Myanmar (Burma) cyclone
A cyclone hit the Myanmar delta region in the early hours of Saturday 3 May. State media in Myanmar have reported a death toll of 78,000 to date.
The situation
As the days go by and our understanding of conditions in southern Myanmar becomes a little clearer, the picture is becoming bleaker. Current reports suggest that 1.5 million people are now homeless.
The aid effort faces huge challenges. Some 24 million live in the areas affected by the storm. Communications are down in the cyclone-hit areas, roads have been washed away and getting aid to people will be very difficult. The international community needs to be quick both to respond to this crisis and to ensure the needs of those most affected are met.
Sarah Ireland, Oxfam's East Asia Regional Director
Oxfam's response
We have now made grants of £500,000 to organisations working inside Myanmar to deliver relief to 22,000 people in the Ayeyarwaddy and Yangon regions. These organisations have excellent networks of national staff and volunteers who can move freely around the country. They are distributing essential life-saving items such as rice, beans and oil, drinking water, soap, clothes, family first aid kits, and plastic sheeting for emergency shelter. They are also repairing damaged wells and providing basic sanitation facilities – activities essential for preventing the spread of disease.
Transportation around the affected area is extremely difficult right now, and we have given all these organisations sufficient funding for their own transport, and for transporting sick people to clinics where necessary.
Whilst Oxfam does not currently run operational programmes in Myanmar, we are preparing for the possibility that this situation might change. We have put a team and equipment on standby in the eventuality that we are able to run a significant humanitarian programme in the country.
In the meantime we continue to channel our aid effort through partner organisations with a mixture of cash funding, technical expertise and equipment where required. We also will be working in conjunction with the UN and other agencies to respond to immediate needs and support people’s recovery.
Like all agencies we are working under tight government restrictions and struggling to respond to meet the needs of the thousands of very poor people affected by the cyclone.
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