Mary Callahan on “donations in relief of the disaster in Burma/Myanmar”

Thanks to Chua Ai Lin for the forward from the Humanities and Social Sciences Net online.

H-ASIA
May 10, 2008
On donations in relief of the disaster in Burma/Myanmar
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From: Priti Ramamurthy

Friends,

Mary Callahan, Assoc Prof, U Washington, is one of a handful of senior
political scientist experts on Burma. She has conducted field research there
for years; she authored the prize-winning book Making Enemies: War & state
building in Burma (Cornell University Press 2003) her advice on sending help
to the Burmese surviving the flood of the Irrawaddy Delta follows:

“A number of friends and colleagues have asked how to help the people of Burma in the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis. The malevolence of the Burmese government toward their people is incomprehensible. The junta is making it very difficult for foreign relief agencies to get desperately need medical assistance and other supplies to the hundreds of thousands (more likely millions) of victims of the cyclone. International media report that foreign relief workers are not being granted visas. Even if aid personnel can get into the country, existing government regulations are likely to make it difficult for expatriate relief workers to travel very far outside Rangoon.

There are, however, dozens of international non-governmental organizations (NGOs) in Burma that have worked there for years. There are also several hundred local NGOs, which include faith-based organizations (Christian churches and monasteries) and other social service organizations. And finally, UN agencies such as UNICEF and the UN Development Program have staff throughout the country. Most of these organizations have years of experience carrying out disaster relief during both the annual monsoon and fire seasons. Until yesterday, US economic sanctions against Burma made it quite difficult to donate money to non-governmental operations inside the country. As of last
night, the Treasury Department has loosened some of those restrictions at least in regard to international organizations.

The international and local NGOs and the UN agencies already on the ground employ thousands of Burmese professionals and support staff, who - unlike the foreign/expatriate staff - can travel to affected areas. Already, the NGO community has assembled assessment teams (including medical personnel) to go to the Irrawaddy Delta, where upwards of 20,000 are already confirmed dead.

Realistically, in the early stages of this relief operation, it will be the Burmese staff of INGOs, local NGOs and UN agencies who will carry the lion’s share of the burden. They have worked in this aid-hostile environment; have intimate knowledge of how to carry out aid without putting beneficiaries at risk; and are well-placed to identify community needs. When foreign relief operations do finally get access to Burma, it is of the utmost importance that they coordinate with and support these locally-based nongovernmental organizations and UN agencies that understand the complexity of working in Burma.

Both the Burmese government restrictions and US economic sanctions make it very difficult to give money to local NGOs directly, but it is possible to support their work by donating to the international groups that have longstanding partnerships with local NGOs and community-based organizations (including churches and monasteries). The following international organizations are already in the Delta and have launched fundraising campaigns to support broader efforts. All of them have proven track records in Burma, and especially in the Delta.”

ADRA International Myanmar Cyclone Fund 12501 Old Columbia Pike Silver Spring, MD 20904 (800) 424-ADRA ext. 2372 http://www.adra.org CARE 151 Ellis Street N.E. Atlanta, GA 30303 (800) 521-2273 http://www.care.org Project HOPE 255 Carter Hall Lane Millwood, VA 22646 (800) 544-4673 http://www.projecthope.org Save the Children 54 Wilton Road Westport, CT 06880 (800) 728-3843 https://secure.ga4.org/01/cyclone_nargis

U.S. Fund for UNICEF 125 Maiden Lane, 11th Floor New York, NY 10038 (800) 4UNICEF http://www.unicefusa.org World Concern 19303 Fremont Ave. North Seattle, WA 98133 (800) 755-5022, ext.7706 http://www.worldconcern.org World Vision P.O. Box 9716 Federal Way, WA 98063 888 56-CHILD http://www.worldvision.org

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Aid for Burmese cyclone victims

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last Friday and the damage appears to be far in excess of the 2004 cyclone and may even exceed the impact on the country of the 2004 December Indian Ocean Tsunami. The numbers are up to 22,000 killed, 41,000 missing and up to 200,000 homeless. These are early figures. Sadly again the loss of mangrove forest as a buffer heightened the impact of the cyclone.

To donate towards relief, see: Mercy Relief [phone, bank transfer etc] and Singapore Red Cross [cheque, cash walk in donations].

News: Mercy Relief blog - BBC - CNA - singeo: Google Earth layer - Google News - Yahoo News.

The big red circles are flooded population centres with 100,000-200,000 people.
2005 population estimates in flooded areas = 1.73million - UNOSAT.
Click to download complete pdf.

