Relief effort gears up as death toll soars

The official death toll from Myanmar’s devastating weekend cyclone has now soared to more than 15,000 people, with thousands more said to be missing, as military authorities and aid agencies struggle to bring relief to survivors.

Hundreds of thousands of people are said to be without shelter, food and potable water, and sanitation systems in the five regions declared disaser areas have collapsed.

Assessing the full extent of the damage from Tropical Cyclone Nargis, which slammed into Myanmar packing winds of up to 190km per hour on 3 May, has been a slow and difficult process, with communications severed, and roads blocked, as a result of the storm.

However, UN assessment teams - made up of local Burmese UN employees not subject to the same travel restrictions that affect foreign aid workers - yesterday began fanning out into the five afflicted regions to make on-the-ground assessments of humanitarian needs.

“It will take some days to get a complete picture,” said Richard Horsey, a spokesman for the UN Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs (OCHA). “Travel is very difficult. What is constraining travel is trees falling on the road, not red tape.”

Teams from the International Committee of the Red Cross yesterday began distributing initial relief supplies to some survivors from existing stockpiles in Yangon (formerly Rangoon) and elsewhere in Myanmar (formerly Burma), but Horsey said far more will be needed given the scale of the disaster, and the numbers of those affected.

Drinking water contaminated

Hundreds of thousands of people - left homeless after the storm flattened their fragile bamboo and thatch homes - are in urgent need of shelter and clean drinking water, after the flooding contaminated local drinking water supplies, he said.

The rice-growing Irrawaddy region, which is where the storm made landfall, is said to be the worst hit area.

Myanmar authorities have now quietly made formal requests to the UN and foreign governments for help to cope with the humanitarian disaster, and UN officials are now engaged in talks with the government on how best to help, Horsey said.

Among the topics under discussion are how to bring in large quantities of relief supplies, such as plastic sheeting and water purification tablets, without getting caught in customs delays, as well as getting speedy visas for international UN staff to help with the relief operation.

“There is an indication that they are receptive to international assistance,” he said. “Discussions are taking place in New York, and on the ground about what is needed, what the UN can provide, and how to get it to the people.”

In Yangon, Myanmar’s largest city, residents are still struggling to cope without electricity, which has yet to be restored. City dwellers on 5 May were queuing for candles, drinking water, and fuel, but supplies were dwindling, and they told Myanmar journalists that prices of commodities were skyrocketing, due to concerns of imminent shortages.

ak/bj/cb