Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone

[Ptarmigan]

Myanmar believes 13,000 dead, missing from cyclone
By Aung Hla Tun
Mon May 5, 3:51 PM ET

YANGON (Reuters) - Myanmar's military junta believes at least 10,000 people died in a cyclone that ripped through the Irrawaddy delta, triggering a massive international aid response for the pariah state in southeast Asia.

"The basic message was that they believe the provisional death toll was about 10,000 with 3,000 missing," a Yangon-based diplomat told Reuters in Bangkok, summarizing a briefing from Foreign Minister Nyan Win. "It's a very serious toll."

The scale of the disaster from Saturday's devastating cyclone drew a rare acceptance of outside help from the diplomatically isolated generals, who spurned such approaches in the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami.

The secretive military, which has ruled the former Burma for 46 years, has moved even further into the shadows in the last six months due to the widespread outrage at its bloody crackdown on protests led by Buddhist monks in September.

Full Article

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The death toll is now at least 15,000 dead. This is the deadliest tropical cyclone this century. This is worse than Katrina and Sidr COMBINED. My condolences to the people of Myanmar. They have been through a lot. 

[LC EFA]

Note that once again, when disaster hits, the USA as always is first off the blocks to help the people out.

FOREIGN AID

The United States, which has imposed sanctions on the junta, said it had provided $250,000 in immediate assistance and a disaster response team was on standby.

"At this moment as I understand it the Burmese government has not given them permission to go into the country," State Department spokesman Tom Casey told reporters.

Two Indian naval ships loaded with food, tents, blankets, clothing and medicines would sail for Yangon soon, Indian's Ministry of External Affairs said.

The U.N. office in Yangon said there was an urgent need for plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, cooking equipment, mosquito nets, health kits and food.

It said the situation outside Yangon was "critical, with shelter and safe water being the principal immediate needs."

The junta leaders, bunkered in their remote new capital of Naypyidaw, 400 km (240 miles) north of Yangon, said they would go ahead with a May 10 referendum on a new army-drafted constitution that critics say will entrench the military.

The last major storm to ravage Asia was Cyclone Sidr which killed 3,300 people in Bangladesh last November.

Funny how I can't see the euro's mentioned in there once. 

[rich_t]

Note that once again, when disaster hits, the USA as always is first off the blocks to help the people out.

And when Hurricane Katrina did damage to about 90,000 sq. miles (about the size of the UK),  how many countries offered us a helping hand?

[mamacags]

I read this morning that there are 50,000 now feared dead.   I can't even imagine how horrible the scene is there. 

[NHSparky]

I'm reminded of the cyclone which struck Bangladesh in 1970.  The death toll from that was estimated at nearly 500,000.

I still can't wrap my head around a number like that perishing in a natural disaster of any sort.  Prayers for all the victims, both living and those whose suffering has ended.

[BEG]

For those of us (read me) who didn't know the difference between a cyclone and tornado, I googled it.  I feel like an idiot for not knowing the difference.

http://wrc.weatherplus.com/weathernews/14615365/detail.html

Cyclone Vs. Tornado

While both tropical cyclones and tornadoes are atmospheric vortices, they have little in common. Tornadoes have diameters on the scale of hundreds of meters and are produced from a single convective storm (i.e. a thunderstorm or cumulonimbus cloud). A tropical cyclone, however, has a diameter on the scale of hundreds of kilometers and is comprised of several to dozens of convective storms.

Additionally, while tornadoes require substantial vertical shear of the horizontal winds to provide ideal conditions for tornado genesis, tropical cyclones require very low values of tropospheric vertical shear in order to form and grow. Tornadoes are produced in regions of large temperature gradient, while tropical cyclones are generated in regions of near zero horizontal temperature gradient.

