NEW HOPES FOR AID DISTRIBUTION IN BURMA

Relief agencies have joined with governments around the world in cautiously welcomed news Burmese authorities have agreed to open up the nation to international aid assistance.

    Late last week, UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon announced that the country’s leader, Senior General Than Shwe, had agreed to allow international aid workers into the worst affected areas within the country.

    “I am encouraged by my discussions with Myanmar’s leadership in recent days,” Mr Ki-moon said on Sunday. “They have agreed on the need to act urgently. I hope and believe that any hesitation the Government of Myanmar may have had about allowing international humanitarian groups to operate freely in the affected areas is now a thing of the past.”

     DAVID ADAMS reports... | more...| 

SOUNDBITE: 22.5.08 - Phil Wilkerson, associate overseas program coordinator at TEAR Australia, was in Burma the week after the cyclone struck. He talks to DAVID ADAMS about the situation in the country then and now. Click here to download the MP3 file (17 mins/3.9 MB)... | more...|

LINK: The Age newspaper has published a first-hand account of the tragedy unfolding in Burma by Australian "Harry McKenzie", who helped smuggle emergency supplies into the town of Bogale. Read his heart-breaking account, 'Tears Behind The Bamboo Curtain', here...

ESSAY: LOOKING FOR OPTIONS IN ADDRESSING BURMA'S HUMANITARIAN CRISIS

     It’s three weeks since Cyclone Nargis swept across Burma’s Irrawaddy Delta region and left tens of thousands dead and up to two million people in urgent need of humanitarian assistance. As pressure mounts on the Burma’s ruling military junta to open its country to the international relief community, CHRIS PIPER and DAVID ADAMS take a look at the four major options in addressing the nation’s humanitarian crisis... | more...|

THE BIG PICTURE: IN THE AFTERMATH OF A CYCLONE

See a gallery of images here...  | more...|

MAPS: For up-to-date maps of the situation in Burma (and China), visit  ReliefWeb here...

FOR PREVIOUS REPORTS...

CALLS FOR INTERNATIONAL INTERVENTION AS FEARS OF "SECOND CATASTROPHE" CONTINUE TO GROW (UPDATED 19th MAY, 2008)... | more...|

RELIEF GROUPS WARN OF A "PUBLIC HEALTH CATASTROPHE" IF AID EFFORT IS STIFLED...| more...|

SEE A LIST OF ORGANISATIONS RUNNING APPEALS... | more...|