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BURMA RELATED NEWS - DECEMBER 30, 2004 (AP) - Cargo planes touched down with aid Wednesday, bearing everything from lentils to water purifiers to help survivors facing the threat of epidemic after this week's quake-tsunami catastrophe. The first Indonesian military teams reached the devastated west coast of Sumatra island, finding thousands of bodies and increasing the death toll across 12 nations to nearly 77,000. The international Red Cross warned that the toll could eventually surpass 100,000. The race was on to try to prevent an outbreak of diseases and to curb food shortages among millions of homeless _ which the U.N. health agency said could kill as many as the waves and quake. Sri Lanka said it was getting its first reports of measles and diarrhea. Paramedics in southern India began vaccinating 65,000 survivors against cholera, typhoid, hepatitis A and dysentery, and authorities sprayed bleaching powder on beaches where bodies have been recovered. "Even those people who (didn't lose homes) can't get food. Nothing is available," said Father Raja Perera, of St. Mary's Roman Catholic church in Sri Lanka's second largest city, the hard-hit southern resort of Galle, where refugees from ravaged homes crowded into churches, Buddhist temples and mosques. Town after town along Indonesia's Sumatran coast was covered with mud and sea water, with homes flattened or torn apart, an Associated Press reporter saw on a helicopter overflight with the military commander of the island's Aceh province. The only signs of life were a handful of villagers scavenging for food on the beach. Western Sumatra suffered a double blow in Sunday's disaster, shattered both by the most powerful earthquake in 40 years and perhaps the deadliest tsunami in recorded history, which wreaked destruction across a dozen nations. "The damage is truly devastating," Maj. Gen. Endang Suwarya said. "Seventy-five percent of the west coast is destroyed and some places it's 100 percent. These people are isolated and we will try and get them help." The first military teams reached the devastated fishing town of Meulaboh on Sumatra's coast and across the coast they found thousands of bodies, bringing Indonesia's toll to 45,268, according to the Health Ministry's official count. That toll was likely to rise _ one official on Tuesday estimated that as many as 10,000 people were dead in Meulaboh alone. Sri Lanka on Wednesday listed more than 22,400 people dead, India close to 7,000 _ with 8,000 missing and feared dead. Thailand put its toll at more than 1,800. Another 340 were killed in Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, the Maldives, Somalia, Tanzania and Kenya. From East Africa to southern Asia, chances faded of finding more survivors of Sunday's massive, quake-driven walls of water. Tens of thousands of people were still missing. German Chancellor Gerhardt Schroeder said 1,000 Germans were unaccounted for. "We have to fear that a number of Germans clearly in the three-digit numbers will be among the dead," Schroeder told reporters. Currently, 26 Germans have been confirmed dead. "We have little hope, except for individual miracles," Chairman Jean-Marc Espalioux of the Accor hotel group said of the search for thousands of tourists and locals missing from beach resorts of southern Thailand _ including more than 2,000 Scandinavians. In Sri Lanka, reports of measles and diarrhea were beginning to reach health authorities, causing concern of an epidemic, said Thilak Ranaviraj, the government's top official handling relief efforts. In a field in Banda Aceh, the capital of Sumatra's Aceh province, bulldozers shoved more than 1,000 unidentified bodies into mass graves. The corpses had been picked off the city's streets as authorities rushed to get decaying bodies into the ground. "What worries us is the lack drinking water," said Dr. Georg Petersen, the World Health Organization representative in Indonesia. "That means that people might drink contaminated water and they can get sick from waterborne diseases like diarrhea." Four relief planes arrived in Sri Lanka's capital, Colombo, bringing a surgical hospital from Finland, a water purification plant from Germany, doctors and medicine from Japan and aid workers from Britain, the Red Cross said. Meanwhile, trucks fanned out across the island nation to deliver bandages, antibiotics, tents, blankets and other supplies to the hardest hit areas, the southern and eastern coast. A dozen trucks left the U.N. World Food Program depot in Colombo on Tuesday. The military said a fleet of 64 trucks packed with rice, sugar, tents and other essentials entered Tamil areas Wednesday But officials in the east said at least four WFP trucks bound for Tamil areas in the north were forcefully diverted by Sinhalese mobs and low-ranking government officials to predominantly Sinhalese areas. Selvi Sachchithanandam, a WFP spokeswoman, declined to comment on the report. Sri