Failures in Myanmar Post-Cyclone Nargis

An assessment of Myanmar post-Cyclone Nargis is critical for understanding the need for a united international response to disasters of this magnitude. When the government of a nation is either unwilling or unable to properly care for their citizens, it is wildly hypocritical for other nations to cry foul but do nothing in response. The global push for basic human rights should cause outrage when tens of thousands of people die due to a government's refusal of aid. What we saw happen in Myanmar was far from adequate. Studying the situation on the ground, before and after Cyclone Nargis, is thus crucial to understanding what went wrong and what is needed to ensure a failed response like this never happens again. Without both the proper knowledge and resolve to never let it happen again, we are literally dooming the next unfortunate victims of government inaction to death. The government of Myanmar is surely to blame for these deaths, but the weak international response also shares some responsibility.

The numbers of people affected by Cyclone Nargis has been estimated conservatively at 2.4 million. Roughly 85,000 lives have been lost, with another 50,000 still unaccounted for. The failure of the government of Myanmar to adequately respond to this May 2^nd cyclone has been a disaster in itself. The Ayeyarwady delta region of southern Myanmar took the full impact of the Cyclone, and it is in this region where most foreign aid must be concentrated. Relief efforts began in earnest immediately following reports of the disaster, but have been consistently met by strong resistance from the government of Myanmar. There are many reasons for their refusal to accept foreign aid. The government of Myanmar is fearful of any Western assistance as they assume this will serve as the means to move combat forces in and remove the secretive junta from power. They have even gone so far as to deny UN aid workers visas to enter the country and provide much needed assistance to the millions of starving people displaced by the storm. The government of Myanmar has also been accused of withholding aid and refusing outside assistance to further tighten their militant grip on the country. Seizing power in a military coup in the early 1960's, the government of Myanmar held free elections in 1990 but refused to step down when they lost by overwhelming numbers. Since then, civil rights have been trampled on as pro-democracy protesters, to include the country's revered monks, are beaten and arrested by police and military forces. Unbelievably, their gross human rights violations have not prevented them from joining the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) in 1997. Still, their response to this disaster has caused widespread outrage from the international community, with France going so far as attempting to invoke the Responsibility to Protect doctrine which would allow foreign entry into the country to assist those affected by the storm, with military support if necessary, regardless of the government's position (Parsons, 2008).

The United States position on this has been repeated calls for Myanmar's cooperation with international relief efforts for the sake of the millions of men, women, and children still trying to recover from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis. The United States Agency for International Development (USAID) is the primary US agency responsible for the foreign aid contributions made to Myanmar from the United States government. So far, the United States has given nearly $50 billion to the relief work in Myanmar through contributions to numerous organizations ranging from World Vision to Save the Children (USAID, 2008). Immediate assistance was available in the form of four Navy ships with over 11,000 servicemen and women, as these forces were stationed in the region for the annual Cobra Gold military exercises. Again, this support has been hindered by the government of Myanmar and the resulting shortage of assistance has led to tens of thousands of unnecessary deaths, with the final count uncertain still for months to come.

As international pressure increased, the government of Myanmar began to accept foreign aid, and here, nearly five months later, the situation in those regions hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis have spawned intense protests and subsequent harsh responses to these protests from the government. The history of anti-government protesters meeting violent ends at the hands of the military government of Myanmar is extremely worrisome considering the climate for protests produced by the meager government response to Cyclone Nargis (. The situation in Myanmar has little to do with adequate supplies or available funding. Supplying 2.4 million people with clean drinking water and sanitary living conditions is certainly achievable considering the immense support from the international community. What prevented thousands of people from dying unnecessarily who legitimately could have been saved had assistance been made available is the government's basic denial of human rights for nearly fifty years. The logistics of this relief operation have been worked out over the past fifty years as the international community responded to dozens of natural disasters of much larger scope. While the specifics of transporting supplies and relief workers to regions accessible only by boat or helicopter make the work that much harder, it is by no means excludes these regions from assistance. As the government began to allow in outside aid, clean water, medicine, mosquito nets, and the other critical supplies needed to combat the spread of disease and begin the recovery process have been immediately available.

Instead of the travesty we've witnessed following the Myanmar government's refusal of aid, the days and weeks following Cyclone Nargis could have looked exactly like the recovery efforts in Indonesia after the 2004 tsunami and in Bangladesh after the 2007 cyclone. Both countries immediately cried out for international aid and the response was instantaneous. The numbers lost in Indonesia were at least double that of Myanmar, but the $7 billion that poured into the country in the weeks and months following the deadly tsunami prevented the type of humanitarian disaster we've seen in Myanmar. The simple cause and affect case study of the refusal of outside aid and the tens of thousands of additional casualties should be unacceptable to the international community. This is where we see a major flaw in the current international system, and where an idea such as the Responsibility to Protect, while understandably controversial, needs to be whole-heartedly embraced and acted upon when situations such as this occur. It's a simple issue of life and death. Can we really sit by and say we tried? Is that good enough? On an issue so simple as this, what will it take for us to act? The sovereignty of the nation of Myanmar is not so sacred as to condemn these people to death at the hands of an indifferent government.