Dan Rittschof and the Duke University Urban Tropical Ecology field course, 2005-2008

Dan Rittschof has had a long association with Singapore and NUS, dating back to the early 90’s. I first met him at a seminar in which he talked about the hundreds of fiddler crabs in the inter-tidal habitats at North Carolina.

Amongst his many activities is an annual field trip with the small Urban Ecology class from Duke University. Each year I take the students to the mangrove at night in a conspirational exercise with Dan. The experience provides a dramatic contrast to the things the students have seen in the rest of Singapore. It has always been fruitful, as was last night.

Here is a roundup of most of the blog posts. We might need this for something later on. My favourite is “Bucket Boy.”

Duke University: Department of Biology: Graduate Level Biology Course 216. Sojourn in Singapore: Urban Tropical Ecology. The mix of human ecology, tropical diversity, disturbed habitats and invasive species in Singapore. How Singapore maintains and enhances the quality of life of its citizens while radically modifying its environment. Research on politics, management or biology. Travel to Singapore required. Taught in Beaufort. Consent of instructor required. Instructor: Dan Rittschof. 3 units.

2008

• “Mandai Mangroves with Dan Rittschof’s Urban Ecology class,” by N. Sivasothi. Otterman speaks, 21 Mar 2008.
• “Singapore,” by Stan Rule, M.D. Mar 2008.

2007

• “MacRitchie to Bukit Timah today,” by N. Sivasothi. Otterman speaks, 18 Feb 2007.
• “Sisters with Dan & Gang,” by tidechaser. tHE tiDE cHAsER, 21 Feb 2007.
• “Sisters Island with Dr Dan,” by Ria Tan. Wildfilms, 20 Feb 2007.
• “Trip to Big Sisters,” by Siyang. Urban Forest, 20 Feb 2007.
• “Soujourn to Singapore and MORE.” Blog by Ais Kachang or “the Gang” (Duke students), Feb - Apr, 2007.
• “Dr Dan in Singapore.” By Dan Rittschof, Feb-Mar 2007.

2006

• “Mandai mangroves,” by N. Sivasothi. Otterman speaks, 04 Mar 2006.
• “Selatium brocki eating a caterpillar,” by N. Sivasothi. Otterman speaks, 04 Mar 2006.
• “More than 100 horsehoe crabs rescued from gill net at Mandai,” by N. Sivasothi. Habitatnews, 13 Mar 2005.
• “A day out at Kusu Island (1 March 2006),” by Loh Tse Lynn. Blue Water Volunteers, 04 Apr 2006.

2005

• “Bucket Boy,” by N. Sivasothi. Otterman speaks, 13 Mar 2005.
• “Talking to Duke students,” by N. Sivasothi. Raffles Museum news, 17 Mar 2005.
• “CJ with Prof Dan…Dr. Dan!” By Ria Tan, 15 Mar 2005.

Mandai Mangroves with Dan Rittschof’s Urban Ecology class

20 Mar 2008 - It was time for my annual trek with Dan’s students to introduce Mandai mangroves. Some tales later, for I must go crash now. And then there are students reports to read when I wake…

Dog-faced water snake

Episesarma singaporense

Selatium brocki

Mangrove huntsman

A huntsmen spider up on an Avicennia sp. tree

Dan pondering; we had the students lead them out after that

Students figured their way out under watchful eyes

The Traffic jam at Woodlands Road stretched past Kranji MRT

Briskwalked out to Kranji MRT and just in time for the bus too!

Regrouped at the Woodlands Road junction - had to check I still had everyone

Mission accomplished with no casualties…

Mandai mangroves and mudflats featured on Arts Central

Once Upon A Tree II featured Mandai mangroves and mudflats tonight. I learnt of this when budding naturalist Xiuli and later veteran Beng Chiak SMS-ed me. In the text accompanying the show, the identity and uncertain status of Mandai mangroves and mudflats is clearly spelt out.

Beng Chiak says it was a good depiction and did serve to give a shout out for Mandai. The ICCS Otters will also be pleased to learn that data from the International Coastal Cleanup Singapore was cited in another section of the episode. Hope I get to see it, I missed the entire first season and seem likely to do so for the second! I know Debby of The Hantu Blog is up soon, so I’d better keep a lookout. *programs handphone*

It was director’s Yean Loon’s second foray into the Mandai ecosystems complete with camera equipment and a willing crew. Executive Producer Samantha Sng was also with the team that first ventured into the mud of Mandai in 2003 for “Nature at Our Doorstep.”

Kudos to all our homegrown film makers and their crews.

Mandai Besar today

In Mandai Besar today with the PFT crew. Very nice bunch, hardworking with good team work, lots of knee-sucking mud. We spent the entire day there in the end. My legs, already tired out from Pedal Ubin, certainly didn’t get a respite!

