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People are in desperate need of food and drinking water. In Rangoon there has been no electricity since Friday and hardly any organized aid work is seen on the streets yet. It is reported that people are angry at the regime for not helping them in this situation.
The junta has now said they would "welcome" international aid but U.N. aid workers are reportedly still waiting for visas to enter the country. Supplies have been collected by different aid agencies to send to the disaster areas.
Thailand has begun delivering emergency aid starting this morning and pledged to donate at least US$100,000. The European Commission has released 2 million euros (US$3 million) in initial emergency aid for victims. The U.S. Embassy in Myanmar issued a disaster declaration authorizing the immediate release of $250,000 in assistance. A U.S. disaster assistance response team is standing by but the government has so far refused the team. It's reported that ASEAN is also ready to send emergency aid.
The people of Burma had already suffered from soaring rice prices and other commodity prices, but prices have now doubled and in some areas, tripled. Irrawaddy Division, the rice bowl of Burma, was hit hard. Cyclone Nargis hit right before the harvest time and people are likely to face severe shortages of rice.
Many Burmese living abroad are going back home to help out their families and others. In Singapore Burmese people are donating money to help the people affected by Cyclone Nargis.
A massacre at Insein Prison on Saturday has now led to even more deaths, after 36 prisoners were shot dead by army officers in a tumultuous situation that began when the prison roof was torn off by the cyclone. Apparently investigations were held among the prisoners after the situation was "brought under control" by the shootings. Under interrogation, another four prisoners were tortured to death. There are 98 prisoners, including four political prisoners from the National League for Democracy Party, locked in a punishment cell block.
Meanwhile the State Peace and Development Council has announced that the referendum scheduled for May 10 will be postponed in cyclone-hit areas. In seven townships in the Irrawaddy division and 40 townships in Rangoon district the new referendum date will be May 24. In all other places people are expected to go to the poll stations on Saturday as scheduled.
While people are facing immense suffering, the regime continues with its fierce "Yes" vote campaign. It was reported Tuesday that authorities in Taunggyi and Kyaington in Shan State have already begun a pre-referendum campaign, collecting "Yes" votes from the people. In Kachin State authorities are threatening residents in a village around Mai Ja Yang in an area controlled by the Kachin Independence Organization, pushing them to vote "Yes" to approve the Constitution on May 10.
In the Philippines, Free Burma Coalition activists held a "Relief first before Referendum" rally in front of the Burmese Embassy in Manila Wednesday, demanding that the junta allow the entry of humanitarian aid and calling for the immediate postponement of the planned May 10 referendum. The group said it was "improper and untimely" to pursue the referendum considering that the entire country is in mourning. It called on the junta to focus on resolving the damage from the cyclone and allowing the free movement of aid into the country. After the rally the group marched to the Singapore Embassy to call on the Singapore government, current chair of ASEAN, to extend help to Burma.
Also Wednesday, the 10-member media consortium Burma News International released the results of its pre-referendum voter's survey at the Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand in Bangkok. The group conducted face-to-face interviews with more than 2,000 Burmese voters, including farmers, students, day workers, business owners, housewives and pro-government Union Solidarity and Development Association members -- from seven states and six divisions across the country.
The poll showed that 83 percent of those surveyed planned to vote, 10 percent planned not to vote, and the rest were undecided. If the referendum were held today, 66.4 percent said they would vote "No," and 23 percent said they were undecided.
The survey also revealed that 69 percent of respondents were unaware of the details of the proposed Constitution. Most respondents said they would vote out of "conscience" (75.9 percent) rather than "coercion" (17.4 percent). Farmers and traders were among those who indicated they were "forced into" voting a certain way, or were given something in return for their vote.
Mu Hlaing Theint, secretary of Burma News International, organized and conducted the survey with media partners in late April. "This survey takes the pulse of ordinary voters from all over Burma, but particularly from ethnic nationality areas where there has been limited surveys to date," she said.
"Amid the utter devastation caused by Cyclone Nargis, the regime's commitment to pursuing the vote at any cost may result in an even bigger 'No' result," she added.
Sein Win, editor-in-chief of Mizzima News, said, "Decades of poverty and mismanagement and a lack of faith in the military as an institution is behind the strong 'No' vote result…If people are told to go and vote, as they have been, they will go ahead and vote. But public sentiment is against the regime and its Constitution, especially as they drag their feet to organize an urgently needed humanitarian response in cyclone-affected communities."
Still, he said, "Burmese people have always found ways to passively resist the military regime, and we expect that a large number of the population intend to vote 'No.' Whether they will be allowed to cast their vote freely and fairly remains to be seen."
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(Khin Ohmar is coordinator of the Asia Pacific Peoples' Partnership on Burma, based in Thailand. She can be contacted at appartnership@gmail.com. Her blog may be found at http://apppb.blogspot.com.)
"As you all know, the crisis in Burma is transforming from a natural disaster to a humanitarian catastrophe due to the xenophobia, incompetence, and malevolence of the Burmese government. With every day that passes, the situation of the up to tow million Burmese people affected by this crisis, almost three quarters of whom have reportedly not received any assistance, is becoming ever more precarious. It is clear that the time has come for bold international action. My colleague, Brian Vogt, wrote an excellent piece detailing one strategy for getting aid through to those who need it earlier this week. Brian is quite right to warn that we must not to allow our disgust for the Burmese junta lead us to political posturing rather than decisive action.
Although the Chinese government stated last week that they did not think it appropriate for the Burma crisis to be brought to the UN Security Council, it is becoming increasingly clear that stronger action by the UN and the international community will be required to break this deadly impasse. French Prime Minister Bernard Kouchner was among the first to call for aid drops in Burma, even against the wishes of the Burmese regime. British Prime Minister Gordon Brown is now calling for a UN summit on aid to Burma. The United States must continue to take a lead in these efforts, and to build international consensus around a more aggressive assistance agenda with the greatest amount of international legitimacy possible. Clearly, food and aid drops will not be enough as water-borne diseases begin to take their toll over the coming days, particularly on the young and the elderly. Specifically, the United States can actively support the provision of assistance under chapter 7 of the UN Charter, as was done for Somalia and other recent humanitarian crises."