Just want to highlight some differences between how Myanmar government and Chinese government anticipate the huge disasters that hit their countries lately. For those who live in other planets besides the Earth, the disasters that I refer are the Cyclone Nargis and the Sichuan earthquake which happen on May 2008.
The Chinese government, having experienced the snow storm last year, are more prepared. Though the quakes came surprisingly (even there was almost no prediction before), they directly hired the army, the Red Cross, and everyone willing to contribute for humanity to help the victims. They didn't wait until the neighbour countries sent in rescue troops or the Western powers criticized.
We cannot blame them for being late to rescue the dead victims. China has huge population thus it is dense. I once saw a picture of the morning assembly in a school in China. There are not only hundredfold, but thousandfold of students standing with the same uniform in very neat rows. I never predict before that this high density would bring disadvantages. The main cause that there are so many people buried in the same place after the quakes is because the number of the people is so high, yet they are concetrated on one particular building, such as schools. I believe that even the most skilled and fastest rescue team in the world couldn't save all the victims. We should appreciate the Chinese people and government's efforts to rescue the living victims as well as digging the dead bodies from being buried under the collapsed blocks.
How about Myanmar? The cyclone hit far before the quakes shook China, but until now, when I open BBC websites, there are still articles that advocate the suffering of the Burmese who have no shelter and food. The notorious military junta (at least to the Western world) was as silent as the cyclone itself which came unpredictedly. Their anticipation is very slow. They have strong and organized army like the Chinese, but they don't use the army efficiently. But what bothers me at most is when the government rejected to allow the foreign aids to come to the damaged locations and distribute the help that has been financed from all over the world. They opened the blockade just now but it is very late. Many unlucky Burmese who should be able to survive have been dying already.
I think that the most important thing is the government' reactions and anticipations towards the disasters. Even in the Internet world we are living now, natural disasters are still hard to predict as they come naturally. They are the forces that shape the world we are living on, so we must accept them as one of the earth's geographical features. However, it's important to work as hard as possible to save the dying souls that have been unluckily hit by the disasters. For the sake of humanity, we cannot just let them suffering and dying in misery. I don't want to say that foreign aids are useless, but they don't bring positive impacts as long as the government itself does nothing or even closes the door for the aids to come.
I also want to highlight the reaction of the Western worlds towards the two governments. Obviously, the Western countries are now resilient when they see that the Chinese army are persevering to save the victims, not shooting the Tibetans. There are less critiques and complaints of humanity to the Chinese government now. Still, the Western media are somehow reluctant to appreciate widely the Chinese efforts. What an ego!
Otherwise, they turn their attention to the Burma's military junta. The Western reporters wrote abundant of articles criticising the poor steps that are taken by the government and the biased policies towards the foreign aids.
Lastly, some days ago, the Chinese government declared the mourning period to remember the tragic earthquake. Today, the Myanmar government, seemingly unwilling to be blamed anymore, did just the same thing. Whereas everyone who follows the news lately should know that Sichuan earthquake happens 9 days after Cyclone Nargis disspiated....