Word: tolls
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...Burma's government originally estimated the cyclone killed 10,000 people in Bogolay and the surrounding area, but I saw no dead bodies on the road to the city or in Bogalay itself. I saw no funerals. While the place is in tatters, the death toll may be greater in more exposed villages closer to the sea. Bogalay is slightly inland; the majority of deaths occurred in more flimsy coastal villages fully exposed to the elements and unprotected from a 12-foot-high surge of water...
...poor sanitation and lack of shelter could prove almost as deadly as the cyclone itself. And estimates of how many people were killed by the storm and an accompanying tidal surge could spiral far higher. On May 7, the senior U.S. diplomat in Burma, Shari Villarosa, said the death toll could exceed 100,000, nearly five times the junta's estimate at the time...
...absence of Burmese military troops participating in the immediate cleanup effort. In September, when thousands of monks led countrywide protests against rising commodity prices, soldiers from the 450,000-strong army responded with chilling brutality, spraying live ammunition at the burgundy-robed demonstrators. The official government death toll was 31, although international observers believe the actual figure was far higher. For months after the massacre, soldiers patrolled the streets, flushing out suspected dissidents and crushing small protests against the upcoming constitutional referendum. But shortly after last weekend's storm, the troops appeared to have gone AWOL. One foreign NGO worker...
Burma's state media quoted a government official saying the situation in the country was "returning to normal." This as the death toll from last week's cyclone is estimated, by some, to be as high as 100,000, as bodies float in waterways, as shortages of water, rice, medicine and fuel, as well as fear of disease, grip the populace and people swarm shops and and dash toward any location where they think they can find supplies to help them make it through the crisis...
...Burmese military troops participating in the clean-up effort. In September, when thousands of monks led country-wide protests against rising commodity prices, soldiers from the 450,000-strong army responded with chilling brutality, sending rounds of live ammunition into the burgundy-robed demonstrators. The official government death toll was 31, although international observers believe the actual figure was far higher. For months after the massacre, soldiers patrolled the streets, flushing out suspected dissidents and crushing small protests against the upcoming constitutional referendum. But in the immediate aftermath of last weekend's storm, troops were almost nowhere to be seen...