Every time I open the newspaper or click open a news feed these days, my heart breaks. Breaks. War, crime, natural disaster: there's always something. And in recent days in particular, with the death toll in Burma climbing while authorities there continue to stymie aid efforts, and now the earthquake in China... I can barely stand to open the newspaper or follow the news links because I know that I'm going to have to hold my breath and press my fists to my eyes to keep from crying.

A couple weeks back, news about limited rice exports from India gave my husband and I -- both raised on rice-heavy diets -- pause. We briefly mulled over the idea of buying an extra bag of rice just in case, but then let it slide.

Last week, our weekly groceries bill leaped from an average of $40-$60 to $90+. Whoa! What did we just buy?

Or is it the food crisis that we hear about? So it's here?

Cyclone Nargis hit Myanmar last weekend devastating five regions. Channel NewsAsia reported that more than 22,000 people are dead with another 41,000 missing. Hundreds of thousands are now homeless. The media reports are horrific. "Witnesses described images of rice field littered with corpses." Save the Children, one of the few relief agencies allowed to operate in-country, said the toll would rise sharply in the coming days as more victims were found in difficult to reach areas.

The photos, videos, and blog reports are giving us vivid citizen accounts. Global Voices, South Asia Editor, Mong Palatino, offers this round up of what blogs in the region are reporting, including these eye witness accounts.

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Three weeks of having your mind blown every day will make you tired. Combine that with unpredictable insides, crappy hotel rooms (hey, it was a cheap trip) and a 16 hour time zone change - is it really any wonder I can't sleep?

There's no way you can prepare for the terror of crossing the street here. You have to look forward, take a deep breath, and step off the curb as though you believe, with all your heart, that it is going to be okay. It is truly a heartstopping experience, the blood pounds in your temples and your palms sweat and oh my god, you are standing on the other side looking back at a swirl of scooters and buses and weird little trucks and wondering how it can be that you are still alive.