ECHO to conclude post-cyclone activities

The European Commission's Humanitarian Aid department (ECHO) is to conclude its activities in Myanmar's cyclone-affected Ayeyarwady Delta at the end of May.

 

“The decision to wind down ECHO assistance to those affected by Cyclone Nargis was taken during the second half of 2009, as we assessed that the level of acute humanitarian needs had decreased significantly in the course of last year,” Christophe Reltien, ECHO’s head of office in Myanmar, told IRIN from Yangon.

 

“What is needed now is longer-term development assistance,” he said.

 

The last Nargis project funded by ECHO will officially end on 31 May 2010.

 

More than 138,000 people lost their lives when the cyclone slammed into Myanmar’s southern Ayeyarwady delta on 2 and 3 May 2008, affecting 2.4 million people and leaving nearly half of them in need of assistance.

 

ECHO's mandate is to provide emergency assistance and relief to the victims of natural disasters or armed conflict.

 

“Overall, after 24 months of tremendous efforts by our partners and other organizations, the humanitarian situation can be categorized as satisfactory,” Reltien said.

 

However, challenges remain, he said, citing the re-establishment of livelihoods so that communities can again become self-sustaining.

 

“These needs have to be addressed in the medium- to long-term,” the ECHO official said.

 

Assistance to date

 

ECHO provided a total of 39 million euros (US$52.5 million) from 2008 to 2010 in emergency assistance to affected communities. It enabled more than two dozen partners to implement 37 programmes to provide for the immediate needs of the affected population through the distribution of non-food items, food aid, basic health care, water and sanitation, and shelter material.

 

What is needed now is longer-term development assistance

Over 1.35 million people in the delta, as well as in the Yangon area, benefited from the assistance.

 

Asked what ECHO would be doing next in Myanmar, Reltien said that the needs of the affected population had changed, and so would their programmes.

 

“We are moving from humanitarian aid to a more recovery/developmental form of assistance,” he said.

 

Other funds are now available, such as the multi-donor trust fund called LIFT (Livelihoods and Food Security Trust Fund), to which the EU is a major contributor, he added.

 

“This fund will support projects to address livelihood activities in the affected areas. There are also a number of other bilateral donors present to support the recovery effort,” Reltien said.

 

This year, ECHO will provide 9.25 million euros to fund a number of humanitarian projects around the country, up from 8.75 million euros in 2009.



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