Brown Says “Inhuman” Help Might Cost Burma Another Disaster

UK Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Myanmar for not managing effectively the distribution of aids, leaving thousands of survivors without food, water and other supplies.

According to Times Online, Brown said that the treatment of survivors was “inhuman” and, because of the negligence, there was the danger of turning the disaster into a “man-made catastrophe.”

According to official Burmese government statistics, the cyclone has killed at least 78,000 people and, now, even with all this international aid, a second catastrophe could occur because the military government is not distributing the supplies.

The United Nations said that 2.5 million people are still without the appropriate help and, today, Brown said he took into account, as a solution in case that the crisis worsened, forced air drops of essential supplies.

Although France has ships carrying 1,500 tones of food and medicine, they have to wait for Burma’s government to allow them to transport the aid to the worst affected areas.

The Disasters Emergency Committee informed that at least £6 million-worth of British help had reached 350,000 affected Burmese people. Brown also said that Britain was trying to channel its aid through China and the countries of the Association of South East Asian Nations (Asean), reported Times Online.

However, the Burmese authorities have allowed the UN and some other agencies to give out supplies directly. A team of 50 Indian medical personnel is to fly Saturday into Rangoon to handle medical supplies.

Foreign Office Minister Lord Malloch-Brown has agreed with Brown, and said that this delay in providing help hadn’t been encountered in any recent international disaster.

UN Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon also said that Burma was at a “critical point.”