Canadians step up to help cyclone-ravaged Burma

Canadian relief agencies and communities are scrambling to answer the call for aid from Burma, where a cyclone struck over the weekend killing more than 22,000 people.

Calgary's Burmese community gathered Monday to discuss their concerns and how to help friends and family in Burma, also known as Myanmar, after Cyclone Nargis swept through the country Saturday. The death toll has climbed past 22,000 and more than one million people have been left homeless.

The roughly 300 Burmese Calgarians decided to collect money for the Red Cross.

Earlier Monday, the country's military junta appealed for help from the international community. The first waves of supplies were expected to arrive Tuesday.

Than Aung, who came to Calgary as a refugee 13 years ago, said the Burmese will need medical help, clean water and shelter.

He also told CBC News that he is "very worried" and can't contact any of his family in Burma because the phone lines and internet connections are down.

"I'm very worried because all my family, my cousins are all over there, so right now we don't know where they have been or still alive or what's happening," he said. "We're very worried."

Ottawa has set aside up to $2 million in relief funds and is working with the UN, the Red Cross and other non-governmental organizations.

Chairman of the Burmese government in exile in Washington, Sein Win, said help to the region cannot wait.

"There's no time for hesitation and all those things. Time is running out for the survivors," he said, adding that the military government has not yet granted visas to UN aid teams.

Win was in Ottawa Monday to receive an honorary citizenship award on behalf of dissident leader Aung San Suu Kyi.

Toronto group also to raise funds

Toronto's Burmese community is also worried about the survivors and the country's reticence about accepting aid.

"My fear is people inside Burma desperately need medical attention, food, water, clean water, won't have it. Even normal daily life, they don't have enough clean water," Zaw Kyaw, the president of the Burma Buddhist Association of Ontario, told CBC News. "Right now there will be chaos."

Kyaw said his group is trying to raise funds and get into the country, but are unsure the government will use aid appropriately.

"What they would do is if they accept aid, it has to go through them, the regime would supervise, the regime would tell where to give," he explained.  

Bush Galati, who left Burma in 1965, said ruling military junta's reluctance to ask for help was to be expected.

"They're very happy if the world would leave them alone. They do not want to be noticed by the world. They would keep the country underground, and carry on with their machinery of death and rule over the people," he said.

Montreal group to spearhead national fundraising

The Montreal-based group Rights and Democracy has been asked to co-ordinate fundraising efforts across Canada.

Mika Levesque of the group said she hoped the cyclone might help the country move toward a more democratic rule, explaining that the military is overwhelmed by this disaster.

"Soldiers, their families, have been probably in their villages, in their home villages, so I think it will be hard to watch [over their] end of the office when there is such disaster, right?" she asked.

Track donations, experts warn

The country's relief agencies are also preparing to step up to help Burma. Ernie Toews, the president of Calgary-based Partners Relief Development, said it's unusual for Burma to ask for help, noting the country wouldn't allow aid after a tsunami in 2004.

Toews, whose organization has previously delivered educational and other supplies to the country, said aid agencies that have already worked in the area will be able to deliver help more quickly.

"You know there will always be some organization that will have a connection, and will be able to get it in," he explained, adding that it is important donors "check with the organization that they can physically get [aid] into the country."

He also said it is important to follow the aid to ensure it reaches the people, not the country's military government.

Burma's government "has a history of, when they have allowed some relief in, they will give a small part of it to the people and they will actually sell the rest to the people," he said.

Calgary's relief agencies told CBC News that they haven't received many calls about donations to Burma because the cyclone struck so recently, and warned that anyone making a donation should make sure the organization is able to work in the country.