In terms of how the days and weeks following Cyclone Nargis should have taken place, we see the challenges of the Ayeyarwady and Rangoon regions as mere speed bumps in the face of the assembled international relief agencies. USAID's $50 billion would provide critical medical supplies to those injured by the storm. Field hospitals and trauma centers would be set up, along with proper sanitation facilities and waste management sites. Temporary shelters would be erected with access to clean drinking water, food, personal hygienic needs, and medicines. Iodine tablets and water purification kits are essential in the short term, with long term means developed as time allows. The infrastructure destroyed by the storm would be rebuilt, beginning with roads and rail to move supplies and the restoration of electricity. The damage to the landscape would be dealt with, meaning felled trees cleared, critical rice paddies replanted, and dams rebuilt. Concerns for the spread of disease through insects would mean netting and other means of pest control. These essentials for survival waited offshore as thousands died needlessly until clearance was given by the government of Myanmar. The problems facing these people in the days following Cyclone Nargis were not a lack of financial aid, failed logistical support, or inadequate coordination among relief agencies. Instead, they faced a corrupt military government unwilling to help and an international community not yet ready to demand human rights for peasants half a world away.

In understanding the failures on both sides of this disaster, a thorough assessment of Myanmar in the form of this class simulation has provided a clear strategy for disasters in the future. We can not hesitate when tragedy strikes, as lives are the cost we pay for doing so. Any nation, regardless of government or economic status, must be willing to accept aid when it is needed, and from any source available. We've seen the representatives from the World Health Organization (WHO), the Red Cross, Save the Children, the United Nations, and various other relief groups take detailed assessments of Myanmar. In turn, the efforts of these groups have stopped the unnecessary loss of life in the days and weeks following Cyclone Nargis. When the aid entering the country met little restrictions, either physical supplies, the workers needed to administer them, or the money streams needed to fund recovery, the people affected by Cyclone Nargis were able to begin to put their lives back together. Again, the initial response from the international community was wholly adequate, and if the government of Myanmar acting appropriately, that response could have been successfully tailored to the specifics of Myanmar and the loss of life due to inadequate food, water, shelter, and medicine would have been minimal. Where we failed was in allowing a corrupt regime to say no. The results of refusal of aid were a disaster in their own right. Failure to enter the country with the necessary aid, regardless of sovereignty issues, falls on us. When these people are dying unnecessarily due to inaction, the government of Myanmar forfeits their right to control that situation.

Understanding the traditional roles of states and IGO's, humanitarian intervention is not accepted as legitimate cause for violating a state's sovereignty. That is simply unbelievable. What message does that send to other oppressive governments? And to the people? Addressing corrupt governments, they see their boundaries as impervious to any outside force, regardless of how they treat their citizens. Their people also see the same thing, only they know it will be their lives lost when governmental corruption either prevents aid from reaching them or directly condemns them to die, as in the case of Darfur.

This assessment of Myanmar has provided a very detailed look into the issues surrounding these types of disasters; meaning, those which affect poorer nations which depend on international assistance to recover. When that aid is stymied by corrupt paranoia, lives are lost and human rights are trampled upon. An important lesson to take away from this assessment is the shortcomings of today's international organizations. Much work is needed to provide a viable option for the international community to take when traditional state intervention is incapable of dealing with these types of disasters. Unfortunately, today's United Nations is the only vehicle for us to use, and the reform needed to make it anywhere near effective is unlikely to take place. In my opinion, the U.N. needs to stop pretending they are at all capable of affecting any security issues in any corner of the globe. Instead, they need to focus on the humanitarian needs of the world. If the U.N. would step away from their feeble attempts to police the world and focus solely on providing aid to those people affected by wars and disasters, they would gain so much more support from nations, including the U.S., who oppose so much of what the U.N. does due to the politically-motivated, corrupt ruling bureaucracy that seeks to further its own agenda, leaving the weak to fend for themselves. If the world knew that when blue helmets showed up, they were there simply to help feed people and give them medicine, every nation could support that mission. Instead, the U.N. is like every other bureaucracy around the world, and it's loses so much of its potential in the process.

The situation in Myanmar cries out for an international organization with strong global support which is able to demand access to ravaged nations for the sole purpose of aiding those affected peoples. If this organization had the military backing from the U.S. and Europe, for instance, who could stand in its way? Again, the importance of separating humanitarian missions from military ones can not be stressed enough, but if done correctly, the days and weeks following Cyclone Nargis could have looked much different.

Works Cited

Parsons, Claudia. "France urges U.N. council to act on Myanmar cyclone ." alertnet.org. 07 May 2008. Reuters Foundation. 28 Sep 2008 http://www.alertnet.org/thenews/newsdesk/L07810481.htm.

USAID, "Fact Sheet #25: Burma - Cyclone." usaid.gov. 30 July 2008. United States Agency for International Development. 28 Sep 2008 http://www.usaid.gov/our_work/humanitarian_assistance/disaster_assistance/countries/burma/template/fs_sr/fy2008/burma_cy_fs25_07-30-2008.pdf.