The Irrawady Delta is Burma's food bowl. Its livestock is gone and the rice fields destroyed. Already suffering from the devastation of Cyclone Nargis and from the intransigence of a military junta, the people of Burma are now having to contend with a threefold increase in price of basic food stuffs.
A 60-year old retired teacher in Taham near the Indian border said, “The situation is very bad here. People have no money to buy food, medicine and baby food. The government seems completely unmoved by the suffering of the people.”
“We are unable to buy stocks as wholesale market prices have gone up to more than double retail prices,” said another grocery shop owner.
Next month, the country faces a monsoon. Under so-called normal conditions, the Burmese are able to stock goods in preparation for the summer rains. Prior to Cyclone Nargis, child malnutrition rates in delta was around 30%. And a quarter of the entire population lacked access to clean water according to UNICEF. In such disasters, indeed in most disasters, it's the sick, the old, and the children who suffer the most.
Three weeks of delays and finally some aid is getting to the remote areas. Meanwhile just outside Burma's territorial waters, US, French, and British warships loaded with food remain stationed. Incredibly, the junta decided to hold a referendum to ratify a new constitution that would extend its power well into the future this past Saturday. The rest of the country supposedly voted on May 10 with 92.48% of its 22 million eligible voters approving the new constitution , according to Burma's state media.
