Johns Hopkins Bloomberg School of Public Health Center for Public Health and Human Rights 615 N Wolfe Street Baltimore, MD 21205, USA.
Confl Health. 2010 Apr 19;4:8. doi: 10.1186/1752-1505-4-8.
Cyclone Nargis hit Burma on May 2, 2008, killing over 138,000 and affecting at least 2.4 million people. The Burmese military junta, the State Peace and Development Council (SPDC), initially blocked international aid to storm victims, forcing community-based organizations such as the Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma (EAT) to fill the void, helping with cyclone relief and long-term reconstruction. Recognizing the need for independent monitoring of the human rights situation in cyclone-affected areas, particularly given censorship over storm relief coverage, EAT initiated such documentation efforts.
A human rights investigation was conducted to document selected human rights abuses that had initially been reported to volunteers providing relief services in cyclone affected areas. Using participatory research methods and qualitative, semi-structured interviews, EAT volunteers collected 103 testimonies from August 2008 to June 2009; 42 from relief workers and 61 from storm survivors.
One year after the storm, basic necessities such as food, potable water, and shelter remained insufficient for many, a situation exacerbated by lack of support to help rebuild livelihoods and worsening household debt. This precluded many survivors from being able to access healthcare services, which were inadequate even before Cyclone Nargis. Aid efforts continued to be met with government restrictions and harassment, and relief workers continued to face threats and fear of arrest. Abuses, including land confiscation and misappropriation of aid, were reported during reconstruction, and tight government control over communication and information exchange continued.
Basic needs of many cyclone survivors in the Irrawaddy Delta remained unmet over a year following Cyclone Nargis. Official impediments to delivery of aid to storm survivors continued, including human rights abrogations experienced by civilians during reconstruction efforts. Such issues remain unaddressed in official assessments conducted in partnership with the SPDC. Private, community-based relief organizations like EAT are well positioned and able to independently assess human rights conditions in response to complex humanitarian emergencies such as Cyclone Nargis; efforts of this nature must be encouraged, particularly in settings where human rights abuses have been documented and censorship is widespread.
2008 年 5 月 2 日，纳尔吉斯气旋袭击了缅甸，造成超过 13.8 万人死亡，至少 240 万人受灾。缅甸军政府国家和平与发展委员会（SPDC）最初封锁了对风暴灾民的国际援助，迫使 Emergency Assistance Teams-Burma（EAT）等社区组织填补空白，帮助进行气旋救援和长期重建。鉴于对风暴救援报道的审查，EAT 认识到有必要对受灾地区的人权状况进行独立监测，因此发起了此类文件记录工作。
进行人权调查，记录最初向在受气旋影响地区提供救援服务的志愿者报告的一些侵犯人权行为。EAT 志愿者于 2008 年 8 月至 2009 年 6 月期间采用参与式研究方法和定性、半结构化访谈，收集了 103 份证词；其中 42 份来自救援人员，61 份来自风暴幸存者。
风暴发生一年后，许多人的基本必需品，如食物、饮用水和住所仍然不足，这种情况因缺乏支持以帮助重建生计和家庭债务恶化而恶化。这使得许多幸存者无法获得医疗服务，即使在纳尔吉斯气旋之前，医疗服务也已经不足。援助工作继续受到政府的限制和骚扰，救援人员继续面临威胁和被捕的恐惧。在重建过程中，据报告发生了土地没收和援助挪用等滥用行为，政府继续对通信和信息交流进行严格控制。
在纳尔吉斯气旋发生一年多后，伊洛瓦底三角洲的许多气旋幸存者的基本需求仍未得到满足。向风暴幸存者提供援助的官方障碍仍然存在，包括平民在重建工作中遭受的人权侵犯。此类问题在与 SPDC 合作进行的官方评估中仍然没有得到解决。EAT 等私营社区救援组织处于有利地位，能够独立评估应对纳尔吉斯气旋等复杂人道主义紧急情况的人权状况；必须鼓励开展这种性质的工作，特别是在记录了侵犯人权行为和广泛审查的地方。
