BANGKOK—More than two months after Cyclone Nargis devastated the thriving Irrawaddy Delta, Burma’s rice bowl, the skeletons of its victims still line the muddy banks.

Of the five divisions and states hit by Nargis on May 2 and 3, Irrawaddy and Rangoon suffered the heaviest casualties and huge infrastructure damage. The latest official report issued by the military junta that controls the country states that the cyclone killed 84,537 people, left 53,836 missing and 19,359 injured, caused $10.67 billion in losses and damage and affected 5.5 million people.

A tripartite core group comprised of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (Asean), Burma (Myanmar) and the United Nations has claimed that its efforts to bring relief items into Burma have reached over 1.3 million victims.

But, according to certain reliable local journalists, junta authorities have only pretended to help, providing small amounts of aid in front of state television cameras. There are more than a million homeless survivors, yet the junta reported in the state media—The New Light of Myanmar—they will build 6,000 houses for victims.

Survivors in flattened villages are struggling to rebuild their homes using bamboo and debris. For shelter, several families pack together in a single tent. For drinking water, they collect rain from strung-up tarpaulins. For food, they share meals of rice, beans or vegetables and oil from private donors.

Relief workers say they have to work under inconsistent and continuously changing restrictions imposed by ministries and local authorities, while aid agencies have to seek government approval before taking any action.

Making access to the delta even more problematic is the fact that even World Food Program helicopter shipments can be canceled without justification by authorities. The logistical challenges remain severe in the rush to give away seeds, tractors and tillers to farmers before the rice-planting season ends this month.

The junta will only provide farmers these necessities if they pay it back in installments within two to three years—a clear example of how the junta itself is exploiting the international relief items donated to the country.

The cyclone flooded over 1 million acres (405,000 hectares) of farmland with seawater, killing over 200,000 cows and cattle. There are 52,000 farmers in the delta.

While the state-run media have been broadcasting propaganda overstating the junta’s relief-and-reconstruction plans, the junta has been cracking down on well-known relief volunteers.

Ko Thura, who is known nationwide as Comedian Zarganar, was the first victim of the crackdown. The next were scores of amateur photojournalists or civilian reporters who provided information to foreign news agencies. The Burmese generals’ shortsighted policy on press freedom has further worsened the situation for the cyclone victims.

Subsequently, journalist Zaw Thet Htwe and several altruistic citizens were arrested as they supported the relief efforts in cyclone-hit villages where the authorities failed to help. Zarganar and Zaw Thet Htwe had also given outspoken interviews to foreign media.

One of the most despicable actions of the junta was the arrest on June 14 of seven volunteers of a team known as “The Group that Buries the Dead” following their efforts to bury victims in the delta.

 The truth is that the junta is exploiting Cyclone Nargis to advance its interests and annihilate supporters of democracy. It has extended the house arrest of Aung San Suu Kyi, leader of the democratic opposition and Nobel Peace Prize laureate, declared victory after a flawed and unfair referendum, blocked civilian journalists from working and cracked down on social activists.

Unconcerned by the deaths of thousands of citizens, the military leaders’ only interest is holding on to power. The people are starting to think that the UN and other international organizations will not be able to help them achieve basic freedoms.

Some analysts argue that the UN and Asean failed to help the people of Burma in time, instead soothing the generals, who never had any respect for human rights or humanitarian principles. The UN canceled its planned weekly press briefings at the Bangkok-based Foreign Correspondents Club of Thailand because of pressure from the junta.

The UN agencies and international NGOs should pressure the junta to work with local volunteer and civil-society organizations as partners and extend them financial resources and technical skills.

Local volunteers believe strengthening and improving civil society can pave the way for participation, responsibility and peaceful coexistence. Civil society represents a sphere of human activity separate from the state. Without local volunteer and civil-society organizations, international relief agencies and NGOs would be unable to effectively help victims in remote areas.

The demeaning of human values so common still in Burma will cause substantial social unrest and political volatility for years to come.

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