Canadian humanitarian organizations and local groups are rallying to help the victims of Cyclone Nargis after the military junta in Burma (Myanmar) agreed earlier this week to accept international aid.

The storm has left more than 22,500 dead and at least a million others homeless after wiping out whole villages and rice-growing areas in the southeast Asian nation’s central region.

Once given formal permission to enter the country on Tuesday, Red Cross Canada began mobilizing staff and resources to support the hundreds of thousands of people in urgent need of emergency shelter and basic supplies.

"We are currently putting everything in place so we can quickly deploy people and supplies we received from the Canadian public," said Charlie Musoka, the emergency response manager for Red Cross Canada.

"We are urging the public to give cash donations because we can send that over very quickly and buy local items which will support the Myanmar economy."

Soon after the cyclone hit on Saturday, nearly 17,000 Red Cross Burmese relief workers were on the ground distributing life-saving relief items, such as drinking water, clothing, food, plastic tarpaulins, and hygiene kits.

Approximately 24 million people live in the declared disaster areas and 41,000 are reported missing.

Nearly all communications, electricity and transportation has been wiped out, making rescue efforts extremely difficult.

At least five Burmese states and one city, Rangoon, have been declared disaster areas by the country’s government.

There are significant concerns of disease as the water system is not functional. Without immediate action diarrhea and dysentery will become killers, especially of small children, the elderly and those who are already ill.

The food security issue, which was already severe, is expected to get worse, according to the United Nations for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs.

The normally secretive military junta appealed for help once the extent of the damage became clear.

"We will welcome help . . . from other countries because our people are in difficulty," Foreign Minister Nyah Win said in a rare appearance on state-run television.

Burma, deemed a pariah state among Western democracies, has been cut off from most forms of traditional international aid such as the World Bank and Asian Development Bank and bilateral aid for the past two decades, as part of the West’s economic sanctions on the country.
It still remains unclear whether Burma, which has been run by military dictatorships since 1962, would place restrictions on the aid deliveries and foreign aid workers as it has in the past.
"We can’t yet provide any details," said Major General Maung Maung Swe, minister of social welfare and resettlement.

The military junta that is ruling Burma, listed as one of the world’s least developed countries, has earned a reputation for poor macro-economic management, let alone disaster-management.
Public funds to handle the crisis are severely limited.

Cyclone Nargis has shattered the isolated country at a politically sensitive time as the ruling military junta is preparing to hold a national referendum Saturday to win the approval of a constitution that would essentially cement the military’s dominance in Burma’s future elected governments.

Critics of the referendum and the military-drafted constitution have called on the government to postpone the vote to better cope with the humanitarian challenge that it faces in the coming weeks.
While insisting it would go ahead with the referendum, the government announced Tuesday that it would allow the voting to be postponed until May 24 in 47 in the hardest-hit townships of Irrawaddy and Yangon.

The junta’s response to this catastrophe could well redefine its relationship with the rest of the world, experts observed.

On Monday, the Canadian Ministry of International Cooperation announced it would set aside up to $2 million in humanitarian assistance to respond to the tropical cyclone.

"Canada is working closely with trusted partners such as United Nations humanitarian agencies, the Red Cross Movement and experienced non-governmental organizations to determine how Canada’s support can best meet the humanitarian needs of the people, once access is allowed by the Burmese government," said the Minister of International Cooperation, Beverley J. Oda.

In December 2007, Canada created the Special Economic Measures (Burma) Regulations.

These measures include an export ban and a prohibition on the provision of Canadian financial services to and from Burma. There are exemptions to these sanctions on humanitarian grounds.

Since most charities have been kicked out of the country by the junta, relief groups are scrambling to get aid to the affected region. As of Tuesday afternoon, UN workers were still awaiting visas to enter the country.

Meanwhile, Canada’s international aid organization, the Canadian International Development Agency, has also earmarked $2 million in support of international organizations such as the UN, the International Red Cross and the World Food Program.

CARE, an international humanitarian organization with offices in Canada, is currently conducting field assessments in the South Dagon and Thaketa areas to determine where the need is greatest. At present the provision of shelter and safe drinking water are the highest priorities followed by food and sanitation.

CARE Canada is calling on Canadians to give generously and said in an emergency, as little as $10 can provide plastic sheeting to give shelter for a family or enough food for a mother and her children for a week.

Here in Vancouver, the Action Committee for a Free Burma has partnered with the National League for Democracy Canada and the Burmese Students’ Democratic Organization (BSDO) to hold a fund raising luncheon on May 18 from 10 a.m. to 2 p.m. at the Manawmaya Theravada Buddhist Society in Surrey.

"We started mobilizing as soon as we hard th news," said Htay Aung from BSDO. "We hope local Canadians bring food and money to help those in need."

So far the groups have raised $2,000, according to San San Yu from the Action Committee for a Free Burma.

Many of the volunteers have friends and family still in Burma, said Yu, leaving them with too many questions and not enough answers.

"Some of my friends here are very worried about their family because we don’t know what’s happened there," he said. "They don’t have any telephone lines so it’s hard to find out what’s going on inside. We needed to raise money so we can provide very important things like clean water."

International support stands strong but the chance to hold the junta responsible for it’s laissez-faire attitude towards the safety of its people has not gone missed.

At the same time that President George W. Bush offered to deploy the U.S. Navy if the junta agrees, First Lady Laura Bush criticized the ruling Burmese military for not giving its people adequate warning.

"Although they were aware of the threat, Burma’s state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to citizens in the storm’s path," she said at a White House press conference Monday afternoon. "The response to the cyclone is just the most recent example of the junta’s failure to meet its people’s basic needs."

To donate to CARE Canada’s Emergency Relief Fund for Cyclone Nargis phone 1.800.267.5232. Or, to donate to Red Cross Canada, call 1.800.418.1111 or visitwww.redcross.ca.