The international community usually can be relied upon to organize aid for a nation or area when natural disasters strike. The world organized a massive relief effort after a tsunami struck 11 countries in south Asia in 2004.
Militaries and non-governmental organizations rushed to deliver some $7 billion in aid and comfort to the distressed areas. More than 200,000 people died.
Today the world faces another growing catastrophe in Myanmar. A cyclone smashed through the most populous part of the country, the Irrawaddy River Delta, killing some 30,000 people so far and affecting a million or more.
The international community is organizing for a massive relief effort but there is a catch. The government of Myanmar doesn’t want to let foreigners in to distribute aid and assist the poor nation’s overburdened infrastructure.
Burma, which changed its name in 1989 to Myanmar, has been ruled by a military junta since 1962. The military brutally put down demonstrations led by monks last year.
The United States is in position to render assistance now. Four ships and some 11,000 personnel are in the area for the annual military exercise, Cobra Gold.
The military bigwigs probably are aware of what happened to the Somoza regime in Nicaragua after a 1972 earthquake. The quake killed 10,000 people and devastated the capital, Managua.
Major league legend Roberto Clemente died when his airplane carrying relief supplies to the disaster crashed.
Foreign aid poured in but the Somoza regime organized the distribution and later sold the relief supplies. This was the spark that gave birth to the Sandinista rebellion and the Cuban-backed rebels took over Nicaragua in 1979.
The Burmese military is probably going to try and ride out the disaster, even if it kills tens of thousands of people.
The international community has to be strident in calls for allowing relief workers into the country. The relief will need as many foreign helicopters as possible to avert a bigger disaster caused by disease.
Dispensing aid will be a monumental task. It will require as much outside help as possible. Failure to act may result in the death of hundreds of thousands of people.
It’s just not practical to drop aid by aircraft without the consent of the ruling junta. The international community needs to continue to use firm but non-threatening pressure on the ruling elite.
Right now the most important thing is to get aid to the stricken areas and not to get in a tussle with the Burmese government.
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