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Klobuchar Meets with Local Burmese Community

Focuses on getting emergency relief to cyclone victims

May 28, 2008

Minneapolis, MN – U.S. Senator Amy Klobuchar met today with members of Minnesota’s Burmese community to discuss efforts to provide emergency assistance to the people of Burma in the aftermath of this month’s devastating cyclone.

On May 2-3, the coast of Burma was hit by a cyclone storm, now described as the deadliest natural disaster in the country’s history.  Burma’s coastal areas are heavily populated but vulnerable to storm surges. 

Klobuchar told the group that she had just spoken with U.S. State Department officials.  They estimate a total of 2.4 million victims from the cyclone, with 80,000 deaths and 50,000 to 60,000 missing.  Many survivors are homeless and without adequate food or fresh water. 

“This disaster is nearly on the same scale as the Indian Ocean tsunami in 2004,” said Klobuchar.  “In that instance, the affected countries accepted and even asked for international aid.  With the military regime in Burma, they’ve tried to shut the world out.”

Burma is ruled by a repressive military junta, which – until last Friday – had refused offers of aid and assistance from the United Nations, the United States and many other countries.

Klobuchar said that after three weeks of pressure from the international community, the government in Burma was finally starting to let aid come in.  The State Department estimates that 42 percent of the 2.4 million victims have received some aid, an increase from 20 percent a week earlier.  The United States is working through the United Nations and non-governmental organizations (NGOs) to assist with disaster relief efforts.
 
Minnesota is home to about 3,000 people from Burma, with virtually all of them having arrived within the past 15 years.  In particular, Minnesota has the largest U.S. concentration of Karen refugees from Burma, who have been victims of religious and ethnic persecution under the country’s military regime.  More refugees from Burma are expected to arrive in the next year or two.

A member of Klobuchar’s Minnesota constituent service and outreach staff is a native of Burma who has many family members still living in the country.

The members of the local Burmese community told Klobuchar how difficult it is to get information and stay in contact with their family members still in Burma.

“It’s heartbreaking,” said Klobuchar.  “One woman told me that she still has not been able to talk to or even locate her sisters in Burma.  This is a country whose people have been repressed and impoverished by their own government.  The regime’s lack of response to the cyclone disaster just highlights how bad it is.”

Klobuchar told the group that she would bring their stories and concerns back to Washington to share with Senate colleagues.  Klobuchar is a member of the bipartisan Senate Women’s Caucus on Burma, which includes all 16 women in the U.S. Senate.
 
Burma is the historical name of the southeast Asian country.  The new military regime changed the name to Myanmar in 1989.  The U.S. government does not recognize the legitimacy of the regime and, therefore, continues to refer officially to the country as Burma.
 
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