National Geographic had a striking picture of southern Myanmar before and after the May 2nd cyclone. The picture really shows how much land was flooded and/or polluted by salt water.

The top picture was taken on April 15, 2008 while the bottom picture is from May 5, 2008.

If you are not familiar with this news story, let me catch you up to speed real quick:

Tropical Cyclone Nargis hit the Southeast Asian country early Saturday with winds of up to 120 miles an hour (193 kilometers an hour), leaving hundreds of thousands of people homeless. (NatioalGeographic.com)

The total deaths count it now up to around 100,000… this makes Cyclone Nargis one of the top ten storms or at least the eleventh deadliest.

What makes things worst is that the Myanmar refuses to allow international aid groups to enter the country as they are afraid of pro-democracy voices. What aid they are accepting isn't getting to the people in need, but instead is getting locked up in warehouses.

The UN body had suspended relief flights after the Burmese government seized tonnes of aid material flown in to help victims of Cyclone Nargis….

The BBC's Jonathan Head in neighbouring Thailand says that given how little aid is getting into Burma, this was a disappointing setback. He said the military leaders appeared to be putting their pride and entrenched suspicion of foreigners before the lives of their people. (BBC)

It's a bad situation… Lord, may you keep your people safe and help those in need.