Burma Suffering Deeply After Cyclone Nargis

ANCHOR:
And today we have footage from one of the worst hit areas in Burma. The town is called Labutta. It's located in the Irrawaddy delta region that was devastated by Cyclone Nargis 9 days ago. Here's more:

STORY:
The town of Labutta has suffered some of the worst damage and losses of life after Cyclone Nargis ripped through the region.

But for survivors, even if they manage to find food and shelter, they still face a major risk from infected wounds, chronic diarrhoea and malaria. And it's the same story for the up to almost 2 million people that the U.N. says are struggling to survive, .

A third of the patients in Labutta still have laceration wounds on their backs from the stinging rain and debris, which were whipped around by cyclone winds of 120 mph.

Meanwhile, just 30 miles away in the town of Myuang Mya, 80 percent of buildings are damaged or destroyed, including the hospital which had its roof ripped away.

Many patients are suffering from diarrhoea and dehydration, and there are few supplies to treat them.

Frustration is mounting over the junta's delays in giving visas to foreign disaster experts and its determination to control the distribution of foreign aid inside the country.

The junta says it will accept "relief in cash and kind," and has asked for anti-mosquito bed nets, purification tablets for water and other emergency supplies.

But in Labutta, survivors are still waiting for help to arrive. The European Commission's humanitarian office has warned that if there is not enough food and shelter offered soon, people will not survive.

Category:

News & Politics

Tags:

• ntd
• burma
• cyclone
• nargis
• labutta
• irrawaddy
• delta
• region
• catastrophe
• humankind
• victims
• disaster

[Juntahh]

let them in i say!