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SINGAPORE: A Singapore businessman who returned from Yangon on Tuesday night said most people in Myanmar were simply not prepared for a cyclone.
When Cyclone Nargis struck, Singapore businessman Sheikh Noordin Babu and his family were staying on the ninth floor of a hotel in Yangon.
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Mr Sheik Noordin said: "I could feel the force, the gravity of the air. It was unbelievable. I have never experienced this in my life. It was 220 to 240 kilometres per hour and the cyclone lasted 10 to 11 hours."
He said it was clear that most people in Myanmar did not expect a cyclone of this force and had no experience on how to deal with the situation.
"They were basically unprepared, so there was great devastation... There were a lot of trees that were uprooted, many cables fell and (there were) electricity problems, water problems and all that," the businessman said.
However, some form of normalcy was soon restored in Yangon.
Mr Sheik Noordin said: "We were able to call back to Singapore from the hotel. Things started to get back to normal from Monday onwards. We could see that a lot of help was pouring in from the military, Red Cross and the police."
But he added there is no doubt Myanmar will need a lot more help from the international community to cope with the aftermath of Cyclone Nargis.
- CNA/so
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