Aid for Myanmar is being received
Despite news reports that the military junta has either seized or not allowed aid shipments to enter the country, and denial of visas to UN and relief workers, aid is being received by people who need it.
While the military junta is causing unreasonable and unnecessary delays, several non-governmental organizations and several UN programs are operative on the ground and there are reports that some UN aid has made its way to people in need.
The following nongovernmental organizations are working in the Delta region now and can use your support. Most have websites and will have methods to donate within your country and possibly online:
ActionAid has started an emergency program with their partner KDN, a church-based network working in 276 villages in the affected areas, and five other teams are already working on how to further scale up the response to the disaster.
Action Against Hunger/Action Contre la Faim (ACF) is in the Yangon area to distribute water purifying tablets and water, rehabilitate water points, distribute essential non-food items and emergency shelters, promote basic hygiene, perform environmental clearing and clean up, and provide food, cash and/or vouchers depending on local market accessibility.
Adventist Development and Relief Agency International (ADRA) is continuing food assistance in partnership with the World Food Program (WFP) coordinating the delivery of up to 250 metric tons of rice to the Labutta area, which will provide for 20,000 people for 30 days.
CARE emergency assessment teams have returned to Yangon from the Irrawaddy Delta on 9 May reporting massive destruction on a level far worse than seen in Yangon, including whole towns and villages completely wiped out. CARE has assessed Pathien, where 250,000 survivors were expected to need urgent relief. CARE is purchasing supplies in Yangon to ensure the distribution of food and water to the Irrawaddy Delta happens immediately. CARE packaged 13,779 lb (6,250 kg) of rice and first aid kits for distribution in Thaketa township. Survival kits for 50,000 people are being assembled in Thailand and expected to be delivered within days. CARE delivered relief targeting 50,000 families in South Dagon, Thaketa and Patone. CARE is distributing: Non food items, including distribution of plastic sheeting and family kits (basic household items for cooking), Food, Water, and ensuring access to clean water through the supply of water purification tablets and safe water storage containers for families.
Christian Aid is distributing water purification tablets, blankets and medicines to 100,000 people. Supplies are being sourced from within Myanmar, but this will become more difficult. Christian Aid partners urgently need more supplies of water purification tablets, medicines including salt solutions, mosquito nets, blankets, clothing and materials to rebuild homes. They report that people are asking for rice seeds, as their supplies have been damaged and unless they plant in the next month will not have any rice supplies until May 2009.
International Committee of the Red Cross (ICRC) has sent its first flight to Myanmar of relief goods “for those in labor camps and prisons” with 35 metric tons (39 US tons) of relief goods, including pumps, generators, water tanks and other water treatment equipment, as well as basic health care for about 10,000 people and surgery material. The ICRC visits political prisoners and prisoners of war worldwide, but stopped visitng Myanmar’s estimated 1,100 political prisoners in December 2005 after the government insisted that government-affiliated staff accompany them. The ICRC planned to distribute aid with the Myanmar Red Cross and will explore how to help reunite families separated by the storm and help identify the dead. The ICRC has six foreign and 90 local staff in Myanmar and hopes to bring more in. ICRC plans to deliver aid to various places of detention affected by the cyclone. The ICRC has already donated medical supplies to the Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS) and it has provided a generator for a Ministry of Defence hospital. The ICRC has made four vehicles with drivers available to the MRCS to enable it to assess needs in the worst-hit areas.
The International Federation of Red Cross and Red Crescent Societies (IFRC) had three planes arrive with 14 metric tons of shelter material. All goods were cleared at customs and then distributed by Myanmar Red Cross Society (MRCS). All stocks in Red Cross warehouses have been distributed, including hygiene items, food, water purification tablets and mosquito nets. A further seven flights are expected to arrive May 10-12, containing 20 metric tons of shelter materials, jerry cans and 2,000 mosquito nets. It is estimated the overall humanitarian effort thus far has supported 220,000 people, of whom 80,000 have been helped by the Red Cross with shelter kits, shovels, saws, tarpaulins and jerry cans. Some 17,000 local Myanmar Red Cross volunteers are helping to distribute supplies.
International Rescue Committee (IRC) emergency team members arrived in Myanmar and four additional teams are on standby for deployment to the region as the IRC prepares for a possible outbreak of water-borne diseases in cyclone-hit villages. In addition to aid workers on the ground, the IRC also has medical, water, sanitation, operations and logistics experts already in the region or ready to be dispatched to Myanmar.
Malteser International will send a medical team to the coastal town of Labutta on Sunday (May 11) to start the operation of a health center in one of the houses there that endured the storm, as “the hospital of Labutta has been almost completely destroyed.” Staff on May 9 distributed water purification tablets to 8,000 households in Dawbon, Tantabin and Thongwa districts around Yangon, enabling families to have safe drinking water for one week. Also, 850 plastic sheets for shelter and 750 “family kits” with cookware, hygiene articles and water cans are being distributed. Malteser ordered further water disinfection tablets to distribute them to the population in the district of Dawbon and in the poor rural settlement of Tantabin. A medical team is also providing first aid for the survivors in the Yangon Division. Malteser is planning the distribution of plastic covers for the construction of temporary shelters, cookware, mosquito nets and the construction of further water tanks that catch between 1,000 and 2,000 liters (264 and 528 gallons) and can provide safe drinking water for hundreds of people.
Medecins Sans Frontieres (MSF) currently has 35 staff in the Irrawaddy Delta. MSF teams in Twantey and Daala, townships south of Yangon, observed 80 percent housing destruction in some areas and up to 3.3 feet (1 meter) of flood waters. MSF teams distributed food rations to 2,000 people in Twantey. MSF also did medical consultations in areas homeless are sheltering, such as pagodas and schools, and rehabilitated latrines, wells and water pumps. Other MSP teams are assessing locations further south in the delta by boat, including hard-hit Bogalay (Bogaley). In every affected location, MSF distributes food and provides medical care.
Merlin has permission to use a river cruiser to deliver medical aid to tens of thousands in the Irrawaddy Delta. Merlin teams are on the ground now in Laputta townships, treating trauma patients and doing rapid health needs assessment.
Save the Children (SC) has provided assistance in affected urban townships in Yangon covering 63,000 people across the four townships of Shwe Pyi Tar, Thin Gan Gyun, Insein, and North Okkalapa. Trucks containing 1,000 bags of rice (30 tons), 20 rolls of tarpaulin, surgar and salt reached Pathein, SC’s operations base for response in the western Irrawaddy Delta region). SC is helping repair a Yangon center for HIV positive girls and young women to provide them with basic necessities. SC provided food, plastic tarpaulins, water purification tablets and rehydration salts to 50,000 people and distributed 2 metric tons of food, plastic sheeting, water purification tablets, kitchen equipment, re-hydration salts and other non food items to over 30,000 children and families.
World Vision has helped almost 78,000 people in the Yangon area, providing rice and water worth US$175,000 and other relief items and has delivered 35 metric tons of rice, 20,000 liters of drinking water and diesel fuel to allow generators to pump water. Clothing, blankets and tarpaulins have also been distributed to people living in and around Yangon. Initial supplies handed out will include zinc sheets, tents, tarpaulins and medicines.
Bi-lateral Aid
The following countries have promised or have delivered aid:
Australia 2.8 m.; Canada 2 m.; China 1m.; Denmark 1m.; France 3m.; European Commission 3m.; Indonesia 1m.; Japan 10m.; Netherlands 1.5m.; New Zealand 1m.; UK 10m; US 3m.
Bangladesh, the Czech Republic, Germany, Greece, India, Ireland, Israel, Italy, Malaysia, Qatar, Russia, Singapore, South Korea, Sri Lanka, Switzerland, Thailand and the UAE all pledged or have delivered amounts of under 1 million and or food and material aid.
United Nations Agencies which are active within the country include UN Development Program, UNICEF, United Nations High Commission for Refugees, World Food Program, World Health Program and others. All have been involved in emergency response efforts on the ground although additional assistance they could provide has been hindered by the authorities.