Lanka has been torn for years by a conflict with separatist Tamil rebels who control parts of the north, demanding independence from the mostly-Sinhalese nation. Indonesia's military said a navy flotilla was headed to Sumatra's western coast to being him. Supplies _ including 175 tons of rice and 100 doctors _ reached Banda Aceh, but with aid not arriving quickly enough, desperate people in towns across Sumatra stole whatever food they could find, officials said. Widespread looting also was reported in Thailand's devastated resort islands of Phuket and Phi Phi, where European and Australian tourists left valuables behind in wrecked hotels when they fled _ or were swept away by _ the torrents. An international airlift was under way to ferry critical aid and medicine to Phuket and to take home shellshocked travelers. Jets from France and Australia were among the first to touch down at the island's airport. Greece, Italy, Germany and Sweden planned similar flights. The world's biggest reinsurer, Germany's Munich Re, estimated the damage to buildings and foundations in the affected regions would be at least $13.6 billion. The governments of the United States, Australia and Japan pledged a combined $100 million while taxi drivers in Singapore put donation tins in their cars and volunteers in Thailand text-messaged aquaintances to give blood to the Red Cross. UNITED NATIONS (AP) - The United Nations warned Wednesday that respiratory and waterborne diseases could break out in areas affected by southern Asia's tsunami disaster "in the next few days." Although relief organizations are distributing medical supplies to prevent the outbreak of disease, the main focus is still on dealing with the wounded, said Jamie McGoldrick, an emergency relief coordinator of the U.N. Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs in Geneva. "Diseases will start to come through in the next few days," McGoldrick told The Associated Press. "No doubt people will be affected, kids are drinking stagnant water." Governments in 11 nations are still trying to determine how many were killed in the devastation wreaked by Sunday's quake and the tsunamis it caused. The death toll now stands at more than 60,000 and is expected to rise. It is still impossible to visit some isolated islands off the northern coast of Sumatra and assessments can only be made from the air, McGoldrick said. "Populations we haven't reached yet may suffer from disease," he said. With relief officials warning of possible cholera epidemics and malaria, Dr. David Nabarro, head of crisis operations for the World Health Organization, has said that "there is certainly a chance that we could have as many dying from communicable diseases as from the tsunami." Nabarro said the main threat to life now is communicable diseases associated with a lack of clean water and sanitation. "The initial terror associated with the tsunamis and the earthquake itself may be dwarfed by the longer term suffering of the affected communities," he warned. Hospitals and health services already are overwhelmed and may not be able to cope with people who fall ill with disease, Nabarro said. Worst-hit have been Indonesia, Sri Lanka, India, Thailand and the Maldives. But Malaysia, Myanmar, Bangladesh, Somalia, Tanzania, Seychelles and Kenya have also reported deaths from the tidal wave that sped across the Indian ocean Sunday morning. The United Nations has sent disaster assessment teams to the affected countries and relief organizations are distributing supplies. The global body is also starting to put together an appeal for international aid. Essential supplies are already arriving in the region, but "need to be properly coordinated so that those who most need help get it in these vital early hours and days after the disaster," Nabarro said. BRUSSELS (AFX) - The European Commission said it is giving 11.65 mln eur in aid to Myanmar. The commission said the money will help address some of the health, nutrition, water and sanitation needs of around 470,000 people living in Myanmar as well as providing assistance to more than 150,000 refugees along the country's boarder with Thailand. The latest donation brings the commission's aid to Myanmar this year to 19.72 mln eur. BANGKOK(AFP) - While thousands of Thais are struggling to help victims of the deadly tidal waves, looters are cashing in on the chaos. Police promised maximum punishment for those caught looting in six southern provinces which were battered by waves that have killed at least 1,500 people. Many of the victims were well-heeled foreign tourists. Several suspects have been arrested for pilfering from unattended buildings, The Nation newspaper Wednesday quoted regional police chief Somsak Buppasuwan as saying. Somsak said he sent hundreds of extra police to Phang Nga, Phuket and Krabi -- the three worst-hit provinces -- to deal with the pillaging. Phuket island police chief Suwit Othong said a few people had been arrested for stealing