International experts desperately needed inside Burma, aid groups say

Solomon

Saturday, 10 May 2008 22:03

New Delhi – International experts should be let into Burma urgently because they have technical skills that local aid workers lack as well as previous experience with catastrophes, aid workers and human rights experts said Saturday. "We don't need assessment, but we need action," said Dr. Frank Smithuis, spokesman for Medecins Sans Frontieres (also know as MSF, or Doctors Without Borders). "Definitely, we need a few experts – one sanitation expert, emergency logistics." Dr. Smithuis told Mizzima that water sanitation systems are quite complicated and need to be installed by experts. Three planes arriving Sunday and Monday will bring drugs, water pumps and equipment to treat 30,000 liters of drinking water, he said. "That is high-tech equipment and we don't have expertise [in the country]," he said from Rangoon. MSF has requested visas for five international staff, he said. Aid groups have accused the military junta of delaying shipments and dragging its feet in granting visas to international aid workers. The Burmese Foreign Ministry has replied that it wants aid and supplies, but not foreign workers. "This is a very, very big problem. This is a major tragedy," said Steven Marshall, chief of the International Labour Organization in Rangoon. Marshall said handling a disaster of this scale "is probably beyond the single capacity of any government in the world … without actually having a good, pool of expert support." More than 100,000 people were killed by Cyclone Nargis, which swept through Burma's Irrawaddy Delta region and Rangoon last weekend. More than one million people are in need of assistance, according to relief agencies. David Scott Mathieson, Burma Consultant for Human Rights Watch, said foreign aid workers have the expertise to manage a response to disasters like Cyclone Nargis and should be working with the government. "They are professional aid workers and they are used to things like this," Mathieson said. "It's their expertise, it's their skills. If they had gotten in to Myanmar five days ago, they would have saved lives." Aid workers from several agencies, including World Vision, said they have been waiting several days to find out if visa applications will be approved. The Burmese Embassy in Bangkok, where many of the aid workers applied, was closed Friday because of a Thai holiday. "In a situation like this you need people with expertise, and the United Nations and aid agencies have experts to know exactly what to do and how to save lives," said Mark Farmaner, Director of the Burma Campaign UK. "Its no good just having the aid," he said. "You need the experts to know how to deliver it in the right way to the right people." Farmaner said about hundred disaster relief experts were waiting to get visas. They have experience with the aftermath of the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, the cyclone in Bangladesh last year and other disasters across the world. "All over the world countries let aid workers in in times of crisis because they need the expertise," Farmaner said. "But the generals don't have the expertise. The soldiers that they have got have been trained to shoot unarmed civilians. They have not been trained to provide aid." Additional information by Mungpi < Prev   Next >