.bmp)
.bmp)
The disasters in China and Myanmar underscore the need to improve construction of hospitals and schools so they can withstand high winds and earthquakes, the head of the U.N. health agency said Monday.Margaret Chan, director-general of the World Health Organization, said spending just a little more on construction could mean the difference between a building's survival and collapse when natural disasters strike.Chan said millions of people "lost their loved ones, their homes and their livelihoods" in the Myanmar cyclone and Chinese earthquake, adding that she was especially touched by the images of a collapsed school and hospital in China."Every death is tragic, but the deaths of students and patients touch me most especially," she said.Chan said the World Health Organization already is urging that hospitals and health facilities be built to survive the natural disasters-including intense earthquakes and tropical storms."In most cases, a very small increase in construction costs is sufficient to give health facilities this survival capacity," Chan told the opening of the annual weeklong meeting of the agency's 193-nation governing assembly.The assembly began with a minute of silence for those killed in the two disasters.China and Myanmar gave the World Health Organization upbeat reports Monday on their recovery from recent disasters and thanked international donors for their assistance."In just a few seconds, tens of thousands of lives were lost" when an earthquake struck central China last week, Chinese Health Minister Chen Zhu told delegates to the annual meeting.But national and international response was speedy, Chen said, noting that "many countries have provided human, technical and material support."Health workers have "seized every second in saving lives and in preventing and controlling epidemics," he said."On behalf of the Chinese government I would like to express our gratitude for the ... support of the international community."Chinese officials have said they expect the final death toll from the May 12 quake to exceed 50,000.Myanmar Ambassador Wunna Maung Lwin said the cyclone that struck in early May was the worst ever to hit his Southeast Asian nation.At least 78,000 people were killed in the May 2-3 storm and another 56,000 were missing."The government and people of Myanmar are grateful to the friendly nations, the United Nations, non-governmental organizations, private individuals and all friends far and near for their sympathy and condolences expressed, their kind generosity in donating emergency relief provisions as well as financial support," Lwin said."We firmly believe that with the aid and goodwill of the international community and the national people we will be able to overcome the hardships in the near future."Lwin ignored criticism that the country's response to the storm had been slow in part because it had been reluctant to admit foreign aid workers, and that help has only reached a fraction of the estimated 2 million people left homeless, injured other otherwise affected by the storm."The situation of storm-hit regions is now improving," Lwin said, adding that international organizations and others are providing victims with food, medicines, clothing and tents.He said the first of about 200 doctors and nurses Myanmar had requested from neighboring countries had arrived and that the others would follow in a few days.As in the days of Noah....
