Pretty shocking information coming out, most of it sadly unsurprising. Aside from not letting aid workers or UN inspection teams in the Burmese government are...
1: Taking credit for the efforts of individuals and private organisations by either covering existing relief efforts with their flags or actually forcefully taking the supplies off the private agencies in the act of handing it out and redistributing it themselves.
2: Impounding UN food aid in warehouses.
3: Selling food at extortinate prices to survivors.
4: Not only failed to give adequate warning of the cylone, but downplayed its lethal potentiality leading to more deaths:
"Cyclone Nargis: What went wrong in Burma?
Htet Aung Kyaw
May 7, 2008 (DVB)-Many people, including this correspondent, were shocked to hear the Burmese state media announcing that the death toll of Cyclone Nargis had reached 4000 on Sunday.
As I work for daily news media, I had not been surprised when they announced 351 deaths in Saturday, as DVB had aired an interview with an official from Burma's meteorology department on 30 April forecasting a cyclone with wind speeds of 40 miles per hour to hit delta, coastal and Rangoon regions on Friday.
If the speed had been 40 miles as the authorities said, there could not have been as much damage as we are seeing today, with over 25,000 deaths, and 40,000 missing.
So what went wrong? Was the meteorology department hiding the real information or was the lack of modern equipment to blame for not predicting the deadly cyclone?
Having worked in the media for over a decade, I know well the junta's notorious censorship, especially of political news. But I didn't think they would hide information on impending disasters, especially not after the reality of the 2004 tsunami which killed 93 in Burma. So I suspected that lack of modern equipment rather than suppression of information was to blame.
But my optimism was to prove misguided when I read an AFP news article in which Indian Meteorological Department spokesman B.P. Yadav said his department had warned the Burmese authorities of the coming cyclone.
"Forty-eight hours before Nargis struck, we indicated its point of crossing [landfall], its severity and all related issues to Myanmarese agencies," Yadav told the French news agency on Tuesday, after the US first lady alleged that the military junta failed to warn its citizens of the impending storm.
The allegation has come not only from the US but also from survivors in the delta region.
"I also heard what you did, that the wind would hit us at 40 miles per hour, from Myanmar Athan. That's why we weren't too worried and were unprepared" says Dr Aye Kyu from Laputta city, where he says about 100,000 people are dead and missing."
Not feeling the love for the Burmese junta, then.
Unless a radical turn-around is done in the next day then in the coming week the death toll is certainly going to top the hundred thousand and probably reach quite a lot higher. It has been six days since the cyclone hit and the troops still haven't made a determined effort to push into the affected areas, and the junta are dithering due to their paranoia and control-freakery.
Nothing new there, then. Probably not up for the BETEO Award in the field of 'Excellence-to-Others'.
The question is - knowing this, do we donate?