In Solidarity: Myanmar (Burma)

We want to take the opportunity to express our sympathies and offer our prayers for the people of Myanmar (Burma) that have had their lives devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

Here in the U.S. we tend to measure every situation in comparison to ourselves, and the most recent example we have is Hurricane Katrina. The devastation and loss of life caused by Cyclone Nargis seems to be exponentially greater than that inflicted on the Gulf Coast by Katrina.

I'm late to this story, but luckily others have been on top of it, like the Texas Liberal. Follow the link to find all types of information regarding this tragedy, including Burmese bloggers, country information, and this bit:

The Times of London writes about an added crisis from the storm—

The features that made the stricken area vulnerable to this disaster — its low-lying geography and proximity to water — also made it Burma’s rice bowl. The cyclone has undoubtedly wrought terrible damage on the country’s agriculture. World rice prices are at a record high already, provoking food riots in more than 30 countries. Burma is a net exporter of rice, and the destruction of crops in the Irrawaddy delta will only add to upward pressure on international prices. The country may be unable to keep its promise to sell rice to other needy countries such as Sri Lanka and Bangladesh.

With the current global food crisis involving rice and other staples, this can't help. So please do what you can to assist the people of Myanmar (Burma) in their recovery effort.