Czech public donates over one million crowns to Burmese cyclone victims

The Czech public has donated more than one million crowns (62,000 USD) to the charity People in Need’s SOS Burma fund, to help Burmese affected by the catastrophic Nargis cyclone which struck the country earlier this week. The Czech Foreign Ministry has pledged a further five million crowns to help those affected. According to a People in Need spokesperson, Czech aid will not be distributed through the Burmese military junta, but through on-site partnership organizations. The United Nations said on Wednesday that the junta had confiscated all the food and technical help sent to cyclone victims by the World Food Programme, though Burmese authorities have denied the allegations.