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Aid agencies see China coping with quake, focus on Myanmar
2008-05-13
International aid agencies are standing ready to help China recover from its massive earthquake, but the Chinese appear to have operations well in hand, officials said Tuesday. The United Nations sent a letter to Chinese authorities informing them that a team of experts is ready should China want aid, said Elisabeth Byrs, spokeswoman for the U.N. Office for Humanitarian Affairs. "If China doesn't have sufficient means or if it needs additional expertise, it would appeal to the U.N.," she said. But aid officials said China typically can handle its disasters on its own and had demonstrated a quick, thorough response to the 7.9-magnitude quake that hit central China on Monday, leaving nearly 12,000 dead and thousands more missing. Chinese rescue experts moved swiftly into the rubble, backed up by some 34,000 troops. "The Chinese have a long expertise in natural disasters, and they are equipped and trained," Byrs said, noting that China is able to use its expertise in helping other countries. "The situation in Myanmar would require additional capacity and additional expertise in order to supplement the efforts of the government," she said. The Chinese government said it would welcome outside aid supplies, but not relief workers. Byrs said the U.N. had not received any request for international assistance by Tuesday evening. The international Red Cross said it had sent an assessment team to the quake-affected area and that it was working with local authorities, a spokesman said. The Chinese Red Cross is participating in the aid effort with "volunteers engaged since the first hour," said Pierre Kramer, spokesman for the International Federation of the Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies. Bill Dowell, spokesman for CARE International, said the agency is a confederation with national units each making their own decisions. "But I think that there's very little that we could add to what China can do for itself. So I don't think we'll be involved with China," said Dowell. "China has enormous resources to call on for this situation." That allows global efforts to focus on the overwhelming problems of getting aid to Myanmar cyclone victims, aid officials said. "We fear a second catastrophe (in Myanmar) unless we're able to put in place quickly a maximum of aid and a major logistical effort comparable with the response to the tsunami," Byrs said. Myanmar has been showing more willingness to cooperate with the United Nations, but many obstacles are hindering efforts to reach all in need, she said. Relief agencies need to set up "an air or sea bridge to ship in large quantities of aid as quickly as possible," she said. "Even if aid had been able to arrive since the first few days, we face an extremely big logistical challenge." So far, the U.N. and partner organizations have reached around 270,000 people, one-third of the estimated 1 million left homeless by the storm. The U.N. said only a tiny portion of international relief is reaching Myanmar's cyclone victims, amid reports the country's military regime is hoarding high-quality foreign aid for itself while people make do with inferior food. Asked whether the U.N. is concerned that food and aid from the global body and others that is going into Myanmar is being diverted to non-cyclone victims, U.N. spokeswoman Michele Montas said: "The secretary-general expressed that yesterday (Monday) ... and that concern exists." At the U.N. in New York, both the top U.S. and British envoys also expressed worry about where the aid was going. "We want to make sure that aid goes to the people that are intended to be the recipients, that they're not diverted for other uses, and therefore we want more people there to be able to distribute the aid," U.S. Ambassador Zalmay Khalilzadhe said. British Ambassador John Sawers said he has heard unconfirmed reports of diverted aid. "I think this just underlines the necessity of the Burmese authorities accepting that their own capacity to distribute aid to 1.5 million people, which is what the U.N. assesses are in need of aid, are simply not up to the task, and they wouldn't be for any government," he said. The U.N. has counted $33 million in contributions for Myanmar aid from countries and other donors, with $43 million more pledged. The United Nations has set aside $20.3 million from its central emergency response fund to help with Myanmar. The United Nations appeared to ease the logjam with Myanmar on visas for U.N. relief workers, with 34 on the way to being approved. Byrs said at least 16 of the 34 should be approved as of Tuesday. But other agencies have had to continue working with the hard-pressed staffs present in the country before the May 3 cyclone devastated coastal areas of Myanmar. "We're under pressure because the staff is overstretched and we would like very much to get people in," said Dowell, of CARE. "But we're still having problems with visas. The World Health Organization said medical emergency kits to provide 80,000 cyclone victims with medical aid for three months have arrived in Yangon and were being distributed. The agency, which has around 140 national staff and 11 international staff in the country, has reported some cases of diarrhea and dysentery as well as acute respiratory diseases such as pneumonia. The cyclone left about 62,000 people dead or missing, according to the government count. The U.N. has suggested the death toll is likely to be more than 100,000. ___ Associated Press writer Edith M. Lederer at the United Nations contributed to this report.
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