditate about their sins

Synonyms

Which of the following words replace the ones from the passage best?

1. tragedy

a. event

b. incident

c. disaster

d. surprise

2. regime

a. army

b. monks

c. soldiers

d. government

3. fail

a. force

b. neglect

c. demand

d. delegate

4. handle

a. avoid

b. deal with

c. suppress

d. overcome

5. adequate

a. sufficient

b. unrestricted

c. unconditional

d. comprehensive

KEY

Questions             1. c, 2. d, 3. b, 4. c, 5. b

Synonyms             1. c, 2. d, 3. b, 4. b 5. a 

By Horst Baelz