Super Typhoon Megi Hits the Philippines - Strongest Typhoon at Landfall on Record

Called a "monster storm" by meteorologists, the most intense weather event of 2010 has hit the Philippines. Stronger than Katrina, the storm has recorded winds of 178 mph with gusts up to 217 mph. The winds are expected to decrease (relatively) to 140 mph as it makes landfall.

(CNN) -- Super Typhoon Megi has made landfall in the northern Philippines, the national weather agency said Monday. Megi, also known as Typhoon Juan, made landfall near Sierra Madre on Luzon island, according to the Philippine Atmospheric, Geophysical & Astronomical Services Administration (PAGASA). It has maximum sustained winds of about 225 kph (140 kph) and gusts of up to 260 kph (162 mph).

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Starvation warning for Burma/Myanmar's Children

by The Environmentalist Staff

Save the Children has warned that thousands of children impacted by Cyclone Nargis may starve to death within days:

"We are extremely worried that many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger," said Jasmine Whitbread, who heads the agency's operation in Britain. "When people reach this stage, they can die in a matter of days."

International outrage has been growing at the Myanmar Junta's obstructive behavior and unwillingness to allow experts and aid into the devastated region. This has prompted the U.N. Secretary General, Ban Ki-moon, to send U.N. humanitarian chief John Holmes to Myanmar this weekend.

"He's going at the request of the secretary-general to find out what's really going on the ground, to get a much better picture of how the response is going and ... to see how much we can help them scale up this response," [Amanda Pitt, a U.N. spokeswoman in Bangkok] said. Details of the visit, she said, were still being worked out.

The U.N. report said all communications equipment used by foreign agencies must be purchased through Myanmar's Ministry of Posts and Communications -- with a maximum of 10 telephones per agency -- for US$1,500 (euro960) each. Importing equipment is not allowed.

There have been reports of the Junta taking the limited aid that has been allowed in and distributing it to those associated with their regime, stockpiling it in warehouses and/or selling it at inflated prices on the Yangon market.

Britain's prime minister has directly accused the Junta of preventing aid from reaching victims and said "the military regime cares more about its own survival than it's people's welfare."

"This is inhuman," Gordon Brown stated.

French and U.S. supply ships, including the fully stocked USS Essex, with its scores of helicopters and Marines trained in disaster relief, have been anchored off the Burmese coast awaiting permission to bring their supplies directly to the 2.5 million failing survivors. Authorization has not been forthcoming...

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Myanmar/Burma's Cyclone Catastrophe: est. 100,000 killed, million homeless

by The Environmentalist Staff

Cross-posted on the Chicago Sun-Times, Reuters

Cyclone Nargis' ten hour devastation of Myanmar/Burma last Saturday is quickly emerging as a humanitarian catastrophe, leading their repressive and secretive military junta to take the unprecedented step of requesting international aid, while resisting granting the visas to allow those aid agencies and government organizations the access needed to bring those supplies to the impacted areas.

Reports of Cholera and Malaria in the cyclone zone have now been confirmed. The U.S. was able to land one transport plane with mosquito nets and water purification supplies. The Myanmar Junta has said they will let two more planes in. Concern is growing that the regime is either keeping the supplies for themselves, distributing them only to those with relatives in the military or otherwise connected to the regime and/or selling them on the inflated open market.

(NGO's accepting donations for this disaster: World Vision, Red Cross Red Crescent, America Burma Buddhist Assoc., Global Giving, Doctors without Borders, UN World Food Program).

YANGON, Myanmar (CNN) -- The death toll from the Myanmar cyclone is more than [new U.N. estimate: 100,000] people, Myanmar's Foreign Ministry said Monday. Survivors were facing their third night without electricity in the aftermath of the historic cyclone that also clogged roads with thousands of downed trees.

Diplomats were summoned to a government briefing Monday as the reclusive southeast Asian country's ruling military junta issued a rare appeal for international assistance in the face of an escalating humanitarian crisis.

A state of emergency was declared across much of the country following the 10-hour storm that left swathes of destruction in its wake.

The people of Burma/Myanmar only learned of the impending disaster through outside news sources, such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America -- which left them without enough time to prepare for the cyclone. There are reports of growing numbers of dead and homeless (rumored six figures), with an estimated ten thousand killed in one town alone:

The hardest-hit area was the Irrawaddy region where about 10,000 people died in Bogalay, 90 kms (55 miles) southwest of Yangon.

Aid agencies gathered in nearby Thailand are trying to work out access to the country with the regime. International calls to allow access to aid workers have fallen on deaf ears with the military junta. A U.S. carrier group that is in the Bay of Thailand to conduct, ironically, disaster relief exercises, could have helicopters with relief supplies and experts in the effected areas within hours, but thus far, has not received permission from the Myanmar regime to land.

The U.S. government is now asking China, a Myanmar trading partner, to get the reclusive regime to grant permission. These attempts, thus far, have been unsuccessful, leaving the USS Essex and its tons of relief supplies, marines and disaster relief experts to watch the growing humanitarian disaster in horror and frustration.

“Stories get worse by the hour,” one Yangon resident, who did not want to be identified for fear of government retribution, said in an e-mail message. “No drinking water in many areas, still no power. Houses completely disappeared. Refugees scavenging for food in poorer areas. Roofing, building supplies, tools — all are scarce and prices skyrocketing on everything.”

The U.N. Secretary General has issued a statement to say that he was "deeply saddened by the loss of life and the destruction suffered by the people of Myanmar" and has promised international support. No word, as yet, from the Myanmar regime's main trading partner, China, or from the oil and gas companies that do business with them.

Scenes of the destruction showed extensive flooding, boats on their sides in Yangon harbor, roofs ripped off buildings, uprooted trees and downed power lines after cyclone Nargis battered the Irrawaddy delta with 150 mile (241 km) an hour winds throughout Friday night and Saturday morning, dumping 20 inches of rain.

The death toll and ongoing humanitarian crisis within the already devastatingly poor population is expected to worsen as are the tensions between the government and their opponents, led by the country's Buddhist monks, whose protests against the junta were put down with violence last fall.

President Bush has pleaded with the junta to "let the United States come in and help you."

First Lady, Laura Bush, in a rare press conference, announced: "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,” Mrs. Bush said in a rare news conference at the White House. “It’s troubling that many of the Burmese people learned of this impending disaster only when foreign outlets, such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, sounded the alarm."

The American Embassy in Myanmar has authorized the release of $250,000 [now $3 million] in immediate emergency aid, and Mrs. Bush promised, “More aid will be forthcoming."

Within Burma/Myanmar, the price of gas has soared to $10 per gallon. Food staple costs have risen out of reach of the population. This has led to growing anger across southeast Asia, as the evidence mounts that the regime was not only unprepared for the disaster...

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