Myanmar Kids May Starve, Charity Says, as Asean Meets (Update2)

By Nesa Subrahmaniyan and Gavin Evans
May 18 (Bloomberg) -- Thousands of children in cyclone-hit Myanmar are starving and may die unless aid arrives, a British charity warned, a day before nations from around the region hold an emergency meeting to discuss the humanitarian crisis.
``Children may already be dying as a result of a lack of food,'' Jasmine Whitbread, chief executive of Save the Children UK, said today in a statement. An estimated 30,000 children less than five years old were malnourished before the storm struck and several thousand could perish within three weeks, it said.
Myanmar has accepted only a trickle of the help offered since the storm on May 3, barring most foreign staff and rejecting offers of helicopters and boats. China is backing Myanmar as it resists pressure from the U.S. and other nations to accept more assistance, saying countries must show ``due respect.''
Foreign ministers from the Association of Southeast Asian Nations will tomorrow hold an emergency meeting in Singapore to discuss the disaster. Rainfall in Myanmar was increasing the risk of water-borne diseases, World Vision Australia warned today.
``We want to push forward to help as much as possible,'' Tharit Charungvat, a spokesman for Thailand's foreign ministry, said by telephone today from Bangkok. ``We have to assess their needs, and we hope to do that tomorrow,'' Tharit said.
British Prime Minister Gordon Brown accused Myanmar's military regime yesterday of creating a ``man-made catastrophe'' with the refusal to accept international help. There was a risk of ``a true crime against humanity,'' according to Jean-Maurice Ripert, France's envoy to the United Nations,
`Acute Malnourishment'
``Many children in the affected areas are now suffering from severe, acute malnourishment, the most serious level of hunger,'' Save the Children's Whitbread said. ``When people reach this stage they can die in a matter of days.''
The cyclone is the worst natural disaster to hit Southeast Asia since the 2004 Indian Ocean tsunami, which killed more than 220,000 people. The death toll from the storm has reached almost 78,000, the Associated Press cited Myanmar state television as saying. An additional 56,000 people are missing.
``The scale of this is just extraordinary and two weeks on, we're only still coming to grips with its power,'' Tim Costello, chief executive officer of World Vision Australia, told Sky News Australia today. ``We are talking about a major food scarcity, a rice crisis, in the future.''
Rice Imports
The Irrawaddy delta, Myanmar's main rice-growing area, was the hardest hit by the cyclone and the country may have to rely on imports until 2009, Save the Children UK said. The charity will send seeds to farmers whose lands are no longer flooded, it said.
Asean, formed in 1967, groups Brunei, Thailand, Vietnam, Singapore, Indonesia, Laos, the Philippines, Malaysia, Cambodia as well as Myanmar, which was admitted in 1997. Myanmar, which used to be known as Burma, has a population of about 48 million.
The grouping should ``insist that the Myanmar authorities allow unrestricted access'' for aid workers, the Asean Inter- Parliamentary Myanmar Caucus President Kraisak Choonhavan said in a statement. ``Asean must show leadership and act responsibly'' to ensure aid reaches survivors.
Still, Singapore Foreign Minister George Yeo said the outcome of tomorrow's meeting was unlikely to be ``dramatic,'' according to a report today in the Sunday Times, citing Yeo. There must be respect for ``the autonomy of countries,'' Yeo was cited as saying after he met with China's Foreign Minister Yang Jiechi.
United Nations emergency-relief coordinator John Holmes was scheduled to arrive in Myanmar today to help expedite the delivery of aid, according to a report from the UN News Center. As many as 2.5 million people have been ``severely affected'' by the cyclone and need help, the report said.
``We are getting aid through,'' said Costello, the head of World Vision Australia, which has 600 workers packing and delivering clothes, water and medicine to devastated areas. ``But I would liken it to having a three-inch pipeline of aid trickling when we need a 30-meter pipeline pumping.''
To contact the reporters for this story: Nesa Subrahmaniyan in Singapore at nesas@bloomberg.net; Gavin Evans in Wellington at gavinevans@bloomberg.net