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Myanmar, formerly known as Burma, is mostly under water after Cyclon Nargis hit Yangon (pop 4 million) for 3 days with sustained rains and winds at 130mph and gusts between 150 and 160 mph and proceeded to flood all the low land coastal area and low land river delta region.

The problem right now is not just with the devastation left behind by the cyclone but the government of Myanmar itself. Last year the country formerly known as Burma, was taken by a wave of protests by Buddhist monks, who staged several acts of defiance against the repressive military junta that has taken the country hostage. Many monks and their supporters were imprisoned, abused and even executed by the military regime. One of my earliest post for this blogs was about how the Myanmar regime had gone after bloggers with a vengeance.

When I heard the cyclone had hit, I waited to see what was going to happen exactly because of the junta's past actions against the monks and anybody in the country who tried to tell the world about Burma's plight. Well, I haven't been proven wrong about my wait, by the looks of what I have been able to read at Global Voices Online, a network of local citizen journalists and bloggers from around the world.

Burmese GVO bloggers have been writing about how the junta is denying assistance and relief to the people of Burma while waging a media campaign claiming the opposite. This has been corroborated by CNN, the BBC and other news outlets --whereas the official death toll is around 20K, UN officials and other foreign envoys are estimating the death toll will surpass 100,000.

What's worse is that the junta will not open the country's air or sea ports to the world for delivering food, water, medicine and other disaster relief. The United Nations just 3 hours ago was allowed to land in the country with a first shipment after they had been initially refused. The junta still refuses to allow the United States any access to its ports.

And while I was writing this post I have been contacted by UN journalist Dan Patterson with a report he created directly from the United Nations. In it Dan tells that 1.5 million people have been affected by the cyclone and that the situation is not only fluid on the ground but also at the UN, where over a dozen of envoys are waiting to get the government's go to bring in their teams and start work.

We have no word yet, due to the juntas blockade, as to who to send money and/or help. Help is trickling in from Indonesia, but since US organizations are not being allowed into the country, at least one Thai blogger activist doubts that any money or aid given now will reach the people that need it the most. In one report I read earlier, people were reporting that soldiers were selling water, food, wood and aluminum siding with a 600% markup in price. This is aid, btw, they are supposed to distribute for free.

Once we get a straight answer from either the United Nations or people on the ground in Burma, we will let you know whom to contact for donations and relief supplies. For now, all we can do is wait and see if the government will move out of the way and let the world help their country get relief and start to rebuild.