There has been an earthquake

in Myanmar and surrounding areas. It occurred some considerable time before the evening news service - the one which is supposed to provide more international content - but it did not get a mention. This morning it only made a small article on page twelve of the state newspaper. 

I suppose I should not be surprised. Actually I am not surprised. The earthquake apparently came in at 7.7 on the Richter scale. It has obviously done a lot of damage. If it had been any other country then we would probably know a great deal more now. There would be pleas for assistance. 

But this is Myanmar. Someone I know is there at the moment. I can't tell you why but he did say "devastating" when he did manage to get a message out. It is not a word he would use lightly. He was due to leave today and now has to find an alternative route out. I have no doubt he will but he will be leaving behind a bad situation.

It would have been bad enough any way but this makes matters much worse. "The military will use it as another reason to cling to power," I can hear him saying that now. It is not something he would dare to say while he was there but yes, they will almost certainly use it as an excuse not to hold "elections" they claim to have planned for much later in the year.

A late friend of mine was a dispatch rider for the British army during WWII. He was in India and then Burma - the country which is now Myanmar. Somehow B... managed to survive the experience. It was very, very dangerous work. He said very little about it later in life but he was full of praise for the "ordinary" people. He found the Burmese villagers and those in small towns friendly. Perhaps it helped that he tried to speak their language and had informed himself of the way in which he should respect their culture and traditions. He went back once after the war and went along the route he had travelled more than once. He found "old friends" there. He had meals with them and passed on the books which had taken up most of his luggage allowance.

There would be none of that now. Outsiders would be treated warily and even with outright suspicion. There would be worried looks if you were seen associating with a foreigner. It is a sad thing in a country which has a rich history and even richer culture, a culture being eroded by military force. 

If the person who is there is correct, and I do not doubt he is, then Myanmar is going to need outside help.  At this point in a complex emergency there are usually requests for help filtering through to people with specialist skills but it has all remained ominously quiet. I hope that quiet is shattered soon.