[badamember] Seattle Burma Mtg. Tuesday, May 6, plus BREAKING NEWS

Friends,

The next meeting of the Seattle Burma Roundtable is next Tuesday, May 6th,
from 6:30-8pm at the Greensood Branch of the Seattle Public Library, 8016
Greenwood Ave N, see
http://www.spl. org/default. asp?pageID= branch_open& branchID= 12 for
directions.

BREAKING NEWS======

An enormous cyclone has hit Rangoon and other parts of lower Burma this
weekend. At least 350 people are known to be dead, and at least 100,000
are homeless. These numbers are expected to rise as communication is
re-established with the impoverished shanty towns on Rangoon's outskirts,
and with areas of the vast Irrawaddy Delta. Below please find a new
message from inside Rangoon, as well as some press coverage.

The military junta has in the past shown itself to lack the capacity and
the will to provide for the humanitarian needs of Burma's people. It can
be expected that the international community will have to take the lead to
meet the needs that now arise. Please stay tuned, especially via sites
such as www.uscampaignforbu rma.org and www.irrawaddy. org.

The junta had planned for May 10th a widely criticized "referendum" on a
new constitution, meant to cement the military's hold on power. Latest
word is that this has been postponed indefinitely.
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** Our meeting Tuesday will finalize plans for our 8th annual raffle to
support basic education for children of internally displaced communities.
Our grand prize is a beautiful freshwater pearl pendant worth more than
$200. Other prizes include restaurant meals and gift certificates from
local stores. Please donate more prizes! Please commit to sell some
tickets! They're $2 each, and 100% of funds raised go directly to benefit
the children. Contact burma@u.washington. edu to help.

** The US Campaign for Burma has just initiated a 30 day campaign,
releasing one video per day to bring increased focus to the situation in
Burma. See www.uscampaignforbu rma.org. Read about it at
http://www.nytimes. com/2008/ 05/04/fashion/ 04myanmar. html?ref= style.

** Earthrights International has released a damning new report documenting
serious, ongoing human rights abuses related to US oil giant Chevron's
partnership with the military junta. Earthrights attorneys, who reached a
settlement with Unocal (which was then bought by Chevron) for $30 million
for a small number of Burmese plaintiffs, is now threatening to bring a
much larger suit against Chevron. Based on the amount of the Unocal
settlement, Chevron may face billions of dollars of liability for
thousands who have suffered murder, rape, forced labor, beatings and
extortion. See http://earthrights. org/.

** The Global Human Rights Torch Relay will be in Seattle on Saturday, May
18th, starting with a march from Hing Hay park to Westlake Park from 10am,
with a concert and rally at 11am. A focus on Chinese military and
diplomatic support for Burma's junta will be included. See
http://www.humanrig htstorch. org/news/ 2008/04/15/ torch-relay- event-seattle/ .

** President Bush increased targeted sanctions of the Burmese junta and
its cronies on May 2nd. See
http://www.irrawadd y.org/article. php?art_id= 11711

Thank you for your interest. Please read below to try to understand the
seriousness of the situation for Burma's people.

Larry Dohrs
206-784-6873

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A message from Burma. Some information redacted (LD)

Sorry to convey you the unpleasant news.
According to experts, it will take years to reconstruct Rgn and other
towns as all infrastructures are collapsed now.
It will take at least 40 days to reinstall electrical lines.
Main water supply system is damaged and the whole city cannot get any
water now. A bottle of watter cost 800 kts and there is no more stock now.
Fuel price is 10,000 kts per gal tonight. Bus fare from downtown to
Insein is 2000 kts.
An egg cost 300 kts, and all food and commodities cannot be bought easily.
About half of housings are damaged in Rgn. Hlaingtharyar, Shwepyithar and
Dagon are most hard hit. Some quarters were blown away completely. But
there are very few information available, as people cannot move around
even in your own quarter.
In Phyarpone, Pyinsi village out of 3000 villagers, only 700 left behind.
They lost the rest. In Hainegyi, there are 95,000 homeless on the town
alone. No relief assistance is available. I think hundreds of thousands
of people's life are at stake, if no rescue program start in time.
Kyaiklatt and Lapputta are the hardest hit, it is said. Many villages are
still under flood and no food or water is available.
In Rgn, all the roads are still blocked with fallen trees. There is no
public conveyance system. Almost all phone systems are dead, except very
few CDMA lines which are reconnected this evening.
All trees from U Wisarra road are uprooted. All big pagodas are damaged.
Only Kabaaye road is cleaned today. Prome road is still closed. No news
from Daw Suu compound yet. NLD signboard is blown away.
All advertisement signboards were fallen and all satellite antennas fall
down from roofs.
There are news that hall no 1, Insein jail was burnt down to ground
during the storm. Cannot confirm yet, as everyone is still busy repairing
their own house and try to make their way out. The whole city is totally
paralyzed and people are panic of extensive looting in the coming days.
There is no hope to get food for majority of the population. There is not
even enough candles to buy.
All hospitals are hit hard too and medical personnel cannot attend the patients.
I heard SPDC refuse some aid offers. They will not rebuilt Rgn but
encourage people to move to Naypyidaw.
It is unthinkable to survive with no food, no water, no medecine,no roof,
no electricity, no phones, no transport, no fuel or candle, ( No job, no
money, no hope) and no help.
I will update you more soon.

