What does NRC think | The Junta in Myanmar is easy to see through, but who is still looking?

Myanmar, which Dutchman has something to look for? A single clothing manufacturer who is looking for low wages perhaps. Or an importer who acts in tropical hardwood. Furthermore, the few interests. The country is far away, shares little culture with Europe and hardly requires attention.

Even with a disaster like that of Friday, a earthquake In addition to a city of one and a half million inhabitants, attention is therefore limited. That is a direct consequence of the closedness of the military government, a regime that indeed has much to hide. Even before the earthquake, 3.5 million inhabitants were displaced, due to the ruthless struggle that the army is fighting against resistance groups. Even now that all resources should go to the disaster area, the armed forces are still days continued With the bombing of your own population.

Information about the size of the disaster only comes out drop by drop. Partly because the destruction of the infrastructure makes it difficult to absorb the damage, but also because the generals traditionally want the outside world and therefore do not want to show weakness.

The death toll published by them is unrealistic slowly, from 150 on Friday to 2,900 on Wednesday. This while the US geological service USGS, global authoritative in the field of earthquakes, based on models Darling That the chance of a death toll is almost 70 percent. According to the World Health Organization, more than 10,000 buildings have collapsed or badly damaged.

The poor information has major consequences. Some neighboring Asian countries decide too late to send a rescue team, after the crucial first 72 hours. Financial donations are left behind. And in many international media, the disaster has wrongly the status of Just Another earthquake.

However, no disaster is the same and it has as an extra bitter side that the government does not want to make serious efforts to relieve suffering. Immediately after the earthquake she asked for international aid, a request that connoisseurs with skepticism received. Later it became clear that the authorities are careful care providers to obstruct In their access to the disaster area.

This dynamic is not new. In 2008, when Cyclone Nargis made tens of thousands of victims, international care providers were also largely unwelcome. Despite a few years of partial democracy afterwards, there is a lot of difference between the military regime of the time and the current: it mainly exists for itself and the outside world with vagueness and censorship.

You can easily look through this. Only: who in Europe still wants to see it? Since the Russian invasion of Ukraine, the gaze of Europeans is mainly aimed inside. And now that Donald Trump turns the Western world upside down in such a way that you can wonder if the West still exists, that look is further narrowed, to import duties and emergency packages. That is not strange, but a loss.

In the first place for Myanmar, where the limited interest unintentionally turns out to be a reward for the junta. But also for Europeans themselves. The population of Myanmar has an extraordinary resilience and resilience, forced to endure the endangers. It pays to look at that. A broad view of the world has never made anyone worse.

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