Chinese and Myanmar crises

[Jae Onasi]

The cyclone hit Burma (or Myanmar, depending on the source you read) on May 2nd. The gov't only started allowing outside aid a week ago.

http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358341,00.html

 

This past Sunday, our church announced that some aid was trickling in via our church's parent organization. They transferred funds and food from our parent denomination organization in that region to an organization in Burma. Apparently the items and money going from organization to organization that don't go through the gov't are actually getting to the people who need the help. They were able to transfer in food, blankets, tents, and other emergency items.

 

China's death toll has reached 67,000 and is expected to top 80,000 in the near future. Fortunately the gov't isn't impeding help like the Burmese govt' is, so aid is making it into the country. http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,358111,00.html

[Achilles]

Re: Burma - I went to donate but couldn't find anyone taking donations specifically for Burma (I learned my lesson after 9/11). Did a little bit of digging and found out that it was because the corrupt gov't officials weren't allowing foreign aid

 

Re: China - Have been following that very closely. Aftershocks bigger than the San Francisco quake that was such a big deal here in the 90's. Families that will be wiped out forever because of China's one child laws. Emergency evacuations because of weakened dams that might flood refuge areas. Sad

 

With that said, I seriously hope that too many people aren't following Sharon Stone's fine example. Oddly this smacks of the same kind of thinking the Osama bin Laden used to justify attacking civilians. *shakes head*.

[Totenkopf]

What a blithering idiot. Oddly, she really seemed more concerned with herself and her interests than anything else. Typical. Even her realization at the end was laced with narcicism.

[Litofsky]

China, first: In China, the real death toll might never be known. Their Government doesn't have to tell us. The Quake might have only killed 10,000, or the actual death toll might be as high as 100,000. I don't think we'll ever know. However, the 'quake has been, and still is, devastating to any country. I wonder what this will do to China (especially in the long run).

 

At Myanmar: Not allowing aid into a country is foolish, especially after a natural disaster. It's not a weakness to accept aid. It is a weakness to become dependent upon it. Perhaps that was the thought behind not allowing aid to enter the country?

 

It's a sad state the world is in today, and I only hope that everyone has something that makes it a little bit brighter for them.

[Jae Onasi]

Re: Burma - I went to donate but couldn't find anyone taking donations specifically for Burma (I learned my lesson after 9/11). Did a little bit of digging and found out that it was because the corrupt gov't officials weren't allowing foreign aid

That was why I was so surprised and relieved that aid had found a way in. They have to be careful because Christianity is not an allowed religion there, but they're bypassing the gov't to get aid in. This also prevents corrupt officials from stealing what aid has managed to get through the gov't channels.

 

Re: China - Have been following that very closely. Aftershocks bigger than the San Francisco quake that was such a big deal here in the 90's. Families that will be wiped out forever because of China's one child laws. Emergency evacuations because of weakened dams that might flood refuge areas. Sad

 

I agree-very sad. The Chinese gov't has adjusted the one child law for the victims of the quake but I didn't catch all the details on the radio report yesterday.

[mur'phon]

China: I think the goverment have done good, seems like it's possible to learn from mistakes. Not much to critizise them for.

 

Burma: Alright, I usually don't advocate using milatry force, but what the burmese government is doing is genocidal. I hope France and the U.S bring in the aid they have right of the coast.

[Achilles]

That was why I was so surprised and relieved that aid had found a way in. They have to be careful because Christianity is not an allowed religion there, but they're bypassing the gov't to get aid in. This also prevents corrupt officials from stealing what aid has managed to get through the gov't channels.

Indeed they would have to be careful. Not sure how that explains why the gov't was denying muslim and secular aid, but now that the christians are allowed, I'm sure we'll notice improvements right away.

 

I agree-very sad. The Chinese gov't has adjusted the one child law for the victims of the quake but I didn't catch all the details on the radio report yesterday.

While I'm glad they're reconsidering this, one does question if it's too little too late.

