Respond to peers Response to Question #2

Cyclone Nargis was a devastating natural disaster that killed over 140,000 people, displaced 800,000, and destroyed the majority of the nation’s schools and health facilities. This cyclone was a category 3 with massive wind speeds of 124 miles per hour and twelve feet tall storm surges. Due to the military dictatorship in Myanmar, the Burman people were faced with extreme social, economic, physical, and environmental vulnerabilities. The dictatorship of Myanmar caused for frequent human rights violations. This made the Burman people vulnerable socially. Once the United Nations saw what this government was doing to their people, they put economic restrictions on the country, making them economically vulnerable. Moreover, due to the reduced funds, the environment and infrastructure paid the price with lack of ability to yield crops and build better homes, schools, hospitals, etc. This meant Myanmar had environmental and physical vulnerabilities as well (Cuadra, 2022). After Nargis hit Myanmar, these vulnerabilities left a large impact on the country as a whole. Since the majority of the population was in poverty, they relied heavily on natural resources. The cyclone wiped out nearly 100,000 acres of natural and replanted mangroves. It submerged more than 63 percent of paddy fields, and damaged 43 percent of freshwater ponds. Since so many resources were demolished, this made the natural disaster much worse since many relied on the natural resources. Furthermore, since so much soil had been eroded, this left the Burman people with a large struggle to yield crops for many years to come (Mohamed, 2008). It is clear to see that having a country exposed to vulnerabilities like this not only damage lives immediately following the disaster, but for a long time to come.

References

Cuadra, J. (2022). Week 3 Video Lecture: Cyclone Nargis. [Weekly Lecture Video]. Retrieved from Cyclone Nargis Video Lecture: (PAD4380.sp22) Disasters: From Shock to Recovery (fsu.edu)

Mohamed, N. (2008). Learning from Cyclone Nargis, Investing in the environment for livelihoods and disaster risk reduction. United Nations Environment Programme