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GENEVA: The United Nations disaster reduction agency on Tuesday hit
on the absence of an early warning system after Myanmar’s cyclone
Nargis left 22,000 dead.
“Looking at the number of deaths, it leads us
to think that an early warning system had not been put in place,”
Brigitte Leoni, spokeswoman for the UN International Strategy for
Disaster Reduction, told journalists in Geneva.
“Obviously many people did not have time to
evacuate and find refuge in secured buildings,” she said.
She stressed that early warning systems are
“very important and can save many lives” and added that such
systems need to be understood by the population to give them time to
evacuate areas at risk.
US First Lady Laura Bush likewise accused
Myanmar’s military rulers of failing to warn their citizens in
time about a killer cyclone and pressed the junta to accept US aid
in the disaster’s wake.
“Although they were aware of the threat,
Burma’s state-run media failed to issue a timely warning to
citizens in the storm’s path,” Bush said Monday in an unusual
appearance at the White House briefing room podium.
“It’s troubling that many of the Burmese
people learned of this impending disaster only when foreign outlets,
such as Radio Free Asia and Voice of America, sounded the alarm,”
she said. Washington calls the country Burma.
The US First Lady, who has taken a leading role
in shaping US policy towards Myanmar, said Washington “stands
prepared” to increase its assistance well beyond an initial
emergency $250,000 outlay by the US Embassy in Yangon.
-- AFP
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