China & Myanmar

I wanted to send you two articles which show the contrast of two nations which have suffered natural disasters this year are dealing with the disasters. The first, Myanmar Burma, has not allowed much of any aid into their country and is in fact using the disaster to strengthen their hold on power. The other, China, although still a dictatorship which has been facing pressure earlier this year because of their policies on Tibet and Sudan, nevertheless is allowing charities to enter and give aid. It is sad when disasters hit anywhere, but taking advantage of situations like this are very saddening. I hope you find the articles interesting.

http://jeffandrus.blogtownhall.com/
HELL HOLE
Posted by Jeff Andrus on Tuesday, June 10, 2008 9:11:47 PM
The bodies floated.They were part of the aftermath of last month's Cyclone Nargis that cut across the Irrawdy Delta of Myanmar. The sawing vortex of wind and rain, and the storm surge that followed killed 23,000 people and left a million homeless. Nature's worst is child's play compared to the atrocities committed by the government.Myanmar used to be called Burma when it was a British colony. Independence came in 1947. A leftist military coup in 1962 instigated "The Burmese Way of Socialism," kicking off more than 40 years of steady economic decline and periodic outbursts of ethnic cleansing. In 1989 the ruling generals changed the name of their killing fields to Myanmar. The current strong man is General Than Shwe.After refusing foreign aid to victims of Cyclone Nargis, Shwe's State Peace and Development Council allowed show displays of humanitarianism. Among them was a tent city put up and supplied by the United Nations. When the reporters left with their sound bites and footage, the refuges were sent packing and the food distributed to Shwe's soldiers.I know two people whose names I can't mention because they are returning to Myammar to continue whatever they can do. In the past they set up home churches and brought money to buy food and medical supplies from the regional thugs. Bringing material directly into the country is vorboten because there is less chance for profiteering.The churches they help shepherd no longer exist. The people fled to a town above water. There the military conscripted males over the age 12, and put the elderly, women and children into boats. They boats, they were told, would take them to a refugee center.None arrived.
A medical missionary has video of the bodies that floated. They were bloated and pierced by bullets.


http://www.townhall.com/Columnists/HughHewitt/2008/05/22/helping_china_in_an_hour_of_need
Helping China In An Hour Of Need
As the pictures continue to arrive from the region of China impacted by the massive 7.9 earthquake of last week, the reality of the scale of the devastation sinks in.
80,000 are dead or missing, and that number will almost certainly rise.
7,000 schools collapsed. 4,000 children were orphaned in the space of minutes.
There are an estimated 5 million newly homeless Chinese.
The response to such an epic of suffering ought to be generosity, and indeed hundreds of thousands of Americans have been digging deep to send private aid to China.
On my radio show I have pointed listeners to Caring for China, which has been operating orphanages and medical clinics in the earthquake zone for more than 25 years. The Christians who run Caring for China can be trusted to get the donations directly to those suffering in the devastated cities and towns. You can contribute online to an earthquake relief fund at CaringforChina.org, or via a check made out to Caring for China and sent to their American office at 3300 S. Fairview, Santa Ana, CA 92704.
Think about the shocks to the American political system that followed Katrina and 9/11. Disasters -- both natural and man-made-- impact cultures and governments in profound and lasting ways. Many journalists are shocked at the changes the PRC's government have initiated in the aftermath of the quake, allowing private efforts completely divorced from the party or the state to rush aid to the region. Given that the destruction and loss of life has been easily 50 times that which followed Katrina ashore in Louisiana and Mississippi, we can expect China to engage in a long period of soul-searching after the rush to dig out the trapped and bury the dead slows.
When the Chinese begin to mix their massive grieving with the necessity of looking forward and to preventing a recurrence, they will also have occasion to ask who came to their aid? Americans certainly did after 9/11, and again after Katrina.
While the Party in the time of Mao and even in the last years of the 20th century could effectively control the media, the new China is wired, and the Chinese are well aware of the terrible scale of the disaster that has hit them. They are also aware of who is helping them. This is not a time to allow legitimate grievances over heparin and other product scandals or rightful concern over PRC aggressiveness towards Tibet or Taiwan to limit the response to the human suffering and the vast changes set off by the shaking of the ground.