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Myanmar Native Living In Pittsburgh Worried About Family Back Home

POSTED: 6:14 pm EDT May 16, 2008
UPDATED: 6:51 pm EDT May 16, 2008

The official death toll from the cyclone that hit Myanmar has nearly doubled to 78,000. Tens of thousands remain missing, and the humanitarian situation for the survivors remains dire.

WTAE Channel 4 Action News reporter Jon Greiner caught up with one refugee who made his way to Pittsburgh well before the cyclone hit, but his family is still overseas.

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San Kyi, 45, who came to Pittsburgh eight months ago, said he's hardly slept for nearly two weeks since the cyclone hit. His wife and child are still in Myanmar.

Kyi said he fled what he calls an oppressive regime in his home country, which he still refers to as Burma.

Kyi said he watches television every night for updated news on the cyclone that hit the country two weeks ago and for any news of his wife and 8-year-old son.

He said he finally spoke to them last week and found out the roof was blown off his house and that they hardly have any access to basic necessities such as water.

"And that my son is sick," said Kyi. "Last Friday night, I got the information from them. Only, I got connection is three minutes only."

Kyi is in Pittsburgh through the help of Catholic charities, which will try to find his wife and son and move them into a refugee camp.

But with the Myanmar government refusing most outside access to the country, that will be a very daunting task.


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