Independent Confirmation of Burmese Tsunami Toll

Independent assessments of the tsunami death toll in Burma tend to confirm the Rangoon government figures, despite continuing skepticism.

More than 15 UN and NGO organizations collated their statistics at a meeting in Rangoon Thursday and put the death toll at between 60 and 80.

This figure compares with the official government death toll of 59. The government figures list 43 people injured, nearly 600 houses destroyed and 3,205 homeless.

The UN and NGO organizations—which include the International Federation of the Red Cross, UNICEF, MSF and World Vision—say between 10,000 and 15,000 people were affected by the tsunami.

The figures are given in a report concluding that “Myanmar [Burma] has been largely spared from the destructive forces of the earthquake and subsequent tsunami.”

The report said that, compared to neighboring countries, the force of the tsunami was very much reduced when it reached the coast of Burma.

“The particular topography of the southern and delta coastlines, as well as the rocky nature of the islands, provided physical protection for the population,” the report explained.

The international organizations have been undertaking assessment and verification missions in the Irrawaddy delta, western Arakan coast and southern Tenasserim Division, including the most populated islands of Mergui archipelago.

They couldn’t make any assessment of the situation on the Coco islands because they are a military base and off-limits.

Many observers believe the Coco islands would have been hit since they are located in the Andaman Sea, about 400-km southwest of Rangoon. The government, however, says the islands weren’t much affected by the tsunami.

Burmese Prime Minister Lt-Gen Soe Win told an international donors’ conference in Jakarta Thursday that Burma could cope with the post-tsunami situation alone and didn’t need outside help.