Den katolske ärkebiskopen i Burma/Myanmar, Charles Bo, har uttalat sig med anledning av katastrofsituationen i landet. Enligt uppgifter bedöms dödstalet till mellan 25 000 - 100 000.
Och idag ytterligare en enorm katastrof - jordbävningen i Kina. Reuters rapporterar att omkring 9 000 har omkommit i Kina.
"As a Church, we are reaching out to the victims with all the means at our disposal. At this hour of darkness, we are encouraged by the show of support by our friends from abroad. There are urgent needs for food, water and shelter. Thousands are in need of medical help." *
"From the bottom of our hearts, we would like to express our gratitude and thank to all of you for the messages of concern, prayers and sympathies for our suffering people. Indeed, the cyclone Nargis left a lot of terrible and bad consequences to our country especially to our poor people. All your prayers, concerns and desire to be of help for our people are deeply appreciated. We have formed a committee "Emergency Disaster Relief Committee" (MDRC) composed of Archdiocese of Yangon, Karuna (Caritas) Myanmar Social Services, CAFOD, CRS and New Humanity to carry out effectively and quickly the emergency response. We do believe and hope that the good Lord is close to us through all of you especially at this moment of suffering and darkness.
With deep appreciation,
Charles Bo
Archbishop of Yangon" *
Archbishop of Yangon" *
Agenzia Fides rapporterar:
"The Archbishop also mentioned that the losses claimed by Cyclone Nargis are enormous with the death toll ranging from 25,000 to 100,000 and hundreds of thousands of people missing, including one priest and one nun. Over 15 villages like Laputta in Delta region have literally disappeared. Many Catholic villages were also seriously damaged. A great city of Yangon has turned into dry zone and become bare with 70% of trees in the city was uprooted. All the Churches, clergy houses and convents somehow shared the disaster.
The Apostolic Delegate, after the Mass, visited the affected areas and particularly Twante parish church situated in one of the worst damaged regions witnessing hundred of families displaced and homeless.
The Church in Myanmar is appealing to different international agencies and organizations for coordinated support and urgent assistance for the suffering people of Myanmar. Myanmar Disaster Relief Committee, under the leadership of Yangon Archdiocese, is working its best to implement concrete assistance programs to 60,000 families through the distribution of one week's worth of dry ration and water, purification of water, and the distribution of basic necessities and medicine in 8 of the most devastated areas." *
För en stund sedan talade FN:s generalsekreterare Ban Ki-moon till världssamfundet. Hans budskap var särskilt riktat till den burmesiska regimen med vädjanden om omgående samarbete i syfte att släppa in katastrofbiståndet in i landet. Generalsekreteraren vände sig särskilt till Burmas grannländer med vädjanden om påtryckningar, hjälpen måste in snabbt om inte katastrofen skall förvärras ytterligare. Han nämnde också jordbävningen i Kina och uttryckte sin sorg över det inträffade.
"We are at a critical point. Unless more aid gets into the country very quickly, we face an outbreak of infectious diseases that could dwarf today's current crisis. ... I therefore call in the most strenuous terms on the government of Myanmar to put its people's lives first." *
Zenit rapporterar att katolska Caritas arbetar, relativt sett något friare nu, inne i Burma. Caritas stöd är en så länge begränsat, framförallt pga regimens hårdnackade inställning, men genom användandet av lokala resurser har det humanitära arbetet påbörjats.
"[The Church there] has limited resources, but does have parishes and religious in the affected areas, which provides an effective logistics network."
... Local Church partners in Myanmar are providing food and other aid items to 10,000 people in Yangon and Irrawaddy, Caritas reported. That figure is expected to rise to 40,000 people receiving support by Wednesday. Provisional figures put the relief effort at $1 million for the first month. The relief items are coming from within the country at present.
... "Caritas had done disaster preparedness in Myanmar before the cyclone, so that gave us a head start," Nicholson said. "That we work through local partners means we're a bit freer to move around."
Assessment teams have reported back -- and the situation is described as overwhelming, even for experienced disaster-relief response teams.
One staff member, speaking anonymously, said, "I was in Phyapon, far off down the Irrawaddy River. The bodies of human beings and cattle were still in the water. We reached a destroyed village. We were the first outsiders they had seen.
"To my eyes, which have seen the Asia tsunami and the Kashmir earthquake, it was overwhelming. Nature unleashed an orgy of death. Women explained how the waves took their babes. As our boat moved along, a body of a small boy drifted past.
"People have no drinking water or food or shelter. Children are eating coconut shells. Dead animals are everywhere. There is a terrible smell. There were many refugees, living in roofless churches and monasteries. Help has not reached them. We are doing what is possible. In the last two days, we have reached out to the starving people." *
M. Chêne
^^
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