Cyclone assist

HARLINGEN - Two local doctors managed to get into cyclone-ravaged Myanmar to help people injured after Cyclone Nargis struck May 2, despite restrictions by the country's military government.

Dr. Matt Moslener, who is in his second year of the Valley Baptist Family Practice Residency Program, and Dr. Edward Oorjitham, a Harlingen physician, were able to join the Tulsa, Okla.-based medical residency program "In His Image" for the trip.

The group of doctors managed to ship medical supplies into the country separately and then get into the country on tourist visas, Moslener said.

Top generals in Myanmar's (formerly Burma) military government have been reluctant to allow disaster relief supplies, foreign aid workers or medical personnel into the country, Moslener said.

But once the doctors and nurses began working in remote areas, rank-and-file soldiers allowed them to continue treating people, Moslener said.

The soldiers seemed appreciative that foreigners were helping their people, the doctor said.

After treating the injured in storm-ravaged outlying areas of Myanmar, Oorjitham, known locally as "Dr. O," went on to visit his native Malaysia, said Moslener, who returned to Harlingen on Monday.

The problems now facing people in Myanmar include homelessness, infected injuries from cuts and bruises and water pollution that will soon lead to illness, Moslener said.

Although there is plenty of food available now, a rice shortage over the entire region is predicted because the storm ruined the rice crop, he said.

"They said it was the worst storm they had had in 100 years," he said. "There was a second storm coming to the area, but it died down, it didn't do any damage. The first storm was similar to Hurricane Katrina. I believe it was of that size and energy."

People who live in Myanmar's southern delta region, a rice-growing area vital to all of Southeast Asia, live mostly over the water in houses built on stilts, Moslener said.

"The houses are primarily made of wood and have thatched roofs made of bamboo," he said.

"Largely, the people that were affected have no homes, they are living in tents on the side of the road," Moslener said. "But they are not starving. It (the region) is rich with vegetables, fruits and seafood, so people are able to get enough food to eat. But rice is the main part of their economy and that has been destroyed."

In cities such as Yangon (formerly Rangoon - population 4,104,000), there was a lot of physical damage, trees knocked over and power lines, fences and buildings damaged.

"But people in the city are living somewhat normally," he said. "That's where we had to live, in the city, and we had to travel out each day."

The American doctors worked at a refugee camp set up at a four-room school that was housing about 1,000 people, mostly children, he said.

"In that area, before we got there, there was actually a riot," he said. "It was on the BBC news. So there were military people watching us while we were seeing patients."

Although soldiers with guns were in the same building where doctors were treating patients, the soldiers "were actually appreciative of what we were doing," Moslener said.

"The lowest-level military people were very thankful for what we were doing," he said. "It was the highest-ranking military people who didn't want the help to come in."

News stories that Myanmar's military was commandeering disaster aid for its own use are true, Moslener said.

"Firsthand, one of our people did get to go there (the heavily affected delta area) and they looked in one of the United Nations tents that was supposed to be provided for (storm refugees) and it was full of military people," Moslener said. "But it doesn't mean that all the military people were mean and abusive, it just means some were corrupt."

Some of the storm refugees were suffering from pneumonia, tuberculosis, skin infections and bruises, he said. "Many people had been cut by corrugated sheet metal roofs. They were sifting through their things and trying to rebuild houses," he said.

"There were a lot of people with foot and leg cuts that were about 10 days old - a lot of bacterial diarrhea, parasites."

A major outbreak of waterborne illness is expected in Myanmar, the doctor said. The bodies of dead humans and animals are polluting water supplies, he said.

Almost no doctors from Europe, Canada or the United States were allowed into Myanmar to help the storm victims, Moslener said. "We did meet doctors from Singapore and there were doctors from Thailand. There were virtually no western doctors that we knew of," he said.

But a few American aid workers did get in, he said.

"We did meet some Rotary Club Americans who were working with a company that makes this shelter in a box," he said. "They open up this big tent that will hold a family of 10 people. They were officially welcomed by the government. They had to do a show and put up their box for the leaders there."

Traveling to other places to provide disaster care is part of his Christian faith, Moslener said. He volunteered to help storm victims after hurricanes Katrina and Rita, but went as a member of the 10th Presbyterian Church in Pennsylvania to help rebuild houses in Biloxi, Miss., not as a doctor, he said. In August, he will visit Colombia.

Moslener said he is very grateful for the support and prayers from people at his home church in Pennsylvania and at the Harlingen Bible Church that he and his family attend.

INFOBOX:

An estimated 78,000 people are known dead and 56,000 people are missing since Cyclone Nargis struck May 2, according to the International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies.

The United Nations has estimated 2.4 million people have been affected.