Over 100,000 people have died

The latest situation is Burma is getting worse. Over 100,000 people have died, 50% of them were children. 75% of the population affected are Karen. Laputta township no longer exists, it was totally wiped out. Even after a week in these horrific conditions of no food or water and disease is prevalent. Pyapon town which had a population of 100,000 was totally wiped out also. Bogale township also completely gone. The roads were not good before the disaster, now roads are complete cut off. Even the capital city of Rangoon itself is facing a worse situation with shortage of food, water and no electricity. The price of food and goods are 4-5x higher. Over 1 million people are homeless. In the next two months, the monsoon rains will be upon them, with more severe storms.

As you can imagine the not only the devastation but the aftermath is very serious. Many of our contacts in Burma are in shock due to the loss of their relatives and loved ones. All they can do is weep. Everyone has been traumatised by this disaster.

The Burmese government has allowed the US Cargo plane with aid to land in Rangoon. This is encouraging news in the great achievement of diplomacy between the Burmese government and US, yet because of such widespread need, I do not think that this aid will go further than Rangoon. This aid will not reach the Irrawaddy Delta region where the majority of the cyclone victims are, and still not arriving to where it is needed most.

Our local ATM team is actively giving free drinking water to the people, but so far it is limited to the few that are nearby them.

I will arriving next Friday to Rangoon. I will then head down to the South together with my team to the Laputta area. If aid does not reach to them very soon, the death toll could rise to half a million people due to lack of food, water, medicine and without shelter. Young children can only survive at the most 2-3 days in these conditions.

The moment I touch down, I will be meeting with the authorities both Thai and Burmese, getting briefed with updates on statistics and the whole situation, then I will go directly with my team to the disaster zone.

Blaming or criticising authorities will only make the situation worse causing jeapody to the innocent people's lives. This is a time to raise political issues, but this is pure humanitarian effort where everyone needs to work together and focus on saving the lives of these disaster victims.

We will send reports, photos, video clips of the situation inside Burma as soon as possible.

Sincerely,

Pastor Timothy