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On May 2nd & 3rd, Cyclone Nargis ripped through the Irrawaddy Delta and Yangon of a country slightly smaller than Texas. Myanmar (previously known as Burma) was ravaged not just by the cyclone, but a 12-foot high tsunami which caused a majority of the damage. The death toll has now reached 78,000 with 55,000 people still missing. Although the country opened its borders to accept disaster relief, the government has started limiting supplies, denying work Visas as well as other unacceptable tactics to maintain power. This will make recovery harder and cause more problems for a country that has little or nothing as it is.

On May 12th, an earthquake struck the Sichuan Province in China. It registered at 7.9 on the Richter Scale. It is one of the worst earthquakes on record to hit China. Aftershocks continued throughout much of the night following the earthquake. Winchuan County was the epicenter of the disaster. Entire buildings are nothing more than rubble, streets are covered with debris and the foul stench of death fills the air. Survivors are still trying to put the pieces together. The rescue efforts are tedious as more and more dead bodies are pulled from the devastation. As of now, the death toll has reached 34,000 with thousands still missing. The president of China, Hu Jintao has declared a state of emergency. He is accepting any disaster aid available and will conduct an investigation into the sub-standard construction of many buildings which shouldn’t have collapsed and caused numbers of preventable deaths, especially schools were thousands of children died. He will hold all those accountable.