drink from an abandoned hotel while "many more" -- mostly locals or Myanmar migrant workers -- had been arrested for looting deserted premises on Patong Beach. The Nation said many abandoned tourist bags and suitcases in worst-hit Phang Nga province had been found ripped open. Prime Minister Thaksin Shinawatra has lashed out at the looters. "We will reinforce police to supervise this matter. Many looters were arrested in Phuket, the ATM machine has been hit, it's really bad. We must consider these people very bad guys," he told reporters Tuesday. Last Tuesday, in a televised address, he repeated his stern condemnation of looters and price-gougers. "I ask all of you to help solve the problem and the most important is there should be nobody exploiting tourists or looting tourists," Thaksin emphasised. The Myanmar Airways International ( MAI) will spread wing to Japan early next year as its sixth destination of international flight, the local news journal 7-Day reported Wednesday. Negotiation on direct flight to Osaka or an indirect one via Hong Kong using MD-82 aircraft is soon completed, the MAI sources was quoted as saying. The MAI, which is the country's first international carrier and also the first Myanmar-foreign JV airline between the state-run domestic Myanma Airways and the Region Air based in Singapore, has been operating since 1993 its services to Bangkok, Kuala Lumpur, New Delhi, Singapore and Hong Kong. The forming of the MAI was followed by two other Myanmar- foreign JV ones, the United Myanmar Airlines and the Air Myanmar, in two recent years to reinforce the country's international air transportation. Official statistics show that foreign airlines that link Yangon include Air China, Thai Airways International, Silk Air, Malaysian Airline System, Biman, Indian Airlines, Mandarin Airlines, Lauda Air, Druk Airlines, Phuket Airlines and Bangkok Airways. It is reported that two more foreign airlines, the Sri Lankan Airlines and a Middle-East airline named the Qatar Airways, will also fly Yangon beginning early next year. Myanmar's domestic airlines are represented by one state-run Myanma Airways and three joint ventures which are Air Mandalay, Yangon Airways and Air Bagan. Of them, the Air Mandalay has extended its flight to Thailand's Chaing Mai as a regional one. To boost its air transport, Myanmar has added seven new airports since 1988, bringing the total number of airports in the country so far to 28. Meanwhile, a total of 13 projects of upgrading the existing airports is underway with three more new airports being under construction, most of which are expected to complete by 2006, according to official sources. Moreover, upgrading of aircrafts to raise its domestic transport capacity is also being made by gradual substitution of the existing Netherland-made Fokker-28 or 27 with ATR. No news is bad news in Burma. The generals claim there are no political prisoners in Burma. They also claim there are no human rights violations in Burma. The generals also allege that Burma was not impacted by the regional bird flu virus. And for many years, the generals ignored the HIV-AIDs problem in Burma. The December 26th - a 9.0 earthquake is front page news in all the newspapers in Asia, except Burma. The superstitious generals in Burma are afraid to report the news of the earthquake that shook Rangoon for three minutes, because an earthquake is an omen of a change of government in Burma. There are also other reasons why the state controlled newspapers are ignoring the major earthquake disaster in Asia. There was devastation in the Burma controlled Coco Islands in the Indian Ocean. Among the casualties was the Chinese Military Officers who operated the Chinese spy station in the Coco Islands. A Thai gambling casino illegally operating at a Burmese island in Southern Burma also suffered major damage. But the Burmese generals do not want the world to know that this Thai casino illegally operating on Burmese territory was using the telephone country code of Thailand. Computer simulation of the Tsunami waves generated by the 9.0 Earthquake shows them impacting the Tenasserim coast, the Arakan coast and the Irrawaddy Delta of Burma where Bassein is located. General Than Shwe served as the Southwest Regional Commander in Bassein. General Than Shwe and his business associates have made personal investments in hotels in Bassein to promote it as a tourist destination. His partner in this venture is Teza who split the multi-million dollar commission in the $130 million MIG-29 deal with Than Shwe's family. This Sunday's major earthquake not only harmed their investments in hotels in Bassein, but the Maw-Tin-Soun Pagoda in Bassein collapsed as a result of the earthquake. This was a clear sign to many Burmese that Than Shwe's government will soon be toppled. About 800 Burmese workers are believed to have died in Sunday's tsunami disaster in the South. Surapong Kongchanthuek, deputy chairman of the Law Society of Thailand's