Self-initiated Fund raising for Myanmar's Cyclone Nargis 2008

 [Throwback] One day in May 2008, a friend whom I knew from my varsity days contacted me. I heard that he's helping to raise funds and donations in kind for the victims of the disaster.

After a search online, I read that Nargis is the deadliest named cyclone in the North Indian Ocean Basin, as well as the second-deadliest named cyclone of all time, behind Typhoon Nina of 1975. Including unnamed storms like the 1970 Bhola cyclone, Nargis is the fifth-deadliest cyclone of all time, but an uncertainty between the deaths caused by Nargis and those caused by other cyclones (like the 1991 Bangladesh cyclone), could put Nargis as the fourth-deadliest or higher, because the exact death toll is uncertain. Nargis was the first tropical cyclone to strike the country since Cyclone Mala made landfall in 2006, which was slightly stronger, but had a significantly lower impact. According to reports, Indian authorities had warned Myanmar about the danger that Cyclone Nargis posed 48 hours before it hit the country's coast.

Relief efforts were slowed for political reasons as Myanmar's military rulers initially resisted large-scale international aid. US President George W. Bush said that an angry world should condemn the way Myanmar's military rulers were handling the aftermath of such a catastrophic cyclone. Myanmar's military junta finally accepted aid a few days after India's request was accepted.

Hampering the relief efforts, only ten days after the cyclone, the 2008 Sichuan earthquake occurred nearby and measured 7.9 in magnitude, taking 87,476 lives and causing US$150 billion in damage in the process, making it the costliest disaster in Chinese history and fourth-costliest disaster ever known. Furthermore, some donated aid items were found to be available in the country's black market, and Myanmar's junta warned on 15 May that legal action would be taken against people who traded or hoarded international aid.

I hope the aid that I had helped to raise and gather did not end up in the black market.

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