. Earth Science News .
Myanmar state media ignore tragedy on the ground

by Staff Writers
Yangon (AFP) May 13, 2008
Survivors and aid workers emerge from Myanmar's devastated Irrawaddy delta with stories of families wiped out, bodies floating in rice paddies and starving cyclone victims begging by the roadside.

But none of that is making it into the tightly controlled state media.

Instead, it is generals in medal-covered uniforms handing out food packets, and soldiers clearing trees from the roads, who are the stars of the show.

As the world vents its fury at the junta's slow response to Cyclone Nargis, headlines declaring "Navy takes part in reconstruction" and "Commander presents relief aid to storm victims" appear in the New Light of Myanmar newspaper.

"The state media must not report anything bad," said Aung Naing Oo, a Myanmar analyst based in Thailand. "(It is) a country with a totalitarian regime churning out propaganda."

State television channel MRTV on Tuesday beamed out images of grinning generals in their olive-green uniforms vigorously shaking hands with visiting US officials, welcoming a US military plane laden with relief goods.

But the scenes of storm victims being ushered by the military into neat rows of emergency tents, while happily sucking on bottles of mineral water, belie an increasingly desperate situation on the ground.

Official figures state that 62,000 people are dead or missing, but the United Nations has warned that tens of thousands more could die unless vital food, water and medicine reaches up to two million people.

The junta has delayed giving visas to foreign aid workers, and its sluggish response has provoked outrage from foreign governments, with Australian Prime Minister Kevin Rudd attacking the regime as "absolutely callous".

None of this has made the news in Myanmar, a country called a "paradise for censors" by media freedom watchdog Reporters Without Borders.

All in-country publications are controlled by the military or subject to massive censorship, and most people do not have access to international news outlets.

Community
Email This Article
Comment On This Article

Share This Article With Planet Earth
del.icio.usdel.icio.us DiggDigg RedditReddit
YahooMyWebYahooMyWeb GoogleGoogle FacebookFacebook



Related Links
Bringing Order To A World Of Disasters
A world of storm and tempest
When the Earth Quakes



Memory Foam Mattress Review
Newsletters :: SpaceDaily :: SpaceWar :: TerraDaily :: Energy Daily
XML Feeds :: Space News :: Earth News :: War News :: Solar Energy News


Bodies line the streets as quake town's agony laid bare
Dujiangyan, China (AFP) May 13, 2008
The bodies, some with stiff forearms in front of their faces reflecting the desperate final struggle at the moment of death, were unceremoniously lined up on the road and covered with plastic.







  • US has no plans for forced intervention in Myanmar
  • China says foreign aid offers 'welcome'
  • Low technology is the only hope in Myanmar, China disasters
  • UN says Myanmar forcing villagers to leave

  • NCAR Installs Supercomputer For Critical Research On Climate Change And Severe Weather
  • McCain splits with Bush on climate change
  • Key Climate Sensor Restored To NPOESS
  • Cleaner air to worsen droughts in Amazon: study

  • USGS Awards Satellite Imagery Contracts: Enhancing Access To Users
  • Bluesky Launches 3D Computer Models Of Britain's Cities
  • Cartosat 2a Puts The World In High Resolution For Indian Government
  • NASA Nasa Satellite Captures Image Of Cyclone Nargis Flooding In Myanmar

  • Pacific Natural Energy Creates a Step Up for the Little Guy: The BioBox Mini
  • Blue Sun Biodiesel Continues To Open Retail Fueling Locations
  • The Premiere Ocean Renewables Event - EnergyOcean 2008
  • Myanmar biofuel drive deepens food shortage

  • UN warns of 'second catastrophe' in Myanmar
  • Bacteria epidemic at Madrid hospital claimed 18 lives: report
  • China virus death toll hits 30 as number of infections soars
  • China urges authorities to step up education of deadly disease

  • Federal Polar Bear Research Critically Flawed
  • Rainfall, rivers predict fish biodiversity
  • Platypus Genome Sequenced, Unlocking Secrets Of Evolution
  • What's Bugging Locusts. It Could Be They're Hungry - For Each Other

  • Cleaning Up The Oceans With Wakame Waste
  • Chinese leader seeks Japanese help on environment
  • Toxic ponds kill ducks in Canada
  • Researchers Look To Make Environmentally Friendly Plastics

  • Justice In The Brain: Equity And Efficiency Are Encoded Differently
  • Nearly One-Third Of US Parents Don't Know What To Expect Of Infants
  • Walker's World: Bye-bye boomers
  • United We Stand: When Cooperation Butts Heads With Competition

  • The content herein, unless otherwise known to be public domain, are Copyright 1995-2007 - SpaceDaily.AFP and UPI Wire Stories are copyright Agence France-Presse and United Press International. ESA Portal Reports are copyright European Space Agency. All NASA sourced material is public domain. Additional copyrights may apply in whole or part to other bona fide parties. Advertising does not imply endorsement,agreement or approval of any opinions, statements or information provided by SpaceDaily on any Web page published or hosted by SpaceDaily. Privacy Statement