Myanmar and China

On May 2 in Myanmar, also commonly known as Burma, cyclone Nargis hit with a devastating force. Only 10 days later, while Myanmar was still recovering, a magnitude 7.8 earthquake struck China’s Sichuan province. Today in Myanmar there are more than 130,000 people dead or missing and in China, more than 41,000.


While each government is handling the environmental and social aftermath and clean up of these tragedies, global aid workers and other government aid groups are attempting to help in the relief efforts. The resistance foreign aid workers are still being met with and confusion over how to handle aid and resources also brings to light a few standing issues:

1. International laws and barriers preventing global community response

2. Local and international response including vaccine distribution and physician communication

3. Potential infectious disease outbreaks and G.I. infections from lack of clean water and food

These are serious considerations that are only slowly being addressed.

We’d like to hear from you on this, especially our members near these regions. How do you think the international community should respond? If you are there, we invite you to share your story.