Myanmar [Burma] Updates

30th June - update from SCIAF's Church partner

"With the generous assistance from the all of you we reached out to hundreds of refugees, carrying food 'feeding the hungry, clothing the naked and healing the sick.'

Farmers have returned to the fields, the mothers are busy with sending their children back to school and in the fields the seeds are once again sprouting. The human spirit fights back in every field.

We are grateful and humbled that we could be of great service to all the people, reaching out as the first group in many areas. The world became the altar for us and our people and where ever affected people lived, we could carry the message of God's love through the emergency services.

As the media attention dims, the NGOs who rushed in are slowing down in response. We stay with our people, and are determined to accompany our people in their journey of rehabilitation. The needs are very huge and the number of people seeking our help is fast increasing.

To all of you who responded with magnificent generosity, the people of Myanmar owe a debt of gratitude."

2nd June - update from SCIAF's Church partner

"June marks the start of the school year in Myanmar and also one month after Cyclone Nargis. However, for so many children there will be no school to go to. For the children in the delta region their lives have been turned upside down. Many of them lost their parents and their homes.

Last week I visited remote villages in the southern delta region. It took almost ten hours to get there by boat. There, I met families who are still struggling to survive and feed their children. In this area all the schools have been destroyed.

The horror of the cyclone still haunts many children – they cry at night and when it rains.

To date very little aid has been able to get to these communities. For the first two weeks the only aid received by these people was from Church partners.

They told me that without this, they would not have survived. The government now only supplies two cans of rice per person per day, which is not enough for people to live on. To date our organisation has been able to supply food, clean water, tarpaulins for shelter, cooking utensils and medical supplies to approximately 20,000 people.

On my recent trip, amidst so much death and destruction, the resilience of children was brought home to me by many stories that I heard.

I also heard the story of a five-year-old boy who had been separated from his family and when the floodwater rose he could no longer stand on the ground so he grabbed onto his dog. He held onto his dog as it began to swim. The dog kept swimming for hours until he eventually brought the boy to the safety of dry land. Sadly, following this amazing feat, the dog died of exhaustion.

Having met the people affected by Cyclone Nargis I am filled with both hope and anguish. There is still a great deal of suffering and people need more aid to survive and rebuild their lives."

30th May

SCIAF has now received over £107,000 in donations for the Myanmar [Burma] Appeal. SCIAF’s church partner organisations in the country are still working hard to get life-saving emergency aid and support to the communities devastated by Cyclone Nargis.

The situation for our partner organisations has improved now that the Government of Myanmar [Burma] is letting in more aid workers and allowing them to travel more freely to the disaster areas. SCIAF’s partners are now using over 30 trucks and 3 river barges to carry aid supplies to the flooded areas. Hundreds of volunteers are helping to give out food and provide medical care to those who are ill or injured.

The generous response to SCIAF’s appeal means that SCIAF can now increase its support even more and we’re looking at supporting a further two new emergency relief projects that will help many thousands of additional families.

The official government figures now say that 77,700 people have died and 55,900 are missing. Aid agencies think the real death toll is nearer 200,000 people.

The people of Myanmar [Burma] still face great difficulties – the price of rice has doubled and the price of cooking oil has tripled since the cyclone struck. This means that many families can no longer afford to buy enough food to feed their families.

Also, only a few weeks are left before the rice planting season begins. It’ll be a race against time to provide seeds and tools to farmers so they can plant next year’s rice harvest, which helps to feed millions of people.

19th May 2008

SCIAF supporters have responded generously with £88,868 being donated to the Myanmar [Burma] appeal to date.

SCIAF’s partner organisations in Myanmar [Burma] are now helping 60,000 people with food, temporary shelter, health care, and other aid items in four of the areas hardest hit by Cyclone Nargis.
The aid supplies are being distributed through small teams on the ground who are buying food and other supplies locally.
“The amount of aid we are getting through remains significant but is far outweighed by the enormous need that exists particularly in the Irrawaddy Delta region”, said SCIAF’s partner, “We are still unable to conduct mass distributions and this is raising the growing threat of malnutrition and spreading of disease.
The Government of Myanmar is now letting more Asian disaster relief experts into the country to help give out aid. This is good news since SCIAF’s church partners in Asia have a lot of experience in disaster relief – especially after the Asian Tsunami and Cyclone Sidr. It is hoped that SCIAF’s Asian partner organisations will also be able to enter the country [in addition to those already there] to help the many millions of people in Myanmar who need it.

12th May 2008

SCIAF’s partners on the ground have been getting emergency supplies to communities in desperate need since Cyclone Nargis first struck on May 3rd 2008. SCIAF has now sent £60,000 to fund the relief operation with further donations coming in from supporters responding to our appeal.

Reports now say that up to 2.5 million people have been seriously affected by the storm. Between 68,000 and 182,000 people are believed to have died. The official Government figures say that 33,000 have died.

The churches and temples have provided critical support during the first week, and have been the main life-line for survivors. However, there are also on-the-ground reports of the military government forcing temples to evict survivors who have gathered there for food and shelter. This may be because the regime is worried about large groups of people organising anti-Government protests.

At this time, the most urgent needs in the affected areas are still for food, disease control and plastic sheeting. Some villages have been able to fix their water supplies by repairing their wells, but fuel is needed to run generators in order to pump it.

Reports from the delta region say that there are still many areas where aid has not got through. Workers and survivors in these areas are using all means available to ensure that aid can be distributed, using boats, and even bicycles to get around blocked roads. Many survivors are now gathering along the repaired roads, in order to receive food and aid from passing vehicles.