[Jae Onasi]

Indeed they would have to be careful. Not sure how that explains why the gov't was denying Muslim and secular aid, but now that the Christians are allowed, I'm sure we'll notice improvements right away.

The gov't was denying all aid. There's no way to explain why the Burmese gov't has done that, nor am I trying to. It's reprehensible.

 

This particular organization managed to find a way in around the gov't and at a certain level of peril to the Christians in that country because their association with providing that aid will expose their faith. By providing help to others, the Christian Burmese might end up getting jailed or worse.

 

Others may have helped as well 'under the table'. However, until the one report on Sunday I hadn't heard of any other agency having any success at all.

 

I'm not trying to wave the pom-pons and say "Rah-rah-rah!! Look, the Christians got in!!!" I'm just happy that _any_ aid got in, regardless of who headed it up, and I had hoped everyone else here would be, too. All I was doing was reporting that the situation was not completely hopeless--that there was a tiny ray of light in this horribly bleak situation.

[EnderWiggin]

The sad thing about Myanmar is that we have aid on barges right off the coast. It's just waiting to go to those in need. Unfortunately, the government is too shortsighted to realize that its people need help. I don't really see a solution on our end - we just have to pray that those in power in Burma change their policies.

 

China - I'm not a big fan, especially because of the One-Child laws, but it truly is sad how many lives were lost... and for that matter, what percentage of that was children. I was listening to a report on NPR the other week from a woman that was watching bodies get excavated from a collapsed middle school. Talk about heartbreaking. And a bunch of the rescuers died soon thereafter due to aftershocks causing some sort of debris-slide or somesuch.

 

_EW_

[Web Rider]

Re: China - Have been following that very closely. Aftershocks bigger than the San Francisco quake that was such a big deal here in the 90's. Families that will be wiped out forever because of China's one child laws. Emergency evacuations because of weakened dams that might flood refuge areas. Sad

 

Actually, the "one child" law is not that absolute. There are numerous exceptions for death, age, and time. If you have a child young, and you're sill relativly young adults(30's, 40's) and your kid is grown up, there are exceptions to have another. If your children have died, they will generally grant you permission to have another, and in some cases if more than one child is beneficial to the society, they'll give you an exception for that.

 

I watched a big long documentary on it with Chinese officials and documents about how it all works. It's really not an absolute one-child-ever law.

[Achilles]

Actually, the "one child" law is not that absolute. There are numerous exceptions for death, age, and time. If you have a child young, and you're sill relativly young adults(30's, 40's) and your kid is grown up, there are exceptions to have another. If your children have died, they will generally grant you permission to have another, and in some cases if more than one child is beneficial to the society, they'll give you an exception for that.

 

I watched a big long documentary on it with Chinese officials and documents about how it all works. It's really not an absolute one-child-ever law.

I never said that it was a "one child ever" law. Perhaps I could have been more specific and reference a "one child at a time" law (which also has exceptions, IIRC), however since it is more commonly known simply as the "one child law" I didn't feel that such a distinction would be necessary.

 

More to the point though is that not all of the families affected will be able to have another child (do I need to specify that I don't mean legally able?).

[Bee Hoon]

There were reports in the local newspapers (here in Malaysia) that the Burmese government was actually _stealing_ the aid meant for victims... The high-energy biscuits meant to sustain the victims were mysteriously replaced by some government-manufactured crap.

 

What makes me so mad is that they're doing this to their own people, and they still have the gall to claim that they won a landslide victory:/ If anything, the victims might have voted simply for fear of aid being withheld.

 

And of course, we're always worried that our own government might skim off some cream from the donations. Meh.

[mur'phon]

It's true Bee, and when they do it, they don't even always replace it with anything at all. Then they sell it on the black market for a pretty penny. They also relabel some of the aid so it looks like it is from the government. Oh and their head-honcho moved closer to the disaster so that his "divine grace" might better help the people:(