AMID latest estimates that between 63,000 and 100,000 people are now dead or missing in cyclone-hit Burma, reports of aid material being seized by the government are of acute international concern. The World Food Programme temporarily halted aid shipments to the country after two plane-loads of food were impounded on arrival by the military authorities.
The ruling junta insists that its own forces should be in charge of distributing food to the affected areas. But so massive is the scale of the damage and so desperate the plight of hundreds of thousands of refugees that the task needs as many hands
as possible. Spurning aid in this way now threatens to turn a disaster into a humanitarian scandal.
The UN fears more than 1.5 million people have been severely affected by the cyclone, with tens of thousands made homeless and vulnerable to disease. The scale of this disaster and the challenge to the relief agencies becomes greater with every day. The World Health Organisation says access to clean drinking water and outbreaks of communicable diseases such as dengue and malaria are a major concern. Hundreds of thousands of people have no food, water or shelter. International aid agencies on the ground say seven tonnes of high-energy biscuits have been distributed in the delta region, but they have reached only 10 per cent of those that need help.
Despite this, Burma's foreign ministry issued a statement yesterday that it was not ready to allow foreign aid workers to enter the country. The junta is intent on controlling the distribution itself. In this, the country's military leaders appear to be putting their pride and entrenched suspicion of foreigners before the lives of their people.
Red Cross official Anders Ladekarl reports that there are almost no boats and no helicopters. He said he was shocked at the small scale of the operation that greeted him when he arrived in Burma.
Entire villages have been submerged in the worst-hit Irrawaddy delta, with bodies floating in salty water and children ripped from their parents' arms. Aid groups warned that thousands of children may have been orphaned and the area is on the verge of a medical disaster.
The UN, in delivering its assessment of numbers affected by the cyclone, voiced "significant concern" about the disposal of dead bodies. Animal and human corpses are a big problem. Many are not buried and lie in water.
International pressure must now be brought to bear on the military government, not only to allow in urgently needed aid but also to allow UN organisations to create direct lines of access to the stricken areas. The disaster is now too great in scale for anything other than a massive international effort to help bring aid and relief. The longer the delay and the more persistent the bureaucratic blockages, the greater the global outrage that the country's junta will face.
Conservation coup for zooEDINBURGH Zoo looks set for a transforming addition – or pair of additions – that will have the turnstiles clicking as never before. Senior officials are in advanced negotiations to bring a pair of giant pandas to Scotland.
Securing the pandas is no simple matter of catching them in the wild and crating them for the journey to Edinburgh. It is an extensive diplomatic effort, extending to the most senior levels of the Chinese government. For pandas are not seen as mere cuddly crowd-pullers, but as high-ranking diplomatic gifts, with huge political, cultural and conservational hurdles to be cleared before the custody of these most endearing of animals is entrusted to others. Giant pandas are among the world's most endangered species. Zoos worldwide have clamoured to obtain pandas and many have been turned down.
But after visits to China by senior officials of Edinburgh Zoo, a Letter of Intent has now been signed and there is a good prospect that the zoo will be entrusted with the pandas – an outstanding endorsement of the zoo's custodianship. Various Chinese ministries must still give approval, but the final agreement could be signed by Gordon Brown during the Olympic Games in August. Photo opportunities will abound. By that time the beleaguered Prime Minister may be in even more need of a cute and happy publicity shot.
A step in the wrong directionSHOULD there be limits to the ever onward march of health and safety? And where should the line be drawn? Admirers of the of the "Kirkie Steps" in Montrose – the picturesque sandstone flight of stairs that flank the historic churchyard in the heart of the town – are very clear that a line should be drawn. And it's not the line that the council has drawn on the steps. In the name of health and safety, workmen have daubed the edges of the steps a fluorescent yellow. Little wonder the local heritage society is up in arms.
Esoteric though this may be, it has ramifications across Scotland, a country rich in historical artefacts and with a passionate concern to protect its past. Are all the little wynds and closes of Edinburgh to be so daubed? Or our churches roped off because of uneven flagstones? Or the Scott Monument plastered with health and safety edicts? Untrammelled health and safety intervention could close down most of our past to public view, and ruin what is still accessible by fluorescent paints, hand rails, ramps, grilles and netting.
And it's not just our history that stands to be wrecked by such jobsworth vandalism, but a swathe of recreational pursuits, now under threat from injury claims. More of this and health and safety will have turned the entire country into a museum – and one too dangerous to visit without protective clothes.
The full article contains 960 words and appears in The Scotsman newspaper.
