Monk says time running out for Myanmar farmers

By Nina Muslim, Gulf News, July 23, 2008

Dubai, UAE -- More than 1.5 million villagers face starvation with few days left to plant rice in the wake of Cyclone Nargis, which devastated the reclusive state and destroyed crops, said a leading Buddhist monk in Myanmar.

Myanmar cyclone survivors proved tough, experts say

Associated Press, June 25, 2008

BANGKOK, Thailand—Dire warnings that cyclone survivors in Myanmar might fall prey to disease and starvation failed to take into account the survival instincts of those affected, aid agencies and disaster experts say.

Myanmar monks a vital lifeline for cyclone survivors

AFP, June 2, 2008

YANGON, Myanmar -- A Buddhist monk in his maroon robe silently guards boxes of noodles, while another monk tries to plot an aid route to cyclone survivors using satellite print-outs of Myanmar's Irrawaddy Delta.

In desperate times, Burmese turn to their monks

International Herald Tribune, May 30, 2008

Kun Wan, Myanmar -- It is a scene Myanmar’s ruling generals are unlikely to see played out for themselves: As a convoy of trucks carrying relief
supplies, led by Buddhist monks, passed through storm-devastated villages,
hungry children and homeless mothers bowed in supplication and respect.

Myanmar villagers scavenge for rotten rice

Los Angeles Times, May 28, 2008

YAWAR THAR YAR, MYANMAR -- The search for food begins just after dawn. Each day, men, women and children fan out into paddies flooded by seawater, littered with corpses. Like prospectors working claims, they scoop up the muck in their bare hands and finger through it for grains of unmilled rice swept away by the cyclone.

The Foundation for the People of Burma

The Buddhist Channel, May 26, 2008

San Francisco, USA -- Since day two of the disaster, the FOUNDATION FOR THE PEOPLE OF BURMA has been on the ground delivering relief to the poor, the newly homeless, the children, the elderly and all those trying to rebuild their lives.

Myanmar junta stance on foreign aid a crime - monks

by Ahmad Pathoni, Reuters, May 22, 2008

Myanmar junta stance on foreign aid a crime - monks

Yangon, Myanmar -- Myanmar's military rulers have committed crimes against humanity by delaying the entry of international workers to help cyclone victims, exiled Buddhist monks said on Thursday.

Myanmar's top temple source of comfort

AP, May 20, 2008

YANGON, Myanmar -- As the steady rain that had been falling all day Monday eased off, the monks at the Shwedagon Pagoda began to chant and the worshippers prayed. Many brought their children, some of whom laughed and played marbles in the pavilion.

Myanmar's Buddhist monks fill cyclone aid void

By Aung Hla Tun, Reuters, May 17, 2008

KUNTHECHAUNG, Myanmar -- With a loudhailer in one hand and a clipboard in the other, the bespectacled Buddhist monk calls out names from a long list of villages devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

The real heroes of Myanmar's cyclone disaster

by Tyche Hendricks, San Francisco Chronicle, May 14, 2008

Burmese citizens, not junta, tending to the sick and hungry

Rangoon, Burma -- As the urgency intensifies to get food, water and medicine into the worst-affected areas of Burma 11 days after the country was hit by Cyclone Nargis, the country's military government continues to baffle the world by stonewalling international disaster relief.

Monks' Relief Aims Thwarted

by Graeme Jenkins, National Post, May 16, 2008

Burmese cyclone victims seeking shelter at monasteries forced to relocate; Aid Still At Trickle

RANGOON, Burma -- After the devastation of Cyclone Nargis, the military junta has forcibly relocated tens of thousands of survivors from the Irrawaddy Delta, including many who had sought shelter in Buddhist monasteries, the centre of unrest during protests against the generals last year.

A battle for Burma's soul

by Christopher Johnson, Toronto Star, May 16, 2008

Response to killer cyclone highlights the animosity between the country's military and Buddhist clergy

Mae Sot, Thailand -- The military and the Buddhist clergy have long been competing for the souls of Burmese people. The military has guns, helicopters, and now relief supplies.

Myanmar pushing survivors out of monasteries, say monks

AFP, May 15, 2008

YANGON, Myanmar -- Myanmar is forcing homeless cyclone survivors out of the nation's monasteries, monks from the disaster zone said Thursday, as the junta rebuffed international pressure to allow in foreign aid workers.

Mandalay abbots reach Rangoon with relief supplies

by Naw Say Paw, Democratic Voice of Burma, May 14, 2008

Mandalay, Myanmar -- Four abbots from Maha Gandaryon monastery in Mandalay arrived in Rangoon today with two vanloads of aid to help victims living in cyclone-devastated Rangoon and Irrawaddy divisions.

Myanmar police block aid workers, food piles up

AP, May 14, 2008

YANGON, Myanmar -- Police barred foreign aid workers from reaching cyclone survivors in hard-hit areas Tuesday, while emergency food shipments backed up at the main airport for Myanmar's biggest city.