Good Morning Lowcountry

Myanmar

The BBC still calls it Burma, but most of the rest of the world now refers to Myanmar by its chosen, non-colonial name.

Lai Seng Sin/AP

International relief for cyclone victims is finally arriving in Myanmar. Workers load supplies into a truck Tuesday at the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies' regional warehouse outside Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Its history as part of the British Raj is the former Burma's excuse for its control-freak military government and its destructive isolationism.

The CIA World Factbook lists the country as Burma. By any name, it is our Country of the Week:

Britain ruled Burma for 62 years (1824-1886), and the small country on the Bay of Bengal and the Andaman Sea was administered as a province of India until 1937, then was a self-governing colony until it gained independence in 1948. Slightly smaller than Texas, Myanmar has about 47 million people. Ninety percent of the population can read and write. Life expectancy at birth is 63 years, with a very high risk of infectious diseases.

Its capital is Yangon ... Rangoon in the days of Somerset Maugham's travels.

The military junta that assumed power in 1988 is called the State Law and Order Restoration Council.

Burma is a source country for men, women and children trafficked to East and Southeast Asia for sexual exploitation, domestic service and forced labor, the CIA says. Burma is also the world's second largest producer of illicit opium.

Adventure traveler Robert Young Pelton, author of "The World's Most Dangerous Places," called Myanmar "the most politically incorrect destination on earth ... Myanmar has been a nation of bellicose rulers and brutal suppression since 2,500 B.C."

Tyrone Walker
The Post and Courier/File

A volunteer walks by a completed water purification system in the warehouse of Water Missions International on Savannah Highway.

But in his 2000 edition, Pelton gave it a hand, his symbol for "ridiculously safe places that get a bad rep."

Not any more.

The cyclone that struck Myanmar's southern Irrawaddy Delta on May 3 has left 62,000 or more people dead or missing. The country's paranoid ruling junta has only this week allowed humanitarian aid deliveries into the country.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies said Tuesday that the situation among survivors, who lack water, food, shelter and medical care, is "overwhelming," Reuters reported.

Charleston-based Water Missions International updated us with their plans to help cyclone victims.

Monday, the first 12 water systems requested left Charleston for Bangkok, then Myanmar later this week. Two Water Missions International employees will travel to Bangkok to take the water systems into Myanmar and install them.

Water Missions is partnering with other relief agencies to get 63 water treatment systems ready for Burma. Each system provides 10,000 gallons of clean water a day.

The nonprofit organization asks for your help as a donor or volunteer.

To volunteer, call Kelly Lewis at 769-7395 or e-mail Volunteers@watermissions.org.

To donate to the disaster relief fund, go to watermissions.org, call 769-7395 or toll-free 866-280-7107, or mail a check to P.O. Box 31258, Charleston, S.C. 29417.

Water Missions International is at 2049 Savannah Highway.

GMLc
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