Myanmar disaster strikes close to home for Lynn

SANDPOINT — May’s Cyclone Nargis arrived in the southeast Asian country of Myanmar with devastating force, leaving hundreds of thousands dead or missing and millions in need of food, water and shelter.

Myanmar — formally known as Burma — seems like a world away from North Idaho, but for one local woman the country is agonizingly close to home.

Myanmar native Kristine Lynn came to America in 1988, shortly after a military junta seized power of the country.

When she relocated to America, Lynn left behind her husband, four adult daughters and two adult sons, one of which attempted to leave the country and was never seen again.

With stifling restrictions on outside communications, Lynn has struggled to keep in touch with family members over the years. Even before the recent disaster, Lynn said conditions in the country were bleak, with whole swaths of cities surviving without hot water or electricity.

Lynn blames most of the problems on the military rulers, who she said disregard the health and safety of the people of Myanmar in favor of their own enrichment.

“Those guys, they don’t even realize that the next door neighbor is starving,” Lynn said of the army officers who police the streets. “They don’t want to die, but they don’t care if somebody else is dead.”

The lack of leadership and infrastructure from the Myanmar government was put under a magnifying glass when, on May 2, Cyclone Nargis ripped through the country, killing thousands and leaving entire areas under water.

Lynn first heard of the disaster from a friend in Australia, but she was unable to reach her family — or even confirm their safety — for days.

“Oh my God, it was terrible, terrible, because I wasn’t able to help and I couldn’t hear anything. I went totally mad,” Lynn said.

When she finally made contact with family members by phone, the news was disheartening.

Although all her children were accounted for and safe, Lynn heard stories so horrific that she has trouble recounting them.

Her son, who works for an army officer, surveyed the destruction by boat and was forced to use a bamboo stick to push floating bodies out of the vessel’s way.

“Even the cemetery is full of water. You can’t even bury your dead,” Lynn said.

As she learned more, the new has only gotten worse for Lynn, who recently got word that a family she’s known for 40 years was unable to reach the safety of high ground. All but one member of the family perished.

On top of everything else, the area of Yangoon — formally Rangoon — that Lynn’s family lives in has no fresh water, which has led to several family members becoming ill.

“They’re so scared to drink or even wash their hands in the water. The water stinks,” she said.

For now, Lynn spends much of her time trying to reach her son and daughters through the spotty phone service while she waits for a time when she can see them again.

“The other night my daughter cried on the phone. She said, ‘Mommy, we

don’t want to stay here any more’, but there is nothing I can do. My son said, ‘Mommy, it’s like a war zone. Its so dark and scary,” Lynn said.