Reaching out to Cyclone Survivors in Myanmar

Source: AFP Photo from CNN.comWhile we were just clicking the mouse through forums to discuss whether global warming had stopped and whether even a cooler decade ahead was just a blip in a steady, long-term warming trend as food shortage crises and biofuel production seem to act like a silent tsunami in competition with the global warming scare, let us take a moment to look into the lower depths of a single, catastrophic event that has just struck Myanmar (Burma). And may we do this with an attitude that we can do something to help ease the pain of cyclone survivors, who have lost homes, loved ones, and all forms of comfort (no food, water, and electricity).

However, as reports indicate, it is awfully challenging to offer practical help when a military-run country like Myanmar that generally shuns foreign financial aid. Relief organizations would have to confront logistical nightmares to be able to do their job right.International media are not allowed to report from this country. CNN mainly relies on secondhand information from Myanmar residents, aid agencies, and wire agencies. (UPDATE: CNN Correspondent Dan Rivers has just filed a CNN report about the condition of the survivors in Myanmar. Details can be found here.)

But the following website offers a firsthand look on the dreadful situation in and around Yangon (Rangoon), with a touching survivor’s tale and a cyclone after-effect video: Please read the entire story with video here.

Whatever your beliefs are regarding religion or how society should work, there is one thing you will surely understand: In an event like this cyclone in Myanmar, commonplace structures in society are eventually broken. In this calamity-stricken country, homeless people, police men, Buddhist monks, and the tiny minority of Christians have joined hands to help one another in the aftermath of a cyclone that already killed thousands of people and caused extensive damage to the land.

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Tags: Burma, cyclone, Cyclone Relief, food shortage, Gospel for Asia