committee on human rights for stateless and displaced people, said he had obtained confirmation that around 200 Burmese workers, mostly fishing boat crewmen, had died in Phangnga's Takua Pa district and about 1,500 others were listed as missing. He had no exact figures of Burmese killed and missing in the five other tsunami-ravaged provinces. But his rough estimate was about 800 deaths, based on the fact there were 47,501 Burmese workers in Ranong, 36,483 in Phuket, 29,730 in Phangnga, 8,000 in Trang, 3,000 in Satun and 3,000 in Krabi. However, he said only 22,504 were registered with the Labour Ministry. PTT Exploration and Production Plc announced yesterday that it would pump Bt133.8 billion into capital expenditure and operations over the next five years. The amount covers PTTEP and its subsidiaries’ operations, which currently are operating 24 projects in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. PTTEP also has received Cabinet approval to buy a 20-per-cent stake in a block of the Phu Horm Project in the Northeast. PTTEP will funnel Bt54.9 billion – or 41 per cent of the five-year budget – into two projects, including the Arthit Development Project in the Gulf of Thailand, where the company plans to build a production platform, six wellhead platforms and drilling 20 development wells, said Maroot Mrigadat, the company’s president. It will also pay for engineering design work in 2005 for the Malaysia-Thailand Joint Development Area. PTTEP is in the process of selecting qualified contractors for the Arthit Project to build facilities with a goal of starting gas production in early 2007. It hopes the project will produce 330 million standard cubic feet of gas per day. The Malaysian-Thai project is progressing and the company expects to seal a gas sale agreement in the first quarter of next year. Production is expected to start in 2008. The company also plans to spend Bt53.5 billion – or 40 per cent of the budget –to sustain production at projects that are already online. They include the Bongkot, Pailin, Yadana, Yetagun as well as the S1 Pailin project, which needs 44 more development wells and three wellhead platforms. Outside Thailand, PTTEP is forging ahead with exploration projects in Southeast Asia and the Middle East. It plans to spend the rest of the budget, Bt25.4 billion, on these projects. In particular, Maroot said he was looking forward to finalising the gas sale agreements for the Shams Field in its Oman 44 project in the first quarter of next year. PTTEP is also proceeding with a number of other projects, including the M7 and M9 drilling programmes in Burma, Vietnam 92, Vietnam 161 and the Algeria 433a and 416b project. PTTEP next year plans to increase its petroleum sales to 143,000 barrels of oil equivalent per day from 134,000 in 2004. To meet the target, it will drill 30 development wells at its inland Sirikit Oil Field – known as the S1 Project – in Kamphaeng Phet province. It also expects to increase production in the third quarter at its Yetagun Project in the Gulf of Mataban in Burma to 400 million standard cubic feet per day from 300 in the same quarter this year. Early next year, test production will start with an initial 5,000 barrels per day at the offshore Nang Nual Project in the South. Meanwhile, with the Cabinet’s blessing this week, PTTEP plans to buy a 20-per-cent share of Block EU1 in the Phu Horm project, which has proven a success in the past two years of exploration. Acting on a proposal by the energy minister, the Cabinet approved the company’s move to become a concessionaire of the project. Amerada Hess (Thailand) owns 35 per cent of the Phu Horm project, which it also operates. Apico Llc owns 35 per cent, and ExxonMobil Exploration and Production Khorat Inc owns 10 per cent. The Phu Horm project covers a 231.6-square-kilometre area in Udon Thani and Khon Kaen provinces, consisting of two main blocks, Block E5 North and Block EU1. The last three wells are Phu Horm3, Phu Horm4 and Phu Horm5, at which have been discovered commercial amounts of reserves with high rates of gas flow. “Gas reserves estimated from preliminary data range between 300 billion to 700 billion cubic feet. At this rate of gas flow, the Phu Horm Project has a very good potential to become one of the important power sources for the production of electricity in the northeastern part of Thailand. Participating in the Phu Horm Project will also add gas reserves and production to PTTEP’s portfolio,” Maroot said. “It is likely to become an important onshore natural gas resource in the future.” PTTEP expects the project will start producing gas in 2006, at a potential production rate of 85 million to 100 million cubic feet per day. Negotiations are well in progress to sell gas to parent PTT, which is the country’s sole natural gas buyer. PTTEP expects to invest US$36 million (Bt1.4 billion) in the first two years of its Block EU1 investment. |
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