Voices From the Heart of Myanmar

MYANMAR, May 15, 2008 — -- Cyclone Nargis struck Myanmar on May 2nd, 2008, causing massive damage and killing up to 128,000 people at last count.

Added to the misery of the Burmese people is the military government's (known as the junta) reluctance to permit foreign aid workers to work freely in the country.

Since the cyclone devastated Myanmar, foreign aid has only been allowed in small batches because of the junta's restrictions on allowing food aid and equipment into the country.

Many international observers have criticised the government, alleging that its actions have raised the risk of illness and starvation among the 2.5 million people left homeless by the cyclone.

Here, ABC News publishes two accounts by a resident and an aid worker in Myanmar. In order to preserve their safety, we have decided not to reveal their names.

A Resident's Perspective on the Myanmar cyclone

The south of Burma was hit hard by Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 cyclone that hit the coast of Irrawaddy Division at midday on May 2, causing catastrophic flooding and wind damage, and then continued overland to devastate the former capital, Rangoon, throughout the night.

There had been threats of this cyclone all week as it was hanging around at sea and no one could predict which way it would go or where it would cross the coast. We had heard that it would hit further North and the mountains would break up the force of it.

Businesses closed early Friday when it became clear that it was coming in over Irrawaddy Division. This being flat delta area meant that there were no mountains to break the force but it was still predicted to be downgraded. It had been raining steadily for days and the rain got harder and the wind stronger.

The power went off at about 10.30 pm. Power cuts are normal and tend to be localized to share the power around (a roster system) but when I looked out of our apartment there were no lights anywhere and the street lights were off. This was our first sense that it was going to be bad.

My family, including three children aged 9 to 16, lives in an 11th floor apartment. We spent a worrying night trying to stop the windows blowing in and scooping up the flood of water that was being driven past the closed windows faster than we could mop it up.

We could not see out of the windows as it was night and the rain was being driven so hard but we could feel the building moving in the wind and hear the iron roofing sheets being blown off the factories over the road. The rain stopped at about 9 a.m. although the wind remained strong.

Outside, below, I could see most trees down, many buildings missing their iron roofs and the huge billboard over the road had been left a mangled mess on a building. A few hardy souls were trying to go out and I saw two bicycles being blown backwards.

Later, my husband went down to his office to see the damage there. It took him a long time to travel because so many trees and power poles were across the roads. He found that the office had suffered quite badly with a huge fallen fig tree from the neighboring property filling the yard and breaking the roof at the front. Water had spread through the rooms with computers and paperwork at the back.

The guard had spent a terrifying night in a car parked around the side of the building as he could see the tree was going to fall and could do nothing about it. Actually, this poor fellow was the day guard from Friday who had been unable to leave as the night guard had not been able to get to work on Friday night to relieve him. The night guard's house had completely collapsed.

I can't begin to describe what Yangon looked like the morning after. We have always appreciated how many trees there are and how green the city is, with lots of shade. Now I would guess that 75 percent of the trees have fallen down, on roads and houses. There is mess and branches everywhere. Even large old trees have been uprooted.