UK PM pledges aid for Myanmar

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Tuesday, May 6, 2008

Gordon Brown, the UK Prime Minister, has asserted that the UK will provide Myanmar with aid after the recent cyclone.

"I believe nearly a million people are now in need of food aid and we will have to help the families of those where people have died," he said.

He continued by saying that the UK will cooperate with other countries. "I want to pledge on behalf of the British Government that we will work with the whole international community to make sure that food aid is available to the people of Burma."

Government officials in Myanmar have said that 22,464 people have been confirmed dead from the cyclone, which is called Cyclone Nargis.

As rescue workers reach the most hard hit areas of the storm, they only began to realize the damage it caused. At least 10,000 people died in one town alone, Bogalay in the Pyapon District of Myanmar.

Hundreds of thousands are homeless and another three thousand have been injured by the storm. Drinking water is contaminated and food is becoming scarce as the United Nations (U.N.) and other organizations try to get supplies to the region.

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Sources

"Brown makes aid pledge to Burma" — The Press Association, May 6, 2008
"UK pledges £5m in aid for Burma" — BBC News Online, May 6, 2008
"Myanmar state radio says cyclone death toll soars above 22,000" — Associated Press, May 6, 2008
"Cyclone in Myanmar kills at least 15,000" — United Press international, May 5, 2008
Aung Hla Tun. "Myanmar says cyclone death toll 15,000 and set to rise" — Washington Post, May 5, 2008

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