According to several foreign agencies, at least 250,000 Burmese citizens are still without aid of any kind, even though a month has passed since a cyclone tore through their country.
Workers from relief agencies and non-governmental organizations say that people are in dire need of clean water, food, and shelter. Yet, government officials claim that the humanitarian operation has already concluded. This outlandish claim is beginning to foment anger at the military regime.
According to BBC correspondent Matt Prodger, villagers in the worst-hit areas are getting into scuffles with troops.
Prodger recounted the story of a young man from the Irrawaddy Delta who informed him that the cyclone took the lives of 1,000 people from his village, yet no help has arrived from any quarter.
After the storm, which hit Burma earlier this month, the military junta that rules the country with an iron fist received worldwide condemnation for not allowing aid workers to bring help to the affected areas. U.S. Defense Secretary Robert Gates has charged the Burmese government with “criminal neglect,” saying that the delay in letting the relief operation proceed may have caused the deaths of thousands of Burmese civilians.
