Burma's cyclone survivors have endured a seemingly endless series of heartbreaks and hazards over the past month.

The Burmese junta’s so-called "rehabilitation and rebuilding" plan has resulted in the forcible eviction from shelters of tens of thousands of refugees—people who have already suffered from the trauma of losing their families and friends, their homes, property, possessions and livelihoods during the devastation of Cyclone Nargis on May 2–3.

Four weeks after the disaster, the United Nations says less than half of the 2.4 million people affected by the cyclone have received any form of help from either the government or aid organizations.

In its latest report, the UN's Food and Agriculture Organization says food shortages along with escalating prices "posed a risk to national security." Rice prices in Rangoon have doubled while prices of staples, such as salt, have tripled in price.

So it is not surprised to learn that starving cyclone survivors have lined the highways to beg for food from passing cars and trucks. Private donors, emotionally affected by the sight of such human suffering, have loaded their vehicles with food and supplies and driven out to the rural delta areas to deliver the aid by themselves.

However, tending to the sick, injured and malnourished is not one of the Burmese government’s priorities.

The cynical regime even announced that the impoverished cyclone victims could "stand by themselves."

The newspaper Kyemon lashed out at foreign aid in a Burmese-language editorial: "The people from Irrawaddy can survive on self-reliance without chocolate bars donated by foreign countries."

Military strongman Snr-Gen Than Shwe has a well-earned reputation for ruthlessness and callousness. This time, though, he has left most people speechless with his total lack of humanity.

Police, soldiers and immigration officers have staged roadblocks to question donors on the main routes from Rangoon into the devastated towns of the Irrawaddy Delta, and warned volunteers against making "disorderly" donations, threatening to suspend their driving licenses.

The merciless generals are proving to the world how much they look down on the cyclone survivors.

"The people should learn to feed themselves," an official told donors. "We do not want foreigners to think we are a country of beggars."

In the meantime, Asean and the UN—official partners with Burma in coordinating the international aid effort—could only sit and watch from the comfort of their offices as the Burmese authorities mismanaged the resettlement program for cyclone survivors just a few days after having approved all pending visas for UN relief workers to enter the country.

Burma's cyclone survivors are doomed. The Burmese regime has dumped them in the approximate location of the flattened villages, with no food, no water, no livelihood and no future. They face more hunger, disease and suffering.

On Friday, in a remarkable show of pomposity, the regime announced to the media that starvation was not an issue, because “farmers can gather water clover or go out with lamps at night and catch plump frogs.”

The international community has sat back in its collective armchair and allowed the Burmese military junta to commit murder with impunity.

If the cyclone survivors can eat frogs, then surely the UN can eat humble pie and admit to its failings. If the world organs do not force their will over the Burmese regime, the people of the Irrawaddy delta will have to suffer a second catastrophe—a wholly preventable manmade disaster.