'To Be Busy Helps Them Forget'

Burma's Storm Survivors Cobble Together a Meager Future Washington Post Foreign Service Sunday, July 6, 2008; Page A01 BOGALAY, Burma -- Two months after a cyclone savaged the fertile Irrawaddy Delta, in Burma's southwest, the bones of drowning victims still clutter the muddy banks of waterways. One bamboo stick at a time, survivors in hundreds of flattened villages are struggling to rebuild their homes. For shelter, they squeeze several families into a single tent. For drinking water, they collect monsoon rainwater that trickles off tarpaulin roof coverings into buckets or salvaged ceramic vases. For food, they cook communal meals with rice, beans and oil from handouts. Sometimes it is spoiled. On a recent visit, one village looked as if it had been carpet-bombed, a craterous landscape of muddy pools, debris and the remains... [read full story]