In Burma (Myanmar) cyclone Nargis's death toll has reached some 134,000 people dead or missing, one third of which may be children according to UNICEF. Thousands more young children are expected to die within two to three weeks from hunger if doesn't reach them soon according to Save the Children. According to Save the Children, an estimated 30,000 children under the age of five in the cyclone-affected Irrawaddy Delta were already acutely malnourished before the cyclone hit on May 2, and thus would already be suffering from aggravated conditions of malnutrition. Undocumented numbers of children have also been left orphans by the cyclones destruction, more than 600 are estimated thus far, leaving the military junta to work with UNICEF and the Red Cross to set up orphanages for cyclone orphans(AP).
The World Bank is working to coordinate international aid for cyclone-hit country from The Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and is ready to deploy teams to do damage assessments, Sarah Cliffe, Director of World Bank Operations for East Asia and the Pacific, said on May 20. The goal is to get humanitarian aid to victims, however the military government in Myanmar has said it won't allow Western aid unfettered access to disaster areas.
The stonewalling of the government has left the European Parliament is threatening to bring the military regime before the International Court of Justice in The Hague. It will vote on May 22 on whether to charge the government with crimes against humanity, Radio Netherlands reported. Thus far only small portion of aid has been able to get through to the 2.5 million people affected by the cyclone. On May 23rd in a deal negotiated by U.N. Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon and junta supremo Than Shwe, it was agreed to let in “all” aid workers regardless of their nationality (Reuters). However within days aid efforts were already appearing to be stonewalled, nonetheless some aid efforts have been able to seep in and thus many are hopeful that the block on aid will quickly dissolve (Reuters).
One can only hope that the aid will not be too late for the thousands of Burmese children who have been left in extreme cases of hunger and nourishment as a result of both the cyclone and the bureaucracy that followed.
