At least 10,000 reported dead after Burma cyclone

From Wikinews, the free news source you can write!

Monday, May 5, 2008

Myanmar

Other stories from Myanmar

• 17 November 2009: 50 dead after ferry in Myanmar capsizes
• 13 August 2009: Wikinews Shorts: August 13, 2009
• 10 August 2009: No tsunamis after two major earthquakes strike islands near India and Japan
• 5 October 2008: 18 illegal Afghan and Burmese immigrants killed in truck crash in Turkey
• 21 July 2008: Cyclone Nargis aid effort to cost one billion US$

...More articles here

Location of Myanmar

To write, edit, start or view other articles on Myanmar, see the Myanmar Portal

At least 10,000 people are dead and another 3,000 are missing after Cyclone Nargis hit the country of Myanmar, according to Foreign Minister Nyan Win, who spoke on state television. Just hours later Xinhua News Agency reported that government officials had told them that 15,000 were dead.

The United Nations (UN) calls the report "alarming". Paul Risley, a spokesperson for the World Food Programme said, "The UN will begin preparing assistance now to be delivered and transported to Myanmar as quickly as possible."

Satellite image of the cyclone Nargis.

"The UN will do whatever it can to provide urgent humanitarian assistance. Because of the lack of communications, we are not quite sure what will be the total extent of damages and casualties. I am very much alarmed by incoming views that casualties have risen to more than 10,000, according to Myanmar's foreign ministry," said the Secretary-General of the UN, Ban Ki-moon.

The death toll has risen from Sunday's count of only 351 deaths.

Food and water has become scarce and hundreds of thousands of people are homeless with several towns being completely destroyed. In the city of Yangon, there is no power and much of the drinking water has been contaminated.

"What is clear is that we are dealing with a major emergency situation, and the priority needs now are shelter and clean drinking water," said United Nations disaster response spokesman, Richard Horsey.

There are 47.8 million people living in Myanmar with over 5 million in Yangon.

Related news

• "351 dead after Burma cyclone". Wikinews, May 4, 2008

Sources

Wikipedia has an article about Cyclone Nargis.

• "Death toll from Myanmar cyclone more than 10,000". Radio New Zealand, May 6, 2008
• "Myanmar: Death toll more than 15,000". CNN, May 5, 2008
• Demian McLean "Myanmar Cyclone Claims Thousands as UN Surveys Damage (Update6)". Bloomberg.com, May 5, 2008
• Seth Mydans "Thousands More Deaths Expected in Myanmar". New York Times, May 5, 2008
  

Share this:

This page is archived, and is no longer publicly editable. Got a correction? Add the template {{editprotected}} to the talk page along with your corrections, and it will be brought to the attention of the administrators. Please note that due to our archival policy, we will not alter or update the content of articles that are archived, but will only accept requests to make grammatical and formatting corrections. Note that some listed sources or external links may no longer be available online due to age.