Man loses 28 relatives in Myanmar village hit by cyclone

[FourScore]

The 68-year-old fisherman tried to explain how a cyclone swept away his entire family, but could utter only a few words before he was overcome by tears.

"All my 28 family members have died. I am the only survivor," sobbed Thein Myint, whose flimsy house was torn apart when Cyclone Nargis sent powerful waves surging from the sea.

Thein Myint's village is in a devastated belt around Bogalay, one of the worst-hit towns, located some 20 miles from the Indian Ocean in the Irrawaddy delta.

Residents struggled Friday to make their way down what was once the busy main street in Bogalay, where the government has said an estimated 10,000 people perished and 95 percent of the homes were destroyed. The smell of rot and death was in the air from the bloated carcasses of water buffalos and other animals.

Debris, rubbish and branches from downed trees littered the streets, while the skeletal remains of buildings were the only sign of the large structures that once lined the road.

Survivors — most from large extended families common in rural Myanmar — described the incomprehensible: being left alone to combat hunger, illness and wrenching loneliness after watching relatives washed out to sea.

"We huddled together, but the big trees carried by the waves knocked down two of my children and my wife," said Htay Maung, 70, speaking softly at a large Buddhist monastery where many others had also taken shelter.

When the winds first sprang up, and the storm surge rose higher, he, his wife and four children climbed to the roof of their house and clung to each other.

"Only two of my children survived," Htay Maung told an Associated Press reporter who reached the town via car from the main city of Yangon, a trip of more than 100 miles that took about five hours because of flooding and downed bridges.

Survivors spoke of entire villages being obliterated by the cyclone, which struck May 3 with 120-mph winds that unleashed 12-foot-high storm surges and left vast expanses of the densely populated delta submerged under flood waters.

More than 65,000 people are dead or missing in the region, with fears the death toll will top 100,000. But with roads completely under water in the worst-hit areas directly on the Andaman Sea, there are vast expanses of delta where aid workers have yet to gain access...

http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20080509/ap_on_re_as/myanmar_devastated_families

[malaise]

1. Unbelievable destruction

I can't imagine their pain.

[GreenPartyVoter]

2. Oh God. I weep for them

:cry:

[shireen]

3. can't imagine it

the horror of that event is beyond my usually vivid imagination. The grief of so many people, it's very overwhelming. What a horrible horrible tragedy. :cry: