Myanmar Accepts UN Funds, Food for Cyclone Survivors

Cyclone Nargis, a category 3 storm which made landfall in the Irrawaddy delta region on Friday night, has claimed up to 22,000 lives, according to Myanmar state radio broadcasts.

With winds of over 190 kilometers per hour (118 mph), the storm hit the Myanmar capital of Yangon later that night, toppling trees and power lines. Widespread flooding has closed roads, downed communications, and damaged electricity and water supplies.

Myanmar, formerly called Burma, is located in Southeast Asia. (Map courtesy WHO)

According to the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, 41,000 people are missing, hundreds of thousands have been left without shelter, and close to one million people are affected by the storm. The death toll is expected to rise as emergency teams reach more remote areas hit by the storm.

"The Government of Myanmar has indicated that they are open to international assistance," said John Holmes, UN under-secretary-general for humanitarian affairs and emergency relief coordinator. A military regime governs the country formerly known as Burma.

"We appreciate the government's announcement that it is making available approximately $5 million from its own resources for emergency relief, and I am ready to allocate a significant amount from the Central Emergency Response Fund as the most urgent needs become clear," Holmes said.

An initial emergency operation, launched today and valued at US$500,000, will fund immediate airlifts of food aid and cover initial emergency response staff deployments in Myanmar.

Myanmar authorities have declared five regions - Yangon, Ayeyarwwady, Bago, Mon and Kayin - disaster areas. The population of the declared disaster areas is estimated at 24 million, with an estimated six million in Yangon.

Lack of communications has made it difficult to determine the extent of the casualties and damage. A UN Disaster Assessment and Coordination team is being dispatched to Myanmar and is expected to begin work shortly.

UN agencies have begun working to address the situation. Distribution of relief supplies will be coordinated through a Disaster Management Committee that had been established by the Myanmar government.

Cyclone survivors use a small motor boat to escape the devastated port of Yangon. (Photo courtesy WFP)

Teams from Medecins Sans Frontieres, a UN World Food Programme partner, have started a first emergency response in Yangon, distributing 30 metric tonnes of food, plastic sheeting and water chlorination supplies.

In Daala and Twante, two townships with a total population of 300,000, MSF teams saw 80 percent destruction of houses in certain pockets and flood waters standing one meter (39 inches) high. "Under these circumstances," the doctors' group said, "infectious diseases such as cholera can spread easily."

The UN World Food Programme, WFP, is ramping up efforts to respond to the humanitarian needs in the southern coastal regions of Myanmar as well as Yangon. Early reports indicate tremendous storm damage to villages and communities in the rice-cultivating areas of the coastal region. Prices of basic foods such as rice, have already doubled since the storm.

"Although we do not know the full extent of damage and needs, we know they are large," said WFP Asia Regional Director Tony Banbury.

Families whose houses have been destroyed are crowding into public structures that resisted the cyclone, such as pagodas and schools.

"So far, the government has provided some valuable cooperation," said Chris Kaye, WFP country director. "In order to meet the needs of the persons most badly affected by the disaster, much more cooperation will be required in the short term."

Calling the relief effort an "enormous logistics challenge," Kaye said truckloads of WFP food will be dispatched tomorrow to Labutta Township, an area hardest hit by the cyclone in the Ayeryarwaddy Delta region.

In neighboring Thailand, the UN refugee agency is emptying its emergency shelter material stockpiles of plastic sheeting and tents for some 10,000 people for urgent dispatch to Yangon.

Jennifer Pagonis, spokesperson for the UN High Commissioner for Refugees, told journalists in Geneva that the agency's office in Myanmar Monday purchased $50,000 worth of basic supplies in Yangon for distribution, including emergency tarpaulins, plastic sheeting and canned food.

Relief workers are relying on helicopters to distribute supplies but this is proving slow and relatively inefficient, according to the World Health Organization, WHO. Clearing roads is a high priority in order to move supplies urgently to the population in need.

Survivors share relief supplies of drinking water. (Photo courtesy WFP)

WHO, with the support of the Italian government, is dispatching emergency health supplies to cover the basic health needs of 240,000 people for one month. Chlorine powder, essential medicines, cholera kits, malaria drugs, impregnated bed nets, supplies for the management of dead bodies, and water purification units for hospitals and clinics are urgently needed.

WHO's office in Myanmar is working with the Ministry of Health, the UN Children's Fund, UNICEF, and other partners to assess the damage and determine the needs. A crisis room has been activated at the WHO office in Yangon.

The epidemiological situation in the country is being monitored to ensure early detection and response to any communicable disease threat such as the spread of malaria or tuberculosis.

WHO is calling on donors to support the response to the disaster. Pending the results of the initial assessments WHO officials estimate they will need $1 million to address immediate health concerns in the coming days.

In addition, UNICEF has dispatched five assessment teams to three of the affected areas and is positioning relief supplies.

UNICEF says it will work with partners and the government to provide access to clean water, safe sanitation and improved hygiene, and will seek to protect children and help them return to school as soon as possible.

Thousands of Myanmar Red Cross volunteers are working around the clock to reach and support those affected by the storm.

The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies has launched a preliminary emergency appeal for US$5.9 million to support those efforts already underway to reach affected communities with emergency shelter kits, water, mosquito nets and other items.

"This will be very much a preliminary emergency appeal, and we expect this figure and the operation to be revised as more information comes to hand," said Christine South, the International Federation's operations coordinator for Asia Pacific.

In some affected villages along the Irrawaddy river delta, 95 percent of houses have been destroyed, said South.

Meanwhile, the head of the secretariat of the International Strategy for Disaster Reduction today stressed the importance of having lifesaving early warning systems and preparedness programs already in place when cyclones strike.

Salvano Briceño noted that many cyclone-prone countries, such as Cuba, Japan, and Bangladesh, have implemented efficient early warning systems that have reduced the death toll caused by cyclones.

"When there are comprehensive early warning systems in place, starting from meteorological technology all the way through to preparedness and contingency plans, people can be effectively warned and have time to evacuate to safer places," he said.

Bangladesh has a 48-hour early warning system in place that allows people to evacuate to safe cyclone shelters hours before any cyclone makes landfall. This has cut their death tolls from cyclones - from 300,000 deaths from Cyclone Bhola in 1970, to 3,000 last November during Cyclone Sidr.

"These measures are proven lifesavers," said Briceño.

Copyright Environment News Service (ENS) 2008. All rights reserved.