Monks clear streets in Yangon

2008-05-07 13:12

Yangon - Hundreds of Buddhist monks have picked up axes to help residents clear trees and debris, as the nation's 400 000-strong military is criticised for only belatedly joining the relief effort.

Yangon still resembles a battleground, with street lamps and billboards flung across the roads after Cyclone Nargis bore its way across swathes of Myanmar at the weekend, leaving millions homeless, aid agencies say.

Many of the trees in the leafy former capital were uprooted and smashed through windows, crushed cars and destroyed homes. Chunks of roof ripped off homes lie on the pavements, draped by downed power lines.

"We are now relying on monks to clear this road," said one middle-aged woman who lives in a neighbourhood in western Yangon, speaking on condition of anonymity for fear of reprisal from the military government.

"Of course we were hoping the authorities would come, but they haven't shown up yet. These monks came after the storm to help the people to clear the streets and to remove the trees," she told AFP.

Slowness of the official response

The last time the deeply-revered monks in their rust red robes were seen in such force in the streets of Yangon was last September, when they led mass anti-government protests that were violently put down by security forces.

Witnesses say few soldiers or police joined the relief effort after the cyclone, which killed 22 000 and left 41 000 missing, while one embassy worker said there was anger at the slowness of the official response.

State television showed soldiers climbing trees and ferrying away logs, but people on the ground said the response by the authorities was lacking, especially in the days after the storm hit.

Ruth Bradley-Jones, a political officer at the British Embassy in Yangon, said there was anger on the streets that the authorities did not do enough, but said more official help had come since Sunday.

"The majority of the work is being done by the people and they have been amazingly community spirited ... everyone's been helping, monks, kids, women," she told AFP in Bangkok.

"People are in difficulty"

Many of Yangon's Buddhist clergy fled the city after the September protests, which the junta violently suppressed, killing at least 31 people.

"There is comment already on the streets of Yangon about how quick the military were to come out of barracks last year and how slow they seem to be this year with these events," Sean Turnell, a Myanmar analyst at Macquarie University in Australia, told AFP in Bangkok.

One abbot said monasteries in the city had been damaged in the storm, but that residents had ensured monks still had enough to eat.

"People are in difficulty, but they are still making offerings to us. Although our monasteries were damaged, so far we have no difficulties for food yet because people are still offering," he said.

- AFP