Clocked 90km today

Actually the speedometer says 88.91km, how cruel.

Struggled awake at 5am, got the bicycle setup and headed down to Changi. Was expecting to be 15 mins late after getting lost somewhere around Rosyth Road when trying to find a shortcut, sp sped up and kept to the roads (Sat at 6 or 7am is empty and very safe).

Hooray, I saw Joelle glide in which meant I had shaved off 15 mins off the PCN time! We had both arrived at 7.30am in time to grab a quick breakfast. I wished Lekowala was there. He had picked up a pair of tyres from me last night but discovered a punctured tyre in the morning with no spare tubes - we made the mistake of not looking to see if we had new tubes stashed somewhere.

Well the two of us made our way back to Pasir Ris mangroves to join a colleage in order to introduce 400 students to the mangroves. We each had to relate a story we had cooked up 12 times at our stations. The 12 ten-minute sessions went well despite all three of us having not more than four hours sleep for some reason. The students seemed entertained and I am optimistic they will remember a few things from today; they’d better! I sacrificed content for delivery style. Well, we’ll see.

It was nice to see the ICCS Toddycats from Environmental Engineering amidst the faces today.

At 4.30pm, it was back to Changi Village for dinner with fellow Zendog NHQ who zipped down from Toa Payoh to ride back with us. We did the ECPCN (coastal park connector) back and it was a more more pleasant ride for the two on their way back, compared to a exhasuting, drizzly, dark ride they last took to the Toddycats gathering.

Then NHQ peeled off and it was the version 3 Marina route (modified after Ah Sheng and Dinesh) for Joelle and I. Her racer tyres held out well in some of the dicey parts and anyway she doesn’t hesitate.

She merged with the darkened end of Shenton Way and I turned into Cross street to battle meging roads, chaotic weaving cars and taxis and the worst of them all, uncles labouring on scarily unlit bicycles.

I’m happy survived my post-flu re-introductory ride. Of course it helped that I chickened out of the longer route back via Pasir Panjang and opted for River Valley chicken run instead.

Dst 88.91km, Tms 4:25:53, Avs 20.1, Mxs 43.0km/h. The first Changi run was avs 21km/h in 1:45.

Looks like I can think about donating blood soon.

Field safety call centre

On a field trip with students, I bring along a first aid kit that caters for gaping wounds and the like - serious injuries only. In such instance of the necessity of its use, a taxi pickup or an ambulance rendezvous may be necessary. Emergencies requiring the police can never be ruled out either.

So Tommy agreed to be my “safety call centre” for my mangrove field trip tomorrow. The person manning the “call centre” is someone enjoying a cuppa while we are out in the field. He or she has to be somewhat familiar with the field site, be aware of typical field trip operations and most importantly be decisive in an emergency.

You see, this is the person I may call on to direct emergency services to a pre-arranged evacuation point to pick up a casualty or meet a runner who will direct emergency services to the victim. Presumably if I do need to call on the person, the situation is a complex one requiring my full attention. Alternatively the handphone signal in the area is too weak to support a conversation providing detailed directions to emergency services.

Despite the fact I may be able to rely on Malaysian or Indonesian signals (I can never give up my auto-roam subscription), there are dead zones in which no one’s handphone can make a call out. In such a situation, while trying to send out an SMS through a brief window, a young fit person would be volunteered to sprint away in search of a decent signal. When acquired, all they’d have to do is alert my call centre.

Imagine having to do this for all my field trips over the years. I usually recruit a friend from outside my volunteer circles to do this job. This usually demands a separate recce when a route can bee misinterpreted and I still remember Chien struggling on an unfamiliar bike during a trip to learn the layout of Pulau Ubin in the late 90’s. It was for an event that predated Pedal Ubin or the Journey series.

I had blown up a paper map of Ubin for him in two sections and provided pins to track the positions of groups as we brought the youth around Ubin on bike and foot. These days, Google Earth, Google Maps and the like make it easy to annotate satellite maps for the call center.

And there are other resources - while preparing the route map for tomorrow, I wanted to double check the location of an important petrol station land mark. I chanced upon this mashup by MantaRay on earth.sg, how useful!

Uploaded with plasq’s Skitch!

Marine Biology class to Mandai mangroves?

I am hoping to take the honours marine biology class to Mandai mangroves. There are only 16 of them this semester (instead of 50), and the tides appear to be fairly kind. Hope we can do it, much better to cover the lecture during a we walk instead of using slides in a classroom.

They can piece together all they hear into an outline after the walk.

Tide on 13 Feb 2007 (Sembawang)
9:07 AM SGT / 0.82 m
3:56 PM SGT / 3.05 m