Also, tornadoes are primarily an over-land phenomenon, as solar heating of the land surface usually contributes toward the development of the thunderstorm that spawns the vortex, although over-water tornadoes have occurred. But tropical cyclones are purely an oceanic phenomena. They die out over land due to a loss of a moisture source.
Lastly, tropical cyclones have a lifetime that is measured in days, while tornadoes typically last on the scale of minutes.
Source: Atlantic Oceanographic and Meteorological Laboratory

[Chris_]

DUmmies will cite globalwarming for this disaster wihch is of course blamed on Booooosh in 3...2...1...   

[LC EFA]

For those of us (read me) who didn't know the difference between a cyclone and tornado, I googled it.  I feel like an idiot for not knowing the difference.

The easiest way to look at it, is to think of a cyclone as the southern hemisphere's version of a hurricane.

Primary functional difference is that they "spin" in opposite directions.

DUmmies will cite globalwarming for this disaster wihch is of course blamed on Booooosh in 3...2...1..

It was Teh Joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosâ„¢

[Chris_]

For those of us (read me) who didn't know the difference between a cyclone and tornado, I googled it.  I feel like an idiot for not knowing the difference.

The easiest way to look at it, is to think of a cyclone as the southern hemisphere's version of a hurricane.

Primary functional difference is that they "spin" in opposite directions.

DUmmies will cite globalwarming for this disaster wihch is of course blamed on Booooosh in 3...2...1..

It was Teh Joooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooooosâ„¢

Liberals are like hurricanes....
They spin to the left.
They are fueled by hot air.
No one wants them around....most sane people run when they approach.
They leave nothing but disaster behind them.

[Chris_]

aaaaaaaand here we go......

Al Gore Calls Myanmar Cyclone a 'Consequence' of Global Warming

Using tragedy to advance an agenda has been a strategy for many global warming activists, and it was just a matter of time before someone found a way to tie the recent Myanmar cyclone to global warming.

     Former Vice President Al Gore in an interview on NPR’s May 6 “Fresh Air” broadcast did just that. He was interviewed by “Fresh Air” host Terry Gross about the release of his book, “The Assault on Reason,” in paperback.

     â€œAnd as we’re talking today, Terry, the death count in Myanmar from the cyclone that hit there yesterday has been rising from 15,000 to way on up there to much higher numbers now being speculated,” Gore said. “And last year a catastrophic storm from last fall hit Bangladesh. The year before, the strongest cyclone in more than 50 years hit China – and we’re seeing consequences that scientists have long predicted might be associated with continued global warming.”

     Gore claimed global warming is forcing ocean temperatures to rise, which is causing storms, including cyclones and hurricanes, to intensify.

     â€œIt’s also important to note that the emerging consensus among the climate scientists is although any individual storm can’t be linked singularly to global warming – we’ve always had hurricanes,” Gore said. “Nevertheless, the trend toward more Category 5 storms – the larger ones and trend toward stronger and more destructive storms appears to be linked to global warming and specifically to the impact of global warming on higher ocean temperatures in the top couple of hundred feet of the ocean, which drives convection energy and moisture into these storms and makes them more powerful.”

     In October 2007, CNN Meteorologist Rob Marciano disputed Gore’s claim that there is a strong correlation between intense storms and global warming. He explained that “global warming does not conclusively cause stronger hurricanes like we've seen,” pointing out that “by the end of this century we might get about a 5-percent increase.”

MORE BORE

[Ptarmigan]

Can these insane Global Warming fanatics just SHUT THE F*** UP about this.  Many people are suffering in Myanmar and that is the last thing I want to even think about.

[Ptarmigan]

Note that once again, when disaster hits, the USA as always is first off the blocks to help the people out.


Funny how I can't see the euro's mentioned in there once. 

The Myanmar Junta is really making a huge mistake when it comes to refusing aide. This could be their downfall.

[Ptarmigan]

The death toll could go as high as 100,000+.

http://www.cnn.com/2008/WORLD/asiapcf/05/07/myanmar.aidcyclone/index.html

Horrible.