Devastation 3

The devastation was more serious that than I'd thought and I started to understand why the government went to the such great lengths to block out journalists rather than help the survivors. Debris was everywhere. Farms were destroyed, homes were leveled and bodies (were) still scattered in some places, rotting. We interviewed a few families. One father cried as he told his story about the loss of his wife and only daughter and wife. He said if it wasn't hadn't been for his son, he would have killed himself. Some farmers had started farming again as if nothing had happened. They didn't have a [I would prefer "any" here] choice but to get on with their lives. Children were eating rotting rice under the roof of a monastery that was fortunate to survive the killer hurricane; [Comma splice. My pet hate!] clearly they hadn't received much aid.

1. Yes (but it was meant light-heartedly, not as a harsh criticism!).

2. It seems that the meaning you want is "impede" or "obstruct". "Block out" can mean "obstruct", but it's usually reserved for things like sunlight or sound. For objects or people, my feeling is that "block" is better. ("Block out" has several other meanings too.)