U.N. chief in devastated Myanmar Zuzana Zelenakova

Few weeks ago, Myanmar in Southeast Asia, former Burma, witnessed a terrible havoc that brought destruction and devastation mainly to the southern part of the country. On the evening of Friday, May 2, Cyclone Nargis hit the area with great force and ruined the areas of Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon, the largest city in the country and former capital of Burma. The storm's winds reached reported 121 mph, but the majority of deaths is blamed on the tidal surge that it brought. About 78,000 people are dead and other 56,000 are missing. On Thursday, the United Nations secretary general, Ban Ki-moon, flew to Myanmar to see the damage caused by the cyclone. He urged the government to accept the international help and cooperate in order to help as many people as possible in short time. According to the United Nations only 25 percent of people in need received help so far. And it is almost three weeks since the catastrophe. “We are seeing positive indications that channels of relief into Myanmar are opening up,” said Steve Goudswaard of humanitarian agency World Vision. Shortly before Mr. Ban's visit the first 10 helicopters from the United Nations World Food Program came. The situation concerning relief works is definitely getting better as about 10 relief flights a day are coming to Myanmar now. In addition, relief workers are given visas more easily, but they still can't go outside Yangon, formerly Rangoon. “We are still not where we need to be, given that 2.4 million people are in need, in the latest United Nations numbers, of which 1.4 are in urgent need of assistance,” said United Nations spokesman Richard Horsey. According to him if it was not for the restrictions from the military government the help would be delivered more quickly and in more effective way.

related story: http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080522/ap_on_re_as/myanmar;_ylt=AgwADbg8meUIwrA9iAaJ3aus0NUE

by Zuzana Zelenakova for PocketNews (http://pocketnews.tv)

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