Regards,

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http://www.nytimes. com/2008/ 05/05/world/ asia/05Myanmar. html?ref= asia

May 5, 2008
Cyclone Kills More Than 350 in Myanmar
By THE ASSOCIATED PRESS
YANGON, Myanmar (AP) — A powerful tropical cyclone killed more than 350
people in Myanmar and destroyed thousands of homes, the state-run news
media said Sunday. Some dissident groups worried that the military junta
running the country would be reluctant to ask for international help.

For the junta, the cyclone, called Nargis, hit at a delicate time: a week
ahead of a referendum on a new constitution.

Should the military dictatorship be seen as failing disaster victims,
voters, many of whom already say the government has ruined the economy and
suppressed democracy, could be more inclined to oppose the constitution.

Some in Yangon, formerly Rangoon, complained that the 400,000-member
military was doing little to help victims after the storm, which hit
Friday and Saturday.

“Where are all those uniformed people who are always ready to beat
civilians?” asked a trishaw taxi driver, who said he did not want to be
identified because he feared retribution.

“They should come out in full force and help clean up the areas and
restore electricity,” he said.

Myanmar, a country of about 48 million people that was formerly called
Burma, has been under military rule since 1962. Its government has been
widely criticized for human rights abuses and for stifling of
pro-democracy parties like the National League for Democracy. That group
is led by Daw Aung San Suu Kyi, the Nobel Peace Prize laureate, who has
been under house arrest for most of the past 18 years.

In September, at least 31 people were killed and thousands were detained
when the military cracked down on peaceful protests led by Buddhist monks
and democracy advocates.

In response to the cyclone, the Forum for Democracy in Burma and other
dissident groups outside Myanmar urged the military junta to allow aid
groups to operate freely — as it has historically been reluctant to do.

It would be difficult for other countries to help unless they received a
request from the military rulers.

“International expertise in dealing with natural disasters is urgently
required,” said Naing Aung, secretary general of the forum, which is based
in Thailand. “The military regime is ill prepared to deal with the
aftermath of the cyclone.”

The storm’s winds, which reached 120 miles per hour, blew the roofs off
hospitals and cut electricity to Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city.

Shari Villarosa, the top American diplomat in Yangon, said the storm had
caused “major devastation throughout the city.”

“The Burmese are saying they have never seen anything like this — ever,”
Ms. Villarosa said. “Trees are down. Electricity lines are down. Our
Burmese staff have lost their roofs.”

At least 351 people were killed, including 162 who lived on Haing Gyi
island, off the country’s southwest coast, the military-run news media
reported. Many of the others died in the low-lying Irrawaddy Delta.

“The Irrawaddy Delta was hit extremely hard, not only because of the wind
and rain, but because of the storm surge,” said Chris Kaye, the acting
relief coordinator for the United Nations in Yangon. “The villages there
have reportedly been completely flattened.”

State television reported that in the Labutta township in the delta, 75
percent of the buildings had collapsed.

The United Nations planned to send teams on Monday to assess the damage,
Mr. Kaye said. Such efforts have been hampered by roads clogged with
debris and downed phone lines, he said.

“At the moment, we have such poor opportunity for communications that I
can’t really tell you very much,” Mr. Kaye said.

Yangon residents said that the price of gasoline had jumped Sunday from
$2.50 a gallon to $10 a gallon on the black market, and prices of
everything from eggs to construction supplies had tripled.

The state-owned newspaper New Light of Myanmar reported that the
international airport in Yangon remained closed, though the state-run
television said it could be opened by Monday. Domestic flights have been
diverted to the airport in Mandalay.

The referendum, on the military-supported draft constitution, is scheduled
for Saturday. The authorities have not yet said whether they will postpone
the vote.

A military-managed national convention was held intermittently for 14
years to lay down guidelines for a new constitution, which is to lead to a
general election in 2010 under a “road map to democracy” drawn up by the
junta.

Critics of the junta say the draft constitution is designed to cement
military power, and have urged citizens to vote no.