Cyclone Nargis hits Burma – May 2008 – how will they recover?

Cyclone Nargis hit the closed state of Burma on Friday the 2nd of May 2008. Initial reports suggest that the dfamage has been severe:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384858.stm

There is more detail on the growth of the storm here:

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Cyclone_Nargis

There is argument over whether the authorities could have given a better warning to it’s people:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7386695.stm

Given that Burma’s militarty government has closed itself off to the West and usually spends much of its effort oppressing its people, the ability of the government to help its people is under question:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7384552.stm

Will international aid agencies be able to work as effectively as possible under the Burmese regime? Here an Al-Jazeera TV report shows part of the ruling regime’s respones:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=E4NjDAKLxo4&eurl

What sort of aid was organised to provide relief?

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/7385148.stm

The loss of mangrove forests has again been highlighted as a factor increasing the vulnerability to flooding of coastal areas in tropical regions:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/sci/tech/7385315.stm

 Here is an overview of the BBC coverage of Cyclone Nargis:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/in_depth/asia_pacific/2008/burma_cyclone/default.stm

A year on from the disaster, the British Government’s Department For International Development (DFID) explained how it had responded to the events:

http://www.dfid.gov.uk/Media-Room/News-Stories/2009/Cyclone-Nargis-One-year-on—Photo-stories/

The BBC produced an interactive map to show how people were coping a year after Cyclone Nargis struck:

http://news.bbc.co.uk/1/hi/world/asia-pacific/8026834.stm